Over at ZDNet, a commenter tweaks me for getting one key fact wrong in Vista versions not so confusing after all. I wrote:

Windows Vista Home Basic is for cost-conscious PC buyers who want basic functionality without a lot of extras. It uses the simplified Vista user interface… Windows Vista Business adds the Aero interface…

And PB replied:

Home Basic does use the Aero user interface. It fully uses the DirectX-based DWM (Desktop Window Manager)–note the window shadows.

However, it looks like glass effects will not be available in Home Basic. But that’s the only difference.

This is a common point of confusion, and it’s going to become even more so as tech journalists who aren’t immersed in esoterica from Redmond begin writing about the alien landscape of Windows Vista. Here’s what the deal really is.

According to Microsoft, the Windows Vista user experience (or UX – don’t call it an interface) consists of two layers:

All computers that meet minimal hardware requirements will see the Windows Vista Basic user experience, which provides the benefits of the refined interface features already mentioned.

Windows Aero is an environment with an additional level of visual sophistication, one that is even more responsive and manageable, providing a further level of clarity and confidence to Windows users. … Windows Vista Aero provides spectacular visual effects such as glass-like interface elements that you can see through.

Here’s a snippet of an Aero effect in a typical window:

Here’s the same view using the Basic UX:

Quite a difference, eh?

If you install Windows Vista Home Basic, it doesn’t matter how good your video card is, you get the Vista Basic UX. In all other Vista versions, you get the Aero UX if your hardware supports it. If you choose, you can turn off the Aero UX by fiddling with the registry or with a simple keyboard shortcut (AltCtrl+Shift+F9). Update: Corrected the keyboard combination, which I have now been told will not be available in the final release of Windows Vista.

Today at Ed Bott’s Microsoft Report on ZDNet, I listed some of the upgrade scenarios that will be possible when Windows Vista ships. All three consumer versions – Home Basic, Home Premium, and Ultimate – will be included on the same CD or DVD. You don’t need to go to the store and purchase a new shrink-wrapped box to upgrade; all you have to do is go to Control Panel and run the Windows Anytime Upgrade program.

I’ve just installed Windows Home Basic on a test computer here and snapped some screen shots to show what the process looks like.

Continue reading “Instant Windows Vista upgrades are on the way” →

How many packages will Windows Vista come in? A press release from Microsoft details the full Windows Vista product lineup.

The release is a little sketchy on details, but basically it shakes out like this:

• Windows Vista Business includes the Windows Aero interface, integrated search, and Tablet PC support
• Windows Vista Enterprise, available only as part of a volume license contract through Software Assurance or a Microsoft Enterprise Agreement, adds hardware-level encryption, Virtual PC Express, and a subsystem for Unix-based applications
• Windows Vista Home Basic is the low-cost entry for cheap PCs and apparently doesn’t support the Aero interface or integrated search
• Windows Vista Home Premium adds Aero support, integrated search, Media Center features, Tablet PC support, and integrated DVD burning and authoring
• Windows Vista Ultimate combines every feature from the business and consumer editions

In addition, there’s Windows Vista Starter, available only in energing markets. No offial word yet about the EU-only N versions, in which Media Player features have been removed.

This lineup makes good sense to me, although I can see some blurring at the edges. I’ll wait to pass final judgment until I see a more detailed matrix that lists what’s in each version.

Microsoft has made the February CTP release of Windows Vista available for testers. I’m downloading build 5308 now.

No, my spidey sense isn’t tingling. My guess that a new Vista beta release is days away is based on a flurry of bug resolutions in my Inbox. When those old bug reports start changing to “Closed,” it’s a sign that someone is cleaning up the bug database in preparation for a new build.

Presumably, this will be the February Customer Technology Preview (CTP) release, not Beta 2.

So, for those who’ve been demanding that Microsoft offer a fully functional two-way firewall, your request has been granted. In articles about the December CTP Build 5270, I’ve seen vague references to this new feature, but to my knowledge no one has yet published any details. So consider this a scoop.

After installing Windows Vista Build 5270 and examining all security options in Control Panel, you might conclude that the Windows Firewall hasn’t changed at all. To get to the more powerful functionality, the bare-bones Control Panel applet won’t do; you need to create a custom Microsoft Management Console (mmc.exe); load the Windows Firewall with Advanced Security snap-in; and point it at your local computer. When you do, you see a well-organized interface for controlling all firewall settings. Here’s a snippet:

Two things jump right out at you: First, you get separate firewall profiles, depending on whether or not your computer is connected to a domain. Second, outbound connections are allowed by default in both profiles. To change these settings, click the Windows Firewall Properties link. That opens this dialog box:

With one mouse click, as I’ve shown here, you can instantly block all outgoing connections except those you define as exceptions. That list of exceptions appears in the Windows Firewall with Advanced Security console. In a default installation, several dozen exceptions are defined but not enabled. After turning on the Block option for outbound connections, you can go through and enable the exceptions you want and define custom connections as well, with an excruciating level of detail. (In managed environments, you’ll be able to automate all these settings through Group Policy or using the netsh advfirewall from a command prompt.)

The documentation for these new firewall features is sparse at this point. The MMC console contains a half-dozen links that point to non-existent help topics and white papers. I’m betting that a few interface tweaks are yet to come, including a notification feature that allows you to see when an application tries to make an unsolicited outbound connection so you can approve it on the fly. For now, I can confirm that the outbound blocking works very well indeed. After enabling this feature, not a single program I tested, including Internet Explorer, was able to connect to any computer on the local network or on the Internet until an exception was defined.

Of course, we’ll be digging deep into this feature in Windows Vista Inside Out, and I’ll add more details after I receive the next CTP build, due around the end of this month.

It’s way, way, way too early to be making decisions about an OS upgrade that’s nearly a year away, but Dwight Silverman has some preliminary thoughts in a well-written review entitled Vista’s nifty, but it’s not irresistible:

I’ve been playing with the latest test version of Vista for several weeks and spent some time at CES getting questions answered by Microsoft. I’ve not yet seen a feature that made me sit up and say, “Wow, I must have that.”

I think it will be the whole of Windows Vista that may be its selling point, rather than one or two killer features. If its value is greater than the sum of its parts, Microsoft will have a compelling product. If not, consumers may just yawn and keep using Windows XP.

Some quick reactions:

I think for a hard core of power users, there will be some compelling features. The most noteworthy is the core set of Media Center capabilities, which will be built into the base operating system. For anyone who owns an Xbox 360, the combination will allow you to stream music, pictures, videos, and TV from the den to the living room with ease.

Also, features aren’t as important as how capabilities of the OS are leveraged in applications. If there are any new programs that leverage Vista features (especially the improved file management and search tools), those could provide a compelling reason to upgrade.

Finally, don’t overestimate the importance of upgrades. Historically, upgrades represent well under 10% of the total market for any Windows version. Within a few months after its release, Vista will be on every new consumer PC. The job of a new OS is to take advantage of new hardware capabilities and to deliver an experience that makes the buyer happy they got that new PC.

I’ve never heard of this site before, but BentUser has an interesting visual comparison of Windows XP and Windows Vista beta 5270. If you just want a quick overview of some of the obvious features, this is a good place to start.