20 Questions About Windows Vista

Confused about the future of Windows Vista, and what it'll mean to you and your organization? Join the club. Microsoft has been touting the operating system for about five years, but there have been so many delays, miscommunications, and downright myths about it that it's hard to separate fact from fiction.

Fear not. We've dug up the truth about the operating system, everything from its ship date to hardware requirements and beyond. So here are 20 questions -- and, more importantly, 20 answers -- to set things straight.

1. When will Vista be available to the public -- for real?

The current target date for consumer versions of Vista -- and we have to stress that it's still just a target, considering all the delays that have bedeviled the Vista rollout -- is January 2007. That month, Microsoft says, Vista will ship on new PCs and will be available as an upgrade for existing PCs.

Businesses are due to get it earlier: Vista is expected to be available to companies that participate in Microsoft's volume licensing program in November of 2006. The OS is slated to ship to PC manufacturers in November as well.

It should be noted, however, that research group Gartner predicts that Vista will be delayed by at least another three months, mostly because of the operating system's complexity. Microsoft refutes Gartner's claim, but we're not holding our breath.

2. How many times has Vista been delayed?

Vista's release has been put off more times than Microsoft would like to admit. Here's the whole ugly story:

June 2001: Microsoft begins talking publicly about an operating system it calls Longhorn. Microsoft says it expects Longhorn to ship in late 2002 or early 2003, as an interim step to a more comprehensive operating system overhaul called Blackcomb (which is now called Vienna, and will be the next release of Windows after Vista).

April 2002: Microsoft executive Jim Allchin says at the WinHEC conference that Longhorn won't ship until the second half of 2004.

June 2003: Paul Flessner, senior vice president of Microsoft's server platform division, says at TechEd 2003 that Longhorn will ship sometime in 2005. Analysts don't buy it and say 2006 is a safer bet.

October 2003: Microsoft chairman Bill Gates says that Longhorn does not have a firm release date and adds, "Longhorn could be 2005 or 2006."

March 2004: Gates says Microsoft will ship an alpha of Longhorn to developers and partners later in 2004. He almost says Longhorn will ship in 2006, but backs off, saying, "Longhorn is not a date-driven release." Analysts aren't convinced. "I'm dubious about 2006," says Joe Wilcox, an analyst with JupiterResearch.

August 2004: Microsoft announces that it is pulling the WinFS file system from Longhorn so it can hit a newly declared release date of the "second half of 2006."

July 2005: Microsoft announces that Windows Vista will be the new operating system's real name. It promises to ship the first beta by August 3, and beats the date by a week. It still says the target ship date is the "second half of 2006."

March 2006: Allchin announces that Vista won't be available to consumers until January 2007.

Keep in mind there's no guarantee that Vista will actually ship in January of 2007. Michael Cherry, an analyst with Directions on Microsoft, a Kirkland, Wash. company that tracks Microsoft's moves, told TechWeb that he expects at least one more Vista delay. As noted in Question 1, Gartner clearly agrees. (For more details about Vista delays, see our Vista Setback Timeline.)

3. What versions will Vista come in? What unique features are offered in each?

At one point, it seemed as if Vista would come in as many flavors as the ice cream offered at your local Baskin-Robbins. Things aren't quite that complicated, but there will be five different core Vista versions and three others sold outside the United States. Here are those versions, and how they differ:

Windows Vista Home Basic: As the name implies, this one offers only bare-bones features. Designed to run on entry-level PCs, it won't have the Windows Aero interface, won't support DVD burning, and will lack Media Center features. It will be missing more as well, such as mobility features, and it won't support Tablet PCs.

Windows Vista Business: This version is aimed at small to medium-sized businesses. It will include Windows Aero (shown below), will support Tablet PCs, and will have most other Vista features aside from a variety of multimedia functions, such as the ability to create and burn DVDs. It will, however, have several features aimed at IT folks, such as wireless network provisioning capabilities, Remote Desktop connections, image-based backup, and other network administration features.

Windows Vista Home Premium: This version will have Aero and support for all the multimedia Vista features, such as DVD burning, slide-show creation, and the Media Center. It will support basic networking and wireless networking, but it won't have network administration tools, wireless network provisioning, or the ability to connect to a domain. It also won't have the Encrypting File System or image-based backup.

Windows Vista Enterprise: This one is for large businesses, and only companies that have Microsoft Software Assurance or a Microsoft Enterprise Agreement get this version. It offers everything Windows Vista Business does, plus it includes hardware-based encryption called BitLocker Drive Encryption, which employs a physical hardware key and a passcode to secure volumes, or storage areas in the file system. This version also comes as a single image that companies can deploy from a central location.

Windows Vista Ultimate: Like the name says, this is the Mother Of All Vistas. It has all the features and tools in every other version of Vista -- the networking and administrative tools of the various business editions, plus the multimedia features of the home editions.

Also in the works are Windows Ultimate Extras, components that Microsoft says will be included with the Ultimate edition. What are these ultimate extras? Microsoft isn't saying, so we'll have to wait for launch to find out.

And Others: The final tally of Vista versions will be eight. The remaining three versions will be sold only outside the United States. The Windows Vista Starter edition will be sold only on low-end PCs in emerging markets, and two N versions of Vista, which lack some media-related features, will be designed to conform to European Union regulations.

4. What are the most important new features in Vista for home users?

The new interface, Aero Glass, is the one people will notice the most. It uses transparent windows, a 3-D task switcher, and animated windows, boosting Windows' visual appeal. The Sidebar, with its Gadgets -- small applets that can automatically grab and display information -- will be a crowd-pleaser as well.

The new Network Center, which makes it easier for home users to manage their small wired and wireless networks, is another welcome addition. New security features that protect against spyware, such as Windows Defender, and new tools built into Internet Explorer are important as well because they will lead to fewer spyware-infested PCs.

Multimedia mavens who want to listen to music, burn DVDs, and watch TV and DVDs on their computers will focus on the Vista Media Center, which has a better-organized interface and easy syncing with remote devices such as media players, and allows for better browsing of music collections. Windows Media Player 11 has a new interface and expanded content offerings, including MTV's Urge music service.

Finally, Vista's Internet Explorer 7 is a big improvement over version 6, and includes tabbed browsing (finally!) and security features such as an anti-phishing filter.

5. What are the most important new features for businesses?

Vista's new security features (see Question #8) will certainly be greeted with open arms by businesses, and may be the single most important reason to upgrade.

In addition, IT departments will get new deployment tools, including the Windows Imaging Format (WIM), which allows a single image to be deployed to different types of PCs with different language requirements. Group Policy, which allows centralized management of users and computers in an Active Directory environment, has been improved, and Windows Resource Protection gives IT departments ways to stop users from making dangerous system changes or problematic Registry edits. Windows Update Agent (WUA) has been improved as well, making it easier for IT departments to ensure that PCs are kept up to date with the latest patches.

Although companies might not use it right away, built-in support for IPv6, the next evolution of the protocol that underlies the Internet and enterprise networks, will help prepare for next-generation networking. And built-in IPSec, an encryption and authentication standard for IP security at the network layer, makes it easier to maintain and use Virtual Private Networks (VPNs). Finally, the Windows Vista Network Explorer makes it easier for users to visually browse through network resources, including computers, devices, people, and shared folders.

6. What are the most important new features for mobile users?

The most noticeable improvement is the Mobility Center, which lets users control every aspect of their laptops from a single interface and gives a quick view of the current state of the laptop. Separate panes let users adjust screen brightness, change power schemes, view their wireless network status, change screen orientation between portrait and landscape modes, and more.

One of the least-talked-about Vista features may be one of the most useful for mobile users -- the Sync Center, which makes it easy to synchronize just about any kind of data you can imagine, starting with simple folder synchronization between a laptop and desktop or network. But there's more to syncing as well, such as updating contact information between a PC and a mobile phone, and synchronizing calendar information and e-mail messages with a PDA or smartphone.

In addition, the power settings for managing laptop batteries offer an amazing amount of granular control, and will help mobile users get more battery life out of their PCs.

7. What's the most important feature previously planned for Vista that was left out?

The biggest omission by far is WinFS, an object-oriented file system that was supposed to revolutionize the way data is stored and searched, making it simple to sift though gigabytes of data to find exactly what you want. Bill Gates himself called WinFS "the most ambitious, the most shocking advance that we've got in the system." Unfortunately, Microsoft developers never got it to work properly on networks, so it was axed from both Vista and Microsoft's upcoming Longhorn Server operating system.

As Gilda Radner's character Emily Litella used to say, "Never mind!"

8. Is Vista really more secure than earlier Windows versions? In what ways?

Over the years, Microsoft has taken its lumps for Windows' myriad security holes. With Vista it's trying to plug them in earnest. Some new security features are obvious, while others are less visible to the eye. Here are the primary new security features:

Improved firewall...for some. The firewall in XP is half-baked -- it includes inbound, but not outbound, protection. In Vista, Microsoft adds outbound protection as well. Unfortunately, though, outbound protection will be turned off by default. Enterprise administrators will be able to turn on outgoing filtering, but it appears that home users won't.

Windows Defender. This anti-spyware application is built into Vista and runs by default. It protects against spyware, adware, home-page hijackers, and similar malware, but not against viruses. For that, a separate, non-Microsoft program must be purchased.

Anti-phishing filter. Built into Internet Explorer is a new anti-phishing filter that alerts you when you're visiting a site that may be a phishing exploit. There are several levels of anti-phishing protection. In the most stringent, you're blocked from visiting a site; in less stringent options, you're issued a warning.

Safer Web browsing. Internet Explorer plugs a significant number of security holes, such as URL-handling protections that stop the exploitation of malformed URLs and prevent buffer overflows from executing code without a user's knowledge. There's also cross-domain script protection that allows scripts to interact only with content from the same domain in which they originate.

User Account Protection (UAP). With current versions of Windows, it's easy for one user of a PC that has multiple users to wreak havoc on the entire system by accidentally changing important security settings or installing malware, for example. User Account Protection aims to solve the problem. It allows only the person with an Administrator account to make certain changes to the system, and so keeps it safe.

UAP is one reason why it's a good idea to set up multiple accounts on a PC, even if only one person uses the computer. That way, someone can log in as a normal user instead of an Administrator, and so will not unknowingly make changes that could harm the system.

User Account Control (UAC). Yes, this sounds like User Account Protection, and it's similar. But UAC is for businesses, not individuals, and it allows IT administrators to set privilege policies for desktop PCs -- not allowing users to install applications, change settings, and so on. Think of UAC as UAP on a company-wide scale.

BitLocker Drive Encryption. This new feature, available in only certain Vista versions (see Question #3) and with compatible hardware, encrypts entire system volumes and can only be unlocked by a hardware-based encryption key.

Network Access Protection. Vista includes an agent that can stop a PC from connecting to a network if the PC doesn't have the latest security updates or doesn't meet other security levels that you set -- for example, having anti-virus software enabled.

9. Is it true that a Vista security feature will inundate me with warnings and pop-up messages when I try to run certain programs?

In the current version of Vista, that's true, but it's hard to know whether the shipping version will have the same problems. The culprit is User Account Protection. When you try to perform many tasks, including installing some applications, running some programs, and changing some menu options, you'll be prompted to type in your administrator password every time.

10. How much will Vista cost -- and are there any hidden costs?

Microsoft hasn't yet announced pricing for any versions of Vista, but that hasn't stopped the rumor mill from working overtime. The most important thing to keep in mind about cost is that most consumers won't pay for Vista directly; the price will be included as part of buying a new PC.

So how much money will be tacked onto that new PC? Goldman Sachs estimates that Microsoft will charge $45 per copy of Vista Home Basic and $65 per copy for Vista Home Premium. Currently, Goldman Sachs says, Microsoft charges PC makers $45 per copy of Windows XP Home and $85 per copy of Windows XP Professional.

That sounds as if Microsoft will be taking a revenue hit, because Vista Home Premium will sell to computer makers for $20 less than XP Pro. But don't expect many people to buy PCs with Vista Home Basic, because it doesn't include Aero Glass or DVD burning. So most people buying it installed on a PC will be paying $65.

As for retail price, that's anyone's guess. The estimated retail price for XP currently is $99 per copy for an upgrade to Windows XP Home from a previous version of Windows, and $199 for the full version. XP Professional costs more, at $199 and $299, respectively. And Windows XP Media Center Edition sells at more than $320 per copy. So don't be surprised if Vista Home Premium falls somewhere between the current price of XP Home and XP Professional, and if other versions range higher than that.

For businesses, the answer hinges on what's covered by their enterprise agreements with Microsoft. For those that are covered, the pure software costs will be negligible; it's the staff hours of upgrading systems that will add up.

As for hidden costs, they'll be related to hardware. Vista will require a decent CPU, a substantial amount of RAM, and a high-quality graphics processor. (See Question #12 for details.) RAM prices have been rising of late, so factor that into your upgrade plan.

11. Will there be compatibility issues with my older software?

Any time there's a major operating system upgrade, you can count on compatibility issues with older software. But a variety of free tools should be able to solve most, if not all, issues.

One of the simplest solutions will be to run your older Windows software in a virtual machine in Vista -- in other words, run a copy of XP inside a window, and then run the older software in that XP window. Vista Enterprise will have a feature called Virtual PC Express that will let users run one virtual machine at a time on Vista. Business customers with a Software Assurance (SA) agreement with Microsoft will get Virtual PC Express as well. Those who don't have a version of Vista with Virtual PC Express built in can always buy Microsoft Virtual PC or VMware to create virtual machines.

In addition, version 5 of Microsoft's Application Compatibility Toolkit (ACT) will identify software that has problems running in Vista, and will offer fixes for the problems. For details, check out this whitepaper on Microsoft TechNet.

12. What are the system requirements for Vista, and how do I know if my PC will support it?

Editor's Note: This answer was updated on May 19, 2006, to include newly released information from Microsoft.

If you believe Microsoft, all you'll need to run Vista are a "modern CPU" (essentially a Pentium 4 or equivalent), 512MB of RAM, and "a graphics processor that is DirectX 9 capable."

But don't believe Microsoft. The company has a history of significantly lowballing the hardware requirements for its operating systems. For example, it says that the XP Home Edition can be run with 128MB of memory. Don't try that at home, kids.

Gartner estimates that half of corporate PCs won't be able to run Vista -- and you can bet that number is higher for home users, who tend to upgrade less frequently.

For example, the above specifications are for running what Microsoft calls a "Vista Capable" PC, and a Vista Capable PC won't be able to handle all of Vista's advanced features. For those, you'll need a "Vista Premium Ready" PC, which must have a 32- or 64-bit processor running at least as fast as 1GHz, 1GB of RAM, 128MB of graphics memory, a 40GB hard drive (with 15GB free), and a DVD-ROM drive.

You may also need more RAM on the graphics card if you want to run the Vista Aero interface in high resolutions and/or on multiple monitors. Keep in mind that Vista is a graphics-hungry, RAM-eating beast. If possible, get 2GB of RAM instead of 1GB. Look for an AGP or PCI Express graphics adapter that supports DirectX 9 with a Windows Display Driver Model (WDDM) developed for Vista, and that has 32-bits-per-pixel color depth and at least 64MB of video memory. Better yet, get 128MB.

If you want to find out if your hardware can handle Vista, Microsoft recently released the beta version of a new tool called the Windows Vista Upgrade Advisor that, when run on a Windows XP system, scans the PC and issues a report on its components and how they stack up against Vista's needs. It also recommends which Vista you should buy.

For those who care, here's the official Microsoft line on Vista hardware requirements. Better yet, see our hands-on testing of pre-release versions of Vista on various machines.

13. Will Vista run on Macs?

Mac owners can run Windows XP on an Intel-based Mac using the new dual-boot Boot Camp application, which lets them choose between XP and OS X at startup. But will they be able use it to boot into Vista?

At the moment, the answer is yes -- but only if they want to go through a great deal of pain and give up OS X. Messages on the OSx86 Project's Web site claim that users who want to boot into Vista may have to remove OS X.

"When you get to the section where it asks where to actually install Vista...well, here's the main problem," wrote a user identified as "AirmanPika" on the site. "You delete all of them. Even OS X. Yes, this isn't a dual-boot solution (yet anyway) but it does allow Vista to run." Another contributor going by "alexoughton" added that he had installed Vista without removing OS X by deleting the EFI partition that Apple's Boot Camp application creates.

Vista is still in beta, of course, so all this may change when it's finally released. But until then, if you're a Mac owner and you want to use Vista, you might have to kiss OS X goodbye -- which pretty much seems beside the point.

14. When should I upgrade to Vista?

That depends on how you or your company uses the operating system. At this point, there's no single, must-have killer Vista feature that might force you to upgrade. The new Aero interface and the gadget-filled Sidebar offer slick, Maclike interfaces, so if that's your bag, upgrade as soon as Vista comes out. And the Media Center is a better tool than in previous versions of Windows for those of you who want to integrate TV with your PC, create movies, or burn DVDs.

If you care about security, you'll want to upgrade right away, too, because Vista includes a variety of worthwhile security features.

For information on how quickly businesses plan to deploy Vista, see "A Clearer View Of Vista."

15. How long will Microsoft continue to support the XP operating system?

First, let's define what we mean by the word "support." Microsoft offers two kinds of support: mainstream and extended. Mainstream support includes security updates, non-security hot fixes, paid telephone support, and many other kinds of help. Extended support is a lower level of support; for example, Microsoft won't add new features to an operating system during extended support. (For details, see the Microsoft Support Lifecycle Policy FAQ.) Typically, consumer versions of software get only mainstream support, while enterprise-level software gets extended support after mainstream support runs out.

What does this mean for Windows XP? Microsoft will end support for XP Home Edition two years after the release of Vista. Assuming a January release date for the various home editions of Vista, mainstream support for XP Home Edition will end in January 2009. For Windows XP Professional, mainstream support will end two years after the release date of the business versions of Vista, but extended support will go on for five more years.

For information about how long Microsoft supports any operating system or software, check out Microsoft's support lifecycle page.

16. What does Vista's support for 64-bit computing mean for end users?

Various versions of Vista will support 64-bit PCs as well as 32-bit PCs, which are the standard these days. But most people won't see any benefits from the 64-bit version of the operating system, and so don't need to spend the extra money to buy a CPU with 64-bit support.

Generally, 64-bit PCs will get performance benefits only if applications are specifically written for 64 bits. Currently, there's very little software written for 64-bit PCs. Although that may change to a certain extent by the time Vista is released, don't expect a groundswell of 64-bit applications. So while Vista itself may run faster on a 64-bit PC, other software won't.

Your best bet? Before buying your next PC, find out from software vendors if the software you use will likely come out in 64-bit versions in the next year or two. If not, you can probably save your money and stay with a 32-bit PC, even though 64-bit Vista will be available. After all, there's a 64-bit version of XP available now, and hardly anybody is rushing out to buy 64-bit PCs.

17. How much of Vista is copied from Mac OS X?

A lot more than Microsoft would like to admit. The Aero interface, which features transparent and semitransparent windows, looks a lot like OS X. And small, interactive, single-purpose applets that sit on the desktop -- called Gadgets in Vista -- have been available in OS X as "widgets" for a long time.

There's also Vista's much-ballyhooed 3-D application switcher, called Flip 3D, which displays windows stacked on top of one another 3-D style and lets you browse through them until you find one you want. It looks an awful lot like OS X's Expose feature. Oh, and let's not forget Vista's promised global fast search feature. In OS X, that's called Spotlight.

18. Are there any back doors in Vista that will allow government snooping?

Given the federal administration's penchant for snooping without warrants, rumors are rife that Microsoft has been ordered to build in hidden back doors that the government can use to spy on people. Specifically, some believe that BitLocker Drive Encryption, which can be used to lock and unlock a hard drive's content, will be a back door into the system. A BBC report even reported that the British government's Home Office said it was "in talks with Microsoft" over using the technology for snooping.

Microsoft vehemently denies the claims. Niels Ferguson, a Microsoft developer and cryptographer working on BitLocker, wrote in a blog on the Microsoft Developer Network that such a back door would be allowed "over my dead body."

He added, "The official line from high up is that we do not create back doors. And in the unlikely situation that we are forced to by law, we'll either announce it publicly or withdraw the entire feature. Back doors are simply not acceptable. Besides, they wouldn’t find anybody on this team willing to implement and test the back door."

19. Will any Easter eggs be hidden in Vista?

No, Virginia, there will be no Easter eggs in Vista. Easter eggs are undocumented, hidden, playful messages or graphics that pop up when you press a particular key combination, or set of key combinations. They've been banned in Microsoft products, particularly in operating systems, because business and government customers expressed concerns that they could in some way represent a security hole or back door.

In addition, when Microsoft settled its anti-competitive suit with the federal Department of Justice several years ago, the software giant had to agree that it would have no undocumented features built into its operating systems. Easter eggs, by Microsoft's definition, are undocumented, and so they are now verboten.

20. Can a dual-boot PC be set up for Linux and Vista?

At the moment, it appears that it will be exceedingly difficult, or even impossible, to set up a dual-boot PC with both Linux and Vista on it. That's because of Vista's new hardware-based encryption feature called BitLocker Drive Encryption, which functions as a kind of data repository that protects data in case a PC is stolen or lost.

BitLocker Drive Encryption makes it difficult or impossible to exchange the data required by a dual-boot system, says security guru Bruce Schneir. "You could look at BitLocker as anti-Linux because it frustrates dual-boot," he said at a panel at the Infosec conference in London.

However, not all versions of Vista use BitLocker. At the moment, it's unclear if those other versions will be able to dual-boot between Linux and Vista.

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