VISTA... FACTS OVERMINED

"I am not sure how the company lost sight of what matters to our customers (both business and home) the most, but in my view we lost our way. I think our teams lost sight of what bug-free means, what resilience means, what full scenarios mean, what security means... I would buy a Mac today if I was not working at Microsoft"

After the much anticipated release of “the safest version of Windows ever”, Windows Vista, both business and home users alike --were amazed by the striking similarities between the Windows desktop client and Apple’s Mac OS X. And what followed corroborated that this was not a mere concurrence.

1GHz 32bit(x86) or 64bit(X64) processor, minimum 1GB RAM, DirectX 9 supported WDDM driver graphics card with at least a graphics memory of 256MB --if you ever fancy playing games. And not to mention the demanding system memory speed of 1800meg per second. In short, be ready to get your system up-upgraded and ruin yourself.

Does Vista really worth that much? Do the functionality, manageability, productivity and security of the OS outweigh its cost of deployment? Or should we stick to XP at least for a year or so? To answer these we have to know what Vista offers.

Aero, the much touted 3D user interface experience with translucent icons, program windows, 3-D scrollable task manager and other elements, looks cool, but it cannot be the reason to invest so large in Vista for home users. The business and tech-savvy users who are interested in how-stuffs-work cannot be impressed by such flashy appearances. A much similar graphical user experience was introduced by Apple OS X but they scarped it, since its Panther OS X due to the poor response. The tech community has not witnessed any change in the scenario for these fancy features to become a hit. And Vista will reduce to Windows Vista Basic mode, without Aero, unless you get an advanced graphics card installed.

Another concerning aspect for all users is regarding security. Vista was released as the most secure Windows ever with features like Windows Defender, anti-spam and phishing filters and Parental Controls. Vista is first OS that the Redmond giant released assuming that it would be attacked. Vista boasts of not wanting any antivirus applications; with its built-in facilities like Automatic backups, Performance Self-Tuning, and built-in diagnostics that help you keep your data protected and your PC running smoothly. The claim was thwarted with the detection of bugs in Vista, immediately after its release. A serious error was discovered in Internet Explorer 7 which will be of aid to hackers. Windows admitted these security threats but still claimed the OS to be the most secure OS one can get. Windows XP has at least been patched and can be used with a plethora of reasonably effective security tools that work now, without waiting for an update. Or switch over to the virtually virus free world of open source OS.

The new OS tightly integrates instant desktop search, with powerful indexing and user-assignable metadata, that make searching for all kinds of data--including files, e-mails, and Web content a lot easier. This feature, that Mac OS X has had since Jaguar in 2002, is really handy --could be the bottom entry of a list with more productive features on top. The database-like WinFS filesystem, an attribute that would have appealed corporate customers, is dropped altogether.

Connecting to various networks is a key capability in today's OSes. Vista’s Network Center makes it effortless not only to create secure ad hoc wireless networks, multiple networks and wireless peripherals, but manage network connections in a resourceful way. Then again, all OSes in the market does all of these and Vista offers nothing to give it an edge over others. The Unix based Linux OS clearly have an upperhand over all operating systems since it was primarily developed for multiuser and multitasking capabilities and over the years it has proved its merit.

Internet Explorer, the Windows browser; has got a major version change since the release of IE 6.0 in 2001--thanks to the phenomenal incarnation of the Open Source lad Firefox, is now IE7 and comes as the integrated browser with Vista. It has Firefox-inspired tabbed browsing, better privacy management policies, anti-phishing and anti-spoofing facilities all packed up to provide both pleasant and safer browsing experience. Well, here is the expert comment-Gates and Mozilla browsers basically have almost similar feature set but for ActiveX support. ActiveX, the Microsoft technology to install on-the-fly programs for displaying certain web pages, is found in many places --from Outlook Web Access to some Web-based applications. Nevertheless, hackers use ActiveX as a tool to install applications with the intention of risking the security of the system. Vista has an Opt-in block for ActiveX and Firefox does not authenticate ActiveX at all. As far as security is concerned, Firefox uses Google’s database to inform you of sites of suspected forgery and has anti-phishing features as well. And for your kind information, IE7 is competing with the previous version, Firefox 2.0, of the Mozilla Foundation and according to its media release the latest version of the browser, Firefox 3.0, is due towards the end of this year.

The backup facilities of Windows has changed little in the past decade, when the Secondary data storage technology explored new grounds. Vista, in order to catch up with the recent developments, has improved its built-in Back-up utility and System Restore facilities that makes “shadow copies” of files and folders and stores in protected regions of the disk. On the event of a catastrophic virus infection or failed software installation, system restores these copies thereby protecting your valuable data. To be loud and clear, you will get a multitude of softwares that equips you with the same facilities for your XP system and these features are built-in for UNIX-based systems.

Vista claims to protect kids online through its centralized Parental Controls that permits to set browsing controls and thereby restricting access to inappropriate sites. You are aware that even XP has a Parental Control feature and that how ineffective it is in its purpose. The enhanced version in Vista too; relies on websites, forums and personal websites to implement the proprietary tags and rating systems. If you want real protection look for free/open source applications such as CensorNet that are actively developed by those with an incentive to do so, the same people who use them!

The Windows Collaboration module uses peer-to-peer technology to let Vista users work together in a shared workspace. You can form informal workgroups and jointly work on documents, present applications and share viruses too.

Whether you like it or not, Gates &Co will withdraw the XP version of Windows within two years. That says you can afford to sit back and relax only for the time being. You can either commence the process of switching over to Vista or plunge into the world of Open Source or at worse, get an Apple system --the last alternative is suicidal as you will be stuck to one hardware vendor, not withstanding its high cost.

Jim Allchin, Microsoft executive and Coordinator of all the developmental activities of Vista, whined for the company “losing sight” and “losing way” in an e-mail to Mr.Gates, in 2004, when Vista was still Longhorn. The confidential mail leaked out recently and the Rich man is searching in dark for explanation. The striking semblance of the new OS with Mac OS X can be attributed to this I-would-buy-a-Mac mail.