Just moments ago at around midnight EST, Microsoft Windows Vista made it to North American shores after a long five year wait and being plagued by a series of development delays after the release of its predecessor, Windows XP, thus it makes the longest time spam between two releases of Windows. Earlier today, the company released the new operating system around Europe and Asia with New Zealand being the first country to have Windows Vista on its store shelves, due to its timezone.

The flag ship product is available in more than 70 countries and in 19 languages with 99 languages expected by the end of this year. The product will be available at more than 39,000 retail stores and online.

One tidbit is that New Zealand All Blacks rugby union star, Daniel Carter purchased a Hewlett-Packard laptop for a Dick Smith Electronics "PowerHouse" in Manukau City, New Zealand. That laptop is currently put on a action site TradeMe with all profits made will be donated to charity.


Here's a complete and lengthly run down on Microsoft Windows Vista:

Main Features

Windows Vista contains hundreds of new features including an updated graphical user interface and visual styles dubbed Windows Aero. Improved searching feature and multimedia creation tools such as Windows DVD Maker, completely redesigned networking, audio, print and display subsystems to name a few. Windows Vista also includes .NET Framework version 3 in which it will make it significantly easier for developers to write-quality applications than with the traditional Windows API.

Windows Vista will also include Windows DirectX 10, but it will not work on prior versions of Windows as DirectX 10 is not backwards-compatible with DirectX 9.

Windows Vista also comes in four viusual styles, Windows Aero, Windows Vista Standard, Windows Vista Basic and Windows Classic.

Windows Aero, built on a new destop composition engine called the Desktop Window Manager introduces supported for 3D graphics (Windows Flip 3D, translucency effects window animations and other visual effects). Depending on the resolution used, Windows Aero requires at least 64 MB of graphics memory and it's not available for the Starter and Home Basic editions.

Windows Vista Standard is the default mode for the Windows Vista Home Basic Edition product. It is a variation of Windows Aero, but without the glass effects, window animations and other advanced graphical effects. The Starter edition does not support this mode.

Windows Vista Basic has aspect that are similar to Windows XP's visual style with the addition of subtle animations such as those found on progress bars. This mode is for older computers with graphic cards that are not powerful enough to support Windows Aero and it does not require the Windows Display Driver Model for display drivers.

Windows Classic has the design and feel of Windows 2000 and Windows Server 2003. It does not use the Desktop Windows Manager nor the WDDM driver. This theme supports colour schemes in which are a collection of colour settings. Windows Classic comes with six classic colour schemes, comprised of four high contrast colour schemes as well as the default colour schemes that were once used in Windows 95 and Windows 2000.

For the rest of newest or improved features in Windows Vista, please read this Wikipedia Article.


Pricing, Availability and Overview of Windows Vista Editions

Pricing for all four editions of Windows Vista (excluding Windows Vista Enterprise) were announced on 5 September 2006. It will be made available through retail channels and will ship in all six editions. With the exception of Windwos Vista Starter, they'll suport both 32-bit (x86) and 64-bit (x64) architectures. Here's a complete rundown:

Windows Vista Starter Edition is a low-cost version of Windows Vista Home Basic and it will be limited to emerging markets such as Argentina, Brazil, Indonesia, Malaysia, Mexico, Philippines, Russia, Thailand and Turkey, mainly to offer a legal alternative to use unauthorised copies. It's similar to Windows XP Home Edition, and it is limited to low-end hardware, can only run three programmes at a time and has a lot of features that are either removed or disabled by default.

The physical memory limit is 1 GB, hard drive sizes can only be up to 120 GB and it will only run in 32-bit mode. Only AMD's Duron, Sempron, Geode processors as well as Intel's Celeron and Pentium III processors will be supported. The Starter Edition includes special features for emerging markets where consumers may not be computer literate nor be able to speak English.

Windows Vista Home Basic is intended for PCs that are up to a few years old and for tight budget consumers not requiring any advanced media for support for home use. The Windows Aero theme with translucent effects is not included in this edition.

The 64-bit edition of this product will support up to 8 GB of physical memory. The pricing for the Home Basic upgrade is just $99.95 ($129 in Canada) and the retail version will run at $199 ($259 in Canada).

Windows Vista Home Premium has all of the features from Home Basic, but it will also support more feature that are aimed for the home market segment, including HDTV support and DVD authoring. Extra premium games, mobile and tablet PC, network projector, touchscreen and auxiliary display (via Windows SideShow) support and even a utility to schedule backups are all included. Compared to 5 simultaneous peer network connections in Home Basic, Home Premium has twice that number. And while Meeting Space meetings may only be viewed in Home Basic, they'll be allowed for anyone to interact.

Comparable to the Windows XP Media Center Edition, the 64-bit edition of Home Premium will support up to 16 GB of physical memory and it will retail at $239 ($299 in Canada) for the full version and $159 ($199 in Canada) for the upgrade.

Windows Vista Business is aimed at the small to medium-sized business markets and it's comparable to Windows XP Professional Edition and Windows XP Tablet PC Edition. Includes all of the features of Home Premium with the exception of Windows Media Center and related technologies, parental controls, Windows DVD and Movie Maker HD. Vista Business includes the IIS web server, fax support, Right Management Services (RMS) Client, file system encryption, dual processor support, system image backup and recovery, offline file support, a full version of Remote Desktop that will support incoming connections, ad-hoc P2P collaboration capability, Windows ShadowCopy and several other business features not found in Home Premium.

The 64-bit edition of this product will support up to as much as 128 GB of physical memory and pricing for a upgrade will cost you $199.95 ($249 in Canada) and $299 ($379 in Canada) for the full retail version.

Windows Vista Enterprise is aimed at the enterprise segment of the market and a superset of the Business Edition. For more information on Windows Vista Enterprise, please refer to this previous news article. This 64-bit edition of this product will support up to 128 GB of physical memory and it will only be available as the Part of Software Assurance enterprise licensing.

Windows Vista Ultimate combines all of the features of the Home Premium and Enterprise editions, Windows System Assessment Tool, a game performance tweaker and Ultimate Extras. Vista Ultimate has multi-user interface language packs that are designed to allow individuals filent in different languages to share the same PC, BitLocker Online Secure Key Storage, where Vista Ultimate consumers will be offered a secure place to store their BitLocker encryption keys in the Online Vista Marketplace. Digital publications will also contain a collection of tips and tricks, blog lins and many other resources for getting the most out of Vista Ultimate. For more information about Windows Vista Ultimate, you can read through its website here.

Vista Ultimate is targets at high-end PC users, gamers, multimedia professionals and PC enthusiasts. Like the 64-bit Vista Business and Enterprise editions, this edition will support up to 128 GB of physical memory. Pricing for Vista Ultimate will be $259 ($299 in Canada) for the upgrade and $399 ($499 in Canada) for the retailed version.


Hardware Requirements

Microsoft has stated that computers that are capable of running Windows Vista are classified as Vista Capable and Vista Premium Ready.

A Vista Capable or equivalent PC will need to have at a minimum, a 800 MHz processor, 512 MB of physical memory, a DirectX 9 capable graphics card, a hard drive that has a 20 GB of total capacity with at least 15 GB of it remaining. Also, a CD-ROM or a DVD-ROM drive is required incase you would like to install Windows Vista on your computer.

A Vista Premium Ready PC will take advantage of Vista's higher-end features, but it will lead a processor that has a speed of at least 1 GHz, 1 GB of physical memory, a Windows Aero-compatible graphics card that has a DirectX 9 capable graphics processing unit (GPU) with Hardware Pixel Shader v2 and Windows Display Driver Model (WDDM) driver support. 128 MB of graphics memory is required for resolutions supporting up to 2,756,000 total pixels (1,920 x 1,200). 512 MB or higher for greater resolutions such as 2,560 x 1,600 (4,096,000 total pixels) on dual-display monitors. The size of your hard drive needs to be at least 40 GB with 15 GB of free space on it. A DVD-RW is required also.


Lifecycle Support Policy

Mainstream support for Windows Vista Business, Enterprise and Ultimate editions end on 10 April 2012 and extended support will end on 11 April 2017. Windows Vista Home Basic and Home Premium editions do not have extended support.

Windows XP users need to be aware that in favour of Microsoft focusing on Windows Vista, it's new flagship operating system, the company may evidently cancel developement for Windows XP Service Pack 3. Mainstream support for Windows XP Home Edition (including Media Center Edition 2002, Media Center Edition 2004, Media Center Edition 2005, Media Center Edition 2006 Update Rollup 2) will end on 14 April 2009 and there will be no extended support.

Mainstream support for Windows XP Professional Edition (including Windows XP Professional x64 Edition, Windows XP Tablet PC Edition and Windows XP Tablet PC Edition 2005) will end on 14 April 2009 and extended support will conclude on 8 April 2014. Windows XP Service Pack 2 is affected by the support cutoff date. Security updates will continue to be delivered through Windows Update until 12 April 2011...two years after the beginning of the extended support phase.

This is a part of the Microsoft Lifecycle Policy and Microsoft will soon retire all public and technical support, including security updates by these dates. The reason why Microsoft will soon be retiring support for all versions of Windows XP is because, the operating system is getting old, outdated and all of these versions of that predecessor operation system will soon expose consumers to security risks. Microsoft strongly recommends consumers who are still running Windows XP to either purchase a new PC or upgrade to Windows Vista as it will report improved security, better functionality and increased productivity.

When Windows XP reaches the end of its life on a mainstream and extended scale, the company may no longer allow consumers to reactivate their product either over the phone or via the internet. Sometime in early 2009, Microsoft will most likely provide a update for Windows XP that will turn off activation as Windows XP enters extended support phase later on in the year. This is incase users would no longer have to activate the product via the phone or the internet.


Questions and Comments

Should you have any concerns or questions in regards to the worldwide release of Microsoft Windows Vista, you are welcomed to post your thoughts.

Microsoft Windows Vista Official Website