Microsoft will finally release the upgraded version of its Windows operating system, Windows Vista, in January after final tests are completed. But we had a sneak preview of the a design and applications.
In Windows XP, the current version, users have to click on an icon in the taskbar to see the window they want to work with. Windows Vista allows them to look at live thumbnails of windows just by placing the cursor on the taskbar. Its Flip 3D feature allows you to use the scroll wheel on your mouse to flip through a stack of open windows. The new Explorer, meanwhile, allows users to look at detailed information of digital photos stored including camera manufacturer¡¯s name and model name, exposure time, sensitivity, and F-numbers.
It also introduces something called ¡°gadgets¡± -- mini-applications that can connect to web services to deliver weather information, news updates, traffic maps and Internet radio streams. They can also have any number of dedicated purposes such as calculators, games, post-it notes, and more. Windows Vista, Microsoft claims, has greatly improved security features to protect PCs from viruses and spyware to which the firm¡¯s products have been highly vulnerable. The new version also has an improved power control feature. Its new ¡°sleep¡± mode combines the strengths of the existing stand-by and hibernation modes to save power. In sleep mode, Vista is not switched off, and if you turn it on again, the windows you worked with come back in two seconds. The feature is especially helpful for people working with laptops because it helps the battery last longer.
People can improve their computer¡¯s working speed by using an affordable, large-capacity USB card as Windows Vista¡¯s extended cache memory. Vista works best with a main memory of more than a 1 GB capacity, 3 GHz-level CPU, and new graphic card. The Windows Vista final test version is 3.54 GB, and Microsoft will choose a DVD, which has a far larger storage capacity than the CD Rom used for previous versions. In all, six versions of the Windows Vista will come out including those for home and business users, with a theoretical price tag of W180,000-360,000 (US$1=W946).
Windows Vista is ready for 64-bit computing supported by Intel¡¯s Core 2 Duo processor and AMD¡¯s Athlon 64 processors.
The article is an edited version of a piece that appeared on www.kbench.com, an IT review website.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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