Why Windows Vista Won't Suck

I subscribe to several tech magazines. My favorite is PC Magazine. They always have really good articles on upcoming technology. Their website rocks, also. Their sister site, Extreme Tech, has some hardcore techie articles on it, but they recently put up a very good and in-depth article on Windows Vista. Check it out here.
I, myself, am eagerly anticipating the arrival of Vista later this year. This article sums up a lot of good points about why many of us are excited.

Some of the main changes I am looking forward to are the cleaning up of the user interface. Windows is getting an overhaul in the visual department. If your computer has the graphics capabilities, you will be able to run Vista's Aero Glass, which is the REAL interface. It makes windows 3-D. You'll be able to move windows all round the environment of your desktop, not just side to side, but back and forth. The windows will also be semi-transparent around the border so you'll see the background through it.

Another cool little feature will be the Windows Sidebar. This will be a small menu that can dock on the side of your screen. The menu will contain little AJAX/Java applets called "gadgets". This will be similar to the current Yahoo! Widget Companion (orignally called Konfabulator). I use the Yahoo! Widgets and they are pretty neat little apps that are updated real time and can show you your system resources, the current weather conditions, various world clocks or recite funny movie quotes. There are thousands of widgets out there that I'm sure will be re-written and ported to the Sidebar. Very cool stuff.

Security is another big issue Vista is addressing. The OS kernel is being re-written with security in mind. A lot of programs and actions will not execute through the kernel. When you add drivers or install software, since it isn't updating the kernel, you won't have to reboot. Theoretically. Hopefully this will work in the final product.

I don't plan on upgrading to Vista right away, I'll wait until it's "in the wild" for a while then buy a new computer with enough graphics horsepower to run Aero Glass and have Vista pre-installed. For upgraders, If your computer can't run Glass due to graphics liabilities, then Vista defaults to the classic Windows desktop without the graphical enhancements.

But really, what fun is that?

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