Vista to enter Market in January 2007

Microsoft announced that Windows Vista, the next version of the Windows operating system, is all set to go on sale from January 30, 2007.

The news of the release comes days after Microsoft revealed that Vista would be obtainable to commercial clientele from 30 November. The release dates of the new Windows have come more than 5 years after Windows XP was launched.

According to the firm, Windows Vista is donned with a number of features, including Windows Aero, a redesigned user interface, a new Window Shell, consisting of improved filtering, sorting and grouping, and a Windows Sidebar, a panel on the side of the screen where the user can place desktop gadgets.

Vista will also have Windows Media player 11, which will be adorned with new features like word wheeling, an entirely new-fangled and extremely graphical interface for the media library, and photo display and organization.

It will also include Windows Mail, a replacement for Outlook Express, Windows Calendar, Windows Photo Gallery, Windows DVD Maker, Windows Meeting Space, a replacement for NetMeeting, Windows Media centre, Games, which have been re-written to take the advantage of Vista’s graphical capabilities.

Speech recognition has been fully integrated into Vista and new fonts have also been added.

It also uses technologies such as ReadyBoost and ReadyDrive, which ensures a good system performance. SuperFetch technology allows Vista to make intelligent decisions about what content should be present in system memory at any given time.

The primary design goal for Vista was extra security and the new features incorporated for this includes User Account Control, Windows Firewall with advanced security, Windows Defender, Address Space Layout Randomization, Windows filtering platform, Kernel Patch Protection, etc.

Microsoft revealed that six versions of Vista, ranging from $100 to $399, will be available- three for business, two for home and one for developing nations.

In order to benefit in the profitable holiday shopping period, Microsoft is offering coupons free of charge or discounted versions of Vista to consumers who buy a PC with the older Windows XP installed to encourage consumers to buy computers over the holiday period.

It has been estimated that the Multinational computer technology corporation Microsoft will be able to prompt a rise of more than 10% in the Window PC software sales in the financial year to 30 June, with most of the boost coming in the second half of the year.

Microsoft announced that in order to run Windows Vista, a PC needs to be configured with at least 800 MHz processor, 512 MB RAM and a DirectX 9 class graphics card. However, this configuration will not be competent of supporting the high end Vista graphics.

In order to enjoy Vista’s high-end features, a 1.0 GHz processor, 1 GB main memory, and an Aero-compatible graphics card with at least 128 MB graphics memory and supporting the new Windows Display Driver Model will be necessary.

Plagued by a series of development delays, Microsoft originally targeted a 2005 launch for Vista, then pushed the release out to 2006 before announcing in March that Vista would again be delayed. The analysts were even speculating that Microsoft will not be able to meet its January 2007 target.

"One of the biggest downside risks between now and year-end was any sort of delay in the Vista introduction," Romeo Dator, portfolio manager at US Global Investors, said.

"The worst-case scenario would have been if Microsoft had said 'we're delaying it again."