Vista to take a cue from budget Windows

Microsoft is sprinkling some features from Windows XP Starter Edition into Windows Vista, the next generation of its operating system.

The software maker plans to take the video help feature in XP Starter, which is geared to PC users in emerging markets, and put it into all versions of Vista, said Mike Wickstrand, a director for Windows Starter at Microsoft.

"This is 'trickle-up' innovation," Wickstrand said, noting that in most cases, technologies are geared toward early adopters and heavy users. Only later do they "trickle down" to beginning users, he said.

XP Starter is only available loaded onto a computer for purchase. The Vista Starter version is expected to be released early next year, when all versions of the long-awaited Vista update are supposed to hit the market.

The XP version, which debuted in November 2004 and has reached more than a million families in emerging markets, is offered in 25 languages. When Vista Starter is launched, that will be expanded to 79 languages.

"We wanted to reach deeper into markets that we previously didn't have the ability to touch," Wickstrand said.

Another addition to Vista Starter is the capability to open a limitless number of windows. In the XP version, people are restricted to only three windows at a time. However, both XP Starter and the update will continue to limit the number of programs that can run simultaneously to three.

[fred dunn]

Vista is just a waste of good resources...

Vista is a sad OS. It is trying to be what XP is functionally and what the Mac UI is along with other "bling". the problem with that is the incredible amount of resources required to get a halfway decent response out of it when you are running apps like Office (2003).
Since they redesigned the OS supposedly from the "ground up" with a whole new codebase then there are going to be that many more coding errors most likely resulting in susceptible vulnerabilities. Also due to MS allowing the world to have the beta people are picking it apart as we speak.
It used to be that the "black hats" were in it for the challenge but that is not the case anymore, it all about money. So the same blackhats that are discovering security vulnerabilities in Vista are NOT disclosing them to MS or anybody else, rather they are waiting for the Vista userbase to build then they will be selling these vulnerabilities to the highest bidder.
I won't be going to Vista as I think it is another Windows ME. It is just another version to skip. If MS doesn't come out with something better than this then they are through.
If the server version is anything like Vista then it too will be a skip version.

[rcrusoe]

Re: from the ground up

Here's my question. IF Vista was designed from the "ground up",
why is it that Vista is having to be patched for almost every XP
security problem that is found.

That alone makes me doubt that Vista is anything except another
layer of patches on the old NT core.

[jakenhauser]

What???

First off, have you even used it?? I am running it on a two year old single core P4 with a gig of ram and RC 2 runs better than XP. It does use slightly and I stress slighty more resources, but on my tired machine it does not degrade performance in the least. If you have used it and are basing your opinions on that fine, but if you haven't, how can you possibly know what you are talking about!!!

[cnutsucks]

Vista Schmista...Just Another Hacker Tool

In case any of you folks have not installed the beta, Vista is nothing but a hacking and spying OS
http://www.teckmagazine.com/content/view/690/43/
for M$. It's slow, outdated and has more holes in it than any previous version of Windows. Don't believe me, then go to M$'s site and install the beta. It will render your system unusable.

[djcaseley]

Through?

"If MS doesn't come out with something better than this then they are through."

Uh-huh. Microsoft are going down the pan. They'll run out of money, and everyone will use a competing O/S on their x86 systems.

Forget it. We're locked into Microsoft for the forseeable future, and Vista will be a success because people will buy it because its new.

Haven't tried it yet. Can't really comment on the resources it takes. If its too high, I'll put it off. Windows XP took years before it properly saturdated the market.

[huddie klein]

Feature

So NOT limmiting the amount of open windows is a feature? In fact a trickle up INNOVATION!?

I would laugh if this was not so very, very sad...

[TravP]

Talk about misreading

The video help feature, which was previously only in the Starter editions, is now being included in ALL versions of Vista. THAT is what was referred to as "trickle-up innovation". Not the relaxation of the open windows limitation.

Don't let anger cloud your reading comprehension.

[rmiecznik]

No lines on release date

One thing is for sure, you are not going to see people camp overnight to get this, most people will not even notice the release and a majority are fed way beyond repair.

I will await their next OS version, which I think will be their last, if they don't get their act together.

[jakenhauser]

Hmmmm

Another clueless poster. Probably someone whom has never used it. I use RC 2 and it runs better than my XP box, so get your facts straight. As far as it being as bad as M.E., in RC form it is already better than M.E.

[mgreere]

Yeah "innovation" lol!

Repackaging video help -- right... it fits in nicely with MS's
definition.

Innovation: Anything WE didn't do in the previous release.