Windows Vista

Windows Vista (formerly code named Longhorn) is the next evolution of Microsoft's operating system. Vista offers an advancement in reliability, security, ease of deployment, performance and manageability over Windows XP. As of July 30, 2005 Windows Vista is in the beta 1 phase and is expected to be released late in 2006. Some of the Windows Vista features include the following:

• Detects hardware problems before they occur, which is designed to reduce the frequency of incidents in which applications stop responding or the PC needs to be restarted.
• Windows Vista security features protect against the latest generation of threats, such as worms, viruses and spyware. If an attacker manages to compromise a computer, Windows Vista limits the damage.
• Security features protect against the latest generation of threats, such as worms, viruses and spyware. If an attacker manages to compromise a computer, Windows Vista limits the damage.
• Faster start-up time and low power consumption of the new sleep state. In many cases, Windows Vista is noticeably more responsive than Windows XP on identical hardware.
• Windows Vista simplifies and centralizes desktop configuration management, reducing the cost of keeping systems updated.