So Ya Think You Want to Go to Vista Huh???

[cuoficr]

Vista has already been released to manufacturing. happened over a month ago, a few of us posted the Official press release about it from MS but it was promplty deleted for god knows what reason.

 

http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/feature...08VistaRTM.mspx

 

REDMOND, Wash., Nov. 8, 2006 — As Windows Vista is released to manufacturing (RTM) today — a significant milestone for Microsoft and its partners — anticipation is building around that all-important question: How good is it really?

 

Microsoft says Windows Vista is its most heavily tested operating system ever, with deep investments made to ensure greater security, reliability and usability. But after all the time, expense and effort to get it right, does Windows Vista meet the quality bar? For answers to this and other questions about the quality of Windows Vista, PressPass spoke with Sven Hallauer, release manager and director of program management at Microsoft.

 

PressPass: Windows Vista was released to manufacturing today -- what does that mean?

 

Hallauer: Release to manufacturing signifies the completion of our development work and the start of the next phase for Windows Vista. Windows Vista is the highest-quality version of Windows that we’ve ever produced. We’ve had more people test more builds than previous development cycles, and the result is that we received more feedback than ever before.

 

 

Sven Hallauer, Release Manager, Director of Program Management

Click for high-res version.

 

That being said, Windows Vista’s journey is not yet done. PC makers, device manufacturers and software developers can finalize work on their products and applications to ensure great customer experiences when Windows Vista becomes available -- to our volume license customers this month and consumers on January 30, 2007.

 

PressPass: How do you define quality in relation to an operating system release? What are the important elements?

 

Hallauer: It’s a combination of the core operating system capability, plus ecosystem support and compatibility. In terms of core quality, we talk about three important factors — reliability, usability and security.

 

Reliability. We didn’t just fix the bugs, we took a new look at the classic places where customers have had the most pain. For example, we have a much more robust feedback mechanism built into Windows Vista to detect application crashes and hangs. We made a special effort to fix those issues, both through bug fixing and architectural changes in Windows Vista.

 

We also built mechanisms into the product to get more actionable feedback from customers to understand where their pain points are. Furthermore, we made that same degree of feedback available to our partners, and we made it easier for them to put updates on Windows Update, so that changes can be propagated to customers more easily. Finally, with Windows Vista we also doubled the number of stress tests that we run on a daily basis compared with Windows XP SP2, including a new kind termed “long haul” stress testing where systems are monitored over a 15-day period to ensure that they don’t exhibit any reliability issues. So there are a large number of factors that contribute to improved reliability in Windows Vista.

 

Usability. It’s important to note that usability isn’t just about how easy it is to get things done, but also about the performance of the system as a whole. With Windows Vista the usability of your system can get better every day as the operating system learns what you do and tailors itself to meet your needs. It does this using a new memory manager called SuperFetch. Before Windows Vista, computers allocated memory by reacting to requests — when the user ran an application, the operating system pulled the data into memory from a hard disk. With SuperFetch, the memory manager is proactive. SuperFetch discovers usage patterns and prepares commonly used data before the user needs it. For example, if a user logs in around 9 a.m. every morning and runs Microsoft Outlook, SuperFetch learns this and proactively ensures that Microsoft Outlook is ready in memory a few minutes before 9 a.m.

 

Security. Security is top of mind for all who work at Microsoft. We made significant investments in this area, focusing on defense in depth as well as more traditional code fuzzing techniques. Windows Vista is the first Microsoft operating system to be designed under the Secure Development Lifecycle (SDL), which is Microsoft’s process for building more secure software. We also applied computer science to the engineering process itself, using automated tools to search for code defects and prevent them from ever entering the product. This means that end users are more protected out of the box. We did this by adding features such as Internet Explorer Protected Mode, User Account Control and Windows Defender, which help people better protect themselves and their PCs by default. We did a study of all critical issues that affected Windows XP SP2 between November 2003 to September 2006 and found that the vast majority of these issues would either not affect Windows Vista at all or would have been reduced in severity due to the changes we’ve made. We know that even though Windows Vista is a more secure operating system it’s not impenetrable, and there will always be people looking for flaws. We’ve worked hard to make their job difficult.

 

PressPass: What about ecosystem support? What has Microsoft done to ensure that ISVs (independent software vendors) and IHVs (independent hardware vendors) are ready?

 

Hallauer: The launch date is a significant milestone for many of these companies. When we release a product to manufacturing, the ecosystem always ramps up quickly. When our hardware and software partners get gold code, they will have comparatively more time compared to Windows XP for the consumer launch in January to get ready, and more applications and hardware will be ready to work with the operating system than in any prior operating system release. This is a very common process and we expect that between today and January 30, 2007, the quantity and quality of device drivers will improve dramatically. For example, hundreds of top-tier ISV applications that we test today will be available with an upgrade or an update by the time we launch so that each of them works great with Windows Vista.

 

While we have the results of many successful initiatives integrated into Windows Vista, two initiatives stand out from a hardware vendor perspective. These are native support of DX10 graphics hardware, helping to offload work from the CPU to the GPU (graphics processing unit) while at the same time increasing the visual appeal and usability of Windows Vista, and the new print infrastructure. In both of these areas, we’ve been partnering with industry for years to provide feedback and prepare their solutions for market. We’ve talked about the operating system’s various features and how to get ready for it at the Professional Developer Conference, TechEd and WinHEC.

 

For ISVs, we’ve provided a new application interface for Windows that is based on managed code — .NET 3.0 — that enables them to leverage the Windows platform for the next generation of online as well as offline applications. In addition, our work on building the DX10 platform will enable the next generation of games as well as photorealistic modeling applications to be developed for the PC.

 

Finally, to help ISVs get their software ready for Windows Vista, Microsoft has launched the "Works with Windows Vista" and "Certified for Windows Vista" software logo programs. When building their next generation of Windows applications, ISVs should build towards the "Certified for Windows Vista" software logo specification. By certifying their software for Windows Vista, ISVs can differentiate their products and communicate to customers that their software has met explicit standards of quality and reliability. We currently have more than one thousand ISVs engaged in our Windows Vista early adopter programs and developing the next-generation of Windows applications.

 

For ISVs' current Windows XP applications, ISVs should test to ensure their applications are compatible with Windows Vista and submit their compatibility status through the "Works with Windows Vista" submission tool. ISVs can then use the "Works with Windows Vista" logo on their product box, Web page and other marketing material.

 

Participation in either of the Windows Vista logo programs enables ISVs to communicate the Windows Vista compatibility status of their applications through the Microsoft Application Compatibility Toolkit, Windows Vista Upgrade Advisor and Windows Marketplace. Developers can learn more by visiting http://www.innovateonwindowsvista.com.

 

PressPass: What have you done in Windows Vista so customers can deploy right away?

 

Hallauer: Windows Vista is built to be our most reliable operating system yet. We used new development methodologies that helped us build more secure and reliable software, and thanks to the Internet, we’ve distributed pre-release versions of Windows Vista to many more testers than ever before. There’s no doubt that this process has increased the quality of feedback we’ve received. Additionally, the pre-release versions of Windows Vista submitted crash data directly to Microsoft, which allowed us to learn about and address far more problems than for any previous versions of Windows.

 

The Web also enhances our ability to service Windows Vista. The most critical updates to the operating system, such as security and other important updates, will be delivered via Windows Update when they are ready so enterprises and consumers can deploy with confidence today.

 

We have also provided enterprises with the tools they need to deploy earlier, such as the Application Compatibility Toolkit, which we historically developed post product release.

 

PressPass: What is Microsoft doing in Windows Vista to ensure application compatibility for enterprise customers?

 

Hallauer: Application compatibility is a concern of organizations as they prepare to roll out Windows Vista. Microsoft took steps to address the concern earlier this year when it launched the Application Compatibility Toolkit to help customers identify applications that were not ready. More recently, we have taken our commitment a step further with the Windows Vista Application Compatibility Factory. The Application Compatibility Factory is an initiative that teams Microsoft with systems partners to help customers assess their applications’ compatibility with the operating system, remediate the applications as needed and then manage the deployment of Windows Vista across their company. We’ve also done a lot of outreach to get the ISV community up to speed, such as compatibility workshops.

 

PressPass: Looking ahead, has a date yet been set for the availability of Windows Vista for business customers? And what about general availability in 2007? Is everything on track?

 

Hallauer: Microsoft is hosting a series of events around the world on November 30 to officially recognize business availability of the 2007 Microsoft Office system, Exchange Server 2007 and Windows Vista, and we announced today that the worldwide general availability launch is January 30, 2007. So yes, everything is on track and we’re very excited about it.

[ViperJohn]

Vista has already been released to manufacturing. happened over a month ago, a few of us posted the Official press release about it from MS but it was promplty deleted for god knows what reason.

 

Released to manufacturing and "in the channel available" are two very different things. Press releases that are mysteriously pulled usually go hand in hand with something was found to be "Fubared" with the product.

 

Viper

[cuoficr]

No I mean deleted from this forum, not by MS.

[ReelFiles]

Was that post in the Unofficial Vista Thread? That's actually where all Vista related posts were supposed to go until it's final release.

[Anospa]

I dunno, for every good thing I've heard about Vista, I've easily heard more bad. I will eventually use it, but not sure if it will be my primary OS. I'll probably even put it on a separate HD so it doesn't freak out and search my other HDs for stuff. Pretty much the only things that I've seen that will make me get it are DX10 and the whole Aero thing. Really peeves me that people are so uptight about content protection. Is MS even the ones making the music/videos? Are they the ones writing legislature to bind the terms on what is piracy? Last time I checked, they weren't.

[ViperJohn]

I dunno, for every good thing I've heard about Vista, I've easily heard more bad. I will eventually use it, but not sure if it will be my primary OS. I'll probably even put it on a separate HD so it doesn't freak out and search my other HDs for stuff. Pretty much the only things that I've seen that will make me get it are DX10 and the whole Aero thing. Really peeves me that people are so uptight about content protection. Is MS even the ones making the music/videos? Are they the ones writing legislature to bind the terms on what is piracy? Last time I checked, they weren't.

 

The only good thing about Vista is it will be the only DX10 game in town (if you can call that

good) when that time comes. Other than that it is a slower than XP bloated pig of an OS

with fully supported DRM infestation.

 

The first thing you will probably do is disable the very awkward to navigate, video card heating

(it is constantly running 3D application now) "kiddy eye candy" Aero desktop and go to the

Windows classic DT thats is just plain fast and logical to work with. The only thing you might

get disabled faster than the Aero DT is the "User" protection so you are not bombarded with

"Are You Sure You Want To Do This Popup" at damn near every mouse click or keyboard

keystroke lol.

 

Viper

[zkissane]

You guys act as if MS voluntarily did this. HDCP is going to be required for every piece of hardware that handles HD-DVD and the like. Even entertainment systems that have no PC in them at all will have HDCP. MS just wants to be on the HD bandwagon like everyone else, and HDCP is part of the price that content providers (read: **AA) insist on being paid.

[Thraxz]

That's a joke. Portraying M$ as a victim to someone else is downright hilarious.

[zkissane]

What, do you think MS likes having to do this HDCP crap? What does MS make that needs it? They don't make movies or music. They've already got the copy protection for their products the way they want it.

 

Trust me, I bet they put a ton of man hours into coding and testing that crap, and in the end it doesn't even protect their content. Seriously, if you want someone to blame for HDCP, blame the **AA. Blaming MS for implementing it makes about as much sense as blaming NVidia or ATI for implementing it.

[ViperJohn]

You guys act as if MS voluntarily did this. HDCP is going to be required for every piece of hardware that handles HD-DVD and the like. Even entertainment systems that have no PC in them at all will have HDCP. MS just wants to be on the HD bandwagon like everyone else, and HDCP is part of the price that content providers (read: **AA) insist on being paid.

 

This goes Way WAY beyond HDCP of HDMI (and some DVI) outputs.

 

Viper

[red930]

Its very easy to bash Billy boy when a OS "new" or "old" doesnt go as you expect...

But in the end of the day we all use it wheter it is 98se or Xp.

I have seen much peeps whining about the Os they are using, ad more views about the " new" Os that is comming, but you are still free to go Linux, its not that billy-boy shows up your doorstep, puts a nuke to your head and yells;

"Now you install that OS or ill shoot!"

 

The one thing i find rare to read is this one:

 

Yea that Os doesnt quitte work on my machine, but i'm not entirely familiar with it either, i have to grant it to Billy-boy though, anyway you look at it, so far he is ableto give the world an OS that the world is actually using.

 

Trust me, i have used a beta too (read vista),m lost 2 gig o data while borking up.

And no i was defenitly not happy with that.

Although i must say i liked the interface, im weird in those things, but if i have a killer machine, i want to have that feel and look that i have a killermachine.

Note that a killer machine for me is probebly an ancient machine for you.

But its that "feel and look" that keeps me happy with my machine, i dont care if its forth generation by now as long as im happy i dont need better.

I would like one but thats beside the point:rolleyes:

 

We probebly find ourselfs in the years to come playing around with vista, why thats just the way things go, happend from 3.11 true 98 and ongoing to XP

and always i heard the yelling of; but the older one is so much better!

The newer one is bla ba

 

Ofc it is...well doh...

Every one needs to get used to it.

Or actually grab their balls and leave MS and go alternative, but then again from the ten yellers maby 1 goes linux, so ill prob wait and see;)

 

For all those ppes that obviously dont garre with me:

 

Try it out, take an opensource OS, start coding and see how many years it will take before you managed to do what billy-boy accomplished so far, dont think you need to make money but just try it out.

 

just my eurocent:)

[red930]

Its very easy to bash Billy-boy when a OS "new" or "old" doesnt go as you expect...

But in the end of the day we all use it wheter it is 98se or Xp.

I have seen much peeps whining about the Os they are using, ad more views about the " new" Os that is comming, but you are still free to go Linux, its not that billy-boy shows up your doorstep, puts a nuke to your head and yells;

"Now you install that OS or ill shoot!"

 

The one thing i find rare to read is this one:

 

Yea that Os doesnt quitte work on my machine, but i'm not entirely familiar with it either, i have to grant it to Billy-boy though, anyway you look at it, so far he is able to give the world an OS that the world is actually using.

 

Trust me, i have used a beta too (read vista), lost 2 gig of data while borking up.

And no i was defenitly not happy with that.

Although i must say i liked the interface, im weird in those things, but if i have a killer machine, i want to have that feel and look that i have a killermachine.

Note that a killer machine for me is probebly an ancient machine for you.

But its that "feel and look" that keeps me happy with my machine, i dont care if its forth generation by now as long as im happy i dont need better.

I would like one but thats beside the point:rolleyes:

 

We probebly find ourselfs in the years to come playing around with vista, why thats just the way things go, happend from 3.11 true 98 and ongoing to XP

and always i heard the yelling of; but the older one is so much better!

The newer one is bla ba

 

Ofc it is...well doh...

Every one needs to get used to it.

Or actually grab their balls and leave MS and go alternative, but then again from the ten yellers maby 1 goes linux, so ill prob wait and see;)

 

For all those peeps that obviously dont agree with me:

 

Try it out, take an opensource OS, start coding and see how many years it will take before you managed to do what billy-boy accomplished so far, dont think you need to make money but just try it out.

 

just my eurocent:)