- Apr 19, 2005
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More Changes then you think:
Deployment/Servicing: Monad
Object-oriented command-line tool that will eventually replace DOS. It was supposed to be released as a part of Longhorn server (due to be released a year after Longhorn) but was backported to Windows Vista. That's right, we got a great feature *earlier than expected*
Deployment/Servicing: Faster Installation
Installations will take 15-20 minutes instead of an hour. Before, Windows would copy each and every file to the hard drive and renaming them, create the registry, insert registry entries one by one, etc. Longhorn's installer works like a ghosting program, it creates a disk-image of what a fully installed system would be and extracts the image onto the drive and that's it. I wouldn't say that this is the great thing since sliced bread despite how fast it is, because there shouldn't be a need to install it more than once
Deployment/Servicing: ClickOnce
Applications can be stored on central server and network users can launch the application on their own computers. You don't need to install and update an anti-virus on every computer - you can keep it on the master computer and they can just pull it off everytime they boot and you only need to update one computer.
Deployment/Servicing: Driver Protection
Longhorn will have a list of the driver versions of different devices that are known to cause stability problems and will avoid loading those particular drivers.
Deployment/Servicing: Error Data Transmission
Error data can now be sent to the master computer of a network so it is easy to service any problems that may be experienced on computers in a network. This means that the network administrator or technician will have the ability to fix a lot of problems before the user of the networked computer even realizes there is a problem.
Deployment/Servicing: Language Independence
Longhorn is installed in a language-independant manner and extra languages can be easily installed. This allows multiple users on the same computer to use the language they prefer.
Filesystem: Transactional File Transfers
When updating, for just one example, the process can fail half-way and leave a half-upgraded system. Transactional file transfers means that if one change doesn't go through then all of the other changes are undone so you want have a half-upgraded system with stability issues.
Filesystem: File Virtualization
Longhorn can automatically create virtual copies of files and folders when programs need to use those files under limited accounts. This means that using limited user accounts will no longer cause applications to crash and burn and this will also mean it will protect from damages made by viruses and such because they will be writing to fake files and NOT the real ones. This is a "killer feature".
Hardware: Built-in DVD Recording
The same the built-in CD recording in XP except with DVDs. This is another great feature, will make back-ups much simpler.
Hardware: Auxiliary Devices
Laptops will have small displays on their cases that the system can use, Longhorn will give you access to emails, calendar, etc. on the external displays so you don't need to turn on the whole laptop.
Hardware: Microphone Arrays
Several microphones can be used on a single system and the noise (read: a static-like sound) can effectively be filtered out of the recordings. The noise on one microphone may not be present on another so Longhorn will know what sounds the noise is causing and effectively remove them - giving you a very clear and well-recorded sounds.
Hardware: Hybrid Hard-drive support
Hard-drives that utilize flash memory (hence, hybrids) will be used in Longhorn for caching purposes, "instant on" (hey! I forgot to list that feature!), etc. The flash memory reduces the amount of spinning the hard drive has to do and can deliver data faster so the computer will run faster, produce less heat, the hard drive will last longer, and laptop users will experience longer battery life.
Hardware: Stealth Modding
Currently, you have to start your system from scratch if you replace the motherboard or something in the computer. Stealth modding allows the user to just use different drivers when hardware is replaced so the upgrade process is much simpler. This effectively means that you CAN throw hardware at a problem.
Interface: Device Manager Improvements
The device manager in Longhorn has been massively improved. Instead of being the junk-heap for hardware information like it is in current versions of Windows, it will be much more robust and more user-oriented. The device manager will allow you to easily configure hardware, easily update hardware drivers, provide a better interface for troubleshooting, and provides the ability to print a document containing a list of the hardware in the computer. The Device manager also provides a dialog ("Get help for my hardware device" that allows the user to find common problems associated with a particular peice of hardware.
Interface: Help and Support Headlines
The user can visit the Help and Support document to find answers to their problems. Longhorn takes this a step further by providing dynamic content that provides help to the newest (or most popular) support problem and provide news about security bulletins, updates, and newer help documentation.
Interface: Faster Search Engine
If you know what Apple's SpotLight is then you will know what this does. That's right, WinFS is nothing like Spotlight! Apple lied to all of you and got cheered on while doing it! WinFS will stomp "Spotlight" into the iGround.
Interface: Start Menu Program Searching
The search field in the Start menu can instantly filter the programs on the computer when you type. Thus, type "D" and it would only list programs that start with "D", type "De" and it will only show you results that start with those letters, etc. This is great because it not only gives you results that are in your start menu though, it gives you access to EVERY application on your computer. Who needs an "All Programs" menu anyway? (it's still there, I'm just making a point)
Interface: Virtual Folders
You can create virtual folders that behave like file organizers. For example, you could create a virtual folder about "Longhorn" and it will pull ALL of the files related to Longhorn on your computer to that central location for you to easily browse by. Effectively removing the need to stay organized and search for files - Windows Vista knows where all of the files are and helps you find things. This was one of the "killer features" that people thought they lost with the removal of WinFS - it's still here and you won't find it on Linux or Mac.
Interface: Thumbnailing Extensibility
Office Word, Office Excel, and RAW images now show thumbnails inside Explorer. The thumbnailing support has been opened up to developers so other applications can create their own file thumbnailing support and embed it into Windows.
Interface: Avalon
New programming API for developers to utilize to create visually-rich applications.
Interface: Theming Unlocked
Unlike Windows XP, the theming capabilities will not be limited to Microsoft-only themes so we will no longer need to patch our system to enjoy a wide variety of themes.
Interface: Native RSS Support
RSS feeds will be available to every application on the computer and they can all save the feeds to the same location. This means that subscribing to a feed in Internet Explorer will also result in the Opera browser seeing the same feed (of course, Opera would have to utilize the feature themselves for this to work, its just an example.)
Interface: Aero
- Aero Diamond (Media Center Edition - Aero Glass on steroids)
- Aero Glass (semi-transparent window borders and toolbars that blur the things behind them)
- Aero Express (toned down version of Aero Glass for slightly slower hardware.)
- Aero To-Go (XP-style interface.)
- Aero Classic (2000-style interface.)
Internet: Indigo
Programming framework for creating powerful Internet-based applications and web services.
Internet Explorer: Tabs
Self-explanatory. The only thing about this that might not be self-explanatory is the "empty tab" at the end of the tab toolbar that essentially removes the need to create a new tab, there will always be one available so you can just switch to it.
Internet Explorer: RSS
Self-explanatory.
Internet Explorer: Search Bar
Internet Explorer is following the searching trends that other browsers have created/followed by placing a search field to the right of the address field. I'm assuming it will use MSN search - just a wild guess
Kernel: Improved Hardware Scalability
Single-core processor with 512mb of RAM can easily be upgraded to a multi-core multi-processor rig with several gigabytes of RAM. Combine the better hardware scalability with the "Stealth Modding" capability, you will be able to throw hardware at problems.
Kernel: Application Resource Management
Applications can tell Longhorn how much CPU time, memory space, etc. they need to run glitch free. This will mainly benefit Audio and Video playback under heavy loads because they will remain glitch-free.
Kernel: Graphics Display Driver Model Improvements
Moves the screen-drawing work from the CPU to the graphics card so the screen will always be drawn like it should be (you'll never see things repaint themselves, windows will no longer turn into white boxes, you'll no longer see artifacts, etc.) and effectively reduces the amount of work the CPU has to do.
Kernel: TCP/IP Offloading
The buffering of TCP/IP packets and the handling of the TCP/IP protocol is moved from the CPU and main system memory to the network interface card. Currently it takes a 2ghz processor to fully utilize a gigabit ethernet connection and have the computer remain fast, this will no longer be a problem because you can simply upgrade your NIC instead of your processor AND NIC to utilize faster speeds.
Maintenance: Windows Assessment Tool
This will help you tweak your system to run to its full potential. WinSAT is a full benchmarking tool that can be used to find potential performance bottlenecks, can be utilized by PC games to ensure the game plays smoothly for your machine, etc.
Media: Glitch-free Audio and Video Playback
Windows Media Player 11 will take advantage of the improved resource management in the kernel to ensure glitch-free audio and video playback.
Miscellaneous: Metro
A technology that is meant to compete with Adobe PostScript (NOT PDF! I repeat, NOT PDF! - I doubt there's a single media outlet that has gotten that right!) It is essentially an easier way for applications to communicate with printers. We will no longer need to write directly to the printer line-by-line (I know this sounds weird to those who haven't done much programming, just bare with me) or having to learn PostScript. Anyone who can create an HTML file will be able to create rich printable documents.
Miscellaneous: Instant On
Due to the support of hybrid hard drives, Longhorn enables the computer to instantly come on by pulling data from the flash memory. Unlike coming out of standby, it will no longer need to pull the data from the spinning hard drive platters. This means that going into the standby-like state and coming out of it will be much quicker and easier on battery life.
Networking: Castle
A mini-domain system where users on the same network or subnetwork can join a domain to share information with others. This is different from the traditional domain approach because it doesn't require a dedicated machine (domain controller) to maintain the trust and identity relationship.
Programming: WinFX
Ties XAML, Avalon, Indigo, and WinFS -when released- together for an extremely easy way to create applications. Programmers currently utilize 72,000 (not a typo!) APIs to create applications for Windows. A lot of the work in Longhorn so far has been to reduce the amount of APIs that programmers have to deal with, and the current number is around 500 APIs (I can't remember the exact number from the top of my head.) This is one of my favorite changes in Longhorn, as someone who likes to write programs in their spare time I know this will allow me to get a lot more done! (thus, it will be cheaper for programmers to create software and they can updated much quicker.)
Registry: Transactional Registry Handling
This is the same as the transactional filesystem handling except for the registry. You'll no longer experience a half-updated Registry that can throw applications into a loop and cause you trouble.
Registry: Registry Virtualization
This is the same as the filesystem virtualization except for the registry. This allows normal software to work the whole time it is running (changes that are saved might not be though, since it is working with a fake registry) and viruses won't be able to cause any system-wide damage.
Security: full-volume encryption
Instead of allowing the user to encrypt particular folders and worry about locking people out of their accounts and other various problems associated with NTFS encryption, Longhorn will ease this process by encrypting everything for the user so potentially locking people out of their accounts is no longer a problem and encryption is there by default. This is another of those "killer features" that no other operating system has - and would you believe it is in the security category?
Security: Full NX (No Execute) Support
64-bit Processors support the ability to tag data memory as non-executable if the memory does not include executable data. This reduces the possibilities of arbitrary code execution exploits from occuring.[/b]
Security: Least-privilege User Access
All programs will run with the least amount of privileges they require to work. This will reduce the amount of potential security problems because email programs, for example, will not be able to launch executables found in attachments with privileges the e-mail program doesn't have (essentially keeping viruses in a sandboxed environment so they cannot read/change/delete sensitive data or read other users' address book to spread.)
Security: Protected Administrator
Remember how I said that all programs will run with the least amount of privileges they require to run? This is also true for administrator accounts! If a program needs the ability to write to sensitive files, folders, or registry sections then they will not succeed (they will not come crashing down like they do now though.) The user will need to "bless" programs, like their anti-virus solution, defragmenter, back-up software, etc. to give them access to administrative privileges if they are to actually save changes to mission-critical data. This is essentially what Mac does to keep the computer extremely secure.
Security: Secure Startup
This is a hardware-based security improvement that Longhorn takes advantage of. Essentially, it will know if the system has been tampered with while it was online. This means that someone can't just buy an old computer, put a new hard drive in, load an operating system on the old hard drive, and try to recover files that were placed on the old hard drive.
Security: Optional Automation of Anti-Virus Subscription Renewals.
Your anti-virus solution(s) can now let you tell Windows Vista when you would like the anti-virus solution(s) subscription(s) be renewed so you never forget again and remain unprotected during that time.
Security: Proactive Firewall
The firewall in Longhorn will communicate with Windows Update at a regular interval to learn of new internet-based attacks. If there is an attack like Sasser again, for example, it will know of this attack and automatically close the port the attack occurs on so the user is protected. Once a patch has been installed the port is returned to its original state.
Security: Parental controls
Parents can now prevents children from playing adult-rated games or accessing the computer at a time they should not be (like 2am in the morning while you're asleep.)
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