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Microsoft to Release Monthly Vista Previews

"Our customers will have a feature-complete Windows Vista sooner in their hands than any previous Windows release"

Microsoft will release a technical preview of its next-generation operating system, Windows Vista monthly, in an attempt to get more feedback and fix more bugs before the official launch next year.

Five years after Windows XP was released, Windows Vista is due to get its launch in the second half of 2006.

Some chosen individuals were given preview versions of Vista in September and October, and yet another version is expected in December.

"Our customers will have a feature-complete Windows Vista sooner in their hands than any previous Windows release," said Corporate Vice President for Microsoft Windows, Amitabh Srivastava.

According to Microsoft, users can be confident using Windows Vista, because it will detect potential problems and help resolve them — sometimes before the problem even occurs. IT professionals can control built-in diagnostics via group policy, and all diagnostics are integrated with the Windows eventing infrastructure, enabling IT pros to track what problems occur on machines in their organization. Windows Vista provides memory, disk, network and power state diagnostics.

With Windows Vista, connecting to a variety of devices and networks will be faster, easier and more secure; synchronizing data is simple; and using a computer while on the go has never been easier. There are various tools to accomplish networking tasks, such as the Windows Mobility Center, Sharing and Digital signatures.

Internet Explorer also got new features such as a phishing filter, better protection against ActiveX threats, tabs and tab groups and page zoom.