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Microsoft Vista Officially in Preview

Longhorn (now Microsoft Vista CTP) along IE7 will be tested by a number of selected businesses (5000) before it late 2006 launch, according to Microsoft.

Brad Goldberg, general manager for Windows product management insists that the MS Vista CTP will remove the necessity for VPNs in remote connection to offices, making it a business-oriented product:

"We're encouraging customers to test out the enterprise capabilities, understand application compatibility and look at the technologies included to understand the impact they'll have in their own specific IT organizations."

"The impression was created that Windows Vista was a consumer release. Windows Vista is as much, if not more, a business release."

"We're trying to be very specific about the call to action we want beta testers to focus on with each milestone."

With the new Vista features, the need for setting up several MS Windows configs depending on hardware specs or languages, therefore considerably increasing efficiency and cost-awareness. It also comes with an Automated Installation Kit for easier deployment.

Drivers or WiFi connection will also be available to end-users without admins stepping in for each of these tasks, as Virtual Private Network s (VPNs) will be a thing of the past.

Windows Live's gadgets won't be missed on MS Vista, as the XML apps will also be available in the Vista Sidebar.

MS Vista will come, theoretically in 8 editions: Windows Starter 2007, Windows Vista Home Basic, Windows Vista Home Basic N, Windows Vista Home Premium, Windows Vista Business, Windows Vista Business N, Windows Vista Enterprise, Windows Vista Ultimate.

Microsoft labels the new key technologies in this version of Windows as "The Pillars of Vista".

Fundamentals: new developments to the basic structure of the operating system including the .NET Framework, completely re-architected audio, networking, print, and video systems, major changes to the security infrastructure, improvements to the deployment and installation of applications ("ClickOnce" and Windows Installer 4.0), and a number of controversial new digital rights management technologies.

Presentation: the Windows Presentation Foundation or WPF, formerly code-named Avalon: a new user interface subsystem and API based on XML, .NET, and vector graphics, which will make use of 3D computer graphics hardware and Direct3D technologies. See Windows Graphics Foundation.

Communication: the Windows Communication Foundation or WCF, formerly code-named Indigo: a service-oriented messaging system which allows programs to interoperate locally or remotely similar to web services.

Workflow: the Windows Workflow Foundation was announced in August 2005, and allows task automation and integrated transactions using workflows.

WPF, WCF, and WWF are collectively known as WinFX, which is short for Windows Framework.