Microsoft has released the first beta test version of
Windows Vista, formerly known as Longhorn, and it would be a good
idea for companies to try it as soon as possible. Compared with the
simple transitions from Windows NT4 to 2000 to XP Pro, it may come
as a bit of a shock.
Vista is still recognisably Windows, underneath the new Aero 3D
interface. However, it includes some significant changes that could
cause problems. These include both hardware and software
compatibility, and changes to the user experience.
Hardware compatibility problems may result from changes in the
Windows driver model. Vista is intended to be compatible with old
XP drivers, but there may be problems with some devices.
Software compatibility problems may result from Microsoft's
attempt to make the system more secure by using the sort of limited
user mode familiar from Unix and Linux systems.
Many Windows security problems result from users and
applications running with root (administrator) privileges. This was
not supposed to happen, but followed from Windows NT inheriting
applications from the Dos-based version, where there were no such
restrictions. It proved difficult to restrict these privileges
later, and most companies chose compatibility over security.
With Vista's User Account Protection, Microsoft wants everything
to run with limited privileges, even if the user is logged in as an
administrator. Users will then have to enter a password to
authorise actions that could compromise the system. Given the way
many Windows applications have been written, this may be too
often.
From the usability point of view, the biggest challenge in Vista
may be the introduction of virtual folders, which follow on from
the virtual folders in Outlook XP. Virtual folders are not real
folders. Instead of files, they contain links to files that are in
other real folders.
Virtual folders are very useful because they let you create
folders based on searching your hard drive for files or types of
files or for metadata. One virtual folder could, for example, hold
all your photos, while another could hold all the work for a major
project - and one photo can be in both folders simultaneously.
Except it isn't really; it is in a real directory somewhere
else.
It remains to be seen how ordinary users will cope with this.
Unless the real and virtual folders are clearly separated (which
sort of defeats the point) I can see confusion arising when they
try to move real files into virtual folders, or delete virtual
items thinking they have deleted the real thing.
There is more than a year to go to Vista's launch, and it is too
soon to say how well it will work. I suspect it will polarise the
market into lovers and haters, but the people with most to worry
about are the "don't knows".
Jack Schofield is computer editor at The Guardian