Microsoft has released a fully featured preview of its
Windows Vista operating system to corporate IT departments and
developers.
The “community technology preview” release contains the complete
set of new features that will appear in Vista later this year,
including a set of tools designed to make the operating system
easier to deploy in a business environment and to cut deployment
cost-per-desktop.
The new operating system will be released alongside an enhanced
version of Business Desktop Deployment. The Vista preview also
includes an enhanced Management Console 3.0, improvements to the
Group Policy setting and new centralised control over removable
storage devices.
Other new features in Vista include Windows Sidebar, which gives
desktop users easy access to Gadgets – a series of customisable
mini-applications that provide information at a glance and quick
access to frequent tasks. An RSS feed is also included.
Microsoft said IT departments would be able to develop their own
gadgets to provide staff with fast access to sales figures,
workflow status and other business information.
Vista also includes a new Welcome Center function at start-up
that presents users with key setup tasks.
Windows Vista will also include a series of new security
features. Earlier this week, Detlef Eckert, the software giant’s
chief security adviser, said Vista would not be shipped unless it
successfully completed tests to ensure its code is robust and any
vulnerabilities have been identified.
“We are still in early beta testing. The components will be
checked and checked again. If it is not working, it will not ship,”
he said.