When Vista and its server version, Longhorn, finally
arrive, they will herald a change in basic hardware requirements,
especially for desktop systems
The anticipated arrival of Windows Vista and the server version,
Longhorn, next year will bring big changes to today’s hardware.
One of the main changes will be the basic requirements for
desktop systems. Microsoft has released details of the minimum and
optimum requirements for running Vista.
At the top end, to run Vista in all its glory, with much
publicised Aero graphics, a system will need a 32-bit or 64-bit
processor running at 1GHz backed up by 1Gbyte of system memory.
Given Windows’ history of upping the minimum processor rate and
memory requirements, this is not so surprising. But it is the new
specification for graphics that is causing concern.
To run the new interface, with its Aero Glass effects and
Rolodex-like Flip 3D feature for selecting applications, a computer
will need a high-end graphics processor with 128Mbytes of onboard
memory to support a normal LCD screen resolution of 1,280 by 1,024
pixels.
One caveat is that although some lower-end cards will be able to
handle the graphics requirement, they are unsuitable because they
use system memory. As a result, a Microsoft-specified PC with
1Gbyte would be reduced in memory size and speed because of
this.
The good news is that accepting Microsoft’s basic Windows Vista
configuration will mean that a PC with a processor running at
800MHz with only 512Mbytes of memory and a DirectX 9 compatible
graphics chip can be used.
It means sacrificing some of Vista’s advanced features but it
will give acceptable results while ensuring cross-enterprise
conformity and extending the life of hardware that cannot be
upgraded, such as laptops.
The net effect will be that new hardware will be manufactured to
the higher Vista specifications and the move towards incorporating
video chips on the motherboard may be treated with more caution.
There is even a possibility that this will be extended to laptops,
but it will be down to user pressure rather than any concerted lead
from the manufacturers.
Kenny Ferguson, desktop brand manager at PC maker Lenovo, says,
“The graphics issue is getting a lot of emphasis and it will be
down to user savvy in what to look for that will decide.”
Ferguson expects end-users to still look at chipsets, resolution
and support when deciding what to buy but companies will tend to go
for higher-end laptops when Vista’s successor becomes imminent.
“It is slightly easier on the desktop,” he says. “The PC Express
bus and video cards mean that graphics requirements are not such an
issue.”
How Vista will change the personal computer will be down to how
readily third parties take up the new operating system’s
features.
Take Sideshow. This feature provides a new extension for Windows
that allows Gadgets to be created to take information automatically
from the PC’s software suites, such as Microsoft Outlook, or using
internet links.
Using a simple Windows CE driver, a low-powered secondary screen
can be built into the lid of a laptop to display details of
meetings, e-mails, or even the latest weather predictions. Because
the system is effectively a simple PDA, vital information can be
accessed without having to power up the laptop or carry a
secondary device such as a PDA.
That is the theory but whether it will become a reality depends
on third parties and their inventiveness. The increasing
functionality of mobile phones means that Sideshow can be emulated
on a phone so it may end up as an element of consumer devices
around the home.
Chris Ingle, group consultant for research company IDC’s systems
group, says, “I do not see anything in Vista itself that is
particularly a great improvement over XP until third-party software
suppliers start writing for the graphics system and those kind of
things.
“It will take a while for the benefits of that to become
apparent. I think in terms of reliability and storage systems there
will be improvements, but they are not the reasons why customers
buy operating systems.”
On the storage front, Samsung is testing its Hybrid Disc Drive
(HDD), which incorporates up to 1Gbyte of flash memory as a buffer
within a conventional disc drive. This will improve start-up times
for booting up a PC and improve battery life by reducing hard-disc
access times.
The drive can be used to store the computer’s memory status when
Vista is in hibernation mode, preserving the running applications
for when the PC is switched on again. When the PC is turned back
on, it boots up much faster from a Hybrid Disc Drive than when it
hibernates to a mechanical drive.
In use, disc writes are stored in the buffer and then flushed to
disc in a few seconds every 10 to 20 minutes. This means the drive
is not constantly running and draining power.
Samsung demonstrated a prototype drive with 128Mbytes and
256Mbytes of flash memory at Microsoft’s WinHEC event in Seattle in
June. The company claims that the drives extend battery life by up
to 10%, equating to 20 to 30 minutes of extra time. Prices have yet
to be decided but Samsung says there will be little or no cost
premium.
Samsung is also involved in producing mini-tablet PCs, built
according to Microsoft’s Origami specification. These are more like
notepads than the clipboard-sized first release of tablets. They
are also lighter and easier to carry around.
One feature of Vista that may help improve the market is
improved character recognition and the ability to teach the system
your specific writing habits. The original character recognition
system was inflexible and unsuitable for the target audience of
note-takers, although it was perfectly adequate for filling in
forms.
Few professionals who take minutes of meetings write them out in
longhand and the ability to teach the system individual characters
or even shorthand will be a welcome addition – if laborious during
the initial teaching period.
Longhorn, the server version of Vista, still known only by its
production codename, will not arrive until later in 2007 and will
contain many of Vista’s features. Microsoft will release versions
of Longhorn to run on 32-bit and 64-bit x86 processors and to use
multicore or multiprocessor systems.
Where Longhorn is concerned, Bill Gates announced at WinHEC that
the next version of Windows Exchange would be 64-bit only, so users
planning Windows server upgrades need to bear this in mind for
future application upgrades.
Gates also said that the Exchange decision would influence other
products too because Microsoft sees the server future as a 64-bit
world.
The main way that servers will be changed is through the
inclusion of virtualisation software with 64-bit Longhorn. This
will encourage users to test-drive the idea of effectively turning
a single computer into several computers sharing a single housing.
The industry is so convinced that virtualisation is the way ahead
that Intel and AMD are encapsulating virtualisation extensions in
their chips.
AMD’s hardware virtualisation is called Pacifica for its Athlon
and Opteron 64-bit dual-core chips, and Vanderpool is Intel’s
interpretation for its x86 and Itanium processors. Both
technologies aim to manage the technicalities of running several
virtualised environments on a single machine or multicore chip, but
they are not compatible.
Pacifica does the same job as Vanderpool but incorporates a
memory controller on the chip to partition memory whereas Intel
does it in software. Each virtual machine needs its own discrete
memory so the system does not crash if one of the virtualised
machines hits a problem. AMD adds to this a device exclusion vector
to control
peripheral hardware access.
Brian Gammage, research vice-president at Gartner, says,
“Hardware virtualisation support is the most significant addition
to the Intel-compatible x86 PC processor architecture in more than
20 years, and will permanently change the way that PC software
relates to PC hardware.”
Although most PC virtualisation is currently hosted, the advent
of hardware virtualisation support is expected to move the market
toward hypervisor-enabled virtualisation, according to Gammage. The
hypervisor acts as management middleware that fits between the
hardware and the operating system.
However, take-up of this technology will not be rapid. Gammage
says, “Even assuming rapid proliferation of hardware virtualisation
support across suppliers’ PC portfolios, only 75% of PCs in use
will have this technology by 2010.”
With great power comes great responsiveness, and the network
traffic generated by servers is increasing. Multi-gigabit networks
can deal with this but current network interface cards are passive
and rely on using the central processor or the host. Longhorn
supports a new network card that resembles a graphic card by
carrying its own processor to offload the work from the server.
Many of the changes that both the desktop and server versions of
Vista possess will be invisible to the user but the power of these
machines will be greatly enhanced. Next year will be the time to
see how effectively it all works together.