Subtle Changes In Windows Vista

Hibernate and Standby combine to form - Sleep, which saves current data to disk and to RAM.

Superfetch, Son of Prefetch prioritizes caching of programs by saving commonly used programs to a special area of memory. $5 for the pair

I missed Shadow Copy first time I looked at Vista for the simple reason that I had forgotten that XP did not have Shadow Copy, it was only present in Windows Server 2003. The advantage of the Shadow copy technology is that it improves backup and enables Vista to create restore points on a volume by volume basis. Useful $10

I thought Windows ReadyBoost was an April Fools joke and scoffed at the idea that you could plug in USB flash memory and get extra performance out of Vista. It turned out the joke was on me, ReadyBoost really does work especially on older machines with only 256 MB of RAM. Also ReadyBoost is handy for trainers to carry a 1 GB USB memory key. Some training companies are notoriously mean with RAM for machines, demonstrating makes the instructor look like an idiot. ReadyBoost really does work. $15.

Guy's valuation of Classic Techie components: 5, 25, 5, 10, 10, 15. Total = $70

Home And Media Features

Windows Meeting Space (WMS), (called Windows Collaboration in Beta 2) lets you share your screen with other Vista Users. The idea is that different people can work on a file using WMS. It uses Microsoft's new read-only XML-Paper Specification (XPS) archival file format to store and share documents in a secure way. To create an XPS document, simply print it and chose "Microsoft XPS Document Writer" as the printer. You can share the XPS document with other Windows Vista users or with Windows XP users who have installed WinFX. One day I may make more use of this facility, hence $10.

If you don't rate or need the Media Control Center, then it may be worth buying the Home Basic or Enterprise version. If you like it then buy the Vista Ultimate or Home Premium version. Media Control Center may belong in the Headline Features section. My valuation is a tentative $30.

I mention accessories such as Windows Photo Gallery, Windows Photo Import and Windows Mail for two reasons. First as a reminder that there are 500 more new features that I have not had the time to review and second to point out that one man's meat can be another man's poison. Previous Windows desktops have had features that most people never use. My dear friend 'Mad' Mick reminded me of this phenomenon when he asked "Does Vista run Edlin?" As it happens Vista still has Edlin, an old text editor from the very early days of Windows, but only 'Mad' Mick will be using it. $5 is a severe underestimate for the sundries I mention here (but naturally nothing for edlin!). Guys guestimate for Home and Media Features. 10, 30, 5 = Total $45

More Longhorn Than Vista?

While these features are relevant to Vista, most may be equally or more useful for the Longhorn Server.

Previously, if you added another snap-in to your Microsoft Management Console (MMC), it appeared at the bottom of the list. It must have only taken 10 minutes for the developer to add the Move Up / Move Down buttons in Vista, but it will save people like me hours of frustration. A tiny improvement, but I love it.

Sell your shares in Symantec (Ghost) and test XImage instead. Deploy new versions of Vista with XImage. What's new is a non-destructive concept whereby the image does not necessarily destroy all previous files. Get ready for Vista by practicing your installs with XImage.

Windows Deployment Services (WDS) is the successor to RIS. The idea is to use Windows to dynamically manage the Vista images, rather than rely on Ghost. Which ever method you use to build your Vista machines, setup will be easier.

The benefit of Read Only Domain Controllers is one way replication for a Domain Controller at a branch office where there is poor physical security, little IT support and few users. As well as having a Read Only copy of Active Directory, the server caches client credentials, rather like the way XP allows ten cached logons. The RODC also has Global Group membership cached by default. Again I will bundle all three of the features in this section and value them jointly at $20.