Windows Vista Ultimate

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Windows Operating System

Microsoft, a software giant company has most popular operating system in the world with Windows tag. Windows operating system is ruling on almost 95% computers in the world. What is special with Windows so that it has such popularity? Question is not so complicated, and everyone knows that Windows has many user friendly features with easy access. Windows is so easy and any child who is operating it first time can easily understand it. Everything is predefined and no need for additional help to operate it. The name Windows is indicates that this operating system has all icons like windows and it can be easily access by clicking on it. Some other operating systems also have similar kind of philosophy of accessing like in Macintosh which is also a windows base operating system and Linux. Linux has powerful protecting features against viruses and it has best security controlled but Linux is very complicated to understand and it needs some pre training to operate it. Macintosh has very advanced features but it need very high graphics system to run it otherwise we can't avail full profit with its all features. Macintosh has powerful features but it has very less marketing share against Windows due to user friendly features of Windows and price tag also.
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Microsoft has taken almost 7 years to develop its next operating system Windows Vista after most popular Windows XP. Finally Windows Vista has been released in first quarter of 2007 and initially it got huge response but slowly its credit went down due to some issues and I will discuss some of them here. Windows XP is a still most popular operating system and many of the peoples in the world still have this one in their PC and notebooks. Windows Vista lost its trust in user's heart due to some non desired issues.
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The other side I want to mention a bad decision taken by Microsoft to discontinue the selling of Windows XP for increasing sell of its new operating system Vista. This decision got lots of criticise from entire the world. I am also against the termination of XP sell and this is really decision of heart breaking of XP lovers. I am also a huge fan of Windows XP and still have this in my PC. Today I am using Windows Vista but not satisfy with it.
Windows XP have some security problems and this has been resolved in XP SP3 but I haven't found much improvement over SP2. XP also has major problem of system crash and it can be easily crash due to problems in power supply, virus attack and unknown mistakes.
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Some Issues Before its features

Windows Vista has some borderline points and due to these all it is losing the trust in consumer market. The most discussed point is its compatibility features and most of the applications which are very popular and necessary for daily routine life, not compatible with Windows Vista. Vista needs latest versions of all applications due to its visual effect and graphics display. Peoples, who are very familiar with old versions of applications, don't like to upgrade it with latest one and they really can't accept due to some problem in understanding its latest features and changes. Windows Vista needs newer versions of almost all applications and most of the users wants to keep their old versions continue.
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If we take an example of Microsoft's own applications, Office 2003. Office 2003 is a most popular application in the world and almost all offices have this application as their necessary routine work Now Microsoft has released new version of office with Microsoft Office 2007 and it has been completely changed. The toolbar Windows is really very confusing for those who are very familiar with Office 2003. So they really don't want to upgrade office 2003 to Office 2007 as there are no problems yet with old version.
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Other important point is its hardware requirement. Windows Vista need some advanced configured PC to run it. There should be at least 2 GHz processor with minimum 1 GB RAM and good graphics memory. As per my experience 1 GB RAM is not enough and we can't access our PC so smoothly and we need at least 2 GB RAM for better access. 2GHz processor is OK but it should be at least dual core processor for better performance. Windows Vista also needs about 15 GB of free disk space to install it, but recommended free space should be at least 20 GB. Windows Vista ultimate cover approx 13 GB of disk space to install it but some lower versions like Vista basic and premiums only take about 8 GB of disk space. For better performance we need at least 30 GB of disk space in our C drive. The recommended size is about 40 GB and more. So for Windows Vista we must have better capacity hard disk drive. There are very large capacity hard disk drives available with reasonable price and this point doesn't matter at all.
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Now think about Windows XP and its hardware requirements. Maximum 3 GB of free disk space required for installation. 512 MB RAM is more enough of smooth running of XP. 128 MB shared graphics memory is good enough for it. Final point of its processor speed and 1 GHz processor is good for it. If we have some better configurations, then also it runs with similar speeds. These types of configurations are very cheap now a days and every one can afford it.
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Some Important Points and its Truth

Windows Vista is available in different versions like Winnows Vista Home Basic. Windows Vista Home Basic, Windows Vista Business and Windows Vista Ultimate. There are some differences according to features and prices. Windows Vista has maximum features with higher price but Vista basic has less features and less price. Most important feature that is not available in Vista basic but all other versions have this and it is elegant Windows Aero desktop experience and it includes very beautiful glass-like menu bars, Windows Flip 3D, and Live Thumbnails. This feature is really impressive and has very beautiful visual effect. I really appreciate this feature and it is my favorite feature to keep Vista alive in my PC. Windows flip 3D is not such impressive and it is also not so important or useful as it is only fulfill one feature line. Live thumbnail is a feature for viewing thumbnail preview of opened window in taskbar and it is really very useful to see that what kind of windows is opened and is in task bar. Glass effect in menus is really very impressive and it's looking great.
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Second important feature of this application is its most powerful security feature with most secure Windows Defender and Windows Firewall. We have experienced in Windows XP with its less powerful firewall and it usually gets crashed with viruses and other security threats. The time when Windows XP has released, was not such kind of as we have now. There were not such matter of viruses and internet was also in its initial stage so that security problems were not so bad. Now we have lots of security problems and there are thousands of new viruses come every day. So Powerful security features are essential now days for operating system. So Windows Vista has very powerful Windows firewall and newly added Windows defender. But I didn't find any advantage of Windows defender ad I can't understand it yet.
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Now a days we have some powerful internet security applications and they have inbuilt firewall of its own. So we need not to worry about firewall if we have good internet security software installed.
Next important feature of this operating system is its quick search option in start menu for finding programs and similar kind of search option in windows bar. This two search options are really very useful and much appreciated.
Some other features which are not such important but I want to mention here is its high definition quality movie making capability with Windows movie maker. This feature will really help you to make a movie of your family album with high quality videos.
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Other feature is its most improved networking solutions with Easier networking connectivity and it helps us to stay connected with the Network and Sharing Center. This feature is a new in this operating system.
Overall this is a good operating system with its enhanced features but it is still require large numbers of improvements. Windows Vista has failed to get popularity like Windows XP and now Microsoft is planning or developing its next improved operating system Windows 7.
Microsoft claim than Windows 7 will have almost all features of Vista and XP with improved compatibility and user friendly features. Windows 7 is expected to be released in early next year and hope that it will fulfill all our requirements.
So best luck for Windows 7 and wait for new sensation to be reality.
Thanks for reading and your suggestions are most welcome.
@gemsarchitect 2009