By Michael Cherry [bio]
Posted: Dec. 4, 2006

The following an excerpt of a Research Report published by Directions on Microsoft, an independent research firm focused exclusively on Microsoft strategy & technology. More samples of our content, as well as a list of upcoming articles and reports are also available.

When Microsoft released Windows XP in 2001, Microsoft's marketing, which focused on "experiences" such as digital photography, gave business customers the perception that Windows XP was primarily for consumers. Many stuck with Windows 2000, then only on the market for 18 months.

Windows Vista enters a very different market and could see more rapid business adoption. Five years have elapsed since the last client edition of Windows was released, Mainstream support has ended for Windows 2000, and Windows XP is now a stable release with its second service pack.

In demonstrating Vista so far, Microsoft has tended to show features such as the Aero user interface, graphical previews of documents during Alt-Tab switching, and the Windows Presentation Foundation. It can be difficult to find a clear and quantifiable link between these features and productivity and security improvements or reduced total cost of ownership.

Nonetheless, Vista includes significant improvements in four areas that are important to businesses—security, manageability, mobile computers, and networking. These features have the potential to justify an investment in deploying Vista.

Security and Data Protection Improvements

Microsoft has made several changes to security and data protection, such as improvements to the Windows Firewall, Internet Explorer, and the inclusion of the Defender antispyware product. However, two security features of Vista stand out: User Account Control and BitLocker Drive Encryption.

• User Account Control reduces the damage a user can do to his computer (by deleting a key system file, for example) and reduces the impact of malicious software by making it easier to use Windows without administrator privileges
• BitLocker Drive Encryption, particularly useful for laptop computers, allows a user to encrypt the entire Windows volume on a computer so that any sensitive data remain protected if the computer is lost or stolen.

Other security and reliability improvements to Vista are available to users with 64-bit processors. In particular, 64-bit versions require device drivers to be signed by manufacturers, which should increase their quality and enhance overall system reliability (poorly designed drivers are a leading cause of Windows crashes). In addition, a feature called PatchGuard limits the ability of software to interact with or replace Windows system files. (Microsoft has agreed to provide an API for PatchGuard to ensure that security software developers have a method to work with PatchGuard without having to resort to unsupported kernel patching. These changes, which affect only 64-bit versions of Windows, will be released sometime after general availability.)

Manageability Improvements

Several improvements to Vista will make it easier for businesses to manage Vista-based computers centrally. Microsoft has made significant changes to the setup process that installs Windows on a new computer or that upgrades a computer running Windows XP SP2. Setup now relies on a new file-based image format, and all customers will get a desktop deployment solution accelerator that can be used to install Vista on large numbers of computers. Such tools were previously available only to computer manufacturers. The solution accelerator includes not only tools to help perform the installation but also guidance on efficiently managing the deployment.

Microsoft has also made improvements to Group Policy, mostly by making more features manageable. For example, granular Group Policy can be used to disable Universal Serial Bus (USB) flash drives, which are frequently used to remove data from an organization surreptitiously.

Not all of the changes to Vista will make deployment and management easier for business. Volume license keys have been modified by a more complex (and harder to pirate) volume activation process that requires more administrative oversight and could increase support costs.

Improvements for Mobile Computers

To support growing business interest in mobile PCs, such as laptops and tablets, Vista will run better on computers running on battery power and using wireless network connections. For example, a new Mobility Center combines the common controls that users may need to modify when they are on the road.

Microsoft has also improved alternative input methods, making incremental yet measurable improvements to Vista's ink and speech recognition abilities.

Vista also supports a new feature for application sharing and real-time communication, Windows Meeting Space. However, Meeting Space supports collaboration only among users running Vista, and it competes with other more strategic Microsoft products, such as Live Communications Server.

Networking Improvements

Microsoft has made significant changes to Windows networking, both for wired and wireless networks. The networking changes can have a positive impact on reliability, performance, and need for improved networking infrastructure.

For example, Vista supports Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6) networking, an important emerging technology to alleviate addressing problems, and the network stack has other changes that make it easier to connect to a network and diagnose network problems.

Packaging and Hardware Influence Decision

Organizations will have to weigh Vista's improvements against some important considerations, including a confusing choice of editions, significant and complex hardware requirements, and the strengths of Windows XP.

Many Editions

Vista is available in a variety of editions, each with a different feature set, including one edition that is available only through Enterprise or Software Assurance programs:

Windows Vista Business is available for all business customers and includes all of the features highlighted in this report, except for BitLocker Drive Encryption.

Windows Vista Enterprise is available only to customers who have PCs covered by Microsoft's Software Assurance or Enterprise Agreement programs. It includes BitLocker Drive Encryption and two exclusive features: Vista Enterprise users can create up to four virtual machines without having to purchase additional OS licenses, and the Subsystem for Unix-based Applications (SUA) enables users to run Unix applications unchanged on a Vista Enterprise PC. Note that OEMs cannot normally ship Vista Enterprise preinstalled on portable computers. Customers who want to use these features must install Vista Enterprise over the OEM OS, and may be required to repartition the hard drive in order to use BitLocker. Alternatively, they can ask the OEM to preinstall a corporate image that includes Vista Enterprise (usually at an extra charge).

Windows Vista Ultimate combines the advanced infrastructure, management, and mobility features of Vista Enterprise with consumer-oriented digital entertainment features (such as digital video recording) that are found in Windows Vista Home Premium. This creates a dilemma for businesses without upgrade rights because this is the only edition they can acquire with BitLocker Drive Encryption, but they may not want the entertainment features of Ultimate. Business customers who adopt Ultimate might want to use the image-based setup to create a custom image without the entertainment features.

Significant Hardware Requirements

Vista's hardware requirements are complex. For example, a computer with the Windows Vista Capable logo can use basic Vista features, such as User Account Control and new search capabilities, but it will probably not be able to display the new Aero graphics effects. Such a computer must include at least the following:

• A "modern" processor (at least 800MHz)
• 512MB of system memory
• A graphics processor that is DirectX 9 capable.

But to use all of Vista's features, including the Windows Aero user experience, a computer must be Windows Vista Premium Ready, and include at least the following:

• 1GHz 32-bit (x86) or 64-bit (x64) processor
• 1GB of system memory
• Support for DirectX 9 graphics with a Windows Display Driver Model (WDDM) driver, 128MB of graphics memory (minimum), Pixel Shader 2.0, and 32 bits per pixel
• 40GB of hard drive capacity with 15GB free space
• DVD-ROM drive
• Audio output capability
• Internet access capability.

A computer that is less than one year old when Vista ships in late 2006 could probably be upgraded to Windows Vista, but older machines should probably stick with Windows XP SP2 or, if Vista is required, be replaced with new hardware.

Windows XP Still Worth Consideration

Many of the improvements planned for Windows Vista will also run on the current Windows version, Windows XP SP2. For example, most of the new APIs, such as the Windows Presentation and Communication Foundations will be available through the .NET Framework 3.0 (originally called the WinFX Runtime Components). In addition, some Vista features such as full-text search and Internet Explorer improvements will be available through free downloads, albeit with some limitations.

Windows XP SP2 will be in Mainstream support for two years after Vista general availability, and Windows XP SP2 is more likely to work with existing hardware than Windows Vista.

What's Ahead?

The remainder of this report contains both new material and updates of material previously published in Update. It will help businesses decide whether deploying Windows Vista will make sense for their organization, and consists of the following chapters:

"User Account Control Limits Exploit Impact" reviews OS improvements designed to limit damage from user mistakes or malicious software by ensuring that users run with the least privilege necessary to perform any task.

"BitLocker Securely Encrypts Windows Volume" describes BitLocker, which can fully encrypt an OS volume, although partitioning a drive into volumes is complex and recovery keys must be stored and managed.

"Vista Setup Eases Deployment" discusses how Windows Vista uses image-based setup to make installation and upgrades faster and more reliable, although creating and managing images still requires considerable resources.

"Desktop Management Improved" discusses improvements to management tools, such as Group Policy and the Event Viewer, which make it easier for administrators to manage Vista centrally, although applying policy still requires careful planning.

"Product Activation Comes to Businesses" discusses how Microsoft plans to stop pirates from using misappropriated volume license keys to circumvent Windows activation by requiring that all customers—including volume license customers—activate each installation of Vista, and the next version of Windows Server (code-named Longhorn).

"Windows Tuned for Mobile Computing" describes improvements to mobile computing that, when combined with the new BitLocker Drive Encryption feature, may provide a compelling reason for organizations to move mobile users to Vista first.

"Windows Networking Reworked" discusses changes to the networking components of Windows Vista and Windows Server "Longhorn" that will improve network performance, security, and manageability, but the new Network Map may be less useful.

"Resources" contains links and pointers to additional material, arranged by chapter.