After five years and repeated delays, Microsoft Corp. finished Windows Vista on Wednesday and announced plans to release it in stores Jan. 30 — ending an unusually arduous chapter in the life of the company’s flagship product.
Microsoft’s next big challenge will be getting people to upgrade to the program. But for a moment, at least, the company’s relief at finishing the project was palpable.
“This is a good day,” said Jim Allchin, co-president of Microsoft’s Platforms & Services Division, the emotion audible in his voice during an 11 a.m. conference call announcing the milestone. “Less than an hour ago, we officially signed off on Windows Vista. It’s rock-solid, and we’re ready to ship.”
Some Features of the new operating system are:
Security: Built-in anti-spyware protections, data encryption, enhanced firewall and other changes. The company says it improved the Windows development process to reduce security bugs, a major problem for past Windows versions.
Appearance: New visual effects, such as translucent windows and a “glass” appearance on many parts of the desktop. Microsoft says the operating system will work on machines of varying quality, but advanced elements of the on-screen interface will require better hardware, such as a full gigabyte of memory.
Desktop features: New elements include rapid file searching, and a sidebar on the desktop containing small programs called “gadgets” for accessing information and data from the Web. Similar to Apple Computer’s “widgets.”
Performance: Changes under the hood of the operating system intended to make it run more quickly. Examples include a technology called Windows SuperFetch, which preloads frequently used programs and files into the computer’s memory.
