The door’s open
That might seem like an odd question. Windows is still, after all, the dominant operating system (OS) on desktop computers and it’s likely that it will retain that position into the foreseeable future. Microsoft has been ruthless in pursuing market control. Few will question the success of its strategy. More than nine in 10 PC users run Windows. XP, released in 2001, is the most popular PC operating system in history.
Yet, the world is changing. Microsoft is facing a formidable rival in Linux, the open source OS, and in Google, the Internet media giant. Microsoft is more profitable than ever, yet it’s also more vulnerable than at any time in its history.
Google is developing products that could, in the next few years, render Windows irrelevant. Why buy Word and Excel when you could do your word processing and spreadsheeting online and access your documents wherever you are, on whichever device you choose? In the broadband, always-connected world of the future, you may as well be running Linux or some other OS you don’t have to pay for. And Linux, by the way, is getting damn good.
It’s in this context that Microsoft is gearing up to launch Vista, which will be available in retail stores in late January (business users have been promised an earlier bite at it).
Though many Microsoft critics scoff at Vista, arguing that it is little more than XP with a new user interface, the new OS has many important changes. Yes, there’s a new look — Windows users can look forward to the type of transparency and 3D effects that Mac users have been revelling in for years.
Thankfully, there are some improvements under the bonnet, too. The most important change is dramatically beefed-up security. Windows XP is a security nightmare. With Vista, Microsoft is going to make life a little more difficult for users, who won’t have the same level of control over their PCs, but this is good computing practice that will help stop the viruses and other malicious software that have plagued Windows users for so long.
Another big change in Vista is the way software drivers are loaded and handled. You shouldn’t need to reboot your PC each time you install a new driver for a new scanner or printer. Also, if a driver crashes for some reason, it shouldn’t take your whole system down with it.
Networking has been improved, too, so expect improved transfer speeds, especially if you’re hooked up to a corporate network or to a broadband connection.
There are also enhancements to the bundled applications that Windows comes with. For example, Internet Explorer, Microsoft’s Web browser, finally has tabbed browsing, though Firefox and Opera users have had this for years. I’m a big fan of Firefox and the new IE doesn’t have quite enough to entice me back to it. Firefox is also cross-platform so I can use it on my notebook, which runs Linux.
Other changes to Vista include: a new version of DirectX, technology that will underpin the next generation of PC games; Windows Mail, which replaces Outlook Express and which includes antispam tools and other security features for the first time; and Windows Media Player 11, an update to the popular music and video player.
Will all this be enough to entice users to upgrade? I think Microsoft will have reason to celebrate when Vista is released. It will sell hundreds of millions of copies to eager punters. Vista could even outsell its predecessor. Yet, I can’t shake off this feeling that Windows is just not that important anymore.
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