Microsoft Windows Vista Beta 1 was Released

Windows Vista Advances for Developers
Developer Platform for the Next Generation of Software

Summary: Windows Vista™ (formerly Windows code name "Longhorn") is a substantial advance in Windows, with significant innovations in the developer platform. Windows Vista makes it easier than ever before to build applications that are more secure, reliable, and manageable. Windows Vista also enables developers and designers to create user-experience breakthroughs that improve usability and enable greater relevance to the work users do. Finally, Windows Vista makes it easy to connect to information, systems, people, and devices though a number of innovative integration technologies.

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Introduction

With the advances in Windows Vista™, Microsoft enables the Windows platform to deliver on three key essentials:

~Helping people to be more confident by making the operating system safer, more reliable, and more responsive

~Helping people gain clarity by removing clutter and improving organization

~Helping people connect with others easily and securely by improving network security and integration collaboration

Windows Vista empowers developers to create software that embodies these three essentials. Windows Vista improves application quality, enables developers to create richer, easier-to-use applications, and adds comprehensive APIs for accessing connectivity infrastructure.

Broadly, there are eight primary areas of focus for Windows Vista, each having a unique impact in terms of how they help developers:

@Create the Experience: A distinguishing characteristic of Windows Vista-wave applications will be the breakthrough user experience, providing developers with new ways to make software more productive and relevant for users, and in many cases just plain fun to use.

@Secure it: Windows Vista extends the commitment Microsoft made in Windows XP SP2 to help users stay secure by extending the platform to make it easier for developers to build secure applications. Features like User Account Protection, split security tokens, and Code Access Security (CAS) allow developers to minimize the attack surface of their applications by enabling only the minimum privileges needed for applications to function correctly.

@Make it Reliable: For both end users and IT professionals, a reliable application is one that behaves exactly as expected and handles the unexpected gracefully. Windows Vista offers an extensive set of new APIs for developers to make applications predictable and reliable to end users, and to diagnose them when they aren't. Enhanced developer portal services will enable analysis of application behavior in real-world customer deployments.

@Get connected: Windows Vista will make it easy for users to connect with their friends and colleagues, whether that means consuming a Web service from across the country or peer-to-peer sharing across a conference room. Windows Communication Foundation (formerly code-named "Indigo") APIs make it simple to consume and expose a new generation of Web services. New peer-to-peer functionality lets you discover and interact with other nearby devices, enabling a range of new scenarios for interacting with others.

@Integrate data: The Windows Vista platform introduces several new features that make it easier for applications to find and share the data users want to see. A new XML-based file format—the same one used as the default in Office 12—makes it possible to manipulate data in any document, while RSS (Really Simple Syndication) APIs and a shared RSS store will allow developers to easily RSS-enable Windows Vista applications and provide central access to feeds, lists, and attachments for users.

@Be discoverable: Windows Vista will give users new ways to search and organize their files and data, emphasizing application metadata and search over traditional filename and folder hierarchies. Developers can add these capabilities to Windows Vista applications, as well as extend the system to make sure documents and data created by their software seamlessly integrate into the default "search and organize" experience.

@Make it deployable: Application installation is the first and last impression that software makes on its users. Windows Vista will make it simpler to write robust installers that users can trust to put application files in place seamlessly, with an uninstall experience that's just as consistent. Windows Vista-wave improvements to ClickOnce will also enable rapid application setup with minimal overhead.

@Go mobile: With laptops outselling desktops in the enterprise, Windows Vista-wave applications will be built to keep working as the user walks from the office to the local wireless café to home. Windows Vista provides new capabilities for detecting network and power state, and automatically synchronizes application data when necessary. Windows Vista will also take advantage of mobile devices like Tablet PCs, Pocket PCs, and auxiliary displays.

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Developer Platform Evolution

An evolution for both Win32™ and WinFX™ begins with Windows Vista-era advances to the .NET Framework. These two programming models will enable every developer to target the advances in Windows Vista, including improved presentation and communication subsystems, improved connectivity, and substantial advances in the core security, manageability, and reliability of Windows.

It's important to note that Windows Vista is heavily emphasizing both application compatibility (existing applications should always just run) and developer compatibility (all features are accessible through both WinFX and Win32). All existing source code and programming skills apply for Windows Vista developers, whether they're C++/MFC developers or Visual Basic .NET/Windows Forms developers.

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Conclusion

Windows Vista is a substantial advance in the developer platform.

Windows Vista makes it easier to build "safe" applications—applications that are secure, stable, and maintainable. It introduces advances such as User Account Protection (UAP) to enable developers to easily create applications that can be installed and run without requiring users to log in as an administrator. In addition, ClickOnce and the new Windows Installer enable developers to create applications that are simpler to deploy and update, making it as easy to update a client application as it is to visit a Web page.

Windows Vista also empowers developers and designers to create visually appealing applications that improve usability and enable greater differentiation. Windows Vista's new shell and presentation system make it simpler for developers and designers to integrate their applications into Windows and into each other to create more usable and better looking user interfaces.

Finally, Windows Vista makes it easy to connect to information, connect to systems, and connect to customers. Using the Windows Communication Foundation Web services infrastructure, developers can create applications that communicate seamlessly across a wide range of hardware and software through built-in support for the WS-* specifications. Additionally, Windows Vista provides RSS support to enable developers to create experiences that aggregate information from multiple sources.