Getting Started

When Windows Vista starts for the first time, you'll get to see the new Aero-style (Figure). If your graphics adapter is one of a handful that is currently supported with an LDDM (Longhorn Display Driver Model) driver, you'll get the new Aero-Glass style (Figure), which will give you transparent glass windows.

Note: Most likely the moniker LDDM will be renamed, since the code-name "Longhorn" has now been replaced for the official "Vista" name, so maybe LDDM will be known as VDDM in the future.

You can of course also choose to run in a "Classic" style, which gives Windows Vista the Windows 2000 GUI (Figure).

More graphic cards should be supported, when Windows Vista ships. For now the only specifications available are that in order to run the "normal" Aero style a modern graphics card is required with at least 32MB of memory. Aero-Glass requires at least 64MB of memory. In both cases DirectX 9 support is also required.

While we are on the topic of specifications, Microsoft does not expect to have recommended hardware specifications for Windows Vista before summer 2006. The only broad guidelines Microsoft currently provides are: A modern, Intel Pentium- or AMD Athlon-based PC 512 MB or more of RAM A dedicated graphics card with DirectX® 9.0 support If you have seen previous versions of Windows Vista (then still called "Longhorn"), you notice that one thing is missing from the desktop: the Sidebar (Figure). It seems that Microsoft has decided we didn't want it, and it's gone - apparently for good. The taskbar in Windows Vista hasn't changed much from previous versions, but on a laptop computer you'll notice two new icons in the Notification Area. First a power management icon, which when you hover the mouse over it shows you the status of your battery(s) (Figure) and when clicked, launches a dialog with more information (Figure). The second new icon is a Presentation Settings icon (Figure), which enables you to adjust your screen behavior when giving a presentation (over a wireless network using any standard network projector).

Two new desktop backgrounds   included in Beta 1:

The Start menu has changed quite a bit since Windows XP (Figure). First you'll notice a search box built into the Start menu. From there you can quickly search for programs by just typing their name. As you type each letter, the list of programs displayed is immediately constrained to those that match your search string, displaying the list on the left side of the Start menu, replacing the "recently used" programs list that normally displays on the left side of the Start menu (Figure).

The next change you'll notice is the behavior when you click the "All Programs" link. It no longer expands a sub menu, but instead the "All Programs" sub menu is displayed in place of the "recently used" programs list that normally displays on the left side of the Start menu (Figure). If you click on a folder, the list expands to show the contents of that folder, which can trigger the appearance of an in-place scroll bar if the displayed list gets too long (Figure).

Right now there is still a mix of Windows Vista & Windows XP style icons, but according to Microsoft these should all be changed to the Windows Vista style icons.

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