JUNE 2006 MA XIMUMPC 25

By now, you’ve already heard that

Microsoft has delayed Vista yet again, this

time until early 2007. After spending hun-

dreds of hours testing the latest build, we

defi nitely understand why. Vista and the

drivers it relies on aren’t stable enough to

ship. Nevertheless, we can extrapolate

from build 5308 what the future has in

store for us. We can even use this latest

build to get a pretty good idea of how the

OS will run on different levels of hardware.

But fi rst, let’s cover the basics.

With Vista, Microsoft’s goal is an oper-

ating system that will last for 10 or more

years. To accomplish this, the brain trust

in Redmond went over Windows XP with

a fi ne-toothed comb, looking for any lega-

cy code, then revamping, rewriting, or just

plain excising it as the situation demand-

ed. Old code wasn’t the only thing that

went under the hatchet; all those weird

things that never made sense (why are

there mail-related settings in both the Mail

control panel, and the Internet control

panel?) were reworked.

When you sit down for the fi rst time

with Vista, it’s not going to be a totally

alien experience, but there are signifi cant

differences, especially if you’ve grown

used to Windows XP’s quirks. It’s like

traveling to a foreign country where every-

one speaks English. The basic stuff is the

same, but it just feels a little strange.

So sit back, relax, and enjoy our guided

tour of Vista. When you’ve got your fi ll of

the new features and whatnot, turn to page

35 and see how our 15 test machines fared

when running the beta OS. We’ll help you

plot your upgrades so your machine will be

ready for Vista, whenever it fi nally ships!

VISTA’S

Are You Ready?

COMING