Chapter 44. Your Windows Vista Future

Now that you’ve mastered the basics (and more) of Windows Vista, what’s next to conquer? If you’re asking yourself that question, you’ll either be relieved or frustrated to learn that there is a lot more to learn! You’ve only scratched the Windows Vista surface. Although you now know more about Windows Vista than most people, don’t let Vista’s simple-to-use environment fool you—there is much more waiting for you to master “under Vista’s hood."

The chapter winds down your current track of Vista training. Instead of covering specific details, this chapter reviews Vista’s goals and explains how you might approach Vista in the future to improve the way you work.

Vista and Software

More and more companies are writing application software for Windows Vista. Although Windows XP software usually works well with Vista, there is no way that software written for the older versions of Windows can take advantage of the many Vista features. In this book, you’ve seen examples of Vista software and how Vista improves the way you work. Software can be written to honor the parental control settings, respect Vista’s other security measures such as specifying the type of user account that can use the program, and allow their data files to save thumbnail images for the Aero interface’s Live Preview mode.

As Windows Vista sells on more and more new computers, and as more Windows XP users upgrade to Vista, software makers have even more incentive to write specifically for Vista and take advantage of Vista’s feature set. That’s good news for you because software written for Vista is often more robust and offers more features than software written for a more universal Windows platform.

Fortunately, Vista is friendly when it comes to running software written for XP and even systems earlier than Windows XP. Windows Vista can actually run some DOS-based software from the 1980s and earlier, although this is never guaranteed to work glitch-free.

Vista’s Understanding of Data Flow

More than a decade before this book was written, I wrote the following in an older Windows book:

"There are many in the computer industry who believe that all of the following items will be integrated into one unit some day:

• Your computer
• A television
• A telephone
• Stereo equipment
• Pager equipment
• Cellular communications
• Fax communications"

With the exception of the pager, which has far less importance today with instant messaging and text messaging available on most computers and cell phones, the prediction wasn’t too far off. Today, one box offering access to all those features is almost commonplace with Media Center–ready PCs offering television tuners and sound cards providing Dolby sound enhancement and PC speaker systems that include subwoofers.

It wasn’t my brilliance that made the prediction so accurate. It was obvious that data used to be thought of as numbers and letters, but it was realized early in the 1990s that data can take on far more properties than letters and numbers. Data is any collection of symbols that can represent anything, including sound and video. A digital image, a digital phone call, a digital fax transmission, and a digital video image are all composed of nothing more than streams of data that a computer can process. Combining all that into one central repository only makes sense.

Windows Vista is the first true operating environment that can access all that data and make it usable to nontechnical computer users.

Your Vista Version Is Always Upgradeable

Microsoft changed its software model when it released Vista. When you buy a DVD with Vista on it, you actually get every Vista version available from Windows Vista Home Basic to Windows Vista Ultimate. It’s the way you activate Vista when you install it and the activation code given to you on the package that determines which version installs.

The chances are good that you’ll upgrade to a higher version of Vista someday, and Microsoft knows this. That’s why your Start menu’s Extras and Updates submenu enables you to upgrade to another version by paying a fee difference and unlocking the version you want. You could start with Windows Vista Home Premium and start a small business in your home only to realize that Windows Vista Business has a few features you could really use.

When you upgraded to a different Windows version in the past—even a version within the same family such as moving from Windows XP Home to Windows XP Professional—you had to purchase a separate installation disc and upgrade your system. The time and effort were far greater than the effort required to take Windows Vista up an upgrade notch or two. By giving you every version on a single DVD, Microsoft eliminated the need for you to download or go purchase an upgrade in person.

Check the www.microsoft.com/windows website often to see what new goodies Microsoft makes available to you as a Vista user. Check the Downloads link in the Resources section of the page’s left window pane because Microsoft offers a surprising number of games and tools and add-ons to other programs you probably already use, such as Office. Many of these downloads are not available automatically through Windows Update because they don’t actually update Windows, but they provide extras for those who use Windows applications. In addition to many freebies, Microsoft offers trial downloads so that you can try programs to see whether they do the job for you before you pay for them.

Chapter Wrap-Up

This is more than a chapter wrap-up—it’s a book wrap-up as well. You are now well-educated in Windows Vista and you have all the fundamentals that you need to move forward. You will experience Vista far more effectively than many others who use Vista because you now have a better understanding of Vista’s internals and what Vista is capable of doing.

Now close the book and open some windows.