Windows Vista

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Windows Vista
Part of the Microsoft Windows family
Windows Vista logo and wordmark.svg
Windows Aero.png
Picture of Windows Vista Ultimate
Developer
Microsoft Corporation
Releases
Initial release January 30, 2007; 6 years ago (2007-01-30) [info]
Stable release 6.0 (Build 6002: Service Pack 2)[1] (April 28, 2009; 4 years ago (2009-04-28)) [info]
Source model Closed source / Shared source[2]
License Proprietary commercial software
Kernel type Hybrid
Update method Windows Update, Windows Server Update Services, SCCM
Platform support IA-32 and x86-64
Preceded by Windows XP
Succeeded by Windows 7
Support status

Mainstream support: Ended on April 10, 2012.

Extended support: Until April 11, 2017.[3]
Further reading

Windows Vista is the 6th version of the Microsoft Windows operating system from Microsoft. While it was being made, it was called Longhorn. On July 28, 2005, Microsoft gave out its real name, Windows Vista.

Microsoft had worked on Vista for more than five years, so it came with many new features, such as improved graphics, new built-in programs, and stronger defenses against computer viruses. However, Vista introduced many changes to the way the operating system worked, which caused some older programs to stop working.

Contents

Vista Editions and System Requirements [change]

Vista was released in November 2006 for system builders and January 30, 2007 for home users. The four main editions of Windows Vista are:

  • Home Basic Edition
  • Home Premium Edition
  • Business Edition
  • Ultimate Edition.

There are 2 special versions called Home Starter Edition, and Enterprise Edition. Home Starter is basically the same as XP Starter, and is for low budget countries. Vista needs at least 512 MB of RAM to run on all computers. Some new parts of Vista need 1 GB of RAM to work.

Windows Vista system requirements[4]
Vista Capable Vista Premium Ready
Processor 800 MHz[5] 1 GHz
Memory 512 MB 1 GB
Graphics card DirectX 9.0 capable DirectX 9.0 capable and WDDM 1.0 driver support
Graphics memory 64 MB 128 MB
HDD capacity 40 GB 80 GB
HDD free space 15 GB
Optical drives DVD-ROM drive[6] (Only to install from DVD-ROM media)

For stability and performance, more than 1 Gigabyte of main memory (RAM) is always helpful with a large operating system such as this.

Service Packs [change]

Microsoft releases service packs to update software and fix problems.

Service pack 1 [change]

Windows Vista Service Pack 1 (SP1) was released on February 4, 2008 alongside Windows Server 2008 to OEM partners, after a five-month beta test period. The first use of the service pack caused a number of machines to continually reboot, rendering the machines unusable.[7] This caused Microsoft to temporarily suspend automatic deployment of the service pack until the problem was resolved. The same release date of the two operating systems showed the merging of the workstation and server kernels back into a single code base for the first time since Windows 2000. MSDN subscribers were able to download SP1 on February 15, 2008. SP1 became available to current Windows Vista users on Windows Update and the Download Center on March 18, 2008.[8][9][10] Initially, the service pack only supported 5 languages - English, French, Spanish, German and Japanese. Support for the remaining 31 languages was released on April 14, 2008.[11]

Service Pack 2 [change]

Service Pack 2 for Windows Vista was released to manufacturing on April 28, 2009,[12] and released to Microsoft Download Center and Windows Update on May 26, 2009[13]. In addition to a number of security and other fixes, a number of new features have been added. However, it did not include Internet Explorer 8.[14][15]

References [change]

  1. ↑ "Windows Vista with SP2 RTM Slipstreamed/Integrated DVD ISO Image (BT Download)". http://www.mydigitallife.info/2009/04/29/windows-vista-with-sp2-rtm-slipstreamedintegrated-dvd-iso-image-bt-download/. Retrieved May 25, 2009.
  2. ↑ "Windows Licensing Programs". Microsoft. June 2011. http://www.microsoft.com/resources/sharedsource/windowslp.mspx. Retrieved September 21, 2008.
  3. ↑ Microsoft. "Windows Vista Lifecycle Policy". Microsoft. http://support.microsoft.com/lifecycle/search/?sort=PN&alpha=Windows+Vista&Filter=FilterNO. Retrieved April 13, 2010.
  4. ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named TechNet_Vista_Requirements.
  5. ↑ Windows Vista minimum supported system requirements "Windows Vista: Recommended System Requirements". Microsoft. http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/windowsvista/editions/systemrequirements.mspx. Retrieved March 13, 2008.
  6. ↑ Any optical drive that can read DVD-ROM media.
  7. ↑ "No update from Microsoft on Vista SP1, Media Center problems". Zdnet. 2008-02-18. http://blogs.zdnet.com/microsoft/?p=1197. Retrieved 2008-10-08.
  8. ↑ "Announcing the RTM of Windows Vista SP1". Microsoft. 2008-02-04. http://windowsvistablog.com/blogs/windowsvista/archive/2008/02/04/announcing-the-rtm-of-windows-vista-sp1.aspx. Retrieved 2008-02-04.
  9. ↑ "Windows Vista Service Pack 1 Beta White Paper". Microsoft. 2007-08-29. p. 1. http://windowsvistablog.com/blogs/windowsvista/pages/windows-vista-service-pack-1-beta-whitepaper.aspx. Retrieved 2007-08-29.
  10. ↑ "Feb. Launch Now Set for Windows Vista SP1". PC World Magazine. 2008-01-31. Archived from the original on 6 February 2008. http://web.archive.org/web/20080206102920/http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,142054-c,vistalonghorn/article.html. Retrieved 2008-01-31.
  11. ↑ Download Details: Windows Vista SP1 All Language Standalone (KB936330)
  12. ↑ http://windowsteamblog.com/blogs/windowsvista/archive/2009/04/28/windows-vista-sp2-rtm-windows-vista-sp1-blocker-tool-removed.aspx Windows Vista SP2 RTM + Windows Vista SP1 Blocker Tool Removed
  13. ↑ http://news.softpedia.com/news/Windows-Vista-Service-Pack-2-SP2-RTM-Download-112541.shtml
  14. ↑ Mike Nash (2008-10-24). "Windows Vista Team Blog : Windows Vista Service Pack 2 Beta". http://windowsvistablog.com/blogs/windowsvista/archive/2008/10/24/windows-vista-service-pack-2-beta.aspx. Retrieved 2008-10-24.
  15. ↑ "Information about Windows Server 2008 Service Pack 2 and Windows Vista Service Pack 2". Microsoft. 2008-10-02. http://support.microsoft.com/kb/948465. Retrieved 2008-10-17.

Other websites [change]

Find more information on Windows Vista by searching one of Wikipedia's sister projects:

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Microsoft [change]

Reviews and screenshots [change]

 
Desktop operating systems
Windows 1.0  • Windows 2.0  • Windows 3.x  • Windows NT  • Windows 95  • Windows 98  • Windows 2000  • Windows Me
Windows XP  • Windows Vista  • Windows 7  • Windows 8
Server operating systems
PDA operating systems
Preceded by
Windows XP		 Windows Versions
2007-		 Succeeded by
Windows 7

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