Microsoft provides a brief glimpse of new Vista

Windows's successor, released in a test version and partly developed in Dublin, puts reliability and security to the fore, reports Karlin Lillington

Microsoft last week unveiled what it hopes will be one of the jewels in its corporate crown, releasing the beta test version of its long-delayed next version of Windows - now officially named Vista - to 500,000 developers and information technology professionals.

As it did so, the business world and consumers gained a glimpse of what their computer desktops are likely to look like from the end of next year and on into the near future, as Microsoft's dominance of the desktop market virtually guarantees Vista's blanket penetration into the computer user's universe.

Formerly known by its code name Longhorn - and dubbed Longwait by wags for a seemingly endless series of delayed launch and release dates - Vista promises to significantly alter the current Windows experience, says Joe Macri, country manager for Microsoft Ireland.

Along with a fresh user interface that features semitransparent windows, luminous coloured desktop icons and a new way of organising, searching for and presenting programmes, Vista will have increased reliability and security features, Microsoft has said.

After considerable criticism of the vulnerabilities in Windows - a security headache particularly for businesses as the operating system is so widely used - Microsoft has very publicly made security a top issue across the company.

Even as the company issued emergency patches this week for a new vulnerability that potentially exposes Windows to malignant viruses, Microsoft is pointing towards new features in Vista that will help lock down the whole system against such attacks.

The inbuilt firewall in Vista will block both incoming and outgoing dangerous network traffic, and users, including system administrators, will be prompted for passwords whenever they attempt to install software or alter the system's operations, a long-time element of operating systems like Unix.

Vista will also have programmes for detecting and removing viruses on local network traffic, and malware - malicious software programmes.

On the developer front, Vista will have tools that enable software programmers to build programmes for the operating system far more quickly, while system administrators will benefit from a faster, simplified deployment and safety features such as an automatic recovery plan built into the system, says Macri. "The user will see a significant change in reliability."

Microsoft feels one of Vista's real highlights for users is its integrated search features. Search is there even when looking for a programme on the Start bar - start to type in a programme name in the box now added in on the bar, and Vista hones in on the required application.

It also scours the entire system to hunt down desired files, faster and more efficiently than the current system, going by a preview demonstration given earlier this summer.

A set of potentially very interesting features are intended to keep desktops working efficiently even after years of use. A major problem for Windows users is the way in which the system gets bogged down with scattered parts of files, outdated drivers and other digital paraphernalia that can slow down or even crash the system over time. In Vista, the system will regularly be automatically defragmented - a way of spring cleaning all the odds and ends of files lying around on the hard drive - and a system monitor will suggest ways of making the system more efficient to the user.

Out on the web, programmers and commentators generally welcomed these new features but cautioned that if features tended to get in the way or slow the system down, they would quickly be seen as annoying glitches.

Microsoft warned that, while anyone can download the Beta 1 version of the programme from its website, it is intended for professional developers. "Beta 1 is not what I would call deeply interesting unless you are a real bithead," Microsoft group vicepresident Jim Allchin told technology news website news.com. He said tech enthusiasts wanting an early peek should wait a few months until the Beta 2 version is released.

"I wouldn't recommend [computer enthusiasts] downloading this version," Macri says. "Obviously there are going to be bugs to fix, etc. This is for developers."

Developers will explore the features of the release to consider how to create their own applications for the operating system, he says.

Developers need such advance viewing to have applications ready in time for the commercial launch, expected in the late second half of 2006. Having the system ready in time for the holiday market will be important to Microsoft, as well as PC manufacturers, say analysts.

Some of the development work on Vista is happening at Microsoft's new research and development facility in Dublin, where a team of 20 to 30 programmers has been on the job for the past few years. Initially they were part of the company's European product development centre, but became part of the new R&D centre upon its launch earlier this year.

"It's not a huge team, but it's a very important team," says Macri. "It's the first time in Ireland that we've got involved with core development", as opposed to localisation. Indeed, the presence of the team was one of the reasons Microsoft initially considered Dublin for the new R&D site.

Whereas in the past all Microsoft development happened in its Redmond, Washington headquarters, the company now has three international "virtual" development teams, in India, China and Ireland, he says.

The next Irish phase of the Beta launch will be to get the Beta 2 version - expected by Christmas - into some large trial customers here. About a dozen companies will test-drive the new operating system in the new year, Macri says.

Microsoft ran into one early glitch after launching Vista, when the media ran with a story this week about several viruses supposedly having been already created for Vista. However, this turned out not to be true, as the company had previously dropped the aspect of the system that might have created an entry point for the viruses.