Confident push: A Microsoft executive checks out Windows Vista before releasing the test version

There are drop-shadowed windows with semi-transparent glossy green bars on which minimise-maximise-close buttons glow like ballooned chicklets, but will you be dazzled solely by the look of the new Windows operating system? After a long wait, Microsoft has finally unwrapped the test version (Beta 1) of its next flagship operating system, Windows Vista, so far coded as Longhorn.

On August 3, the Windows XP’s successor was released for the programmers and tech professionals worldwide. It’s already been billed as the “decade’s most significant desktop”, but some experts wonder whether it is merely a copy of Apple Computer’s Mac OS X operating system. Microsoft, however, wants the software to form the platform for Windows for the next 10 years.

Experts at Redmond, Microsoft’s headquarters, have looked into four aspects while preparing the new operating system: security, ease of deployment, manageability and performance. In a release, Greg Sullivan, group product manager in the Windows client division, says, “The 64-bit Beta 1 includes some of Vista’s promised functionality, such as virtual folders, a new desktop search engine and a 3D-enabled user interface. But it hasn’t got much of the graphical user interface (GUI) enhancements which will be there in the final product.”

According to Beta 1 testers, Vista has improved in finding and organising information, but it somehow gives an Apple Mac-like feeling with regards to navigation through various programs via “All Programs” link. Scrolling is no longer required. One can search a program by typing its name into a box built into the menu. Like the Spotlight function in Mac OS X, a mini search box appears here on the upper right corner of every window. So it’s no longer necessary to return to the ‘Start’ menu for a search. A particular search can be saved as a virtual folder which can retrieve the required document.

Improved searching and fancy graphics apart, security is another area where the new operating system can win the heart of the more than 600 million users.

The Beta 1 version with Internet Explorer 7 also has rolled-in anti-spyware technology. It includes user account-protection (UAP) features that cordon off areas of the operating system to users, so network administrators can grant them a share of privilege in handling software when they require, on their own. It’s currently available with a Unix-based operating systems, including Mac OS X and Linux.

Vista is so secure that even administrators are asked for a password whenever anything is installed or a system setting changed. It encrypts a PC’s entire disk so that it can’t be read by outsiders, even if the computer is stolen. The system’s upgraded firewall now can distil incoming and outgoing network traffic. Windows Service Hardening monitors abnormal activity in the file system and registry. It also prevents viruses from being installed by infected PCs on local networks.

Unlike static icons in Windows’ previous versions, Vista’s folder icons are self-explanatory and expandable. An indicative live thumbnail shows the first page of the documents or a small representative snap for an image file.

Vista’s Metro allows documents to retain their exact formatting in any application, and when printed (like pdf formats in MAC OS X).

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer said at a meeting with financial analysts at Microsoft’s headquarters: “I think of it as the beginning of the next era [of operating systems] that adapts to keeping their information synchronised across multiple and portable PCs, network servers, wireless systems, including cell phones and PDAs and other instruments”

Even installation is not so cumbersome. One has only to change or upgrade the display kit of the current PC that can handle new Aero Glass ? a glass-like sheen display ? before installing Windows Vista. However, experts have found that heightened security may pose a hindrance for many programs to get installed.