Windows Vista in many ways is not just a graphical leap for Microsoft. While most of the world is enjoying the new Aero interface, there will be a few who will be marvelling at the host of changes that have occurred in Vista"s network stack. Technically speaking, Windows Vista is the 5th generation of Microsoft OS that sports a TCP/IP stack. However, that"s where all the comparisons end. For Vista, Microsoft went back to the drawing board. The entire stack has been re-written from the scratch and now natively supports both IPV4 (current 32 bit version of TCP/IP that is in commercial deployment) and IPV6 (128 bit TCP/IP stack that is under testing right now and will slowly be deployed over the next few years).

Network Profiles

If that was not good enough, Microsoft has taken a step further by offering network profiles based on access points, network settings and locations which are configurable through a wizard based system. In case you are confused what we are referring to, let us explain this with a practical example. Over the last few years Wi-Fi has become the preferred mode of connection for laptop users. This has lead to an annoying development, wherein one has to keep changing the network settings all the time to achieve Internet or LAN connectivity. It"s a different setup everywhere you go, be it office home or your favorite café, try to remember the settings for each place and we assure you that sooner or later you will want to kill someone at Microsoft for not building a profiles-based system earlier. Though most notebook manufacturers have tried to work around this problem, by means of their own applications that would retain networks in profiles, these programs were never really up to the task. They would just confuse the user and in most cases would just stop working mysteriously. This is a problem we have faced time and time again across the spectrum from laptops of different manufacturers.

Well Vista finally has a solution for this problem. Every time we connect to a network Vista displays 3 profiles Home, Work and Public. These 3 broad profiles based on what you choose, will configure various settings such as file-sharing and security-levels. The profiles are quite comprehensive and remember network settings quite easily. Depending on your location, the correct profile is loaded and makes seamless "Wi-Fi" network roaming a reality. Just in case you were wondering, the network profiles work with LAN /Bluetooth PAN/WAN networks too, making this a welcome addition to the Windows Platform.

Network and Sharing centre

If you are a hands-on kind of person where it comes to networking, Microsoft has something for you too. All network settings are now grouped under a new location namely the network and sharing centre. Here you can not only do the standard TCP/IP settings but can also set options for network discovery, file sharing, public folder sharing, password protected sharing and media sharing. This is probably the most comprehensive setting centre, we have seen outside Linux. Virtually every network setting you can think of is present here.

When you combine the new network profiles, with the network and sharing center, well Microsoft is to be commended for making its networking easier and more secure.

Media Centre

In the beginning of our review, we have already spoken on how TV and digital media have converged to the desktop level. This had led to Microsoft introducing Windows Media Centre 2005 edition, which enables the PC to become an entertainment hub merging all your digital media, TV and gaming under a single interface. Windows Media Centre 2005 was a run-away hit selling millions of copies and giving PC manufacturers a brand new market i.e. HTPCs which are made on powerful processors, slim chassis and pack in tons of storage.

With Vista, Microsoft has decided to do away with a separate Media Centre edition, choosing to merge right into the Windows Vista Premium editions namely Home Premium and Vista Ultimate. Like before, the media centre application runs full-screen. It can be controlled either with a dedicated remote control via a HTPC or a standard keyboard-mouse. It acts as the front-end for your digital media such as your music, videos, photos and DVD playback. Windows Media Centre also has support for TV tuners which not only allow you to watch Live TV but allow you to record your favourite show. It also offers advanced options such as Time scaling. This term is what manufacturers popularly refer to as pausing live television. Using this feature you can pause a TV channel and resume it at a later instance.

The UI of the media centre application under Vista is a WIP. The new version adds support for widescreen displays and utilizes a new screen organisational method of displaying its windows contents. Unlike the previous version, the menus and content now scroll horizontally from left to right instead of up and down. The menu overall looks more polished and is very responsive thanks to Vista"s graphical upgrades. The speedy response and well designed interface of the new UI is a welcome change keeping in mind that a lot of PC manufacturers like Lenovo here have started making their own interfaces. These interfaces as compared to Media Centre lag a lot and look like they have been designed by people who were asleep when they were conceiving the design.

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