Hands On with Windows Vista Beta 1
 

Microsoft hasn't yet finalized the features in Windows Vista, let alone optimized them, so there's relatively little we can conclusively say today about its performance. The most significant element of Microsoft's performance story is that 32-bit and 64-bit versions of Windows Vista are being built concurrently, so that users with computationally demanding or particularly memory-intensive applications should be able to choose a 64-bit version of Vista from day one, provided they have a 64-bit processor to run it on. (The other potential roadblock for running 64-bit versions of Windows is the availability of device drivers, so Microsoft is leaning on independent hardware vendors (IHVs) to provide 64-bit versions of their device drivers.) Microsoft has said that its preliminary performance testing shows that existing 32-bit applications often run faster under 64-bit Windows.

Additionally, Microsoft says it aims to improve speed in other areas, reducing, for example, the time required to boot the system. A new sleep mode is meant to supplant standby and hibernate modes, combining the speed of resuming from standby and the lower power drain of hibernate.


One of the largely invisible areas where Microsoft says it's making major investments is in reliability: stability and security—what the company grandly terms the "confidence pillar." In the words of Brad Goldberg, general manager for the Windows client, "If we don't nail the confidence pillar, we don't earn the right to talk about the other features of the product." Microsoft says it's tackling the reliability problem from a number of angles, including changes in its own design and development process.

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1895,1840730,00.asp