This section outlines the most striking and appealing new features in Windows Vista. Of course, the biggest feature for users is the new Aero Glass user interface, but really, that’s just eye candy.MAdministrators will spend considerable time looking at the new security features, which are definitely a step in the right direction. Microsoft has improved security significantly in this release of Windows.
Aero Glass UI
The new Aero Glass user interface (UI) will bedazzle you with spectacular graphic effects, pure and simple. You can’t point to many things that the Aero Glass user gets that the non–Aero Glass user doesn’t except a little bit of added help. It can be argued that an attractive user interface does improve user productivity in much the same way that other environmental considerations do. Productivity is one of the reasons why companies have plants in the office area (even areas that a client won’t visit) or paint offices in bright colors, rather than maintain a factory atmosphere. Sure, the factory atmosphere is significantly easier to maintain and dirt cheap to install, but users don’t work well in such an environment. For a business user, the added user productivity is about the only thing to recommend the Aero Glass UI, except that it looks great, as shown in Figure 1.1.
The see-through title bar, brilliant colors, and graphical effects that the Aero Glass UI provides really do dazzle the eyes. In some cases, such as working with Photo Gallery, the additional graphics are also helpful, but not required. Most business users can do just fine using the non-glass UI discussed in the next section.
The see-through title bar, brilliant colors, and graphical effects that the Aero Glass UI provides really do dazzle the eyes. In some cases, such as working with Photo Gallery, the additional graphics are also helpful, but not required. Most business users can do just fine using the non-glass UI discussed in the next section.
