Microsoft Windows Vista

Microsoft Office 2007

Can I upgrade?

• Vista Home Basic Minimums:• System Requirements• Minimum Processor Speed 1 GHz• Minimum Memory Required 512MB of

system memory• Hard Disk Required 20GB hard drive with

at least 15GB of available space• Display Support for DirectX 9 graphics and

32 MB of graphics memory

Vista Ultimate Minimums• System Requirements• Processor Speed1 GHz processor• Memory Required1 GB of system memory• HardDisk Required40GB hard drive with at least

15GB of available space• DisplaySupport for DirectX 9 graphics with: • •     WDDM Driver • •    128 MB of graphics memory (minimum) • •    Pixel Shader 2.0 in hardware • •    32 bits per pixel

Vista Good Performance• At least a 3.0 Ghz Pentium 4, or more

recent processor• RAM Memory of 2 G or higher• 200 Gb high speed (7200 rpm or above)

SATA, PATA, or SCSI hard drive• DVD drive• 256-512 mb Video Display card with Direct

X 9, WDDM driver, Pixel Shader 2.0• 450 watt or higher power supply to run the

computer and graphics card

Versions of VistaUpgrades

Upgrade Prices (retail)

• Vista Home Basic - $99.95• Vista Home Premium - $159.00• Vista Business - $199.00• Vista Ultimate - $259.00• All 64-bit versions require a clean install,

and cannot do an upgrade install.• XP must have SP2, Win 2000 must have

SP4, older versions of Windows such as 95, 98, ME require a clean install.

Which Version - Home

• Basic is REALLY basic, no Aero, no bells & whistles.

• Home Premium is more like the XP Media Edition – it has the bells and whistles to work with TV tuners, act as a “tivo”, do multimedia work.

• Neither home edition can be put into a Microsoft “domain” to work with a Microsoft server.

Which Version - Business

• Business is most comparable to XP Professional – has all the core features to work in a business (or home) environment.

• Ultimate is something new – it has all the business features, and also has the “Media Edition” features, like Home Premium.

• You can upgrade for an additional charge at any time. Upgrades can even be downloaded on-line (better have broadband – big upgrade)

Now – lets look at Vista

• The following slides were screen images captured from HP XW4100 workstation with 3.0G Pentium 4, 2G of RAM, 200G PATA IDE 7200 rpm hard drive, original video card removed and replaced by an nVidia GeForce 6200 video card with 128mb of RAM. (this is NOT an ultra-performance card, but is on the low end for the Aero interface)

• The computer is running Vista Business with all current patches, and Office 2007. Also, all of my usual programs have been installed for compatibility testing.

Software Compatibility• MOST of my older applications run just fine on Vista. There are a

few that don’t.• Acronis – the older version of Acronis does not support the new

security system of Vista. However, the current release is Vista compatible.

• Diskeeper (defragmentation utility) – The older version does not support the new security system. Again, the current release is Vista compatible.

• Roxio CD-Creator Platinum 5.3.5 – The 5.1 purchased several years ago had to be patched to work with XP. It does not work with Vista. However, Easy Media Creator 8 (not the newest) does work with Vista.

• There were several other older applications tested that had problems. Most of them were auxiliary pieces that came with various pieces of hardware. In some cases, the hardware did not have Vista drivers, and the software could not be tested.

Hardware Compatibility• Generally, hardware compatibility has been good. However, I have purchased items

new with the idea of buying things that are main-stream.• I have not tried any of my scanners. They are all old, one HP quit working after three

years with XP and is now on a computer running 2000.• Printers – even though my three HP LaserJet 5M printers are ancient – they are

supported in post-script mode. Many older printers, especially lower-priced ink jets, are not supported, and are not likely to ever be supported. My Color LaserJet 3600 is also supported fully.

• I have not attempted to install my Palm device on Vista. I have found that it will only synchronize properly with ONE desktop or notebook computer in the past.

• Microsoft themselves does not write hardware drivers. They don’t usually have the detail hardware info to write drivers. They specify how to write the driver – and it is up to the device manufacturer to write. Most hardware companies that stay in business are focused on selling new products; not on writing device drivers for decade old hardware.

• More drivers, and better drivers are being released. Some of the early nVidia video drivers (as well as many others) were unstable and very feature-limted in comparison to their drivers for XP.

Vista Business desktop

Vista Desktop Menu (default)

Vista Aero Interface

Aero “Bubbles”

Vista Basic (non-Aero) Interface

Appearance Settings

Display Settings

Windows “Classic” Theme

Personalize Appearance Menu

All Programs Menu (default)

Start Menu Properties

Start Menu (Classic)

Control Panel (default)

Control Panel (Classic)

Accessory Menu

Example “Gadget”

“Admin” account DISABLED

Vista Default Groups

Some of Desktop Backgrounds

“My Computer”

Performance Info

Network & Sharing Center

Printers Menu

Backup & System Restore points

System Event Log

“Services” Control

System Configuration Tool

Command Prompt – still lives

IP config – IP version 6 support

Windows Explorer

Windows Media Player

Older Application Running

Windows Mail (replaces OE)

Office 2007 - Word

Word 2007 Main Menu

Excel 2007

PowerPoint 2007

For older Office Office 2007 Compatibility Pack

• Overview• Users of the Microsoft Office XP and 2003 programs Word, Excel, or PowerPoint—

please install all High-Priority updates from Microsoft Update before downloading the Compatibility Pack.

By installing the Compatibility Pack in addition to Microsoft Office 2000, Office XP, or Office 2003, you will be able open, edit, and save files using the file formats new to Word, Excel, and PowerPoint 2007. The Compatibility Pack can also be used in conjunction with the Microsoft Office Word Viewer 2003, Excel Viewer 2003, and PowerPoint Viewer 2003 to view files saved in these new formats. For more information about the Compatibility Pack, see Knowledge Base article 924074.

Note: If you use Microsoft Word 2000 or Microsoft Word 2002 to read or write documents containing complex scripts, please see http://support.microsoft.com/kb/925451 for information to enable Word 2007 documents to be displayed correctly in your version of Word.

Administrators: The administrative template for the Word, Excel, and PowerPoint converters contained within the Compatibility Pack is available for download.

• The Compatibility Pack can be downloaded free of charge from Microsoft.

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