25 Selling Points For Vista

The first Windows Vista versions for businesses are out the door, and the mainstream versions are due to hit the market at the end of next month. That leaves VARs lots of work to do (if they haven't done some of it already) to get customers primed to upgrade to the next-gen Microsoft platform or at least thinking about doing so.

To help get the ball rolling for solution providers, the CRN Test Center put together a listing of 25 Vista selling points to take to customers.

1. Aero Glass Interface
Brings a clean look to the desktop.

2. Task Manager
Offers 3-D representation, or Thumbnails, of running applications.

3. BitLocker
Encrypts hard drives to protect data.

4. User Account Control
Provides improved control of user rights.

5. Mobility Center
Groups common mobility tasks together.

6. Windows Firewall
True software firewall offers advanced protection.

7. Group Policies
More than 500 added controls.

8. Ready Boost
Speed up systems by adding a USB drive.

9. RSS Feeds
Vista brings a built-in RSS reader for Internet Explorer 7.

10. Tabbed Browsing
IE7 enables users to open new content in tabbed windows.

11. Digital Sandbox
Activities in the browser are isolated from critical OS files.

12. Deployment Tools
Integrated imaging and management tools make deployments easier.

13. User Account Protection
Prevents the installation of unauthorized software. 14. Desktop Search
Integrated search engine speeds finding files, programs or data.

15. Windows Defender
Bundled antispyware adds protection.

16. Movie Maker
Greatly improved application for editing digital video content.

17. Parental Controls
Prevents unauthorized use and access to the system and the Web.

18. Windows Backup
Improved system restore feature makes backups easier.

19. Start Menu
Simplified menu system speeds access to common chores.

20. Photo Gallery
Makes managing digital photos and videos simple.

21. Media Player 11
Improved interface and feature set.

22. Tablet Support
New Tablet PC features include trainable handwriting recognition and support for digital gestures.

23. Media Center
Better integration and control of media-centric data.

24. Sidebar
Enables small applications (aka "gadgets") to run in a special area of the screen.

25. Improved Stability
Vista offers more stability and hardware support than previous versions of Windows.