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Vista comes with an assortment of new tools, technologies and applications, some of them so-so, some of them real showstoppers:

• SuperFetch. This is very smart memory management technology, which ensures that data and files needed by an application are loaded into RAM. SuperFetch enhances the already-useful Prefetch technology in Windows XP. It provides faster loading of regularly used applications – something that was dramatically apparent during our tests.
• ReadyBoost lets you plug in a USB key, SD Card, CompactFlash or other memory device and have Vista use that memory to boost system performance.
• ReadyDrive provides very fast startup and much faster resume from hibernate on hybrid drives (new drives that combine flash memory with a hard drive).
• Flip and Flip 3D. Flip is the new name for the Alt+Tab key combination used to switch between open applications. Flip looks better than its predecessors and is more informative. Press Winkey+Tab instead of Alt+Tab and you’ll bring up Flip 3D, a snazzy live graphical view that displays any window activity (such as a video playing).
• Automatic document backup, both for files and for your entire system.
• Built-in speech recognition. Despite an embarrassingly bad demonstration of this feature, a video of which made its way onto YouTube, it’s not half bad, especially for controlling Windows and launching programs.
• Windows Calendar. At last, a calendaring app for Windows, and this one is ICS compatible so you can subscribe to other calendars online.
• Windows Meeting Space. A replacement for NetMeeting, Meeting Space supports peer-to-peer application sharing and uses the new People Near Me service to connect you to others on the network.
• Windows Sidebar is a pale imitation of Google Desktop’s Sidebar. It occupies a transparent strip on the right of Vista’s desktop and houses a variety of Gadgets. Here’s hoping Microsoft makes major improvements to the Sidebar Gadgets before Vista’s final release; in their current state, they’re minimally useful and barely configurable, making the Sidebar nothing much more than a waste of space.
• The Windows Mobility Center centralises control of notebook features such as power management, display settings and orientation, wireless networking and synchronisation. For Tablet PC users, the Handwriting Recognition Personalization Tool improves handwriting recognition; pen navigation has been improved; and there’s now support for touch screens.
• Windows Mail replaces Outlook Express. It’s not particularly impressive, and its clear that Microsoft would rather you subscribe to its Windows Live Mail service and use the Windows Live Mail Desktop application instead. Live Mail has more features, including multiple account support, anti-virus, spam blocking, newsgroup and RSS feed support, and photo e-mail, plus integration with MSN Spaces blogging and MSN Messenger.

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