Microsoft Windows Vista is scheduled to be released five years after XP debuted, and is supposed to increase the company's share of worldwide operating systems revenues from 70% to 77%, according to IDC's calculations. Microsoft is also more quietly testing the Longhorn server, which isn't due until 2007. Reportedly the server won't be called Vista.

The Windows Vista beta, which is reportedly missing two-thirds of the functionality planned for the final product, the design of which had already been cut back from original plans, is initially going to 10,000 testers, expanding to 500,000 MSDN and TechNet developers.

Microsoft said the beta is supposed to test things such as security (limited administrator rights, malware foiling, a new bi-directional firewall, encryption), reliability (disk imaging), deployment (pre-migration application-compatibility checking), manageability (WS-Management protocols) and crash-reducing diagnostics. There's supposed to be less rebooting with this version as well, according to Microsoft.

An updated beta is apparently due in September in time for Microsoft's Professional Developers Conference and there's supposed to be a fleshier Beta 2 a few months later. It's unclear how many interim builds will ultimately be made available.

The beta includes built-in desktop search with widgetry called Virtual Folders; an incomplete IE7, which is also supposed to be made available for XP and is ultimately supposed to warn users that they're on a phishing site; Indigo, the Web Services mojo now called the Windows Communication Foundation; and the Avalon graphics engine, now known as the Windows Presentation Foundation. Indigo and Avalon aren't the same as originally envisioned.

Meanwhile, the IE7 beta for Windows XP SP 2, which doesn't include technology that's dependent on Vista, was also released. IE7, whose tabbed browsing levels the playing field with Firefox, also features Real Simple Syndication (RSS) integration and shrink-to-fit printing.

This report was based on a story that originally appeared at www.clienservernews.com