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Microsoft Unveils 'Vista Premium' Requirements
Graeme writes "Microsoft has finished what some are calling the true minimum requirements for Windows Vista: the finalized requirements for the 'Vista Premium' certification program. The program is used to influence OEM designs, and it gives an idea of what Microsoft thinks Vista really needs to run well, and what they think is in the horizon. The Ars report hits the highlights, and there are some surprises in there, such as a delayed requirement for HDCP. Ars suspects that the slow ramp-up is due to the pact to not use the Image Constraint Token."
In no particular order, these are the notable additional requirements for Premium certification:
Effective now:
* HD Audio support that passes a "high-fidelity audio experience" test (exception: Business class systems have until June 1, 2007).
* Support for Direct3d 9 and DXGI feature sets (Direct3d 10 mandated by June 1, 2008).
* At least one digital output (e.g., DVI-D) for all add-in video adapters (not integrated video: that doesn't change until June 1, 2008).
* 100Mb Ethernet and/or and WiFi (802.11g must be supported; 802.11a can be supported only in addition to 802.11g).
* USB 2.0 ports throughout
* System resumes from ACPI S3 state ("suspend-to-ram") in 2 seconds (does not include user mode initialization, i.e., total "wake" time will be longer than 2 seconds)
The Vista Premium cert ensures that nobody will get complaints like: "Whaddya mean, my brand new PC can't run $ESOTERIC_VISTA_FEATURE_XYZ?!" People may be misled by the submitter's choice of link text. **cough**zonkdoyourjob**cough**
The Vista Premium OEM certification requirements are not the "true minimum requirements for Windows Vista".
The baseline requirements are an 800MHz CPU, 512MB memory, and a DirectX 9-capable video processor. (I think the DX9 requirement is more for driver compliance than hardware features, since GPUs that can't handle Aero Glass will fall back on Aero Basic, and the old Windows 2000 style is still available.) A network connection is not required, and it would be safe to presume that activation by phone will still be available. (And, given the Windows Genuine Advantage mess, that might actually be preferrable to WGA phoning it in for you.)
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"Software installation from a consumer standpoint, is still buggy as hell..."
Hum, I don't see that at all. $ apt-get install [some package] is easy and painless. Do you mean those RPM based install distros are buggy as hell?
Avalon and Indigo are still "in," FYI, though not by those names.
If you don't know where you are going, you will wind up somewhere else.
The Wikepedia article should be updated to point out clearly that the whole part of USB 2.0 full speed is a marketing scam. When USB 2.0 came out initially, theoretical maximum transfer rates jumped from 12Mbs to 480Mbs. The problem was that there were still a huge backlog of unsold systems with the old USB 1.1 ports. Of course, nobody wanted the older, slower standard, and everyone knew to insist on USB 2.0 in their new systems. The industry somehow managed to get the "standard" changed so that what was USB 1.1 could now be labeled as USB 2.0 Full Speed. The new standard became USB 2.0 High Speed. Of course, most computers were labeled simply as USB 2.0 regardless of which they had, which was a huge scam on the buyers. Why there aren't people in jail over this still infuriates me.
"It's the height of ridiculousness to say for those 9 lines you get hundreds of millions."