Software Developments: Security takes center stage with MS Vista

Two years after Microsoft chairman and chief software architect Bill Gates first revealed an early version of his company's next operating system - originally codenamed Longhorn - Microsoft has finally released the first beta for the new system, which is now branded as Vista.The new system was released at the end of July to about 500,000 programmers and technology professionals for review and testing, and thus far, a sample of early users has expressed optimism about Vista's Beta 1, which showcases a number of security and ease-of-use enhancements over Windows XP and older MS operating systems.

"Personally, I like the stability of the product. It's very stable, even though it's just in beta," said Shafat Qazi, chief executive officer of BQE Software Inc., a Microsoft Business Solutions reseller and business software provider headquartered in Torrance, Calif. "Finally, they have made some fundamental changes to the security, like the way the administrator accounts are different from the user accounts, and they keep spyware and viruses from PCs. It's not a new concept, it's been in Linux for years, but it's great to see them do that because it's much needed."