Windows Vista: Is It Time For An Upgrade Or Not?

5 days. That is all that is left of the five years that have passed since Windows XP was launched and since Microsoft announced that it would start work on Windows Vista (still named Longhorn at the time).

Actually, six years, because the OS we all know as Windows Vista was talked about for the first time in 2001. All this is history though and come Jan. 30, Windows Vista will set out on its quest to conquer customers. Is Windows Vista capable though of becoming Windows XP’s rightful successor?

From one point of view, Microsoft resembles Metallica (I hope fans of neither entity are bothered by the comparison). Both Microsoft and Metallica have been at the center of impassioned controversies and still are. Both Microsoft and Metallica are capable of being brilliant, even on a bad day. But neither Microsoft nor Metallica are able to generate the same enthusiasm they did seven years ago. They have reached a level where even if they function by way of habit they still produce hundreds of millions of dollars. Unfortunately, neither Microsoft nor Metallica can surprise anybody any longer.

At a first look, Windows Vista is superior to Windows XP from all points of view. Vista customers can actually expect several thousand new functions, Microsoft claims. Most of them are hidden underneath the hood, so to speak. One eye-catching element is the new graphical interface, dubbed Aero. It is remarkable first for its semi- transparent windows. Open several windows at once, and you can still see which other folders and documents are open beneath them. This is not exactly trailblazing in the world of operating systems, though. Transparent windows are also available in Apple's Mac OS X and with various Linux versions.

Microsoft went one step further, however, with its Flip 3D function. This positions all opened windows one behind another, slightly offset. Switching between the individual windows is somewhat easier than with XP, because the windows can be paged through using the scroll wheel, for example.

The desktop search is certain to be a major convenience. It finds objects not just based on folder or file names, but based on the contents of a document itself. Typing "Lara" into the search filter, for example, will pull up all e-mail messages and Word documents containing the word "Lara." The searching is launched as soon as the first letter is typed in.

The Windows Photo Gallery may bring joy to anyone with a large collection of digital photos on the computer. The software imports photos from a camera or scanner onto the PC, and also offers simple photo editing tools.

The Sidebar is intended to provide a quick overview. It is a collection of little programs that - presuming an internet connection is available - retrieve specific information in real time. That can be weather reports, stock quotes or sports scores, for example. These programs, known as widgets, are available for free download from Microsoft. But, according to Microsoft, the most important aspect of Windows Vista is one that is not perceived at first glance: the security has been greatly improved. Which remains to be seen and tested, but until then, we’ll take their word for it.

Vista comes with Internet Explorer 7, Windows Media Player 11 and the anti spyware software Windows Defender.

And we’re still a long way off from finishing the list, but which of the facilities mentioned above makes you jump for joy and run into the first store so that you can order Windows Vista?

How many things can you do only with or because Windows Vista and you can’t do with Windows XP and its third party applications? Not too many, at least in my opinion.

Two years ago, Windows Vista would have been a revolution. Now, it’s more of a hyperbolic finale to a prolonged agony.

Indisputably, Windows Vista will have its fans, who can’t wait to have the OS and install it on their PCs, indifferent to the fact that they need 2 GB of RAM and 256 MB RAM video.

In the end, Windows runs on 90 per cent of the world’s PCs, so Windows Vista’s destiny cannot be disastrous. Is this enough for Microsoft though? Not at all! In acerbic competition with Google and Apple, Microsoft needs Windows Vista to be “a bigger bang” and not just another Windows XP with another look. Those using Windows will certainly, within a couple of years, migrate slowly and irrevocably towards Windows Vista, because XP will become old-fashioned and Microsoft will not be willing to keep it alive forever.

Microsoft played it right this time with Windows Vista, even if it’s late by five years. The difference, considerable, between what Windows Vista promised to be and it actually is, puts extraordinary pressure on Microsoft’s following release, Windows Vienna, which has to be truly outstanding.

Windows Vienna, or whatever Microsoft eventually decides to name it, will have to be everything Vista is not at the moment, an OS that redefines the way in which we interact with our PC. Will Microsoft manage to do that?

How NSA access was built into Windows

Careless mistake reveals subversion of Windows by NSA.

A CARELESS mistake by Microsoft programmers has revealed that special access codes prepared by the US National Security Agency have been secretly built into Windows. The NSA access system is built into every version of the Windows operating system now in use, except early releases of Windows 95 (and its predecessors). The discovery comes close on the heels of the revelations earlier this year that another US software giant, Lotus, had built an NSA "help information" trapdoor into its Notes system, and that security functions on other software systems had been deliberately crippled.

The first discovery of the new NSA access system was made two years ago by British researcher Dr Nicko van Someren. But it was only a few weeks ago when a second researcher rediscovered the access system. With it, he found the evidence linking it to NSA.

Computer security specialists have been aware for two years that unusual features are contained inside a standard Windows software "driver" used for security and encryption functions. The driver, called ADVAPI.DLL, enables and controls a range of security functions. If you use Windows, you will find it in the C:\Windows\system directory of your computer.

ADVAPI.DLL works closely with Microsoft Internet Explorer, but will only run crypographic functions that the US governments allows Microsoft to export. That information is bad enough news, from a European point of view. Now, it turns out that ADVAPI will run special programmes inserted and controlled by NSA. As yet, no-one knows what these programmes are, or what they do.

Dr Nicko van Someren reported at last year's Crypto 98 conference that he had disassembled the ADVADPI driver. He found it contained two different keys. One was used by Microsoft to control the cryptographic functions enabled in Windows, in compliance with US export regulations. But the reason for building in a second key, or who owned it, remained a mystery.

A second key

Two weeks ago, a US security company came up with conclusive evidence that the second key belongs to NSA. Like Dr van Someren, Andrew Fernandez, chief scientist with Cryptonym of Morrisville, North Carolina, had been probing the presence and significance of the two keys. Then he checked the latest Service Pack release for Windows NT4, Service Pack 5. He found that Microsoft's developers had failed to remove or "strip" the debugging symbols used to test this software before they released it. Inside the code were the labels for the two keys. One was called "KEY". The other was called "NSAKEY".

Fernandes reported his re-discovery of the two CAPI keys, and their secret meaning, to "Advances in Cryptology, Crypto'99" conference held in Santa Barbara. According to those present at the conference, Windows developers attending the conference did not deny that the "NSA" key was built into their software. But they refused to talk about what the key did, or why it had been put there without users' knowledge.

A third key?!

But according to two witnesses attending the conference, even Microsoft's top crypto programmers were astonished to learn that the version of ADVAPI.DLL shipping with Windows 2000 contains not two, but three keys. Brian LaMachia, head of CAPI development at Microsoft was "stunned" to learn of these discoveries, by outsiders. The latest discovery by Dr van Someren is based on advanced search methods which test and report on the "entropy" of programming code.

Within the Microsoft organisation, access to Windows source code is said to be highly compartmentalized, making it easy for modifications to be inserted without the knowledge of even the respective product managers.

Researchers are divided about whether the NSA key could be intended to let US government users of Windows run classified cryptosystems on their machines or whether it is intended to open up anyone's and everyone's Windows computer to intelligence gathering techniques deployed by NSA's burgeoning corps of "information warriors".

According to Fernandez of Cryptonym, the result of having the secret key inside your Windows operating system "is that it is tremendously easier for the NSA to load unauthorized security services on all copies of Microsoft Windows, and once these security services are loaded, they can effectively compromise your entire operating system". The NSA key is contained inside all versions of Windows from Windows 95 OSR2 onwards.

"For non-American IT managers relying on Windows NT to operate highly secure data centres, this find is worrying", he added. "The US government is currently making it as difficult as possible for "strong" crypto to be used outside of the US. That they have also installed a cryptographic back-door in the world's most abundant operating system should send a strong message to foreign IT managers".

"How is an IT manager to feel when they learn that in every copy of Windows sold, Microsoft has a 'back door' for NSA - making it orders of magnitude easier for the US government to access your computer?" he asked.

Can the loophole be turned round against the snoopers?

Dr van Someren feels that the primary purpose of the NSA key inside Windows may be for legitimate US government use. But he says that there cannot be a legitimate explanation for the third key in Windows 2000 CAPI. "It looks more fishy", he said.

Fernandez believes that NSA's built-in loophole can be turned round against the snoopers. The NSA key inside CAPI can be replaced by your own key, and used to sign cryptographic security modules from overseas or unauthorised third parties, unapproved by Microsoft or the NSA. This is exactly what the US government has been trying to prevent. A demonstration "how to do it" program that replaces the NSA key can be found on Cryptonym's website.

According to one leading US cryptographer, the IT world should be thankful that the subversion of Windows by NSA has come to light before the arrival of CPUs that handles encrypted instruction sets. These would make the type of discoveries made this month impossible. "Had the next-generation CPU's with encrypted instruction sets already been deployed, we would have never found out about NSAKEY."