Preston Gralla has been around the technological block more than a few times. An amazingly prolific author, he has written more than 35 books that explore, explain, and enlighten--using plain-spoken and easily accessible prose--the intricacies of a broad range of technologies.

Most recently, Gralla’s been focused on Vista. And, with everything he writes, the results are superlative. We’re lucky to have snagged permission to reprint a chapter from his latest book, Windows Vista in a Nutshell, which is bound to rise above the wave of Vista books crashing onto the shores of a world already saturated with Vista information.

The excerpt we’re running gives you a succinct overview of the Vista user interface. That might seem simplistic, as nearly everyone on the planet is familiar with Windows. But there are some significant differences between previous versions of Windows and Vista to make this chapter a gold mine of information, even for more advanced readers, as you’ll then get a sense of the features that will be consistently employed throughout the rest of the operating system. Not incidentally, you’ll also be forewarned about those features that are inconsistent--thanks, Microsoft!--so you won’t be dismayed when faced with interface idiosyncrasies as you begin to use Vista in earnest.

Go ahead, read through Gralla’s book, and let us know what you think of it by responding below.