WinFS, August 2004: A relational database layer based on SQL Server 2005, Windows Future Storage was to lay atop the existing NTFS file system in Vista and provide new-found search functions for the operating system. It would also allow users to create "virtual folders" holding pointers to a broad range of data, including that in files and e-mail contact lists. But nearly two years ago, Microsoft announced (to substantial criticism) that it was pulling WinFS from Vista itself. Instead, it would release the file overlay as a separate product. It had made progress there -- Beta 2 was expected shortly, and several sessions highlighted it at the recent TechEd conference -- but now it will not appear as a separate product. Cherry, of Directions on Microsoft, said events had overtaken WinFS, at least within Vista. "It's been replaced by the improvements in desktop search," he said.

Monad, August 2005: This command-line interface and scripting language, more formally known as Windows PowerShell (and before that Microsoft Shell, or MSH), was to be included with Vista and provide the OS with a Unix-like shell. Instead, the technology was pulled from the Vista feature list in an announcement, of all things, by a program manager at the Microsoft Security Response Center. A brief flurry of proof-of-concept viruses that targeted Vista got a reaction from Stephen Toulouse of the MSRC, who told users "Monad will not be included in the final version of Windows Vistaso these potential viruses do not affect Windows Vista or any other version of Windows if Monad has not been installed on the system." Monad, said Toulouse, might appear in Windows 3-to-5 years downstream. For now, it's an integral part only of Microsoft Exchange Server 2007, which is slated for a final release later this year or early in 2007.

UEFI Support, March 2006: At an Intel developer conference, Microsoft said that Vista would not support the new PC firmware standard, dubbed UEFI (for Unified Extensible Firmware Interface) that is meant to replace the 20-year-old BIOS technology as the boot infrastructure. Instead, support for UEFI -- often shortened to EFI -- will appear in the still-unnamed server edition of Vista and follow-on 64-bit versions of the client OS. EFI made an appearance in several news stories earlier in the year as Macintosh users began exploring dual-boot scenarios for the new Intel-powered machines from Apple Computer. The Intel Mac line relies on EFI.