(click image for larger view) Tab keys in Vista make it possible to flip through images of open applications as if they were on a Rolodex

Vista represents a sizable step forward, with programmable miniapplications called Gadgets, a powerful graphics engine, improved search, new security and mobility features, and much more. Significantly, a new imaging format makes it easier to deploy and upgrade Vista across a business--and easier to distribute those all-important security patches.

Software company InterKnowlogy just built an application using Microsoft's .Net tools and middleware and Vista's Windows Presentation Foundation for The Scripps Research Institute. The app lets scientists view 3-D images of cancer cells and attach notations. "On Vista, it just rocks," says the institute's Dr. Peter Kuhn. "Unbelievable."

The scope of Microsoft's product launch, with hundreds of new capabilities, will be more than most people can get their arms around. We've narrowed it down here to 100 things that all IT professionals need to know.

Microsoft's Office "system" comprises 13 desktop applications, available in eight combinations, plus nine Office servers. The names are familiar: Access, Communicator, Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint, Project, and Word, to name several. Office SharePoint Server, formerly SharePoint Portal Server, is the beating heart of Microsoft's application environment. Excel spreadsheets, for example, can now be centrally managed, but you'll need SharePoint's Excel Services to do it.

7%	of companies plan to install Vista upon its release
39%	will install Vista during its first year
34%	cite improved search and organization as being of high interest
83%	plan to purchase Longhorn Server
17%	will need to upgrade PCs to run Vista
82%	wish there were more low-cost alternatives to Microsoft
73%	cite PC-server integration as an important attribute of Microsoft products
5%	say Vista's Gadgets and Sidebar are of high interest
Data: InformationWeek Research survey, October 2006

(click image for larger view) Media Center manages video content, including video downloads and video created by a camcorder or Webcam

Exchange Server 2007 marks the first major upgrade to Microsoft's e-mail system in more than three years. The key advance is unified messaging, where voice mail and faxes combine with e-mail in an all-purpose in-box.

Columbia Sportswear finds unified messaging helpful, including the ability to forward voice mail outside the company, says Mike Leeper, the company's Windows systems manager. Employees traveling abroad like it because they don't have to call a voice mail system in the States to get messages. "The end-user experience is significantly improved," Leeper says. Exchange Server 2007 makes it easier to enforce e-mail policies and manage message retention, too.

But Columbia Sportswear has no immediate plans to upgrade to Vista or Office 2007. "We had a limited number of resources to test the prerelease products and handle server-side upgrades and multiple client issues," Leeper explains.