Microsoft are unleashing there new operating system Windows Vista, in January of 2007.

Windows Vista users will now be able to rival it's trendy competitor Mac OSX, but for PC users, trendy will mean a lot more horsepower and a decent graphics card.

Cool new features include 'Aero Glass.' This allows the windows to be transparent and you can move them around in a 3D environment. But the not so cool feature is that not everyone will have a PC that will be compatible.

Most people buy PCs that do not have a separate and discrete graphics card. They have something called integrated graphics, which is basically built into their motherboard. Typically today you may buy an Intel PC that has graphics built in. That's where the questionable part may be - it may or may not work with Aero.

But of course if you buy a card yourselves you will be fine.

Vista will come packaged with Microsoft's New Internet Explorer 7. Tabbed browsing, a cool feature of the ever popular Mozilla FireFox, will feature in Internet Explorer 7. This together with live previews, will make it easier for you to get to the websites you want to visit.

Another cool feature of Microsot's Windows Vista will be Sidebar and Gadgets.

Gadgets are mini-applications with a wide variety of possible uses. Gadgets can connect to web services to deliver weather information, news updates, traffic maps, Internet radio streams, and slide shows of online photo albums. Gadgets can also integrate with your applications to streamline your interaction with them. For example, a gadget can give you an at-a-glance view of all your online instant messaging contacts, the day view from your calendar, or an easy way to control your media player. Of course, gadgets can also have any number of dedicated purposes. They can be calculators, games, sticky notes, and more.

Microsoft Windows Vista comes with an essential set of gadgets to get you started. You will be able to easily download more gadgets from an online gadget gallery. This gallery will host gadgets from a wide variety of developers and offer an extensive selection to meet your interests.

Enjoy all your favorite digital entertainment—including live and recorded TV, movies, music, and pictures—in one place with the easy-to-use Windows Media Center menu system and remote control. Windows Media Center in Windows Vista includes enhancements for expanded support of digital and high-definition cable TV, an improved menu system, and the ability to create a consumer-electronics-quality living-room experience, as well as new options for multi-room access to your entertainment through Media Center Extenders, including Xbox 360.

Windows Vista SideShow technology enables laptop manufacturers to include a secondary or auxiliary display in future laptop designs. This display can be used to easily view the critical information you need, whether the laptop is on, off, or in sleep mode. The convenience provided by these auxiliary displays will save time and battery life by allowing you to quickly view meeting schedules, phone numbers, addresses, and recent e-mail messages without having to start up your laptop.

...On other Windows news, www.live.com, which is the new windows search engine, also known as Windows Live released it's sister site http://expo.live.com on July 12th 2006. It's an online ads site. Online ads are a big phenomenon, and are taking over. The huge global success of www.craigslist.org (known as the craigslist phenomenon) is causing panic amongst the giants.

What craigslist CEO Jim Buckmaster discovered was that classifieds work much better online than on paper. Searching them is easier, there's no three-line limit — and, best of all, most craigslist ads are free.

London's site is http://london.craigslist.org/

"We never set out to make money," Buckmaster says. "There are some Zen aspects to it.

There's both Zen and money. Charging only for help wanted ads, craigslist makes millions — enough success that giants Google and Microsoft want in on the game.

Microsoft and Google are betting that free classifieds will bring millions of people to their Web sites who then can be targeted for paid advertising. Classifieds globally is a $100 billion a year business. A hundred billon dollars a year, and every nickel of it is in play.:D