In designing Windows Vista, Microsoft had three giant goals. First, beef up Windows's security. Second, modernize its features. Third, give it a makeover. That last part was especially important; it drove Microsoft nuts that little old Apple, with its five-percent market share, was getting all the raves for the good looks and modern lines of its Macintosh operating system. Without a doubt, Vista looks a heck of a lot better than previous versions of Windows. And it's every bit as tweakable as previous versions of Windows. You can turn off the new Aero look, or just selected parts of it. You can change the picture on your desktop. You can bump up the text size or the cursor size for better reading by over-40 eyeballs. As Microsoft might say, "Where do you want to redesign today?" |