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copied!<p><strong>User Interface</strong></p> <p>Looking at the <a href="http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa511258.aspx" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Windows Vista User Experience Guidelines</a> you can see that they have changed many UI elements, which you should be aware of. Some major things to take note of:</p> <ul> <li><a href="http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa511280.aspx" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Larger icons</a></li> <li>New <a href="http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa511295.aspx" rel="nofollow noreferrer">font</a> (Which affects some custom UI constistency)</li> <li>New <a href="http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa511268.aspx" rel="nofollow noreferrer">dialog box features</a> (<a href="http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb787471%28VS.85%29.aspx" rel="nofollow noreferrer">task dialogs</a>)</li> <li>Altered <a href="http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa511293.aspx" rel="nofollow noreferrer">common dialogs</a> (like File Open, Save As, etc.)</li> <li>Dialog text <a href="http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa974175.aspx" rel="nofollow noreferrer">style and tone</a>, and <a href="http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa974176.aspx" rel="nofollow noreferrer">look and feel</a></li> <li>New <a href="http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa511302.aspx" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Aero Wizards</a></li> <li>Redesigned <a href="http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa511500.aspx" rel="nofollow noreferrer">toolbars</a></li> <li>Better <a href="http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa511297.aspx" rel="nofollow noreferrer">notification UI</a></li> <li>New recommended method of including a <a href="http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa511327.aspx#search" rel="nofollow noreferrer">search control</a></li> <li><a href="http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa511327.aspx#frames" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Glass</a></li> </ul> <p><strong>64-bit</strong></p> <p>Vista has a 64-bit edition, and although XP did too, your users are more likely to use Vista 64 than XP 64. Now you have to deal with:</p> <ul> <li><a href="http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa965884.aspx" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Registry virtualization</a></li> <li><a href="http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa384232%28VS.85%29.aspx" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Registry redirection</a> (<a href="http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms724072%28VS.85%29.aspx" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Wow6432Node</a>)</li> <li><a href="http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa384235.aspx" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Registry reflection</a></li> <li><a href="http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/winlogo/drvsign/kmsigning.mspx" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Digital signatures for kernel modules</a></li> <li>MSI installers have <a href="http://blogs.msdn.com/heaths/archive/2005/10/24/windows-installer-on-64-bit-platforms.aspx" rel="nofollow noreferrer">new properties</a> to deal with</li> </ul> <p><strong>UAC</strong></p> <p><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_Account_Control" rel="nofollow noreferrer">User Account Control</a> vastly affects the default permissions that your application has when interacting with the OS.</p> <ul> <li><a href="http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb756996.aspx" rel="nofollow noreferrer">How UAC works and affects your application</a> (also see the <a href="http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=BA73B169-A648-49AF-BC5E-A2EEBB74C16B&displaylang=en" rel="nofollow noreferrer">requirements doc</a>)</li> <li><a href="http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa372468%28VS.85%29.aspx" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Installers have to deal with UAC</a></li> </ul> <p><strong>New APIs</strong></p> <p>There are new APIs which are targeted at either new methods of application construction or allowing new functionality:</p> <ul> <li><a href="http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa376210%28VS.85%29.aspx" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Cryptography API: Next Generation</a> (CNG)</li> <li><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extensible_Application_Markup_Language" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Extensible Application Markup Language</a> (XAML)</li> <li><a href="http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/netframework/aa663324.aspx" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Windows Communication Foundation</a> (WCF)</li> <li><a href="http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/netframework/aa663328.aspx" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Windows Workflow Foundation</a> (WF)</li> <li>And <a href="http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa383874.aspx" rel="nofollow noreferrer">many more smaller ones</a></li> </ul> <p><strong>Installers</strong></p> <p>Because installations can only use common runtimes they install after a transaction has completed, <a href="http://blogs.msdn.com/astebner/archive/2007/05/20/2760317.aspx" rel="nofollow noreferrer">custom actions</a> <a href="http://blogs.msdn.com/astebner/archive/2007/01/09/problems-with-custom-actions-that-depend-on-the-visual-c-8-0-runtime-files-on-windows-vista.aspx" rel="nofollow noreferrer">will fail</a> if your custom action dll requires the Visual C++ runtimes above the VS 2005 CRT (non-SP1).</p>

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