The Microsoft® Windows Vista® Developer Story includes content for developers, and other technology experts and managers, interested in an in-depth exploration of some of the new and extended features in Windows Vista. Top 10 Ways to Light Up Your Windows Vista Apps provides an overview of these features

The Windows Developer Story is released the form of articles in the MSDN library and in a Windows Help file, published approximately every two to four weeks. The Windows Help file can be downloaded here. The file includes a list of the new Windows Vista APIs in an Excel workbook.

To provide feedback about the Vista Developer Story articles, please send email to Vistadev@microsoft.com.

The following article was published in September 2007:

• Group Policy

The following articles were published in August 2007:

• Modifying Owner-Draw Code

• Owner-Draw Menus

• Visual Style Menus

The Windows Vista wave of products and technologies renews Microsoft's focus on enabling the development of modern applications, whether they are existing applications written to Win32®, the unmanaged programming model for the Windows operating system, or new applications taking full advantage of .NET Framework 3.0 (formerly WinFX®), the managed programming model for Windows Vista. Microsoft is doing this by focusing on three main concepts:

• Make it simple to cover the basics. Windows Vista makes it easier to deploy, update, and manage applications by introducing improvements that make it easier for developers to build applications that meet the needs of today's IT departments.

• Enable the creation of stronger customer connections. Knowing how customers are using an application—the problems that they are encountering and the features that they like—is critical to improving the application from version to version. Windows Vista introduces technologies that enable developers to instrument their applications so that they can find out what is going wrong and what is going right while still protecting user privacy.

• Differentiate and explore new opportunities. Whether developers want their applications to stand out in the crowd or want to build an entirely new kind of application, Windows Vista has technologies that will help. Windows Vista provides a new presentation subsystem, new technologies to integrate voice and video into applications, and new peer networking technologies. These improvements enable developers to create innovative new experiences that will excite users and make them want more.

From a technology standpoint, these three concepts create the five pillars of Windows Vista:

1. Fundamentals. Windows Vista includes improvements to the fundamentals that form the bedrock for your applications: security, manageability, deployment, and servicing.

2. Presentation. One of the primary areas of differentiation is in how an application looks. The new Windows Presentation Foundation (formerly code-named "Avalon") and new "Aero" shell offer opportunities for developers and designers to collaborate on innovative new application experiences.

3. Communications. The Windows Communication Foundation (formerly code-named "Indigo") provides industry-leading Web services support, new peer-to-peer features, RSS capabilities, and core networking enhancements. Windows Vista has a host of communication features for building today's connected applications.

4. Data. Data is the center of nearly all applications and Windows Vista includes capabilities to make data searching faster (IFilter), a transacted file system built on NTFS, integrated support for RSS, and a common XML Paper Specification (XPS) document format.

5. Productivity and Tools. On top of these features, Microsoft has shipped a set of its industry-leading tools to enable developers to easily leverage these new features of the operating system.

To get started with these subject areas, see the "Organization of the Windows Vista Developer Story" section below.

This section provides an overview of the Windows Vista Developer Story organizational structure. For brevity's sake, it presents only the first- and second-level nodes, but users can navigate further in the tree by following these links or using the table of contents.

• Welcome to the Windows Vista Developer Story (this article)

• Top 10 Ways to Light Up Your Windows Vista Apps

  • Be Rock Solid

  • Create an Impression

  • Get Connected

• Fundamentals of Windows Vista

  • Quality Applications

  • Secure Applications

  • Accessible Applications

  • Windows Shell (Windows Vista)

  • Installation and Update Management

  • Windows Vista Management

• Communication

  • Network Infrastructure Improvements

  • Connecting Technologies

  • Collaboration Technologies

• Data Organization

  • Search and Organize

• Media

  • DirectX

• Mobility

  • Mobility and Tablet PC: A User Perspective

  • Mobility and Tablet PC Roadmap

• Interoperability & Migration

  • Application Compatibility

• Developer Story Glossary