Editor's Note

A New Year—A New Vista

As we start a brand new year here at MSDN Magazine (our 22nd for those scoring at home), we have been the recipients of some great fortune. The Windows Vista team has chosen to time their launch to coincide with this issue, so we've got a bumper crop of OS coverage this month.

First, we'll look at a significant security feature for Windows Vista users, User Account Control. The days where you could assume your users were administrators are gone, and Chris Corio will show you what this means for developers.

Windows Vista and Office 2007 support a new type of add-in called a preview handler. Stephen Toub, our technical editor, lets you in on the secrets of writing your own.

Jeffrey Richter, one of the best-known MSDN Magazine columnists, shows you a thing or two about Windows SideShow. SideShow is a technology that works with secondary displays on laptops. Just like a cell phone that lets you see who's calling without opening up the phone, with SideShow you'll be able to view vital information—schedules, e-mail, and notes—without turning on or opening your laptop.

We also take a look at what's new in Unicode 5.0 and how it's supported in Windows Vista. Are you cool enough to support Phoenecian characters in your app? You know you are.

Our tour of Windows Vista for programmers also makes a stop at the new Credential Provider model. Credential Provider, which replaces GINA, will make it easier to implement new user authentication scenarios.

Of course, we aren't just giving you a couple of Windows Vista features and calling it a day. To start this year off right, we're adding three new columns that will make you wonder how you were able to live without them.

Charles Petzold, the guru of Windows programming, is adding his name to a new column about the .NET Framework 3.0. As Charles writes about Windows Presentation Foundation, he'll share columnist duties with Juval Lowy, a prominent voice in the Windows Communication Foundation community, and Matt Milner, who will wax eloquent on Windows Workflow Foundation. Together, they will discuss—what else?—Foundations.

Brian A. Randell, who is a prominent voice in just about every community you could name, will peel back the curtain on Visual Studio Team System in his new regular column, which has the catchy name "Team System."

There's more good news—now we're global. Do you know how to say "security" in seven languages? Our Web site does. Years ago, translating an article was an arduous task. You'd go to the article you wanted to read in another language, wait until the page loaded, and then wait for years for us to put an automatic translation tool onto the site. Starting with the November 2006 issue, we've streamlined this process by removing the wait. You'll be able to read all our articles in your favorite language. Whether you're looking for information on seguranca, sécurité, seguridad, Sicherheit, безопасность, or 安全性, our Web site is the place to go. (That's Brazilian Portuguese, French, Spanish, German, Russian, and Simplified Chinese, by the way.)

This new translation paradigm is an amazing piece of work. It was designed and implemented by our Web lord, Mike Richter, along with Brad McCabe's team in Redmond, and our technical editors for MSDN Magazine and TechNet Magazine, Stephen Toub and Joshua Hoffman, respectively.

We've got other great stuff online for you as well, like our new official MSDN Magazine blog. Updated regularly, this is a prime spot to hang out, learn about the mag and Microsoft development, and just bask in reflected glory. You can find the blog at blogs.msdn.com/msdnmagazine. Happy surfing! —J.T.

Thanks to  the following Microsoft technical experts for their help with this issue: Snesha Arumugam, Mason Bendixen, Matt Gibbs, Ben Gillis, Chris Guzak, Buck Hodges, Kerem Karatal, Aidan Low, Brian McNeil, Kevin Moore, Eric Perlin, Mark Novak, Rob Relyea, Jon Rosenberg, and Ravinder Vuppula.

Aero, Active Directory, ActiveX, IntelliSense, Internet Explorer, Microsoft, MSDN, Outlook, PowerPoint, Visual Basic, Visual C++, Visual C#, Visual J#, Visual Studio, Windows, Win32, Windows Live, Windows Media, Windows NT, Windows Server, Windows SideShow, and Windows Vista are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation. Other trademarks or tradenames mentioned herein are the property of their respective owners. MSDN Magazine does not make any representation or warranty, express or implied with respect to any code or other information herein. Msdn magazine disclaims any liability whatsoever for any use of such code or other information. MSDN and Microsoft are registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries. MSDN Magazine, MSDN, and Microsoft logos are used by CMP under license from owner. MSDN Magazine is published by CMP Technology LLC. CMP Technology LLC is an independent company not affiliated with Microsoft Corporation. Microsoft Corporation is solely responsible for the editorial contents of this magazine.

MSDN Magazine does not make any representation or warranty, express or implied with respect to any code or other information herein. MSDN Magazine disclaims any liability whatsoever for any use of such code or other information.