New in the Windows interface, Windows Flip and Flip 3D are original methods of switching between the running tasks. Windows Flip is invoked by the traditional shortcut Alt+Tab and differs from the classic switching mechanism in that it shows a thumbnail for each task to make the process visual. Flip 3D is invoked by pressing Win+Tab and uses 3D capabilities of the Aero interface: you’ll see a row of windows with the running applications one behind another and at an angle to your line of sight, the contents of the windows being updated in real time.

You can switch between the windows by pressing the mentioned shortcut or by moving your mouse wheel. If you choose the Desktop window, you’ll minimize all the application windows to see your Desktop as if you clicked the appropriate icon in the Quick Launch panel. Flip 3D is a handy feature, but not very beautiful, to tell you the truth: the application windows do not use antialiasing and have the characteristic artifacts, which make them not very pretty to look at. This drawback will probably be corrected in the upcoming Windows Vista builds.

Also new in the interface of Windows is the Side Bar. That’s an arguable innovation, but it seems handy enough to us. You can disable it, though, if you don’t like it. The panel offers flexible setup options and allows installing various plug-ins called gadgets like a clock, RSS reader, calculator, CPU/memory usage indicator, etc.

So, you can set up your Side Bar the way you like while the number of available gadgets will only be growing. New gadgets are being developed right now and become available at the Microsoft website.

In the security field, Microsoft’s new OS offers the User Account Control feature. UAC divides all tasks in Windows Vista in two groups: available for launch by ordinary users and available to the administrators only. This division is based on how deeply the given task can change the system. Even administrators cannot escape UAC: most of the time they will work in unprivileged mode, just like ordinary users. But when they try to commit a system-affecting action, a UAC dialog appears to request a confirmation.

The system actually stops its work at that moment and enters secure more. What you can see behind the UAC window is nothing else but a static screenshot of the Desktop. Upon receiving the administrator’s confirmation, the system unfreezes and continues to work. The ordinary user finds himself under an even stricter UAC surveillance: he gets a dialog box that asks to enter the administrator password. Without the appropriate privileges, the user won’t be able to perform a potentially dangerous action.

The UAC mechanisms greatly improve the security and reliability of Windows Vista, but do not work transparently as yet. You get too many of UAC dialogs, so this protection starts getting on your nerves, especially from the point of view of an experienced system administrator. You can disable User Account Control, but the system will become less secure as the result. We hope that UAC will be improved in the final version of Windows Vista and won’t plague the user with questions and dialogs as it does now. As far as we know, Microsoft plans to make UAC transparent for the end-user, so we expect the new OS will come out with a powerful and reliable security tool.