Vista's Aero Glass: Is it all it's cracked up to be?

by Deb Shinder | Aug 08, 2006 7:00:00 AM

Tags: Video cards, Microsoft Windows Vista (Longhorn), Corporate communications, Operating systems, Deb Shinder, Microsoft Windows Vista, display, Aero Glass

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Takeaway: Windows Vista provides a host of new features, but the first thing that jumps out is the slick, sleek Aero interface. Here's a look at the advantages and disadvantages of the new interface and what's required to get the most out of it.

Windows Vista offers computer users all kinds of new functionality, such as better search capabilities, improved file system navigation, and new built-in applications. But the first thing you notice about the new operating system is its new look--the slick, sleek Aero interface with its translucent title bars, rounded edges, and sophisticated color scheme reminiscent of (dare we say it?) Macintosh OS X.

Lots of folks, including me, have been wanting that look on a Windows machine for a long time and love it. Others, especially diehard Classic Windows buffs who think every operating system should look just like NT, hate it. Hardly anyone is indifferent to it. In this article, we'll take a look at the advantages and disadvantages of the new interface and what you'll have to do to be able to get the most out of it.

Aero Basic vs. Aero Glass

First, let's explain the nomenclature. Aero is the default interface for Vista; Glass is the high end "eye candy" version that requires the right video card. The Glass interface is shown in Figure A.

Figure A

The Glass interface features a slick, sleek translucent look.

Lots of subtle enhancements adorn the Glass interface. For example, if you hover over the Minimize, Maximize, or Close button in the top-right corner of a window, it glows. And when you minimize or maximize a window, it shrinks into or grows out from the taskbar. Not quite as cool as OS X's "genie" effect, but close.

Note

Just in case you were wondering where the name "Aero" came from, we hear it's an acronym for "authentic, energetic, reflective and open."

Another subtle change is the new default desktop font, Segoe UI. The default font size for desktop icons is 9 points instead of 8, which helps with readability, especially at high resolutions. You can change the font and/or font size if you like through the Advanced button in the Classic Appearance Settings dialog box.

Glass system requirements

To enable Glass, you need a 3D card that supports DirectX 9, and it must have a Longhorn Display Driver Model (LDDM) driver. NVidia and ATI both make LDDM drivers available for a number of their video card models. The video card also needs at least 64 MB of RAM, but 128 MB is recommended and 256 MB works even better. My ATI Radeon X600 PCI Express dual head graphics adapter displays Glass nicely on both monitors. The Matrox 450G on my other system won't run Glass. If you have an integrated graphics card (built into the motherboard), you'll probably need to install a "real" video card to run Glass.

Even if your hardware supports it, some programs aren't compatible with Glass. If you have Glass enabled and you run one of those programs, your display will revert to the standard Vista interface, shown in Figure B, until you close the program. Windows will display a dialog box advising that the program is incompatible with Glass and that Glass will be turned off while you're running the program.

Figure B

The display reverts to the standard Vista interface if a program is incompatible with Glass.

You won't run into this often, as many programs, even legacy ones, will take on the Glass interface. For instance, Glass worked fine on my machines with such programs as Corel Draw 10.

Enabling and customizing the Glass interface

If your video card supports Glass, it should be enabled by default, but I found that after upgrading Vista Beta 2 to interim build 5472, Glass was turned off. To turn it on, right-click on the desktop and select Personalize or click the Personalization applet in Control Panel. Select Window Color And Appearance. When Glass is turned off, this will display the Appearance Settings dialog box, shown in Figure C.

Figure C

If Aero is turned off, you can enable it in the Appearance Settings dialog box.

Select Windows Vista Aero from the Color Scheme list box and click OK to enable Aero Glass on computers that support it.

You can customize the look of Glass by going back to the same Personalization window and clicking Window Color And Appearance again. When Aero is turned on, clicking this choice displays the Change Your Color Scheme dialog box, shown in Figure D.

Figure D

You can customize the Aero color scheme and level of transparency.

You can select a preset color, use the color mixer to select a custom color, and adjust the level of transparency from almost completely see-through to almost opaque.

Doing flips over Aero

Another neat aspect of the Aero interface is the "flip" implementation of the program switcher invoked by [Alt][Tab]. Now the Window Switcher, or flipper, can be started either with the [Alt][Tab] key combination or by clicking the Window Switcher icon on the Quick Launch toolbar, shown in Figure E.

Figure E

You can use the Window Switcher icon or [Alt][Tab] to invoke the new "flipper" applet.

Whichever way you get to it, the new program switcher is more graphical, as shown in Figure F. You can see actual detailed thumbnails of each running window, rather than just icons.

Figure F

The new program switcher displays a thumbnail of each running Window.

If you want to really get fancy, you can use the 3D flip, which serves the same purpose but looks orders of magnitude cooler while doing it. Just press and hold the Windows key and press the [Tab] key. You'll see a "stack" of windows of your running programs, as shown in Figure G, which you can flip through using the forward and back arrow keys.

Figure G

The new 3D flip is the coolest way yet to switch between running programs

Off to see the new wizards

Another change in the Aero interface (with or without Glass enabled) is a newly designed look and layout for the many wizards that walk you through various common tasks in Vista. The wizard design has been virtually unchanged since Windows 98, but the redesigned wizards bring some welcome modifications, such as (ironically enough) the elimination of the Welcome screen, which many users considered a waste of time. For example, the Add Printer wizard jumps right in with the screen shown in Figure H.

Figure H

Wizards have a new look and no longer waste your time with a Welcome screen.

The Completion screen has also been done away with, but some wizards contain a useful follow-up screen at the end that provides links to related tasks that a user might logically want to do after finishing the wizard.

Summary

The Aero interface makes Windows look better and, in many cases, makes the user experience a more pleasant one. Is it worth shelling out for a fancy new graphics card (or perhaps even a new system) to run it? That's a personal decision. The good news is that even if your hardware isn't Glass-capable, you still get a spiffy new look--just not quite as spiffy. However, if you buy the cheapest version of Vista, called Vista Basic, Glass won't be available even if you do have hardware that can run it.

One final note: If you're thinking about running the Glass interface on a pirated copy of Windows, Microsoft has three little words for you: Forget about it. Vista will run a Windows Genuine Advantage check to verify that the OS is legal before it'll let you run Glass.

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