Vista and mobility

02.02.2007
While Microsoft says that it took great pains to make mobile and wireless computing safer and easier with Windows Vista, it's emphasis clearly was on ease-of-use more than on security or flashy new features.

"The data says we're moving toward more mobility," said Greg Amrofell, a senior product manager at Microsoft. "We've thought a lot about the rise of mobility as we pulled [Vista] together."

Window Mobility Center

Microsoft focuses its claims of improved mobility in four areas. First is Windows Mobility Center, a feature available only on laptops that places into a single interface disparate settings that road warriors must often access.

"You move from being plugged in to being unplugged, from being on the corporate network to being wireless," Amrofell said. "There are a lot of settings related to mobility we wanted to centralize."

Mobility Center is available either by right-clicking the battery icon on the system tray of laptops or from Control Panel. Users can tweak settings related to energy usage from this location, as well as a group of settings related to presentations.