Let's start with the new version of Windows, Windows Vista, due in January 2007. This new version of Windows has to cater for our needs for the next five years or so and who can predict all the technology advances in that period? High definition optical drives, better digital cameras, cheaper digital movie cameras, watching TV and new ways of buying our music are all basic functions we want our computer to handle. Behind the scenes we want our computers to be secure to keep crimeware at bay yet we can't do without the Internet and all its myriad resources.

You can take a tour of Vista's features at See Windows Vista and there's plenty of information on the Windows Vista Home Page. Before getting too excited, it's a good idea to test whether your current computer will cope with all of Vista's new features, especially the highly detailed graphics effects, by downloading the upgrade advisor. Note, however, if your computer is not up to using Vista's Aero graphics scheme, you might still be able to run Vista and take advantage of its new software offerings.

There are already trial versions of some of Vista's new software. There are trial versions of Internet Explorer 7 and Windows Media Player 11, for example, and webDotWiz has both installed. There should be a full version of WMP 11 soon and webDotWiz has been enjoying the new features, especially the album and song listings that use album covers. As well, searching for a song or album occurs on-the-fly and is very fast.

The past few columns have talked about new, and, in most cases, free Windows Live services: Messenger, Favorites, the Local mapping service, Safety Center, Mail, Search, Spaces, OneCare (free for 90 days), Custom Domains (a free email if you own a domain name) and more.

These services are beginning to work together and to offer their own unique features. For example, Live Local now enables you to search for a certain business category, say a restaurant, in your local area and make a free phone call to get a reservation (at present only available in the U.S.).

Finally 2007 Microsoft Office is currently being tested and, if your organisation uses Office, you need to spend time on reviewing its new interface so staff are ready. You can obtain a free CD or try it online (a high-speed broadband connection is mandatory). Otherwise there's a video to view at the 2007 Office preview site. It takes about a week to leave behind the old way of doing things in Office and then users begin to enjoy more productivity and efficiency in their work.

The MSN Spaces team have had to put a lot of work into expanding the service which a couple of months ago experienced 100 million hits. So in a couple of weeks MSN Spaces will become a member of the Windows Live family of services. As that change happens there will be more flexibility in how we set up our Space, especially in giving visitors a way to navigate to different sections of the site, such as Photo album, blog or profile.

Along with being able to use the Friends List to view your friends' Spaces or contact them with Messenger, access your favourite sites from your Space or Messenger, search the web from Messenger or your Space, and easily get to your friends' Spaces from either Messenger or your Space, you can see that it just depends on where you're working at the time to be able to keep in contact with family and friends.