The quick way to tell if something's compatible with Windows Vista

It's an all too familiar scenario that we, the buying public, have had to put up with for years - but not anymore. The Windows Vista Certification Program is Microsoft's guarentee that software and hardware in Windows Vista will work.

The program, which is avaiable to all manufacturers, consists of a test kit that is available to download from the internet. It's sort of like an elite training school for a keyboard or anti-virus software, and manufacturers that put their products through the rigorous cerfiication program can obtain one of two titles- Works with Windows Vista, or Certified for Windows Vista.

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Cerificates explained

Works with Windows Vista is like basic training; it ensures that a product is guarenteed to work in Windows Vista. Certified for Windows Vista is a bit like command training; products that make it at this level will be faster, more reliable, easier to install or of a higher quality in Windows Vista. Once manufactuers have achieved one of these status symbols, they get the specific logo emblazoned upon their product.

Dave Block - a senior product manage in the Windows Client Marking organisation - outlines the program: "There's only one testing process and two possible results a manufacturer can aim for. The first (which by the way is already a higher standard than is set for Windows XP) is call Works with Windows Vista, and is about compatibility and reliability with Windows Vista, to give customers confidence that the device or application will install correctly and run properly. The second is Certified for Windows Vista and sets a higher bar for performance and features, to highlight products tht really take advantage of some of the architectural changes and new features of the operating system."

Products that are Certified for Windows Vista don't just work better than before, either; each type of device or piece of software is superior in Windows Vista in its own particular way. "Today's digital cameras and high capacity memory cards can have hundreds or thousands of photos on the," Dave explains, "and the old way of reading and transferring the data is painfully slow, but cameras that are certified with Media Transport Protocol - the new way to connect your camera to your PC - take much less time in transferring photos on to your PC."

Future requirements

There are many other ways that a manufacturer can prove that it's product meets the requirements of the Certified for Windows Vista program. For example, a company that makes flat screen monitors has to meet a set of requirements from Microsoft that prove its display is bright and luminous, has high fidelity colour rendering and that printed colours match the colours on screen.

Microsoft isn't forcing manufacturers to enter the certification program, though, so it's down to them to device. But look at it this way - there are already 1,429 products in the program (825 with the Works with Windows Vista title, and 604 with the Certified for windows Vista one) and once the program becomes common knowledge, would you risk buying a product that wasn't in the Windows Vista Certification Program?