The final release is slated for early 2007. Businesses will have it late 2006.
Firstly lets gather all we know. Windows Vista will be available in six editions plus two more editions that don't have Media Player. Why so much choice? Microsoft want to appeal to every type of user. Business, Home, people with Media Center PC's. Everyone!
Some of the aims were to make Boot time and Shut Down time much quicker (seconds), improve the interface e.t.c and many people have forgotten the the words Avalon, Indigo, WinFS, WinFX and what they do. Better search tool and features, also being able to Organize better with Virtual Folders meaning everything will have its place.
Avalon is extending look to sense. Avalon provides the foundation for building applications and high fidelity experiences in Longhorn, blending together application UI, documents, and media content, while exploiting the full power of your computer.
Indigo is a set of .NET technologies for building and running connected systems. It is a new breed of communications infrastructure built around the Web services architecture. More power to the end user.
WinFS bridges the gap between file systems and databases and provides a unified, rich programming platform for all data: structured, semi-structured, and unstructured. With WinFS, Developers will be able to use its unified Item Data Model across applications, present new relational organization constructs for data, and create applications that exploit data more powerfully. WinFS is a development platform that will improve developer productivity and reduce organizations’ time to market
These are KEY parts that will eventually come to Vista, not all straight away but yes the OS will be due some interesting enhancements.
What will Vista have new in it? Well firstly here are some basics.
The interface of the whole OS will be given a facelift. The latest builds of Vista look cool with an Orb startbutton and other neat effects and extras. One of my favourite things is Aero (transparency/glass effects) and also Flip3d which is a much more enhanced Alt+Tab which at one point was a relatively unknown feature, why not make it better! Note Games are also looking much more modern.



Windows Media Player 11 - The next Windows Media Player. It looks nicer than Windows Media Player 10 and is an attempt to make the computer a resource for entertainment and not just an alternative. This features a friendlier and more sleek interface that certainly grabs attention.

Internet Explorer 7.0 - Internet Explorer has had some stick and rightly so. There is always a need to patch something up but Microsoft want to resurrect the Browser with a brushed up look, nice features such as a built in RSS, SP2 pop-up blocker built in to the browser, Phishing Filder and tabs to make browsing the internet tidier! Hopefully also more secure by tackling the problem and not just preventing it.

The Sidebar - Consider the success of the taskbar and how eventually it became a must. Do you long for Windows 3.11 and Program Manager? I don't! The Sidebar so long as its tidy and discreet will create a fun means to organize yourself. With its Gadgets its quite attractive. Microsoft want to make Vista the next 95 and this goes to show just that.

Rating System - You should know if your PC will run Vista ok or not, this is useful for everyone on any level. Do Network Administrators need to upgrade their Computers in the IT Suite? Does your Home PC need more RAM? Overall its a clever idea.

One thing i do firmly believe is that 64bit Computing will find its place with Vista. Microsoft are pushing the 64bit platform hard and after playing with XP 64bit Vista is going to come complete with properly supported versions. 64bit is faster and is the future so i look forward to that!
If you are wondering if Vista will find a place in your life consider how you made the jump from 2000 to XP. This jump is actually bigger as Vista will have more differences but well worth it in the end.