Extreme Tech has had a lot of coverage of its contention, “Windows Vista won’t suck”.

So, what are they saying exactly? It’s the “major kernel overhaul” that gets them drooling, especially the security implications. Both XP and 2000 have security issues that we’ve all had to live with. But, says Etech, Vista will be different.

Microsoft realized early on that rewriting the kernel completely would break too many applications, so that was ruled out. But, while the kernel in Vista is not dissimilar to Windows 2000 and XP, there has been a tightening of security.

“Fewer parts of the OS as a whole run in Kernel mode — most drivers run in User mode, for instance. Things that run in Kernel mode are prevented from installing without verified security certificates, and even then they require administrator-level user permission. In Vista, it should be much more difficult for unauthorized programs (like Viruses and Trojans) to affect the core of the OS and secretly harm your system. In theory, you practically have to invite one in.”

Microsoft has done everything it can to enhance both stability and security while maintaining backward compatibility, which is never easy. In the end, we’ll only really know when the operating system ships.