MRD said:
Interesting, that's different than the info that was posted here from a transcript with one of the devs for longhorn. What you posted is likely more accurate. However, my guess is it will run pretty badly with those minimum requirements. That is still a very demanding OS, and it bothers me that what makes it so demanding is not all the new features but rather all the new restrictions. Why should I pay money to lose freedoms? None of the advantages to Vista seem very compelling to me.
From what I understand you will be able to run vista with different levels of eye-candy, each requiring different system requirements.
taken from extremetech
A more secure Windows is certainly more welcome, but when you first boot up the OS, security won't be nearly as noticeable as Longhorn's new interface, code named Aero. The biggest visual changes will be seen if you have a reasonably speedy 3D graphics card. According to PC Magazine's Code Name: Longhorn A New Look, if you've got the power, then Aero Glass will employ 3D effects, transparency and animation. If not, then a basic version of the new interface that doesn't require 3D power will be deployed.
From PCWorld
Longhorn will also provide a classic, Windows 2000–style interface as a fallback.
So from this I gather my previous statement. Also I remember a maximum pc article to the same affect which gave a list of system requirements to run vista at different levels of eye-candy.
taken from tom's hardware
Microsoft's next generation operating system, Longhorn, is pushing the industry to create graphics processors that will offload almost all of the typical functions of managing windowed displays. This means that every window on your desktop becomes a 3D texture, whether it is running a game, a digital video, or an Office application. The CPU has to handle all of Longhorn's open apps, videos, and games running in multiple windows, and Microsoft is working on determining how much graphics hardware it should ask for as a minimum to keep its OS humming. The graphics processor becomes a true partner processor for the CPU, but the question is, how low will Microsoft keep the bar on graphics performance and features? Will Microsoft open up the PC and graphics markets by demanding a significantly higher level of 3D graphics performance for base level Longhorn systems than what we are seeing today, or will it try and hedge its bets by staying a generation or two behind the curve?
End result: for the beautiful full features experience vista will be pretty intense (we knew from the BEGINNING of longhorn development that M$ was shooting for a GUI that would be graphically demanding, thus boosting low end pcs from something like a gf2 mx (or some integrated grapics pos) to a gf5 equivelant, thus to some extent bolstering what was then at that time a somewhat weak hardware market) but if you want you can make everything look like **** and run it on like a p3 with integrated grapics. Anyway this thing will be released in a year, by then most of us will have 1GB of ram and will begin the transition to 2GB of ram as "standard", a Radeon 9700 equivelant gfx card (hello gf5) and be transitioning to gf7 & gf 8 gfx cards. Hmm sounds a lot like what we expected from the get go...
(I consider gf5 to be the fx 5600 pos or w/e and the gf6 to be 6800, gf 7 is 7800, gf8 is whatevers next... also of course ATI releases their own series that are on average roughly equivelant in both timeframe and preformance, however it is easier to reference that product cycle by gfX because ati marketers suck and dont stick to one thing like gfX, gfX+1...)
As far as how all the encryption etc will effect preformance, I don't know, but I really doubt the impact will be as great as you may make us try to believe.
As far as DRM goes, it will probably become inescapable, as a result of the rampant pirating which is in my opinion in large part due to how overpriced such things which are often pirated are. I personally have no interest in buying a cd for $20 (I'd much rather listen to xm), or paying $50-$100 for a show on dvd that was originally broadcast, and made available for FREE.
I'm not complaining, because it's what I've been expecting for a long time now..
edit: adding a bit making stuff make sense...no big deal
, but I'd much rather watch it on my big flatscreen HDTV b/c its prettier lol. 
