Over at ZDNet, a commenter tweaks me for getting one key fact wrong in Vista versions not so confusing after all. I wrote:
Windows Vista Home Basic is for cost-conscious PC buyers who want basic functionality without a lot of extras. It uses the simplified Vista user interface… Windows Vista Business adds the Aero interface…
And PB replied:
Home Basic does use the Aero user interface. It fully uses the DirectX-based DWM (Desktop Window Manager)–note the window shadows.
However, it looks like glass effects will not be available in Home Basic. But that’s the only difference.
This is a common point of confusion, and it’s going to become even more so as tech journalists who aren’t immersed in esoterica from Redmond begin writing about the alien landscape of Windows Vista. Here’s what the deal really is.
According to Microsoft, the Windows Vista user experience (or UX – don’t call it an interface) consists of two layers:
All computers that meet minimal hardware requirements will see the Windows Vista Basic user experience, which provides the benefits of the refined interface features already mentioned.
Windows Aero is an environment with an additional level of visual sophistication, one that is even more responsive and manageable, providing a further level of clarity and confidence to Windows users. … Windows Vista Aero provides spectacular visual effects such as glass-like interface elements that you can see through.
Here’s a snippet of an Aero effect in a typical window:
Here’s the same view using the Basic UX:
Quite a difference, eh?
If you install Windows Vista Home Basic, it doesn’t matter how good your video card is, you get the Vista Basic UX. In all other Vista versions, you get the Aero UX if your hardware supports it. If you choose, you can turn off the Aero UX by fiddling with the registry or with a simple keyboard shortcut (AltCtrl+Shift+F9). Update: Corrected the keyboard combination, which I have now been told will not be available in the final release of Windows Vista.
Ed Bott 
Look again at your “Basic UX” screenshot and compare it to http://activewin.com/screenshots/vista/53082/Themes.JPG (a screenshot of Home Basic).
Or, within that screenshot, compare the window widgets with the ones drawn within the “Theme Preview” window.
There is a big difference between the two. The screenshot, while not being “Aero Glass”, is definitely a step above the “Basic” look–it takes advantage of the DWM (note the window shadows).
The argument is over what is the correct terminology. I would say that the screenshot is using “Aero”, just not “Aero Glass.” I would call the non-hardware-accelerated, non-DWM version “Basic”.
Of course the screenshot is based on current builds, and MS could certainly restrict Home Basic further by the time it ships, and totally prevent it from using the DWM or video hardware at all. But I don’t think they’d do that.
PatriotB, my screen shot was taken using the current build of Hme Basic 5308. It is identical to the one on ActiveWin. The only difference is that I increased the size of the shot I took to match the dimensions of the Aero shot.
That screen is the Windows Vista Basic interface, period. No transparency, no animation effects, flatter colors. You will only find those in the Aero interface.
You might want to call those Interfaces Aero and Aero Glass, but that’s not the way Microsoft has chosen to refer to them.
Follow-up:
I installed Home Basic 5308 on a different machine with more powerful hardware, and it is indeed using a different interface … oops, UX … to the one I showed here. In this beta, the Home Basic UX is very similar to the UX on Premium and Ultimate if you have adequate hardware. Some of the more advanced effects – notably animation and transparency – are missing. Based on the press releases and feature lists, it’s impossible to tell whether this UX will change before final release. No one knows that except Microsoft.
You are correct that there are three possible visual interfaces – one with advanced glass-like effects, one with a shiny appearance but no transparency/animation, and one with a very basic (Windows Classic) look and feel.
The ActiveWin screens are showing the second of these three options running on Home Basic. My screen is showing the third option. However, both appear to be the Basic UX, not Aero, because they lack transparency.
i think the top screenshot of the aero effect is from the vista website. I think if you really took a screenshot of an aero glass window and enlarge it, it’ll probably look just as blurry as the one on the bottom??
Looks very nice.
Now if you (or Microsoft) can just explain to me how this different video effect will provide “a further level of clarity and confidence to Windows users”?
In short, me? A simple user?
I mean it´s just a different way to “show” a basic “window” in MS Windows. Minimize, maximize or close a window?
That´s it?
Sorry, but right now I don´t see this as something essential. Looks more like a thing trying to convince me to buy the newest hardware or – failing that – another feature where computer magazines will advise me to turn it off to save resources and speed up performance.
Does it do anything else?
All the Microsoft documentation I’ve read to date has referred both implicitly or explicitly to the 3 different visual interfaces. I have always known of Aero Glass and Aero Basic, but I never knew what the “technical” or “code” name was for the “step” below Aero Basic. I usually think of it as Windows XP without visuals enabled (all those Windows 2000 interface lovers that hate GUI enhancements).
Interestingly, it is hard to determine where Microsoft is truly headed also. For instance, my understanding from PDC, from developer videos and from documentation, is that there will be:
DirectX 9 (WGF 1.0) framework, which I understand to be handling most aspects of Aero Basic
DirectX 10 (WGF 2.0) framework, which I understand to be handling most aspects of Aero Glass (if it ever gets completely finished)
A legacy framework (a term which I use loosely) for handling the really basic interface
I’ve tried to really narrow down what the various Presentation Foundation design diagrams are really getting at and what the developers keep skating around in their discussions, but perhaps that is impossible right now. There is so much integration between the pieces, that I’ve had a hard time really figuring out what is handling what.
Not that it really matters, but it’s fun to research…
Ctrl+Shift+F9 turns off Desktop comp.
Alt+shift+f9 doesn’t seem to do anything on my vista system.