Announcing OpenAFS "Works with Windows Vista"

1 December 2006

The OpenAFS Elders are pleased to announce that with the release of
OpenAFS for Windows version 1.5.12 <http://www.openafs.org/windows.html>
that Microsoft Windows Vista <http://www.microsoft.com/windowsvista/>
becomes an officially supported platform.  All versions of Vista
including "Home Basic", "Home Premium", "Business", and "Ultimate" are
supported on both X86 and X86_64 CPU architectures.

The OpenAFS for Windows 1.5.12 release is the result of more than
a year of close cooperation between the OpenAFS Gatekeepers and
the Microsoft Windows Vista team.  It is not a stretch to say that
OpenAFS on Vista could not have been completed without the assistance
of Microsoft's development staff and that Windows Vista would not be
as solid and backward compatible an operating system without the
regression reports filed by the OpenAFS community.  The OpenAFS
community filed reports that improved the quality not only of OpenAFS
but also the Windows Explorer Shell, the Windows Networking stack,
and the Windows File System.

Microsoft has granted OpenAFS for Windows 1.5.12 use of the "Works with
Windows Vista" logo which indicates that OpenAFS for Windows 1.5.12 and
its future derivatives are compatible with the Microsoft Windows Vista
family of operating systems.

OpenAFS for Windows 1.5.12 provides all of the functionality users
have learned to expect from OpenAFS on Windows XP SP2 and Windows Server
2003 SP1.  In many respects, the performance of OpenAFS for Windows
when run on Windows Vista surpasses that found on Windows XP SP2 or
Windows Server 2003 SP1 due to performance optimizations within the
Windows Vista CIFS client.

Other improvements in OpenAFS for Windows 1.5.12 include the
incorporation of a new Network Identity Manager AFS credential
module for use with MIT's Kerberos for Windows 3.1.  This module
provides end users with a powerful mechanism by which the acquisition
and renewal of AFS tokens for multiple AFS cells from a single
Kerberos 5 principal can be automated.

Future plans for OpenAFS for Windows include:

 * Improved support for the Windows Vista User Account Control security
   feature

 * A new OpenAFS Control Panel for managing the user's AFS experience
   including AFS Protection Service Groups

 * A new OpenAFS Microsoft Management Console (MMC) for configuring
   the AFS Client Service

 * Support for Unicode file and directory names

 * An integrated off-line folder functionality that does not rely on
   the Windows CIFS client

 * Replacement of the AFS SMB gateway implementation with a native
   Windows file system driver.

 * Support for multiple data streams that are used for the storage of
   meta data that can be used to improve search and security functions
   in Windows Vista.

 * Implementation of AFS Servers (File, Protection, Volume Database)
   on Windows Vista.

OpenAFS is an open source project whose future is bright.  End user
and grant organizations that wish to contribute to the future
development of OpenAFS on Windows Vista or other platforms are
encouraged to:

 * contact the OpenAFS Elders <mailto:[email protected]>

 * contribute to the USENIX OpenAFS Fund
   <https://db.usenix.org/cgi-bin/openafs/openafs.cgi>
      USENIX OpenAFS Fund
      USENIX Association
      2560 Ninth St., Suite 215
      Berkeley, CA 94710

Commercial Support for OpenAFS for Windows is available from third
party vendors including Secure Endpoints Inc.
<http://www.secure-endpoints.com> and Sine Nomine Associates
<http://www.sinenomine.net>.

For more information on OpenAFS point your browser at
<http://www.openafs.org>