14 DAY TRIAL // Windows Vista brings to the table a completely revamped Windows Device Driver Model. The changes introduced into the operating system's graphical architecture directly impact the functionality of some components that are intimately connected with hardware capabilities. Bret Ahlstrom, the program manager on the Digital Memories team at Microsoft revealed that Movie Maker 2.6 for Windows Vista was available for download and also explained why Microsoft is offering a separate application even if it is also bundled into the operating system.
The fact of the matter is that Movie Maker 2.6 is strictly designed for the editions of Windows Vista that cannot run the built in application because of restrictions related to the graphics card. "Movie Maker 2.6 is simply the XPSP2 version of Movie Maker (version 2.1) brought forward to Vista with as few changes as possible. Movie Maker 2.6 is NOT an upgrade from the Vista version of Movie Maker or even an upgrade from the XP version Movie Maker. It does not replace Vista version of Movie Maker, it installs side-by-side with it. It is not designed to be able to run concurrently with the Vista version of Movie Maker, and it can cause problems if you try," Ahlstrom explained.
Movie Maker in Windows Vista comes with under the hood tune-ups including performance improvements and High Definition support. But this means that Movie Maker's rendering engine is now directly tied to the graphics card.
"People who have Vista machines with Vista Movie Maker already installed, but who can't run Vista Movie Maker are the intended audience of Movie Maker 2.6. When you launch Vista Movie Maker, if you get an error that says, "Windows Movie Maker cannot start because your video card does not support the required level of hardware acceleration or hardware acceleration is not available", then Movie Maker 2.6 is for you," Ahlstrom added.
Windows Movie Maker 2.6.4037.0 was tested by Softpedia as being 100% Clean and is available for download here.