Here is a useful article containing an overview of the new simplified thread synchronization capabilities in Windows Vista:
http://www.codeguru.com/columns/kate/article.php/c13387/. These include CONDITION_VARIABLE, AcquireSRWLockExclusive/ReleaseSRWLockExclusive, and AcquireSRWLockShared/ReleaseSRWLockShared.