Windows Archive

"With Windows Vista, the Media Center functions will be built into the "Home Premium" and "Ultimate" editions, which will probably quadruple its installed base in no time flat. We all know Windows Vista will cause a huge change in the way the desktop looks and feels, and MCE is getting a similar face-lift." More at ExtremeTech.

The second beta of Vista will not come until next year. Microsoft did not give a time frame for the release of Beta 2 of the operating system, and said only that it would have more to say next year. MS had not said when Beta 2 will come, but some had expected it might come in December or January. More here, and here is a review of build 5259 that was supposed to be the November CTP, but actually wasn't (get it?). In related news, Microsoft has entered the beta period for Windows OneCare Live.

"Windows has seen many changes in its 20-year career. Here, we look at those versions which have evolved directly from the very first version, see how we got here from there - and what thrilled and chilled along the way."

Microsoft has released a new build of Windows Vista to Vendors and Beta Testers. The build is 5259, and was compiled on November 17 2005. Screenshots of 5259 started appearing on forums yesterday (more here). 5259 contains new versions of Media Center, Internet Explorer 7 and Windows Media Player 11, but little new when it comes to GUI. Microsoft Antispyware has also been fully integrated in this build. There is more on Vista's new fonts here, and more on TCP/IP here. Update: more, high-res this time, screenshots here.

Channel9 recently visited the Vista Print team and learned about the new Print stack in Vista and took a tour of the team and the lab where print testing happens. The 1-hour WMV video is 228 MB.

A major UK retail store and three of the largest PC vendors worldwide still have no plans to sell the version of Microsoft Windows that does not contain its media player, five months after the version was released. Microsoft started offering Windows XP N, a version of Windows without a bundled media player, in June of this year to comply with last year's antitrust ruling by the European Commission.

"In such a scenario, Microsoft is investing money in software development, and even though the final product is great (and I use that term loosely) by itself, it is not so significant a change that people will upgrade immediately. I expect a lot of people to stick with their current office suite even when Office 12 becomes a retail reality; same could be the case with Windows Vista. Having said that, it's also a given that there is no way software development can come to a halt. What option does that leave the software industry with?"

Microsoft Wednesday edged one step closer to its vision of offering a complete home digital entertainment system through PCs running Windows XP Media Center Edition OS. The company revealed a deal with a cable television consortium that will allow PC vendors to offer digital-cable-ready Windows Media Center PCs by next December.

Graphics performance, which has long been an afterthought for most corporate PCs and many consumers, will move to the forefront with the launch of Windows Vista, Microsoft's next Windows operating system. Vista, due late next year, will offer four different themes, including the well-publicized three-dimensional Aero Glass with transparent windows.

Bill Gates plans on Tuesday to announce Microsoft's foray into the world of supercomputing, though its first operating system for computer clusters remains in beta testing.

A story of how Microsoft went from 5% of the enterprise market to 90% in three years during 1996-1999. This story shows how they did it and reveals a little known fact that GNU/Linux has had the technology to challenge Microsoft for six years.

This guide contains the practical security measures to secure your Windows desktop at home. This guide is not necessarily intended for business or enterprise use, but it might come in handy for some.

There is no compelling reason to rush into upgrading to the next version of Windows, says Gartner.

The number of useful desktop applications for Linux is growing every day, but there are many would-be users who still have one or more "must have" Windows applications. For those users, running Windows under Linux is a suitable alternative to having to maintain two systems, or a dual-boot system with Linux and Windows. One of the options for running Windows under Linux is Win4Lin, Inc.'s Win4Lin Pro, which was released earlier this year.