Windows Archive

Microsoft is working on a significant new feature for Windows Vista, known as Restart Manager, which is designed to update parts of the operating system or applications without having to reboot the entire machine. "If a part of an application, or the operating system itself, needs to updated, the Installer will call the Restart Manager, which looks to see if it can clear that part of the system so that it can be updated. If it can do that, it does, and that happens without a reboot." And here & here are some more shots of Vista build 5259.

"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.

With speculation of a ship date for Windows Vista ranging in the second part of 2006, word has surprisingly surfaced that it can be expected much earlier. BusinessWeek has received a copy of the internal blog of Chris Jones, who is a top Windows executive. The blog states that the code for Windows Vista will be completed by August 31, giving Microsoft the opportunity to place Vista on PCs for the 2006 Christmas season.

"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 Windows captured the lead for the first time in server operating systems during the third quarter, boosted by continued demand for inexpensive servers selling for less than $25000 (EUR 21190), according to a new report.

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.

So you just bought a brand new WM5 device. The box says it's got 64M of RAM. You go digging through control panels on the device and find one that says it's only got 50M. Is something wrong? Should you be worried about this? The short answers are "No" and "No." This will explain why. UPDATE: On related news, ActiveSync 4.1 was released.

"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 announces that the next version of Exchange, its upcoming Windows Server "Longhorn" SBS and its Centro infrastructure solution for midsize businesses will only be released as 64-bit.

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.

The calendar turns over and Windows is now 20 years young. Although Redmond has plenty of changes slated for the upcoming Vista release, what would you wish for in Windows if you could wave a magic wand? The analysts of eWEEK Labs offer a "what-if" remaking of Windows history.

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.

The following is a review of a technical breakout session from the HP Technology Forum in Orlando, FL (Oct. 17-20, 2005). Doug Lora, Senior Product Manager for HPC from Microsoft, and Doug de Werd, HPC Technical Marketing from Hewlett-Packard, presented "Introducing Microsoft Windows Compute Cluster Server."

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