Windows Archive

"I do not consider Windows ready for the desktop. I found it difficult to use, buggy and lacking in security. I also found technical support lacking. While Windows captured a significant portion of the desktop market, the product is clearly not a good fit for consumers who do not understand the risks associated with logging on to the Internet. The costs of providing aftermarket products can run higher than the price paid for the hardware."

Jim Allchin, a senior Microsoft Corp. executive, walked into Bill Gates's office here one day in July last year to deliver a bombshell about the next generation of Microsoft Windows. "It's not going to work," Mr. Allchin says he told the Microsoft chairman. The new version, code-named Longhorn, was so complex its writers would never be able to make it run properly.

This is a series of articles exploring the new tools and APIs that developers will find in Microsoft Windows Mobile 5.0, Visual Studio 2005, and the .NET Compact Framework version 2.0. The series begins with an introduction to Windows Mobile 5.0 and the tools needed to get started developing for Windows Mobile 5.0 today.

"The amazing thing isn't that Windows beat the pants off Unix; it's that so many of the Unix companies survived until today. Linux came into the field though with two big advantages over the Unixes. The first was that it was open-source. The second advantage was it had Linus Torvalds." In other news, here you can read what various people have to say about the restructuring operation at Microsoft.

"Kam Vedbrat is a lead program manager on the Aero team which redesigned the User Interface of Windows Vista. We spend half an hour looking at the user interface." (stream | file, .wmv)

It's the autumn release season, and new devices running Windows Mobile 5.0 have begun to hit the market. BargainPDA brings you a hands-on, in-depth look at the next-generation OS. The n300 series of PPCs from Acer are among the first to run Windows Mobile 5.0, sporting VGA resolution displays, SDIO capable expansion slots, Bluetooth 1.2 and more. In the meantime, the Mitac Mio phone with GPS was officially announced today. Additionally, the Dell Axim x51v specs and pics leaked recently (review).

The news has been around, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer says the development process at Microsoft has to change after Windows Vista. The time between releases is just too long, and Microsoft has to show profit to keep shareholders happy. Some say the Redmond empire is due for a slow collapse, but I think there exists an amazing opportunity.

At the PDC last week, Microsoft announced Windows Workflow Foundation as a key component of WinFX in conjunction with Windows Communication Foundation and Windows Presentation Foundation. This chapter describes the motivation behind Windows Workflow Foundation and provides an overview of its features

Vista's development tools use cross-platform standards, so you can use them to write normal apps that will run on multiple platforms or Web-based apps with multiple browser support. Also, new security features planned for the Vista version of Windows Server will include an automatic patch check and a file system that can fix itself, Microsoft said. Watch some videos of Vista here.

Windows Server 2003 Compute Cluster Solution brings together the power of commodity x64 (64-bit x86) computers, the ease-of-use and security of Active Directory, and the Windows operating system to provide a secure and affordable high performance computing (HPC) solution.

Again, more news from the PDC. Microsoft senior vice president Steven Sinofsky took the stage Wednesday to discuss Office 12, which he said would hit Beta 1 within a "couple months." Betas of the Open Office XML format schemes are available starting today. Also, more screenshots of Vista build 5219 can be found here, shots of IE7 here. MS also announced a developer's toolbar for IE 6 and 7. The toolbar would allow the developer to see how pages would look in various screen resolutions, validate HTML and CSS code, and perform numerous other functions that Web designers would find useful. You can read transcripts of the various keynotes here.

In PDC related news: "Windows Workflow Foundation is the programming model, engine and tools for quickly building workflow enabled applications on Windows. It consists of a WinFX namespace, an in-process workflow engine, and designers for Visual Studio 2005. Windows Workflow Foundation is available (currently in beta) for both client and server versions of Windows."

This week, Microsoft is handing out Vista build 5219 at its Professional Developers Conference in Los Angeles. PC Magazine was able to get their hands on it, trying out a number of new features and observing some slick-looking interface enhancements, such as true 3D windows views (with properly skewed video), thumbnail views for desktop apps, and a semi-transparent Taskbar. Take the guided tour to witness some of these new features in build 5219.

Lots of news from the first few hours of the PDC. First off, in the first CTP of Vista, the sidebar has been revived. "The Sidebar will be populated with "gadgets" and will feature an open platform for developers to create their own mini-applications. Sidebar gadgets can be dragged onto the desktop, and interact with standard Windows applications." Also, "Microsoft Max lets you make lists of your photos and turn them into beautiful slide shows to share with your family and friends. Max is the codename for Microsoft's flagship application based on WinFX and Microsoft's new user experience." Images from the PDC here, and you can watch Bill Gates' keynote here. Also, MS released beta 2 of Monad.