Windows Archive

Speaking at the Gartner Symposium and ITxpo 2004 in Orlando, Florida, yesterday, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer outlined new security initiatives, some of which would make it into a pre-Longhorn 'Release 2' for Windows, next year.

Microsoft will continue to charge its customers for a single processor license once a new crop of hardware servers with the equivalent of two microprocessors on each chip hit the market next year. Intel's first dual-core Xeon processor is scheduled to arrive in the first quarter of 2006, a company exec said Monday, meaning that a competing chip from rival AMD will likely arrive several months earlier.

Here's Update 1 for Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 and the Microsoft Windows XP Tablet PC Edition 2005 Recognizer Pack.

Bill Gates unveils plans to make Media Center software the centerpiece of the digital home. Brand-name PC makers debut a host of new PCs that feature Microsoft's Media Center 2005 software.

Nearly three years have passed since Microsoft Corp. released the last full version of Windows, the Redmond company's most important and profitable product. But when Bill Gates takes the stage tomorrow morning at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, he won't be launching a new generation of the flagship operating system. He'll be looking to stir up some new interest in the existing one.

WindowSizer, the tiling window manager for Microsoft Windows, now allows you to create multiple tiled layouts and switch among them. Think of it as "Alt-Tabbing" through groups of windows at a time. The just released 1.4 version also has a command to quickly tile the last two, three, or four windows you were working with. Use WindowSizer through its right-click menu or keyboard shortcuts.

Microsoft is developing versions of Windows with only a subset of its code base, designed for specific server tasks. The intention is to reduce maintenance costs and create products that are less vulnerable to attack, and so tackle head-on the threat posed by Linux.

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer was in a lighthearted mood during a swing through the Netherlands, but did he give a serious clue about Longhorn?

A free technology preview for Windows XP Embedded with Service Pack 2 (SP2) is available for download and testing. Enhancements coming in Service Pack 2 include stronger default security settings, advanced remote device management, and additional networking and multimedia features that enable further device innovation. Microsoft also announced today Windows Embedded for Point of Service, a new standardized software platform for POS terminals, which will be based on Windows XP Embedded with SP2.

Newly released is the Platform SDK for Windows XP Service Pack 2 support (includes MDAC 2.8, Tablet 1.7 and Windows Installer 3.0).

Windows XP SP2 is 99% great, but the 1% that isn't turns a gift into a bomb. If Microsoft wants to win hearts and pocketbooks, then the product teams need to relearn how to treat customers with respect. With minimal effort, Microsoft could show paying customers that they are valued partners, rather than adversaries. Karsten Schneider writes about his experience with SP2, and his ideas of what it would take to turn a rock into rocks!

This update helps resolve an issue on computers running Windows XP Service Pack 2. Programs that connect to IP addresses in the loopback address range may not work as expected and you may receive an error message indicating you cannot establish a connection. After you install this item, you may have to restart your computer. Elsewhere, this download installs Microsoft Windows Script containing Visual Basic Script Edition (VBScript.) Version 5.6, JScript Version 5.6, Windows Script Components, Windows Script Host 5.6, and Windows Script Runtime Version 5.6.

Because of the long march to Longhorn, Gartner recommended that companies standardize on Windows XP SP2 so that they will have the option of buying into the first Longhorn release or waiting for a future release that includes WinFS. In the mean time, customers shouldn't make plans that include the system, Gartner said.

Microsoft plans to announce next week that it is ready to ship Virtual Server, a product that allows a server to run multiple operating systems, or multiple copies of the same OS at a single time.