Windows Archive

Microsoft has issued a warning that the newest version of its software for managing customer relations will not work with the company's next Windows update. Also, Microsoft will finalize the code for Windows XP Service Pack 2 (SP2) sometime today, release it via Microsoft Download Center and MSDN on the Web tomorrow, and then ship it to customers via Windows Update beginning August 25, though Automatic Update users will get it immediately on a staggered basis.

Microsoft is shifting about 70 technical staff from its research unit into its Windows effort as the company gears up for Longhorn, the next major release of the operating system.

The Evaluation Edition software enables you to build Windows XP Embedded with Service Pack 1-based operating systems for 120 days from the day of installation.

Shadow copies is a new feature of Windows Server 2003 that automatically creates point-in-time copies or snapshots of files in shared folders. This lets users recover accidentally overwritten or deleted work without the need to ask an administrator to restore from backup, which saves administrators a lot of time and headache.

When it finally ships, the Longhorn release of Windows will include a number of interesting new technologies. But it is the technology currently code-named “Indigo” that stands out as the most important product for anyone who cares about how diverse systems are glued together. To understand Indigo, however, there are four points you need to get your mind around. Elsewhere, .NET luminaries discuss themselves, their technology expertise, and whatever else comes to mind, released twice a month. Elsewhere, the Longhorn Driver Kit is a fully integrated driver development system for Windows.

Even though the Pocket PC Second Edition has been around for a few weeks, devices equipped with this system are rare, to say nothing about those with a VGA display. In this article, they examine how Microsoft managed to deal with a four times larger display area than we have been used to. Apparently, SE doesn't always give you "true" VGA, and so hacks like this are needed.

This material explains the different requirements to secure three distinct environments, as well as what each prescribed server setting addresses in terms of client dependencies. The three environments considered are called Legacy Client, Enterprise Client, and High Security.

WinFS makes searching and manipulating WinFS objects very straightforward. Learn how to specify a very simple syntax for most cases, but also how the WinFS API supports a rich search syntax to perform complicated searches.

"Many people note that 2007/8 is so far away that without an excellent crystal ball, nobody could predict what the update will contain. But one thing I reckon for certain about Longhorn is that it will be able to run Linux software." Read the article at VNUNet.

Several new security-promoting technologies are to be built into Longhorn. These include an ability to periodically check user's systems against new security fixes in a centralized patch database, and to institute far more stringent access controls and permission levels. Read the article here.

The success of Microsoft's Windows operating system is inextricably tied to its strong developer division. Since its founding, Microsoft has supplied programmers with the tools to build applications for Windows, the company's crown jewels. Read the rest of the editorial here.

The changes in the way Windows polices itself - particularly the newly strengthened firewall - could cause troubles for applications that are used to working with Windows' old ways. Security experts say it's tough to know how many companies may have to change their products to be compatible. However, to bring good overall security to Windows, these sacrifices needed to be made.

"In this continuing series of Longhorn articles, I will talk about the APIs that developers will use to write the next generation of Windows applications. In this article I will focus on WinFX and discuss briefly the rest of the technologies. I will give you a high-level introduction to WinFX and what it means to developers." Read the article by Wei-Meng Lee at WindowsDevCenter.

SciTech Software, Inc. today announced the release of SciTech SNAP Graphics ENT (Enterprise Edition) for Windows NT 4.0. Read more for the rest of the press release.