Windows Archive

From Newsforge: "Microsoft has started distributing two online surveys to Linux User Groups and Linux users in general, one asking primarily about home computer use, the other about business use."

Sources close to Microsoft confirm that the long awaited Beta for Service Pack 2 of Windows XP is due today. The reported build is 5.1.2600.2055 (XP SP_2 Beta 1.031215-1745). Update: There is also an alpha release of SP1 Beta 1 for Windows Server 2003 released today.

Microsoft Corp. executives have kicked off the campaign for the company's next big Windows push: Windows XP Service Pack 2 (SP2). In a Webcast Tuesday morning, Microsoft Security Business Unit Vice President Mike Nash said to expect the service pack —a major release—to enhance security in four ways. It will remedy open ports, malicious e-mail attachments, malicious Web content and buffer overrun attacks, Nash said.

This document focuses on the changes in Windows XP Service Pack 2 and its implications for developers. Examples and details are provided for several of the technologies that are experiencing the biggest changes. Future versions of this document will cover all new and changed technologies.

The IT advisory firm expects the Longhorn operating system to be released between late 2006 and mid-2008, but that the release could be delayed even more.

Microsoft is set to release a test version of the next update to Windows XP, which adds security features as well as improved support for Bluetooth and Wi-Fi networks.

In this technical article titled "Scripting your Windows XP Embedded components", software consultant Hans de Vetten offers guidance on how to script Windows XP Embedded components. The article describes some steps that lead to more user-friendly components.

Still in its early stages, Longhorn represents Microsoft's best assessment of how computing will evolve. And although the operating system won't be ready until 2005 at the earliest, Microsoft is already hard at work trying to get outside programmers to write software that will work with it. At the same time, Microsoft moves to address user concerns with new products and strategies due over the coming year.

WinBeta has a few screenshots of Longhorn for 64-bit CPUs.

The product holding back sales of Windows Server 2003 is Windows NT 4, according to analysts.

One-year anniversary is marked by new hardware and software, growing customer adoption. New features include enhanced "ink to text" experience, integration in Microsoft Office 2003 and Office OneNote 2003 and new dev capabilities.

The next version of the Microsoft Windows operating system, code-named "Longhorn," marks a significant change not only in terms of how the operating system works, but also in the way in which applications are built.

I am waiting for Longhorn. Thus, I was very interested in the new 4051 build. Here are my findings.

The new programming interface introduced in Windows "Longhorn" is called WinFX. Learn the object-oriented, managed API for the breadth of "Longhorn" and how it relates to the work you are already doing on the .NET Framework. Elsewhere, Steve Jobs is speaking of Longhorn and compares it to the Mac OS X long road to maturity and forsees that the same steep road will be there for Microsoft as well.