Windows Archive

Microsoft is breaking new ground with Longhorn, successor to XP. The upcoming WinFS file system will be the first to be context-dependent, and promises to make long search times and wasted memory a thing of the past. THG compares it to FAT and NTFS.

Everyone knows what Microsoft does by now. What some people do not know is that Microsoft releases a system integration software named Windows services for UNIX.

A high-level overview of design changes that were made to the Microsoft Windows Server 2003 family of operating systems, why the design changes were made, the implications of the changes, and how to revert to the previous default settings.

Microsoft will debut Pocket PC 2003--code-named Ozone--on June 23, according to sources close to the company. The operating system is not expected to be a major revision of Pocket PC 2002, but it will include new features such as built-in support for wireless technologies Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. The OS overhaul will occur in the next version of the operating system, code-named 'Magneto', due out next year. Get more mobile computing news on our sister site, NewMobileComputing.com.

Less than two months after launching its Windows Server 2003 operating system, Microsoft has released a security patch to fix a vulnerability that could let malicious sites run damaging code on the server. This might fair as a pretty good score for Microsoft and their massive Trustworthy Computing initiative, as in comparison, Red Hat Linux 9 had almost thirty security patches in two months.

Windows Media Center or MCE for short is a little shell that sits basically on top of Windows that has a few shortcuts and stuff like for T.V. Word has it that Bill Gates started funding for his personal use back in 1990's to actually integrate his PC with Entertainment System. Check the screenshots. Free alternatives are FreeVO and MythTV and the best commercial seems to be ShowShifter.

According to a source in the handheld industry, Pocket PC 2003, the upcoming version of Microsoft's operating system for handheld devices, will be launched on June 23. According to information leaked on several websites and newsgroups, many of the changes in Pocket PC 2003, codenamed Ozone, will be related to improving its wireless capabilities.

The software giant says it withdrew a security update for Windows XP after discovering that it switched off Net connections for some of the 600,000 users who downloaded and installed it. Update: Microsoft explains what got wrong.

Microsoft is designing its ever-present Windows operating system to streamline and lower the cost of building and distributing the software. Read the article at C|Net.

So, how is Microsoft is testing Windows in its labs? Read it at WinSuperSite. Update: Huh, a duplicate. My second ever (getting 30 years old yesterday it already affected my memory, it seems). :)

Forrester senior analyst Laura Koetzle pointed out that the IIS Web server program is turned off by default in the new version of Windows, so that machines not offering Web connections need not be secured against Web-based attacks. Read the article at eCommerceTimes.

The software giant's latest operating system saves data to tape using a slightly different format than earlier versions of Windows, a Microsoft representative said Thursday. While older tapes can be read by Windows Server 2003, the opposite isn't true for the new OS. A patch will be finished soon.

Microsoft's plans for "Longhorn," the next version of Windows, include a new graphics subsystem, a new file system and a new security system. But, so far, users aren't nearly as excited about the features as Microsoft is, eWeek says. In the meantime, The Register reports that Microsoft sidelines Longhorn database caper: Microsoft has scaled back its 'Big Bang', and its Future Storage initiative will build on, rather than supersede the NTFS file system, when the next version of Windows appears in 2005.

"At the Windows Hardware Engineering Conference (WinHEC) 2003 trade show in New Orleans in May 2003, Microsoft finally revealed its roadmap for Longhorn, the next major Windows desktop version, and the successor to Windows XP. Longhorn, as readers of this site know, will be the most dramatic and exciting release of Windows ever, and the most important update to the product since Windows 95." Read the article at WinSuperSite.