Windows Archive

When it issues a second Windows .Net Server 2003 release candidate, Microsoft also plans to announce a new, per-user licensing option. Plus, other tweaks are being offered. Additionally, major Longhorn revision shows AMD 64 support.

"The next version of the world's most popular desktop operating system, code-named "Longhorn," is due out in test form next year and in final form in 2004. It will have a new look and feel, very different from Windows XP's. Its guts will also be radically different from Windows XP's, because they're based on XML -- extensible markup language, the emerging lingua franca of the Internet. And it will be the first version that won't function fully without new hardware." Read the report at Seattle PI.

"An internal alpha build of Microsoft's next version of Windows, code-named Longhorn, made its way onto the Internet early Tuesday. The leaked build, which is numbered 3683, appears to be from late September and sports quite a few new feature concepts—although many are not yet functional. The oft-rumored Longhorn Sidebar can be enabled via Taskbar settings and uses XML to display customizable tiles such as a clock, virtual desktop manager and Internet search. The Start Menu can also be docked within the Sidebar, completely removing the Taskbar that has been a staple of Windows since 1995." Read the eWeek article for more information.

Microsoft has for the third time delayed the launch of its Windows .Net Server 2003 high-end operating system. During his Comdex keynote address on Sunday, Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates revealed that the company would launch Windows .Net Server 2003 in April, marking the third delay for the server counterpart to the company’s Windows XP OS. Read the report at News.com and the press release.

Learn the answers to frequently asked questions about the Microsoft Windows CE .NET and Windows CE 3.0 operating systems, including questions regarding Windows CE Application Development.

"Windows offers more than the Linux platform, which is just an operating system, Gates said at a news conference during his four-day tour of India, during which he said Microsoft would invest $400 million in expanding operations here. "The Windows system is far ahead of its competition and its market share is increasing both on the server side and the desktops," Gates said. He said Linux was gaining popularity in some areas and its market share was improving, but only at the expense of the operating system UNIX and others - not Windows." Read the report at IndiaTimes.

"Put an absolute beginner in front of a computer and he'll try to touch the screen to make things happen. The revolutionary thing about Microsoft's new tablet PC is that it transforms this wishful-thinking behavior into reality: You can write on its screen and the thing will respond! This is the stuff of science fiction, and it makes the tablet PC an unusually ambitious venture for Microsoft. It's just not a successful one." Rob Pegoraro tells it like it is for WashingtonPost.

PowerToys are additional programs that developers work on after a product has been released to manufacturing. They'll add fun and functionality to your Tablet PC experience. Microsoft also released the Office XP Pack for Tablet PC. In the meantime, ZDNet published a 3-page article regarding Tablet PC: "What will it do for you"?

"Today, Microsoft launches its latest Windows XP version, XP Media Center Edition (MCE), at a special event in New York City's Bryant Park. Mike Toutonghi, vice president of the Windows eHome Division, will join actor and comedian Tom Arnold and other celebrity guests for the launch, which also coincides with the North American availability of the Hewlett-Packard Media Center PC, which runs XP MCE. Microsoft's latest OS combines the power of Windows XP with a remote control interface to digital media tasks and Digital Video Recording (DVR) functionality." Read the report at WinInfo. Update: Jim Allchin, Microsoft's Platforms Group vice president, talks about the future of specialized versions of XP.

Microsoft late Wednesday issued patches for three security holes affecting its Point-to-Point Tunneling Protocol (PPTP), Windows 2000 platform and versions of the Internet Information Server (IIS). The Redmond, Wash.-based software giant warned that the most critical of the three bugs was an unchecked buffer in PPTP (define) implementation that could enable denial-of-service (DoS) attacks.

Microsoft Corp. is developing two new versions of its Windows CE operating system that will give smart devices greater storage capabilities and, as such, a more vital role in the enterprise as a portable data repository. "Everybody knows that Microsoft Corp. rarely innovates. You know the knock. While companies like Apple Computer Inc. roll out bold and original hardware and software products, Microsoft relies on tweaks to its world-dominant Windows software." This article is at Boston.com.

The Justice Department is trying to determine whether Microsoft is sharing details about its Windows operating system with competitors as required under a proposed antitrust settlement, the Los Angeles Times reported. Investigators want to know whether Microsoft has withheld formulas that could allow rivals to write programs that work well with Windows, the newspaper's Web site reported Wednesday night, quoting unidentified executives of software companies.

A company called Stratus Technologies, that makes expensive, multiply redundant server hardware, guarantees that its high end four processor machine running Windows 2000 Advanced Server (cost: $150,000) will not have a hardware or OS-related failure or they will pay you $100,000. Stratus works on the device drivers to further ensure that they will not bring the OS down. See a Stratus Press Release for more information.

A number of screenshots of Windows Longhorn were leaked, and some people in the know have confirmed that these shots are authentic. The new UI is called "Plex" and it is clear that Microsoft is moving away from the traditional UIs, to highly task-based ones. Check out the shots before they vanish.