Windows Archive

The launch of Microsoft's new Vista operating system has been a long time coming. Missing the important pre-Christmas slot earned the software company a lot of criticism from partners and customers but Microsoft has committed to shipping the OS in January. But now some analysts claim that a number of 'events' in the IT industry have made it more likely that Microsoft may delay the launch of Vista again until at least May next year. The reservations hinge around a research note, 'Events aligning to make Vista delay more likely', published by analyst Gartner late last week, and take in market, political and industry issues that the researcher believes are beginning to stack up.

Jim Allchin, co-president of Microsoft's Platforms and Services Division, has sent an open letter to developers citing the 'tremendous opportunity' that Windows Vista gives them, adding that the time is now to get ready for the operating system. "If you want to ride the wave we're creating with Windows Vista, the best way is to have your application ready by the time we ship," Allchin said in the open letter, which appeared Sept. 15 on the Windows Vista Developer Center site. "And that is very soon." Meanwhile, Microsoft and the EU keep tiptoeing around each other when it comes to Vista and possible antitrust consequences. And if that wasn't enough, a Cisco exec says Vista is scary.

The August Community Technology Preview build of Longhorn Server is available for download. It's still not an RC1, but it does include performance, reliability and UI changes, according to Microsoft. On a related note, The Inq reviewed Vista RC1, and concludes "Vista's still a mess." And that's not all: Microsoft is worried that the EU might interfere with Vista's security plans.

A few days ago we reported on the fact that applications which have administrative rights in Vista (given by the user, of course) can disable User Account Protection altogether. This was seen as a security flaw; Ars, however, begs to differ: "When UAC is disabled, Vista gripes loudly about it. The Windows Security Center immediately notes that UAC has been turned off, and it prompts you to turn it back on using a system tray notification. From our own testing, it appears impossible to disable UAC without the Security Center noticing it, which makes it rather unlikely that a user is end up in a less secure state."

"On Sept. 1, Microsoft began rolling out Vista RC1, raising hopes that all of the major issues have been resolved in the months since the beta two version. And it appears those hopes have been largely fulfilled. Here's a look at the top five improvements that RC1 brings since the beta releases of Vista."

Ars is taking a look at the new Vista audio enhancements, like system wide loudness equalization, diferent volume level adjustments for different audio sources, reverse bass management, speaker fill, room correction, speaker phantoming, HRTF, and microphone arrays. Combined together with Vista's new audio engine architecture, audiophiles should find plenty to rejoice about.