Windows Archive

"Surprise surprise. Windows Vista speech recognition actually works. Contrary to what MSNBC criticize as a ‘wreck’, the speech recognition technology is well developed and highly usable, says Long Zheng.

Microsoft has begun sharing ideas on how to design a Vista PC as part of what it calls the Vista Industrial Design Toolkit. The kit, which has been distributed to about 70 different companies, offers PC and peripherals manufacturers as well as product design firms a number of ideas on ways to shape PCs and related hardware to complement the operating system's new features. The kits, whose design ideas remain under wraps at the moment but are believed to convey ideas of simplicity and elegance, comes as Microsoft pushes to release Windows Vista in the coming months.

For reasons nobody quite understands, Microsoft changed a lot of settings in Vista. Any programmer whose application hard-coded directory settings will soon discover that the application will fail to run well. This article summarizes the changes and how to code around the problem in a version-neutral way.

In a recent podcast Steve Gibson of grc.com has drawn attention to a detailed report by engineers at Symantec who demonstrate that Windows Vista contains a completely virgin network stack that has been programmed from the ground up. The Symantec software engineers have monitored the behaviour of the new stack through a series of beta releases and have documented that it contains most of the basic bugs and security holes that have long since been fixed in other stacks - even the Windows 95 stack. Since it has not had a chance to mature and develop in the wild, the likelihood that it contains new, uncharted holes and errors is very high. Some have already been found. Gibson stresses that the ramifications for the security of the new stack are disastrous.

With Windows Vista nearing its first release candidate in preparation for a final launch early next year, Microsoft is providing more details about possible upgrade paths. Of note: Windows 2000 cannot be upgraded to Vista. While Windows 2000 Professional customers may purchase a cheaper "upgrade" copy of Microsoft next-generation operating system, Windows Vista must be "clean installed", which means users will need to back up their files and data manually and then copy everything into place. Applications will also need to be re-installed.

Microsoft is recalling an update to its Small Business Server product because of a glitch found late in the manufacturing process. They found a problem with Windows Small Business Server 2003 R2 after the product was released to computer makers but before it was made broadly available. "Recently, and during a regular audit as part of our software production process, Microsoft became aware of an issue with the final software containing nonfinal versions of a few core components," Microsoft said in a statement.

Microsoft shares fell on Thursday after it declined to dampen rumours that its new Windows Vista operating system might face fresh delays. Its shares closed down 2% after a Microsoft executive appeared to avoid confirming the current January 2007 Vista release data for consumers. Instead, Microsoft's Kevin Johnson said Vista would be shipped "when it is available".

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer wrapped up a meeting with financial analysts Thursday by promising that the company would make sure it releases new Windows versions more quickly. Also, Microsoft on Thursday showed a prototype of a cell phone-based computer that could one day find a use as a cheap PC for emerging markets.

Computerworld obtained a recent interim build of Windows Vista, Build 5472, that shows Microsoft is making progress in the areas of performance and installation time, has refined the User Account Control, updated the main Control Panel that manages networking access and settings, included mild design improvement to the Vista Basic video mode, and improved how Media Center works.

eWEEK Labs got a hold of Vista Build 5472 on July 18, loaded it up on a test machine and took a quick tour. eWEEK Labs' tests show a smooth upgrade from Windows XP and helpful new utilities, but the overhauled Windows Explorer still needs work.

A company called Trustware, who has recently been nominated one of the 10 hot start-ups of 2006 by Microsoft, developed an application-level virtualization tool for Windows. This app, called BufferZone, promises to fight malware virtualizing I/O operations, so that the OS and user's data will be safe. Another cool advantage of this technology is that it doesn't require any user interaction. SecurityFocus published an interview with Eyal Dotan, creator of the tool, where he discusses the architecture, advantages of this design, performance, and how this method could be applied to servers running Windows or be ported to other OSs.

Bink.nu has more information and screenshots on Windows Fundamentals. "Microsoft Windows Fundamentals for Legacy PCs is a Windows-based operating system designed for enterprise customers with legacy PCs who are not in a position to purchase new hardware. WinFLP provides the same security and manageability as Microsoft Windows XP SP2 while providing a smooth migration path to the latest hardware and operating system."

Speaking at a forum in South Africa regarding a plan for Microsoft to make major technology investments in the country, Bill Gates said there was an "80 percent chance" Windows Vista would by ready for its planned January launch. He also had no qualms about delaying the OS further if necessary.

From today, Microsoft will no longer issue security updates or provide support for Windows 98 and Windows ME, which could lead users to trying alternative operating systems such as Linux. Eight years after launching Windows 98, Microsoft will finally wash its hands of updating and plugging security gaps in its ageing operating system. The software giant originally planned to pull the plug in January 2004 but decided to extend support because of the increasing threat from Linux.