Small businesses looking to get an early start on upgrading to Windows Vista won't need to wait until the new operating system's late January 2007 launch after all. Microsoft has partnered with CompUSA to sell a special kit containing Vista Business and Office 2007 Small Business.

The Small Business Value Program Kit is designed for those needing five or more licenses of the two products. It won't contain any actual software, however, as Microsoft is still in the process of preparing retail packaging for January. Instead, it will contain an activation code and instructions for downloading Vista and Office 2007 from the Web.

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BetaNews has confirmed that a build of Windows Vista giving clear indications that it is the final release-to-manufacturing version of the operating system, appeared in .ISO form on a Usenet binaries newsgroup over the weekend, appeasing the interests of folks who can't wait just a few more days.

However, since the final release of Vista requires online activation, and no such beast exists prior to the product's launch, one can basically think of this leaked DVD image as a 60-day trial version. A crack program was supplied with the image, presumably to retrofit the OS with the "time bomb" from Vista Beta 2, which locks down the system from running sometime in March.

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PERSPECTIVE Let’s start by clearing up the most frequent mis-perception that emerged from our story last Thursday regarding Microsoft co-president Jim Allchin’s comments. As you'll recall last Wednesday, Allchin held a telephone conference to announce Windows Vista’s release to manufacturing.

At that time, he never advised Vista users not to use antivirus software. What he did say was that he was so confident in Vista’s new "Defense-in-Depth" architecture and failsafes that, under limited circumstances, he would allow a family member to run the operating system without active anti-virus software. Thus, he implied that the operating system might not need antivirus software – at the very least, not in similar limited circumstances.

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During a telephone conference with reporters yesterday, outgoing Microsoft co-president Jim Allchin, while touting the new security features of Windows Vista, which was released to manufacturing yesterday, told a reporter that the system's new lockdown features are so capable and thorough that he was comfortable with his own seven-year-old son using Vista without antivirus software installed.

Allchin's statement came in response to a question about his relative level of confidence that Vista would be more secure than Windows XP SP2. In response, he noted there were key security features added to Vista which could not be added to Windows XP SP2 even though, he said, his people apparently tried to do so.

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"It's time!" And with that simple blog post, Windows head Jim Allchin has heralded the arrival of Windows Vista. Microsoft said Wednesday that it has released the next-generation operating system to manufacturing, capping a more than five-year development effort.

Volume license customers will get their hands on the final release -- build number 6000 -- this month, while the public launch of Vista is scheduled for January 30, 2007. The release to manufacturing of Vista will allow PC and device makers as well as developers finalize work on hardware and software in preparation for its formal debut.

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Responding to a wave of criticism following news that the licensing terms in Windows Vista allowed the operating system to be moved to another computer only once, Microsoft has changed its position and relaxed the restriction for retail copies of Vista.

Previously, Microsoft had allowed its operating systems to be installed as many times as the customer liked, as long as it was uninstalled from the previous computer. However, with the arrival of Windows Vista, that was to change.

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Microsoft will just barely make its November deadline for the release to manufacturing (RTM) of Windows Vista, announcing an event November 30 in New York City to launch both the next-generation operating system and Office 2007.

A select number of journalists have received an invitation to the "New Day For Business Event," to take place at the Nasdaq stock market and featuring Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer. In addition, Ballmer is expected to talk about the new version of Exchange, although that would release in December.

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Microsoft late Monday took the wraps off its new packaging designs for Windows Vista and Office 2007, which are both slated to hit store shelves early next year. Both the style and box itself have been designed to attract the eye, much like Apple does with its products.

"The packaging has been completely revised and, we hope, foreshadows the great experience that awaits you once you open it," said Vista product manager Nick White. "Designed to be user-friendly, the new packaging is a small, hard, plastic container that’s designed to protect the software inside for life-long use."

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In an interview published last week by the British publication PC Pro Acer Senior Vice President James Wong complained that Microsoft -- a company with which Acer has, at least on paper, partnered -- is actively scheming to force computer users to invest in more expensive PCs, in order to take advantage of the more feature-rich tier of its upcoming operating system, Windows Vista Home Premium.

"The new experience you hear of, if you get [Vista Home] Basic, you won't feel it at all," Wong reportedly stated, adding that the company is actually actively undermining its own lower tier in an effort to persuade customers to move up the value chain.

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At least two news outlets are citing sources claiming the final version of Windows Vista has been delayed at least a week due to a bug which could crash a system that was upgraded from Windows XP. The bug was found in build 5824, said to be the "release to manufacturing" build.

Taiwan-based DigiTimes cited sources saying Microsoft had been successful in cutting the 1,400 known bugs in Vista RC2 by a third. However, the bug caused the company to adjust its timeline on an RTM release from the fourth week of October to the second week of November.

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PERSPECTIVE With Microsoft not having launched a new Web browser since 2001, nor a new service pack since August 2004, Internet Explorer arguably had the longest road to travel to be ready for Windows Vista. Firefox, on the other hand, has had much more frequent point releases, with version 1.5 made available in November 2005.

But users have been anticipating major new releases for both brands in time for Vista. IE7, which entered beta in July of last year, struck first, surprising many with a bold and distinct new approach to arranging functionality. The new Microsoft browser would be as different from IE6 as Nissan's 350Z is from the 300ZX.

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Microsoft on Tuesday confirmed earlier press reports that it would offer free and discounted Vista upgrades to holiday PC buyers, however added that those with Office 2003 preinstalled would also be eligible for a upgrade to a comparable version of Office 2007.

To qualify, consumers would have to purchase a Windows XP computer between October 26 and March 15, 2007 - a two-day longer window than previously announced. Depending on the operating system version the user is upgrading from, the copy of Windows Vista would either be free or at a discount.

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Buena Vista Entertainment said Monday that it would be releasing its first Blu-ray day-and-date release title in December, as well as its first 50GB disc in November. The studio exclusively supports Sony's high-definition video disc format, and distributes films by Walt Disney, Touchstone, Hollywood Pictures, Miramax and Buena Vista.

The first day and date title would by Walt Disney's "Invincible," set to release December 19. The first 50GB titles would be "Enemy of the State" and "Flightplan," set to release November 21, followed by "Pearl Harbor," releasing on December 19. Pricing for most of the titles would be $34.99 USD, Buena Vista said in the announcement.

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A spokesperson for Microsoft Thursday evening characterized as "grossly inaccurate" reports from earlier in the day, including from Reuters, stating that a technical glitch in the company's Live Meeting services led to a dissolution of a meeting between Microsoft and security products vendors.

These stories were wrong, said the spokesperson, on three major counts: 1) the exclusivity and number of vendors attending the meeting (20 security vendors participated in this one meeting, possibly including Symantec and McAfee, though this was one of several such meetings); 2) the subject of the meeting (it did not involve a possible revelation or licensing of PatchGuard code or methods); 3) the damage caused by the technical glitch (it only delayed the meeting for 15 minutes, after which, representatives from all 20 companies remained on the call).

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Microsoft's partners are continuing to cry foul over the decision to lock down the Windows Vista kernel with a feature called PatchGuard, claiming an announcement about sharing security APIs is simply a "red herring" to fool the press.

The contentious issue revolves around the ability of security vendors to write applications that essentially "patch" the Windows kernel to protect it from viruses and other malware. With PatchGuard, Vista attempts to do this on its own, in turn thwarting both protectors and attackers.

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