Betanews CES 2009 Contest: Win Vista Ultimate and Office 2007
Before CES 2008, Betanews debuted our "Better Questions" contest, where we asked you, the reader, what questions you wanted answered from the CES floor. This year, we're asking you again.
Our correspondents will be out in force all next week, meeting with the companies, executives, and business leaders whose decisions directly impact the consumer electronics industry -- which is experiencing as much volatility now than at any time in its history. We're already asking some of the big questions, in our ongoing CES 13 Countdown series. But we've heard from some of you that you might have better questions of your own.
Windows XP pauses again in its shuffle out the door
Microsoft is making an accommodation through a flexible inventory program that will allow distributors to place their final orders by January 31, 2009 and take delivery against those orders through May 30, 2009.
This is not an extension of sales, according to the Microsoft spokesperson who issued the statement above. Semantics? Depends on where you reside in the food chain, but mainly, the decision is about giving the put-upon guys in the middle some breathing room.
Windows Vista SP2 beta, WS2K8 SP2 beta released
Download Windows Vista Service Pack 2 Beta from FileForum now.
The first public tests of Microsoft Windows Vista Service Pack 2 and Windows Server Service Pack 2 (both have the same kernel) were released this morning, and you can download them for yourself now.
First beta of Windows 7 may (or may not) be handed out next Tuesday
As Microsoft's annual MSDN Developers' Conference nationwide tour begins next week, attendees will be among the first to receive a DVD of Windows 7 Beta 1, according to an online invitation the company posted yesterday.
Every year, Microsoft sends a handful of its most popular conference presenters on a nationwide tour, at special MSDN events that are usually held in small conference arenas or hotels, or sometimes rented movie theaters. Attendance is $99 for the one-day event, and with this tour, attendees are promised a big giveaway package that includes Windows 7 Beta 1.
Microsoft: Vista SP2, Windows Server SP2 betas Thursday
Not one half-hour after Microsoft responded to BetaNews' inquiry, the company reversed its position, effectively announcing that the first public betas of Vista SP2 not in February, but next Thursday.
The word of a December 4 public beta release officially came from Microsoft Corp. Vice President Mike Nash at 4:23 pm this afternoon, moments after our story about rumors of a Q1 2009 beta release went live.
Microsoft CEO Ballmer forced to testify about Vista, for three hours
Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer is now under court order to testify in a case charging Microsoft with deceptive marketing, despite his protests that he knew nothing about the "Vista Capable" mess.
Ballmer has been compelled by a court to testify in a class action suit accusing Microsoft of providing misleading information about the ability of some Intel-based PCs to run Vista. But Friday's ruling in the case by US District Judge Marsha Pechman places a time limit of three hours on Ballmer's deposition.
Apparent IP routing vulnerability affects Vista, not XP
A change in the way the Windows client enables IP routes to be amended manually is the target of a potentially serious exploit for Vista users only, that Microsoft may now have no choice but to address.
Through SecurityFocus.com last Wednesday, a team of researchers at Phion published a proof of concept that demonstrates how Microsoft's Internet Protocol Helper API could be exploited to trigger a stack buffer overflow, potentially leading to the execution of random code. Unusually, this particular exploit can only be recreated, Phion said in its bulletin, on Windows Vista Enterprise and Ultimate versions, in 32- and 64-bit editions.
Microsoft softened 'Vista Capable' requirements for Intel, e-mails indicate
Although its CEO claims no knowledge of the event, and other Microsoft execs raised opposition, Microsoft dropped a key requirement for "Vista Capable" PCs at Intel's request in 2006, according to e-mails now unsealed by a federal judge.
In a lawsuit charging deceptive marketing around Windows Vista, a chain of e-mails now unsealed by a federal court judge suggests that, under pressure from Intel, Microsoft relaxed its standards for "Vista Capable" PCs, enraging its partner Hewlett-Packard. Meanwhile, Microsoft has sought to excuse company CEO Steve Ballmer from testifying in the case.
Microsoft: 1 in 10 Vista printer driver installations fail
At a WinHEC session in Los Angeles last week, bloggers report, just during last September, of the driver installations for Windows Vista automatically reported back to Microsoft, over 11% of install attempts for printer drivers failed.
Although no video was produced for this specific WinHEC session last Wednesday, Angus Kidman of APC and John Lister of Blorge both report that a table presented by Microsoft Senior Program Manager Chris Matichuk showed that 11.24% of all Vista-based printer driver installations automatically reported back to Microsoft, were failures.
PDC 2008: Recapping a week with Windows 7 and Azure
With the debut of Windows 7, Office 14 and its Web counterpart, along with a completely new Windows "operating system" for the cloud called Azure, PDC 2008 was a week that didn't let up. For those who didn't catch all of the news, here's a quick recap of our coverage.
Microsoft welcomes a new member to the Windows family: Azure
PDC 2008: Windows 7, WS2K8 R2 will get PowerShell v2
At the early morning session on the final day of PDC 2008, architect Jeffrey Snover officially confirmed that Windows 7 and the R2 edition of Windows Server 2008 will both get version 2 of PowerShell as standard installation options.
In addition, Snover said, thanks to the ability for an upcoming version of the .NET Framework to run in systems without graphical overhead, PowerShell v2 will also be supported in Server Core, the streamlined, command-line-only installation option for Windows Server introduced with the 2008 edition. Server Core is typically meant for systems that do not need to be administered directly, and can instead use remote management tools.
PDC 2008: Look out for the 'delighters' in Windows 7
Color, a Microsoft design team discovered with the aid of a focus group, is quintessential to a positive user experience. In advising developers to add delight to their apps, a team leader made a revelation about Windows 7's mission.
LOS ANGELES - During a mid-day session on best practices for designing applications to take advantage of Windows 7, Microsoft's principal design manager Samuel Moreau told attendees that his team was charged with the task of building new visual elements into the new user interface specifically to make users feel better about the operating system.
PDC 2008: Windows 7 will add a 'volume knob' to UAC
Will users feel better about Windows 7 when they have the option of turning off one of Vista's least understood features? Or will they instead make the attempt to understand it? That's the problem which Microsoft's Mike Nash is now facing.
LOS ANGELES - Since the original RTM version of Windows Vista, a Registry-based switch has existed for changing the running state of User Account Control -- the feature that stops processes from performing tasks that haven't been launched by human users. So even today, it's feasible, albeit not easy, to turn up the volume and have UAC prompt for passwords (as was originally planned in the early betas), or turn it off.
PDC 2008: Mike Nash answers your questions about Windows 7
Yesterday we asked you to tell us what you wanted to know about Windows 7. We posed many of these questions to Mike Nash, corporate vice president of Windows Product Management. Read on for the answers.
Note: Not all of the questions were answered, so we will post a follow-up later this week with more details on icons, SSD drives, security, file copy speed, Aero and more.
PDC 2008: More details on the new Windows 7 Taskbar
At PDC 2008, Microsoft took the wraps off Windows 7 and showcased its new dock-like Taskbar. But the revamped Taskbar isn't in the pre-beta build distributed to attendees, so we went hunting for more details on Windows 7's most prominent new feature.
First up, Quick Launch is officially dead. Microsoft will be leaving the Quick Launch folder in Windows 7 for backwards compatibility, but any shortcuts stored there will never show up. Deskbands (like an address bar in the Taskbar) still exist in Windows 7, but must also support rendering on the transparent Glass UI.
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