Windows

After another long, lofty, and philosophy-laden introduction from Microsoft's Ray Ozzie this morning, the #1 new feature being discussed in the "cleaned up" Windows 7 is improved file and application access.

The rethought Windows 7 taskbar, while not exactly like the dock in Mac OS X, certainly borrows some inspiration from it. Based on the early demonstrations given by Julie Larson-Green this morning, we're seeing a kind of sliding dock that is just as tall as the current taskbar, but which omits the text to the right of icons. The identities of running programs or active documents is ascertained by moving the mouse pointer over the icon.

Day two of PDC 2008 begins this morning with a keynote address featuring Ray Ozzie, Steven Sinofsky, Scott Guthrie and David Treadwell. The focus of today will be Windows 7 and the introduction of new user experiences in Windows. The next release of Windows Server 2008 will also be discussed.

We will be live-blogging the keynote as it takes place. Refresh this page for updates.

Although PDC 2008 attendees won't receive Windows 7 Milestone 3 build 6801 until Tuesday, Microsoft has already issued a security patch for the pre-beta version of Vista's successor. This early version of Windows 7 is quite similar to Vista, and will likely require the same security fixes.

"A security issue has been identified that could allow an authenticated remote attacker to compromise your Microsoft Windows-based system and gain control over it," Microsoft says on the download page. x86, x64 and Itanium versions of the patch are available.

With Microsoft picking up the pace in both the development and marketing of Windows 7, it's also finding itself moving ahead with the next amendment package for Vista not too long after the release of SP1.

In an early piece of news that we had expected to hear on Monday, Microsoft will release the first beta editions of Service Pack 2 for Windows Vista to private testers on Wednesday, October 29. Those testers will be among the first, according to a blog post from Windows 7 corporate VP Mike Nash this afternoon, to test burning data directly to Blu-ray Discs using only the Vista OS.

Is it an indication that poetic titles and artificial excitement can do less to endear an OS in the minds of its users than simple, straightforward functionality? Today, Microsoft said it's going back to doing things by number.

In a quick announcement this afternoon on the company blog for Windows Vista -- what's already being perceived as the "old version of Windows" by Microsoft -- the company's corporate VP for Windows product management revealed what many developers had already long suspected: The next version will be called what we've been calling it for months already, "Windows 7."

A less-than-critical Vista hole could become more critical, as Microsoft's security team says it's aware of a published exploit that could enable an ordinary process to pass itself off as a system process with unrestricted access.

Last April, Microsoft admitted to a serious, though perhaps not critical, security hole in all modern versions of Windows including XP and Vista. But a notice posted last Thursday to the company's Security Response Center blog, warning of a published exploit using that same technique, is an indication that the hole has gone unplugged all this time.

Download Norton Labs UAC Tool for Windows Vista from FileForum now.

The latest freeware tool from Norton Labs offers to do Vista users a favor by turning off many of those annoying User Access Control prompts. If you're wondering what Symantec wants in return...so were we.

Microsoft is making plans to drop an assortment of e-mail and media-editing tools from the next version of Windows, concentrating instead on those programs' Windows Live analogues.

The Engineering Windows 7 blog, run by engineering team leaders Steven Sinofsky (senior VP of the Windows and Windows Live Engineering Group) and Jon DeVaan (senior VP of the Windows Core Operating System Division), frames the forthcoming OS as an "ecosystem" comprised of PC and hardware manufacturers, developers, users, and enthusiasts. Going extinct from that ecosystem will be the following: Windows Mail, Windows Photo Gallery, Windows Calendar, Windows Contacts, and Windows Movie Maker.

3:20 pm EDT September 12, 2008 - Apple has released an updated version of iTunes 8 to correct the BSOD problems some users have been experiencing after installing the software. The issue relates to a driver that conflicts with Windows Vista.

In a support posting, Apple said: "After installing iTunes 8 for Windows, some users may see a blue screen error message when connecting iPhone or iPod to a Windows Vista computer. In some cases, the computer may immediately restart when connecting iPhone or iPod to the computer."

Just minutes after viewing the first installment of Microsoft's new $300 million TV ad campaign featuring comedian Jerry Seinfeld and Chairman Bill Gates, BetaNews' Tim Conneally filed this video to record his first thoughts.

Download ZoneAlarm Pro Beta 8.0.020.000 for Windows XP and 32-bit Vista from FileForum now.

The difficulty for third-party developers to produce security software for the most feature-rich Vista kernel continues to this day, and a lack of news from ZoneAlarm suggests it could persist well into next year.

It might not have even been a story meriting any extent of coverage -- Microsoft's hiring yesterday of comedian Jerry Seinfeld as its new commercial spokesperson -- had it not been for the fact that Microsoft has an image problem. That problem is due in large part to Windows Vista, and the public perception of it as somewhat less than the savior of modern computing that it was originally promoted to be in the early months of 2007.

As was widely reported yesterday, Microsoft is reportedly investing $300 million in a new advertising campaign starring comedian Jerry Seinfeld, and designed by the firm responsible for Burger King's popular, yet disturbing "King" ads. You may recall, the ones where ordinary people find themselves conversing with a plastic, motionless, mute Burger King statue that they find in their midst for no apparent reason.

The official marketing channel for the next edition of Windows was opened this afternoon, as Microsoft quietly raised the curtains on what it's positioning as an open channel for ideas regarding what the company should add to its next OS.

In their initial post to the "Engineering Windows 7" blog this afternoon, its two hosts -- Windows senior vice presidents Jon DeVaan and Steven Sinofsky -- acknowledged that their company will indeed divulge the first engineering details about Windows 7, as it's still being called, on October 27 at the Professional Developers' Conference in Los Angeles.

Is a new marketing campaign what Vista really needs? The first stages of it -- already under way with the Mojave Experiment -- are certainly drawing attention to Vista. But in ignoring Vista's problems, could the campaign also be backfiring?

In Mojave, Microsoft fooled some end users into thinking they were looking at a new OS, when, in fact, they were viewing Vista. Participants in the test -- consisting of Windows, Mac and Linux users who hadn't tried Vista -- supposedly liked what they saw, and were shocked to learn the video demo was actually of Vista.

A big "shift" is now on to 64-bit Windows Vista PCs, even among consumers, according to Microsoft product manager Chris Flores. But he acknowledges that, even now, few if any 64-drivers are available for some categories of consumer products, including DVD/RW devices.

"The installed base of 64-bit Windows Vista PCs, as a percentage of all Windows Vista systems, has more than tripled in the US in the last three months, while worldwide adoption has more than doubled during the same period," Flores contended, late on Wednesday.