Vista News

By Emil Protalinski. Link - Tesco to launch Silverlight virtual DVD service in the UK - Ars Technica

By Emil Protalinski. Something has to beat the "The 'Wow' starts now" marketing campaign for Windows Vista. Director Marty Martin has stepped up to the plate, producing five conceptual TV commercial spots for Microsoft with a Canon 5D Mark II SLR in a tight three-day deadline. Come October 22, Microsoft is going to be launching a worldwide marketing campaign for Windows 7, and if it's anything like the videos Martin has come up with, we'll be quite happy. The ads aren't exactly crystal clear, but they definitely get a solid message across about Windows 7's features. Three of the videos have been uploaded to YouTube, so we've embedded them for you below. Read more - Concept Windows 7 ads show off the product well - Ars Technica

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You may have been hearing a lot about Windows Home Server recently, so now you are asking, why should I buy one, and what benefits will I get out of it? Well, to help you answer those important questions, the Windows Home Server team has come up with the Top 10 reasons to use this product! In this post, you can read a brief overview of each item, but check back soon because we will be taking a closer look at each point, along with how Windows Home Server has already helped thousands of people. 1. Image-based back up Rest easy and know that your irreplaceable videos and pictures are always safe since Windows Home Server automatically backs up your entire computer on a daily basis. 2. Restore If catastrophe strikes, Windows Home...

Article by Mary Jo Foley. Microsoft is slated to show off two features that it is incorporating into the next version of Silverlight, its Internet Explorer browser-plug-in alternative to Adobe Flash at the International Broadcasting Conference (IBC) in Amsterdam, which kicks off on September 11. According to a September 8 press release, Microsoft plans to add a native multicast capability, as well as support for offline digital rights management (DRM). Microsoft’s PlayReady DRM will work outside the browser with Silverlight 4. (Microsoft first added out-of-browser support to Silverlight with version 3, the final version of which Microsoft released to the Web in July.) Link - Microsoft to preview two Silverlight 4 features | All...

Just how many beta testing program that Microsoft intends to run before Microsoft 2010 is finally ready to RTM and release to general availability? Other than usual Office 2010 Beta Technical Preview for general public and Office 2010 Technical Beta at Connect for IT professionals, Microsoft is also running Office 2010 Real Life Stories Program, which targeted at families, students and small businesses that uses not more than 5 computers. Home users, especially family with kids under 18 years of age, college students, and small or home-based businesses that own between 1 to 5 PCs from United States (and USA only) are eligible to apply for Office 2010 Real Life Stories Program. Applicants may or may not a current Office productivity...

By Emil Protalinski. Redmond is investigating reports that a newly discovered flaw in Microsoft's implementation of the Server Message Block 2 (SMB2) protocol, an extension of the conventional server message block protocol, can be exploited to remotely crash and restart computers running Windows Vista or Windows 7. The attack does not require authentication, but port 445 of the target system must be open, and on Windows it is open by default. Laurent Gaffié, who discovered the vulnerability, has contacted Microsoft, noting that the only solution he can think of is to turn off the SMB feature and close port 445. Article link - New flaw can crash Windows Vista and Server 2008 remotely (Updated) - Ars Technica

By Emil Protalinski. Microsoft training material for Best Buy employees—which not only makes Linux look bad, but is also full of inaccuracies—has leaked to the Web. Screenshots and commentary inside. Microsoft is apparently teaching Best Buy employees that Windows 7 beats Linux in every category imaginable. Redmond isn't just saying that Windows has more software or games available than Linux does or that Windows has compatibility with more devices and hardware than Linux does. The software giant is actually going as far as teaching employees that there are certain statements about Linux that need to be labeled as myths. Read more - Microsoft teaches Best Buy employees how to troll Linux users - Ars Technica

I was going though my Event Log today and spotted over 5000 CAPI2 (Crypto API) Errors, generating anywhere from 5-20 new errors every hour going back to November it seems... After some quick checking it seems the Trusted Root Certification Authority list is not updating correctly :huh: For anyone who doesn't understand what the Trusted Root Certification Authority List is about or why this list is a crucial cornerstone of everyday internet use heres a excerpt from Microsoft`s documentation: Basically, Microsoft periodically updates the list with the latest Certificate Authorities used for Verifying the SSL certificates used by your bank, ebay, paypal and thousands of other websites using SSL certificates and also updates the list of...

By Emil Protalinski. Office 2010 build 14.0.4417.1000 has leaked into the wild, and it's another Mondo build. What makes this build really significant though, is that it seems to be the first one with the word "beta" mentioned in various places. Office 2010 will be the first version of Microsoft Office available in both 32-bit and 64-bit flavors, and on one DVD no less. Office 2010 includes Access 2010, Excel 2010, InfoPath Designer 2010, InfoPath Filler 2010, OneNote 2010, Outlook 2010, PowerPoint 2010, Project 2010, Publisher 2010, SharePoint Designer 2010, SharePoint Workspace 2010, Visio 2010, and Word 2010. Just as with all the previous Office 2010 leaks, both flavors of this latest build, and all the applications, have been...

By Emil Protalinski Microsoft has launched a Windows 7 sweepstakes on Twitter. Throughout the next seven weeks, @mswindows will be giving away various types of prizes somehow based on the number seven (seven pizzas, seven pounds of candy, and so on). The whole thing ends on October 22, 2009, when Windows 7 becomes generally available. The sweepstakes is, however, US-only: you must be a legal resident of the 50 United States and District of Columbia, and be 18 years of age or older. It is void outside the US and wherever else prohibited by law. Article link - Windows 7 sweepstakes debuts on Twitter (US-only) - Ars Technica

Here’s a round-up of Microsoft labor-related (and other) news on the eve of the long Labor Day weekend here in the U.S. Microsoft is confirming it is cutting 27 more employees in Redmond and Bellevue, Wash. offices, effective November 1. No word on which teams/products those 27 are part of. Microsoft officials said at the start of this year the company planned to lay off approximately 5,000 employees between then and mid-2010. When Microsoft cut its second big round of employees in May, CEO Steve Ballmer’s stated that “with this announcement, we are mostly but not all done with the planned 5,000 job eliminations by June 2010.” Microsoft officials won’t say how many of these 5,000 have been cut to date; I’d think the new 27 are part of...

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If you happened to be searching for “pizza” on Twitter Search yesterday or are following the @mswindows Twitter account, chances are you witnessed the kickoff of #WinWin7. The Windows Outreach Team kicked off 7 weeks of Windows 7 by sending 7 piping-hot pizzas to 7 lucky Twitter followers. And it won’t stop there. Throughout the next 7 weeks, @mswindows will be giving away prizes all based on the number 7 (for Windows 7). Winners must take part in the challenges and are encouraged to invite friends to join in on the fun which all culminates on launch day - October 22nd. Make sure you’re following @mswindows and tell them Brandon sent you. Oh and watch for the official #WinWin7 hash tag too. Speaking of the Windows...

By Emil Protalinski | As expected, Microsoft has retired its Distributed Authoring and Versioning (DAV) protocol for grabbing e-mails from Windows Live Hotmail. DAV is being pushed aside in favor of DeltaSync, which works more efficiently with large inboxes (Hotmail offers a storage space scheme that increases the space available as the need arises). E-mails will still be accessible via Hotmail.com; this change only affects offline e-mail clients. Microsoft says users can expect an improvement in speed and efficiency once they stop using DAV. Read article - Hotmail DAV protocol retired; affects Outlook, OE, Entourage - Ars Technica

Microsoft has confirmed a vulnerability in its Internet Information Services webserver and spelled out the conditions under which it can be exploited to give an attacker complete control of the server on which it runs. The good news: As previously reported, remote execution of malicious code can be triggered only in limited cases, and even then, it's relatively easy to change settings that close that possibility. Even then, exploits can still touch off denial-of-service attacks that completely shut down file transfer protocol. Proof-of-concept code exploiting the vulnerability was released Monday. Microsoft said it will release a fix as soon as it's ready. Microsoft confirms IIS bug gives complete server control • The Register

By Emil Protalinski | According to the Microsoft Security Response Center, Microsoft will issue five Security Bulletins on Tuesday, and it will host a webcast to address customer questions on the bulletin the following day (September 9 at 11:00am PST, if you're interested). All five of the vulnerabilities are rated "Critical," and they all earned their rating through a remote code execution impact, meaning a hacker could potentially gain control of an infected machine. At least two of the five patches will require a restart. Read more here. Microsoft Patch Tuesday for September 2009: five bulletins - Ars Technica

by Mary Jo Foley.

by Mary Jo Foley