Vista News

Microsoft has sponsored two reports by NSS Labs that test web browser security. Unsurprisingly, Internet Explorer 8 comes out on top in both sets of tests. Full Story: http://arstechnica.com/microsoft/news/2009/08/microsoft-sponsors-two-nss-reports-ie8-is-the-most-secure.ars

Article by Mary Jo Foley. It’s hard to imagine big, bad search monopolist Google quaking in its boots over Bing (or even Bing+Yahoo). Yet just a couple of months after Microsoft launched Bing, Google announced it is tweaking its own search infrastructure. Google officials said on August 10 that the company is seeking help testing a new-and-improved search system, codenamed “Caffeine” — complete with changes to its indexing, ranking and crawling mechanisms. Silicon Alley Insider speculates that Caffeine could be the “secret project” to which the New York Post was referring back in June when it reported that Google cofounder Sergey Brin was assembling a crack team of Google search experts to tweak Google’s engine in response to Bing...

Two Microsoft employees have launched a new website, MakeOfficeBetter.com, that asks users to make suggestions on how to improve Microsoft Office. Full Story: http://arstechnica.com/microsoft/news/2009/08/how-would-you-make-microsoft-office-better.ars

Microsoft and Nokia have agreed to bring Office Communicator Mobile, Office Mobile, SharePoint Server, System Center to Symbian. Full Story: http://arstechnica.com/microsoft/news/2009/08/microsoft-and-nokia-bringing-office-to-symbian-next-year.ars

Nearly three years after the debut of the botched Windows Vista, enough is right with Windows 7 to unseat an aging Windows XP Read more below Windows 7 RTM arrives: The time is finally ripe for a Windows upgrade | Windows - InfoWorld

The article can be read here - Week in Microsoft: Windows 7 RTM starts trickling out - Ars Technica

If you run Microsoft Windows, you owe it to yourself to try these 10 killer open source apps -- InfoWorld's top picks By Randall C. Kennedy To many, free open source software and Microsoft Windows seem to be mutually exclusive. After all, the open source development model is most closely associated with the Linux OS and, to a lesser degree, various Unix derivatives. So when you mention the two together, you often get some rather strange looks. This is a shame because there exists a growing landscape of compelling free and open source solutions just waiting for the intrepid Windows user Read on - http://www.infoworld.com/print/84903

Volume License customers with an existing Software Assurance license are now able to download Windows 7 RTM in English via the Volume License Service Center. The rest of the languages for Windows 7 RTM should become available in the next few weeks. Windows Server 2008 R2 will be available to Volume License customers with an existing Software Assurance license on August 19. Full story here - Windows 7 RTM arrives for Software Assurance customers - Ars Technica

Despite being leaked to torrent sites earlier, the Windows 7 RTM has finally arrived for testers (Microsoft Connect) as well as MSDN and TechNet subscribers. Build 7600 will be available to the public on October 22, 2009. Full Story: http://arstechnica.com/microsoft/news/2009/08/windows-7-rtm-arrives-on-connect-msdn-and-technet.ars

Bing's share of the search market grew another percentage point in July, indicating that some of those initial users may be sticking around for the long haul. Google, on the other hand, fell by nearly the same amount, and now faces the combined forces of Microsoft and Yahoo in the race for search market share. More info below Google search share drops as Bing gains momentum - Ars Technica

Article by Emil Protalinski The score was Pirates 1, Microsoft 0, but Redmond has tied it up. Microsoft has blacklisted the Lenovo OEM master key that leaked earlier this week, explaining that "Windows 7 already includes an improved ability to detect hacks, also known as activation exploits, and alert customers who are using a pirated copy" and that "Windows Activation Technologies included in Windows 7 are designed to handle situations such as this one, and customers using these tools and methods should expect Windows to detect them." More can be read here - Microsoft blacklists Lenovo's leaked Windows 7 OEM Key - Ars Technica

Microsoft has changed its mind and decided to give Windows 7 away to its faithful testers. Full Story: http://arstechnica.com/microsoft/news/2009/07/windows-7-testers-to-get-a-free-copy-after-all.ars and yes, it's a copy of Ultimate!

32bit: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?displaylang=en&FamilyID=a4dd31d5-f907-4406-9012-a5c3199ea2b3 64bit: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?displaylang=en&FamilyID=656c9d4a-55ec-4972-a0d7-b1a6fedf51a7 ia64: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?displaylang=en&FamilyID=e890b3cf-972b-483f-a2ff-03f6aefac6f8 ISO: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?displaylang=en&FamilyID=9f073285-b6ef-4297-85ce-f4463d06d6cb Full Story: http://arstechnica.com/microsoft/news/2009/05/service-pack-2-for-vista-and-server-2008-finally-available.ars

Upon closer inspection, Microsoft's browser ballot proposal for the EU is much more drastic than one would expect. Users will choose from up to 10 different browsers. And it won't be limited to Windows 7 users; the ballot screen will be pushed as an update to current Windows XP and Windows Vista users. PC manufacturers will also have the option of shipping one or more third-party browsers in place of IE8 without fear of retaliation from Microsoft. It's a big change for a company that just last month wanted Windows 7 to be shipped in Europe without Internet Explorer 8 so as to avoid a ballot screen in the first place. The balloting process will last for five years from the date the European Commission agrees to it, which pushes it...

Windows 7 Ultimate has been cracked and activated via OEM instant offline activation. Other editions of the operating system have yet to get the same treatment. Full Story: http://arstechnica.com/microsoft/news/2009/07/windows-7-ultimate-activation-cracked-with-oem-master-key.ars

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Microsoft is planning to release two out-of-band security bulletins this month affecting Internet Explorer and Visual Studio on July 28 More - The Microsoft Security Response Center (MSRC) : Advance Notification for July 2009 Out-of-Band Releases Sun Microsystems is planning to release Java SE security updates late July 2009. More here - Security

Microsoft Windows 7 Upgrade Paths outlines supported and unsupported upgrade paths for editions of the Windows 7 operating system. More on article by Blake Handler - Microsoft Documents "Windows 7 Upgrade Paths" - Windows Live

Microsoft today announced that Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 have hit the Release to Manufacturing (RTM) milestone. The software giant still has a lot of work to do, but the bigger responsibility now falls to OEMs that must get PCs ready, Independent Software Vendors (ISVs) that are testing their new apps, and Independent Hardware Vendors (IHVs) that are preparing their new hardware. The RTM build is 7600, but it is not the same one that leaked less than two weeks ago (7600.16384). We speculated that Microsoft may end up recompiling build 7600 until it is satisfied, but it only took the company one more shot to get it right: 7600.16385 is the final build number. Microsoft refused to share the full build string, but if you...