Vista News

Article source: http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9117518&intsrc=hm_ts_head October 19, 2008 (Computerworld) Microsoft Corp. will begin beta-testing the next service pack update for Windows Vista within weeks, according to a Windows enthusiast Web site. Testers have received invitations to beta test Windows Vista Service Pack 2 (SP2), reported Neowin.net on Friday. Betas are expected to be released to invited testers, but not to the general public, in approximately four weeks, Neowin.net said, citing multiple tipsters. Service packs typically consist of collections of the patches, hot fixes and reliability updates released since the original edition of the operating system or its...

Microsoft Word Turns 25 Written by Benj Edwards, PC World Oct 22, 2008 8:17 pm A look back at the changes and challenges Microsoft's flagship word-processing program has been through during its first quarter-century. From Upstart to Market King If you've been using Microsoft Word for the past quarter of a century, it can seem like Word has always been the top dog of the word-processing world--and for years, it's been incorporated into Microsoft's Office suite. Today, Microsoft's domination is so complete that, from the public's point of view, there is almost no "word-processor market." (Does anyone remember Lotus Manuscript?) In fact, Microsoft's word processing program got off to a shaky and awkward start in October 1983, and...

Vista SP2 beta due next week | Latest Microsoft News - CNET News - CNET News he next update to Windows Vista will enter beta testing next week, bringing with it support for Blu-ray drives, among other enhancements. In a blog posting on Friday, Microsoft confirmed that a beta version of Windows Vista Service Pack 2 will be released next week. "Because we've adopted a single serviceability model, these improvements are integrated into a single service pack covering both Windows Vista (client) and Windows Server 2008 (server) versions," Windows executive Mike Nash said in a blog. "This should also minimize deployment and testing complexity for our customers." The software maker said earlier this week that it was working on Vista SP2...

Announcing Service Pack 2 (SP2) for the 2007 Microsoft Office System Wednesday, October 22, 2008 6:04 PM We’re pleased to announce that Service Pack 2 (SP2) for the 2007 Microsoft Office system is expected to be released in the near future. Although we aren’t yet announcing the exact release date, it will fall between February and April of 2009. Historically, we have waited to communicate details about service packs until their release (or very shortly before). As we communicated with SP3 for Office 2003 and SP1 for the 2007 Office System, we will be taking steps to increase transparency and visibility into the Office servicing model at the request of our customers. To that end, we would like to start sharing some details into...

Microsoft has released an out-of-band patch to fix an extremely critical worm hole that exposes Windows users to remote code execution attacks. The emergency update comes just one week after the regularly scheduled Patch Tuesday and follows the discovery of a targeted zero-day attack, Microsoft said in an advisory. The vulnerability is rated “critical” on Windows 2000, Windows XP and Windows Server 2003. On Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008, the flaw carries an “important” rating. From Microsoft’s critical MS08-067 bulletin: A remote code execution vulnerability exists in the Server service on Windows systems. The vulnerability is due to the service not properly handling specially crafted RPC requests. An attacker who...

Zombie PCs: ‘Time to infection is less than five minutes’ Written by Andrew Nusca @ 9:24 am 10/21/2008 A fascinating — and horrifying — new article in The New York Times offers the lowdown on “zombie computers,” the half-a-million-or-so machines that are converted, assembled into systems called “botnets” and forced to do a shadowy figure’s bidding, namely in the form of automated programs that send the majority of e-mail spam, illegally seek financial information and install malicious software on still more PCs. Lock up your Windows and children! In what sounds like the plot of 28 Days Later — computer “rage,” anyone? – the Times reports that botnets are alive and strong, according to shadowserver.org, a site that tracks such...

A new Microsoft-developed technology called SideSight looks like something that deserves to be on a next-generation iPod touch. Or in a magician's repertoire. The SideSight technology is contained in yet another paper that company executives are presenting at the User Interface Software and Technology conference this week. (See Microsoft's take on new ways that cell phones could "talk" as well as guided tours of images.), The paper in question is titled "SideSight: Multi-"touch" Interaction Around Small Devices," and is authored by Alex Butler, Shahram Izadi, and Steve Hodges, all with Microsoft Research UK. Touch was a revolutionary concept when it debuted with the iPhone, in part because it was implemented so well with...

Marital Bliss: Nvidia Officially Announces SLI Support for Select X58 Motherboards Written by Paul Lilly 10/22/08 at 08:35:20 AM It's been a long and arduous wait, but enthusiasts who have dreamed of pairing multiple Nvidia videocards in an SLI configuration on an Intel chipset-based motherboard will soon walk in a silicon field of dreams. No longer the topic of speculation, Nvidia has officially announced that it has licensed its SLI technology to several top-tier motherboard manufacturers - Asus, EVGA, MSI, Gigabyte, and DFI - for upcoming motherboards based on Intel's X58 chipset. Read more at the Source: Marital Bliss: Nvidia Officially Announces SLI Support for Select X58 Motherboards | Maximum PC

Connecting the dots is so fun. Usually I don’t speculate about release dates, especially if the only source is “I heard from my step-brother’s uncle who knows someone who works on Windows”, but I’m pretty confident about this one. Twitter user “remtiwk” had pointed out to me something very interesting yesterday which only today I realized is not just bluff or a mistake. On the ever-changing WinHEC 2008 website now writes “there is not another WinHEC planned before Windows 7 is released”. Wikipedia then confirmed WinHEC was an annual event. This morning, Ed Bott links to an interview which the ASUS CEO is quoted as saying “in the second half of next year we will put Windows 7 on Eee PCs”. If you put the two together then Windows 7 is...

Fake Microsoft Security Update Email Includes Haxdoor Trojan Written byMark Edward Soper 10/16/08 at 04:07:25 PM I know it, you know it, almost everybody that reads Maximum PC knows it - but that doesn't mean that your family, your co-workers, or your bosses know it. What's it? Simply this: Microsoft never - repeat never - sends out security updates via email. Cnet reports that yet another fake security email purporting to be from Microsoft is busy delivering a nasty Trojan called Haxdoor to unwary emailboxes near you. The email, ironically enough, claims that "Since public distribution of this Update through the official website http://www.microsoft.com would have result in efficient creation of a malicious software, we made...

The IE Cumulative Security Update for October 2008, released on this month's Patch Tuesday, takes on six vulnerabilities. The security update addresses these vulnerabilities by modifying the way Internet Explorer handles the error resulting in an exploitable condition. What's interesting about this specific update, however, is how it underlines Microsoft's increased focus on security in its browser. According to the IEBlog: The security update is rated Critical for all supported versions of Internet Explorer 6 and earlier. The security update is rated Important on Internet Explorer 7 on Windows XP and Internet Explorer 7 in Windows Vista. Beta versions of Internet Explorer are not vulnerable. In other words, the security problems fixed...

The Windows SideShow Team has announced that the final version of the Windows Media Center Gadgets for Windows SideShow is now available for download on Windows Live Gallery in 32-bit and 64-bit flavors! Download: Windows Media Center Gadgets for Windows SideShow (32-bit) Download: Windows Media Center Gadgets for Windows SideShow (64-bit) The Windows Media Center Gadgets for Windows SideShow package is made up of the following 4 Gadgets for your Windows SideShow device: Now Playing: View what is currently playing in Windows Media Center (includes playback controls) Pictures + Video: Browse your Photos and Videos folders Music: Browse your Music folder and play any song TV: Look at what is on TV via the Windows Media Center...

Vista SP2 beta could land within next four weeks at The Register Microsoft is readying Vista Service Pack 2 (SP2) and will hand it over to beta testers within the next month. According to Neowin.net, which quotes an MS tipster, betas will be available to a closed group of guinea pigs – though not to the general public – in about four weeks. Windows Search 4 will reportedly be included in Vista SP2. Bluetooth wireless and VIA 64-bit CPU support will also be crammed into the release that will come with additional application compatibility updates. Neowin also claimed that a beta of Server 2008 SP2 should arrive in about the same timeframe, and that private testers have already been invited to grapple with the beta. The build is...

How do you compete with free? That's the question Steve Ballmer, Microsoft's CEO, is trying to answer every morning when he goes to work. On the server software side, Windows Server is doing well, especially with the Exchange e-mail server and the unheralded but very good collaboration server, SharePoint. These products have matured, they're relatively easy to set up and manage by IT organizations. The Exchange component is a spectacular success: it manages e-mail, contacts, calendars for hundreds of thousands of organizations all over the world. Even Apple finally embraced Exchange: the iPhone now syncs well with Microsoft's server and the next version of OS X promises "native" Exchange support. In plainer English: Apple's Mail...

In less than a week after reporting third-quarter financial results, Intel cut the prices on several of its high-end, Core 2 Quad and Core 2 Duo desktop processors. In addition, Intel dropped prices on some its older Pentium chips for desktops and Xeon processors for single-socket server systems. The price cuts also anticipate the release of new Nehalem-based microprocessors in November. Intel is cutting the prices on several of its processors, including the company’s high-end Core 2 Quad desktop processors, a little less than a week after reporting its third-quarter financial results and as the chip giant gears up for the release of its first Nehalem-based microprocessors in November. On Oct. 19, Intel posted the cuts on its Web...

Microsoft Releases Silverlight 2, available for download Redmond, Wash. — Oct. 13, 2008 — Microsoft Corp. today announced the availability of Silverlight 2, one of the industry’s most comprehensive and powerful solutions for the creation and delivery of applications and media experiences through a Web browser. Silverlight 2 delivers a wide range of new features and tools that enable designers and developers to better collaborate while creating more accessible, more discoverable and more secure user experiences. Read more at the Source: Microsoft Releases Silverlight 2, Already Reaching One in Four Consumers Worldwide: Silverlight Homepage and Install link: Microsoft Silverlight: Light Up the Web

Ballmer: It’s ok to wait until Windows 7; Yahoo still ‘makes sense’; Google Apps ‘primitive’ | Between the Lines | ZDNet.com Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer on Thursday defended Vista’s honor–again–but at least gave a nod to enterprise buyers that planned to skip it and upgrade when Windows 7 launches. He also noted that a Microsoft purchase of Yahoo would still make sense, but there are no talks. And he called Google Apps primitive while he was at it. Ballmer, speaking at the final keynote at the Gartner Symposium ITxpo in Orlando (Twitter feed), came to the stage in the middle of an economic swoon where enterprises are still debating whether to upgrade to Vista. Ballmer spoke via a Q&A with Gartner analysts Neil MacDonald and David...

Internet Explorer 8 Beta 2 Now Available Source: IEBlog : Internet Explorer 8 Beta 2 Now Available We’re excited to release IE8 Beta 2 today for public download. You can find it at http://www.microsoft.com/ie8. Please try it out! You’ll find versions for 32- and 64-bit editions of Windows Vista, Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, and Windows Server 2008. In addition to English, IE8 Beta 2 is available in Japanese, Chinese (Simplified), and German. Additional languages will be available soon. While Beta 1 was for developers, we think that anyone who browses or works on the web will enjoy IE8 Beta 2. Before the team blogs about our Beta 2 in detail, here’s an overview of what you’ll find in IE8. We focused our work around three...

October 14, 2008 Vista chief declares war on Apple Beware the "Apple tax" says Microsoft exec Lexton Snol Brad Brooks, vice president of Windows Consumer Product Marketing at Microsoft, has gone on the offensive against Vista bashers, Apple and Linux as he personally "draws a line in the sand" and starts fighting for Windows Vista. During Microsoft's Worldwide Partner Conference in July Brooks told the attendees: "Today we're making a statement. We're going to do things differently. We're going to tell our story - the real Windows Vista story." Now Brooks has attacked Apple, talking about an "Apple tax" 20 times in an interview on CNET. He states that Mac buyers face hidden costs if they try to add Windows to their Mac...

Mary Jo Foley: The Windows team is readying second service packs (SP2) for Vista — and for its server complement, Windows Server 2008 — and is aiming to deliver these SP2s before it releases Windows 7, according to my sources. I’m hearing that Microsoft already has delivered a beta of at least Vista SP2 to select hardware and software partners, the same way that it has been providing a hand-chosen few with early builds of Windows 7... Full Article:Mary Jo Foley's Blog See also: Testers get invites to SP2 betas for Vista, Windows Server 2008 | All about Microsoft | ZDNet.com