Microsoft Launches Vista and Office 2007 Today!
It's a day that's been many years in the making, but at midnight Microsoft will finally begin offering its new Windows Vista operating system and Office 2007 application suite to consumers and everyday computer users. The Redmond software giant has assembled a massive marketing blitz aimed at putting the word "Vista" on the lips of computer users worldwide, including a plethora of media appearances by Microsoft honchos Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer and campaigns designed to drive awareness of the new releases.
Windows Vista is, of couse, the first major upgrade to the company's flagship Windows operating system since Microsoft released Windows XP in 2001. Although it was released to businesses and Microsoft's channel partners in November (and Windows users with plenty of time, bandwidth, and curiosity has been able to download betas and test drives for some time), tomorrow marks the first time the operating system will be available for general retail purchase. Some retailers (including some outlets of Best Buy and Comp USA) will be opening stores early to let enthusiasts set hands on the operating system at the stroke of midnight.
Full story: DigitalTrends
Microsoft Launches Vista and Office 2007 Today!
It's a day that's been many years in the making, but at midnight Microsoft will finally begin offering its new Windows Vista operating system and Office 2007 application suite to consumers and everyday computer users. The Redmond software giant has assembled a massive marketing blitz aimed at putting the word "Vista" on the lips of computer users worldwide, including a plethora of media appearances by Microsoft honchos Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer and campaigns designed to drive awareness of the new releases.
Windows Vista is, of couse, the first major upgrade to the company's flagship Windows operating system since Microsoft released Windows XP in 2001. Although it was released to businesses and Microsoft's channel partners in November (and Windows users with plenty of time, bandwidth, and curiosity has been able to download betas and test drives for some time), tomorrow marks the first time the operating system will be available for general retail purchase. Some retailers (including some outlets of Best Buy and Comp USA) will be opening stores early to let enthusiasts set hands on the operating system at the stroke of midnight.
Full story: DigitalTrends
Microsoft files for patent on “modular operating system”
As previously reported, Microsoft will introduce modular OS updates with Windows Vista's Anytime Upgrade—a new service which will allow users to upgrade Vista on the fly and unlock additional functionality. Anytime Upgrade is a big part of Microsoft's plans for Vista. The company hopes that modular updates will help to create more sales opportunities as the company rethinks its approach to developing new operating systems. Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer has even hinted that the future of Windows may rely more on modular updates and less on gigantic milestone releases.
Thus it's no surprise that Microsoft has sought a patent for their approach. Titled "System and method for delivery of a modular operating system," the business method patent describes an OS where add-on modules can be used to provide additional capabilities at the discretion of the vendor, just like Anytime Upgrade will.
Full story: arstechnica
Microsoft files for patent on “modular operating system”
As previously reported, Microsoft will introduce modular OS updates with Windows Vista's Anytime Upgrade—a new service which will allow users to upgrade Vista on the fly and unlock additional functionality. Anytime Upgrade is a big part of Microsoft's plans for Vista. The company hopes that modular updates will help to create more sales opportunities as the company rethinks its approach to developing new operating systems. Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer has even hinted that the future of Windows may rely more on modular updates and less on gigantic milestone releases.
Thus it's no surprise that Microsoft has sought a patent for their approach. Titled "System and method for delivery of a modular operating system," the business method patent describes an OS where add-on modules can be used to provide additional capabilities at the discretion of the vendor, just like Anytime Upgrade will.
Full story: arstechnica
Windows Vista upgrade guide - part 1: software
Although we expect many of you already have a Vista build running somewhere in your home's bowels (or have at least fooled around with it), we don't necessarily expect everyone's going to run out and buy a new box just to run the latest version of Windows. What's more, we recently asked a Windows PM who they thought their biggest competition was, and not surprisingly the answer was "XP." (Aside, from an install-base view that's totally true, although we'd argue not so technologically speaking.) So we figured we'd help you along in your big decision as to whether or not Vista is for you with a disgustingly comprehensive feature comparison. Tomorrow we'll give you the hardware angle if you think Vista's where you want to be; click on for the good stuff!
Ok, so here's how this thing works. We'll compare XP and Vista on a feature-by-feature basis; we're not going to judge the merit of these features or whether they'll be more useful to you and your pals, nor are we going to get into the nitty gritty about what they do -- there are just too many -- but we will tell you whether or not we think there's anything better going on in Vista than there was before in XP. So...
- Green indicates something about this has improved
- Red indicates something sucks more than it did in XP.
- White indicates either nothing much has changed, or the features are roughly equivalent.
- Notes help out with a little background, where appropriate, and where available, recommend free software for XP that effectively augments the feature in question.
Full story: engadget
Windows Vista upgrade guide - part 1: software
Although we expect many of you already have a Vista build running somewhere in your home's bowels (or have at least fooled around with it), we don't necessarily expect everyone's going to run out and buy a new box just to run the latest version of Windows. What's more, we recently asked a Windows PM who they thought their biggest competition was, and not surprisingly the answer was "XP." (Aside, from an install-base view that's totally true, although we'd argue not so technologically speaking.) So we figured we'd help you along in your big decision as to whether or not Vista is for you with a disgustingly comprehensive feature comparison. Tomorrow we'll give you the hardware angle if you think Vista's where you want to be; click on for the good stuff!
Ok, so here's how this thing works. We'll compare XP and Vista on a feature-by-feature basis; we're not going to judge the merit of these features or whether they'll be more useful to you and your pals, nor are we going to get into the nitty gritty about what they do -- there are just too many -- but we will tell you whether or not we think there's anything better going on in Vista than there was before in XP. So...
- Green indicates something about this has improved
- Red indicates something sucks more than it did in XP.
- White indicates either nothing much has changed, or the features are roughly equivalent.
- Notes help out with a little background, where appropriate, and where available, recommend free software for XP that effectively augments the feature in question.
Full story: engadget
Windows Live Messenger 8.1 Final Released
Microsoft has sent out e-mails regarding the closing of the Window Live Messenger 8.1 Beta that began September 7, 2006. The e-mail states that 3,009 beta testers submitted 1010 bugs and 456 suggestions as well as 6000 posts in the newsgroup. The final build number and final release date are currently unknown.
There will be no prizes given out at the end of the beta because of budget limitations for this specific program. Although there are plans for another beta, it is unclear if “it will be a minor release (such as an 8.x ) or a major release (such as a 9.0)” and no date is available either. The plan is to invite current testers to the next managed beta. The beta newsgroup will be available for a couple of more weeks while the public newsgroup microsoft.public.windows.live.messenger will remain the primary location for discussing Windows Live Messenger.
Windows Live Messenger 8.1 Final Released
Microsoft has sent out e-mails regarding the closing of the Window Live Messenger 8.1 Beta that began September 7, 2006. The e-mail states that 3,009 beta testers submitted 1010 bugs and 456 suggestions as well as 6000 posts in the newsgroup. The final build number and final release date are currently unknown.
There will be no prizes given out at the end of the beta because of budget limitations for this specific program. Although there are plans for another beta, it is unclear if “it will be a minor release (such as an 8.x ) or a major release (such as a 9.0)” and no date is available either. The plan is to invite current testers to the next managed beta. The beta newsgroup will be available for a couple of more weeks while the public newsgroup microsoft.public.windows.live.messenger will remain the primary location for discussing Windows Live Messenger.
Internet Explorer at Zero-Day Risk
A security research firm is warning that all versions of Microsoft's Internet Explorer are at risk from a vulnerability that could trigger a denial of service attack on end-users. According to Determina, the vulnerabilities in Internet Explorer alleged by Determina could potentially have a wide spread impact since they affect all versions of IE on Windows 2000, XP, 2003 and Vista including the latest IE 7.
The problem lies in a number of ActiveX controls which according to Determina's advisory,"crash with an invalid memory access exception when certain object properties are accessed through JavaScript. "The vulnerable ActiveX controls are located in MSHTML.DLL which is included in all versions of IE. All a user needs to do is visit a Web page that incorporates the malicious ActiveX components which in turn will cause the browser to crash."
The firm said it advised Microsoft of the issue more than a week ago. A Microsoft spokesperson was not immediately available for comment. Determina has posted proof of concept code on its site for the alleged vulnerability, which internetnews.com has verified works on fully patched Windows XP SP2 machine running IE 7. The proof of concept is so basic that all it does to trigger the crash in IE is very simple script that looks very innocuous on the surface. In fact it can be triggered with background color or link color code attributes.
Full story: InternetNews
Internet Explorer at Zero-Day Risk
A security research firm is warning that all versions of Microsoft's Internet Explorer are at risk from a vulnerability that could trigger a denial of service attack on end-users. According to Determina, the vulnerabilities in Internet Explorer alleged by Determina could potentially have a wide spread impact since they affect all versions of IE on Windows 2000, XP, 2003 and Vista including the latest IE 7.
The problem lies in a number of ActiveX controls which according to Determina's advisory,"crash with an invalid memory access exception when certain object properties are accessed through JavaScript. "The vulnerable ActiveX controls are located in MSHTML.DLL which is included in all versions of IE. All a user needs to do is visit a Web page that incorporates the malicious ActiveX components which in turn will cause the browser to crash."
The firm said it advised Microsoft of the issue more than a week ago. A Microsoft spokesperson was not immediately available for comment. Determina has posted proof of concept code on its site for the alleged vulnerability, which internetnews.com has verified works on fully patched Windows XP SP2 machine running IE 7. The proof of concept is so basic that all it does to trigger the crash in IE is very simple script that looks very innocuous on the surface. In fact it can be triggered with background color or link color code attributes.
Full story: InternetNews