VISTA Takes This Long In Creation “Why There Is Such a Shortage Of Drivers!!?”

Vista

More and more controversy on Vista!! According to online reports, Microsoft dropped the hardware specs for its Vista platform just to raise Intel profits.

One e-mail states that the software giant lowered Windows Vista’s minimum hardware requirements to ridiculous levels just because Intel needed to sell more graphics chipsets.

Intel has since told The Wall Street Journal that the comment about its earnings was simply not true and pointed out that Kalkman “is not qualified in any shape or form to have knowledge about Intel’s internal financial forecasts related to chipsets, motherboards or any other product”.

The email has been released as part of the mounting evidence against Microsoft in a case in which it has been accused of misleading the public with the “Windows Vista Capable” logos it put on new PCs in the run-up to the operating system’s debut.

The logos appeared on system more than nine month before Vista did, but consumers have complained that their PCs were only Vista Home Basic capable and didn’t run the full version.

Microsoft seems to be denying all by informing the paper that it included the Intel 915 chipset in the Windows Vista Capable program “based on successful testing of beta versions of Windows Vista on the chip set and the broad availability of the chip set in the market.”

And the emails? These simply showed how its execs “were trying to make the marketing program better for Microsoft partners and consumers”.

But an impotent thing:

In another email which has been presented in court, a Microsoft board member tells Steve Ballmer he’s decided against “upgrading” one of his machines to Vista. “I cannot understand with a product this long in creation why there is such a shortage of drivers,” he says.

source:pocket-lint

Vista prices reduces

 Vista

Microsoft has announced that it is going to reduce the price of several standalone versions of Windows Vista.

The release has been published stateside and we don’t yet have confirmation as to whether prices are going to drop in all contres.

In the release, Brad Brooks, corporate vice president for Windows Consumer Product Marketing at Microsoft, explained that the reductions are just going to be on standalone versions of the package sold through retailers.

“In emerging markets, we are combining full and upgrade Home Basic and Home Premium versions into full versions of these editions and instituting price changes to meet the demand we see among first-time Windows customers who want more functionality than is available in current Windows XP editions.”

He added that Microsoft is also lowering pricing on Windows Vista Ultimate in emerging markets.

The price changes will come in at the same time as the retail release of Windows Vista Service Pack 1 later this year.

source:pocket-lint 

A New Critical Hole In Windows Vista

Vista

Just in time for spring, Microsoft has been busy tending to a new swarm of bugs, including a critical hole in Windows Vista and XP that could expose you to an early-season bite without your doing anything other than being online.

In an attack, a cracker could broadcast rogue TCP/IP packets to a range of addresses on the Internet, possibly including your PC’s. Sounds all too common, right? These rogue packets, however, are designed to trick their way past Windows’ security and hijack your PC, making your machine part of a botnet for sending out spam–or worse, a self-copying worm.

So far, no attacks have occurred. But proof-of-concept code is floating around, so don’t put off applying the patch. If you’ve enabled automatic updates, Microsoft will push the patch to you. Otherwise, you can grab it from Microsoft and install it yourself (Download).

 

source:pcworld 

PC-World’s Windows Server 2008 Revue

win Server 2008

Microsoft’s long-awaited Windows Server 2008 delivers advancements in speed, security, and management, but its virtualization and network-access control features come up short.

In Network World testing of Windows Server 2008 gold code — the product officially launches on Wednesday. Microsoft has made a number of improvements to its flagship server operating system.

For example, new server administrative role schemes boost security, the Server Manager program improves manageability, Internet Information Server (IIS) Web management functionality is revamped, Active Directory is easier to control, and Windows Terminal Services has been redesigned. Windows Server 2008 is also significantly faster than Windows Server 2003, especially when client machines are running Vista.

Unfortunately, a highly anticipated feature of Windows Server 2008, the Hyper-V server virtualization tool, is missing also compatibility between non-Windows (and older Windows) clients and Microsoft’s Network Access Protection (NAP) scheme, Microsoft’s version of NAC. Microsoft includes a beta version of Hyper-V with Windows Server 2008 editions, but it will not release final code until the third quarter of this year.

Continue reading at pcworld

BIOS Will Run Linux Based Maintenance Services Remotely When Windows Fails

 phoenix

Phoenix is currently working with software and hardware vendors to build the platform and its associated applications. Currently, they plan to offer the following: e-mail functions, Web browsing, a media player, IP soft phones, the remote system maintenance and repair functions mentioned below, and embedded security.

“We have the opportunity to be able to provide remote maintenance services even when Windows is down and run diagnostic programs while the user continues uninterrupted,” said Josh Pickus, CEO of SupportSoft.

Linux is already gaining some ground as an embedded operating system. So now Phoenix, which made its name as the core provider of BIOS for PCs, is working with several partners to leverage embedded Linux as a bypass operating system.

The basic concept is that an embedded Linux OS will accompany the core system firmware or BIOS, allowing instant-on applications to be run from it at any time.

This means regardless of the status of Windows — before, during and after it boots up or shuts down, if it has crashed or if maintenance is being performed — some software will be allowed to run, including Web browsers and tools that can read files and documents on the hard drive.

The system will be built upon Phoenix’s HyperCore virtualization platform, and the company expects to offer SupportSoft’s remote management tools as a part of the package. By running support software alongside Windows, it could allow maintenance to be done to a system from an “outside perspective,” eliminating the need in certain instances to actually be on site (like for OS reinstalls, for example.)

source:betanews

Nvidia Launches Apx-2500 Processor for Windows Mobile

APX 2500

Nvidia Corporation, a world leader in visual computing technologies and inventor of the GPU, has just introduced the APX 2500, an applications processor that enables intuitive 3D user interfaces and high-definition video on connected Windows Mobile phones.

The APX 2500 applications processor can apparently deliver up to 10 hours of 720p HD playback – which would be an industry first for video quality and power consumption on a mobile device. It’s capable of HD video recording with an HD camcorder, and offers ultra high-resolution photo imaging capabilities.

Nvidia has worked closely with Microsoft on the development of APX 2500. The combined engineering efforts of these two industry mammoths will ensure that next-gen versions of the Windows Mobile OS will harness the capabilities of the APX 2500 applications processor to the fullest extent.

Maybe this is what Windows Mobile 7 will be all about!

source:tech2 

Sneak Peek at Windows Mobile 6.1

winmob 6.1

You might have heard about Windows Mobile 7; and even seen some screenshots that were leaked a while ago. But let’s face it, it may well be a long time coming. In the meantime let’s look at something a little more realistic – such as Windows 6.1. And Gizmodo, through the Portuguese tech forum PocketPT, seems to have some new information on what the next step might look like.

One new feature is a Zoom function that will allow users to view an entire web page on the display screen. This could be useful for navigation to specific articles or portions on the page that may interest a user. Another feature will indicate how much space is consumed by applications. The latest version is expected to be able to load DOCX and SLSX formats. A new advanced ‘Note’ feature should allow users to draw and add voice recordings to each note.

source:tech2 

Windows Vista Service Pack 1 Leaked

Sp1

As Microsoft is working on the latest update for Windows Vista, also known as Service Pack 1 or SP1, news has it that it has been leaked on to the internet. Vista SP1 is supposed to be released in Feb and it seems just the right time for Microsoft to label the latest builds as RTM or Release to Manufacturing.
Microsoft is just about to release it to the partners and may be someone from the developers was naughty to release it. Or may it was someone from the partners. Anyway, the leak is some kind of a standalone executable and has the build 6001.18000.080126-2040. Another leak has it as 080118_1840, but its a pretty early timestamp (18-01-2008) which suggests that its a fake. These builds are probably escrow and candidate for the final RTM.
If you don’t have patience to wait till release then go ahead!! But it may screw up your OS also I am not sure about this package nay way try it with your own risk

–Visat SP1–

source:winvista

Windows Vista ‘most secure’

Vista

Windows Vista gets high marks for security, from Microsoft at least..

“It’s fair to say that Windows Vista is proving to be the most secure version of the Windows to date,” said Austin Wilson, director in Microsoft’s Windows client group, in a blog post on Wednesday. “Our investments in the SDL [Security Development Lifecycle] and our defense in depth approach to building Windows Vista seem to be paying off.”

Windows Vista also exhibited fewer vulnerabilities than other operating systems over a one year period, according to a report published by Jeff Jones, security strategy director in Microsoft’s Trustworthy Computing group. The report claims that there were 36 vulnerabilities fixed in Windows Vista during its first year, compared to 65 in Windows XP, 360 in Red Hat RHEL4 reduced, 224 in Ubuntu 6.06 LTS reduced, and 116 in Mac OS X 10.4, also known as Tiger.

“Analysis found that researchers found and disclosed significantly fewer vulnerabilities in Windows Vista than either it predecessor product, Windows XP, or other operating systems such as Red Hat Enterprise Linux, Ubuntu, and Apple Mac OS X 10.4,” said Jones in his report.

Eric Schultze, chief technology officer of St. Paul, Minn.-based Shavlik Technologies, considers such metrics to be apples-to-oranges comparisons. “When you start counting vulnerabilities, it’s a matter of defining vulnerabilities,” he said. “For example, if a bulletin is released for Internet Explorer, that’s one patch for IE. Microsoft may have broken it out to say there are five distinct issues fixed in this patch. Is that five vulnerabilities or is that one vulnerability because it’s one patch?”

Setting aside questionable comparisons to other operating systems, Vista’s superiority to its Windows ancestors may not seem particularly surprising or noteworthy. But Wilson makes the case that Vista’s security features like User Account Control and Internet Explorer Protected Mode reduce the risk and severity of security vulnerabilities and give companies more time to deploy patches.

Wilson points out that Windows Vista makes it easier to run standard user accounts rather than administrative accounts, which are more dangerous when compromised. This, he says, diminishes the impact of vulnerabilities.

“Of the 23 security bulletins that have been released for Windows Vista through January 2008, 12 specifically call out a lower impact for those running without administrative privileges: MS07-033, 034, 040, 042, 045, 047, 048, 050, 057, 064, 068, and 069,” explained Wilson. “This is a great illustration of the importance of User Account Control and why we included it in the product. It’s also the reason I personally run as a standard user on every machine I use.”

Wilson also singles out Internet Explorer Protected Mode as a reason that Vista is more secure than XP. Protected Mode in Vista prevents Internet Explorer 7 from altering user or system files, and various settings, without consent from the user. This diminishes the effectiveness of malicious Web sites, if the user is paying attention.

As evidence of the impact of Protected Mode, Wilson cites the MS07-056 security bulletin from October 2007. It was rated “Important” on Windows Vista and “Critical” on Windows XP. He also notes that IE 7 and Vista are blocking almost 1 million phishing attempts every week. One metric where Vista seems to shine is in terms of patch days.

“During Windows XP’s first year, updates were released on 26 separate days,” said Wilson. “Through a combination of the move to a predictable monthly release schedule, and decreased vulnerabilities, Windows Vista had updates released on just nine days in its first year. To the average security professional, this is one of the most relevant metrics: how many times did I have to activate my internal patch management process due to vendor update releases over the course of a year?”

Schulze remains skeptical about Wilson’s claims. “What he states is accurate, but he’s only presenting the numbers that come out in a favorable light,” he said. “He’s not presenting the numbers that come out in an unfavorable light. For example, he claims that there are a certain number of vulnerabilities for which, on Vista, there was lower severity than on Windows XP. But he’s not telling you about the number of patches which were more critical on Vista than on Windows XP.”

Dave Marcus, security research and communications manager of McAfee Avert Labs, gives Wilson credit for some good points but believes it’s still too early to declare victory for Vista. “Wilson put forth a very good argument,” he said. “His stats are valid, but I think he fails to take into account that most businesses have not deployed Vista, nor have most consumers.”

Marcus said that while Vista was superior to Microsoft’s previous operating systems from a security standpoint, many of the security features were only available in 64-bit versions of the operating system and many organizations would be disinclined to purchase new hardware to use those features.

Once Microsoft officially deploys Vista SP1, Marcus expects more corporate Vista deployments and a clearer picture of Vista’s security profile. Like other security vendors, McAfee has predicted a surge in malware in 2008 for Vista as more people install the new operating system.

“Think 2008 will be the year that Vista finally joins the malware party,” said Marcus.

In a phone interview, Wilson countered that Windows Vista already is widely deployed, noting that Microsoft has already shipped 100 million copies of the software. And he expressed skepticism about a surge in malware, given that security researchers have been looking for holes in Vista since the Black Hat Conference in 2006, when Microsoft distributed beta copies of the operating system to help identify security flaws.

“It’s safe to say that the security research community has had a strong focus on Windows Vista,” said Wilson.

But that focus has yet to offer much clarity. “This is a matter of Microsoft bending the statistics for their own purposes,” said Schulze. “We could just as easily create the same number of statistics that puts Windows Vista security in a negative light.”

Source:itnews