Well it seems as though its finally happened-Service Pack 3 for every-ones favourite OS, Windows XP h
as been released to manufacturing (however not available to the public just yet-expect to see it on April 29th).
Service Pack 3 updates all 32-bit versions of Windows XP from Starter to XP Professional (the x64 edition of XP is based on Server 2003 and requires the Service Packs for that product). The complete package from the Download Center will reportedly be some 320 MB. Downloads via the Update function will be around 70 MB according to Microsoft’s current plans; this update can be so much smaller because only the data required for a specific XP version are downloaded, not the entire package.
Support for Windows XP without any service packs expired long ago and officially SP2 has to already be installed before SP3 can be installed, despite the fact there is no technical reason for this requirement. However Microsoft is inconsistent and SP3 can in practice be installed on XP with only SP1. Strangely, the complete SP3 contains all of the patches you need to update even a fresh base version of XP. Microsoft says that a slipstream installation CD can be created so that the operating system with SP3 can be installed at once without any other service pack.
SP3 not only contains patches and updates, but also a number of add-onsthat have been sold separately, such as Background Intelligent Transfer Service (Bits) 2.5, Windows Installer 3.1, Management Console (MMC) 3.0 and Core XML Services 6.0. SP3 does not, however, contain any fundamentally new functions, and no new versions of Internet Explorer or Media Player are included.
This is set to be the very last Service pack for XP however patches and updates for the OS are set to continue until Service Pack 3 expires in 2014.
A time line of SP3:
April 14, 2008: Support is available for the release version of Windows XP SP3
April 21, 2008: RTM, OEMs
April 29, 2008: RTW, Windows Update and Microsoft Download Center
May 2, 2008: MSDN and TechNet subscriber downloads
May 19, 2008: Windows XP SP3 Fulfillment Media
June 1, 2008: Microsoft Volume Licensing customer downloads
June 10, 2008: Automatic Updates
An overview for SP3 is available here (MSFT), however expect new documentation to arise pretty soon.
Written by Patrick S on April 22nd, 2008 with no comments.
Read more articles on 1426 and 1429 and 1673 and 169 and 2065 and 2157 and 401 and Beta News and Contributors and MS News and Products and Windows XP.
IE8 Beta is officially launched in the MIX08. And you may download it and try it now. Here is the email from the IE team,
As of 12 pm today, we officially launched IE8 Beta!! Please check out Dean Hachamovich (IE General Manager) in the MIX08 keynote. To download IE8 Beta 1, please click here. Please read the Release notes and the IE8 Readiness Toolkit which will give a detailed description of the features.
We would like to introduce to you our feedback form, which allows you to submit bugs directly to the IE team! Before submitting an issue, please search for your bug. If you find your bug, please rate the bug which will give us an idea of how many people have run into the same problem. Please only rate bugs that are important to you. If you do not find your bug, then submit a feedback form with the details of your bug.
We have made several updates to the IE8: Technical Beta Program available on connect. Please check it out!
Best regards,
The IE Team
.
Written by kenlin@HK [MVP] on March 5th, 2008 with comments disabled.
Read more articles on Beta News.
One of my favorite documents for Windows Server 2003 is now available in beta form for Windows Server 2008. If you have never reviewed these guides I strongly recommend them. The guide makes it easy to tailor the security configuration to accommodate the needs of your organization. There is also a really cool GPOAccelerator (Group Policy Object Accelerator) tool to help you rapidly setup, test and deploy configurations of Group Policy security settings. Here are some of the resources for Windows Server 2008 Security Guide:
Check out the Executive Overview.
Join the Windows Server 2008 Security Guide beta.
Written by Patrick S on January 14th, 2008 with comments disabled.
Read more articles on Beta News and Security and Windows Server System and server and windows and windows server.
2008 Is here, its now time to face the truth… The clock is ticking on Microsoft’s Windows XP. And whilst Microsoft may view this as a natural stage in the evolution of a product that was RTM’ed (released to manufacturing) all the way back in 2001, a healthy proportion of people will fail to see eye to eye with the company on this one. In this context… Windows Vista.
Vista In 2007
Even with Vista hot off the presses, XP did not give one inkling that it was going to give up the fight, with Microsoft focusing on winding XP up for good-Ending support for SP1 and soon to be SP2.
-Microsoft’s Windows Product Management vice president Mike Nash on September 27th: “with more than 60 million licenses sold as of this summer, Windows Vista is on track to be the fastest-selling operating system in Microsoft’s history.”
They had done it-sold over 20 million licences in the first month since RTM, passing 40million within the first 100days and 60 million by mid 2007. The last statistics made available to the public, dating back to the end of October, pointed to over 88 million Vista copies sold worldwide.
At the end of 2007, according to statistics provided by Net Applications, Vista enjoyed a market share of 10.48% - a percentage roughly synonymous with 100+ million sold copies. And while in just a single year Vista’s install base has passed the combined audience of Mac OS X and all the Linux distributions, its performance is still perceived with nuances of failure. And at fault is Windows XP with its roots firmly dug in for the past six years.
Vista’s Problem
Currently Vista (in general) leaves a lot to be desired-to be honest it’s just how I feel. Sure SP1 comes out this year, and there is still hope that Microsoft will boost Vista up to the OS that it has the potential to be, but lets face it-there are A LOT of users who wont go with the flow. Admittedly Vista HAS grown on me since I first tested it a couple of years ago-I have the upmost confidence SP1 will change my mind for the better.
Let’s explore what’s gone down with Vista last year:
- Dell, HP and Acer have all asked Microsoft to extend XP’s availability for an additional 6 months due to the concerns of customers.
- Many Businesses have been slow to adopt Vista due to poor performance and compatibility issues.
- Complaints have arisen regarding performance issues and the fact that Vista is so damn hungry.
XP’s Future
2008 Marks another milestone for Microsoft Windows-No it’s not Service Pack 1. It’s the real upgrade to Vista (SP0)… XP’s Service Pack 3. This final major update to XP has been dubbed by some as the Vista without the crap.
Although XP was faster than Vista before, SP3 ups the ante. Microsoft has said that SP3 features about 1073 fixes and adds some cool features from Vista to make your experience far better. Using Vista after XP seems weird-no device incompatibility warnings, pop-ups asking for permission and poor performance.
Sure this may not seem like big improvements and most of the fixes included in SP3 can already be found on Vista, but isn’t that the issue here? Now that XP is more secure and already sports any and all drivers you are currently using without costing hundreds of dollars to implement, couldn’t it be said that XP is simply the better choice? … It just works!!!
Sadly the end of June (30th )2008 marks the day where Windows XP will no longer be available pre-loaded on computers from original equipment manufactures or from retail outlets. Starting with the summer of this year (4th Quarter) and ending sometime in 2010, when windows 7 is planned, end users will only have access to Windows Vista. XP will survive a little longer with System Builders until early 2009, and until mid 2010 with the Starter edition, but sales of the Windows operating system connected with white-box PC’s are only a fraction of the Windows client businesses.
What about the Big Picture?
In the end, it’s not all about the support life-cycles and marketing, not by a long shot. With SP1, Vista will enter its first stage of evolution and with that a massively increased user-base. This will lead better support and compatibility, to increased reliability and boosted performance-XP will fade to the background and Vista will take centre stage.
So…While Office 07 and Vista get their first Service Packs-Windows XP will get its last.
I Say “Viva La XP” but Bring on Vista SP1 
Stats and info sourced from cnet and softpedia
Written by Patrick S on January 6th, 2008 with comments disabled.
Read more articles on Beta News and MS News and Products and Windows Vista and Windows XP.
Zumobi, the mobile startup spun off from Microsoft Research, has launched its first beta. The Zumobi lets you access, enjoy, and share web-based content on your mobile phone in an innovative, new way. The Zumobi software presents a unique way to access content, with a grid of sixteen tiles that you can zoom in and out of, and the tiles acting as widgets that display web-based content.
Currently, mobile browsing goes something like this…
-
-
Either you navigate through a list of web sites pre-loaded on your phone, navigate through static bookmarks, or maybe even attempt to type in a long URL with your thumbs. Ugh.
-
Now that you’ve chosen your content, wait while it loads. And wait. And wait.
-
Ok, site loaded. Read a few lines and scroll down. Scroll down. Scroll down, deeper into the abyss searching for what you wanted buried somewhere in all that content. Tedious. Often frustrating.
-
Rinse, repeat.
Ultimately, it’s an underwhelming experience.
Enter Zumobi. Beta Launch Video On YouTube
They are also recruiting Beta Users, To participate in the Zumobi Beta you’ll need the following:
Zumobi Tiles create a solution through which advertising and marketing communications are highly contextual and personalized.
- A U.S.A. mobile phone number
- A data plan with your mobile phone service provider (we strongly recommend this be an unlimited data plan)
- A mobile phone running Windows Mobile 5 or 6
While Zumobi is compatible with most phones running Windows Mobile 5 or 6, we have certified and recommend the following devices for optimal performance:
- Motorola Q
- Samsung Blackjack 1.0
- HTC Dash
- HTC Touch
Of course, you are also welcome to download and test Zumobi on other Windows Mobile 5 or 6 phones, but we have not fully certified these phones yet and cannot guarantee an optimal experience. Additional certified phones will be added frequently, so please check our website for the most current list of devices.
Written by kenlin@HK [MVP] on January 3rd, 2008 with comments disabled.
Read more articles on Beta News and Daily Life and Windows Mobile.
Â
Today, Microsoft Live Labs is announcing the Volta technology preview, a developer toolset for building multi-tier web applications using existing and familiar tools, techniques and patterns. Volta’s declarative tier-splitting enables developers to postpone architectural decisions about distribution until the last possible responsible moment. Also, thanks to a shared programming model across multiple-tiers, Volta enables new end-to-end profiling and testing for higher levels of application performance, robustness, and reliability. Using the declarative tier-splitting, developers can refine architectural decisions based on this profiling data. This saves time and costs associated with manual refactoring. In effect, Volta extends the .NET platform to further enable the development of software+services applications, using existing and familiar tools and techniques.
You architect and build your application as a .NET client application, assigning the portions of the application that run on the server tier and client tier late in the development process. You can target either web browsers or the CLR as clients and Volta handles the complexities of tier-splitting. The compiler creates cross-browser JavaScript for the client tier, web services for the server tier, and all communication, serialization, synchronization, security, and other boilerplate code to tie the tiers together. In effect, Volta offers a best-effort experience in multiple environments without requiring tailoring of the application.
Written by kenlin@HK [MVP] on December 6th, 2007 with comments disabled.
Read more articles on Beta News and Computing and Daily Life and Windows Live and microsoft.
