Enable Hidden BootScreen in Windows Vista
Monday, February 12, 2007
The Windows Vista BootScreen is pointless, but Microsoft decided to
hide a more visually appealing boot screen that can easily be enabled
with very little trouble. I’m not sure why they didn’t make the boot
screen better.
If you really want a better boot screen, you can check out my article on creating a custom boot logo....
Technorati Tags: Technology, Microsoft, Windows, Vista, BootScreen
Microsoft: Vista follow-up likely in 2009
Sunday, February 11, 2007
That would be a much faster turn-around than Vista, which shipped more than five years after Windows XP, but Vista was exceptional, said Ben Fathi, corporate vice president of development with Microsoft's Windows Core Operating System Division this week at the RSA Conference in San Francisco.
Microsoft originally planned for its XP follow-up to include a number of radical changes to Windows, including a new file system and a reinvented user interface, but after the company's products were hit by widespread worm outbreaks in 2003, Microsoft redirected almost its entire engineering effort to locking down Windows with the XP Service Pack 2 release.
Related Article...
Technorati Tags: Microsoft, Vista, Windows, Windows XP
Windows Vista "out of tune"
Saturday, February 10, 2007
Windows Vista: more than five years in the making, more than 50 million lines of code. The result? A vista slightly more inspiring than the one over the town dump. The new slogan is: "The 'Wow' Starts Now," and Microsoft touts new features, many filched shamelessly from Apple's Macintosh. But as with every previous version, there's no wow here, not even in ironic quotes. Vista is at best mildly annoying and at worst makes you want to rush to Redmond, Wash. and rip somebody's liver out.
Vista is a fading theme park with a few new rides, lots of patched-up old ones and bored kids in desperate need of adult supervision running things. If I can find plenty of problems in a matter of hours, why can't Microsoft? Most likely answer: It did--and it doesn't care.
Example: If malware somehow gets into your machine, Windows Firewall will not stop it from making outbound Internet connections to do its evil deeds. If you turn off that firewall in favor of a better one, the Windows Firewall control panel will admonish: "Your computer is not protected; turn on Windows Firewall." But the Windows Security Center will correctly tell you that a firewall is on and that you shouldn't run two at a time. Call it convistancy.
Technorati Tags: Microsoft, Windows, Vista, Malware, Apple
Hosting firm run Windows, Linux on sites at same time
Canadian Web hosting company Wednesday said it would begin letting
customers build and host Web sites running both Microsoft Windows and
Linux applications at the same time.
Toronto-based Netfirms has built its own clustering technology,
which allows customers to manage Windows and Linux applications -- each
running on separate server grids operated by Netfirms -- transparently
through a single account, according to Thomas Savundra, president of
Netfirms.
Netfirms said it is the first Web hosting company to let customers use both Windows and Linux applications and code through
a single Web hosting account....
Open XML vs. ODF: Document Format Wars Rage On
There are new movements in the ongoing war over document formats this week, with Microsoft facing new challenges and Sun Microsystems possibly facing new opportunities.
As Microsoft encounters resistance in the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) process of approving its Open XML document format, Sun is moving to advance the competing OpenDocument Format (ODF). Sun announced a conversion plug-in for Microsoft Office 2003 on Thursday as the two formats continue to compete to become the XML-based file format of choice for office documents everywhere.
Following several key losses to OpenOffice.org, including one in Massachusetts that made headlines and highlighted the document-format debate, Microsoft has been attempting to protect use of its Office suite from open-source competition by offering its own open document format....
Can Google score with in-game ads?
Friday, February 9, 2007
Google has reportedly looked at acquiring AdScape Media, a small company, founded in Ontario and now based in San Francisco, that specializes in so-called in-game ads. Google did not return calls seeking comment, and an AdScape spokeswoman declined to comment on the talks.
Though an industry insider who asked to remain anonymous said negotiations had stalled, such an acquisition would allow Google to take on old foe Microsoft, which last year acquired a similar but larger company called Massive. In-game ads, however, are one place where Microsoft would have a rare advertising advantage over Google thanks to thriving sales of its Xbox 360 gaming console and a long list of gaming titles....
Microsoft provides design docs for SaaS
Thinking about converting your traditional software product to software-as-a-service? According to Microsoft Corp, it requires more than a rethink of your business model.
You have to pay a lot of attention to software design as well, because what works inside the enterprise will crash and burn if it isn't redesigned for online deployment, the company says.
To provide ISVs a better idea of how to adopt the SaaS model, Microsoft has designed a reference application to show how it can be done.
The sample application, LitwareHR, is a fictional human resources app that shows how to incorporate and configure Microsoft offerings such as the .NET Framework 3.0 and SQL Server 2005 for a multi-tenant model. In essence, it shows what Microsoft has been previously talking about in white papers posted on the MSDN developer site...
Zune Phone Confirmed!
We don’t wanna say we told you so, but, ya know, we did. On Monday, Microsoft filed a mystery application with the FCC for an enigmatic wireless device that could be used to talk over the Internet. Sounds like a VoiP device, right?
Not really. The device is described as being used for “consumer broadband access and networking,” which doesn’t sound like vanilla VoIP to me. Microsoft goes on to say that the device would use OFDM as its communications protocol, not WiFi or Bluetooth. Well, why not? The standard OFDM (orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing) is a modulation scheme that is used widely in upcoming 4G standards of the future. But with wireless access gaining momentum, and the all-around arms race for bandwidth, 4G starts to make sense, in a crazy, crazy kind of way...
Microsoft planning new wireless software
Thursday, February 8, 2007
Microsoft Corp. plans a launch this spring of its next-generation operating system for wireless devices, Windows Mobile 6, which is important for the company's efforts to grab market share beyond the desktop.
Microsoft is expected to disclose details of Windows Mobile 6 on Monday at a telecommunications conference in Barcelona, Spain.
The company pledged that the new software would render e-mails and other documents much as they appear on desktop computers. The software will also have deeper connectivity to Microsoft's "Live" suite of online services, including instant messaging....
