Microsoft releases details on Vista activation

For nearly a year, Microsoft has refused to release technical details of the changes it made to its Product Activation technology in Windows Vista. The company was more than willing to speak in broad terms about the program and how it works, but it kept the details confidential, classifying them as trade secrets.

Until last week, that is. A newly released Technical Market Bulletin entitled Product Activation for Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 unexpectedly appeared on Microsoft’s Download Center last week. Curiously, the document was dated September 2007, but the Date Published field indicates that it was kicking around internally for more than a month before being officially released.

The document is similar in many respects to the Technical Market Bulletin: Microsoft Product Activation for Windows XP (Word .doc format), released in August 2001, before the launch of Windows XP, and updated in 2002 after Microsoft made some activation changes in XP Service Pack 1.

Historically, the underlying principle of Product Activation has been simple: You can reinstall Windows on the original hardware as many times as you like and activate it automatically over the Internet. You need to reactivate over the phone if the hardware is substantially changed. That’s been the hard-and-fast rule for more than six years.

With that history in mind, I was surprised (to put it mildly) when I read this sentence on the next-to-last page of the Vista activation bulletin:

Reinstallation of Windows Vista or Windows Server 2008 on the same or similar hardware and a subsequent reactivation can be accomplished five times.

If that’s true, it’s a major change in policy for Microsoft. I went back through all my notes and records looking for any indication that this policy has been announced previously and found nothing. So I contacted Microsoft to get an explanation and got an impressively rapid response from Alex Kochis, Senior Product Manager in the Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA) group. His blunt response: “There has been no meaningful policy change. We need to correct that paper.”

The new activation document, it turns out, is missing some crucial details. A more complete description of the actual activation policy is found at the bottom of Microsoft’s Windows Vista Activation FAQ:

How many times can I activate Windows Vista?

Windows can be activated any number of times, but your re-activation experience will vary based on the way you acquired Windows.

If you acquired Windows Vista via retail purchase (boxed product), you may activate via the Internet the first five times. Subsequent activations are allowed but must be completed via telephone.

If you acquire Windows Vista pre-installed on a computer, re-installation would not require additional activation steps unless significant hardware changes were made.

And even that description, Kochis explains, is potentially misleading. The policy allowing five automatic activations over the Internet has been in place for the past year, but it’s subject to change at any time. The real goal, it turns out, is to block hackers who try to spoof parts of the hardware ID so that multiple systems can appear identical when they check in with Microsoft’s activation servers. In that scenario, the server logs for a single product ID might show hundreds or even thousands of activation requests, leading to a requirement that the system be activated over the phone. In that scenario, a customer service representative can confirm that the activation request is legitimate.

For systems sold from large manufacturers (Dell, HP, Sony, and the like), activation is accomplished using a separate check called OEM Activation 2.0. If you reinstall Windows using the original media, activation should never be required unless the motherboard is replaced with one from a different manufacturer. The limit of five reactivations should only apply to retail copies, and then it will likely affect only hard core enthusiasts who repeatedly reinstall and attempt to reactivate retail copies.

If you fall into the latter category, here are three pieces of advice to avoid being bitten by activation hassles:

1. Take advantage of the initial 30-day grace period before activating. Delay activation until you’re satisfied that all hardware and software are working as you intended.

2. Use an image backup program like Vista’s Complete PC Backup (found in the Business and Ultimate editions) or a third-party alternative like Acronis True Image. After installing Windows and all current updates (including drivers), complete activation and then use the backup program to create a snapshot of the drive. If you ever need to reinstall, you can do so easily with that image, which won’t require reactivation if it’s restored to the original hardware.

3. If you’re such a fanatic that you install Windows more than five times a year, get a TechNet Plus subscription. For $299, you get a one-year subscription that includes perpetual licenses for every version of Windows Vista (including Ultimate), Windows XP Professional, Microsoft Office, and a slew of server software and tools. The licenses aren’t valid for business use, but you can install and use each product on up to 10 separate machines for evaluation purposes, and the licenses don’t expire even if you choose not to renew your subscription after the first year.

I’ll have more details from this new technical bulletin, including a rundown on the activation changes between XP and Vista.

Source: ZDNET BLOG

Microsoft Fixes Update Malfunction in Time for Patch Tuesday

For the second time in less than three weeks, Microsoft Corp. has had to apologize for blunders made by the application that enterprise administrators rely on to deploy the software vendor's security patches and other updates.

Late Monday, Bobbie Harder, a senior program manager with Microsoft's Windows Server Update Services (WSUS) group, confirmed the latest gaffe in a posting to a company blog.

"Sunday evening, Microsoft renamed a product category entry for Forefront to clarify the scope of updates that will be included in the future," Harder said. "Unfortunately the category name that was used included the word Nitrogen in double quotes (appearing as "Nitrogen"). A double quote is a restricted character within WSUS, which created an error condition on the administration console. This issue occurred on many WSUS servers that synchronized with Microsoft servers between 5 p.m. Sunday and 11 a.m. Monday, Pacific time."

Monday morning, network administrators at Microsoft user companies began posting messages to WSUS support forums after they arrived at work to find the patch delivery software's management console reporting an error, essentially blocking them from retrieving updates.

The timing couldn't have been worse, as Microsoft is scheduled to deliver its monthly security fixes later Tuesday.

Harder said the glitch was fixed Monday afternoon and would be propagated to each WSUS server the next time it synchronized with Microsoft's update servers. She also provided instructions for administrators who have set WSUS to sync manually, with separate steps for WSUS 2.0 and WSUS 3.0.

Allen Moore, a systems administrator at DeKalb Memorial Hospital in DeKalb, Ill., said he didn't wait for Microsoft Monday, but instead used SQL queries posted in a support forum to bring back WSUS. "I applied the two SQL queries to manually fix the tables yesterday, and was able to get back into WSUS without any errors," he said in an e-mail today. "I [also] just checked our WSUS 2.0 server and it appears to be working correctly after updating this morning."

Harder said her team would add new checks to curb errors like this. "We are also improving our publishing tools to make sure that issues like this are caught during the publishing process, before they impact customers," she said.

She said much the same thing, however, less than three weeks ago after admitting that recycling an update package had force-fed Windows Desktop Search (WDS) to client PCs which had been told to ignore the application. "We are also working on improving our internal publishing processes to ensure this does not happen again in the future," Harder said then.

Some users seemed to be unhappy with the trend in WSUS problems. "Thanks, Microsoft, it's great having things like this happen when I'm already too busy!!!" said someone identified as stormforce5 on a WSUS support forum Monday.

As she did in the wake of October's WSUS snafu, Microsoft's Harder said she was sorry: "We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused to our customers."

Anyone still having problems with WSUS should contact Microsoft support, Harder added.

Source: PC WORLD

Remaining Ultimate Extra Language Packs Released!

Hello! Здравствуйте! Sawatdi Khrap! Shalom! Salam! Γειάσου!

We are pleased to announce the release of the remaining 19 languages packs for Windows Vista Ultimate. This Ultimate Extras release brings the total number of language packs for use with Windows Vista Multilingual User Interface Pack (MUI) to 35. Windows Vista Ultimate enables users install multiple languages on their system and quickly switch between them by associating a system language with their login name.

MUI is particularly useful in multilingual homes where multiple people use a single computer and choose different languages for their primary use. People who wish to learn a new language will also find MUI to be a particularly useful feature. We are aware of a very large number of customers who have purchased Ultimate for this feature specifically and are gratified that these customers can now realize the full benefit of Windows Vista Ultimate.

The languages we are adding today are as follows:



Arabic

Bulgarian

Croatian

Czech

Estonian

Greek

Hebrew

Hungarian

Latvian

Lithuanian

Polish

Portuguese (Portugal)

Romanian

Serbian (Latin)

Slovak

Slovenian

Thai

Turkish

Ukrainian



In addition to the release of the remaining Language Packs, a component in the language pack installation process called lpksetup.exe has also been updated. This updated component addresses previous issues which some customers have experienced with language pack installations and so it is recommended that you download and install this component first. The updated lpksetup.exe can be found on Microsoft Download Center at http://support.microsoft.com/kb/942903

While today’s delivery marks the final installment of the Extras announced earlier this year, these are by no means the final set of Extras that we intend to deliver. As I mentioned in my post last month, beyond the Extras shipped to date, we plan to ship a collection of additional Windows Ultimate Extras that we are confident will delight our passionate Windows Vista Ultimate customers.

Given our track record, it would be unwise to provide details of what comes next until I am 100% confident in our ability to deliver. Please rest assured, though, that our team is working on hard to deliver on our promise to Ultimate customers. I look forward to announcing the next Ultimate Extra. Please stay tuned…

Thanks for your passion, patience and your continued support.

Barry Goffe
Director, Windows Vista Ultimate
Microsoft Corporation

Source: http://windowsultimate.com/blogs/announcements/archive/2007/10/23/remaining-ultimate-extra-language-packs-released.aspx

Microsoft Shows Off Preview of Office Project Software

Microsoft showed off some features of the next version of Project, to the delight of the crowd gathered at the Microsoft Office Project Conference in Seattle.

The audience applauded a new timeline view that will become available. Alice Steinglass, senior program manager for Microsoft Office Project, showed how users can cut and paste the timeline into other applications, such as a PowerPoint slide. Once pasted, users can alter individual components of the image, deleting sections and changing the font, for example.

That's one feature that furthers Microsoft's goal of making Project not only easier to use for project managers but usable by more people in an organization. "At the end of the day, the fundamental thesis here is that we are all project managers because we all manage work," said Steve Ballmer, Microsoft's CEO, addressing the audience on Tuesday. "Whether my personal project management system happens to look more like a formal project or a task list that I might keep in something like Excel or Outlook, we need to make sure that we give rich tool sets to people at all levels of the food chain to help them do work management."

A major user interface change to come within Project that Steinglass showed off is the icon ribbon at the top of the screen, similar to the one featured on many other Microsoft programs like Word. Users can click on different tabs at the top and the icons available in the ribbon change. With the click of an icon, users can do things like filter for incomplete tasks or group by resource name. These functions currently require several clicks in Project 2007.

Future versions of Project will give customers an easier way to customize fields. The current method is complicated and will eventually be replaced with a blank column that users can simply start filling in with any information they want. As soon as they do, a new blank column automatically appears. If a user inputs a dollar figure in the column, the rest of the column automatically configures for dollars.

Steinglass also showed off enhancements that will come to Web access to Projects. If a user makes changes to several time frames for completing tasks, the application won't automatically update the overall schedule so as not to slow down performance. When a user is done making changes, a calculate changes button makes the alterations, highlighting every item that has changed. Users can hit undo repeatedly to get rid of changes.

Microsoft doesn't even have a name for the next version of Project so there's no time frame for when these features will become available. Project 2007 began shipping earlier this year and some Project 2003 users say they're waiting for the first Service Pack release before they'll move to the latest version.

Microsoft executives expect that Web access will become important in the future. Practically every user of Project will take advantage of Web access, allowing partners and remote workers access to it from online, said Mike Angiulo, general manager of the Microsoft Project business unit. Ballmer wagered that in five years, about 50 percent of Project customers would use a fully hosted version, with the rest using an on-premise server.

Microsoft may also do some work enabling more access to Project from Windows Mobile devices. While there is a need for access to Project from mobile phones, users won't want the full version, Ballmer said. "What you want to do is say what aspects of the Project experience are people going to want to take on the phone," he said. For example, people may want to check on the status of a project and input information from their phones, he said.

Some existing functions already available let people use their phones to change tasks within Outlook and those changes will be replicated on the Project server, said Angiulo.

On Monday, Microsoft said that in two or three weeks it will announce the ship date for Service Pack 1 for Project 2007. When pressed for more details on Tuesday, Angiulo said that it's on the same schedule as the release date for Office 2007. He added that the final code is being tested, an indication that release is imminent.

Source: PC WORLD

Microsoft: No IPTV in Xbox 360 Yet

Microsoft hasn't had much luck keeping new announcements under wraps, so this weekend when rumors circulated from Xbox 360 Fanboy about a possible feature for the Fall Update, most weren't surprised of yet another leak.

This one came from a tipster who snapped shots of his Xbox 360 after getting it back from the Xbox Repair center. The screens showed hints at IPTV functionality, which set the internet ablaze with speculation the feature would be part of their upcoming major dashboard update.

But, not so fast. As it turns out, the screenshots were legit, but the feature isn't planned for the Fall Update. Microsoft issued a statement to clear up the misunderstanding. In it, they point out that the features "were inadvertently exposed while the customer's console was being serviced and is unrelated to the Fall Update."

The features are part of the Microsoft Mediaroom services and will be given to TV service providers by the end of 2007. After that, it's entirely up to those providers to determine when the feature becomes available. It could be next spring, fall, or beyond.

It looks as if Xbox 360 owners will have to wait a little longer to escape the cold clutches of VHS tape tyranny to record their shows.

Source: PC MAG

Microsoft Buys Thai Health Software Vendor

Microsoft Corp. on Monday said it has agreed to buy a Thai software vendor that specializes in hospital administration applications, and plans to sell the software in emerging markets.

Global Care Solutions (GCS) of Bangkok, Thailand, is Microsoft's third purchase of a health-care software vendor in the past 13 months, according to Peter Neupert, vice president for the Health Solutions Group at Microsoft. The group was formed two years ago and the purchase of GCS is one more step to building the Microsoft health-care business, he said.

GCS specializes in hospital software that takes care of patient scheduling, billing, clinical workflow, regulatory compliance and medical record-keeping. The privately held company has worked for years with Bumrungrad International Hospital, a facility made famous by its focus on catering to visiting tourists.

What makes GCS software special is the amount of specialized record keeping required by Bumrungrad. Doctors at the hospital see over 1.2 million patients each year, including 400,000 foreign patients from 190 countries, meaning varying language, insurance and billing data. Half of the 3,200 patients seen at Bumrungrad each day walk in without an appointment, yet GCS's scheduling software ensures patients wait an average of 17 minutes to see a doctor.

Microsoft will retain all GCS workers after the acquisition. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

The companies also announced a collaborative alliance with Bumrungrad Hospital to continue work on tweaking and improving technology to improve hospital care.

"We now have a partner that's willing to experiment with us," said Neupert. He said future work will include software development as well as experimenting on how RFID (radio frequency identification) can improve hospital care.

Microsoft will focus GCS software sales on hospitals in emerging countries, said Neupert. The software fits well with emerging market hospital needs, requiring just a small investment in computer hardware, he said.

Microsoft has not been receiving requests for the kind of software GCS provides, he said, but made the acquisition based on what its Health Solutions Group required, and because the company has a good understanding of its business. GCS software is in use in seven hospitals around the Asia-Pacific region, the company said.

Source: PC WORLD

Microsoft apologises for Desktop Search update error

Microsoft has apologised for a Windows Server update that automatically installed the Windows Desktop Search tool on users' desktops without approval.

The mistake happened because Microsoft reused the same update package as when Windows Desktop Search (WDS) was first published in February as an optional update that was only applicable to systems with the search tool previously installed.

This meant organisations that had approved the February update package for a limited number of machines had this week's new update automatically install WDS on all clients because the Windows Server Update Service (WSUS) is set by default to automatically approve update revisions.

One IT manager affected by the update told silicon.com: "I came into the office this morning and found that every one of our desktops and servers which are on WSUS have had the WDS tool automatically installed. We were shocked as we do not automatically approve anything for our systems, unless we have already approved an old version of the same update. So Microsoft has decided to push this directly out, bypassing any approval opportunity we have set. To say the least we are not happy and we're currently reviewing what we are going to do."

In a post on Microsoft's WSUS blog Bobbie Harder, programme manager for WSUS, said: "We sincerely regret the inconvenience this has caused and extend a sincere apology to all impacted customers."

Microsoft said it is working to correct the issue and has temporarily suspended the distribution of the search tool through WSUS.

Harder said: "We will make a new package available for WSUS in the near future, but not as an update revision, so you can rely on predictable update behaviour with auto-approval settings. We are also working on improving our internal publishing processes to ensure this does not happen again."

Microsoft said customers wanting to uninstall the WDS update revision released this week can do so via the add/remove programs feature and by following the instructions on Microsoft's WSUS blog.

Source: ZDNET