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

Microsoft Adds Event Planning to Live Services

Microsoft Corp. is adding an event planning offering to its expanding Windows Live suite of services.

Microsoft says the new service, Live Events, offers more than some other existing online invitation services, such as the popular Evite.com. Like those services, users of Live Events will be able to design a Web page and invitation to an event, choosing from over 100 templates. They can customize further by changing the font and background images and dragging and dropping different components of the site.

Users can choose e-mail addresses of people to invite to their event from an address book they may already have in Hotmail or Messenger. They can also type in e-mail addresses.

One feature that may set Live Events apart from other similar services is the ability for event participants to visit the invitation site after the event to upload photos or videos or comments, said Jay Fluegel, product manager for Windows Live Events. Then anyone can order prints of the pictures, view slideshows or download the photos to Windows Live Gallery, a beta service that lets users share photos and other content.

The service, accessed at events.live.com, will begin a gradual rollout across 56 international markets Thursday and Friday. The rollout is expected to begin just after 5 p.m. Pacific time Thursday in the U.S.

Microsoft also announced updates to a couple of other Live services. Users of the Skydrive beta, which lets anyone store and share files online, will now have 1G byte of storage, up from 500M bytes.

In addition, Live Spaces users will see an updated summary of changes their friends have made to their Spaces pages. When a user logs on to their Spaces page, they'll see thumbnails of new photos and snippets of text entries that friends have posted on their own pages. Microsoft also updated permissioning on photo albums so Spaces users can restrict access to their photo albums to a specific list of people.

Microsoft has slowly been adding to and updating its Live services, with plans to have a complete suite of integrated services by the end of this year. Users can visit get.live.com to find out about the different services

Source: PC WORLD

Word Exploit Loose, According to Microsoft, Symantec

Security researchers spotted an attack Wednesday that exploits a vulnerability in Microsoft Word patched just the day before.

On Wednesday, Symantec Corp. reported it had obtained a suspicious Word document that crashed every version of the application except the newest, Word 2007, when opened. After it examined the document, Symantec found that the document included shell code and three pieces of malware.

Among its more surprising findings: Symantec found that the document had been created with the edition of Word included with Office for Mac 2004.

On Tuesday, Microsoft Corp. issued a patch that closed a critical vulnerability in multiple editions of the popular word processor, including Word 2000, Word XP and Word for the Mac. Symantec put the two together. "Taking a closer look at that vulnerability, we confirmed that this document was in fact exploiting the same vulnerability," researcher Orla Cox said on the company's security response blog.

Even though Microsoft in its advisory acknowledged that attacks had already been seen in the wild, Symantec remarked on the finding. "In our experience, the exploitation of such vulnerabilities tends to be very targeted in nature," said Cox, when talking about the unusual discovery.

It's not unusual, however, for exploits to appear soon after a vendor posts a patch. The practice, dubbed "Exploit Wednesday" to match the "Patch Tuesday" moniker used to describe Microsoft's monthly patch day, has been debunked by some, however, as part myth. Hackers don't actually stockpile code and synchronize its release with the appearance of patches, a researcher at Symantec rival McAfee Inc. said in June after releasing the results of a survey of 200 zero-day Windows vulnerabilities.

Updates to the Windows versions of Word can be obtained via Microsoft Update or Office Update, while the patch for the Mac edition is included in the 11.3.8 update to Office 2004 available on the Web site of Microsoft's Macintosh development team.

Source: PC WORLD

Microsoft Will Patch IE7 'URI' Hole

After basically stonewalling for the past three months, Microsoft late today announced it is indeed working on a patch for a severe security hole that turned up in Internet Explorer 7 last July.

I understand it's a complex problem. The first time it turned up, it was assumed to be a problem in how IE7 and Firefox, in conjunction, handle what are called uniform resource identifiers (URI).

You may recall that at the time Microsoft and the Mozilla Firefox folks had a bit of a tiff over whose problem it was.

Firefox was fixed in short order. However, until today, there basically wasn't a peep out of Microsoft.

Now Microsoft has released a Security Advisory – what the company publishes when they acknowledge a bug but don't have a patch yet – in order to warn users.

They do say they have a patch underway and will ship it as soon as they get it done and properly tested. At that point, they will publish a Security Bulletin, which includes links to the patch or patches. No word on how long that will be. But, hey, it's progress.

So who's affected by this bug? The problem has to do with changes Microsoft made between IE6 and IE7. Oddly, If you have IE7 running on Windows Vista, you're safe from this vulnerability. And if you're running IE6 or earlier versions on Windows XP, you're also safe.

However, if you're running Windows XP or Windows Server 2003 with IE7, you've got a problem.

Here's Microsoft's description of the issue, in typical Microsoft geek speak:

"Internet Explorer 7 updates a Windows component, which modifies the interaction between Internet Explorer and Windows Shell when handling URLs and URI’s. Applications which pass un-validated URIs or URLs to Windows can be leveraged to exploit this vulnerability."
Got that?

So in a nutshell, if you click on a malicious link, your PC could be completely compromised – but only if you're running IE7 on XP or Windows Server 2003.

Granted these documents aren't aimed at your average consumer – rather they are directed towards security professionals at big companies.

But Microsoft's consumer-oriented security documents on the same topics are usually so vapid as to be nearly worthless, in my opinion anyway. So it's a "Hobson's choice" of way too little information versus drinking out of the information fire hose. I'll opt for the latter.

Microsoft's recommendation of what to do while waiting for the patch: "Do not follow un-trusted links or browse un-trusted Web sites."

We've talked about this before … grrrrrrr. In a virtual world where 50-year-old unemployed slobs can easily masquerade as 30ish, athletic, unmarried stock brokers, how can you tell what links to trust? Luckily, there have been no known attacks in the wild so far.

And at least now there's a patch on the way. Lets keep our fingers crossed that Microsoft gets the patch out before somebody zero-days this hole. Stay tuned.

Source: PC WORLD

Microsoft updates Windows Live SkyDrive

Microsoft has doubled the capacity of its SkyDrive online file storage service and added new features, according to an official company blog.

SkyDrive, which is still in beta, allows users to store files that only they can access, share documents with specific friends or allow anyone to view files in an open folder.

In response to customer requests, Microsoft has increased the available storage to 1GB and added RSS feeds so that users can be notified when someone adds a file to a public folder.

SkyDrive will also now allow users to share a folder with people who are not in their address book.

"People asked why they have to go to Hotmail or Messenger to add someone to their address book, and why they can't just do it on SkyDrive itself," said the blog entry.

"We fixed that. Now, you can share with anyone directly from SkyDrive by typing in your friend's email address."

Users will also be able to see who uploaded each individual file, as the information will be added to the general data about the document.

Source: VNUNET

Microsoft Sets up First Interoperability Lab in Bangalore and Announces Open Source Technology Program

In continuation of its ongoing efforts to address the interoperability needs of customers, Microsoft Corporation today announced two new initiatives at the Microsoft Interoperability Conclave held in Bangalore today. The two initiatives include – Microsoft's first Interoperability Lab in India, designed to help customers envision and build solutions which are interoperable; Open Source Technology Program designed to further open source research and development of open source applications on the Windows platform in collaboration with leading engineering institutes in the country.

Focused at discussing issues, challenges and solutions to foster interoperability, the Conclave drew participation from leading academicians, bureaucrats and industry professionals including Dr D B Phatak, Professor, IIT Bombay, Mr R Chandrashekhar, Additional Secretary (E-Governance), Department of Information Technology, Govt of India, Mr Nandan Nilekani, Co-Chairman, Infosys and Craig Mundie, Chief Research & Strategy Officer, Microsoft .

To ensure enhanced customer productivity in the increasingly heterogeneous technology environment. Microsoft has been leading the interoperability initiative and ensuring different technologies are able to talk to each other. Microsoft's four pronged strategy in this direction encompasses accomplishing interoperability through the explicit design of interoperable products, through working with partners, customers, and competitors, licensing IP and working with industry to create standards. The company has been consistently engaging with the ecosystem to promote interoperability and has rolled out several initiatives globally and in India in partnership with academia as well as customers and partners.

Co-located at the Microsoft Technical Centre in Bangalore, the Interoperability lab will enable customers envision and test interoperable solutions across infrastructure, application and management layers. The facility will encompass all benefits of the technical centre which include access to world class infrastructure, experts and Open Source Lab in Redmond. Under the Open Source Technology Program Microsoft also announced signing of MoUs with IIT-Kanpur, IIT Guwahati, IIIT Hyderabad and IIIT Bangalore.

“Interoperability is as critical a challenge as security and reliability to the health of an organization's IT environment. With open dialogue and on ground work with the industry and academia we hope to collectively address this emerging and important issue“, said Mr. Ravi Venkatesan, Chairman, Microsoft India. 'Initiatives like the Interoperability lab and the Open Source Technology program are significant milestones in our efforts to collaborate with the eco system to promote a community development approach and create innovative products that are inherently interoperable', he added.

The Interoperability Lab will showcase, envision and build interoperability solutions for specific heterogeneous technology scenarios like cross platform rich web application and line of business application integration, virtualization and management of heterogeneous platforms. The lab will be equipped with access to state-of-art computing and office infrastructure and Microsoft and Open Source Software to develop and test Interoperable solutions.

The Open Source Technology Program encourages student projects across diverse research areas such as Interoperability between Windows and Linux platforms, Mobile and embedded devices applications, Web and database applications on Windows, High performance computing applications etc. Further it will provide educational research grants to faculty and scholarships to students. Microsoft will encourage students to follow an open source community engagement model through Codeplex and port25.technet.com. As part of the program, students will also get guidance from an Expert Advisory Council comprising of eminent members of the academic community.

Some ongoing interoperability initiatives in India in collaboration with members of the eco system include:

Academia:

-- Scholar versus Scholar Program: A comprehensive Student Awards and Faculty Research grant program designed to promote HPC research and development of open source applications on Windows Compute Cluster Server. Over 250 institutions have participated in this program and the academics and students from the two winning institutes Dhirubhai Ambani Institute of Information and Communication Technology, Gandhinagar and BITS –Pilani – were felicitated at the Conclave today.

Customers and Partners:

-- 'Interoperability between Windows and Linux' – Building Bridges between the Present and the Future“ a 5 city roundtable series hosted by Frost & Sullivan in India. The discussion focused on understanding the interoperability issues which customers face in India and the incentives they look forward to from vendors to facilitate interoperability

-- The Company is also working with several partners in India to collaborate and develop solutions based on OXML - these include Datacraft India Ltd; Microland Ltd, HCL Infosystems Limited; Prodapt solutions, PriceWaterhouse Coopers Pvt. Ltd.

-- India is also represented in the Interoperability Executive Customer Council and Dr P. Madhav of IEG Hyderabad. is a member of the council from India

The Conclave also saw a Panel Discussion on the subject of “Interoperability: Challenges and Opportunities“ which drew participation from eminent members of the industry and academia such as Dr P. Madhav of IEG Hyderabad, Dr C R Muthukrishnan (Ex-Director, IITM and Consultant, TCS), Dr M Rammohan Rao (Dean, ISB, Hyderabad), Mr M N Vidyashankar (IT Secretary, Karnataka), Ms Revathi (MD, Novell) and Dr Madan Mohan (Director, Frost & Sullivan)

About Microsoft India

Founded in 1975, Microsoft (NASDAQ “MSFT“) is the worldwide leader in software for personal and business computing. The company offers a wide range of products and services designed to empower people through great software - any time, any place and on any device. Microsoft Corporation India Private Ltd is a subsidiary of Microsoft Corporation USA. It has had a presence in India since 1990 and currently has offices in twelve cities - Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Chandigarh, Chennai, Hyderabad, Indore, Kochi, Kolkata, Mumbai, Nagpur, New Delhi, and Pune.

For further press information, please visit www.microsoft.com/india/msindia
Contact Details:

Vidhya, Text 100 Pvt Ltd, +91 9910500220 Email: vidhyaa@text100.co.in


Ruchi Chawla, Text 100 Pvt Ltd, +91 9818903929 Email: Ruchi.chawla@ text100.co.in


Nitin Thakur, Microsoft Corporation India Pvt, +91 (0124) 5158000/ +91 9873347428 Email: nitint@microsoft.com

Source: NDTV PROFIT

Windows XP SP3 to Include Some Vista Features

A Web site that leaked details of Windows XP Service Pack 3 over the weekend claimed that the update includes several new features, including some borrowed from Windows Vista.

According to NeoSmart Technologies, Windows XP SP3 build 3205, which was released to beta testers on Sunday, includes four new features among the 1,000-plus individual hot fixes and patches that have been issued since XP2's debut three years ago.

Features backported from Vista, said NeoSmart, include Network Access Protection (NAP), an enterprise policy enforcement technology that inspects client PCs before they access a corporate network, then updates the machines if necessary or blocks them if they don't meet specified security criteria.

Other additions range from a kernel module containing several encryption algorithms that can be accessed by third-party developers, to a new Windows activation model that doesn't require users to enter a product key.

Microsoft had previously announced SP3 support for NAP, which is part of Windows Vista and will be included in the not-yet-finalized Windows Server 2008.

Windows XP SP3, which Microsoft has said will be released early in 2008, will be one more move by the developer to extend the lifespan of the six-year-old operating system. Last month, for example, Microsoft gave Windows XP a five-month reprieve by pushing back the end of retail sales and sales of XP-powered PCs by large resellers to June 30, 2008.

And last week, Microsoft debuted a new "get-legal" program that lets companies purchase large quantities of Windows XP Professional licenses through their usual resellers.

Microsoft was not immediately available for comment on the leak, or the new features touted by NeoSmart.

Source: PC WORLD

Microsoft to set up first innovation centre in Pune

After establishing a strong presence in technology development and research in India, Microsoft is now bringing innovation centres to India.

Its first such innovation centre will come up at the proposed Innovation Triangle Park (ITP), modelled on North Carolina’s Research Triangle Park. The centre, which will come up at the proposed ITP in Pune, will become operational in the first quarter of 2008. The Redmond-based giant already has a development centre in Hyderabad and a research centre in Bangalore.

The ITP, which is part of a broad framework, is aimed at creating an ecosystem to fuel innovation. Collaborations with academia, industry partnerships, startup funding and skill-building are some key elements of the initiative.

Symbiosis International University and College of Engineering, Pune, are on board and Microsoft is talking to several others to join the ITP alliance.

“We have decided to replicate the successful North Carolina park, that is 50 years old and has seen capital investment of $3 billion. The first innovation centre will be in Pune and we will scale it up and also set up such centres in other cities,” Microsoft general manager Tarun Gulati said, at the ‘India is Innovation’ summit. The company has 100 such innovation centres globally.

While no investment details were available, the creation of the innovation ecosystem would be a co-funded activity between partners. The innovation framework also includes Microsoft’s programmes to boost software startups, innovations and business models.

Microsoft India chairman Ravi Venkatesan said: “We are driving innovation for the world and for India. There are interesting developments in the mobility space. For instance, we have worked with sugarcane cooperatives helping them get real-time information on their cellphones instead of PCs. These are solutions that are applicable globally.”

Similarly, given the important role that mobile phones play in communication and computing in India, the company, in a tieup with Vodafone, has plans to enable searches on mobile phones. In fact, the service has recorded 30,000 searches per day.

According to Mr Venkatesan, Microsoft India was eyeing greater traction in the SME, public sector/government and consumer segments.

Source: ECONOMIC TIMES

Microsoft Adds Free Games To Xbox 360 Consoles

With an eye on the upcoming holiday shopping season, Microsoft(MSFT) on Monday said it would bundle two video games with the Xbox 360, a move that followed by two months price cuts for the video-game console.
By the end of the month, Xbox 360 and Xbox 360 Elite are expected to ship with Forza Motorsport 2 and Marvel Ultimate Alliance. The games have a combined retail price of $90, according to Microsoft.

Microsoft in August lowered the price of the consoles by $50 in an effort to keep pace with similar moves by rival Sony, which sells the PlayStation 3. The 20-Gbyte Xbox 360 now sells for $350. The 120-Gbyte Elite system retails for $450.

The U.S. price cuts followed Sony's decision in July to lower the 60-Gbyte version of the PlayStation 3 to $499 from $599.

While hardware pricing is important, games are the driving force behind consumers' choice of video-game console. Among the most popular games on the Xbox is Microsoft's sci-fi game Halo 3, which posted sales of more than $300 million in its first week on the market. Released Sept. 25, first day sales of Halo reached $170 million, and retailers took more than 1.7 million pre-orders -- both industry records.

Nevertheless, Nintendo's Wii has outpaced sales of the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. Nintendo in June sold 381,800 Wii consoles, compared with Sony's 98,500 PlayStation 3 and Microsoft's 198,400 Xbox 360 machines.

The holiday shopping season, which officially begins the Friday after Thanksgiving and runs to Christmas, is the biggest retail season of the year, and a time when Microsoft and its rivals make major marketing pushes for their consoles.

Source: INFORMATION WEEK

Ballmer Claims Red Hat Violates Microsoft IP

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer says Red Hat Linux uses intellectual property owned by Microsoft and that Red Hat's customers should pay Microsoft for it.

Ballmer made the claim, an echo of earlier remarks aimed at the open source community, during a presentation at a Microsoft event Oct. 4 in London.

"People who use Red Hat, at least with respect to our intellectual property, in a sense have an obligation eventually to compensate us," Ballmer stated, according to news reports, and a video of his remarks posted online.

Asked for comment, Red Hat reiterated its position that its customers are protected from liability by its Open Source Assurance Program, which includes "indemnification against claims raised by any holder of software patents," according to information on Red Hat's Web site.

Red Hat is also a founder of the Open Invention Network, which provides "a patent safe harbor for the Linux environment," Red Hat states.

Ballmer's remarks are "unfortunate," said Jim Zemlin, executive director of the Linux Foundation. If Microsoft really believes Linux violates its patents, it should sue, but that by doing so, it'd be suing its own customers because many use both Microsoft and Linux in their IT systems.

"They have yet to actually make a specific allegation that an identified patent is infringed in a specific product. Until they do it, they'll just create more ill will in the development community and among their own customers, since by their own admission, most of them have both Microsoft and Linux running in their data centers," Zemlin says.

He urged Microsoft to help to reform the software patent system if it supports interoperability with open source. Microsoft entered into an agreement with open source Linux vendor Novell in November 2006 to improve interoperability with Windows and Novell SUSE Linux and protect Novell customers from intellectual property liability claims.

A Gartner research report says Microsoft's strategy is not to file suit but use the infringement claims as leverage to win other agreements like the one with Novell.

"We think the company will attempt to pressure technology providers to come to the table and negotiate an equitable licensing or royalty arrangement in instances where Microsoft can prove its claims of infringement," Gartner stated in response to a May 14 Fortune magazine article in which Microsoft claimed open source software violated 235 of its patents.

Source: PC WORLD

Microsoft is all set to offer Live Services suite from Nov

Microsoft plans to launch the entire suite of Live Services, its platform for offering software on a subscription model across user segments, in the next 6-9 months across the country.


The online subscription software market, according to some estimates is currently put at $112 billion. It is expected to be over $200 billion globally by 2010.

The hosted model where software vendors charge a rental for applications accessed and used off the net is particularly suited to emerging markets like India and China where software piracy and affordability are major concerns. Therefore, much of this estimated growth is expect to come these markets.

While Google has posed a major challenge to Microsoft particularly in the consumer space with its offerings, others like SAP have jumped into the fray in the enterprise space that is a major focus area for Microsoft.

While Windows Live, incorporating Windows Live Hotmail, Live Search, Live messenger and spaces, the blogging solution for individual or small enterprise websites, and Virtual Earth, are already available, Microsoft has lined up a slew of new offerings services some of which are already available in other markets.

"All the time lines for the launch of these services are either yesterday or today or the next six months", Ravi Venkatesan, chairman, Microsoft India, told DNA Money.

If the company has to grow five times its current size as targeted, it is important that the live offerings are ramped up aggressively, he added.

All these offerings are part of Microsoft's software plus services (S+S), architecture that is built around the concept of selling some software and hosted services to customers across segments.

On the consumer side, Microsoft will launch within 45 days Xbox Live.

More significantly, the world's largest software-maker is also preparing the ground to launch early next year Zune, Microsoft's reply to the iPod.

Interestingly, Zune will be launched simultaneously with the Zune Community Service in India that will allow users to download and share music, pictures and other social content with other Zune users, Srikanth Karnakota, leader, platform strategy, said.

Microsoft will be targeting all three screens, the PC, TV and mobile in India with its Live services, he said.

Hosted products for small businesses like Office Live and Microsoft's version of hosted customer relationship management, CRM Live will follow in January followed by Live Meeting, Venkatesan added.

Source: SIFY

Microsoft Patches Critical IE Flaws And Windows Vista Holes

Microsoft(MSFT) on Tuesday released six security bulletins, half of which have an effect on Windows Vista.
"Three of the bulletins impact Vista," said Eric Schultze, chief security architect, of St. Paul, Minn.-based Shavlik Technologies. "That's not a really good track record for an operating system that Microsoft thought was going to secure the world."

Pointing to Windows Vista patches this month and in previous months, Schultze said, "I don't think Vista has had quite the impact that Microsoft hoped it would in staving off the need to patch your OS."

Of the six security updates published Tuesday, four are rated "critical" and two are rated "important." "This is a little larger this month than average," said Schultze. "Obviously, the big news goes toward bulletin 057, which is for Internet Explorer. The Internet Explorer patch goes toward addressing a lot of previously known public vulnerabilities. So you'll want to patch the IE issue pretty quickly for all of your Internet browsing machines."

"Today's Microsoft patches emphasize the need for proactive browser protection and the risk of surfing the Web unprotected," said Dave Marcus, security research and communications manager at McAfee Avert Labs, in an e-mailed statement. "Many of the vulnerabilities addressed by the fixes could be exploited if a Windows user simply clicks a malicious Web link, a favorite attack method among cybercriminals. Users need to be more careful than ever when surfing the Internet."

Though bulletin 058 is only rated "important" -- the "critical" designation is typically reserved for flaws that allow remote code execution -- Schultze nonetheless said the IE fix should be dealt with immediately.

"The other big one that I think it really critical to do is bulletin 058, which Microsoft calls the RPC denial of service," said Schultze, who explained that it could be used to conduct denial of service attacks. "This one will be really critical for network administrators and corporations to protect all of their assets on their internal network... from disgruntled employees."

Schultze said there is no exploit currently circulating for this bug but he expects there will be one within a week.

The other critical bulletins address flaws in Kodak Image Viewer, Outlook Express and Windows Mail, and Microsoft Word that could allow remote code execution. Bulletin 059, rated "important," addresses a vulnerability found that impacts Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 and Office SharePoint Server 2007.

Microsoft had expected to release seven updates Tuesday, as stated last Thursday through its Advance Notification Service (ANS).

Tami Gallupe, Microsoft Security Response Center release manager, explained in a blog post, "As previously communicated, the ANS is always subject to change. We decided to remove one of the updates from the release schedule due to a quality control issue, so we can resolve that issue prior to releasing the update to customers."


Source: INFORMATION WEEK

Internet Explorer 7 Now Available To Software Pirates

Microsoft has released an update for Internet Explorer 7, dropping the Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA) validation for XP users. Previously only genuine copies of XP (i.e. those that phone home to validate) could download and install IE 7.

Microsoft’s move to open up IE 7 to pirated copies of Windows may stem from the fact that IE 7 has yet to overtake IE 6 in popularity according to most web traffic surveys. The removal of the WGA requirement is almost guaranteed to increase the install numbers over IE6.

Microsoft has also made a few small changes to IE 7 in today's update, including the default visibility of the menu bar and a new, more in-depth tour for first-time users.

You can grab the updated Internet Explorer 7 — legit copy of Windows or not — from the Microsoft site.

Source: WIRED

Halo 3 Sales Top $300 Million In First Week

Microsoft said Thursday that its sci-fi video game Halo 3 posted sales of more than $300 million in its first week on the market. "Halo 3 is truly a cultural phenomenon," said Microsoft chairman Bill Gates, in a statement.
Halo 3, for Microsoft's Xbox 360 platform, went on sale Sept. 25. With first day sales of $170 million, the game has already broken a number of industry records for market performance. Retailers took more than 1.7 million pre-orders for Halo 3, another record.

The game is also setting new standards for online play. More than 2.7 million gamers played Halo 3 over Xbox Live in the first week, according to Microsoft.

The title stars Master Chief, a biologically enhanced soldier who has to blast his through a futuristic landscape to survive and accomplish missions. He's countered at every turn by The Covenant, an alliance of hostile aliens.

Despite being less than two weeks old, Halo 3 has already transcended video game circles to make its way into popular culture. The Madam Tussauds wax museum in Las Vegas recently added a statue of Master Chief to a collection of sports and entertainment superstars that includes Shaquille O'Neal and Elvis.

The Halo 3 launch did not go off without a hitch, however. Microsoft conceded that faulty packaging caused scratching on some discs included in the $70.00 Limited Edition of the game. Additionally, the volume of gamers playing Halo 3 on Xbox Live reportedly slowed the network for those playing other games last week.

Still, there's no doubt that Halo 3 is a huge success for Microsoft. The company is hoping that the buzz generated by the game will boost Xbox 360 sales, which dropped 60% year-over-year in the company's fiscal fourth quarter. "Halo 3 embodies our vision for the future of entertainment," said Gates.

Source: INFORMATION WEEK

Microsoft Updates Vista's Speed, Stability, Again

For the second time in two months, Microsoft Corp. has rolled out fixes to improve Windows Vista's speed and reliability.

The four separate updates, available now for download from the vendor's Web site, address several operating system performance and stability problems, deal with a dozen Universal Serial Bus issues, improve Windows Media Player and patch Media Center.

Although Microsoft has put Windows Vista Service Pack 1 (SP1) in the hands of some testers, it has said it will continue to update the original Vista -- dubbed "RTM" for "release to manufacturing" -- even as it puts SP1 through its paces. Seven weeks ago, it issued a pair of updates that tackled numerous problems, offering them as optional items through Windows Update last month.

"[Tuesday's] updates are a collection of fixes that we have made to address a small set of reliability, compatibility, stability, security and performance issues," a Microsoft spokeswoman said Wednesday in an e-mail reply to questions. "[They] will provide incremental improvements to the most common issues -- but in general, these improvements or fixes are going to be very narrow in scope."

The widest ranging of yesterday's quartet was a 5.4MB update for multiple hardware and operating system issues that Microsoft said extends laptop battery life, improves the stability of wireless network connections and deals with compatibility problems with some antivirus software.

Interestingly, the update also promised to shorten Vista start-up and resume-from-sleep times, problems that Microsoft had supposedly fixed with the August patches. Vista users have complained about Vista's slow start-up, shutdown and return from power-saving modes since at least April.

A second update, detailed in the KB941600 support document, is a cumulative roll-up of 12 fixes to Vista's USB components. In Microsoft's terminology, a "roll-up" is a collection of patches, similar to a service pack, but not tested as extensively. A similar cumulative update for Media Center is also available from the Microsoft download site; it deals with several specific problems, including some involving how Vista interacts with Microsoft Xbox 360 video game consoles.

The fourth update patches Windows Media Player 11, the default audio- and video-playing software included with the operating system. Microsoft offered few details -- a support document has not been added to the database -- but the company's spokeswoman said that the 8.8MB download for the 32-bit version of Vista "eliminates corruption of Media Player database in certain scenarios and of media stream in certain scenarios."

The updates will be distributed via Windows Update "in the near future," the spokeswoman added, but as in August, she would not pin them to a date. Microsoft's next scheduled Windows Update releases are due out next Tuesday.

Microsoft has aggressively promoted its ability to update Vista through Windows Update, even going so far as denying after Vista's launch that it needed to produce a comprehensive service pack, or SP1. It has continued to claim that most issues can be addressed by Windows Update.

Mike Nash, the Microsoft executive who leads Windows product management, was the latest to brag about Windows Update's prowess in keeping Vista running smoothly. "The really important updates we can release with Windows Update, and the need for a service pack is actually reduced," he said.

Source: PC WORLD

Microsoft Ready To Launch Digital Phone Systems

Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT) on Tuesday said it is ready to ship to manufacturers software that will power a new line of digital phone systems for small businesses.
The Microsoft Response Point phone systems, which will be offered by D-Link and Quanta Computer, will range in price from $2,500 to $3,000 and will be available for pre-order starting Friday, Microsoft said. A third manufacturer, Aastra Technologies, will produce Response Point-based phones starting next year.

Response Point is designed to let companies of up to 50 employees easily set up and maintain a digital telephone network without the cost or complexity of a public branch exchange, or PBX, system. The software, which has been in development under the code name Edinburgh, will work alongside conventional phone systems or voice-over-IP systems, according to Microsoft.

Microsoft is hoping Response Point's ease of use will appeal to small businesses that typically lack in-house computer or telephony expertise. The company claims individuals with average PC skills will be able to use a simplified management console to add users to the system, set up voice mail, and configure extensions.

Embedded voice recognition technology will enable office workers to initiate a call simply by pressing a button on their Response Point phone and speaking a colleague's name.

Microsoft is looking to aggressively build its presence in the market for computer-based voice services. Earlier this year, the company announced the acquisition of TellMe Networks, a developer of voice recognition software, for an undisclosed price.

Customers can preorder Quanta's Syspine Response Point-based phone system beginning Friday, Oct. 5. A package that includes a base unit with built-in analog telephone adapter (ATA) and secure gateway (NYSE: GTW), plus four phones, will cost about $2,500. Additional phones will be available for $159 each.

D-Link's Response Point systems, called VoiceCenter, will be available by year's end. The VoiceCenter system will include a base unit, ATA, and five phones for approximately $2,999. Additional phone lines will cost about $149.

Microsoft Financing will allow customers who purchase through an authorized Microsoft reseller to pay for fully installed Response Point systems on a monthly basis. Microsoft said the plan will give small businesses access to advanced phone technology without straining their credit lines or making large, up-front investments.

Source: INFORMATION WEEK

Microsoft Goes Jellyfishing

Microsoft's (Nasdaq: MSFT) been doing a lot of acquisitive fishing lately, so it's only fair that it should be the one to bag a Jellyfish.com. The Inside Value pick announced that it acquired the comparative-shopping website in a Live Search blog entry yesterday.

I poked at Jellyfish.com when it launched in the summer of 2006. It offered many of the same product-related search features you'd find on similar sites, like CNET Networks' (Nasdaq: CNET) MySimon.com, or Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) Products -- the site formerly known as "Froogle." But unlike its predecessors, Jellyfish is a comparison-shopping website that eats like a loyalty program.

"Jellyfish is the ONLY shopping engine to directly share $ with you," explains the site. "As a Jellyfish member, you'll receive automatic savings on everything you buy. Think of us as a search engine for shopping, except we share at least half of every $1 we earn when you shop. I bet your search engine has never done that!"

In other words, the Jellyfish model is more in the mold of the free loyalty marketing program available through sites like United Online's (Nasdaq: UNTD) MyPoints.com. There, shoppers earn gift certificates by shopping at the site's revenue-sharing partners.

In Jellyfish's plan, users get a cut of any commission due to Jellyfish for the referral, in the form of a cash-back rebate the following month.

The myth behind money for nothing
Giving money away seems like a no-brainer way to draw an audience and lose venture-capital funding. In reality, it often fails on both fronts. IAC/InterActiveCorp's (Nasdaq: IACI) iWon.com has positioned itself as a search engine with prizes, yet it has never posed a threat to the most popular portals, including IAC's own Ask.com.

Sure, it works sometimes. Electronic Arts (Nasdaq: ERTS) is doing just fine with its Pogo.com casual games hub, which rewards players with chances at regular cash drawings. Before it got taken to the cleaners by the major labels, the original MP3.com signed up more than 180,000 artists who were drawn to the site's "payback for playback" promotion, generating pocket change based on free downloads delivered.

Then again, maybe Pogo and MP3.com were destined to be first-mover stars anyway. The carrots were either not necessary, or a brilliant tactic to keep penny-pinching rivals at bay.

When it comes to comparative shopping, the jury's still out on the carrot. Jellyfish has been around for nearly 16 months now and this is the first time the company has found its way into the Fool.com pages since my original article in June 2006.

"We think the technology has some interesting potential applications as we continue to invest heavily in shopping and commerce as a key component of Live Search," reads Microsoft's blogged explanation for the purchase.

So it's hard to say if the site will stay afloat in its current form or if it's going to be the technological backbone of something even bigger at Microsoft.

Shopping and searching should be buddies
Why can't Mr. Softy just run Jellyfish in its original form, using its marketing muscle to draw a bigger crowd? Well, it may appear to be a conflict of interest to non-Jellyfish sponsors who are active advertising clients for the company.

Shopping and search engines seem to be a match made in heaven, but keep in mind that Google bumped Froogle from its landing page last year, before going on to kill the brand altogether by renaming it Google Products. Yahoo! (Nasdaq: YHOO) offers Yahoo! Shopping, though the comparative-shopping engine almost feels secondary to the company's true goal of getting small merchants to sign up and be listed by the site's e-commerce services.

Shopping and search aren't perfectly matched, interlocking puzzle pieces. I wouldn't be surprised to see the Jellyfish purchase morph into something else. A year from now, don't be surprised to find a MSN search product that rewards users with free Zune tunes, or a paid-search program where referred users get special pricing. Just because iWon hasn't won, that doesn't mean Microsoft's next buy will be iLost.

Source: Motley Fool

Microsoft unveils new generation of Zune

Microsoft has unveiled the second generation of Zune digital music players and will offer consumers 1 million unprotected songs on its online music store.

Microsoft announced on Tuesday that it will offer three new models of the Zune in November including two equipped with flash memory. The 4GB and 8GB versions are iPod Nano look-alikes that will sell for a suggested retail price of $149 and $199 respectively. An 80GB player equipped with a hard drive will sell for $249. The pricing scheme for the devices exactly mirrors Apple's iPods.

Some of the other changes include a complete overhaul of the device's software and a redesign of Marketplace, Zune's music store. Other interesting features include wireless syncing and the new Zune Pad, a touch-sensitive technology that enables users to slide their finger across the main navigation button instead of always having to click.

The 4GB and 8GB models represent Zune's first foray into flash-based players and they will be offered in a palette of red, pink, black and green. The 80GB features a 3.2-inch screen and will be smaller and thinner than the original Zune 30GB player. The software upgrades will also replace the software in the 30GB models.


Zune devices will automatically sync when connected over home wireless networks. The feature is designed to ensure that owners always leave home with the latest content, such as podcasts.

The move to provide unprotected MP3 music on the Zune music store is unprecedented for Microsoft but does not come as a surprise. Not only is the company one of the major providers of digital rights management software, but executives there slammed Apple and its CEO Steve Jobs last February when he called on the music industry to abandon DRM.

Microsoft then reversed itself in April, saying it would eventually sell unprotected songs on Marketplace.

While 1 million songs may sound like a lot, Microsoft isn't saying just how much of that music is coming from the four major music labels. Already, eMusic offers more than 2 million unprotected tracks from mostly independent labels. In May, Apple announced it had partnered with record company EMI to sell DRM-free music on iTunes. Apple hasn't said how many unprotected tracks on iTunes are available.

Susan Kevorkian, an analyst with IDC, said that Microsoft is more interested in selling music players than it is with providing DRM software. She said that Microsoft began scaling back its DRM efforts last year in order to throw more resources at improving the Zune.

But are the new products enough to reel in Apple? The newest Zunes are a step up, but Microsoft watchers don't think they offer anything better than the iPod.

"I would say they are holding their own," Van Baker, a research vice president with Gartner, said of Microsoft's venture into the music category. "Within that group (vying for the approximate 30 percent market share that Apple doesn't own), I'd say they are a contender. Are they gaining on Apple or making up ground? I don't think so."

What's new with Zune?
The problem is that the newest Zune models don't offer anything demonstrably better than the iPod, the analysts said.

More than a year has passed since Microsoft began developing the music player and the company is still without a comparable video store to iTunes. Zune's Marketplace will begin offering music videos, but it is still without TV shows. While Microsoft crowed about its new touch-sensitive navigation button, the new iPods come equipped with touch-sensitive screens.

And the new iPods now offer Wi-Fi--a feature that was supposed to set the Zune apart.

Kevorkian said her company last year had anticipated "a quicker refresh" to the Zune. She said that some of the reasons that may have slowed Zune efforts may have been some key departures in the unit's management and that it was forced to rush the launch of its debut models.

"What we are seeing now are important incremental changes," Kevorkian said. "What we're waiting to see is more revolutionary changes, such as the ability to access the Zune music service via Wi-Fi. We think Microsoft will be a strong player in the portable flash player category. They have diversified their player platform and undertaken a major overhaul of their software, which is important way to development. There are people looking for an alternative to Apple, and Microsoft is likely going to win market share from other Windows-based media players. They are just behind right now."

Microsoft has always said that the Zune was a long-term project, predicting in 2006 that it could take years and hundreds of millions of dollars to go toe-to-toe with Apple. The company surpassed its initial sales goal by selling more than 1 million Zunes by June.

"What we've done in the past year is establish the Zune brand," said Jason Reindorp, marketing director for Zune. "It's starting to mean something to people. That isn't easy to do. Microsoft had a very realistic view of what it would take to get into the marketplace and differentiate itself and be successful. We look at these things in terms of years, not months."

Interestingly, Microsoft usually likes to compare its efforts with Zune to that of the company's foray into the video game sector. With the Xbox, Microsoft seized market share from Sony and Nitendo very early. Are there any similarities between X-box's early efforts and Zune's?

"No, absolutely not," Baker said. "Xbox had Halo. If it wasn't for Halo, Xbox probably wouldn't exist. But that's the game industry, where one incredible franchise can drive an entire platform. Against Apple, Microsoft is up against a dominate service worldwide and it's going to be tough to knock them down if Microsoft doesn't bring something uniquely different to market. If Microsoft can't do that, they can only compete on price and that only buys so much time."

Source: CNET

Microsoft Takes Office Online

Microsoft on Monday continued its foray into the world of online applications with a program that allows Office users to access their documents online and share with others.

Users are now invited to pre-register for Office Live Workspace, which allows those with Microsoft Office to access their Word, Excel and PowerPoint documents online. The software giant is dubbing the offering an "online companion" to the Office product.

"These documents will go wherever people go when they're away from their usual desktops," Jeff Raikes, president of Microsoft's business division, said in a statement. "People will be able to work on documents from any Microsoft Office-equipped computer with an Internet connection – or review and comment on documents on devices that only offer Web access."

If users want to share their online Office documents or collaborate with another user, they must send an e-mail that will include password-protected access to their files.

Users can also "post files to their dedicated password-protected online workspace directly from the Office application in which they're working, Raikes said.

If a user wants to migrate to another PC and use the saved web document, he or she will not need to have Microsoft Office installed on the machine, a Microsoft spokesman said. "It doesn't necessarily have to be Microsoft Office, but you will need a word processor of some sort, or spreadsheet application, presentation app, etc.," he said.

"That said, individuals can view files even if there is no app installed on the computer – they will just not be able to edit," the spokesman added.

Microsoft rival Google has its own Web-based office application known as Google Apps. Earlier this year, Google denied that it was specifically targeting the customers of providers like Microsoft with Google Apps, but a spokesman admitted that the Apps unit is moving forward on several pilot projects for larger companies.

When Google later rolled out its Google Apps premiere edition designed for businesses of all sizes, Rajen Sheth, product manager for Google Enterprise, insisted that the company considered "Google Apps to be a complement, not a competitor, to traditional desktop applications."

Microsoft on Monday, meanwhile, re-branded its Microsoft Office Live hosted small business service as Microsoft Office Live Small Business.

Microsoft has made a number of updates to its Windows Live applications in recent months, though it is taking great pains to differentiate between the "Live" and "Online" offerings.

Live applications, like Gallery, Mail, Messenger, and Writer are free, Web-based offerings that provide services like photo sharing, Webmail, messaging and blogging. In September, Microsoft unveiled a unified installer that will enable one-stop downloads of those applications, a feature that will reportedly assist in a "cloud computing" effort that links these applications to the Windows operating system.

The "Online" endeavor, however, is intended for organizations "with more advanced IT needs where power and flexibility is critical, and the ability to control access to data, manage users, apply business and compliance policy, and meet high availability standards are important considerations," according to Microsoft.

Also on Monday, Microsoft announced the start of Microsoft Exchange Labs, a research and development program intended to produce next-generation messaging and communication technologies. It will involve select universities and school districts, Microsoft said.

Source: PC MAG

Adobe Piles On Microsoft With Online Word Processor

Adobe (NSDQ: ADBE) on Monday will join Google (NSDQ: GOOG), IBM (NYSE: IBM), and Sun -- not to mention startups like Ajax13, ThinkFree, TransMedia, and Zoho -- in what's becoming an industry-wide assault on Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT) Office.
At the Adobe Max Conference in Chicago, Adobe plans to announce that it has signed an agreement to acquire Waltham, Mass.-based Virtual Ubiquity and Buzzword, the startup's Flash-based online word processor.

Buzzword joins Adobe's other online offerings, Acrobat Connect, Create PDF Online, and a new service called Share, to form the backbone of a free online document collaboration service.

"This combination of services is focusing on what we call collaboration on documents that matter," said Erik Larson, Adobe's director of marketing and product management.

Share is being offered as a beta service through Adobe Labs. It allows users to share and publish online documents by inviting friends or colleagues. Shared documents can utilize PDF-based policy limitations to prevent copying or printing, for example.

The Share service also includes a set of REST (Representational State Transfer) APIs to integrate document data into other applications.

Like Google and its Google Docs word processor, Adobe is in this for the collaboration. "We know that people are working online more and together more," said Larson. "They're looking for their productivity increases to be not just individual gains but gains for the group."

But unlike Google Docs, Buzzword feels like a desktop word processor. It understands margins, for example, and its online pages look like their printed output. Rick Treitman, CEO of Virtual Ubiquity, calls this, "WYSIWIS, What You See Is What I See."

"All of our services and long term vision is making sure everyone is seeing the same thing," added Larson.

Adobe is aiming Buzzword at small and midsize businesses, as well as consumers. "We do expect students and educators to use it because the service will be free," said Larson, noting that Buzzword isn't intended for enterprise use.

Adobe plans to add premium services around its online collaboration offerings. The company did not provide any details about what these premium services might be.

At some point next year, when Adobe AIR 1.0 is released, Buzzword will run offline under the AIR platform.

Adobe also plans on Monday to announce that nine media partners that have committed to work with Adobe to distribute their content on Adobe Media Player, Adobe's AIR-based multiplatform application runtime for running Internet applications on the desktop.

Adobe's new partners include CBS, PBS, Yahoo Video, Meredith Corp., Blip.tv, Fora.tv, Motionbox, MyToons, and StimTV.

"As we saw TV moving to Internet distribution, we saw we needed a new kind of player," said Deeje Cooley, product manager for Adobe Media Player. He described that kind of player as one that requires less time to find content and leaves more time to enjoy it.

Source: Information Week

Microsoft Blogger Accidentally Leaks Office Mobile Upgrade

A Microsoft Corp. employee on Thursday accidentally blogged about an upgrade to Office Mobile that shouldn't be available for another couple of weeks.

The upgrade, when it becomes available, should solve an incompatibility issue that left Windows Mobile 6.0 users unable to read Office 2007 file formats.

Jason Langridge, who works in Microsoft's Windows Mobile group in the U.K., wrote that Office Mobile 6.1 was available and he included a link to the download page. But a representative with Microsoft's external public relations firm said that the upgrade was put up on the site initially for internal testing and was accidentally made available to the public.

The new version of Office Mobile is expected to become available very soon, probably within the next two weeks, he said.

Langridge has not yet removed the post from his blog.

The download page, which is no longer accessible, said that the upgrade allows viewing and editing of Word documents and Excel Workbooks and viewing of PowerPoint slides that were created using Office 2007. Office 2007 was released in January and is based on the Open XML format. Windows Mobile 6.0 devices began hitting the market in the middle of this year but users have been unable to read Office 2007 documents, unless they used a third party software product. DataViz Inc., for example, offers software that lets Windows Mobile 6.0 users read Office 2007 documents.

Users of the upgrade will also be able to view and extract files from compressed .zip folders, it said.

Following the link on Langridge's site now leads to a page with this message: "The download you requested is unavailable. If you continue to see this message when trying to access this download, go to the "Search for a Download" area on the Download Center home page."

Source: PC WORLD

Microsoft Confirms Stealth Updating Mucks Up XP Restore

Microsoft Corp. Friday confirmed that Windows XP users who repair the operating system cannot update their PCs with the latest patches because of a file included with the stealth update pushed out to machines this summer.

"When an XP repair CD is used, it replaces all system files (including Windows Update) on your machine with older versions of those files and restores the registry," said Nate Clinton, program manager for Windows Update (WU), in a post to the Microsoft company blog dedicated to the update service. "However, the latest version of Windows Update includes 'wups2.dll' that was not originally present in Windows XP. Therefore, after the repair install of the OS, wups2.dll remains on the system, but its registry entries are missing. This mismatch causes updates to fail installation."

The Windows Secrets newsletter reported the patch installation failures after tests on Windows XP machines that had been restored by an in-place reinstall. The root of the problem, said the publication, is that seven DLLs from the latest revision to WU -- not just one -- failed to register themselves with XP. Microsoft could not provide an explanation for the discrepancy between the claims.

The file cited by Clinton, wups2.dll, is one of the seven fingered by Windows Secrets and part of the so-called stealth update that Microsoft sent to most noncorporate Windows XP and Vista users beginning in July and running through this month. The update was delivered and installed without prior notification, even when the PC's owner had told the operating system not to download or install updates without notification and permission.

Computerworld on Thursday confirmed through testing that the WU update silent update -- tagged as 7.0.600.381 -- blocks 80 patches and hot fixes from installing on a just-repaired system restored with a retail version of Windows XP SP2. After executing a batch file recommended by Windows Secrets, the batch file registered each of the seven suspect DLLs. The updates could be installed, however.

Clinton said the problem would be fixed by registering only the wups2.dll file. He also listed the steps users should take, and promised that a document providing more detail would be posted to Microsoft's support database. As of midday Friday, the document, designated KB943144, had not appeared on Microsoft's support site.

Although Scott Dunn of Windows Secrets said the post-repair update bug is proof of the danger that stealth updates pose, Andrew Storms, director of security operations at nCircle Network Security Inc., said Friday that the practice also hits Microsoft in the wallet.

"Imagine the amount of work for Microsoft's support teams on this," he said. "It would have probably taken a couple of hours on the phone to help a customer," he added, because even the support representative would not have had any idea that the WU update was the cause. "This isn't just a PR problem for Microsoft, but also a support problem.

"Silent updates are not going to help with Microsoft or end users," Storms said.

Companies may rely on re-imaging a damaged PC rather than restore it with an in-place reinstall, he said, but plenty of small and midsize companies depend on the repair option. They, too, would be stymied by the inability to patch repaired PCs, since the same WU client software is used by Windows Server Update Services (WSUS), the update mechanism most businesses use to deliver update to their end-user machines.

"Everyone gets the same updates [to WU]," said Storms, "so the same problem will persist for both WSUS and people getting updates direct from Microsoft."

Source: PC WORLD

Microsoft Adds Details to Windows Extender Plan

Microsoft on Thursday unveiled details about upcoming extenders for its Windows Media Center intended to allow seamless transitions between home computers, TVs and other home media devices.

The extenders will be launched by Cisco, D-Link and Niveus and will be available starting in November, Joe Belfiore, corporate vice president of Microsoft's Entertainment and Devices eHome Division, said at the Digital Life conference in Manhattan.

The Cisco and D-Link devices will range in price from $300 to $350, but pricing information for the more high-end Niveus product has not yet been revealed.

Microsoft originally launched the Media Center Extender for Windows XP in 2004-2005, and followed it up with the Media Center Extender for the Xbox 360. The idea is to allow consumers to take media viewed on one device like a PC and transition it seamlessly to another, like a home TV or online personal network.

"People can create their own experiences [and] we do the work through extender of making it show up on every TV in the house," Belfiore said.

The DMA2200 Media Center extender with DVD Player from Linksys, a division of Cisco, provides extender capability with a built-in DVD player. It will retail for $349.99.

The idea is to have the device "tag along with other devices so you're not increasing the number of boxes you switch between," Belfiore said.

For those who do not need a DVD player, however, the more compact DMA2100 version provides a dual-band wireless-N solution and intended for smaller areas like the bedroom. It will set consumers back $299.99.

The DSM-750 extender from D-Link is housed in a 17-inch, black aluminum chassis and connects to a home network via Ethernet or dual-band draft wireless-N networking. It supports Windows Media video DivX and XVid formats and includes a USB 2.0 port for removable USB flash and hard drive access. It will retail for $349.99.

The DSM-750 "will support wide range of content," Belfiore said. "It is totally silent, no fan [and is] fast enough for photos, music and high def video."

The Niveus device is intended for more high-end, home theater owners. It will include 1080p video, digital audio, an internal cooling system and the 3-D user interface found on the Niveus Media Center.

The new extenders will be available in the U.S. in November, Belfiore said.

Representatives from Hewlett-Packard were on hand earlier in the morning to announce that its HP MediaSmart LCD HD TV's will support the new extenders from Microsoft. "This will be the first high-def TV that will have media extenders built-in and available from the TV itself," said Phil McKinney, vice president and chief technology officer for HP's personal systems group.

HP's MediaSmart TVs are currently on sale, but the extender software from Microsoft will not be available until early 2008. Televisions purchased before those updates are released will be automatically updated early next year, McKinney said.

In addition to the extenders, Microsoft on Thursday launched a beta Internet TV offering that will be available to all U.S. customers running Windows Vista Media Center.

The service will allow users to view TV content without a tuner in the PCs. The streaming video content – which will include concert footage, movie trailers, news segments from MSNBC, sports clips from Fox Sports and episodes of TV shows like "Arrested Development" – will be ad-supported.

Source: PC MAG

XP Reprieve: Microsoft Gives OEMs Five More Months

Microsoft is extending the time it will allow original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and retail outlets to sell PCs with Windows XP as customers continue to balk on upgrading to Windows Vista.

Microsoft had planned to stop selling XP through OEMs and retailers on Jan. 31, 2008, while custom system builders have until Jan. 31, 2009, to pre-install XP on machines. But because sales of Vista PCs have not been as strong as expected, OEMs and retailers have asked Microsoft to extend XP's availability. OEMs and retailers will now have until June 30, 2008, to sell PCs with Vista preinstalled on machines, Microsoft said. Retailers also can sell XP out of the box until that time if they choose, the company said.

In fact, some PC makers are selling Vista-equipped systems with an XP Pro recovery disc to those who request one so that it can be used in case the purchaser isn't happy with the new Microsoft OS.

Why?
"While we've been pleased with the positive response we've seen and heard from customers using Windows Vista, there are some customers who need a little more time to make the switch to Windows Vista," Microsoft said in a press statement.

Microsoft also is extending the life of Windows XP Starter Edition, the version of XP for emerging markets. The software will be available until June 30, 2010, so users in those markets can take advantage of low-cost, hardware-constrained PCs that Vista may not be compatible with. Vista requires hardware upgrades that most PCs running XP do not have.

Per Microsoft's policy as of 2002, a new Windows OS would stay on the market about four years after its original availability date. But XP was released on Oct. 25, 2001, more than five years before Vista limped out the door to consumers Jan. 31, 2007, after several delays and a major code overhaul.

Vista Expectations Lowered
Microsoft had high expectations for customer adoption of Vista, and claimed the launch would be one of the most successful in Windows history. Unfortunately for the company, those predictions so far haven't panned out, and in July, Microsoft lowered its projections for customer adoption of Vista. The company had said the split between XP and Vista sales in its fiscal year ending June 30, 2008, would be 15 percent to 85 percent; now the company is saying the split will be 22 percent XP and 78 percent Vista.

According to some, that may even be optimistic. Paul Ghysels, a custom system builder who owns the Neighborhood Computer Store in Moraga, California, said that Microsoft has "really blown Vista." He said he's not surprised Microsoft extended the availability of XP for OEMs. "I figured Microsoft would have to come up with something because Vista is so unprepared for the market right now," Ghysels said.

He added that the extension likely won't affect his business much, since most of his customers come to him because they are already disillusioned with the major PC manufacturers and thus unlikely to want a name-brand PC pre-loaded with Vista.

Vista Service Pack 1 (SP1), a rollup of updates for the OS that Microsoft has said will be available in the first quarter of 2008, should make Vista more market-worthy. In fact, many consumers and businesses have said they would wait for the update before moving from XP to Vista.

Source: PC WORLD

Microsoft targets India's young guns

Microsoft Corp. flagged off on Thursday customised domains for the huge market of young Indians in a bid to boost revenues from free e-mail services a decade after it acquired Hotmail.

The service, www.coolhotmail.com, to be operationalised at the weekend, uses the same Hotmail platform but will offer 200 personalised domains to choose from, said Jaspreet Brindra, chief of Microsoft's Indian subsidiary.

"More than one million Indians who come on the net every month are below 25 years of age," Brindra told a news conference.

Hotmail, which claims to be India's second largest e-mail provider after Yahoo!, is planning an advertising blitz for the customised domains on television, radio and the Internet.

"It is quite apparent that we are looking to have more revenue opportunities through the wider usage of this service," Brindra said.

Nearly half of India's 1.1 billion people are below 25 years of age and the country boasts the world's largest English-speaking population spurring dramatic growth in the computer software industry.

Internet usage monitoring agency, comScore Networks, in its latest survey found a major surge in the number of Internet users in India in the last year.

More than 21 million Indians above the age of 15 years were using Internet at the end of last January, compared with 16 million just a year ago, comScore said. That 33 per cent leap compared with growth of just two percent in the United States.

"This vast young user population now wants personalised identity and wants to advertise their choices and these domains we are launching will cater to that," said Samir Saraiya, product chief of Microsoft's Windows Live Services.

The number of people using Internet globally soared 10 per cent to touch 747 million people in the year to January, 2007.

Economic boom helped lift India's personal computer sales by 32 per cent to 5.04 million units in the year to March 31, 2006, according to the Manufacturers' Association for Information Technology.

Desktop sales totalled 4.6 million units -- up 27 per cent over the same period -- while notebook sales totalled 430,000 units, up 144 per cent.

Source: THE TIMES OF INDIA

Serious Flaw In Microsoft Excel 2007 Displays Math Errors

Microsoft Excel 2007 has math problems. Over the weekend some folks in the Microsoft Excel Google Group reported that cell operations like =77.1*850 return erroneous results (in this case Excel returns the value as 100,000 when in fact it's 65,535). A post on the Excel Blog confirms the issue and even says the problem is more widespread than initially reported.

Fortunately the Excel team has identified the problem and is says it’s working on a solution. As it turn out, Excel can add, contrary to some headlines, it just doesn’t display the right data in the cell.

This issue was introduced when we were making changes to the Excel calculation logic in the Office 2007 time frame. Specifically, Excel incorrectly displays the result of a calculation in 12 very specific cases. The key here is that the issue is actually not in the calculation itself (the result of the calculation stored in Excel’s memory is correct), but only in the result that is shown in the sheet. Said another way, =850*77.1 will display an incorrect value, but if you then multiply the result by 2, you will get the correct answer (i.e. if A1 contains “=850*77.1”, and A2 contains “=A1*2”, A2 will return the correct answer of 131,070).

The Excel team says they have a fix for this issue and are almost done testing to ensure that the fix works and doesn’t introduce any additional issues. Once they’re satisfied an update will be made available.

Note that this issue does not affect earlier versions of Excel.

Source: WIRED

Microsoft Tells Availability, Price of Office 2008 for Mac

Microsoft Corp. has named the date on which Mac OS X users can get their hands on the latest version of its Office suite.

"Office 2008 for Mac" will be launched on Jan. 15 in the U.S. -- that's the first day of the Macworld Expo event planned for San Francisco -- and it will be launched in other major markets during the first quarter, the company said.

Three versions of the suite will be available: the basic package includes all the Office applications. The "home and student edition" is targeted at consumers and includes a three-user license. The "special media edition" comes with all Office software and the "Expression Media for Mac" image management application.

The basic edition will cost US$400, the home and student edition will cost $150 and the special media edition will cost $500. Upgrade packages from Office 2004 to the basic edition will cost $240 and to the special media edition will cost $300. Upgrade details to the home and student edition were not disclosed and an upgrade may not be available. Pricing is in line with the current prices for Office 2004.

From Tuesday, Microsoft is also offering customers in some countries who buy Office 2004 an upgrade to Office 2008 for only the price of shipping, handling and taxes.

The launch of the Mac version will come a year after the latest version of Office was offered for the Windows operating system. Office 2008 for Mac will support the Open XML file format and the package will be a Universal Binary that runs on both Power PC and Intel-based Mac computers. Versions will be available in Danish, Dutch, English, Finnish, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Norwegian, Spanish and Swedish.

Source: PC WORLD

Microsoft Delivers Vista Ultimate Add-on, Delays Others

Just days after users and bloggers raised Cain about Microsoft missing a deadline to deliver add-ons that it promised Windows Vista users, the company announced Tuesday that it is shipping one program but delaying 19 language packs for another month.

Microsoft also said that while Vista Service Pack 1's on-screen information about the add-ons has been dramatically scaled back from what appeared in the original operating system, it has no intention of dropping the extras.

Shipping Tuesday, said Barry Goffe, the director of Vista Ultimate, is DreamScene, the long-in-beta video screensaver that first appeared in February. The other downloads he had said would be shipped this summer -- the remaining language packs used to turn Ultimate into a localized operating system -- have been delayed until next month, however.

"While we are excited about shipping DreamScene, the remaining 19 language packs are, unfortunately, not yet ready for release," said Goffe in a post to the Microsoft company blog that features news of Ultimate's add-ons, dubbed "Extras" by the company.

"Recently, we realized that Ultimate customers who tried to install the language packs that shipped earlier this year were experiencing an unacceptably high number of failures during installation," Goffe said. "We continue to make delivering the highest-quality, most-secure Extras our top priority, and we will not ship any Extra until it is absolutely ready."

The new deadline for the language packs, he added, is "by the end of October."

Microsoft has been taken to task by Vista Ultimate users since June, when several prominent Windows bloggers noted that it had been six months since the operating system's launch and the company hadn't shipped any finalized Extras in that time. Within days, Goffe was blogging, saying that DreamScene and the unshipped language packs would release by the end of summer.

Extras, which are bonus downloads available only to customers running the top-end Vista edition, were one of the benefits cited by Microsoft to distinguish the $399 version of the operating system from its $239 cousin, Home Premium. Microsoft's online marketing, for instance, touted Extras as "cutting-edge programs, innovative services, and unique publications" that would be regularly offered to Ultimate users.

According to Goffe, Extras are still coming, even though some testers of Vista SP1 have noticed a dramatic difference between what the service pack shows in a "What are Windows Ultimate Extras?" dialog box. Long Zheng, for example, who writes the Windows enthusiast blog iStartedSomething, posted screenshots of the original dialog box and the one from SP1 on Sunday.

"On a related note, Windows Vista Service Pack 1 even tries to hide the Ultimate Extras shame by removing much of the information in the Control Panel applet," Zheng wrote then.

Not true, said Goffe. "Our intent in making this change was simply to broaden the definition in anticipation of a broader range of Ultimate Extras being available in the future," he said on the blog. While he also said that Microsoft would ship additional add-ons, he didn't explicitly promise that Extras would continue.

In a reply to questions, however, a company spokesman did just that. "We are fully committed to delivering additional Windows Ultimate Extras in the future," the spokesman said in an e-mail. "In addition to this latest announcement, we plan to ship a collection of additional Windows Ultimate Extras over the next few years."

DreamScene can be downloaded only by Vista Ultimate users, who can retrieve the screensaver from the Windows Update screen.

Source: PC WORLD