Microsoft hand out XP to Vista haters

Mark Sutton September 24, 10:49am

Exclusively with laptops carrying Vista Business or Ultimate editions

Buyers of laptops with Vista Business or Ultimate editions installed will find they have the option to downgrade to XP as part of a scheme that Microsoft would prefer to be kept quiet.

 
 

Even though the company is pushing the Vista operating system hard, it has made an announcement via the Lenovo website, which sheepishly states that: "For a limited time only Lenovo customers that have Windows Vista Business or Ultimate installed on their machines will have the chance to purchase a Windows XP Recovery CD."

 
 

Fujitsu, however, has taken disgruntled Vista users a bit too seriously and will be compensating by including a copy of Windows XP in the box with their laptops and tablets.

 
 

"That's going to help out small- and medium-size businesses," Fujitsu marketing manager Brandon Farris told CNET News.com.

 
 

Hewlett Packard will also begin a program in August for several of its business models. "For business desktops, workstations and select business notebooks and tablet PCs, customers can configure their systems to include the XP Pro restore disc for little or no charge," HP spokeswoman Tiffany Smith said in an e-mail. She said it was too soon to gauge how high customer interest has been. "Since we've only been offering (it) for about a month, we don't really have anything to share on demand."

 
 

Microsoft has confirmed that changes have been made to Vista to allow customers to easily downgrade to XP. Previously it would have been very difficult to do so. Microsoft noted in a statement that neither it nor the PC makers are "obligated to supply earlier versions to end users under the end user licensing terms."

 
 

Downgrade your Vista to XP

Ever since Vista machines have been popping up in stores, we have had users perpetually asking how they can downgrade their Vista machines back to Windows XP. For some brands like Dell, consumers can choose at the point of sale to preinstall XP. For others, they have had to buy an XP license while hunting for the proper drivers.

 
 

According to a recent News.com article, there are some in the second group may have wasted their money. Turns out that if one had actually read the license terms--which we dare say 99 percent of users don't--OEM versions of Vista Business and Ultimate Editions can be downgraded to XP without additional cost.

 
 

When contacted, Microsoft told CNET Asia that owners of these versions need only call the customer support center, cite the Vista serial number and get an activation code for Windows XP Professional, XP Professional x64 or XP Tablet PC Edition. So even if the notebook does not come bundled with an XP CD, you can use an older disc from a previous machine and put in the new activation code. Vendors who buy into this program will bundle their system with both Windows XP and Vista recovery discs.

 
 

When contacted, Dell mentioned that it already has this program in place for its Asia consumers, while ASUS and Toshiba will be participating in this program at a later date.

Vista Service Pack, Windows Server Previews Hit

By Stuart J. Johnston

Microsoft announced Monday it has begun the long-expected beta test of the first service pack for Windows Vista. In addition, it has also begun shipping the first release candidate, or RC, of Windows Server 2008, which includes an early version of its upcoming virtualization software.

The company said a month ago that Vista Service Pack 1 (SP1), which has already been in a closely limited beta test since earlier in the summer, would ship to a broader beta audience "in a few weeks."

That is happening now as Microsoft releases the SP1 beta to a list of around 12,000 testers, according to an e-mail from a company spokesperson. The service pack will include all of the various patches and hotfixes that have been released for Vista so far, as well as updated device drivers.

Just as importantly, especially for Microsoft's legal team, it also adds capabilities needed to enable third-party desktop search engines to easily replace Microsoft's own search engine as the default – a promise that the company made last spring to the judge overseeing its U.S. antitrust consent decree.

Windows Vista SP1 is currently scheduled for final delivery in the first quarter of 2008.

Meanwhile, the company is also shipping RC0 – Release Candidate Zero – of Windows Server 2008. In Microsoft parlance, the release candidate stage is the last phase between beta test and the final shipping release.

One bonus feature with RC0 is the inclusion of a community technology preview (CTP) of Microsoft's hypervisor-based Windows Server virtualization technology, codenamed Viridian. (For Microsoft, a CTP is a less formal way of releasing code to interested parties for testing without going through an official beta test step.)

"Windows Server 2008 includes a thin (under a megabyte), hypervisor-based software virtualization layer that runs between the hardware and the Windows Server 2008 operating system," according to a Microsoft statement.

 

While the company has had some basic virtualization products available for several years, namely Virtual PC and Virtual Server, which both run on top of Windows – Microsoft has been vocal about how the arrival next year of its Windows Virtualization technology for Windows Server 2008 will provide so-called "hypervisor" capabilities. The hypervisor enables multiple operating system sessions, each running in its own VM, to run simultaneously on a single physical host.

 

Viridian is not scheduled to be in Windows Server 2008 when it ships. However, it is scheduled to ship within 180 days of the server's release. In late August, Microsoft disclosed that it has pushed back the final ship date for Windows Server 2008 to the first quarter of next year.

No need to get too excited, however, said one long-time Microsoft observer. The beta of the Vista service pack has been expected and much dissected already, for instance.

"The server [release candidate] is somewhat interesting because we're getting our first look at Microsoft's virtualization software," Michael Cherry, lead analyst for operating systems at researcher Directions on Microsoft, told InternetNews.com.

"That just means that people who are interested in evaluating [Viridian] can do that testing," he added.

Windows Server 2008, which was previously codenamed Longhorn Server, will provide many new capabilities that it has in common with Vista, including the Aero user interface.

It will also provide important new functions such as "server core" – a minimal installation option that enables an administrator to deploy only what's needed of Windows Server 2008, such as a Web server, sans the graphical user interface, instead providing a command line for management use.

Another key new feature will provide what the company terms Network Access Protection or NAP – which will automatically sequester new PCs on the network until they meet defined levels of security.

 

Credit : http://www.internetnews.com/ent-news/article.php/3701406

Seagate Gets System Builders Vista-Ready

Sarah Falson - Tuesday, 25 September 2007

Seagate has unveiled a hard drive 'toolkit' to assist system builders boost profits and capitalise on the increasing convergence to Windows' Vista operating system by providing the support to market and sell high-capacity storage that operates in harmony with Vista.

The new resource will help system builders match a Seagate desktop, notebook or external hard drive to the correct version of Vista, which includes Ultimate, Home Premium, Home Basic, Business and Enterprise models. System builders will also gain assistance tailoring Vista-based systems to their customers' requirements.

 

"Microsoft is pleased Seagate is offering drives that help increase Windows Vista users' productivity by offering high-capacity, easy to access storage solutions for valuable data," said Microsoft senior product manager, Trina Carlstrom.

 

"We are glad Seagate is continuing these efforts and supporting the channel...

 

Credit : http://www.smarthousenews.com.au/Computing/Platforms?Article=/Computing/Platforms/X4T4D8U4

Windows Vista SP1 beta drops

Submitted by John.Obeto on Mon, 09/24/2007 - 4:14pm.

Microsoft has released the Windows Vista Service Pack 1 beta to a wider set of public testers at 12.00 pm PDT today.

Nick White, a Program Manager for the Windows Client team at Microsoft has some details on the Windows Vista Team Blog here, and Brandon LeBlanc, of the Windows Experience Blog, has his experiences using Windows Vista™ SP1 here.

Enjoy the (beta) test drive.

Need to up your Windows news dosage? Visit the Microsoft Subnet http://www.networkworld.com/subnets/microsoft/

 

Credit : http://www.networkworld.com/community/node/19860

Microsoft delivers Vista SP1 beta to testers

About 12,000 users are involved in the invitation-only Service Pack test

By : Gregg Keizer

September 24, 2007 (Computerworld) -- Microsoft Corp. today released the beta of Windows Vista Service Pack 1, a long-awaited reliability and performance update, to an invite-only group of testers.

Nick White, a program manager on the Vista team, announced the beta drop in a posting to a company blog. "Today we release the Beta of windows Vista Service Pack 1 (SP1) to a private group of Beta testers via connect.microsoft.com," White said, referring to Microsoft's beta test site.

Late last month, when Microsoft finally confirmed the beta and partially outlined its schedule, an executive promised that SP1's first preview would be out before the end of September.

Microsoft has invited approximately 12,000 people to test SP1, Mike Nash, the head of Windows client operating system product management, said in a videotaped interview posted on Microsoft's Channel 9 site. A later build during the release candidate period will be available to a larger group. Microsoft has said that MSDN and TechNet subscribers will be able to participate in that round of testing.

In his interview, Nash stressed that Vista SP1 would be very different from 2004's Windows XP SP2, the last service pack Microsoft delivered. "The philosophy is very different," Nash said, referring to Vista SP1 and repeating the message other executives delivered in August when the service pack was revealed. "In XP SP2, we were creating a lot of new functionality. [Vista] SP1 is just focused on addressing the issues we've heard about," and it will not add new features or capability to the operating system, he said.

SP1's beta will be delivered to testers through multiple means, including a stand-alone installer as well as Vista's built-in Windows Update mechanism.

According to another Microsoft-employed blogger, Brandon LeBlanc, users must download and install up to three prerequisites before updating to SP1 with Windows Update. Those prerequisites, said LeBlanc, include updates to the Windows servicing stack, an unspecified update to Windows and an update to BitLocker, the whole-disk encryption tool that's part of Vista Ultimate and Vista Enterprise. Some or all of the prerequisites will be pushed to users as part of regularly scheduled updates in the months leading up to SP1's final release, which Microsoft has set for sometime in the first quarter of 2008.

Among the changes to Vista in SP1 are several to the operating system's search functionality; those changes came out of concessions Microsoft made after Google Inc. complained to state and federal regulators who oversee the 2002 consent agreement that Microsoft struck with the U.S. Department of Justice and several states.

At the same time it announced Vista SP1's delivery, Microsoft also said it would make Windows Server 2008 RC0, the first release candidate of the upcoming server software, available for public download in the next 24 hours.

 

Credit : http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9038660

Utimaco Launches Vista Compatible Security

Utimaco (News - Alert) – “The Data Security Company” — has launched its new SafeGuard PrivateDisk 2.02, a tool designed for the encryption of files and folders in virtual devices. Using SafeGuard PrivateDisk, users can protect data and access encrypted data in external environments as well.



SafeGuard PrivateDisk 2.02 is also the first of the SafeGuard solutions featuring Windows Vista support. Utimaco will be soon introducing SafeGuard Enterprise 5.2 integrating Vista BitLocker Management.

SafeGuard PrivateDisk acts as a stand-alone security solution. It supports the use of smart cards for strong authentication access to the file volume. SafeGuard PrivateDisk 2.02 is available in 16 languages and includes an LDAP interface in its enterprise edition. The LDAP interface helps several users browse an encrypted private disk.

SafeGuard PrivateDisk also comprises of SafeGuard PrivateDisk Portable, which helps users extract files from a memory stick and read encrypted documents, even though the system has no encryption software installed.

“Utimaco has always been at the forefront of technology developments working with strategic partners such as Microsoft and Lenovo to ensure our products continue to help customers meet their demanding and unique data protection needs,” said Olaf Siemens (News - Alert), Vice President Software Development of Utimaco. “As more organizations embrace Windows Vista, they need an 'electronic safe' that is compatible with their IT infrastructure and robust enough to secure valuable and sensitive data. With the launch of SafeGuard PrivateDisk 2.02, and the upcoming release of SafeGuard Enterprise 5.2, Utimaco is poised to meet these evolving IT security requirements.”

The SafeGuard PrivateDisk 2.02 is available in two editions — the personal edition intended for use in small and medium-sized companies and the enterprise edition is designed to meet the needs of larger organizations.

Utimaco's comprehensive range of data security solutions offers complete data protection. SafeGuard solutions are capable of protecting and managing data during storage (data at rest), during transmission (data in motion) and during processing (data in use).

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Niladri Sekhar Nath is a contributing writer for TMCnet covering telecommunications, service providers and networking. To see more of his articles, please visit his columnist page.


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