As you can see from the accompanying screen shots, there just isn't all that much to see yet: Windows Vista Service Pack 1 (SP1) functions like a traditional Windows service pack, aggregating previously released fixes and adding just a few features, none of which appear to expose themselves in the UI. Will there be more palpable changes later in the SP1 beta? Possibly. But Microsoft has been very careful to lower expectations, noting specifically that SP1 will not include a new Media Center version, for example.

So what is here? Basically, the SP1 setup process is an agonizingly long affair, at least using the interactive standalone install process depicted here. (So-called express installs should be similar, albeit with some online component downloading.) I will examine slipstreaming in the future.

In any event, an interactive install requires several reboots--five, if I counted correctly--and a surprising amount of time. When all is said and done, what you're left with a system that's apparently visually identical to the one you started with. It's too early in the SP1 development cycle to worry about such things as performance and reliability, but so far so good. I'll have more reports on Vista SP1 as new builds are released and more information is made public.

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A Polk County district court judge Friday approved $75 million in expenses and fees for the legal team that won an anti-trust settlement against Microsoft Corp.

Iowans will be able to apply for up to $180 million in refunds if they purchased Microsoft products in recent years. On Friday, the judge approved $8 million in expenses and $67 million in fees to the lawyers who won the case for Iowa consumers. The case was headed by Des Moines attorney Roxanne Conlin.
 

She said the fees will be split among her law firm and three others.

Want to know what you’ll be doing the morning of September 4th? Lining up at your local Game Stop, Toys R Us or wherever to hopefully snatch up one of the limited edition Halo 3 headset and controllers. Failing that you could pick up a 360 Messenger Kit that includes the backlit Chatpad and a headset. All things Halo 3 will retail for $59.99 while the Messenger Kit is a mere $29.99.

In July, Microsoft announced its intentions to deliver a number of licensing technologies to third-party vendors interesting in deploying Microsoft-like activation and licensing in their products

One of those components, the Software Licensing and Protection Server (SLP), is likely to be released to manufacturing (RTM) on August 31, according to a Microsoft blog entry by a member of the SLP team.

The SLP server will allow third-party software vendors to host their own servers and create software licenses — machine-based, time-based (for software subscriptions and trials), user-based and/or feature-based — for their products. The server will generate a key, which users will use to activate their software, via a digital license. ISVs will be able to turn on different features and different SKUs for different markets without having to go back and tweak the code for each version. Microsoft plans for the SLP Server will come in two versions: Standard and Enterprise.

Although SLP won’t provide the kind of anti-piracy checks that Microsoft’s own Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA) system does, it does provide third parties with product-activation technology. (And yes, the irony of Microsoft RTMing an activation product a week after its own activation system went down is not lost on me.)

Microsoft has said to expect its SLP server and accompanying services to launch on October 1.

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What’s the biggest feature users and admins will get out of the new service pack?

SP1’s purpose is not primarily as a feature-delivery vehicle but as a way to improve the user experience and enhance it in some areas. In terms of the importance of what’s included in SP1, it really depends on what matters to the particular user. If you’re a mainstream consumer user with a laptop, you’re likely to be most interested in the performance improvements included in SP1. Some of these include: optimization to improve power consumption when the display is not changing by managing the processor so it consumes less energy; single sign-on (SSO) for authenticated wired networks; and improvements in the method used to determine which network interface to use (e.g., should a laptop use wireless or wired networking when both are available).

On the other hand, security may be a greater concern, and numerous I.T. professionals and system administrators have provided ideas for enhancing the security advances fundamental to Windows Vista. Among these was the ability to extend BitLocker encryption beyond the bootable volume to other partitions on your hard disk, as made possible by SP1.

You can check out the white paper published today for details on system enhancements, improvements, and support for new standards enabled by SP1.

Do you think the practice of waiting for the first service pack when it comes to a Windows Deployment is outdated?

I would say that there’s no longer a need to wait for release of a service pack when deploying Windows. This is mainly owed to the advent of Windows Update, via which we can broadly distribute critical and important system updates and driver updates without the need for customers to wait for a roll-up in a service pack. Additionally, we provide tools specifically designed to ease the Windows Vista deployment process in environments where risk and complexity are both increased, such as enterprises. So no, release of a service pack is no longer the milestone event that it used to be–users looking to deploy Windows Vista are best served by not making their deployment schedules contingent upon SP1 availability.

You mentioned in your blog entry that some updates are being pushed ahead of the service pack. What process do you use to determine which updates should wait versus being pushed out to the user base?

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R chief Lisa Brummel is introducing innovative office designs that allow employees to reconfigure their workspaces for the task at hand

Nerds need doors. Microsoft land of right lobes—has always honored this received wisdom. Nearly every employee gets a private office. That's pretty cush for a tech company, considering how engineers are stacked on top of one another at Google and the proles at Hewlett-Packard are stuffed into depressing, dungeon-like cubicles. 

Yet the days of everyone wanting the same standard-issue box are long over. So HR chief Lisa Brummel is creating Microsoft's next-generation workspace: the elastic, meet-my-mood office. Here too she is going far beyond what most companies consider: open plan or not? Instead, she's creating a hybrid workplace of sliding doors, movable walls, and urban-loft-like spaces tailored to individual needs.

A Custom Workspace  It all starts in the Workplace Lab, a kind of parade of homes for offices where "Microserfs" can pick and choose their new digs. The lab also functions as a kind of workplace Freud; employees are divided into four worker types: providers (the godfathers of work groups), travelers (the types who work anywhere but work), concentrators (head-down, always-at-work types), and orchestrators (the company's natural diplomats). From there, managers and teams can pick the kind of workspace—down to carpeting that doubles as a golf green, Xbox lounges, or souped-up kitchens—that works best for them. Modular features mean spaces can be opened up and buttoned back together depending upon one's need for privacy or collaboration. Since most people verge on bipolar—needing privacy one day, yearning for company the next—glass windows have a frost-up feature for when prying eyes walk by. Continue At Source

Microsoft has been touting Windows Vista as the most secure Windows ever. Backing up that claim, Microsoft has included a number of new security features in the operating system. These new features are designed to address some of the common vectors by which previous versions of Windows have fallen to anonymous miscreants and other criminals.

One such new feature in Windows Vista is known as Windows Service Hardening. In older versions of Windows, services did not necessarily run with the least possible privileges. In fact, Windows services often ran under accounts with very high level of access, such as the LocalSystem account. Further, users are often not aware of the services running on their systems, and do not realize that there are services that are safe to disable. Finally, services and user applications ran in the same space, which could result in inappropriate access. As a result of services running with privileges that did not match necessity and services running that users did not require, Windows desktops were left more vulnerable to attack.

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People in the city of Lund in Sweden that use the Microsoft Vista OS can't connect to the Internet.

According to this local newspaper, the reason is because Lund is a Linux city which has a a Linux server that doesn't like Vista.

Lundis Energi blamed Microsoft because Vista has got a bug and it isn't going to change the configuration of the server just to cope with the flaw.

A local Microsoft rep said it could probably fix the problem if Lundis Energi got in touch with it.

The latest chapter in the Open XML standardization story is focused on Sweden. There are accusations flying, emails floating around, and no shortage of theories about what has been happening there. As you can image I have been following up with a number of people and here are the issues and what I have found out so far.

Microsoft encouraged partners to participate in Sweden:

An employee in Sweden sent an email to 2 partners that was inconsistent with company policy. When he realized what he had done, he did the right thing by immediately reaching out to the two partners to address the situation. He contacted them by phone and email letting them know that they should disregard the mail. Here is what I know about this situation so far:

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Partially posted before, now available as full download.

Since the announcement of Windows Home Server RTM (Release to Manufacturing) in July, the team and our hardware partners have been aggressively gearing up for the final retail availability of solutions powered by Windows Home Server, slated for this Fall and in time for the holidays. We’ve received a substantial amount of positive feedback from the media, analysts, reviewers and our 100,000+ beta customer  community who have been using the software.  Also, as anticipated, the Windows Home Server system builder version is currently available through the system builder channel in many countries, and expected in U.S. in early September.

We’ve identified a number of ways to make the product even better since the initial release, As with most Microsoft products, updates to Windows Home Server will be automatically available throughout the lifecycle of the product and the WHS team is working on an update that will be available in September.  These updates will enhance the usability and improve the out-of-the-box experience of home server solutions.   Additional updates will occur over the lifespan of the product as we receive feedback from the user community, our hardware partners and software partners. Microsoft’s current plan is to make this update available as part of the monthly Windows Updates process in September.

HP has decided to include these first software updates in their MediaSmart Server. Both HP and Microsoft believe that these updates are in the best interest of potential customers and will insure the best out-of-the-box experience. All of our Windows Home Server partners and customers will automatically receive the update once posted to Windows Update.

Windows Home Server has come a long way from its inception, and we’re excited to deliver an integrated product that delivers on its full range of features, and is easy for everyone in the family to use and enjoy.

The computer giant claims to have fixed "hardware failures" found in its Xbox 360 console as gaming sales fall 10 per cent Dearbail Jordan
Microsoft saw $1 billion (£487.5 million) wiped off its profits during the second quarter after the US computer giant was forced to cover manufacturing problems with its Xbox 360 games console.

The company announced profits up from $2.83 billion in the second quarter last year to $3.04 billion in the three months to June 30, which strips out the $1 billion charge to fix its game consoles.

Microsoft declined to outline what difficulties it has encountered with its Xbox 360, but said that the problems had now been fixed after earlier this month extending the warranty on the console to three years after many were hit by "general hardware failure".

Revenues in Microsoft's gaming division fell by 10 per cent to $1.16 billion during the second quarter.
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he US government's Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), may stick with Windows XP for up to three more years, in the latest blow for Microsoft's Vista operating system.

This is despite the fact that the agency plans in January to begin refreshing its PCs with hardware capable of supporting Microsoft's Windows Vista operating system. The hardware upgrade of about 7,000 desktop PCs will be managed by Electronic Data Systems.

Gregg "Skip" Bailey, the ATF's CIO, said the planned desktop system replacements are part of the bureau's normal three-year upgrade cycle for PCs.

The decision not to go with Windows Vista was made for a number of reasons, according to Bailey. Probably the most important one, he said, is the ATF doesn't have enough time between now and January to verify that all of its systems will run effectively on the new operating system.

The ATF, which is part of the Department of Justice, is beginning a Vista testing program, but Bailey said the PC hardware will be upgraded before the testing work is completed.

In any event, Bailey said he doesn't see a compelling need to move quickly to Windows Vista. Although he thinks Vista offers advantages over Windows XP in the area of security, the problems it addresses are things "we have solved in other ways," he said.

The controversy surrounding Microsoft's comprehensive victory in a ballot held earlier this week has taken a new twist with the Swedish Standards Institute (SIS) now deciding to nullify the vote.

But SIS says its decision is unconnected to allegations that Micosoft offered benefits to partner companies agreeing to support its bid to have the Office Open XML (OOXML) format accepted as the international standard for electronic documents.

"The board's decision is based on the fact that SIS has received information that one of the participants in the working group placed more than one vote," said SIS in a statement.

The institute added that there is unlikely to be a revote before September 2nd, when the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) convenes to vote on whether or not to endorse OOXML.

If, as expected, the deadline proves too tight, Sweden's ISO member body has said it will simply abstain from voting.
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