Windows 7 Service Pack 1 coming soon

Windows 7 is, by far, the best Operating System Microsoft have produced but we all know it isn’t perfect…and so do Microsoft. They have announced that Service Pack 1 will be available as a public beta next month (July), not just for Windows 7 but also Windows Server 2008 R2.
For server it will bring RemoteFX (VDI multimedia performance) and Dynamic Memory Allocation; for the desktop it is really just a collection of fixes, many/most of which have already been delivered via Windows Update.
It’s real use is going be moving people off XP, something which many companies are still reluctant to do. The “accepted wisdom” is not to deploy a new MS OS until the first service pack has been released and, in times gone by, this was generally sound practice…as Vista proved However Windows 7 has always been stable…even as a beta, so a lot of people are missing out on the dozens of benefits it brings,for no real reason. Once this milestone has officially been reached I’ll be very interested to see its effect on corporate buying strategies.

Downgrade Rights

OEM licences (the ones that come pre installed on new pcs/laptops) can currently be downgraded to Vista or XP, and many people are still choosing to drop down to XP. However:

“Can I downgrade my OEM version of Windows 7 Professional to XP Professional?

For a limited time of 18 months after the general availability of Windows 7 or the release of a Windows 7 Service Pack, whichever is earlier , the OEM license of Windows 7 Professional and Windows 7 Ultimate will include downgrade rights to Windows XP Professional. After that period the OEM license will enable downgradeable to Windows Vista Business.”

That excerpt from the “Microsoft Downgrade Rights Chart” shows that, very soon; downgrading to Windows XP Pro will only be available to Volume Licensing customers.

I believe that this will be the push most people need to stop clinging to XP and make the move to the 21st century, so this will drive Windows 7 usage. If not, and there are people who insist on downgrading then it will drive adoption of Volume Licensing and all the extras and benefits that brings.

All in all, pretty big changes that will have a positive effect for customers, resellers & Microsoft.

XP deadline extended (again)

Microsoft have, yet again, given XP a stay of execution.  System builders will now be able to purchase copies of XP up until 30/06/09.

Mary Jo Foley over at ZDnet has some interesting points to make on this though:

This definition of “System Builder” doesn’t include the likes of HP, Dell, Lenovo etc but rather the small “White Box” vendors, the kind who have a shop in town…

Also, this is separate to the deadline for Netbooks-which is 30/06/10 or one year after Windows 7, whichever comes last.

So all in all not a massive announcement in my opinion, but it does seem to show that the demand for XP is still there. I have been a fan of Vista pretty much since it was released and I can’t wait for Windows 7, so I think people really should move off XP where they can. I can see the attraction now that Netbooks are gaining popularity but it seems that people have got Windows 7 working on them without too much of a problem…

Microsoft PDC 2008 keynotes and more

The Microsoft PDC 2008 COnference is due to start in around 5 hours (16:00 UK time), and I can’t wait!

Unfortunately I’m not over there in The City of Angels due to the fact that I’m not a developer so I’m here in the UK, getting ready to watch the live streaming keynotes as well as tracking the various blogs and tweets from the guys and gilrs that are attending.

I’ll try to collect and collate as much of the relevant info as possible so you don’t have to go searching all over the intertubes for it

It’s True!

New Apple Ads Attack Microsoft

Two new Apple ads are again attacking Microsoft..one for not using the word “Vista” in the latest run of adverts and also for spending money on ads about Vista, instead of using the cash on Vista itself.

The V Word:

The Bean Counter:

I’m not a fan of Apple much at all..I’ve got a couple of iPod’s around but that’s it; I can see why people do like them but Steve et al aren’t my cup of tea. Despite that, these ads are kind of funny and if they were the other way round, that would be the case even more so (!), however as the guys over at Neowin say “is this just a friendly competition, or are they taking it too far?”

Let me know what you think…

Microsoft Censoring Software

Microsoft have new technology to censor swearing in speech which was awarded patent number 7,437, 290 by the US Patent and Trademark Office on 14/10/08.

The technology changes “undesired words” to unintelligble sounds and can be used in real-time to protect listeners of live broadcasts; this would have been handy for OfCom at Live 8!

I saw this on The Register.

Microsoft CHESS-Concurrency Test Tool

Microsoft CHESS is their innovative automated error finding tool for multi-threaded applications. It’s been a Microsoft Research project for 2 years but they’re now set to let people see it at this year’s PDC.

THe MS Research page for CHESS says:

“CHESS is an automated tool for finding errors in multithreaded software by systematic exploration of thread schedules. It finds errors, such as data-races, deadlocks, hangs, and data-corruption induced access violations, that are extremely hard to find with current testing tools. Once CHESS locates an error, it provides a fully repeatable execution of the program leading to the error, thus greatly aiding the debugging process. In addition, CHESS provides a valuable and novel notion of test coverage suitable for multithreaded programs. CHESS can use existing concurrent test cases and is therefore easy to deploy. Both developers and testers should find CHESS useful. The CHESS architecture is described in this technical report.“

I’m not a Developer, but I have done some programming (just a few simple part code generators etc for work as well as a “never saw the light of day” software intranet portal) and I know how annoying errors and bugs can be, especially when you can’t repeat them. I imagine this is even worse when it happens in a huge, multi-threaded application where other people’s time and money are being wasted so CHESS will surely help out a huge amount!

Mary Jo Foley has got extra info here.

Microsoft “Instant On” OS?

Could Microsoft be readying an “Instant On” OS? A survey sent to select MS customers and picked up by Engadget seems to indicate that Microsoft are at least thinking about it.

Microsoft are asking if users would like an OS that, within 8 seconds, allowed us access to a “select sub-set of services”, including Web browsing, IM & Media playback but not “Full Windows”. I’d love this, it would make things quicker and easier and I assume, reduce our power bills a little too

Microsoft OCS 2007 R2-Features Released

Microsoft OCS 2007 R2 has been officially announced today at VoiceCon over in Amsterdam.

R2 is classed as a “minor” release and will not go to public beta, but should be with us in December 2008 (so only a couple of months to wait).

Stephen Elop, president of the Microsoft Business Division at Microsoft said “This new release puts Microsoft on a rapid path to deliver voice software that does much more than a network private branch exchange (PBX) and with much less cost.”

Key new features of Office Communications Server 2007 R2 include the following:

Next-Generation Collaboration

• Dial-in audioconferencing. Office Communications Server 2007 R2 enables businesses to eliminate costly audioconferencing services with an on-premise audioconferencing bridge that is managed by IT as part of the overall communications infrastructure.
 
• Desktop sharing. This feature enables users to seamlessly share their desktop, initiate audio communications and collaborate with others outside the organization on PC, Macintosh or Linux platforms through a Web-based interface.
 
• Persistent group chat. This enables geographically dispersed teams to collaborate with each other by participating in topic-based discussions that persist over time. This application provides users with a list of all available chat rooms and topics, periodically archives discussions in an XML file format that meets compliance regulations, provides tools to search the entire history of discussion on a given topic, and offers filters and alerts to notify someone of new posts or topics on a particular topic.
 

Enhanced Voice and Mobility

• Attendant console and delegation. This allows receptionists, team secretaries and others to manage calls and conferences on behalf of other users, set up workflows to route calls, and manage higher volumes of incoming communications through a software-based interface.
 
• Session Initiation Protocol trunking. This feature enables businesses to reduce costs by setting up a direct VoIP connection between an Internet telephony service provider and Office Communicator 2007 without requiring on-premise gateways.
 
• Response group.A workflow design application manages incoming calls based on user-configured rules (e.g., round-robin, longest idle, simultaneous), providing a simple-to-use basic engine for call treatment, routing and queuing.
 
• Mobility and single-number reach. This extends Microsoft Office Communicator Mobile functionality to Nokia S40, Motorola RAZR, Blackberry and Windows Mobile platforms, allowing users to communicate using presence, IM and voice as an extension of their PBX from a unified client.*
 

New Developer Tools for Business Applications

• APIs and Visual Studio integration. This improves the efficiency of everyday business processes by enabling businesses to build communications-enabled applications and embed communications into business applications.

* Blackberry client does not include Single Number Reach.

 OCS 2007 R2 has it’s official virtual launch on Feb. 3rd 2009 (03/02/09) and you can register to participate here.

 The word is that the OCS team will be sticking to a rough 2 year release cycle, which adds more weight to the Office 2010 release date.

I think that these new features make OCS an even more viable option in the workplace, especially for enterprises..I think the number of companies forgoing traditional PBX’s completely will increase as a result of this.

Mary Jo Foley over at ZDNet has got the full scoop here.

Microsoft Windows 7-The Official Name!

Windows 7 is the official name for Microsoft’s next desktop OS!

Steve Clayton over at his Geek in Disguise blog has confirmed this. I think it’s a great name: simple, clean, easy, popular AND it’s what I’ve had my money on in the office

More info can be seen over @ the Windows Vista blog here.

Downgrade MS Vista to XP

“How do I downgrade MS Vista to XP” is a question I hear quite often at work (although less recently so it looks like Vista is gaining ground!), so I thought I’d make a quick post on how it’s done.

Can I downgrade?

In most cases yes. All Microsoft volume licenses include “Downgrade Rights” as do the OEM licences for Vista Business & Vista Ultimate. The Downgrade Chart can be found here. Vista Business & Ultimate can only be downgraded to XP Pro, XP Pro 64-bit or XP Pro Tablet…NOT Windows 2000.

How do I downgrade?

You can use any XP Media and also any previous XP Pro licence key (VLK), even one that has been used before. This prevents you from activating online so you’ll need to call the Product Activation Centre, you can get the number by selecting the “Activate by Phone” option in the installation wizard or call 0800 018 8354 and 0870 2411963 if you’re in the UK. Once they confirm you have a valid XP key, you will get a new Vista key.

Can I re-install Vista later?

Yes you can. You will need to remove the XP installation and use the original OEM Vista media.