Microsoft Rolls Dice Hopes For (Windows) 7 And (IE) 8

After taking a lot of flak for Windows Vista, Microsoft has recently released beta versions of two of its most popular products–Windows and Internet Explorer–in an attempt to recover lost ground.

The past few years have not been easy for Microsoft. The company that’s been synonymous with operating systems on computers has had to take a fair deal of flak from critics, users and has even been at the receiving end of a European Union (EU) adverse judgement. Added to that are the woes of the ongoing recession. And on the mobile front, its OS, Windows Mobile, is struggling against newcomers like the mobile versions of Mac OS and Google’s Android (very rashly dismissed as a ‘press release’ by Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer). Perhaps it would be fair to say that the Redmond giant is not short of challenges at the moment.

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The Vista albatross
There are many who feel that Microsoft’s problems began with Windows Vista. Launched a couple of years ago amidst a lot of hype, the OS has become a burden to the company. While tech experts might point to flaws in the structure of the OS and its security issues, the biggest reason for its relative lack of success (Microsoft will roll out reams of information to claim that it is in fact a huge success) is that the operating system was a pain to use for mainstream users who were more than content with its predecessor, Windows XP.

Redemption through Win 7 and IE 8?
But if there is one thing we know about Microsoft, it is that for such a big company, it moves incredibly fast to address problems. The immensely successful Windows XP had in fact come hot on the heels of the less-than-impressive Windows Me and had promptly made people forget the problems posed by the latter. In what seems to be a similar move, the company has released betas of its next version of Windows, Windows 7 and its browser, Internet Explorer (IE) 8. While we have given neither product a really extended trial yet, the little we have seen of both seems to indicate that they are significant improvements over their predecessors.

The improvement in Windows 7, in particular, is stark. While the dazzling exterior of Vista has been maintained (and some might even say, made to look better), resource hoggers such as the Windows Taskbar have been removed. Microsoft has also added its Ribbon interface (seen in Office 2007) to its staple Paint and Word Pad applications, making them much more user-friendly. Those concerned about security might like the Action Center, which displays a number of security and maintenance features in a single menu–saving time and making them far simpler to manage. While its system requirements seem to be on the same lines as Vista’s on paper, a number of people have told me that it actually runs perfectly well on systems that struggled with Vista.

IE 8 is equally impressive in terms of features and functions, but is likely to face an uphill task in the face of competition from the likes of Opera, Firefox, Safari and now, Google’s Chrome, all of which update versions far more frequently than Microsoft does. Our brief look at IE 8 showed it to be a capable browser, if a trifle too stacked with features, resulting in making it less than intuitive to use. But it allows you to do pretty much everything that every other browser lets you do, from smoothly accessing your favourites to easy bookmarking. And there are some features that others do not have, such as Accelerators (which let you get stacks of information without having to key in URLs) and Web Slices (that allow you to get regular updates from specific sites without your having to go to them). Also, the fact that it will come bundled with Windows 7 (no, we have no intention of stirring up that controversy here) means that it will have a fair degree of popularity among users, who will use it as their default Internet browsing option.

But the real challenge for Microsoft will be to convince users to move up not just from Vista but from XP. How it does this is going to be interesting. We are sure the overall approach will be a lot more subtle than Steve Ballmer’s warning that users expect the latest operating systems in their work environment, and might be dissatisfied if asked to work on older systems (see ‘They Said IT’ on Page 12). Whatever happens, 2009 is going to be an interesting year for Microsoft, with the company also readying a new version of its Windows Mobile OS, version 6.5. Will these products get the Redmond giant back on track? Or will they accelerate its (perceived, we hasten to add) decline? Stay tuned

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Atom-powered smartphone will run Windows 7 or 8

In Technology has announced a smartphone that will run Windows 7 or Windows 8 on a 1.6GHz x86 processor. The "xpPhone 2" has a 4.3-inch screen, 2GB of RAM, up to 112G of SSD (solid state disk storage), and 18.5 hours' talk time, the company says.
In Technology should be familiar to loyal readers, because the Chinese company previously offered an xpPhone device that ran Windows Embedded Standard 2009 on an AMD processor. This handset was said to have begun shipping last November, but we've never seen one in the wild or read a review.

Now, in a rambling press release that touts itself as "China Apple," In Technology has provided images and brief specifications of a successor. The xpPhone 2 will feature an unspecified 1.6GHz processor -- an Engadget report claims it's an Intel Atom Z530 -- and be capable of running either Windows 7 or Windows 8, the company claims.

As well as being a phone, the xpPhone 2 will essentially be the "smallest notebook PC in the world," measuring 5.5 x 2.9 x 0.68 inches, In Technology claims. Indeed, that's smaller than the Loox F-07C, a similarly Atom-powered phone Fujitsu shipped in July.

Like the Fujitsu phone, the xpPhone 2 has a slide-out QWERTY keyboard. As pictured below, it can be used -- with a suitable forest of cable adapters -- as a desktop PC.

The xpPhone 2 being used as a desktop PC

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According to In Technology, the xpPhone 2 will feature 2GB of RAM and up to 112GB of SSD storage. Resolution of the 4.3-inch screen wasn't specified, but we're guessing it won't reach as high as 1024 x 768 pixels (which is the minimum required to run Windows 8 Metro-style apps, according to Microsoft).

In Technology pictured the xpPhone 2 being used as an in-car navigation device, suggesting that it will include a GPS receiver in addition to its cellular radio. We could not find a claim regarding the phone's weight or battery size, but the company says the device will provide 18.5 hours of talk time and 46 days of standby.

Background

In Technology's original xpPhone (pictured) had an extended gestation period. The device was first revealed in July 2009, and the company started accepting unpriced pre-orders in September of the same year.

In an apparent attempt to allay suspicions that the phone was merely vaporware, In Technology emailed WindowsForDevices.com in December 2009 with a video showing the device booting Windows XP. The company contacted us again in May 2010 with new photos (plus the videos embedded at the end of this story), noting that the device had been switched from the originally mooted Windows XP to Windows Embedded Standard 2009.

In Technology's website claimed last November that the xpPhone was on sale at last. With Windows Embedded Standard 2009 but "without 3G," it went for a not-inconsiderable $732, while a 3G version was $798. (Oddly, a version with only DOS was also cited, priced at $666.)

The xpPhone shown with a Motorola Droid smartphone
(Click either to enlarge)

The device wasn't exactly pocket-size, as the photo above discloses. The phone measured 6.88 x 3.3 x 1 inches (175 x 84 x 25.5mm) and weighs 12.1 ounces (345g), In Technology says.

According to In Technology, the xpPhone offered an AMD processor described only as a "Super Mobile" CPU, with 512MB of RAM, plus 8GB, 16GB, or 32GB of SSD (solid state disk) storage. The company claimed that its patented technology allows incoming phone calls or SMS messages to bring the operating system out of standby, though no word was provided on whether the xpPhone is compatible with push e-mail.

According to In Technology, the xpPhone included 802.11b/g wireless networking and Bluetooth, while its cellular radio was capable of supporting both GSM and CDMA networks. Users could download data using either HSDPA (high speed downlink packet access), HSUPA (high speed uplink packet access), or EVDO, the company added, listing AT&T, Orange, and Vodafone as networks the device is compatible with.

The xpPhone has a slide-out QWERTY keyboard
(Click to enlarge)

A removable, 2150mAh lithium-ion battery was claimed to power the xpPhone for about five hours of talk time, about seven hours of typical application usage, and a maximum of 12 hours. Meanwhile, the device has a 4.8-inch, 800 x 480 touchscreen display and a slideout QWERTY keyboard.


Ports on the xpPhone
(Click to enlarge)

Features and specifications listed by In Technology for the xpPhone included the following:

Processor -- AMD "Super Mobile"
Memory -- 512MB of RAM
Storage -- 8GB, 16GB, or 32GB SSD
Display -- 4.8-inch touchscreen display with 800 x 480 resolution
Cameras -- VGA-resolution for videoconferencing, and 1.3 megapixel main camera
Keyboard -- Slide-out QWERTY keyboard with separate numeric keypad
Wireless:
WAN -- GSM/GRPS/EDGE/WCDMA, CDMA/EV-DO, TD-SCDMA
LAN -- 802.11b/g
PAN -- Bluetooth
GPS
Other I/O:
1 x USB 2.0 host
1 x USB device
Microphone and earphone jacks
Docking connector with VGA output
Expansion -- SIM slot
Battery life:
Talk time -- 5 hours
Standby time -- about 5 days
Windows XP application usage -- from 7 to 12 hours
Dimensions -- 6.88 x 3.3 x 1 inches (175 x 84 x 25.5mm)
Weight -- 12.1 ounces (345g).

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Windows 8 Update: OS gets friendly with Linux

Microsoft works out rift with Linux community over dual boot issue; video efficiency; latest on Windows RT

s initial boot security for Windows 8 made it hard to start other operating systems on Win8 machines, but the company has worked out a way for Linux and other OSes to clear the secure boot sequence on such devices.

The secure boot, called Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI), requires a key for the boot firmware to hand off to the operating system, the idea being to make sure the operating system isn't corrupt.

Microsoft's initial UEFI implementation was restrictive by making it difficult for non-Windows operating systems to get their keys included in the firmware, says Tim Burke, vice president of Linux engineering for Red Hat, in a blog. But that's all been cleared up with some cooperation among interested parties, he says.

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Linus Torvalds
Now the keys can be registered via Microsoft key signing and registry services for $99. That way participating vendors can get their keys accepted by the machines so their OSes will boot. "I'm certainly not a huge UEFI fan, but at the same time I see why you might want to have signed bootup etc," Linux kernel creator Linus Torvalds (pictured) is quoted as saying in the ZDNet Linux and Open Source blog. "And if it's only $99 to get a key for Fedora, I don't see what the huge deal is."
Power sipping video hardware

Windows 8-certified hardware will offload video decoding to a hardware subsystem, according to the Building Windows 8 blog.

"This allows us to significantly lower CPU usage, resulting in smoother video playback and a longer battery life, as the dedicated media hardware is much more efficient than the CPU at media decoding," Scott Manchester, group program manager for Microsoft's Media Platform and Technologies team, writes in the blog. "This improves all scenarios that require video decoding, including playback, transcoding, encoding, and capture scenarios."

A chart in the blog (below) indicates the hardware will call for a half to a third of the CPUs needed by Windows 7 for the same video tasks.

Chrome for Metro
Google's Chrome browser is getting tuned up to support Windows 8 in both desktop and Metro modes. Presumably, it won't be much challenge to get the browser to run in desktop mode since Microsoft says any app that run on Windows 7 runs on Windows 8.

But it's a little more challenging to fit it out to handle Metro and all its touch features. The company has been working on it since March, and says, "Over the next few months, we'll be smoothing out the UI on Metro and improving touch support, so please feel free to file bugs."

Samples of the browser will be available with the next Chrome Dev channel release, but the company doesn't say when that is. It also takes the opportunity to restate it's complaint that Chrome is banned from Windows RT, the ARM version of Windows 8 "Chrome won't run in WinRT, i.e. Windows 8 on ARM processors, as Microsoft is not allowing browsers other than Internet Explorer on the platform," Google says.

Qualcomm is down with Windows RT
Qaulcomm says it is making ARM chips designed for Windows RT devices -- the Windows 8 combo of operating system, limited Microsoft Office and hardware that won't run x86 applications. The chips are called Snapdragon S4 Pro.

MCITP: Enterprise Administrator

Earning a MCITP Enterprise Administrator certification in Windows 2008 is a definite step up for your career in the IT industry. This well recognised MCITP certification is held in high regard and will provide to your current and future employers that you have the skills and knowledge to implement and maintain a Windows Server 2008 network infrastructure. People who hold a MCITP Enterprise Administrator certification have one of the highest salaries on average compared to other MCITP certifications, if you wish you can view our comparison of the average MCITP salaries.

To gain MCITP: EA status you will need to gain a pass mark in 5 exams. Four of these are core exams and the last one is an elective which you get to choose.

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MCITP Enterprise Administrator core exams: (you need to pass all 4 these)
Exam 70-640 TS: Configuring Windows Server 2008 Active Directory
Exam 70-642 TS: Configuring Windows Server 2008 Network Infrastructure
Exam 70-643 TS: Configuring Windows Server 2008 Applications Infrastructure
Exam 70-647 Pro: Enterprise Administrator, Windows Server 2008

MCITP Enterprise Administrator Elective exams: (you need to choose and pass 1 of these)
Exam 70-680 TS: Configuring Windows 7
Exam 70-681 TS: Deploying Windows 7 and Office 2010
Exam 70-620 TS: Configuring Microsoft Windows Vista Client
Exam 70-624 TS: Deploying and Maintaining Windows Vista Client and 2007 Microsoft Office System Desktops (retired)

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Windows 7 Upgrade: Isolated Problems, Not Disaster

Speed Up Windows XP With System Mechanic 10.8

System Mechanic 10.8 Put Through The Test

We've all seen those annoying television commercials that promise to speed up a slow computer, but do such solutions really work? The CRN Test Center put Iolo's System Mechanic 10.8 through its paces and was impressed with the results.

Our test subject was an old Pentium III-era PC running Windows XP so slowly that the machine was completely unusable. Just opening the Start menu easily took 20 seconds, opening an app required about a minute, and we could fix a steak-and-egg breakfast in the time it took to reboot this dinosaur.

But it was perfect for our purposes. We installed System Mechanic 10.8 and, after running a scan, the tool reported that the overall system status was poor and health and security were at alarming levels.

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As expected, the floodgates were opened last week on Windows 7 upgrades. From some of the histrionics on the blogosphere, one would almost surmise that an upgrade to Windows 7 was nothing short of a painful, abysmal failure. Much of the spotlight focused on upgrade problems with the Windows 7 Student edition -- one of the more understandable gripes about the upgrade process. Accusations about a host of glitches, such as endless loops of Windows 7 startup, abounded.

However, some of the outrages over Windows 7 upgrades are dubious, at best. As Channelweb.com's Kevin McLaughlin reported, many users are complaining that that they cannot do clean installs with Windows 7 upgrade media.

Say what? When has Microsoft (NSDQ:MSFT) ever made it an option for a user to do a from-scratch install with an upgrade CD? Legitimately, that is, without any workarounds?

It became a bit hard, during the course of last week, to separate justifiable gripes about the Windows 7 upgrade process from the lone freak incidents and overall general biases against Microsoft. However, upon a deeper dig into a disparate sampling of users all over the Internet recording their Windows 7 upgrade experiences, our verdict is that most problems were more incidental with third-party hardware drivers, line-of-business applications, and just random quirkiness.

We conducted our own independent tests on the upgrade process. What we found were very specific, yet irritating incidents that don't significantly undermine Microsoft's promise that "if it works in Vista, it will work in Windows 7." Furthermore, we did not find any issues in our testing that should render a business system inoperable. Note, all upgrades were done using 32-bit software.

In our initial test, we upgraded a Toshiba Portege 500 laptop from Vista SP2 to Windows 7 Ultimate. The full-blown version of Ultimate, and not an upgrade version, was used for the test. We first attempted to do a clean install over an upgrade, but Toshiba's native hard disk drive software prevented a complete wipe-out of the system. So, we moved on, doing just a plain old upgrade. The upgrade process was successful. There were no issues with drivers or any other preinstalled software.

One nuisance we noticed after upgrading to Windows 7 and Internet Explorer 8 was a persistence of IE8 to open new IE sessions and tabs at 150 percent zoom. Somewhere during the upgrade process, the previous settings for IE were adjusted, but that is probably more of an issue with the upgrade from IE7 to version 8.

Next, we upgraded a year-old Dell (NSDQ:Dell) XPS laptop, again, with Vista SP2 to Windows 7. There also were no issues with the upgrade process, save for a broken link to a shortcut we had on the Vista OS desktop to wireless networking.

An upgrade of a Dell Vostro 220 mini-tower also gave no problems. All shortcuts and drivers transitioned over to Windows 7 without incident.

This should be of some comfort to home users. From our testing, all of the major OEMs seem to really have prepared for the final release of Windows 7. For business users and those in the channel, it appears that the biggest headaches will be caused by incompatibility issues with LOB software and any other proprietary software or unique hardware. Of course, a solid testing plan along with backing up of mission-critical data and system registries should alleviate any major issues with a Windows 7 upgrade.

Our expectation is that most businesses will opt for clean installs anyway, or replace dated machines with preinstalled Windows 7 ones. It would seem that so far, the Windows 7 upgrade process is a relatively painless one and does not merit the drama it has seemed to attract.

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Microsoft announces 7 bulletins for May 2012 Patch Tuesday, closes book on MAPP data leak

In addition to its advance notification for Patch Tuesday, Microsoft uncovers the party responsible for leaking security information and exposing customers to attacks against RDP


Just hours after releasing the advance notification for May's Patch Tuesday release, which consists of seven bulletins, Microsoft brought some closure to its biggest security threat of the year.

RELATED: Microsoft's MAPP reportedly hacked, RDP exploits coming sooner than expected

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In a post on its TechNet blog, Microsoft blamed March's information leak in the Microsoft Active Protections Program (MAPP) that led to several threats against a Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) vulnerability on Chinese partner company Hangzhou DPTech Technologies.

"During our investigation into the disclosure of confidential data shared with our Microsoft Active Protections Program (MAPP) partners, we determined that a member of the MAPP program, Hangzhou DPTech Technologies Co., Ltd., had breached our non-disclosure agreement (NDA)," Yunsun Wee, director of Microsoft Trustworthy Computing, wrote in the blog post. "Microsoft takes breaches of our NDAs very seriously and has removed this partner from the MAPP Program."

The breach, which came at the hands of hackers in China, granted the cybercrime community access to information to attack the RDP vulnerability before Microsoft customers were given the information needed to patch it. Wee added that Microsoft "took actions to better protect our information," while senior program manager Maarten Van Horenbeeck provided more visibility into the inner workings of MAPP.

Given the relatively light load of security bulletins, Microsoft chose an opportune time to close the book on March's security scare. Three of the seven bulletins were rated critical, the most interesting of which was Bulletin 1's critical patch for Office, Qualys CTO Wolfgang Kandek says.

Threats against Office typically require the user to open a file containing a malicious program, Kandek says. Microsoft has traditionally been more prone to issue the "important" rating to threats that involve user interaction, he added, making this month's critical bulletin "kind of interesting."

Marcus Carey, security researcher at Rapid7, speculated that the Office vulnerability patched with Bulletin 1 "is an underlying issue on how it processes data." Citing the recent phishing attacks against Mac systems, Carey says threats coming through Microsoft productivity software are "becoming a recurring theme for organizations and end users because it's primed for phishing attacks."

Beyond that, the remaining two critical patches will attract the most attention, primarily because they address vulnerabilities in Windows versions XP through 7, Carey says.

"This means that all organizations and the entire user base will be affected by these critical bulletins," Carey says.

The other four bulletins were all rated important. Bulletins 4 and 5 address remote code execution vulnerabilities in Office, while bulletins 6 and 7 address elevation of privilege in Windows Vista and Windows 7.

With seven bulletins in April, Microsoft's total bulletins for 2012 rises to 35, compared to the 36 issued by the same point last year. Interestingly, Microsoft's release schedule has been far more consistent than in years past. From January through May 2012, the total number of Patch Tuesday bulletins issued in a single month has dipped as low as six and risen only as high as nine. In the same period last year, those totals ranged from two in both January and May to 12 in February and 17 in April.

This trend shows a sign of stability in Microsoft research and makes the jobs of systems administrators much easier, Kandek says.

"I'm not sure how they do this internally in terms of planning, but it seems to me going to a more steady stream is a sign of maturity, and from my systems administration perspective I prefer that than every two months getting something bigger," Kandek says. "I personally prefer a steady stream coming out. I can deal with that better, rather than things where suddenly my capacity is stretched more."

Andrew Storms, director of security operations for nCircle, also took note of Microsoft's continued move away from the "feast and famine" approach of last year. However, the number of bulletins is less relevant than the number of common vulnerabilities and exposures (CVEs), Storms says, and the security community should put more focus on Microsoft's increase in that area this year.

"Bulletin numbers don't tell the whole patch story," Storms says. "CVEs correspond to the number of bugs fixed, and this year Microsoft is on a CVE streak. With the 23 CVEs in May's patch, Microsoft's CVE count has already reached 70 for 2012. This time last year Microsoft issued just 59 CVEs."

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Will Windows Phone feel any pain after getting dumped by LG?

Claiming sales are too weak, did LG make a valid point in dumping Windows Phone, or an excuse to avoid competing with Nokia? How about both?

Ahead of a meeting between their CEOs, Korea's LG Electronics has decided to shun any more Windows Phone products because there have yet to be "meaningful" sales.

That should get the meeting off to a good start.

The electronics manufacturer told the Korean Herald this week that Windows Phone devices are just not selling well enough worldwide to warrant continued manufacturing WP phones. Instead, LG will turn its focus to the Android platform.

RELATED: Expected Windows Phone 8 features justify Samsung’s decision to hold out

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"The total unit of Windows Phone sold in the global market is not a meaningful figure," a LG spokesman told the Herald, adding that the company currently has no plans of rolling out another LG-manufactured Windows Phone soon.

The company will "continue research and development efforts" on Windows Phones. Translation: we give up, unless it takes off in the marketplace.

RELATED: The Nokia Lumia 900: Pros and cons compared to the iPhone 4s

It's not exactly a huge loss for Microsoft. LG is getting its you-know-what handed to it by Samsung. The Herald notes that the mobile business unit's performance has consistently failed to meet expectations, with operating losses for seven consecutive quarters. It was only when the company focused on LTE Android phones that it got back into the black

It's not like Windows Phone will suffer as a result of this decision, either. Microsoft still has HTC, Nokia and Samsung, all of which are clobbering LG. And with all the hoopla around the Nokia Lumia 900, including raves from Steve Wozniak, it's easy to see why LG would get its feelings hurt.

Still, it's embarrassing PR for Microsoft to lose a mobile partner, especially one that had previously gone all in for the Windows Phone OS. Back in 2009, Microsoft and LG signed a partnership in which LG chose Microsoft's mobile OS as its main phone platform, committing to manufacturing up to 26 Windows Phones for 2012.

So, if nothing else, the lawyers might get involved, which will do nothing to help sell phones..

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