14 DAY TRIAL // As I said before, the software companies from the entire world already started to build Vista-compatible applications because it is expected that most Windows users will migrate to the latest version of the operating system. Take the example of security firms that already announced special editions of the solutions such as Norton 360, BitDefender or Sophos Antivirus. It seems like Microsoft adopted the same strategy because the software giant released a special pack for Microsoft Releases SQL Server 2005 meant to add compatibility with the Windows Vista operating system. Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Service Pack 2 was designed to represent a powerful interoperability between Vista and Office 2007, enhancing the security and the functionality of the well known SQL Server 2005.
"In addition, Microsoft announced that it is expanding virtualization use rights to allow unlimited virtual instances on servers that are fully licensed for SQL Server 2005 Enterprise Edition. For customers who want maximum flexibility in their use of virtualization technology, now or in the future, SQL Server 2005 Enterprise Edition is the ideal choice. "SP2 delivers customer-driven improvements and new features that align with our data platform vision," said Ted Kummert, corporate vice president of the Data and Storage Platform Division at Microsoft. "SP2 realizes a step forward in enabling organizations to bring the business intelligence capabilities of SQL Server 2005 directly to end users in the tools they use every day," the software giant said in a press release published on Monday.
If you want to download Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Service Pack 2 as well as find additional information about this latest release, you should click on this link.
On Tuesday, the company continued to increase the list of utilities designed to work with Windows Vista by announcing six new deployment tools meant to make the migration from other operating systems to Vista easier. Microsoft Solution Accelerator for Business Desktop Deployment (BDD) 2007, the Microsoft Application Compatibility Toolkit (ACT) 5.0, Windows Vista Hardware Assessment 1.0, the Volume Activation Management Tool, the Key Management Service for Windows Server 2003 and Virtual PC 2007 are all available for download on the software giant's page.
"Broadly deploying a new Windows client operating system starts with a testing and planning process, followed by a significant investment in time and effort to roll out the new solution," said Al Gillen, research vice president for System Software at IDC. "The tools Microsoft has delivered with Windows Vista will help customers save time and reduce effort both in the planning process and in the deployment phase." "The tools being announced today can help customers at every phase of their migration to Windows Vista, including assessment, planning, testing and deployment," Microsoft sustained.
The most important application seems to be Virtual PC 2007 that is now optimized for Windows Vista and allows users to install and test other operating systems directly from the Windows platform. Although the utility is quite useful in certain situations, I guess it's very difficult to run it and to obtain the maximum performance as Vista requires an impressive amount of memory as well as other operating systems installed on the Virtual PC platform.
Windows Vista was designed by Microsoft to revolutionize our computer activities by offering easy to use tools and all the applications a user needs to work on the system. But when we think that Vista is going to change the life of many users, the operating system becomes a phenomenon. Once in a while, the software giant publishes a prediction regarding the revenues recorded by Windows Vista in certain regions of the world.
"According to a research study recently completed by IDC and commissioned by Microsoft Corp., within the first year of the Windows Vista shipment, Texas' IT industry will begin seeing considerable increases in new jobs and revenue. The study's findings indicate that Windows Vista will provide a foundation for the IT market, with more than 17 percent of total IT employment being related to Windows Vista. In addition, total Windows-related employment in Texas is expected to jump by more than 9,000 new jobs," Microsoft sustained in a press release published on Wednesday.
As you surely know, Xbox 360 represents the game console created by Microsoft's employees that was released last year and recorded huge revenues in the entire world. The company sustains Xbox 360 is a real market hit with more than 10.4 million game consoles sold and 16.3 million games ordered from all around the world. Microsoft announced on Thursday the new titles included in the Xbox 360 Platinum program designed especially to bring more games for the console owners. For the United States residents, the Xbox 360 Platinum will contain interesting titles such as Battlefield 2: Modern Combat, Burnout Revenge and Call Of Duty 2.
"Next month's Platinum Hits releases include critically acclaimed games from the industry's leading publishers, including Activision Publishing Inc.'s "Call of Duty 2," Electronic Arts Inc.'s "EA SPORTS Fight Night Round 3," Ubisoft Entertainment's "Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter" and 2K Sport's "Top Spin 2." This lineup of Platinum Hits represents some of the best high-definition titles available on Xbox 360 at an appealing price," the software giant mentioned.
On Friday, security company eEye Digital Security reported a new vulnerability in Microsoft's Office solution, sustaining "a remotely exploitable flaw exists within Publisher 2007 that allows arbitrary code to be executed in the context of the logged in user." The security flaw can be exploited using a simple procedure: the attacker sends a malicious Publisher 2007 file to vulnerable users and, once it is executed, the computer can be remotely controlled.
Although eEye Digital Security rated the flaw as high security issue, the vulnerability is extremely important for the software giant because rumors about a potential Google Office suite are continuously spreading on the Internet. Google, the provider of the well known search engine, updated Docs & Spreadsheets periodically, developing it into a powerful online document service. The search giant also published a document containing information about an upcoming presentation tool entitled Presently that is meant to complete the Office solution prepared by Google.
