http://news.softpedia.com Softpedia News - Microsoft Softpedia News en-us 2001 - 2009 Softpedia. All rights reserved. Sat, 7 Nov 2009 18:29:16 GMT Sat, 7 Nov 2009 18:29:16 GMT News http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss 10 http://www.softpedia.com/base_img/softpedia_logo.gif http://news.softpedia.com/ http://news.softpedia.com/news/7-Things-to-Try-after-Installing-Windows-7-126392.shtml On October 22, 2009 Microsoft reached the final milestone of the Windows 7 release schedule, namely general availability. Customers worldwide have already started embracing the product, buying 234% more boxed retail copies of Windows 7 since the official launch compared to the first few days after Windows Vista GA. The NPD Group took into consideration only sales of Windows 7 through the retail channel in the US in order to note that Windows 7 retail sales were outpacing those of Vista, but it’s likely that actual sold licenses of the latest Windows client are more than reported by NPD, taking into account the fact that the platform is available pre-installed on OEM computers, as well as offered for download through online outlets such as Microsoft Store.

Windows 7 guarantees a completely revolutionary UX for users upgrading from Windows XP, and evolutionary, as Microsoft itself has put it, for those that migrate from Vista. Either way, the latest edition of Windows brings a consistent range of enhancements that set Windows 7 apart from its predecessors. Assessing the value associated with the innovations introduced in Windows 7 certainly leads to recommendation lists with more than seven items.

Users will find that some of the new Windows 7 features and capabilities will come into focus more than other... (read more)]]> Sat, 7 Nov 2009 12:54:00 GMT Softpedia News - Microsoft http://news.softpedia.com/news/7-Things-to-Try-after-Installing-Windows-7-126392.shtml Microsoft http://news.softpedia.com/news/7-Things-to-Try-after-Installing-Windows-7-126392.shtml#review_zone Softpedia News (Marius Oiaga) http://news.softpedia.com/news/Firefox-3-6-Beta-Revision-2-Available-for-Download-Soon-126368.shtml Codename Namoroka graduated from Alpha to Beta stage at the end of October 2009, but Mozilla is not yet done offering Beta downloads of version 3.6. In fact, additional releases of Firefox 3.6 Beta have been planned on the way to the fully fledged RC. Mozilla has already released Revision 1 of Firefox 3.6 codename Namoroka, and a second revision is scheduled to drop soon, according to Mike Beltzner, Director of Firefox at Mozilla.

At the start of November, Mozilla revealed plans to refresh the current development milestone of Firefox 3.6 frequently via the Beta update channel. Early adopters of version 3.6 of the open source browser will be able to recognize the refreshes through the "3.6b#" versioning. Also, Mozilla intends to label all updates to Firefox 3.6 beta as revisions.

“We're planning on building a refresh of the Firefox 3.6 Beta which we'll issue to our existing users through as a minor update on the Firefox 3.6 beta update channel. We'd like to ensure that this update includes not only all the blocker fixes to date, but also: a lockdown of the component directory so that only whitelisted DLLs are loaded; added support for a blacklist of DLLs that we'll never load; the revised syntax for CSS gradients,” revealed Beltzner.

With the exception of the revisions, Fir... (read more)]]> Fri, 6 Nov 2009 18:30:00 GMT Softpedia News - Microsoft http://news.softpedia.com/news/Firefox-3-6-Beta-Revision-2-Available-for-Download-Soon-126368.shtml Microsoft http://news.softpedia.com/news/Firefox-3-6-Beta-Revision-2-Available-for-Download-Soon-126368.shtml#review_zone Softpedia News (Marius Oiaga) http://news.softpedia.com/news/Dubious-Tactics-Packaged-into-Free-Nero-9-Lite-126360.shtml On November 5th, 2009, the free flavor of Nero 9 was “kicked up a notch” and officially offered to end users. But users won’t be able to find the updated links to download Nero 9 Lite Build 9.4.12.708 on Softpedia. There’s only an unfriendly message explaining why the download links haven’t been refreshed in accordance with the latest release from Nero. We thought that a more detailed explanation was in order to make our action clear. The short version? It all comes down to user choice.

On the official webpage for Nero 9 Lite, the company boasts: “What’s better than free? Free forever! Nero offers you the chance to enjoy Nero’s world-renowned data disc burning and copying features for an unlimited time, absolutely FREE!”

Absolutely free it’s not! Especially when the actual cost for the software is replaced by a toll on user-choice. Taking choice away from end users starts on the Nero 9 Lite page. In order to gain access to the Nero 9 Lite, advertised as free, download end users must supply an email access. The company does not verify whether the email account provided is legitimate or bogus, so users can enter pretty much whatever they like, as long as it respects the general text structure of a genuine email address. But if the address is legiti... (read more)]]> Fri, 6 Nov 2009 15:38:00 GMT Softpedia News - Microsoft http://news.softpedia.com/news/Dubious-Tactics-Packaged-into-Free-Nero-9-Lite-126360.shtml Microsoft http://news.softpedia.com/news/Dubious-Tactics-Packaged-into-Free-Nero-9-Lite-126360.shtml#review_zone Softpedia News (Marius Oiaga) http://news.softpedia.com/news/Forced-Upgrades-Windows-Live-Messenger-9-0-2009-14-0-8089-726-Final-Steps-126348.shtml Microsoft has given green light to the final steps of the mandatory upgrades, designed to migrate its instant messaging community to the latest iteration of Windows Live Messenger. Users of the Redmond company’s older releases of the instant messaging client have been forced to upgrade to Windows Live Messenger 9.0 (2009) 14.0.8089.726, as Microsoft is offering absolutely no alternative in this regard. Not only this, but the software giant is locking customers out of its IM community entirely, unless they upgrade to Windows Live Messenger 9.0 (2009) 14.0.8089.726. In the final stage of the mandatory upgrades process, users still running versions 8.5 and 9.0, but earlier than Build 14.0.8089.726, will have to choose between upgrading or renouncing of Windows Live Messenger altogether.

Needless to say that considering the “like it or not” context, Windows Live Messenger users are indeed upgrading. Also, needless to say that customers are not happy about the forced migration, and have expressed their frustrations and criticism of Microsoft’s actions both on the company’s feedback channels, and right here on Softpedia as well as, in previous articles on the same topic.

“In September, we began asking users on 8.1 clients to upgrade to the latest ve... (read more)]]> Fri, 6 Nov 2009 14:55:00 GMT Softpedia News - Microsoft http://news.softpedia.com/news/Forced-Upgrades-Windows-Live-Messenger-9-0-2009-14-0-8089-726-Final-Steps-126348.shtml Microsoft http://news.softpedia.com/news/Forced-Upgrades-Windows-Live-Messenger-9-0-2009-14-0-8089-726-Final-Steps-126348.shtml#review_zone Softpedia News (Marius Oiaga) http://news.softpedia.com/news/Download-Firefox-3-5-5-126333.shtml Google is not the only browser maker releasing a minor update for its browser this week. Mozilla, which has recently refreshed both versions 3.5 and 3.0 is currently pushing an update to v3.5.4, which was offered at the end of the past month. Users of the latest stable version of Mozilla’s open source browser now have available for download Firefox 3.5.5. Version 3.0 of the browser was not updated this time around, although Mozilla traditionally offers 3.5.x and 3.0.x refreshes in tandem. The exception was generated by the introduction of v3.5.4 last week.

On October 27th, Mozilla made  Firefox 3.5.4 and Firefox 3.0.15 available and also stability and security updates for their respective versions. However, it appears that insufficient testing was carried out on 3.5.4. This made necessary the delivery of Firefox 3.5.5 at a little over a week, since the previous release of the open source browser hit the download tubes.

“As part of Mozilla's ongoing stability and security update process, Firefox 3.5.5 is now available for Windows, Mac, and Linux as a free download. We strongly recommend that all Firefox users upgrade to this latest release. If you already have Firefox 3.5, you will receive an automated update notification within 24 to 48 hours. This update can also be applied manually by selecting "Check for Updat... (read more)]]> Fri, 6 Nov 2009 13:46:00 GMT Softpedia News - Microsoft http://news.softpedia.com/news/Download-Firefox-3-5-5-126333.shtml Microsoft http://news.softpedia.com/news/Download-Firefox-3-5-5-126333.shtml#review_zone Softpedia News (Marius Oiaga) http://news.softpedia.com/news/Download-Visual-Studio-Team-Lab-Management-2010-Beta-2-126326.shtml Microsoft has made available for download a new component of its next generation development platform as an integral part of the Beta 2 wave of releases. In this regard, early adopters can not only grab Visual Studio 2010 Beta 2 and .NET Framework 4 Beta 2, but also the second Beta for Visual Studio Team System 2010 Lab Management. Bryon Surace, a senior program manager on the Windows virtualization team at Microsoft, explained that Visual Studio Team System 2010 Lab Management Beta 2 was designed to offer customers an integrated virtualization for application lifecycle management solution.

Surace noted that Microsoft had labored to introduce a range of improvements in the Beta 2 release of Visual Studio Team Lab Management 2010. Testers that will download and run the release will be able to take advantage of a “simplified Virtual Environment creation; Lab Environment Viewer with full-screen capability; manual and automated testing in virtual environment; build-deploy-test workflow for virtual environments; enhanced workflow process parameters UI and report; network isolation with support for domain controller VMs; Setup & Config – verification and auto provisioning of accounts; Virtual Machine templates; “In-Use” support for shared environments,” Surace explained.

Wi... (read more)]]> Fri, 6 Nov 2009 12:54:00 GMT Softpedia News - Microsoft http://news.softpedia.com/news/Download-Visual-Studio-Team-Lab-Management-2010-Beta-2-126326.shtml Microsoft http://news.softpedia.com/news/Download-Visual-Studio-Team-Lab-Management-2010-Beta-2-126326.shtml#review_zone Softpedia News (Marius Oiaga) http://news.softpedia.com/news/Microsoft-Confirms-Tackling-Modded-Xbox-360-Consoles-126324.shtml  While there are Microsoft customers that indulge in the illegal use of pirated software without so much as slap on the hand from the company, others are less fortunate. Larry Hryb, Microsoft’s director of programming for Xbox Live, has confirmed officially that it is actively banning Xbox 360 owners that have modified their consoles in order to accommodate pirated games from Xbox LIVE.

In addition, Microsoft is cracking down on modded Xbox 360 consoles, although it is permitting users to run bootlegged copies of Windows, even providing Critical security updates for releases of the operating system that have been labeled as pirated by the Windows Genuine Advantage mechanism. The Redmond company indicated that it would not stand for consoles to be modified in order for their owners to play pirated games (an operation dubbed modding) and that it would tackle the phenomenon by banning the devices from the Xbox LIVE community.

“Our commitment to combat piracy and support safer and more secure gameplay for the more than 20 million members of our Xbox LIVE community remains a top priority. All consumers should know that piracy is illegal, and that modifying their Xbox 360 console to play pirated discs, violates the Xbox LIVE terms of use, will void their warranty and result in a ban from ... (read more)]]> Fri, 6 Nov 2009 12:40:00 GMT Softpedia News - Microsoft http://news.softpedia.com/news/Microsoft-Confirms-Tackling-Modded-Xbox-360-Consoles-126324.shtml Microsoft http://news.softpedia.com/news/Microsoft-Confirms-Tackling-Modded-Xbox-360-Consoles-126324.shtml#review_zone Softpedia News (Marius Oiaga) http://news.softpedia.com/news/Vista-SP2-and-XP-SP3-Critical-Patches-Coming-Next-Week-126323.shtml Windows customers will need to get ready and deploy security patches come next week, with the exception of users that have already upgraded to the latest iteration of the client. Microsoft is readying a total of six security bulletins for release on November 10, 2009, no less than four of them targeting Windows releases. However, while older releases of Windows will need to be patched, the same is not valid for Windows 7 (read the Windows 7 Softpedia Review).

Since the successor of Windows Vista was released to manufacturing on July 22nd, 2009, Microsoft has included the operating system among the products updated each month through its patch cycle. The fact that next week, the Redmond company will not be releasing patches for Windows 7 means that the platform is not affected by any of the vulnerabilities that the security bulletins are designed to resolve.

“To help customers plan and prioritize for this month’s security updates, we wanted to let you know that we will be releasing 6 bulletins (three critical and three important) addressing 15 vulnerabilities, affecting Windows and Microsoft Office products. Customers should plan a restart for the Windows bulletins. The Office bulletins may not require a restart if the components being updated are not in use,” revealed Jerry Brya... (read more)]]> Fri, 6 Nov 2009 12:17:00 GMT Softpedia News - Microsoft http://news.softpedia.com/news/Vista-SP2-and-XP-SP3-Critical-Patches-Coming-Next-Week-126323.shtml Microsoft http://news.softpedia.com/news/Vista-SP2-and-XP-SP3-Critical-Patches-Coming-Next-Week-126323.shtml#review_zone Softpedia News (Marius Oiaga) http://news.softpedia.com/news/Microsoft-Forefront-and-Antigen-Multiengine-Mix-Evolution-Reminder-126320.shtml As December 1st approaches, customers running Microsoft Forefront and Antigen products will need to take a series of steps in order to align themselves with the company’s strategy for items of the two product line-ups. The software giant announced on July 1st, that it would be revising its engine mix, and the deadline was the first day in December. According to Microsoft, the changes implemented are set up to boost detection, while optimizing protection for companies leveraging Forefront and Antigen.

“The AhnLab, CA, and Sophos engines will be retired on Dec. 1, 2009. After December 1st, customers will not receive any updates for these retired engines. In order to make sure your Antigen and Forefront products continue to scan efficiently and effectively for malware, any customers running the AhnLab, CA, or Sophos engines must DISABLE these engines before Dec. 1, 2009 and select from the new set of five engines – Authentium, Kaspersky, Microsoft, Norman, and VirusBuster,” revealed Brita Jenquin, senior product manager for Microsoft.

Come December 31st, 2009, Microsoft will modify the update infrastructure of Antigen for SharePoint 8.0 and Antigen for Instant Messaging 8.0. In this regard, the Redmond company is urging customers running the two security solut... (read more)]]> Fri, 6 Nov 2009 11:59:00 GMT Softpedia News - Microsoft http://news.softpedia.com/news/Microsoft-Forefront-and-Antigen-Multiengine-Mix-Evolution-Reminder-126320.shtml Microsoft http://news.softpedia.com/news/Microsoft-Forefront-and-Antigen-Multiengine-Mix-Evolution-Reminder-126320.shtml#review_zone Softpedia News (Marius Oiaga) http://news.softpedia.com/news/Windows-Live-Toolbar-Favorites-Syncing-Disabled-Temporarily-126303.shtml Microsoft has taken the necessary steps to protect end users running Windows Live Toolbars from losing their favorites. Switching off the Favorites synchronization capabilities of Windows Live Toolbars is only a temporary measure, the Redmond company noted, indicating that the full functionality of its toolbar would be restored once a fix was produced and deployed, resolving the issue. According to the software giant, Windows Live Toolbar users started reporting losing Favorites on November 4th, 2009, leading to the temporary disabling of syncing.

“We’ve heard from some customers in the last 24 hours that in some cases, favorites have been removed from the Toolbar when they synced from one or more of their PCs,” stated a member of the Windows Live team on November 5th. “We have investigated, and we want to assure you, that if this is occurring for you, your favorites are still available on SkyDrive. We apologize for this inconvenience and are diligently working on a fix to restore favorites from SkyDrive to your PC.”

At the time of this article, Microsoft had not provided any information on the exact source of the problem, nor on the amount of time that end users will have to go without Favorites syncing. Still, Windows Live Toolbar is just the latest Wind... (read more)]]> Fri, 6 Nov 2009 10:57:00 GMT Softpedia News - Microsoft http://news.softpedia.com/news/Windows-Live-Toolbar-Favorites-Syncing-Disabled-Temporarily-126303.shtml Microsoft http://news.softpedia.com/news/Windows-Live-Toolbar-Favorites-Syncing-Disabled-Temporarily-126303.shtml#review_zone Softpedia News (Marius Oiaga) http://news.softpedia.com/news/Windows-7-vs-Windows-Vista-234-More-Sold-Boxed-Copies-126268.shtml Windows 7’s overall superiority to Windows Vista has translated into the latest iteration of the Windows client, leaving its predecessor in the dirt in terms of commercial success as well. Windows 7 RTM has been embraced by over three times more customers compared to Vista RTM in the first week on the market alone. Market research company, The NPD Group, indicated that initial sales of the boxed, retail copies of Windows 7 dwarfed those of Vista’s. In the first few days on the U.S. market, Microsoft sold 234% more boxed copies than Vista, noted The NPD Group.

“Microsoft’s program of early low-cost pre-sales, high visibility marketing, and aggressive deals helped make the Windows 7 software launch successful,” revealed Stephen Baker, vice president of industry analysis at NPD. “In a slow environment for packaged software Windows 7 brought a large number of customers into the software aisles.”

Microsoft executives, including Chief Executive Officer Steve Ballmer, had revealed during visits in Taipei and Japan that Windows 7 sales were strong. However, Microsoft has so far failed to confirm the data provided by The NPD Group. At the same time, the Redmond company has yet to make public any official sales figures associated with Windows 7.

Still, alt... (read more)]]> Fri, 6 Nov 2009 08:35:00 GMT Softpedia News - Microsoft http://news.softpedia.com/news/Windows-7-vs-Windows-Vista-234-More-Sold-Boxed-Copies-126268.shtml Microsoft http://news.softpedia.com/news/Windows-7-vs-Windows-Vista-234-More-Sold-Boxed-Copies-126268.shtml#review_zone Softpedia News (Marius Oiaga) http://news.softpedia.com/news/Google-Chrome-3-0-195-32-Available-for-Download-126256.shtml While heavyweight browser makers, such as Microsoft and Mozilla, are taking their time developing new releases, delivering new major versions years apart, Google is by no means pacing itself when it comes down to Chrome. In approximately a year since it introduced that Google Chrome project to the world, the Mountain View-based search giant has offered no less than three major versions of its open source browser. The latest iteration of Google Chrome to be made available for download through the Beta Channel is 4.0, which is designed to supersede v3.0. At the same time, Google continues to update the Stable channel and Chrome 3.0.195.32 is now up for grabs.

Anthony Laforge, Google Chrome program manager, revealed that the main focus with Google Chrome 3.0.195.32 was to introduce stability and security updates to the browser. In this regard, Laforge noted that Chrome users would no longer experience issues associated with Google Maps, Adobe Acrobat Reader 9.2, and AAC decoding. The promise from the search giant is that, following the deployment of the latest refresh, they will experience less crashes and that performance will be kicked up a notch. Laforge indicated that Google had dealt with problems that caused Chrome to take the processor up to 100%.

There are also two security patches deployed with the... (read more)]]> Fri, 6 Nov 2009 07:53:00 GMT Softpedia News - Microsoft http://news.softpedia.com/news/Google-Chrome-3-0-195-32-Available-for-Download-126256.shtml Microsoft http://news.softpedia.com/news/Google-Chrome-3-0-195-32-Available-for-Download-126256.shtml#review_zone Softpedia News (Marius Oiaga) http://news.softpedia.com/news/Microsoft-Windows-7-RTM-Sales-Bigger-than-Vista-s-and-XP-s-in-Japan-126248.shtml Ahead of the general availability of its latest Windows client, Microsoft was shy of making public anything but reserved expectations for the operating system. The tactic was synonymous with the company doing a 180 on how it had managed the forecasts around the commercial success of Windows Vista back in late 2006, early 2007. While, at the time, Microsoft Chief Executive Officer Steve Ballmer was boasting sales of approximately 200 million Vista licenses in the operating system’s two years on the market, the company kept rather mum when it came down to estimating how Windows 7 would perform. The silence is now over, with Ballmer revealing that Windows 7 is seeing fantastic sales in Japan, outpacing both Windows Vista and Windows XP.

"We've had a great response here in Japan," Ballmer noted at a Tokyo news conference, according to ComputerWorld. "Certainly we've seen initial sales be fantastic. The first ten days were bigger than the first ten days of XP or Vista or any other Windows launch that we have done."

So far, the software giant has said almost nothing about Windows 7 sales at a global level, and, in fact, this is the first mention that the product is a success, albeit limited to the Japanese market, and even though Microsoft has yet to translate the success into act... (read more)]]> Thu, 5 Nov 2009 16:26:00 GMT Softpedia News - Microsoft http://news.softpedia.com/news/Microsoft-Windows-7-RTM-Sales-Bigger-than-Vista-s-and-XP-s-in-Japan-126248.shtml Microsoft http://news.softpedia.com/news/Microsoft-Windows-7-RTM-Sales-Bigger-than-Vista-s-and-XP-s-in-Japan-126248.shtml#review_zone Softpedia News (Marius Oiaga) http://news.softpedia.com/news/New-Opera-10-10-Beta-Build-Available-for-Download-126235.shtml While Opera Software has rebalanced its resources moving forward with the evolution of Opera beyond version 10.0, the company has yet to deliver the final release of v10.10. Today, November 5th, 2009, a new development milestone of Opera 10.10 with Unite has been made available for download. For the time being, Opera 10.10 continues to be in the Beta development stage, with no indications from the Norway-based browser maker as to when it plans to offer the Release Candidate Build or when it will finalize version 10.10.

“Since I'm involved in UNIX/Linux testing it seems appropriate that I should be the one to announce a snapshot with some nice UNIX fixes. Firstly it seems we got around the Qt 4.5.3+ 100% CPU issue. Also a fix for freezes during DST-to-normal time switch. Finally, we noticed that a few of you were having problems getting Opera to pickup your default Qt style. If you are one of those users try running Opera with the new '-systemstyle' argument,” Ruari Ødegaard, from the Opera Desktop Team, revealed.

But make no mistake about it. The enhancements introduced in Build 1857 of Opera 10.10 are in no way limited to Linux. In fact, as it is generally the case, the latest development milestone of Opera 10.10 Beta is available for Windows and Mac OS X in addition to the open ... (read more)]]> Thu, 5 Nov 2009 15:24:00 GMT Softpedia News - Microsoft http://news.softpedia.com/news/New-Opera-10-10-Beta-Build-Available-for-Download-126235.shtml Microsoft http://news.softpedia.com/news/New-Opera-10-10-Beta-Build-Available-for-Download-126235.shtml#review_zone Softpedia News (Marius Oiaga) http://news.softpedia.com/news/Bing-and-the-Holyday-Overload-New-Video-Ad-126224.shtml It’s almost that time of the year again, and Microsoft is not wasting any time getting into the holiday spirit. The company has all the ingredients available, Santa Claus, elves, Christmas tree, and even a kid that persistently wants an Xbox 360 and would hear nothing else. Just watch the video embedded at the bottom of this article and you’re bound to understand. The software giant has released the first Bing video commercial of the 2009 holiday season, and, no surprise here, the approach is the same as in past Bing ads. (via LiveSide)

Specifically, the Redmond company is passing Bing off as a solution to search overload, even in the holiday season. This is, of course, consistent with the company’s overall strategy to brand Bing as a decision engine, as opposed to just a simple search engine. The end message is essentially that Bing will help through the clutter of query responses, and not let holiday shoppers that hunt for products online be victims of search overload.

Bing is set to keep festive times and search overload separate, and it will do so not only for the actual users of the search/decision engine, but also for visitors of the MSN page. This week, Microsoft has introduced its largest overhaul of MSN, and Bing is an integral part of the new design. The company’s search engin... (read more)]]> Thu, 5 Nov 2009 14:33:00 GMT Softpedia News - Microsoft http://news.softpedia.com/news/Bing-and-the-Holyday-Overload-New-Video-Ad-126224.shtml Microsoft http://news.softpedia.com/news/Bing-and-the-Holyday-Overload-New-Video-Ad-126224.shtml#review_zone Softpedia News (Marius Oiaga) http://news.softpedia.com/news/Download-Citrix-Essentials-for-HyperV-5-5-Beta-126218.shtml Following the release to manufacturing of Windows Server 2008 R2, Citrix moved to provide its own virtualization management and automation solution tailored to the latest iteration of Windows Server. In this regard, while Microsoft delivered the R2 flavor of Windows Server 2008 along with the Hyper-V hypervisor technology, Citric made available for download a new release of Citrix Essentials for Hyper-V. Customers running Windows Server 2008 R2 with Hyper-V and System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2008 can test drive Citrix Essentials for HyperV 5.5 Beta.

In tone with Windows Server 2008 R2, Citrix Essentials 5.5 for Hyper-V is considered the 'R2' variant of Citrix Essentials. The solution from Citrix is designed to extend Microsoft’s latest releases of Hyper-V and System Center.

“Windows Server 2008 R2 contains Microsoft's most powerful virtualization portfolio ever, spanning both server and desktop virtualization with flexible solutions for consolidation, software deployment, application compatibility, disaster recovery, and more. But no single solution is right for everyone, and, in a great example of Microsoft partner synergy, Citrix has released a new version of its Citrix Essentials that's not only compatible with R2, it actually takes advantage of technologies only the latest Windows S... (read more)]]> Thu, 5 Nov 2009 14:09:00 GMT Softpedia News - Microsoft http://news.softpedia.com/news/Download-Citrix-Essentials-for-HyperV-5-5-Beta-126218.shtml Microsoft http://news.softpedia.com/news/Download-Citrix-Essentials-for-HyperV-5-5-Beta-126218.shtml#review_zone Softpedia News (Marius Oiaga) http://news.softpedia.com/news/MSNBot-2-0b-Kills-MSNBot-1-1-in-Bing-Crawler-Evolution-126202.shtml MSNBot 2.0b will kill MSNBot 1.1 in the evolution of the crawler associated with Microsoft’s search / decision engine. Bing inherited MSNBot 1.1 from Live Search, but even ahead of the rebranding of its search engine, the Redmond company was already working on the next iteration of the crawler. In fact, version 2.0 of the bot was introduced approximately a year ago, at the end of 2008. On November 4th Microsoft announced that MSNBot 2.0b was fully operational and that, as a direct consequence, MSNBot 1.1 would be retired.

“We have made numerous improvements in its performance, addressed some webmaster concerns, and published detailed information on how to control the bot with a robots.txt file. Today we are announcing that the new bot is fully operational. This development will enable Bing to do a better job at gathering the information we need from the myriad of websites we index worldwide,” revealed Rick DeJarnette, Bing Webmaster Center. “As MSNBot 2.0b enters full-scale production, the time has come to retire our previous generation bot, MSNBot 1.1.”

MSNBot 1.1 will not live to see the end of the first year in November, Microsoft promised. Website owners and administrators will only be able to identify MSNBot 2.0b as msnbot/2.0b (+http://search.msn.com/msnbot.htm... (read more)]]> Thu, 5 Nov 2009 13:19:00 GMT Softpedia News - Microsoft http://news.softpedia.com/news/MSNBot-2-0b-Kills-MSNBot-1-1-in-Bing-Crawler-Evolution-126202.shtml Microsoft http://news.softpedia.com/news/MSNBot-2-0b-Kills-MSNBot-1-1-in-Bing-Crawler-Evolution-126202.shtml#review_zone Softpedia News (Marius Oiaga) http://news.softpedia.com/news/Exchange-Server-2007-Support-for-Windows-Server-2008-R2-126200.shtml Although Microsoft is on the final stretch when it comes down to the general availability of its latest iteration of Exchange Server, the company announced that it would take the necessary steps designed to guarantee that customers would be able to run Exchange Server 2007 on top of Windows Server 2008 R2. Initially, the software giant had told companies that Exchange Server 2007 and the latest version of Windows Server wouldn’t play nice together.

Kevin Allison, GM Exchange Customer Experience, noted that customer feedback managed to catalyze a change of heart for the Redmond giant. In this regard, organizations looking to embrace Windows Server 2008 R2, but not yet ready to make the jump to Exchange Server 2010, will be able to continue running Exchange Server 2007 even after they migrate to the successor of Windows Server 2008.

“Earlier this year we made a decision in one direction, and due to the feedback we have received on this blog and elsewhere, we have reconsidered. In the coming calendar year we will issue an update for Exchange 2007 enabling full support of Windows Server 2008 R2. We heard from many customers that this was important for streamlining their operations and reducing administrative challenges, so we have changed course and will add R2 support,” Allison exp... (read more)]]> Thu, 5 Nov 2009 12:44:00 GMT Softpedia News - Microsoft http://news.softpedia.com/news/Exchange-Server-2007-Support-for-Windows-Server-2008-R2-126200.shtml Microsoft http://news.softpedia.com/news/Exchange-Server-2007-Support-for-Windows-Server-2008-R2-126200.shtml#review_zone Softpedia News (Marius Oiaga) http://news.softpedia.com/news/2-New-SQL-Server-2008-R2-Premium-Editions-Cooking-126197.shtml Microsoft is cooking a couple of new high-end editions of its next generation data platform, Ted Kummert, senior vice president of the Business Platform Division, revealed at the Professional Association for SQL Server (PASS) Community Summit. In this context, the company announced that starting next year, customers would be able to take advantage of Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 Datacenter and Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 Parallel Data Warehouse (formerly codenamed “Madison”). According to Kummert, the two new premium flavors of SQL Server 2008 R2 are designed to satisfy customers’ ever increasing needs for scalability.

By the end of this month, early adopters will be able to take the second Community Technology Preview (CTP) of SQL Server 2008 R2 for a spin. Microsoft indicated that the new SQL Server 2008 R2 CTP bits would be offered to MSDN and TechNet subscribers by the end of November. The company continues to remain committed to delivering the final version of SQL Server 2008’s successor in the first half of 2010. All indications point to the fact that Microsoft is right on track to shipping SQL Server 2008 R2 by mid-2010.

A member of the SQL Server team revealed that, “the two new editions of SQL Server 2008 R2 include: Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 Datacenter to... (read more)]]> Thu, 5 Nov 2009 12:10:00 GMT Softpedia News - Microsoft http://news.softpedia.com/news/2-New-SQL-Server-2008-R2-Premium-Editions-Cooking-126197.shtml Microsoft http://news.softpedia.com/news/2-New-SQL-Server-2008-R2-Premium-Editions-Cooking-126197.shtml#review_zone Softpedia News (Marius Oiaga) http://news.softpedia.com/news/Microsoft-Sacks-800-in-New-Round-of-Layoffs-126180.shtml As of November 4th, 2009, Microsoft started sending out notifications to 800 of its employees whose positions have been cut. With the latest round of layoffs, the Redmond company noted that it achieved the goals of its job reduction plan announced at the start of this year (via TechFlash). On January 22nd, no less than 1,400 Microsoft employees lost their jobs as a direct result of the measures implemented by the company in the face of the adversities brought on by the global financial crisis.

The decision to sack jobs was motivated by the company as an anti-downturn reaction, fitting into the overall plans to cut back expenses. January brought bad news for Microsoft employees as the company reacted to a consistent drop in revenue. At that time, Microsoft Chief Executive Officer Steve Ballmer indicated that 5,000 positions would be slashed over the course of the next 18 months. And while it appeared that some employees would be able to keep their positions more than others, Microsoft is now already done with the 5,000 layoffs, ahead of plan.

“Earlier this year, we announced that in order to reduce costs, increase efficiency and prioritize our focus areas, we would eliminate approximately 5,000 positions by June 2010. Today, we are eliminating around 800 positions spread across multiple businesses and l... (read more)]]> Thu, 5 Nov 2009 11:27:00 GMT Softpedia News - Microsoft http://news.softpedia.com/news/Microsoft-Sacks-800-in-New-Round-of-Layoffs-126180.shtml Microsoft http://news.softpedia.com/news/Microsoft-Sacks-800-in-New-Round-of-Layoffs-126180.shtml#review_zone Softpedia News (Marius Oiaga) http://news.softpedia.com/news/Windows-7-RTM-Infected-8-Out-of-10-Viruses-Claims-Security-Outfit-126146.shtml Security company Sophos has tested Windows 7 RTM and found that the latest iteration of the Windows client from Microsoft is vulnerable to no less than 8 out of 10 viruses currently spreading in the wild. The security outfit put a clean install of the gold edition of Windows 7, which hit store shelves worldwide on October 22nd, in the same arena with 10 samples of malicious code, and found the operating system lacking when it came down to offering protection to end users by itself. In addition, Sophos pointed out that Windows 7’s User Account Control, either turned off completely or was running with default settings, was not an impediment for the infections to run wild.

“We grabbed the next 10 unique samples that arrived in the SophosLabs feed to see how well the newer, more secure version of Windows and UAC held up. Unfortunately, despite Microsoft's claims, Windows 7 disappointed just like earlier versions of Windows. The good news is that, of the freshest 10 samples that arrived, 2 would not operate correctly under Windows 7,” noted Chester Wisniewski, Senior Security Advisor.

We will not comment on the legitimacy of the claims coming from Sophos, or of the initiative, but we will say that their testing methodology is far from, well, an actual testing met... (read more)]]> Thu, 5 Nov 2009 08:50:00 GMT Softpedia News - Microsoft http://news.softpedia.com/news/Windows-7-RTM-Infected-8-Out-of-10-Viruses-Claims-Security-Outfit-126146.shtml Microsoft http://news.softpedia.com/news/Windows-7-RTM-Infected-8-Out-of-10-Viruses-Claims-Security-Outfit-126146.shtml#review_zone Softpedia News (Marius Oiaga) http://news.softpedia.com/news/Free-Windows-7-Themes-and-Wallpapers-on-the-Personalization-Gallery-126117.shtml Concomitantly with the worldwide general availability of Windows 7, on October 22nd, 2009, Microsoft also released a collection of new content designed to enable users of certain editions of the operating system to personalize their desktops. The Personalization Gallery on Windows.com is an online nook dedicated to offering users free resources for the customization of the Windows 7 operating system. Following the close monitoring of that space, we informed you that new themes for Windows 7 had been made available for download. It took Microsoft quite some time, but the company is finally explaining why end users can have Ducati, Ferrari and Porsche themes for free on their desktops.

“For the first time ever, Microsoft is working with other companies to enable them to offer their customers a branded experience on the desktop through Windows 7. The effort is part of a pilot program running until October 2010 by Microsoft Advertising. As of today, you will find themes from 7 global advertisers with well-known brands such as Coca Cola, Ducati, Ferrari, Infiniti, Pepsi, Porsche and Twentieth Century Fox on the Personalization Gallery for download. So if you are a fan of one of these brands, check them out,” Brandon LeBlanc, Windows communications manager on the Windows Client Communicat... (read more)]]> Wed, 4 Nov 2009 17:21:01 GMT Softpedia News - Microsoft http://news.softpedia.com/news/Free-Windows-7-Themes-and-Wallpapers-on-the-Personalization-Gallery-126117.shtml Microsoft http://news.softpedia.com/news/Free-Windows-7-Themes-and-Wallpapers-on-the-Personalization-Gallery-126117.shtml#review_zone Softpedia News (Marius Oiaga) http://news.softpedia.com/news/Download-Windows-7-Remote-Desktop-Connection-7-0-for-XP-SP3-and-Vista-SP1-SP2-126124.shtml While Windows 7 technologies are, as a general rule, available exclusively with the latest iteration of the Windows client from Microsoft, there also are exceptions. Illustrative examples are DirectX 11, which will be backported to Windows Vista, a smaller part of the Platform Update for Windows Vista, which features additional bits and pieces of Windows 7 beyond DX. Following the general availability of Windows 7, Microsoft also delivered Remote Desktop Connection 7.0 for previous releases of Windows.

The Redmond company announced as early as August 2009 that it would start offering new RDC 7.0 clients in the last quarter of 2009, and it managed to live up to its promise. RDC 7.0 is currently up for grabs via the Microsoft Download Center for customers running Windows Vista with Service Pack 1 (SP1) or SP2, and Windows XP SP3.

“RDC 7 will ensure that when connecting to Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 from an XP or Vista machines you are able to take advantage of the rich, advanced RDP7 features such as Media Player Redirection, True Multi-monitor support, etc.” Alex Balcanquall, from the Remote Desktop Services (Terminal Services) team revealed. “If you use RDC 7.0 to connect to XP or Vista you do not get new Windows 7 features like Windows Media P... (read more)]]> Wed, 4 Nov 2009 15:57:00 GMT Softpedia News - Microsoft http://news.softpedia.com/news/Download-Windows-7-Remote-Desktop-Connection-7-0-for-XP-SP3-and-Vista-SP1-SP2-126124.shtml Microsoft http://news.softpedia.com/news/Download-Windows-7-Remote-Desktop-Connection-7-0-for-XP-SP3-and-Vista-SP1-SP2-126124.shtml#review_zone Softpedia News (Marius Oiaga) http://news.softpedia.com/news/SQL-Server-2008-R2-CTP-Coming-Right-Up-126113.shtml Microsoft plans to release a testing development milestone of its next generation data platform by the end of this month. The Professional Association for SQL Server (PASS) Community Summit acted as the stage for Microsoft’s Ted Kummert, senior vice president of the Business Platform Division, to reveal that a Community Technology Preview of SQL Server 2008 R2 would be offered to early adopters by the end of November.

Customers that have kept a close eye on the evolution of the Redmond company’s data platform already know that, during the first half of this year, codename Kilimanjaro (or SQL Server Kilimanjaro) took on the SQL Server 2008 R2 moniker. This is the official label with which the product will hit the market starting next year.

The upcoming release of SQL Server 2008 R2 is, in fact, the second Community Technology Preview offered for the next iteration of the SQL data platform. Microsoft also offered early adopters the chance to test drive SQL Server 2008 R2 in August 2009, when it made the first CTP available to the general public. The Redmond company already confirmed that it was hard at work to deliver the gold version of SQL Server 2008 R2 in mid-2010.

Microsoft revealed that “SQL Server 2008 R2 is the next-generation information platform that is designed to deliv... (read more)]]> Wed, 4 Nov 2009 14:58:00 GMT Softpedia News - Microsoft http://news.softpedia.com/news/SQL-Server-2008-R2-CTP-Coming-Right-Up-126113.shtml Microsoft http://news.softpedia.com/news/SQL-Server-2008-R2-CTP-Coming-Right-Up-126113.shtml#review_zone Softpedia News (Marius Oiaga) http://news.softpedia.com/news/Bing-Maps-Gets-9-460-Square-Kilometers-Imagery-Update-126104.shtml Microsoft is moving forward with its tradition of releasing massive updates to its mapping, search and location platform. According to the Redmond company, the latest refresh to Bing Maps, formerly referred to as Virtual Earth, introduces an additional 9,460 square kilometers of imagery. Although Microsoft only offered notice of the update in November, the additional imagery that has become available to Bing users worldwide was labeled as the October 2009 update to the service. Chris Pendleton, the Bing Maps Technical Evangelist for Microsoft noted that the imagery update is largely focused on North America and the United Kingdom.

“We just shipped another 9,460 square kilometers of imagery onto Bing Maps. This month’s release showcases high precision imagery for the USA, Canada and the United Kingdom. The biggest drop by far was Greater Vancouver Metro. In any case, it’s all 15-30 centimeter resolution imagery, so it’s pretty stunning. We also released a refresh of the mobile tile set for vector (road) maps,” Pendleton stated.

An imagery update that covers 9,460 square kilometers of territory is nothing more than routine for Microsoft, at least as far as Bing Maps is concerned. Bing Maps was refreshed in August with imagery of 101,486 kilometers of territory... (read more)]]> Wed, 4 Nov 2009 14:03:00 GMT Softpedia News - Microsoft http://news.softpedia.com/news/Bing-Maps-Gets-9-460-Square-Kilometers-Imagery-Update-126104.shtml Microsoft http://news.softpedia.com/news/Bing-Maps-Gets-9-460-Square-Kilometers-Imagery-Update-126104.shtml#review_zone Softpedia News (Marius Oiaga) http://news.softpedia.com/news/The-Platform-Update-for-Windows-Server-2008-Released-to-Web-126096.shtml Just as it backported technologies specific of Windows 7 to Windows Vista, Microsoft is also making available bits and pieces of Windows Server 2008 R2 (Windows 7 Server) for customers running Windows Server 2008. Released to web at the end of October 2009, the Platform Update for Windows Vista was accompanied by the Platform Update for Windows Server 2008. Microsoft is serving the Platform Updates for both Vista and Windows Server 2008 automatically through its Windows Update infrastructure, and customers that want to integrate technologies from Windows 7 and Windows server 2008 R2 into their predecessors, only need to open the download pipes and make sure that automatic updates are turned on.

“Following the tremendously successful launch of Windows Server 2008 R2, a lot of software developers are eager to begin writing applications and drivers that take advantage of some of its new technologies,” noted Justin Graham, senior product manager, Windows Server. “To help developers transitioning to Windows Server 2008 R2, Microsoft is proud to announce the release to Web (RTW) of the Platform Update for Windows Server 2008. This set of runtime libraries makes it easy for developers to target Windows Server 2008 R2 without sacrificing their customer base running Windows Server 2008.”read more)]]> Wed, 4 Nov 2009 12:58:00 GMT Softpedia News - Microsoft http://news.softpedia.com/news/The-Platform-Update-for-Windows-Server-2008-Released-to-Web-126096.shtml Microsoft http://news.softpedia.com/news/The-Platform-Update-for-Windows-Server-2008-Released-to-Web-126096.shtml#review_zone Softpedia News (Marius Oiaga) http://news.softpedia.com/news/Microsoft-Overhauls-MSN-Logo-and-Portal-126091.shtml Microsoft has drastically overhauled the MSN butterfly logo and the portal that goes along with it, but not all of the website’s 600 million visitors per month will be able to enjoy the changes. The Redmond company has limited the MSN redesign, which it catalogued as the most significant MSN home page revamp in over a decade, only to users in the United States, which, according to statistics, rise to approximately 100 million. A preview of the new MSN home page is already live and accessible to users around the world, while for people outside the US, the actual MSN home page will continue to look the same as it did until now.

We also included the new logo and a screenshot with the redesigned MSN portal in this article, in order to help you get an idea of just what Microsoft is trying to sell its customers. There's little doubt that the new design is, by far, an improvement over the old MSN style, offering a fresh approach, less cluttered content, while simplifying navigation for visitors. Less complexity, in this regard, is synonymous with an increased focus on delivering information, and making the offered content more user-friendly.

“More than half of people online start their sessions on sites like MSN and they told us they want simplicity — yet still want the latest information and th... (read more)]]> Wed, 4 Nov 2009 12:44:00 GMT Softpedia News - Microsoft http://news.softpedia.com/news/Microsoft-Overhauls-MSN-Logo-and-Portal-126091.shtml Microsoft http://news.softpedia.com/news/Microsoft-Overhauls-MSN-Logo-and-Portal-126091.shtml#review_zone Softpedia News (Marius Oiaga) http://news.softpedia.com/news/Windows-7-Parental-Controls-126083.shtml There are third-party applications that offer parents the option to monitor and control child activities on the computer, but Windows 7, just as its precursor, comes with parental control capabilities by default. From the account of computer administrator, users can turn on Parental Controls and ensure that the settings defined will be enforced for the specific accounts used by children on the same machine. Of course, parents will have to make sure that children only use the accounts created for them, and that they do not have access to the administrator account, or the privileges that come with it, for that matter.

As you can see from the screenshot included below, there are various settings which can be tweaked. Windows 7 customers will be able to set Time Limits, specify which games can and cannot be played on the computer, and even allow or block an application.

“You can use Parental Controls to help manage how your children use the computer. For example, you can set limits on the hours that your children can use the computer, the types of games they can play, and the programs they can run,” Microsoft explained. “When Parental Controls blocks access to a game or program, a notification is displayed that the program has been blocked. Your child can click a link in the notification to request per... (read more)]]> Wed, 4 Nov 2009 11:57:00 GMT Softpedia News - Microsoft http://news.softpedia.com/news/Windows-7-Parental-Controls-126083.shtml Microsoft http://news.softpedia.com/news/Windows-7-Parental-Controls-126083.shtml#review_zone Softpedia News (Marius Oiaga) http://news.softpedia.com/news/Build-Opera-10-10-Unite-Beta-Apps-and-Win-Prizes-126069.shtml When it first unveiled Opera Unite in mid-2009, Opera Software stressed the fact that it had positioned the plain vanilla Opera spin-off as a platform in itself, rather than as a simple browser. In this regard, the Norway-based browser maker released not just Opera Unite, but also the necessary development tools designed to enable devs to start building applications for its browser-web server hybrid. After Opera 10.10 graduated to Beta stage in October, the browser maker kicked off a contest set up to spark app development for the Opera Unite platform. The contest continues to be live, and the prizes might just be incentive enough to get developers going.

“Prizes will be awarded each week to the developer with the best application. The winner will be determined by a team of Opera employees. Up for grabs are gift certificates to online retailers equal the value of a Nintendo Wii or a brand new mobile phone,” Opera said.

The concept behind Opera Unite is to do away with third-parties when it comes down to sharing content - all third parties except Opera and Opera Unite servers, of course. In this regard, Opera Unite is a marriage between a browser and a web server. With Unite, users are able to stream music, share file and folders, host and permit access to picture galleries, and even to ... (read more)]]> Wed, 4 Nov 2009 11:06:00 GMT Softpedia News - Microsoft http://news.softpedia.com/news/Build-Opera-10-10-Unite-Beta-Apps-and-Win-Prizes-126069.shtml Microsoft http://news.softpedia.com/news/Build-Opera-10-10-Unite-Beta-Apps-and-Win-Prizes-126069.shtml#review_zone Softpedia News (Marius Oiaga) http://news.softpedia.com/news/Updated-Windows-Sysinternals-Suite-Available-for-Download-126050.shtml The project debuted by Microsoft Technical Fellow Mark Russinovich and Bryce Cogswell continues to evolve in Redmond, with an update version of the suite now available for download. On November 3rd, 2009, the Redmond company refreshed various components of the Windows Sysinternals suite, all of which were immediately available for download. Specifically, the following tools were updated: Disk2vhd v1.3, Sigcheck v1.61, Process Monitor v2.8, and LiveKd v3.12. Disk2vhd v1.0 was introduced in the first half of October 2009 as a way to streamline the migration of physical systems into virtual machines, according to Microsoft. Since the initial release, this specific Windows Sysinternals component has been updated four times.

“Disk2vhd v1.3: This update to Disk2vhd makes more Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 VHDs bootable by updating their MBR and boot sectors to be compatible with Hyper-V and Virtual PC and by installing the Intelide driver if it it’s not already installed. It also optimizes image creation by not copying paging and hibernation files,” explained Curtis Metz, program manager, Microsoft Sysinternals. “Sigcheck v1.62: This update to Sigcheck, a utility that displays file version and digital signature information, removes a file size limit for generating file hashes, works... (read more)]]> Wed, 4 Nov 2009 09:53:00 GMT Softpedia News - Microsoft http://news.softpedia.com/news/Updated-Windows-Sysinternals-Suite-Available-for-Download-126050.shtml Microsoft http://news.softpedia.com/news/Updated-Windows-Sysinternals-Suite-Available-for-Download-126050.shtml#review_zone Softpedia News (Marius Oiaga)