Today marks the second day of the Microsoft Professional Developers Conference and the day when hundreds of attendees get their hands on the latest pre-beta build of Microsoft’s next operating system. In departing from the Vista UI found in previous builds, the latest build of Windows 7 shows small changes that indicate a daring new direction for Microsoft.
No, that’s not a typo. It’s apparent that Redmond is already hard at work on the next refresh of Vista as the recent introduction of MSKB# 948965 puts out the call for future details. The service pack could arrive as early as next year, or before Windows 7’s release that isn’t coming in 2009 but probably really is.
Techware Labs has some quick tips to speed up your Vista system.
There have been many operating systems running on the PS3, but all are Linux-derived and compiled specifically for the unique Cell CPU. One daring user has gone ahead and successfully run Vista on the machine.
By success, we mean something nearer to that of Enron or MCI Worldcom’s definition, but success all the same. The feat employed the processor emulator QEMU and managed to launch notepad in a spry twelve minutes.
It appears Microsoft has been hard at work enhancing the responsiveness of the Vista platform.
(Ed note: Zing.)
The Mojave Experiment: Bad Science, Bad Marketing
Since Windows Vista’s January 2007 release, Microsoft has been fighting an uphill battle to repair its beleaguered reputation. Windows Vista has not been hailed as the revolutionary new operating system that they intended. Rather, it has been met with complaints, criticism and sluggish uptake in the ever-important business and enthusiasts sectors.
Despite strong sales on OEM boxes, Microsoft is suffering from depleted mindshare and a lack of consumer confidence. To remedy this, Microsoft has pulled off — with staggering speed — the “Mojave” program designed to bring back the faith. Microsoft has collected scads of unhappy Vista users in California and shown them a “New” operating system code-named Mojave. After a stunning 90% of the candidates stated that they liked what they saw, it was revealed that it was none other than Windows Vista powering their positive impressions.
This campaign comes at a crucial time in the longevity of the Vista operating system. Regardless of whatever technical merit it may or may not have, what people are saying and hearing is overwhelmingly negative. Microsoft hopes that the recordings of people’s experiences with the Mojave experiment will help bolster their image when the footage is aired in commercial format.
This ambitious plan chases the heels of various recent internal memos. Steve Ballmer recently wrote that, “In the weeks ahead, we’ll launch a campaign to address any lingering doubts our customers may have about Windows Vista.” “And later this year, you’ll see a more comprehensive effort to redefine the meaning and value of Windows for our customers.”
So as Vista stretches into its second year of life, no more popular with the loud and listened-to voices than it has been, it seems Microsoft is digging in to fight a massive uphill battle.
Ever felt the need to run three operating systems separately on your MacBook Pro? I scoured the internet in search of a good, straightforward guide to accomplishing the task. Unhappy with what I found, I decided to write one up for anyone else daring enough to do the same.
CoolTechZone says it’s good that Microsoft is killing XP. I LOL’d.
There was a time when I used to run Windows 2000 Server as my desktop OS as well, so this quick guide brought back memories and helped remind me that this is often a good idea. If you’re comfortable in the registry, you can often make a leaner, better workstation OS out of Server edition software by enabling some key user experience features and disabling some totally unnecessary server features. Vijayshinva Karnure tells us what he did to turn Server 2008 into his own “sorta-custom” Vista.
Thanks to IC Forums member Nolf-Job for the link.
Madshrimps tests 8 GB of RAM in Vista, just for kicks.
If you’re unfamiliar with the 3DMark Vantage benchmark suite, here’s a primer.
Last weekend, I was at a friend’s house for a LAN party. After our usual Team Fortress 2 session and a quick break playing the board game “Attack!”, we found ourselves… Well, bored. In our boredom, we began thinking of games we’d always wanted to play in a multiplayer setting but, for whatever reason, never had the chance. We settled on Dungeon Keeper, a personal favorite of all involved. For the Windows XP users it won’t take much to get this game up and running on your system for some LAN party goodness. Vista owners will encounter some speed-bumps along the way, but we have a workaround for 32bit users. Unfortunately, 64bit Vista users will be out of luck. With that, lets take a look at what we’ll need to get this up and running.
TweakGuides.com has updated their Vista tweak guide for SP1.
Vista SP1 was released today. Coincidentally, it was also the day Brian went back to XP.
A new update for Vista can detect shady installs.
