Despite of widespread critics among certain groups of end-users, Microsoft Windows Vista operating system (OS) captured additional part of the market in October, whereas other operating systems from Microsoft reduced their installed base. At the same time, platforms from Apple reduced the shares of the market they command.
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One of the coolest underutilized features of Windows Vista is SideShow. Essentially, SideShow lets you access certain Vista feature from a secondary display. For example, check your email or calendar on your laptop without actually opening your lid. Or better yet, schedule a recording in Windows Media Center using a touch panel on the front of your PC case.
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It seems that the more Microsoft touts the benefits of its Vista operating system to the enterprise, the more resistance it runs into from IT executives who simply cannot justify the upgrade and migration costs.According to new research from appliance vendor KACE, more than 90 percent of IT professionals were still not sold on the virtues of Vista, with only 1 percent reporting that they had fully migrated over.
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It seems that Microsoft’s Windows Vista might well have an enemy within - Windows Live. Microsoft recently re-launched a raft of Windows Live services and some of the key guys from the UK development team popped into the Tech.co.uk offices to tell us all about them. Quite a few of the developments look rather familiar.
Microsoft Tuesday said sales of Vista have hit 88 million and the company highlighted a number of customer migrations it says signify that users are gearing up to switch to the year-old OS despite recent surveys that say many are taking a cautious approach.Company officials say the ebb and flow of new contracts and expiring contracts means the overall number of volume licensing copies of Vista doesn’t change dramatically from quarter to quarter.
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Information overload overran me long ago. No matter what the organization technique I use, I’m always struggling to locate a document or file based on some little artifact I can remember about it. While I have my issues with Office 2007’s ribbon menus, the killer application for me is the search capabilities in Windows Vista and Microsoft Office 2007.
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Windows Vista Service Pack 1 (SP1) is not measurably faster than the original stock edition, a Florida-based developer of performance testing and network metrics software said today.”Microsoft has hinted that SP1 is faster than Vista RTM,” said Craig Barth, the chief technology officer at Devil Mountain Software, referring to the release to manufacturing version of the operating system. “But we found pretty much nothing measurable. It surprised me as much as it surprised everyone else, but the numbers are the numbers.”
Botnets, phishing, attacks on VoIP (voice over IP) and threats targeting Microsoft Windows Vista are among McAfee’s predicted top 10 most threatened aspects of IT for 2008.“Threats are moving to the web and newer technologies such as VoIP and instant messaging,” warns Jeff Green, senior vice president of McAfee Avert Labs and product development. “Professional and organised criminals continue to drive a lot of the malicious activity. As they become increasingly sophisticated, it is more important than ever to be aware and secure when traversing the web.”
The majority of IT professionals worry that migrating to Windows Vista will make their networks less stable and more complex, according to a new survey.Ninety percent of 961 IT professionals surveyed said they have concerns about migrating to Vista and more than half said they have no plans to deploy Vista.
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FarStone Technology has released Virtual Hard Drive 2 Pro (www.farstone.com/software/virtual-hard-drive.htm), a RAM disk utility that improves the performance of sluggish Vista systems equipped with a surplus of system memory. The newest version of Virtual Hard Drive Pro includes a total redesign of the interface and enhancements to the RAM disk building and mounting functionality of the software.
Microsoft Vista isn’t a single product–the software giant has shipped a selection of five versions of its next-generation operating system. You can choose among the $199 Home Basic version; shell out $239 for the Home Premium edition; pay $299 for a Business edition; or spring for the Ultimate edition priced at $399. Microsoft also offers a version specifically tuned to 64-bit computer systems. Puzzled? Read the rest of this entry »
Sticking with Windows XP until Windows 7 rolls out — and bypassing Windows Vista altogether — has its disadvantages. “Even if Windows 7 does ship in late 2009 as now planned, enterprises won’t be able to deploy it until mid 2011,” Gartner’s Michael Silver observed. “By then, Windows XP will be pretty old,” he explained.
Windows Vista has more to fear from Windows XP than rival operating systems, according to an industry analyst. A survey of 600 companies with more than 1,000 employees in the US and Europe by Forrester Research found that Microsoft’s six year-old XP has become standard in enterprises.
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What does Microsoft need to do to convince you to deploy Windows Vista? Do you need ROI data to determine the best deployment method for your situation? Microsoft commissioned Wipro to undertake a study and produce a white paper on how to maximize deployment ROI. Do you need updated deployment tools? Microsoft has updates to the Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack (MDOP) and a new version of Business Desktop Deployment kit (BDD), which is now called the Microsoft Deployment Solution Accelerator and now extends into server deployment.
Microsoft has released a preview release candidate for Windows Vista SP1 to a large group of beta testers. The software maker released the first, private Vista SP1 beta to some 12,000 pre-selected testers in September. At that time, it also promised a larger public beta was in the cards but declined to say when it would be available.
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