Core Windows architect crawls clear of Vista
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Veteran exit One of the architects of Windows Vista is leaving Microsoft weeks after it emerged he would be re-assigned once the delayed operating system is launched.â¦
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An IT professional discovers a way of getting a full version of Vista for the cost of a simple upgrade.
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Microsoft's operating system from 1.0 to Vista.
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By LEE GOMES The Wall Street Journal  The launch of Microsoft's new Vista operating system Tuesday was supposed to put Windows in the limelight.
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Applying the&#160;SP1 update to Vista&#160;does nothing to improve its application compatibility, with almost 20 percent of software still unable to run, a study has found.Recently founded application testing company AppDNA ran a &#39;before&#39; and &#39;after&#39; on Vista using SP1 (service pack 1) using its AppTitude system, finding that it made no difference whatsoever to its ability to run a test suite of corporate 500 applications, 18 percent of which failed to work without help.As bad as this sounds, the company rated this as good news because service packs normally introduce as many problems as they solve. That SP1 left compatibility performance unchanged was in stark contrast to the experience with SP2 for Windows XP, which&#160;unexpectedly broke many applications&#160;that had worked before.&quot;Organizations have been waiting to see SP1. But people have been wary after SP2 [for XP],&quot; said AppDNA&#39;s CTO, Paul Schnell. &quot;The updates have been incremental and had no impact on compatibility.&quot;The AppTitude testing software used an algorithmic technique to look at applications for behavior known to break Vista. The company also ran usability tests by loading software and digging around to see whether there were issues, Schnell said.Customers running the tests on their own applications using AppTitude would receive an indication of the severity of compatibility issues using a red, amber and green light system, giving them the information needed to plan migration. The software also provided a report on possible fixes.According to its official history, AppDNA is in its first month of independent operation, having been spun out of application migration specialist Camwood, which remains a channel partner. The company won&#39;t be keen to annoy Microsoft too much - its early business has it working closely with the latter on migration projects.Equally, Microsoft has long given up worrying about the Vista&#39;s difficult image. The news that it might still have issues with one in five applications won&#39;t come as a surprise.Redmond has announced its own application migration tools for Vista and prepared for the long haul. The company has pursued a policy of open access to the SP1 refresh, making as few claims as possible regarding the specific issue of compatibility.Techworld is an InfoWorld affiliate.
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Microsoft can't stop crowing about new Vista security features. But the system still has holes. Here's how to plug them.
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Malware blocking credentials questioned Windows Vista has only just left the starting blocks but security watchers have wasted no time in challenging claims that it provides improved security defences.â¦
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Adobe Integrated Runtime paves the way for Web applications that perform like desktop-bound programs.Images: Building apps on AIR
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If you're putting Vista on a PC yourself, you need to read this.
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In a move to ease business migration to its latest operating system, Microsoft released six new Vista deployment tools on Tuesday. But at least one analyst believes the tools might actually lead to businesses delaying deployment.
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Velocity Micro is first system builder to offer Vista SP1
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The up-and-coming virtualization specialist says Microsoft is using its Windows clout to restrict customers choice. Sound familiar?
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Edward Rothstein ponders Microsoftâs new Vista system from inside the belly of one of its beasts.
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With Release Candidate 1 now out the door, Microsoft is putting what it calls the "fit-and-finish" on Windows Vista's user interface, and the company is looking for feedback from users testing out the beta release.
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InfoWorld - Windows Vista will not support older versions of Visual Studio, a move that will require many developers writing applications for the forthcoming operating system to upgrade to Visual Studio 2005, a Microsoft executive said Tuesday.
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User Account Control: insecure by design? Security researchers have taken issue with Microsoft's implementation of a security feature in Vista that is designed to stop users from routinely running systems in admin mode.â¦
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The core code for Microsoft&#39;s Windows OS is undergoing a rewrite to make it slimmer for use in a wide range of future products, including&#160;Windows 7, the OS that will succeed Vista.The internal project, code-named &quot;MinWin,&quot; is not being readied for a product just yet but will be part of&#160;Windows 7, said Eric Traut, a distinguished engineer, during a recent presentation at the University of Illinois. A video of his talk has been posted online.The kernel is the fundamental code underlying an OS that manages services for applications such as drivers, file management and memory.&quot;A lot of people think of Windows as this large, bloated operating system, and that&#39;s maybe a fair characterization, I have to admit,&quot; Traut said. &quot;But at its core, the kernel, and the components that make up the very core of the operating system, is actually pretty streamlined.&quot;Traut showed a demonstration of MinWin, which lacks a graphical user interface. It takes up just 25M bytes when stored on disk, compared to the massive 4GB the full Windows Vista OS needs, Traut said.MinWin can run on under 40MB of RAM, he said. &quot;That&#39;s kind of proof there is actually a pretty nice little core inside of Windows,&quot; Traut said.But Microsoft still wants to shrink it. &quot;It&#39;s still bigger than I&#39;d like it to be,&quot; Traut said.Microsoft uses its kernel in a range of products, from its client Windows OS to servers. Keeping the kernel as small as possible enables it to be used in OSes for lower-memory environments, such as embedded devices.&quot;This will provide us the ability to move into even more areas,&quot; Traut said.Microsoft has said it will release Windows 7 by 2010, although the company has not revealed much detail on its features.&#160;