Microsoft re-assures partners on Vista compatibility
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Better all the time WPC Microsoft has used its annual Worldwide Partner Conference (WPC) to stress that it's working to solve stubborn compatibility problems between Windows Vista and partner products.â¦
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(InfoWorld) - Although some widely used applications from top software vendors haven't been certified for use with Windows Vista, they may nonetheless work with the MicrosoftÂ OS. Major applications from Symantec, Adobe Systems, Apple, and IBM aren't included on an official Microsoft list of applications that qualify for a "Certified for Windows Vista" or "Works with Windows Vista" logo. However, chances are they could currently be involved in the testing process to achieve those logos, Microsoft and its partners said. That's the case with Symantec's security products, according to a company spokesman. Though Symantec's software is not listed on the site as having achieved either of those designations, company spokesman Mike Bradshaw said Wednesday that Symantec's Norton 360, Norton Antivirus, and Norton Internet Security are already compatible with Vista. "It's just a matter of paperwork," he said. The products are going through a lengthy certification process and should be eligible for the label soon. Adobe's Acrobat Reader 8.0 also runs on Vista even though it is not listed on Microsoft's site as one of those applications certified for or working with Vista, according to Adobe spokesman Matt Rozen. Tom Caputo, group product manager on the Windows Vista partner team, said the list of vendors that have applications that have achieved either the "Certified for" or "Works with" Windows Vista designations is by no means the entire list of applications that actually work on Vista now. There are about 800 applications on that list, but "tens of thousands of applications" already can run on Vista, he said. "The goal of the logo programs is to give ISVs the opportunity to indicate to their compatibility status to the market using those two logos," he said. That said, there are still applications from top vendors that aren't available in a full compatible version for Vista, such as iTunes from Apple and Lotus Notes from IBM, among others. And according to some, this lack of compatibility is making it difficult to use Vista as their full-time OS. Microsoft blogger Chris Pirillo, founder of the Lockergnome technology portal, described the lack of compatibility with applications and hardware devices in a humorous blog entry "Windows Vista: Why I'm Breaking Up With You." The entry describes how Pirillo will "upgrade" from Vista to XP because he couldn't get some devices and applications he needs on a daily basis -- such as the software for his HP Laserjet 3052 scanner or his IPFax software-- to work on the new Windows client OS. "I gave Vista a real chance," he wrote. "I just can't use it as my primary OS anymore.... I'm still more than willing to help Microsoft improve Windows and get the message out to users, but I simply can't sacrifice my own time and productivity without benefits in clear sight. I'm begging Microsoft and all of my hardware and software vendors to make Windows better for me."
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Microsoft is including a set of nonsecurity updates that prepare customers to install Windows Vista Service Pack 1 as part of its monthly &quot;Patch Tuesday&quot; security fixes.Two of three prerequisite updates needed to install SP1 are hitting Microsoft&#39;s Windows Update for the first time Tuesday along with the usual batch of security updates it releases every month. The technologies -- called KB937287 and KB938371 -- are marked &quot;Important&quot; and will install automatically if a Windows user has Windows Update set to the recommended configuration, according to a post on the Windows Vista team blog.KB937287 is an update to Vista&#39;s servicing stack, and KB938371 is a multicomponent update, according to the blog post attributed to Nick White, a product manager on the Vista team. Both must be installed before a machine can successfully be updated to Windows Vista SP1.The third prerequisite to installing SP1, KB935509, also is being released through Windows Update Tuesday. However, that technology is an update of a previously released technology, not a brand new release.Microsoft plans to release Vista SP1&#160;in its first five languages -- English, French, Spanish, German, and Japanese -- to the Windows Update and the download center on Microsoft&#39;s Web site in mid-March. However, some computers may not work with the update right away because of device-driver incompatibilities; Microsoft is hoping to resolve those by mid-March, which is why it is putting off the release until then even though the final code for SP1 is available now.Following its first release, Microsoft in mid-April plans to make SP1 available in the first five languages to anyone who has chosen not to download it. Microsoft will follow with the remaining language releases of Vista SP1 soon after. Many believe the SP1 milestone is the one that will bring about a new wave of adoption for Vista, especially among&#160;business customers that have been awaiting the service pack&#39;s release&#160;before updating employee desktops.Microsoft releases security updates every second Tuesday of the month, which is why security researchers call the day &quot;Patch Tuesday.&quot; The company often includes nonsecurity updates with these releases, although it also will release nonsecurity updates on the fourth Tuesday of the month.
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Former rivals Sun Microsystems and Microsoft have been working together to make their products more compatible -- permitting Windows to run on Sun&#39;s hardware and making StarOffice and Java Runtime Environment compatible with XP SP2.
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Microsoft issued its second firmware update for its Zune music device, offering stability and performance improvements. In addition, a version of the software was released that is compatible with Windows Vista.
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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. Developers writing Vista-compatible applications will be unable to use Visual Studio 2002 or Visual Studio 2003 if those are running on top of the new operating system, wrote S. Somasegar, vice president of Microsoft's developer division, in a blog entry. The requirement was included as part of announcement of Service Pack 1 for Visual Studio 2005, which was released Tuesday on the Microsoft Connect Web site for developers. Microsoft is making the move to accommodate major changes in the way Vista works, said Jay Roxe, group product manager for visual studio. New features such as Windows Presentation Foundation and Aero and Glass take such a vastly different approach from previous operating systems that they wouldn't be well served by older development programs. "You need the new tools to take advantage of the new features," Roxe said in an interview. Developers may still write Vista software using older versions of Visual Studio as long as they are running on Windows XP, he said. Somasegar's blog entry also told developers who run SP1 on Vista to expect "compatibility issues." Roxe said incompatibilities include the inability in most cases to register com components, requiring the use of a command line. To work around other problems, developers may need to run SP1 on a Windows XP, he said. Microsoft plans to offer a Visual Studio update fixing the short comings after Vista is released to consumers, Roxe said.
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InfoWorld - Microsoft Corp. released tools to help companies deploy Windows Vista, acknowledging that there are deployment and application-compatibility pains enterprise IT managers face when updating business desktops to the new OS.
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A small group of testers is now putting Windows Vista Service Pack 1 through its paces.
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InfoWorld - Windows Vista&#160;isn&#39;t the only recently released Microsoft software that will give users headaches when they upgrade their systems. Corporate users, partners, and analysts said upgrading to Exchange Server 2007 from previous versions also may be a lengthy and painful process for companies, which may want to take a wait-and-see approach to the new software.
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While the release of iTunes 7.1 does include a number of compatibility fixes that enable the software to work with most Windows Vista editions, Apple warns that users may still encounter problems. The company is working with Microsoft to resolve outstanding bugs.
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Because of a bug in Windows Vista's antipiracy technology, some users are being told that they need to reactivate the operating system after installing new device drivers or software.
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Microsoft has issued a patch for a compatibility problem between the recent Windows XP Service Pack 2 and an advertising application run on many users&#39; machines.
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U.S. antitrust authorities confirmed on  Tuesday they reached an accord with Microsoft Corp. requiring  the company to modify its Vista operating system in response to  complaints its desktop search function puts Google Inc.   and other potential competitors at a disadvantage.
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(InfoWorld) - Hoping to accelerate the adoption of Vista for businesses, MicrosoftÂ on Tuesday unveiled toolsÂ that willÂ help companies deploy the new Windows client OS, including software that allows older versions of Windows to run virtually alongside Vista. The company released six tools designed to help business customers migrate from previous versions of Windows to Vista, which was widely released on Jan. 30. The tools are the Virtual PC 2007, Microsoft Solution Accelerator for BDD (Business Desktop Deployment) 2007, the Microsoft ACT (Application Compatibility Toolkit) 5.0, the Windows Vista Hardware Assessment 1.0, and two volume activation tools -- Volume Activation Management Tool and Key Management Service for Windows Server 2003. Businesses have said they are in no rush to update to Vista, and Microsoft seems concerned about their apparent reluctance. Last Thursday during a meeting with financial analysts, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer called analysts' sales estimates for Vista "overly aggressive" and tried to downplay expectations for OS sales. The company is hoping the tools will make moving to Vista less painless for business customers, particularly those who depend on older versions of Windows. Virtual PC 2007, a virtualization tool that lets businesses simultaneously run multiple OSes on a single PC, could come in handy in this scenario. The tool allows business customers to move computers to Vista while keeping previous versions of Windows available for those PCs to run legacy or custom applications in a virtual environment, Microsoft said. Virtual PC 2007 is available for free from this Web site. Solution Accelerator for BDD 2007 includes user migration tools, remote deployment tools, and integration with other Microsoft deployment products, such as System Management Server 2003. BDD also includes or can be used to integrate other tools unveiled Tuesday, including ACT 5.0, Windows Vista Hardware Assessment, and the Volume Activation 2.0, into the deployment process. A free download of BDD 2007 is available to all customers and partners here. ACT 5.0 helps businesses handle potential application compatibility issues encountered when moving to Windows Vista, Microsoft said. The tool includes a series of compatibility evaluators that lets companies assess whether applications will be compatible with Vista and, if not, how to resolve conflicts. ACT 5.0 also includes a link to an online community that provides users with updated application assessments and test results not only from Microsoft, but also its partners. It is available as a free download here. The Windows Vista Hardware Assessment tool helps businesses determine which existing PCs can upgrade to Vista and gives them the resources required to complete the process, Microsoft said. The tool assesses PCs' hardware and device compatibility with Vista,Â and itÂ provides reports with upgrade recommendations for each PC. The tool is available for download here. Microsoft Volume Activation 2.0 and KMS (Key Management Service) for Windows Server 2003 provide volume activation technologies so businesses can activate multiple Vista PCs across the company. The Windows VAMT (Volume Activation Management Tool) enables IT professionals to automate and manage the volume activation process using a Multiple Activation Key, which requires a one-time communication with Microsoft either independently by each computer or by multiple computers at once. KMS for Windows Server 2003 lets business customers host a local service within their environment that can be used to activate Windows Vista without sending information to Microsoft. VAMT and KMS for Windows Server 2003 are available on the Microsoft Download Center here and here.
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Microsoft has modified Vista for release in Europe to meet European Commission requirements.
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The software maker erroneously posts a note on its developer site saying a "release candidate" version of the Vista service pack was being made available. Microsoft does plan one eventually, but it's not imminent.
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Many computer users prefer to install their operating system "clean" by simply using their old Windows disc to verify they own a copy of the software. However, that appears to no longer be possible using an Upgrade version of Windows Vista.