Microsoft preps XP push, mulls Longhorn 'priorities'
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Software giant readies slew of new products for the holidays and revisits options for major Windows revision, News.com has learned.
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Even though Microsoftâs much-anticipated Longhorn has been stripped of its unified file system and some of its other key Longhorn technologies will be available for Windows XP and Windows Server 2003, the next Windows release will still be worth the upgrade, according to Microsoft.
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With Windows XP Service Pack 2 out the door, Microsoft turns its sights to the next operating system.
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Microsoft announced Tuesday that it would post the release candidate of Windows XP Service Pack 3 to its download site this evening at approximately 6 p.m. Eastern time.The move marks the first opportunity for all users of the six-year-old operating system to try out its final upgrade. Previously, several thousand users were given access to test builds of SP3 only by Microsoft's invitation.According to a company spokeswoman, the version that debuts Tuesday, dubbed a "release candidate" to note progress from earlier betas, will be available from the Microsoft Download Center. She was unable to say when the service pack would post to Windows Update so users can download and install it with the company's update service, however.The final version of Windows XP SP3 remains slated for delivery sometime in the first half of 2008, the spokeswoman said. She also warned off casual users from trying the preview. "As this is a release candidate, we strongly encourage only those who are comfortable installing prerelease code to download Windows XP SP3," she said.Recently, Microsoft has been downplaying the significance of Windows XP SP3. In a white paper posted to its Web site last week and also Tuesday, the company praised Windows Vista at XP's expense, reminding users that "Vista provides the most advanced security and management capabilities of any Windows operating system.""Windows XP SP3 does not bring significant portions of Windows Vista functionality to Windows XP," the spokeswoman said.According to the white paper, the Download Center version of XP SP3 will weigh in at about 580MB; the version downloaded and installed via Windows Update, however, will be much smaller, typically around 70MB.Windows XP debuted in October 2001 and was last updated as SP2 in August 2004; SP3 will be the final major upgrade of the operating system.
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Microsoft says it will post the release candidate of Windows XP Service Pack 3 to its download site tonight.
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Microsoft Corp. is starting to ramp up distribution of its massive security update for the Windows XP operating system, but analysts say they still expect the company to move at a relatively slow pace to avoid widespread glitches.
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With SP2 out the door, Microsoft turns sights to Longhorn--which won't look quite as expected.
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Many enterprise IT managers are delaying for months any rollout of Microsoft Corp.&#39;s long-awaited and often-delayed Windows XP Service Pack 2, saying it is breaking too many of their applications.
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Microsoft is going to Tinseltown today to announce plans for its revamped Windows XP Media Center, part of an aggressive push to get ahead in the digital entertainment race.
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Microsoft is preparing a wave of enterprise products, including the long-awaited update to Windows Server.
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If a business is planning to install the latest Windows operating system, certain factors should be evaluated first.
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SilentChris writes &quot;According to CNet, Microsoft is revising their plan for Longhorn. In addition to scaling back WinFS, they will also have separate releases of Avalon (the new graphical system) and Indigo
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Microsoft finally gives us a date for the release of its Longhorn operating system, but the failure to deliver on a highly touted feature raises questions about the company's future. -washingtonpost.com
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The clock is ticking: Microsoft will end OEM and shrink-wrapped sales of Windows XP on June 30, 2008, forcing users to shift to Vista. (System builders, meaning those who do white-box PCs, can sell XP through December 31.) Don't let that happen!                                                      Millions of us have grown comfortable with XP and don't see a need to change to Vista. It's like having a comfortable apartment that you've enjoyed coming home to for years, only to get an eviction notice. The thought of moving to a new place -- even with the stainless steel appliances, granite countertops, and maple cabinets (or is cherry in this year?) -- just doesn't sit right. Maybe it'll be more modern, but it will also cost more and likely not be as good a fit. And you don't have any other reason to move. That's exactly the conclusion people have come to with Vista. For most of us, there's really no reason to move to it -- yet we don't have a choice. When that strong desire to stick with XP became obvious in spring 2007, major computer makers such as Dell and Hewlett-Packard quietly reintroduced new XP-based systems (but just to business customers, so as not to offend Microsoft).But come June 30, even that option goes away. (See InfoWorld's live XP countdown clock. To use this clock on your own Web site, please e-mail Executive Editor Galen Gruman for the code snippet.)So what to do? Let Microsoft decide where your personal and enterprise software "lives"? Or send a loud and clear message that you don't want to move?We're going for the loud-and-clear option. Join us, and tell Microsoft that you want to keep XP available indefinitely. Not for another six months or a year, but indefinitely. Sign InfoWorld's petition today. And consider submitting a "Save XP" video to our site to help spread the word.And ask your friends and colleagues to join in, too. Just point them to SaveXP.com.Don't think Microsoft will listen? Consider this: Although Microsoft denies that anything is wrong with Vista or that most people don't want it, the company has already postponed XP's demise by six months. That's a start, but it's not good enough.Microsoft doesn't have to admit failure; it can just say it will keep XP available indefinitely due to customer demand. It can take that opportunity to try again with a better Vista, or just move on to the next version that maybe this time we'll all actually want.There is a precedent for that, too: In many respects, Vista is like the Windows Millennium Edition that was meant to replace Windows 98 in 2000 but caused more trouble than it was worth. At that time, Windows 2000 was promising but didn't support a lot of hardware, so users were stuck between two bad choices. Without admitting Millennium's failure, Microsoft quietly put Windows 98 back on the market until the fixed version of Windows 2000 (SP1) was available. Microsoft needs to do something like that again today.Make your voice heard to Microsoft. Sign our petition to save XP today. We will present it to Microsoft.For more on why Vista isn't the right replacement for XP, check out InfoWorld's analyses: The (post-SP1) Vista verdict: Wait for Windows 7 Randall Kennedy's assessment is that for the vast majority of enterprise IT shops, Vista is not -- and likely never will be -- the right choice for their immediate desktop computing needs.Service pack vs. service pack: XP SP3 beats Vista SP1 According to tests by Devil Mountain Software comparing the release candidates for the last Windows XP service pack and the first Vista service pack, XP SP3 performs twice as fast as Vista SP1 on the same machine -- and slower than the initial release of the Vista OS as well.Businesses having second thoughts about Vista Fewer businesses are now planning to move to Windows Vista than seven months ago, according to a survey by patch management vendor PatchLink.Forrester: Businesses still saying no to Vista An anticipated rush by businesses to adopt Windows Vista hasn't materialized as IT managers stick with familiar systems and wait for the release of Vista Service Pack 1.Microsoft: Vista follow-up likely in 2009 With Vista just out the door, Microsoft is now drawing up plans to deliver its follow-up client operating system by the end of 2009.Farewell Vista, hello XP From PCWorld.com: How to make the switch back and deal with the gnarly problem of transferring your Vista e-mail, contacts, and user data back to the old standby operating system.HP CEO: Vista never had its moment in 2007 From CIO.com: Wondering what's happened to momentum for Microsoft's Vista operating system in corporate America? Fact is, enterprise IT has continued to decline the Vista plate like it's an undercooked holiday casserole. Listen to what Hewlett-Packard CEO Mark Hurd said: HP never saw a "Vista moment at any time over the past year."UK government report: Don?t upgrade to Vista Report warns British schools not to upgrade to Microsoft's Vista OS and Office 2007 suite, and to avoid Microsoft's OOXML document format because of compatibility concerns.
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Microsoft Corp. is giving users more time to prepare for Windows XP Service Pack 2 (SP2) by doubling the time a special registry key will prevent PCs from automatically downloading and installing the mammoth update.
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Microsoft is making a major push to get home and business customers to embrace the security-focused overhaul to its Windows XP computer operating system.
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Microsoft is offering yet another glimpse at its oft-delayed Longhorn edition of Windows. Two new concept videos have been posted to the MSDN Web site that demonstrate potential real-life scenarios for the software giant's next generation operating system. The demos -- one geared towards telecoms and the other toward governments -- take a detailed look at longhorn's core technologies and discuss its promised benefits. Longhorn is expected to ship sometime in 2006; although, pundits are questioning Microsoft's ability to deliver on its key components like the WinFS file-storage system and the Avalon graphical subsystem.