Microsoft will change Vista to meet EU requirements
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InfoWorld - As Windows Vista&#160;appeared in computer stores worldwide, Microsoft said Tuesday that part of the design of the new operating system is the work of the European Commission.
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NEW YORK/LONDON  - Microsoft Corp. rolled out  Windows Vista in 70 countries on Tuesday, delivering a PC  operating system able to better manage the explosion of digital  media and enhance Internet security.
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(InfoWorld) - As Windows VistaÂ appeared in computer stores worldwide, Microsoft said Tuesday that part of the design of the new operating system is the work of the European Commission. "Following discussions with European Commission, Microsoft committed to make a number of changes to the Windows Vista operating system prior to release," the software maker said in a statement, pointing to three functions of the operating system: security, search, and fixed document formats. Windows Security Center (WSC), which looks like a dashboard, gives the user an overview of what security software is running on the system and the status of checks and upgrades of firewalls and antispyware protection. Rival security software firms and the Commission suspected this could give WSC an unfair advantage. Microsoft said it agreed to develop a new set of APIsÂ for release in the first service pack, scheduled for later this year, which can be invoked by third-party security programs to turn off the alerts presented by WSC. Similarly, PatchGuard -- software that protects against the modification of the kernel of the operating system -- has been added to Vista. Some security vendors have in the past made modifications to the kernel as part of the implementation of their security software. PatchGuard prevents such modifications in the 64-bit version. Microsoft is now working with vendors to develop new kernel-level APIs that will provide programmatic access to the kernel to address this issue, Microsoft said. The APIs will be available in Windows Vista 64 with the first service pack, scheduled for later this year. Regarding search, Microsoft has changed the way default settings are made for Internet search within both Windows Vista and Internet Explorer 7 (IE7). "These changes now ensure for users that they are able -- through a series of windows and options -- to make a clear, conscious, and open decision on their default search provider. Furthermore, users will retain at all times the ability to change this and all further defaults in the operating system at will," Microsoft said. Microsoft's own fixed document format software is known as XPS. "In response to the Commission's concerns, the company has made fundamental changes to the licensing structure of the XPS fixed-format technology and has committed to submit the technology to an international standards body for adoption as an open industry standard," Microsoft said. The XPS standard will be made available under licensing terms that do not exclude any industry or licensing model including the GPL (general public license), it said. "In response to Commissioner Kroes' letter of March 2006, Microsoft created a singleÂ API so that independent software developers can create applications to allow users to save documents in XPS or other formats, such as Adobe's PDF," Microsoft said. Microsoft said it has also disclosed through a licensing program the relevant information to enable the implementation of XPS technology on competing client and server operating systems. Microsoft has also responded to a further Commission demand to submit XPS (as well as future extensions) to a standards-setting body. Microsoft will submit XPS to the Ecma International. Microsoft said it will also enable the implementation of XPS under an open-source business model (GPL) through use of a covenant not to sue -- a model that Microsoft has applied to Web services and open XMLÂ  document formats and that has, it said, "been welcomed by the open-source community." European customers and OEMs will be able to buy a version of Vista that has Microsoft's Media Player stripped out. This unbundled version of the operating system complies with the 2004 European antitrust ruling, which ordered the company to offer two separate versions of both the home and professional versions of the operating system. "In compliance with the European Commission's decision of March 2004, home and professional editions of Windows Vista without Media Player functionality will be released in Europe on the same schedule as the Windows Vista general availability launch," Microsoft said. These are called the 'N' versions -- denoting "no media player," the company said.
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Microsoft  said on Thursday it  remained on track to launch its Windows Vista operating system  in Europe in January but again asked the European Commission to  detail concerns it may have with the software.
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Adobe Systems and Symantec are planning to ask European Union regulators to take action against Microsoft's forthcoming operating system, Vista, which the companies believe has features that undercut rivals.
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Microsoft  raised the  possibility on Thursday that it might delay the introduction of  its new Vista Windows operating system in Europe, depending on  antitrust requirements of the European Commission.
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European Union officials warned Microsoft Corp. on Tuesday not to shut out rivals in the security software market as the company plans to launch its Windows Vista operating system with built-in protection from hackers and malicious programs.
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Microsoft wants to make it easy for users to upgrade among editions of the next Windows.
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NEW YORK/LONDON  - Microsoft Corp. rolled out Windows Vista in 70 countries on Tuesday, delivering a PC operating system able to better manage the explosion of digital media and enhance Internet security.
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Brussels - Microsoft Corporation said on Monday it is ready to put a stripped down version of Windows on the market if ordered to do so by a European court.
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Microsoft says it will comply with sanctions imposed by the European Commission and upheld by the Court of First Instance. The EU says the software company must offer an unbundled version of Windows without Windows Media Player.
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More of the same Microsoft has warned European PC users face an even longer wait for Windows Vista if EU antitrust regulators mandate further changes for the delayed operating system.â¦
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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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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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Microsoft Corp.  filed revised documents with the European Commission on Thursday aimed at complying with a landmark antitrust decision from 2004, the European Commission said.
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Microsoft issued its first release candidate of its upcoming Windows Vista operating system, called RC1, taking a major new step toward releasing the OS on schedule.
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Microsoft  said on Tuesday  that it hopes the European Commission will not require the  removal of important security features in Europe for its new  Windows Vista operating system.