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I have a confession to make, I used Windows Millennium Edition and I liked it. That doesn’t stop me making fun of it however.

At a time where there was still a separation between consumer and enterprise operating systems, Windows Me was at the top of its class.

What a lot of people forget or don’t even recognize to begin with is that Windows Me is actually a rather innovative and forward-looking operating system. Instead, almost everyone focuses on its reliability problems which can be largely attributed to the flaky and inherently unstable Win9x kernel.

Full Article – http://www.istartedsomething.com/20080318/windows-me-deserve-more-respect/

BT Wholesale is close to launching an inexpensive new device that could radically improve the speed of ADSL broadband connections.

The telecoms giant claims that electrical interference from household objects – including televisions, set-top boxes and even Christmas tree lights – can reduce a broadband connection to a crawl.

Full Article – http://www.pcpro.co.uk/news/177375/the-10-device-that-could-rescue-your-broadband-connection.html

BT Wholesale is close to launching an inexpensive new device that could radically improve the speed of ADSL broadband connections.

The telecoms giant claims that electrical interference from household objects – including televisions, set-top boxes and even Christmas tree lights – can reduce a broadband connection to a crawl.

Full Article – http://www.pcpro.co.uk/news/177375/the-10-device-that-could-rescue-your-broadband-connection.html

The latest status report in Microsoft’s U.S. antitrust case mentions that the company has submitted a build of Windows 7, the next version of the PC operating system, for review by the technical committee involved in the case. The report was filed last week, but it slipped under the radar until it was noted within the last day by Information Week and others.

Here’s the full report: PDF, 23 pages. And here are excerpts from the report’s Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7 references:

Full Article – http://blog.seattlepi.nwsource.com/microsoft/archives/134013.asp?source=rss

Now that ICANN is in the process of upgrading its root servers to handle IPv6 records, somebody has to get the word out to businesses about the benefits of the updated protocol.

The Internet Engineering Task Force is hosting the “IPv6 Experience” in Philadelphia, a meeting geared largely toward generating interest in the next generation IP.

One activity at the convention is an immersive exercise where IPv4 access is turned off, and all attendees can only connect to IPv6 addresses. The outcome, IETF hopes, will be an improved awareness of how IPv6 “just works,” and how much more work is needed to facilitate a global rollout.

Full Article – http://www.betanews.com/article/The_IPv6_experience_Are_you_experienced_yet/1205269666

Long story short, IPsec isn’t just for VPNs anymore. While IPsec is popular when used in conjunction with virtual private networks, the technology has reached a level of maturity that now allows it to be used for basic packet filtering and other isolative security practices.

Windows Server 2008 takes some steps forward when it comes to broadening the reach of IPsec. Let’s look at the ways Windows Server 2008 takes steps to broaden the reach of IPsec.

Full article – http://searchsecurity.techtarget.com.au/tips/tip.asp?DocID=1304542

Long story short, IPsec isn’t just for VPNs anymore. While IPsec is popular when used in conjunction with virtual private networks, the technology has reached a level of maturity that now allows it to be used for basic packet filtering and other isolative security practices.

Windows Server 2008 takes some steps forward when it comes to broadening the reach of IPsec. Let’s look at the ways Windows Server 2008 takes steps to broaden the reach of IPsec.

Full article – http://searchsecurity.techtarget.com.au/tips/tip.asp?DocID=1304542

After much speculation on whether or not Redmond would jump on the Blu-ray high-definition DVD bandwagon, CEO Steve Ballmer answered with a definitive “yes” last week during a Q&A at Microsoft’s MIX08 conference.

In fact, the company is already working to add Blu-ray support to its Windows operating system, he said.

Microsoft is one of the last holdouts in the high-def format war to declare support for Sony’s Blu-ray. It has been offering high-def players for its Xbox 360 game console based on Toshiba’s HD DVD, but said late last month that it would stop manufacturing them. But Microsoft had stopped short of blessing Blu-ray until now.

Full Article – http://www.crn.com/digital-home/206903060?cid=CRNFeed

Microsoft officials acknowledged this week that they are not going to release until June a fix for the serious data-corruption bug affecting Windows Home Server (WHS) that was first discovered months ago and affects the back-up of a growing number of Microsoft and third-party applications.

The WHS team also said they’re likely to hold off on releasing the the next version of WHS — the Power Pack 1 update originally slated for this spring — until the data-corruption fix was released. Microsoft finished the Power Pack 1 development in January, but then put all hands on solving the data-corruption bug, officials said.

Full Article – http://blogs.zdnet.com/microsoft/?p=1259

Essentials 2007 provides a single solution with a single console for managing your servers, clients, hardware, software, and IT services for a more unified experience. This unified user experience simplifies the complexity inherent in using multiple IT management tools or tools specifically designed for Enterprise IT environments. Also, using the same central console from which you monitor your IT environment you can assess, configure and deploy updates, plus install software to groups and computers you want to target.
Feature Bullet Summary: System Center Essentials 2007 Service Pack 1 (SP1) incorporates the following the improvements and major changes in functionality. For a complete list of fixes and changes that are included in Essentials 2007 SP1 please see: http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=110536.
• Support for managing workgroup-joined computers
• Support for monitoring SNMPv1 network devices
• Support for using multiple auto-approval rules in update management
• Support for using a remote SQL Server 2005 instance on a computer with a different architecture (x86 or x64) than that of the computer running the Essentials 2007 management server
• Support for running the Essentials 2007 management server, console and agent on computers running Windows Server 2008 within 90 days of the release of Essentials 2007 SP1. Management packs for Windows Server 2008 and its role will be available shortly after the release of Windows Server 2008.
• Improved backup and disaster recovery guidance
• Improvements in management pack quality
• Improvements in performance, usability, and supportability

Download Link – http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=20824f84-b98a-4e42-93a7-045a7a58e289&displaylang=en&tm

Essentials 2007 provides a single solution with a single console for managing your servers, clients, hardware, software, and IT services for a more unified experience. This unified user experience simplifies the complexity inherent in using multiple IT management tools or tools specifically designed for Enterprise IT environments. Also, using the same central console from which you monitor your IT environment you can assess, configure and deploy updates, plus install software to groups and computers you want to target.
Feature Bullet Summary: System Center Essentials 2007 Service Pack 1 (SP1) incorporates the following the improvements and major changes in functionality. For a complete list of fixes and changes that are included in Essentials 2007 SP1 please see: http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=110536.
• Support for managing workgroup-joined computers
• Support for monitoring SNMPv1 network devices
• Support for using multiple auto-approval rules in update management
• Support for using a remote SQL Server 2005 instance on a computer with a different architecture (x86 or x64) than that of the computer running the Essentials 2007 management server
• Support for running the Essentials 2007 management server, console and agent on computers running Windows Server 2008 within 90 days of the release of Essentials 2007 SP1. Management packs for Windows Server 2008 and its role will be available shortly after the release of Windows Server 2008.
• Improved backup and disaster recovery guidance
• Improvements in management pack quality
• Improvements in performance, usability, and supportability

Download Link – http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=20824f84-b98a-4e42-93a7-045a7a58e289&displaylang=en&tm

Microsoft Corp. today said its engineers were still “heads down working” on the data corruption bug that has plagued Windows Home Server since late last year, but it acknowledged that a fix won’t be released until June at the earliest.

In a post to a company blog, the WHS team said it had updated a support document to provide more information on the flaw — even as it continued to downplay the threat. “We are aware of only a very small percentage of users with confirmed instances of this issue, and we believe that most people are unlikely to be affected,” the team said.

Full Article – http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9067598&source=rss_topic125

2 weeks ago during the Windows Server 2008 launch event in Los Angeles, I had the opportunity to have a 10 minute talk with Bob Muglia. Bob is head of the Server & Tools devision at Microsoft.

I’m not a professional journalist, I did not record this session, nor did I write down a transcript of what was said, I just took some notes . We talked about Windows Server 2008 and its future.

Hyper-V

First of all I asked the obvious question about Hyper-V, if he would be more detailed on the release date than “after 180 days of the release of Windows Server 2008″ He smiled and just repeated “180 days of the release of Windows Server 2008″

Full Article – http://bink.nu/news/hyper-v-r2.aspx

Server Core is a minimal installation of the Windows Server® 2008 operating system that does not provide a fully integrated graphical user interface (GUI) or other components and applications that are not required for supported server roles and features. A Server Core installation helps reduce the attack surface and allows for easier installation and configuration management.

Download Link – http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=db02ceb1-7e92-4845-889e-6177c4c7f940&displaylang=en&tm

Server Core is a minimal installation of the Windows Server® 2008 operating system that does not provide a fully integrated graphical user interface (GUI) or other components and applications that are not required for supported server roles and features. A Server Core installation helps reduce the attack surface and allows for easier installation and configuration management.

Download Link – http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=db02ceb1-7e92-4845-889e-6177c4c7f940&displaylang=en&tm