While Microsoft is severely limiting the number of prerelease Windows 7 builds it provides to beta testers, reviewers, and the public, it is providing a steady stream of interim builds to partners and these builds often find their way out into the real world. Such is the case with Windows 7 build 7022, one of two post-Beta builds that have escaped Redmond’s iron curtain since the beginning of the year. Indeed, build 7022 is the first build I’ve seen that was actually created this year: Remember that the Beta (build 7000) dates back to early December 2008.

Full Article – http://www.winsupersite.com/win7/win7_7022.asp

ne of the more interesting innovations in the original version of Windows Vista was a feature called Windows Anytime Upgrade, which allowed users of the Windows Vista Home Basic, Home Premium, and Business editions to upgrade to a higher-end version electronically. Pricing of these upgrades was, of course, significantly reduced over purchasing a retail Upgrade box, making the service both thriftier and less complicated.

There was just one problem: For whatever reason, many consumers balked at paying for an electronic upgrade. And because Windows Anytime Upgrade required the original Windows Vista install disc, many users had to wait for Microsoft to physically mail them a disc before they could perform the upgrade, undermining the advantages of the instant upgrade.

Full Article – http://www.winsupersite.com/win7/ff_wau.asp

Last month, Microsoft’s Macintosh Business Unit (MacBU) website went offline temporarily, causing conspiracy-happy Mac fanatics to wonder if Microsoft was finally going to pull the plug on its most infamous example of “coopetition” and simply abandon the Mac platform. As is so often the case, the reality of the situation–a temporary glitch, nothing to worry about–was far less exciting than the rumors. But it does beg the question: With Apple gaining usage share in the PC market regularly over the past several years, why is Microsoft propping up this ever-stronger competitor with the crucial Office productivity suite?

Full Article – http://www.winsupersite.com/mobile/activesync_lic.asp

You may not but have have been waiting for a looong time for this to be happening. We finally ship an operating system where the support of 32-bit applications has become optional. All 64-bit baby! I’ve been blogging about 64-bit Windows for some time. Less frequent in recent times, more frequent in the past.

With Windows Server 2008 R2 Server Core we will ship the first operating system with optional 32-bit support. You will have to explicitly enable 32-bit application support. WoW64, the 32-bit app support layer, is not installed by default. This reduces the attach surface, helps saving memory and makes the whole OS, when running native 64-bit apps only, leaner.

Full Article – http://blogs.msdn.com/volkerw/archive/2009/02/09/32-bit-optional-in-windows-server-2008-r2.aspx

The Ultimate Extras embarrassment has been quite an issue since the launch of Vista, and while Microsoft did apologize and things started to get better in 2008, the fact remains that the company wasn’t delivering as promised. Many users went as far as saying that Ultimate was useless because Ultimate Extras weren’t plentiful, but of course those who bought Ultimate didn’t buy them for the extras. And Microsoft is hoping those users will make the same decision for Windows 7 Ultimate, which won’t be getting the feature when it’s released. Here’s the quote that shows Microsoft has given up (it almost slipped through our fingers after all this Windows 7 SKU news):

Full Article – http://arstechnica.com/microsoft/news/2009/02/microsoft-no-ultimate-extras-for-windows-7.ars

Microsoft My Phone syncs information on your mobile phone to a storage space on a web site hosted by Microsoft. If your phone is lost or stolen, or if you upgrade to a new phone, you can easily restore the contacts, calendar appointments, photos, and other information that you stored on My Phone to a compatible new or replacement phone. Most phones that run the Windows Mobile 6 operating system are compatible with My Phone service.

More info – http://www.microsoft.com/windowsmobile/myphone/moreinfo.aspx

Microsoft My Phone syncs information on your mobile phone to a storage space on a web site hosted by Microsoft. If your phone is lost or stolen, or if you upgrade to a new phone, you can easily restore the contacts, calendar appointments, photos, and other information that you stored on My Phone to a compatible new or replacement phone. Most phones that run the Windows Mobile 6 operating system are compatible with My Phone service.

More info – http://www.microsoft.com/windowsmobile/myphone/moreinfo.aspx

The Windows(R) Image to Virtual Hard Disk (WIM2VHD) command-line tool allows you to create sysprepped VHD images from any Windows 7 installation source. VHDs created by WIM2VHD will boot directly to the Out Of Box Experience, ready for your first-use customizations. You can also automate the OOBE by supplying your own unattend.xml file, making the possibilities limitless.
Fresh squeezed, organically grown, free-range VHDs – just like Mom used to make – that work with Virtual PC, Virtual Server, Microsoft Hyper-V, and Windows 7’s new Native VHD-Boot functionality!

Full Article – http://code.msdn.microsoft.com/wim2vhd

If you’re looking for evidence that Microsoft has gone over every single detail in Windows 7 with the proverbial fine-toothed comb, look no further than Calculator, an applet that dates back to the very first version of Windows from 1985. This utilitarian applet hadn’t been significantly updated in decades, and indeed, a quick look at the Calculator application from Windows 2000 (1999), XP (2001) and Windows Vista (2006) reveals that they are, in fact, identical aside from the look and feel of the OSes themselves.

Full Article – http://www.winsupersite.com/win7/ff_calc.asp

So you want to get your hands on the VS2010 VPC?  Here you go:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=922B4655-93D0-4476-BDA4-94CF5F8D4814&displaylang=en

But, wait, you say it’s expired?  Then you need this:

http://blogs.msdn.com/briankel/archive/2008/10/27/visual-studio-2010-ctp-vpc-dealing-with-activation-messages.aspx

Most of our work finishing Windows 7 is focused on responding to feedback. The UAC feedback is interesting on a few dimensions of engineering decision making process. I thought that exploring those dimensions would make for an interesting e7 blog entry. This is our third discussion about UAC and for those interested in the evolution of the feature in Windows it is worth seeing the two previous posts (post #1 and post #2) and also reading the comments from many of you.

We are flattered by the response to the Windows 7 beta so far and working hard at further refining the product based on feedback and telemetry as we work towards the Release Candidate. For all of us working on Windows it is humbling to know that our work affects so many people around the world. The recent feedback is showing us just how much passion people have for Windows! Again we are humbled and excited to be a part of an amazing community of people working to bring the value of computing to a billion people around the world. Thank you very much for all of the thoughts and comments you have contributed so far.

Full Article – http://blogs.msdn.com/e7/archive/2009/02/05/update-on-uac.aspx

Most of our work finishing Windows 7 is focused on responding to feedback. The UAC feedback is interesting on a few dimensions of engineering decision making process. I thought that exploring those dimensions would make for an interesting e7 blog entry. This is our third discussion about UAC and for those interested in the evolution of the feature in Windows it is worth seeing the two previous posts (post #1 and post #2) and also reading the comments from many of you.

We are flattered by the response to the Windows 7 beta so far and working hard at further refining the product based on feedback and telemetry as we work towards the Release Candidate. For all of us working on Windows it is humbling to know that our work affects so many people around the world. The recent feedback is showing us just how much passion people have for Windows! Again we are humbled and excited to be a part of an amazing community of people working to bring the value of computing to a billion people around the world. Thank you very much for all of the thoughts and comments you have contributed so far.

Full Article – http://blogs.msdn.com/e7/archive/2009/02/05/update-on-uac.aspx

Much was made of this week’s slip-up by Motorola’s CEO that Windows Mobile 7 is due in 2010 (something that’s actually been expected for a few months now).

I’ve been  curious about how Microsoft plans to try to catch up with its mobile-phone competitors given the slow, plodding pace at which it has been rolling out new versions of its Windows Mobile platform. After asking around, it sounds like the Softies are definitely aiming to speed up development.

Full Article – http://blogs.zdnet.com/microsoft/?p=1908

Much was made of this week’s slip-up by Motorola’s CEO that Windows Mobile 7 is due in 2010 (something that’s actually been expected for a few months now).

I’ve been  curious about how Microsoft plans to try to catch up with its mobile-phone competitors given the slow, plodding pace at which it has been rolling out new versions of its Windows Mobile platform. After asking around, it sounds like the Softies are definitely aiming to speed up development.

Full Article – http://blogs.zdnet.com/microsoft/?p=1908

Many tend to forget that the same day the Windows 7 beta was released, the Windows Server 2008 R2 beta went public as well, and the same goes for the Windows 7 Ecosystem Readiness Program. The media is letting Windows 7 overshadow Server 2008 R2, but Microsoft isn’t taking much notice. As with any Windows Server release, the software giant is eating its own dogfood: the company recently finished rolling out the operating system on its homepage, though it’s not clear which build the company is running. Netcraft spotted the change:

Full Article – http://arstechnica.com/microsoft/news/2009/02/microsoftcom-moves-to-windows-server-2008-r2-beta.ars