A few weeks ago, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer gave clear hints of a Windows-branded product that will be deployed in the cloud. At 8:55 am PDT Monday, Ozzie christened this service Windows Azure.

As expected, Microsoft Chief Software Architect Ray Ozzie began his first day keynote speech at PDC 2008 (he’ll be back for Day 2) by staking his company’s new claim to software as services. “The Web has become a key demand generation mechanism,” he said in his characteristic high-flying style, “becoming Web services’ front door.”

Full Article – http://www.betanews.com/article/Windows_Azure_is_Microsofts_cloudbased_hosting_service/1225123288

A few weeks ago, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer gave clear hints of a Windows-branded product that will be deployed in the cloud. At 8:55 am PDT Monday, Ozzie christened this service Windows Azure.

As expected, Microsoft Chief Software Architect Ray Ozzie began his first day keynote speech at PDC 2008 (he’ll be back for Day 2) by staking his company’s new claim to software as services. “The Web has become a key demand generation mechanism,” he said in his characteristic high-flying style, “becoming Web services’ front door.”

Full Article – http://www.betanews.com/article/Windows_Azure_is_Microsofts_cloudbased_hosting_service/1225123288

This week at PDC 2008 in LA and next week at WinHEC 2008 Microsoft will announce details about the next release of Windows codename Windows Seven. In this article I will inform you about what is coming to Windows Seven Server, which will be released as Windows Server 2008 R2, this is the same release schedule as first used with Window Server 2003 (Major release, Minor Release). For this reason I still find it strange that Microsoft used “Seven” as a codename (for client even releasename). For both client and server this is a minor release or point release, the kernel version is 6.x and not 7.0. Ah well, marketing is not my thing I guess.

Full Article – http://bink.nu/news/windows-server-2008-r2-overview-feature-overview.aspx

With Microsofties already descending on Los Angeles in anticipation of next week’s Professional Developers Conference (PDC) 2008, the wider computing-using public is eagerly awaiting news of Windows 7, Microsoft’s next desktop OS. The software giant will ship a pre-beta version of the system to attendees, the first such release of Vista’s successor. I’ll be in Los Angeles for the next week covering the show and all of the Windows 7-related developments and you should bookmark my PDC 2008 page, which will include a live blog and ongoing updates during the show.

Here’s what to expect.

Full Article – http://www.winsupersite.com/win7/win7_hereitcomes.asp

Microsoft (NSDQ:MSFT) has reiterated its intention to release a third service pack for SQL Server 2005 by the end of the year, after making a similar announcement in April.

In a Monday blog post, Nosheen Syed, lead program manager in Microsoft’s SQL Server Sustained Engineering group, said SQL Server 2005 SP3 will consist of all Cumulative Updates Microsoft has issued for the software, up to and including Cumulative Update 9 from SQL Server 2005 SP2.

SQL Server 2005 caused headaches for early Vista users, because Vista required SQL Server 2005 SP2, but Microsoft didn’t release SQL Server SP2 until February 2007, more than two months after it released Vista to business users.

Full Article – http://www.crn.com/software/211300549?cid=microsoftFeed

Microsoft has started distributing the magical GUID to shove into select testers’ registries via a batch file. For those with build string fetishes, and to ultimately improve SEO scores, here you go: 6002.16489 (lh_sp2beta.080924-1740).

Since the launch of Windows Server 2008 a lot of configuration tools have been released to help administrators get the most out of Server Core installations of Windows Server 2008 and Hyper-V Server 2008 installations.

This blog post features free configuration tools and initiatives to develop this kind of tools for Server Core installations of Windows Server 2008. You will find both graphical and command line tools to help you configure (some of the) settings in Server Core installations of Windows Server 2008 and Hyper-V Server 2008.

Full Article – http://blogs.dirteam.com/blogs/sanderberkouwer/archive/2008/10/14/overview-of-free-server-core-configuration-tools.aspx

Microsoft Corp. on Tuesday patched 20 vulnerabilities, more than half of them rated critical, in 11 separate security updates for Windows, Office, Internet Explorer (IE), Active Directory and the Host Integration Server.

Also for the first time, the company predicted the likelihood that hackers would come up with exploits for each bug.

“The count’s big,” said Andrew Storms, director of security operations at nCircle Network Security Inc. Eleven of the 20 flaws were rated “critical,” the top ranking in Microsoft’s four-level threat scoring system, while eight were pegged as “important,” the next step down, and one was listed as only “moderate.” Today’s update was the largest since August, when Microsoft issued 26 patches in 12 bulletins.

Full Article – http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9117179&source=rss_topic125

The Windows team is readying second service packs (SP2) for Vista — and for its server complement, Windows Server 2008 — and is aiming to deliver these SP2s before it releases Windows 7, according to my sources.

I’m hearing that Microsoft already has delivered a beta of at least Vista SP2 to select hardware and software partners, the same way that it has been providing a hand-chosen few with early builds of Windows 7. I noticed that Microsoft has put up a place holder Knowledge Base article on October 2 regarding the forthcoming SP2 betas. (I see a couple of other bloggers saw this, as well.)

Full Article – http://blogs.zdnet.com/microsoft/?p=1643

With Windows Vista finally behind us, it’s time to turn our attention to the next Windows client release, which is currently codenamed Windows “7”, though Microsoft has used other code-names, like “Vienna” and “Windows Seven” in the past.

Clearly, what’s needed is a central location for accurate information about Windows 7. This is it.

Full Article – http://www.winsupersite.com/faq/windows_7.asp

With Windows Vista finally behind us, it’s time to turn our attention to the next Windows client release, which is currently codenamed Windows “7”, though Microsoft has used other code-names, like “Vienna” and “Windows Seven” in the past.

Clearly, what’s needed is a central location for accurate information about Windows 7. This is it.

Full Article – http://www.winsupersite.com/faq/windows_7.asp

Following in the footsteps of the iPhone, Google’s Android seeks to do Apple one better by completely opening up its mobile platform, and by making it available for free to all handset makers and mobile network operators. The first Android phone, the cunningly named T-Mobile G1, arrives this month. And while it may be a while before we fully understand the impact that an open platform will have on the mobile market, make no mistake: Android is now a first-class player in this crucial industry, taking its place alongside Windows Mobile, Blackberry, and iPhone.

Full Article – http://www.winsupersite.com/showcase/google_android_preview.asp

Back in July, I first discussed Microsoft’s New Xbox Experience, the upcoming major new user interface update for the Xbox 360. Today, the software giant revealed that this experience will rollout to Xbox 360 users on November 19, so it’s time to begin paying a bit more attention to the coming changes. First up, the new Games Marketplace, which is being redesigned to better showcase downloadable games and downloadable content for retail games.

Full Article – http://www.winsupersite.com/showcase/xbox360_newx_preview_gm.asp

I’m reading more and more about Windows 7 lately as PDC approaches and Microsoft begins revealing more snippets of information about its most secretive product ever. In most of that coverage, I’ve noticed an assumption that Windows 7 is going to be the final name of the product. I’ve been guilty of leaping to that conclusion myself.

But a reader asked the other day why Microsoft is calling it Windows 7, and as I worked on my response to that question, it struck me that it’s entirely possible, even likely, that the next release of Windows will get a new name before it hits the streets. (Keep reading, and I’ll give you a chance to compare your prediction with mine.)

Full Article – http://blogs.zdnet.com/Bott/?p=558

Never has such a good idea been so badly bungled. Microsoft originally envisioned Windows Ultimate Extras as one of many differentiators for its high-end Windows Vista Ultimate edition. Of course, back in mid-2005, when these plans were unfolding, Microsoft was still struggling to define the various Vista product editions. It planned a Small Business edition, for example, but ultimately decided against it. And for Windows Vista Ultimate, Microsoft originally planned to include a number of features that never came to fruition, including a Game Performance Tweaker, a podcast creation utility, online “Club” services, extended A1 subscriptions, free music downloads, free movie downloads, Online Spotlight and entertainment software, preferred product support, and custom themes. (I first revealed these plans in my September 2005 article, Windows Vista Product Editions Preview.)

Full Article – http://www.winsupersite.com/showcase/winvista_ff_extras.asp