Vista SP1 is now available on Windows Update.

Windows Vista already includes a P2P-enabling technology known as Teredo. But for the forthcoming Windows 7, Microsoft is contemplating adding such features as metered connections, distributed hash tables, and something called ‘green P2P.’

NEW YORK CITY (BetaNews) – For the Xbox 360 game Halo 3, P2P technology is “key to the whole experience,” said See-Mong Tan, Microsoft’s director for P2P networking. Now, Tan tells us, the company is pursuing more options that could bring new legitimacy to a technology that is still berated today for its heritage in anonymous file-sharing.

P2P technologies now being considered for the next edition of Windows include “Green P2P,” metered connections, and distributed hash tables, Tan said, in a talk at DCIA’s P2P Market Conference on Friday.

Tan told attendees at the conference in New York that many Web sites today offer “P2P experiences” even without relying on P2P technologies. On Wikipedia, for instance, “everyone can either edit or read.” On YouTube, “anybody can post or watch videos.”

But P2P technology, on the other hand, calls for the use of “computer sharing [across a] whole community grid,” he said.

Full Article – http://www.betanews.com/article/Microsoft_eyes_a_meaner_greener_P2P_for_Windows_7/1205772055

Windows Vista already includes a P2P-enabling technology known as Teredo. But for the forthcoming Windows 7, Microsoft is contemplating adding such features as metered connections, distributed hash tables, and something called ‘green P2P.’

NEW YORK CITY (BetaNews) – For the Xbox 360 game Halo 3, P2P technology is “key to the whole experience,” said See-Mong Tan, Microsoft’s director for P2P networking. Now, Tan tells us, the company is pursuing more options that could bring new legitimacy to a technology that is still berated today for its heritage in anonymous file-sharing.

P2P technologies now being considered for the next edition of Windows include “Green P2P,” metered connections, and distributed hash tables, Tan said, in a talk at DCIA’s P2P Market Conference on Friday.

Tan told attendees at the conference in New York that many Web sites today offer “P2P experiences” even without relying on P2P technologies. On Wikipedia, for instance, “everyone can either edit or read.” On YouTube, “anybody can post or watch videos.”

But P2P technology, on the other hand, calls for the use of “computer sharing [across a] whole community grid,” he said.

Full Article – http://www.betanews.com/article/Microsoft_eyes_a_meaner_greener_P2P_for_Windows_7/1205772055

Microsoft has been banging the drum on its so-called software + services strategy with increasing fervor over the past several months, but I’ve always felt there was something missing. For example, while the company offers services like Windows Live Hotmail, Windows Live Calendar, and Windows Live Contacts to individuals, small businesses, and educational institutions, these services are not built on top of the enterprise server products that Microsoft separately sells to companies of all sizes. If Microsoft’s servers are so scalable, reliable, and functional, why have the company’s hosted services been such a minor player in it this age of software + services?

Full Article – http://www.winsupersite.com/showcase/mos_2008.asp

ORLANDO, Fla. — March 17, 2008 — Today at VoiceCon Orlando 2008, Microsoft Corp. announced broad availability of its conferencing solutions and continued customer and partner adoption of its unified communications platform. Partners are embracing the platform to provide interoperable conferencing solutions, and today Polycom Inc. announced that it will make its videoconferencing systems work with Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 and Microsoft Office Communicator 2007. Microsoft also outlined continued customer adoption of its unified communications solutions and demonstrated some new technologies, such as low-cost high-definition videoconferencing.

“I am excited at the enthusiastic customer and partner response to our unified communications launch,” said Gurdeep Singh Pall, corporate vice president for the Unified Communications Group at Microsoft. “In the last six months, we have seen some amazing customer testimonials, triple-digit business growth and widespread adoption that are bringing the power of face-to-face, high-quality videoconferencing out of the boardroom and to the broader organization.”

Full Article – http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2008/mar08/03-17VoiceCon08PR.mspx

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