The Windows Server 2008 MSDN Development Center has launched. This site is actively being updated to reflect the latest developer news on Windows Server 2008 as well to include links to all the greatest resources you can find out there. So if you haven’t already, make sure to stop by and see what is going on. The site includes links to the application compatibility cookbook, access to the latest release candidate, product overviews, a developer training kit, and Jason Olson’s Windows Server feature of the week and much more.

Full Post – http://blogs.msdn.com/usisvde/archive/2008/01/18/windows-server-2008-now-on-msdn.aspx

Back in 16-bit Windows, the registry was a very different beast. Originally, the only registry hive was HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT, and the only things it was used for were COM object registration and file type registration. (Prior to the registry, file type registration was done in WIN.INI, and the only verb you could register for was “open”.) The registry was stored in a single file, REG.DAT, which could not exceed 64KB in size.

Full Post – http://blogs.msdn.com/oldnewthing/archive/2008/01/17/7137438.aspx

It’s been a while since we last heard some actual news about Seven. Microsoft has been quiet about it, not risking to make the same mistakes as they did with Vista, resulting in the admittedly boring 2007 we’ve had on the Windows side.
Things seem to be ready to get active again pretty soon though, with the news that got out today that Microsoft has hit its first milestone into Seven’s development and distributed a build to selected partners!
The build is said to be able to handle a mixed setup with different graphics cards from different manufacturers, and to include an updated version of Media Center. Not included in this build, but confirmed features for the final version include a stripped down kernel called MinWin, and touch screen features.
Along with hitting this step, Microsoft has revised its roadmap to show it’s ahead of schedule with Seven, which is now set to be out in the second half of 2009 rather than 2010 as previously announced.

Microsoft seems to be preparing to release an unusual “Vista Plus Pack” on February 15th. Based on the provided box art, the Plus Pack appears to be a collection of four casual games that are “Enhanced for Windows Vista”. The listing for the software was found on Future Shop’s online catalog by MadDoggyca in our forums. Details below:

Full Article – http://winbeta.org/comments.php?id=13579

Microsoft’s implementation of commenting in Active Directory has always amazed me. In Windows Server 2003, everywhere you look you find wizards and tabs and configuration screens with a location for adding comments. It seems like every little setting in Active Directory could tell its own story through its attached comments.

Full Post – http://searchwinit.techtarget.com/tip/0,289483,sid1_gci1293745,00.html?track=sy540&asrc=RSS_RSS-11_540

Microsoft’s implementation of commenting in Active Directory has always amazed me. In Windows Server 2003, everywhere you look you find wizards and tabs and configuration screens with a location for adding comments. It seems like every little setting in Active Directory could tell its own story through its attached comments.

Full Post – http://searchwinit.techtarget.com/tip/0,289483,sid1_gci1293745,00.html?track=sy540&asrc=RSS_RSS-11_540

These release notes provide important information you should know prior to installing and testing Hyper-V, including hardware and software requirements and known issues. You should familiarize yourself with all of the information prior to installing the software.

Link – http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=3ed582f0-f844-40ba-b692-230845af1149&DisplayLang=en

Tuesday, I described how to convert the outline of a Word document into a Powerpoint presentation automatically. I stated that this feature was missing in Word 2007, but Tim Anderson explained in his ITWriting blog that the function was still there, though you had to dig a little to find it: Click the Office icon in the top-left corner, choose Word Options at the bottom of the dialog, click Customize in the left pane, select All Commands in the Choose Commands From drop-down menu, scroll to and select Send to Microsoft Office Powerpoint, and click Add to place this option in Word’s Quick Access toolbar, which appears just to the right of the Office icon.

That got me thinking about the other useful features that Word makes difficult to find. Here are five neat tricks in Word 2003 and 2007 that you may not know about.

Full Post – http://www.news.com/8301-10784_3-9849372-7.html?part=rss&tag=feed&subj=NewsBlog

Tuesday, I described how to convert the outline of a Word document into a Powerpoint presentation automatically. I stated that this feature was missing in Word 2007, but Tim Anderson explained in his ITWriting blog that the function was still there, though you had to dig a little to find it: Click the Office icon in the top-left corner, choose Word Options at the bottom of the dialog, click Customize in the left pane, select All Commands in the Choose Commands From drop-down menu, scroll to and select Send to Microsoft Office Powerpoint, and click Add to place this option in Word’s Quick Access toolbar, which appears just to the right of the Office icon.

That got me thinking about the other useful features that Word makes difficult to find. Here are five neat tricks in Word 2003 and 2007 that you may not know about.

Full Post – http://www.news.com/8301-10784_3-9849372-7.html?part=rss&tag=feed&subj=NewsBlog

When you take your first look at Windows Server 2008, you’ll find that many of the traditional tools that graced Server 2003 are still around: the Computer Management console; the System Information utility; the Services console; and so forth. Administrative Tools are still in a Start menu folder named “Administrative Tools,” and you can start feeling fairly comfortable with the GUI if you have background with prior versions of Windows.

If you have logged some flight time with Windows Vista, things will look even more familiar. Windows Server 2008 has the look and feel of Windows Vista. (Which makes sense, when you consider that both products were developed under the “Longhorn” moniker, and share many megabytes of code.) The new collapsible Startmenu, the Vista-style search facilities, as well as some of the tools (such as Windows Firewall with Advanced Security) look just as they do in the Vista GUI.

Where things change a bit is in the Server Manager console (ServerManager.msc, typically under C:\Windows\System32), which is really the “nerve center” of Server 2008. Parts of this console are simply convenient pointers to other administrative tools. However, the “Roles” and “Features” nodes may be unfamiliar to you. I’ll explore both of these aspects of Server 2008 and more in future blog posts.

http://www.networkworld.com/community/node/23766

he core of Windows is in a process of perpetual evolution, as an integer part of the growth of the operating system itself. Of course that the core of the operating system is a reference pointing to the kernel, the central unit of the platform providing low-level functions. And as Microsoft prepares to deliver the third and final service pack for Windows XP and the first service pack for Windows Vista, the heart of the platform will also move ahead. The Redmond company has already introduced major changes with the Vista and Windows Server 2008 kernel, in comparison to XP and Windows Server 2003.
The latest versions of the Windows operating systems, both client and server, brought to the table enhancements impacting memory and heap handling, the overall management mechanisms for application support and power consumption, but also added security mitigations and the Hardware Abstraction Layer. In early 2008, Microsoft is getting ready to release XP SP3 and Vista SP1. Now, SP3 is just a standard refresh for XP and, in this respect, the kernel will remain virtually untouched. The Vista kernel is an entirely different matter altogether. The kernel of the latest Windows operating system is a snapshot of the Windows Server core. In this context, Vista SP1 will almost completely align the Vista kernel to that of Windows Server 2008. Both Vista SP1 and Windows Server 2008 are planned for RTM in February 2008.

“Kernel changes – enhancements in Server 2008 and Vista. Security – service hardening has evolved a little bit from Vista into Server 2008 – least privileges; mew networking protocol in SMB 2 which requires Vista and Server 2008 to work; overcomes limitations of original SMB protocol which was developed 15 years ago e.g. It assumes certain data transmission characteristics which don’t make sense any more like small buffers – 60k packet size; WAN optimisation where there is latency between hosts – batching now takes place to reduce the number of round trips required”, revealed James Senior

http://blogs.technet.com/james/archive/2008/01/09/mark-russinovich-talks-windows-server-2008-hyper-v-and-windows-vista.aspx

, Microsoft U.K Partner Technical Specialist.
But Senior went on to also describe the changes affecting the Transactional File System and Transactional Registry: “Used by Windows Update to apply patches, so the update is protected in a transaction. When it makes some changes to files and registry these are recorded by the transactions which provides guarantees that even if there is power interruption the files and registry will not be corrupted by the update being only partially written. Changes go into a log and when the transaction is committed all the changes are applied in one go rather than incrementally.”
In parallel with the development of Vista SP1 and XP SP3, Microsoft is also working on MinWin. Microsoft Distinguished Engineer Eric Traut presented MinWin in 2007 as a stripped down version of the current Windows Kernel. MinWin weighs in at just 25 MB and is capable of running with just 4g MB of RAM. But, Traut promised that MinWin will get even slimmer. At this point in time, MinWin is the smallest version of Windows in existence, and the true core-component of the Windows operating system. MinWin will be reduced to a minimum independent footprint that will have absolutely no dependencies in the rest of Windows. And of course, MinWin will act as the kernel of Windows 7, the successor of Windows Vista.

http://my.opera.com/reza.com/blog/the-core-of-windows-from-xp-sp3-and-vista-sp1-to-windows-7

Vista Service Pack 1 comes with an important update for gamers – DirectX 10.1. The catch? You need brand new hardware to support it, and NVIDIA enthusiasts are left totally out in the cold.

One of the benefit Windows Vista brought to the gaming table was the next version of DirectX – version 10. With the potential improvements to 3D gaming potentially outweighing the anticipated performance drop in running games on a more resource-hungry operating system, most hardcore gamers waited until ATI and NVIDIA released their DirectX 10-capable GPUs before taking the plunge and upgrading to Vista.

Well, it looks like those early adopters might be left somewhat in the lurch, as Microsoft has recently announced that Windows Vista SP1 will include a minor version upgrade to DirectX – DirectX 10.1. This includes some features originally intended for DirectX 10 but which had to be left to one side, and as such DirectX 10.1 is a superset of DirectX 10 – supporting all of DirectX 10’s features with some additions and enhancements of its own.

DirectX 10.1 offers greater application control of the GPU’s shading and filtering resources, especially multi-sampled and super-sampled antialiasing. The shader model is updated from 4.0 to 4.1, and floating point technology is beefed up from 16-bit to full 32-bit, which should demonstrate a direct improvement in quality for HDR (High Dynamic Range) lighting effects. In addition, all DirectX 10.1-capable hardware should be able to run 4xAA (antialiasing) as a mandatory setting.

So all this is great news, right? If you lashed out on a DirectX 10 card, then perhaps not. Although DirectX 10.1 is fully backwards-compatible with DirectX 10 features and hardware, the reverse isn’t true. Neither NVIDIA’s GeForce 8 series nor ATI’s Radeon HD 2x series of GPUs support DirectX 10.1. ATI’s new products – the Radeon 3870 and 3850 – do support DirectX 10.1, but NVIDIA apparently has no plans to release a DirectX 10.1-capable GPU. Their next product range, codenamed GT200, will support DirectX 11, but as this is due for release before DirectX 11 itself it will be interesting to see how well early products based on this GPU will support the new DirectX technology.

So gamers have a difficult choice to make – go with NVIDIA and be restricted to DirectX 10, or travel the ATI path and get enhanced gaming visuals. And as for those unlucky users who have alreadyt upgraded their graphics cards as a prelude to migrating to Vista, and are now facing even more financial outlay to get the full benefits of a simple service pack…you have a our deepest sympathy.

http://apcmag.com/7790/vista_sp1_needs_new_hardware

This trial guide walks you through a step by step creation of a Microsoft Application Virtualization 4.5 system including the Sequencing of two applications. Once you have completed these setup steps, you will be able to test the benefits of Microsoft Application Virtualization in your own environment.

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=AA787491-8D08-4D2F-8960-9E9F00226C7E&displaylang=en

Microsoft (NSDQ:MSFT) Corp.’s forthcoming Windows Server 2008 provides a two-for-one bonus: virtualization software with the operating system itself and potentially closer integration with some Linux operating systems than it has ever offered before, according to an early, initial look at the server’s Release Candidate 1 (RC1).

New technology allows for closer interoperability between Windows and Linux than we’ve seen in the past, and also puts it at loggerheads with technology offered by VMware, whose virtualization technology has been taking the industry by storm.

The early release of Windows Server 2008’s Hyper-V Beta signals that Microsoft is well ahead of schedule in a key area of development. But that’s no big surprise: Hyper-V technology started with the Xen source code, so the company had a big head start.

Microsoft partially funded the Xen project, which suggests why the beta release supports Linux interoperability. The Redmond, Wash., industry giant plans to support some enterprise Linux distros in the long term—the first one being SUSE Enterprise 10 with SP1. Fedora Core 8 now works with Hyper-V.

To expand its integration capabilities with other Linux distros, the Windows Server 2008 group is opening up a testing program through Microsoft Connect’s site. (Solution providers have to apply to get into the testing program.)

Xen shares a communication layer with Hyper-V. Hyper-V provides components for a synthetic network adapter, synthetic storage controller and Xen’s Hypercall adapter. When running a Linux virtual machine, Xen calls are translated into Hyper-V hypercalls. Though the Xen hypervisor runs in Ring 0, it still has to communicate with Hyper-V.

The Hyper-V layer will execute instructions at the lowest service provided by Windows Server 2008. The Hyper-V layer requires a root-level partition to run, so the Windows Server 2008 kernel is treated almost equally with other Windows and non-Windows kernels. “Almost equal” means that Windows Server 2008 will be the constant in the new architecture.

http://www.crn.com/software/205601425?cid=customFeed

Microsoft (NSDQ:MSFT) Corp.’s forthcoming Windows Server 2008 provides a two-for-one bonus: virtualization software with the operating system itself and potentially closer integration with some Linux operating systems than it has ever offered before, according to an early, initial look at the server’s Release Candidate 1 (RC1).

New technology allows for closer interoperability between Windows and Linux than we’ve seen in the past, and also puts it at loggerheads with technology offered by VMware, whose virtualization technology has been taking the industry by storm.

The early release of Windows Server 2008’s Hyper-V Beta signals that Microsoft is well ahead of schedule in a key area of development. But that’s no big surprise: Hyper-V technology started with the Xen source code, so the company had a big head start.

Microsoft partially funded the Xen project, which suggests why the beta release supports Linux interoperability. The Redmond, Wash., industry giant plans to support some enterprise Linux distros in the long term—the first one being SUSE Enterprise 10 with SP1. Fedora Core 8 now works with Hyper-V.

To expand its integration capabilities with other Linux distros, the Windows Server 2008 group is opening up a testing program through Microsoft Connect’s site. (Solution providers have to apply to get into the testing program.)

Xen shares a communication layer with Hyper-V. Hyper-V provides components for a synthetic network adapter, synthetic storage controller and Xen’s Hypercall adapter. When running a Linux virtual machine, Xen calls are translated into Hyper-V hypercalls. Though the Xen hypervisor runs in Ring 0, it still has to communicate with Hyper-V.

The Hyper-V layer will execute instructions at the lowest service provided by Windows Server 2008. The Hyper-V layer requires a root-level partition to run, so the Windows Server 2008 kernel is treated almost equally with other Windows and non-Windows kernels. “Almost equal” means that Windows Server 2008 will be the constant in the new architecture.

http://www.crn.com/software/205601425?cid=customFeed