Beta 1 of SP2 for Windows Server 2003 Begins July 26, 2006
Posted by rjdohnert in Tech News.add a comment
Microsoft announced it has begun shipping Beta 1 of Service Pack 2 for Windows Server 2003 and Windows XP Professional x64 edition. However, the beta is billed as "private."
The service pack focuses on the "fundamentals of improving security, reliability, performance, compatibility, interoperability, management and deployment," the company said in a statement.
SP2 includes all current security updates for Windows Server 2003, as well as all previously released hotfixes aimed at addressing issues uncovered by specific customers after SP1 shipped.
My thoughts; specifics are being kept close to the vest. Whether this will include Vista’s 2 way Firewall or any Vista type features is unknown and Im not expecting any kind of major announcement or rollout as by the time this ships Microsoft will not want to take any attention away from its new products
Microsoft and their chaotic naming process July 26, 2006
Posted by rjdohnert in Interesting Reads, Tech News.add a comment
I think Microsoft may want to rethink its Zune name for its media player. This screwup by Microsoft could be catastrophic since Zune is french canadian for a males private parts. Which I must say sometimes Microsoft does come out with names that make one shake his head and go "huh?"
Server-side Windows vs. Linux: Considering today’s differences July 26, 2006
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Not long ago, choosing Linux in the data center meant a tradeoff. You had to give up some capabilities in exchange for freedom from Microsoft lock-in. But that has changed. These days the features of Windows and Linux stack up against each other very competitively. For the most part, administrators can choose Linux or Windows today without losing out. Some differences, however, must be considered. In this article, I look at several of those differences.
Link to article
My Thoughts; There are several drawbacks if you migrate from either to the other. Its not a smooth migration and needs planning to be successful
New Windows Vista Security Blog July 26, 2006
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Windows Vista is supposedly the most secure Windows desktop, with that in mind the new Windows Vista security blog has been created.
Microsoft Blamed for MySpace outage July 25, 2006
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Mary Jo Foly over at Microsoft Watch is highlighting the fact that MySpace who suffered a 12 hour outage yesterday was a big Microsoft customer and wants to know who should be blamed and of course, Microsoft comes up as someone to blame when the Blame game starts publicly.
My Thoughts; So is she saying Linux or another OS and assortment of Backend software could have kept the power from going out?
Announcing End of Life times (Fedora Core 1, 2, Red Hat Linux 7.3, 9) July 24, 2006
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The Fedora Legacy Group is announcing the end of life for previous Fedora releases and the entire Red Hat Linux line of distributions. This allows them to better support the current versions of Fedora Core and the RHEL distribution. Since RH 7.3 and 9.0 are still very used in businesses now may be a time to go ahead and figure out an upgrade strategy.
Link to Announcement
Microsoft Previews new version of Microsoft.com HomePage July 24, 2006
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Looks pretty decent folks.
Inside Vistas new Intall Image July 24, 2006
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Vista’s installation process is dramatically different to any previous version of Windows: rather than being an ‘installer’, the install DVD is actually a preinstalled copy of Windows that simply gets decompressed onto your PC. So how does it adjust to your hardware? How do you slipstream updates and drivers into it? Can you also ‘preinstall’ your favourite apps into your Vista DVD? And most importantly, can you build a custom Vista install DVD that doesn’t install all the ‘free AOL trial’ crap that typically comes bundled in with Windows?
My Take; Apple has been doing this for awhile and Ubuntu has started doing this so its really a great system. Now when the Folks at Novell and Red Hat get their shit together.
WGA: When a false positive isnt a False Positive July 24, 2006
Posted by rjdohnert in Opinions, Tech News.add a comment
Alex Kochis, a licensing manager on the WGA team, put up a blog entry on what is a false positive and how a lot of the failures in fact NONE of the failures are a false positive. He goes along to explain many of these people just dont want to believe they are using pirated software.
My Take; Ok, I didnt post on this when it came out because basically I wanted time to cool off on it. Alex is wrong, for example I know of three instances where it was a false positive. On one of those I upgraded a friends computer to XP Pro from 2000 Pro using a shrink wrapped copy of XP bought at the local CompUSA, the two others were OEM shipped OS’s that failed validation. On all three it took me awhile on the phone to get it straightened out. So I think the article is flawed because I know of others who had false positives as well. Alex and his team are wrong that they investigate all reports of false positives because on the three I reported, never once did Microsoft contact me or ask to repro the problem. This is called damage control for the two class action lawsuits that are in place. How effective is WGA? not very. All their incentive programs to get genuine are already cracked and placed on various sites and P2P’s and the real hardcore pirates are not suffering at all. WGA is more of an annoyance than a solution and while its helping Microsoft nail small 2 bit companies that serve as "computer repair" its not really making a hell whole lot of dent in the bigger problem. If MS turns this into a kill switch they are just screwing themselves because pirates will have it figured out in a little while after its done.
Windows Live Mail Desktop becomes Windows Live Mail Center July 24, 2006
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Windows Live Mail Desktop will be changed from Live Mail Desktop to Windows Live Mail Center. It uses the same codebase as Windows Mail in Vista which is really neat but its only available for XP and up which sucks for Windows 2k users because it really is a nice app visually. If you are a Thunderbird user I wouldnt touch it. Its still a beta and leaves much to be desired. There are really no compelling reasons to use this if your mail client is Thunderbird except for two things, it has smart monitoring and uses IE7’s phishing filter, and you can check your Live mail with this product. If you use OE on Windows XP, try this beta. In some ways its MS playing catchup in otherways you can see the work and thought that went into this product. I cant wait for the final release.
Link to article
