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8/30/2007
Vista service pack coming in '08
After months of silence, Microsoft finally coughed up details Tuesday about its plans for the first update to Windows Vista, saying the service pack will arrive in the first quarter of next year.
In the next few weeks, Microsoft will start private testing of a beta of Service Pack 1 for Vista as well as a third service pack for Windows XP. The company plans initially to release the beta only to 10,000 pre-selected testers, though it may expand that release later. A small group of testers are already working with a "beta preview" version.
8/30/2007
Vista Service Pack 1 Beta White Paper
When developing Windows Vista, Microsoft set out to provide higher levels of productivity, mobility, and security, with lower costs. After more than six months of broad availability and usage, it's evident that these investments are improving the Windows computing experience. For example, in the first six months of use, Windows Vista had fewer security issues than Windows XP (Windows Vista had only 12 issues, and Windows XP had 36). According to the Windows Vista 6-Month Vulnerability Report by Jeffery R. Jones, Windows Vista had fewer security issues than all the popular operating systems he studied.
8/29/2007
Latest Vista SP1 build leaks out
Newest update to Microsoft OS, intended for use by invite-only list of testers, can be downloaded from BitTorrent networks ahead of official release.
Microsoft distributed a new build of Windows Vista's first service pack last week to its invite-only list of testers, according to bloggers armed with copies. But as is the norm, the version also leaked to BitTorrent networks.
The 6.0.6001.16633 (longhorn.070803-1655) build weighs in at a relatively svelte 684MB, bloggers and message forum users claimed. The first Vista Service Pack 1 (SP1) beta, which leaked earlier this month to BitTorrent peer-to-peer file-sharing networks, was significantly larger -- more than 3GB -- and came as an .iso file that was, in effect, Vista with SP1 already added. Last week's build, an .exe file, updates existing Vista installations.
8/29/2007
Entity Framework Beta Released!
The long awaited Entity Framework Beta 2 and the accompanying Entity Framework Tools CTP have been released!
Beta 2 of the Entity Framework includes many great improvements and added features since the last release of the June CTP, including:
Events to customize code generation
Abstract types in EDM models
Complex types
support in metadata files
Entity key serialization
Increased persistence ignorance in entity data classes
Improved connection management in ObjectContext
Improved DataBinding usability
Metadata annotations
Better support for span over LINQ to Entities queries
Improvements to LINQ queries: additional canonical functions and automatic mapping from CLR functions to server functions
A new event for extensibility of SaveChanges
Usability and consistency improvements
Polymorphic results from stored procedures
8/28/2007
MS Sets Fall Launch for Configuration Manager
Microsoft Monday said development is complete on its System Center Configuration Manager 2007, a cornerstone in its model for managed IT systems, and that the management tool will ship in November.
For users moving from the pervious version called System Management Server the release represents an upgrade, but for those tracking Microsoft's Dynamic Systems Initiative (DSI), a 10-year plan to build a management platform for Windows, it represents a beginning and an end.
8/28/2007
Tafiti Searching With Silverlight
Tafiti: It sounds like something contestants might yell on Survivor Africa. But it's really an experimental Microsoft search mashup application built around the company's Silverlight cross-platform streaming media technology and Microsoft's Live Search engine.
The experimental application, which uses Silverlight to front-end Windows Live Search, is available online as of this week.
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