Microsoft Vista

New AMD processor aims for middle ground between netbooks and laptops — AMD has officially announced its Yukon chip, but it's not for netbooks. More powerful and power-hungry than Intel's Atom or Freescale's just-announced i.MX515, the newly-renamed Athlon Neo is intended for low-cost but fully capable ultraportable laptops. Unlike the chips from Intel and Freescale, the Neo supports Microsoft Vista and contains integrated ATI Radeon graphics. According to AMD's press release, the Neo can handle 1080p HD video and "delivers a robust casual gaming experience with realistic 3D graphics." The Athlon Neo will make its public debut this week at CES, but already one computer manufacturer has showed off a laptop... [Tags: amd, amd processor, computer manufacturer, dv2, footnote]

Vista reminds us that we have a choice — Glyn Moody tackles the ever worsening outlook for Microsoft Vista, and comes up with an absolute gem of a thought in the process: What's really important about this is not so much that Vista is manifestly such a dog, but that the myth of upgrade inevitability has been destroyed. ...... [Tags: absolute gem, inevitability, microsoft, microsoft vista, myth]

Vista SP2 due next April, says report — Microsoft will deliver Windows Vista Service Pack 2 (SP2) to manufacturing in April 2009, two months after it issues a final test version to users, according to a Web site that accurately predicted several Windows ship dates in 2008.TechARP.com, a Malaysian Web site that nailed the release-to-manufacturing (RTM) dates for Vista SP1 and XP SP3 earlier this year, said that Microsoft will post a release candidate -- the final test version -- of Vista SP2 in February 2009, finish the service pack next April and offer it to users via download from the Web at some point afterward.[ And to... [Tags: company officials, developer services, final test, infoworld test center, last winter]

Ballmer To Be Deposed — Steve Ballmer loses a motion in the Vista marketing fraud suit and now gets the joy of giving a three-hour deposition: Bloomberg: U.S. District Judge Marsha Pechman in Seattle denied Microsoft's request to block consumers' lawyers from questioning Ballmer, ruling that he may have first-hand knowledge of facts relevant to the case based in part on a conversation with Intel Corp.'s top executive. 'Plaintiffs point to a phone call between Intel's CEO, Paul Otellini, and Mr. Ballmer where the executives supposedly discussed a change in the Vista capable requirements,' Pechman said in the Nov. 21 ruling. Microsoft, the world's biggest... [Tags: allegations, better graphics, computer manufacturers, deposition, district judge]

Microsoft emails reveal a very savvy PR machine — Yes, the Microsoft "Vista Capable" emails demonstrate a fair amount of bungling within Redmond of the Vista product launch, but they're far more interesting in what they reveal about Microsoft's involvement with reporters and analysts, as TechFlash's Todd Bishop reveals. Microsoft worried about (and sought to immediately address) the media's fascination with Apple, tried to guide coverage of Vista, and pushed to ensure that analysts felt Microsoft's confidence in Vista. For example, the summary of Microsoft's meeting with several Gartner analysts in October of 2006 is fascinating, and made more so by Jamin Spitzer, group manager of Worldwide Analyst Relations... [Tags: analyst relations, ceo steve ballmer, fascination, gartner analysts, group manager]

Why I Didn't Skip Microsoft Vista: Security — Microsoft's Windows Vista OS continues to be dogged by a bad reputation, but some recent security reports give it an edge over Windows XP. And some users say security is precisely why they didn't skip Vista.... [Tags: bad reputation, microsoft, microsoft vista, security reports, windows xp]

First Look Review - Life With Microsoft Vista in Parallels Desktop 4 — Recently, Parallels released Desktop 4, the latest version of their virtualization software for Macs. TMO installed Microsoft's Vista (SP1) and started living in it to get a feel for life with Vista in this first look review... [Tags: microsoft, microsoft vista, parallels desktop, tmo, virtualization software]

Microsoft Vista Emails: No Scandal Here — PC owners are in the midst of a class-action lawsuit against Microsoft (MSFT) over whether computers that were certified as "Vista Capable" can actually run Vista -- or at least the "Premium" version with the snazzy new "Aero" user interface. Those who were hoping for the discovery of super-scandalous emails showing that Microsoft lied about Vista's capabilities, however, will so far be disappointed. Here's the story: Microsoft scaled back the original requirements of what it takes to be "Vista capable" from its original specs as a favor to Intel (INTC), which had a backlog of chips (the 915 series) it... [Tags: backlog, class action lawsuit, holiday season, intc, intel chips]

Microsoft Using Apple’s Macbook Pro In Promotional Material? — Post from: Royal HeHe2-ness! A blog that advocates Linux and Open Source. Microsoft Using Apple’s Macbook Pro In Promotional Material? I know that this is a Linux blog, and thats what readers have come to expect. But sometimes one encounters stuff that is just too good to pass. So that other day my dad bought a new HP Pavilion desktop, and since I am the geek in residence I ended up setting it up for him. So while I was waiting for Microsoft’s endless configuration and setup screens I decided to dig into the fluffy paraphernalia  and promotional material bundled... [Tags: apple, blog, dad, gaming division, geek]

Report: Allchin tried to stop Microsoft Vista-Certifying computers that couldn't run it properly — According to court documents, Microsoft not only knew that it was lying when it issued "Vista Capable" certification to computers with puny Intel 915 chipsets that had no such capability, but was thanked for it directly by Intel CEO Paul Ottelini. Imagine being someone who mattered at Microsoft having to listen to fellow executive Jim Allchin go on and on and on: "We are going to be misleading customers with the Capable program. OEMs (computer makers) will say a machine is Capable and customers will believe that it will run all the core Vista features. The fact that aero won't... [Tags: allchin, capability, capable program, chipsets, computer makers]

Microsoft: Naive Web Surfers Are Their Own Worst Enemies — Microsoft is doing its best to keep your PC secure, but you’re screwing up its efforts by naively falling for Tony Soprano’s ever more sophisticated tricks and scams. That’s the takeaway from Microsoft’s most recent Security Intelligence Report, which tracks threats, viruses, malware and more. The latest Security Intelligence Report report is self-congratulatory about Vista’s improved security measures over XP, but unfortunately some of the biggest threats are coming from organized crime groups and use phishing techniques that Microsoft claims it can’t patch. The result is a portrait of web security where the greatest threat, according to Microsoft anyway, is... [Tags: bill evans, black hat, improved security, intelligence report, latest security]

Worry about browsers not OS, says Microsoft — Vista more secure, XP still an issue.The era of operating system vulnerability is slowly drawing to a close, with more than nine out of ten published software vulnerabilities now appearing in applications, Microsoft's latest half-yearly report has suggested.... [Tags: microsoft, microsoft vista, operating system, software vulnerabilities, system vulnerability]

Five Reasons Why Skipping Vista Could Backfire — Though it's tempting, skipping a Microsoft Vista migration and jumping right to Windows 7 could be disastrous for your enterprise, Gartner advises. Here's five points to consider before writing off Vista for its successor.... [Tags: five points, gartner, microsoft, microsoft vista, migration]

Microsoft Windows Vista Service Pack 2 Pre-Beta Released — Microsoft began distributing a pre-beta release of Windows Vista Service Pack 2 just a few days after announcing a second service pack for Windows Vista which according to Microsoft would come out before the release of the next Microsoft operating system Windows 7. The pre-beta release is distributed to a select group of testers who have to run a program that adds a few keys to their Registry which enables the download of Windows Vista service pack 2 on Windows Update. The release which has the build number 6002.16489 has a size between 290.7 MB to 296.9 MB. It contains... [Tags: beta release, day patches, hotfix, matter of time, microsoft microsoft]

McAfee update classifies Vista component as a Trojan — Another fine mess McAfee has fixed an update glitch that wrongly slapped a Trojan classification on components of Microsoft Vista.…... [Tags: fine mess, glitch, mcafee, microsoft, microsoft vista]

The week in Microsoft: Vista SP2, Silverlight 2, Windows 7 — In this week's top Microsoft news, we cover the first tidbits about Vista SP2, the release of Silverlight 2, and the final name and kernel version of Windows 7.Read More...... [Tags: kernel version, microsoft, microsoft news, microsoft vista, silverlight]

Microsoft: 'Vista Capable' lawyers trying to hijack Windows Update — Microsoft is fighting a plan that would force it to use its Windows Update service to notify potential members in the 'Windows Vista Capable' class-action lawsuit, according to documents filed in federal court today.... [Tags: class action lawsuit, lawyers, microsoft, microsoft vista]

Apple Notebook Event: “Leopard Is Far Superior to Vista” [Digital Daily] — At an invitation-only event at Apple’s Cupertino headquarters, Apple CEO Steve Jobs announced the company’s latest revision of its line of notebooks. Before demoing the hardware though, Jobs invites Tim Cook, chief operating officer, on stage to offer an overview of the Mac ecosystem. Virtually everyone agrees that “OS X Leopard is far superior to Vista,” says Cook. He goes on to tout the Mac’s software. He speaks of compatibility and Boot Camp, which allows Windows to be run on a Mac. Cook notes that Microsoft Vista’s failure at market–one of the greatest missteps in Microsoft (MSFT) history, according to... [Tags: apple ceo, apple retail stores, boot camp, chief operating officer, cupertino]

Windows 7 is Windows 7 — Let's take the focus off the big Apple event today and share some news about those other big guys, Microsoft.  On the Microsoft Vista Team Blog Mike Nash has spilled the big beans that the next version of the Windows operating system, code named Windows 7, will officially be called...... drum roll please....  Windows 7.  Now if that isn't a shrewd marketing ploy.  Call the OS Windows 7 for months and months.  Then officially name it Windows 7. Is it coincidence that the next version of the Windows Mobile platform is... Windows Mobile 7?  How about the next version... [Tags: ad campaign, apple event, big guys, buzz, coincidence]

Windows 7: Vista gets a sequel — Microsoft’s Mike Nash made an exciting announcement today: He “introduced” the world to Windows 7. And by “introduced,” I mean he released the name of the forthcoming operating system, which was code-named Windows 7. The real name? Windows 7. Over the years, Microsoft has tried pretty much every naming scheme imaginable — Windows 3.11, Windows 98, Windows XP, Windows Vista. Now, it’s almost like the company has come full circle. On the surface, the name might look like an attempt to disassociate the new version of Windows from Vista, which has been notoriously unpopular. (In response, Microsoft launched the ridiculous... [Tags: aspirations, beta test version, groundbreaking, microsoft, microsoft vista]