Tagged: windows

Brin: Two Google Operating Systems May Become One

It has been difficult for Google to explain away the seeming conflict between Chrome OS and Android.

Saying that Chrome is for the Internet and Android for devices, requires a belief that users actually make the distinction.

Google’s Sergey Brin They don’t and Google knows it, but only co-founder Sergey Brin can say so.

In this case, it is the Emperor seeing his subjects’ new clothes. Or the profound lack thereof.

(And if you haven’t seen Chrome OS, here is our visual tour).

Following the Thursday’s Chrome OS announcement, Brin informally told reporters that the two operating systems were “likely to converge over time,” but offered no specific timetable.

His remarks didn’t seem important at the time and were briefly lost in the excitement of the new OS. Today, however, people who heard the remark realized Brin actually said something important. And it undermines the whole Chrome OS concept.

Brin cited the common Linux OS and WebKit browser heritage the two operating systems share as an example of forces driving them together.

During the presentation, other Google execs described a “perfect storm of converging trends” that somehow required it to develop and support two separate operating systems.

Maybe converging trends lead to converging operating systems? Could be, just ask Sergey Brin.

I had already wondered what the difference would be between Android and Chrome when installed on a netbook. Given the Chrome browser, wouldn’t Android do all the same things Chrome could do, plus run Android applications?

Isn’t that what users really want? A s opposed to an operating system only capable of running a browser and connecting to Internet-based applications?

It is easy to understand why Google wants to keep Chrome OS and Android separated in our minds: Chrome OS seems revolutionary, if a bit far-fetched. Android, by comparison, is the evolution of what are already doing.

In reality, Chrome OS is a subset of Android, Windows, Mac OS, and Linux. It’s the new Lite OS, faster and less filling.

However, merge Chrome and Android and you end up with Android.

It will be hard for Google to keep people from noticing what a good idea that is. An idea that in some ways cuts the legs right out from under a standalone Chrome OS.

 

Source: http://www.pcworld.com/

Windows 7 hits the market

NEW YORK–Although the official U.S. launch event is still some hours away, Microsoft’s Windows 7 operating system has hit the market, going on sale in a number of countries across the globe.
Executives from Microsoft have fanned out to celebrate the launch of the company’s core product upon which the rest of Redmond’s empire has been built. The software giant is counting on favorable reviews and new features to help Windows rebuilt its image in the face of a disappointing response to Windows Vista.
(Credit: Microsoft)
Microsoft is touting the value of Windows in the face of a resurgent Apple. As part of the launch, Microsoft is celebrating seven days of deals in a number of key markets, including the United States. Among the specials is a $1,200 package from Hewlett-Packard and Best Buy that includes a Netbook, laptop, desktop, monitor and router as well as in-home installation.
“The Best Buy offer is a home makeover,” Microsoft Vice President Tami Reller told CNET News. “For the price of a Mac you have a new notebook, a new Netbook, a new desktop, and a new router to bring it together with the help of the Geek Squad.”
In addition to landing on new PCs, Microsoft will also sell stand-alone versions of Windows 7 that can be used to upgrade an existing PC. Although Microsoft still offers a half-dozen different flavors of the operating system in all, Redmond is focusing its energies around two versions–the Home Premium and Professional versions.
It will sell both a full version of the operating system that can be used on any hardware as well as an upgrade version to be used on existing PCs. Although both Windows XP and Windows Vista can be upgraded to Windows 7, only Vista can be done without backing up and reinstalling both programs and data.
A huge marketing blitz will accompany the debut of Windows 7, with Microsoft continuing its “I’m a PC” campaign, by featuring average users who point to various aspects of the new operating system as representing their idea.
Microsoft plans to formalize the launch with an event here with CEO Steve Ballmer (CNET News will cover the 11 a.m. ET event live). The software maker is also opening its first retail store, in Scottsdale, Ariz., as well as a “Windows Cafe” in Paris.
Steven Sinofsky, the divisional president who has spearheaded the development of Windows 7, is presiding over the Japanese launch of the product, while designer Julie Larson-Green is at an event in London.
Microsoft employees in Redmond’s Building 37 plan to remotely ring the bell to open Nasdaq trading on Thursday, while Microsoft and its computer maker partners will ring the closing bell.
The product has already gone on sale in Australia.

windows-7

NEW YORK–Although the official U.S. launch event is still some hours away, Microsoft’s Windows 7 operating system has hit the market, going on sale in a number of countries across the globe.

Executives from Microsoft have fanned out to celebrate the launch of the company’s core product upon which the rest of Redmond’s empire has been built. The software giant is counting on favorable reviews and new features to help Windows rebuilt its image in the face of a disappointing response to Windows Vista.

(Credit: Microsoft)

Microsoft is touting the value of Windows in the face of a resurgent Apple. As part of the launch, Microsoft is celebrating seven days of deals in a number of key markets, including the United States. Among the specials is a $1,200 package from Hewlett-Packard and Best Buy that includes a Netbook, laptop, desktop, monitor and router as well as in-home installation.

“The Best Buy offer is a home makeover,” Microsoft Vice President Tami Reller told CNET News. “For the price of a Mac you have a new notebook, a new Netbook, a new desktop, and a new router to bring it together with the help of the Geek Squad.”

In addition to landing on new PCs, Microsoft will also sell stand-alone versions of Windows 7 that can be used to upgrade an existing PC. Although Microsoft still offers a half-dozen different flavors of the operating system in all, Redmond is focusing its energies around two versions–the Home Premium and Professional versions.

It will sell both a full version of the operating system that can be used on any hardware as well as an upgrade version to be used on existing PCs. Although both Windows XP and Windows Vista can be upgraded to Windows 7, only Vista can be done without backing up and reinstalling both programs and data.

A huge marketing blitz will accompany the debut of Windows 7, with Microsoft continuing its “I’m a PC” campaign, by featuring average users who point to various aspects of the new operating system as representing their idea.

Microsoft plans to formalize the launch with an event here with CEO Steve Ballmer (CNET News will cover the 11 a.m. ET event live). The software maker is also opening its first retail store, in Scottsdale, Ariz., as well as a “Windows Cafe” in Paris.

Steven Sinofsky, the divisional president who has spearheaded the development of Windows 7, is presiding over the Japanese launch of the product, while designer Julie Larson-Green is at an event in London.

Microsoft employees in Redmond’s Building 37 plan to remotely ring the bell to open Nasdaq trading on Thursday, while Microsoft and its computer maker partners will ring the closing bell.

The product has already gone on sale in Australia.

Source: http://news.cnet.com/

Microsoft Readies XP Mode For Windows 7 Launch

Microsoft: on Thursday released Windows XP Mode to manufacturing and said it will make XP Mode available as a public download on Oct. 22, the official launch date for Windows 7.
XP Mode is Microsoft’s acknowledgment that many customers skipped Vista and will be moving to Windows 7 directly from XP, an OS that’s now nearly eight years old. Microsoft says XP Mode is designed for SMBs that have been running older or custom-built applications, and it maintains backward compatibility with these apps through a virtual Windows XP SP3 environment running under Windows Virtual PC.
Microsoft VARs like the backward compatibility approach that XP Mode represents, and many have been using XP Mode as a selling point for Windows 7. Still, there are reasons to believe that XP Mode might not have an immediate impact on Windows 7 upgrades.
Customers that buy Windows 7 Professional, Enterprise and Ultimate editions will get XP Mode as a free download. But they’ll need to buy new hardware, since XP Mode requires PCs with at least 2 gigabytes of RAM and 15 gigabytes of free hard drive space, as well as virtualization-enabled processors from Intel and AMD.
Despite recent signs of economic improvement, it’s worth questioning whether 2010 will see any large-scale loosening of IT purse strings. Given the resiliency of small businesses, and their unmatched ability to do more with less, it’s possible that some will just stay with their XP machines and give XP Mode a miss.

windows_7

Microsoft on Thursday released Windows XP Mode to manufacturing and said it will make XP Mode available as a public download on Oct. 22, the official launch date for Windows 7.

XP Mode is Microsoft’s acknowledgment that many customers skipped Vista and will be moving to Windows 7 directly from XP, an OS that’s now nearly eight years old. Microsoft says XP Mode is designed for SMBs that have been running older or custom-built applications, and it maintains backward compatibility with these apps through a virtual Windows XP SP3 environment running under Windows Virtual PC.

Microsoft VARs like the backward compatibility approach that XP Mode represents, and many have been using XP Mode as a selling point for Windows 7. Still, there are reasons to believe that XP Mode might not have an immediate impact on Windows 7 upgrades.

Customers that buy Windows 7 Professional, Enterprise and Ultimate editions will get XP Mode as a free download. But they’ll need to buy new hardware, since XP Mode requires PCs with at least 2 gigabytes of RAM and 15 gigabytes of free hard drive space, as well as virtualization-enabled processors from Intel and AMD.

Despite recent signs of economic improvement, it’s worth questioning whether 2010 will see any large-scale loosening of IT purse strings. Given the resiliency of small businesses, and their unmatched ability to do more with less, it’s possible that some will just stay with their XP machines and give XP Mode a miss.

Source: http://www.crn.com/

Feature of Window Server 2003

Windows Server 2003 is a server operating system produced by Microsoft. It is advance version of Windows 2000 Server.An updated version, Windows Server 2003 R2 was released to manufacturing on 6 December 2005. Now, Windows Server 2008 was released on February 4, 2008.

Windows Server 2003 is the follow-up to Windows 2000 Server,compatibile with Windows XP.Its default installation has none of the server components enabled, to reduce the attack surface of new machines. Windows Server 2003 includes compatibility modes to allow older applications to run with greater stability. It was made more compatible with Windows NT 4.0 domain-based networking.

Service Pack 1

In 2005, Microsoft released Service Pack 1 for Windows Server 2003. Some of the update in SP1 same as SP2 for Windows XP. Features that are added with Service Pack 1 include:

* Security Configuration Wizard: A tool that allows administrators to more easily research,
and make changes to, security policies.
* Hot Patching: This feature is set to extend Windows Server 2003’s ability to take DLL,Driver, and non-kernel patches without a reboot.
* IIS 6.0 Metabase Auditing: Allowing the tracking of metabase edits.
* Windows Firewall: Brings many of the improvements from Windows XPService Pack 2 to Windows Server 2003.
* Wireless Provisioning Services,better IPv6 support, and new protections against SYN flood TCP attacks are supported.
* Post-Setup Security Updates: A default mode that is turned on when aService Pack1 server is first booted up after installation.
* Data Execution Prevention (DEP): Support for the No Execute (NX) bit which helps to prevent buffer overflow exploits that are often the attack vector of Windows Server exploits.
* Windows Media Player version 10
* Internet Explorer 6 SV1.

Windows Server 2003 R2

It is an update version of Windows Server 2003. It is in two CDs, with one CD being the Windows Server 2003 SP1 CD. The other CD adds many optionally installable features for Windows Server 2003. The R2 update was released for all x86 and x64 versions, but not for Itanium versions.

New features

1.Branch Office Server Management
o Centralized management tools for file and printers
o Enhanced Distributed File System (DFS) namespace management interface
o More efficient WAN data replication with Remote Differential Compression.
2.Identity and Access Management
o Extranet Single Sign-On and identity federation
o Centralized administration of extranet application access
o Automated disabling of extranet access based on Active Directory account information
o User access logging
o Cross-platform web Single Sign-On and password synchronization using Network
Information Service (NIS)
3.Storage Management
o File Server Resource Manager (storage utilization reporting)
o Enhanced quota management
o File screening limits files types allowed
o Storage Manager for Storage Area Networks (SAN) (storage array configuration)
4.Server Virtualization
o A new licensing policy allows up to 4 virtual instances on Enterprise Edition
and Unlimited on Datacenter Edition
5.Utilities and SDK for UNIX-Based Applications add-on, giving a relatively full Unix
development environment.
o Base Utilities
o SVR-5 Utilities
o Base SDK
o GNU SDK
o GNU Utilities
o Perl 5
o Visual Studio Debugger Add-in

Service Pack 2

Microsoft has described Service Pack 2 for Windows Server 2003 as a “standard” service pack release containing previously-released security updates, hotfixes, and reliability and performance improvements. In addition, Service Pack 2 contains Microsoft Management Console 3.0, Windows Deployment Services , support for WPA2, and improvements to IPSec and MSConfig. Service Pack 2 also adds Windows Server 2003 Scalable Networking Pack (SNP).