Refuting rumors that Windows Vista's vaunted Aero UI slows down computers, Microsoft pointed to a study this past week that comes to a different conclusion. According to a Principled Technologies study sponsored by Microsoft, the Aero UI has "little or no negative effect on Windows Vista's performance." In fact, in some instances, the Aero UI actually provides a performance boost.
"We put quite a bit of effort into making sure that the new visuals were as [efficient] as possible, and it really paid off," Matt Ayers, a program manager in Microsoft's Windows Client Performance group, wrote in the newly christened Windows Performance Blog. The key finding of this study--which measured performance on a wide range of machine types--is that Vista is more responsive than Windows XP after rebooting and is roughly as responsive as XP in general. The Aero UI, meanwhile, has little effect on Vista responsiveness.
A recently revealed Microsoft patent application has the blogging community up in arms over fears that the software giant is attempting to control the RSS (real simple syndication) technologies that power blogs and podcasts. More problematic for these hot-head bloggers is that they believe Microsoft is also trying to take credit for creating RSS. Not so, says Microsoft. "These patents describe specific ways to improve the RSS end-user and developer experience (which we believe are valuable and innovative contributions)," Microsoft RSS program manager Sean Lyndersay wrote in his blog this week. "They do not constitute a claim that Microsoft invented RSS." As for commandeering RSS, I'm pretty sure that's exactly the plan. I mean, this is Microsoft.
Microsoft quietly announced this week that it has released version 1.5 of its Windows Live OneCare security and antivirus offering to manufacturing.
That means that the upgrade is on track to be ready just in time to be announced with the consumer release of Windows Vista and Office 2007 at the end of the month.
Not surprisingly, chief among the new features and capabilities being added with 1.5 is compatibility with -- you guessed it -- Windows Vista.
Windows Live OneCare provides a set of online services aimed at protecting users from net threats as well as at helping keep PC hard drives backed up and systems updated. It provides real-time and on-demand antivirus, antiphishing, and antispyware scanning along with a two-way managed firewall.
Microsoft is using a Web-based comic strip to try to reach a broad set of consumers and convince them that they can benefit from the new Ribbon-based user interface found in Office 2007.
While much of the hype leading up to the consumer release of the 2007 Office system later in January has focused on the productivity benefits for knowledge workers, Microsoft has also realized the need for a more general consumer approach, the company said.
The comic, titled "The Enchanted Office: Once Upon a User Interface," is intended as a creative way to broaden the exposure of Office 2007 to the consumer market, a company spokesperson told eWEEK Jan. 3.
Microsoft blamed the issue on the fact that it has a paid license for the video decoder and Dolby sound technology, and it only licensed those through December 31. The overall RC1 software is not scheduled to expire until June.
"As of December 31, 2006, users running Windows Vista RC1 beta code will no longer have access to the Media Center functionality, due to the expiration of the MPEG 2 decoder and Dolby Digital components built into Windows Vista and used by the Media Center experience," Microsoft said in a statement in response to inquiries by CNET News.com.
Two of the three co-founders of Rare have left the Microsoft-owned game developer, the software giant confirmed this week. Brothers Chris and Tim Stamper have both left the British game studio, which was acquired by Microsoft for $375 million in 2002. The Redmond, Wash.-based software maker confirmed the departure in a statement, but did not give a specific reason why the two are leaving.
"After more than 20 years, Chris and Tim Stamper have decided to leave Rare to pursue other opportunities," Microsoft said. "We thank them for the many years they have contributed to the Rare brand and wish them luck in their future endeavors."
Microsoft began shipping the release candidate for Virtual PC 2007 this
week, putting the virtualization environment on track for final shipment
in the first quarter as expected. Virtual PC 2007 entered beta test in
mid-October.
New features in Virtual PC 2007 include support for Intel's and AMD's
hardware-assisted virtualization technologies and support for Windows
Vista as a host or guest operating system or both, according to Microsoft
statements. It also includes support for 64-bit hosts -- but 64-bit guests
won't be supported until Windows virtualization arrives post-Longhorn
Server.
Is there such a thing as an "Enchanted Office?" Microsoft seems to think so.
Earlier today, the company launched a Website telling the tale, "The Enchanted Office: Once Upon a User Interface." The comic tells of poor CEO Madeline, who weary from her dreadful day of work, snoozes at her desk. "As she drifts off to sleep, visions of bad software and dwindling revenue cloud her dreams," the story reads. I say: Lions and tigers and bears. Oh my!
Madeline awakens as a fairytale princess and goes to visit the Wizard, who gives her a ribbon.
Microsoft has opened registration for its Mix07 conference, which is aimed at bringing Web developers, designers and the advertising community together to look at new business opportunities around Microsoft's next-generation Web technologies.
Mix07 will be held at the Venetian Hotel in Las Vegas April 30 to May 2. The conference will be Microsoft's second Mix event; the company hailed last year's Mix06 as a "conversation" with Web developers and designers. Interested parties should go to http://visitmix.com to register for the event.
After shipping the first release candidate, or RC1, of SQL Server 2005 Compact Edition in mid-November, Microsoft quietly began shipping RC1 of the product's documentation, which has been updated to reflect the database's recent renaming, in late December.
Dubbed the SQLce Books Online RC1, the downloadable package contains setup and upgrade instructions, information about new features and backward compatibility, as well as tutorials and documentation for the graphical tools and application programming interfaces.