Messenger 9.0 Beta to close by end of month

Mess.be: Today we, and probably everyone else who is an official BETA tester for the 9.0 client, has received an e-mail from Microsoft about the recent BETA program. According to the e-mail, over 1000 bugs and suggestions have been posted, and well over 5000 messages on the newsgroups! The e-mail continues to explain the long (unusual) silence over the past few months:

“For the past several months we’ve been gathering feedback from not only you, but also from past beta testers’ comments, other external Windows Live Messenger customers, and Microsoft employees. We’ve compiled a thorough list of feedback, and it’s now time to shift our focus to building the new version of Windows Live Messenger. Therefore, on June 24, we will close the official beta testing program.”.

The Messenger team looks dedicated to taking a look at all the bugs and suggestions which have been posted so far, promising to have process them all by the end of the week.

View Full Article: Mess.be

Following Success of Windows on Netbooks, Microsoft Extends Windows Offering to Nettop Devices

Today at Computex, Microsoft Corp. announced that following the success of Windows on netbooks, the Windows offering is being extended to include nettop devices. Netbooks are commonly referred to as ultralow-cost PCs (ULCPCs) and were originally intended for students and other first-time PC customers in emerging markets. Nettop refers to desktops that are ultralow-cost.

In April, Microsoft announced the worldwide extension of the availability of Windows for this emerging class of devices that are primarily used for e-mail, accessing the Internet and instant messaging, and the company is seeing much demand among industry partners who want to ensure that customers can have the benefits of Windows on both new and existing devices.

View Full Article: Microsoft PressPass

Mary Jo Foley Will Windows Service Pack History Repeat Itself?

Mary Jo Foley: One of my editors at Redmond magazine — the ever-doubting Ed Scannell — recently posed an interesting hypothetical question about the future of Windows. Might Microsoft yank some features planned for Windows 7 and put them into a Windows Vista Service Pack (SP) 2 that would include not just fixes, but also new features?

In other words: Could Windows history repeat itself, with Vista SP2 taking the form of a whole new operating system release — in everything other than name — a la Windows XP SP2?

Microsoft officials said last year not to expect Vista SP1 to be anything like XP SP2. Vista SP1 was designed to be a collection of fixes and patches, aimed at improving security, reliability and performance. But the ‘Softies haven’t said anything about their thinking in regard to Vista SP2. Might Microsoft use the next Vista SP to deliver some of the features that otherwise might have to wait for Windows 7, currently slated for 2010?

As tasty as that option might sound to some, I’d give it a very low likelihood for a few reasons.

View Full Article: Redmondmag.com

Newest Windows Installer will enable multiple package installs

Managing a massive Windows installation has already been likened to administering a colossal database. Today, Microsoft added new functions to its Installer for setup packages, that really does start treating Windows like one.