vista

Microsoft is reportedly facing another antitrust inquiry, this time from the Russians.

According to a Reuters report Thursday, regulators there argue that Microsoft is violating Russian antitrust law by limiting supplies of Windows XP while demand exists and forcing people to buy Windows Vista.

Microsoft has largely stopped selling Windows XP for use on new computers, although it is still allowed in some emerging markets as well as for very low-cost machines, such as Netbooks.

The software maker says it has yet to be notified of the complaint.

"Microsoft has not yet received notice of any new investigation," … Read more

Practically any image can be used as wallpaper, so choices can get overwhelming. Windows Vista Ultimate Wallpaper Series Pack offers users a chance to simplify their desktop image with a sleek Vista-themed look.

This freeware has a very simple way of viewing the wallpaper. Users must first choose between wide-screen and full-screen wallpaper. The images are basically the same, but are stretched in different ways. Each option holds eight variations on the same theme. Each can be clicked to view more closely. The general look of the wallpaper is a glossy black background with white streaks, almost like a series … Read more

Microsoft has released the second service pack for its Windows Vista and Server 2008 operating systems.

Vista SP2 and Server 2008 SP2, which pull together various updates to the operating systems that have already been rolled out by Microsoft in a piecemeal fashion, were uploaded to Microsoft's Download Center on Tuesday. The two service packs are combined in a standalone package that lets system administrators deploy and support both client and server updates in one operation.

Microsoft has not said precisely when the service packs will be rolled out as automatic updates, although Microsoft blogger Brandon LeBlanc said in … Read more

PC users don't agree on much, but they're close to unanimous in their low opinion of Vista's performance. There are plenty of manual tweaks you can make to grease Vista's skids--I ran down five of them a couple of weeks ago. You can also use one of the many Vista utilities to optimize the operating system. I described the free Ultimate Windows Tweaker and $29.95 Vista Smoker Pro in a post last week.

Two other commercial Vista system tools are Stardock's $19.95 TweakVista and System Mechanic from Iolo Technologies, which costs $39.95 … Read more

With all the buzz around Windows 7, it may sound strange to be reading about enterprises moving toward Vista. But in some cases, that's where things are at.

The U.S. Army, for example, plans to move by year's end from Windows XP to Windows Vista, as well as from Office 2003 to Office 2007.

The Army has already moved 44,000 of its 744,000 desktops to Vista and is making the move to bolster security, according to an Army News Service article.

In a recent report, Gartner analyst Michael Silver said that organizations well down the … Read more

Microsoft on Tuesday was granted a patent for a way of limiting access to certain features of an operating system depending on whether a user has paid for those features.

The patent, titled "Restricted software and hardware usage on a computer," covers a means by which it can offer software that has features either enabled or not enabled depending on which edition a user has purchased. It's a concept already in use at the company.

Microsoft has already said it will offer all versions of Windows 7 on a single disc, with a particular product key unlocking … Read more

Ray Ozzie is a big believer in the cloud. But he knows that large businesses don't yet share his confidence.

"Enterprises will not really trust the cloud until they get some experience with it," Ozzie said, during a speech at a J.P. Morgan investment conference in Boston on Wednesday. He said that large businesses are more likely to start by going with an online version of a familiar product like Microsoft Exchange than they are today to move a major piece of their business into the cloud. A Webcast of his speech is available on Microsoft'… Read more

Last week, I described five ways to squeeze a little more juice out of Vista by using features built into the operating system. A simpler approach that achieves the same system-tuning effects is to use a utility that lets you make the same type of Registry edits and configuration changes without having to navigate 10 rows deep into some obscure hierarchy of "keys" with undecipherable names.

I looked at a free program from Microsoft MVP Anand Khanse called Ultimate Windows Tweaker and the $29.99 Vista Smoker Pro from WareSoft Software (as close to a palindrome as company … Read more

Windows 7 pricing is potentially an obstacle to Windows 7 adoption for some users, though in just about every other aspect the operating system is beating Vista, according to a Dell marketing executive.

"If there's one thing that may influence adoption, make things slower or cause customers to pause, it's that generally the ASPs (average selling price) of the operating systems are higher than they were for Vista and XP," Darrel Ward, director of product management for Dell's business client product group, said in a phone interview, referring to the various versions of the Windows … Read more