InfoWorld’s Randall Kennedy examines Windows 7 from the kernel up, subjecting the ‘pre-beta’ to a battery of benchmarks to find any signs that the OS will be faster, more responsive, and less resource-intensive than the bloated Vista, as Microsoft suggests. Identical thread counts at the kernel level suggest to Kennedy that Windows 7 is a ‘minor point-type of release, as opposed to a major update or rewrite.’ Memory footprint for the kernel proved eerily similar to that of Vista as well. ‘In fact, as I worked my way through the process lists of the two operating systems, I was struck by the extent of the similarities,’ Kennedy writes, before discussing the results of a nine-way workload test scenario he performed on Windows 7 — the same scenario that showed Vista was 40 percent slower than Windows XP. ‘In a nutshell, Windows 7 M3 is a virtual twin of Vista when it comes to performance,’ Kennedy concludes. ‘In other words, Microsoft’s follow-up to its most unpopular OS release since Windows Me threatens to deliver zero measurable performance benefits while introducing new and potentially crippling compatibility issues.

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Microsoft has claimed in its fifth Security Intelligence Report that Windows Vista is giving hackers a much harder time.

Using data collected from computers worldwide, the company found that when it comes to browser attacks - the most common type - only six per cent targeted the Vista operating system, compared to 42 per cent with Windows XP.

“We have seen significant improvements in Vista with vulnerabilities,” Bret Arsenault, general manager of the National Security Team at Microsoft, told vnunet.com. “We are seeing very good improvements with the newer software. These results show just how good it is, particularly as the data has been normalised between the two operating systems in light of the installed base.”

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While most of the excitement around Windows and Office is around the next full versions of the products, Microsoft is also working on the next service pack updates for each product.

In a blog posting on Wednesday, Microsoft said that Office 2007 Service Pack 2 will come sometime between February and April of next year. It also listed many of the features in the update, which includes previously announced support for the Open Document Format.

The Windows team, on the other hand, is offering far less detail.

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On Thursday, Microsoft issued a rare out-of-cycle patch for a vulnerability in the Windows Server service that handles remote procedure calls (RPC) that allows programmers to run code either locally or remotely. In issuing MS08-067, Microsoft warns “it is possible that this vulnerability could be used in the crafting of a wormable exploit.” Entitled “Vulnerability in Server Service Could Allow Remote Code Execution (958644)” the specific vulnerability has been assigned a National Vulnerability Database designation of CVE-2008-4250.

Microsoft rates this patch as critical for Microsoft Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, and important for Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008. It also affects versions of Windows 7 pre-beta in limited release. The patch replaces MS06-040.

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Windows 7 may be grabbing all the headlines these days, but that doesn’t mean Microsoft has forgotten about Windows Vista. ZDNet reports that while Windows 7 is due out next year, Microsoft plans to release at least one major update for Windows Vista before launching Windows 7.

In fact, a beta version of Windows Vista SP2 may already be in the hands of some Microsoft partners. Microsoft also plans to release a service pack called SP2 for Windows Server 2008 before Windows 7 drops. If you’re feeling like you must have missed something, no there was never an SP1 for Windows Server 2008. But since the OS is built on Windows Vista SP1, the first service pack will get the SP2 treatment. Not that I have any problems with the way Microsoft names things…

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An Israeli lawyer is suing Microsoft and Lenovo, asking the companies to replace his pre-installed Vista with Windows XP for free.

Guy Ofir, an Israeli lawyer bought a new Lenovo laptop in August last year. In his suit he claims that he has to suffer all of Vista’s problems which up until not were not solved. He claims that his laptop is very slow in addition to repeated computer problems caused by Vista.

When Ofir asked Lenovo to replace his Vista OS with Windows XP they refused and just formatted his computer every time and reinstalled Windows Vista, which he claims did not solve his problems.

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Microsoft has maintained a publicly announced schedule for releasing Windows 7 in early 2010, but its internal calendar has June 3, 2009 as the planned release date, according to a report by InternetNews.com.

Stung, perhaps by the relentless ribbing its Vista operating system has taken at the hands of Apple advertising, along with countless jibes from pundits on the Internet, Microsoft plans to release a beta version of the new system at its Professional Developers Conference next month.

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A local security researcher is exploring several scenarios in which Windows Vista could be attacked and warns more protection is needed for users.

Ben Hawkes presented his findings at the Black Hat conference, held in Las Vegas this month, and will also present them at the Kiwicon conference, to be held in Wellington in the end of September.

Hawkes’ research has uncovered hacking techniques for attacking the Vista heap, which is a dynamic memory management component, used by every single application, from Microsoft Word to web applications, he says.

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Although Windows XP was Microsoft’s preferred desktop operating system for an unprecedented length of time, it became something of a PR nightmare for the software giant. Windows XP is full of security holes and is very easy to compromise. When Microsoft created Windows Vista, its primary goal was to address all of the security problems that have been plaguing Windows XP for so many years.

Although Windows Vista security is far stronger than that of Windows XP, even running an out-of-the-box configuration, you need to know how to use some of the new security features in order to get the most out of the OS. This list of the top Vista security tips can help you run a truly secure Vista installation.

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Microsoft is now acknowledging it screwed up with its initial launch of Windows Vista, and is ready to try again.

“We broke a lot of things. We know that, and we know it caused you a lot of pain. It got customers thinking, hey, is Windows Vista a generation we want to get invested in?” So Brad Brooks, Microsoft’s VP of Windows Vista consumer marketing, fessed up publicly this week.

Speaking at a keynote address at Microsoft’s annual Worldwide Partner Conference, Brooks signified that Microsoft was ready to admit mistakes and reposition itself to tell a better story about Windows Vista, to counter attacks by rival Apple and let customers know that Vista is finally stable and ready.


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