Windows Vista Team Blog

 

Tune in and listen to the radio interview of Microsoft Product Manager, Baldwin Ng and IT Pro Evangelist, Chris Avis as they discussed how the newly released Windows Vista Hardware Assessment solution accelerator has become the popular tool in helping businesses determine their readiness for Windows Vista migration.

http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=88283

 

Baldwin Ng baldwin.ng@microsoft.com

Sr. Product Manager, Microsoft Solution Accelerator

 

Good news!  The Windows Vista Hardware Assessment v2.0 Beta Program is now open for registration!  Please join our beta program and test drive new features including OU-targeting, machine names import, localized UI/readiness reports and more. 

Visit the Microsoft Connect site to join: http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=88282

For those of you who are not familiar with Windows Vista Hardware Assessment, it is basically a network-wide PC readiness assessment tool that helps organizations understand their readiness to migrate to Windows Vista.  It provides organization-wide reports on hardware compatibility, device compatibility, upgrade recommendations and more.  The coolest part is that this tool does not require any software agents to be installed on individual computers.

Visit our TechNet Web Page and download the tool (v1.0) today at: http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=83405

 

Baldwin Ng (baldwin.ng@microsoft.com)

Sr. Product Manager, Windows Vista Hardware Assessment Solution Accelerator

Yesterday we officially unveiled the name for what was previously known as the extremely catchy "WPF/e" (Windows Presentation Foundation Everywhere) at the 2007 National Association of Broadcasters Conference.  WPF/e is now Microsoft Silverlight.

OK, so what?  Just what is Microsoft Silverlight?  It"s a new cross-browser, cross-platform plug-in that allows users a new and richer multimedia experience when using a Web browser (for example, it supports 720p HD media playback).  Web developers targeting IE, Firefox and even Apple"s Safari browser can all make use of Silverlight for a consistently amazing experience.  It"s also a client- and server-agnostic platform; this means that the runtimes are the same on any platform, allowing you to deliver the Silverlight experience from an Apache web server, if you like -- without requiring any MS software on the server.  How"s that for interoperability?

Plus, existing Windows Media-encoded content can be streamed or downloaded without the need for re-encoding.

You"ll notice that the MS Silverlight Website includes demo videos and FAQ and evaluation downloads.  On 30 April, just in time for MIX07, the site re-launches with a full-on Silverlight experience.

Check out Sean Alexander"s demo of Silverlight over on Channel 10.

Tim Sneath has a top 10 list of reasons why you want to use Silverlight.

And saving the best for last, my former colleague from the Mobile and Embedded Devices Division, Loke Uei, shares some excellent information on Silverlight, including a comparison chart between Silverlight and .NET 3.0.

This is just the beginning -- like I said, expect to hear more at MIX07 in just a few weeks.

Have you been itching to enjoy your media content on Firefox?  The Windows Media Player team put a lot of work into evolving media playback on Windows Vista through the new Media Foundation pipeline, and has also been actively monitoring feedback on WMP and playback in general.  While commentary has been mainly positive for Web playback through IE, we"ve noticed that there"s still work to be done to make Firefox users able to enjoy their media content on Windows.

We couldn"t respond as quickly as we would have liked to (we had to get Windows Vista out the door!), but now that it"s shipped, the team has moved its attention to getting Firefox users up and running.  This week we are happy to say that we have a new plug-in for Firefox that makes WMP work once again -- and even better than it did before!

It"s easy to get the new Firefox plug-in -- if you navigate to a Web page today that has the embedded WMP ActiveX control, Firefox will automatically grab the new plug-in for you to install and you will once again be able to enjoy your media content :)

Are you a home user network who"s unsure whether your current internet router is capable of supporting some of Windows Vista"s advanced networking features?  Not to worry:  the Internet Connectivity Evaluation Tool is here to help you out.

The Internet Connectivity Evaluation Tool is designed to be run on your home network behind a home internet router (NAT).  It runs a series of tests that will let you know if certain advanced features in Windows Vista will be supported behind your current router.  If the tests show your router does not support the advanced networking features in Windows Vista, they"ll further help you by giving you a better understanding of what features to look for when purchasing a new router that will take full advantage of Windows Vista.

The Internet Connectivity Evaluation Tool runs the following set of tests on your router:

• Basic Internet Connectivity Test
• Network Address Translator Type
• Traffic Congestion Test
• TCP High Performance Test
• UPnP Support Test
• Multiple Simultaneous Connection States Test

At the end of the test, you can get a detailed report of the test"s findings.  If your router doesn"t pass the tests, the site gives you recommendations on other routers that are Certified for Windows Vista.  Give it a try and see how your current hardware stacks up.

If you"re like me, you like to use the keyboard for most, if not all, of your OS navigation tasks.  It"s merely a personal preference, but I"d much rather use a keystroke sequence than have to remove a hand from the keyboard (I use my right hand for mousing), move the mouse, and return it.  It just seems faster to me -- and maybe it allows me to rely less on hand-eye coordination, which, admittedly, is less sharp now that I have much less time to spend gaming :( 

Here are just a couple keyboard shortcuts that I"ve learned of from colleagues or come across on my own:

Ctrl+Esc	Opens the Start menu
Windows Logo	Opens the Start menu
Ctrl+Alt+Delete	Then - Displays the Windows Security window
	Now – Displays LogOn screen including Lock Computer, Switch User, LogOff, Change a Password and Task Manager
Print Screen	Copies the full screen image to the Windows Clipboard
Alt+Print Screen	Copies the selected window"s image to the Windows Clipboard
Alt+Double-Click	Displays property sheet for the selected item
Alt+Enter	Displays property sheet for the selected object
Shift	Hold when loading disk to prevent AutoPlay application
Shift+F10	Same as right-click
Shift+Right-Click	Shows alternative commands for the selected object

I now find myself using many of these more and more often, especially given my inclination toward using the keyboard instead of the mouse whenever possible.

One of the great things about Windows Vista is the context-sensitivity applied to many actions.  For example, think of how the Slide Show command appears in a window"s toolbar when viewing a window containing photos; or, how right-clicking a photo displays rotation options in the resulting menu.  In the case of the shortcuts above, notice that when you Shift+Right-Click an .XLSX spreadsheet or .DOCX document, the Open as Read-Only option appears, which is not the case when doing the same to a .PPTX slide deck.  And for all of these file types, the Copy as Path option is displayed upon Shift+Right-Click, which can be very handy if you"re looking for the fully-qualified path to the document -- say, in the case of creating a hyperlink to it.

There are surely more shortcuts that I"ve yet to discover.  What are some of the keyboard or other shortcuts you rely on regularly in Windows Vista?  Share your tips in the Comments section and give us a chance to learn from one another!

I can"t believe I haven"t mentioned this before: the second issue of Windows Vista: The Official Magazine (the link leads to the US edition; there is also a UK edition) from Future Publishing, Ltd hits retail stores this month, continuing to deliver informative articles on Windows Vista and what it can do.

A few of the articles that caught my eye are:

• "1-Hour Upgrade":  Detailing the step-by-step process of upgrading your PC to Windows Vista.  It even tackles how to go about working around problems you might encounter during the process.
• "How to Connect Your Xbox 360 to Your PC":  Pretty much self explanatory :)
• "Games for Windows Preview":  A look at Games for Windows and the upcoming Live Anywhere gaming platform, including Halo 2 for Windows Vista!
• A closer look at using Zune with Windows Vista

These articles alone may make it worthwhile for you to pick it up, but there"s more to the issue still -- like a guide on Certified for Windows Vista devices that enhance the Windows Vista experience.  But rather than spoil the surprise, I"ll let you check out the latest issue to find out which devices they talk about :)

A HotFix.net blogger today posted a collection of individual Windows Vista hotfixes as a supposed Windows Vista Service Pack 1 (SP1) preview.  However, those of you who"ve been closely following discussions on Windows Vista will quickly notice that what is posted consists of some material already available on Windows Update and some hotfixes that we give out on a case-by-case basis, along with a lot of speculation about what may and may not be included in SP1.

Looking at the site, it seems to me the blogger compiled a list of previous mentions of SP1 (purely conjectural, and already discussed in other blogs) stitched together with another list of "hotfixes" mentioned in various KB (Knowledge Base) articles (again, already posted on our web site).  You probably already know that we create and release hotfixes on a regular basis for very specific customer scenarios or for OEM-shipped machines, and that it"s standard policy that all hotfixes are rolled into the next service pack release.  However, a service pack is not just a compilation of hotfixes and security updates, so don"t make the mistake of thinking that the set of fixes offered in this particular blogger"s list represents a preview of the service pack itself.

It"s worth mentioning that hotfixes not posted on Windows Update are not intended for individual installation unless the user is experiencing the specific symptoms mentioned in the corresponding KB article.  These hotfixes represent specific fixes for specific customer scenarios and typically have not undergone full regression testing.  When they are integrated into a future service pack, they will receive full regression testing and beta testing.  So, installing a collection of unnecessary hotfixes may cause more problems than are fixed.

The bottom line is that unless you have encountered the specific situation described in a given KB, you"ll get everything you need from Windows Update.

Final comment:  I"m not here to discuss SP1 on this blog, so please refrain from posting your questions on it in the Comments section.  Windows Vista is a product that"s both deep and wide and we on this blog intend to continue to delve into it while sharing with you the story of its creation.  When the time comes to discuss other releases, you can be sure that we"ll have plenty to say right here.

For some IT pros, the only thing they look forward to more than the new version of Windows is the new Windows Resource Kit-and the Windows Vista Resource Kit is available now. This official Microsoft reference provides more than 1,500 pages of in-depth technical guidance on deploying; securing, and managing Windows Vista.

The primary authors of this book are Microsoft MVP"s Mitch Tulloch, Tony Northrup, and Jerry Honeycutt-though hundreds of folks on the Windows Vista Team contributed to and reviewed it. (I even reviewed a page or two.)

What"s in the Windows Vista Resource Kit?

Like most of the resource kits that have gone before, the Windows Vista Resource Kit includes a collection of tools, utilities, guidance, and information in one package. Parts of the kit will be available online, but the complete collection is available for $59.99 US. (That"s the list price. You can get it for much less from book sellers.)

Here are a few of the topics that are covered in the Windows Vista Resource Kit:

• Deployment
  From installation basics to corporate-level installation guidance for the Business Desktop Deployment (BDD) 2007 for Windows Vista and the 2007 Microsoft Office system, the Windows Vista Resource Kit covers all areas of Windows Vista deployment including:
• Deployment automation
• Application compatibility and deployment
• Disk imaging
• User state migration
• Volume activation
  
• Management
  Controlling how Windows Vista functions and how users access its resources is an important part of supporting the operating system. The Windows Vista Resource Kit covers management topics such as:
• User accounts
• Disks and storage
• Device management
• Printing
• File sharing and collaboration
• Internet access and security
  
• Maintenance
  The ability to restore a system to efficient operation is an important part of a technician"s job. The Windows Vista Resource Kit offers guidance for maintenance tasks including:
• Health and performance monitoring
• Remote user assistance
• Software updates and patches
• Client protection (hardening Windows)
  
• Networking
  Windows Vista is designed to operate in networks from two linked home systems to immense corporate networks with thousands of networked computers. The Windows Vista Resource Kit has everything you need to know about the following topics:
• Configuring Windows networking
• Configuring Windows Firewall with Advanced Security
• Connecting to remote networks
• Deploying the next generation Internet-TCP/IP version 6 (IPv6)
  
• Troubleshooting
  Windows Vista is designed to be the most resilient operating system we"ve ever released. In spite of this, problems do sometimes happen. When they do, the Windows Vista Resource Kit has information on the following topics:
• Startup issues
• Hardware issues
• Network issues
• Stop errors
  
• Tools and Utilities
  In addition to the guidance listed above, the Windows Vista Resource Kit includes a CD of tools and utilities to help you troubleshoot, manage, and configure Windows Vista. Among these tools are more than 150 timesaving scripts to help automate administrative tasks, additional job aids, and an eBook of the entire resource kit.

If you"ve read this far then I know you"re really interested, so we have a special surprise for you. The first 25 folks who send mail to <deleted> at microsoft.com with their mailing address will get a free copy of the Windows Vista Resource Kit shipped to them. (Your information will only be used to ship this book and will be deleted after that.)            

(Thanks to everybody that wrote in. The 25 books are all taken now.)

Keep reading for more IT pros posts and giveaways.

- Alex

 

Earlier this week, the Zune Team released an update to the Zune client software and Zune device firmware.  Some of the major improvements include fixing a skipping problem affecting content acquired from the Zune Marketplace, and FM tuner changes to prevent battery drain.  Also with this release come device and software reliability and performance improvements.

 

The relevant point here is that the release was delivered via Windows Update, which detects the new Zune software and advises you to install it (assuming you have chosen to get updates via Windows Update, which is advisable).

 

      

 

You"ll soon see more MS applications putting to use the power of Windows Update for distributing software releases.