Embarrassing 'Vista capable' emails mirror earlier Microsoft deception
The New York Times today prints extracts from some of those embarrassing emails cited in the Vista-capable class action Microsoft is trying to stop – and shows that some things have not changed at Microsoft since I first joined PCW.
One of the first events I covered was a Microsoft preview of Windows 95, then codenamed Chicago. One of the issues, then as with the Vista release, was whether existing machines would be capable of running it.
Microsoftee after Microsoftee stood up and assured us that Windows 95 would run in 4Mbytes of Ram, which was then standard on home and office desktops. They were not lying: they were repeating what they had been told by their employer. But it was, to put it mildly, being economical with the truth.
Windows 95 ran in 4MB of Ram like a 96-year-old runs up Snowdon. Existing machines needed a costly upgrade to 16MB.
The NYT says Microsoft marketers used the term Vista Capable to avoid the implication (or persuade themselves that they were avoiding the implication) that the machine would necessarily run all versions of Vista. And that Microsoft set a low threshold on Vista Capable specs to avoid blighting sales of entry-level XP PCs.
The decision, says the NYT, met considerable internal protest. "Even a piece of junk will qualify," said Microsoft program manager Anantha Kancherla said in an email.
And after the Vista release Mike Nash, vice-president of Windows preoduct management, wrote that his laptop had been reduced to a '$2100 e-mail machine' that would run only a hobbled version of Vista, and could not cope with his favourite video-editing program.
The cache of emails unsealed by the judge hearing the case also contain complaints by Microsoft high-ups about a lack of Vista drivers shortly after the release of the OS. Microsoft says the number of Vista drivers has doubled since then.
Posted by Clive Akass on March 10, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Punch-drunk Microsoft cuts Vista prices - but not in Britain
Microsoft must be feeling punch drunk this month after a poor reception to its $40b bid for Yahoo, a tricky end-game in its battle to get its Open XML formats adopted as an ISO standard, scepticism over its claim to be launching an new era of openness over its programming interfaces, and a £608million fine by EU regulators overshadowing what had been billed as the company's biggest enterprise launch in history – the release of Windows Server 2008, Visual Studio 2008, and SQL Server 2008.
To cap it all there have been problems with Microsoft's Hotmail email service.
Then there is the lurking problem of public perceptions of Vista. Having spent an evening setting up a new notebook for a non-techie friend I can understand why people are less than enthusiastic. My friend was overwhelmed by the number of message boxes, demanding permission to do this or that, popping up every time he tried to do anything. I had only the haziest idea of what some of them were for: how on earth could he be expected to know?
I held fire on the new Office interface when it was launched because as an experienced user I was not the best person to judge something designed to be easier for newbies. But how can it be easier when the most-used menu, for basic tasks such as New, Open, Print and Save does not have a label on it?
The Home and Student edition is very good value, though. PC World gave us it bundled with Norton 360 for £80. That is with three licences, officially for one household; but it means three students could get a copy for around £30 each. It lacks Outlook but includes the excellent OneNotes module.
But the company is setting itself for a new pricing row with its latest announcement. In a posting couched in barely comprehensible Microsoftspeak, the company has cut prices on standalone versions of Vista by up to 40 percent in some countries - but not in Britain. Microsoft says prices here have already been cut, but as they were already higher than in the US it is unclear what this means, particularly as no details are given.
Whatever, the cuts on shrink-wrapped products will not affect the far larger number of pre-installed copies of Vista. Which means we can't expect to see a cut in the large number of people who (notebook and PC vendors tell us) are requesting XP rather than Vista in new machines.
Posted by Clive Akass on February 29, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Microsoft releases Vista anti-hacker patch
An 'Important Update' arrived last night via Windows Update on my Vista PC. I'm running the RC1 of Vista Service Pack 1, and since installing that I've not received any other 'Important' updates so I investigated further. The update is described in the MS Knowledge Base article 940510 and is an update that's intended to weed out illegal or cracked installations of Vista.
If the updates detects exploits that indicate you have a counterfeit or hacked copy of Vista, it will warn you and point you to a Microsoft website that will enable you to remove the exploits. If you don't want to do this
Windows may disable the exploits and then ask you to use a valid product key to activate Windows.
According to a discussion on the MS forums, the update is actually a one-time check for two of the most common Vista hacks, the 'OEM drive activation' and 'grace timer activation' exploits, which are described in another KB article.
Presumably this is all part of the preparations for the public release of Vista SP1 during March. But given that most serious miscreants are hardly likely to have automatic updates turned on, it seems to be a bit of a shotgun approach.
Posted by Kelvyn Taylor on February 28, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
320Gb portable hard drive
Buffalo Technology claims it is the first company to launch a 320GB portable external hard drive. The 5400rpm HD-PS320U2 MiniStation TurboUSB, available from December, packs TurboUSB technology which is said to speed up file transfers. It has the highest capacity of a range starting at 80GB capacity, and priced from £80 to £155.
Posted by Clive Akass on November 22, 2007 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Vista upgrade programme screws up again
We've had over 500 outraged comments on our blog about being scammed out of cash for their free Vista Express upgrade, or even being charged four times over by Moduslink for a single product.
Long delays and almost none-existent communication from Moduslink has made Vista a mirage for many, but the icing on this mud-cake has just been set:
We've now received numerous reports that Moduslink is sending out 64-bit copies of Vista to customers who ordered 32-bit variants and vice versa.
One reader received this email, two months after he initially received his upgrade CD:
"Dear customer,
It has been brought to our attention that one of our customers received an incorrect DVD (64 bit DVD instead of a 32 bit).
Since your package was shipped in the same serie, it may have happened that we have sent the incorrect DVD to you as well. To ensure that you can have a flawless installation of the software, we have decided to ship you a replacement 32bit version as a precaution. This DVD will be shipped shortly to you.
Sorry for any inconvenience caused.
With kind regards,
The Upgrade Redemption Support Centre
Toll-Free phone : 00800 666 44 666
Email address: MSTUPVISTAEMEA@moduslink.com
Toll paid Phone : +31 880016102
Technical Upgrade Program Vista
P.O. Box 252
7300 AG Apeldoorn
The Netherlands"
We asked Microsoft for a comment and are still waiting for a response.
See also:
Vista express upgrade on hold
Moduslink responds to Vista criticism
Posted by Emil Larsen on June 19, 2007 | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack
Vista's old-school crashes
I had my first full Vista crash this weekend. It happened when I was playing with the Windows Classic interface that sends any Vista desktop back in time to when I were a lad [sic].
My whole system froze, without any other programs open, while I was adding toolbars to the taskbar. There was no way back other than to kill the power. The 2000 look is one of the best in my opinion, but I suspect Microsoft spent less time working on it than Aero and as a result it's less stable.
Microsoft's decision to replace the 'Start' writing with a Windows flag in Vista confuses a lot of novice users when they try to get on with their work, so the classic look is definitely in demand.
It was a stupid decision for MS to have to select Start to shutdown in the first place, but it has become ingrained in many minds who couldn't care less.
Posted by Emil Larsen on June 4, 2007 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Microsoft starts Vista Media Center 'Fiji' beta testing
Microsoft has posted an invitation for beta testers via the The Green Button blog, indicating the start of the beta program for the next version of Vista's Media Center application. This project is generally thought to be codenamed 'Fiji', although it's not clear whether the planned Media Center update is just a part of a major reworking that also affects other built-in Vista apps.
What new funtionality is going to be introduced is unknown, although for us Europeans satellite TV support (including Freesat) would be a good start, followed by support for more than two tuners.
Posted by on April 18, 2007 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
A single Microsoft decision responsible for more carbon dioxide than Kingdom of Tonga
In response to Microsoft's recent announcement that Vista is greener than XP, I believe it's actually a lot worse.
This is mainly because a lot of XP PCs will get chucked out; I was once told by a green campaigner that it takes as much energy (and therefore carbon emissions) to create a PC as a car, due to the intensive process that happens in high tech fabs.
There is another issue though, Microsoft's decision to make the main start menu power button a 'low-power state' button in Vista is wasteful.
I believe vast swathes of users will believe this the off button. It's actually a sleep mode, like XP's, except that there's no risk of losing your documents in the event of a black out.
Using the PCW power meter, I found my Vista sleep mode consumes 4Watts. The hybrid sleep mode consumes 3Watts. When Vista is shut down, the intricacies of the ATX standard mean my PC consumes 2Watts - so Microsoft is adding 1Watt per PC.
For 40million Vista PCs, Microsoft adds 142,496 tones of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere per year – that's more than Kingdom of Tonga is responsible for!
There are 1bn PCs worldwide and Microsoft holds a 90 per cent share of those PCs, so things can only get much worse.
I've made a lot of assumptions in the above, but I think they are reasonable. Here's my maths: Microsoft sold 20million PCs in the first month and I assume they sold the same in the second month. I assume that the majority of PC users leave their machines turned on at the wall and are ignorant of the real shut down button.
I also assume that a computer is left in hybrid-sleep for 16 hours a day. Multiplying the figures together (0.001 kWh x 16hours x 365days x 40million Vista PCs in use) gives 233.6 million kilowatthours.
I used USA's carbon dioxide emission coefficient of 0.61kilos carbon dioxide per kWh.
Posted by Emil Larsen on April 4, 2007 | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBack
Vista driver support is sporadic
Over the last couple of months we, the press, have had dozens of emails from tech companies saying 'we support Vista'. Well, I recently got an email that should have been entitled 'Vista supports us'.
It turns out Vista comes preloaded with drivers for 100 NXP TV Tuners. For the confused NXP was, up until September 2006, a Philips owned division. NXP makes the chips that power some ASUStek, Avermedia and Pinnacle TV tuner cards.
I find this thoroughly bizarre since Hauppauge, who sells more TV cards than any other manufacturer, didn't get a single driver into Vista.
Top marks to NXP for getting them into Vista, especially when some companies are so lax about driver support. My Geforce 5600 was a perfectly capable card for my uses under XP - Nvidia has castrated it under Vista, even with Aero turned off.
My Vista efforts were dashed again when I struggled to get my 18 month old Trust BT446 graphics tablet working.
When I asked Trust if a Vista driver would soon appear I was given this semi-literate response: "Regarding your doubt, we regret to inform that the drivers for Vista compatible for this device won't be released because this product it is already discontinued."
I asked Microsoft about driver support and they told me Vista supports 1.5million products out of the box with 14,000 drivers on the disc and 16,000 more through Windows update. Perhaps I'm just unfortunate with my choice of products.
Posted by Emil Larsen on March 12, 2007 | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack
New Office formats could tie granny(and your office) in knots
Feels a little like spotting the first swallow of Spring... we have just had our first file conflict with Microsoft's new Office formats. I'm running Vista and Office 2007 side by side with an XP machine running Office 2003. Our copy-input system is built round the old file formats.
Old Office versions do not even see the new formats, which have an 'x' on the extension (ie name.docx), unless you choose the All Files option in the Open File dialogue box. If you click a docx file within XP and follow the prompts you are led to a site where you can download a filter - all 27Mbytes of it - that allows the old Office to read the new formats.
Even so you can get very confused dealing with both formats. I mistakenly put a .docx file into our system, which read it as gobbledygook. It was a small matter to replace the file, but imagine this happening in offices and homes all over the world: grannies who can't read letters sent by their grandchildren; people stuck without a web link with a document they can't read....
The new formats are a Good Thing, in my humble, leave or take the argument about whether Microsoft should have taken more seriously calls for an openly-agreed open standard for basic functionality. As they say: no pain, no gain.
Posted by Clive Akass on March 7, 2007 | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack
The era of the tablet may have arrived
Wacom took a few journalists out for lunch today to talk about the handwriting features built into Windows Vista.
In short the handwriting capabilities are much improved. Windows Journal, an inbuilt hand writing notepad, is a constructive push forward from Microsoft.
Only with Microsoft's support in a mainstream operating system like Vista Home Premium does the pen tablet have the slightest chance of become a mainstream peripheral used by all - I think it's now or never for the pen tablet.
You can use a tablet as a complete replacement for a mouse and apparently Wacom is doing an in-depth study to try and conclusively prove what we all believe in the PCW office: using a tablet instead of a mouse can ease the pains of repetitive strain injury (RSI). Michael Domke, spokesman from Wacom, is already speaking the anti-RSI lingo, he said: "Working with a pen tablet will prevent RSI."
Half the PCW office has a pen tablet, because we're geeks, but also because of RSI (even if we're not suffering from it right now). It's nice to be able to change to a good old fashioned pen and take a break from the crippling mouse.
Finally Domke suggested that in future we could see a tablet that also acts as a digital picture frame. Although not currently in development, it would look great on our gadget-studded desks.
Posted by Emil Larsen on February 28, 2007 | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack
Using a Vista upgrade CD as the full version
We got our hands on a retail copy of Windows Vista Ultimate upgrade and have successfully tested the way you can do a full install with a Vista upgrade key, without owning a previous version of Windows.
This directly violates Microsoft's terms and conditions, so isn't legal, however the end product is a fully licensed and authenticated copy of Vista. Current indications suggest Microsoft has no way of knowing whether or not you used this method to install Vista.
The benefits of this method are twofold. In the UK, where we suffer Microsoft's wrath over pricing, the Vista upgrade packs are 55-68 per cent cheaper than the full versions.
Secondly we've found the upgrade process from Windows XP a dirty affair with programs often given the wrong security permissions so they won't run. Unlike previous Windows upgrades, you can't insert the old Windows CD and enter a valid licence number during the upgrade process of a formatted hard disk. A clean Vista install lets you start afresh.
Although there are many other guides detailing how you do this, many of them use RTM instead of retail copies of Vista and none of them appear to have tested an Ultimate version.
The whole process takes just over an hour and is astonishingly easy to do:
- boot your PC from a Vista upgrade CD
- skip over the step where it asks you to type in your licence key by pressing next
- select 'Clean Install'
- once installed, let your PC boot up Vista
- run 'setup' from the Vista CD from within Vista
- go through the install process again
- this time enter your licence key
- select upgrade, instead of clean install, when prompted
And voila. Vista will then authenticate with Microsoft's servers and you have a clean install of Vista using only an upgrade licence key.
Posted by Emil Larsen on February 26, 2007 | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack
Free Virtual PC 2007 released
The Vista-compatible version of Microsoft's virtualisation software, Virtual PC 2007, has just come out of beta and is available for free download. Windows Vista Business, Windows Vista Enterprise, Windows Vista Ultimate, Windows XP Professional, or Windows XP Tablet PC Edition can be the host operating systems: XP Home and Media Center owners are out of luck. A 64-bit version is also available. The download button on the front page seems to have the wrong link - you need to go to the Microsoft Download Centre
The big difference from Virtual PC 2004 is the support for Windows Vista as a guest operating system. We've been running the beta of Virtual PC 2007 for a while now, and it works fine, although there's no support for DirectX so you can't run Vista's Aero theme or 3D games. Pretty well any x86-based OS can be installed, including of course Linux. Oddly, on the site Microsoft has a lot of references to the fact that you can run OS/2 Warp on it. Hmmm...
If you want a pleasant experience, though, the more memory you can allocate to the virtual machine, the better - we wouldn't recommend anything less than 1GB of Ram for Windows Vista as a guest OS.
Kelvyn Taylor
Posted by on February 20, 2007 | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack
Read Olympus , Nikon and Sony RAW images in Vista
Thanks to Tech-Recipe for digging out the links to the official RAW Vista codecs for Sony, Olympus and Nikon digital cameras. These let you import and view the RAW files directly into Vista. Unfortunately the Nikon one doesn't appear to be a live download yet.
Posted by on February 14, 2007 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Microsoft hits back over Open XML standards application
Below is the full statement from Microsoft, quoted in our news story today, in response to news that the UK's British Standards Institute has submitted a 'contradiction' to its bid to get the new Open XML formats accepted as a global standard.
To translate some of the acronyms: ISO is the International Standards Organisation; IEC is the International Electrotechnical Committee; JCT presumably means Joint Committee on Technology but we can't find it spelled out; ECMA 376 refers to the European Computer Manufacturer's Association standardisation of Open XML, which may not be recognised in itself by some government organisations but can fast-track acceptance by the ISO.
Microsoft's statement reads:
As you may know, on December 8th, 2006, Ecma overwhelmingly approved the adoption of Open XML as a standard, with only one member voting against. Ecma also overwhelmingly agreed to submit Open XML to ISO/IEC JTC 1 for adoption as an ISO/IEC standard under their procedures.
Open XML is now before ISO/IEC JTC 1 for adoption, a step that some governments had encouraged Ecma to take because of the status they give to ISO/IEC standards and to establish choice among ISO/IEC standards - particularly now that Open Document Format (ODF) has already gone through that process. The ISO/IEC JTC 1 process for considering Open XML (called "Fast-Track") involves a one month period where National standards bodies can raise perceived contradictions with existing ISO/IEC standards or ongoing projects, followed by a five month technical review and balloting process.
With this in mind, Microsoft is aware that some countries will post contradictions to Ecma Open XML and welcomes the input of these national bodies, which will lead to a better understanding of their concerns through the next months of the review period. While it is true that the British Standards Institute issued such a contradiction on behalf of the UK, it's important to note that this is by no means a future indication of Ecma Open XML failing as an international standard. ISO standardization is a complex process that takes many months and by design gives voting members the opportunity to raise concerns and for those concerns to be addressed. It's also worth pointing out that organizations such as the British Library and Barclays were on the technical committee that created the Ecma Open XML standard.
The Ecma Open XML formats have received continued supportive momentum over the past several months. The 2007 version of Microsoft Office has been finalized and includes support for the Ecma 376 standard on Open XML formats, while at the same time Novell and Corel have separately announced their support for the formats. Many members of the Open Source community have also expressed their support of the standard on http://openxmldeveloper.org/posts.aspx. In addition, more than 750 developers have joined the Open XML Dev Group, and many different government and private sector customers are now evaluating the specific benefits for their organization.
Ecma, Microsoft and many national bodies trust and support the ISO/IEC JTC 1 fast-track process of Ecma 376 (also known as Draft International Standard 29500).
It is important to note that this is an issue of choice:
• Customers want choice among document file formats based on their needs. The global effort in a large number of countries by ODF supporters to stop ISO/IEC from even considering Ecma 376 is an effort to limit choice. The standards process should not be used to limit choice and competition between document formats. Doing so conflicts with customer interests. Microsoft understood this when it didn't oppose in any way the standardization of ODF in ISO/IEC JTC1.
• These standards can coexist and do interoperate. An open source translator became available this past week that enables interoperability between ODF and Open XML for Microsoft Office, OpenOffice, and any other solution interested in building a bridge between these two formats. This is great for customers and the IT ecosystem.
• Ecma 376, Open XML Document Format, is an international standard and was recommended to ISO for ratification.
• Whilst it has been reported that of the 100+ members of ISO, only 19 filed submissions regarding the ratification of Ecma 376, one should not assume that all the 19 submissions that were reportedly received, actually contain substantive comments or contradictions. In fact, we expect that some are either statements of support or simple statements that the ISO member has no comments at this stage (A number of ISO members, including the United States, specifically reviewed whether any comments should be filed at this time and concluded that they should not.)
• This is just one step in the ISO/IEC JTC1 process that will proceed for a number of months. This is a complex process that gives an opportunity for voting members to raise concerns, and for those concerns to be addressed. ISO/IEC JTC1 has now closed its contradiction comments period as of Feb. 5, and now has up to 3 months (following the normal and approved ISO/IEC JTC1 process) to decide when to start the 5 month technical review process and ballot. ISO/IEC JTC1 is the final decision maker. We are confident that at the end of this process ISO/IEC JTC1 will ratify Ecma 376.
Posted by Clive Akass on February 9, 2007 | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack
Vista driver watch: Hauppauge WinTV Nova-T 500 dual Freeview tuner
We're trying out assorted hardware on Vista as and when we get the chance, to check out the state of drivers. It's especially fun for stuff that doesn't have any Vista compatible stickers on the box, such as Hauppauge's dual DVB-T PCI TV tuner, the WinTV Nova-T 500. This was released in the latter half of 2006.
The Nova-T 500 gets the thumbs-up, but with a couple of provisos. Make sure you first download the 3.3c version of the driver CD (30MB) - earlier versions, like the 2.5 WHQL version supplied with our model, don't have Vista support, although we found that Vista Ultimate will install them - it was only when we tried to unsuccessfully scan for channels we realised something wasn't right. This could confuse new owners if they've bought an old-stock retail box.
Running the supplied Hwclear utility to get rid of the old drivers, rebooting and pointing Vista at the newly-downloaded drivers (they're in the /Drivers directory in the zip file) sorted everything out perfectly, apart from the fact that the drivers are still digitally unsigned and not WHQL certified. Note also that there are no Vista 64-bit drivers available yet.
Both tuners and the infrared remote control dongle were recognised by Vista Media Center and are working flawlessly. The remote control itself also works fine. We did try leaving our old Twinhan DVB-T card installed to see what would happen, but Media Center won't let you use more than two tuners simultaneously.
We haven't tried Hauppauge's own WinTV2000 software yet, but it's supposed to work in Vista too. We'll post an update when we get round to installing it.
UPDATE 7 Feb: Hauppauge's PR has informed us that there is a beta 64-bit Vista driver available for the Nova-T 500. Also, there is an old and complicated MCE hack to allow more than two tuners, but we haven't tried it in Vista yet.
Posted by on February 6, 2007 | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack
Vista network blindness and how Microsoft doesn't trust Microsoft
Well, I now have an all-Microsoft system running after doing a clean install of Vista Ultimate, with the new Live Care protection package, and Microsoft Office Professional.
The Vista install took two and a half hours, and neatly packaged my previous setup into an 11.6Gbyte folder marked Old Windows, which I propose to move off the disk very soon. One aspect that does not seem to have improved since the beta install process was that the screen repeatedly went blank or froze for minutes on end with no reassuring messages.
I installed Live Care next because Microsoft has sent me a trial package and I wanted virus protection before going loading Office. I opted for an instant tune up and Live Care defragged the hard disk, but I stopped its virus scan after the system spent what seemed like a couple of hours digging in the Old Windows folder.
During this time the progress bar did not shift from zero, so whether the scan had frozen or was taking its time I have no idea. I reckon the chances of an infection in the old files were slim anyway.
Then I found Vista could not see my home network, which had one XP machine live. When I tried the connect wizard, it kept telling me no wireless devices were attached, which was no help at all. XP registered the Vista machine as a workgroup but said I could not contact it.
This morning I did a trawl on the web and found a part-answer. I had to download something called a Link Layer Topology Discovery (LLTD) module from the Microsoft site - see here.
Vista could then see my XP machine and XP could see the workgroup but still neither could contact the other. (Blog updated here) The answer, as usual, is obvious after I have trawled through newsgroups, Vista help and a Microsoft support page. The default workgroup name in Vista is WORKGROUP, not a good choice because in my irritation I took this to be a description rather than a name - and so have others, judging by posting in the newsgroups. So by changing this name to that of my home network, everything fell into place.
Why the Vista wizards, which had impressed me in the betas, could not have sussed this out and warned me I have no idea. It is clearly going to be a very common problem, so be warned. Incidentally Microsoft insists on validating your machine before you can download the LLTD code.
The Office install was problem-free except when I was asked to register, when Vista flagged the Microsoft site as untrustworthy (see screen shot left). Maybe all those anti-trust suits have been getting to the company...
Posted by Clive Akass on February 3, 2007 | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBack
Vista a no go for wireless with Orange's broadband Livebox
Is it just me that is royally peed off that so many companies haven't yet sorted out their Vista drivers? Am I being unreasonable in expecting companies to have resolved issues by now so that customers can continue to use their hardware peripherals or software that they have paid for?
I could understand if Microsoft had sprung Vista on us with no notice, but we've known it was coming for a long time. I can almost understand when companies are a bit slow sorting out drivers for older products - provided they are ready for Vista with their newer products. But not having Vista drivers for existing products is unforgivable.
A few days back a colleague spoke with AVG, which told us that the firewall and anti-spyware elements of its paid-for, commercial, successful security product were not yet ready. Why not?
I've upgraded a home PC to Windows Vista and started loading software to see what happens.
I quickly found that I no longer had wireless internet access (wired access still worked fine). Orange's broadband service (formerly Wanadoo) comes with its Livebox router and a USB wireless adaptor. The drivers for the adaptor don't work with Vista. I checked Orange's site, and several pages in, found confirmation.
I've called Orange and had a non-reply of "we're working with Microsoft...". So I've asked again my original questions of why the drivers are not ready, when they will be, whether or not they have warned customers and what customers who have upgraded should do in the meantime. I did learn there is a 'workaround' though; once I've checked it works I'll post that to help anyone hitting this problem.
Panda Anti-Virus 2007 thankfully worked. The first install had a run time error, but a quick Vista system restore and reinstallation of Panda later, I was ready to download the Vista drivers from its site. There was no indication as to why Panda would not work prior to the Vista download, so a pointer to its website might help. But the drivers were easy to find and install.
Posted by Rob Jones on February 2, 2007 | Permalink | Comments (24) | TrackBack
The Vista upgrade gotcha
There’s an awful lot of confusion around the Vista retail upgrade versions, caused by Microsoft changing the way upgrades are performed. Here's our take on it for now - but we're getting in some upgrade copies of Vista to confirm this. Some people are suggesting that there's a way around this by installing it as a trial version first, but again this is totally unconfirmed.
If you buy an upgrade version, which is much cheaper than a full version, you need to start the Vista setup routine from within your existing XP installation in order to check that your system is eligible for the upgrade. Once done, the system reboots and you can then choose whether to do an in-place upgrade or a clean install (your old installation is moved to a Windows.old folder).
This means that you can’t do a bare-bones reinstall from your Vista upgrade DVD without installing and activating XP first. Making a disk image of your first clean Vista installation is possibly one way around this, but not all Vista versions come with the disk imaging feature so you'd need to buy a suitable application.
This will no doubt annoy a lot of people, and create a challenge for others on how to slim down an XP installation to a bare minimum. Tools such as Nlite (see our feature at www.pcw.co.uk/2154232), may suddenly become very popular. You could also keep a disk image of your XP installation for rapid restore when necessary. But then you won't be able to palm off your old copy of XP to your friends and family, as you'll break the XP license agreement by running two copies at once.
Posted by on February 1, 2007 | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack
D-Day Monday for Office 2007 formats after quiet birthday
The launch of Office 2007 yesterday was curiously muted, considering that this is a mega-revamp of the world's most-used applications. Perhaps Microsoft fears that it will get a less-than-enthusiastic reception, because whatever you think of the new interface, it is very different indeed. Microsoft says people find it easier, especially for using features that they are not familiar with. It may nevertheless be viewed with suspicion by the many users who are frightened of computers - and if they are using the new software at work, they may demand retraining. They are also likely to be irritated by the need to come to terms with the new file formats, the undoubted benefits of which will be lost on general users. But take-up of the new suite will surely be slow, with the biggest sales initially being within PC bundles. The January 30 launch was not the only important date in the Office 2007 calendar. Monday (February 5) is the deadline for national organisations to register comments and objections to Microsoft's application to have the new Open XML formats approved as an ISO standard. As we reported last Friday, the British Standards Institute is being urged to object to the move. The BSI has now told us that it proposes to send in comments on Monday, but it won't yet say what they are. So far as we can gather from a BSI statement, comments at this stage concern the standards procedure itself - including whether Open XML should qualify for a fast-track approval. Standards bodies from other countries will also submit comments to an ISO committee, which will decide whether Microsoft's application can proceed. If Microsoft gets past this hurdle, which is by no means certain, there will be a further five months of examining the details of the company's 6000-page Open XML specification. And again, according to the BSI, there is no guarantee that it will be approved. ISO has already approved the rival XML-based Open Document Format but it told us last year that there are no rules against have two standards. But critics argue that there is no point in having two standards.
Posted by Clive Akass on January 31, 2007 | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack
How to solve Vista driver problems for HP inkjet printers
HP Invent. So why not HP Support? If, like me, you've been dreading having to ditch a perfectly good inkjet printer because HP's dragging its feet on Vista drivers, here's a bit of good news to cheer you up. HP has published a kludge to let you get several unsupported Deskjet and Photosmart models up and running.
They're basically telling you to install the nearest built-in Vista driver to give you basic functionality until they get their fingers out to write proper drivers - there are detailed instructions at the link above, but you basically con Vista into installing a parallel port printer and then change the port to USB when it's succeeeded.
My Deskjet 5150 is running now using the 5600 model drivers and at least it will print a Windows test page now. And in colour. Whoopee.
And while I'm in the mood: Hey, Fujitsu - where the hell are the Vista drivers for my ScanSnap fi-511EOX2??
Kelvyn Taylor, PCW
Posted by on January 30, 2007 | Permalink | Comments (14) | TrackBack
Windows Vista launch: Bill Gates' speech in London
Posted by Rob Jones on January 30, 2007 | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack
Video review: Microsoft Windows Vista operating system
Microsoft's much hyped, and long anticipated, Windows Vista operating system is now available, and here we review some of the main new features.
Vista comes with a completely new look and is far more stable and secure than XP at launch. However, we'd advise people think carefully before upgrading. Using Microsoft's Window's Upgrade Advisor tool will tell you whether your hardware is up to scratch, and indicate potential problems with software programmes and peripherals you use.
It's then a case of deciding which version, and we think the Home Premium will suit most people. Basic is a little too, well, basic and at £250 for the upgrade and £325 for the full boxed version, Ultimate is likely to be out of the price range many are prepared to pay.
As for whether you should upgrade an XP machine, it depends on the type of user you are. Novices, anyone with a single PC they rely on and hardcore gamers are probably better of holding back for a couple of months, while some driver support issues are finalised. But if you're an expert, or have more than one PC, then Vista is a worthwhile upgrade.
You can also read a more in-depth review of Windows Vista on PCW.
Posted by Rob Jones on January 30, 2007 | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack
Windows Vista: "Slightly terrifying"
[LIVE FROM THE UK LAUNCH] Yep,it's finally here: Windows Vista is launched. Bill Gates himself wowed us all at the British Library with details of how he can now keep tabs on his kids' Internet surfing, and as an encore showed how if you own a priceless Leonardo da Vinci 'Leicester Codex' (as he does), Vista is just the tool you need to match it up with its long-lost sibling.
Looking older and slightly richer in person than in photos, he spent a while talking about how great Vista and Office 2007 are, before disappearing stage left to continue his task of saving the world from OS X and Linux.
Oxford history don Prof. Martin Kemp described the academic possibilities presented by the newly conjoined notebooks (part the British Library's 'Turning the Pages' project) as "slightly terrifying"
We're not too sure what happened after that as 
we dozed off..but we should have some pics and videos soon if the Wifi here stops turning itself off.
Posted by on January 30, 2007 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
6am start as PC World doles out 21 copies of Vista to waiting 'crowd'
Despite Overclockers selling Microsoft Vista for over a week now, I, PCW staff writer, headed on down to Tottenham Court Road at 5:50am to see the first legit copies being sold (since OEMs should really only ship out with new PCs/system integrators).
With Bill Gates still jetting in to the country on a private jet for the official launch party at the British Library, it was here Microsoft execs and PC World staff tried to pull off a Vista launch of their own.
Despite four amusing models (including a strong-man and Marilyn Monroe look-alike) and a lot of hype on the radio, this was a glamour-less affair falling long short of any Apple, Sony or Nintendo launch by a significant margin.
PC World had promised the first 10 people to walk through its doors would get a free copy of Windows Vista Ultimate Edition but at 6:02am there were 21 people in the queue and PC World decided to give everyone a free copy, although there was some confusion when two customers got a full version and the rest only got an upgrade.
Leo Mazur was the first to get his copy. He claimed to have queued since 12:50am and when I asked him why he had been there so long he replied "I didn't have anything better to do."
One of the last people to get a free copy, who worked for Dixons (same company as PC World) according to a Microsoft rep, only had to stand in line for 20 minutes.
The store currently has 31 XP laptops and 12 Vista laptops on sale and Hamish Thompson, director of media relations for PC World, said XP systems will still be sold in its stores for the next six months and the store manager, Nick Stanton, added "there will be some price action them".
Posted by Emil Larsen on January 30, 2007 | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack
Bill Gates' signature only worth $10
Engadget has spotted a bizarre limited edition version of Windows Vista on Amazon US. It's selling for just a $10 premium over the standard Vista Ultimate Upgrade edition. And if it's genuine why on earth has Microsoft picked the upgrade edition? And does it come with a special support hotline direct to Bill himself? The world needs to know.
Posted by on January 22, 2007 | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack
CES 07: Samsung brings out its Vista monitors
Back in the depths of summer we exclusively revealed that Samsung was working closely with Microsoft to produce a Vista monitor. Today Samsung unveiled its new range of Vista monitors, branded by Microsoft, as we said at the time.
The SyncMaster 906BW, 206BW and 226BW (pictured) are widescreen LCD monitors designed to show Vista in its best light. They have 2ms grey to grey response times, a 3000:1 contrast ratio and come with dual inputs (DVI-D & analogue) as well as being HDCP capable. All have Windows Vista Premium certification.
Vista gets its big launch at the end of January, although Microsoft is pushing the operating system heavily here at CES.
What we don’t know yet is the cost or release dates for the monitors, but we’ll update this post when we find out.
Posted by Rob Jones on January 7, 2007 | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBack
Microsoft bows to user demands on Vista licensing
In an 11th hour about-face, Microsoft has ceded to the demands of the enthusiast community and changed the restrictive terms of the Vista retail end-user license agreement (EULA). It will now allow people to transfer Vista between PCs or perform multiple major hardware upgrades without being in breach of the terms. According to the Windows Vista Team Blog, the new terms read:
You may uninstall the software and install it on another device for your use. You may not do so to share this license between devices.
This makes it possible to transfer a license between PCs, as long as it's uninstalled from the old PC, something that wasn't allowed under the original license terms. Reactivation will still be required if major hardware changes are made, as is currently the case with XP.
The full EULA can be read at the Microsoft Vista site.
via Slashdot
Posted by on November 2, 2006 | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBack
Microsoft Vista RC1 general download released
Microsoft Vista Release Candidate 1 is now available for download by the general public, after being made available to testers last Friday.
The company will open RC1, one of the last steps before the final
code is released, to around five million people, roughly the number
that downloaded the first Vista Beta a few months back. Existing members of the Vista Customer Preview Program will get priority, but new people will be able to join over the coming days.
Although time-bombed, Microsoft said RC1 will work until next June, when users will need to pay for an upgrade to the final version.
It has also announced pricing for Vista, although that was already known after Amazon jumped the gun and published the cost of different versions on its site last week. As expected prices range from $99 for the Home Basic version to $399 for the full Vista Ultimate.
Release dates for Vista remain unchanged, with it going to manufacturing in November and the general public in January.
We'll be posting a review of Vista RC1 in a day or two.
Posted by Rob Jones on September 5, 2006 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Microsoft Vista pricing update
Following our blog yesterday on Amazon US posting Vista prices on its web site, Microsoft has got back to us and pretty much confirmed the company jumped the gun.
So, even though you can still read the prices on Amazon, Microsoft won't officially confirm them. It told us it was "still too premature" and that pricing would be announced once Release Candidate 1 ships later this quarter.
It also wouldn't confirm an exact release date for the final version of Vista, saying: "We are targeting Windows Vista availability for volume license customers in November and general availability in January 2007, although the exact delivery date will be subject to achieving quality metrics based on customer feedback."
Microsoft has been notorious for missing deadlines in the past, although UK Office 2007 product manager Darren Strange recently posted a reply to an earlier blog saying that both Vista and Office were still on track.
If you want to keep up with Office developments, he posts regularly to his own blog, Office Rocker. Although his blogs are Microsoft-friendly, he lets democracy rule when it comes to posting replies, which can make interesting reading. And it's a good way of keeping up with new features and developments.
Posted by Rob Jones on August 31, 2006 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Vista pricing unveiled as David Brent gives Microsoft Office values
Amazon has published pricing for Microsoft Vista, taking pre-orders for the new operating system due out next January.
Prices start from $90 for a Home Basic upgrade, up to $400 for the Vista Ultimate DVD-Rom. You can check the full range of pricing here, but be warned - there's loads of them.
We phoned Microsoft and asked about the UK pricing, but haven't received a reply yet. We're hoping it will be a straight dollar to pound conversation.
While on Microsoft, for any Ricky Gervais fans that haven't seen the Microsoft training videos he filmed as Office character David Brent, they're worth a look. Especially for his views on Microsoft employees, and how they should use their work time.
Ricky Gervais - Microsoft 1
Ricky Gervais - Microsoft 2
Posted by Rob Jones on August 30, 2006 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Microsoft moves to prevent XP becoming a Christmas turkey
Rumours of further delays in the launch of Windows XP's successor Vista are dismissed by Office 2007 product manager Darren Strange, who says guardedly that dates have already been set. It is due for release to enterprises in 'er, November or December' and to the retail market in January.
This means, as we have pointed out before, that the operating systems on PCs sold over Christmas will be out of date shortly after the Christmas fairy has gone back into hibernation for another year. It will be a case of 'On the 25th day of Christmas, my true love said to me, time to upgrade from Windows XP.'
Buyers are already becoming cannier in the timing of their purchases, aware of the insanity of rushing to buy in December before prices fall in the January stock clearances, and Microsoft will not be the only company to fear the January Vista launch will hit seasonal sales.
Our man in Silicon Valley reports today that Microsoft is considering issuing coupons for Vista upgrades with PCs bought from October, which seems a sensible move.
But could it be that Microsoft also fears competition from the resurgent Apple, which has just previewed Leopard, the next generation of the MacOS? Apple is in a very strong position to win sales of home computers from Microsoft, especially when PCs are offering only a relatively old operating system.
The desktop version of MacOS X and Windows XP were both launched in 2001, but the Apple software has gone through four major upgrades since then and the final pre-Leopard version makes XP look more then a little dated.
Apple will also have the advantage of launching Leopard after Vista. Chief executive Steve Jobs said during last week's Leopard preview that he was holding a lot of features back in case they get copied. This cuts both ways, of course, because if Microsoft springs some surprises in the final release of Vista, Apple can ensure Leopard matches or even trumps them.
A final Apple advantage, at least during the transition phase when the computing world moves over to the new software, is its oldest one: the closed Mac architecture. This is what gave Apple its reputation for reliability, because the company could ensure its software and hardware worked together whereas Windows had to be all things to all machines.
Apple's crafty move to the Intel platform eroded the price advantage that economies of scale gave the PC and still allows it to tune its software to its own hardware.
Of course Microsoft has overwhelming strengths in the number and variety of Windows applications, and its penetration of IT infrastructure. But Apple stands to make a fortune if it shaves even a few points off Microsoft's market share.
Posted by Clive Akass on August 14, 2006 | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBack
Office ribbons made easier
Microsoft has tweaked the ribbon bar in the beta of Office 2007 to make it more usable. The bar has been criticised for talking up to much screen space, though you have always been able to toggle it off by pressing Control-F1, leaving a thin strip of tabs giving access to different ribbons.
In the early Beta versions if you press one of these tabs, the ribbon remained visible even after you had taken your choice of its options. Now it disappears, making the ribbons visible only when needed.
You also now get an option to minimise the bar by right-clicking it.
This looks like quite a good move, though I still have reservations about the interface. I often have twenty or thirty documents open at once and in the old menu system it was fairly easy to switch between them using the Window menu.
This operation needs two extra clicks in Office 2007, as you need to click the View tab, then the Windows option, and then the Home tab to get back into edit mode. Microsoft could argue that you can cycle through your documents more elegantly using the Vista graphical interface, but with a very large number of documents it is easier to pick from a list.
Posted by Clive Akass on July 28, 2006 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Microsoft grasps the open-source nettle to live with ODF
News that Microsoft has done a u-turn over support for the Open Document Format (ODF) has tended to overshadow the startling detail that the company will as a result be backing an open-source project.
The translations between ODF and OpenXML, the new Office 2007 formats, will be done as an open-source project sponsored and, initially, directed by Microsoft. There will also be translators of legacy Microsoft formats.
The code will be posted on sourceforge.net, leaving people free to contribute to the development like any other open-source software, says Microsoft’s Office 2007 UK product manager Darren Strange.
Is there not a danger of helping to build open-source credibility? ‘That’s the kind of judgement we have to make,’ said Strange.
Both formats use Extended Markup Language (XML) but translation is not necessarily straightforward, even discounting differences in the feature set supported by each format. XML languages are remarkably like human ones, in that there can be cultural differences.
The word ‘home’ can mean anything from an igloo to a palace, depending on who you are and where you live; an XML tag ‘Home’, say, might be interpreted identically as an address by two different systems, but each may differ in what it considers to be the components of an address and in the processes triggered by the tag.
Posted by Clive Akass on July 7, 2006 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Shame about the Office delay but what about those Vista pop-ups?
News that Microsoft has delayed the release of the final version of Office 2007 comes as no surprise. Executives at the company’s recent Winhec conference said repeatedly that neither Vista nor the new Office suite would be released until they were ready. My impression was that they almost expected postponements.
The Microsoft statement announcing the change typically made it seem like some species of victory. The latest beta code has been the most popular yet with 2.5 million downloads, it said. The new delay is based on ‘customer feedback around product performance.’
This makes it sound like Office 2007 is considered too slow. But for workaday tasks it is not noticeably slower than Office 2003, and in some instance is patently faster – and this is beta code which is not necessarily fully optimised. I have not tested it on demanding Excel spreadsheets but I would be surprised if speed was an issue.
So my reading is that ‘performance’ covers a variety of issues arising from beta feedback. I have had problems transferring macros between versions, something that could be critical for companies using heavily customised versions of the old Office.
I wonder, too, how the new interface is going down. It is very, very different from the old familiar menu system and many big users, perhaps fearing huge retraining costs, may feel it is a change too far. This is a hard one to judge. The new look is designed to make more of the features readily available to non-experts, which means that it is experts (including IT departments assessing the new software) who are most likely to be irritated by it.
It would perhaps have been wiser to have provided a Classic Look option. But Microsoft says the next release will be put off only until the end of 2006 for enterprises, a delay that would be hardly sufficient to allow one to be bolted on. The retail edition is now scheduled vaguely for ‘early 2007’.
The most common issue with introducing the new Office will surely be the new file formats. These are indisputably a good change in structure, though they have yet to prove themselves in detail, but they will inevitably cause hassle. I am using the new code as much as possible for work and just about every time I save anything I have to make a decision about which format to use.
But overwhelmingly the biggest irritation with the new software is with Vista. Microsoft is going to have to do something about the security warnings that keep popping up asking for you permission for this or that application to do something with your system. There are too many of them, and often there is no way to stop them repeatedly popping up with applications you use all the time.
How can we be expected to know whether some obscure thread performing an obscure task is legitimate or not? Microsoft may be justified in throwing more responsibility for security on users, but to do so on this scale is counter-productive. It amounts to passing the buck.
Posted by Clive Akass on June 30, 2006 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
More disappearing macros
More puzzles with macros in Word 2007. In an earlier blog I reported how one legacy doc opened in Word 2007 with its macros intact while another apparently identical one did not. I can now use my old Word 2003/7 template with its macros fully functioning (insofar as I have tested them all) in Word 2007 but only in what is called compatibility mode
If I save the template as a Word 2007 macro-enabled template (of which more below), the macros disappear. So does this mean that you have to redo all your macros if you want them on a 2007 template? There may be some way to import them but I can’t find it.