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Microsoft Changes Windows Vista Beta Release Schedule
by Arie Slob
Hello Windows users,
Last September, at Microsoft's Professional Developers Conference (PDC), the company announced it would be supplying its testers with monthly builds of Windows Vista through a new program called Community Technical Preview (CTP).
In October, Microsoft delivered a CTP build (5231), but no build was delivered in November. Two days before the end of the month, Microsoft announced it was not going to deliver a CTP build for that month, but that it should be delivering a CTP build before the Christmas holiday. According to Microsoft a change was made to the program which would see Windows Vista almost feature-complete for the December CTP build. Complete feature-complete is expected in January, so the February CTP build that testers will get should be feature-complete.
This is a change from previous beta programs, which usually only see feature-complete builds by Release Candidate 0 (RC0) status. Windows Vista RC0 is expected in the March-April 2006 time-frame.
It is not clear if Microsoft intends to release a Windows Vista Beta 2 for public beta testing as it had previously promised.
Internet Explorer 7: Public Beta in Q1 2006
In case you forgot: Microsoft is developing a new version of Internet Explorer for Windows XP (and later; which in this case means Windows Server 2003 & Windows Vista).
Back in February this year, Microsoft's chairman Bill Gates sprang a surprise on most of us with the announcement that Microsoft would release a new version of Internet Explorer, despite previous assurances that no new version of Internet Explorer would be released before the release of Windows "Longhorn" (now Windows Vista).
In his announcement, Gates said that we could expect a public release of Internet Explorer 7 (IE7) by that summer... We're still waiting. So far only a preview version of IE7 has been released to a selected number of developers & testers. You can read my review of that build on the HelpWithWindows Web site.
A few days ago the team working on the new browser announced that it will release a public beta in the first calendar quarter of 2006; roughly a year after IE7 was first announced. According to sources, this public beta will be feature-complete.
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Recommended Web sites
Each month we will feature a few Web sites here, ones which sent us the most visitors to our Web site in the previous month. We would encourage you to visit these popular Web sites yourself!
Here are some sites in the Top 15 for November 2005:
The Top 15 sites are listed on our Web site.
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Highlights
Microsoft Location Finder
Microsoft Location Finder is a client-side application that turns a regular WiFi enabled laptop, Tablet or PC into a location determining device without the addition of any separate hardware. When launched by a user, Microsoft Location Finder uses WiFi access points - or reverse IP lookup when WiFi is not available - to center and display the person's location on an Windows Live Local, enabling the user to quickly and easily search in their present location.
Supported Operating Systems: Microsoft Windows 2000, XP, or Server 2003
Download [4.2 MB]
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Windows XP Tip: Customize the Taskbar
Information on customizing Windows XP's Taskbar, including information on Taskbar grouping and the Quick Launch bar.
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Step-by-Step Guide to Getting Started with Microsoft Windows Server Update Services on Windows Small Business Server 2003
Microsoft Windows Server Update Services (WSUS) provides a comprehensive solution for managing updates within your network. This document tells you how to deploy WSUS on your network, including installing WSUS on computers running Windows SBS 2003, configuring WSUS to obtain updates, configuring client computers to install updates, and approving and distributing updates.
Microsoft Word document: Download [330 KB]
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