|
Gartner: Vista will slip beyond end-of-year 2006
by Arie Slob
Hello Windows users,
 Earlier this year research firm Gartner had forecasted that Microsoft won't be able to meet the November 2006 deadline they announced for the availability of Windows Vista to the corporate market. As for general consumer availability - which Microsoft said would be in January 2007 - Gartner's research vice president Steve Kleynhans said that he expect that Windows Vista wouldn't make it into general circulation until the second quarter of 2007.
In a blog posting on Gartner's Web site, Kleynhans said that the latest build, 5472, is a pretty solid platform, and one that can be used for day-to-day activities, with little fear of serious disruption. Compared with the original Beta 2, it performs better, is much more stable and exhibits better compatibility with a broader range of applications.
"However, there are still a lot of holes under the surface. In particular, graphic drivers and general screen painting continue to lack the polish needed before Vista can move to a release candidate. I've begun noticing a large number of small glitches and failures which can't be reproduced, and while performance is much better, it is also unpredictable. It's not unusual to find my system suddenly lock up for minute or longer." Kleynhans said. "The good news is that many of the issues seem to be related more to "consumer" features (such as media player and Media Center), not the "corporate" items valued by our customers. However, Vista is one product, and both sides will have to be solid before its release to manufacturing."
Microsoft's message about a shipping date for Windows Vista continues to be mixed. On the one hand they say they are on track to deliver the new OS in early 2007, but they're also repeating they won't release Vista until satisfied with the products quality.
"There's no data or information that says we are not going to make the November business availability or the January [2007] consumer availability," said Kevin Johnson, co-president of Microsoft's platforms and services group in a July financial analyst meeting. "However, we are going to ship the product when it's ready. We are just going to take it milestone by milestone."
Several people have speculated that Microsoft might want to release a Beta 3 candidate before a Release Candidate 1 (RC1) build, citing the many problems people encountered with the public Beta 2 release. From what I've heard from sources this isn't going to happen; Microsoft is already working on the RC1 'branch' of Vista, and is shooting for a September release of RC1.
Microsoft Security
Microsoft Windows Security Bulletin Summary for August, 2006
The security update for August 2006 includes eight fixes for Microsoft Windows, one fix for Microsoft Internet Explorer and one fix for Microsoft Outlook Express.
Severity Rating: Critical
Severity Rating: Important
Recent Support BBS Postings
Newsletter Summer Schedule
Many of you are having a summer break in the coming weeks, and I'm trying to take some time off too. I will reduce the newsletter publication frequency in the next few months.
Here is the planning so far:
Month |
Publication Date |
August |
12 |
September |
2 & 23 |
Returning to the bi-weekly schedule starting with the September 23 issue. Have a good & safe summer!
|
Highlights
Toolkit to Disable Automatic Delivery of Internet Explorer 7
Microsoft will distribute Internet Explorer 7 as a high-priority update via Automatic Updates for Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 soon after the final version of the browser is released (planned for fourth quarter 2006). Microsoft is making a non-expiring Blocker Toolkit available for those organizations that would like to block automatic delivery of Internet Explorer 7 to machines in environments where Automatic Updates is enabled.
Answers to Frequently Asked Questions can be found in the FAQ
Read Microsoft's announcement of the Automatic Delivery of IE 7.
Recommend This Newsletter!
Do you enjoy reading this Newsletter? Why not tell your friend(s) about it?
Recommend this Newsletter!
Desktop Heap Monitor Version 8.1
The Desktop Heap Monitor is a tool that examines usage of desktop heap.
WIN32 subsystem has internal heap area known as "desktop heap." When you run a large number of Windows-based programs, "Out Of Memory" error messages appear when you attempt to start new programs or try to use programs that are already running, even though you still have plenty of physical and pagefile memory available.
This behavior can occur if the desktop heap in the WIN32 subsystem is depleted (see MSKB 126962).
By using the Desktop Heap Monitor, you can examine how much desktop heap is consumed without interrupting the running system.
Supported Operating System: Windows 2000 (SP3/SP4); Windows Server 2003; Windows Server 2003 Itanium-based editions; Windows Server 2003 x64 editions; Windows XP.
You need the correct version of the Win32k.sys symbol file via Microsoft symbol server, or at local disk for installation.
Latest Microsoft & Windows News from around the Internet
Disk Defragmenter does not work on a Windows XP-based computer
When you try to use Disk Defragmenter on a Microsoft Windows XP-based computer, the following symptoms may occur:
Read Microsoft Knowledge Base Article 922379
Tell a friend about this Newsletter!
Need Help with Windows? Ask your questions here!
FREE Software!
|
