Good news for consumers and business customers alike who would not touch Vista with a slow-running barge pole, bad news for Microsoft which is already touting the wonders of Windows 7. XP simply refuses to die, and Microsoft appears unable or unwilling to turn off the life support…

On April 15th 2007 I penned a story suggesting that the death of Windows XP should be accompanied by an epitaph of good riddance to insecure rubbish. In that same piece I reported how Microsoft had set a date of February 2008 to “kill off XP.”

It seems I may have been premature, as Microsoft really just does not seem to have the stomach to kill XP. This is not all that surprising, especially when you have the likes of Intel flicking the V’s at Vista. Just three short months ago an Intel insider (geddit?) revealed that the company had decided against upgrading to Vista after a “lengthy analysis by its internal technology staff” suggested the costs and potential benefits of making the switch were simply not worth it.

Nonetheless, Microsoft ploughed ahead with the official death to XP strategy and announced it was dead on June 30th when the OS would no longer be available to the likes of Dell and HP, and shrink-wrapped distribution would also cease. Shame then, that at the very start of July I was able to reveal that Dell was introducing a Windows Vista Bonus package for its buyers: the bonus being that your computer came with XP pre-installed instead of Vista.

XP just will not die for one simple reason, well two actually. Firstly there is a genuine demand in the market for an OS which is not as resource hungry as Vista yet is still Windows based. That OS demand is met by XP and not anything else, not even Linux which still frightens off the masses. Secondly, there is the reason for that demand. Which, and I’m sorry about this Microsoft, really does come back to the fact that Vista has just not made a compelling case for itself. It demands too much raw power to perform its magic, and even then you end up feeling like you have paid for Derren Brown and got Paul Daniels.

Which is why Microsoft OEM partners have been able to continue selling XP, with the no doubt begrudging blessing of Microsoft. The get-around is by way of selling a Vista PC with XP in the box and the ability to ‘downgrade’ by way of the supplied recovery disc. Seems quite apt really that you can recover from Vista and end up with XP.

Microsoft apparently had decided that OEMs could continue doing this until the end of January 2009, but under pressure has now caved in and given them an additional six months.

Of course, the fatal bullet could come from Microsoft itself when it releases the much talked about Windows 7 OS. If you cannot wait until the first half of 2010 when Windows 7 is slated for delivery, then you could always try a legit free copy this month as Microsoft is giving away pre-beta builds at PDC and WinHEC if you happen to be attending.

Microsoft probably doesn’t like it very much. Actually scrap that, Microsoft definitely doesn’t like it at all. However, there seems little it can do about the fact that screen shots of Windows 7, specifically the M3 Build 6780, have been popping up online this week. The Internet will do what it does best, and ensure that those images live on no matter what steps are taken to have them removed. Web content: once up, never down. I want that on a T-Shirt.

Microsoft only started the release of ‘Milestone 3′ Windows 7 builds on or around the 12th September, and I am surprised that it took the best part of a week for the screen shots to start permeating across the Web. That said, and fair play to Microsoft, it had managed pretty well in preventing leakage up until this point (if you discount the early Milestone 1 leaks a year ago that is) and Milestone 2 never really saw the light of day online.

The UX Evangelist blog promises truly unique Microsoft content, and seems to be delivering. While a screen shot of WordPad might not ordinarily be the most exciting thing you have ever seen, when it is the WordPad UI from Windows 7 M3 Build 6780 it starts to take on a whole new dimension.

From this single definitely we can see, for example, that it has a definite Office 2007 feel about it. In fact, it looks very similar, stinkingly so, to Word 2007 in many ways. Not least thanks to the inclusion of the ‘Ribbon UI’ which I understand will be a prominent feature of Windows 7. Mind you, I am also led to believe that while WordPad gets the Ribbon, NotePad thankfully does not. There is a limit, I would suggest, as to how far the line in terms of basic applications such a UI change is needed.

The ThinkNext Blue blog, at least I think that is what it is called (it is a bit hard to tell, to be honest) has even more detailed screen shots. In fact, it goes way beyond just exposing the WordPad UI, with images of everything from the new Start Menu (with a change in look to the search box and shutdown buttons, plus a simplified right panel) through to detail of the new User Account Control which the blogger says only appeared once during and form this concludes that Microsoft is reigning in its use in Windows 7 when compared with Vista.

Other little points revealed from the screen shots here include the changing of My Documents to Libraries in the Windows 7 My Computer screen, and some new Control Panel items and system icons.

Microsoft has only itself to blame about the prominence these leaked screens will take, after all it has decided to pretty much clamp tight shut with regard to talking about Windows 7 to the media this time around. So what does it expect, that we will all just sit around and twiddle our thumbs until it wants us to get hyped up over the Beta release in December? Sorry Mr Ballmer, that just ain’t gonna happen. We all know you are bonkers, but I didn’t think you were that daft.

Has Patch Tuesday really been and gone again already? Oh lawdy yes, it has. Which means that you need to know the impact that those updates are going to have on your business. Indeed, I know of some folk who take a twisted ‘if it ain’t too broken don’t let a Microsoft fix break something else’ approach to patch management. Sorry, but that really is Ostrich Security in action if you ask me.

So, assuming your head is not buried in the sand, or firmly stuck somewhere else that I cannot mention in mixed company, what do you do about it? The answer is, of course, let someone else determine the risk and reward process of updating. Which is where those lovely chaps over at ChangeBASE enter the patch management equation. This ain’t no advert, so if you want to find out more about the application come patch management stuff it provides, go Google or visit the website.

Why I mention ChangeBASE at all is because they also issue Patch Tuesday application compatibility labs testing results which can help determine just what the impact on your business of quickly updating will be. This month, so I am informed, the patches and updates fall into the ‘relatively light’ band.

“The updates MS08-055 and MS08-053 relate to Windows Media player which has a minimal impact on the Operating system and few applications have a direct dependency on Windows Media player” ChangeBASE told me, adding “More importantly, MS08-052 includes an update to a core element of the operating system (GDIPLUS.DLL). This file is part of the graphics library for Window XP. Several applications run through AOK can load a version of this file from their source media/download process when they are installed and there is a danger that if this happens the installation will result in an out of date version of this file being loaded and overwriting the version in the patch update this month.”

ChangeBASE tested the following updates this month:

MS08-052: updates key components of Microsoft Messenger and Digital Imager
Impact: MS08-052 updates a core OS level DLL that is responsible for Windows XP/2000 graphics interface. A number of applications contain this file in their application installation routine including; Reuters Messaging, Microsoft Messenger, Macromedia Dreamweaver and Microsoft Digital Image which could cause application compatibility issues when these packages are deployed. In addition, a significant portion of our testing portfolio had a file level dependency on this updated DLL.

MS08-053: Marginal impact and negligible testing profile
Impact: This update had a marginal impact on the AOK Workbench application package portfolio through direct file and configuration overlaps with the update payload and the portfolio packages.

MS08-054: Marginal impact and negligible testing profile
Impact: This update had a marginal impact on the AOK Workbench application package portfolio through direct file and configuration overlaps with the update payload and the portfolio packages.

MS08-055: Updates key Microsoft Office components - full application test required
Impact: This Microsoft security update, while not affecting a large portion of the AOK application portfolio did directly affect a number of Microsoft application packages including Office 2003 (standard and professional), Microsoft Visual Basic, and Microsoft Project.

Silverlight has, to be fair, not exactly set the world on fire. Microsoft was obviously hoping it would, and there’s nothing majorly wrong with the Silverlight 2 Beta to prevent it. Other than the market share enjoyed by Adobe Flash of course.

Ay, there’s the rub. And while quoting from Hamlet, I might as well drag out some of the words that follow that, as they seem to apply so well to Microsoft with regards to Silverlight: what dreams may come?

As it turns out, those dreams were in Chinese.

Could it really be that the Beijing Olympics are the Saviour of Silverlight? Well I’m pretty damn sure the Games of the XXIX Olympiad are not going to do it any harm in the getting the word out stakes.

Or more precisely the ‘getting Silverlight installed’ stakes. Whoever managed to pull off the deal with NBC to drive the online video coverage of the Olympics deserves a medal, a big shiny gold one at that. Not that I suspect it took too much negotiating considering how the two have worked so well before. MSNBC ring any bells?

The Silverlight ability to adaptively stream the video data depending upon the available bandwidth, together with certain copy protection promises, seemed to do the trick.

So just how much of a success has the NBC Olympics coverage been for Silverlight? Ah, Microsoft isn’t actually saying. It would appear to be sticking to its standard ‘up to 1.5 million downloads a day’ line that has been spun out since, well, almost forever. At least it seems that way from here.

However, some reports suggest that the real figures are a whole heap of beans higher.

How does 25 million unique visitors for NBCOlympics.com via MSN during the Games so far grab you? Or how about the fact that more than half the visitors in recent days have already got Silverlight installed?

With 22 million videos streamed so far, that’s a pretty impressive showcase for what was looking like a near-miss technology just a few weeks ago…

The big news from the LinuxWorld Conference in San Francisco this week has got to be the IBM partnership deals with Canonical, Red Hat and Novell. IBM has, quite plainly, gone on the offensive and stated that in combining its Open Collaboration Client Solution software suite (with Lotus Notes, Symphony and Sametime) with Ubuntu, Red Hat and Suse Linux distros it can convince its customers to make the move to a Microsoft-free desktop experience.

With Canonical already confirming that Lotus Symphony will be distributed via its Web services programme within a couple of weeks, the other players in this trio will most likely follow with similar announcements real soon.

Now, according to various online sources, the fourth largest maker of computers is looking to get involved. The Chinese-based company that acquired the IBM laptop business some years back, Lenovo, is apparently involved in ‘active discussions’ with regard to bringing out a series of systems with a Microsoft-free desktop running the Linux/Lotus combination.

Should Microsoft be worried? Well, truth be told, probably not. After all, IBM has been pushing the Microsoft-free desktop thing in Europe for some months already to no great effect as far as I can see. Why it should make any bigger an impact in the US is beyond my ken.

Throwing Lenovo into the mix could be interesting, but again I doubt that it will win too many converts. There is, to be fair, enough choice of Microsoft systems out there in the market and while the Linux market share continues to grow slowly, the emphasis is on slowly.

Just as Firefox has eaten away at the Internet Explorer userbase, so Linux will claw at the Windows market. But as with the web browsers, Microsoft will still be left with the lion’s share and then some. Convincing the business market to switch from a Microsoft desktop to a Linux one is going to be a lot harder, as their is already much more invested in both financial and cultural terms, than simply switching a web browser client.

Even allowing the for the credit crunch argument of businesses being strapped for cash so looking more favourably at the open source sector does not really hold water when push comes to shove. Buying new hardware does not save money, it costs money. Those businesses are far more likely, surely, simply not to upgrade and therefore not spend a budget they do not have.

The only possible chink in the stick with Microsoft argument comes with the number of enterprises which are not upgrading to Vista, leaving a slight possibility that they might look elsewhere when the time does come for new hardware…

It would seem that Bill Gates has not only left his Microsoft office and car parking space behind him, but the same might apply to his use of Microsoft software. After all, you might reasonably expect the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to turn to Microsoft Project Server and Microsoft Project to help manage the construction of its new Seattle-based HQ.

However, it appears that a small British outfit called BIW Technologies, employing just 40 people, can do the job better.

It has just announced that it has been chosen by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to provide its Software-as-a-Service construction project control system during the building of that new HQ.

Planning and consultations for the 500 Fifth Avenue North project commenced in 2005, and the initial phase which involves the construction of the US$50m Seattle Center 5th Ave N Parking Garage is scheduled for completion in mid-July 2008.

BIW technologies says that while another online system was used to deliver the 1,020-space Garage project, the Foundations needed “to manage a range of complex business processes” and so opted to “use the BIW system instead to support design and construction of the key first phases of the campus buildings.”

BIW chief executive Colin Smith says that “This project, won in the face of competition from other global firms, demonstrates that the BIW platform can be readily adapted to support large and complex schemes working to US standards and processes.”

Perhaps what he should have said was ‘will you be using Firefox on a Linux platform next Bill?”

By now everyone and their aunt has heard the news that Bill Gates is stepping down from his role as Dr Evil. Sorry, I mean head honcho at Microsoft of course. Sure, he will still be the single largest shareholder, he will still be Chairman of the board, he will still be trying to give his vast fortune to good causes (thinks: Billsters Billions, great movie opportunity) but one thing he will not be doing is going to Mars.

Nor, for that matter, will Windows.

The currently much talked about Phoenix Lander is not a Windows driven beast. Instead it is powered by a specially designed mobo and CPU which runs VxWorks, an embedded Real Time OS.

Of course, this has much to do with stability as anything else. Now I am not knocking Microsoft here, but NASA take the whole stability thing very seriously indeed. Although you would be forgiven for thinking otherwise given some of their quality control mistakes over the decades. However, they do sacrifice speed and power for stability as is evidenced by the 33 MHz clock speed of the RISC Rad6000 CPU. Although it has not been confirmed, rumour suggests that 128Mb RAM is all that has gone to Mars as well.

Not surprising that an embedded RTOS has accompanied it then. I have enough trouble running Vista comfortably on an AMD Turion 64 clocked at 1.80 GHz with 1GB RAM.

Simon Barrett reveals how NASA manage to get around the 20 minute lag between sending a command from Earth and it being executed on Mars in his fascinating look at the software behind the Phoenix Lander mission. He explains how a whole day of tasks are sent in one batch, written in C. “The NASA programmers and engineers sent approximately 1000 to 1500 instructions to the lander every day.” Because of the importance of the code working, this is a Herculean task, no pun intended. As Barrett concludes “In layman’s terms, if your computer program has 100 steps in it, it will take you 10 days to write and test it. NASA are doing what a regular programmer would take nearly 5 months to achieve in 24 hours!”

IBM has built what could well be the largest ever dual booting Windows and Linux HPC blade system, comprising some 5376 Intel Xeon quad-core processors each of which is running at 2.5GHz and which will be able to reach a sustained 46 teraflops worth of processing power. Running Windows HPC Server 2008 (Beta) the high performance computing system has been built at the Umea University in Stockholm, Sweden and forms part of a resource used by a number of academic research groups.

In itself the system is sufficient enough of a powerhouse to lay claim to being one of the top 50 most powerful computers on the planet, which should be enough for any geek to get excited about. However, I suspect that the bit of the announcement that will get the most coverage will be that this one has been built around Linux and Windows rather than Linux alone. Heck, look at the statistics and it appears that around 85 percent of such HPC systems are running exclusively on Linux and Windows cannot even claim to scoop up the remaining 15 percent but instead sits somewhere around the 2 percent mark at the most (if you use the latest available Top 500 list as your metric anyway.)

This could all change when the latest Top 500 list is released later this week, Microsoft is certainly hoping to start making a bigger impression and has been investing heavily in the HPC market of late. I don’t think that the Linux fanboys have too much to worry about though, as it would take something of a seachange in the HPC world to shift even to the point where half the machines were dual-booting let alone Windows exclusive. I’m not sure I am even convinced by the argument that as people using Linux-powered high performance computers more often than not will be using Windows-powered desktops or laptops at home or outside of the research lab so there is a ready made market for the dual boot option.

I guess it was only a matter of time: before Microsoft made a real effort to buy Yahoo, and once it did before Google started stamping feet and shouting that it just isn’t fair. Considering that Google has something like 80% of the search market as far as the UK is concerned at least, compared with around 10% combined for Microsoft and Yahoo, it does rather stick in my craw when it starts complaining about ‘unacceptably dominant positioning’ to be honest. Yet that is exactly what Google is doing, warning anyone within earshot that if Microsoft buys Yahoo then it will create a dominating email and instant messaging monster which could jeopardise future development of the open standards Internet.

Of course, similar concerns have not come to the fore when Google itself has been on the acquisition trail to strengthen its position as a provider of online services. Of course, it is just the kind of puff and bluster to add fuel to the fire after the US justice department announced it would investigate (for antitrust reasons) any deal between the two online giants.

If you ask me it just confirms that Google is worried that Microhoo could become the first serious competition to its own position in the marketplace, the online advertising marketplace that is. Funnily enough, that is one area of unacceptably dominant positioning that Google has been suspiciously quiet about…

Microsoft has kicked off perhaps the most interesting competition of late, and certainly one which has the potential to impact upon enterprise level business the most: the High Performance Computing challenge. Hopefully the £20,000 in prizes will be enough to spur students, for entry is restricted to higher education organisations, to enter the thing. The first round phase closes on December 14th, and entries can be registered now at the Imagine Cup website.

I like the idea of an HPC Challenge, anything that gets the brightest of our IT student minds working together to innovatively solve some of the World’s toughest problems has got to be a good thing. The fact that the winners will cop £5,000 and the five runners up £2,000 will no doubt also help. As will the fact that teams registering for the competition will be able to acquire Microsoft Windows Compute Cluster Server (CCS) licenses for £1 per node (minimum 10 nodes) to support the development of their solutions.

Dr Michael Newberry, HPC Product Manager at Microsoft UK. says “HPC is about solving the really big problems. It’s about taking technology beyond what you can achieve on a PC: designing drugs and combating diseases; breaking codes and safeguarding privacy; forecasting the money markets; designing new aircraft and testing new cars; predicting the future of the universe - or of our climate next month. We want to encourage students with ideas about how to change the world. Let’s get them using the best technology on the planet to make their ideas’ real. We believe that students entering this competition will address problems that could significantly improve the daily lives of millions of people around the world in the future – realising their own potential and that of High Performance Computing.”  While Professor Simon Cox, Professor of Computational Methods, in the School of Engineering Sciences at the University of Southampton adds “I’m sure I will be amazed by the submissions. The students who participate in Student vs. Student represent the next generation of leaders. Their creativity and innovation speaks volumes about the promise of technology to make a difference in peoples’ lives in the way we think, work and communicate.”