Mark Russinovich is a cool guy. He also happens to be a Microsoft Technical Fellow and Windows Kernel guru. Best of all, he has been talking at length (some 45 minutes or so) to the MSDN ‘Channel 9′ network about what’s inside Windows 7.

Sure, news about Windows 7 has been leaking like crazy especially now that early versions are available for free.

But this is different, this is not speculation, this is someone who really knows his stuff spilling the technical beans about Windows 7.

Now that’s where everyone’s ears should perk up, mine did. Especially when it got to the bit about how the reworking of the ‘dispatcher spin lock’ in Windows 7 means that the OS can scale to a whopping 256 processors. He goes into some technical detail about how bottlenecks have been removed to make this possible.

I mean, what geek could not be seduced by the lure of a forthcoming Windows Server 2008 release that supports 256 logical cores? Must be a possibility, considering that it will be a Windows 7 based upgrade. About bloody time as well, after all 32 core limits are so 20th century.

There is not a lot a point in me just trying to explain all this in highly technical detail, in text, when Russinovich does a perfect job in person. Seriously, if you care about this stuff it is worth sacrificing 45 minutes of your life to view the video. And I wouldn’t be saying that, I wouldn’t be pointing you away from IT Pro for goodness sake, if it wasn’t so!

We all know that Microsoft issues security updates and fixes on the second Tuesday of the month. That is why it is called Patch Tuesday. So why the heck is Microsoft issuing a security patch today, a Thursday, in-between Patch Tuesday runs?

The twee answer is ‘who cares’ as long as Microsoft is fixing a hole? The slightly longer and serious answer is that we simply do not know. All we do know is that it is that rarest of beasts for a company that has built a reputation for taking a slowly, slowly, catchee monkey approach to bug fixing and security hole filling: the emergency security patch.

Indeed, this will be the first time since April 2007 that Microsoft has made such a move. Back then it was to cover the corporate arse as a well known vulnerability with .ani files was being exploited in the wild and getting a huge amount of publicity.

But this time it is different, this time there is no great media outcry and no great insider whispering campaign either. Which all points to a serious vulnerability that has not yet been made public, which does not mean that the bad guys are unaware of it of course. The very fact that an emergency patch is being rushed out suggests that there is either a real and imminent danger of it being exploited, that it is already being exploited or that if it were exploited it would have wide-ranging and harmful implications for Windows users.

All we know, all the IT security grapevine knows, is that the update will be rated as critical for Windows 2000, XP and Server 2003 and is scheduled to appear at 5pm this afternoon.

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.

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.

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.”