By Tom:
Although most graphics vendors are still struggling to get their DirectX8.1 support cleared up, Microsoft is pushing ahead with DX9 in order to remove some of the ambiguities of programmability that DX8.x raised. Things like, what do you do when you changing light sources within a scene.

DirectX9 will go live in Q3 of this year, and DirectX9.1 in March, 2003. Delivery of Longhorn is probably going to impact what goes in DX9.1, but DX9 is definitely targeted at this Christmas' games.

DX9 will have improvements that will allow better optimizations and clearer controls within the vertex and pixel shader. DX9 doesn't look like it's going to have an advertising campaign to promote it, because it is very much an evolution designed for developers that struggled with programmable shaders first time around, and features that didn't quite deliver on their promise. It isn't a dramatic change from DX8.x.

Paul Thurrott has posted some news on the release date of Longhorn, the next major Windows version. As it turns out we won't see Longhorn before the second half of 2004. Mike Toutonghi, corporate vice president of the Windows eHome Division said the new Windows will deliver the next generation of communications and collaboration experiences, streaming audio/video [A/V] functionality, integrated device connectivity, simplified networking, and tools to help Microsoft deliver on our promise of the connected home.

Neowin reported this:
"At WinHEC details are emerging of the graphics infrastructure for Longhorn, Microsoft's next generation Windows. The graphics interface at the driver level is going to be all DirectX 9.0, and the door is being left wide open for moving the Windows UI completely 3D. Microsoft has already started to tax the GPU on the PC with all its plans for "media rich experiences," as company execs like to call anything loud and colorful, but Longhorn is going to be a field day for the graphics industry. As one Microsoft developer told us, there's going to be no let up on the GPU with Longhorn. Finally, Microsoft is starting to think seriously about raising the base level graphics bar for Windows. We'll have more coverage of Longhorn's graphics architecture in our WinHEC converage tomorrow."

Very exciting news indeed. Whether this will actually happen remains to be seen. Considering the speed graphic chips are being developed Microsoft will certainly have great technology to work with in 2004.

Bye the way Paul also noted that Windows .NET Server won't shop until early 2003.

New features and updates in TweakXP v1.31:

• New feature: create virtual drives from any folder
• Comtech and Verizon modem tweaks added
• completely re-coded and improved installer
• improved online updater
• updated Pop-Up Blocker list
• updated language files
• updated help file
• several improvements
• lots of code optimizations

Check out our special offer for TweakXP in the XPStore. Profit from a great discount of 10%!!!

This update addresses ten new vulnerabilities, the most serious of which could enable code of an attacker’s choice to be run on a server.

Microsoft:
"This patch is a cumulative patch that includes the functionality of all security patches released for IIS 4.0 since Windows NT 4.0 Service Pack 6a, and all security patches released to date for IIS 5.0 and 5.1. A complete listing of the patches superseded by this patch is provided below, in the section titled 'Additional information about this patch'. Before applying the patch, system administrators should take note of the caveats discussed in the same section."

Thanx to Ibelite: Microsoft is now working on proposed future requirements for the "Designed for Windows" logo program for the next version of the Microsoft Windows operating system. Microsoft welcomes your comments and suggestions on the proposed future Logo Requirements.

Download the WinHEC Review Documents, which include the
Longhorn proposed Requirements

Are you into paranoia? Want to know about all vulnerabilities in Microsoft products? Than check out this site. It states that as of the 8th of April there are currently 11 unpatched vulnerabilities.

Microsoft has decided to support one of two competing formats for popular DVD recording technology, a decision that is intended to make the storage devices as easy to use as current CD burners and floppy drives.

At its annual Windows Hardware Engineering Conference ( WinHEC), Microsoft plans to demonstrate software and to provide technical documentation for incorporating the DVD+RW format into its Windows operating system, according to a Microsoft Web site detailing the schedule for the conference.

"This presentation explains how support for DVD+RW in Windows has been designed to become the standard storage solution for the PC and consumer electronics environments," reads the description of a presentation planned for next week's show. Microsoft will be adding support for DVD+RW into a future version of Windows, code-named Longhorn, according to the site.

Supports: Radeon, Radeon Mobility/7500/7500 GL, Radeon 8500/8500LE/DV Edition, Radeon 7000, Radeon VE, Radeon 7500, Radeon 7200.

Remember that this is a beta driver! Use at your own risk.

Thanx to Neowin:
Microsoft has created a new tool, the Microsoft Baseline Security Analyzer (MBSA), to analyze Windows systems for common security misconfigurations. Version 1.0 of MBSA includes a graphical and command line interface that can perform local or remote scans of Windows systems.

MBSA runs on Windows 2000 and Windows XP systems and will scan for missing hotfixes and vulnerabilities in the following products:

• Windows NT 4.0,
• Windows 2000,
• Windows XP,
• Internet Information Server (IIS) 4.0 and 5.0,
• SQL Server 7.0 and 2000,
• Internet Explorer (IE) 5.01 and later,
• Office 2000 and XP.

By Paul Thurrott at WinInformant:

"A number of readers alerted me this week to a fascinating Shockwave animation that purports to demonstrate some of the online/subscription features of the next version of Microsoft Office, which will be called Office .NET. Code-named Office NGO ("Next Generation Office") in the animation, this Office version will include links to a number of of online services, including a secure My Office Web site; a consolidated email account with Web-based Inbox; Office .NET Notifications; online scheduling with a sharable calendar; Meeting Workspaces for viewing agendas, pending tasks, and related documents, SharePoint Team Services-based Team Workspace for sharing information with team members; and a set of online content such as templates, online training, communities, and the like.

So is it real? Is Office NGO really a sneak-peak at Office .NET? It's hard to say, and though some UI inconsistencies have me thinking that this is an April Fools prank, I will say this: If it is fake, it's the most elaborate fake I've ever seen."

Intel® Application Accelerator. This utility updates Windows* XP, Windows Millennium Edition (Me), Windows 98 Second Edition (SE), Windows 98, Windows 2000, and Windows NT* 4.0 to reduce the storage sub-system bottleneck - enabling faster delivery of data from the hard drive to the processor and other system level hardware. The Intel Application Accelerator replaces the Intel(R) Ultra ATA Storage Driver.

The software maker says it plans to start testing Windows XP Service Pack 1 as early as next month, with a final release slated for late summer. The update will introduce support for Mira wireless devices and the Freestyle digital media interface.

TotalIdea has updated their popular TweakXP app to version 1.30. TweakXP brings you all tweaks imaginable. If you want Windows XP to perform at it's best and want to fully influence they way it functions, then this is the app for you. Changes in v1.30 include:

• quick shutdown and restart shortcuts added
• shortcut added to access the Windows XP Shutdown application
• changes to the 'Unnecessary files' and 'Empty folders' features
• changes to the CPU tweaks
• changes to the OEM Info tweak
• fixing a bug with the 'Notify new applications' startmenu tweak
• updated Pop-Up Blocker, and Ad-Blocker
• updated Pop-Up Blocker list
• @home modem tweaks removed as @home went bankrupt
• Greek language files added
• updated language files

Check out our Store where you can get a 10% discount on TweakXP.

Betatesters have received a new version of Internet Explorer 6 SP1. If you decide to download and install this please beware that this is still a beta version.

Install by opening "iesetup.ini" and add "LocalInstall=1" under "Options". Be aware that this is beta software!!

Found this on at Ibelite, who got it from VibrantLogic. I don't know. Somehow I don't think this one is genuine. The presentation doesn't look very good and the screenshots used don't look like they're made by a good interface designer. We'll just have to wait whether this is the real thing.

"It seems that a relatively extensive flash presentation on Microsoft's next revision of Office has been leaked. It details the features and pricing model for Office.NET or Office NGO. Suggesting that consumers can buy office and use its standard features, which look similar to current versions of Office XP or a buy into a contract based model, where they get the software and a 1 year subscription to an online workspace, with options to renew subscriptions or purchase a working copy of Office.

It looks like Microsoft is going to hit the online/centralized office workspace pretty hard. Also it look like Microsoft is going to try to centralize and combining things like multiple email accounts, alerts, and documents. If large corporations buy into this, Microsoft will make a bundle on service fees.

I can't verify the authenticity of this presentation...but see for yourself, either someone at Microsoft wasn't too careful, or someone spent a long time on a fake. It convinced me."

Have a look at the presentation:
[Mirror 1] [Mirror 2] [Mirror 3] [Mirror 4] [Mirror 5]

Our driver section has been updated again. This time with a new ATI Radeon driver and drivers for the Creative Labs Sound Blaster Extigy. The Extigy driver offers:

• PlayCenter 3.01.23
• RemoteCenter 1.40.15
• Recorder 2.00.24
• Mixer 2.01.12

A new beta driver for Turtle Beach' Santa Cruz card have been added to the driverpage. Remeber that this driver is unsigned and not official yet.

Microsoft has released a patch that resolves the "Unchecked buffer in the Multiple UNC Provider" security vulnerability in Windows XP.
The vulnerability results because of a flaw in the Multiple UNC (uniform naming convention) Provider (MUP), which is a network file system resource locator that runs in kernel-mode memory in Windows. Download now to prevent a malicious user from causing your computer to restart or to run unauthorized programs.

Download now to prevent a malicious user from causing your computer to restart or to run unauthorized programs.

Requirements: Windows XP Home/Pro

This update addresses several CD Burning issues that are discussed in Microsoft Knowledge Base (KB) Article Q309691 and Q320174. Download now to prevent problems with CD Burning.

When you copy files or folders to a compact disc-recordable (CD-R) or a compact disc-rewritable (CD-RW) by using a compact disc recorder, you may experience one or more of the following symptoms:

• The disc recording is consistently unsuccessful.
• You cannot read the disc by using Microsoft Windows 95 or Microsoft Windows 98, but you can read the disc in Windows XP.
• You cannot read the disc in an MP3 player, but you can read the disc in Windows XP.
• You are able to read the disc in an MP3 player, but not all of the files on the disc are available. However, all of the files on the disc are available when you read the disc in Windows XP.
• When you add files or folders to a disc that already contains data, some files are lost. This may occur if one or both of the following conditions exist:
  • A file is added to the disc, and the name of the file is the same as the name of a folder that was already on the disk. -or-
  • A folder is added to the disc, and the name of the folder is the same as the name of a file that was already on the disk.

Requirements: Windows XP Home/Pro

This funny list was sent to our friends at Neowin by an anonymous visitor.

I found this at the OEM SYSTEM builder website,it may be nice to post on the site.

WINDOWS INDEX

1. Number of days it took to develop Windows XP: 600 (12/20/99 – 8/24/01)


2. Number of focused team members: 5,736


3. Number of testers per developer: 1.4


4. Number of babies born during the project: 452


5. Number of interns employed: 504


6. Amount of macaroni consumed during 40 “Windows Info Meetings”: 6,000 lbs


7. Number of Frappuccino’s® served: 86,400


8. Dollars raised for Seattle Ronald McDonald House (local charity): $2 million


9. Number of test cases for system restore feature: 1.6 million


10. Number of Direct3D graphics test cases run since Windows XP RC1: 43,114,143


11. Number of applications tested for compatibility: 5,500


12. Number of devices supported out of the box: 12,000


13. Percentage of the most popular PC applications distributed in the last three years that will be compatible with Windows XP: 90%


14. Number of track in the largest Digital Media Library test case: 31,000


15. Length in hours of longest single file captured by Windows Movie Maker: 114


16. Number of languages we are localizing to: 24 fully & 9 partially


17. Number of countries participating in the launch on 10/25: Over 50


18. Number of people attending launch events worldwide: over 580,000 in seats … plus online audiences 5,120 system builders worldwide

Found this at Neowin:
To install IE 6 SP1 build 2800.1005 you must either uninstall your previous tech betas or use a clean machine to install this release of Internet Explorer 6 SP 1.

- 128-bit doesn't appear when mousing over padlock on https site

Mousing over the padlock in the status bar on a https site will not cause the 128-bit message to appear. However 128-bit encryption does still occur although the tool tip is broken.

Check out the drivers section for Adaptec ASPI 4.70 drivers and and new AGP drivers from AMD. In the downloads section I added two great Matrox Utils.

The Application Compatibility Toolkit (ACT) is a collection of useful tools and documents that enable both application developers and IT professionals to resolve application compatibility issues. The ACT can be used on both Windows 2000 and Windows XP.

This is too cute. You can wipe Windows Messenger from XP with a simple hack, and yet MS will defy you with a 'Critical Update'. That's how desperate they are to force this little Trojan on you.

Following a tip from a Messenger-averse reader whose uninstall got thwarted, I looked into it, starting with a clean install of Win-XP. Messenger was, of course, lurking in the background and consuming RAM though I have no use for it. And of course MS doesn't allow you to uninstall it.

But that doesn't make it impossible. NTcompatible.com has a very simple hack which will allow you to use the Windows add/remove feature in Control Panel to get rid of the offending progie.

Try it and read the article

A new release of Microsoft's MSN Internet service will ship this fall, the company revealed this week, but the new release could mean higher prices for customers. Although a Microsoft representative said the MSN 8 feature set will include "significant new value," the representative declined to give specific information about those features. However, Microsoft is considering a higher monthly fee for its users.

MSN currently has about 8 million customers; market-leader AOL has 34 million customers. But MSN has made strong gains in the past year, thanks largely to its lower costs: The monthly fee for MSN Internet access is currently $21.95, compared to AOL's $23.90 monthly fee.

The inevitable MSN price hike isn't the only sign of revenue-enhancing activities at Microsoft's Internet venture in recent days. The company is enforcing its file-storage limits on Hotmail, its free email service, and is dropping Hotmail customers who haven't accessed their email in more than 30 days. Microsoft now offers additional Hotmail storage space for a yearly fee, a possible hint of Microsoft .NET-oriented services to follow.

New IE features (uncheck automatic picture resize and hide some menuoptions) and some bugfixes in this new build. Customizer XP is a Tweak tool to finetune Windows XP with features and settings that are normally hidden deep into the caves of XP.

Found this Wired piece at Ibelite:
Security experts believe Windows Media Player could soon be targeted by malicious virus writers who are now all but shut out of attacking another Microsoft product, Outlook 2002.

The experts say HTML-formatted e-mail containing code identified as a file that Media Player "trusts" can be embedded in an e-mail, which Outlook will then automatically allow the player to execute.

"Bad guys will keep looking for a way into a system. If they think Outlook is harder to get into, they'll try something else like WMP," said Richard Forno, chief technology officer at Shadowlogic, said. "They'll keep turning doorknobs until they can exploit something."

Leadtek has released drivers for both it's WinFast TV2000 and Geforce 3 Titanium 200/500 cards. For the later they released Detonator 27.50.

Unisys and Microsoft plan to launch a marketing campaign Friday that seeks to undermine Unix, the operating system at the heart of powerful server lines from rivals Sun Microsystems, IBM and Hewlett-Packard.
...
The campaign, called "We have the way out," describes Unix as an expensive trap. "No wonder Unix makes you feel boxed in. It ties you to an inflexible system. It requires you to pay for expensive experts. It makes you struggle daily with a server environment that's more complex than ever," one ad reads

Download and experiment with source code for key .NET technologies. The Microsoft Shared Source CLI Implementation is a complete implementation of the ECMA C# and CLI standards in source code form.

The Microsoft Shared Source CLI Implementation is a file archive containing working source code for the ECMA-334 (C#) and ECMA-335 (Common Language Infrastructure, or CLI) standards. These standards together represent a substantial subset of what is available in the Microsoft .NET Framework. In addition to the CLI implementation and the C# compiler, the Shared Source CLI Implementation contains a cornucopia of tools, utilities, additional Framework classes, and samples. It will build and run on the Microsoft Windows XP and the FreeBSD operating systems.

System Requirements
On Windows XP you will need:

• Visual Studio .NET
• Perl 5.6 (available from http://www.perl.org)
• Archiving utility of choice – WinZip or other

You will need FreeBSD 4.5 if you work with the Shared Source CLI on FreeBSD.

Finally some news on the first XP upgrade and the much anticipated DirectX 9. Both products won't be available until 2003.

Windows XP Second Edition
XP SE will incorporate the first necessary technologies and features for Microsofts .NET-Strategy. It will also intriduce DirectX 9 and Internet Explorer 7.

DirectX 9
Microsofts wants DirectX 9 to become the 3D-Standard in 2003. It will offer a colordepth of 40 Bits (100.000.000 colors!!!), Vertex- and Pixel Shader 2 and also some new Special effects. Another new feature will be the use of Displacement Maps, with which realistic bumpmaps can be generated.

The "28 March 2002 Cumulative Patch for Internet Explorer" update eliminates all previously addressed security vulnerabilities affecting Internet Explorer, as well as two new vulnerabilities, and is discussed in Microsoft Security Bulletin MS02-015. Download now to protect your computer from these vulnerabilities, the most serious of which could allow a malicious user to run code on your computer.

This download white paper describes issues and solutions for achieving fast system start up on PC systems running the Microsoft® Windows® XP operating system.

Customer research has shown that one of the most frequently requested features that users want from their PCs is fast system startup, whether from cold boot or when resuming from standby or hibernation. The Windows development team at Microsoft has taken bold steps in making quickly available PCs a reality with the release of the Windows XP operating system.

I just added new drivers for the Elsa Gloria, Gladiac and Synergy cards as for the Voyetra Turtle Beach Santa Cruz.

Due to technical problems with the coupon system that was offered to us we have to temporary cancel the discount on Firegraphic 3.0. The publisher is busy solving this issue. We apologize for any inconvenience.