Mary Jo

From Microsoft Watch: On September 1, Microsoft made available for download to the first set of testers the Vista Release Candidate (RC) 1 (Build 5600) bits. We’re hearing Microsoft is going to broaden the availability beyond the initial set of technical and Technology Adoption Program (TAP) participants to as many as six million testers. (In […]

In a week where pundits have given plenty of virtual ink to the potential impact of Google CEO Eric Schmidt’s joining the Apple Computer board, we have a different hypothetical question to pose. What do you expect Google to do in the hopes of raining on Microsoft’s Vista parade? As of this week, we believe […]

David Morgenstern, over on eWEEK, wonders aloud why Microsoft isn’t taking a page out of the Apple playbook by allowing new PCs to ship with both XP and Vista. When Mac OS X came onto the scene, Apple was shipping Macs with both Mac OS 9.1 and Mac OS X preloaded. Apple continued offering both […]

Some Windows watchers are questioning the math of a business user mentioned in the Microsoft Watch column “Is There a Business Case for Windows Vista?” They note that users will be able to run Vista Enterprise on cheaper, less powerful PCs than the robust and expensive “Vista Premium” PCs that will be on the market. […]

In late July, Microsoft acknowledged it had to recall the Windows Small Business Server R2 code it released earlier that month, due to a build gaffe (sending out the wrong build of the code) on its part. As a result, product delivery was pushed back to September. On August 31, Microsoft officials said they had […]

As testers continue to post their mostly positive and quite detailed impressions about Windows Vista Build 5536 (a k a the “pre-Release-Candidate 1 build that Microsoft began distributing last week), there have been other, later builds (like Vista 5538, which ExtremeTech reviewed recently, as well as 5552 that’s making its way around the Torrents). There […]

On August 30, Microsoft opened up the beta for its Windows Live parental-controls service (formerly code-named “Vegas”), that is now known as Windows Live OneCare Family Safety. (Whew. What a mouthful!) The reason for the cumbersome name? Over time, Family Safety will be integrated into Microsoft’s Windows Live OneCare backup and security service. As a […]

“Thank you for your interest in Windows Vista. The Customer Preview Program is now closed. We have reached our goal of 100,000 downloads for the pre-RC1 release and the program is now closed. Windows Vista RC1 will be available in the coming weeks. Please refer to the Customer Preview Program website for information, including DVD-burning […]

class=”ArticleBody”> Microsoft Watch Code Name Tracker 4.8 and Year-Ahead Planner 4.8 Highlights From Code Name Tracker 4.8 and Year-Ahead Calendar 4.8 Chats and Web Casts to Watch In This IssueMicrosoft Watch Code Name Tracker 4.8 and Year-Ahead Planner 4.8 Here are our monthly installments of our updated list of Microsoft projects and their code names, […]

In late July, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer reported that Microsoft had added 10,000 new employees in fiscal 2006. So what are all those new folks doing, exactly? The Seattle PI does some analysis, based on Microsoft’s annual 10K filing. About 4,000 went to product research and development; 3,000 to sales and marketing; 1,000 to product support […]