Windows 7 Will Support Third-Party Codecs
Microsoft has offered official confirmation that Windows 7 will support third-party codecs, programs designed to make media players play nice with digital data stream or signal when it comes to encoding and decoding tasks.
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5.4.2009 Windows 7: Build 7057 blocks third-party video codecs
Something we love about Windows 7 is that it has much better native codec support, like H.264 and AAC. But the price might be high: It looks like Windows 7 might block third-party video decoders.
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26.3.2009 How to Restore Default Windows XP Theme
So you have installed third party theme on your Windows XP and due to some reasons your theme files are corrupted and you don’t know how to revert back to official Windows XP themes.
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22.10.2009 New Default Theme for Firefox 2
There's a discussion going on in mozilla.dev.apps.firefox about "Changes
to Fx2 Chrome" which is about proposed changes to the main browser
window structure (buttons, layout, functions) that is exposed to users
by default in Firefox 2.
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13.3.2006 Microsoft Details IE 8 Security Default Change
The company will enable DEP/NX (Data Execution Prevention/No Execute) by default in IE 8 when running on Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008.
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11.4.2008 Microsoft Updates the Default Spy Tool in Vista SP1
In order to improve the quality of the software information collected from the users' operating systems and sent to Microsoft, the Redmond company introduced an update to the spy tool included by default into every copy of Windows Vista, following the release of Service Pack 1.
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13.6.2008 Major OEMs to enable DEP/NX in Vista PC BIOSs by default
Activewin reports that Michael Howard mentions on his blog that recently MS had all the major OEMs on campus to discuss SDL (Security Development Lifecycle).
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6.12.2006 Windows Live Hotmail Set for May US Release
Microsoft is preparing to launch Windows Live Hotmail in the United States by next month, although customers in India and Belgium will begin seeing the updates later this week, the company is expected to announce Tuesday.
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17.4.2007 Dell releases first set of Windows 7 Drivers
Windows 7 drivers for Dell products are often sought after and finally, there’s an answer.
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22.8.2009 Windows Server 2008 launch set for February
Confirming what many had expected, Microsoft announced on Tuesday that the next version of its server operating system, Windows Server 2008, won't formally launch until next year.
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10.7.2007 Microsoft Releases a Set of 12 New Windows Wallpapers
What better way to celebrate the gold versions of Windows Vista Service Pack 1 and Windows XP Service Pack 3 than with a set of brand new wallpapers straight from Microsoft?
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20.4.2008 Windows 7 RTM sign off set for July 13
We have some big news regarding the Windows 7 RTM. According to Wzor, the final sign off is set for July 13th. According to a translation
, this is the final roadmap for Windows 7:
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22.6.2009 Windows Vista Beta 2, RC1 and RC2 set to expire
On 31 May 2007, all Customer Preview Program (CPP) pre-release versions of Windows Vista will expire. If you are running a pre-release version of Windows Vista (Beta 2, RC1 or RC2), you will begin to receive warning notifications about the upcoming expiration on 18 May.
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25.4.2007 Microsoft set to launch Windows 7 in New York on October 22
Mary Jo Foley is reporting that Microsoft is planning a Windows 7 launch party on October 22 in New York City.
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27.8.2009 Set and Change Windows 7 Registered Owner & Organization with SetOwner
It may happen that you have bought second hand laptop or computer with preinstalled Windows operating system and you are looking for the way to change ownership information.
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20.11.2009 Microsoft: June 30 Windows XP cut-off set in stone
Microsoft made it official on April 3: There will be no new reprieves for Windows XP (other than on Ultra Low-Cost PCs).
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3.4.2008 Microsoft set to attack Linux with patents?
Is Microsoft getting ready to attack Linux and open-source software with its patents?
Florian Mueller, spokesman for the European NoSoftwarePatents.com and a leading anti-patent activist, thinks that may be the case. Mueller sees a recent Forbes interview with Microsoft's CEO Steve Ballmer as stopping just " short announcing patent litigation against Linux."
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2.4.2006 Microsoft Surface - Set For Commercial Launch
AT&T will become the first company in the world to bring Microsoft Surface to life in a retail environment, giving customers the ability to explore their mobile worlds using touch and device recognition technology.
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2.4.2008 New Xbox 360 set to upscale DVDs
A Circuit City page which lists the new Xbox 360 60GB model states the following.
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21.7.2008 Apple set to release $800 notebook
The Inquisitr is reporting that Apple is getting ready to release its first sub-$1,000 computer - an $800 notebook.
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9.10.2008 Microsoft set to cut 5,000 jobs
Microsoft announced its second quarter results today and as many had predicted there are some job cuts involved.
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23.1.2009 AMD Set to Adopt New Interconnect Architecture, DDR3
The world's second largest maker of x86 microprocessors, Advanced Micro Devices, disclosed plans to introduce enhanced multi-core processors that support built-in DDR3 memory controller as well as to present platform initiatives that allow more than 8 physical chips to be installed into a single system.
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28.11.2005 Microsoft and Linux set to win smartphone war
Year-to-year growth in the smartphone market in 2005 exceeded 70 per cent and will continue to grow "robustly" for the next several years, with Linux and Microsoft emerging as the dominant platforms, In-Stat predicted today.
However, the analyst firm warned that the risk remains of consumers perceiving these devices as just very expensive feature phones.
In-Stat noted that a major problem affecting the appeal of smartphones is that many users do not download applications that make them more useful after they leave the store.
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28.1.2006 Sources: Microsoft to set up MSN center in China
Software giant Microsoft is setting up a research-and-development center in Shanghai for its online MSN service, its first such center outside the United States, sources familiar with the plan said on Wednesday.
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1.2.2007 Browser Wars 2006 - Microsoft set to continue dominance
With all this talk of web-based apps, it's easy to forget there's still a battle going on for the browser platform - upon which most of the 'Web 2.0' apps run. Firefox will be releasing its 1.5 version later this week, accompanied by a marketing campaign to convince users of other browsers to switch. Also a new PCWorld article gives us a glimpse of the next version of Microsoft's market-leading browser, Internet Explorer 7.0. IE7 won't be released to the general public until early next year, so PCWorld's tests are all we have to go on for now. They compared Internet Explorer 7 Beta 1, Firefox 1.5 Release Candidate 1, and Opera 9 Preview 1.
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29.11.2005 Memory Prices Set to Hit the Bottom in the 2H '07
After tumbling for more than four consecutive months, prices on dynamic random access memory (DRAM) may sustain rapid decrease in the coming months, causing memory chip makers to continue losing money.
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26.4.2007 Vista Pre-Release Time Bomb Set To Explode
As
report Steve Jobs on his blog: On May 31, 2007, pre-release versions of Windows Vista (Beta 2, RC1, or RC2) will expire. If you are running a pre-release version of Windows Vista you are in trouble.
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31.5.2007 Microsoft third-party licensing and activation server set to RTM
In July, Microsoft announced its intentions to deliver a number of licensing technologies to third-party vendors interesting in deploying Microsoft-like activation and licensing in their products.
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3.9.2007 Intel Set to Postpone Introduction of New Quad-Core Microprocessors
Intel Corp. may postpone the actual release of its quad-core microprocessors produced using 45nm process technology due to an undisclosed defect and the fact that both Intel and its partners have a lot of central processing units (CPUs) with four processing engines made using 65nm tech in stock. It is unclear whether the delay will affect the world’s largest x86 chipmaker financially.
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20.12.2007 Intel Core 2 Duo E7000 Set For A Q2 Launch
Intel is apparently set to begin transition the Core 2 Duo E4000 series with the new E700 series, which is based on the 45 nm Wolfdale core. According to reports, the company will launch the E7200 model with a clock speed of 2.53 GHz in Q2 of this year.
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11.1.2008Windows 7: Build 7057 blocks third-party video codecs
The latest beta of Windows 7 blocks the usage of third party video decoders from Windows Media Player and MCE. Albain, a DirectShow (ffdshow)
developer explains in his own words what he encountered when he was testing the multimedia pipeline of Windows 7 in the latest build 7057.
"Microsoft has locked mpeg4 and h264 codecs into Media Foundation, the replacer of DirectShow (even if directshow is still supported).There is no way
to override those codecs, even if you develop a Media Foundation version of your decoder, because Microsoft maintains a list of preferred codecs
(their codecs) into the registry (HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT and HKLM \MediaFoundation\Transforms\Preferred), and this registry key cannot be
modified, even in admin mode.
Read full story.....
neowin.net -
27.03.2009TiVo software supports more codecs
TiVo has slowly been expanding the scope of its service to include content the Internet has to offer. Today, the company announced an update to its
Desktop Plus software that supports common "Web video" codecs...
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19.03.2008Windows Imaging Component Code Samples and Tools
This download includes sample code that demonstrates how to use the WIC APIs to create WIC-compliant CODECs and WIC-enabled applications. With this
information, ISVs will be able create CODECs that are registered in Windows and will be automatically recognized by WIC-enabled applications. This
download includes both the source code and compiled binaries for the included samples. Both x86 & x64 version of the binaries are included.
The samples included in this download are:
- WICExplorer “ An application which utilizes the WIC API to load still
images and read their metadata.
- AITCODEC “ A custom CODEC that demonstrates how to create a WIC-compliant CODEC. This sample
includes documentation on the custom AITCODEC.
- WICGrinder “ An application used to test WIC-compliant CODECs. This sample
includes documentation on using WICGrinder to customize tests.
winbeta.org -
27.11.2007MobiTV Announces Microsoft
Deal
MobiTV said Tuesday that it
had partnered with Microsoft
to bring its service to
Windows Mobile based devices,
as well as Windows XP
computers. The company will
use Microsoft's digital
rights management and codecs
along with Windows Media
Player to deliver its content...
betanews.com -
05.04.2006Improved Windows interoperability in Ubuntu
A proposal has been created by Scott Richie, an Ubuntu MOTU, that Wine be included in the Main repository of Ubuntu. This does not mean the Wine would
be installed by default but instead that, on clicking an executable file, the user would be prompted if they want to install Wine. An automatic
install would follow, similar to what is already done for codecs in Ubuntu. The proposal comes after realising that only 37% of Ubuntu users had
installed Wine with only a third of these using it according to PopCon. Having previously been too unstable in its beta versions, Scott Richie
believes Wine is now mature enough for inclusion in the distribution.
Read full story.....
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15.12.2008Windows with C++: Windows Imaging Component Basics
The Microsoft Windows Imaging Component (WIC) is an extensible framework for encoding, decoding, and manipulating images. WIC supports different image
formats using an extensible set of imaging codecs. Each codec supports a different image format and typically provides both an encoder and decoder.
In the
April 2008 issue of
MSDN Magazine,
Kenny Kerr shows you how to use WIC to
encode and decode different image formats and a few things in between.
To learn more about Windows development with C++, check out the previous installments of
Widnows with C++ as well as other related articles in the
MSDN Magazine archives.
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21.04.2008New Windows Server 2008 Certification Information
Jeremy Palmer: We've just added a new set of pages on Microsoft.com to help you understand the new certification programme for Windows Server
2008.
·
Introducing WS2008
certifications ·
WS2003 to WS008
transition path ·
Frequently asked
questions And an old, but useful link - if you register for the
"First to Know" Windows Server 2008 Offer, you can save
up to 40% on select Windows Server 2008 Exams. Full terms and conditions can be found on the offer page.
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18.01.2008Microsoft explains bundled ChoiceGuard plugin
Users who installed the most recent wave 3 betas may have noticed an additional plugin included in Mozilla Firefox or Internet Explorer called
ChoiceGuard. In a
posting on the Windows
Live Wire last week, Hua Ai and Mikko Ollila from the Live Search team explain exactly what this plugin actually is.
"Microsoft
ChoiceGuard is a lightweight software component that enables the choices you make, like what you want to set as your default home page and search
provider, during the Windows Live Beta installation process," their post explains.
The duo says they created ChoiceGuard because it was
their only way to accomplish the task that the installer needed, due to technical requirements in Firefox and third party software blocking registry
keys in Internet Explorer. ChoiceGuard is only installed if you select to set your search or homepage default within the wave 3 installer. In both
cases, the settings made by ChoiceGuard can be overwritten by the user anytime they choose, or if another program changes it again for them.
Once Firefox is run with ChoiceGuard active, the plugin will set the defaults requested by the installer, then deactivate and set to uninstall, so
the user will not see the plugin the next time Firefox is run.
Read full story.....
neowin.net -
01.10.2008Windows Imaging Component RC1
Thanks CoolCatBad for posting
this in
Back
Page News on our
forums.
The Windows
Imaging Component supports
discovery of new and
proprietary (e.g., Raw) image
formats. Any application that
uses WIC can take advantage of
new image formats as soon as
their CODECs
(encoder/decoders) are
installed on the computer. WIC
includes updated CODECs for
JPEG, TIFF, GIF, PNG, & BMP
that are more secure than
previously released CODECs for
these formats, and also
supports a new
high-performance image format
called Windows Media Photo.
Additionally, WIC provides
metadata readers and writers
for common image metadata
formats, and enables
applications to preserve their
own metadata inside image
files so they don't need to
create "sidecar files".
neowin.net -
05.10.2006Microsoft Office 2010 top new features
Microsoft introduced a public beta of Office 2010 today. Neowin has taken a look at Office 2010 and we have pulled out our favourite new features.
Check them out below. Embed, edit and manage videos within PowerPoint 2010 PowerPoint 2010 now allows you to easily insert local videos and web
videos. New features include video trim which allows you to cut down your video without a third party application. With video tools you can apply
fades, set video effects and styles and also set a preview image for your video. PowerPoint will also compress your media for improved playback in
presentations. Supported formats include:AVIWMVWMAMP3MOVH.264 DirectShow codecs can also be installed to extend codec support.
Read full story.....
neowin.net -
18.11.2009Microsoft's IE 7 Ignores
Windows Setting
Microsoft is defending its
decision to turn on its
ClearType font rendering
technology in
Internet
Explorer 7 even if users
have switched it off
system-wide.
ClearType, which debuted
with Windows XP, is designed
to make text more readable on
LCD screens. By default, it's
disabled in Windows, but
Microsoft's IE 7 team has
decided to enable it for the
browser, even if the user has
not turned on the feature
Windows-wide.
ClearType can be disabled in
IE 7 Beta 2 Preview via the
Tools/Internet
Options/Advanced dialog. To
turn ClearType off, uncheck
the box "Use ClearType"
under the Multimedia section.
Unlike Windows XP, the
upcoming Windows Vista will
enable ClearType by default...
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07.03.2006Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack 2008 Released
Chris Flores: Today marks the release of the
Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack (MDOP) 2008 - a set of tools for
IT Pros managing IT environments for companies who have purchased MDOP plus Windows
Software Assurance agreements with Microsoft. There are two key product updates in
this release I'd like to highlight that I think IT Pros will find very useful - Diagnostics and Recovery Toolset 6.0 (DaRT) and Desktop Error
Monitoring 3.0 SP1 (DEM).
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01.04.2008Windows 7 to support DivX natively
One of the new features announced at the recent Windows 7 Reviewers Workshop in LA is that Windows 7 will natively support a number of popular media
formats, so that users don't have to worry about finding, installing and downloading third-party codecs. This is an evolution in media support
which is similar to the inclusion of native MPEG-2 playback in Windows Vista, providing the DVD playback functionality which was missing in Windows
XP. News source: Source
Read full story.....
neowin.net -
04.01.2009Microsoft and Nikon ink deal around digital, perhaps wireless, cameras
After teaming up on Windows Vista, HD Photo, codecs, and wireless technologies over the past few years, Microsoft and Nikon last night unveiled a
cross-licensing deal involving digital cameras and still unnamed additional products...
betanews.com -
29.08.2008How the default Windows 7 wallpaper evolved
Gizmodo tracked down Chuck Anderson, the creator of Windows 7's box art, default wallpaper and login screen. In an exclusive overview of the
evolution of the Windows 7 wallpaper and login screen, the gadget lovers managed to secure some rare development shots of how Microsoft came to the
wallpaper that is now used worldwide. Chuck Anderson is a 20 something digital media artist living in the US. Both the login screen and wallpapers
took approximately four months, start to finish according to Gizmodo. They were achieved by a mix of pen and paper, wacom tablet and Photoshop.
Read full story.....
neowin.net -
06.11.2009VIA and QSound Labs, Inc. Bring Superior Sound Systems to Windows Vista
VIA Technologies, Inc., a leading innovator of high performance audio silicon, and QSound Labs, Inc., a leading technology developer of audio and
voice software solutions, today announced the delivery of a superior sound system for Windows Vista based multimedia, personal and laptop computers.
QSound's QHD technology is now available on VIA Vinyl High Definition Audio codecs and controllers.
VIA's advanced codecs and
controllers combined with QSound's QHD technology enable consumers to experience high definition audio the way it should be heard with content like
movies, music, games and even TV programs. Powered by VIA Vinyl Audio hardware, QSound QHD combines several audio technologies to deliver a top
quality audio experience while still addressing the unique demands of multi-format audio playback typical of a multimedia-rich device such as a PC.
Small speakers found in today's computers will now sound significantly larger and richer with a more natural intensity regardless of the source of
the content.
"VIA delivers a broad range of world class PC silicon solutions for the international PC and multimedia computer
market and our combined technologies provide the consumer with an unmatched audio quality experience," said David Gallagher President and Chief
Executive Officer of QSound Labs Inc. "We are very pleased to be enhancing the Vista audio experience by working closely with a strong Windows
partner like VIA."..
winbeta.org -
26.09.2007Windows '7' and Windows Mobile Confusion...
Jason Langridge: There have been quite a few blogs that picked up on Hilton Lockes
post on Windows 7s new features.
This post has started lots of discussions on touch functionality and some confusion between
Windows 7 and our mobile software platform
Windows Mobile.
Windows 7 is the name of the
next PC operating system in development by Microsoft, set to follow Windows Vista.
Despite the confusion - the large number of
posts following Hilton's blog post does reinforce the keen interest in the
future of touch screen
devices though!
winbeta.org -
15.12.2007DivX to be Added to PlayStation 3
DivX said Tuesday that its codecs will be added to Sony's PlayStation 3, allowing the device to play back videos in the format...
betanews.com -
13.11.2007IE8 development: Microsoft should learn from Apple, Mozilla
Internet Explorer 8 is set to be Microsoft's most standards compliant browser ever. After
originally stating that IE8 would default to the same noncompliant
behavior exhibited by IE7, Microsoft
relented and plumped for
standard-by-default.
The first beta of IE8 was released in March and it
did indeed default to standards compliance. Web developers have been
clamouring for standards compliance for a long time; IE is a long way behind the competition, requiring considerable hacks and workarounds to get
pages working properly. IE8 should make things a lot better—but it will still fall far short of the standards set by Firefox, Safari, and Opera.
Some of these problems are technical, but others are cultural. Where the other browser developers are open and communicative, Microsoft is still
leaving web developers in the dark.
winbeta.org -
16.06.2008Turn Windows 7 into a Wi-Fi hotspot
If you have ever wanted to turn your laptop is a Wi-Fi hotspot, a secret feature has been revealed in Windows 7 code that allows you to tether your
cell phone or other wireless device to your laptop. The unfinished feature was hidden by default because of incompatibility with many of the devices
and drivers. The feature can be enabled through some simple command line scripts and a feature clicks of the mouse. Open up the Run command with
Administrative permissions and run: netsh wlan set hostednetwork mode=allow ssid=Hotspot key=passwordhere Set the network adapter with: netsh wlan
start hostednetwork After running the command, you should notice "Microsoft Virtual WiFi Miniport Adapter" appear in your network and sharing
settings.
Read full story.....
neowin.net -
17.11.2009
