•   microsoft.com/presspass
•   jcxp.net
•   betanews.com
•   neowin.net
•   winbeta.org
•   msdn.microsoft.com
•   windowsxp / expertzone
•   ms.com/windowsvista

• Windows 7 Wallpapers
• Vista Wallpapers
• Windows Wallpapers

Five editions of Windows XP compared

 This style can be found in the Windows Embedded Standard CTP Refresh. It's called "Embedded" and, along with the wallpaper, gets copied into the image if the Windows XP UI component is added. As it's digitally signed it works with any XP/Server 2003 install. The archive I uploaded below contains the Embedded folder and the Embedded.theme to be copied to %systemroot%resourcesthemes and the wallpaper in its original format and size.




winbeta.org - 09.10.2008

Windows XP SP3 available for Windows Embedded for Point of Service and WinFLP

This download is a Service Pack 3 (SP3) update for Windows Embedded for Point of Service (WEPOS) and Windows Fundamentals for Legacy PCs (WinFLP). This SP3 update includes all previously released Windows XP security updates, hotfixes, and select out-of-band releases that are applicable to systems running the WEPOS and WinFLP operating systems.




winbeta.org - 08.10.2008

Microsoft Clarifies XP SP 3 Flash Issue

Amid concerns that users of its Window XP Service Pack 3 operating system may be vulnerable to online attacks, Microsoft has finally broken its silence and explained which XP users need to upgrade their Adobe Flash Player software.



The confusion started Monday, when handlers at the Internet Storm Center pointed out that Microsoft had quietly noted that the recent XP SP 3 was vulnerable to five Flash bugs patched in November 2006. Some took this to mean that if an XP system was updated to Service Pack 3, it would somehow wind up with an older, buggy, version of the Flash Player.



Microsoft originally declined to comment on the matter, but on Tuesday it reconsidered and said that this is not the case.




winbeta.org - 04.06.2008

New Windows Embedded Public CTP Downloads Available

Shayna: Even though it's summer vacation time around here for many, our product team has been hard at work on preparing a refresh of the Windows Embedded Standard Community Technology Preview (CTP) for all of our dedicated testers out there!  As of a few hours ago, this new download is now available on the Windows Embedded Standard Connect page: https://connect.microsoft.com/windowsembedded. The CTP Refresh includes an improved setup experience and migration support from previous versions of Windows XP Embedded. Additionally, it now includes .NET 3.5, additional device drivers, System Center Configuration Manager (SCCM) Client Prereq Macro, and various other updates based on direct customer feedback.



Today we also posted a CTP of Service Pack 3 (SP3) for Windows XP Embedded. This is a rollup of hot fixes and security updates Microsoft has released since the RTM of Service Pack 2. SP3 also includes select out-of-band features and enhancements. SP3 provides a new baseline for customers deploying Windows XP Embedded.




winbeta.org - 13.08.2008

Windows Embedded road map may bypass Vista

The planned successor to the embedded version of Windows XP, due from Microsoft Corp. two years from now, may bypass Windows Vista and instead be based on the oft-maligned operating system's own successor, which is codenamed Windows 7.



Microsoft had indicated last fall that the replacement for Windows XP Embedded would use Vista as its core operating system. But in an interview last week, Ilya Bukshteyn, director of marketing for the Windows Embedded product line, said there is a good chance that the next embedded OS codenamed Quebec will instead be engineered around Windows 7.



"To date, we are certainly working with Vista," Bukshteyn said. But, he added, "if there is an opportunity to get newer technologies in faster, and the customers want it, we may skip Vista."




winbeta.org - 15.04.2008

Windows Embedded 'Quebec' due in 2010

Although it hasn't said much about its plans for a Vista-based successor to its Windows XP-based embedded operating system, Microsoft already is working on one.



Microsoft released during the first week of June a new test build of its latest Windows XP-based embedded operating system, known as “Windows Embedded Standard 2009,” the final version of which is slated to ship by the end of 2008.



However, Microsoft also is readying the 2010 successor to this product another Windows Embedded release codenamed “Quebec.” Unlike the 2009 release of Windows Embedded, the Quebec product will make use of a number of features that are part of Windows Vista.




winbeta.org - 06.06.2008

Windows 7 will be lean, faster, and even embedded

Just two weeks after releasing Windows Embedded Standard 2009 based on Windows XP, Microsoft said Tuesday that the next version -- code-named "Quebec" -- will be built atop the Windows 7 code base...
betanews.com - 29.10.2008

Wanted: New information on XP SP3

If Microsoft officials don't want you to know about Vista Service Pack (SP) 1, you can be darn well sure they really don't want to talk about Windows XP Service Pack (SP) 3. But customers definitely want to discuss it.

XP users who still aren’t crazy about the idea of moving to Vista are quite interested in the status of the long-promised update to Windows XP. (Microsoft released the most recent XP update, XP SP2, way back in the summer of 2004.) I get queries from readers weekly about when XP SP3 will hit and what it will likely include.

There was a flap earlier this year regarding Microsoft possibly changing the due date for XP SP3. Microsoft officials have been saying for the past few months that the company would not provide the final XP SP3 until some time in the first half of 2008. In late May, however, there was a mention in a Microsoft press release that XP SP3 would ship "some time later this year." Microsoft's official response was that the 2007 date was a typo. (Yeah, tha t "typo" defense again.)


winbeta.org - 19.07.2007

Microsoft offers treats to Linux hackers

Microsoft's Windows Embedded team is offering "the biggest selection of apps outside of Moscone Center," in connection with next week's LinuxWorld conference in San Francisco. The "apps," in this case, are appetizers, plus free beer and wine.



In addition to free food and drink, the company promises that "Windows Embedded executives Mike Hall and Dan Javnozon will be in attendance along with Windows Embedded MVPs, to mingle and discuss any questions you may have about Windows Embedded operating systems, including Windows XP Embedded, Windows Embedded for Point of Service, and Windows Embedded CE 6.0." Of course, they're also hoping for some tough questions from the LinuxDevices crowd -- so don't let them down!



The event will take place on Wednesday, August 8, from 6 to 8 PM, at the Microsoft-themed "Connection Cantina" at Jillians, in the Metreon across from Moscone Center.




winbeta.org - 02.08.2007

Using Windows XPe to create a home media server

Windows Media Player 11 now features the Home Media Ecosystem (HME), which lets a Windows-based system serve streaming media to client devices. One great way to deploy an HME server is via a Windows XP Embedded (XPe) image, according to a new article by Microsoft's Alex Gimenez.

"XPe's Windows XP Embedded Update Rollup 1.0 makes it fairly easy to configure and use HME on Windows Embedded systems," writes the Windows XP Embedded (XPe) team developer on the XPe team blog. "This turns Windows Media Player into the core of a set-top-box system."

To build an image with HME, Gimenez writes, developers simply create an XPe image that includes the Windows Media Player 11 and the Winlogon components. All other dependencies will be brought in upon dependency resolution, including the new Windows Media Format Runtime 11 component.


winbeta.org - 11.07.2007

Microsoft promises SP 'milestone' for Visual Studio 2008

First, it was Windows XP SP1. Then Windows Vista SP1. Now its the Visual Studio and .NET Framework 3.5 SP1, due by the end of summer. The connection? Microsoft's service packs keep growing in importance as a means of updating key products between official releases.



Promoting the first SP for Visual Studio 2008 and .NET Framework 3.5, officially launched just six months ago, Microsoft has said SP1 - like its predecessors - is no ordinary SP.




winbeta.org - 02.08.2008

Hypervisors in Embedded Systems

Mike Glass: I attended Embedded World in Nurnberg last week. The number one application I saw over and over again was embedded devices based on multi-core processors. If you think of Microsofts entire range of embedded operating systems “ Micro-framework at the low end, Windows CE (the only real-time OS (RTOS)), and Windows XP; I expect multi-core processors to target systems built for Windows XP Embedded (XPe) first. This is because the cost of a multi-core processor is higher than a single-core and at least for now more likely in systems that can absorb the roughly $55 cost of an XPe client. But the interesting twist is that the value of multiple cores is that you can run an RTOS in one or more cores and run XPe in other cores. XPe would be used to run Windows applications “ say some kind of Human Machine interface (HMI), where the RTOS would run a factory control application that requires a guarantee of a processors time slice at some frequency that only Windows CE could deliver (or RTOS competitors like WindRivers VxWorks or a custom Linux solution).




winbeta.org - 04.03.2008

Running XP Embedded on Asus's Eee mini-laptop

he Asus Eee mini-laptop doesn't just run Linux; it can also run Microsoft's Windows XP Embedded (XPe). An interesting new post on the Embedded Windows team's blog tells how to create a USB-based boot disk that lets the Eee boot a custom-tailored XPe installation whenever desired.



Asus's two-pound Eee mini-laptop first shipped last November, running Linux via a 4GB SSD (solid-state disk). It's now available with Windows XP as well, still running from the SSD. In addition, an upgraded version with a nine-inch screen, the Eee PC 900 , will ship with XP this summer.




winbeta.org - 08.04.2008

Windows CE and the Future of Embedded Devices

Want to build your own Windows XP Embedded Kernel? Want to know the ridiculous amount of embedded devices that are expected to sell in 2010? Satisfy your curiosity! Here’s a short video of Channel 8’s Christian Liensberger interviewing Olivier Bloch (from Microsoft France’s Embedded Devices group) at the TechEd's "Ask The Experts". Olivier talks a bit about what they’ve been working on for the last ten years and shows a few very small devices that are capable of, and are, running Windows CE. He also talks about how students and hobbyists will be able to get involved without having to worry about major costs (free SDK but the image will be time-bombed). If you’d like all the juicy details on the future of Embedded Devices and Windows CE tools, you’ll have to wait until next week for the Microsoft announcement! For now, you'll have to be satisfied with this 10 minute video, which just so happens to be packed with juicy details.


Read full story.....
neowin.net - 25.12.2007

Might XP SP3 ship in 2007, after all?

Microsoft’s party line for the past few months has been that it wasn’t going to get Windows XP Service Pack (SP) 3 out the door until some time in the first half of 2008.

But this week, Microsoft hinted that XP SP3 might actually ship this year.

It could be a simple typo in a press release. But then, again, maybe it’s not and it’s part of the Windows client team’s mission to under-promise and over-deliver. While the element of surprise is nice, corporate customers tell me having a real timetable for planning purposes would be much nicer...
winbeta.org - 23.05.2007