REDMOND, Wash. — Feb. 9, 2009 — Microsoft Corp. today announced that some business customers around the world have saved on average $470,000 (U.S.) per year through IT projects using Microsoft virtualization software. Microsoft’s business customers have been able to use virtualization to help reduce operations and capital expenses via reduced electrical power consumption and cooling within datacenters, reduced hardware acquisition costs, automation of desktop and server management, and centralized application deployment.
The cost of running IT systems has increased as electrical power, cooling and physical space has become constrained. In his 2008 refereed journal article, “Worldwide electricity used in data centers,”Jonathan Koomey, Ph.D., of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and Stanford University concluded that total datacenter power was about 1.5 percent of all U.S. electricity use in 2005, with 80 percent of that amount going toward powering and cooling servers.
A separate report, by Gartner Inc., stated that “the effective use of virtualization can reduce server energy consumption by up to 82 percent and floor space by 85 percent” (Gartner: “Energy Savings via Virtualization: Green IT on a Budget”; Nov. 12, 2008).
“Businesses are looking to reduce and manage computing costs in datacenters and across server and client computing devices,” said David Greschler, director of integrated virtualization at Microsoft. “Virtualization software allows businesses to pool computing resources to drive down IT costs, increase IT efficiency and be more responsive to business needs. Customers are getting a better bang for their buck with the Microsoft platform and virtualization solutions because virtualization is in both the operating system and in the holistic management tools. Customers can manage IT services and a broad set of applications across the datacenter and desktops. There is less of a learning curve for customers, and it eases interoperability with existing systems.”
Window 7?
Great strides to continue the development of Windows 7, the future successor to the controversial views, even from the viewpoint of marketing and development of minor points compared to the mere functioning of the operating system. According to the latest rumors, confirmed unofficially by Microsoft, the seventh version of OS with icons made in Redmond will continue the road taken by his predecessor and will be offered in different versions, six, to be precise. The entry level should consist of Windows 7 Starter, designed specifically for Netbook and characterized by the ability to run more than three applications simultaneously, as well as improve access network reduced and limited to the local environment.
The Home Basic version should follow in the footsteps of the Vista Media Center, with the possibility of shared access to the Internet and to witness a gradual shift of the PC to the concept of entertainment appliance to use. With Windows 7 Home Premium will have full access to all features of the new operating system, including the Aero interface support, while the Professional version appears directed towards the use hobby, thanks to the many features of network management in domain and support of protocols for data encryption.
At the top of the range will have Windows 7 Enterprise and Ultimate, with even more advanced features of Professional, especially in respect of large networks and based on Windows 2008 Server, in addition to the presence of systems of data protection for devices storage of internal and external to the PC through the BitLocker technology. At this time, despite the ridda of information available, has not been provided certain information on a possible release date of the new Microsoft operating system or any possible hint to those who should be the prices of individual versions.
Windos Vista VS windows XP
Its market share for new facilities has decreased to 10%, but still holds firmly the primacy of the installation, with over 66% of machines that use them. E 'Windows XP, Vista's predecessor longevo still much like the same way the operating system that has just not able to enter through and PC users. Precisely for this reason his family who uses the computer, XP is the subject of initiatives such as Dell, which offers an alternative to Vista, but with a premium of $ 150, the American industrial company is the same as up five months ago to push XP at any cost and trying to boycott the new OS made in Redmond. But also the wonderful story of the release of operating system longest history of Microsoft is bound to end up, despite the already postponed twice, and will take place July 31 2009. As the largest software house of the planet is trying to support the use of Vista that is slowly increasing its share, XP might also be the first to not relinquish against the successor to the installed base. If the new Windows 7 to be released during 2009 as to some indiscretions, Vista may not have enough time for XP beyond the number of PCs installed worldwide. Many companies, however, would have at the moment decided to postpone the migration to Vista, the VI version of the Windows operating system to the company of Bill Gates, whose success is not the Almighty, would have convinced the leaders of the Californian home to anticipate the release of Seven. Windows XP is dead? Long live Windows XP
WINDOWS 7
The new approach to User Account Control (UAC) could receive unpleasant surprises for the future users of Windows 7. A reveal is the expert in information technology that Long Zheng, in collaboration with Rafael Rivera, has demonstrated that the protection program of the new Microsoft operating system can be disabled easily, exposing the devices to many security risks.
Criticized for the insistence of the proposed warning messages to users, UAC has become one of the least appreciated by the majority of owners of Windows Vista. The User Account Control, it sends an alert to any change that affects the operating system implemented by the user, by a third-party applications and the same OS. To make it less intrusive UAC in the new Windows 7, the Redmond developers have thus thought of introducing some changes in the security system, making it more customizable.
The default setting of UAC on the new operating system provides the setting "Notify me when programs try to make changes to my computer" and "Do not warn when the input changes to the settings of Windows." The new configuration allows the user to be alerted when a third-party program makes changes to your system and not receive, instead, a warning when the user to make changes in Windows. Through the use of certain certificates, the operating system is able to distinguish the native applications from third-party programs. The applications of the Control Panel have a certificate and therefore do not cause the appearance of User Account Control.
Microsoft has taken two parallel routes in its operating systems. One route has been for the home user and the other has been for the professional IT user. The dual routes have generally led to home versions having greater multimediasupport and less functionality in networking and security, and professional versions having inferior multimedia support and better networking and security.
The first version of Microsoft Windows, version 1.0, released in November 1985, lacked a degree of functionality and achieved little popularity, and was to compete with Apple’s own operating system. Windows 1.0 is not a complete operating system; rather, it extends MS-DOS. Microsoft Windows version 2.0 was released in November, 1987 and was slightly more popular than its predecessor. Windows 2.03 (release date January 1988) had changed the OS from tiled windows to overlapping windows. The result of this change led to Apple Computer filing a suit against Microsoft alleging infringement on Apple's copyrights.
Microsoft Windows version 3.0, released in 1990, was the first Microsoft Windows version to achieve broad commercial success, selling 2 million copies in the first six months. It featured improvements to the user interface and to multitasking capabilities. It received a facelift in Windows 3.1, made generally available on March 1, 1992. Windows 3.1 support ended on December 31, 2001.
In July 1993, Microsoft released Windows NTbased on a new kernel. NT was considered to be the professional OS and was the first Windows version to utilize preemptive multitasking. Windows NT would later be retooled to also function as a home operating system, with Windows XP.
On August 24, 1995, Microsoft released Windows 95, a new, and major, consumer version that made further changes to the user interface, and also used preemptive multitasking. Windows 95 was designed to replace not only Windows 3.1, but also Windows for Workgroups, and MS-DOS. It was also the first Windows operating system to use Plug and Play capabilities. The changes Windows 95 brought to the desktop were revolutionary, as opposed to evolutionary, such as those in Windows 98 and Windows Me. Mainstream support for Windows 95ended on December 31, 2000 and extended support for Windows 95ended on December 31, 2001.
The next in the consumer line was Microsoft Windows 98released on June 25, 1998. It was substantially criticized for its slowness and for its unreliability compared with Windows 95, but many of its basic problems were later rectified with the release of Windows 98Second Edition in 1999.[citation needed] Mainstream support for Windows 98ended on June 30, 2002 and extended support for Windows 98ended on July 11, 2006.
As part of its "professional" line, Microsoft released Windows 2000in February 2000. The consumer version following Windows 98 was Windows Me(Windows Millennium Edition). Released in September 2000, Windows Meimplemented a number of new technologies for Microsoft: most notably publicized was "Universal Plug and Play."
In October 2001, Microsoft released Windows XP, a version built on the Windows NT kernelthat also retained the consumer-oriented usability of Windows 95 and its successors. This new version was widely praised in computer magazines. It shipped in two distinct editions, "Home" and "Professional", the former lacking many of the superior security and networking features of the Professional edition. Additionally, the first "Media Center" edition was released in 2002, with an emphasis on support for DVD and TV functionality including program recording and a remote control. Mainstream support for Windows XPwill continue until April 14, 2009 and extended support will continue until April 8, 2014.
In April 2003, Windows Server 2003was introduced, replacing the Windows 2000line of server products with a number of new features and a strong focus on security; this was followed in December 2005 by Windows Server 2003 R2.
Security has been a hot topic with Windows for many years, and even Microsoft itself has been the victim of security breaches. Consumer versions of Windows were originally designed for ease-of-use on a single-user PC without a network connection, and did not have security features built in from the outset. Windows NTand its successors are designed for security (including on a network) and multi-user PCs, but are not designed with Internet security in mind as much since, when it was first developed in the early 1990s, Internet use was less prevalent. These design issues combined with flawed code (such as buffer overflows) and the popularity of Windows means that it is a frequent target of computer wormand viruswriters. In June 2005, Bruce Schneier’s Counterpane Internet Security reported that it had seen over 1,000 new viruses and worms in the previous six months.
Microsoft releases security patches through its Windows Update service approximately once a month (usually the second Tuesday of the month), although critical updates are made available at shorter intervals when necessary. In Windows 2000 (SP3 and later), Windows XP and Windows Server 2003, updates can be automatically downloaded and installed if the user selects to do so. As a result, Service Pack 2 for Windows XP, as well as Service Pack 1 for Windows Server 2003, were installed by users more quickly than it otherwise might have been.
Windows Defender
On January 6, 2005, Microsoft released a beta version of Microsoft AntiSpyware, based upon the previously released GiantAntiSpyware. On February 14, 2006, Microsoft AntiSpyware became Windows Defenderwith the release of beta 2. Windows Defender is a freeware program designed to protect against spyware and other unwanted software. Windows XPand Windows Server 2003users who have genuinecopies of Microsoft Windows can freely download the program from Microsoft's web site, and Windows Defender ships as part of Windows Vista.
Third-party analysis
In an article based on a report by Symantec, internetnews.com has described Microsoft Windows as having the "fewest number of patches and the shortest average patch development time of the five operating systems it monitored in the last six months of 2006." And the number of vulnerabilities found in Windows has significantly increased— Windows: 12+, Red Hat + Fedora: 2, Mac OS X: 1, HP-UX: 2, Solaris: 1.
A study conducted by Kevin Mitnickand marketing communications firm Avantgarde in 2004 found that an unprotected and unpatched Windows XP system with Service Pack 1 lasted only 4 minutes on the Internet before it was compromised, and an unprotected and also unpatched Windows Server 2003system was compromised after being connected to the internet for 8 hours. However, it is important to note that this study does not apply to Windows XP systems running the Service Pack 2 update (released in late 2004), which vastly improved the security of Windows XP. The computer that was running Windows XP Service Pack 2 was not compromised. The AOLNational Cyber Security Alliance Online Safety Study of October 2004 determined that 80% of Windows users were infected by at least one spyware/adwareproduct. Much documentation is available describing how to increase the security of Microsoft Windows products. Typical suggestions include deploying Microsoft Windows behind a hardware or software firewall, running anti-virusand anti-spywaresoftware, and installing patches as they become available through Windows Update.
