In an effort to try and find some more information on Windows Live Events and Calendar, I looked through the Spaces help file, to see if that’s been updated with the information soon to hit the press… when I found this.

I personally think it’s a typo, and that Windows Update will not become Windows Live Update. I ran this by one of the guys at LiveSide to see what they thought - they thought pretty much the same as me. Could be something, most likely not. For a start, Windows Update is a computer based service, although runs as an online service. Now that Windows Vista has been released, the website version of Windows Update has now been ported to a Control Panel application, so it’s very doubtful that this is anything in-particular.

But just thought I’d bring it to light anyway

Note: Yes we’ve been away - we’ve either been very (extremely) busy and/or been on holiday. Sorry about the gaps, but it’s hard juggling a full working life and maintaining this and every other bloody blog in the Universe.

OK so this week has seen the release to a small group of testers (including myself, HA!) of Windows Vista Service Pack 1 beta. It’s around 550MB in size and seems to be only available for the x86 processor (at the moment…). Indeed, the build string as pointed out on a number of websites is 6001.16549(longhorn_sp1beta1.070628-1825). There are two kinds of testers - random ones selected from the Windows Vista beta of which have filed an extraordinary amount of bugs during the beta, and a number of participants from the Visual Studio 2008 beta so that certain things can be tested, of which Vista SP1 being a prerequisite.

Also around the same time, Windows XP Service Pack 3 being around 330MB in size, of which we don’t have access to I’m saddened to say, fixes around 900 bugs and problems with the existing Service Pack 2. The build string is 5.1.2600.3180 (xpsp.070718-2058) - according to Bink, people seem to think that the timing of these two beta’s being released, is that the final versions of the products will be released simultaneously.

From working at Microsoft myself - I can tell you, this is unlikely, as target dates are very rarely met.

Some sources: Bink.nu

Just when Microsoft had customers, partners and competitors all believing that it was going to delay the first service pack for Vista — not releasing a first beta of it until just before year-end — the company is set to deliver Beta 1 of Vista SP1 in mid-July.

Word (from various sources who asked not to be named) is Microsoft is gearing up to drop Vista SP1 some time the week of July 16. And despite what Microsoft seemingly led Google, the U.S. Department of Justice and other company watchers to believe, the final version of Vista SP1 is sounding like November 2007.

(November 2007 is also the release-to-manufacturing target for Windows Server 2008, sources say. Microsoft won’t provide an RTM date for Windows Server 2008, other than to say it is still on track to RTM before the end of 2007.)

Source: Bink.nu

This one is really easy - miss having the administrator on the Welcome screen? You can really easily put it back on there with a command from Run.

1. Go to Start, and in the Search box type in cmd.
2. Right click the Command Prompt at the top of the Start menu and select “Run as administrator”.
3. At the command prompt, type in net user administrator /active:yes then press Enter.
4. Log off and you should see the administrator sitting there on your Welcome login screen.

Source: VistaBase

It seems that Windows Sideshow, one of the coolest things to come out of Windows Vista, will offer devices running the software for as little as $80 (£40). Some of the more higher end devices might cost a bit more, around $150 (£75) but a little device containing all the vitals of your everyday life, it’s brilliant.

Source: Gizmodo

I was really excited when I found out that you can use a USB drive as a RAM booster on Vista but was disappointed when Vista decided that my USB drive (1GB Microsoft MVP edition) does not meet the requirements. WTF??

Well, I came across an article by Chris..

“Got a USB stick that Windows Vista doesn’t want to use for memory? Read how to use it anyway.

Sooner or later, everyone’s computer tends to slow down. Call it old age or simply doing too much, but even the most cutting edge PC’s seem to lag after a year or so of use.

For those who aren’t keen on opening up their PC to put in more memory, Windows Vista has a handy little feature called ReadyBoost that can use USB sticks for additional memory. Unfortunately, Windows Vista doesn’t take kindly to the slower sticks on the market and refuses to use them. Proving once again that we control the computer and not the other way around, here’s four simple steps to get around this limitation and use any USB stick you have to increase your computers memory.”

Click here to read the article and boost your PC speed in no time!

(It seems to be down, Click here to see the cache)

(Photo Source)

“Microsoft spent millions of dollars advertising its next generation OS ‘Windows Vista‘ in China, in fact the IT juggernaut threw up the biggest Vista Ad on the 421 meter high Jin Mao tower in Shanghai China. However after 2 weeks (Jan 19 to Feb 2) from launch Microsoft managed to sell a mere 244 copies of Windows Vista. Software piracy is rampant in the middle kingdom and a pirated version of Vista sells for a mere $1 on the streets. The following numbers are quoted by Windows Vista chief distributor in Bejing.”

[Via NewLaunches.com ]

At the moment, Windows Selfhost is an internal product being tested by a number of Microsoft employees, at the “dogfood” stage (where internal developers and staff trial the products themselves as a method of quality control).

We’re honestly not quite sure what this is yet - a self storage solution, part of Windows Server System, possibly a Windows Live service (could well be from the FolderShare program which was acquired last year), or could be part of Windows Home Server, as guessed as the logos are the same. Whatever it is, it’ll have something to do with Vista no doubt.

Anyone have any more information, ping us at admin@liveandbeyond.com.

You got to be kidding me. Did I just read that right?

It is true, according to TG Daily :

“Apple is expected to launch its next generation Leopard operating system (OS) in April, but according to industry sources, the release of the new OS will be postponed to October to allow Apple to make Leopard support Windows Vista through an integrated version of its Boot Camp software.

The sources pointed out that the launch delay is not due to software design problems with Leopard but instead is attributed to Apple’s plan to have its new OS support Windows Vista through an integrated version of Boot Camp.”

Is Apple just trying to BS? Why can it not launch Leopard and then release a patch later on that allows Vista to run on Boot Camp? It is clearly Apple’s fault and not Microsoft’s!

Update: Comments here and elsewhere suggest that the original article on DigiTimes where this information originated from may be inaccurate. Thanks all.

Apple : Leopard still on Schedule

Alex Kipman from the Windows Ultimate blog has updated the site with a Soapbox video of static wallpapers as DreamScene content. Last week a whole load of wallpapers were up for download on the website, and it seems that some of these wallpapers are in fact moving video DreamScene content. Check out the video of “Upcoming DreamScene content”