Earlier this week Microsoft announced that it is delaying the release of Windows XP SP3 because of some bugs it caused with the database server with Microsoft Dynamics. Last night I went home and was looking for the automatic update bringing SP1 to Vista and found that it wasn’t there either, much to my dismay as there are a number of issues I have on Vista that I was hoping to see corrected.

Today we find out that Microsoft has indeed delayed the release of Vista SP1 to Automatic Updates as well, due to the same issue. It sounds like some of found the problem has to do with SQL Server with Dynamics. It’s unlikely that the problem is with SQL Server alone since MS is surely to have tested that at some point, but the relatively few that are out there running Microsoft Dynamics are holding it up for the rest of us.

Microsoft announced yesterday that the much anticipated Windows Vista SP1 has been released to manufacturing (RTM) which brings us one step closer to getting a more stable version of the Vista OS. Many businesses will often wait at least until after the first service pack of a Microsoft system before implementing it to give time for any early issues to get worked out.

The Vista SP1 isn’t expected to be available for download until mid-March and will initially come in languages of English, French, German, Spanish and Japanese with full language support to be available by the end of April. When first released the service pack will require a manual download from Microsoft but then will be added to the automatic update in April, as well.

“No Wow, No How: Windows Vista” titles the number 1 spot on PCWorld’s list of the 15 biggest tech disappointments of the year and we can’t really disagree. Heck, I personally upgraded a machine from XP to Vista earlier this year and was unable to use Internet Explorer on it for months, and I still cannot get Windows Media Player to work correctly with MPEGs.

Just as PCWorld had pointed out there are a lot of cool things in Vista that are an improvement over the previous OS, but it just “…isn’t all that good.” The article goes on to note that hardware incompatibilities seemed to be over the top early on, it runs slower than XP and the new user account controls caused more irritation than a feeling of safety. PCWorld could not finish up the article without at least mentioning that the fastest notebook they tested with Vista running on it was a MacBook. We also cannot refute that Vista will eventually have its dominate day in the sun, but it’s unfortunately not this day.

Microsoft appears to have given in a little bit in response to concerns and complaints about their new Windows Vista operating system. The company’s original plan was to have the original equipment manufacturers (OEM’s) stop selling the Windows XP operating system with new computers as of January 31, 2008. Custom builders would get another year giving them until January 31, 2009. After that it would be all Vista and no more XP.

Since that original plan was made the sales of PC’s with the new Vista OS haven’t been quite as good as Microsoft and the manufacturers had hoped and OEM’s have asked the company to extend XP a little longer. Due to this Microsoft has announced that OEM’s can continue to sell XP pre-installed on their computers for 5 additional months, putting the end date out until June …

Microsoft has announced that it will release Service Pack 1 containing updates and fixes for the new Windows Vista operating system in the first part of 2008, putting a date to a milestone that many companies look for when upgrading Microsoft products.

The company, consistent with earlier announcements, is planning on releasing a beta version of the SP1 for Vista in a few weeks to a limited number of users in somewhat of a cautious manner.

“A small group of testers has been putting a preview of the SP1 Beta through its paces to help prepare for broader release. We made the choice to start with a very small group of testers because we think it’s better for both our customers and for Microsoft to keep the beta program small at the start.”, wrote Nick White, a Microsoft product manager.

The Vista …

Keyspan has announced the release of the RF Remote for Windows Vista. The remote is used to run the Vista media player for watching TV, movies, photos or listening to music or the radio on both Vista Home Premium and Vista Ultimate. The real “key” in this remote from Keyspan is the “RF” part, however.

The RF remote uses radio frequency signals to control the Vista media player which is unlike most remote controls that use infrared (IR). The RF remote control does not require a line of sight to operate and the signal can go through walls and furniture. This gives you more flexibility in designing your home entertainment system since you can place your PC with the USB-connected RF receiver inside a cabinet or in a closet and out of the way and …

At the annual Microsoft fninancial analysts meeting in Redmond last Thursday Kevin Turner, Microsoft COO, stated that the company has shipped over 60 million copies of its new Vista operating system since its release. Since the Vista global launch at the end of January Microsoft says it had shipped 20 million copies in the first week and 40 million in the first 100 days.

“By our math, we eclipsed the entire installed base of Apple in the first five weeks that this product shipped,” Turner said.

Microsoft had a bit of a rough start just getting Vista out the door, taking over 5 years to bring it to market releasing it to business users last November and then to the general public in January. Microsoft’s Steve Ballmer stated about a month after the launch that sales expectations for the OS were possibly …

Information, or “misinformation” as Microsoft is calling it, was passed around the net earlier this month that Microsoft would be releasing the first service pack for Windows Vista sometime earlier this week. Well, the week is almost out and we’ve seen no SP1 show up anywhere, and now Microsoft has released a statement regarding the issue:

“There will be a Windows Vista service pack and our current expectation is that a beta will be made available sometime this year. Service packs are part of the traditional software lifecycle — they’re something we do for all Microsoft products as part of our commitment to continuous improvement, and providing early test builds is a standard practice that helps us incorporate customer feedback and improve the overall quality of the product.

Service packs are just one example of

…

The game to have last holiday season was Epic Games’ “Gears of War” for the Microsoft Xbox 360. It sold over three million copies before 2006 was over and pretty much clubbed the poor PlayStation 3 over the head during holiday shopping mode (if you couldn’t find a Nintendo Wii). Now, after vague promises of a PC port, Microsoft has come out and finally said that there will be a Windows version of “Gears” in time for holiday 2007. The really great news is that Epic will be adding new content for the PC edition meaning that for players that have already experienced the 360 version there will be new stuff to shoot in the PC game.

The PC “Gears” will add on three new multiplayer maps, five new campaign chapters, an extra multiplayer game mode and a game editor for adding …

Hoping to attract the users looking to upgrade their monitor now that they have Microsoft Vista installed, Acer America has rolled out five new LCD monitors in its xSeries line, all Vista certified. The company states that any one of its xSeries screens are perfect for the latest multimedia, gaming or video applications and are priced affordably.

The lineup consists of the traditional resolution 1280×1040 17-inch x171s ($179.99) and the 19-inch x191sd ($189.99) models. These two units offer 700:1 contrast ratio and 300 cd/m2 typical brightness. The widescreen Acers include the 19-inch x191Wsd ($279.99), the 22-inch x221Wsd (279.99) and the 24-inch x241Wsd (599.99.) The first two WS models offer 800:1 contrast ratio (bumped up to 100:1 for the x241Wsd), 5 millisecond response times and 300 cd/m2 typical brightness (upped to 400 cd/m2 for the x241.) Last but not least, …

Imagine a future where you no longer need to scrap out dust bunnies, strands of hair or crumbs from lunches of old caught between the keys on your keyboard. Could such a future be within our grasp?

AMEX Digital wants to make the dream become a reality with their TSK-VX7, a wireless keyboard that has touch-sensitive pads instead of plastic buttons with yawning chasms between them. It’s Windows Vista and XP compatible, has hot keys and can be used up to 30 feet away from its base (2.4 GHz, nice.) We also like that you’ll get approximately two months use from four AAA batteries, considerably longer than the Logitech wireless keyboards. The power switch is also on the top of the keyboard, another no-brainer that Logitech didn’t think about when it can to making its line. It may take some getting …

In a Monday conference call to investors Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer said that sales expectations for the company’s new operating system, Windows Vista, had been “overly optimistic” – but not by the software titan that made the program. Instead, Ballmer dumped blame on aggressive expectations by analysts who had stars in their eyes rather than reasonable sales expectations. “Some of the Windows revenue forecasts I’ve seen are overly aggressive,” Ballmer was quoted as saying. “You shouldn’t think of a huge surge in fiscal year ‘08 relative to ‘07. There are a few who think we are going to do so much better than PC growth.”

After five years spent in development Vista launched to retail at the start of this month. Microsoft has reportedly spent around half-a-billion dollars alone to market the latest version of Windows to …

When I first saw news of this mouse come across our desks showing that it was Vista certified, I quickly wanted to look into what cool new features it had. We’ve seen some “special” keyboards that were equipped with additional shortcut keys used specifically for the Windows Vista OS, so this logically must have some cool new features which uniquely integrate it with Vista, right?

Well, not so much. This USB 1.1 mouse named ZOFFY from Sigma APO does have vertical and horizontal scroll, an adjustable 800/1600 dpi laser, and a rubber grip. Also, there is no driver installation necessary for the Windows Vista OS due to this certification no doubt, but there is a driver available should you want to use ZOFFY on another OS.

The ZOFFY Vista Certified mouse comes in colors of red, black, blue and silver and is expected to …

An novel security hole presented itself last week with the new version of Windows Vista released by Microsoft to customers around the world.

George Ou, and online blogger, reported on Tuesday through ZD Net that he was able to access the Start Menu on Vista and could potentially run programs through voice command audio files played through the system speakers. This type of functionality could allow a hacker to run programs, delete files and any number of other harmful processes accessible through the voice command functionality of Windows Vista.

Microsoft has attempted to downplay the issue slightly, and has addressed the Speech Recognition Issue on their Security Response Center blog. “While we are taking the reports seriously and investigating them accordingly I am confident in saying that there is little if any need to worry about the effects of this issue on your …

Apple has recently updated information on its website about iTunes compatibility with Windows Vista from Microsoft, urging iTunes users to wait for an new iTunes version before upgrading to the new OS.

iTunes software is the key to syncing up music from Apple iTunes to the iPod portable media players, and although it has worked well with the current XP and 2000 operating systems from Microsoft Apple has noted some issues with the new Vista OS and has a new iTunes release on the way to address them. Apple states that iTunes 7.0.2 may work well with Vista on many PC’s, but due to some known compatibility issues iTunes users should wait until the next release of the iTunes software is out in a few weeks.

Some of the known issues Apple has noted range from serious …