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TAG: Vista

March 20, 2008 | Comments: (0)

Change/Feature	Details	Impact/Benefit
Compatibility Improvements	Expanded driver database on Windows Update; improved battery life for notebooks	More devices should work out of the box; mobile users will get more time between charges
Performance Improvements	Local and Network file copy operations have been retooled; better time estimation and faster time to completion for long transfers	Less frustration while waiting for sluggish transfer to complete; better perceived responsiveness from the OS
Kernel Tweaks	Vista now shares same kernel version as Server 2008; Kernel Patch Protection modified in x64 version	Service Packs will now be released in lockstep with Windows Server; third-party anti-malware vendors can now hack the Windows kernel to install their own hooks
Miscellaneous	Expanded BitLocker support; WGA (Windows Genuine Advantage) anti-piracy less draconian	Can encrypt more drive types and configurations; WGA errors less likely to trigger total lockout

Read Randall Kennedy's guide to the Vista and XP service packs.

Posted by Doug Dineley on March 20, 2008 03:00 AM

March 17, 2008 | Comments: (0)

Test Center Tracker: Windows XP TKO's Vista in 10 rounds

Here at Save Windows XP campaign headquarters, we're not all anti-Vista. Some of us, notably Test Center Chief Scientist Tom Yager, have begun to see the light. For Tom, if you like Windows Server 2008 you'll want Vista too, because only Vista takes advantage of some nice WS08 features. This about-face from Tom's originally lukewarm reception of Vista was sparked by his quality time with the head-spinning new Server 2008, chronicled here.

And then there's our man on the Enterprise Desktop, Randall Kennedy, who refuses to abandon old prejudices. For example, because Vista requires significantly more resources than XP in order to run half as fast, Randall has the idea maybe Vista is a bloated pig. Randall's going so far as to argue that businesses can afford to skip the Vista upgrade entirely, and ride XP until the dawn of Windows 7, which is expected in 2009 or 2010. No, performance isn't the only reason to stick with XP. Read Randall's 10-point analysis, then consider adding your name to our Save XP list.

A torch for Frankenvista: Microsoft engineer Vijayshinva Karnure blogged his instructions for creating a "super" workstation OS based on Windows Server 2008 in mid February, and Randall Kennedy has been putting the concoction to the test ever since. For one, "Workstation" 2008 is snappier than Vista. For two, WS08's Server Manager rocks as a central control panel. For three, it can run Active Directory, Exchange, and other server applications, which of course can be wonderfully convenient for developers. If Server '08 sounds like your kind of desktop, don't miss "Weird, wild, wonderful Windows "Workstation" 2008."

Posted by Doug Dineley on March 17, 2008 06:00 AM

March 17, 2008 | Comments: (0)

Clocking Vista and XP performance: About OfficeBench

I created the OfficeBench test script back in 1999/2000 while my company, Competitive Systems Analysis (CSA), was under contract to Intel's Desktop Architecture Labs (DAL). CSA was responsible for a great deal of internal benchmarking and white paper development surrounding the Pentium III and Pentium 4 CPU launches.

OfficeBench was designed from the beginning to be a "run anywhere" benchmark. By "run anywhere" I mean that the script will execute reliably under almost any Windows runtime environment. At the time it was being developed, this meant Windows 2000 and Terminal Server. As Windows evolved, so did OfficeBench. Today it supports every version of Windows since 2000, including XP, Vista, Server 2003, Server 2008, all flavors of Terminal Server, and all known application and desktop virtualization environments.

OfficeBench is also version independent. That is, it's designed to work with any version of Microsoft Office. When it was originally conceived, the state of the art was Office 2000. Since then, Microsoft has rolled out three additional versions: XP, 2003, and, most recently, 2007. OfficeBench runs unmodified across all four versions. Combined with the support for the various Windows platform releases, OfficeBench is the only test script of its kind that allows you to compare performance across multiple generations of Windows and Office.

OfficeBench uses OLE automation to drive the applications. This is different from most test scripts, which use window messages or keystroke and mouse click simulation. Using OLE automation has numerous benefits, including allowing test scripts to run unmodified across the four Office versions. It also factors out any input-related anomalies while eliminating the chance that a UI change or third party modification will somehow break the script.

Key OfficeBench tasks include the following:

Reformat all section headers and subheads in Word.
Generate multiple chart objects in Excel.
Generate complete multi-slide presentation in PowerPoint.
Multi-page scroll w/copy paste of chart objects into Word.
Slide sort/apply multiple templates in PowerPoint.
Multi-page scroll/print preview/print-to-file in Word.
Multi-chart print preview/print-to-file in Excel
Global search/replace in word (multiple).
Multi-slide preview/print-to-file in PowerPoint.
Navigate simulated research Web site in IE (multiple).

The above are just some highlights. There's a lot more going on than meets the eye, and the key is that it's the exact same set of tasks executing across all versions of Office.

OfficeBench doesn't exist in a vacuum. It's delivered as part of a sophisticated, extensible, multi-process testing framework we call DMS Clarity Studio. DMS Clarity Studio provides a variety of scalable workload objects for testing everything from client/server database connections to MAPI-based message store access to streaming multimedia. OfficeBench has been engineered to run in parallel with these workloads, providing for a rich variety of targeted test scenarios spanning the range of Windows client and server platforms. It's all coordinated through the DMS Clarity Studio framework and also seamlessly integrated with the exo.performance.network's Clarity Analysis Portal.

Note: DMS Clarity Studio is offered for free as part of the exo.performance.network. It's also part of the larger DMS Clarity Suite framework in use across thousands of trading workstations and other mission critical systems in the financial services sector. Some of the largest trading firms in the world trust DMS Clarity Suite to tell them when their systems are under-performing.

In summary, OfficeBench is part of a proven testing ecosystem that spans the range of Windows platforms and runtime scenarios. It is a sophisticated, version-independent benchmarking tool that executes reliably under almost any Windows runtime environment, allowing IT organizations to accurately assess multi-generational performance across all versions of Windows and Office.

Posted by Randall Kennedy on March 17, 2008 03:00 AM

September 05, 2007 | Comments: (0)

Test Center Tracker: The road ahead for Oliver Rist

Business is business It's an all mobile phone week for Tom Yager, who after completing a comparative review of seven enterprise models brings up the topic of how to get a better deal when buying one. Act like a business, and not like a consumer party, is Tom's advice in his Ahead of the Curve column.

The Road Ahead? All good things come to an end. If you enjoyed Oliver Rist columns take a good reading of this one because it's his last. Oliver parting gift to his readers is a look at what's coming with Windows in the near feature and how to prepare for it. Was he trying to mimic (or mock) "The Road Ahead"? Perhaps. One never knows with Oliver.

Posted by Mario Apicella on September 5, 2007 09:13 AM

August 29, 2007 | Comments: (0)

Test Center Tracker: The zen of Web apps and Mac OS X

Have you been thinking to get yourself a Mac for a long time and never did? Then don't miss this week Enterprise Windows where Oliver Rist asks (with his well known subtlety): "Does Mac OS X suck?". Oliver's column is the closest you can get to walking the Apple road yourself, and may be you will after reading it.

Is the Web treating you well? Or more to the point, are Web applications treating you well? Moving an application from the quiet waters of a corporate network to the stormy weather of the Net takes more than being technically savvy, warns Tom Yager in this week's "Ahead of the Curve". In his column Tom explains why, and reveals what's the secret sauce to make good Web apps. A useful reading also for non-developers.

Posted by Mario Apicella on August 29, 2007 08:30 AM

March 02, 2007 | Comments: (0)

USMT trumps Windows Easy Transfer for Vista upgrades

Tempting though it may to rely on Windows Easy Transfer Tool when upgrading user PCs to Vista, you'd be well served to read the documentation on Microsoft's User State Migration Toolkit (USMT). Now in Version 3.0, it can provide a superior OS-upgrade experience.

A basic USMT description begins with the SaveState command line prompt. You run it from the workstation that's being migrated, and it saves an admin-customizable snapshot of the user's OS settings, application settings and data. You can then wipe the machine and do a clean install of Vista -- definitely the preferred method.

Once Vista is cooking, you simply run LoadState from the new command line, and the system gets updated with that user's individual goodies.

USMT has a leg up on Windows Easy Transfer in that administrators can use the Windows Automated Installation Kit (WAIK) tools to make USMT an automatic part of a large-scale Vista deployment. So WAIK can be targeted at 20 machines, and each machine can initiate USMT off the network prior to installation, run a standard user migration script, then install Vista and then restore using LoadState automatically as well.

USMT is a sweet tool kit, though we have some caveats. Automating USMT means ensuring that your users not only have their data in the same locations, but also that their application portfolios are the same as well. You can certainly customize USMT to any individual user’s box, but that effectively takes that user out of the automated loop.

Another caveat with USMT is that it isn't all-encompassing in what it migrates. For one thing, you can't update settings from an older version of an application to a newer one -- except for Microsoft Office. That's great for Office 2003/XP users going to Office 2007/Vista. But for other applications that will get revved as they become Vista-certified, this will not work. Those settings will need to be migrated manually. Oh yeah, and for some reason, Project 2003 to Project 2007 doesn't work yet, either.

Posted by Oliver Rist on March 2, 2007 11:49 AM

January 29, 2007 | Comments: (0)

Vista countdown tips: 1 day out

Tip 5: Lock down the downloading
Vista' launch: Imminent; It's tomorrow. So here's the skinny on how to buy without making your boss cry.

First off: Yes, it'll be available for download along with Office 2007. But don't expect that to work too well--at least for the first 4-8 weeks after the launch. I think they'll have a wee bit of a traffic problem during that time.

'Course that shouldn't be too tough on most of you, since all indicators show that quite a large segment of the Windows population won't be upgrading right out of the gate.

But there's one lil' problem that the download option presents as well: users can upgrade too. Microsoft is going to put a few-touch upgrade service into every Vista SDK, allowing those who spent a little money on the smaller SDKs--including Vista Business--to upgrade to a full version of Ultimate with just a few mouse clicks and some credit card info.

They'll have to pay for it on their own, but if you don't lock that down, you could have a lot of Ultimate copies running around your network once power users figure out how cool it is. Another attraction Microsoft has tossed into that pot is two $50 copies of Vista Home for anyone who upgrades to Ultimate this way.

Posted by Oliver Rist on January 29, 2007 03:00 AM

January 28, 2007 | Comments: (0)

Vista countdown tips: Desktop video clips

Tip 4: Desktop video clips.
Okay, two days out: Microsoft introduced yet one more new whizbang feature that your users are going to love: using videos as wallpaper instead of just snapshots. It's a little painful if you use the wrong video, but with the right clip it's totally sci-fi-real genius-Matrix without Keanu cool.

Billy G. introed the new feature at CES--on January 14. I missed that speech since that's my birthday and I was busy crawling into a bottle of brandy over turning 41. But I did manage to pick up a few details:

1. The feature is called 'Dreamscape'
2. It's only usable with Vista Ultimate, so expect those upper floor execs to have one more reason to ask for Vista Ultimate over Business or Enterprise.
3. But it's still a downloadable extra, not an installed feature--I checked my copy of Ultimate soon as I heard.
4. It wants WMV or MPEG 2 files.

There you go. Just make sure nobody uploads a ripped copy of Girls Gone Wild or something.

Posted by Oliver Rist on January 28, 2007 06:00 PM

January 27, 2007 | Comments: (0)

Vista countdown tips: 3 days out

Tip 3: Flash Your Firewall
Already sucked down some Advil because of this issue. Seems something happened between Vista RC1 and the final RTM release that my SonicWall SafeAtOffice firewall didn't like. Unfortunately, the problem looks like a Vista problem when it happens.

All your other PCs are working fine. And a cabled connection to the firewall even off the Vista machine looks fine. Then you go wireless. Suddenly it's working intermittently where wireless under RC1 was as reliable as guilt after a Vegas visit.

Then you try and hook a second machine via wireless. Suddenly the Vista machine(s) can't get an IP address. They keep announcing an IP conflict with another machine. Assigning a static address solves the problem for a little while, but it returns after a bit.

For a good while, I thought it was Vista. Then maybe the adapater on the Gateway E255M notebook I was using. After all, the other four XP, two Linux and one Mac were working fine. Fortunately for me, Brian Chee over there at Geeks in Paradise also has a SafeAtOffice at home.

Same problem, smarter guy. He puts on some Kona, flashes the firmware on his Sonicwall and aloha! he's okay again. And Sonicwall isn't the only firewall maker with this trouble according to Webbified rumor. So check your firewall. And while you're at it, check your other networked appliances -- shared storage, printers, scanners and especially any higher-end switches with additional security features built-in. Better safe than calling Brian.

Posted by Oliver Rist on January 27, 2007 03:22 AM

January 26, 2007 | Comments: (0)

Vista countdown tips: 4 days out

Tip 2: Brush up on your Mahjong
We all thought pinball was going to be the killer time-wasting app when Windows 2000 came out. But Solitaire remained the chief bane of the pay-by-the-hour set. I think that's going to change in Vista, though. Mahjong rules.

All the games have been redesigned, however. Like much of Vista, this takes a little getting used to. Solitaire and Spider Solitaire are still there along with FreeCell and Hearts. Pinball is gone. But the new killer time waster is going to be Mahjong. Slick, not too loud, and takes long enough to play so your boss'll be ticked if he catches you, but short enough so you've got a better-than-even chance of getting away with it.

Some folks might think Chess will be the killer time waster, but I don't think so. Takes too long for the average cubicle warrior. Mahjong's the better balance.

Vista Business users will need to block games. They aren't installed by default in that SDK, but they're easily installed by users with admin priviledges after the fact. If your boss wears shiny boots, tends to march up and down the halls a lot, and delivers motivational speeches in angry German, you may want to do the prep work now.

Posted by Oliver Rist on January 26, 2007 03:00 AM

January 24, 2007 | Comments: (0)

Vista countdown tips: 5 days out

It's coming down to the wire. Only five shopping days left till Vista. So we're putting a few last minute, one-a-day tips together to keep those knots out of your stomach.

Tip 1: Find a GPU
IT managers already know they need to do a hardware inventory before deploying the new Windows across the company. But they tend to focus on things like piles of RAM and CPU speed. On the video side, they often look at the amount of dedicated video RAM and little else. But Vista has a dirty little secret: She needs a GPU.

That's Graphics Processing...Unicorn. Or maybe Unit, I forget. Either way it's a CPU dedicated to nothing other than graphics processing. Vista is the first operating system to require a GPU out of the box. Previously, only specific applications (like those texture-heavy first-person shooting bloodbath games) required a GPU. Now it's the operating system, which means sexier applications in the long run; but in the short term, you need to make sure your PCs are carrying a GPU else your users won't get their full dose of Vista satisfaction.

Not a problem for most mid-level desktops purchased in the last year or so. Where you run into trouble are the older boxes or any machines that have the 'value' label attached. That's the $500 desktop or the $800 notebook. Need to ID those boxes now and give their users the bad news--or a new machine depending on how nice you are. The gig of RAM, the big hard disk, the fast CPU--you still need all those. But without the GPU, you're still in trouble.

Posted by Oliver Rist on January 24, 2007 07:55 PM

November 09, 2006 | Comments: (0)

Hands-on: Vista is ready. Are you?

I love it when Microsoft lays it on thick. Normally, we just get a DVD with a new OS installed. Not this time. This time, an HP DV9000 notebook showed up in my mailbox, pre-installed with Vista RTM, the latest build of Office 2007, and other sundries. The DV9000 is a wide-screen hi-def-capable machine, which was obviously designed to run Vista with the Media Center extensions.

Of course, this is InfoWorld, and we don't care so much about that. What we do care about is OS stability, software compatibility and business features. So first point: All the reviews you're reading in any press mag right now are on the Vista Ultimate SKU, because that's all that Microsoft is handing out right now. Business users, however, most likely won't be using this SKU unless it's that annoying exec who just has to have all the tools regardless of love or logic.

Odds are you'll be most involved in Vista Business or Vista Enterprise. Business is a $199 SKU, that includes all the Tablet features, a series of business-oriented help guides that can get a user or an inexperienced network admin through basic business networking tasks, as well as the full OneCare security suite — though remember that this isn't free with the OS.

Vista Enterprise is a step up from Business and can only be purchased as part of the Volume License program. It also includes a few more features than Business, including BitLocker Drive Encryption (see my SMB IT blog post on that) and built-in application compatibility via the Program Compatibility Wizard. Enterprise folks, however, will also want to download the Application Compatibility Toolkit.

Having the full security suite installed is nice, but there's no need to jump on that bandwagon simply for convenience sake. Calculate the ongoing costs and then compare it to what third-party anti-virus vendors are offering. I've been using F-Prot's Vista-compatible anti-virus program on the RC2 box for the last couple of weeks and it's great. OneCare is a fine option, but it's yet to prove itself on the corporate side (centralized desktop management and server protection, for example).

Tripping over wireless
Hands on, my experience with RTM so far has been fine, with the exception of wireless networking. This worked great using RC2 (read about my experiences here, here, and here) on a Dell M90 superbook: very fast connect times and flawless reliability. But it had continuous trouble using the DV9000. Most likely this is an HP problem, rather than a Windows problem, but it does go to show that even though Microsoft has significantly improved its networking stack, there's always room for flaws. Hey, it's job security.

I also tried some of the fancier new features, like ReadyBoost. This is a performance enhancer that lets Vista use the RAM from a USB flash drive to enhance RAM performance. Microsoft was kind enough to include a Kingston TravelDrive with the DV9000, so I figured I had to check it out. Turns out the USB drive needs to have ReadyBoost compatibility (which the Kingston did) and then offer the ability to use the drive as a cache.

Help, however, says that you're best off using either the same or up to double the amount of cache RAM as you have system RAM. The DV9000 has 2GB of system RAM, so that 2GB flash drive was maxed out trying to boost performance. It did seem to help, however, especially when I had nine simultaneous applications running.

Integrated search and file transfer both work well. Both are wizard-driven, which makes them simple for the likes of us system admin types, but users who don't understand terms like indexing or file syncing are still going to be calling the help desk.

Sync Center still didn't work for my Moto Q, but it did find my HP iPaq. Using Sync Center (which is basically an embedded vrsion of ActiveSync), you can automatically sync your phone's contacts, calendar and files with either Outlook Contacts and Calendar/Tasks or the new Windows Calendar and Windows Contact's that come included with Vista. Sounds great, but it has the potential to get confusing for some users because if you install Outlook 2003 or Outlook 2007, so far I haven't found a way to sync Outlook with the Windows Calendar/Contacts. This has the potential for inexperienced users to setup two different calendar/contact stores. It would be nice if there was an option to simply keep the two synced in real-time.

That's about all my Vista RTM nitpicks, however. The rest of the OS is working just fine. I had no trouble working with networked printers or servers. Vista discovered and accessed both my Iomega and Western Digital shared network hard disks without requiring client software installs. And aside from the DV9000's wireless problem, network support was flawless.

Additionally, most XP and .Net-capable applications will run just fine (so far, I've run Office 2003 and Office 2007, Firefox 1.5 and 2.0, Paint.NET, Adobe Acrobat Reader and Creator, and more). The ones that died include third-party desktop firewalls and some open-source utilities. As Vista moves out into the world, however, these problems will cease quickly, including cell phone support and software compatibility.

Prepare for your migration
Even if you're happy with the operating system, there are still some basic Vista-only issues to ponder prior to deployment. First, set your users' expectations regarding Aero. The new video interface is fantastic and it's likely that all your power users have seen it by now. If you're not springing for PCs with enough video muscle to run it, let them know early.

Next, use Microsoft's Windows Image (WIM) file format to build yourself some deployment images. For Business and Enterprise users, pay special attention to new Vista features including User Access Control—that's the Unix-like system security layer that now makes it much easier to allow users to run as users and not administrators. This will require some application compatibility testing, so be sure to run through your whole portfolio before finalizing any images.

Next, carefully control power features especially BitLocker and Windows Update. The former can be big liability if users set it up themselves. The latter is much more powerful. Microsoft has added update features for optional add-ons, a link to third-party applications and even the ability to upgrade the whole OS. This needs to be locked down in a corporate setting.

And last, I've said it before and I'll say it again: Invest in some end-user training. It's a great new operating system, but things have definitely changed for those who find features by rote repetition. Set up a tutorial system and let them ask questions. Important points to walk through include the new networking interface, the new file browsing dialogs, Sidebar, OneCare (if you decide to go that route), and Windows Search. Teach them the basics now and you'll reap the reward later: They'll be eagerly awaiting the new features rather than dreading the change.

For a visual look at some Vista RTM, check out this slideshow. And stay tuned for more Vista news and analysis in coming weeks on InfoWorld.com.

Posted by Oliver Rist on November 9, 2006 05:15 PM

October 19, 2006 | Comments: (0)

Test Center Tracker: Feasting on Vista

Vista re-revisited: Enterprise Windows columnist Oliver Rist has been tracking Vista since before it was even called Vista. Now that he's had plenty of time to play around with Release Candidate 2, he's delivering some in-depth insights about Redmond's forthcoming OS spawn, not to mention a mighty snazzy slideshow of Vista visuals. Thus far, it appears stable, but there are still some Active X and third-party-app interoperability issues that need to be resolved. No doubt developers at Microsoft will be working longer hours than Santa's elves to get Vista shipped on time,

Testing, testing, 1-2-3: Our Test Center contributors are continuing to crank out some really nice product previews and reviews here in the Test Center Daily. Take, for example, this preview of Tableau 2.1 by Jeff Angus. Jeff finds a nicely upgraded business intelligence solution, loaded with additional functions, better scalability potential, tighter work with back-end databases and a boatload of new analytical functions.

Decoding encryption: As customer and employee data slowly leaks out of company databases around the world, the word encryption has grown in popularity. But organizations should encrypt with care, cautions Sean McCown, scribe of the Database Underground: It can be quite invasive, limiting users' access to data and potentially gumming up business processes. "The point is that encryption can be necessary, but really only under limited circumstances where all other tactics have failed. Basically, you should look at encrypting your data as surgery. Don't do it unless all of the other avenues have been exhausted, and there's just no other way to get the gerbil out." (Thanks for the visual, Sean.)

Posted by Ted Samson on October 19, 2006 06:00 AM

October 13, 2006 | Comments: (0)

Preview: Microsoft Vista RC 2

I'll be posting my Week in Vista/Office 2007 article on SMB IT next week (Microsoft has to answer a few questions, first); meantime, I figured I'd give Vista Release Candidate 2 a try since it became available right in the middle of my review.

Under RC1, we tried the upgrade from XP as well the clean-install route. Clean install took about 90 minutes. The upgrade took more than twice as long and never really got its sea legs.

RC2 seems to have worked out a lot of those bugs. Moving from XP Pro to RC2 worked reasonably well, though a clean install is still faster and winds up with a more stable installation overall. I didn't try an RC1 to RC2 upgrade because, well, who cares?

Microsoft still has some work to do in the software department, however. A surprising problem occurred with IE 7 and Windows Live Spaces, Microsoft's blogging service. Posting a photo to Spaces requires an ActiveX control, which did a face plant under Internet Explorer 7/Vista. Ironically, Firefox 2.0 Beta under RC2 handled Spaces photos just fine. QA, QA, QA.

My next issue came under both RC1 and RC2. Security is going to be an issue. Using Symantec's Internet Security resulted in Vista telling me to uninstall that firewall and use its internal firewall until I could find a Vista-compatible replacement. That could be a problem for folks using enterprise-managed desktop firewalls. Definitely a must-test issue prior to deployment.

Overall, however, RC2 does show more stability than RC1, and I was able to survive more than a week on that, no problem. All my peripherals and network devices were fully supported and most were discovered and installed automatically. Graphics are hungry, but if you feed them a good video card they're crisp and happy.

Just be careful to fully test your business application library before deploying this operating system. Under XP, Windows 2000 applications were almost guaranteed to work. Vista is different enough on the inside to make that more of a question mark, so get those answered before using your install disc. (Security Adviser Roger A. Grimes has similar advice regarding upgrading to Internet Explorer 7.)

Have you had a chance to try out Vista RC1 or RC2? How have your experiences been?

Posted by Oliver Rist on October 13, 2006 12:20 PM

October 10, 2006 | Comments: (0)

Sun: Java runs great on Vista

Responding to a rumor started on Microsoft Watch that Java doesn't get along well with Vista, Sun Java Client Group Architect Chet Haase declared quite firmly in his own blog that Java runs quite well on Redmond's next-born.

In a Sept. 29 blog posting, Microsoft Watch cited eWeek Lab tests running various Java-based apps on Vista. "In each case, Aero Glass [the Vista UI] wasn't just disabled for the (apparently) offending application, but for our test machine as a whole--until we closed the Java app."

The entry dispenses the following advice to Sun: "Sun Microsystems would do well to give a ring to one of the interop contacts at Microsoft that came out of the firms' historic make-nice agreement back in 2004, and figure out how to make Java apps first-class Vista citizens."

That final bit particularly irked Haase, who responded in a recent entry in his blog.

"[O]lder versions of Java do have problems on Vista, and that's what the original report was about; someone tried running some older version of Java on Vista and noted some problems. But that's like saying that your favorite XBox game, Bloody Mess X, doesn't work on XBox360. Of course it doesn't; the original game was written for a completely different system."

Haase goes into great detail to explain just how hard Sun has worked to adapt Java to the ever-evolving Vista.

"... [It] has been an ongoing process of learning, testing, debugging, submitting bugs against Microsoft, fixing our bugs, re-testing. ... And since Vista has been a moving platform during the Java SE 6 development process, we've been in this development cycle continually with every new drop of Vista (they are still releasing weekly builds for us to test; we just found a bug in RC1 that has since been fixed in the latest release we got yesterday)."

(Application developers in particular may want to read his post; it's quite detailed, technical, and blissfully devoid of marketing.)

Java SE 6, by the way, "is the best solution for Vista," Haase writes. "That release has received most of our focus during the Vista beta release timeframe, and it is where most of the fixes to the known problems currently reside."

As for other flavors of Java: "J2SE 1.5 should work fine, but there may be some nuances that may not be as perfect... . Some additional Vista-specific fixes (such as component animation) may not be back-ported, so the fidelity may not be as close as that in Java SE 6... . But the full gamut of Vista work that we feel is necessary for J2SE 1.5 should be available in update 11, which we hope to release around January of 2007."

Moreover, J2SE 1.4.2 will basically work, according to Haase. "We see 1.4.2 as being functional, usable, and perfect for situations where a customer is absolutely locked into that particular release for now. But we encourage developers and customers to migrate to a more full-feature Vista release soon."

Stay tuned to InfoWorld's ongoing coverage of Vista for the latest news and reviews.

Posted by Ted Samson on October 10, 2006 09:41 PM