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Windows Secrets Newsletter • Issue 141 • 2008-02-21 • Circulation: over 275,000 |
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Contents TOP STORY: Microsoft cuts Ultimate licenses for volume buyers KNOWN ISSUES: Dual-booting XP deletes Vista restore points WACKY WEB WEEK: Roll over, Beethoven WOODY'S WINDOWS: Vista Service Pack 1 — boring but necessary PERIMETER SCAN: Now is the time for debunking the Mocmex threat PATCH WATCH: Microsoft pulls buggy Vista "prerequisite" patch YOUR SUBSCRIPTION: How to change your address or unsubscribe |
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For links to every topic in this issue, scroll down to the
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TOP STORY Microsoft cuts Ultimate licenses for volume buyers
Software Assurance users hit limits on Ultimate The change in policy affects businesses that license Microsoft software in bulk through the Redmond company's Software Assurance (SA) program. Among other things, SA allows customers to get multiple copies of Microsoft products at a steep discount. In addition, some products — such as Vista Enterprise, the edition of Vista that's aimed at large corporations with complex IT needs — are available only through Software Assurance. Here's what changed: • Formerly 1-to-1 coverage. According to the Vista Ultimate FAQ on the Microsoft Volume Licensing site, "For each Windows license covered under Software Assurance, you are eligible to run Windows Vista Ultimate on a desktop covered under Software Assurance during the term of your Software Assurance coverage." This policy ended on Dec. 1, 2007. (Note: The FAQ refers to a deadline of Nov. 1, 2006, but this was extended to Nov. 30, 2007, for companies that wanted licenses for Ultimate, according to page 62 of the February 2008 Microsoft Product List, a 127-page .doc file.) • Down to 1 per 100. Under the new policy, most buyers of Software Assurance can get only 1 Vista Ultimate product key for every 100 copies of Vista Enterprise they've purchased. • Only 5 copies below 600 seats. SA buyers who have fewer than 600 licenses for Vista Enterprise can get no more than 5 product keys for Vista Ultimate. The Software Assurance Benefits page on the Microsoft Partner Program site now says, "Windows Vista Ultimate is ideal for consumer scenarios," not for large companies. One of the main benefits of Vista Ultimate over Vista Enterprise is that Ultimate contains Media Center Edition, Microsoft's multimedia playback environment. The SA benefits page suggests that Microsoft is hearing from some unhappy buyers. "In response to Windows Vista Enterprise customer requests," the page says, "in February 2008 we are introducing a DVD Playback Pack that enables playback of DVD, MPEG-2, and 5.1-channel Dolby Digital files." This pack is priced at U.S. $4.32 per playback device, according to Microsoft. Not every affected customer is taking the change lightly. "Software Assurance is effectively just an upgrade program," writes Bill Forney, a software architect who blogs at Windows Live Spaces. "They can put more stuff into it all day long, but none of my small to medium-sized business customers are interested in anything but the software itself, and I'm sure they're going to be hopping mad when they find out that some marketing or legal dufus has decided that they should take this away in hopes of increasing their bottom line in Ultimate upgrade sales." Why treat Ultimate as a lesser Vista version? Microsoft's new licensing scheme means that any organization that was planning on standardizing on Vista Ultimate — or even just installing Ultimate on 10 out of every 100 workstations — will now have to pay full price for nearly all of the individual copies of Ultimate they want to deploy. According to a Microsoft spokesman, the policy switch was announced to customers on Nov. 13, 2006, "and to partners and industry analysts before it was announced to customers, to ensure that these advisors would be able to address any customer questions." That gave customers 18 days notice that Vista Ultimate would no longer be provided to every end user covered by Software Assurance. (Microsoft policy does not permit the media to identify public relations spokespersons by name.) Why the change? It's now clear that the Ultimate edition is not a superset of every other version of Windows Vista. The Windows Vista Ultimate page of the Microsoft Volume Licensing site articulates three things the Enterprise edition has that Ultimate does not: • Deployment and activation. Vista Ultimate lacks Enterprise's ability to activate multiple computers at the same time. Instead, Ultimate uses consumer activation technology, which means each copy must be activated individually. According to the Microsoft spokesman, Ultimate's lack of support for volume licensing (VL) exists for both technical and policy reasons: "As Windows Vista Ultimate contains consumer features such as Media Center, Movie Maker, and DVD Maker, we did not anticipate that enterprise customers would want to deploy Windows Vista Ultimate broadly throughout the enterprise, and therefore, chose not to add support for VL." • Manageability. Microsoft states that "Some of the consumer features in Windows Vista Ultimate, such as Windows Media Center, cannot be managed by using Group Policy." The Group Policy editor can, in fact, enable and disable Media Center, as is documented in a posting on MSDN (Microsoft Developer Network). But, as the Microsoft representative points out, "you cannot configure settings, such as pre-populating the correct cable provider for the Electronic Programming Guide. Other features in Windows Vista Ultimate that are not supported by Group Policy include DVD Maker and Movie Maker. Internet Explorer, by comparison, provides hundreds of different policies for IT to control." Microsoft's spokesman explains the missing Group Policy controls as a matter of scheduling, saying, "We simply did not have enough time to add those features." • Support. Because it is classified as a "consumer" product, support for Vista Ultimate is limited to a maximum of 5 years after first release, compared with 10 years of support for Vista Business and Vista Enterprise. Forney, for one, finds the lack of manageability and support to be poor justification for withholding Ultimate from Software Assurance buyers. "If that's true, who controls that?" he writes in his blog. "Microsoft does. Who's a bunch of lazy <insert expletive here>s for not making it manageable in the first place? Again, Microsoft are. So in the end, that argument has no merit at all." Forney continues, "The whole idea of Ultimate is to be the edition that includes everything and not just some of the pieces of the other editions. That is how it was marketed anyway. If it isn't that, then change the name to Media Center Edition and stop talking about it like it is that." Microsoft's mixed message on Vista Ultimate Microsoft has promoted various messages about Vista Ultimate. The 316-page Vista Product Guide states that Vista Ultimate is for consumers and small businesses, as well as for the "dual user" who "wants to have a single PC for both work and personal activities including digital entertainment" (page 8). The company also promoted the idea that Vista Ultimate is the version of Windows that has everything. The Vista Product Guide refers to Ultimate as "the flagship edition of Windows Vista," boasting that it has "the advanced infrastructure of a business-focused operating system. ... For users who want their PC to be great for working at home, on the go, and at the office, Windows Vista Ultimate is the no-compromise operating system that provides it all" (page 10). The comparison table on pages 17 to 21 of the product guide shows Ultimate having every feature that's present in any edition of Vista. The only disadvantage the guide mentions is that Ultimate only qualifies for 5 years of support, as opposed to 10 years for Business and Enterprise. Promotions such as Microsoft's "Choose an Edition" page still extol Vista Ultimate. "Easily shift between the worlds of productivity and play with the most complete edition of Windows Vista," the page says. "Ultimate provides the power, security, and mobility features needed for work, and all the entertainment features that you want for fun." In the past, consumer versions of Windows (such as Windows 98 and Me) have clearly been underpowered compared to their enterprise siblings (Windows NT and 2000). Windows Ultimate marks the first time an edition of Windows has been hyped as having all of the features of an enterprise OS, but is getting less support. Have a Windows tip? Readers receive a gift certificate for a book, CD, or DVD of their choice for sending tips we print. Send us your tips via the Windows Secrets contact page. Scott Dunn is associate editor of the Windows Secrets Newsletter. He has been a contributing editor of PC World since 1992 and currently writes for the Here's How section of that magazine. |
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KNOWN ISSUES Dual-booting XP deletes Vista restore points By Scott Dunn My Feb. 14 article explained how to set up a Vista machine to dual-boot between that OS and Windows XP. But booting to XP on a dual-boot system has the negative side-effect of deleting any Vista restore points, in addition to all but its latest backup file, and a Registry workaround is required to prevent this. XP dual-boot is not system-restore friendly Ian Brown was the first to describe an unfortunate fact of dual-booting XP and Vista:
According to an unofficial site known as VistaX64, the problem is caused by new disk structures Vista uses that XP does recognize. Although there is no perfect solution, Microsoft recommends two different workarounds. Both of the techniques involve preventing XP from accessing the Vista partition. This means you won't be able to use your Vista hard drive when you've booted into XP. However, when you boot into Vista, you will be able to access all your drives, including the partition holding Windows XP. For details on the two workarounds, see Knowledge Base article 926185. Free and easy boot-loader management Commenting on dual-booting Vista and XP, Allan Wright had this to say:
Several miscellaneous dual-boot questions arise When setting up a dual-boot system, Ron Acher has a question about licensing:
In other words, it's a license violation to leave XP running on your old machine. You should note, however, that if you install XP on a new machine and activation fails, you can phone Microsoft, explain the situation, and the operator will usually provide you with a new activation key. Reader Jim Engh speaks for many when he writes:
Having no Vista DVD leaves you without the important repair and recover options the disc includes. Fortunately, Windows Secrets columnist Susan Bradley tells you how to create your own Vista recovery disk in her column in the paid version of today's content. To get the paid content, please see how to upgrade. Michael Gasca was one of many to ask about a situation that's the reverse of the one the article addressed:
First, make sure you have a separate drive or partition that's big enough to hold Windows Vista (roughly 10GB). Next, run the Vista installer, taking care to install Vista on its own drive or partition. The Vista installer will do all the work of setting up the dual-boot menu for you. Readers Brown, Wright, Acher, Engh, and Gasca will each receive a gift certificate for a book, CD, or DVD of their choice for sending comments we printed. Send us your tips via the Windows Secrets contact page. |
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EDITOR'S BOOKSHELF
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WACKY WEB WEEK Roll over, Beethoven
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YOUR SUBSCRIPTION The Windows Secrets Newsletter is published weekly on the 1st through 4th Thursdays of each month, plus occasional news updates. We skip an issue on the 5th Thursday of any month, plus the week of Thanksgiving and the last two weeks of August and December. Publisher: WindowsSecrets.com LLC, Attn: #120 Editor, 1700 7th Ave., Suite 116, Seattle, WA 98101-1323 USA. Vendors, please send no unsolicited packages to this address (readers' letters are fine). Editorial Director: Brian Livingston. Editor-at-Large: Fred Langa. Associate Editor: Scott Dunn. Contributing Editors: Susan Bradley, Mark Edwards, Woody Leonhard, Ryan Russell. Research Director: Vickie Stevens. Program Director: Brent Scheffler. Administrative Assistant: Raef Harrison. Trademarks: Microsoft and Windows are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation. The Windows Secrets series of books is published by Wiley Publishing Inc. The Windows Secrets Newsletter, WindowsSecrets.com, LangaList, LangaList Plus, WinFind, Security Baseline, Patch Watch, Perimeter Scan, Wacky Web Week, the Logo Design (W, S or road, and Star), and the slogan Everything Microsoft Forgot to Mention all are trademarks and service marks of WindowsSecrets.com LLC. All other marks are the trademarks or service marks of their respective owners. HOW TO SUBSCRIBE: Anyone may subscribe to this newsletter by visiting our free signup page. WE GUARANTEE YOUR PRIVACY: 1. We will never sell, rent, or give away your address to any outside party, ever. 2. We will never send you any unrequested e-mail, besides newsletter updates. 3. All unsubscribe requests are honored immediately, period. Privacy policy HOW TO UNSUBSCRIBE: To unsubscribe from the Windows Secrets Newsletter,
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