Manageability

• Windows 7 will extend the reach of what Group Policy can manage, and how settings are applied to specific users or computers, including non-GP aware components.
• Windows 7 will introduce DirectAccess, a capability that allows IT to manage and update internet-connected remote PCs, even when they are off the corporate network, while giving mobile users seamless secure connectivity while on the road without having to open a VPN connection.
• The new Powershell v2 and its graphical editor will help automate repetitive tasks with minimal scripting expertise required.

Security and Compliance

• Windows 7 will provide customisable User Account Control (UAC) that allows IT to “tune” the UAC feature based on their environment.
• For data protection, Windows 7 introduces BitLocker To Go, extending encryption to removable drives. This feature gives greater control over information leaving the corporation, as well as protecting lost or stolen USB drives.
• Windows 7 will also allow greater control of access to specific applications by specific users

Deployment

In Windows 7, system image creation and deployment is enhanced with advances such as Dynamic Driver provisioning, the Deployment Image Service and Management tool, Multicast Multiple Stream Transfer, and improvements to user state migration. 
 

These integrated sever packages aimed specifically at small and medium sized business and provide depoyment, management and security solutions.

Windows Small Business Server 2008

For small businesses running fewer than 75 PCs. Microsoft Small Business Server 2008 runs multiple technologies, which are integrated and configured specifically for small business needs:

• Access to e-mail contacts, calendar and files from anywhere
• Increased reliability of hardware and software
• Internal Web sites for rich collaboration
• Lower costs through easier installation and management
• Better protection with automatic backups and file restoration

Windows Essential Business Server 2008

For mid-sized business. Essential Business Server offers:

• Secure remote access to e-mail, files, and applications
• Streamlined administration console for all included technologies
• Preconfigured platform to Microsoft Best Practices
• Simple, wizard-based setup of key workloads
• Centralised, easy-to-use license management tools

 You can find out more via the Microsoft Webcast: here

Of course, it basically boils down to an underdone release, made too early with inadequate co-operation between Microsoft and driver manufacturers. The article lists 7 major areas where the release really failed: 

Instability

At launch, Vista was much less stable than XP, and the problems weren’t limited to high-end hardware - users with low-end & standard setups also reported instability. Considering that improved stability was one of the biggest promises Microsoft made for Vista, users were understandably upset.

Incompatibility

If a desktop application didn’t follow Vista’s rules for behavior, Vista wouldn’t let it run. The program would fail to load, crash on use, or eat the user’s data, depending on the development infraction. This even affected such mainsrteam programs as Acrobat Reader, iTunes, Trillian, and dozens of others.

Hardware incompatibilities could be just as challenging, and Vista also shipped without support from major VPN manufacturers, including Cisco.

The sheer number and range of compatibility problems meant that every user would be affected in some way.

Performance

New OS releases can suffer from performance issues – but Vista showed dramatic degradation in performance on release. This poor performance affected even the most common of tasks.

User Account Control

Vista brought  improvements in the overall security of Windows, but one of the mechanisms that helps enable that security comes at a high cost – it’s incredibly annoying.

User Account Control, or UAC. Even if you don’t know what it’s called, if you’ve used Vista, you’ve used UAC. It prompts you whenever an app tries to write to an area of your hard disk or registry that Windows finds suspicious. This seems like a good thing but UAC prompts every time the installer does something suspicious. A problem compounded by the fact that each prompt looks and behaves differently, even though they’re all asking for basically the same thing.

To make matters worse, none of the UAC prompts tell users what the application is trying to do. When you click that Allow button, you still don’t know what it is you’re agreeing to.

Activation

Activation was introduced with Windows XP, and Vista activation includes the Windows Genuine Advantage software, which periodically checks in with Microsoft to ensure that the copy of Windows you’ve already activated remains genuine. WGA isn’t foolproof though, and it can be easily confused by something like a BIOS reset.

Version Overload

In the good old days, there were two distinct versions of Windows: one for home users and one for corporate users. For home, you bought Windows 98; IT departments bought Windows NT. With Windows XP, this trend continued, despite the fact that both the home and enterprise versions used the same core.

With Vista, Microsoft added three more versions of Windows, removing crucial features from the low-end release and forcing power users who want access to both work-related and enthusiast features to shell out for the $400 Ultimate edition.  The upgrade path from XP was also inflexible and expensive.

‘One More Thing’

To put it bluntly – Vista didn’t come with any ‘killer’ apps or new features.
 

The full article can be read  here

A ZDNet blog post contains a bit more ‘measured’ information about it along with responses from one of the guys who reported the exploit.

The update will include seven items rated as ‘critical’, the highest of Microsoft’s security alert levels. All of these will address issues that may allow an attacker to remotely execute code on a targeted system.

Four of the critical fixes relate to Office issues, one addresses critical flaws in Windows 2000, XP and Server 2003, another fixes a critical issue in Windows Media Player while the last addresses a critical vulnerability in Internet Explorer.

Also planned are five fixes rated as ‘important’. The patches include two remote code execution flaws in Windows and one in Office. The other two updates address information disclosure vulnerabilities found in Windows Messenger, Outlook Express and Windows itself.

The company plans to release the update on Tuesday 12th August. The release will also include non-security updates for the Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool and the Windows Update, Microsoft Update and Software Update Services

• Win + d – show Desktop
• Win + f- search for files
• Win + g  – cycles through Gadget selections
• Win + l – lock your computer
• Win + m – minimize windows
• Win + t  - cycles through Taskbar programs
• Win + u  – activate the ‘Ease of Use’ Center
• Win + x  – cycle through the ‘Mobility’ Center
• Win + Spacebar  – bring Gadgets to the front

Also – if you use the Quick Launch toolbar, pressing the Win key + a number (from the top row of the keyboard) will launch the corresponding application in the Quick Launch toolbar.

e.g. if your first 4 Quick Launch icons are Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint – If you press Win+2, that will start up Word, Win+4 will start Powerpoint and so on. This only applies to the first 10 QuickLaunch icons Win+0 being the last). 

Once major manufacturers such as Dell and HP have cleared their stocks of machines loaded with XP, then new machines will only be issued with Vista, and anyone wishing to revert to XP will have to buy Vista Ultimate or Vista Business and then legally “downgrade” to XP.

Smaller PC makers will be allowed to buys XP for resale through til January 2009. Cut down versions of XP will also remain available for use on machines such as the Asus Eee PC.

The decision comes despite vociferous protests from large numbers of people unhappy with Vista and amid calls for XP to be kept on-line until the release of the next Windows version 7, pencilled in for sometime in 2009.

Last week, Microsoft said it would provide full technical support for Windows XP through 2009, and limited support through 2014.

Microsoft said that this release followed an earlier preview that was downloaded some 300,000 times and has resulted in a lot of feedback, and as a result, a number of quality improvements.

One improved area is the system’s ability to search across machines. Windows Search 4′s remote discovery service will now let users run data queries between Vista and XP machines, for example.

For now Windows Search 4 is available to download from the Microsoft web site, however, in the future it will be included in the Windows Update service as an option, the firm said.

In April, Microsoft announced the worldwide extension of the availability of Windows for this emerging class of devices that are primarily used for e-mail, accessing the Internet and instant messaging, and the company is seeing much demand among industry partners who want to ensure that customers can have the benefits of Windows on both new and existing devices.

Customers are asking for Windows on these devices because the experience is familiar to existing PC users and easy to learn for customers who are new to computing. Customers want to be able to take advantage of the wide range of applications, devices and online experiences supported by Windows today. Microsoft partners also appreciate Windows-based solutions for these computers because they already know how to build and support high-quality systems that are powered by Windows.

The marketplace for this emerging class of computers has expanded, and Microsoft and its partners are now seeing interest in these devices in developed markets as well, especially as companion devices in multi-PC households. As demand for this new category has grown, both customers and partners have expressed their strong preference that Windows be the operating system on these devices.

“Customers and partners have made it clear to us that they want Windows on their netbooks and nettops,” said Steven Guggenheimer, corporate vice president of the Original Equipment Manufacturer Division at Microsoft. “We are committed to providing Windows solutions for these devices, helping to ensure a high-quality experience for both our partners and customers.”

The company has been investing in this emerging hardware category in a variety of ways, with its efforts around Windows in emerging markets and by extending the availability of Windows to developed markets worldwide. The special class of mobile and desktop devices known as netbooks or nettops is optimized for Internet-based activities such as e-mail, Web browsing and instant messaging. By making it possible for OEMs to offer Windows on these devices, Microsoft enables consumers to have the familiar computing experience they have come to expect, as well as a robust platform that can integrate with their other computers and devices.

“We have seen much demand for Windows on the Eee PC,” said Jerry Sheen, CEO of ASUSTek Computer. “It is great that Microsoft is addressing this customer demand and providing a Windows solution on these devices, which will provide a familiar computing experience.”

“The Asus Eee PC has been and continues to be a very successful product for Cellnet,” said Julian Phua, general manager of Cellnet Group Ltd. “The feedback from our customers in retail and the reseller channel is that they overwhelmingly prefer to sell the Eee PC running with Windows. To move our existing Linux inventory, we are now offering our channel the option of purchasing Windows XP with their Eee units so they can provide a compelling offering for customers.”

Microsoft is working with more than 20 original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) including Acer Inc., ASUSTek Computer Inc., BenQ Corp., Dell Inc., First International Computer Inc., Gigabyte Technology Co. Ltd., HP, Inventec Corp., Lenovo, Medion AG, Micro-Star International Co., Positivo Informatica, Pegatron Corp., Quanta Computer Inc. and Wistron Corp. to deliver Windows-based offerings for consumers.

Source: Microsoft

Due for release in 2010, Windows 7 will come with a touch-screen interface that will allow users to enlarge and shrink photos, trace routes on maps, paint pictures or even play the piano.

Gates said at the All Things Digital conference in San Diego in the countdown to his July departure from the company that Windows 7 would embrace new forms of communication and interaction.

“The way you interact with the system will change dramatically,” he said. ” Today almost all the interaction is keyboard-mouse. Over the years to come, the role of speech, vision, ink – all of those things – will be huge.”

In contrast to the heavy pre-launch hype surrounding Vista, Microsoft has so far revealed little about the company’s next operating system.

Gates was joined by chief executive Steve Ballmer who described the multi-touch screen demonstration as “just a smallest snippet” of Windows 7.