Icons of Imaging members join over 300 professional photographers and industry leaders from around the globe at the first Microsoft Pro Photo Summit to engage in dialogue about latest trends in and future direction of digital photography.

Yesterday at the first Microsoft® Pro Photo Summit, Microsoft Corp. announced the launch of the Icons of Imaging program, designed to celebrate and showcase professional photographers who are recognized around the world as leaders in photography and digital imaging. By displaying a sample of their incredible imagery on the dedicated Icons of Imaging Web site (http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/digitalphotography/prophoto/icons/default.mspx), initial program members Bambi Cantrell, Reed Hoffmann, Denis Reggie, John Shaw, Matthew Jordan Smith and Art Wolfe provide inspiration to other digital imaging photographers to create the best photographic images possible.

“We are delighted to have such a world-renowned group of professional photographers join the Icons of Imaging program at the launch,” said David Vaskevitch, senior vice president and chief technical officer for Business Platform at Microsoft. “The incredible imagery of these professionals has touched many people and inspires the creativity of other enthusiast and professional digital photographers alike.”

Cantrell, Hoffmann, Reggie, Shaw, Smith and Wolfe joined Microsoft executives and over 300 professional photographers and industry insiders from around the globe at the Microsoft Pro Photo Summit to engage in a dialogue about the latest trends in and future direction of digital photography at the professional level, network with key people in the industry, and see demonstrations of the latest technologies.

In addition, Microsoft announced and recognized at the Pro Photo Summit the winners of the Microsoft Future Pro Photographer Contest. A panel including well-known industry insiders from Corbis Corp., Digital Photo Pro Magazine and the Lepp Institute of Digital Imaging reviewed more than 13,000 submissions from 92 countries to choose the grand prize winner and the winners in Nature & Landscape, People & Portraits, and Fine Art categories. The winners are as follows:

•  Grand prize: Alin Popescu, Slobozia, Romania
 
•  Nature & Landscape: Yeang Ch’ng, Boston, Mass.
 
•  People & Portraits: Ho Young Choi, Santa Barbara, Calif.
 
•  Fine Art: Carly Short, Kettering, Ohio
 

“I’m enthusiastic about the creativity and quality of the imagery displayed by many of the aspiring professional photographers participating in the contest,” said Patrick Donehue, vice president of Photographer Services at Corbis and a member of the judges panel. “Microsoft and the contest sponsors encouraged many talented student photographers to take their art to the next level, and I’m excited the contest winners receive a chance to showcase their work and receive worldwide exposure.”

This is from the win9x End Of Support FAQ:

Windows 98, Windows 98 Second Edition, and Windows ME
(including Internet Explorer 6.0 and Windows Media Player for these operating system versions)End of SupportJune 30, 2006

Funny thing is, this page says July 11th: http://www.microsoft.com/windows/support/endofsupport.mspx

 
The FAQ:
Q. What does Microsoft mean when it says it is ending support for Windows 98, Windows 98 Second Edition, and Windows ME?
A. This means that after June 30, 2006, transitioning these products to a non-supported status means that assisted support, including security updates, will end. After this date, Microsoft will no longer provide any incident support options or security updates.
 
(however, Online Support Content will continue to be available through the Microsoft Support Product Solution Center Websites.  This website will continue to host a wealth of previous How-to, Troubleshooting and Configuration content for anyone who may need self-service access to this information. These Product Solution Center websites can be found at http://support.microsoft.com )
 
Q. How many customers are still requiring support for Windows 98 and Windows ME today?
A.  In 2005,  Win9x/ME l made up less than 7% of Customer Support calls received by Microsoft. The latest Gartner client OS market share estimates 14% of 2005 Windows Install Base to be Win9x/ME and then sharply drops the forecast to 5.6% in 2006 and 1.4% in 2007.
 
Q. Why should I consider moving to a newer Windows operating system version?
A. Customers should consider moving to the most recent version of Windows, such as Windows XP, for the following reasons
·         Windows 98, Windows 98 Second Edition and Windows ME are products that are no longer suitable for the security demands of today’s internet environments. 
·         Customers will benefit and stay secure on Windows XP with many of its improved security and protection features.
·         Customers that are not able to obtain Windows XP based versions of their applications are able to run these older applications in Windows 98 compatibility mode within Windows XP
·         Microsoft is not offering a Custom Support Agreement for these products.
 
Q: Is this a way for Microsoft to force its customers to upgrade to Windows XP?
A: No.  Windows 98 and Windows ME have been on the market for over 7 and 5 years respectively. We’ve received feedback from customers that they are pleased at our decision to extend support, originally ending in January 2003, to June 30, 2006.  Because these older operating systems are no longer suitable for today’s security and application demands, we hope customers, who have continued to delay moving to a  secure and updated operating system like Windows XP, begin planning their migrations.
 
Q. Why is this announcement so sudden?
This announcement is not a last minute announcement. As early as December 2002, we had announced an original end-of-support date for Windows 98, 98SE and ME for January 2003.  We later extended the end-of-support date to June 2006 to allow customers enough time to migrate to a new and updated Windows operating system in order to continue receiving security and hotfix support.  This last wave of communications is a final reminder for those who have postponed or delayed migrating from Windows 98 or Windows ME to Windows XP to finally put their plans into action.
 
Q. Why will Microsoft no longer provide public security support for Windows 98 and Windows ME?
The importance of a secure computing platform has never been greater. Over the past decade, security vulnerabilities that could not have been anticipated have emerged. Microsoft has responded with new design methodologies, coding practices and test procedures. These enhancements are included in new platforms such as Windows XP and even more enhanced in the upcoming release of Windows Vista.  These newer platforms offer our customers a far greater level of security than is possible with Windows 98 and Windows ME.  You need to remember that Windows 98 and Windows ME were developed before the era of sophisticated Internet based attacks. These products have reached the point of architectural obsolescence. It would be irresponsible to convey a false sense of security by extending public support for these old products.
 
Q What is Microsoft’s liability if customers experience serious security threats based on Microsoft Windows 98 and Windows ME operating systems?
A. We won’t comment on legal issues. As a reminder, Microsoft began recommending that customers evaluate upgrades beginning in 2002 as we announced the milestones the public should expect with our Support Lifecycle Policy. Taking advantage of updated platforms allows customers to stay secure on the updated OS versions with many of its improved security and protection features.
 
 
Q. Will there be 3rd parties that can continue supporting my installations of Windows 98?
There are still multiple companies in the market today that are able to provide for-fee configuration support for Windows 98 and Windows ME computers.  They do not, however, have access to the code base to be able to create hotfix and security fixes. The absence of the critical types of support components from their capabilities should encourage customers to quickly migrate to more up-to-date versions of Microsoft Windows.
 
Also, Online Support Content will continue to be available through the Microsoft Support Product Solution Center Websites.  This website will continue to host a wealth of previous How-to, Troubleshooting and Configuration content for anyone who may need self-service access to this information. These Product Solution Center websites can be found at http://support.microsoft.com
 
 
Q. What resources does Microsoft offer to companies or individuals that have yet to migrate to a newer Windows operating system?
Customers who are able to access the internet should visit the Windows XP Resource Kit  to find out more information about migration to Windows XP.  This assistance resource helps customers understand the requirements and Application Compatibility implications of migrating from Windows 98/ME to XP.

 

Fatir Siddiqui

Don't get me wrong, they make great hardware, but Creative is not known for their efficiency in writing drivers for their hardware. Their Beta 1 drivers are relatively buggy compared to other Beta 1 drivers on the market for Graphics Cards, Network Cards etc, but with a big enough target market and enough technical staff I see no reason why they can't keep up. Since Beta 2 was released, Creative has offered no support for it for their products, and many refuse to work with their Beta 1 driver predecessors.

In their defence, Microsoft has made big changes to the way audio works in Windows Vista. When audio made its debut in Windows 3.1, it was built around a set of APIs that allowed one application at a time to play audio. When Windows 98 came along, this was redesigned around the Windows Driver Model (WDM), which together with a number of architectural changes allowed multiple applications to play audio at the same time and for Windows to mix them together on-the-fly Since then, the concept has remained the same - and with it remained a number of problems. It struggles to meet the demands of professional audiophiles, it is extremely difficult to resolve problems with the audio paths (due to the fact the design interface still stems from Windows 3.1), and most importantly of all: it's kernel level design makes it one of the most instable and error-prone components of the Windows OS.

Until now. After the RTM of Windows XP, Microsoft made the radical decision of re-designing the entire concept of Audio on Windows. To appease both everyday users and audiophiles alike, Microsoft has rewritten the entire audio user interface from scratch - say goodbye to Windows 3.1-stylie Mixers and Audio Options! Amongst other options, you can mix the output from each application individually - you can have Half Life 2 running at half volume while Windows Media Player runs at full volume. Not all the changes are visible from the UI, everything except the actual audio driver has been moved out of the kernel into user-mode space, which will lead to much greater stability for audio drivers and related components, and the actual OS itself.

So Creative is off the hook? Not quite. It is hard to believe Microsoft gave Creative (one of the largest, if not the largest supplier of dedicated audio devices on the market) so little notice about the architectural change that they are struggling to release Beta drivers to Windows Vista testers. The Beta programme is designed to iron out all the kinks in the OS - a new audio architecture must be relatively high on the list of functionality that needs testing, and Creative dragging their feet with native drivers doesn't help that.

Well, for those that have had similar exasperation with Creative as I have, there is some good news. My contact tells me Creative is preparing some new Beta 2 content. Creative X-Fi users (of which I am one) will be delighted to hear that Beta 2 drivers are imminent - scheduled to be released in early July. Owners of other devices that were supplied with Beta 1 drivers should expect Beta 2 drivers sometime in July - Creative will be releasing more accurate release dates in the near future. Not only that, given the recent improvements to stability in Windows Vista and its codebase, Creative Beta 2 drivers should prove to be more reliable than its Beta 1 predecessors.

Regardless, Microsoft has vastly improved the Windows Audio experience - users will notice big improvements in reliability, functionality and accessibility, and is arguable the biggest update to the Windows Audio concept since it's introduction. I don't doubt it will be a success!

 

Fatir Siddiqui

Microsoft shipped Wednesday the first beta version of its server operating system. The release was made available through Connect as usual, to testers who applied to the Technical beta program.

As opposite to Microsoft's prior habits, the program was in the Available Programs section, instead of being invite-only. The program is still available as of now, so those who didn't know about it can still apply to be part of the test.

Microsoft describes the Service Pack the following way:
"Service Pack 2 is a conventional service pack consisting of all security updates, all individual hotfixes released to customers and fixes to reduce top customer support issues as well as increase reliability, robustness, and security. Service Pack 2 is the first Service Pack for Windows XP x64 Professional SKU," 

Download: https://connect.microsoft.com/site/sitehome.aspx?SiteID=98

Fa.S.

NVidia released a development kit Wednesday that will allow handheld manufacturers to add support for various multimedia functions, including digital television and 3D graphics, to Windows Media 5.0 devices. Dubbed the MobileMedia platform, the kit includes both hardware and software components.

"Handheld phones today offer great promise as digital, media-rich devices, however the broad range of platforms and standards available to manufacturers has made the development of advanced handsets that deliver compelling content, a daunting and time-prohibitive task," said Philip Carmack, senior vice president of handheld GPUs at NVidia.

Both Microsoft and NVidia say this would speed the development time of advanced handsets using Windows Mobile 5.0.

Jason Lim, Microsoft's Asia Pacific and Japan regional director for Windows Mobile acknowledged that customers had been asking for more robust combinations of lifestyle and productivity applications. Lim said the partnership would help make those requests a reality.

Several devices based on the MobileMedia platform are already in the works, including devices from Samsung, HTC / Modeo, and ReignComm. NVidia is also working with Intel and Freescale on reference designs for devices to be announced later in the year.

"This new product represents a complete solution for device manufacturers, delivering an easy-to-integrate, high-performing multimedia platform for handhelds using the Windows Mobile 5.0 operating system," Carmack said.

 

 

 

Fatir Siddiqui

Microsoft have just released Internet Explorer 7 Beta 3 to the public. The new beta build is available for all the major Windows Platforms. The new beta holds the build number 5450.4, and was compiled on the 23rd of this month.

At a glance, some of the new noticeable features include the ability to drag/move tabs, a few icon/UI changes, as well as some bug fixes and cleanups.

Choose your platform below to download IE7 Beta 3:

 

Fatir Siddiqui