Microsoft Faces "Downgrade" Lawsuit

A lawsuit has been filed suing Microsoft Corp. over the fee charged to "downgrade" Windows Vista on a new laptop to Windows XP.

The case which has been filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington in Seattle, by Los Angeles resident Emma Alvarado seeks the return the fee paid for downgrading a Lenovo PC with Windows Vista Business preinstalled to Windows XP Professional. Alvarado is asking for the return of $59.25 which was added to the cost of her laptop purchased on June 20, 2008, according to the suit.

Alvarado is looking to expand the scope of the lawsuit by inviting others who have paid fees to downgrade to XP to join the suit (PDF) and is requesting refunds for them as well.

As a result of dissatisfaction over Vista many users have opted to "downgrade" their PCs to Windows XP, studies showed approximately 1/3 of Vista PCs had been downgraded.

Many customers who purchased PCs with Vista installed opted to downgrade to XP because they weren't happy with Vista's "numerous problems," according to Alvarado's suit. "As a result, many consumers would prefer to purchase a new computer preinstalled with the Windows XP operating system or at least not preinstalled with the Vista operating system," according to the filing.

According to the lawsuit by charging for those downgrades Microsoft and the OEM manufactures violated Washington state's Unfair Business Practices Act and the Consumer Protection Act.

"Microsoft has used its power to coerce OEMs, Internet access providers, and others into agreeing to restrictive and anti-competitive licensing terms for its Windows XP operating system in order to stifle competition in the market," according to Alvarado's complaint. "Microsoft did so in order to maintain, protect, and extend its market power in operating systems software into the next generation of personal computing, to lessen competition, and to enhance its monopoly position," Alvarado claims.

"Since the introduction of Vista, Microsoft has effectively eliminated competition in the operating system PC market and created a monopoly position for itself in that market," Alvarado claims in papers filed this week in U.S. District Court in Seattle.

Along with a refund of the downgrade fees Alvarado is seeking unspecified damages and wants the court to make her case a class action suit. Microsoft has yet to file a formal response to the allegations. and has yet to comment on the case.

Windows 7 Beta 1 Initial Thoughts

I was writing this post over the weekend, after walking away from it for a day and coming back to it this morning it occurred to me that it looked and felt more like a full fledged review rather than just an initial response. Not wanting to jump the gun and create a totally negative post I figured I better save some of what I've wrote for my full review and cut this down to the basics.

I've got it installed now what?

After Friday's short delays I finally got the software downloaded and installed, the installations was fairly quick and painless. After your first boot and a few setup options you are starring at a clean desktop. Both Vista and Windows 7 are plagued with what I can "icons for the blind", over sized icons that I can't stand. Windows 7 by default uses these new larger icons for the new taskbar, something I had to remedy immediately.

Luckily that is easy to fix. To shrink the desktop icons hold down the control key (CTRL) and use your mouse's scroll wheel to scroll either up or down depending on how big or small you want them. To change the taskbar icons right click on the task bar and check the small icons box. I know this might be a matter of personal preference and some users might like the larger icons but to me it looks too elementary. Like Microsoft is dumbing down the OS.

Large icons aside users that love Vista are going to love Windows 7 even more. Outside the new taskbar the user interface (UI) is bascially unchange. So you'll feel right at home.


Improved performance

Every review I've seen has said that Windows 7 is supposedly a lean mean Vista and XP killing machine. That the beta uses less resources than both previous operating systems. Personally I find it hard to believe that it uses less resources than XP. From my initial testing I didn't see much difference in boot times, speed or overall performance from Vista. The fresh install, with fewer applications, used roughly 8-10 fewer processes than my current Vista install, but that was still several more than my current XP install.

Memory usage between Windows 7 and Vista seemed to be about the same. This could be due to the way both Operating System cache memory, they hold as much memory as possible available for programs and release it as needed. It could also be that they both use a lot of meory. Since I haven't installed any applications that use a ton of memory like PhotoShop or Microsoft Office I didn't get to thoroughly test the memory usage. With just Firefox installed and most of my add-ons enabled I didn't see much difference. Again I just wanted to get a feel for the OS and not do any over the top testing.

The wow factor!

Aero Peek, unified program launchers and a jump list are all features of the new taskbar that add to Windows 7's wow factor. These are a few more of the things you are either going to really like or going to really hate.

Pinned programs become a window switchers that creates a single button on the task bar for each program and all of its corresponding windows. On mouse over you get interactive thumbnails that allow you to manage your open windows. Mouse over also enables Aero Peek, the window under the mouse pointer will appear on the desktop and all other windows fade away into glass sheets.

I'm a little on the fence over these new features. Aero Peek is great but I'm not sure about the unified program launchers. This is one of those features that will take some time getting use to, so I really don't want to say its a bad feature. More on the new Windows 7 taskbar.

Let's not forget about the new paint

Last night while posting some screenshots in a thread over at Techimo.com I stumbled upon the newest version of MS paint. Now it might not be relevant to testing a new operating system but its one of those things that caught me by surprise. The interface will remind users of something from Office 2007, which for me is a bad thing. But the program seems to have gained a little more functionality and usefulness.

Final thoughts

Windows 7 for the most part feels like Vista Second Edition or as a friends said, "what Vista should have been when it was released." There are several other features that are included that I have yet to test, therfore I didn't bother mentioning them.

I didn't bother with any in game testsat this time since I wanted to do an accurate side by side comparison to either Vista or XP. I want to test Windows 7 with all my daily apps installed and see how accurate the perforamce reports are. But from my initial views they reports I've seen are nothing more than hype.

Microsoft Answers Beta Seeks To Answer Windows Vista Questions

Microsoft has launched a new web site geared towards answering common questions from Windows Vista users, Answers.Microsoft.com. The free Q&A site is an official forum for Windows tech support that is run by actual Microsoft employees willing to help out users.

Answer seekers are given three options to help you find the most relevant answer to your question. A search bar to search previously answered questions, browsing with Find Answers or Ask the community, where you can get answers from fellow members or Microsoft staff.



During my testing the search bar wasn't functional so I had to opt for testing the other two options. I consider myself a "power user" so I rarely have questions that need answered. But there has been one thing nagging me about Vista and that was the large icon size. So I began with that.

Clicking on the find answers tab (or browse) brings you to a straightforward page that will remind you of the Vista control panel. On this page you get answers to the most common Windows Vista questions.



Clicking the Appearance and Personalization category I immediately saw the answer to my question. From there you are taken to the Microsoft Answers Forum, where you'll see your answer was asked and answered. In this case Keith, a Support Engineer, posted the answer with follow up from another user. Both answers were very helpful, the answer from the user was actually a little more helpful.

Ask The Community, varies from the find answers tab on slightly. Clicking the tab takes you to the same landing page, which gives you the same category options. The difference is clicking those categories takes you directly to the forums rather than showing some of the popular questions.

The forums looked very user friendly, with nothing too over done or over complicated. To use the forums you will need a Live ID (Hotmail or Live emails work). Each forum was well categorized with a standard format. There are stickies at the top with answers to some of the more common questions. You are provided with easy to follow visual ques as the threads that are unresolved feature a question mark, resolved threads featured a check mark and threads with a proposed answer have a check mark over a question mark.

Posts can be voted on for usefulness with more helpful users gaining reputation points. Any post can be nominated as a proposed answer, however I'm not certain who has final say on whether or not that actually was the answer, I'd assume it was the original poster.

The site is still in beta so I did run into a few issues. As mentioned the search bar wasn't working at all. A couple times I reached site errors telling me the site was too busy. I also experienced slow load times. All of which is pretty normal for a new site. I was surprised that Microsoft is limiting the website to just Vista-related questions and answers. XP might be on its last leg but what about Windows 7 ? What happens when it hits the streets, will the site be divided into two, or will Microsoft convert the site to only cover Windows 7 questions?

Vista SP2 Due Out In April

According to TechARP.com Microsoft will deliver Windows Vista Service Pack 2 (SP2) to manufacturing in April 2009. TechARP.com has been noted for correctly calling the release dates of previous service packs including Vista SP1 and XP SP3.

What's New In Windows Vista SP2?

• Adds Windows Search 4.0 for faster and improved relevancy in searches.
• Contains the Bluetooth® 2.1 Feature Pack supporting the most recent specification for Bluetooth Technology.
• Ability to record data on to Blu-Ray™ media natively in Windows Vista.
• Adds Windows Connect Now (WCN) to simplify Wi-Fi Configuration.
• Enables the exFAT file system to support Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) timestamps, which allows correct file synchronization across time zones.

As mentioned back in October, Microsoft has already created a place holder Knowledge Base Article related to the forthcoming SP2 releases. According to the knowledge base and previous reports Microsoft issued the beta of Vista SP2 to a limited number of testers about a month ago. So far there is no official word from Microsoft on a release date and the company officials have so far only committed to shipping the update sometime in the first half of next year.

Microsoft to Releases Vista SP2 Beta To Testers This Week

Microsoft Corp. said last Friday that they would deliver the beta of Windows Vista Service Pack 2 (SP2) this coming week to a limited number of testers. Vista SP2 beta is expected to be seeded for download for a small number of testers in the Technology Adoption Program, a limited group of company partners and customers, on Oct. 29.

Mike Nash, vice president of Windows product management, released on the Windows Vista Team Blog on Friday, Celine Allee, a director in the Windows client IT team, followed with more information, including a tentative ship date.

"We anticipate broad availability for Windows Vista SP2 in the first half of 2009," Allee said.

Earlier this month we reported that Microsoft might be close to a Vista SP2 beta and that they had created a place holder for a Knowledge base article for the forthcoming release. At that time Neowin.net broke the news about the new SP2 beta testing release when they reported that testers had received invitations to join the beta program.

Microsoft has confirmed that SP2 will include Windows Search 4, Bluetooth 2.1 wireless support and support for Via Technologies Inc.'s 64-bit processor. There will also be added Blu-Ray support with the ability to record data on to Blu-Ray media natively in Windows Vista and the Windows Connect Now (WCN) utility to simplify Wi-Fi Configuration.

Windows Search 4.0 is the newest version of Microsoft's desktop search engine and was issued to current Vista users via Windows Update last July; Microsoft released Bluetooth 2.1 support for Vista last April as part of the Vista Feature Pack.

Other improvements slated for Vista SP2, said Allee, include faster resume from sleep when a wireless connection has been broken; enabling of the exFAT file system to support UTC timestamps; and support for Blu-ray.

Microsoft also said that Vista SP2 will require SP1 as a prerequisite.

Vista SP2 Due Out Before Windows 7

Microsoft has created a place holder Knowledge Base Article related to the forthcoming SP2 releases. The article has sparked rumors and peaked interested that Microsoft may have already shipped beta versions of SP2 to select hardware and software partners along with early builds of Windows 7.

History suggests that the service pack will arrive before the next release of Windows, meaning that we could see Vista SP2 sometime soon, given that Microsoft wants Windows 7 out the door as soon as possible.

In a blog post Mary Jo Foley over at ZDNet blogs claims sources have provided the following information:

• Microsoft’s goal is to deliver both SP2 releases before it delivers Windows 7 in order to lessen confusion among users as to whether to deploy Vista and Windows Server 2008 — or to wait for Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 (a k a Windows 7 Server). Currently, Microsoft is believed to be attempting to RTM Windows 7 in the second half of 2009. The Softies have said Windows Server 2008 R2 is on track for 2010.


• Because Microsoft is trying to keep Windows client and server code in lock-step, Windows Server 2008 was built around the Vista SP1 codebase. That’s why the first standalone service pack for Server 2008 is being called SP2. As many customers still are reticent to deploy a new OS until the first standalone SP goes out, Microsoft also is pushing to get SP2 for server out there to convince these users to consider upgrading.


• The biggest deliverable in SP2 for Windows Server 2008 will be the integration of the Hyper-V bits with the server OS.

According to a spokesperson for the Vista team: “Microsoft is working on a second Windows Vista server pack (Windows Vista SP2) and will share more details in the coming months.” A spokesperson for the Server team says “The comment (above) serves for Windows Server as well; Microsoft is not commenting further on the timing/release plans for WS08 SP2 at this time, but will share more details in the coming months.”

Vista user might be looking forward to the release of SP2, but it sounds like most of people have a "wait to see" attitude and are going to hold off until Windows “7” makes its debut. According to Gartner survey data 61 percent of consumers are skipping Windows Vista all together – a lot of these people are comparing the release of Vista to the release of Windows ME. Technology aside, it’s the timing, and no need for it right now – seems to be a general consensus among those wanting to skip.

The timing of the release of Vista's second service pack and the upcoming release of Windows 7 has left some speculation that Windows 7 might just be a supercharged version of Vista SP2. Microsoft has already confirmed that Windows 7 will be based on the current Vista OS shell and Steve Ballmer'ss recent comments, "Windows Vista is good; Windows 7 is Windows Vista with cleanup in user interface [and] improvements in performance," can leave you wondering.

When asked if Windows 7 will be a major release or just a minor polishing of Vista Ballmer took exception to the idea, stating "It's a real release, because it's a lot more work than a minor release. It turns out you can [do] more than just a minor release in what is essentially a two-and-a-half-year period of time. There's no reason to do just 'a minor release' in two and a half years."

I guess we'll just have to wait and see how big these supposed changes are, or if Windows 7 is indeed just a refined version of Windows Vista. I for one will be holding onto my XP as long as I can.

Study Shows 35% Of Vista PCs Downgraded To XP

According to market research firm Devil Mountain Software, which runs a global community-based network to collect “real-world” metrics from windows computers, almost 35% of users who purchased a PC within the past six months downgraded from Windows Vista to Windows XP. Apparently, this trend continues, despite the fact that Microsoft officially retired Windows XP from retail and OEM channels back in June.

The survey covered more than 3000 users who voluntarily provided data to Devil Mountain's exo.performance.network. Devil Mountain came up with final results by matching vendor and system ID data from the exp.performance.network database and comparing it with system vendor offerings, which enables the firm to estimate the number of systems most likely shipped within the past six months.

"Either these machines were downgraded by Dell or HP, or they were downgraded by the user after they got the machine," said Devil Mountain's chief technology officer Craig Barth. "In any case, these machines are no longer running Vista." The EULAs for Vista Business (including Vista Enterprise) and Vista allows end users to downgrade to Windows XP Professional. Barth noted that 35% is an estimate rather than an exact figure. However, he considers the result an indication that "people are taking advantage of Vista's downgrade rights."

The study does not mention the reasons customer give for using the downgrade option so frequent it just gives an estimate on the total numbers that have been downgraded. However, the news about the survey’s findings contradicts Microsoft’s expectations of stronger Vista sales in the short term. The downgrade option will bed phased out in a few months and then customers won’t have the alternative anymore.

There may be a glimmer of hope coming from Microsoft as soon as next year with Microsoft set to reveal Windows Seven features as early as next month. Until then I suggest anyone wanting to avoid Vista to check out DistroWatch.com and try some of my favorite Linux distributions, which include Open Suse, Slackware and Ubuntu.

Microsoft Tricks Vista Haters With "Mojave", But Does It Really Mean Anything

Microsoft's "Mojave Experiment" was a marketing idea that Microsoft put into action about two weeks ago. The experiment has recently received a huge amount of coverage, mostly due to the fact that Microsoft duped people into believing they were using a new OS rather than just using Vista.

Over the course of three days, Microsoft showed 120 Mac, Linux, Windows XP, and Windows 2000 users in San Francisco an HP Pavilion DV 2000 with 2GB of RAM that had on it a "new" version of Windows, codenamed "Mojave."

When asked about their experience with Mojave, over 90 percent said they were impressed with what they saw. That's when Microsoft told them they had actually been using Windows Vista all along.

Currently very little is know about the projects participants, their previous experiences with Vista, amount of computer knowledge or why they had a negative perception of Vista. But the question remains, does duping people into liking the "flash" that Vista has to offer really mean anything?

If you hand select a PC install only a limited amount of programs on it and sit an average user in front of it they probably would be "wowed" by Vista. After all how many home users really look under the hood of the systems they are running. We don't know what types of tasks the participants were asked to do nor do we know how much control over the PC they actually had. But I'm guessing they were limited to basic tasks.

Now the argument can easily be made that despite early technical challenges, of which there were many, Vista's biggest problems today are primarily ones of perception. Users that tried out Vista in its early stages saw numerous issues many of which most likely have been fixed.

This however doesn't mean that these perceptions are wrong it simply means Microsoft should have worked hard to put their best foot forward and put together a better OS to begin with. I'd never completely write off using Vista simply because I had issues with it in the beginning if I did I wouldn't be using XP or any PC for that matter, once I build a system that I know will be completely Vista compatible and capable I'll probably try it again. The fact that I have 2 free copies sitting in my desk and XP is going to be getting harder to buy helps that decision a little!

OS Smackdown: Linux vs. Mac OS X vs. Windows Vista vs. Windows XP

Computerworld throws together another great article when they asked four experts to lay out their best arguments in support of their desktop operating systems of choice:

• James Turner for Linux
• Michael DeAgonia for Mac OS X
• Preston Gralla for Windows Vista
• David Ramel for Windows XP

Each is of these guys are positive that their choice in operating system is the best and they try their hardest to convince you that they are right. These are not rational, disengaged reviews; these are opinionated essays meant to sway your point of view and I will say they do make some interesting arguments for their side.
When you've read all the arguments, you make the call by voting in their reader poll -- and of course your own arguments or comments are welcome.

PWN to OWN Sponsors Say Linux Not Immune To Hacking

PWN to OWN sponsors say it was actually a lack of interest in hacking Ubuntu not its immunity that saved it from falling victim to the hacking contest.

"There was just no interest in Ubuntu," said Terri Forslof, manager of security response at 3Com Corp.'s TippingPoint. She continued to say, "[Shane Macaulay's] exploit would have worked on Linux. He could have knocked it over. But [the contestants] get a lot more mileage out of attacks on the Mac or Windows."

Finding vulnerabilities for Mac and Windows are the ones that are going to get the press so obviously those are the ones you'd go after. there isn't a big draw to hack Linux machines, you don't get a lot of notoriety.

Last week we reported that the MacBook Air was the first victim of the contest. With the Vista equipped laptop falling second. However the Ubuntu equipped laptop could just have easily been the second victim leaving Vista unhacked.

Everyone has been quick to jump aboard Ubuntu and Linux and say its unhackable. In this case it simply isn't true. No one managed to crack any of the operating systems alone. It wasn't until the attack exposure was expanded that we saw any of the machines breached. First to any client-side application installed by default with the operating system, then to a larger group of third-party applications added to the machines.

Hacking operating systems is a lot hard to do than attacking applications. For the most part finding those types of vulnerabilities is also going to net you a lot more money than the contest offered. So it was unlikely that even if the contestants knew about any that they'd use them. Using application vulnerabilities found, and exploited, in applications such as Internet Explorer, Microsoft Word, Firefox, Adobe Reader and others is faster and easier.

According to ComputerWorld Vista Service Pack 1 was a lot tougher to hack than Shane Macaulay first thought.

"SP1 was a huge challenge to him," said Forslof. "When he walked in, he was strutting, he was going to own [that machine], he was going to break it in two minutes, he was going to wow the crowd."

Hover it didn't happen that way. Macaulay had prepared an exploit, but had very little time to test it on SP1. So he had to use a few more tricks and tactics to get the ball rolling.

"Microsoft has built a lot of things into its OS to make exploiting vulnerabilities more challenging," Forslof said, ticking off several defensive technologies, including ASLR (address space layout randomization). "Shane had to use some tricks to get that exploit to work on SP1."

According to Forslof, the Flash vulnerability Macaulay exploited on the Vista SP1 notebook is multiplatform and is present on both Mac OS X and Linux. So his exploit could have worked to bring down either of those machines as well.

If you'd like to read more about the contest checkout ComputerWorld's article Linux ignored, not immune, says hacker contest sponsor

Having Vista Issues, Blame Nvidia MS Does

According to documents released from the ongoing Microsoft "Vista Capable" lawsuit 48 percent of Vista crashes where related to graphical drivers. Thirty percent of those Vista crashes were attributed to Nvidia software drivers.

While this information puts Nvidia directly in the spot light it doesn't take blame away from Microsoft, who has been accused of caving to pressure from Intel and others to lower its requirements specifically its graphics to include less-than-optimal graphics drivers. Microsoft itself was to blame for nearly 18 percent of graphical issue, while Intel and AMD were said to be responsible for 9 percent.

All this has come to via the 'Vista Capable' lawsuit. The suit claims that the labeling of computers as "Windows Vista Capable" misled consumers because many of the machines weren't powerful enough to run all of Vista's features, such as the Aero user interface.

In 2006 when Vista first made its big splash 'Vista Capable' was a huge marketing strategy. One that led many unknowing, unsuspecting consumers to buy machines they thought were powerful enough to run any version of Vista. However many of the computers touted as Vista Capable could run only the stripped-down "Home Basic" version.

What does this mean to Nvidia, probably not much, I highly doubt they will be named in any part of the lawsuit anytime soon. Nvidia PR director Derek Perez has said "These issues are a year and a half old." Noting the company took a number of steps in response to the issues, including establishing a Web site where people could report such issues and said the company made significant progress in reducing those errors.

Vista Laptop Becomes Pwn to Own's Second Victim

A laptop running Vista Ultimate, was compromised by a previously undiscovered flaw in Adobe's Flash software making it the second victim to be hacked by Pwn to Own contestants.

Shane Macaulay and Derek Callaway of Security Objectives along with Alexander Sotirov, were able to gain control of the Fujitsu laptop using an Adobe Flash zero day vulnerability. They are the second successful team to hack a machine at the PWN to OWN contest at the CanSecWest security conference. However, since the rules had been relaxed, they only get $5,000 and the laptop of course.

Yesterday ISE security researchers Charlie Miller, Jake Honoroff, and Mark Daniel used a zero-day vulnerability in Apple's Safari 3.1 Web browser to hack the MacBook Air in just two minutes.

It looks like at the end of the last day of the contest, only the Sony VAIO laptop running Ubuntu, a popular linux distro, was left standing.

Microsoft Offers Free Vista SP1 Support

Amidst a barrage of gripes over Vista SP1 driver issues, blue screens of death and other related malfunctions Microsoft has announced it will be offering free support to any Windows Vista user experiencing problems with installing Service Pack 1 (SP1).

"[Anyone] needing technical support regarding your installation of Windows Vista SP1, please go to the following URL and choose the bottom option that says, 'Windows Vista Service Pack 1 (All Languages),'" said Brandon LeBlanc, a Microsoft employee who posted several comments to the company's Vista blog. The link LeBlanc pointed users to led to a Vista SP1-specific support site.

The SP1 support site offers support via e-mail, online chat and telephone during operation hours. Free phone support is available from 5 a.m. to 9 p.m. Pacific time on weekdays and from 6 a.m. to 3 p.m. Pacific time on weekends. The free support will be available for one year, and it covers installation and compatibility issues.

Normally, Microsoft offers no-cost support only to users who bought Windows at retail. Users who obtained the operating system already installed on a PC are referred to the computer manufacturer or reseller; the company's for-fee support runs $59 per request unless the user or business has a prepaid support plan with Microsoft.

Vista SP1 On Windows Update This Tuesday

Microsoft's Windows Vista Blog already announced "Announcing the RTM of Windows Vista SP1" and gave us a target date for the mass release to public of "mid-March". Now several sites including Amazon.com and TechARP.com, the Malaysian Web site that nailed the update's release to manufacturing (RTM) date several days early, have said thats users would be able to download SP1 starting Tuesday, March 18.

The service pack has already been made available to OEMs, previous beta testers, volume licensing customers and subscribers to IT subscription services and has been leaked to torrent sites. However this is the first time it has been made available to the general public.

When asked by ComputerWorld.com to confirm the release date a Microsoft spokeswoman only repeated the company's earlier statements. "In mid-March, we will release Windows Vista SP1 to Windows Update and the download center on microsoft.com," she said in an e-mail. "Customers who visit Windows Update can choose to install Service Pack 1. Any system that Windows Update determines has a driver known to not upgrade successfully will not be offered SP1."

Microsoft recently cut Vista prices up to 48% in some parts of the world. With significantly smaller cuts of 15-20% here in the US.

Microsoft Cuts Vista Prices

Microsoft has announced plans to cut retail prices on several Vista versions once service pack one is released to the public.

Windows Vista Ultimate will drop to $319 from $399 for the full version and down to $219 from $259 for an "upgrade" version. Vista Home Premium will be slashed down to $129 from $239. And for users that are ready to take the Vista plunge yet Microsoft said it would continue to sell Windows XP until June 2008.

Vista SP1 Integration Update

Slipstreaming Vista SP1

I've received several questions since my last post "Vlite Vista SP1 Integration". As I mentioned in that previous post, the folks over at WinBeta.org have the only comprehensive guide to SP1 integration. Yesterday they updated the guide with a little more information for those that are still seeking answers.

The latest post "Windows Vista SP1 Slipstreaming FAQ" quotes Kevin Remde from Microsoft and his Technet blog post "I can't do WHAT?! Why can't I create my own slipstreamed installation of Windows Vista SP1?".

As you can see the reverse integration method used by the folks at WinBeta.org is currently the only method that will work! Vlite will still work for creating the ISO and ultimately creating the DVD, however you won't be able to remove unwanted Vista or Vista SP1 components.

Vlite Vista SP1 Integration

According to Vlite and Winbeta Microsoft has confirmed that there will be no way to directly slipstream SP1 into Vista.

Of course, that doesn't mean it can't be done and the guys over at WinBeta have been working hard on the problem. They've released a Vista SP1 Reverse Integration Guide which will walk users through an involved process of reverse integration.

After looking over the guide I'll say this is for more advanced users and is probably not for the average user. This of course is not official nor an easy method. However it does look possible, and I'm sure they'll be researching a way to come up with a less complicated method.

Vlite Vista Installation Customizer

The developers of the popular Windows XP customizer Nlite have now worked their magic on a new customizer for Windows Vista. Vlite is designed to streamline your Vista installations and remove any unwanted Vista components. Items such as Windows Media Player, Windows Mail, Windows Photo Viewer, Wallpapers and other utilities can be removed before installation.

Vlite also allows for integration of other components such as hotfixes, drivers and language packs into the new image and has an unattended install function. This tool doesn't use any kind of hacking, all files and registry entries are protected as they would be if you install the unedited version only with the changes you select.

Techworld recently featured an article titled ""New utility cuts Vista install down to size" that provides a few more details, and a few things to watch out for when using this utility.

I've used Nlite for years to streamline and slipstream things into Xp install Cd's and personally give it a thumbs up. Its a must have for anyone that has the old SP1 install CD or simply anyone that doesn't want to spend hours downloading all the hotfixes and add-ons after a fresh install.

The verdict: Leopard spanks Vista, continues OS X's reign of excellence

November 07, 2007 (Computerworld) -- This story caps off a truly comprehensive wave of Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard coverage from Computerworld. Our readers have asked for more operating system coverage, and we're delivering.

Our Week of Leopard package covers many aspects of what's new in the latest Apple operating system, everything from Leopard Server, improvements for developers and changes to user accounts to nitty-gritty details on Time Machine and the other bundled apps and utilities in OS X 10.5. We've also compiled a comprehensive image gallery of Leopard's new look and features, as well as a rundown of its highs and lows. The stories in our Leopard package have been researched and written by at least half a dozen Mac experts.

The questions that remain are these: Is Leopard a truly great OS? How does it stack up against its predecessor, Tiger, and Windows Vista? Should you get this thing for yourself? Should you recommend it for your company?

Vis-a-vis Vista

Given the timing of Mac OS X's release, the somewhat lukewarm response to Microsoft's Windows Vista by many IT shops, and even the similarity in the areas of concentration pursued by Apple and Microsoft -- a comparison between Leopard and Vista is inescapable. Both companies emphasized efforts to improve usability and add features to their bundled software.

Both added transparency to their user interfaces. Both heavily revised the structure and management of their user accounts. Both enhanced parental controls, upgraded their onboard e-mail programs and added new versions of their browsers. Both did fairly significant behind-the-scenes work to boost their video and animation capabilities, as well as to better support third-party software development.

Throughout the four years of the Vista development process, I tested and evaluated at least 15 different alphas and betas of the operating system, spending hundreds of hours evaluating the late prereleases and the final editions. Likewise, I spent countless hours testing Leopard, both in prerelease form and the final version now available to the public. What I found after all that testing is that despite their similarities on paper, Leopard and Vista are nothing alike.

Vista has a cover-Microsoft's-butt, designed-by-corporate-committee feel, while Leopard tightly adheres to Apple's well-honed user-interface design principles. In numerous small ways, Apple has improved its OS, while Microsoft has, in a plethora of ways, changed Windows -- not always for the better. (For detailed reviews of both operating systems, see Hands on: A hard look at Windows Vista and In Depth: Apple's Leopard leaps to new heights.)

Any residual sense that Apple is somehow above competing directly with Microsoft's Windows is dispelled by Leopard. With OS X 10.5, Apple is clearly going head to head with Microsoft and Vista. With the smoke clearing, it's also apparent that Apple still has a lead on Microsoft when it comes to user interface and functionality.

That doesn't make Apple and its Mac platform or even Leopard an enormous business success. But it's impossible to miss the refinement infused throughout Apple's new operating system, whereas there are compromises in Vista that impinge upon the user experience without giving something back in return. Apple is focused on the user experience, while Microsoft appears to be focused on antipiracy, overengineered security protections, and digital rights management aimed at serving its prospective third-party partners.

There's really no contest. Tiger is a better OS than Vista, and there are no long-term downsides to Leopard. Vista doesn't measure up.

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Windows Xp and Vista Tips for Everyone

Whether you've jumped to Vista or are sticking with XP, our tips will make your computing faster and safer--and even a little more stylish.
Preston Gralla, PC World

Right out of the box, Windows is just a so-so operating system. It doesn't really reach its potential until you've cracked it, hacked it, and otherwise bent it to your will.

Whether you want to speed up XP, customize Vista's Aero interface, manage your disk partitions, or do quick-and-dirty photo editing, our Windows projects will show you how. We start off with some performance boosters, and then move on to cover file management, interface tweaks, network and browser options, and Windows Media Player.

The work isn't done until you plug Windows' many holes, which we cover in "Tweak Security Settings in XP and Vista." If you're switching over to the new OS, see our tips in "Make the Move to Vista," and then try our Vista alterations in "Change Vista's Defaults."

Continued at pcworld.com