Megh Neupane

In less than a week after Windows 7 was Released to Manufacturing (RTM), leading news sites are reporting the Windows 7 activation process being hacked and now possible to activate the licensing of the operating system with illegal licensing mechanism. According to pcworld, theregister, cnet and more, the hacked file makes use of a flaw in the OEM distribution of Windows 7 and will pass Windows Genuine Advantage Validation. Well, that didn’t take long to surface the news media and it’s very assumable that Microsoft will now come up with some identification/blocking mechanism of the OEM tweak!

BBC is reporting that large parts of West Africa are struggling to get back online following damage to an undersea cable. The fault has caused severe problems in Benin, Togo, Niger and Nigeria. The blackout is thought to have been caused by damage to the SAT-3 cable which runs from Portugal and Spain to South Africa, via West Africa. Around 70% of Nigeria’s bandwidth was cut, causing severe problems for its banking sector, government and mobile phone networks.

Read the in-depth news coverage @ BBC Technology Webpage

RTM indicates the code is now signed off and available for mass production for mass distribution, that just happened to Windows 7 today. The Operating System is the latest client OS from Microsoft with promises of security, feasibility, productivity and more, ever!  Windows 7 is an upcoming version of Microsoft Windows, a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft for use on personal computers, including home and business desktops, laptops, netbooks, tablet PCs and media center PCs. Windows 7 has general retail availability set for October 22, 2009, less than three years after the release of its predecessor, Windows Vista. Windows 7’s server counterpart, Windows Server 2008 R2, is slated for release at the same time.

“A 10 minute video guide to how software applications are developed” – Business Perspective

Nominations are being accepted for Windows Installer 4.5 Beta. Windows Installer Team claims that the Windows Installer 4.5 beta will deliver new functionality for multiple package products and for servicing complex products. Windows Installer 4.5 will pull down level the features from the OS version independent features in the Windows Installer 4.0 release that shipped only in Windows Vista and will ship in Windows Server 2008. Windows Installer 4.5 is expected to ship as a redistributable down level to Windows XP SP2 and up.

The draft white paper “Agility Trends in Package Software” is posted at Microsoft Connect.  The draft is a part of the information offered to the tools vendors on the Live Meeting call last month, Robert Flaming expands.

A complete set of Windows Installer 4.5 beta documents are expected to be available on July, Binary Download of the product to be available on August 07.

Sign-Up for Beta Nominations

On Friday November 3 2006,  PDS, Macrovision and Altiris is organizing the annual Packaging Event in the Amsterdam Arena for their customers in Belgium, Netherlands & Luxembourg. On this unique (free) event speakers from Macrovision, Altiris, Microsoft and Novell will be presenting the latest developments in the field of Application packaging and Windows installer technology.

At the exhibition space, various packaging organizations will present their solutions to the visitors. The event highlights are detailed as below:

Speakers at the Event

9.30 AM: Windows Installer past, present, future & Microsoft Vista
Tyler Robinson, Windows Installer Program Manager , Microsoft
Exploring the windows Installer elements from a system administrator perspective. How will Vista influence the packaging process & application management.

11.15 AM: Wise Package Studio and SVS
Andre De Meijer, Senior Consultant, Altiris
Wise Package Studio and Altiris Software Virtualization Solution (SVS) are two keys components of a successful application management process; both solutions help organizations manage their applications throughout their lifecycle, including preparation, deployment, management and support, patching, upgrading and retiring.

1.30 PM: FLEXnet AdminStudio
Nica Faustino, Sales Engineer Manager, Macrovision EMEA
Macrovision will host an interactive session during a software demonstration to cover the  complete application repackaging lifecycle from application request through quality assurance and  integration with distribution tools. It will be followed by a questions and answers session

3.15 PM: Novell ZENworks
Roel van Bueren Consultant, ROVABU Networks
How to deploy MSI packages with Novell ZENworks: Past, Present , Future.

You can find the complete details about the event here.