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Microsoft takes steps to “Integrate IT” at the Microsoft Management Summit

This week at the Microsoft Management Summit (MMS) in Las Vegas, we've talked about Microsoft's role in improving the optimized desktop and emphasized Microsoft's commitment to virtualization. I want to tell you about some news coming out of the show today, which includes details on the product roadmaps for specific tools within the Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack (MDOP) for Software Assurance.

The combination of MDOP and Windows Vista gives customers the tools they need to support more flexible work environments for their users, while making it easier and more efficient to manage and maintain their networks. This is the concept we refer to as the optimized desktop, and many of our customers have the tools to realize the benefits today.  We're responding to the enthusiasm our customers have shown for these products by continuing to improve upon them and roll out new updates in real time. Following are the updates you'll be seeing in the most immediate future:

Microsoft Application Virtualization 4.5: Microsoft Application Virtualization 4.5 Release Candidate 1 is scheduled for June 2008 and will be made available to customers on Microsoft Connect. As customers begin to take advantage of the benefits of virtualization, we've seen a growing interest in Microsoft Application Virtualization. Over 7,000 customers have already downloaded the beta.

Asset Inventory Service (AIS) 1.5: AIS 1.5 is scheduled to be released to the web in Q3 2008. AIS 1.5 will add license reconciliation, System Center Configuration Manager integration and scalability enhancements. 

Advanced Group Policy Management (AGPM) 3.0: AGPM 3.0 will be available for all customers in Q3 2008. AGPM 3.0 will provide Windows Vista SP1 and Windows Server 2008 support (x86 and x64), globalization, more flexible security, enhanced reporting and an enhanced UI. 

We also announced today that for very first time we will be extending MDOP to languages beyond English. We plan to release localized versions of Diagnostics and Recovery Toolset (DaRT) 6.0 and Desktop Error Monitoring (DEM) 3.0 SP1 in ten languages in Q3 2008. AGPM and Microsoft Application Virtualization 4.5 will follow toward the end of 2008. Based on direct customer feedback from the international community, we plan to localize MDOP into the ten following languages:

• Chinese Simplified
• Chinese Traditional
• German
• French
• Italian
• Japanese
• Korean
• Brazilian Portuguese
• Russian
• Spanish

As a follow up on our Virtualization Briefing Day announcement regarding Microsoft and Citrix's expanded alliance, I wanted to tell you about some progress we're making toward a joint VDI solution that will be available for production usage later this year. This turn-key offering combines the brokering and user experience components of Citrix XenDesktop, with the Microsoft hardware virtualization, application virtualization and virtualization management technologies.  Citrix XenDesktop has the capability to create Windows Vista images for specific users from a shared base image and significantly reduces the TCO of this solution relative to today's static deployments.

In separate but related news during Day 2 of MMS, Microsoft announced System Center Configuration Manager 2007 Service Pack 1 (SP1) and System Center Configuration Manager 2007 R2. System Center Configuration Manager 2007 is a solution that comprehensively assesses, deploys and updates servers, clients, and devices - across physical, virtual, distributed and mobile environments. System Center Configuration Manager 2007 SP1, which will be available May 27^th, will provide further support for Windows Vista SP1 and Windows Server 2008. Additionally, System Center Configuration Manager 2007 SP1 provides deeper management of the hardware. There is a new, attached service-based connection for System Center Configuration Manager 2007 SP1 that ensures accurate insight to the network landscape including support for Microsoft Application Virtualization applications.  

The System Center Configuration Manager 2007 R2 release natively integrates Microsoft Application Virtualization distribution and streaming technology into the Configuration Manager infrastructure to work even better with Application Virtualization within MDOP. System Center Configuration Manager 2007 R2 will be available to customers in Q3 CY2008.

You may recall that earlier this month, Chris Flores announced the Microsoft Desktop Optimization (MDOP) Pack 2008 - a set of tools designed to make it easier for IT Pros to deploy and manage Windows Vista in their organizations. This, along with many of the solutions we're talking at MMS about today - provides IT Pros with an excellent set of tools for their IT environment and their Windows PCs.

For more information on news coming out of MMS this week, check out the Virtual Press Room.

-- Shanen

Automatic distribution of Windows Vista SP1 begins today

So what does this mean? Over the next few months Microsoft will automatically distribute Windows Vista SP1 to PCs that have automatic updates turned on (Learn how to turn on automatic updating) and running English, French, German, Spanish, or Japanese via Windows Update. Automatic distribution will only occur, according to user settings, on PCs ready for SP1. After Windows Vista SP1 downloads, WU will let you know that "new updates are available." You'll then be asked to make a few clicks before the installation of SP1 will begin. 

While we're beginning automatic distribution today, you might not see it right away since the distribution process is very gradual.  As I called out on April 7th, we'll be distributing the service pack slowly so that we can help Windows users have a good experience. 

As I posted above, we made the remaining languages of SP1 available for manual install on the Microsoft Download Center and Windows Update last week.  We'd like to let those of you running one of those languages that we'll plan to start automatic distribution of those languages sometime in mid-May.

We hope you enjoy the many improvements that have been made in Windows Vista Service Pack 1 and are excited to start automatic distribution so more of you can begin experiencing the benefits.

Updated Language Packs Released

• German
• English
• Spanish
• French
• Japanese
• Korean
• Bulgarian
• Czech
• Danish
• Greek
• Estonian
• Finnish
• Hungarian
• Italian
• Lithuanian
• Latvian
• Norwegian
• Dutch
• Polish
• Portuguese (Portugal)
• Romanian
• Slovak
• Slovenian
• Swedish
• Arabic
• Hebrew
• Croatian
• Portuguese (Brazil)
• Serbian (Latin)
• Thai
• Turkish
• Ukrainian
• Chinese (Simplified)
• Chinese (Traditional)
• Russian

For more information on the Language Packs, click here.

New Ultimate Extras Released

Windows Sound Schemes is a pack of 2 new sound schemes for Windows Vista: Glass and Pearl. For more details on the Windows Sound Schemes - click here. Brandon tells me his favorite sound scheme is the Glass scheme.  

Windows DreamScene Content Pack #3 brings you 3 new DreamScenes for your Windows Vista desktop. For more information on Windows DreamScene - click here. Here is a small preview of the new DreamScenes in Content Pack #3:

And be sure you keep your eyes on UltimatePC.com for more Ultimate Extra news in future as well as hot Ultimate Exclusives for Windows Vista Ultimate users.

Releasing Windows Vista SP1 for more languages

We are excited to report that today we are making Windows Vista SP1 available to folks running Windows Vista in any of the supported languages. Starting today, users will be able to choose to manually install Windows Vista SP1 via Windows Update or download the standalone installer from the Microsoft Download Center (x86 and x64) for any of the 36 supported languages, not just English, Spanish, German, French, and Japanese. For now, it is available for users who visit Windows Update or the Microsoft Download Center. We encourage most users to get Windows Vista SP1 via Windows Update-which will provide the best update experience.

Now, Windows Vista PCs of any supported language can update to SP1.  You may be aware we also make DVD images of Windows Vista with SP1 available to certain groups like TechNet Plus subscribers, MSDN subscribers, and Volume License (VL) customers. TechNet Plus and MSDN subscribers can download these DVD images in some languages today. The remaining languages will be made available in 2 additional groups over the next few weeks.

For your questions regarding Windows Vista SP1, Brandon has developed a Windows Vista SP1 FAQ designed to help answer many of these basic questions.

Windows Vista SP1 will bring some great improvements to PCs running Windows Vista especially in the areas of security, reliability, and performance. For more details on notable changes in Windows Vista SP1, click here.

Windows Vista SP1 Update

In mid-April, we will begin distributing SP1 (in the first 5 languages) using the Automatic Update system.  We have a lot of Windows users, so not everyone will get it on the same day.  In fact, it will go to a small percentage of Windows Vista users each day. The exact timing of when you will receive it depends on when your PC is ready for Windows Vista SP1.

In addition to starting the automatic delivery of the first 5 languages, I wanted to take this opportunity to tell you that also we're on track for the initial release of SP1 in the remaining languages in mid-April.

Microsoft Introduces $10,000 Digital Home Makeover Contest

Did you know that the Windows Media Center team is conducting a Digital Home Makeover Contest to celebrate the consumer availability of new Extenders for Windows Media Center?  For one lucky winner, a makeover team will transform their disconnected digital lifestyle into a home entertainment dream with a prize package totaling up to $10,000!!!

The Digital Home Makeover Contest is designed to address the real challenges people face when adopting today's digital lifestyle. Today's consumers have a wide variety of digital content in their homes-thousands of digital pictures, MP3's, TV shows and movies- and homes may have dozens of devices which allow people to interact with and enjoy this content. But wouldn't it be nice if digital media could be seamlessly viewed and accessible around the home?    

The winner of the Digital Home Makeover Contest will receive what they need to take control of connecting their entertainment options and start enjoying content from room to room, anywhere in the house. Microsoft is accepting entries in the form of two-minute videos that illustrate a contestant's disconnected digital lifestyle and why they need a digital home makeover.  Entries will be accepted through May 2nd at http://www.windowsmediacenter.com/contest

Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack 2008 Released

For those of you not familiar with DaRT, it provides a set of tools for IT Pros to debug and troubleshoot unbootable PCs.  DaRT 6.0 brings in some new tools worth taking note of. Tools such as Locksmith can reset a local administrator password, while Hotfix Uninstall can remove a bad hotfix.  This is especially useful if the hotfix was the cause of the PC crash.  Perhaps one of the simplest uses for DaRT is to recover files from the PC, even if they have been removed from the recycle bin.  One of the new features in DaRT 6.0 is the Standalone System Sweeper, an antimalware product that runs while the Windows operating system is unbootable.  This tool, which can receive updated virus/spyware definitions via USB thumb drive or online, will scan the PC's hard drive and is even effective at removing malware which use rootkits to avoid detection.  DaRT 6.0 was previously available in beta, and Brandon had a chance to check it out late last year on the Windows Experience Blog.

DEM is a tool which allows the IT department to monitor all of the little application and operating system crashes that occur in an IT environment.  You can think of it as a "Watson for companies."  Whenever end users have a pop up error that normally says "Click to send to Microsoft," the Administrator can now use DEM to automatically redirect all of those errors to the DEM server.  By tracking all of these errors, companies can create a more stable PC environment for their end users.  They can also use it to track internally developed applications and use the feedback to improve their own development process.  DEM 3.0 SP1 brings improved performance and scalability to the product, as well as an improved look-and-feel of the reports which can be generated for key metrics such as Top Application Crashes and Top Error Groups.  Additionally, the new version of DEM can be upgraded to System Center Operations Manager 2007 through an in-place upgrade.  This will allow IT Departments a deeper level of monitoring for your machines and the added ability to monitor your servers.

The Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack continues to be an excellent way for IT Pros to effectively manage their PCs in the IT environment.

My curtain call

Wise men speak because they have something to say; fools because they have to say something.

-Plato 

(I’ll let you decide which half applies.)

They say all good things must come to an end, and that is the case today:  I want to share with you the bittersweet news that I am moving on to a role outside Microsoft.  It's a bit deflating to know that this constitutes my last post to the Windows Vista Team blog.  But by the same token, I'm thrilled, amazed and humbled at the success that this blog has become.  Our aim has always been to share the Windows story in an open and approachable manner.  Given the role we play today as a community resource, I'd wager that we're doing pretty well in that regard.

While this good thing ends for me today, in actuality, it continues for you:  I leave you in the extremely knowledgeable and capable hands of my colleague Christopher Flores, a Director on the Windows Communications team.  Christopher has been with Microsoft for many years and will draw on a wealth of experience in his efforts to bring you the Windows story.  He arguably is even better positioned for this role than I, so I'm confident that, with Brandon's help, he'll continue bringing you the information and first-person accessibility you've come to expect from our blog.

It's been a fun ride these two years and I thank you, our many readers, for your enthusiasm and support.  May our paths cross again, and until then, be well.

-- Nick

Announcing the Windows Search 4.0 Preview

Windows Search 4.0 introduces several improvements I'd like to call out making search even better in Windows Vista:

• With Windows Search 4.0, the Windows Search Team has fixed most of the reported bugs causing a majority of distractions users have seen since Windows Vista RTM - many of those bugs were reported by you.
• Great improvements have been made with regards to performance.Even now as Preview, Windows Search 4.0 has query response time about 33%faster than search queries in Windows Vista RTM.
• The Windows Search Team has extended Remote Index Discovery for PC-to-PC search to work onevery supported version of Windows. This makes finding information on other PCs running Windows Search 4.0 quick and less resource-consuming. Now Windows Search can find information shared on a remote PC by accessing an index on that PC - and you will open files only when relevant to your search. This will also work if the user's profile is redirected.
• The Windows Search Team has implemented Rollback Recovery where your search index will roll back to the last known good state (this is good in handling disc write errors). If an error occurs, your index isn't rebuilt from scratch; only the newly changed files are added to the index, making recovery from system errors not as disruptive to the machine or the user

 Being able to find files isn't just important to consumers - it is also important to IT Professionals managing enterprise environments. The Windows Search Team has made some improvements in Windows Search 4.0 that IT Professionals should take note of:

• We have improved performance when indexing Exchange in online mode, sending fewer packets and making less RPC calls. In this process we apply significantly less load on the Exchange server too.
• Support for Group Policy settings is extended and improved; per-user policy is supported now.
• We now support EFS - Windows Search 4.0 will index encrypted files, and user can search for them in the sane UI and through the same user experience as seen with regular, unencrypted files.

IT Professionals can expect a smooth deployment for Windows Search 4.0 and easier support.

With Windows Search 4.0, the Windows Search Team has taken the next step in improving the PC search experience in Windows. To download and check out the Windows Search 4.0 Preview yourself, click here. I encourage folks to try out the Windows Search 4.0 Preview and let us know what you think!

Remote Server Administration Tools (RSAT) Now Available for Windows Vista SP1

RSAT is an excellent set of tools for IT Pros wanting to manage their Windows Server environment right from their desktop. RSAT also includes an updated Group Policy Management Console (GPMC), which was previously removed in Windows Vista SP1.

Download: Remote Server Administration Tools (x86)
Download: Remote Server Administration Tools (x64)

RSAT is an updated version of what is called ADMINPAK.MSI and can be used by IT Pros to manage computers running Windows Server 2008. Because many of these tools also work for managing computers running Windows Server 2003, it is essentially "the next version" of ADMINPAK.MSI.

The following are a list of the tools you will find in RSAT:

Role Administration Tools:

• Active Directory Certificate Services Tools
• Active Directory Domain Services (AD DS) Tools
• Active Directory Lightweight Directory Services (AD LDS) Tools
• DHCP Server Tools
• DNS Server Tools
• File Services Tools
• Network Policy and Access Services Tools
• Terminal Services Tools
• Universal Description, Discovery, and Integration (UDDI) Services Tools

Feature Administration Tools:

• BitLocker Drive Encryption Tools
• Failover Clustering Tools
• Group Policy Management Tools
• Network Load Balancing Tools
• SMTP Server Tools
• Storage Manager for SANs Tools
• Windows System Resource Manager Tools

And these tools also fully supported managing Windows Server 2003 servers:

• Active Directory Domain Services (AD DS) Tools
• Active Directory Lightweight Directory Services (AD LDS) Tools
• Active Directory Certification Authority Tools
• DHCP Server Tools
• DNS Server Tools
• Terminal Services Tools
• Universal Description, Discovery, and Integration (UDDI) Services Tools
• Group Policy Management Tools
• Network Load Balancing Tools

Download RSAT today and start managing your servers!

Deployment gets easier with Microsoft Deployment Toolkit 2008

There are a lot of things to consider when deploying a new OS and, if your organization has 50 desktops or more, MDT is designed to help you navigate the potentially complex desktop environment. Our goal is to save you lots of time and effort in planning and building out a standard desktop experience all the way to rolling OS images out into production.

Don't worry, this is not something unproven and new -- just fewer than 1 million of you across industries have been active users of MDT's predecessor, Business Desktop Deployment (BDD). Past customers include companies like Unilever, Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications and Fred Weber, who reduced their deployment costs from $300 to $35 per PC.

We have been listening to your feedback and augmenting the solution to ensure that the best of real world best practices are infused within the tool.

So what's changed with MDT?                              

In addition to the project, process and team guidance that has traditionally existed, the major thing that we worked on for this release is incremental guidance to progressively enable your deployment process.   Examples include:

• New checklist and wizard-driven user interface
• Quick start guides that familiarize you quickly with the tools and deployment process

There are also more ways to automate deployment, including Zero Touch installation; new task sequencing for more flexible and simplified configuration; and new Lite Touch installation support for multicasting with Windows Deployment Services to help ease network load.

In fact, if you are planning to deploy Windows Server 2008 with Windows Vista concurrently, there are major advantages to using MDT. Check out Continental Airlines, who rolled out both Windows Server and Windows Vista.  The ability to build images and deploy desktops and servers (including Windows Server 2008), was actually a key driver for our name change from BDD.

You can download MDT 2008 today. For more information, go to http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=113979 or contact a Desktop Deployment Planning Services specialist. Also see the TechNet Springboard for the Five ways that Windows Vista deployment just got easier.

Oh and, still using BDD 2007? Don't worry, we didn't forget about you either. An update for BDD 2007 to support SP1 imaging and deployment is also available from here.

Windows Vista SP1 Released to Windows Update

For those of you happy to wait - sit tight because SP1 will start downloading to PCs automatically beginning in mid-April (Remember, this happens only if you have your Windows Update configured to automatically download updates and SP1 will automatically download but not automatically install).  But if you want to get the benefit of a year's worth of improvements right now, go check Windows Update today...(Hit the Start Menu, All Programs, and select Windows Update).

If in running Windows Update you do not see Windows Vista SP1 listed, there are a number of good reasons for this (Eight in fact, see the whole list). Below are a few of the most common reasons why you might not see SP1 on Windows Update:

You have not yet installed all the prerequisite packages you need for Windows Vista SP1. To install them, visit the Windows Update control panel and click on "check for updates."

• You have a pre-release version of SP1 and need to uninstall it before installing SP1
• You already have it. To determine if you already have SP1 installed, Open the Start Menu, right click on Computer and left click on Properties.
• We released SP1 in these 5 languages: English, French, Spanish, German, and Japanese. If you have any other language installed, SP1 will not yet be offered to you. (You might not even know if you have an additional language installed! Check the Language control panel to see what languages you have installed)
• Back in February we announced that we'd be using Windows Update to help make the update as seamless as possible for our users. Windows Update will detect drivers that we know may be problematic when updating to SP1 and will not offer the service pack until an update has been installed.

I've received a lot of requests for more detail about the driver situation this last month, so I want to share some more information here.  We spent the last couple of months looking closely at reports of driver problems on pre-release builds and, to be safe, we held the public availability until March.

We've completed our analysis and are happy to report that many of these issues were fixed between the release candidate (RC) and the final version.  We identified a small number of device drivers that may be problematic after an update from Windows Vista to Windows Vista SP1.  Check out the list here; we'll keep it updated with any additional drivers that we identify.  As a result, we spent the past month or so working with our partners on driver updates for these issues.  Of these drivers, most already have updated versions on Windows Update and are available for download now as optional updates.  In a few weeks, we'll start to deliver these updated drivers to PCs automatically via Windows Update.

We're working with the providers of the remaining devices to get updated versions of the drivers to our customers as well.  In the meantime, Windows Update will recognize PCs with drivers that may be problematic and postpone offering SP1 to those PCs until it has installed corrected drivers or other applicable updates.  Either way, Windows Update works to detect whether or not your system is ready for SP1 and not offer it to you until the time is right.

Those of you who find that SP1 isn't offered over Windows Update even after updating all your drivers, but would still like to download it can access our "standalone installer" from the Microsoft Download Center here. Windows Update will help ensure a better experience, so if you do choose to visit the Microsoft Download Center make sure that you read these KBs before installing.

Looking forward, we're also getting ready to begin releasing the second wave of SP1 languages in April.  These are the other 31 languages that we haven't released yet. 

Some users encountered an issue last month when installing the Servicing Stack Update (KB937287).  We've investigated this carefully and learned that it occurs only in certain rare situations.  Specifically, this happens because the update needs to be completely installed before a restart occurs, but something caused a reboot during the install.  While the update was carefully designed to avoid many of the common reasons for an inadvertent restart during installation, this issue was caused by some that were not caught.  By temporarily suspending automatic distribution, and making a small change on our Windows Update server, we believe we've largely eliminated this problem (and our support call volume reflects this).  We did find one aspect of the problem that was exacerbated when the update was installed using automatic updates.  For this issue, we're planning to release an additional update before we resume automatic distribution of the Servicing Stack Update.

So what does this mean exactly?  For those who've already installed the Servicing Stack Update or are waiting to install SP1 until Windows Update offers it to you automatically, you do not need to do anything at all.  But if you want to install SP1 manually and haven't yet installed the Servicing Stack Update, you'll find it on Windows Update when you visit.

I know this post sounds like a lot of guidance, but we would rather over-communicate to reduce any surprises.

We are extremely pleased with Windows Vista SP1 and the benefits it offers our customers, so we look forward to hearing about your experience.

Internet Explorer 8 Beta 1 announced at MIX08

The Internet Explorer team hit an important milestone today and divulged as much at MIX08.  IE's General Manager Dean Hachamovitch today announced the availability of IE8 Beta 1, downloadable for testing by all from here.

You can read more on IE8 at the IEBlog, where Dean explains eight specific advances comprised in IE8.

Soon Brandon will have a post up on the Windows Experience Blog talking about his experience using IE8 Beta 1 and what's new in it, so watch for that.

You can get the latest on MIX08 taking place this week in Las Vegas via MIX08 Online.

Using S/PDIF to send audio from your PC

The following is an article from another of my colleagues on the Windows Vista Sound team, Kristin Carr.  Kristin is a Program Manager and works with Steve Ball, who previously has shared his insights into how Windows Vista handles sound.  If you have questions for Kristin, please leave a comment below.

Many people have a general idea of what S/PDIF is -- perhaps by seeing it as a label on an audio output, or on a feature list for a product.  But what is it exactly, and how do you use it?  This post will cover some of those details.

On a PC, the audio is stored and processed digitally until the final output stage when it is usually converted to an analog signal that directly feeds your speakers.  However, there may be times when you want to transmit the signal digitally to a different device that will be used to play the sound, such as a receiver.  In these cases, you may want to postpone converting the signal to an analog one, and instead transmit the signal digitally to avoid any degradation and additional noise that may occur when transmitting an analog signal.

For this purpose, S/PDIF (Sony/Philips Digital Interconnect Format) was developed.  Often referred to by the name of the connector (including Toslink, RCA, or simply "Optical" or "Digital Out"), S/PDIF specifies a method of transmitting a digital signal so that it can be received and interpreted correctly by the connected device.  You may ask yourself, "How complicated is it to transmit a signal?  Why do we need a special protocol?"  Consider that the digital signal consists of a series of bits, and within that series, the bits are grouped to correspond to a sample of audio, and an even larger subset of those are grouped to correspond to a particular channel.  In order to enable a receiver to properly interpret all of those bits in the correct order, it is necessary to have a format for transmitting those bits.  This is where S/PDIF comes in.

S/PDIF can be used to transmit two channels of digital audio in real time over a single connection.  S/PDIF specifies a particular bit pattern that a receiver can use to latch onto the stream.  Once the receiver has synced up with the stream, S/PDIF specifies the order of the audio bits and how they should be arranged in a stream so that the receiver can properly interpret it.

However, there may be times when you wish to transmit more than two channels of audio over the S/PDIF link.  This is where compressed audio can be used.  Audio compression is a technique used to transmit equivalent information using fewer bits.  This is done through a number of techniques.  Some techniques, referred to as perceptual coding, take advantage of the fact that humans can only hear certain sounds.  These methods of compression usually involve discarding bits that only contribute a minimal amount to what a listener needs to recognize a given sound.  Other methods take advantage of numerical redundancies in the signal in order to effectively transmit the same information in a smaller amount of space.  Dolby Digital and DTS are two common types of compression.  Regardless of the technique, compression enables a digital audio signal to use fewer bits to transmit the audio.

The result of this compression is that it enables you to transmit the content for up to 5.1 channels of audio over S/PDIF in space that would have only fit 2 channels if the audio had been uncompressed.  This is great once the signal has been encoded (synonymous with compressed), but once a signal has been encoded, that same signal must also be decoded after it has been received so that it can be sent to speakers.  This means that your receiver must be capable of decoding the compressed audio signal in order for you to hear the correct sound.  This is the tradeoff necessary to allow you to transmit more than two channels of audio over S/PDIF.

Another direct consequence of transmitting a compressed audio signal instead of an uncompressed audio signal (more commonly known as PCM) is that the volume of that signal cannot be modified once it has been encoded.  Because the bits in an encoded signal no longer directly correspond to the volume of that signal, it is impossible to increase the volume until it is decoded.  This explains why your PC cannot control the volume of your sound when you are using Dolby Digital or DTS as the output.  The connected device will be the only place where the volume can be changed.

To recap, in order to avoid the electrical interference and noise present on an analog connection, consider using S/PDIF to transmit the signal digitally.  If you'd like to transmit more than two channels, consider sending encoded content which allows you up to 5.1 channels over S/PDIF.  You may also want to consider HDMI, but that's a post for another time!

Language Packs and Windows Vista SP1

We will be releasing Windows Vista SP1 in two "waves". The first wave will only provide Windows Vista SP1 to Windows Vista Ultimate PCs running the following 5 Languages: English, French, German, Japanese and Spanish. The second wave will follow shortly after - supporting all 36 languages.

For Windows Update, PCs running the 5 initial languages from the first wave only will be provided with Windows Vista SP1. PCs running Windows Vista Ultimate with any of the other Language Packs installed will not be offered Windows Vista SP1 through Windows Update until they are released. Once the Language Packs are released, Windows Vista SP1 will then be offered for installation.

When installing Windows Vista SP1 from the standalone installer, the standalone installer will only install on Windows Vista Ultimate running any of the 5 languages from the first wave. When installing Windows Vista SP1 on Windows Vista Ultimate with a Language Pack that is not one of the 5 initial Language Packs supported - you will get the following error (KB947876) when attempting to install Windows Vista with the standalone installer:

Windows Vista Service Pack 1 cannot be installed on your computer because the language of Windows Vista you have installed is not supported or you have installed a language pack that is not supported.

Windows Vista Service pack 1 can only be installed on computers running the English, French, German, Japanese and Spanish versions of Windows Vista or computers running only those language packs.

This means if you are running a Language Pack that is not one of the 5 initial Language Packs you will not be able to install Windows Vista SP1 until the other Language Packs are released.

But not to worry - the Language Packs are on their way.  We will have more information on exactly when very shortly so stay tuned!

Microsoft Readying Customers with New Assessment and Deployment Tool for the Windows Server 2008 and Windows Vista SP1 Launch!

Springboard Series: Windows Vista Deployment & Adoption Roundtable

To attend the event, just visit http://ms.istreamplanet.com/events at 9:00am Pacific Time on March 5th. You will be able to ask your questions live during the event. You are also welcome to submit your questions in advance by sending them to vrtable@microsoft.com between now and when the event starts. The panel will be 60 minutes long and try to answer as many questions as possible within that timeframe. The event will also be available on-demand afterwards as well.

For additional guidance, resources, tools, and straight-talk articles to help address your Windows Vista adoption questions, visit the Springboard Series for Windows Vista.

Principled Technologies Tests Windows Vista SP1

• Overall, Windows Vista SP1 and Windows XP performed comparably on most test operations. Performance differences between the two operating systems were typically less than a half second. Significant differences of over a second occurred on only nine of 128 measures; Windows Vista SP1 led on eight of those.
• Windows Vista SP1 was noticeably more responsive after rebooting than Windows XP on several common business operations.
• Overall, Windows Vista SP1 was more responsive than Windows Vista on most comparisons. Performance differences between the two operating systems were typically less than a quarter second.

Principled Technologies also concluded the following when comparing home scenarios:

• Overall, Windows Vista SP1 and Windows XP performed comparably on most test operations. Differences were typically less than a half second.
• Windows Vista SP1 was noticeably more responsive after rebooting than Windows XP on several common home operations.
• Overall, Windows Vista SP1 and Windows Vista performed comparably on most test operations, with differences typically less than a half second.

To download a PDF of the two most recent reports, as well as the original ones from last year, go directly to the Principled Technologies website - http://www.principledtechnologies.com/Clients/Reports/Microsoft/microsoft.htm

Update on Windows Vista SP1 Prerequisite KB937287

We've heard a few reports about problems customers may be experiencing as a result of KB937287, the servicing stack update I blogged about last week, and I wanted to provide a quick update for you. Immediately after receiving reports of this error, we made the decision to temporarily suspend automatic distribution of the update to avoid further customer impact while we investigate possible causes.  

So far, we've been able to determine that this problem only affects a small number of customers in unique circumstances. We are working to identify possible solutions and will make the update available again shortly after we address the issue.

Customers who may be experiencing this issue can use system restore to correct it or contact 1-866-PC-Safety for help troubleshooting.  Additional guidance will be available via Microsoft's free Update Support Center soon.

Windows Vista SP1 Prerequisites & Non-Security Update coming via Windows Update

Speaking of Windows Vista SP1, the final two of three prerequisite updates needed to install Windows Vista SP1 will also be hitting Windows Update.  KB937287 which is the servicing stack update and KB938371 which is a multi-component update are both required before installing Windows Vista SP1. KB938371 will not be offered to Windows Vista Enterprise and Windows Vista Ultimate systems until KB935509, the first prerequisite in the series of three, has been installed. Both of the Windows Vista SP1 prerequisites are marked "Important" and will install automatically if you have Window Updates set to the recommended configuration.

I've said it before: these updates are just one more example of how we're continuing to actively invest in improving the Windows Vista experience through Windows Update.

Windows Vista SP1 availability for technical customers

On Monday (February 4th), we announced the release to manufacturing (RTM) of Windows Vista Service Pack 1 (SP1).  Overall, people are excited to hear that we have reached this milestone, but some are disappointed they are not able to immediately download it.

In my blog post on the subject, I noted that we were going to make SP1 available to customers in stages to make sure we delivered a great experience.  As I explained, one reason for this is that we are working through an issue with a small set of hardware devices that may not function properly after the Windows Vista-based PC they are installed on is updated to SP1.  This is an issue with the way the device drivers were re-installed during the SP1 update process, not with the drivers themselves -- these drivers worked on Windows Vista RTM and they work on Windows Vista SP1.  For new PCs with Windows Vista SP1 pre-installed, this is not an issue. 

We are working with the manufacturers of these devices to get the drivers and their install programs updated, and also working on other solutions we can use to ensure a smooth customer experience when updating to SP1 over Windows Update.

My blog post also noted that when beta testers encountered this issue, the problem was typically corrected by simply uninstalling and reinstalling the driver.  This type of issue can be addressed by our more technical customers since they are comfortable reinstalling drivers.  While most people think that it's smart that we are releasing SP1 in stages, some people asked why we haven't made SP1 available to technical customers sooner.

We've heard the feedback and I want to update you on our plans and progress for making SP1 available to our beta participants, our Volume Licensing customers, and our MSDN/TechNet Plus subscribers:

• Late Friday we made SP1 RTM available to individuals and companies who participated in the SP1 beta program
• At the end of this week we will be making the English version of Windows Vista SP1 available to Volume Licensing customers.  Other languages will follow soon after
• Later this month, SP1 will be available to MSDN and TechNet Plus subscribers

For broad availability, we are still planning to release in mid-March, since we want to be sure that everyone has the smoothest experience possible.

I want to be super-clear on one point:  Windows Vista SP1 is final.  It has been fully released to manufacturing and we do not plan to make any changes to the SP1 code prior to public availability.  We are confident in the quality of Windows Vista SP1 and know that it will help improve our customers' experiences with Windows Vista.

Our goal here is to address the needs of our customers while delivering the best experience.  Please keep the comments coming.  We are listening!

- Mike

Announcing the RTM of Windows Vista SP1

Hi, Mike Nash here from the Windows Product Management group at Microsoft.  Today we are excited to announce that we have released Service Pack 1 for Windows Vista to manufacturing (RTM) for our first set of languages (English, French, Spanish, German and Japanese).

Service Pack 1 is a very important milestone because it addresses many of the key issues that our customers have identified with Windows Vista over the last year both, directly and through programs like the Customer Experience Improvement Program.  With Service Pack 1, we have made great progress in performance, reliability and compatibility.  One of the great things about my job is that I get to play with the latest builds of our products -- I've personally been running Windows Vista SP1 pretty exclusively for a few months and I've noticed that my systems run faster and more reliably than they did with the "Gold" release of Windows Vista.

When we first released Windows Vista last year, there were lots of customers who had great experiences, but some had issues finding applications that worked well on Windows Vista; others had problems finding the right device drivers for some of the hardware devices that they used.  The reason for these issues is that in order to improve the reliability and security of Windows Vista, we made some important architectural changes to the system.  While this caused some issues in the short term, in the long term we know that these investments will improve both the reliability and security of the customer experience on Windows.  Check out this blog post about the first year of Windows Vista security to see how some of these changes are paying off.

The good news is that this last year has been a great year of progress for Windows Vista in terms of improving application and device compatibility.  For example, 98 out of the top-selling 100 applications have versions available for Windows Vista.  And through the great work of our hardware partners, we now have 78,000 devices and components supported by Windows Update, up from about 34,000 in November 2006.  As a result, we have licensed over 100 million copies of Windows Vista to date.

Service Pack 1 brings new improvements that are based on feedback we heard from our customers.  It further improves the reliability and performance of Windows Vista.  The information we collect thanks to tools like the Customer Experience Improvement Program, Online Crash Analysis, and Windows Error Reporting help us learn about where and when customers are having issues with Windows Vista and the applications that run on it.  Since these issues have a direct impact on our customers' experiences, we've invested time and energy to make this better.  While Windows Vista Service Pack 1 is an important milestone, we will continue to invest in the continuous improvement process.

SP1 also includes changes focused on improving the performance of Windows Vista in areas that impact the customer experience the most.  For instance, with SP1, copying or moving files around your PC, your home network or your corporate network should now be much faster -- up to 50% faster in some scenarios (according to our internal tests).  In addition, on many kinds of hardware, resuming a Windows Vista-based PC from sleep is faster on Service Pack 1.

The key learning over the last year is that when we change the operating system, it takes time to let the ecosystem make sure that the hardware and software that they build works well with Windows Vista.  So as we release Windows Vista SP1 to manufacturing, we are going to be thoughtful about when and how it gets distributed.

With today's RTM of SP1, a number of processes kick off as we deliver the update to customers.  Our OEM partners will get SP1 and start producing new PCs running Windows Vista with SP1 pre-installed.  We will also start the manufacturing process for retail product of Windows Vista with SP1.  Both will be available in stores for new Windows Vista customers in the coming months.  Today we also start the process to manufacture DVDs for our enterprise customers who get our software via our Volume Licensing program.

As we update our customers to SP1, we want everyone to have a great install experience.  We are going to stage our rollout of SP1 for current Windows Vista users to be approximately concurrent with the availability of Windows Vista SP1 on new PCs and in stores.  There are a couple of reasons for this.  Our beta testing identified an issue with a small set of device drivers.  These drivers do not follow our guidelines for driver installation and as a result, some beta participants who were using Windows Vista and updated to Service Pack 1 reported issues with these devices.  Because the issue was with the way the drivers were installed and not the drivers themselves, the solution was simply to reinstall the drivers.  While this worked fine for our more technical beta testers, we want to deliver a better experience for customers as we make the update broadly available.

While we know that most customers who update from Windows Vista to SP1 will NOT be affected, our approach is to improve the experience for all our customers.  To do this, we will begin making SP1 available through Windows Update in mid-March, giving us time to work with some of our hardware partners to make adjustments to the installation process for the affected drivers.  As SP1 gets delivered through Windows Update, we will only offer it to PCs that we detect don't have any of the affected device drivers installed.  We're taking the next month or so to continue our work of identifying as many of these devices as possible.

Here's the timing for SP1 availability for current Windows Vista users:

• In mid-March, we will release Windows Vista SP1 to Windows Update (in English, French, Spanish, German and Japanese) and to the download center on microsoft.com.  Customers who visit Windows Update can choose to install Service Pack 1.  If Windows Update determines that the system has one of the drivers we know to be problematic, then Windows Update will not offer SP1.  Since we know that some customers may want to update to SP1 anyhow, the download center will allow anyone who wants to install SP1 to do so.
• In mid-April, we will begin delivering Windows Vista SP1 to Windows Vista customers who have chosen to have updates downloaded automatically.  That said, any system that Windows Update determines has a driver known to not update successfully will not get SP1 automatically.  As updates for these drivers become available, they will be installed automatically by Windows Update, which will unblock these systems from getting Service Pack 1.  The result is that more and more systems will automatically get SP1, but only when we are confident they will have a good experience.
• The remaining languages will RTM in April.

New customers should feel great about buying Windows Vista today, knowing that when everything is ready, SP1 will be available to them via Windows Update.  In the meantime, remember that you can take advantage of the benefits of Windows Vista (including many improvements delivered via Windows Update) even without Service Pack 1.

This is an important milestone for our current and future Windows Vista customers around the world.  I want to take a minute to thank our customers for their feedback on Windows Vista and the beta of Service Pack 1.  I also want to thank our hardware and software partners for their continued efforts to deliver the best experiences on Windows Vista.

-Mike

Announcing Microsoft Assessment and Planning Beta Refresh for Windows Vista & Windows Server 2008

Introducing Microsoft Assessment and Planning 3.0

How it Works?

What's New with MAP 3.0?

• Full incorporation of the features of Windows Vista Hardware Assessment including the generation of reports and proposals in 7 languages including N. American English, French, German, Japanese, Korean, Spanish and Portuguese
• Windows Server 2008 migration hardware assessment
• Windows server virtualization assessment (supports Virtual Server 2005 R2; will also add Hyper-V assessment in later this year)
• Application virtualization infrastructure assessment for Microsoft Application Virtualization (formerly SoftGrid)
• New Graphical User Interface

Check it Out!

• Download the Microsoft Assessment and Planning Beta Refresh today, give us your feedback, and see how you may get a free copy of Windows Vista software and more!
• Visit the MAP Team Blog to learn more or check out other great Solution Accelerators!
• Subscribe to the Windows Vista Team Blog & MAP Team Blog RSS feeds to make sure you're the FIRST to know when MAP 3.0 will RTM (target date: February 27, 2008)
• Sign up to join our weekly Live Meetings and chat directly with our development team
• Download the Windows Vista Hardware Assessment - if you can't wait for MAP RTM version (RTM on Feb 27)

Do the (RED) thing

There's been some speculation online that Windows, Dell and (RED) are going to make an announcement later this week at Davos.  Wouldn't it be incredible if, through the simple act of choosing a PC, and at no extra cost to you, you could put someone living with AIDS in Africa on antiretroviral (ARV) treatment for more than six months?  Windows, Dell and (RED) are proud to introduce our (PRODUCT) RED products later this week.  Look for details in the coming days...

Microsoft Virtualization Day: Helping IT professionals do more with less

I'm relaying the following article on behalf of my colleague Shanen Boettcher, General Manager of Windows Product Management for the enterprise.  It's the first in a series of posts from Shanen exploring what we're doing to make it simpler and easier to introduce and get the most out of virtualization of Windows in enterprise environments.

Today we're making a series of announcements outlining our company-wide strategy for virtualization from the desktop to the datacenter.

For all the hype and excitement in the industry, the primary scenario of using machine-level hardware virtualization to consolidate server machines has been used on less than 10% of hardware servers.  While virtualization started in server consolidation, it is only a small piece of the value offered by virtualization.  Nowadays virtualization is not a single technology; instead, it is a collection of technologies that can be applied to all aspects of the server and the desktop.  Less than 1% of desktops take advantage of virtualization and yet machine virtualization, application virtualization, presentation virtualization and even profile virtualization are upcoming virtualization techniques that when applied can increase the flexibility, business continuity, security and agility of desktop deployments.  Application virtualization -- the notion of reducing conflicts between applications running on a single copy of Windows -- is especially important for the desktop and interest in this technology is very high.  Microsoft Application Virtualization (technology we acquired and improved from the application virtualization leader Softricity) became the fastest-ever selling enterprise product at Microsoft, with four million units sold in less than a year.  Profile virtualization enables users to take advantage of separating their documents and profile information from Windows, making it easy to get working again on a new machine in case of a stolen or dropped laptop.  Presentation virtualization provides the ability to work remotely.  More and more virtualization vendors are moving toward creating a comprehensive set of technologies that interoperate and are managed consistently, and we are strongly focused on providing customers with these solutions.

We have a vision that focuses on businesses employing our virtualization toolset to more simply and cost-effectively manage their IT environments.  We're calling that vision Dynamic IT.  Dynamic IT is aiming to help IT professionals get more out of their computing resources across both server and desktop environments.  One of the benefits of this initiative is to enable IT managers to dynamically make changes or add capacity to their deployments in a matter of minutes instead of hours (or even days).  In a phrase, Dynamic IT is about efficiently getting the necessary resources to users and computers at any given moment and with a minimum of hassle and effort.  We expect this vision to result in a whole new era of datacenter and desktop PC management, all hinging on virtualization technologies and Windows.

Central to the vision of Dynamic IT is the concept of the Optimized Desktop.  The Optimized Desktop refers to virtualizing a user's applications and profile together so that they follow that user, regardless of the location of the PC in use at the moment.  An example of this all-too-common scenario is a run-of-the-mill user happily working on their laptop in a taxi, but absent-mindedly leaving the taxi without the laptop.  Fortunately, the laptop was BitLocker-encrypted, so the lost information was "safe" from prying eyes -- but for many users today it would have been lost data.  However, that changes entirely with virtualization:  taking advantage of application virtualization and profile virtualization, we provision a new laptop for the user, including installing their applications, resetting their desktop wallpaper and restoring their documents in only a few minutes and with no manual steps.  It's pretty impressive and really how we expect people will be deploying Windows Vista to their mobile workforce.  When presentation virtualization is used alongside the Optimized Desktop, it helps in allowing users remote access to individual LOB (line-of-business) applications running in the datacenter, and can even run whole Windows desktops virtually on the server (Virtual Desktop Infrastructure, or VDI) for certain enterprise users.

The point of all this is that virtualization eliminates the need to "hard-wire" any single computing resource across the computing stack (operating system, applications, presentation, storage and network).  By enabling virtualization across an entire enterprise deployment, we aim to help IT managers keep up with the changing needs of their individual business by speeding up deployment while reducing risk and cost.

With all the flexibility that virtualization brings, great management tools are essential to enable IT Pros to apply business rules and policies to each level of resources and data.  The most successful vendors will provide the full stack of virtualization capabilities, coupled with management tools that can span both the physical and logical datacenter.  Because companies will not convert their whole datacenter to virtual over night, they benefit greatly from management tools that work the same across both environments, helping consistently manage both virtual and physical resources from a single management suite.  This is where we believe Microsoft has the best and most complete offering with System Center 2007.

Per today's announcement, we are now offering a comprehensive set of products and technologies to enable virtualization at all layers of the computing stack, from datacenter to desktop to management:

• Hyper-V (Beta), the brand-new hypervisor architected on top of hardware virtualization technologies from AMD and Intel that is an exciting new feature of Windows Server 2008
• Microsoft Application Virtualization (aka Softgrid) for running specific applications in a virtualized environment
• Folder Redirection and Offline Files for user profile virtualization in scenarios such as hot-desking or PC replacement
• Virtual PC 2007 for creating and managing virtual desktops
• Terminal Services for presentation virtualization

In addition, Windows Vista Enterprise Centralized Desktop allows for an entire desktop to be hosted on a server and remotely delivered to a desktop device.

With all that said, virtualization itself is not a panacea.  It is a great enabling technology, but alone does not translate to business value.  Virtualization will require broad platform support, integration with other products, mapping virtualization to specific needs of a given company, and implementation best practices and guidance in order to help customers make the most of virtualization in their businesses.  MS as an entire organization is strongly committed to making it very easy for our customers to deploy, manage and use virtualization throughout their entire environment, from the datacenter and network to the desktop PC and application stack.  In addition to redefining virtualization within the IT environment, we've also undertaken a number of initiatives designed to make it easier still to integrate virtualization as an IT professional:

• We've acquired Calista Technologies, whose technology in combination with our virtualization portfolio will enable people to watch video, listen to audio and enable remote workers to receive a full-fidelity Windows desktop experience without the need for high-end desktop hardware
• We are partnering with Citrix to develop a desktop connection broker, which will create the ability to further optimize the desktop experience.  Our joint offering will be based on Windows Server 2008 and Windows Optimized Desktop solutions, extended with Citrix’s XenDesktop and Presentation Server products, and managed by System Center
• With Windows Vista Enterprise Centralized Desktop, we're simplifying the license for Centralized Desktop to help ease virtualization of hosted desktops
• By modifying virtualization in Windows Vista Home Basic, we are extending virtualization rights to allow virtualization throughout all versions of Windows Vista
• Regarding application virtualization of Microsoft Office:  we're providing new and clear guidance on support of Microsoft Office when virtualized with Microsoft Application Virtualization
• To help customers evaluate, plan, secure and deploy Microsoft virtualization technologies across desktops and datacenters, we've introduced four new Solution Accelerators that will be available at the Windows Server 2008 launch in February.  This is a set of free guidance resources and tools to help customers effectively plan and deploy virtualization technologies, including Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V, Windows Server 2008 Terminal Services and Microsoft Application Virtualization

Our virtualization toolset continues to be used by IT professionals to realize the tangible benefits and quick returns on investment at the core of the Dynamic IT initiative.  Are you doing all that you can to maximize your IT investments by enabling virtualization in your computing environment?  Check out our tools listed above to find out more, or go here to learn more about virtualization in Windows in general.

This is only the first of a series of posts on virtualization in Windows and the concerted efforts around it occurring throughout MS.  Expect to hear more from me about virtualization in Windows Vista in the very near future.

-- Shanen

Extending Windows: Ford Sync demo from CES

While at CES last week, I had the pleasure of sitting down with Velle Kolde, Senior Product Manager for Microsoft Auto, to view a demo of Ford Sync.  I left our chat very impressed.  Ford Sync, like many of the products being developed by Microsoft Automotive, are perfect examples of how we're extending the Windows platform (Windows CE 5.0, in this case) beyond the desktop to arenas outside the domain of typical computing.  Check out this video demo to learn more.

Non-security update rolls out Tuesday

Tomorrow, Tuesday 8 January, we are releasing several non-security update packages via Windows Update.  The updates include the regular monthly Malicious Software Removal Tool and Windows Mail Junk Mail Filter, two updates in our regular series of Windows Vista updates (KB943302 for application compatibility and KB943899 for reliability and performance), and one update of particular notice: KB935509.  Similar to previous updates that enhanced Windows Vista’s performance and reliability, these updates will be distributed automatically through Windows Update.

Tomorrow’s KB935509 release is a little different than past updates.  It is a prerequisite for installing SP1 and is applicable only for Windows Vista Ultimate and Enterprise users, because it only affects versions of Windows Vista supporting BitLocker Drive Encryption.

This update modifies the boot loader to enable successful install or uninstall of the service pack if the PC uses BitLocker encryption.  We’re releasing it now to lay the groundwork for future updates and to eliminate any extra reboots by installing it along with updates that already require a reboot.  For more information on the update, see KB article KB935509 (which will be posted on Tuesday morning).

In addition to KB985509, there are two other updates that will be prerequisites for Windows Vista SP1, for all versions of Windows Vista.  They will be released at a later date and will improve the installation experience and reliability for the service pack as well as for individual update packages.

SP1 development and testing efforts are continuing as expected and we remain on track for its release later this quarter.

Get your ticket to ride the CES 2008 Media Center Express

This year at CES we're partnering with PodTech to provide ground transportation specifically for bloggers attending CES via the Windows Vista Media Center Express.  This is an executive-class coach with a distinctive, custom exterior design, so you'll know it when you see it.  We dreamed up the Media Center Express as a way to help bloggers get between the CES BlogHaus at the Bellagio Hotel & Casino and CES 2008 at the Las Vegas Conference Center, while also providing them an entertaining, hands-on experience with cool technology -- and of course refreshments -- en route.  (If you've ever been to CES, then you know how difficult it can be to negotiate the Las Vegas streets while competing with the 150K other people in attendance.)  We've equipped the bus with PCs and hardware showcasing some of the best aspects of Windows Vista, namely, Windows Media Center and Certified for Windows Vista devices. 

If you're coming to CES, register for the BlogHaus so you can take advantage of the Media Center Express.  Meanwhile, check out the set-up of hardware on board:

• Dell XPS 420 with an Intel Core 2 Q6600 Quad-Core (8MB L2 cache,2.4GHz,1066FSB) processor, 3GB (Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 667MHz) memory, 512MB NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT and 750GB storage (7200RPM SATA 3.0GB/s, 16MB Cache).  The Dell XPS 420 also comes with a built-in Windows SideShow device in the front of the case
• Gateway ONE with an Intel Core 2 Duo Processor T5250 (1.50GHz, 2MB L2 cache, 667MHz FSB) processor, 2GB (667MHz DDR2 SDRAM0 memory, ATI Mobility Radeon HD 2600XT Graphics Media Accelerator with 256MB of Discrete Video Memory, and 400GB (7200RPM Serial ATA II hard drive w/ 8MB cache) storage
• Xbox 360 with Halo 3 and serving as a Media Center Extender
• Two Canon mini320 Compact Photo Printers so you can print your photos from the show floor

While on the Media Center Express, you can play Halo 3, check out two top-notch PCs running Windows Vista Ultimate, view your photos and video within Windows Media Center, print photos and documents, compare notes with your fellow bloggers, and generally relax and recharge on the way between the BlogHaus and the Las Vegas Convention Center.  To ride the bus, all you need to do is show that you're a registered attendee of the BlogHaus.

But first, we have to get the Media Center Express to Las Vegas.  Leaving tomorrow (Saturday) from the Microsoft Silicon Valley campus, it'll pack in a few bloggers from the San Francisco area (including Robert Scoble of PodTech) for the ride there.  Among them will be Windows Featured Community members Jason Dunn of Digital Home Thoughts and Robert McLaws of Windows-Now