Windows Vista SP2 to be Delayed by a Month

As everyone including Ubuntu’s king Mark Shuttleworth are eagerly waiting for Windows 7,   comes news that Microsoft has delayed the released of Service Pack 2 for Windows Vista by a month. Microsoft now states that Vista SP2 will be available only in the second-half of 2009.

Microsoft was supposed to deliver its first release candidate to beta testers in February, but now has plans to release it in March. This Release Candidate (RC) is now being referred to as “escrow build” (also means frozen and only bug fixes will be done). Showstopper bugs are supposed to be only fixed and regression is to be avoided. Microsoft has in the past indicated that SP2 is very much an optional install to the OEMs and it wants OEMs to instead move to Windows 7 directly, when its released.

Windows 7 is running pretty much on schedule and we expect it release by early next-year. The RTM for Windows 7 may be out from the Microsoft stable even by the end of this year.

By the way for those wondering what changes SP2 will be bringing to Windows Vista, following are some of the known changes in SP2:

• Windows Search 4.0 for faster and improved search
• Bluetooth 2.1 Feature Pack, the latest Bluetooth spec
• Blu-Ray support to write discs directly for explorer
• Windows Connect Now (WCN) for simpler WiFi configuration
• Content Protection in Windows Media Center

Also on the blocks with Vista SP2 is Windows Server 2008 SP2 which was released with the label SP1. Hoping to see another Windows 7 beta before the Vista SP2 then!!??

Blog About Windows Vista to Win Vista

Do you have a blog that primarily focuses on Windows Vista?? Do you write tips and tricks to improve Vista?? Do you love Vista and talk about its feature and usefulness on your blog?? Then here is an opportunity for you to win some prizes for your blog. WinVistaClub.com, in association with Windows Vista Magazine, is organizing a contest to recognize some of the best Windows Vista Blogs and Websites.

The Winner of the WinVistaClub Best Windows Vista Blog Contest 2008 will also get a Windows Vista Ultimate 32/64 bit DVD Box Pack, a Free 1 year license of ESET Smart Security Suite, a License of Magic Utilities, a License of MagicTweak, a one year subscription to the Windows Vista Magazine and a link for 3 months on the WinVistaClub HomePage.

You can find all the information about the contest here. I really haven’t come across many places on the blogosphere where people have talked good about Windows Vista. Obviously there are blogs that mention some tips and others from Vista developers who talk about new features and improvements, but there aren’t many good blogs that continuously blog about Vista. With all the rant about Vista over the interweb, that contest must be an interesting little idea to promote Vista.

Vista UAC Better At Rootkits Than AV

Vista has been the favorite punchbag of the blogosphere, but I have to say that I think some of the features that are part of Vista are really interesting and useful. UAC is one of those useful features of Vista that's been brought in from the Unix world of superuser/sudo. PCWorld reports that Vista's UAC (User-Access Protection) does a better job at detecting rootkits than antivirus products. I do not completely agree with their comparison of UAC vs Antivirus products, but it does highlight a very important point.

Windows Vista's UAC shows a dialog box every time something important is being changed in the system. It tries to warn the user about some system settings are being changed. But like most other good things, it has a side-effect. Vista's UAC screen comes up on the screen too many times and feels like its a nag-screen. But in reality, after some initial days, the Vista UAC screen doesn't come up often and Vista learns what operations are allowed by the user as non-malicious. So, UAC is a good feature...right?? Yes, it is, but then patience is a virtue rarely found in computer users. Instead, most people I know turn off UAC as soon as its Vista is installed.

On the other hand antivirus products sit on the system and observe files and downloads. They compare the files with virus signatures that are downloaded regularly off the internet. Whenever some file or behavior matches to that of a virus signature, the antivirus product shows a red flag! But rootkits are a lot more difficult to inspect, especially after your system has been infected with one. PCWorld reports:

Of 30 rootkits thrown at XP anti-malware scanners, none of the seven AV suites found all 30, a similar story to the six web-based scanners assessed. Only four of the 14 specialized anti-rootkit tools managed a perfect score.  The results for Vista products were harder to assess because only six rootkits could run on the OS, but the testers had to turn off UAC to get even this far. Vista's UAC itself spotted everything thrown in front of it.Only three of the 17 AV tools for Vista managed to both detect and successfully remove them, F-Secure Anti-Virus 2008, Panda Security Antivirus 2008, and Norton Antivirus 2008.

Rootkits look so similar to Operating System files, that most antivirus can't accurately detect them and its even harder to remove them considering that some incorrect detection may make the system instable. Rootkits are also not specifically only a threat to Windows, but are across every major operating system. Although with UAC, Vista gets the same ideology of protection that Linux or other UNIXs get. The only major problem with it is that the user has to be vigilent enough to realize the rootkit is being installed on the system and stop that operation from happening.

Thus, it is important to note that UAC does provide good security, but its upon the user to understand what is happening in the system. Another lesson is to realize that antiviruses cannot save you from everything. You have an intellect...use it!!

Microsoft's Seven Deadly Sins in Windows

I've seen a lot of Deadly Sins post from around the blogosphere and I've also seen the rants on Windows Vista. Both the stories somehow clicked and formed a connection in my head. There are a lot of other software/company that commits the sins, but we already have the eternal bash toy called Windows/Microsoft. So I take my cue at Windows and convey my anger on the BSOD, I just saw on my desktop!!

Introduction

For those who don't know much about "sin", its an act/feeling which is understood to degrade the human soul and distances oneself for serenity. Every culture/religion has a few norms and refer to these sins slightly differently. Thus, every developer/user may realize my views either as sin or as virtue. The following sins do not follow any specific order:

Lust (Latin: Luxuria; Hindu: Kaam)

Lust is when we work a lot to improve superficiality of software and that's good enough to lure a lot of people. Irrespective of how much hardware that lust requires, we are drawn towards good looks. Microsoft did just that and Windows Vista had DirectX 9 hardware as a requirement to view Aero. It got a lot of criticism for increased hardware requirement and more usage of RAM. In fact, Microsoft has to fight "Windows Vista Capable" and "Windows Vista Premium Ready" at the courts and even within its own walls!! All due to lust!!

Envy (Latin: Invadia; Hindu: Matsar ==> Jealousy)

If you know how Microsoft came up with the GUI, then probably you'll know something about it being related to Apple. When Bill Gates and friends, they saw the Mac's GUI, they got envious and jealous that the Mac looked better than Windows. It had better usability, better window management, better shortcuts... It was so good, MS copied and even named the damn things Windows 2.0... Windows 1.0 sucked at doing windowing and Microsoft only learned the game, when they really worked out their own ideas in Windows 3.0. They gave away the envy and got back to work!!

Wrath (Latin: Ira Hindu: Krodh)

Microsoft got very angry when it saw another company taking over the web. The other company was called Netscape and its browser was becoming more popular than Internet Explorer (IE). Netscape regularly criticized IE for its issues and Microsoft couldn't bear that it was being bullied by the underdog. Microsoft showered its wrath on the browsers, and bundled IE with Windows 95 OSR. The browser got stuck so much with Windows that Microsoft had a few legal lawsuits and Netscape dies with time. Even if someone thinks Microsoft wasn't to be blamed for Netscape's death, a sticker of a monopolist got stuck on Microsoft only because it got angry in the browsers war!! Now its always at a risk of trying to bundle something into the system

Greed (Latin: Avaritia Hindu: Lobh)

Microsoft could have easily sold Windows 2000 with some simple basic changes for home users. But it got greedy and continued to milk the 9x core. And they released something known as Windows Me. It was called by many other ugly names, but probably you can associated many other cardinal sins to this release.Primary it was a marketing reason why this version of Windows was released and its been a black spot in Microsoft's reputation forever. Greed never pays off!!

Sloth (Latin: Acedia Hindu: Moh ==> Attachment)

Microsoft's sloth with Windows XP was so much that it believed it has done the best it could and didn't want to do anymore than what is required. Thus, Microsoft was completely lost about what to do in next release. Even if they thought, they were thinking too many things. Even sending someone to the moon would have been cheaper than building Windows Vista that came after 5 yrs of XP. Sloth brought the downfall and people are so much attached to XP that Vista doesn't mean much to consumers.

Pride (Latin: Superbia)

With Windows XP's success of selling lots of copies quickly, Microsoft got proud of its success. Celebrating for too long and basking in the proud glory of Windows XP proved costly to the development of Vista.

Gluttony (Latin: gula)

Microsoft is currently working on Windows Seven (also Windows 7 or se7en). Gluttony is one sin I believe Microsoft could be doing with this version. Gluttony is the act of over-indulgence. Microsoft already released too many versions of Windows Vista. Windows 7 could just show the gluttony with Microsoft releasing even more versions. The "componentized" architecture could just be for selling different components of the OS at different prices. Although Microsoft promises Windows 7 to be leaner and consume less resources, it could very well be the basic version. Microsoft could be gluttonous by selling different versions at different times as well... Still there is time before Windows 7 will have a feature freeze and then we will really come to know what's inside Windows 7.

Conclusion

With this post I wanted to highlight some of the mistakes Microsoft has made with earlier versions of Windows. Hopefully none of these cardinal sins are repeated in Windows 7 or else the other alternative OS are really catching up and Windows may not have enough time to get back!!

I believe that its stupid to fanatically claim something to be the truth... So I may have completely misunderstood these sins or versions of Windows. But I just now remembered that the opposite of sin is faith, not virtue!!

Bill Gates Creates Hype For Windows 7

Not that I'm against Windows or Bill Gates, but then the recent speech from Bill Gates really feels more like marketing than anything else. Bill Gates has been recently traveling to different countries around the world, and is trying to make governments to use Windows. Bill Gates has also been offering software as a medium for change in society to developing countries for free.

At the Windows Digital Lifestyle Consortium in Tokyo last week, Gates talked a few times about Windows 7. Gates said that Microsoft will be shipping Windows 7 sometime in 2010 and highlighted the fact that it will use less power and have lesser memory requirement. Now both these claims are not very believable looking at Microsoft's track record. Vista really blew it off with the system requirements and we all know how much minimum RAM and graphics are required for the promised Windows Vista.

Windows 7 is supposed to be based on Windows Vista and the current builds of Windows 7 don't seem to be much different than Windows Vista. How Microsoft plans to make Windows 7 more energy efficient wasn't mentioned by Gates. He also promised that Microsoft will be shipping a new version of Windows every 3 years. Wasn't it Bill Gates who said IE would ship every 9-12 months... IE8 hasn't been released, even though IE7 was released way back in Nov 2006.

So, it seems Bill Gates is on a marketing spree for Windows these days. Philanthropy is something the guy's really good at, marketing should be left to someone else...

List of Programs That Don't Work With Vista SP1

Microsoft has done a lot of work with Vista SP1, so much so that a lot of security programs don't work properly with SP1 although they used to work with Vista RTM. Kernel changes and some networking tweaks are basically the reasons why these programs aren't working. The list may not be completely exhaustive, but Microsoft's Support Center lists these programs.

Programs that are blocked from starting after you install Windows Vista SP1

• BitDefender AV or Internet Security 10
• Fujitsu Shock Sensor 2.1.0.0
• Jiangmin KV Antivirus 2008 or v10
• Zone Alarm Security Suite 7.1.078

Programs that do not run after you install Windows Vista SP1

• Iron Speed Designer 5.0.1
• Xheo Licensing 3.1
• Free Allegiance 2.1

Programs that have a loss of functionality after you install Windows Vista SP1

• NYT Reader v1
• Rising Personal Firewall 2007
• Novell ZCM Agent 10.01

There may be other programs that Microsoft has not identified and still have problems with Vista SP1. A few programs may also not display the incompatibility dialogs, but may contain potential issues with Vista SP1. If you are using any of the above products and have problems then, Microsoft's list with explanation and solutions can be found here.

Windows Server 2008 WDK Released

Today, Microsoft released the RTM of the Windows Driver Kit (WDK) to developers and beta testers and is available for download on the Microsoft Connect website. The Windows Server 2008 RTM WDK is used to create drivers for Server 2008 as well as earlier operating systems like Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, Windows Vista. Microsoft advises everyone that this is the supported platform for the development and release of all production drivers.

WDK was earlier known as Windows Driver Development Kit (DDK). With the release of Windows Vista last year, Windows Driver Foundation (WDF), Installable File System Kit (IFS) were added and a separate Windows Logo Kit (WLK) was also created for signing the drivers.

A few highlights in this release are:

KMDF 1.7:

• A new wait/wake policy for parent drivers
• New samples
• New Tools

UMDF 1.7:

• Now supports Windows Server 2003 along with Windows Server 2008, Windows Vista, and Windows XP
• New debugger extensions
• New and updated samples

WDF 1.7:

• WDF 1.7 is native on Windows Server 2008 and Windows Vista SP1
• WDF 1.7 is completely backward compatible with WDF versions 1.0, 1.1, and 1.5

WDTF:

• SDEL has been added to WDTF to make querying simpler and easier

SDV:

• SDV supports KMDF drivers in addition to WDM drivers and parallelization over rules. Now, rules will be verified in parallel.

PFD:

• PFD is enhanced with driver-specific annotations that make it an even more powerful tool.

DSF:

• USB Power Management and now more robust and stable

Docs:

• New look of the WDK documentation for Server 2008/Vista SP1
• new docs for Viridian and Kernel Transaction Manager
• Subset Filtering (allows you to search by technology subset such as Audio)
• Requirements Block information for all new topics
• Kernel Reference technical scrub and TOC restructuring

After I downloaded, the new documentation felt simpler for navigation and allows easier understanding of the process of creating drivers. This release will be useful for all the hardware vendors who will be creating the next version of the drivers using this RTM release. I'm currently trying to find some mention on creating friendlier drivers supporting virtualization for Microsoft's new Hyper-V, but its surely not in the bold-print and would be useful if someone can point it out to me!!

Windows Vista SP1 RTM'd

Finally after a lot of days, the Vista development team has announced on its blog that it is finished with the development of SP1 (Service Pack 1) and will be shortly giving it to partners and friends. The whole world will be able to get it through Windows Update and Microsoft Download Center in mid-March. So hold you horses for another month is what Microsoft means by this announcement.

If you have been following the leak, then you probably have already realize that it won't take another month to get it into your hands. The advantages that the Vista SP1 is supposed to bring is more under-the-hood in the form of stability, compatibility and performance improvements. You can read a well explained piece on what's changed with Vista SP1 on Paul Thurrot's website.

Vista SP1 is also an important update for Microsoft because quite a lot of people were holding their upgrade to Windows Vista from Windows XP until SP1 will be released. May be those people were expecting some more goodies and features like Microsoft has earlier provided with Windows XP SP2. But Unlike XP SP2, Windows Vista hasn't added new features to SP1. Even people who were expecting some Ultimate Extras to be shipping with SP1 will be in for some disappointment. Earlier Microsoft has hinted that people who bought Vista Ultimate would be provided regular Extras, but not much has been released after DreamScene, which is a animation/video desktop background.

Lets hope Microsoft will start working on some Ultimate Extras, now that they have stopped working on SP1.

Windows Vista Service Pack 1 RTM Leaked

As Microsoft is working on the latest update for Windows Vista, also known as Service Pack 1 or SP1, news has it that it has been leaked on to the internet. Vista SP1 is supposed to be released in Feb and it seems just the right time for Microsoft to label the latest builds as RTM or Release to Manufacturing.

Microsoft is just about to release it to the partners and may be someone from the developers was naughty to release it. Or may it was someone from the partners. Anyway, the leak is some kind of a standalone executable and has the build 6001.18000.080126-2040. Another leak has it as 080118_1840, but its a pretty early timestamp (18-01-2008) which suggests that its a fake. These builds are probably escrow and candidate for the final RTM.

Anyway if you want a quick peek, get your hands dirty!! But I would still recommend a little more patience so that you don't screw your machine just a few days before the official leak (...I mean release)

Why Is "Live" Separate From Windows Vista ?

I hope you've heard about Windows Live. If you haven't, then click here and read about it after you finish reading this post. Windows Live is a group of free online services that Microsoft provides. And if you haven't still figured out, its basically Windows applications that can interact with online services.

If you have tried Windows Live, then you would realize that they aren't anything more than the same applications that are available in Windows Vista with some online activities. Hotmail is Live email and is not a desktop application, but it can be integrated with Live Mail, which is a modified Outlook Express. Now why can't the Outlook Express that comes with Vista work with Hotmail?? Why can't MSN messenger come pre-installed with the Live stuff?? Why can't you bring the Writer and Events applications along with Vista?? It'll encourage many more people to be blogging and use Spaces for their diary. The Live Photo Gallery is exactly similar to the Vista Photo Gallery other than the Publish button that can be used to share photos online. Why not have the publish button in Vista??

Windows Live tools can be installed on Windows XP SP2 & Vista and is free for download. Maybe Microsoft has the goodwill and wants to give access to the Vista tools to Windows XP users, but then why not have them integrated with Windows Vista itself. I mean what's the point in having two similar applications that do the same thing except one can do stuff online. And anyway its free right?? Windows Visa SP1 is just ready for release and it is an excellent time to bring the Live services to all Vista applications.

Is Microsoft getting worried about antitrust lawsuits and not doing it?? Or is there a separate Vista Ultimate Live product being offered. I'm dumbstruck by this dumb decision to not keep Live alive in Windows Vista from the very beginning.

Origami 2.0 Looks Neat

If anyone's reading tech sites, CES is the "happening thing" on the web. The CES (Consumer Electronics Show) showcases some of the best in present and future consumer electronics and this year has been no different. Among a lot of things, Microsoft celebrated Bill Gates' last day at office and presented a video of all the people talking to him. But I found another interesting thing that Microsoft has been showing at the CES. Its the Origami 2.0 and by the look, its a very nice looking thing.

Microsoft's interface for the UMPC market is called Origami Project and I had last year seen a UMPC with Vista installed, showing the Origami 1.0 experience. Its the Aero-like UI available for Ultra-Mobile PCs (UMPC)  and I liked the interface quite a lot. The Origami 2.0 is an upgrade to the original UI experience and will be available in mid-2008 according to Microsoft.

The following are some screenshots from the origami development team's blog:

The second screenshot called the Origami™ Now, looks pretty good and seems to be have lots of data on a single screen like a normal desktop would have. Its also nicely arranged and all the equally spaced transparent components look really well made.

Bill Gates also talked about Microsoft concentrating on touch and speech based interfaces and I hope Microsoft will really concentrate on those. It really makes user-interaction faster and fun (think Wii). Origami 2.0 will surely be a good learning experience and lesson learnt on this can be brought to desktop or other places like Surface Computer and the like.

The thing I liked about Origami 1.0 was that it was pretty fast and didn't seem heavy, although it had effects and transparency. But what I would like the Origami 2.0 to have is a touch interface, that can be used without the stylus, like you can use the iPhone. If buttons are made larger (size of a finger) and if windows can be shuffled like pages of a book, I would be extremely excited to install the Origami 2.0 on the Vista UMPC.

Sell Your Privacy, Get Vista Free

Update: Microsoft has just put the lid on the program saying that the program is full... This makes me wonder how many people want Vista/Office!!... Or is it just saving the privacy scare??

Some wise man once said, "No pain...No Gain". How about the pain of losing your privacy and gaining a free copy of Windows Vista ?? Yes, your privacy is worth only $350 in the market according to Microsoft. That's what Kevin from notebookreviews says is the offer from Microsoft.

You can go to the link: http://wfp.microsoft.com and signup for the Windows Feedback Program:

You can use this website to sign up for one or both parts of the program, but note the following restrictions:

• Participation is currently limited to US residents of 18 years and older.
• You are the owner of the computer you use for this program.
• The automated feedback program is offered to Windows Vista and Windows XP customers only.
• The survey feedback program applies to all versions of Windows.
• Microsoft, comScore, and MarketTools employees are not eligible to participate.

 

The Windows Feedback Program will monitor the different things that you do and will report back to Microsoft about the stuff you do. In all goodness, Microsoft says that they will use your computer to monitor your behavior and that feedback will be useful to improve the software experience. Its kind-of spyware, but you agree to it before installing and get gifts for it in return. There will also be a periodic survey that you will be asked to do and the results of those will be used by I guess a few people in the market. comScore is going to be involved in this and we all know that they seem to do some user tracking and website data analysis for the paycheck.

You have to decide is your privacy worth selling... and if it is... is it worth of what, Microsoft's giving you??

In another story, theInq reports that Microsoft also filed 52 lawsuits in 22 countries against software companies who have sold pirated copies of Windows. Is there a relationship between the two ??

Office 2007 & Vista Service Packs

Like I previously mentioned here, the Office 2007 SP1 was released yesterday and came up on the Windows Update for Vista or Microsoft Update for XP today morning. Windows Update or Microsoft Update is the recommended way to get the update, but for those who want to deploy the Service Pack 1 across a lot of different computers, can download the executable file here. The file size is 218.3 MB and the MD5 Hash is: d4e2c2678f0a2b839cf4a317b80f2d1c

In the meantime, Microsoft also has released a public version of Service Pack 1 Release Candidate (SP1 RC) for Windows Vista. It is still not the final build and I advise people to try it on their own risk. There seem to be a few problems with the build and I've been testing it for sometime now, when Microsoft released it last month for the beta testers. But for the strong-hearted, you can download and crash from here.

New Microsoft Download Center Powered By SilverLight

Microsoft has just revamped its Download Center and it looks sleek and gorgeous. It is still in beta and you'll have to go through a signup page. But the interesting thing about the website is that its powered with Microsoft's upcoming technology called SilverLight. So, when you go visit the site, you are first asked to install SilverLight (See below)

SilverLight is touted as Microsoft's replacement for Flash, but still requires a lot of effort on Microsoft's part to make it cross-platform. Its speciality is video and animation and that is very well showcased on the new download center. The top banner on the page shows some nice animations and so does the search and menus for downloads. You can look below for the screenshot or experience after you get into the beta!!

Office 2007 SP1 To Be Released On Dec 11

If the developers of Windows Vista Service Pack 1 (SP1) need to look for lessons on timely releases then they don't need to look far away from their desks. The developers of the Office 2007 team need to be lauded for their effort in releasing the SP1 ahead of schedule. And SP1 for Office 2007 will be released on 11th Dec, 2007.

Office 2007 was a completely revamped product and has a lot of new features including a complete change in the User-Interface (Ribbon) as well as the file formats (docx, pptx, xlsx...). Thus, it was expected that there would be a few bugs in the release. But like previous Office releases, this version was well received by the industry and the Office Suite is one product from Microsoft that has maintained its reputation of good releases.

The Office 2007 SP1 is an update based the user feedback and hence has lots of small hotfixes for compatibility. SP1 also brings a lot of improvements to the compatibility between the Office 2003 and Office 2007 file formats i.e. doc with docx. Few other improvements in SP1 include support for .Net Framework 3.5 and easy development with Visual Studio 2008. Some fixes to animated text in Powerpoint have also been added. Changes to DirectX overlay is another useful enhancement to make the Powerpoint slideshows a little slicker!!

Yahoo Messenger For Vista: Download Preview

When Yahoo Messenger 9 was released last month, I was a little disappointed. I had seen the previous videos about the special yahoo messenger for vista. Since another "normal" version of Yahoo Messenger was released before the Vista one, I thought Yahoo has forgotten about the Vista-special version of its messenger. But Yahoo today released a preview version of its Yahoo Messenger for Vista.

The Yahoo Messenger for Vista does not have all the features that are part of the normal yahoo messenger since its only a preview. The highly anticipated voice chat, video sharing and file sharing (using Microsoft's Silverlight) seems to be missing from this version, which was demo'd at the CES. Also, its taken Yahoo way too long to release even this half-baked version.

The Yahoo Messenger for Vista is actually meant to showcase the bling-bling using the Vista specific graphic capabilities as well as other Vista components like Sidebar. A lot of people have been complaining about the slow performance of his version. Long Zheng says that Vista SP1 might improve the performance of the WPF that this version uses.

You can read more about it at the Yahoo Messenger Blog.

Vista SP1 RC1 Available For Download

The Release Candidate (RC1) for Windows Vista's Service Pack 1 (SP1) has been released to beta testers today. The build for the SP1 is 6001.17042 and can be downloaded from Connect. I found an email from Microsoft about the release and is available to download, after you click on the invitation link.

A lot of people have been waiting for Service Pack 1 (SP1) for the adoption of Vista. For a lot of people service pack 1 means a lot since they feel Vista is not very stable and feature-rich at the moment. I personally think Vista is pretty stable and Windows Update has been doing a pretty good job. Vista SP1 does not bring any major feature like SP2 did for XP. Instead, SP1 is more about the fixing the compatibility issues and improving performance.

According to Microsoft, it has been released to "15,000 pre-selected testers". But it's not yet known when they are going to release the public version of SP1. All signs were towards a Dec, 2007 release, but now it seems it'll be only in Jan, 2008 that we are going to see the release. Also other tricks on Windows Update to get Vista SP1 as mentioned here, aren't the real SP1, since quite a lot of changes have occurred after that!!

How To Convert Media Center Videos (dvr-ms to avi)

I record a lot of TV content for playback later and all these days have been using Nero Home, WinDVR or MythTV. Recently, I formatted my hard disk to reinstall Windows Vista. And all of a sudden, a friend called and told that I had to record a TV show in which she starred and it was starting in 5mins. You know when the bad times hit you, they hit you hard. I couldn't find my Nero installer and downloading it again would take more than 5 min to complete, considering how bloated the package has become lately. Instead, logic prevailed and I remembered Windows Vista Ultimate's Media Center. Scanned the channels, and started recording. The show finished and I completed recording.

Happy with the recording quality and ease of use of Media Center, I went on to look at the recorded file. The dvr-ms file which was created is an MPEG2 with some ASF Wrapper. I said to myself, "How tough is it going to be to remove the wrapper and get the MPEG2 stream". I scoured the internet to discover "The Green Button" and I decided to press the button (I mean download DVRMSToolBox). It said, "some process failed"..or something. I said, "Ok, lemme try GraphEdit". Connecting the arrows between the input to a video demux would again throw some incompatible stream error. After, some 2hrs of searching for solutions and trying all the different things, I couldn't find a solution.

A little while later, as I was swearing on Microsoft, I remembered Windows Movie Maker... The saviour had arrived!! Sorry, if the story was boring, here the tutorial begins:

Tutorial to convert dvr-ms to avi and then DIVX/XVID/MPG/MP4 or anything else

Step 1.) Drag your recorded TV show into Windows Movie Maker's Library (You could import the dvr-ms file as well)

Step 2.) Here, you can cut/split files and play with it however you may like. (Ignore this step, if you wish to convert the whole video)

Step 3.) Drag the split/complete video file to the timeline.

Step 4.) Then, Click Publish to: This Computer from the left "Tasks" section. Give a name & location and hit "Next"

Step 5.) Put the radio button on "More Settings" and from the drop down select "DV-AVI" and click Publish... and that's it!!

The output process will create and uncompressed AVI file. It's an extremely quick process compared to other video processing tasks from other softwares. This uncompressed avi may be later compressed into DIVX/XVID/MPEG using VirtualDub or GordionKnot... I prefer using Nero Recode and create Nero Digital MP4 files. I couldn't find a quick solution like this anywhere online and hence decided to write this tutorial. Hopefully it'll help a few others to convert dvr-ms to avi, since Vista's Media Center does excellent recording and is simple for dummies... Happy recording!!