In 1989, Karlheinz Brandenburg, an audio engineer and mathematician working for a research institute Germany's Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft, was one of five men named on a German patent for a technology that could encode and play music in digital form.

In that same year, Brandenburg did related technology research with new colleagues at Bell Labs, then a unit of the former AT&T Corp., where he spent about a year before returning to his native soil.

Yesterday, lawyers for the French telecom-equipment maker Alcatel-Lucent won a $1.52 billion award by convincing a federal jury in San Diego that Microsoft Corp. violated Alcatel's patents covering digital music.

Here's the twist: the two patents mentioned above are not the same one. Alcatel-Lucent acquired the latter because it owns the rights to a lot of former Bell Labs intellectual property, while Microsoft -- like Apple Inc. and dozens of other U.S. technology companies -- licenses the former patent from Fraunhofer.

http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/microsofts-latest-nasty-legal-surprise/story.aspx?guid=%7b4582533B-CFB6-4D10-9D09-A77AE583D6C0%7d&dist=MostReadHome&print=true&dist=printTop

I set up an Exchange 2007 Edge Transport server recently, and when I tried to put my volume license key into the Edge Transport server, I was told that I had "attempted to perform an unauthorized operation."

This edge transport server sits behind my ISA server; inbound mail goes to it, then heads to my Exchange 2007 Hub Transport server for routing.  It has 1 internal NIC.

• Remote Registry service was enabled, and it was enabled on all GCs/PDCs/DCs
• TCP/IP was bound to all NICs (this one only had 1 NIC)
• I tried logging in as local admin and domain/enterprise admin

What worked?

Went into Active Directory Users and Computers on my GC.  Found the OU "Microsoft Exchange Security Groups" and the "Exchange Servers" security group therein.  I added the new Edge Transport server to this security group (since it wasn't a member!) and then restarted my Edge Transport server.

Key accepted.

I recently updated my Media Center to Vista; my GeForce 4 was replaced with a GeForce FX5200.

I kept getting a flickering screen when using the Microsoft drivers; it wasn't handling TV output properly.

I went to nVidia's site to get the (bad!) drivers... and I have my AGP nVidia GeForce FX5200 running ForceWare 97.46.  I selected (manually, using Have Disk) to use this driver instead of the OOBE drivers that ship with Vista.

Now to fire up Media Center...

Update: It works.  GeForce FX5200 on ForceWare 97.46 (which are supposedly for GeForce 6/7 and FX6000+) is WORKING for Vista Media Center, and Aero.  DVD playback and TV live playback is fully functional.  I don't play games on this thing... so... =) I'm not going to bother testing it.

The ThinkPad system powers off immediately when docked to a ThinkPad Advanced Dock, ThinkPad Advanced Mini Dock, or Essential Port Replicator. This could occur if the ThinkPad system is warm-docked (ThinkPad system is in a suspended state) or hot-docked (ThinkPad system is in a powered-on state).

Lenovo has determined that the reason for the system powering off is due to an electrostatic discharge between the system and the docking station or port replicator. We have developed a field kit that consists of two conductive rubber caps. These caps, when correctly applied to the dock, provide a safe path for the electrostatic discharge.

http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/document.do?sitestyle=lenovo&lndocid=MIGR-67382

It's done.  The laptop has been ordered.

IBM/Lenovo T60p ThinkPad T60p 2007-8JU (Experience Index 4.3)

• Intel Core 2 Duo T7600 at 2.33GHz (Score 5.2)
• 1x1GB DDR2 667MHz PC2-5300 RAM (Score 4.5)
• 100 GB SATA @ 7200 RPM (8 MB cache, 4.2ms latency, 11ms seek) (Score 5.1)
• 24X DVD Recordable (8X DVD+R)
• ATI FireGL V5250, GDDR3 256 MB PCIe (Graphics 4.3, Gaming 4.6)
• 56K V92 modem
• Gigabit Ethernet
• Intel PRO/Wireless 3945ABG Mini-PCIe
• Bluetooth
• 3 USB ports, docking, external display, headphone, microphone, RJ11, RJ45
• UltraNav + Eraserhead
• 31.75mm x 335.28mm x 238.76mm
• Windows Vista Enterprise x86

February 17 2007

• Will get RAM upgrade to 2x1GB in a week or so
• Latest drivers/utilities updated via System Update

This is the Microsoft Mobile update to address DST related issues in 2007.

Windows Mobile Updates for Daylight Saving Time (PocketPC)
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/info.aspx?na=22&p=70&SrcDisplayLang=en&SrcCategoryId=&SrcFamilyId=&u=%2fdownloads%2fdetails.aspx%3fFamilyID%3d1a74d009-4e90-438d-883d-638e0bfd993a%26DisplayLang%3den

Windows Mobile Updates for Daylight Saving Time (Desktop Tool)
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/info.aspx?na=22&p=71&SrcDisplayLang=en&SrcCategoryId=&SrcFamilyId=&u=%2fdownloads%2fdetails.aspx%3fFamilyID%3dc1b38b19-20cc-4b4a-90c7-8cb318fded57%26DisplayLang%3den

Windows Mobile Updates for Daylight Saving Time (Smartphone)
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/info.aspx?na=22&p=72&SrcDisplayLang=en&SrcCategoryId=&SrcFamilyId=&u=%2fdownloads%2fdetails.aspx%3fFamilyID%3d7074664e-827c-477c-a59f-a6103aaba3b1%26DisplayLang%3den

Microsoft Key Management Service for Windows Server 2003 is part of Microsoft Windows Volume Activation 2.0. It allows enterprise users to host Key Management Service on Windows Server 2003 to enable activation of Windows Vista using Key Management Service (KMS) Key.

Microsoft Volume Activation 2.0 is a set of technical and policy related solution provided by Microsoft’s Software Protection Platform (SPP) that gives Microsoft customers a more secure and easy to deploy solution to protect and manage their volume license keys. Microsoft Key Management Service for Windows Server 2003 is part of Microsoft Volume Activation 2.0 allows enterprise customers manage the activation of their Windows machines using Key Management Service (KMS) Key.

Enterprise customers who license Windows Vista and Windows Server “Longhorn” server under volume license program get two keys namely a Multiple Activation Key (MAK) and a Key Management Service (KMS) Key.

KMS based activation allows enterprise customers to host a local service within their environment to enable activation of machines running Windows Vista Business and Windows Vista Enterprise editions within their environment instead of any activation against Microsoft. Machines that have been activated through KMS will be required to reactivate by connecting to the KMS host at least once every 6 months.

Key Management Service for Windows Server 2003 enables deployment of Windows Vista using current and released server operating system. It uses the Windows Vista KMS key provided through Microsoft’s Volume Licensing System portals (MVLS, eOpen). The KMS host can be activated using either online or offline methods. It uses the same interfaces and tools as KMS on Windows Vista including:
• Software Licensing API, WMI interfaces, error codes, logging events
• SLMGR.VBS and KMS Management Pack for Microsoft Operations Manager
x86
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/info.aspx?na=22&p=67&SrcDisplayLang=en&SrcCategoryId=&SrcFamilyId=&u=%2fdownloads%2fdetails.aspx%3fFamilyID%3d81d1cb89-13bd-4250-b624-2f8c57a1ae7b%26DisplayLang%3den

x64
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/info.aspx?na=22&p=68&SrcDisplayLang=en&SrcCategoryId=&SrcFamilyId=&u=%2fdownloads%2fdetails.aspx%3fFamilyID%3d03fe69b2-6244-471c-80d2-b4171fb1d7a5%26DisplayLang%3den

http://www.windowsitpro.com/mobile/pda/Article.cfm?ArticleID=95011&News=1
DailyTech has confirmed a new workaround proposed by Paul Thurrott (via Microsoft internal documents).

This workaround allows users to perform a “clean install.” The process is a bit tedious, but is not hard at all to complete. Users have to perform these simple steps to perform a clean install of Vista without a previous version of Windows installed with an upgrade DVD:

1. Boot from the Windows Vista Upgrade DVD and start the setup program.
2. When prompted to enter your product key, DO NOT enter it. Click "Next" and proceed with setup. This will install Windows Vista as a 30-day trial.
3. When prompted, select the edition of Vista which you have purchased and continue with setup.
4. Once setup has been completed and you have been brought to the desktop for the first time, run the install program from within Windows Vista.
5. This time, type in your product key when prompted.
6. When asked whether to perform an Upgrade or Custom (advanced) install, choose Custom (advanced) to perform a clean install of Vista. Yes, this means that you will have to install Vista for a second time.
7. Once setup has completed for the second time, you should be able to activate Windows Vista normally. You can also delete the Windows.old directory which contains information from the first Vista install.

User interface features

Security features

Performance features

Reliability features

Internet features

Bundled applications

Digital media features

Networking features

Mobility features

Other Windows Vista features

Configuring firewalls and name resolution for Edge Transport servers

ConfigureAdam.ps1 -ldapport:5000 -sslport:5001

According to a recent entry on Lenovo's 'Inside the Box' blog, the reports earlier this month about a Vista/Thinkpad conflict are true: Lenovo admitted that some Vista-based computers manufactured either by IBM or by Lenovo may take an additional 10 to 20 seconds longer to boot than a similar Windows XP-based configurations.

This problem, according to Lenovo, only occurred on ThinkPad systems with an Ultrabay, the company's brand name for a swappable modular bay, when a user tried to hot swap optical and hard drives.

Lenovo claims that it was initially a Vista beta code problem on hotswap drives where they were not immediately recognized when inserted into the system. This happened because an optical drive takes a few seconds to be ready at power up and the Vista drive recognition logic "could not handle the device insertion in time."

Microsoft has since fixed the problem by adding a 10 second wait for optical drive insertion, but that change also affected cold boot time on certain ThinkPad systems.

Now, both Lenovo and Microsoft have come up with a new solution that fixes this problem and eliminates the extra time needed for the drive to be recognized.

Next month, Lenovo will refresh its system preload images previously shipped by the company, as well as update its ThinkVantage and system support site. ThinkPad users will then be able to obtain a fix to the boot time problem when it becomes available.

Lenovo says that for ThinkPad systems shipped before to March, which will not have the updated driver in the preload, customers should download the software update after Vista has been installed on the computer.

For those with Lenovo 3000 notebooks, Lenovo says the update will not be necessary as they currently do not ship with Ultrabay drives.
http://www.lenovoblogs.com/insidethebox/?p=50
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1895,2087524,00.asp

Hotfixes

A high definition audio device may no longer work after you resume Windows Vista from sleep or from hibernation and then restart the computer
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/929685
In Windows Vista, you cannot access any resources on a remote VPN server after you switch a network connection from one network adapter to another network adapter and then dial a VPN connection
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/930163
You receive a Stop 0x9F error when you wake a Windows Vista-based computer that is connected to an IEEE 1394-based device
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/929762
When you run Wusa.exe together with the /quiet option to try to install certain software packages on a Windows Vista-based computer, the installation fails
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/929761
You may not receive audio in the desired language when you use Windows Media Center to view television in Windows Vista
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/929615

Updates

Microsoft Windows Mobile Device Center Driver for Windows Vista (x86)
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=83d513ea-9df9-4920-af33-3a0e2e4e7beb&DisplayLang=en
Microsoft Windows Mobile Device Center Driver for Windows Vista (AMD64)
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=6eb8d0aa-bc6b-4864-8ffe-dc26e1d9f843&DisplayLang=en