Microsoft’s Tech.Ed conference gives us more information on security, UMPCs, Windows Mobile 6, Exchange 07, pirates and cats than we could have asked for.
Microsoft recently held its Tech.Ed convention on the Gold Coast where it demonstrated the ins and outs of all its new and upcoming products and technologies. Talks varied from hardcore database management to security; Xbox 360 to web content; software development to -- er -- LOLcats, and much more.
Here are some of the highlights from our visit.
Ultra Mobile PCs
Some may think that Tablets have rendered the UMPC useless, however there is a vast divide between the two technologies that can be boiled down to performance and price. Tablet PCs need to incorporate an active digitiser board (usually a Wacom tablet as used by graphic designers) behind the screen, and that pushes the price up and keeps screen sizes down.
UMPCs, however, substitute the digitiser board for a simple touch screen. They are generally 7 inches, as at this size they are very cheap to manufacture. This is because in-car navigation systems use these screens en masse, pushing the price down to about 70 cents each. Two types are available: A lightweight version for finger based input (similar to the ones that cover supermarket checkout screens) and a heavyweight version which rejects palm presses, when combined with software for pen based input.
The first HTC Shift to roll off the production line was demonstrated, which runs both Windows Vista and Windows Mobile 6. The benefit of this is that WM6 will give you days of battery life and Vista will provide a full interface to run programs like Photoshop. It’s the first UMPC with a slide out keyboard and runs on a 400MHz Qualcomm processor when running Windows mobile and an 800MHz Intel processor for running Vista.
Currently UMPCs are being used in the medical field and at conventions as registration devices as well as performing more mundane tasks. The argument is that there’s less learning curve for users to jump into a full, familiar Windows environment than a custom or cut down user interface. In the future, the UMPC could be expanded to use two screens.
Windows Mobile 6
One of the most lauded features of Windows Mobile 6 is its remote management features. Using Exchange ’07, you can issue it a recovery password or even wipe the device drive remotely; that command will write a single pass of 0’s over the drive. Also on the security front was an analysis of firewalls and why they are utterly useless for WM6 devices. No sockets are open for receive under Windows Mobile, hence there’s nothing to protect, hence you don’t need a firewall. WM6 is still a 1-tier device where everything runs as privileged code.
A version of Office is included in WM6 and it’s compatible with Office 2007 files. There’s also a dedicated VOIP stack, unlike version 5 which had to be provided by third parties. However upgrading to WM6 may be an issue for many with existing WM5 phones, as the software licence isn’t included in the purchase price of the device; the manufacturer owns it. Instead of upgrades, some OEMs can and do use the release of new Windows Mobile devices as an excuse to have their customers buy a new phone. Palm were not among these manufacturers, and announced at their stand that existing users of its Treo 750 would be able to upgrade to WM6 free of charge.
There were many sessions on WM6 covering its ins and outs, but the most theatrical presentation involved Microsoft reps dressed and talking as pirates. They addressed the audience asking for fruit toppings for a bowl of cereal; specifically berries. An audience member was called up who handed over his Blackberry. His SIM card was returned in a WM6 phone, but his Blackberry was placed in a bowl along with a generous serving of Cornflakes into which milk was gleefully poured by the Microsoft Pirates.
Security
Speakers took some time to explain the benefits of Windows Vista’s User Access Control. The aim is to force users to run as a least privileged account holder and to move away from the “run everything as admin” mentality of previous versions of Windows.
It’s designed to alert users to programs that are trying to install themselves, it's intended to help Mum and Dad users know when malware is trying to install itself. As a result, after you set up your computer properly you will see fewer prompts as the software you’ll be using will be installed and running.
When UAC kicks in, your screen freezes (a bitmap of the last state is presented) and a coloured dialogue box is presented. Blue boxes represent Windows components, grey boxes indicate digitally signed code, orange designates unsigned code and red denotes code from a known untrusted publisher.
UAC uses a shim to trick an application into thinking it’s running with administrator privileges. This keeps legacy applications happy and performing as expected by letting them access virtualised services in day-to-day tasks. When they perform an action that requires administrator privileges the shim invokes UAC, which intervenes and asks the user for privileges.
This is a problem for administrators, as programs inherit their integrity level from Explorer when they are cleared by UAC. As Explorer itself runs at a medium integrity level, programs are only elevated to medium. However some programs, such as Visual Studio, expect to be run as a high integrity process. The workaround is to elevate their integrity level to high manually.
Silverlight
Although Adobe’s Flash has been leading the charge toward web multimedia for years, Microsoft has a plan and a different methodology of rivalling it. That plan is called Silverlight. It’s written in XML, uses Javascript, and its output can be indexed by search engines.
Although you could write Silverlight code with a text editor, Expression Blend 2.0 and Visual Studio are the Microsoft tools for the job. An entire design toolset including transformations, vectors, rotations and more are available. A 1.4MB platform independent browser plugin is required at the viewer’s end.
The cynical could say Microsoft is trying to push its (admittedly very good) WMV9 codec into new frontiers, but it will have its fair share of problems. WMV doesn’t provide an alpha channel, so video with transparent areas will be a headache. Microsoft expects to resolve this by sending two streams: one of the video and one low bitrate stream that defines which areas of the main video should be set to transparent.
Silverlight version 1.0 should be released sometime in September, and version 1.1 should follow some time in the second half of 2008. It will bring optional DRM restrictions and by its release Microsoft may have implemented its plans to bring support to mobile devices.
LOLcode
LOLcode is an esoteric programming language originally designed for fun, but thanks to the epic rise of LOLcats doing the rounds of the Internet, it’s being heralded as an education tool. The presentation had attendees asking each other “Is this for real?” In short, yes it is for real.
The theory is that the Internet generation’s familiarity with choppy LOLcat language will help bridge the divide between human and machine languages, making it easier to grasp the basics of coding. There’s even a .NET compiler that will compile LOLcode into an executable.
We’ll let this example speak for itself:
HAI
CAN HAS STDIO?
VISIBLE "HAI WORLD!"
KTHXBYE
There’s a very fine line between genius and insanity.