Microsoft Visual Studio Debugger

The Microsoft Visual Studio Debugger is a debugger that ships along with all versions of Microsoft Visual Studio. This debugger owes much of its feel and functionality to CodeView, a standalone, text-based debugger that shipped with Microsoft Visual C++ version 1.5 and earlier.
More advanced features of the most recent versions of this debugger include:
* Full symbol and source integration.
* Attaching and detaching to and from processes.
* Integrated debugging across programs written in both .NET and native Windows languages (calls from C# to C++, for example).
* Remote machine debugging.
* Full support for C++, including templates and the standard library
* Debugging ASP.NET Web Services.
* Standard as well as more advanced breakpoint features, including conditional, address, data breakpoints.
* Many ways of viewing program state and data, including multiple watch windows, threads, call stack, and modules. The way library and user data types are displayed can be configured (e.g., to show contents of a container class, rather than it's raw structure).
* Scriptability or the ability to control via a macro or scripting language. Any language which can talk to COM can be used.
* Edit and continue support, enabling source code change and recompilation without having to restart the program (32 bit applications only).
* Local and remote debugging of SQL stored procedures on supported versions of Microsoft SQL Server.
The main shortcoming of the Visual Studio Debugger is its inability to trace into kernel-mode code. Kernel-mode debugging of Windows is generally performed by using WinDbg, KD, or SoftICE.

Microsoft Supported products

Microsoft Visual C++
Microsoft Visual C++ is Microsoft's implementation of the C and C++ compiler and associated languages services and specific tools for integration with the Visual Studio IDE. It can compile either in C mode or C++ mode. For C, it follows the ISO C standard with parts of C99 spec along with MS-specific additions in the form of libraries.[28] For C++, it follows the ANSI C++ spec along with a few C++0x features.[29] It also supports the C++/CLI spec to write managed code, as well as mixed mode code (a mix of native and managed code). Microsoft positions Visual C++ for development in native code or code that contains both native as well as managed components. Visual C++ supports COM as well as the MFC library. For MFC development, it provides a set of wizards for creating and customizing MFC boilerplate code, and creating GUI applications using MFC. Visual C++ can also use the Visual Studio forms designer to design UI graphically. Visual C++ can also be used with the Windows API. It also supports the use of intrinsic functions,[30] which are functions recognized by the compiler itself and not implemented as a library. Intrinsic functions are used to expose the SSE instruction set of modern CPUs. Visual C++ also includes the OpenMP (version 2.0) spec.
Microsoft Visual C#
Microsoft Visual C# is Microsoft's implementation of the C# language, that targets the .NET Framework, along with the language services that lets the Visual Studio IDE support C# projects. While the language services are a part of Visual Studio, the compiler is available separately as a part of the .NET Framework. The Visual C# 2008 compiler supports version 3.0 of the C# language specifications. Visual C# supports the Visual Studio Class designer, Forms designer, and Data designer among others.
Microsoft Visual Basic
Microsoft Visual Basic is Microsoft's implementation of the VB.NET language and associated tools and language services. It was introduced with Visual Studio .NET (2002). Microsoft has positioned Visual Basic for Rapid Application Development. Visual Basic can be used to author both console applications as well as GUI applications. Like Visual C#, Visual Basic also supports the Visual Studio Class designer, Forms designer, and Data designer among others. Like C#, the VB.NET compiler also is available as a part of .NET Framework but the language services, that let VB.NET projects be developed with Visual Studio, are available as a part of the latter.
Microsoft Visual Web Developer
Microsoft Visual Web Developer is used to create web sites, web application and web services using ASP.NET. Either C# or VB.NET languages can be used. Visual Web Developer can use the Visual Studio Web Designer to graphically design web page layouts.
Team Foundation Server
Included only with Visual Studio Team System, Team Foundation Server is intended for collaborative software development projects and acts as the server side backend providing source control, data collection, reporting, and project tracking functionality. It also includes the Team Explorer, the client tool for TFS services, which is integrated inside Visual Studio Team System.
Visual FoxPro
Visual FoxPro is a data-centric object-oriented and procedural programming language produced by Microsoft. It is derived from FoxPro (originally known as FoxBASE) which was developed by Fox Software beginning in 1984. Visual FoxPro is tightly integrated with its own relational database engine, which extends FoxPro's xBase capabilities to support SQL query and data manipulation. Unlike most database management systems, Visual FoxPro is a full-featured, dynamic programming language that does not require the use of an additional general-purpose programming environment. Microsoft has stated that Visual FoxPro has been discontinued after version 9.
Visual SourceSafe
Microsoft Visual SourceSafe is a source control software package oriented towards small software development projects. SourceSafe was initially not a client/server SCM; version 6.0 could only be used locally in a single user system. With Visual SourceSafe 2005, a client-server mode was added, whereby a SourceSafe repository can be shared using SMB shared. Visual SourceSafe 6.0 was included with Visual Studio 6.0, whereas Visual SourceSafe 2005 was available as a stand-alone product and included with the 2005 Team Suite. Visual Studio Team System included Team Foundation Server for source control.
Microsoft Visual J++/Microsoft Visual J#
Microsoft Visual J++ was Microsoft's implementation of the Java language (with Microsoft-specific extensions) and associated language services. It was discontinued as a result of a litigation from Sun Microsystems, and the technology was recycled into Visual J#, Microsoft's Java compiler for .NET Framework. J# was available with Visual Studio 2005 but with version 2008, it has been discontinued.
Visual InterDev
Visual InterDev is used to create web applications using Microsoft Active Server Pages (ASP) technologies. It supports code completion and includes database server management tools. It has been replaced with Microsoft Visual Web Developer.

Microsoft Visual Studio

Microsoft Visual Studio is the main Integrated Development Environment (IDE) from Microsoft. It can be used to develop console and Graphical user interface applications along with Windows Forms applications, web sites, web applications, and web services in both native code as well as managed code for all platforms supported by Microsoft Windows, Windows Mobile, .NET Framework, .NET Compact Framework and Microsoft Silverlight.
Visual Studio includes a code editor supporting IntelliSense as well as code refactoring. The integrated debugger works both as a source-level debugger and a machine-level debugger. Other built-in tools include a forms designer for building GUI applications, web designer, class designer, and database schema designer. It allows plug-ins to be added that enhance the functionality at almost every level - including adding support for source control systems (like Subversion and Visual SourceSafe) to adding new toolsets like editors and visual designers for domain-specific languages or toolsets for other aspects of the software development lifecycle (like the Team Foundation Server client: Team Explorer).
Visual Studio supports languages by means of language services, which allow any programming language to be supported (to varying degrees) by the code editor and debugger, provided a language-specific service has been authored. Built-in languages include C/C++ (via Visual C++), VB.NET (via Visual Basic .NET), and C# (via Visual C#). Support for other languages such as F#, Python, and Ruby among others has been made available via language services which are to be installed separately. It also supports XML/XSLT, HTML/XHTML, JavaScript and CSS. Language-specific versions of Visual Studio also exist which provide more limited language services to the user. These individual packages are called Microsoft Visual Basic, Visual J#, Visual C#, and Visual C++.
Currently, Visual Studio 2008 and 2005 Professional Editions, along with language-specific versions (Visual Basic, C++, C#, J#) of Visual Studio 2005 are available to students as downloads free of charge via Microsoft's DreamSpark program.
Code editor
Visual Studio, like any other IDE, includes a code editor that supports syntax highlighting and code completion using IntelliSense for not only variables, functions and methods but also language constructs like loops and queries.[11] IntelliSense is supported for the included languages, as well as for XML and for Cascading Style Sheets and JavaScript when developing web sites and web applications.[12][13] Autocomplete suggestions are popped up in a modeless list box, overlaid on top of the code editor. In Visual Studio 2008 onwards, it can be made temporarily semi-transparent to see the code obstructed by it.[11] The code editor is used for all supported languages.
The Visual Studio code editor also supports setting bookmarks in code for quick navigation. Other navigational aids include collapsing code blocks and incremental search, in addition to normal text search and regex search.[14] The code editor also includes a multi-item clipboard and a task list.[14] The code editor supports code snippets, which are saved templates for repetitive code and can be inserted into code and customized for the project being worked on. A management tool for code snippets is built in as well. These tools are surfaced as floating windows which can be set to automatically hide when unused or docked to the side of the screen. The Visual Studio code editor also supports code refactoring including parameter reordering, variable and method renaming, interface extraction and encapsulation of class members inside properties, among others.
Visual Studio features background compilation (also called incremental compilation).[15][16] As code is being written, Visual Studio compiles it in the background with a view to pointing out compilation errors and warnings on-the-fly. Errors are flagged with a red wavy underline and warnings with a green underline. Background compilation does not generate executable code, and needs a different compiler than the one used to generate executable code.[17]. Background compilation was initially introduced with Microsoft Visual Basic but has now been expanded for all included languages.[16]
Debugger
Visual Studio includes a debugger that works both as a source-level debugger as well as machine-level debugger. It works with both managed code as well as native code and can be used for debugging applications written in any language supported by Visual Studio. In addition, it can also attach to running processes and monitor and debug those processes.[18] If source code for the running process is available, it displays the code as it is being run. If source code is not available, it can show the disassembly. The Visual Studio debugger can also create memory dumps as well as load them later for debugging.[19] Multi-threaded programs are also supported. The debugger can be configured to be launched when an application running outside the Visual Studio environment, crashes.
The debugger allows setting breakpoints (which allow execution to be stopped temporarily at a certain position) and watches (which monitor the values of variables as the execution progresses).[20] Breakpoints can be conditional, that is they get triggered when the condition is met. Code can be stepped over, i.e., run one line (of source code) at a time.[21] It can either step into functions to debug inside it, or step over it, i.e., the execution of the function body isn't available for manual inspection.[21] The debugger supports Edit and Continue, i.e., it allows code to be edited as it is being debugged.[22] When debugging, if any variable is hovered over by the mouse pointer, its current value is displayed in a tooltip ("data tooltips"), where it can also be modified if desired. During coding, the Visual Studio debugger lets certain functions be invoked manually from the Immediate tool window. The parameters to the method are supplied at the Immediate window.
WinForms Designer
The WinForms designer is used to build GUI applications using WinForms. It includes a palette of UI widgets and controls (including buttons, progress bars, labels, layout containers and other controls) that can be dragged and dropped on a form surface. Layout can be controlled by housing the controls inside other containers or locking them to the side of the form. Controls that display data (like textbox, list box, grid view, etc.) can be data bound to data sources like databases or queries. The UI is linked with code using an event-driven programming model. The designer generates either C# or VB.NET code for the application.
WPF Designer
The WPF designer, codenamed Cider,[24] was introduced with Visual Studio 2008. Like the WinForms designer it supports uses the drag and drop metaphor. It is used to author user interfaces targeting Windows Presentation Foundation. It supports all WPF functionality including databinding and automatic layout management. It generates XAML code for the UI. The generated XAML file is compatible with Microsoft Expression Design, the designer-oriented product. The XAML code is linked with code using a code-behind model.
Web designer
Visual Studio also includes a web site editor and designer that allows web pages to be authored by dragging and dropping widgets. It is used for developing ASP.NET applications, and supports HTML, CSS and JavaScript. It uses a code-behind model to link with ASP.NET code. Visual Studio 2008 onwards, the layout engine used by the web designer is shared with Microsoft Expression Web.
Class designer
The Class Designer is used to author and edit the classes (including its members and their access) using UML modeling. The Class Designer can generate C# and VB.NET code outlines for the classes and methods. It can also generate class diagrams from hand-written classes.
Data designer
The data designer can be used to graphically edit database schemas, including typed tables, primary and foreign keys and constraints. It can also be used to design queries from the graphical view.
Mapping designer
Visual Studio 2008 onwards, the mapping designer is used by LINQ to SQL to design the mapping between database schemas and classes that encapsulate the data.

Microsoft Visual Basic .NET

Visual Basic .NET (VB.NET) is an object-oriented computer language that can be viewed as an evolution of Microsoft's Visual Basic (VB) implemented on the Microsoft .NET framework. Its introduction has been controversial, as significant changes were made that broke backward compatibility with older versions and caused a rift within the developer community.
Visual Basic .NET (VB 7)
The original Visual Basic .NET was released alongside Visual C# and ASP.NET in 2002. C# — widely touted as Microsoft's answer to Java — received the lion's share of media attention, while VB.NET (sometimes known as VB7) was not widely covered. As a result, few outside the Visual Basic community paid much attention to it.[citation needed]
Those who did try the first version found a powerful but very different language under the hood, with disadvantages in some areas, including a runtime that was ten times as large to package as the VB6 runtime and an increased memory footprint.[citation needed]
Visual Basic .NET 2003 (VB 7.1)
Visual Basic .NET 2003 was released with version 1.1 of the .NET Framework. New features included support for the .NET Compact Framework and a better VB upgrade wizard. Improvements were also made to the performance and reliability of the .NET IDE (particularly the background compiler) and runtime.
In addition, Visual Basic .NET 2003 was also available in the Visual Studio .NET 2003 Academic Edition (VS03AE). VS03AE is distributed to a certain number of scholars from each country for free.
Visual Basic 2005 (VB 8.0)
Visual Basic 2005 is the name used to refer to the update to Visual Basic .NET, Microsoft having decided to drop the .NET portion of the title.
For this release, Microsoft added many features, including:
* Edit and Continue - probably the biggest "missing feature" from Visual Basic .NET, allowing the modification of code and immediate resumption of execution
* Design-time expression evaluation
* The My pseudo-namespace (overview, details), which provides:
o easy access to certain areas of the .NET Framework that otherwise require significant code to access
o dynamically-generated classes (notably My.Forms)
* Improvements to the VB-to-VB.NET converter [2]
* The Using keyword, simplifying the use of objects that require the Dispose pattern to free resources
* Just My Code, which hides boilerplate code written by the Visual Studio .NET IDE
* Data Source binding, easing database client/server development
The above functions (particularly My) are intended to reinforce Visual Basic .NET's focus as a rapid application development platform and further differentiate it from C#.
Visual Basic 2005 introduced features meant to fill in the gaps between itself and other "more powerful" .NET languages, adding:
* .NET 2.0 languages features such as:
o generics [3]
o Partial classes, a method of defining some parts of a class in one file and then adding more definitions later; particularly useful for integrating user code with auto-generated code
o Nullable Types
* XML comments that can be processed by tools like NDoc to produce "automatic" documentation
* Operator overloading
* Support for unsigned integer data types commonly used in other languages
IsNot Patent
One other feature of Visual Basic 2005 is the conversion of If Not X Is Y to If X IsNot Y which gained notoriety when it was found to be the subject of a Microsoft patent application.
Visual Basic 2005 Express
As part of the Visual Studio product range, Microsoft created a set of free development environments for hobbyists and novices, the Visual Studio 2005 Express series. One edition in the series is Visual Basic 2005 Express Edition, which was succeeded by Visual Basic 2008 Express Edition in the 2008 edition of Visual Studio Express.[8]
The Express Editions are targeted specifically for people learning a language. They have a streamlined version of the user interface, and lack more advanced features of the standard versions. On the other hand, Visual Basic 2005 Express Edition does contain the Visual Basic 6.0 converter, so it is a way to evaluate feasibility of conversion from older versions of Visual Basic.

Visual Basic 2008 (VB 9.0)
Visual Basic 9.0 was released together with the Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5 on November 19, 2007.
For this release, Microsoft added many features, including:
* A true ternary operator If (boolean, value, value) to replace the IIF function.
* Anonymous types
* Support for LINQ
* Lambda expressions
* XML Literals
* Type Inference
Visual Basic 'VBx' (VB 10.0)
Visual Basic 10, also known as VBx, will offer support for the Dynamic Language Runtime. VB 10 is planned to be part of Silverlight 2.0.[citation needed]
Relation to older versions of Visual Basic (VB6 and previous)
Whether Visual Basic .NET should be considered as just another version of Visual Basic or a completely different language is a topic of debate. This is not obvious, as once the methods that have been moved around and that can be automatically converted are accounted for, the basic syntax of the language has not seen many "breaking" changes, just additions to support new features like structured exception handling and short-circuited expressions. Two important data type changes occurred with the move to VB.NET. Compared to VB6, the Integer data type has been doubled in length from 16 bits to 32 bits, and the Long data type has been doubled in length from 32 bits to 64 bits. This is true for all versions of VB.NET. A 16-bit integer in all versions of VB.NET is now known as a Short. Similarly, the Windows Forms GUI editor is very similar in style and function to the Visual Basic form editor.
The things that have changed significantly are the semantics — from those of an object-based programming language running on a deterministic, reference-counted engine based on COM to a fully object-oriented language backed by the .NET Framework, which consists of a combination of the Common Language Runtime (a virtual machine using generational garbage collection and a just-in-time compilation engine) and a far larger class library. The increased breadth of the latter is also a problem that VB developers have to deal with when coming to the language, although this is somewhat addressed by the My feature in Visual Studio 2005.
The changes have altered many underlying assumptions about the "right" thing to do with respect to performance and maintainability. Some functions and libraries no longer exist; others are available, but not as efficient as the "native" .NET alternatives. Even if they compile, most converted VB6 applications will require some level of refactoring to take full advantage of the new language. Documentation is available to cover changes in the syntax, debugging applications, deployment and terminology.

Microsoft Business culture

Microsoft has often been described as having a developer-centric business culture. A great deal of time and money is spent each year on recruiting young university-trained software developers and on keeping them in the company. For example, while many software companies often place an entry-level software developer in a cubicle desk within a large office space filled with other cubicles, Microsoft assigns a private or semiprivate closed office to every developer or pair of developers. In addition, key decision makers at every level are either developers or former developers. In a sense, the software developers at Microsoft are considered the "stars" of the company in the same way that the sales staff at IBM are considered the "stars" of their company.
Within Microsoft the expression "eating our own dog food" is used to describe the policy of using the latest Microsoft products inside the company in an effort to test them in "real-world" situations. Only prerelease and beta versions of products are considered dog food. This is usually shortened to just "dogfood" and is used as noun, verb, and adjective. The company is also known for their hiring process, dubbed the "Microsoft interview", which is notorious for off-the-wall questions such as "Why is a manhole cover round?" and is a process often mimicked in other organizations, although these types of questions are rarer now than they were in the past. For fun, Microsoft also hosts the Microsoft Puzzle Hunt, an annual puzzle hunt (a live puzzle game where teams compete to solve a series of puzzles) held at the Redmond campus.
As of 2006, Microsoft employees, not including Bill Gates, have given over $2.5 billion dollars to non-profit organizations worldwide, making Microsoft the worldwide top company in per-employee donations. In January 2007, the Harris Interactive/The Wall Street Journal Reputation Quotient survey concluded that Microsoft had the world's best corporate reputation, citing strong financial performance, vision & leadership, workplace environment rankings, and the charitable deeds of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Microsoft Visual Studio

Microsoft Visual Studio is the main Integrated Development Environment (IDE) from Microsoft. It can be used to develop console and GUI applications along with Windows Forms applications, web sites, web applications, and web services in both native code as well as managed code for all platforms supported by Microsoft Windows, Windows Mobile, .NET Framework, .NET Compact Framework and Microsoft Silverlight.
Visual Studio includes a code editor supporting IntelliSense as well as code refactoring. The integrated debugger works both as a source-level debugger and a machine-level debugger. Other built-in tools include a forms designer for building GUI applications, web designer, class designer, and database schema designer. It allows plug-ins to be added that enhance the functionality at almost every level - including adding support for source control systems (like Subversion and Visual SourceSafe) to adding new toolsets like editors and visual designers for domain-specific languages or toolsets for other aspects of the software development lifecycle (like the Team Foundation Server client: Team Explorer).
Visual Studio supports languages by means of language services, which allow any programming language to be supported (to varying degrees) by the code editor and debugger, provided a language-specific service has been authored. Built-in languages include C/C++ (via Visual C++), VB.NET (via Visual Basic .NET), and C# (via Visual C#). Support for other languages such as F#, Python, and Ruby among others has been made available via language services which are to be installed separately. It also supports XML/XSLT, HTML/XHTML, JavaScript and CSS. Language-specific versions of Visual Studio also exist which provide more limited language services to the user. These individual packages are called Microsoft Visual Basic, Visual J#, Visual C#, and Visual C++.
Currently, Visual Studio 2008 and 2005 Professional Editions, along with language-specific versions (Visual Basic, C++, C#, J#) of Visual Studio 2005 are available to students as downloads free of charge via Microsoft's DreamSpark program.

Features
Code editor
Visual Studio, like any other IDE, includes a code editor that supports syntax highlighting and code completion using IntelliSense for not only variables, functions and methods but also language constructs like loops and queries. IntelliSense is supported for the included languages, as well as for XML and for Cascading Style Sheets and JavaScript when developing web sites and web applications. Autocomplete suggestions are popped up in a modeless list box, overlayed on top of the code editor. In Visual Studio 2008 onwards, it can be made temporarily semi-transparent to see the code obstructed by it. The code editor is used for all supported languages.
The Visual Studio code editor also supports setting bookmarks in code for quick navigation. Other navigational aids include collapsing code blocks and incremental search, in addition to normal text search and regex search. The code editor also includes a multi-item clipboard and a task list. The code editor supports code snippets, which are saved templates for repetitive code, that can be inserted into code and customized for the project being worked on. A management tool for code snippets is built in as well. These tools are surfaced as floating windows which can be set to automatically hide when unused or docked to the side of the screen. The Visual Studio code editor also supports code refactoring including parameter reordering, variable and method renaming, interface extraction and encapsulation of class members inside properties, among others.
Visual Studio features background compilation (also called incremental compilation). As code is being written, Visual Studio compiles it in the background with a view to pointing out compilation errors and warnings on-the-fly. Errors are flagged with a red wavy underline and warnings with a green underline. Background compilation does not generate executable code, and needs a different compiler than the one used to generate executable code. Background compilation was initially introduced with Microsoft Visual Basic but has now been expanded for all included languages.

Debugger
Visual Studio includes a debugger that works both as a source-level debugger as well as machine-level debugger. It works with both managed code as well as native code and can be used for debugging applications written in any language supported by Visual Studio. In addition, it can also attach to running processes and monitor and debug those processes. If source code for the running process is available, it displays the code as it is being run. If source code is not available, it can show the disassembly. The Visual Studio debugger can also create memory dumps as well as load them later for debugging. Multi-threaded programs are also supported. The debugger can be configured to be launched when an application running outside the Visual Studio environment, crashes.
The debugger allows setting breakpoints (which allow execution to be stopped temporarily at a certain position) and watches (which monitor the values of variables as the execution progresses). Breakpoints can be conditional, that is they get triggered when the condition is met. Code can be stepped over, i.e., run one line (of source code) at a time. It can either step into functions to debug inside it, or step over it, i.e., the execution of the function body isn't available for manual inspection. The debugger supports Edit and Continue, i.e., it allows code to be edited as it is being debugged. When debugging, if any variable is hovered over by the mouse pointer, its current value is displayed in a tooltip ("data tooltips"), where it can also be modified if desired. During coding, the Visual Studio debugger lets certain functions be invoked manually from the Immediate tool window. The parameters to the method are supplied at the Immediate window.

Designer
Visual Studio includes a host of visual designers to aid in the development of applications. These tools include:

WinForms Designer
The WinForms designer is used to build GUI applications using WinForms. It includes a palette of UI widgets and controls (including buttons, progress bars, labels, layout containers and other controls) that can be dragged and dropped on a form surface. Layout can be controlled by housing the controls inside other containers or locking them to the side of the form. Controls that display data (like textbox, list box, grid view, etc.) can be data bound to data sources like databases or queries. The UI is linked with code using an event-driven programming model. The designer generates either C# or VB.NET code for the application.

WPF Designer
The WPF designer, codenamed Cider, was introduced with Visual Studio 2008. Like the WinForms designer it supports uses the drag and drop metaphor. It is used to author user interfaces targeting Windows Presentation Foundation. It supports all WPF functionality including databinding and automatic layout management. It generates XAML code for the UI. The generated XAML file is compatible with Microsoft Expression Design, the designer-oriented product. The XAML code is linked with code using a code-behind model.

Web designer
Visual Studio also includes a web site editor and designer that allows web pages to be authored by dragging and dropping widgets. It is used for developing ASP.NET applications, and supports HTML, CSS and JavaScript. It uses a code-behind model to link with ASP.NET code. Visual Studio 2008 onwards, the layout engine used by the web designer is shared with Microsoft Expression Web.

Class designer
The Class Designer is used to author and edit the classes (including its members and their access) using UML modeling. The Class Designer can generate C# and VB.NET code outlines for the classes and methods. It can also generate class diagrams from hand-written classes.

Data designer
The data designer can be used to graphically edit database schemas, including typed tables, primary and foreign keys and constraints. It can also be used to design queries from the graphical view.

Mapping designer
Visual Studio 2008 onwards, the mapping designer is used by LINQ to SQL to design the mapping between database schemas and classes that encapsulate the data.

Visual Studio 2008
Visual Studio 2008, codenamed Orcas, is the successor to Visual Studio 2005. It was released to MSDN subscribers on 19 November 2007 alongside .NET Framework 3.5. The codename Orcas is, like Whidbey, a reference to an island in Puget Sound, Orcas Island. The source code for the Visual Studio 2008 IDE will be available under a shared source license to some of Microsoft's partners and ISVs.
Visual Studio 2008 is focused on development of Windows Vista, 2007 Office system, and Web applications. Among other things, it brings a new language feature, LINQ, new versions of C# and Visual Basic languages, a Windows Presentation Foundation visual designer, and improvements to the .NET Framework. It also features a new HTML/CSS editor influenced by Microsoft Expression Web. J# is not included. Visual Studio 2008 requires .NET Framework 3.5 and by default configures compiled assemblies to run on .NET Framework 3.5; but it also supports multi-targeting which lets the developers choose which version of the .NET Framework (out of 2.0, 3.0, 3.5, Silverlight CoreCLR or .NET Compact Framework) the assembly runs on. Visual Studio 2008 also includes new code analysis tools, including the new Code Metrics tool. For Visual C++, Visual Studio adds a new version of Microsoft Foundation Classes (MFC 9.0) that adds support for the visual styles and UI controls introduced with Windows Vista. For native and managed code interoperability, Visual C++ introduces the STL/CLR, which is a port of the C++ Standard Template Library (STL) containers and algorithms to managed code. STL/CLR defines STL-like containers, iterators and algorithms that work on C++/CLI managed objects.
Visual Studio 2008 features a XAML based designer (codenamed Cider), workflow designer, LINQ to SQL designer (for defining the type mappings and object encapsulation for SQL Server data), XSLT debugger, JavaScript Intellisense support, JavaScript Debugging support, support for UAC manifests, a concurrent build system, among others. It ships with an enhanced set of UI widgets, both for WinForms and WPF. It also includes a multithreaded build engine (MSBuild) to compile multiple source files (and build the executable file) in a project across multiple threads simultaneously. It also includes support for compiling PNG compressed icon resources introduced in Windows Vista. An updated XML Schema designer will ship separately some time after the release of Visual Studio 2008.
The Visual Studio debugger includes features targeting easier debugging of multi-threaded applications. In debugging mode, in the Threads window, which lists all the threads, hovering over a thread will display the stack trace of that thread in tooltips. The threads can directly be named and flagged for easier identification from that window itself. In addition, in the code window, along with indicating the location of the currently executing instruction in the current thread, the currently executing instructions in other threads are also pointed out. The Visual Studio debugger supports integrated debugging of the .NET Framework 3.5 BCL. It can dynamically download the BCL source code and debug symbols and allow stepping into the BCL source during debugging. Currently a limited subset of the BCL source is available, with more library support planned for later in the year.

Microsoft Silverlight

Microsoft Silverlight is a browser plugin that allows web applications to be developed with features that characterize a rich internet application: animation, vector graphics and audio-video playback. Silverlight competes with products such as Adobe Flash, Adobe Flex, Adobe Shockwave, Java FX, and Apple QuickTime. Version 2.0 brought improved interactivity and allows developers to use .NET languages and development tools when authoring Silverlight applications.
Silverlight was developed under the codename Windows Presentation Foundation/Everywhere (WPF/E). It is compatible with multiple web browser products used on Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X operating systems. Mobile devices, starting with Windows Mobile 6 and Symbian (Series 60) phones, will also be supported.[1]. A third-party free software implementation named Moonlight is under development to bring compatible functionality to GNU/Linux.

Silverlight provides a retained mode graphics system, similar to WPF and integrates multimedia, graphics, animations and interactivity into a single runtime. It is being designed to work in concert with XAML and is basically the a set or .NET classes scripted with JavaScript. XAML can be used for marking up the vector graphics and animations. Textual content created with Silverlight would be more searchable and indexable than that created with Flash as it is not compiled, but represented as text (XAML).[2] Silverlight can also be used to create Windows Sidebar gadgets for Windows Vista.[3]
Silverlight supports playback of WMV, WMA and MP3 media content[4] across all supported browsers without requiring Windows Media Player, the Windows Media Player ActiveX control or Windows Media browser plugins. Because Windows Media Video 9 is an implementation of the SMPTE VC-1 standard, Silverlight also supports VC-1 video, though still only in an ASF file format. Furthermore, the Software license agreement says VC-1 is only licensed for the "personal and non-commercial use of a consumer".[5] Silverlight does not support playback of H.264 video.
Silverlight makes it possible to dynamically load XML content that can be manipulated through a DOM interface, a technique that is consistent with conventional Ajax techniques. Silverlight exposes a Downloader object which can be used to download content, like scripts, media assets or other data, as may be required by the application.[6] With version 2.0, the programming logic can be written in any .NET language, including some common dynamic programming languages like Ruby and Python.

Microsoft Messenger

Microsoft Messenger for Mac, styled as Microsoft Messenger:Mac[1] (previously MSN Messenger for Mac) is the official Mac OS X client for the .NET Messenger Service protocol and is developed by the Macintosh Business Unit, a division of Microsoft. However, the feature list is limited in comparison to that of its Windows Live Messenger. The client is still maintained and updated but still lacks a number of features that it's Windows counterpart contains. In response to its lack of features, numerous third-party competitors have been developed, such as Mercury Messenger and aMSN.

Versions
MSN Messenger for Mac v2.5.1 running under Classic emulation of Mac OS 9.2.2, under Mac OS X 10.4
The versions 3.x and later of Microsoft Messenger for Mac feature new Aqua graphics, whereas version 2.x and below have graphics similar to Windows Messenger 4.0. Versions 5.x use the brushed metal theme.
* Version 2.5.1 is an update to version 2.5, which is a mandatory update to version 2.1 that is available for users running Mac OS 9.2.2.
* Version 3.5 is available for Mac OS X revisions older to 10.2.8
* Version 4.0.1 is available for Mac OS X revisions newer than 10.2.8
* Version 5.1.1 is available for Mac OS X revisions 10.3 and newer
* Version 6.0.3 is available for Mac OS X revisions 10.3.9 and newer
* The latest version of Microsoft Messenger for Mac is 7.0, which was released on April 29, 2008 for Mac OS X v10.4.9 or newer.

It should be noted that with the release of Microsoft Messenger for Mac 7.0, Microsoft has discontinued the client's support for older versions of their Corporate messaging systems (such as Live Communications Server 2005). - The latest version to support these older systems is Version 6.03, which is still available for download on the Microsoft website.

Features
* Chat with Yahoo! Messenger contacts
* Status messages that personal contacts can see (can be set to show current song in iTunes)
* Full custom emoticon support, usable with personal contacts
* Send and receive custom animated emoticons with personal contacts
* Conversation history searchable with Spotlight
* Spellchecking in instant messages
* Personal and corporate (Microsoft Exchange) accounts
* Direct link to inbox
* Audio and Video chat (initially for Corporate accounts only)

Criticism
Microsoft Messenger for Mac is not as fully featured as Windows Live Messenger for Windows, lacking the following features:
* Handwritten messages
* Screen sharing
* Nudges
* Winks
* Photo backgrounds on current conversation windows
* Games that can be played with another contact
* Some built-in emoticons
* Contact details such as Nicknames and Addresses
* Integration with Windows Live Spaces
* Windows Live Today
* Automatic reconnection if connection is lost
* Sharing folders
* Color schemes
* Audio and Video chat for Personal accounts (this has been promised to feature later in the 7.x series)

Apple officially endorses use of the AOL Instant Messenger network via its own client iChat. Third-party applications, often able to connect to several instant messaging networks, offer Windows Live connectivity and sometimes more features like audio and video chat. aMSN for example, offers features such as Nudging, Voice Clips, and Video chat. This had led to widespread criticism of the Microsoft Mac Business Unit for not being able to release an instant messaging client that has more features than an open-source real time communications service.

Microsoft Dynamics SL

Microsoft Dynamics SL is one of Microsoft’s enterprise resource planning software products. It is part of the Microsoft Dynamics family.
Microsoft Dynamics SL provides businesses functionality in finance, project accounting, manufacturing, field service, supply chains, analytics, and electronic commerce and is primarily targeted for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises.

Microsoft Dynamics SL, originally called Solomon IV for Windows was created by Solomon Software, which was co-founded by Gary Harpst. Solomon Software was an independent accounting software company headquartered in Findlay, Ohio.
In April 1999, Solomon Software refocused the product on an all Microsoft technology strategy. Microsoft SQL Server as the database technology, Visual Basic as the software language, and Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) as the customization language.
Solomon was acquired by Great Plains Software in June 2000. Great Plains was subsequently acquired by Microsoft Corporation in May 2001.
In 2007, Microsoft released version 7 of Dynamics SL which included a complete port from the outdated Visual Basic to Microsoft.NET.

Microsoft Dynamics NAV

Microsoft Dynamics NAV is an enterprise resource planning (ERP) software product from Microsoft.
The product is part of the Microsoft Dynamics family, and intended to assist with finance, manufacturing, customer relationship management, supply chains, analytics and electronic commerce for small and medium-sized enterprises. VARs can have have full access to the business logic source code, and it has a reputation as being easy to customize.

The company was founded in 1984 in Denmark as PC&C ApS (Personal Computing and Consulting).
In 2000, Navision Software A/S merged with fellow Danish firm Damgaard A/S (founded 1983) to form NavisionDamgard A/S. Later the name was changed to Navision A/S.
On 11 July 2002 Microsoft bought Navision A/S to go with its previous acquisition of Great Plains. The new division in Microsoft was named Microsoft Business Solutions and also included Microsoft CRM.
In September 2005 Microsoft rebranded the product and re-released it as Microsoft Dynamics NAV.
The product itself has gone through several name changes as the original Navision company or Microsoft has tried to decide on how it should be marketed. The names "Navision Financials", "Navision Attain", "Microsoft Business Solutions Navision Edition", and the current (2007) "Microsoft Dynamics NAV" have all been used to refer to this product.

Features
NAV comes in two versions: Business Ready Licensing (BRL) and Advance Management (AM).
The product gives administrators the option of using either a native database server or Microsoft SQL Server, as the DBMS. Native database performance degrades rapidly with increases in size.

Future
Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2009, with new role-based GUI, is currently expected to be released around December 2008. Microsoft originally planned to develop an entirely new ERP system (Project green), but has decided to continue development of all ERP systems (Dynamics AX, Dynamics NAV, Dynamics GP and Dynamics SL). All four ERP systems will be launched with the same new role based user interface, SQL based reporting and analysis, Share Point based portal, Pocket PC based mobile clients and clients for Microsoft Office.

Microsoft Dynamics GP

Microsoft Dynamics GP is a mid-market business accounting software package that runs on top of a Microsoft SQL Server database. It is a part of the Microsoft Business Solutions family.
The product was originally made by Great Plains Software, an independent company located in Fargo, North Dakota, which was founded by Doug Burgum. In late 2000, Microsoft announced the purchase of Great Plains Software for $1.1 billion. This acquisition was completed in April 2001.

Macros
Great Plains was one of the first accounting packages with capability to record and play back macros. Macros are saved in .MAC files in the Dexterity programming language. It is possible to export data from Excel or Access to Great Plains modules by programming a Visual Basic macro to create a MAC file using data from the spreadsheet or database. The MAC file would contain commands to enter specific data into Great Plains; for each set of data, a new MAC file would need to be created.

Analytics
Crystal Reports is widely used in building and designing reports with Microsoft Dynamics GP.
Microsoft Enterprise Reporting: a system for automating data collection (from multiple sources) and reporting processes to control consolidations, budgeting and financial analysis.
Microsoft Forecaster: extracts real-time data from General Ledger to create and manage accurate budgets and plans which can be shared across the management team via a Web-based interface. Easy to learn: has the look and feel of a spreadsheet.
Microsoft FRx Professional: applies a “building block” approach (row formats, column layouts and trees) to create with ease financial and management reports for instant use and rapid distribution. Reports can be based on any periods from the General Ledger and for unlimited budgets. Reports can be output to paper, drill-down viewer, e-mail, Excel, pdf or XML. Easy to create customized reports with appropriate access privileges.
Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services: offers eight sample customizable reports for Sales, Purchasing and Manufacturing. Data can be manipulated and presented in Web-based charts and graphs for sharing across the organization or with designated suppliers or contractors. An integrated architecture supports a range of common data sources.
SmartList Builder: easy to use, yet powerful query tool to output data (no matter where records reside) based on virtually any specified criteria into a user-friendly format for screen view, for print or for saving in Excel or Word (auto-formatted). Combine and link data from up to 32 separate tables, including third-party dictionaries. Many common data-analysis functions are available in pre-configured SmartList objects that can be downloaded from Microsoft.

Customization tools
Customization: comprehensive customization tools to enable .NET developers to create real-time, transactional connections between Microsoft Dynamics GP and other applications and expand potential for new features and functionality.
Integration: integrate and incorporate data with a high degree of safety, flexibility and speed from any source, even those not based on Microsoft platforms. Uses industry-standard technologies, such as Microsoft BizTalk Server, Component Object Model (COM), the Microsoft .NET Framework, Microsoft Message Queuing (MSMQ), Web services and XML.
Earlier versions of Greatplains were written in and dependent upon the Dexterity programming language.

Financial management
Analytical Accounting: enables transactions to be tagged and reported by limitless user-defined dimension codes – financial, date or statistical.
Bank Reconciliation: customizable summary and detailed views of bank account balances and all transactions: cash, check and credit card. Tools available to sort and mark transactions to improve reconciliation capabilities.
Cash Flow Management: calendar-based interface to view and manage cash inflows and outflows to improve day-to-day financial planning. Big picture and full drill-down options available.
Collections Management: customizable interface enabling you to enter and view all your collections in one central point. You can target and follow up on overdue customers with automatic delivery and tracking of collection letters, e-mails, statements and invoices.
eBanking: an essential aid to reduce administration costs and manual input error as well as improve productivity and cash management – all in a security-enhanced environment. Routine accounting tasks are moved online and bank transactions are electronically enabled and reconciled. Transactions are applied to accounts when they occur rather than days or weeks later, such as BACS payments or payment collections via Direct Debits or credit cards. Special feature verifies that sort codes and bank account numbers entered for suppliers and customers make sense.
eExpense Automated Expense Management: enable employees to create and submit expense reports via the Web at any time and from any location; features electronic receipt imaging.
Encumbrance Management: encumbrance accounting module specifically designed for Not for Profit and Public Sector organizations to ensure that actual expenditures and related commitments do not exceed available funds.
Fixed Asset Management: create, define and manage an unlimited number of assets. Features standard fields and up to 15 user-defined fields with graphical user interface. Numerous depreciation methods available to automate depreciation routines. Integration into General Ledger to post depreciation journals and into Payables Management to pull in purchase information to fixed assets. Location IDs to aid inventory management: matching actual with recorded location. Information-sharing enabled with standard and custom reports.
General Ledger: automates key accounting tasks to improve accuracy (includes automatic correction of posting errors) and streamlines your budget planning and financial decision-making with comprehensive reports and easy-to-use enquiry tools (features Excel wizard interface). Features up to 66 alphanumeric character codes, up to 10 segments and user-defined fields with 50 character descriptions.
Grant Management: tracks grants, demonstrates accountability and compliance and also assists with future funding applications. As grant transactions are entered, the Analytical Accounting module will automatically validate them against the budget. Affords real-time views of budget status and of grant transactions and allocations. Particularly useful in the public and Not for Profit domains.
Multi-currency Management: designed for multinational operations to effortlessly manage financial statistics and accounting operations involving multiple currencies and dealing with ever-changing exchange rates.
Payables Management: control expenditure, control payments (check and BACS runs) with flexible selection criteria and track supplier documents and information. Features include unlimited addresses/contacts per supplier, discounts, min/max payments, holds, returns, debit/credit notes, auto-allocation, performance and history reports.
Receivables Management: tracks customer-related documents and information, controls cash, generates simple invoices as well as creates, prints and e-mails statements. Produces sophisticated debtor related reports at any point in time and performance reports including turnover, gross profit and payment days. Other features are flexible credit limits, unlimited address/contacts per customer, min/max payments and ability to handle insufficient funds, interest charges, debit/credit notes, returns, write-offs and auto-allocation.

Microsoft Dynamics CRM

Microsoft Dynamics CRM is a Customer Relationship Management software package developed by Microsoft. It is a part of the Microsoft Dynamics family of business tools.
The current version of Dynamics, 4.0, was released in December 2007.
The most notable updates of CRM 3.0 over the version 1.2 (version 2 was skipped entirely) are the ease of creating customizations to CRM, the switch from using Crystal Reports to Microsoft SQL Reporting Services to run reports, the ability to run on Windows Vista and Outlook 2007, and support for Exchange 2007.

Features
Microsoft CRM also supports integration with Windows Mobile devices via the Microsoft CRM Mobile Client. Third-party applications, such as Tendigits MobileAccess, provide integration with Blackberry devices.
The 4.0 edition adds a number of new features, including support for duplicate data detection and other enhancements. Perhaps most importantly, version 4.0 provides true multi-tenancy, which will allow the creation of multiple organizations on a single server.

Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 was released with the following improvements:
* More robust, scalable architecture
* Much improved remote access capability negating the need for VPN
* Improved performance especially with Outlook client
* Improved Outlook 2007 client with Ribbon interface
* Multi-currency
* More powerful and easier to configure Reporting and BI (now based on SRS instead of Crystal)
* More powerful and much easier to configure workflow - now based on the Windows Workflow Foundation (.Net 3) - the same engine as used in MOSS 2007
* Improved e-mail router now compatible with Exchange 2007 and with other POP3 e-mail systems instead of just Exchange 2003
* Improved 64 bit hardware support, for dramatic improvements in performance, if more than 4 Gig RAM available
* More powerful data import tools, de-duplication capability now included, data enriching capability (export and re-import with additional data)
* Improved mail-merge
* Faster lookups with auto-resolution
* Enhanced entity relationships – many to many, self-referential
* Improved programmability - enhanced Web Services, unified event model, plug-ins to replace callouts
* Light enquiry user licence now available - potentially reducing the costs associated with rolling out across larger organisations
* Microsoft Office Communicator/Windows Live Messenger presence integration support

Windows Vista

Windows Vista is a line of operating systems developed by Microsoft for use on personal computers, including home and business desktops, laptops, Tablet PCs, and media centers. Prior to its announcement on July 22, 2005, Windows Vista was known by its codename "Longhorn". Development was completed on November 8, 2006; over the following three months it was released in stages to computer hardware and software manufacturers, business customers, and retail channels. On January 30, 2007, it was released worldwide to the general public, and was made available for purchase and downloading from Microsoft's web site. The release of Windows Vista comes more than five years after the introduction of its predecessor, Windows XP, the longest time span between successive releases of Microsoft Windows.
Windows Vista contains many changes and new features, including an updated graphical user interface and visual style dubbed Windows Aero, improved searching features, new multimedia creation tools such as Windows DVD Maker, and redesigned networking, audio, print, and display sub-systems. Vista also aims to increase the level of communication between machines on a home network, using peer-to-peer technology to simplify sharing files and digital media between computers and devices. Windows Vista includes version 3.0 of the .NET Framework, which aims to make it significantly easier for software developers to write applications than with the traditional Windows API.
Microsoft's primary stated objective with Windows Vista, however, has been to improve the state of security in the Windows operating system. One common criticism of Windows XP and its predecessors has been their commonly exploited security vulnerabilities and overall susceptibility to malware, viruses and buffer overflows. In light of this, Microsoft chairman Bill Gates announced in early 2002 a company-wide "Trustworthy Computing initiative" which aims to incorporate security work into every aspect of software development at the company. Microsoft stated that it prioritized improving the security of Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 above finishing Windows Vista, thus delaying its completion.
While these new features and security improvements have garnered positive reviews, Vista has also been the target of much criticism and negative press. Criticism of Windows Vista has targeted high system requirements, its more restrictive licensing terms, the inclusion of a number of new digital rights management technologies aimed at restricting the copying of protected digital media, lack of compatibility with certain pre-Vista hardware and software, and the number of authorization prompts for User Account Control. As a result of these and other issues, Vista has seen adoption and satisfaction rates lower than Windows XP.

New or improved features
End-user features
* Windows Aero: The new hardware-based graphical user interface is named Windows Aero, which Jim Allchin has said is an acronym for Authentic, Energetic, Reflective, and Open. The new interface is intended to be cleaner and more aesthetically pleasing than those of previous Windows, including new transparencies, live thumbnails, live icons, and animations, thus providing a new level of eye candy. Laptop users report however that battery life is shortened with the feature enabled.
* Windows Shell: The new Windows shell is significantly different from Windows XP, offering a new range of organization, navigation, and search capabilities. Windows Explorer's task pane has been removed, integrating the relevant task options into the toolbar. A "Favorite links" pane has been added, enabling one-click access to common directories. The address bar has been replaced with a breadcrumb navigation system. The preview pane allows users to see thumbnails of various files and view the contents of documents. The details pane shows information such as file size and type, and allows viewing and editing of embedded tags in supported file formats. The Start menu has changed as well; it no longer uses ever-expanding boxes when navigating through Programs. The word "Start" itself has been removed in favor of a blue Windows Orb (also called "Pearl").
* Instant Search (also known as search as you type) : Windows Vista features a new way of searching called Instant Search, which is significantly faster and more in-depth (content-based) than the search features found in any of the previous versions of Windows.

* Windows Sidebar: A transparent panel anchored to the side of the screen where a user can place Desktop Gadgets, which are small applets designed for a specialized purpose (such as displaying the weather or sports scores). Gadgets can also be placed on other parts of the desktop.
* Windows Internet Explorer 7: New user interface, tabbed browsing, RSS, a search box, improved printing, Page Zoom, Quick Tabs (thumbnails of all open tabs), Anti-Phishing filter, a number of new security protection features, Internationalized Domain Name support (IDN), and improved web standards support. IE7 in Windows Vista runs in isolation from other applications in the operating system (protected mode); exploits and malicious software are restricted from writing to any location beyond Temporary Internet Files without explicit user consent.

* Windows Media Player 11, a major revamp of Microsoft's program for playing and organizing music and video. New features in this version include word wheeling (or "search as you type"), a new GUI for the media library, photo display and organization, the ability to share music libraries over a network with other Vista machines, Xbox 360 integration, and support for other Media Center Extenders.
* Backup and Restore Center: Includes a backup and restore application that gives users the ability to schedule periodic backups of files on their computer, as well as recovery from previous backups. Backups are incremental, storing only the changes each time, minimizing disk usage. It also features Complete PC Backup (available only in Ultimate, Business, and Enterprise versions) which backs up an entire computer as an image onto a hard disk or DVD. Complete PC Backup can automatically recreate a machine setup onto new hardware or hard disk in case of any hardware failures. Complete PC Restore can be initiated from within Windows Vista or from the Windows Vista installation CD in the event the PC is so corrupt that it cannot start up normally from the hard disk.
* Windows Mail: A replacement for Outlook Express that includes a new mail store that improves stability, and features integrated Instant Search. It has the Phishing Filter like IE7 and Junk mail filtering that is enhanced through regular updates via Windows Update.
* Windows Calendar is a new calendar and task application.
* Windows Photo Gallery, a photo and movie library management application. It can import from digital cameras, tag and rate individual items, adjust colors and exposure, create and display slideshows (with pan and fade effects) and burn slideshows to DVD.
* Windows DVD Maker, a companion program to Windows Movie Maker that provides the ability to create video DVDs based on a user's content. Users can design a DVD with title, menu, video, soundtrack, pan and zoom motion effects on pictures or slides.
* Windows Media Center, which was previously exclusively bundled as a separate version of Windows XP, known as Windows XP Media Center Edition, has been incorporated into the Home Premium and Ultimate editions of Windows Vista.
* Games and Games Explorer: Games included with Windows have been modified to showcase Vista's graphics capabilities. New games are Chess Titans, Mahjong Titans and Purble Place. A new Games Explorer special folder holds shortcuts and information to all games on the user's computer.

Windows Mobility Center.
* Windows Mobility Center is a control panel that centralizes the most relevant information related to mobile computing (brightness, sound, battery level / power scheme selection, wireless network, screen orientation, presentation settings, etc.).
* Windows Meeting Space replaces NetMeeting. Users can share applications (or their entire desktop) with other users on the local network, or over the Internet using peer-to-peer technology (higher versions than Starter and Home Basic can take advantage of hosting capabilities, Starter and Home Basic editions are limited to "join" mode only)
* Shadow Copy automatically creates daily backup copies of files and folders. Users can also create "shadow copies" by setting a System Protection Point using the System Protection tab in the System control panel. The user can be presented multiple versions of a file throughout a limited history and be allowed to restore, delete, or copy those versions. This feature is available only in the Business, Enterprise, and Ultimate editions of Windows Vista and is inherited from Windows Server 2003.

Windows Update with Windows Ultimate Extras
* Windows Update: Software and security updates have been simplified, now operating solely via a control panel instead of as a web application. Windows Mail's spam filter and Windows Defender's definitions are updated automatically via Windows Update. Users who choose the recommended setting for Automatic Updates will have the latest drivers installed and available when they add a new device.
* Parental controls: Allows administrators to control which websites, programs and games each standard user can use and install. This feature is not included in the Business or Enterprise editions of Vista.
* Windows SideShow: Enables the auxiliary displays on newer laptops or on supported Windows Mobile devices. It is meant to be used to display device gadgets while the computer is on or off.
* Speech recognition is integrated into Vista. It features a redesigned user interface and configurable command-and-control commands. Unlike the Office 2003 version, which works only in Office and WordPad, Speech Recognition in Windows Vista works for any accessible application. In addition, it currently supports several languages: British and American English, Spanish, French, German, Chinese (Traditional and Simplified) and Japanese.

* New fonts, including several designed for screen reading, and improved Chinese (Yahei, JhengHei), Japanese (Meiryo) and Korean (Malgun) fonts. ClearType has also been enhanced and enabled by default.
* Problem Reports and Solutions, a control panel which allows users to view previously sent problems and any solutions or additional information that is available.
* Improved audio controls allow the system-wide volume or volume of individual audio devices and even individual applications to be controlled separately. New audio functionalities such as Room Correction, Bass Management, Speaker Fill and Headphone virtualization have also been incorporated.
* Windows System Assessment Tool is a tool used to benchmark system performance. Software such as games can retrieve this rating and modify its own behavior at runtime to improve performance. The benchmark tests CPU, RAM, 2-D and 3-D graphics acceleration, Graphics Memory and Hard disk space.
* Windows Ultimate Extras: The Ultimate edition of Windows Vista provides, via Windows Update, access to some additional features. These are a collection of additional MUI language packs, Texas Hold 'Em (a Poker game), BitLocker and EFS enhancements which allow users to backup their encryption key online in a Digital Locker, and Windows Dreamscene, which enables the use of videos in MPEG and WMV formats as the desktop background. On April 21st 2008, Microsoft launched two more Ultimate Extras; a new Windows sound scheme, and a content pack for Dreamscene.
* Disk Management: The Logical Disk Manager in Windows Vista supports shrinking and expanding volumes on-the-fly.
* Reliability and Performance Monitor includes various tools for tuning and monitoring system performance and resources activities of CPU, disks, network, memory and other resources. It shows the operations on files, the opened connections, etc.

Business technologies
While much of the focus of Vista's new capabilities has been on the new user interface, security technologies, and improvements to the core operating system, Microsoft is also adding new deployment and maintenance features.
* The Windows Imaging Format (WIM) is the cornerstone of Microsoft's new deployment and packaging system. WIM files, which contain a HAL-independent image of Windows Vista, can be maintained and patched without having to rebuild new images. Windows Images can be delivered via Systems Management Server or Business Desktop Deployment technologies. Images can be customized and configured with applications then deployed to corporate client personal computers using little to no touch by a system administrator. ImageX is the Microsoft tool used to create and customize images.
* Windows Deployment Services replaces Remote Installation Services for deploying Vista and prior versions of Windows.
* Approximately 700 new Group Policy settings have been added, covering most aspects of the new features in the operating system, as well as significantly expanding the configurability of wireless networks, removable storage devices, and user desktop experience. Vista also introduced an XML based format (ADMX) to display registry-based policy settings, making it easier to manage networks that span geographic locations and different languages.
* Services for UNIX has been renamed "Subsystem for UNIX-based Applications," and is included with the Enterprise and Ultimate editions of Vista. Network File System (NFS) client support is also included.
* Multilingual User Interface – Unlike previous version of Windows which required language packs to be loaded to provide local language support, Windows Vista Ultimate and Enterprise editions support the ability to dynamically change languages based on the logged on user's preference.
* Wireless Projector support

Developer technologies
Windows Vista includes a large number of new application programming interfaces. Chief among them is the inclusion of version 3.0 of the .NET Framework, which consists of a class library and Common Language Runtime. Version 3.0 includes four new major components:
* Windows Presentation Foundation is a user interface subsystem and framework based vector graphics, which makes use of 3D computer graphics hardware and Direct3D technologies. It provides the foundation for building applications and blending together application UI, documents, and media content. It is the successor to Windows Forms.
* Windows Communication Foundation is a service-oriented messaging subsystem which enables applications and systems to interoperate locally or remotely using Web services.
* Windows Workflow Foundation provides task automation and integrated transactions using workflows. It is the programming model, engine and tools for building workflow-enabled applications on Windows.
* Windows CardSpace is a component which securely stores digital identities of a person, and provides a unified interface for choosing the identity for a particular transaction, such as logging into a website.

These technologies are also available for Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 to facilitate their introduction to and usage by developers and end users.
There are also significant new development APIs in the core of the operating system, notably the completely re-architected audio, networking, print, and video interfaces, major changes to the security infrastructure, improvements to the deployment and installation of applications ("ClickOnce" and Windows Installer 4.0) , new device driver development model ("Windows Driver Foundation") , Transactional NTFS, mobile computing API advancements (power management, Tablet PC Ink support, SideShow) and major updates to (or complete replacements of) many core subsystems such as Winlogon and CAPI.
There are some issues for software developers using some of the graphics APIs in Vista. Games or programs which are built solely on the Windows Vista-exclusive version of DirectX, version 10, cannot work on prior versions of Windows, as DirectX 10 is not available for previous Windows versions. Also, games which require the features of D3D9Ex, the updated implementation of DirectX 9 in Windows Vista are also incompatible with previous Windows versions. According to a Microsoft blog, there are three choices for OpenGL implementation on Vista. An application can use the default implementation, which translates OpenGL calls into the Direct3D API and is frozen at OpenGL version 1.4, or an application can use an Installable Client Driver (ICD) , which comes in two flavors: legacy and Vista-compatible. A legacy ICD disables the Desktop Window Manager, a Vista-compatible ICD takes advantage of a new API, and is fully compatible with the Desktop Window Manager. At least two primary vendors, ATI and NVIDIA provided full Vista-compatible ICDs. However, hardware overlay is not supported, because it is considered as an obsolete feature in Vista. ATI and NVIDIA strongly recommend using compositing desktop/Framebuffer Objects for same functionality.

Microsoft Forefront

Microsoft Forefront is the line of security products for both Windows Client and Windows Server titles. The line includes the following products:

Connected Business Computers
* Microsoft Forefront Client Security (formerly called Microsoft Client Protection)

Application Server Security
* Microsoft Forefront Security for Exchange Server (formerly called Sybari Antigen for Exchange)
* Microsoft Forefront Security for SharePoint (formerly called Sybari Antigen for SharePoint)
* Microsoft Forefront Security for Microsoft Office Communications Server (formerly called Antigen for Instant Messaging)

Network Edge Security
* Microsoft Internet Security and Acceleration (ISA) Server 2006
* Microsoft Intelligent Application Gateway (IAG) 2007

Microsoft Dynamics AX

Microsoft Dynamics AX is one of Microsoft’s enterprise resource planning software products. It is part of the Microsoft Dynamics family.

History
Microsoft Dynamics AX was originally developed by Damgaard Data A/S as Axapta in Denmark before Damgaard was merged with Navision Software A/S in 2000. The combined company, initially NavisionDamgaard, later Navision A/S, was then ultimately acquired by the Microsoft Corporation in the summer of 2002. Before the merger, Axapta was initially released in March, 1998 in the Danish and U.S. markets. Today, it is available and supported in forty-five languages in most of the world.
Custom AX development and modification is done with its own IDE, MorphX, that contains various tools such as a debugger, code analyzer, and query interface. This development environment resides in the same client application that a normal day-to-day user would access, thus allowing development to take place on any instance of the client. The development language used in Axapta is X++.
On June 9, 2006, Microsoft completed developing the latest version (4.0) in facilities spanning the globe and including sites in Vedbæk, Denmark; Kiev, Ukraine; Fargo, North Dakota, USA; and Redmond, Washington, USA.
The history becomes apparent in the mixed concepts in design and programming and in the rudimentary documentation which has been removed to a large extent (which was deemed better than providing it with contradictions or wrong information).

MDCC
MDCC or Microsoft Development Center Copenhagen was once the primary development center for Dynamics AX. For a long time, the development of several key components of AX has been moving to other sites like Redmond and Fargo. MDCC is located in Vedbæk and also houses Microsoft Dynamics NAV and several other Microsoft Dynamics family products. MDCC employs about 900 people of around 40 different nationalities, with current hiring focus oriented towards Sweden, Denmark, Poland, Ukraine and Romania.

MorphX and X++
MorphX is an integrated development environment in Microsoft Dynamics AX that allows developers to graphically design datatypes, base enumerations, tables, queries, forms, menus and reports. MorphX supports drag and drop and is very intuitive. It also allows access to any application classes that are available in the application, by launching the X++ code editor.
Because MorphX uses referencing to link objects together, changes in, for example, datatypes of fieldnames will automatically be reflected in all places where they are used (such as forms or reports). Furthermore, changes made through MorphX will be reflected in the application immediately after compilation.
Microsoft Dynamics AX also offers support for version control systems (VCS) integrated with the IDE, allowing collaboration in development. There is also a tool for reverse-engineering table structures and class structures to Visio. The actual implementation limits the practical use of both these features.
X++ itself is the programming language behind MorphX, and belongs to the curly brackets and .-operator class of programming languages (like C# or Java).

Microsoft Surface

Microsoft Surface (Codename: Milan), is a Multi-touch product from Microsoft which is developed as a software and hardware combination technology that allows a user, or multiple users, to manipulate digital content by the use of natural motions, hand gestures, or physical objects. It was announced on May 29, 2007 at D5 conference, and is expected to be released by commercial partners in spring 2008. Initial customers will be in the hospitality businesses, such as restaurants, hotels, retail, public entertainment venues and the military for tactical overviews. The preliminary launch was on April 17, 2008, when Surface became available for customer use in AT&T stores.

Overview
Surface is essentially a Windows Vista PC tucked inside a table, topped with a 30-inch reflective surface in a clear acrylic frame. A projector underneath the surface projects an image onto its underside, while five cameras in the machine's housing record reflections of infrared light from human fingertips. The camera can also recognize objects placed on the surface if those objects have specially-designed "tags" applied to them. Users can interact with the machine by touching or dragging their fingertips and objects such as paintbrushes across the screen, or by placing and moving tagged objects.
Surface has been optimized to respond to 52 touches at a time. During a demonstration with a reporter, Mark Bolger, the Surface Computing group's marketing director, "dipped" his finger in an on-screen paint palette, then dragged it across the screen to draw a smiley face. Then he used all 10 fingers at once to give the face a full head of hair.
In addition to recognizing finger movements, Microsoft Surface can also identify physical objects. Microsoft says that when a diner sets down a wine glass, for example, the table can automatically offer additional wine choices tailored to the dinner being eaten.
Prices will reportedly be $5,000 to $10,000 per unit. However Microsoft said it expects prices to drop enough to make consumer versions feasible in 2010.
Partner companies plan to use the Surface in their hotels, restaurants, and retail stores. The Surface is to be used to choose meals at restaurants, plan vacations and spots to visit from the hotel room. Starwood Hotels plan to allow users to drop a credit card on the table to pay for music, books, and other amenities offered at the resort. In T-Mobile stores, the plans for the Surface include dropping two different phones on the table and having the customer be able to view and compare prices, features, and plans.
The machines, which Microsoft debuted May 30, 2007 at a technology conference in Carlsbad, California, were set to arrive in November 2007 in T-Mobile USA stores and properties owned by Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc. and Harrah's Entertainment Inc. But with delays in developing custom applications for each of the partners, it will take until spring 2008 before the machines start showing up at these locations.

History
The technology behind Surface is called Multi-touch. It has at least a 25-year history, beginning in 1982, with pioneering work being done at the University of Toronto (multi-touch tablets) and Bell Labs (multi-touch screens). The product idea for Surface was initially conceptualized in 2001 by Steven Bathiche of Microsoft Hardware and Andy Wilson of Microsoft Research. In October 2001, a virtual team was formed with Bathiche and Wilson as key members, to bring the idea to the next stage of development.
In 2003, the team presented the idea to the Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates, in a group review. Later, the virtual team was expanded and a prototype nicknamed T1 was produced within a month. The prototype was based on an IKEA table with a hole cut in the top and a sheet of architect vellum used as a diffuser. The team also developed some applications, including pinball, a photo browser and a video puzzle. Over the next year, Microsoft built more than 85 early prototypes for Surface. The final hardware design was completed in 2005.
A similar concept was used in the 2002 science fiction movie Minority Report and in the 2005 science fiction movie The Island, by Sean Bean's character "Merrick". As noted in the DVD commentary, the director Michael Bay stated the concept of the device came from consultation with Microsoft during the making of the movie. One of the film's technology consultant's associates from MIT later joined Microsoft to work on the Surface project.
Surface was unveiled by Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer on May 30, 2007 at The Wall Street Journal's 'D: All Things Digital' conference in Carlsbad, California. Surface Computing is part of Microsoft's Productivity and Extended Consumer Experiences Group, which is within the Entertainment & Devices division. The first few companies to deploy Surface will include Harrah's Entertainment, Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, T-Mobile and a distributor, International Game Technology.
On April 1, 2008 Microsoft and AT&T announced that AT&T would be rolling out Microsoft Surface in four markets starting April 17th, making AT&T the first retail location to launch Surface. The initial four partners announced in 2007 are still working on their applications before launching Microsoft Surface.

Features
Microsoft notes four main components being important in Surface's interface: direct interaction, multi-touch contact, a multi-user experience, and object recognition.
Direct interaction refers to the user's ability to simply reach out and touch the interface of an application in order to interact with it, without the need for a mouse or keyboard. Multi-touch contact refers to the ability to have multiple contact points with an interface, unlike with a mouse, where there is only one cursor. Multi-user is a benefit of multi-touch -- several people can orient themselves on different sides of the surface to interact with an application simultaneously. Object recognition refers to the device's ability to recognize the presence and orientation of tagged objects placed on top of it.
The technology allows non-digital objects to be used as input devices. In one example, a normal paint brush was used to create a digital painting in the software. This is made possible by the fact that, in using cameras for input, the system does not rely on restrictive properties required of conventional touchscreen or touchpad devices such as the capacitance, electrical resistance, or temperature of the tool used (see Touchscreen).
The computer's "vision" is created by a near-infrared, 850-nanometer-wavelength LED light source aimed at the surface. When an object touches the tabletop, the light is reflected to multiple infrared cameras with a net resolution of 1280 x 960, allowing it to sense, and react to items touching the tabletop.
Surface will ship with basic applications, including photos, music, virtual concierge, and games, that can be customized for the customers.

Microsoft System Center

Microsoft System Center is a set of server products aimed specifically at helping corporate IT administrators manage a network of Windows Server and client desktop systems. When first introduced, the "System Center" brand included products from the Windows Server System line, but has since evolved to include new products.

As of May 2007, this line of products includes:

* System Center Essentials - Combined features of Operations Manager and Configuration Manager, aimed at small and medium sized businesses
* Capacity Planner - Provides purchasing and best-practice capacity planning guidance
* Configuration Manager - Configuration management, hardware/software asset management, patch deployment tools for Windows desktops (previously Systems Management Server)
* Data Protection Manager
* Operations Manager - Services and application monitoring
* Reporting Manager
* Service Manager - Ties in with SCOM, SCCM for asset tracking as well as incident, problem, change and configuration management (code name Service Desk)
* Virtual Machine Manager - Virtual machine management and datacenter virtualization.
* Mobile Device Manager - Mobile device management (PDAs, smartphones, etc.)

Windows Server 2008

Windows Server 2008 is the most recent release of Microsoft Windows's server line of operating systems. Released on February 27, 2008, it is the successor to Windows Server 2003, released nearly five years earlier. Like Windows Vista, Windows Server 2008 is built on the Windows NT 6.0 kernel.

History
It was known as Windows Server Codename "Longhorn" until May 16, 2007, when Microsoft chairman Bill Gates announced its official title (Windows Server 2008) during his keynote address at WinHEC.
Beta 1 was released on July 27, 2005, Beta 2 was announced and released on May 23, 2006 at WinHEC 2006 and Beta 3 was released publicly on April 25, 2007. Release Candidate 0 was released to the general public on September 24, 2007 and Release Candidate 1 was released to the general public on December 5, 2007. Windows Server 2008 was released to manufacturing on February 4, 2008 and officially launched on February 27, 2008.

Features
Windows Server 2008 is built from the same code base as Windows Vista; therefore, it shares much of the same architecture and functionality. Since the code base is common, it automatically comes with most of the technical, security, management and administrative features new to Windows Vista such as the rewritten networking stack (native IPv6, native wireless, speed and security improvements); improved image-based installation, deployment and recovery; improved diagnostics, monitoring, event logging and reporting tools; new security features such as Bitlocker and ASLR; improved Windows Firewall with secure default configuration; .NET Framework 3.0 technologies, specifically Windows Communication Foundation, Microsoft Message Queuing and Windows Workflow Foundation; and the core kernel, memory and file system improvements. Processors and memory devices are modelled as Plug and Play devices, to allow hot-plugging of these devices. This allows the system resources to be partitioned dynamically using Dynamic Hardware Partitioning; each partition having its own memory, processor and I/O host bridge devices independent of other partitions.

Server Core
Windows Server 2008 includes a variation of installation called a Server Core. Server Core is a significantly scaled-back installation where no Windows Explorer shell is installed. All configuration and maintenance is done entirely through command line interface windows, or by connecting to the machine remotely using Microsoft Management Console. However, Notepad and some control panel applets, such as Regional Settings, are available.
Server Core also does not include the .NET Framework, Internet Explorer or many other features not related to core server features. A Server Core machine can be configured for several basic roles: Domain controller/Active Directory Domain Services, ADLDS (ADAM), DNS Server, DHCP Server, file server, print server, Windows Media Server, IIS 7 web server and Hyper-V virtual server. This last role is projected to be available at most 180 days after release of Windows Server 2008, a beta version was shipped with the released product.

Active Directory roles
Active Directory is expanded with identity, certificate and rights management services. Active Directory until Windows Server 2003 allowed network administrators to centrally manage connected computers, to set policies for groups of users, and to centrally deploy new applications to multiple computers. This role of Active Directory is being renamed as Active Directory Domain Services (ADDS).[8] A number of other additional services are being introduced, including Active Directory Federation Services (ADFS), Active Directory Lightweight Directory Services (ADLDS), (formerly Active Directory Application Mode, or ADAM), Active Directory Certificate Services (ADCS), and Active Directory Rights Management Services (ADRMS). Identity and certificate services allow administrators to manage user accounts and the digital certificates that allow them to access certain services and systems. Federation management services enable enterprises to share credentials with trusted partners and customers, allowing a consultant to use his company user name and password to log in on a client's network. Identity Integration Feature Pack is included as Active Directory Metadirectory Services. Each of these services represents a server role.

Terminal Services
Windows Server 2008 features major upgrades to Terminal Services. Terminal Services now supports Remote Desktop Protocol 6.0. The most notable improvement is the ability to share a single application over a Remote Desktop connection, instead of the entire desktop. This feature is called Terminal Services Remote Programs. Other features new to Terminal Services include Terminal Services Gateway and Terminal Services Web Access (full web interface). With Terminal Services Gateway, authorized computers are able to connect securely to a Terminal Server or Remote Desktop from the Internet using RDP via HTTPS without implementing a VPN session first. Additional ports do not need to be opened in the firewall, RDP is tunneled through HTTPS. Terminal Services Web Access enables administrators to provide access to the Terminal Services Sessions via a Web interface. TS Web Access comes with an adjustable Webpart for IIS and Sharepoint, which advertises the possible applications and connections to the user. Using TS Gateway and TS Remote Programs, the whole communication is via HTTP(S) and the remote applications appear transparent to the user as if they are running locally. Multiple applications run in the same session to ensure that there is no need for additional licenses per user. Terminal Services Easy Print does not require administrators to install any printer drivers on the server, but guarantees successful client printer redirection and availability of all printer UI and properties for use in remote sessions. Terminal Services sessions are created in parallel, instead of a serial operation - the new session model can initiate at least four sessions in parallel, or more if a server has more than four processors.

Windows PowerShell
Windows Server 2008 is the first Windows operating system to ship with Windows PowerShell, Microsoft's new extensible command line shell and task-based scripting technology. PowerShell is based on object-oriented programming and version 2.0 of the Microsoft .NET Framework and includes more than 120 system administration utilities, consistent syntax and naming conventions, and built-in capabilities to work with common management data such as the Windows Registry, certificate store, or Windows Management Instrumentation. PowerShell's scripting language was specifically designed for IT administration, and can be used in place of cmd.exe and Windows Script Host.

Self-healing NTFS
In previous Windows versions, if the operating system detected corruption in the file system of an NTFS volume, it marked the volume "dirty"; to correct errors on the volume, it had to be taken offline. With self-healing NTFS, an NTFS worker thread is spawned in the background which performs a localized fix-up of damaged data structures, with only the corrupted files/folders remaining unavailable without locking out the entire volume and needing the server to be taken down.

Hyper-V
Hyper-V is a hypervisor-based virtualization system, forming a core part of Microsoft's virtualization strategy. It virtualizes servers on an operating system's kernel layer. It can be thought of as partitioning a single physical server into multiple small computational partitions. Hyper-V will include the ability to act as a Xen virtualization hypervisor host allowing Xen-enabled guest operating systems to run virtualized. Hyper-V is not currently part of Windows Server 2008, but will ship within 180 days after Windows Server 2008 is released, as both a standalone product and as part of special "with Hyper-V" editions of Windows Server 2008. Both will only support the x86-64 architecture.

Windows System Resource Manager
Windows System Resource Manager (WSRM) is being integrated into Windows Server 2008. It provides resource management and can be used to control how much resources a process or a user can use based on business priorities. Process Matching Criteria, which is defined by the name, type or owner of the process, enforces restrictions on the resource usage by a process that matches the criteria. CPU time, bandwidth that it can use, number of processors it can be run on, and memory allocated to a process can be restricted. Restrictions can be set to be imposed only on certain dates as well.

Server Manager
Server Manager is a new roles-based management tool for Windows Server 2008[12]. It is a combination of Manage Your Server and Security Configuration Wizard from Windows Server 2003. Server Manager is an improvement of the Configure my server dialog that launches by default on Windows Server 2003 machines. However, rather than serve only as a starting point to configuring new roles, Server Manager gathers together all of the operations users would want to conduct on the server, such as, getting a remote deployment method set up, adding more server roles etc and provides a consolidated, portal-like view about the status of each role.
It is not currently possible to use the Server Manager remotely, but a client version is planned.

Other features
Core OS improvements
* Fully multi-componentized operating system.
* Improved hot patching, a feature that allows non-kernel patches to occur without the need for a reboot.
* Support for being booted from Extensible Firmware Interface (EFI)-compliant firmware on x86-64 systems.
* Dynamic Hardware Partitioning
o Support for the hot-addition of processors and memory, on capable hardware.
o Support for the hot-replacement of processors and memory, on capable hardware.

Active Directory improvements
* A new "Read-Only Domain Controller" operation mode in Active Directory, intended for use in branch office scenarios where a domain controller may reside in a low physical security environment. The RODC holds a non-writeable copy of Active Directory, and redirects all write attempts to a Full Domain Controller. It replicates all accounts except sensitive ones. In RODC mode, credentials are not cached by default. Moreover, only the Domain Controller running the PDC-Emulator needs to run Windows Server 2008. Also, local administrators can log on to the machine to perform maintenance tasks without requiring administrative rights on the domain.
* Restartable Active Directory allows ADDS to be stopped and restarted from the Management Console or the command-line without rebooting the domain controller. This reduces downtime for offline operations and reduces overall DC servicing requirements with Server Core. ADDS is implemented as a Domain Controller Service in Windows Server 2008.

Policy related improvements
* All of the Group Policy improvements from Windows Vista. Group Policy Management Console (GPMC) is built-in. The Group Policy objects are indexed for search and can be commented on.[13]
* Policy-based networking with Network Access Protection, improved branch management and enhanced end user collaboration. Policies can be created to ensure greater Quality of Service for certain applications or services that require prioritization of network bandwidth between client and server.
* Granular password settings within a single domain - ability to implement different password policies for administrative accounts on a "group" and "user" basis, instead of a single set of password settings to the whole domain.

Disk management and file storage improvements
* The ability to resize hard disk partitions without stopping the server, even the system partition. This applies only to simple and spanned volumes, not to striped volumes.
* Shadow Copy based block-level backup which supports optical media, network shares and Windows Recovery Environment.
* DFS enhancements - SYSVOL on DFS-R, Read-only Folder Replication Member. There is also support for domain-based DFS namespaces that exceed the previous size recommendation of 5,000 folders with targets in a namespace.
* Several improvements to failover clusters (High-availability clusters).
* Internet Storage Naming Server (iSNS) enables central registration, deregistration and queries for iSCSI hard drives.

Protocol and cryptography improvements
* Support for 128- and 256-bit AES encryption for the Kerberos authentication protocol.
* New cryptography (CNG) API which supports elliptic curve cryptography and improved certificate management.
* Secure Socket Tunneling Protocol, a new Microsoft proprietary VPN protocol.
* AuthIP, a Microsoft proprietary extension of the IKE cryptographic protocol used in IPsec VPN networks.
* Server Message Block 2.0 protocol in the new TCP/IP stack provides a number of communication enhancements, including greater performance when connecting to file shares over high-latency links and better security through the use of mutual authentication and message signing.

Improvements due to client-side (Windows Vista) enhancements
* Searching Windows Server 2008 servers from Windows Vista clients delegates the query to the server, which uses the Windows Search technology to search and transfer the results back to the client.
* In a networked environment with a print server running Windows Vista, clients can render print jobs locally before sending them to print servers to reduce the load on the server and increase its availability.
* Event forwarding aggregates and forwards logs of subscribed Windows Vista client computers back to a central console. Event forwarding can be enabled on the client subscribers from the central server directly from the event management console.
* Offline Files are cached locally so that they are available even if the server is not, with copies seamlessly updating when the client and server are reconnected.

Miscellaneous improvements
* Windows Deployment Services replacing Automated Deployment Services and Remote Installation Services. Windows Deployment Services (WDS) support an enhanced multicast feature when deploying operating system images.
* Internet Information Services 7 - Increased security, xcopy-deployment, improved diagnostic tools, delegated administration.
* An optional "Desktop Experience" component provides the same Windows Aero user interface as Windows Vista, both for local users, as well as remote users connecting through Remote Desktop.

Editions
Most editions of Windows Server 2008 are available in x86-64 (64-bit) and x86 (32-bit) versions. Windows Server 2008 for Itanium-based Systems supports IA-64 processors. The IA-64 version is optimized for high workload scenarios like database servers and Line of Business (LOB) applications. As such it is not optimized for use as a file server or media server. Microsoft has announced that Windows Server 2008 is the last 32-bit Windows server operating system. Windows Server 2008 is available in the editions listed below, similar to Windows Server 2003.
* Windows Server 2008 Standard Edition (x86 and x64)
* Windows Server 2008 Enterprise Edition (x86 and x64)
* Windows Server 2008 Datacenter Edition (x86 and x64)
* Windows HPC Server 2008
* Windows Web Server 2008 (x86 and x64)
* Windows Storage Server 2008 (x86 and x64)
* Windows Small Business Server 2008 (Codenamed "Cougar") (x64) for small businesses
* Windows Essential Business Server 2008 (Codenamed "Centro") (x64) for medium-sized businesses
* Windows Server 2008 for Itanium-based Systems
Server Core is available in the Standard, Enterprise and Datacenter editions. It is not available in Web edition or in the Itanium edition. It is important to note that Server Core is simply a server role supported by some of the editions, and not a separate edition by itself. As of Beta 3, each edition has a separate evaluation DVD.