Following the release of the gold build of Windows 7 via MSDN and TechNet, Microsoft has now made available for download Windows 7 Code Pack 1.0. Version 1.0 of the Windows API Code Pack for Microsoft .NET Framework is designed to integrate with the RTM release of Windows Vista’s successor. Subscribers of both MSDN and TechNet can already download and install the final version of Windows 7 since the end of the past week. Now developers looking to start building applications for Windows 7 RTM can also grab Windows API Code Pack for Microsoft .NET Framework, but without the restrictions set in place by the MSDN or TechNet subscriptions.
“The Windows API Code Pack for Microsoft .NET Framework provides support for various features of Windows 7 and previous releases of that operating system. The Code Pack has reached version 1.0 and has been published on Code Gallery,” revealed Charlie Calvert, Microsoft C# community program manager.
According to Microsoft, Windows 7 RTM Code Pack 1.0 “provides a source code library that can be used to access some new Windows 7 features (and some existing features of older versions of Windows operating system) from managed code. These Windows features are not available to developers today in the .NET Framework.” Read More»
Posted in Software, Windows 7 | 1 Comment »
As Windows 7 advances toward RTM, the operating system is accompanied by a range of resources focused on the next iteration of the Windows client. An illustrative example is the software development kit, designed to streamline the development of native (Win32) and managed (.NET Framework) applications. Proof that the Windows 7 SDK is evolving comes from the Redmond company’s Visual C++ Team. A member noted that an issue related to Windows 7 SDK RC and Visual Studio 2010 had already been dealt with in the RTM version of the software development kit.
“If Win7 SDK (RC) is installed SidebySide with Visual Studio 2008 RTM before Visual Studio 2008 SP1 is installed, x64 and Itanium platform will not be available from the New Platform drop-down list. Build targeting x64 and Itanium will also fail. Note that the issue has been fixed in Win7 SDK RTM,” the Visual C++ team representative stated.
The problem was initially signaled on June 15th, by the Windows SDK team. At that time, Microsoft warned that installing Windows 7 SDK (RC) and Visual Studio 2008 RTM could disable VC++ configuration platform options. In this specific scenario, the Itanium and x64 listings will be missing from the New Platform drop-down lists of both the New Project Platform and New Solution Platform dialogs in Visual Studio IDE. Read More»
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Many Pctipsbox readers use Firefox because it suffers from fewer security holes than IE and most people don’t need .NET features so I’m publishing in my free column today the following steps to remove Assistant 1.0 from Firefox:
Step 1. Check whether the .NET Framework Assistant is installed. You may or may not have Assistant 1.0, even if you installed .NET Framework 3.5 SP1, so check this first. In Firefox, pull down the Tools menu and select Add-ons. In the Add-ons dialog box that appears, if you don’t see .NET Framework Assistant, the add-on is not installed. In that case, you don’t need to do anything further (except close the dialog box).
Step 2. Remove or disable the add-on. If you do find the extension, I recommend that you remove it to reduce your vulnerability to possible security flaws. Choose one of the options shown below.
• Best option: Install the Microsoft fix. On May 6, with little publicity, Microsoft posted an update for .NET Framework 3.5 SP1. Installing this update enables Firefox’s Uninstall button for the add-on. To install the official update, visit Microsoft’s download page. Read More»
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The evolution of computing is intimately connected with multi-core and many-core architectures, and Microsoft is little shy about jumping aboard. But not only is the Redmond company embracing the parallel computing wave with its own products, it is also making solutions available designed to enable developers to start building parallel applications. Microsoft Axum is an illustrative example in this regard. Put together in Microsoft’s Parallel Computing Platform, Axum is essentially a .Net Framework language set up to allow developers to tailor their apps to multi-core and many-core scenarios. Axum comes with support for the following operating systems: Windows 2000; Windows 7; Windows Server 2003; Windows Server 2008; Windows Vista; Windows XP.
“Axum makes use of several concepts to enable safe parallel programming: domains isolate state, which helps you avoid implicit dependencies in your code that can result in difficult-to-find concurrency bugs,” revealed S. Somasegar, senior vice president, Developer Division. “Agents are threads of control that process messages asynchronously to stay scalable and responsive. Axum employs a cooperative blocking model that utilizes latencies to do meaningful work; agents that wish to receive a message will block, allowing another agent to execute in its place.” Read More»
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