Windows XP version 2 mooted for 2003?
Posted by Tim Dorr on 28 September 2002 - 06:26 · 13 comments & 288 views
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Well OK, maybe Mary Jo doesn't put it quite like that. She postulates a minor "Yukon" update that would ship in the 2003-4 timeframe. Yukon, aka what SQL Server did next, moves us towards the new file system roadmapped for Longhorn, and Microsoft is currently using the word to label the period between now and Longhorn. So although The Register ordinarily takes a fairly sour view of Microsoft's interim releases, which we feel tend to be service packs with a few flashy bits stuck on, there is some kind of argument for a Yukon 'XP 2,' or XP SE.
There will be Yukon technology that Microsoft will want to get out and in use in advance of Longhorn, which as described earlier this year is a hugely ambitious, ground-up rewrite and can therefore be expected to be a complete pig to get out of the door. You'll note that the way Bill told it back in June was that Microsoft had considered whether to go for one big bang or to make incremental changes, and had decided to go for the one big bang. But... if it does go for an interim, then would we not be seeing incremental changes starting to feed back into the roadmap after all?
Full list of changes in RealVNC 3.3.4 since the last release, 3.3.3 :-
Unix and Windows :-
- A significant new feature automatically optimizes the choice of encoding and pixel format based on an estimate of line speed. In most cases now the viewer will adapt to slow and fast links without needing extra command-line options. This is particularly useful if the desktop is viewed in the office over a good LAN connection, then later at home over a slow link. On connection, the algorithm assumes a slow link and uses 8-bit color and ZRLE. If the network seems fast, we switch to full-color. If the network seems really fast, we also switch to hextile rather than ZRLE. If server and viewer are on the same machine, we use raw.
- Another significant development is a new encoding for slow links, ZRLE. This offer comparable compression to tight encoding, but better in some cases and much simpler in concept and implementation. It is a combination of the run length encoding scheme with tiling, palettisation and ZLIB compression.
- HTTP server is more standards compliant.
- Improved reliability under certain network conditions. The capture of changes to the display and dispatch of changes to clients are now decoupled making the server more robust when dealing with slow clients. (Used to show up under Win9x in particular)
- Improved multiple client behaviour. WinVNC now behaves better when multiple clients are connected and when one client stalls or is on a slow network connection.
- Connection management. Clients are no longer disconnected when the pixel format changes. They will be disconnected if the display size changes.
- Security. WinVNC can be configured to logoff the current user when all clients have disconnected. Under Win2K and above, it can also be configured to lock the workstation on disconnect. Both options can be configured through the properties dialog.
- Logging code has been modified to avoid potential buffer overlow exploits.
- The remove wallpaper option will now correctly restore the desktop wallpaper of the current user when the client disconnects. The option can be configured through the properties dialog.
- Keymapping improved, eg handling of circumflex character etc.
- Numerous smaller bug fixes, and code tidying.
- More lightweight InnoSetup installer rather than previous InstallShield.
- Mapping of the keypad "Enter" key fixed.
- "Empty password" bug on authentication cancel fixed
- Fized unhandled exception bug when a server connects and disconnects quickly.
- Manual pages for all commands
- Several fixes for AIX, HPUX, etc
- HTTP daemon denial-of-service vulnerability fixed, also fixes to work better with more browsers.
- X viewer can now switch 8-bit / full colour mode on the fly via the popup window.
- vncserver now uses depth 16 by default, and the default pixel format for depths 16 and 24 are now more sensible.
- Better challenge generation in authentication code.
- vncconnect now has a "-away" option to cause a disconnect
- Improved build system based on autoconf.
- You can safely install VNC 3.3.4 alongside the previous VNC 3.3.3 and earlier versions from AT&T. Files will be installed to a new directory C:Program FilesRealVNC.
- If you ask the installer to register the VNC server service then it will unregister the old service and register the new service correctly.
- Existing WinVNC settings will be read from the registry and are fully compatible. Settings new to 3.3.4 have sensible default values.
- Installing VNC 3.3.4 alongside other VNC distributions *should* work if they are based on the standard AT&T Labs releases, but there have been problems reported in the past of conflicts between other distributions and the AT&T Labs family of releases.
- If in doubt, use "winvnc -remove" and then Add/Remove programs to completely remove prior installations from your system.
- The InnoSetup installer can take /SP- /SILENT or /SP- /VERYSILENT for quiet installations, for example when installing remotely with the psexec utility.
Windows Server :-
Windows Viewer :-
Unix :-
Installation and upgrade notes for Windows version :-