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Hardware 2.0

Adrian Kingsley-Hughes

Windows 8 M1 holds clues to upcoming features

By | April 15, 2011, 7:39am PDT

Summary: Even though the Milestone 1 leak of Windows 8 is old doesn’t mean it can’t be useful.

Even though the Milestone 1 leak of Windows 8 is old doesn’t mean it can’t be useful.

I’ve been running it for a few days inside a virtual machine, tinkering with it and taking a look at what new executables it has to offer. Much of what’s on offer isn’t new, but I did find two executables that offer some interesting insight into what the release of Windows 8 might have to offer.

The first is an executable called CreateBootableUFD.exe which describes itself as a ‘Windows Disc Image Burner.’ This tool seems to be used to create bootable USB flash drives.

Another, more interesting tool is pwcreator.exe, the ‘Portable Workspace Creator’ tool.

This seems like an interesting tool. The purpose of it seems to be that you can take Windows with you on a USB flash drive. I’m going to play more with this one later.

I’ve also been deep hip-deep in looking at the strings inside files, trying to work out what some do. For example, glcnd.exe, which contains a lot of references to PDF … built-in PDF tool perhaps?

There’s also a lot of new command line applications, like dpmanage.exe, an application that ‘Manages Data protection for the current user.’

This leaked build is turning out to be more exciting that I’d first expected it to be!

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Adrian Kingsley-Hughes is an internationally published technology author who has devoted over a decade to helping users get the most from technology.

Disclosure

Adrian Kingsley-Hughes

All opinions expressed on Hardware 2.0 are those of Adrian Kingsley-Hughes. Every effort is made to ensure that the information posted is accurate. If you have any comments, queries or corrections, please contact Adrian via the email link here. Any possible conflicts of interest will be posted below. [Updated: February 23, 2010] - Adrian Kingsley-Hughes has no business relationships, affiliations, investments, or other actual/potential conflicts of interest relating to the content posted so far on this blog.

Biography

Adrian Kingsley-Hughes

Adrian Kingsley-Hughes is an internationally published technology author who has devoted over a decade to helping users get the most from technology -- whether that be by learning to program, building a PC from a pile of parts, or helping them get the most from their new MP3 player or digital camera.

Adrian has authored/co-authored technical books on a variety of topics, ranging from programming to building and maintaining PCs. His most recent books include "Build the Ultimate Custom PC", "Beginning Programming" and "The PC Doctor's Fix It Yourself Guide". He has also written training manuals that have been used by a number of Fortune 500 companies.

Adrian also runs a popular blog under the name The PC Doctor, where he covers a range of computer-related topics -- from security to repairing and upgrading.

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RE: Windows 8 M1 holds clues to upcoming features
james.vandamme 18th Apr 2011
@Cylon Centurion 0005 I'm sure they will, so that with newer hardware the boot time stays at two minutes. I will be long gone at that point. Goodbye, Windows, don't let the Gates hit you in the butt.
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If Windows 8 offers a built in PDF reader, I will throw a party! Goodbye Adobe!
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RE: Windows 8 M1 holds clues to upcoming features
Pete "athynz" Athens 15th Apr 2011
@Cylon Centurion 0005 Ditto!
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@Cylon Centurion 0005

As long as it does not embrace and extend, so will I.
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@Cylon Centurion 0005 I'm sure they will, so that with newer hardware the boot time stays at two minutes. I will be long gone at that point. Goodbye, Windows, don't let the Gates hit you in the butt.
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VB6 runtime support?
jchurch2003 15th Apr 2011
If MS does not support VB6 then its customers should assume that this situation will continue to play out for applications written in later development tools as well. They will need to insure against this happening again and again in the future and the best way to do this is divorce themselves from MS operating systems altogether
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@jchurch2003
You are totally clueless. first of all if there is a VB6 app, that itself hosts VB6 Runtime. If not, it is always available for download http://support.microsoft.com/kb/290887
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What are you babbling about?
wolf_z 15th Apr 2011
VB6 runtime is available for download, so (presumably) VB6 apps aren't orphaned--and usually come with an installer that includes the run time.

If you're bitching about VB.net having source code incompatibilities with VB6, then tell it to the Marines--nobody *cares* anymore.

VB.net's a lot nicer language than VB6 ever was--and I've been using VBA (Access VB6 basically) for over a decade. I far prefer VB.net.
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Win8 M1 "Leaked Build?"
daengbo 16th Apr 2011
You said this is leaked. Does that mean that you weren't given a copy by MS and that you pirated Win8? Say it ain't so!
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Your mean 'clueless'.

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