OSNews reader “AnyWeb” claims that both his Longhorn splash screen and its signature of Longhorn has turned into “Longhorn XP Media Center” (screenshot) after fiddling a bit with some settings. Read more about his explanation on how it happened.
I’ve just discovered something weird, in my testing with the leaked Longhorn 4008 alpha, i went into add/remove programs and chose ‘add remove windows
components’ and looked at what was there (wanted to install IIS for testing…)
I couldnt install it becuase it asked for CD2 which i don’t have, however while i was in there i noticed that it has something called ‘media center’ which was by default not checked, so i checked it and even though it error’d
out complaining about the lack of cd2, once i rebooted the Windows XP Professional (1985-2003 “Longhorn Edition”) splash screen now says Windows XP Freestyle !!!
not only that but the desktop signature that used to just say ‘longhorn professional for testing purpo…’ now says ‘Longhorn XP Media Center Edition for testin……’
so, that leaves me to feel that they have blended the Media Centre Edition (isnt that oem only?) with XP Professional to create ‘Longhorn’
i’ll post some screenshots of ‘Windows XP Freestyle’ splash screen and the desktop showing what i am referring later this evening on my website
Get more screenshots of the Freestyle booting and signature here, and you can get other general Longhorn shots here.
cheers
anyweb
Please note that this is alpha code so it is expected to still have “joined” source code between different releases of programs that are similar. For example, XP Media Center is nothing but an XP PRO spin off (an “specialized evolution” of XP PRO of some kind), as Red Hat PRO is a ‘spin off’ of Red Hat Personal (or the other way around :). A few added packages, a few more modifications and different configurations here and there, can create a new product, maybe a bit more specialized on certain areas than most people would need, so it is marketed as a different product.
At this alpha stage of Longhorn, the evolution of XP Media Center is still using a common source code base with the upcoming Longhorn, so for now, a user may be still able to turn on/off a few options that are only available for the other similar product and turn one product into another. However, we expect that this “trick” will be removed from the final version of Longhorn.
Please note that AnyWeb told us that he did not notice any changed functionality between Longhorn and XP Media Center except the splash screen and the signature, but he also said “I didn’t really tried hard enough to see any differences yet“.
Wait, you mean if alpha software only half-installs and changes the name but probably nothing else, it means something? If you fiddle enough, I bet you could get that desktop letters to say just about anything…
but my website is running iis 5.1 and that only accepts 10 connections concurrently
try later…..
cheers
anyweb
So what? You can potentially also turn it into Enterprise Server. Requires also only somewhat fiddling with the registry.
> but my website is running iis 5.1 and that only accepts 10 connections concurrently
For gawd sakes…can someone say Apache!
for loads and loads of hits… i’ll certaintly consider implementing apache now though ,
apologies again for any/all connection problems that was not my intention at all,
mirrored the pics here (not my machine)
http://home.sol.se/chris
cheers
“For gawd sakes…can someone say Apache!”
I would guess he is running IIS on his desktop and accepts only 10 connections because he is on a dialup. I hope you are trolling but Apache is really not going to give him more bandwidth. Maybe instead he should install some _real_ graphics software and compress that .jpg to save bandwidth.
this works
http://hem.bredband.net/niabra/longhorn/media/media.html
cheers
anyweb
Jim–Sure he probably is running IIS on his desktop and maybe (doubtful) on a dialup (I’d think it’s broadband at least). But the 10 simultaneous connections is a limitation of the IIS that comes with non server editions of Windows NT-based systems (like XP professional). It’s a limitation that MS put in that will be removed if you upgrade to XP Server or 2k Server and higher.
So his recommendation to use Apache stands.
Why on eart do you have to complain about what web server anyweb is runnig?? The guy just found something and reported it!! why cant you say,” thats intresting” instead of slagging him off? when was the last time YOU reported something??????
Doesn’t surprise me. NT 4.0 Workstation could be turned into NT Server, with the right regsitry hacks. This was discovered after Microsoft swore that the kernels of each OS were inherently different – in fact a binary comparison shows them to be identical. This will probably be the same for the OS that sprouts from Longhorn.
<p>The truth is, if you buy any high-end Windows you’re basically getting the Home Edition without the high-end features disabled. The only difference betweens Windows distributions is the intended audience, the price that audience paid, and the limitations that are enabled or disabled for that price.
<p>You can run a web server or file server with unlimited connections on a GNU/Linux box. And you don’t have to ask anyone’s permission to activate it. This is not a difference in technical ability – it’s pure versioning and licensing.
You can even even change Win2k Pro into Win2k Server with a simpel program that changes 2 registry settings. I’ve done it and it works. Run the program again and it switches back.
Cool stuff 🙂
And to say MS asks twice or tripple or i don’t know how much more for the server version.
//You can even even change Win2k Pro into Win2k Server with a simpel program that changes 2 registry settings. I’ve done it and it works. Run the program again and it switches back.
Cool stuff 🙂
//
Your proof is posted … where?
Bullocks.
Sorry to intrude on the discussion, but are’t we missing the point of this headline? What is ” FreeStyle” going to be anyway?
I have to say this news item is pretty bad. The fact that you can do this has been known for a long time and worked back with the first leaked Longhorn. Of cours MS is going to keep Media Center up with XP in terms of code base because all Media Center is is an addition to XP. Nothing fundamental about the OS is different. You get 2 services and a application.
And it’s not because it’s beta in development…
Windows XP Pro can be turned into server and vica versa by just a few registry hack. This affect features, recognition by application (as to whether it’s server or workstation), and also identficiation and splash screen.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/4/24566.html
To me it seems that Windows always includes a lot of junk and stuff that are not used. I guess microsoft haven’t heard of conditional compiling… :-
MSFT uses the same base for all their products (ie: Win2k Pro and Win2k Server). The main difference is in the bundled software.
Server:
0) Desktop +
1) Additional network protocals to allow working better with Macs and Unix.
2) Additional tools for testing network status.
3) Less limitations on the number of concurent users.
Media Center:
0) Desktop +
1) Media Command Center application
2) drivers to talk to external media devices.
Of course you don’t want to make packaging too hard, so you just throw in all the extra graphics and screens into a base system and use the register to control which one the system should be identified as. Then you just need to bundle the extra stuff on the correct CD.
Nice 1 anyweb.
I have tested this and it does work..:)
“Your proof is posted … where?
Bullocks.”
Search for a file called NTswitch.zip
You don’t have to believe me, but I tried it and it works, the bootup screen even changes to the server bootup screen. It doesn’t work with XP pro (i didn’t try that), but I know it works with Win2k.
Ok, searched for it myself.
http://www.astalavista.com/tools/network/misc/ (at the bottom of the page)
If you speak french:
http://ndfr.free.fr/downloads.php?dir=Divers
http://content.443.ch/pub/security/blackhat/Exploits/NT/
Just type in google ntswitch.zip and those pages are all on the 1st page in Google.
If you have Windows, and you install Media Center extesions, you get Media Center Edition. It doesn’t take a degree in obvious to figure that out. Why is this article in existance? It makes my head hurt.
Wow cool hacks…. Longhorn will have 2CDs? More like Linux
Gotta wait
I did this with the last LH leak.It asks for CD 2, which is just the Media edition CD. If your fortunate enough to have that (and I do) you can have a full blown LH Media centre install. Though why you would want it lord alone knows. Its way too buggy still to use.
Q
I get the feeling around here that people saaaayyy they know a lot about computers but they dont. Not everyone, just a few..
If XP bitches about “disc 2” point it to the i386 directory on your “c” drive. This almost always, always works for windows components.
From a previous article I think I read somewhere that the CD doesn’t have an i386 directory, so I’d assume that it doesn’t install one, either.
if it’s listed in the windows components dir, the cabs are there somewhere.
Well all i did was put in the media centre CD (I think that comes on two CDs, but I confess the version I ‘aquired’ didn’t). It worked fine with that.
Look it up on the net. Lots of people did it first time around.
Q 🙂
Anyone ever wonder about the psychology of “aquiring” this stuff? I mean.. I guess I don’t understand the benefit of installing a pre-alpha, no features, version of X, Y, Z OS…
If you use NTSwitch on NT, also check out Frob from Sysinternals.
http://www.sysinternals.com/ntw2k/freeware/frob.shtml
For Win2K see;
http://www.sysinternals.com/ntw2k/info/nt5.shtml
With Tweak NT you can also switch between specific versions of Windows within that production line. For instance, you can switch Windows 2000 Pro into Windows 2000 Enterprize server, DataCenter server, Pro, Server. You can also remove timebombs from trial biulds of any NT based system, and also add a timebomb to a biuld if desired.
With Tweak NT you can also switch between specific versions of Windows within that production line. For instance, you can switch Windows 2000 Pro into Windows 2000 Enterprize server, DataCenter server, Pro, Server. You can also remove timebombs from trial biulds of any NT based system, and also add a timebomb to a biuld if desired. You can get this little item on irc.winbeta.org. Log into the channel #winbeta