| DDC News
Windows Driver Developer Conference: Last Call - Sign Up Today!
Are you registered? If you are an advanced driver developer or tester, you should be. Windows Driver Developer Conference (DDC) 2008 is fast approaching! Registration closes September 25. The conference will cover key operating system concepts and internals, device driver development processes, tools, tips and tricks, and will include themes focused on power management and building quality drivers. You will also get the newest information about Windows 7 technologies relevant to driver developers. We have added a schedule grid to our Web site and posted session descriptions and titles that you can add to your Outlook calendar in order to build your schedule for what you want to attend. Highlights from the conference include:  Question and answer sessions with Steven Sinofsky and Mark Russinovich, a unique opportunity to experience a two-hour insider view of WDF from the product team ("Shared Secrets about WDF" parts 1 and 2). Architecture reviews and insight into how to create new storage devices ("Enhanced Storage Architecture"). Information about updates in NDIS ("NDIS 6.20 Overview"). Guidance about using the Windows Sideshow SideShow driver architecture to create products ("Windows SideshowSideShow: Building Low-Cost Devices"). Enhancements to the USB stack ("USB in Windows 7 and Beyond"). New community-oriented panels where we will listen to what you have to say about driver development and the logo program for wired USB. In short, the conference is packed with many deep technical sessions and chalk talks, and we just need you there to make it great. Conference DetailsVenue: Microsoft Conference Center, Redmond, WA Dates: September 29-October 1, 2008 Cost: $795 (registration closes 9/25) Registration If you want to attend DDC this year, let us know by signing up here. No onsite registration will be available. Note: Due to the confidential nature of Windows 7 preview content, DDC 2008 will be held under TPA and all attendees will be required to sign an event-specific agreement prior to the event, even if their company already has an NDA in place with Microsoft. You will find this document on the registration site.
WinHEC News
Get the Windows 7 Pre-Beta Build at WinHEC 2008 - Register by October 3 and Save!
This year at WinHEC, you will be one of the first to see what's new in Windows 7, and you will be one of a select few to receive a pre-beta build of Windows 7 to take with you. Save $400!Register by October 3 (date extended!) and pay the early-bird price of $1,295. At the conference, you will find deep technical content about Windows 7 to help you build hardware products that work with the latest Windows platform and enable you to take advantage of its new capabilities, including: Windows 7 engineering leadership. Hear straight talk from Microsoft senior vice presidents Steven Sinofsky and Jon DeVaan. Windows Server 2008. Bill Laing, corporate vice president, will be geared up to talk about Windows Server 2008 on day 2. 100+ technical sessions. Get the deep technical knowledge that you've been asking for. We're adding sessions every week so check back to see what's new. Dozens of technical chalk-talks. These informal sessions give you direct access to experts on Windows 7, Windows Server, and a host of other topics. Windows 7 is in the spotlight, but you'll also find sessions, chalk-talks, and more that cover just about any topic of interest to a Windows hardware developer or business professional, as well as a place to network with Windows engineers. Mark your calendar, register by October 3 to save $400, and take home a pre-beta build of Windows 7! Exhibits: November 4-6, 2008 Conference: November 5-7, 2008 Los Angeles Convention Center For more information, see the WinHEC Web site.
News for Windows Hardware and Driver Developers
On/Off Transition Performance Analysis of Windows Vista This document discusses the importance of on/off transition performance, methodologies for measuring this performance, and how to analyze the results. Described in this paper are techniques for performing a targeted analysis of Windows Vista power on/off transitions by focusing on CPU, disk, services, and Plug and Play issues. This information is intended to help OEMs and system analysts improve system response times. Bluetooth Wireless Technology FAQ - 2008This FAQ provides information about Bluetooth wireless technology support for the Microsoft Windows family of operating systems, focusing primarily on Windows Vista. It is intended primarily for IHVs who are new to the Bluetooth ecosystem on Windows, and addresses topics of interest to both hardware and software developers. Smart Card Minidriver Certification Requirements For Windows Base CSP and Smart Card KSP, these papers specify the cryptographic operations requirements for smart card minidrivers that individual hardware vendors must meet in order to receive the Designed for Windows Logo. The Smart Card Base Cryptographic Service Provider (CSP) exposes the cryptographic capabilities of smart cards through the CAPI interface. The Smart Card Base CSP isolates all smart-card-specific cryptographic operations in the smart card minidriver [CMSPEC]. The [CMSPEC] forms the basis of the requirements identified in these papers.
What's New in Blogs for Hardware and Driver Developers
| | In the emails and comments, there are many topics that are raised and more often than not we see the several facets or positions on the issue. One theme is a desire expressed by folks to choose what is best for them. I wanted to pick up on the theme of choice since that is such an incredibly important part of how we approach building Windows-choice in all of its forms. This choice is really because Windows is part of an ecosystem, where many people are involved in making many choices about what types of computers, configuration of operating system, and applications/services they create, offer, or use. Windows is about being a great component of the ecosystem and what we are endeavoring to do with Windows 7 is to make sure we do a great job on the ecosystem aspects. More... Note: The E7 blog is available in several languages. These translated versions are available at the link above. |
New Things Happening with the WDK
WDK Survey Closes October 3 The WDK documentation group would like your feedback on the documentation provided with the kit and on MSDN. Please invest 5 or 10 minutes and take the survey before October 3 to share your opinions. We take your feedback very seriously, and look forward to improving our product based on your input.
Windows Logo Program Tools and News
Updated Winqual Help Document
The first major revision of the Winqual Help Document is available for download. This document includes new and updated help content for the following Winqual products: Billing Driver Distribution Center DTM Filter Page Establishing Winqual Accounts Legal Agreement Center Logo Submission Process LogoPoint The document can be found at the following location. Winqual Help - PDF formatWindows Logo Program Requirement Updates The Windows Logo Program would like to inform partners of the following requirement updates. You can find complete details on LogoPoint. GRAPHICS-0020 - Display adapter or chipset complies with Direct3D 10 and DXGI feature sets. Added performance target metrics for AeroAT testing on Direct3D 10. STORAGE-0013 - Optical Drives meet Industry and Microsoft standards. Deleted "future" from the title. The following are new requirements and policies that we are proposing. Please provide any feedback on these new requirements by October 21, 2008. SYSFUND-0200 - Embedded devices in a system must report the removable/non-removable capability appropriately. STREAM-0060 - Digital TV tuners requiring protected streams use PBDA. STREAM-0062 - TV tuners must be able to scan for services times. STREAM-0063 - ISDB-T Digital TV tuners must support BML. STREAM-0064 - TV tuners must support closed captioning. STREAM-0065 - TV tuners must support 500 channel changes. STREAM-0071 - TV tuners must support time-shifted playback.
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