Microsoft Expression Web Beta 1

Thanks CoolCatBad...Microsoft® Expression® Web is a new designer-focused product that provides powerful tools you need to produce high-quality, standards-based Web sites the way you want them.

Notes:

• Install Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0 before installing Expression Web.
• Uninstall all Microsoft Office 2007 Beta 1 programs from your computer; however, Office 2007 Beta 2 Technical Refresh programs can remain on your computer when installing Expression Web Beta 1.

Download: Microsoft Expression Web Beta 1
News source: Neowin BPN

Microsoft Office Add-in: Microsoft Save as PDF or XPS

This download allows you to export and save to the PDF and XPS formats in eight 2007 Microsoft Office programs. It also allows you to send as e-mail attachment in the PDF and XPS formats in a subset of these programs.

Download: 2007 Microsoft Office Add-in: Microsoft Save as PDF or XPS

Amazon.com leaks Office 2007 date

Windows Vista is not the only forthcoming Microsoft software for which Amazon.com has apparently pre-announced availability. The online retailer also is taking pre-orders for Microsoft Office 2007, and has listed that the day that product will be available is the same as Windows Vista: Jan. 30, 2007.
 
Microsoft on Wednesday still would not confirm the exact availability of Office, continuing to maintain in a statement through its public relations firm that the system will be available to business customers by the end of the year, and consumers in early 2007.

On Tuesday, the company also toed the party line on Windows Vista availability, repeating what it has said since March: Vista will be available to business customers in November, and consumers in January 2007.

Microsoft's comment on Vista followed Tuesday's news reports that Amazon.com was taking pre-orders for the OS and had not only listed the software's date of availability, but also pricing, which the vendor had not announced yet.

If Amazon.com's listings are correct, it seems Microsoft plans to ship the consumer versions of Windows Vista and Office 2007 simultaneously at the end of January. Both products have been delayed from the release dates the company originally targeted for them. However, Microsoft has said for some time it would release the two products together, and in March even purposefully pushed Office 2007's release date into next year so it would ship at the same time as Vista.

Amazon's listing for Office 2007 can be found at its Web site. 

(Edit:  Please note that the Amazon page has been changed and the specific date removed. - Spy. )

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Microsoft awards executives millions

Several high-ranking Microsoft Corp. executives Thursday received millions of dollars in stock awards as part of a compensation program that the company rejiggered several years ago.

Three years ago, as its share price stagnated, making stock options less attractive, Microsoft switched from offering stock options to stock grants.

The executives reaped the first rewards of the new program Thursday, company spokesman Lou Gellos said. The first of three chunks of stock awarded under the program vested, making it available to the executives.

Jeff Raikes, president of the Microsoft division that includes Microsoft's Office business software, received stock worth $7.5 million at current prices.

Kevin Johnson, co-president of the group that includes the Windows operating system, received stock worth $6 million.

Brad Smith, Microsoft's top lawyer, received stock worth $2.3 million, and Chief Financial Officer Chris Liddell received shares worth $1.2 million at current prices.

Robbie Bach, head of the division that includes the Xbox videogame console, received a grant worth $2.8 million. Lisa Brummel, head of human resources, received a grant worth $1.5 million.

Another 900 senior leaders also received stock grants on Thursday, Gellos said.

The second and third chunks will vest in August of 2007 and September of 2008, providing those executives still work for the company, Gellos said. Those will be for the same number of shares as the ones awarded Thursday. Continue At Source

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Microsoft unhappy with release of 'Office' training video

Microsoft on Friday was unhappy with the online release of a training video that was made to look like an episode of the popular British comedy "The Office," and featured the show's star and creator Ricky Gervais.

Microsoft in the United Kingdom made the 2004 video as a fun way to instruct people on how not to act at work. The 37-minute video was only for internal use, but somehow got released on the Web.

In the two-part video, Gervais plays David Brent, the bumbling boss in "The Office," in what could easily pass for a lost episode of the BBC series. On the film, he is being interviewed about (by) Stephen Merchant, who also was as actor on the original show.

"The two videos that Ricky and Stephen recorded for us in 2004 were a light-hearted way of getting our staff to think about the values they attach to working at Microsoft and, through the character of David Brent, illustrate what not to do in the workplace," a Microsoft spokesperson said in an email. "These videos were produced for internal use and were never intended to be viewed by the public."

Microsoft was trying to determine how the video was released, the spokesperson said.

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Windows Vista Ultimate Priced at $450 on Microsoft.com Canada

Microsoft.com Canada has released pricing for Windows Vista. Windows Vista Ultimate is listed at $499 Canadian which translates into $450.36 in USD. Home Premium is listed at $299 or $269.86 USD, Vista Ultimate Upgrade is priced at $299 or $269.86 USD, while Home Premium Upgrade is $199 or $179.60 USD.

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Bharti Airtel has tied up with Microsoft

NEW DELHI: Bharti Airtel has tied up with Microsoft to push mobile phones based on the Windows Mobile (5.0) platform for corporate customers. The move means that Airtel has finally decided to move beyond its two year old exclusive alliance with Blackberry, which apparently has not been as successful as was expected at the time of launch in India despite the hype around it. Airtel officials said while Blackberry was viewed primarily as e-mail access device and did well in India, Microsoft-based mobiles were expected to take enterprise mobility into a new realm with offerings like MS Office suiteetc. Microsoft India chairman Ravi Venkatesan said Windows platform offered about 18,000 applications and had 6.5 lakh developers worldwide, a range that no other product offered.

Microsoft 20Million Buy Back Offer

New Zealand’s very own Chris Liddell (CFO of Microsoft) appeared on a television talk show tonight announcing a Microsoft “buy back” deal that closes in America tonight. Microsoft is buying back 8% of their shares from current shareholders. This ”tender” for the shareholders shares is set to cost Microsoft around 20 Billion U.S. Dollars.

Microsoft reported a fall in fourth quarter net income to $2.83billion from $3.70billion in the same period last year, thanks in part to one-off legal costs, However Revenues increased by 16% over the period to $11.8 billion.
Nevertheless, it issued a bullish forecast for 2007, predicting revenues of between $49.7billion and $50.7billion and operating income of up to $19.4billion.

Microsoft vs Korea over MSN Messenger dispute

We all know that Microsoft and Korea have a 'special' bond when it comes to Microsoft software and once again Korea and Microsoft are at war and this time MSN Messenger is to blame.

Korea's top Internet service provider, KT is disputing with Microsoft when users could not connect to the MSN Messenger servers for several hours on Thursday morning. The rest of Korea were not effected by the downtime leaving KT in uproar when they discovered they were the only company effected.

Microsoft blamed KT's pipeline leading to their data center saying that it was the cause of the trouble. However KT spokesman Hwang Dae-woon claimed Microsoft were at blame because two ports were out in the United States. 12.6 million broadband users in Korea blamed Microsoft for the problem, when they found themselves not being able to log into Messenger for hours.

Microsoft were also accused for not notifying the company of the problem immediately and working on a quick solution. A KT spokesman pointed out how millions lost connections with friends and how businessmen were cut out of conversations possibly losing important contracts.

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Microsoft Video Trailer of Windows Small Business Server 2003

"DaSBS Code" Microsoft Video Trailer of Windows Small Business Server 2003 R2

What if a server held the secrets that would change small businesses forever? Click the photo and find the code. Movie "Trailer" presented at the Windows Small Business Server 2003 R2 launch event in Boston, July 2006 "DaSBS Code" Video Trailer: A Funny Video about Small Business Server 2003 R2 Continue to this article at Bink.nu