The Cult of Microsoft

Microsoft Expression Web Beta 1

2006-09-07T03:33:00.000-07:00

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

2006-09-07T03:32:00.000-07:00

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

2006-09-04T04:04:00.001-07:00

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. )

Continue to this article at Bink.nu

Microsoft awards executives millions

2006-09-04T04:04:00.000-07:00

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

2006-08-29T01:06:00.000-07:00

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

2006-08-29T01:04:00.000-07:00

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.

Continue to this article at Bink.nu

Bharti Airtel has tied up with Microsoft

2006-08-22T23:06:00.000-07:00

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

2006-08-18T01:08:00.000-07:00

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

2006-08-14T06:38:00.000-07:00

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.

>> View Source

Microsoft Video Trailer of Windows Small Business Server 2003

2006-08-07T05:02:00.000-07:00

"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

Windows Vista 'voice recognition poetry' on a shirt

2006-08-07T05:01:00.000-07:00

Remember last week's Windows Vista speech recognition demonstration gone awry? Some enterprising person is now selling a shirt featuring the resulting jumble of words: "Dear Aunt, let's set so double the killer delete select all." Continue At Source

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Windows, Office updates coming soon

2006-08-07T00:17:00.001-07:00

Windows, Office updates coming soon

Microsoft has 12 security bulletins in store for next Tuesday that address both Windows and Office issues.

Ten Windows bulletins will be released for Windows and two for Office as part of Microsoft's monthly patching schedule. Specific details onthe types of issues that the bulletins address were not available, but at least one update for each product is considered critical and some will require a restart, Microsoft said in a notice posted on its Web site.

Last month after Microsoft released its monthly batch of patches, exploits for flaws in its PowerPoint presentation software were released on the Web. Tuesday's patches could be fixes for those issues, but Wednesday might signal the release of other exploits for flaws the company has yet to patch.

On the Windows front, security companies recently noticed a variant of an exploit for a flaw that Microsoft had previously patched, and Tuesday's updates could also contain patches that address that variant.

News source: CNET News.com

Microsoft: Push the Windows Vista date back

2006-08-07T00:17:00.000-07:00

Microsoft: Push the Windows Vista date back

Earlier this week Neowin reported about the call from Longhorn Blogs for Microsoft to give Windows Vista more time. Yesterday WinSuperSite.com and WinCustomize.com put up their own views on whether Vista is ready which could be summed up as "No. God, no."

So what exactly is the situation with Windows Vista? What is the no-marketing spin truth of it? Here are the facts: Windows Vista is scheduled to be made available for corporate customers by the end of the year and be "Generally available" in January 2007. To make that date, Microsoft essentially has to "go gold" by the end of October. That means release candidates would start this month (August 2006). In theory, release candidates are supposed to be versions of Windows Vista that are believed to be ready to go and just need some final testing.

So where do things stand right now? Build 5472 went out a week ago. 5484 was given out earlier this week to selected beta testers. Most (okay all) of the beta testers we've talked to have said the same thing: It's not where it needs to be to make that date.

The problems include everything from general stability, networking issues, backward compatibility, unfinished features, unfinished APIs and more.

Paul Thurrott writes "Do I think that Microsoft will finalize Windows Vista by the end of October 25? Yes, but I also believe they will release a massive series of patches between October 2006 and January 2007 if they do arbitrarily hit their latest release promise because of issues that crop up after Vista gets shipped out to all those businesses that won't be installing it anyway."

The fear many in the industry have of this strategy is a repeat of the Windows ME debacle. The poor reception of Windows ME essentially killed it. An unfinished Windows Vista could result in an OS whose reputation never recovers. One can almost picture Dell and HP offering Windows XP as an alternative pre-loaded OS for years to come with Windows Vista essentially being shoved aside until the follow-on version of Windows ships.

As an OS, Windows Vista is a marvel. The problem isn't that the OS is bad, it is just that it needs time for some of the really ambitious features to be fully tested and integrated. Windows Vista delivers things like DirectX 10 (which is a big deal for game developers and be only available on Windows Vista), Windows Presentation Foundation, Windows Communication Foundation, a better UI, a composited desktop environment, better security and a lot more. Under the covers, Windows Vista is the most significant update to Windows since NT was introduced.

But if Windows Vista ships too early, none of those great new features will matter. All people will remember is that it was "buggy", "slow", "flakey", and "incompatible" and that reputation would long outlive the few extra months it would take to make sure Vista has the time to get it right.

Below are some links that go into more detail and their prescriptions.

View: Push Vista Back!

View: Vista needs a beta 3

View: Is Vista Ready?

Revised naming for Internet Explorer 7

2006-08-07T00:15:00.000-07:00

The Internet Explorer product team today announced a change in their planned naming scheme for Internet Explorer 7 after concerns from the wider community.

In late May, a post on the team's blog stated that the name "IE7+" was to be used to refer to the version of Internet Explorer 7 that ran on Windows Vista. This was to differentiate between the differing feature set offered by Microsoft's latest browser when used on Windows XP and on Windows Vista. A backlash from the wider community ensued, many stating that such a name would cause confusion for users, particularly when it could be interpreted as "IE7 or above".

Responding to these concerns, the product team announced that the new version would be known simply as Internet Explorer 7, regardless of the operating system it was run on. For documentation describing platform-specific features, the term "Windows Internet Explorer 7 in Windows Vista" is to be used.

The move has both surprised and pleased testers of the popular web browser, which is to be released later this year.

News source: Internet Explorer development blog

Messenger Plus! Live 4.01.240 released!

2006-08-04T03:37:00.000-07:00

Patchou has released an update to Messenger Plus! Live, that was released 3 weeks ago. This release contains the custom emoticon panel that was absent from the original Messenger Plus! Live release.

Improvments also include:

Compatibility for the "Clean Messenger" patch
Compatibility with MSNP14 (currently enabled when you sign-up for Yahoo! Messenger interoperability)
The 'Quick Icons Panel' has returned
Other minor bug fixes

Also, the old website http://www.msgplus.net now redirects to the new, http://www.msgpluslive.net site. But http://old.msgplus.net has been created in the event that anyone still needs to access the old site.

>> Messenger Plus! Live changelog
>> Download Messenger Plus! Live 4.01.240
>> View Custom Emoticon Panel

The Best of the Best: Microsoft Recognizes Top Vendors

2006-08-04T03:28:00.000-07:00

Five of Microsoft’s vendors receive annual Excellence Awards.

Microsoft Corp. today announced the winners of the 2006 Microsoft^® Vendor Program (MSVP) Excellence Awards. This year’s five winners — Trammell Crow Co., GE Plastics, Taylor Nelson Sofres plc (TNS), MRM Partners Worldwide and Milligan Events — were selected from among more than 20,000 Microsoft vendors in the U.S.

The MSVP Excellence Awards are given to vendors that consistently provide outstanding service and results to Microsoft. A panel of Microsoft executives selected the winners, which were nominated by Microsoft employees based on value, quality, flexibility, innovation, security and privacy. Winners were announced in five categories: Vendor of the Year, Quality, Service, Technology and Value. They received their awards today during the fifth annual MSVP Annual Vendor Summit on Microsoft’s corporate campus in Redmond.

“MSVP Excellence Award winners are the best of the best among over 20,000 vendors that Microsoft works with throughout the U.S.,” said Mike Huber, General Manager and Chief Procurement officer at Microsoft. “Their hard work, the value of their services and the quality of their contributions has helped Microsoft better serve its customers and improve as a company.”

Established in 2002, the Microsoft Vendor Program is designed to both enhance Microsoft’s relationship with a select group of vendors that are critical to the company and to make it easy for Microsoft employees to work with vendors that have been pre-qualified.

The following vendors are this year’s MSVP winners:

•	Vendor of the Year: Trammell Crow. Trammell Crow, one of the largest diversified real estate services companies in the world, provides real estate advisory services, administration of global-portfolio leases, project accounting, and information technology support services to Microsoft’s Real Estate and Facilities team. In response to rapidly increasing head count at Microsoft’s main campus in Redmond, Trammell Crow secured more than 3 million square feet of property in the Puget Sound area while negotiating fair-market prices for Microsoft in a tight real estate market. Trammell Crow’s impressive results were achieved by a strong, flexible team that improved all its services to Microsoft during this dramatic increase in real estate activity.
•	Quality award: GE Plastics. GE Plastics provides specialized plastics for more than 40 components in the Xbox 360™ console, controllers and accessories. For the launch of Xbox 360, GE delivered its advanced materials technologies with no production or service issues and exceeded all of Microsoft’s engineering, quality and environmental requirements. GE Plastics met this high-quality bar while significantly reducing the industry’s average lead time.
•	Service award: Taylor Nelson Sofres. TNS, one of the world’s leading providers of market information, conducts a variety of in-depth research and analysis projects for Microsoft each year. One increasingly complex worldwide study has been managed by TNS for Microsoft over a number of years, and each year TNS has improved the delivery, content and design of the ongoing project while simultaneously reducing turnaround and lowering costs.
•	Technology award: MRM Partners Worldwide. MRM Partners Worldwide, a full-service agency that provides direct and interactive marketing solutions, implemented an integrated Microsoft SharePoint^® system that enabled cross-discipline integration and improved client and agency collaboration and information sharing. Subsequent to the successful launch of this new SharePoint system at Microsoft, MRM Partners Worldwide extended this solution to a number of its other clients.
•	Value award: Milligan Events. Milligan Events, a comprehensive event services company, based in Boise, Idaho, has managed more than 40 major events for Microsoft in the past year that have drawn over 150,000 customers, partners and Microsoft employees. Events that Milligan has managed this year include Microsoft Convergence 2006 and Microsoft’s global sales meeting. Milligan Events received high marks for quality and collaboration and drove significant value.

Top Internet sites in May 2006: Yahoo!, Microsoft.com, Google (not MSN)

2006-08-02T06:11:00.000-07:00

For the first time in Nielsen//NetRatings tracking history, the top 3 Internet destinations have a newcomer. Google replaced MSN.com as the third most visited standalone site in May 2006. Microsoft.com still remained the second most visited site on the Internet, behind Yahoo!

Top Web sites in May 2006
Site	Audience, 000	Time spent
Yahoo!	105,278	3:26:27
Microsoft	98,977	0:50:26
Google	95,355	0:53:41
MSN	94,383	1:40:09
AOL	72,023	6:02:57
eBay	54,841	1:38:55
MapQuest	43,512	0:11:18
MySpace	42,010	1:46:51
Amazon	40,023	0:19:00
Real.com	38,953	0:44:51
Source: Nielsen//NetRatings

SAP, Microsoft Plan Duet Roadmap

2006-08-02T06:09:00.000-07:00

Sap and Microsoft aren't strangers to product launch delays. So it seems odd for SAP to be thinking about upgrades when it just barely got the first version out the door a month ago.

But maybe it's learning to limit its product development excesses.

SAP, along with Microsoft, developed Duet, a product that allows users to interact with SAP enterprise software through a Microsoft Office interface.

Only out a month, Duet is already in line for enhancements.

Dennis Moore, general manager for emerging solutions at SAP, told internetnews.com that the company is already discussing specific enhancements with customers and will present an extended product roadmap in the next quarter or two.

"We've been incorporating learnings back into the product and the documentation of the product," said Moore.

He added that SAP has been able to reduce implementation time by 30 percent as a result of that feedback.

The strength of Duet is that it allows knowledge workers in enterprises using SAP to interact with certain SAP applications tied to the calendar functions, such as vacation scheduling, through Microsoft Office desktop solutions.

"Duet is not porting SAP to Office. It's about extending Office to appropriate processes within SAP," Moore explained.

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Microsoft adCenter Upgrades Include Firefox Support

2006-08-02T03:50:00.000-07:00

Microsoft adCenter has a new release launching Saturday, August 5th, and one of the upgrades includes the long awaited Firefox browser support.

Microsoft sent out an email to their premium adCenter customers, which included the following:

Now, use Microsoft adCenter with the Firefox 1.5 browser!
Daily, weekly and monthly data will be updated every hour to help you view results and optimize campaigns in real-time.
Select the time frame for which you want your campaign and order summaries to show, instead of viewing them in the life-to-date format.
User-interface changes to the reporting tab will make usability simpler.
API customers will now have access to more procedure calls. Detailed API communications will be sent to API customers.
Full Story At Source

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Third-party Microsoft patches could get new life

2006-08-02T03:49:00.000-07:00

It has been nearly three years since Microsoft moved to a monthly patch release schedule as a way to rein in some of the chaos that had begun to engulf its vulnerability reporting and repair efforts.

The result has been a more orderly, predictable process that enables enterprises to plan patch deployments well in advance and avoid costly downtime during business hours. And several other vendors, including Oracle Corp. and Hewlett-Packard Co., have followed suit by launching scheduled patch releases of their own.

But some administrators and security experts say that for all its benefits, the predictable release schedule also has its downsides, and can leave enterprises hanging when a new flaw is discovered between patch releases, which has led to a rise in third-party security fixes.

Redmond, Wash.-based Microsoft has released what have been called "out of cycle" patches a few times since it began the monthly schedule, but typically only after pressure from customers and media reports. Those rare instances have mainly come after exploit code for a new flaw has been made available, in effect forcing Microsoft's hand.

"The MSRC will always consider releasing an out-of-cycle update if we have a quality update available and customers are at serious risk, as we have done on several occasions such as the WMF attack," said Christopher Budd, security program manager at the Microsoft Security Response Center. Continue At Source

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Debugging Tools for Windows 6.6.7.5

2006-08-02T03:33:00.000-07:00

You can use Debugging Tools for Windows to debug drivers, applications, and services on systems running Windows NT 4.0, Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, Windows Vista, and Windows Server codename "Longhorn," as well as for debugging the operating system itself. Versions of the Debugging Tools for Windows package are available for 32-bit x86, native Intel Itanium, and native x64 platforms.

The latest release of Debugging Tools for Windows is available for download from the web. You can also install the package from the Windows DDK, Platform SDK, or Customer Support Diagnostics CD

Download At Source Continue to this article at Bink.nu

PC-cillin Internet Security 14.55 for Windows Vista Beta

2006-08-02T03:02:00.000-07:00

Looking for another Beta that’s related to your shiny new Vista Operating System-On top of that an Anti-Virus. Look no further.

PC-Cillin is running a Beta Program Till October 31^st, 2006 for their new Internet Security Anti-Virus for Vista. If you want to participate in the beta check it out here

Participants who complete the questionnaire automatically join the pool for a drawing of valuable Amazon Gift Certificates:

1^st Prize: USD $500
2^ndPrize: USD $300
3^rd Prize: USD $200

What have you got to loose…Check it out now

https://www.trendbeta.com/index.php?get=80

Microsoft submitted documents in bid to avoid fine

2006-08-01T02:13:00.000-07:00

Microsoft has submitted documents required by the European Commission in an effort to avoid further fines for breaching an antitrust ruling, a spokeswoman for the European Union regulator said on Monday.

"We received the technical documentation from Microsoft. The competition services are currently analyzingit with the help of the trustee. It's too early to say whether they complied with the decision," the spokeswoman said.

Earlier this month, EU regulators fined Microsoft 280.5 million euros ($356 million) for defying a 2004 antitrust ruling requiring it to share key information on its office servers with rivals, and warned the company to comply or face bigger daily fines from next month.

The information is needed so rivals' servers could compete on a level playing field with Microsoft's own. Microsoft must help its rivals interconnect smoothly with Windows.

Part of the decision was based on the evaluation of an independent monitoring trustee, British Professor Neil Barrett, who was nominated by the U.S. software giant.

The non-compliance penalty imposed on July 12 was the first of its kind and came on top of a record 497 million euro fine the Commission levied in its landmark antitrust decision against Microsoft in March 2004.

That decision found that the company abused the dominance of its Windows operating system to squeeze out competitors.

Microsoft faces a further fine of up to 3 million euros a day if it found to be still not in compliance with the ruling.

"It's too early at this stage to give any indication of whether there will be another payment, another penalty, and if there is to be another penalty how much it would be," Commission spokesman Michael Mann told a news briefing.

Continue At Source Continue to this article at Bink.nu

Vista to have inbuilt undelete

2006-08-01T02:12:00.000-07:00

Vista will have an inbuilt undelete system based on the Windows 2003 "volume shadow copy" technology, Microsoft has revealed.

The system, called "Previous Versions" under Vista allows end-users to retrieve older versions of files as well as deleted versions.

As APC Magazine points out, the feature, which will be enabled by default in Vista, is great for Joe Cubicleworker who has just overwritten his boss's PowerPoint presentation by mistake. But it may be very bad news indeed for anyone who discreetly deletes a document and assumes it is gone.

Of course, undelete has always been possible unless a file has actually been overwritten with other data, but under Vista's versioning file system, that will certainly not happen, meaning your 50:50 chance of a file being recovered by your tyrannical boss is now a 0:100 chance.

News source: APC Magazine

Microsoft recalls Small Business Server 2003 R2

2006-08-01T02:11:00.000-07:00

Microsoft has recalled an updated version of Small Business Server because of a glitch discovered during a regular software production audit, the company said Friday. The update, called Small Business Server 2003 R2, contained non-final versions of some core components. However, it had only been released recently to original equipment manufacturers, system builders and distributors, and was not generally available to customers, according to the company.

Microsoft is recalling and reissuing the production so far of R2. That will lead to a minor delay in general availability, the Redmond, Washington, company said. Earlier this month at its launch at the Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference, Microsoft said the product would be available in August. Small Business Server 2003 R2 will incorporate the Windows Server 2003 operating system, the SharePoint Web portal, Exchange Server groupware and Office Outlook e-mail software.

Full Article @ Infoworld

Microsoft Details Vista Upgrade Paths

2006-08-01T02:10:00.000-07:00

With Windows Vista nearing its first release candidate in preparation for a final launch early next year, Microsoft is providing more details about possible upgrade paths. Of note: Windows 2000 cannot be upgraded to Vista.

While Windows 2000 Professional customers may purchase a cheaper "upgrade" copy of Microsoft next-generation operating system, Windows Vista must be "clean installed," which means users will need to back up their files and data manually and then copy everything into place. Applications will also need to be re-installed.

The x64 version of Windows XP will also have the same requirement. Although the final release of Vista will include both 32-bit and 64-bit iterations of the OS, Microsoft has not designed an upgrade path for the current x64 release.

Windows XP Professional, meanwhile, can be upgraded only to the Business and Ultimate editions of Windows Vista. This is due tof eatures built into XP Pro not being added to the Home Basic and Home Premium SKUs of Vista.

News source: BetaNews

Microsoft sees Windows shipments on track

2006-07-30T23:55:00.001-07:00

Microsoft said on Thursday it sees no reason now why its new Windows Vista operating system would be delayed, but stopped short of committing to its previously stated launch target.

Microsoft has already postponed the release of its much-anticipated upgrade to Windows for consumers until after the crucial holiday shopping season to improve the system's quality. It plans to ship Vista to corporate customers in November this year.

"We will ship Windows Vista when it is available," said Kevin Johnson, co-president of Microsoft's platforms and services division. "However, we are going to ship the product when it is ready and we are just going to take it milestone by milestone." Continue to this article at Bink.nu

Microsoft Releases Student 2007

2006-07-30T23:55:00.000-07:00

Give your kids the power to succeed in school, Give them Microsoft Student with Encarta Premium 2007 [:^)] Microsoft Student provides homework tools and information to reinforce in-class learning and encourage your kids' success in school.

Microsoft Student makes it easy to find the right tool to produce high-quality homework—in less time.

Top features include:

Microsoft Math Microsoft Math helps give students the confidence to solve the most difficult math and science equations—quickly and accurately. It's like having a personal math tutor! Research Tools These tools include enhanced Search using both the Web and Encarta® Premium 2007 — the #1 best-selling multimedia encyclopedia brand* with content you can trust. Language and Literature Resources These resources help improve writing skills and promote reading comprehension, with useful help like Book Summaries. Templates, Tutorials and Toolbars Students can create outstanding presentations and reports, which are available when Student is used with Microsoft Office products (sold separately).

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The Wall Street Journal interviews Steve Ballmer

2006-07-30T23:54:00.000-07:00

For 26 years, the chief executive of Microsoft Corp. had worked hand in hand with Bill Gates to guide a tiny personal-computer-software maker into a technology behemoth whose products are at the center of the world's businesses and homes. But the day before, Mr. Gates had announced plans to step away from Microsoft in two years. The duo would become a solo act.

Now, Mr. Ballmer must show that Microsoft's greatness transcends the man who is so closely associated with the company. And he must lead Microsoft at what is arguably the most challenging period in its history. Shareholders are grumbling about a stock price that has been flat for five years and gripe about Microsoft's practice of not distributing more of its cash hoard, even as Mr. Ballmer this month announced a $20 billion share-buyback program designed to boost the stock price.

Google Inc., meanwhile, has outpaced Microsoft online, poached key Microsoft employees and will likely become an even greater Microsoft rival in years to come. The Internet search company's rising share price has raised debate over what more Microsoft can do to retain and attract employees.

Mr. Ballmer has help, of course. Mr. Gates is passing his direct duties on to two lieutenants, Ray Ozzie and Craig Mundie. Even so, without Mr. Gates there to push Microsoft into new technologies and markets, Mr. Ballmer says he himself will need to take on some of his old friend's specialty as an advocate for innovation.

In his first one-on-one interview since Mr. Gates's retirement announcement, Mr. Ballmer said he looks forward to the challenge of leading through Mr. Gates's departure. He is bullish on Microsoft's investments in online services, and he dismisses as "random malarkey" the idea that Microsoft is having trouble hiring and keeping the kind of brilliant employees that have always been the company's competitive weapon. Excerpts:

WSJ: Many companies faded away after their founders left. What can you say that would assure people that, now that the co-founder is moving on, Microsoft is in good hands?

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Working with the Windows RSS Platform (C#)

2006-07-30T23:52:00.000-07:00

If you don’t know what RSS is, then you have been hiding under a pretty big rock lately. A lot of Microsoft’s products are currently out or are coming out in the next year use the Windows RSS platform. To name a few of these products off the top of my head are as follows: IE7, Office 2007, Windows Live Mail Desktop, and Windows Vista. I’m pretty sure that sometime in the next couple of years you will more than likely be working with RSS in one or more of your applications.

During the past week I have been working with the Windows RSS platform in one of my applications. My adventure into the unknown lands of the Windows RSS platform was quite an experience; I found out that the MSDN documentation tends to be very helpful, but real world examples tend to be a little scarce.

For that reason, I’ll show you how to easy it is to use the Windows RSS platform in your C# 2.0 Application to create an IE7 Feed in the root or subfolder of the Feeds Folder.

Open Visual Studio 2005 and create a new Windows Application.

Open the Solution Explorer and right click References and click “Add”.

Switch to the COM tab and find “Microsoft Feeds, version 1.0”.

You should now see “Microsoft.Feeds.Interop” in your References List.

Add “ using Microsoft.Feeds.Interop ;” to the top of your Form1.cs

Create a new method called AddIE7Feed that returns a Boolean and takes 3 String parameters (folder, URL, title).

It should look like this:

private bool AddIE7Feed(string folder, string url, string title)

{

return true;

}

Next lets add some code to AddIE7Feed.

FeedsManager fm = new FeedsManager();

IFeedFolder rootFolder = (IFeedFolder)fm.RootFolder;

IFeedFolder subFolder = rootFolder;
try
{

//if a folderpath is supplied the following code is executed.

if (folder != string.Empty)

{

//checks to see if the folder exists.
if (!rootFolder.ExistsSubfolder(folder))

{

//creates the folder if it does not exist.

rootFolder.CreateSubfolder(folder);

//set the subFolder to the new folder.

subFolder = (IFeedFolder)rootFolder.GetSubfolder(folder);

}

}
//checks to see if the feed exists (by checking the url and title).
if (!subFolder.ExistsFeed(title) && !fm.IsSubscribed(url))

{

//creates the feed if it does not exist.

subFolder.CreateFeed(title, url);

return true;

}
return false;

}
//catches any Exception that may be throw
catch (Exception) {

return false;
}

Let s add a feed by adding a few lines of code in the Form1_Load

//Please note if the url to the feed already exisits anywhere in the feeds folder an exception will occur.
//Add a feed called "windowscoding.com" to the root feeds folder.
if (AddIE7Feed("", "http://windowscoding.com/blogs/MainFeed.aspx", "windowscoding.com"))

{

MessageBox.Show("Feed was added successfully");

}

else

{

MessageBox.Show("Failed to add the Feed");

}

//close the application.

this.Close();

Run the application and then open IE7 and you should see the feed above.

I know that this application does not have any User Interface it is purely meant to be an example on how to use the Windows RSS Platform with IE7.

I have compiled a list of links that I believe anyone working with the Windows RSS platform should read.

Microsoft Team RSS Blog

http://blogs.msdn.com/rssteam

Windows RSS Platform Reference

http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/feedsapi/rss/reference/entry.asp

Using the Windows RSS Platform

http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/feedsapi/rss/overviews/msfeeds_ovw.asp

Valid Feed and Folder Names (Must Read)

http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/feedsapi/rss/overviews/name_ovw.asp

To download the Visual Studio project and source follow the link below.

Working with the Windows RSS Platform Sample Application (C#)

Please note that the code in section six has been updated. In some circumstances if you only check if the feed exists by the name an exception will be thrown.

Microsoft Live Labs Photosynth Technology Preview

2006-07-30T23:50:00.000-07:00

Microsoft Live Labs have just announced possibly the coolest thing in Microsoft at the moment ‘Photosynth'

Photosynth basically allows the creation of 3D Models from 2D images. For example you could create a 3D Model of your house made up of images you had taken with your digital camera.

Hopefully they will be releasing an API so you can do similar things.

More can be found at http://labs.live.com/photosynth

Demo: http://labs.live.com/photosynth/videodemo.html

Team Blog: http://labs.live.com/photosynth/blogs/

Videos at:

Live Labs: http://labs.live.com/photosynth/video.html
Channel 9: http://channel9.msdn.com/showpost.aspx?postid=220870
on10: http://on10.net/Blogs/TheShow/4187/

Convert your firefox favorites and feeds into IE7 with "Firefox To IE7"

2006-07-30T23:49:00.000-07:00

Currently there is no way to import your firefox favorites and feeds into IE7, and from what I have heard there is no plan on adding this into IE7. So with this in mind, I made this application so that developers or anyone who needs to use their firefox bookmarks in IE7 can do so easily.

All you have to do is run the application and if you have firefox installed it will automatically find your bookmarks, or you can browse for your exported firefox “bookmarks.html” file. Download at source Continue to this article at Bink.nu

Microsoft to Start Charging for Office 2007 Beta 2

2006-07-30T23:42:00.001-07:00

The tester count for Office 2007 Beta 2 is now at more than three million. Given "how dramatically the beta 2 downloads have exceeded (Microsoft's) goals," the company has decided to start charging $1.50 per download for Office Server 2007 to help the company recover costs, officials said on July 28. Microsoft will continue to make the online test-drive version of Office 2007 Beta 2 available for free. No word on whether Microsoft is planning to charge for the Office 2007 Beta 2 Technical Refresh, which is expected to go out in the next few weeks.

Continue to this article at Bink.nu

Microsoft makes MSDN Library freely available from now on

2006-07-30T23:42:00.000-07:00

For the first time, we're making the MSDN Library freely available for download from Microsoft Downloads. Previously, the Library was only available for download to MSDN subscribers. The current download is the May 2006 Edition and future editions will also be available when we release them.

MSDN Library provides access to essential programming information, including technical white papers, software development kits and code samples necessary to develop web services and applications. This is an updated version of the MSDN Library for Visual Studio® 2005. Download details: MSDN Library May 2006 Edition Continue to this article at Bink.nu

Security Vendor Claims Microsoft Is Shutting Out Competition

2006-07-30T23:41:00.000-07:00

Security solution provider Agnitum claims that Microsoft's kernel patch protection will shut out competing products unless competitors resort to hacker tactics. In an article posted to the company's Web site, Agnitum said that because of the way Microsoft designed its kernel patch protection "it will be more complicated for third-party security software companies to install and maintain their software on Windows PCs. In some circumstances, kernel patch protection may even block the installation of third-party security software." The brunt of the complaint centers around the way some vendors hook into the kernel in order to gain enough control to defend the system against attacks. Agnitum said in order to protect a system developers sometimes resort to patching the kernel. Such a patch might involve changing a service number in the system's Service Dispatch Table so that it points to third-party code. Then when that particular service is called by a program the third-party code is invoked instead of the original kernel code. But that method of hooking into the lower levels of the operating system won't be possible with the new kernel patch protection, which will be a standard feature of Windows Vista and the upcoming Longhorn server operating systems. Kernel patch protection was introduced with the release of Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 1 for x64 platforms and Windows XP x64 Edition. According to Microsoft's documentation there is no way to disabled kernel patch protection on a system-wide basis nor for individual applications or drivers. The only way to disable it is to attach a debugger to the system. Microsoft expects developers to use its published application programming interfaces (APIs) in order to gain the functionality required for a given application. However, Agnitum claims that Microsoft's published APIs don't allow developers to gain preemptive on-the-fly control over low level system activity on systems that include kernel patch protection. Continue At Source Continue to this article at Bink.nu

Microsoft sues over pirated software

2006-07-18T23:34:00.000-07:00

Microsoft Corp. filed federal lawsuits against two Colorado retailers today, in an effort to thwart alleged piracy of Windows and Office software programs.

Microcomp Solutions Inc. in Denver and Computers Plus USA Inc. in Grand Junction were among 26 companies sued for allegedly pirating software or installing unlicensed software on computers.

The piracy-related lawsuits are the most filed by the Redmond, Wash.-based computer giant on a single day. In 2005, the company filed a total of 50 piracy-related suits.

"We've been hearing from a number of small, honest system builders or resellers saying that they're going out of business because they can't compete with their competitors selling pirated software," said Mary Jo Schrade, senior attorney for Microsoft. "Word has come through (chief executive)Steve Ballmer and now there's a full-court press to address the piracy problem in the U.S. Our goal is to have piracy stopped, not file as many lawsuits as we can."

Continue At Source

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Microsoft and XenSource

2006-07-18T23:33:00.000-07:00

Microsoft and XenSource to Develop Interoperability for Windows Server “Longhorn” Virtualization

Collaboration will enable customers to virtualize Xen-enabled Linux on Windows Server.

Microsoft Corp. and XenSource Inc. today announced they will cooperate on the development of technology to provide interoperability between Xen™-enabled Linux and the new Microsoft^® Windows^® hypervisor technology-based Windows Server^® virtualization. With the resulting technology, the next version of Windows Server, code-named “Longhorn,” will provide customers with a flexible and powerful virtualization solution across their hardware infrastructure and operating system environments for cost-saving consolidation of Windows, Linux and Xen-enabled Linux distributions.

“Microsoft’s commitment to customers is to build bridges across the industry with solutions that are interoperable by design,” said Bob Muglia, senior vice president of the Server and Tools Business at Microsoft. “Our work with XenSource, a recognized leader in open source virtualization technology, reflects that commitment and Microsoft’s ongoing efforts to bring virtualization solutions to the mainstream and help customers progress toward self-managing dynamic systems.”

“We are pleased to collaborate with Microsoft as a development partner and to deliver interoperable virtualization solutions,” said Peter Levine, president and CEO of XenSource. “Xen-enabled guests will run seamlessly on XenEnterprise now, and, as a result of this agreement, Xen-enabled Linux guests will also run on Windows Server virtualization. XenSource will also deliver additional products based on the collaboratively developed technology, further expanding the value of the relationship.”

Benefits for Customers

The joint efforts between the two companies will deliver the following customer benefits:

•	Interoperability by design through collaborative development of two leaders in virtualization technology
•	A flexible, high-performance and more reliable virtualization solution with Windows Server “Longhorn,” optimized to support heterogeneous software environments and a wide array of hardware
•	Microsoft technical support for issues regarding interoperability with Xen-enabled Linux guest operating systems through the standard Microsoft technical support process

Availability

Microsoft anticipates providing a beta release of Windows Server virtualization by the end of 2006 and plans to release the solution to manufacturing (RTM) within 180 days of the RTM of Windows Server “Longhorn,” which is targeted for the end of 2007. Microsoft currently provides virtual machine add-ins and technical support for Linux guest operating systems running on Virtual Server 2005 R2.

This agreement builds on an ongoing relationship between Microsoft and XenSource. XenSource has previously licensed the Microsoft Virtual Hard Disk format to enable interoperability with Microsoft virtualization technologies. For customers with Premier-level support agreements, Microsoft will use commercially reasonable efforts to address potential issues with Microsoft software running in XenEnterprise.

Continue to this article at Bink.nu

Microsoft Acquires Winternals Software

2006-07-18T23:32:00.000-07:00

Company appoints operating systems kernel expert Mark Russinovich as technical fellow.

Microsoft Corp. today announced the acquisition of Winternals Software LP, a privately held company based in Austin, Texas, that provides Windows^®-based enterprises with systems recovery and data protection solutions in addition to offering a freeware tools Web site called Sysinternals. The addition of Winternals is a significant advance in Microsoft’s promise to lower customers’ total cost of ownership of the Microsoft^® Windows platform. Customers will be able to continue building on Sysinternals’ advanced utilities, technical information and source code for utilities related to Windows. Financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.

Winternals was established in 1996 by Mark Russinovich and Bryce Cogswell, who are recognized industry leaders in the areas of operating system design and architecture. Russinovich will join the Microsoft Platforms & Services Division as a technical fellow, working with numerous technology teams across Microsoft, and Cogswell will join the Windows Component Platform Team in the role of software architect.

“I’ve had my eye on Mark for some time,” said Jim Allchin, co-president of the Platforms & Services Division at Microsoft. “The work he and Bryce have completed in system recovery and data protection illustrates the depth of thinking and skill they will bring to future versions of Windows. The addition of their deep kernel-level expertise to our existing strong talent will help provide us with the edge we need to continue to raise the quality and functionality bar for Windows on both the client and the server.”

“I witness regularly the profound impact that even a few lines of code can have in a world of globally connected systems,” said Russinovich. “The technologies that sustain and enhance business, health, commerce and entertainment are emerging from platforms that Microsoft creates. I look forward to bringing my experience in designing operating system technologies to Microsoft. I’m excited to broaden the reach and impact on Windows and Microsoft customers.”

Winternals products support IT professionals in numerous ways, providing intelligent enterprise recovery solutions, network defragmentation solutions and powerful system tools, all focused on reducing the total cost of ownership for Microsoft-based businesses. Sysinternals enjoys a strong and active community of systems administrators and support personnel, averaging about a million visitors per month.

Microsoft is evaluating how the Winternals products and technologies can be integrated within Microsoft offerings to maximize customer value.

Continue to this article at Bink.nu

Microsoft clears out of Lebanon for now

2006-07-18T23:30:00.000-07:00

Microsoft is taking extra precautions during the current Mideast conflict.

The company has imposed security measures at its Israel offices, has told employees to cancel or postpone travel to Israel or Lebanon, and has cleared its offices in Beirut until the situation changes.

"We wish for a swift and peaceful conclusion to this difficult situation, and for the safety of all concerned," said a spokesman for Microsoft.

Intel has not closed its several facilities in Israel but has put in contingency plans. Employees in Haifa have also been moved to a "hardened facility" in the building. They can also work from home.

The Technion, Israel's premier technical college, has been closed. The order to close came in the middle of exams on Sunday.

Continue to this article at Bink.nu

Exploit Wednesday

2006-07-18T23:28:00.000-07:00

Another Microsoft Office exploit, Bifrose.UZ, was discovered last week. It drops a backdoor using PowerPoint (PPT) files. The exploit was discovered after a limited number of people received e-mail with the PowerPoint file as an attachment.

So what’s the deal with Microsoft Office and why the exploits? There were Word fixes in June - Several Excel fixes were included in July’s patches - And now there is a PowerPoint exploit that will need to be patched in August. See a pattern?

There’s a growing trend here. F-secure been saying for some time that the lack of large virus outbreaks is evidence that the malware environment could be getting worse, not better. The bad guys want to make money - not make attention. So as a malware author, if you want to target a few prominent companies for the purpose of industrial espionage, you design your exploit to attack them within and then lay low. Spoofed e-mails are sent to company insiders and they, thinking it’s just another document that they need to review, open it up and the backdoor gets installed.

The bad guys are taking advantage of three things:

The first is the patch cycle itself. These new exploits are being released after the second Tuesday of each month to maximize its lifespan.

The second is the common day-to-day routine of receiving Office files. There haven’t been any new macro viruses to speak of for some time and so Office files (doc/xml/ppt) easily pass through corporate firewalls and people don’t think twice about clicking on them. This avenue of attack is currently under the radar and is not perceived as a danger by end users.

And the third advantage is that the companies exploited don’t want to talk about it. They dread the negative publicity as a victim of espionage. That’s why the public doesn’t know the name of last month’s Excel exploit victim. Such hush-hush may be keeping some of these exploits from being reported.

Source straight from F-secure weblog

Windows Live Mail Desktop Beta public

2006-07-18T00:31:00.001-07:00

Although it’s still codenamed “Mail Desktop Beta”, the Liveside guys managed to find out it’ll be Windows Live Mail Center eventually - either way, it’s primed for download on the public site. There will be a new beta release of it soon - to tie in with it going public, but beta people will obviously get more updated builds then the public guys.

If anyone knows, let me know You’ll need to register your Windows Live ID/Passport account, and it’ll take between a day and a week to come through, but it means you’ll be able to get it as soon as it becomes more widely available.

Sign up

Windows Vista 5472 out

2006-07-18T00:31:00.000-07:00

Got a new build guys and girls - go and check it out now! ~~It’s only Ultimate Edition~~ - it seems Home Basic, Home Premium, Business and Ultimate are up… but you can still use the same key that you used for Ultimate 5342 and upwards. It’s only available to Microsoft Connect users - so the MSDN Operating System and above guys and TechNet won’t get it either.

0xD425B6E3 - Windows Vista 5472 32-bit (x86) CRC Value - 2.6GB
0×18517949 - Windows Vista 5472 64-bit (x64) CRC Value - 3.5GB

Download now (Microsoft Connect users with access to the Vista beta pages only)

Part source: DigitalFive

Process Explorer 10.2

2006-07-18T00:30:00.000-07:00

What's new in Version 10.2:

Vista integrity level and virtualized columns and process properties
Signed driver for 64-bit Vista for x64 processors

What's new in Version 10.1:

Vista process cycle counters in process properties and as column
Service permissions viewing and editing
Workaround for .NET runtime handle leak
Many new I/O columns and process properties
System and per-process I/O bytes history graphs
I/O history minigraph
Memory commit history minigraph
Optional I/O history tray icon
Windows 64-bit for Itanium support

What's new in Version 10.0:

The process column is locked on the left side so that it doesn't scroll horizontally out of view
You can configure custom column selections and save them as easy-to-access column sets
Image verification option now verifies images in the background
More refresh intervals
Runas menu entry in the File menu
Run as Limited User menu entry in the File menu to run a process without administrative privileges and group membership
Process menu includes Restart item to kill and then restart a selected process
Can suspend individual threads on Threads page of Process Properties dialog
The Find Window target moves Process Explorer's main window to the back to get it out of the way
Close Window command uses same End Task functionality as Task Manager
Show New Processes option scrolls display to make new processes visible
Heuristics to detect more image packers
User name of account in which Process Explorer is running is shown in the title bar
Services can be stopped, resumed, and paused from the Services tab of the Process Properties dialog
The DLLs that host SvcHost processes are listed in the Services tab of the Process Properties dialog
Services running within a process display on the process' tooltip
As a parallel to the CPU Usage History column there's now a Private Bytes Usage History column
The Process view includes columns that show the working set breakdown of the process in shared, shareable and private pages
New delta private-bytes column to show changes in private virtual memory usage
Can copy lines from the Process, DLL and Handle views to the clipboard
Option to show pagefile-backed (unnamed) sections in DLL view
DLL and handle searching consolidated
The DLL view includes columns that show the working set contributions in shared, shareable, and private pages
The DLL a Rundll32 process hosts is shown in its process tooltip
Packed DLL highlighting in DLL view
Image signing verification available for DLLs
Better DLL properties dialog
Object address shown in Object Properties dialog
File object share flags column for Handle view

Download At Source

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Windows VistaBootPRO 2.0 Beta

2006-07-18T00:25:00.001-07:00

PROnetworks announced that VistaBootPRO 2.0 Beta, the newest version of the original program developed by the PROnetworks Betas Team and the Beta Testing Forum, is now available for download. This is an update to the original VistaBootPRO 1.0 Beta. There are lots of new features and improved GUI interface. Full support for Windows Vista Beta 2 and Build 5456 has been added as well.

VistaBootPRO has proven quite popular because it is used to make changes to the Windows Vista Boot Configuration Data (BCD) registry quickly and easily, doing the job in a fraction of the time it would take using the alternative. The only other way to edit the BCD is to use the command prompt application bcdedit.exe, located in the Windows\system32 folder of Windows Vista. bcdedit.exe requires users to become familiar with the ins and outs of the bcdedit.exe application switches and options, leaving many frustrated users in its path.
The Vista Boot Configuration Data (BCD) Store has replaced the boot.ini file from Windows XP and earlier. In multi-boot scenarios where users have both Windows Vista and an older version of Windows installed, the BCD "interfaces" with the boot.ini file to perfect multi-booting. Continue and download At Source

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Microsoft for umpiring solutions in India

2006-07-18T00:25:00.000-07:00

New Delhi, July 15 (PTI): The Indian Cricket Board is all set to rope in IT giant Microsoft for software solutions that will evaluate and help improve the performances of its umpires.

"The deal is not finalised yet, but we are in the final stages of negotiations with Microsoft," BCCI Marketing Sub-committee Chairman Lalit Modi told reporters here today.

"We zeroed in on Microsoft after looking at several technological solutions," Modi, also a Vice-President of the BCCI, said.

Microsoft's task will be to provide a software that will help evaluate the performances of the men in white coat whose every decision in the domestic circuit will be under scrutiny from the next season.

Based on the recommendations of the Umpires Committee, the BCCI had earlier decided to record all domestic championship matches - from the Ranji Trophy league level to the championship final and the Challenger Series.

Six cameras will be employed at every match and the video footage will be analysed by the software.

Indian team's cricket analyst Ramakrishnan's expertise has also been sought in this regard, M P Pandove, another member of Marketing Committee, said.

BCCI's efforts come in the wake of the recent observation by ICC General Manager-Cricket Dave Richards that Indian umpires were not upto international standards.

No Indian has been on the ICC Elite Panel of Umpires since former Test captain S Venkataraghavan retired in 2003.

Continue to this article at Bink.nu

Microsoft withdraws Windows Private Folders

2006-07-18T00:24:00.000-07:00

Following an outcry from corporate customers, Microsoft is removing an add-on feature to Windows that allowed users to create password-protected folders.

The feature was introduced as a free download last week. Almost immediately, people raised questions over how businesses would grapple with the ability of individual workers to encrypt their data.

"Private Folder 1.0 was designed as a benefit for customers running genuine Windows," Microsoft said in a statement to CNET News.com on Friday. "However, we received feedback about concerns around manageability, data recovery and encryption, and based on that feedback, we are removing the application today. This change will take effect shortly."

When it added the feature, Microsoft touted it as "a useful tool...to protect your private data when friends, colleagues, kids or other people share your PC or account."

However, others spotted potential problems.

"Oh great, have they even thought about the impact this could have on enterprises. I'm already trying to frantically find information on this product so that A) I can block to all our desktops and B) figure out how we then support it when users inevitably lose files. I can see the benefit in this product for home users, but it's a bit of a sloppy release by Microsoft," Stuart Graham said in a posting on Windows Server-related site MSBlog.

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Troubleshooting Microsoft Exchange Server Performance

2006-07-18T00:23:00.000-07:00

Overview

Having one or more subsystems that are underperforming alters the responses and behaviors of a server. Usually, this means that the server becomes unresponsive or falls below what is considered acceptable operational behavior. This diminished performance puts the service level agreement (SLA) at risk, which ultimately means the organization itself can suffer.

This technical article provides administrators of Microsoft® Exchange Server 2003 with information about how to isolate performance degradations and how to use existing tools and products, such as Performance, Load Simulator, Exchange Stress and Performance 2003, Network Monitor, and Filemon, for this purpose. The information in this article can also be used to ensure that a server is not degrading over time because of hardware issues or malfunctions.

Note that it is beyond the scope of this article to ensure that a server is healthy, or to diagnose or solve user experience problems. Although performance issues with the server generally translate to a poor user experience (such as slow client response), this is not always true and the reverse does not necessarily hold. Before concluding that a poor user experience results from a poorly performing server, it is important to correlate the user issues with observed degradations on the server.

Download At Source

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technorati tags:training, troubleshooting

Microsoft Zune is introduced

2006-07-17T00:37:00.000-07:00

If you have checked out digg.com latey you will see countless posts about the new “Microsoft iPod Killer”, unfortunatly MSBLOG is no exception, however we/I hope to give you more info to enlighten you about this new and amazing upcoming product from Microsoft.

When looking at the Zune (Concept Image)…Its not ‘that’ different to the iPod…Same general layout of the early generation ones. It has what looks to be a click wheel and 2 buttons (play/pause and return buttons). Aside from the slightly taller and bigger screen it pretty close.

This is the known facts about the up and coming Zune music player from Microsoft.

ZUNE is Microsoft’s Media Player. They hope to take some market share away from Apple’s iPod.
ZUNE should be available in several colors.
ZUNE will have Wi-Fi capability. Exact uses of the Wi-Fi are not known at this time. (rumored to be able to share music between other Zune users via WiFi)
ZUNE will play video and audio.
ZUNE will interact with an online music store.
Zune will feature an expansion port, much like the iPod’s dock connection.

Either way its more competition…and more competition in theory should equal lower prices for US-the consumer of the product…I say let the war begin

If you are hungry for more info please watch this NBC video about this new concept (very interesting)
Or check out this site where i got a lot of information from http://zuneinfo.com/

Is Microsoft going to delay Windows Vista?

2006-07-17T00:35:00.000-07:00

Windows Vista is due to be generally available in January 2007. But as most beta testers can tell you, it's going to be tough to make that date. Worse, for Microsoft, Apple is poised to release Leopard (the next version of MacOS X) at the same time. MacOS X is already a stable platform -- now running on Intel.

The challenge Microsoft faces is wanting to make its deadline (and not anger its Software Assurance subscribers with an additional delay) versus being sure that its next-generation version of Windows is truly ready to go.

Windows XP, which was largely a minor update to Windows 2000, was basically ready to go by May 2001. Windows Vista beta 2 and even the current build are not quite ready to be used full-time by most power users. It's getting there. Each build makes progress. But time is running out.

Mary Jo Foley at Microsoft-Watch has an article that goes into more detail. Neowin will have some more stories on this issue shortly.

News source: Microsoft-Watch

Bill Gates to deliver 2007 CES keynote

2006-07-17T00:34:00.002-07:00

Bill Gates will deliver one of three keynote addresses to the 2007 International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas next January. The keynote, taking place on January 7th, will be Gates' ninth and possibly one of his most important, as Microsoft faces significant challenges on several fronts. Microsoft's console business will face renewed challenge following the respective November and Q4 launches of rival PlayStation 3 and Wii formats, and the company will be looking to energise its software base with the 2007 launch of the Windows Vista operating system.

Widespread reports, anchored in the Seattle technology press, also suggest Microsoft will be launching a significant offensive in digital-media, with the release of the "Argo" media device and associated software and services anticipated before the end of the year. Previous Gates keynotes at CES have included significant games division announcements and with PlayStation 3 and Wii certain to be on the market by next January, 2007's will likely be no exception.

Gates' January 2007 address will be one of three CES keynotes - with Motorola chairman and CEO Ed Zander, and Roger Iger, president and CEO of The Walt Disney Company, also set to deliver speeches. The 2007 International Consumer Electronics Show takes place between January 8th and 11th.

News source: gamesindustry.biz

Official Name for Windows Live Mail Desktop

2006-07-17T00:34:00.001-07:00

Unsurprisingly given yesterday's announcement that the Windows Live Search client will be called Windows Live Search Center, Mail Desktop is to follow suit and become Windows Live Mail Center.

Ignoring the fact that the spelling is americanised and will doubtlessly annoy millions of non-US users, the name doesn't describe the function of the product nearly as well as those of Search Center and Safety Center, despite their blandness. Maybe keeping users unaware of the new RSS integration is a blessing in disguise though; much like Live.com some serious work needs to be done turning these products into usable rss aggregators.

In related news, the offical name for the Windows Live Search client has also been revealed to be "Windows Live Search Center". Registration for the beta is now open on Microsoft's web site.

News source: LiveSide
Link: Windows Live Search Center

The role of gadgets on Windows Vista

2006-07-17T00:34:00.000-07:00

Over in the Microsoft development community there has been an increasing amount of concern over just what role gadgets (in the form of the Windows Sidebar) are going to take.

Windows Vista is scheduled to ship with the Windows Sidebar, a sort of dock that sits on the right side of the screen. On the sidebar, users can add "gadgets" to it. Gadgets are essentially the same as widgets that have been popularized by programs such as Yahoo Widgets, DesktopX, and Apple's Dashboard. Gadgets that come with the Sidebar currently include RSS readers, a clock, a picture viewer, a recycle bin, and an assortment of other fairly simple "mini applications" that have come to be associated with gadgets and widgets.

The objection some developers are having is how gadgets are made -- HTML with extensibility being done with ActiveX. The current gadget implementation doesn't, for instance, support Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF aka "Avalon" so the graphics are done using PNGs much like DesktopX and Konfabulator have been doing for years. Another objection is that the gadgets don't natively support .NET languages which seems odd in an OS that is putting so much stock into C# and other .NET languages.

As one developer on a Microsoft forum put it:

"You better have a good artist working for you, or your gadgets are going to be ugly, because they don't fancy vector graphics, or not even GDI+ for what it matters: gadgets are simply flat two-dimensional pretty bitmap created in PhotoShop. This is unacceptable and there is no excuse for you.
Developers now days are used to write c# code in VS2005 with full Intellisense support, and they don't want to use notepad to write JavaScript.

And let's not talk about debugging, because there isn't any: if you want to write gadgets then the "alert()" command is your only friend in debugging variables and functions. Good luck with that."

The issue some developers are having with the Sidebar gadgets isn't that they aren't full of potential but rather they aren't competitive functionally with other solutions that exist now (Yahoo Widgets is, after all, free). If they weren't being bundled with the OS, they would likely have little support say some.

One advantage that Microsoft Gadgets have over other implementations is that they can be extended fairly easily. Opportunities for third parties may arrise to extend the base feature set so that development environments and the like that will make it much easier to create gadgets that have a little more meat.

What many developers are looking for is some clarification from Microsoft on what the goal of the Sidebar gadgets are -- are they looking for something that is primarily going to rest on a webpage ala Live.com or are they looking for something that will exist primarily on the user's desktop? If it's the former, then Microsoft's gadgets make a little more sense. But if it's the latter, Microsoft needs to start working with ISVs and users to help put in enough functionality and extensibility so that more robust and sophisticated content can be made that is useful not just to consumers but is viable in the enterprise as well.

View: Windows Live Gadget SDK

View: Windows Sidebar Gadget design guide

View: Yahoo Widgets

View: DesktopGadgets.com (DesktopX based)

IM interoperability: not just a dream anymore

2006-07-12T23:46:00.000-07:00

Microsoft just announced that today marks the first day that interoperability between its IM client and Yahoo! Messenger with Voice is available. Microsoft says this is the first time two distinct, global consumer brands have made their IM clients interoperable. The combined user base of nearly 350 million accounts is the world’s largest, the company says. IM interoperability took so long that I thought it was never going to happen.

Windows Live Messenger is the newest version of MSN Messenger. Yahoo! Messenger with Voice is the newest IM client from Yahoo!

The lack of interoperability across IM systems has long been a primary complaint from users. Services like Trillian for Windows or Adium for Mac have helped bridge the gaps between services, but at a loss of the unique interfaces and some features from one system or another that users may prefer.

Today’s news should make IM much more valuable for dedicated users of both systems. It’s good to see that though both companies have been working hard at developing value added interfaces for their own messaging services - they aren’t so afraid of losing customers that they pretend other IM clients don’t exist.

Yahoo and microsoft Together

2006-07-12T23:16:00.000-07:00

Yahoo! and Microsoft Bridge Global Instant Messaging Communities

Beta testing of unprecedented interoperability between Windows Live Messenger and Yahoo! Messenger with Voice lets users communicate across IM services.

Broad Partner Support for Vista

2006-07-12T02:42:00.000-07:00

Nearly 1,000 companies plan to deliver software applications and solutions for Windows Vista; Microsoft unveils programs to help partners realize huge opportunities around Windows Vista.

Today at the Microsoft^® Worldwide Partner Conference 2006, Microsoft Corp. announced broad support for the launch of Windows Vista™ from nearly 1,000 global independent software vendors (ISVs) that will deliver a range of applications and solutions for the operating system. Microsoft also detailed its commitment to helping ISVs deliver applications that run on Microsoft Windows Vista through a series of programs to help drive partner success and customer choice based on Windows Vista.

Software Partner Momentum Building Around Windows Vista

The approximately 1,000 ISVs developing for Windows Vista will deliver a range of solutions, with 15 of the top 25 global ISVs among those creating applications. Windows Vista will enable a new generation of applications and solutions that deliver greater security, enable richer and more immersive user experiences, and offer a new communications and connectivity infrastructure. Developers will be able to build on this new platform to provide their customers with innovative solutions.

Several partners taking advantage of these new features were highlighted at the event. Trend Micro Inc., a leading content-protection and threat-management company, is leveraging security enhancements in Windows Vista for its new applications. “Consumers and businesses are extremely concerned with keeping data safe from the multitude of online threats,” said Lane Bess, president of North America operations at Trend Micro. “The immense response we’ve seen to our PC-cillin Internet Security beta currently available for Windows Vista beta customers shows that Trend Micro is working closely with Microsoft. We are developing products and threat expertise to complement Windows Vista, offering significant advancements in security.”

SolidWorks Corp. is building next-generation applications using the power of 3-D graphics in Windows Vista to bring technology to life and enhance communications. “Windows Vista offers many features that create compelling opportunities for enterprise software vendors,” said Efrat Ravid, manager of the SolidWorks Solution Partner Program. “We are particularly excited to develop our new computer-aided design (CAD) software with the powerful 3-D graphics capability of Windows Vista, which enables our customers to create powerful 3-D designs.”

“We’re pleased by the momentum we see building around Windows Vista in the partner community,” said Mike Sievert, corporate vice president of Windows Client Marketing at Microsoft. “A vibrant partner ecosystem encourages rapid and broad deployment of Windows Vista, and enhances the great software experience that Windows Vista delivers. We’ll continue to innovate with our products and support our partners as they prepare to roll out new versions of their applications and services.”

Microsoft is showcasing a handful of the applications under development by leading companies — including 90 Degree Software Inc., Accruent Inc., Knowledge Computing Corp., Right Hemisphere, SourceCode Technology Holdings and UGS Corp. — on the Windows Vista Web site (http://www.seewindowsvista.com). Microsoft will continue to update the site with additional partner innovations.

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SMS V4 Beta refreshed

2006-07-12T02:40:00.000-07:00

Microsoft have released a new Beta 1 of SCCM 2007 (SMSv4, build 5224) available. This release enables two new key features:

Network Access Protection - in conjunction with the Windows Server “Longhorn” Network Access Protection (NAP) feature, you can use Configuration Manager 2007 Beta 1 Refresh to restrict network access for computers that do not have security updates you identify as required. They can then be required to install the necessary updates before being given full network access.

Windows Vista Deployment - Using the Operating System Deployment (OSD) feature, you can now deploy Windows Vista Beta 2 (build 5384.4) to computers managed by Configuration Manager. Please note that versions of Vista other than the official Beta 2 release (build 5384), both older and newer, are currently not supported and will not work properly with OS Deployment in Configuration Manager 2007 Beta 1 Refresh.

Source straight from Omar’s Blog

Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 Beta 2 Release soon

2006-07-11T04:03:00.000-07:00

The Exchange Server 2007 Beta 2 Release Notes are in the process of being written. Please check back in mid-July for an update.

Download release notes at source

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Are you Ready for Vista RC1?

2006-07-10T22:59:00.000-07:00

It was understood that if you registered a key for Beta 2 you would automatically be accepted for RC1 when it ships, this appears not to be the case. Participants will only be inviited to download RC1 if you have activated your copy!

This from the Vista Team Blog:

"Please let us underscore a very important point surrounding Windows Vista Beta2 that can be easily overlooked in all the excitement to download and install the code: it is very important that every user activate Windows Vista Beta2 within the first 14 days of installation. Activation allows us at Microsoft to test our support infrastructure as well as the activation process itself. In addition, we'll be unable to provide you with a copy of RC1 (Release Candidate 1, the release subsequent to Beta2) unless your copy of Beta2 is activated."

View: Windows Vista Team Blog Article
Link: Microsoft Windows Vista Get Ready Web site

Microsoft to Introduce Per-User EPR Pricing

2006-07-10T22:55:00.000-07:00

For its multiple lines of Dynamics EPR applications, The Redmond Company will introduce as of this week a per-concurrent-user pricing model. The new licensing scheme named Business Ready Licensing will not price the lines per modules but instead offer three payment solutions of each product line of the Microsoft Dynamics AX, GP, NAV and SL applications, translating to a superior financial flexibility as variables like the number of modules in use determine the pricing model.

"It will make it easier for us to sell and our clients to buy the software," said Andy Vabulas, CEO of Norcross, Ga.-based systems integrator I.B.I.S. Inc. and a Microsoft Dynamics customer and partner. "Anytime you can simplify pricing, it is good. Global consistency is easy to understand."

The Business Essentials entry-level SKU will comprise all the most common functions at $2,250 per user, but the customers will enjoy additional volume discounts, so the end price could drop a considerable percentage. Standard financial management and inventory features like general ledger, accounts receivable, accounts payable, fixed assets and consolidations are included in this version.

The higher-end Microsoft Dynamics Advanced Management Edition, starting at $3,980 per user, has additional functions for management and manufacturing, providing complex financial characteristics.

"Our maintenance plan has been a hodgepodge. We're bringing it all together to be consistent and making a much better value proposition," said Christine Bell, director of services and project management for MBS.

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Microsoft Dynamics CRM 3.0 Virtual PC

2006-07-10T22:54:00.000-07:00

Demo Scripts and Recordings
Virtual PC Demonstration Resources for Microsoft Dynamics CRM 3.0

This page contains a set of resources and demo scripts that can be used with the recently released Microsoft Dynamics CRM 3.0 VPC. New demo scripts will be placed here as they become available. Download At Source

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New Windows Standard Theme

2006-07-10T03:34:00.000-07:00

Many community members have expressed concerns over the visual experience of the Windows Basic theme, and, we heard you loud and clear. In fact, we too wanted something better, and we’ve overhauled this theme with an all new version. For those who haven’t been following the discussion, let me brief you on the issue.

Windows Vista uses the Windows Display Driver Model (WDDM) to deliver some amazing user experience features collectively called Windows Aero™ which include; Desktop Composition, Glass window frames with colored glass, window thumbnails and Flip3D, a new window management facility. All of the Windows Aero™ features are enabled in Windows Home Premium, our Business SKUs, and Ultimate assuming you have the appropriate hardware. On Home Basic, you get Desktop Composition with opaque colored glass windows frames.

If you don’t have a display driver capable of running WDDM you’ll get the Windows Vista Basic theme which does not benefit from some of the more graphically intensive features such as desktop composition and glass window frames. This is a good, clean interface called the Basic or Standard theme, but lacking the glass window frames of Aero™.

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Windows Media Encoder Studio Edition Beta 1

2006-07-10T03:33:00.000-07:00

Mindows Media Encoder Studio Edition Beta 1 is an exciting new addition to the Windows Media tools family. It is a powerful tool for video professionals, optimized for the creation of high-quality offline encoding using Microsoft’s implementation of the VC-1 video standard (WMV9). Windows Media Encoder Studio Edition Beta 1 provides the key features necessary to create next-generation video content and capitalize on the growing importance of scenarios around optical media and video-on-demand. With the final standardization of VC-1, “Studio Edition”, will prove to be an invaluable tool for the offline encoding community.

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Vista gets DVD movie burning

2006-07-10T01:59:00.000-07:00

Microsoft's previous efforts in creative software have been, well, lukewarm.

XP had Movie Maker and Photostory (the latter a free download from Microsoft's web site), which both allow you to take personal media and do a reasonable amount of editing and authoring.

But when it came to outputting your project, Microsoft only really gave you one choice. Windows Media Video.
People inevitably ask, "so can my friends play this on their DVD player?", and as a guy who supports Windows, I have to explain that these apps don't actually have the capacity to author DVDs. The response is always a disappointed "Oh".
News source: APC Magazine

Microsoft To Release 7 Patches Next Tuesday

2006-07-10T01:58:00.001-07:00

Microsoft plans to release 7 security bulletins as part of its July 11 Patch Tuesday, the company said Thursday. Four of the updates are for Windows, with the most severe being rated as "critical." Three other patches are directed at Office, also with a maximum severity of "critical."

Although Microsoft does not disclose in advance what flaws are to be patched, two vulnerabilities in Excel are likely to be among the fixes. One issue relates to maliciously crafted spreadsheet files that could lead to a full system compromise, while the other relates to hyperlinks in Excel documents.

Two security flaws affecting Internet Explorer were also reported last week, including a cross-site scripting issue where an attacker could view information in an open browser window from another that is visiting a malicious site.

View: Full Article @ Betanews

Vista's PC-rating tool gets a revamp

2006-07-10T01:58:00.000-07:00

Microsoft has reworked the PC assessment tool in Windows Vista after fielding complaints from hardware makers--but the changes may not be enough to completely quell concerns.

In May, the software maker promised to make changes to the Windows System Performance Rating tool, which aims to assess how capable a machine is of harnessing the upcoming operating system's new features. Critics were unhappy with the way it presented scores and how it came up with its ratings.

The newly renamed Windows Experience Index includes tweaks both in the built-in software and in the way that the assessment is described. Despite these, some partners still believe that the score generated by the tool is not a balanced reflection of a computer's abilities.

For starters, Microsoft redubbed the tool the Windows Experience Index, arguing the moniker better represents what it measures. It has also given the new name "base score" to the overall rating generated by the tool. It's an effort to clarify that the main rating is the lowest score given to an individual component, rather than an average of each of the five subratings. The tool rates a system on its processor, memory, hard drive, graphics card and gaming graphics.

Full Article @ CNET News.com

Burn DVDs slowly, warns Microsoft

2006-07-10T01:56:00.000-07:00

Microsoft is advising Vista beta testers to burn their downloaded ISOs as slowly as 1X or 2X to avoid corrupted media. It says that its failure telemetry data is showing that three quarters of failed Vista installations are due to dodgy DVD-Rs. Of course, the really interesting thing here is not that Vista installations are failing due to recording problems, but that for the first time, we have some widescale data on the problem of lack of optical media reliability.
News source: APC Magazine

Update for Windows Vista Beta 2

2006-07-06T09:54:00.000-07:00

Update for Windows Vista Beta 2

Install this update to fix internet connectivity issues with 3rd party routing hardware after installing Windows Vista Beta 2 and Windows Codename Longhorn Server Beta 2.

Download: Update for Vista Beta 2 | x64

Microsoft Office Live - 100,000 Users

2006-07-06T09:45:00.000-07:00

Microsoft Office Live, since its beta launch in February 2006, has attracted more than 100,000 users, according to Internet statistics company Ipwalk. Actually, that should be “beta testers.” Microsoft plans to take the service out of beta by end of 2006. The beta service, however, is limited only to US residents.

Microsoft introduces 360 degree camera!

2006-07-06T07:43:00.000-07:00

With Microsoft's software driving an online videoconference session, and the RoundTable camera placed atop a conference table, remote participants will see the face or faces of the active speakers as they assume the floor. Participants who may grow weary of the angle changes during heated arguments may prefer the optional panorama view.

read more | digg story

Microsoft Get Exclusive F1 Contract

2006-07-06T03:46:00.000-07:00

Bridgestone and Microsoft have been granted exclusive contracts to be the sole suppliers, of tires and ECUs respectively, of Formula 1 beginning in 2008.

The announcement was made following this Wednesday's meeting of the FIA World Motor Sport Council in Paris.

The move to a single tire supplier and standardized ECUs (Electronic Control Units, responsible for a car's engine management) is part of the FIA's radical cost-saving package announced earlier this year for introduction in '08. Both Bridgestone and Microsoft will supply F1 through 2010.

In the specific case of the Japanese tire company, its monopoly will go in effect already next year, as rivals Michelin are set to pull out of the sport by this season's end.

In addition, the WMSC also announced that due to a significant increase in cornering speeds in F1 this season, the sport's Technical Working Group will be consulted regarding possible measures to slow the cars down.

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IPod Rival for Christmas

2006-07-06T03:45:00.000-07:00

Microsoft Plans to Release IPod Rival for Christmas

Microsoft Corp. is planning to have a portable music and video player out by Christmas in a challenge to Apple Computer Inc.'s iPod.

The digital player will have a wireless Internet connection, enabling users to download music without being linked to a computer, a feature the iPod doesn't offer, according to people briefed on Redmond, Washington-based Microsoft's plans.

Microsoft, the world's largest software maker, is seeking to take share from Apple's iPod, which commands 77 percent of the $4 billion U.S. market for digital music players, based on figures from market researcher NPD Group Inc. Apple's iTunes music store is used for 72 percent of music downloads. Microsoft has spent the past six years relying on partners to make players that use its software.

``None of Microsoft's partners are doing the job that needs to be done,'' said Michael Gartenberg, an analyst with Jupiter Research in New York. ``Apple has set it up so Apple music flows only to Apple devices. It locks Microsoft out and gives Apple more of a hold.''

Microsoft hired music industry executive Chris Stephenson, who is among Microsoft officials who have met with music and Hollywood companies to seek licenses for their content, according to industry officials with knowledge of the plans. J Allard, 37, a Microsoft Xbox vice president, is overseeing the development of the device, the people said.

Continue At Source

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Microsoft Private Folder 1.0

2006-07-06T03:24:00.000-07:00

Microsoft Private Folder 1.0

Microsoft have released Private Folder 1.0, which lets you have a folder called ‘My Private Folder’ which you can password protect.
Microsoft Private Folder 1.0 is a useful tool for you to protect your private data when your friends, colleagues, kids or other people share your PC or account. With this tool, you will get one password protected folder called ‘My Private Folder’ in your account to save your personal files.

You can grab a copy of it HERE (However this requires a “Genuine” version of Windows-As most free Microsoft software requires now days.)

Update Windows From Firefox And Opera

2006-07-05T00:48:00.000-07:00

Many people that use Firefox or Opera, open Internet Explorer just to go to Windows Update to patch the security holes of their operating system (and, of course, create other security problems). In the last months, Windows Update site is very hard to use, it requires to have some Windows services like Automatic Updates and BITS set to automatic, it forces you to install a piece of spyware called Windows Genunine Advantage that will deactivate your OS if it thinks your copy isn't licensed (not yet, but Microsoft intends to do so).

But there's another way: WindizUpdate is a site that allows you to install Windows updates using Firefox and Opera. It installs a plug-in that detects what updates you need to install, downloads the setup for each update and installs them. It may not be official, but:

* updates are downloaded from Microsoft's site
* it doesn't collect personal identifiable information
* it doesn't require Windows Genunine Advantage and it doesn't install it
* you don't have to use Internet Explorer, neither the ActiveX for Windows Update
* you don't get dialogs that prompt you to restart the computer

If you still don't trust the site, you can find a forum where you can post questions or read other people's problems, without creating an account.

There are other ways to install the updates for Windows, but this is a great alternative to Microsoft's Windows Update.

Internet Explorer 7 Beta 3 is released!!

2006-07-05T00:37:00.001-07:00

Microsoft just released IE7 Beta 3 for Windows XP SP2, Windows Server 2003, Windows XP x64 and Windows Server 2003 Itanium today silently.

Please see IE’s homepage at: http://www.microsoft.com/windows/ie/default.mspx

Download links:
Internet Explorer 7 Beta 3 for Windows XP Service Pack 2 (SP2)

Internet Explorer 7 Beta 3 for Windows XP Professional x64 Edition and Windows Server 2003 x64 Edition

Internet Explorer 7 Beta 3 for Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 1 (SP1)

Internet Explorer 7 Beta 3 for Windows Server 2003 ia64 Edition (Windows Server 2003 for Itanium-based systems)

In the meantime, do keep checking out the release notes at http://msdn.microsoft.com/ie/releasenotes/default.aspx (haven’t updated to Beta 2 at news writing time).

Microsoft’s Domain Service Goes ‘Live’ !!!

2006-07-05T00:37:00.000-07:00

Microsoft said late Tuesday that its Custom Domains service had officially launched, making it the third Windows Live project to come out of beta. The service allows a customer to use a custom domain name with Windows Live Mail and Hotmail.

Windows Live Custom Domains is a free service, just like other Live offerings from the company. Additionally, with the final debut, Microsoft has launched a new feature called “open membership.”

More Windows Live services are expected to come out of beta through the rest of the summer. Microsoft has said over 20 new services are currently planned for the Live platform( Windows Live Ideas).

Windows Live Custom Domains

Do you own an Internet domain name? Custom Domains provides free hosted e-mail for your domain.

E-mail accounts for everyone. Create an unlimited number of accounts in your domain.
New e-mail features. Everyone at your domain will get an MSN Hotmail account. These accounts can upgrade for free to the new Windows Live Mail beta, which offers 2GB of storage and enhanced security features.
Use it for Windows Live Messenger and more. E-mail addresses at your domain can also be used for instant messaging and other services on the MSN and Windows Live network.
No hassle or fuss. Your e-mail is hosted by Microsoft, so there is no need to buy or manage e-mail servers.
Flexibility. The optional software development kit lets you choose how Custom Domains works with your website or application.

Missing Windows Mobile 5.0 Documentation…

2006-07-05T00:33:00.000-07:00

Upon Launch of Windows Mobile 5 it appears that Microsoft forgot to include some documentation for this new platform.

John Kennedy from his MSDN blog has just announced the avaliabilty of these “missing” documents. These first API’s are all to do with Power Management on Pocket PC’s.

If you want to read up on these please find them here at the Channel 9 Wiki

Microsoft dreams of Vista's successor

2006-06-29T03:29:00.000-07:00

WITH VISTA not even remotely close to being in the shops yet, the software outfit Microsoft is talking about what will replace it. Speaking to The Venture Forum conference, Bryan Barnett, a manager for external research programmes in the Microsoft Research group, said that one of the areas being looked at was how to better use multicore processors.

He said that it was important to take full advantage of the processing power that those multicore architectures potentially make available. He said that this requires operating systems and development tools that don't exist today. While VoleWare does run on multicore processors, it is not fully optimised for them, he admitted.

News source: The Inq

Microsoft shuffles more executives

2006-06-29T03:28:00.000-07:00

Microsoft on Wednesday shuffled around several more executives as part of its ongoing restructuring of the company. In the most significant of the shifts, senior vice president Orlando Ayala will move from his role overseeing sales to small and midsize companies into a new position overseeing emerging market efforts, reporting to Chief Operating Office Kevin Turner. Eduardo Rosini, who headed Microsoft's Asia-Pacific unit, will take over Ayala's role as head of the small and midsize unit, which also oversees Microsoft's partner network.

Meanwhile, Microsoft is moving development of its Dynamics CRM product from its Microsoft Business Solutions unit into the Office Business Platform group headed by Kurt DelBene. Also, marketing for Microsoft's unified communications effort, which was announced earlier this week, will be headed by Chris Capossela, who heads product marketing for Office.

View: The full story

Microsoft looks to academia for talent

2006-06-29T03:27:00.001-07:00

Although Bill Gates' massive philanthropic foundation tends to get the most attention for its efforts to transform education, the company he co-founded also is paying close attention to the world of academia.

Microsoft sponsors technology contests, partners with academics, runs extensive research centers around the world and donates products to educators.

While many of its competitors have similar programs, academics and analysts say the Redmond company's extensive involvement, especially through its Microsoft Research centers, seems to go further than most.

"Microsoft certainly pays a lot of attention to the education space," said Jeffrey Young, a senior editor with the trade publication The Chronicle of Higher Education.

But it's not a purely altruistic endeavor. Through academia, Microsoft hopes to convince young minds to become loyal to Microsoft products, help influence university and government research — and perhaps ensure it doesn't miss out on the next big technological wave.

"As a whole, it's an investment for us, but it pays off in a pretty big way," Gates said in an interview Wednesday with The Associated Press. Continue At Source

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Another Microsoft exec jumps to Google

2006-06-29T03:27:00.000-07:00

One more Microsoft executive looks at the Google threat - and concludes, if you can't beat 'em, join 'em.

It hasn't been a good month for Microsoft's Google-fighters. So bad that one left abruptly last week, and another decided this week to switch teams.

Vic Gundotra, a general manager for platform evangelism at Microsoft and a 15-year employee, has agreed to join Google after first spending a year working on charitable endeavors, Business 2.0 has learned.

"Mr. Gundotra has resigned from Microsoft and entered into an agreement with Google," Google spokesman Steve Langdon wrote in an emailed statement. "He will not be a Google employee for one year and intends to spend that time on philanthropic pursuits. We are uncertain what precise role he will play when he begins working for Google, but he has a broad range of skills and experience which we believe will be valuable to Google."

Microsoft spokesman Tom Pilla confirmed Gundotra's departure and says that the executive has a noncompete agreement with Microsoft preventing him from working for a competitor for one year after leaving the company.

Gundotra had been charged with getting developers to write programs that build on top of Microsoft's desktop software and online services. Most recently he had been working out a strategy to compete with the draw of Google's newer, Web-based software applications.

His departure comes shortly after the abrupt departure of Martin Taylor, a corporate vice president charged countering Google by marketing Microsoft's Windows Live and MSN services.

Developers, developers, developers

Taylor ranked higher than Gundotra, but Gundotra's role at Microsoft may have been more critical than Taylor's marketing work. In technology, "evangelism" - which was Gundotra's main duty - is the process of reaching out to independent developers and persuading them to use that company's products as a platform upon which to write software programs.

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer gained infamy when a video clip of him chanting "Developers, developers, developers," at a company event spread around the Internet. But although Ballmer may have looked foolish, the courting of developers is a deadly serious matter for Microsoft.

"Evangelism is a significant part of Microsoft's success, and Vic has been a key part of that," says Greg DeMichillie, a senior analyst at research firm Directions on Microsoft.

Continue At Source

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Microsoft Community Bar

2006-06-29T03:25:00.002-07:00

The Community bar adds context-dependent content to the web browsing experience. The Community Bar is actually an entire platform for applications whose content depends on the page that the user is currently viewing. It is very easy for anyone to create new Community Bar panels.

More info and download at source

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Microsoft Windows Theme Ontario

2006-06-29T03:25:00.001-07:00

Customizing your Windows desktop is now more fun than ever with the Microsoft Windows Theme Ontario. Delight your friends and family with this fun, new way to customize Windows XP. Download At Source

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Microsoft Windows Theme Nunavut

2006-06-29T03:25:00.000-07:00

Customizing your Windows desktop is now more fun than ever with the Microsoft Windows Theme Nunavut. Delight your friends and family with this fun, new way to customize Windows XP. Download At Source

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First hand on Windows Live Mail Desktop (Beta)

2006-06-29T03:24:00.000-07:00

First hand on Windows Live Mail Desktop (Beta)

Microsoft acquires iView Multimedia

2006-06-28T04:15:00.000-07:00

Microsoft has purchased iView Multimedia, the companies announced on Monday. Notes on the iView Web site indicate that support for its Iiew’s flagship product is MediaPro, a Digital Asset Management application that is available for Mac OS X and Windows. iView said on its Web site that Microsoft has many plans for iView’s technologies and product line, but those plans would not be announced right away.

iView made a point of noting that its Macintosh versions will continue to be made available and supported.

“Microsoft will fully support the existing Mac products, will continue to sell Mac versions of the current iView product line and will offer upgrade pricing to all Mac users of future products that may be available based on the iView products,” said notes on the iView Web site.

A full FAQ has been posted on iView Multimedia’s Web site

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Microsoft Network Diagnostic Tool.

2006-06-28T04:04:00.000-07:00

Microsoft’s new Network Diagnostics for Windows XP tool (xpnetdiag) analyzes information about your network connectivity to help troubleshoot some of the most common connection problems encountered in a home networking environment. (Support Document: KB914440)
The Network Diagnostics for Windows XP tool analyzes the following tests:
• IP Configuration Test
• Default Gateway Test
• Winsock Test
• DNS Test
• Firewall Test
• Internet Connectivity Validation Test

its pretty good…esp to diagnose pesky network errors.
Grab it here

Microsoft's Unified Messaging Logo

2006-06-27T04:51:00.001-07:00

[*-)] [8-)] [^o)]

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A Bill Gates photo retrospective

2006-06-27T04:51:00.000-07:00

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Project Glidepath Public Beta has Launched

2006-06-27T04:50:00.000-07:00

Project Glidepath Public Beta has Launched

Visit www.projectglidepath.net to participate in the Microsoft MicroISV Evangelism program that delivers an in-Visual-Studio experience providing the workflow-based guidance, sample code and technology to create applications for Windows Vista.

Project Glidepath delivers workflow-based guidance, code, templates and other content via a software factory, a Visual Studio add-in, consisting of tools for building a product which is a member of a product family.

Project Glidepath’s product family is defined as “applications for Windows Vista including applications that use .Net Framework 3.0 technology on down-level operating systems”.

Applications built with Project Glidepath focus on making their core application logic reusable so that the user experience can be delivered on many platforms (desktop, mobile, web).

SQL Server 2005 JDBC Driver 1.1 CTP June 2006

2006-06-27T01:38:00.000-07:00

Download the Community Technology Preview (CTP) version of the SQL Server 2005 JDBC Driver 1.1, a Type 4 JDBC driver that provides database connectivity through the standard JDBC application program interfaces (APIs) available in J2EE (Java2 Enterprise Edition).

In its continued commitment to interoperability, Microsoft has released a new Java Database Connectivity (JDBC) driver with SQL Server 2005. The SQL Server 2005 JDBC Driver 1.1 CTP June 2006 download is available to all SQL Server users at no additional charge, and provides access to SQL Server 2000 and SQL Server 2005 from any Java application, application server, or Java-enabled applet. This is a Type 4 JDBC driver that provides database connectivity through the standard JDBC application program interfaces (APIs) available in J2EE (Java2 Enterprise Edition).

This release of the JDBC Driver is JDBC 3.0 compliant and runs on the Java Development Kit (JDK) version 1.4 and higher. It has been tested against all major application servers including BEA WebLogic, IBM WebSphere, JBoss, and Sun.

Note: In order to download the SQL Server 2005 JDBC Driver 1.1 CTP June 2006, you must agree to the End-User License Agreement (EULA). Start by clicking the Download button at the top of this page and the EULA will appear. Read the EULA and click the Accept link to download the package. Please print a copy of the EULA for your records.

Download At Source

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Buffett, Gates unite on $60 billion foundation

2006-06-27T01:12:00.000-07:00

Warren Buffett on Monday signed over much of his $44 billion fortune to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, uniting the world's two richest people in a bid to fight disease, reduce poverty and improve education.

The roughly $30.7 billion donation doubles the Gates Foundation's size to $60 billion, five times larger than any other U.S. charitable group and bigger than the gross domestic product of Kuwait.

Bill Gates, the world's richest person, co-founded and remains chairman of software company Microsoft Corp..

His friend and bridge partner Buffett, 75, became known as the Sage of Omaha as he built the world's second biggest personal fortune running Berkshire Hathaway Inc., an insurance and investment company.

"I am not an enthusiast for dynastic wealth, particularly when the alternative is 6 billion people having much poorer hands in life than we have," Buffett said at a signing ceremony with the Gateses at the New York Public Library.

Gates, 50, this month said he plans in July 2008 to step down from his day-to-day Microsoft role to focus on his foundation, one of the goals of which is to improve access to technology in U.S. public libraries. It also focuses on fighting diseases such as HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria.

Buffett pledged 10 million Berkshire Class B shares to the Gates Foundation. He also pledged 2.05 million Class B shares to foundations in the name of his late wife, Susan, who died in 2004, and for his three children, Susie, Howard and Peter.

The total donations of about $37.1 billion amount to 85 percent of Buffett's net worth and constitute the largest single act of U.S. charitable giving ever.

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The People Behind DirectX 10—Part 1

2006-06-27T01:11:00.001-07:00

The People Behind DirectX 10—Part 1

ExtremeTech: Maybe each of you could quickly go over what your role is in the development and implementation of DirectX 10.

David Blythe: My job is basically to spend a lot of time talking to game developers and to hardware developers and to talk about what problems we're trying to solve and what's practical to do in hardware, and then hammer out an architecture or design that encompasses as many of those things as we can in a coherent way. Then it turns into a much more detailed discussion about every little itty-bitty detail and writing specifications and then working with Microsoft's development team that builds the run-time that interfaces with the driver the IHVs write. And working with our SDK team to build samples and demos that show off how to use the system.

Chris Donahue: David mentioned working with the IHVs and ISVs…there's a graphics advisory board that's made up of the big graphics brains around the industry. David and a lot of the guys on the DirectX team and the Graphics Platform Unit group spend time talking to, to find out, you know, five years from now, where are things going to be? And that stuff they take and turn into actual API code and ends up not only in the API but also in hardware. It's a really collaborate effort between Microsoft, the ISVs that actually consume the API and make applications, and the hardware guys.

ExtremeTech: DirectX is of course more than just graphics. There's DirectSound, DirectInput, and so on. Will DirectX 10 change any of those things to a significant degree?

Donahue: Not to DirectSound or DirectInput really. We actually have done a few things. If you look at some of the recent things we've talked about, for example the common controller. The Xbox 360 controller and all the peripherals work on Windows. To enable that, we've taken XInput, which is the API they use for Xbox, and converted that, or modded that to make it work on Windows. So now XInput is actually the preferred API if you wanted to take advantage of all the controls and components involved in the peripherals. As far as DSound, yeah, we're updating it to keep it sort of on track, but it's not continuing to invest in. There's other audio components and low-level and high-level stuff that's in the works, but it's not anything that we have an announcement about.

ExtremeTech: What are the big bullet points—the main, big changes in DirectX 10 graphics over what we have in DX9? Continue At Source

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Windows CE 6.0

2006-06-27T01:11:00.000-07:00

Microsoft to launch Windows CE 6.0 by end of 2006

Microsoft will officially launch its Windows CE 6.0 OS for embedded and mobile devices in the first half of its fiscal year 2007 (July 2006-June 2007), a move which is likely to bring Windows CE 6.0-powered handheld devices to the market early next year, according to Eddie Wu, Microsoft's senior director of device solutions sales, Asia and worldwide ODM ecosystems.

Wu made the remark yesterday in Taipei as the software giant launched a beta version of its Windows CE 6.0 in the Taiwan market.

According to Wu, Microsoft's Windows CE embedded system currently accounted for 30% of the world's handheld device market, with the percentage points climbing to 50% in the PDA segment. Overall, about 10 million handheld devices (excluding GPS devices) used globally are powered by Windows Mobile 5.0, Wu added.

In addition, revenues of Microsoft's embedded system business unit in Asia are expected to exceed US$100 million in fiscal 2006, which ends June 30 this year, Wu noted.

View: Full Article @ DigiTimes

Office Online (Running on R2!!)

2006-06-27T01:09:00.000-07:00

Microsoft have just launched a new site allowing users to use Office 2007 (office 12) in a real life sandbox environment. Every thing is pre-installed, you just have to try/test out the next version of office for Windows’s.
I was very surprised by the speed and stability of the remote system despite the hundreds of people pummelling it trying to get a taste of Office 07 (which explains the waiting queue before load).

The setup requires the user to download the citrix plug-in that allows you to remotely connect to the server through your browser window. However that’s all well and good but what OS is it running on? Windows Server 2003 R2 of course (with the Luna theme enabled I might add) Boy its good to see it running in a “hardcore” environment like this.

nLite v1.0 Final

2006-06-27T01:07:00.000-07:00

Have you ever wanted to remove Windows components like Media Player, Internet Explorer, Outlook Express, MSN Explorer, Messenger...How about not even to install them with Windows ?

nLite is a tool for permanent Windows components removal and pre-installation Windows setup. After removal there is an option to make bootable image ready for burning on cd or testing in virtual machines. With nLite you will be able to have Windows installation which on install doesn't include, or even contain on cd, unwanted components.

Download: nLite 1.0 | 1.55 MB (Freeware)

Watercolour Reloaded

2006-06-27T01:03:00.000-07:00

Watercolour Reloaded - the first Aero enhancement for Vista

Back in the days of the Windows XP beta (codename “Whistler”), the first theme available before the Luna theme came out (the standard blue theme) was the Watercolour theme. This wasn’t around for long, but Bryant has come up with a great idea - a mix between Watercolour in “Whistler” and Aero in Vista. He’s done it, and still working on it, but the results are spectacular.

I spoke to Bryant yesterday; he says this, “I actually came up with the idea a long time ago; I thought it would be interesting to see some adaptation of the old Watercolour theme from the “Whistler” beta in the form of translucent Glass. I began putting it through testing with Beta 1 but I made the decision to postpone the project for the public Beta 2 release of Windows Vista, simply because more people would have had the opportunity to try it out.”

Watercolour Reloaded won’t be available to use yet as it’s still in development, but from the looks and the speed it runs at, I think it’s an amazing theme - if not the first custom made Aero enhancement for Windows Vista! Check out the screenshots below - simply click to open them up in a new window.

Give Office 2007 A Test Drive Today!

2006-06-27T01:02:00.000-07:00

If you aren't part of the 2.5 million people who have already downloaded Office 2007 Microsoft has made a "Try-it-before-you-buy-it" site available to those who don't have a spare machine...

Source -> Give Office 2007 A Test Drive Today!

Another Reason to Avoid Adobe Software

2006-06-27T00:38:00.000-07:00

If the recent news of Adobe making Microsoft remove PDF support from Office 2007 wasn’t enough to convince you that Adobe isn’t a company that you want to give your business they added to it today....

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Microsoft to publish its privacy rules

2006-06-26T03:48:00.000-07:00

Microsoft to publish its privacy rules

Microsoft plans in August to publicly release the privacy rules its employees have to follow when developing products.

The move, which offers a look behind the scenes at Microsoft, is meant to give the industry an example of what the software giant sees as best practices in customer privacy, said Peter Cullen, the chief privacy strategist at Microsoft.

"We think that this is information that partners and others could benefit from. Lots of people build and develop applications," Cullen said in an interview Thursday. "The privacy development standards will not only be made public, but we will actively be promoting their use so that others can benefit from what we've learned."

The privacy rules offer guidelines on providing people with proper notification and options in certain situations--for example, when a software application is about to send information via the Internet to its maker, Cullen said. Microsoft believes it is the first major software company to publish these guidelines.

"This is designed for an IT pro or a developer, in terms of: 'If you're building an application that does X, this is what we think should be built,'" he said. "The public document will use a lot of 'shoulds.' Inside Microsoft, those are 'musts.'"

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Microsoft statistics about Windows Mobile

2006-06-26T03:47:00.001-07:00

Some interesting Microsoft statistics about Windows Mobile

Here's something interesting that you might find useful about the Windows Mobile business and momentum.

Phones are available from 115 mobile operators in 55 countries
- These MOs represent 1 billion+ subscribers, roughly 65% of WW subscribers
47 Windows Mobile device maker partners
50+ converged phone designs; 100+ phones shipping worldwide
100 Windows Mobile multimedia content partners
18,000+ commercial Windows Mobile applications; 1,440+ certified Mobile2Market applications
- Line-of-business applications from leading companies such as: SAP, Siebel, PeopleSoft/Oracle, Salesforce.com, Onyx, Microsoft, Sybase/iAnywhere, Dexterra, Mobitor, Field Centrix
1.5 million+ downloads of Windows Mobile SDKs since January 2002
More than 5 million Windows Mobile ‘connected’ devices shipped worldwide in FY05

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