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Windows 7 for XP ProfessionalsUpdating Support Skills from XP to Windows 7by Bink.nu's Raymond Comvalius
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Microsoft Corp. is helping protect consumers and businesses from the dangers of “trick” software — counterfeit software disguised as genuine — and is working to take the economic advantage out of dealing in pirated software.
To help consumers avoid being tricked into using pirated software, Microsoft has set up a Web site (http://www.howtotell.com) to help them avoid deals that seem “too good to be true” and learn how to spot the differences between genuine and non-genuine software. These “How to Tell” tips are part of Microsoft’s Genuine Software Initiative, a three-pronged program that addresses software piracy by promoting education for consumers and partners, seeking engineering solutions to dissuade pirates, and taking enforcement actions to protect honest software vendors.
As part of this three-pronged initiative to help protect consumers and legitimate businesses, Microsoft today announced the filing of 20 lawsuits against alleged dealers of counterfeit or infringing software in 13 states (Alabama, California, Connecticut, Georgia, Illinois, Mississippi, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, Texas, Utah and Virginia).
“When consumers and businesses are looking for new computers and software it is important to buy from reputable resellers,” said Larry Malashock, vice president of Software Plus, a large software reseller in St. Louis. “Customers often don’t realize that these ‘too good to be true’ deals that they can get off the Internet or from nonreputable vendors don’t come with the right licensing or the services provided by the legitimate channel. Counterfeit software can include code that will end up hurting their computing environment.”
Customers want to be confident that they can purchase genuine software from their local software resellers, and ensuring customers receive genuine software across the United States is of paramount concern to Microsoft’s anti-piracy program. Intellectual property is a key driver of the U.S. economy, and the lawsuits announced today are part of Microsoft’s ongoing commitment to protect intellectual property, jobs, honest resellers and partners from alleged dishonest dealers who victimize consumers and businesses by exposing them to the risks of counterfeit software, such as viruses, loss of data or identity theft.
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Microsoft Corp., seeking to expand in the medical sector, has agreed to acquire the assets of a privately held, Thailand-based health information system company, the software company said Monday.
Global Care Solutions Ltd., or GCS, specializes in creating software modules for hospitals' clinical and administrative operations, allowing them to run more smoothly.
Financial terms were not disclosed.
The Bangkok-based company, whose core product was first marketed in 2000, has implemented its systems in seven hospitals in the Asia-Pacific region. They are based on Microsoft software products that already exist.
Neupert said that the deal, under which Microsoft will acquire software, intellectual property and other assets of GCS, would allow the technology to be marketed worldwide.
In Thailand, GCS has worked closely in developing its products with Bumrungrad International Hospital, which says that the company's system has helped it bring the average waiting time to see a doctor down to 17 minutes.
The development of Global Care technology will remain in Bangkok, and Microsoft said that it would continue to work closely with Bumrungrad hospital.
Microsoft signaled its interest in the health care sector last year when it bought Azyxxi, a software system to collect and display real-time patient data.
In order to assist customers in designing their storage layout for Data Protection Manager 2007, we have put together a calculator that focuses on outlining the storage capacity requirements based on a set of input factors.
For the first release, the calculator focuses on Exchange 2007 backup scenarios only. Future releases may include other technologies.
The calculator uses all the recommendations outlined in
· Protecting Exchange Server with DPM 2007 White Paper - http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=92497
· Exchange 2007 Planning Storage Configurations - http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb124518.aspx
· Exchange 2007 Mailbox Storage Calculator - http://msexchangeteam.com/archive/2007/01/15/432207.aspx
· DPM Blog - http://blogs.technet.com/dpm/
The calculator does not make any recommendations toward storage design (RAID parity, number of disks, etc) as the storage design is largely dependent on the type of storage array being utilized.
The calculator is broken out into the following sections (worksheets):
· Input
· DPM ExBackup Requirements
Important: The data points provided in the calculator are an example configuration. As such any data points entered into the Input worksheet are specific to that particular configuration and do not apply for other configurations. Please ensure you are using the correct data points for your design.
Microsoft Corp. today announced that AccessVia, an industry leader over the past two decades in development of in-store signage, labels and e-commerce applications for retailers, has selected Microsoft Dynamics CRM 3.0 to integrate all its internal data and processes. AccessVia is adopting the Microsoft customer relationship management (CRM) technology to replace its previous system, based on GoldMine software for CRM, an in-house time-tracking application, and flat files for sales processes.
AccessVia, based in Seattle, provides comprehensive communications services that help retailers connect with their customers, including systems, software, consulting, training, hosting and support.
The growing company had been faced with the challenges presented by three separate internal IT systems for customer relations, time tracking and sales. Forecasting and planning were suffering, and the company had outgrown its current software. After examining offerings from FrontRange Solutions USA Inc., SalesForce.com Inc. and SugarCRM Inc., AccessVia chose Microsoft Dynamics CRM.
“Microsoft Dynamics CRM covered all of the bases that AccessVia required and is built on technologies that we currently use, including Microsoft Internet Information Services and SQL Server,” said Scott Hunter, systems administrator for AccessVia. “The integration with Microsoft Outlook was critical, as well as the different options for connectivity, including browser access, the mobile client and offline options. With Microsoft Dynamics CRM, we were able to consolidate several internal processes and tools into a single, easy-to-use offering that brought the whole company onto the same page.”
AccessVia called on Microsoft Gold Certified Partner Madrona Solutions Group, based in Seattle, to implement the Microsoft solution, including software installation, data migration and customization, while a cross-functional AccessVia team helped in mapping the system to the company’s business processes.
AccessVia already has gained significant benefits from its Microsoft Dynamics CRM system:
Better reporting. Microsoft Dynamics CRM has allowed AccessVia to improve its filtering and reporting by tenfold, compared to its previous software, while making reporting easier to execute and share.
Time savings. Previous unconnected applications have been replaced by a simpler, integrated, robust and easy-to-use system that enables much faster data retrieval when communicating with customers.
Data accuracy. AccessVia had found the process of keeping multiple systems current to be exhausting. With Microsoft Dynamics CRM, all customer, account and service data resides in a centralized database for easy, accurate and up-to-date retrieval of client information.
Support for growth. The company is better poised to see and respond to customer needs because all information about each customer is centralized, enabling the company to maintain a comprehensive view of its customer base as it grows and better manage future sales cycles.
Integration. Now AccessVia can access customer data from within Microsoft Office Outlook, over the Web or from mobile devices so that it can respond very quickly to customer needs.
IT support and management. With its integrated system, AccessVia has cut the time needed for support from its IT team by 75 percent. Moreover, training requirements were minimal because the company already was using Microsoft SQL Server and Internet Information Services.
The fastest Windows Vista notebook we've tested this year is a Mac. Try that again: The fastest Windows Vista notebook we've tested this year--or for that matter, ever--is a Mac. Not a Dell, not a Toshiba, not even an Alienware. The $2419 (plus the price of a copy of Windows Vista, of course) MacBook Pro's PC WorldBench 6 Beta 2 score of 88 beats Gateway's E-265M by a single point, but the MacBook's score is far more impressive simply because Apple couldn't care less whether you run Windows. Full Review
Remote Desktop Connection Client lets you connect to a Microsoft Windows-based computer and work with programs and files on that computer from your Macintosh computer. Remote Desktop Connection Client for Mac 2.0 (Beta 2) includes the following new features:
Currently, Remote Desktop Connection Client for Mac 2.0 (Beta 2) is only available in English, and supports only US English keyboards. Technical support is not available for this beta release.
For more information, including a list of known issues, see the Read Me for this application. After you install Remote Desktop Connection Client for Mac 2.0 (Beta 2), open it, and then on the Help menu, click Read Me.
This Beta release expires on March 31, 2008.
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- Here is a working example: zune://subscribe/?wallstrip=http://feeds.feedburner.com/wallstrip
- See PodcastTitle is wallstrip and PodcastFeedURL is http://feeds.feedburner.com/wallstrip
- Here is our official hyperlink image for use for Zune 1-click subscription process:
optional updates in the same month as the componentized security updates. The October 2007 optional supplement update is now available on the ECE site for Microsoft® Windows® XP Embedded Service Pack 2, Feature Pack 2007, and Update Rollup 1.0.
This update is purely optional and may or may not apply to your image. This Update includes:
Note: Optional updates are separate from the Security updates and should only be installed after the Security updates for the month have been installed.
A federal judge in Washington, D.C., has extended the timeframe for considering several states' arguments for five additional years of oversight of Microsoft Corp.'s competitive practices, and the software maker's arguments against that extension. On Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly also extended parts of the consent decree — part of the 2002 antitrust settlement, which is set to expire Nov. 12 — to no later than Jan. 31, 2008, to allow time to consider the arguments made by both sides.
Two separate groups of states filed motions last week asking Kollar-Kotelly to monitor Microsoft through 2012.
In one court filing, the states of New York, Maryland, Louisiana and Florida said they were concerned that the oversight may not have "enough traction to enhance long-term competition" among makers of computer operating systems.
Kollar-Kotelly gave Microsoft until Nov. 6 to oppose the motions, a week longer than the original deadline.
The judge gave the U.S. government a Nov. 9 deadline to submit an amicus brief, and said the states must file additional responses by Nov. 16. She also canceled a status hearing that was slated for Nov. 6.
As the final act in our saga of expiring VPCs, I'm happy to announce that we've reissued VPCs for VS2008 Beta2 with an updated expiration date. You can find the updated links on the VS2008 download page:
Thanks to everyone that has helped us get the word out about this situation and please accept our apologies for any inconvenience this might have caused you. Needless to say, we're taking steps now to ensure that we don't make this particular mistake again.
Microsoft showed off some features of the next version of Project, to the delight of the crowd gathered at the Microsoft Office Project Conference in Seattle.
The audience applauded a new timeline view that will become available. Alice Steinglass, senior program manager for Microsoft Office Project, showed how users can cut and paste the timeline into other applications, such as a PowerPoint slide. Once pasted, users can alter individual components of the image, deleting sections and changing the font, for example.
That's one feature that furthers Microsoft's goal of making Project not only easier to use for project managers but usable by more people in an organization. "At the end of the day, the fundamental thesis here is that we are all project managers because we all manage work," said Steve Ballmer, Microsoft's CEO, addressing the audience on Tuesday. "Whether my personal project management system happens to look more like a formal project or a task list that I might keep in something like Excel or Outlook, we need to make sure that we give rich tool sets to people at all levels of the food chain to help them do work management."
A major user interface change to come within Project that Steinglass showed off is the icon ribbon at the top of the screen, similar to the one featured on many other Microsoft programs such as Word. Users can click on different tabs at the top and the icons available in the ribbon change. With the click of an icon, users can, for example, filter for incomplete tasks or group by resource name. These functions currently require several clicks in Project 2007.
Future versions of Project will give customers an easier way to customize fields. The current method is complicated and will eventually be replaced with a blank column that users can simply start filling in with any information they want. As soon as they do, a new blank column automatically appears. If a user inputs a dollar figure in the column, the rest of the column automatically configures for dollars.
Steinglass also showed off enhancements that will come to Web access to Projects. If a user makes changes to several time frames for completing tasks, the application won't automatically update the overall schedule, so as not to slow down performance. When a user is done making changes, a Calculate Changes button makes the alterations, highlighting every item that has changed. Users can hit Undo repeatedly to get rid of changes.
Microsoft has made progress in getting its Windows software to work on a low-cost laptop computer for poor children that currently runs on rival Linux software, an executive said on Thursday. The world's largest software company is now working to adapt a basic version of Windows XP so it is compatible with the nonprofit One Laptop Per Child Foundation's small green- and-white XO laptop.
"We're spending a non-trivial amount of money on it," Microsoft Corporate Vice President Will Poole said in an interview on Thursday.
"We remain hopeful with our progress to date, we still have significant work ahead to finalize our analysis and testing processes," he said. "At the end of the day, there's no guarantees."
The One Laptop per Child Foundation, a spin-off from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, plans to start producing the $188 machines in China next month and eventually manufacture millions a year for elementary school children in developing countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America.
The foundation is also selling the machines in the United States and Canada for $400 apiece through a fundraising campaign.
The laptops were designed specifically to run Linux programs. If the machines run only Linux, Microsoft will lose an opportunity to expose tens of millions of children worldwide to its Windows system.
"We've made progress," Poole said.
If the foundation is able to meet its goal of producing millions of laptops for school children around the world and they are all loaded with Linux software, then they would end up being more comfortable with those programs than with Windows, said Wayan Vota, who publishes a blog that monitors the project.
"People will realize there is an alternative to Windows and they might like it better," Vota said.
But the new laptop uses some technologies developed by the foundation that haven't previously been used in personal computers, Poole said.
"We still have plenty of work to do in determining if the highly constrained performance, power, and memory in the first generation XO laptops will be compatible with Windows and popular Windows applications," he added.
Microsoft Corp. today announced the retail availability of new accessories for its innovative digital media player, Zune. The new first- and third-party accessories will usher in the next generation of Zune digital media players, which will be on shelves Nov. 13.
“Zune is committed to providing customers with choice,” said Scott Erickson, senior director of product management for Zune. “In addition to offering choice among Zune media players, we have also enhanced our accessories program to ensure that Zune users can choose from a robust line of high-quality accessories. By working only with licensed partners, we ensure that consumers have everything they need to enjoy a seamless, end-to-end Zune experience — Microsoft is one of the few companies that can offer this depth of support.”
Zune also announced an expanded third-party accessory partners program, teaming up with leading manufacturers to offer a wide selection of products created exclusively for Zune. Microsoft is collaborating directly with 23 accessory partners to ensure customers have a number of accessory options, complementing and enhancing their Zune experience.
Licensed Zune accessory partners are Agent 18, Altec Lansing Technologies Inc., Belkin International Inc., Case-mate, Digital Lifestyle Outfitters (DLO), Directed Electronics Inc. (Polk Audio), Dual Electronics Corp., GPX, Griffin Technology Inc., Golla, iHome, Incipio Technologies, Integrated Mobile Electronics Corp., , Kicker, mStation Corp., Memorex Electronics, Monster Cable Products Inc., Skinit, Speck, Targus Group International Inc., VAF Research, Vaja Corp., and zLive (DPI, Inc.).
With these new partners, the Zune accessory family now includes more than 60 new products. The accessories will be available for purchase at a variety of online retailers and major retail store locations beginning this week. New Zune accessories include the following:
Speaker docks from Altec Lansing, iHome and Kicker
Cases from Belkin, Case-mate, DLO, Incipio and Speck
Cables, FM transmitters and car kits from Belkin, DLO, Monster and Kicker
The new Zune 80 has hit and passed the FCC and its rigorous series of emissions tests. Unfortunately you won't see the usual slightly beat up shots in the documents this time: just a series of charts and plenty of data about "radiated emissions." Microsoft made sure to request that the FCC hold back from posting external / internal photos, the user manual, schematics, antenna specification, and well, anything interesting at all. At least any Zune fans out there can sleep safe at night knowing that when they pick up their own Zune 80, it won't burn their hand off in a blast of radiation.
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Today Microsoft Corp. announced it will offer five of its top-selling webcams — three desktop and two notebook LifeCams — for sale in the System Builder Channel for the first time ever. Microsoft’s line of LifeCams includes the No. 2-selling desktop webcam, the LifeCam VX-3000,1 and the No. 3-selling notebook webcam, the LifeCam NX-6000.1 The LifeCams add to the PC experience with easy video calling that is more meaningful and interactive through the webcams’ close integration with Windows Live Messenger, the world’s largest instant messaging network.
Microsoft Hardware consistently delivers innovations that add value to PC systems to make computing easier and more enjoyable. Microsoft’s LifeCams let users easily connect for video and voice calls with friends and family to let them see, hear and share life’s experiences with the following optimizations for Windows Live:
Windows LiveCall Button, located on top of the LifeCam, allows users to open their Contact Picker (a tool showing which contacts are currently online) with one touch so they can quickly initiate video calls to friends and family.
One-touch Photo Swap access allows users to share and swap photos from their PCs during a video call — and see and hear reactions from friends and family.
LifeCam Dashboard integrates full LifeCam navigational controls (pan, tilt, zoom, face tracking and Video Effects) within the Windows Live Messenger interface, enabling a seamless and easy navigating experience. The LifeCam software controls are where they should be — right in front of the user.
One-Touch Blogging lets users immediately post photos to their Windows Live Spaces site.
Microsoft’s line of LifeCams is also compatible with Microsoft Office Communicator to deliver quality audio and video calls in a business setting. The two notebook LifeCams, the NX-6000 and NX-3000, are also compatible with Microsoft Office Communicator, providing easy plug-and-play action that works out of the box with no additional software installation required.
“Microsoft Hardware innovations continue to lead the industry for performance and quality, and our LifeCams are no exception,” said Gary Kirchberger, product marketing manager at Microsoft Hardware. “The webcam market is growing rapidly, and Microsoft Hardware offers a variety of webcam options for OEMs to enable their customers to create a higher-quality video calling experience, both on a desktop and notebook PC.”
Microsoft will offer the following desktop and notebook LifeCams to the System Builder Channel beginning Nov. 1, 2007:
For Desktop PCs:
LifeCam VX-6000. The LifeCam VX-6000 is a high-end wired desktop webcam offering a high-definition video experience, a built-in microphone and a 71- degree wide-angle lens.
LifeCam VX-3000. The LifeCam VX-3000 is a midrange wired desktop webcam with brilliant audio and video, offering 1.3 megapixel (MP) stills and automatic face tracking.
LifeCam VX-1000. The LifeCam VX-1000 is a basic wired desktop webcam with competitive video and integrated audio functionality and a built-in unidirectional microphone.
For Notebook PCs:
LifeCam NX-6000. The LifeCam NX-6000 is designed exclusively for use with a notebook and is ideal for mobile users, featuring a 2.0MP sensor and the first-ever spring-loaded lens that retracts within the LifeCam for protection when not in use.
Life Cam NX-3000. The LifeCam NX-3000 is a stylish midrange wired notebook webcam with superior audio and video capabilities and a built-in unidirectional microphone with acoustic noise cancellation technology.