Order Now!
Windows 7 for XP ProfessionalsUpdating Support Skills from XP to Windows 7by Bink.nu's Raymond Comvalius
There are 38 guest(s) online.
There are 0 member(s) online.
Welcome to the new Expression Encoder team blog! As Charles says in the video, we plan on posting a bunch for hints and tips over the coming weeks. We also encourage you to give us your feedback.
All of our video blog posts are made with Expression Encoder and published using Silverlight on the Silverlight Streaming by Windows Live video hosting service.
We are currently hard at work on the next release and look forward to sharing the details soon. Thanks for watching / reading!
Continue At Source
Microsoft has quietly released an update to its Office Live Workspace service, which the company first rolled out in beta form in December 2007.
The just-released Office Live Workspace update, according to a posting on LiveSide.Net,includes a new activity pane for keeping track of what’s happening in your wokspace; e-mail notifications so you know when those with whom you are sharing documents make an update; support for adding multiploe documents to workspaces; and a new interface to make it easier to invite new people to participate in a shared workspace.
A quick refresher on what Office Live Workspace is (and isn’t). Office Live Workspace is Microsoft’s alternative to Google Docs. It is not a Web-based version of Microsoft Office. It is meant, first and foremost, to be a complement to Microsoft Office. As Microsoft officials have said, Office Live Workspace service can be used from a PC, kiosk or other Web-access point without Office (or another desktop productivity suite) installed; all you technically need is an Internet Explorer or Firefox browser.
Matt was impressed by the Surface back at CES so I’m inclined to go along based on his judgement. The Sarcastic Gamer gets up close and personal with the Surface’s first game called Firefly. Check out the video and see what it’s all about. It looks really neat.
Since its release, Windows Vista has seen solid sales through the first year of availability, primarily through the sale of new PCs. Stand-alone retail sales, while not representing a large percentage of the business, represents an area of opportunity for additional growth the company sees based on the new editions introduced in 2007. To help reach that goal, Microsoft today announced price reductions on several consumer stand-alone editions. PressPass spoke with Brad Brooks, corporate vice president for Windows Consumer Product Marketing at Microsoft, to discuss how these price reductions will take effect and what prompted Microsoft to make this decision.
PressPass: What did you announce today?
Brooks: Today we announced a variety of price reductions for copies of Windows Vista sold on retail shelves. In developed markets, the price changes will most notably impact upgrade retail versions of the new editions we introduced in 2007 -- Windows Vista Home Premium and Ultimate editions. In emerging markets, we are combining full and upgrade Home Basic and Home Premium versions into full versions of these editions and instituting price changes to meet the demand we see among first-time Windows customers who want more functionality than is available in current Windows XP editions. In addition, we are also adjusting pricing on Windows Vista Ultimate in emerging markets to be comparable to price changes developed market customers will see.
These price changes will take effect globally with the retail release of Windows Vista Service Pack 1 later this year, though some markets will see reduced prices sooner as a result of promotions many of our partners already are driving, such as Amazon.com in the United States.
PressPass: What’s prompting Microsoft to make these price reductions?
Brooks: Windows Vista has been on the market for more than a year now, with more than 100 million licenses sold in its first year. While this is great progress, we see an opportunity to grow our business even more with some of the new editions we introduced with Windows Vista. Today, the vast majority of Windows licenses are sold with PCs; retail stand-alone sales, in contrast, have been primarily from customers who value being early adopters and those building their own machines. We’ve observed market behavior, however, that suggests an opportunity to expand Windows stand-alone sales to other segments of the consumer market.
Over the past year, we conducted promotions in several different markets combining various marketing tactics with lower price points on different stand-alone versions of Windows Vista. While the promotions varied region to region, one constant emerged – an increase in demand among consumers that went beyond tech enthusiasts and build-it-yourself types. The success of these promotions has inspired us to make some broader changes to our pricing structures, to reach a broader range of consumers worldwide.
PressPass: It sounds like your strategy is to have different price points in different countries and regions, depending on whether they’re developed or emerging markets. What will the changes look like when they’re in place?
Brooks: Our research, along with feedback from promotions by our retail partners, has illustrated powerfully to us the degree to which customer needs vary, not only between developed and emerging markets, but also within markets. But the desire for the best value remains the same. As such, the Windows Vista editions involved and specific price decreases will likewise vary from region to region across the globe.
PressPass: Why has Microsoft chosen to announce this reduction now?
Brooks: Our retail partners will be refreshing their Windows Vista inventory once SP1 is released to the market later this year. We’re trying to make this as easy and efficient as possible for our retail partners to update their displays once.
On the heels of rollup 6 for Exchange 2007 RTM we released few days ago, we have just released rollup 1 for Exchange 2007 SP1.
More information can be found here:
Description of Update Rollup 1 for Exchange Server 2007 Service Pack 1
Hey folks, Dave Treadwell here. For those who don’t know me, I run the Live Platform Services team here at Microsoft. Before coming over to the services world, I spent many years working on .NET, and I feel really fortunate to be working on a part of what I feel will be the next great round of developer platform infrastructure for the industry: platforms to make it easy to create awesome services-based applications.
I wanted to guest post today to let everyone know we’ve got some cool new applications and APIs we’re unveiling at MIX08. The Windows Live platform team has been working hard to expand our services for developers, so they can create rich new experiences for users. I’ll be covering:
Bill Gates hasn’t given up on social networking altogether: The Microsoft chairman just joined LinkedIn, a networking Web site for professionals.
LinkedIn contacted Gates after reading on the Business Technology Blog that he had quit using Facebook, Kay Lou, LinkedIn’s director of corporate communications, tells us. It turns out that Bill Gates is the most searched for person on LinkedIn – Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton are numbers two and three respectively – and Lou thought it would be quite the coup if her company could sign up the tech titan. (There were several fake Gates profiles, which have since been deleted, as well as dozens of other Bill Gates’s with legitimate, albeit less sought after, profiles.) After talking to a few intermediaries, Gates agreed.
In his new profile, the Microsoft chairman describes himself as a technologist and a philanthropist, and lists reading, tennis and bridge as his interests. Gates only has two contacts and odds are he won’t be adding more, Lou tells us.
Here’s one reason: The new profile is going live just as Microsoft launches an ad campaign on LinkedIn, giving cynics reason to question Gates’s motives. But there are practical reasons to doubt Gates’s desire to network as well. LinkedIn is designed to help professionals make introductions to other professionals. And Bill Gates isn’t the kind of guy who needs an introduction. In fact, there aren’t a lot of tech bigwigs who do.
Are you getting ready to deploy Windows Server 2008, Windows Vista SP1 and Microsoft Virtualization technologies? Check out the brand new Solution Accelerators Microsoft is releasing this week!
Today, Microsoft is launching three Solution Accelerators that will help IT professionals and Microsoft Partners more quickly assess, plan, secure, deploy and manage (operate) Windows Server 2008, Windows Vista SP1 and Microsoft Virtualization.
In the form of automation tools and technical guidance, these accelerators are developed with industry best practice in mind and can speed up every stage of your IT project lifecycle from server and desktop deployments projects to virtualization.
What's Released This Week?
There are 3 solution accelerators released this week and another 1 in mid-March.
Even some of Microsoft Corp.'s top officials struggled to make Windows Vista work smoothly when it was released, according to internal e-mails released Wednesday.
The messages, unsealed in a lawsuit against the company, show that Vista's early problems with hardware and software compatibility affected more than just average PC users. The e-mails also illustrate how the company will try to avoid such issues in the next Windows release.
"We need to be clearer with industry, and we need to decide what we will do and do that well and 100 percent and not just do a little of everything," wrote Steven Sinofsky, the Microsoft executive who took over Windows engineering after Vista's retail release in January 2007.
The scattershot approach left hardware makers "in a confused state," Sinofsky added in the February 2007 e-mail, not long after he assumed the post. The message is notable in part because Sinofsky has been publicly quiet about Microsoft's plans for the next version, known by the internal code name Windows 7.
Microsoft Chief Executive Steve Ballmer endorsed Sinofsky's sentiment succinctly. "Righto," Ballmer replied.
Those and other messages were made public as part of a lawsuit alleging that Microsoft deceived consumers before Windows Vista's launch by touting PCs as "Windows Vista Capable" even if they could run only Windows Vista Home Basic. That bare-bones version lacks many of Windows Vista's signature features, such as slick graphics.
The lawsuit was granted class-action status last week. The e-mails unsealed Wednesday, previously disclosed only in snippets, focus in part on an internal debate over the standards for the "Windows Vista Capable" designation. But they also expose a broader discussion about the operating system's compatibility problems.
Microsoft spokesman Jack Evans said in a statement Wednesday: "Throughout this process, Microsoft employees raised concerns and addressed issues with the intent to make this program better for our business partners and valuable for consumers. That's the sort of exchange we want to encourage. And in the end, we believe we succeeded in achieving both objectives."
Group Policy Preference Client Side Extensions are now available for download. This is a cool thing bringing lot's of Group Policy Power to admins around the world!
The GPP CSEs are included in Windows Server 2008 RTM, but can now be downloaded for: Windows XP SP2+ (32/64 bit) Windows Server 2003 SP1+ (32/64 bit) Windows Vista RTM+ (32/64 bit)
These are the links:GPP CSEs for Windows Vista (KB943729)GPP CSEs for Windows Vista x64 Edition (KB943729)GPP CSEs for Windows Server 2003 (KB943729)GPP CSEs for Windows Server 2003 x64 Edition (KB943729)GPP CSEs for Windows XP (KB943729)GPP CSEs for Windows XP x64 Edition (KB943729)
To get Group Policy Preferences on your network all you need is a single Windows Server 2008 as a management station in you existing Windows Server 2003 AD (or 2008 AD of course). When RSAT (Remote Server Administration Tools) is out there - very soon! - a Windows Vista SP1 will be enough to get this cool functionality in your domain!
Download At Source
The WorldWide Telescope (WWT) is a rich visualization environment that functions as a virtual telescope, bringing together imagery from the best ground and space telescopes in the world for a seamless, guided exploration of the universe. WorldWide Telescope, created with Microsoft's high-performance Visual Experience Engine™, enables seamless panning and zooming across the night sky blending terabytes of images, data, and stories from multiple sources over the Internet into a media-rich, immersive experience.
http://wwtelescope.com/
Steve Ballmer made an interesting statement during his keynote: "Microsoft is Democritizing Virtualization" bringing another player in the high-end virtualization market. With System Center Virtual Machine manager you will be able to deploy and manage Novell and Suse Linux VM's and Microsoft Hyper-V, Vmware ESX and Citrix virtual hosts.
LOS ANGELES — Feb. 27, 2008 — Kicking off more than 225 events around the world and joined by more than 4,000 customers and partners, Microsoft Corp.’s Chief Executive Officer Steve Ballmer today showcased the next generation of infrastructure and application platform products, including Windows Server 2008, Microsoft Visual Studio 2008 and Microsoft SQL Server 2008.
The launch represents a major milestone to help customers on the road to Dynamic IT, Microsoft’s initiative to help customers optimize their people, processes and technology, and in turn position IT as a strategic asset for their business. These new enterprise products help customers more efficiently and securely manage their entire infrastructure and move to a virtualized environment while also delivering business intelligence and next-generation Web experiences to boost business results. The theme of the events, “Heroes Happen Here,” highlights the outstanding work that IT professionals, developers and partners do every day to create solutions and cutting-edge applications that keep global commerce and industry running.
“IT professionals and developers tell us they spend too much time and money managing existing systems and not enough investing in new capabilities that create strategic advantage,” Ballmer said. “That feedback is at the core of the innovations in this new wave of products. Already, the overwhelming response from thousands of IT professionals and developers around the world is that this is the most secure enterprise platform we have ever delivered, and that it will simplify management and enable them to focus more on driving their businesses forward.”
Big Benefits for Early Adopters
Researchers at consulting agency Capgemini looked at companies and institutions in the financial services, education, retail and high-technology industries using Windows Server 2008 in a mix of geographic regions. They found that the new operating system quickly adds value to IT operations through enhancements to management, security and reliability. On average, deployment duration was reduced by up to 60 percent and IT reduced costs by up to $124,000 per year. Cost reductions resulted from a wide range of areas, including the recovery of five IT staff hours per server and 91 percent less downtime. A white paper detailing usage scenarios and providing more data on the impact of deploying Windows Server 2008 is available at http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserver2008/en/us/product-information.aspx.
Already IT professionals and developers around the world are using Windows Server 2008, Visual Studio 2008 and test versions of SQL Server 2008 to implement more secure platforms and Web applications while reducing costs and speeding development.
With the introduction of Windows Server 2008, leading global communications provider Verizon Business will deliver this next-generation platform to its managed hosting customers worldwide, enabling them to achieve greater reliability, performance and control over their IT infrastructure. In addition, Microsoft’s advanced Windows Deployment Services suite will allow Verizon Business to increase the speed of deployments and simplify management.
“This next-generation technology means a great deal to our enterprise customers,” said Michael Marcellin, vice president of product marketing at Verizon Business. “Through our long-standing relationship with Microsoft and as an early adopter of this technology, we are poised to continue to deliver innovative solutions to customers around the globe that will help them harness the power of the Internet.”
Go Daddy, the largest paid, shared Web hosting provider in North America, with 27 million domain names under management, is incorporating the new Windows Server 2008 with Internet Information Services 7.0 (IIS7) software into its Windows hosting product line. In its testing, Go Daddy has seen a 300 percent to 400 percent increase in server performance using the new technology. The performance gains will allow Go Daddy to run a more efficient and effective service for its shared hosting customers.
“We are excited to offer this technology to our customers,” said Bob Parsons, CEO and founder of Go Daddy. “With more than 5 million customers around the globe, Go Daddy prides itself on using cutting-edge technology that will help enhance Web site performance and provide our customers with a solid foundation for their IT needs.”
At Fidelity National Real Estate Solutions, the combination of Windows Server 2008, SQL Server 2008 and Visual Studio 2008 enabled the creation of a cutting-edge Web site that provides near-instant access to real estate and neighborhood information about listings for sale, home values, schools and much more. The site operates significantly faster than was previously possible and was developed at a much lower cost.
“Not only is the new Web site visually cool — serving up customized content, 3-D aerial views and animations 10 times faster than was possible with older technologies — but it also was created for approximately $1.4 million less than it would have cost using other development tools,” said Marty Frame, senior vice president and general manager, Cyberhomes, Fidelity National Real Estate Solutions. “And, most important, visitors spend an average of 30 minutes on the site per visit, four times the typical average for competitors’ sites.”
These companies are just a sampling of the more than 3 million customers that participated in early feedback programs or as beta testers during product development.
The performance improvements and enterprise-class features of SQL Server 2008 and Windows Server 2008 have resulted in record-breaking results. Today Microsoft disclosed new world-record performance results on TPC-E and SAP Sales and Distribution (SD) Standard Application 3-tier benchmarks running on four-socket industry-standard blade servers.** Microsoft also published breakthrough performance benchmarks for several customer scenarios, including leading results on Microsoft Dynamics CRM, Microsoft Dynamics AX, Siemens Teamcenter and Camstar Manufacturing Execution Systems.
Microsoft also announced that Microsoft Windows Server 2008 with .NET Framework 3.5 delivers faster throughput than IBM WebSphere 6.1 on Red Hat Linux as shown through two new benchmark tests measuring scalability and performance in mission-critical enterprise scenarios. The sample application shows 117 percent better throughput of Windows Server using the IBM-designed Trade 6.1 benchmark; and Sun Microsystems’ WSTest Web services benchmark demonstrates 94 percent better throughput on Windows Server when processing Web Service requests. More information on the results is available at http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/events/HHHlaunch/docs/BenchmarkFS.doc.
Partners See Opportunity
Microsoft has worked with more than 1,000 industry partners to help plan, build, test and deploy leading-edge solutions by providing early access to code, training and testing, and certification support. Hundreds of independent software vendors have demonstrated their support with the development of a wide variety of business applications for industries that include retail, accounting, commerce, engineering, financial services, healthcare, supply chain and more. In a related announcement, Microsoft detailed extensive investments in programs and tools for software and hardware partners. More information on the announcement is available at http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2008/feb08/02-26ISVWS08PR.mspx. A full list of vendors offering applications certified for Windows Server 2008 or pledging to provide support for their applications on Windows Server 2008 can be found at http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/events/hhhlaunch/docs/PartnerWS08FS.doc.
Further demonstrating support for the new products, more than 40 companies are making announcements today and more than 80 partners are participating in launch events around the world, including platinum sponsors Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (AMD), CA, Cisco Systems Inc., Citrix Systems Inc., Dell Inc., Fujitsu, Hitachi, HP, Intel Corporation, Quest Software Inc., SAP AG and Unisys Corp. Highlighting the opportunity for industry partners, a 2007 IDC study* predicts that for every $1 Microsoft earns from Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 this year in the U.S., the ecosystem beyond Microsoft — software and hardware vendors that support or incorporate the products — will reap about $18 in revenue. In 2008, this ecosystem is predicted to sell more than $120 billion in products and services revolving around Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008.
Product Availability and Information
Windows Server 2008, including a beta version of the Hyper-V virtualization technology, and Visual Studio 2008 are available today. The feature-complete, February community technology preview of SQL Server 2008 is also available, with general availability expected in the third quarter of 2008.
Later this year Microsoft will release the Windows Essential Server Solutions family of products for small and midsize companies built on Windows Server 2008 and the newest Microsoft server technologies and services: Windows Small Business Server 2008 and Windows Essential Business Server 2008. Windows HPC Server 2008, the successor to Windows Compute Cluster Server 2003, is on track for availability in the second half of 2008 and is designed to increase productivity, scalability and manageability for high-performance computing scenarios. In addition, Windows Storage Server 2008, the next-generation storage solution based on Windows Server 2008, will be available by the end of the year.
Additional information on the launch of Windows Server 2008, SQL Server 2008 and Visual Studio 2008 is available in the virtual pressroom at http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/events/HHHlaunch/default.mspx.
Join Microsoft Chief Executive Officer Steve Ballmer as he kicks of a series of global events to launch Windows Server 2008, Visual Studio 2008 and SQL Server 2008. Ballmer will introduce new software and tools designed to help IT professionals and developers make a difference at work and in their communities.
February 27, 2008, 9am-10:30am (Pacific Standard Time)