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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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A special Windows 7 upgrade package for households with more than one PC is now available for pre-order online ahead of schedule and at a discount from Microsoft's previously announced price.
Windows 7 Family Pack, which offers the ability to upgrade from an existing version of Windows to Windows 7 on three PCs for a discounted price, is available for pre-order on several online retailer Web sites, including eCOST.com and Provantage, for US$146.99 and $140.31, respectively.
Microsoft previously said the limited-time offer, which is available until supplies last, would be available for pre-order for $149.99 on Oct. 18 and then generally available on Oct. 22, the official worldwide release date of Windows 7.
The Family Pack allows users to install Windows 7 Home Premium for a reduced price on up to three PCs in a household that already has a version of Windows installed.
Microsoft originally said Family Pack would only be available in North America. However, earlier this week the company extended its release to eight countries in Europe -- U.K., Ireland, Germany, France, Switzerland, Austria, the Netherlands and Sweden -- because of its decision to release Windows 7 with Internet Explorer 8 installed in those countries.
Source tech.yahoo.com
Microsoft® Hyper-V™ Server 2008 R2 is a stand-alone product that provides a reliable and optimized virtualization solution enabling organizations to improve server utilization and reduce costs. With the addition of new features such as live migration and expanded processor and memory support for host systems, it allows organizations to consolidate workloads onto a single physical server and is a good solution for organizations who are consolidating servers as well as for development and test environments. By having the ability to plug into existing IT infrastructures Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2008 R2 enables companies to reduce costs, improve utilization and provision new servers. It allows IT professionals to leverage existing patching, provisioning, management and support tools and processes. IT Professionals can continue to leverage their individual skills and the collective knowledge of Microsoft tools, minimizing the learning curve to manage Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2008 R2. In addition, with Microsoft providing comprehensive support for Microsoft applications and heterogeneous guest operating systems support, customers can virtualize with confidence and peace of mind. System Requirements
Download at source (via hypervoria)
Source: www.microsoft.com
Microsoft isn’t going to make its August deadline for delivery of a wide-scale test build of its Office Web Apps technology.
But officials told me they’re close to delivering the promised Technical Preview test build of the four Webified Office apps that the company first demonstrated publicly last fall. A company spokesperson provided the following statement when I asked about the Web Apps’ whereabouts yesterday:
“At Worldwide Partner Conference, we said the Office Web applications technical preview would tentatively be available in the August timeframe. While they will not be available by the end of August, we are still planning to release them soon.”
For the record, when Microsoft officials told me about their self-imposed August deadline for the tech preview, the word “tentatively” wasn’t used. The rest of the Office 2010 suite was released to thousands of testers in July as part of an invitation-only Tech Preview.
In May, a build of Office Web Apps leaked to the Web, along with the rest of the Office 2010 Tech Preview; Microsoft officials haven’t answered when I asked whether that Web Apps build will be the same as the officially sanctioned one that is now looking like it will go to testers in September.
Full Story at All About Microsoft
Like Exchange 2007 Service Pack 1, Exchange 2007 Service Pack 2 is a slip-streamed version.
Exchange 2007 Service Pack 2 introduces several new features, but in order to utilize Exchange 2007 SP2, you must perform the following steps:
In order to deploy Exchange 2007 SP2, you must first extend the schema. Depending on your environment's configuration, one of the following scenarios will happen:
Continue for full article at MSExchangeTeam
Microsoft made a similar argument last week when it filed its motion for a stay of the injunction. At that time, Microsoft warned of "massive disruptions" to its sales of Office, as well as to the sales of important partners, and named both Dell and HP.
Dell and HP added their voices to the chorus of implied chaos. "The District Court's injunction of Microsoft Word will have an impact far beyond Microsoft. Microsoft Word is ubiquitous among word processing software and is included on [redacted] computers sold by Hewlett-Packard."
The public versions of both briefs were heavily redacted. Dell and HP said that the deleted material included descriptions of the "contractual provisions governing software changes between Dell, [Hewlett-Packard] and Microsoft."
A Dell spokesman and an HP spokeswoman declined to comment further for their companies, with the latter citing company policy not to comment on pending litigation.
A source familiar with the amicus curiae briefs, however, hinted that it would be difficult if not impossible for Dell and HP to meet the October deadline. The companies first must receive new code from Microsoft, test the resulting disk images before using them to format new PCs' hard drives and then get those systems into the sales channels and pull out existing PCs that are equipped with current versions of Word.
Continue at Computerworld
Whilst surfing along the information superhighway today, I ran across something labeled as, "Microsoft Windows 8 Professional Edition (Leaked Version)." Well, curiosity certainly got the better of me, so I clicked to have a look. When I arrived at my destination, I was greeted with the following image:
Fake Windows 8 Download Page (via uxevangelist)
Now here is leaked screenshots of yet another build of Office 2010. This time Wzor is with screenshots and possible leaked Microsoft Office 2010 Build 14.0.4417.1000 BETA 1 both x86 & x64. It’s still not confirmed that whether this build is leaked or will be leaking soon.
Screenshots of Microsoft Office 2010 Mondo Build 14.0.4417.1000
More screenshots at source
Always read the fine print. Part of a footnote from this morning's Xbox 360 price cut press releasebore this little oh-by-the-way: "Xbox Live Gold Membership will be required for Twitter and Facebook when they are available." When MCV followed up on the tucked-away tidbit, a Microsoft spokesperson suggested that the press release's statement was "inaccurate" and that the company was "still formulating its plans" for integrating the social networking services into Xbox Live. A few short hours later, those plans appear to be formulated. A Microsoft representative has clarified for Joystiq, "Facebook and Twitter on Xbox Live will be free to Gold members, with a free trial period also available for Silver members."
Full Story at joystiq
We are committed to providing a safe, secure and positive experience for our more than 300 million customers across the globe using Windows Live Messenger every month. To deliver on that commitment, beginning on August 25, we started asking our customers using versions 8.1, 8.5 and 14.0 to upgrade to the newest version of Messenger. The upgrade will provide customers with the latest software updates including code fixes and feature enhancements, as well address vulnerabilities discussed in the Microsoft Security Advisory 973882 that existed in previous versions of Windows Live Messenger.
The upgrade process will take place in a phased approach over the next several weeks:
First Phase, Optional Upgrade: The optional upgrade will happen in two stages: Starting Aug. 25, customers using versions 8.1 or 8.5 were asked to upgrade their client. Starting early Oct., all customers using versions 14.0 (but not the latest release 14.0.8089) will be asked to upgrade their client. The upgrade at this time is optional. Customers who haven’t upgraded during the optional phase will be required to do so during the second phase.
Second Phase, Mandatory Upgrade: The mandatory upgrade will happen in three stages: Starting mid-Sept., all customers using Messenger 8.1 or 8.5 will be required to upgrade their version of Windows Live Messenger. Starting late Oct., all customers using Messenger 14.0 will be required to upgrade their version of Windows Live Messenger. To ensure that we are protecting customers, those who do not administer the upgrade will not be able to sign in to Messenger after this time.
Please Note: It will take several weeks for the upgrade process to be completed, as the upgrade will be rolled out to customers over the course of several weeks.
Below are some examples of the prompts that you will encounter during the upgrade process.
Notification to upgrade.
Want to upgrade now? You don’t have to wait for the notification. In fact, we encourage you to download the updated version of Messenger right now by visiting http://download.live.com .
Full info here at Windows Live Messenger Team Blog
Now that the Xbox 360 Elite has had its price trimmed, there is room at the top for something even MORE elite... And now that gap has been filled. Coming to South Africa in October will be the Xbox 360 'Super Elite', the new big daddy of the range, featuring a massive 250GB hard drive and two wireless controllers.
Below is a BT Games advert showing off an upcoming 'Super Elite' offer:
Head on over to xboxgaming.co.za for more information
The Exchange UI team is investigating possible technologies we could use in future releases of management tools. One potential technology we could use is Silverlight. This would provide the ability to offer rich management features in a web-based interface, but would require that Silverlight be installed on PCs that were used to run those web-based tools.
We'd like to get your feedback on whether you think this would be a good idea or not. Also please note it is only an idea at this point.
If you have a few minutes, we'd appreciate it if you could go to the following link to complete a brief survey in order to provide your opinions on this.
Link to survey
Originally Seen at msexchangeteam
Some Windows Live Hotmail customers may be seeing their e-mail accounts "hijacked" by spammers, who in turn are sending e-mails that may result in you downloading a worm or virus onto your computer. Windows Live Hotmail is the e-mail service that powers Office Live Small Business e-mail accounts.
These e-mails have surfaced in recent days. Once you've positively identified one of these virus e-mails, delete it. Do not open it, if at all possible, and do not click on any of the links.
A typical virus e-mail has an arcane subject line such as "Good shopping good mood," and a folksy e-mail encouraging you to visit an electronics company website and/or click on its e-mail address.
Clicking on these links downloads a copy of the worm onto the message recipients' computers. Upon download, it then gathers e-mail addresses of contacts saved on the recipient's computer and sends itself out to all of those addresses.
See this Security warning from Windows Live for more details.
Continue for Full Story ask.officelive.com
Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer will kick off the Windows 7 launch at an event in New York City on October 22, according to an invitation Microsoft has sent to various media members and bloggers.
To date, Microsoft officials have declined to answer repeated requests as to whether Microsoft planned to hold a big-bang launch event for Windows 7 when the product becomes generally available on October 22 or a number of smaller, decentralized events in various cities.
Microsoft held its consumer launch for Windows Vista in New York City on January 30, 2007.
From an invitation sent by Microsoft public relations (which I didn’t receive, but one of my colleagues did):
“We also wanted to let you know that you will be receiving an invitation to a Microsoft event in NYC on October 22nd to celebrate the availability and launch of Windows 7. With Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer speaking and exciting new hardware from our partners, we’re looking forward to sharing Windows 7 with the world.”
Microsoft business launch tour for Windows 7, Windows Server 2008 R2 and Exchange Server 2010 kicks off in the U.S. on August 29 September 28.
Via All About Microsoft
Over the years, PowerPoint has gone through a number of graphic improvements. Our goal is always to provide the best environment for you to visualize and communicate your ideas. At the beginning of this release, we looked at how advancements in motion graphics have transformed visual storytelling in broadcast TV and movies. We knew we wanted to bring the same capabilities to presentations.
For PowerPoint 2010, we are making the biggest visual update to Slide Show in nearly a decade. PowerPoint's graphics engine is completely rebuilt using DirectX. Everything in slide show (text, shapes, animations, and more) is rendered in full 3D using your machine’s graphics card. Over the next few weeks, we’ll show you how to use PowerPoint 2010’s new tools and effects to improve your presentation.
Here are a few of the features you can expect to see:
· Fully hardware-accelerated rendering engine · New transition effects and an updated user interface · Revamped animation effects and a brand new UI (timelines!) · Animation Painter (copy your animations between objects) · Choreograph animations with multimedia
As we like to say here at PowerPoint, if a picture is worth 1,000 words, then a video is worth at least 24,000 per second:
Source: PowerPoint Team Blog
Starting Friday, August 28th (tomorrow) the price of the Xbox 360 Elite is getting a one-hundred dollar price cut in the United States.
Here is how the new pricing breaks down: Xbox 360 Elite $399.99 now $299.99* Xbox 360 Pro $299.99 now $249.99* While supplies last Xbox 360 Arcade $199.99 $199.99* * (ERP) Estimated retail price in the United States Betcha didn’t see that coming…did you ?
Here are some pictures of new product packaging.
News Source: MajorNelson