2007 September archive

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Archive for September, 2007

Messenger 8.5 Beta upgrades

Published by nb September 26th, 2007 in Windows Live. 0 Comments

On September 5^th, I announced that the Messenger 8.5 Beta 2 release had come out. As part of that release, we’re now going to start upgrading users from Beta 1 to Beta 2. Please note that you are only affected by this upgrade if you’re currently using the 8.5 Beta 1. If you’re running an earlier version of Messenger (like 7.0 or 8.1) or have already upgraded to 8.5 Beta 2, you won’t be affected by this new upgrade process.

For all you beta 1 users out there, you should expect to start seeing the upgrade prompts. We’re testing a few different upgrade scenarios with this release, so it is expected that different operating systems will have different upgrade experiences:

Windows XP users will see the new unified installer experience as an optional update
Windows Vista 32- and 64-bit users will see the Windows Installer and MSI experience as a mandatory update
Windows XP 64 and Windows 2003 Server users will see the Windows Installer and MSI experience as an optional update

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Office 2008 for Mac Details Revealed

Published by nb September 26th, 2007 in Office and News. 1 Comment

The Macintosh Business Unit (Mac BU) at Microsoft Corp. today announced at the Apple Expo in Paris its product lineup for the upcoming Microsoft^® Office 2008 for Mac release. The flagship product, Office 2008 for Mac, is the core suite that includes Microsoft Office Word 2008, Microsoft Office Excel^®2008, Microsoft Office PowerPoint^® 2008 and Microsoft Office Entourage^® 2008 for exceptional productivity on the Mac. A new combination for Mac users is Office 2008 for Mac Special Media Edition, which features the Office 2008 applications together with the Microsoft Expression^® Media digital asset management system. Office 2008 for Mac Special Media Edition is geared toward professional users who need Microsoft Exchange Server support and Automator tools and are looking for one product to meet their productivity and digital asset management needs. Completing the product lineup is Office 2008 for Mac Home and Student Edition, a specially priced version for users with basic productivity needs.

All versions of Office 2008 for Mac support the new Open XML file format and are Universal applications that will perform natively on Power PC- and Intel-based Macs. Each version will be available in Dutch, English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Spanish, Swedish, and, for the first time, in the Nordic languages (Danish, Finnish and Norwegian).

“We built Office 2008 with the unifying goal of making it easier for Mac users to access the tools they need to get the job done — whether it’s creating a brochure for their business, managing their family schedule and finances, or finalizing a presentation to share between Macs and PCs,” said Craig Eisler, general manager of the Mac BU at Microsoft. “And, of course, Office 2008 for Mac will provide the document fidelity with the 2007 Microsoft Office system that our users need to stay connected with their friends and co-workers on PCs.”

Delivering the Industry Standard

Office 2008 for Mac features a leading suite of applications that Mac customers rely on to get their work completed with Word 2008, Excel 2008, PowerPoint 2008, Entourage 2008 and Microsoft Messenger for Mac. Mac users can simplify their day by using powerful new tools and easily located classic Office for Mac features.

As showcased at Macworld Expo 2007, Office 2008 for Mac is designed to help users get more from their Macs by making key functions accessible through a more intuitive design and by introducing smart features such as Ledger Sheets in Excel 2008, My Day with Entourage 2008, Publishing Layout View in Word 2008 and SmartArt graphics in PowerPoint 2008 that are simple to use and yield powerful results. Entourage 2008 also features improved Windows^® Exchange Server support, with enhanced reliability and functionality.

“We’ve worked closely with Microsoft since it launched the first version of Office for Mac more than 20 years ago,” said Ron Okamoto, vice president of Worldwide Developer Relations at Apple. “Office delivers tremendous compatibility across platforms for Mac and PC customers, and we look forward to another great user experience with Office 2008 for Mac.”

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Vistas Ultimate Extra DreamScene Released

Published by nb September 26th, 2007 in Windows. 1 Comment

Microsoft has finally released another Vista Ultimate Extra, Windows DreamScene, but delaying the 19 remaining language packs for another month.

DreamScene allows users to select videos as desktop backgrounds instead of static wallpaper. Vista users can choose and download from more than 200 animated DreamScene desktops created by Stardock. In addition, users can also use their own videos as DreamScene desktops.

Barry Goffe, director of Windows Vista Ultimate, in his post to Windows Ultimate blog, said “While we are excited about shipping DreamScene, the remaining 19 language packs are, unfortunately, not yet ready for release.”

“Recently we realized that Ultimate customers who tried to install the language packs that shipped earlier this year were experiencing an unacceptably high number of failures during installation,” Goffe said. “We continue to make delivering the highest quality, most secure Extras our top priority, and we will not ship any Extra until it is absolutely ready.”

At present, the Ultimate Extras developers are committed to deliver the remaining packs by the end of October. So let’s just wait and see.

Source: Blorge

Windows Home Server - September Updates

Published by nb September 25th, 2007 in Server. 0 Comments

As with most Microsoft products, updates to Windows Home Server will be delivered throughout the lifecycle of the product. Tomorrow - September 25th, Microsoft will release our first update for Windows Home Server. This update will enhance the usability and improve the out-of-the-box experience for customers. In addition to delivering the update to existing Windows Home Server customers via Windows Update, we have provided the updated software to our OEM and distribution partners.

Windows Home Server has come a long way from its inception, and we’re excited to deliver these enhancements to help people use and enjoy the full range of the product’s features.

Functionality improvements in the update include:

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Windows Server 2008 RC0 available

Published by nb September 25th, 2007 in Server. 1 Comment

Microsoft has reached another milestone with the initial Release Candidate (RC0) of the highly anticipated Windows Server 2008 operating system, now available for download. Now customers and partners can download and test-drive the latest development version of Windows Server 2008 for themselves.

Packed with new features, Windows Server 2008 provides customers with the most versatile and reliable Windows platform yet. Technological advancements, such as server and presentation virtualization capabilities, Internet Information Services (IIS) 7.0, Server Core, PowerShell, Network Access Protection, Server Manager, and enhanced networking and clustering technologies provide customers with a security-enhanced, easy-to-manage platform. All of these feature improvements provide customers with the most integrated Windows solution to date. For example, IIS 7.0, Microsoft’s platform for developing and reliably hosting Web applications and services, is experiencing strong customer momentum, with more than 13 hosting companies offering IIS 7.0 and more than 1,200 customers who have deployed it via the GoLive license.

Built using an unprecedented level of customer feedback, the advancements in Windows Server 2008 are indicative of Microsoft’s commitment to give customers the tools and applications they want and need in today’s environment. The rigorous design process has incorporated input from thousands of third-party partners and customers, to achieve the Release Candidate status for Windows Server 2008.

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Windows Server 2008 RC0 and Vista SP1 very soon

Published by nb September 25th, 2007 in Windows and Server. 0 Comments

Microsoft announced on September 24 that it is ready to release to testers both Windows Server 2008 Release Candidate (RC) 0 and Windows Vista Service Pack (SP) 1 beta.

Testers had been expecting the new test builds of both Windows products to debut earlier this month.

Microsoft said on Monday that it is releasing the beta of SP1 to approximately 12,000 preselected testers. Testers are under non-disclosure about the beta build and are not supposed to discuss it publicly, according to Microsoft. (I guess 11,999 testers are under NDA. One doesn’t seem to be.)

The final version of SP1 is slated to ship in the first quarter of 2008.

Microsoft officials said they will release to testers RC0 “within the next 24 hours.” Microsoft also is releasing simultaneously the Internet Information Services 7.0 (IIS7) Media Pack Community Technology Preview. This CTP will feature Windows Media Services 2008, which Microsoft says will provide two times scalabilty over Windows Media Services 9.0. The new media pack also can be installed as part of Windows Server Core.

Windows Server 2008 RC0 also incorporates the first test build of Microsoft’s “Viridian” hypervisor in the form of a Community Technology Preview.

Once RC0 is available, it will be able to be downloaded from this Windows Server page. The IIS7 Media Pack CTP will be available for download here.

Source: ZDNet blog

A new hint about Microsoft Office 14

Published by nb September 24th, 2007 in Office. 0 Comments

Master data management will be part of Office 14, a first Community Technology Preview (CTP) of which is due in the first quarter of 2008.

That’s according to a September 19 blog post by Microsoft IT Pro Evangelist “PatricG.”

Master data management is technology that allows for the management of common reference data across disparate IT systems or groups. Microsoft stuck a toe in the MDM space in June 2007 with its acquisition of privately held MDM specialist Stratature. Microsoft said at the time of the acquisition that it planned to withdraw existing Stratature products from the market and instead integrate the Stratature +EDM technology into Office applications and servers.

The first iteration of Stratature’s technology that will be part of Office 14 — most likely a component of the SharePoint Server product, it would seem– is codenamed “Bulldog,” according to PatricG’s post. Bulldog’s successor is codenamed “Greenwich,” he said, providing no delivery vehicle for that particular release of MDM. Greenwich will add new integration, analytical and transactional capabilities on top of what’s shipped with Bulldog, PatrickG said.

From PatrickG’s blog post:

“Bulldog includes Microsoft process and standards applied to the Stratature code base as well as several important new capabilities. Bulldog will meet these requirements while laying the foundation for the long-term master data management vision at Microsoft. In concert with the product enhancements, we will be building the product ecosystem including sales channels, customer support, partner readiness, demos and training materials.”

PatrickG said Bulldog will be aligned with the Office 14 wave for the CTP, Technology Adoption Program (TAP) and release-to-manufacturing deliverables. He said the CTP is due to go to select customers by Q1 2008.

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Administrative Templates (.admx) for Vista

Published by nb September 22nd, 2007 in Windows. 0 Comments

Group Policy tools use Administrative template files to populate policy settings in the user interface. This allows administrators to manage registry-based policy settings.
This download includes the Administrative template released for Windows Vista, in 34 languages.

Download: Administrative Templates (.admx) for Windows Vista

Microsoft leaks its Search 2.0 plans

Published by nb September 22nd, 2007 1 Comment

A Microsoft employee has posted details about planned changes to Microsoft’s Live Search, ahead of an event next week where the company was slated to unveil the changes to reporters.

The changes to the search product, which were demonstrated at Microsoft’s companywide meeting earlier this month, include improvements in several specific types of search queries, notably in video search and in searches for products.

In a blog posting on Thursday, Windows Live program manager Akram Hussein demonstrated how the revamped Live Search handles searches for digital cameras, showing not just product details, but also reviews. The new search scrapes details from other sites that have user reviews and other information and presents it from within the search engine.

Microsoft has since taken down the blog, but the folks at Liveside.net managed to capture the images and the details Hussein provided. Microsoft plans to brief reporters at a “Searchification” event next week at its Mountain View, Calif., campus.

Hussein also showed a new celebrity search page, demonstrating how a query of “Brad Pitt” includes a rating system of how popular he is at the moment, dubbed his “celebrity xRank.”

Finally, Hussein outlined an improved video search that allows a motion preview of a video search result.

“You can preview videos online by moving your mouse over any video and it will play a preview of the video right away no delays!” he wrote. “Isn’t this amazing, at least now you can preview the video before really going and trying to view it, and make sure this is the one you want.”

Some of the changes to Live Search have been gradually appearing on the site in recent days.

Hussein, in an apology note that replaced his original blog posting, said his images came from a test build. “Just to notify everyone I apologize for the information it seems they are still in beta and it was like a test roll out so I am pulling off the blog post,” he said.

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Windows Home Server patch is out

Published by nb September 21st, 2007 in Server. 0 Comments

Hewlett Packard now has its hands on the Windows Home Server (WHS) update for which it decided to delay its MediaSmart Home Server.

HardwareGeeks.com got Microsoft to confirm that HP now has the WHS patch. The Windows enthusiast site also is reporting that Microsoft is planning an announcement on Tuesday, September 25, about the availability of the WHS update.

At the end of August, Microsoft officials acknowledged they were working on a post-RTM (release-to-manufacturing) WHS update would make the platform more appealing to developers. Microsoft said at that time that it planned to make the update available in a couple of weeks.

HP admitted in late August that it planned to delay its initial WHS shipments in order to incorporate the Microsoft WHS update — leading some to question exactly what was in the update and why it seemed to impact HP more than other WHS vendors. HP’s new official due date for its MediaSmart Server: Holiday season 2007. (Originally, HP was expected to be first out of the WHS gate, shipping MediaSmart Server on September 15.)

Philip Churchill, a Microsoft beta tester and principal with the independent Microsoft Windows Home Server Web site, posted earlier this month a chart listing tentative WHS due dates from various Microsoft partners. Churchill’s chart came from a recent Microsoft presentation at the recent IFA consumer-electronics show in Berlin.

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