Using Windows » News

Microsoft: Windows 7 on track for holiday availability

chaks — Mon, 11 May 2009 22:51:04 +0000

Microsoft has announced in Tech-Ed North America 2009 that the company is anticipating the next version of its client operating system, Windows 7, will be available to customers in time for the holiday shopping season. Windows Server 2008 R2 Release Candidate (RC) will also be released to market in the same timeframe as Windows 7.

“Microsoft is committed to ensuring that IT professionals and developers continue to have the platform and technologies to drive maximum value and business results. Getting the most out of IT investments is even more important in today’s economy. With early RC testing and extensive partner feedback we’ve received, Windows 7 is tracking well for holiday availability.”

For more information, visit: Microsoft Presspass

Microsoft confirms Windows 7 downgrade rights
Using Windows cited earlier regarding TechARP detailing about...
Microsoft announces 15% discount for new PCs with Windows Vista Business
Microsoft has announced a new price promotion scheme...
Registration opens for Office 2010 Technical Preview Program
Microsoft has announced in Tech-Ed North America 2009, that the...

Registration opens for Office 2010 Technical Preview Program

chaks — Mon, 11 May 2009 22:21:10 +0000

Microsoft has announced in Tech-Ed North America 2009, that the invitation-only Microsoft Office 2010 Technical Preview program will be available in July 2009. The registrations are open now, for those who are interested in trying out the Technical Preview Program when it is released in July. Also a new official blog is launched for Office 2010.

You can register for the Office 2010 Technical Preview Program here to enter the waiting list for the Technical Preview invite. The invitees will be notified in early to mid July.

Preliminary system requirements for Office 2010:

Office 2010 will be available in both 32-bit and 64-bit versions.
Office 2010 will run on Windows XP SP3, Windows Vista and Windows 7.
The hardware which is capable of running Office 2010, will support Office 2010.

The Microsoft Office 2010 wave of products, which will include Word 2010, Excel 2010, Outlook 2010, PowerPoint 2010, OneNote 2010, Communicator 2010, Access 2010, InfoPath 2010 and Publisher 2010 boosts productivity by giving users a familiar experience across the PC, phone and browser. For IT professionals, Office 2010 will offer more choice and flexibility in how they buy and manage their IT assets, helping them reduce costs. For developers, it will provide a platform for building innovative, connected Office-related applications with greater ease.

For more information visit : Microsoft Presspass, Office2010themovie trailer, Office 2010 blog, Tech-Ed North America 2009.

Office 2010: No public Beta now in Q3, 2009
Using Windows earlier sighted that Office 2010 Beta 1...
Microsoft backtracks, Office 2010 will have a public beta
Microsoft said yesterday that it had no plans...
Office 2010 will ship in both 32-bit and 64-bit flavors
Last month Ed Bott from ZDNet got a...

Windows 7 Release Candidate now available for public download

chaks — Tue, 05 May 2009 03:36:12 +0000

Microsoft has released the Release Candidate version of Windows 7 to the general public now. If you are not one of those MSDN/TechNet subscribers, then you can download the Windows 7 RC from today. The download will be available at least through July and unlike the beta, Microsoft is not limiting with the downloads and product keys!

Thank you for testing the Windows 7 Beta. You’re playing an important role in helping deliver the best version of Windows yet. Now, we hope you’ll join us for the next part of the Windows 7 journey, testing the Windows 7 Release Candidate (RC).

How to download Windows 7 RC

1.Visit the Windows 7 RC download page.

2.Choose your language.

3.Choose a 32-bit or 64-bit version of the RC. To see if your computer can run a 64-bit version of Windows, in Performance Information and Tools (Start>Control Panel>Performance Information and Tools) click View and print details and then look under 64-bit capable. For more information that might help with your decision, see 32-bit and 64-bit Windows: Frequently asked questions.

4.Get a Windows 7 RC product key. (You can use the RC for 30 days without a product key, then you’ll need it for activation.)

The same Beta product keys will work for this release candidate.

5.Download the Windows 7 RC.

Visit here to download Windows 7 RC

Windows 7 Release Candidate Update for New Zealand users
From this blog post:

As per the Windows...
Windows 7 Beta Download Instructions
So, are you ready to download Windows 7 beta?

Below...
Public beta of Exchange 2010 released
Microsoft has announced that it will release a...

Mark Your calendar for Windows 7 Beta and RC expiration dates

chaks — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 23:53:55 +0000

Microsoft has confirmed to ComputerWorld today that Windows 7 RC will not expire until June 1, 2010. June 1, 2010 is set as the expiry date for Windows 7 RC giving more time for testers to run through and report the bugs in the OS. The release candidates of Windows Vista were made available for a maximum of 8 months till June 1, 2007 from the time of release. The official home page of Windows 7 from Microsoft confirms that Windows 7 RC will be available for download till the end of July.

Windows 7 RC Expiry Date: June 1, 2010

Windows 7 Beta expires on August 1, 2009 and for those who are running Windows 7 Beta, Windows will notify when the expiration process begins and 2 weeks later the PC will shut down for every two hours starting from July 1, 2009. The RC will expire June 1, 2010, and the bi-hourly shutdowns will begin on March 1, 2010.

Windows 7 Beta Expiry Date: August 1, 2009

Office 2010: No public Beta now in Q3, 2009
Using Windows earlier sighted that Office 2010 Beta 1...
Office 2010 will ship in both 32-bit and 64-bit flavors
Last month Ed Bott from ZDNet got a...
Windows 7 RC to be released on May 5, 2009
A page on the Microsoft Partner website had...

Windows 7 RC and other releases

chaks — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 22:23:41 +0000

Today is a BIG day for Microsoft!

The BIG news is - Windows 7 RC is now available for download to MSDN/TechNet subscribers!

But it isn’t just Windows 7 RC that got released! Below are the other stuffs that are made available for download to MSDN/TechNet subscribers along with Windows 7 RC

Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 Service Pack 2 RTM
Windows Server 2008 R2 RC
Hyper-V Server 2008 R2 RC
Windows Automated Installation Kit for Windows 7 RC
Windows Driver Kit for Windows 7 RC
Windows Software Development Kit for Windows 7 RC
Windows 7 RC Language Pack
Windows XP Mode Beta
Windows Virtual PC Beta

If you are an ardent Windows XP user, then you should sure checkout the Windows XP Mode and Windows Virtual PC

Windows XP Mode is specifically designed to help small businesses move to Windows 7. Windows XP Mode provides you with the flexibility to run many older productivity applications on a Windows 7 based PC.

You can find the release notes for Windows XP Mode and Windows Virtual PC here

Windows 7 Release Candidate Update for New Zealand users
From this blog post:

As per the Windows...
Windows 7 Release Candidate now available for public download
Microsoft has released the Release Candidate version of Windows 7...
Office 2007 SP2 due this month
The Windows Server Update Services (WSUS) Product team has

Windows 7 Release Candidate Update for New Zealand users

chaks — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 23:36:35 +0000

From this blog post:

As per the Windows Team Blog, the RC is on track for April 30th for download by MSDN and TechNet subscribers. Broader, public availability will begin on May 5th - these are the US dates, so for NZ expect May 1 for MSDN/TechNet downloads and May 6 for broad availability.

Yes, we Kiwis have to wait one day more to get the Release Candidate!

Windows 7 Release Candidate now available for public download
Microsoft has released the Release Candidate version of Windows 7...
Windows 7 RC to be released on May 5, 2009
A page on the Microsoft Partner website had...
Windows 7 to be released as early as July
Reuters is reporting that Windows 7 could be...

Windows 7 to be released as early as July

chaks — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 00:22:16 +0000

Reuters is reporting that Windows 7 could be out as early as July!

The company has still not said when the finished version would begin to be installed on PCs or available to buy in shops, but the company’s chief financial officer said on Thursday it could be as early as July

Microsoft has been reluctant so far in discussing regarding the Windows 7 release dates and this latest info has taken everyone by surprise! If this info is indeed true, we would be seeing Windows 7 RTM in the next 3 or 4 months!

Microsoft last week announced the availability of Windows 7 RC download on April 30th for MSDN/TechNet subscribers and May 5th for the general public.

Microsoft expected to deliver Windows 7 public RC in May
Update: RC-escrow builds are not the same as RC builds...
Windows 7 Downgrade Rights revealed
As Windows Vista users can downgrade to Windows XP, Windows...
Office 2010 will ship in both 32-bit and 64-bit flavors
Last month Ed Bott from ZDNet got a...

Its Official - Windows 7 RC download from May 5th

chaks — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 23:23:01 +0000

Microsoft has announced the availability of Windows 7 RC download on April 30th for MSDN/TechNet subscribers and May 5th for the general public.

I

Related posts:
Windows 7 Release Candidate Update for New Zealand users
From this blog post:

As per the Windows...
Windows 7 to be released as…

Windows 7 Release Candidate Update for New Zealand users From this blog post:
As per the Windows...
Windows 7 to be released as early as July Reuters is reporting that Windows 7 could be...
Windows 7 Release Candidate now available for public download Microsoft has released the Release Candidate version of Windows 7...

Web IM in Hotmail reaches more users

chaks — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 09:38:54 +0000

Users from Brazil, Canada, China, Germany, Netherlands, Norway, and USA can now enjoy ‘Instant Messaging’ their friends from inside Windows Live Hotmail account. Windows Live Team has announced that Instant Messaging in Windows Live Hotmail will reach more users in this phase of roll-out.

Web Messenger option in Hotmail

Set your IM status

Contact Options

IM Window

If you have more than one Windows Live ID, you can sign in to web Messenger and regular Messenger at the same time, with different IDs.

Sign into your Windows Live Hotmail account now and stay connected with your friends via IM!

UAC in Windows 7 will nag users 29% less often
Microsoft has promised that one of the most hated...
Windows Live SkyDrive adds new features
The Windows Live Skydrive team has announced some of the...

Microsoft hiring developers for Windows 8

chaks — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 23:21:10 +0000

Neoseeker has come across a job listing in Microsoft Careers site which calls for skills focused on the Server side development of Windows 8.

From the Microsoft job posting,

“For the upcoming version of Windows, new critical features are being worked on including cluster support and support for one way replication. The core engine is also being reworked to provide dramatic performance improvements. We will also soon be starting major improvements for Windows 8 where we will be including innovative features which will revolutionize file access in branch offices.”

Not to mention that the above features are already being introduced in Windows Server 2008 R2. In early March, Soni Meinke, a Senior Program Manager in the Windows Server group in an interview with Channel 9 revealed that the next version of Windows OS is already in its planning stage and her work being engaging with various customers and partners, she is already discussing the plan and strategy around them.

“I have been very involved in an effort around some early planning Win 8. It’s been largely focused on establishing a customer tour where we basically go on-site to customers and really drill into their broad cross-Windows server future needs. Not specifically looking at just the Win 8 time frame, but just post-Win 7 and beyond. We’ve done that with the hope of getting these engagements and voice of the customer throughout the product lifecycle and driving that early on into the planning process for Win 8″

Samsung’s website for Windows Mobile developers

The Samsung Mobile Innovator website for...
Microsoft confirms Windows 7 downgrade rights
Using Windows cited earlier regarding TechARP detailing about...
Office 2007 SP2 due this month
The Windows Server Update Services (WSUS) Product team has

UAC in Windows 7 will nag users 29% less often

chaks — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 21:52:52 +0000

Microsoft has promised that one of the most hated features of Windows Vista, User Account Control (UAC ) will be seen a third less often by Windows 7 users. Paul Cooke, director of Windows 7 client enterprise security claimed that Windows 7 users would face UAC significantly less often than people running Vista:

“From our beta and internal testing, we expect a 29% decrease in UAC prompts compared to Windows Vista. The new “slider bar” will let users fine tune the intensity of the security feature. We’ve reduced 16 different points of prompting.”

UAC was the new feature introduced in Windows Vista to help prevent malware and spyware from installing or making changes to your computer without permission. UAC does this by asking you for permission or an administrator? password before performing actions that could potentially affect your computer’s operation or that change settings that affect other users.

Even before the launch of Windows Vista, Microsoft had to reduce the number of UAC prompts as many users were annoyed by frequent UAC prompts which allowed them nothing to do, except dealing with the UAC dialog boxes. Due to user “click fatigue”, Microsoft has further scaled back the prompts in Windows 7.

Web IM in Hotmail reaches more users
Users from Brazil, Canada, China, Germany, Netherlands, Norway, and...
Behind the scenes with Windows 7
Each and every feature in Windows 7 has a story...

Behind the scenes with Windows 7

chaks — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 09:42:13 +0000

Each and every feature in Windows 7 has a story behind it, how the new idea/change was framed by Microsoft based on numerous Windows surveys and user feedbacks worldwide. Yahoo Tech reports how some of these features in Windows 7 evolved:

User decides the left-to-right order of icons in the task bar.

Back story: Users often launched a series of programs, closing them and immediately reopening some. They wanted their programs to appear in the same order on the task bar every time.

Right-click on a task bar icon and get a ‘jump list’, - A menu of important or frequently used options for the program.

Back story: Users explore their right-click options more frequently.

Show Windows side by side.

Back story:� Users were trying to give themselves a side-by-side view of documents for easy comparison.

Libraries, or virtual folders that have shortcuts to files that are actually stored in many different places on a hard drive or home network (duplicate files).

Back story: Users usually don’t organize photos, music and other files in the dedicated folders, Microsoft had set up.

Aero-Shake - Shaking an open window with the mouse to minimize all the other windows into taskbar.

Back story: Microsoft’s research showed that people often had six or even 10 windows open at once and had trouble� in focusing on a single window when it is needed.

Show Desktop option - Moving mouse to the bottom-right corner to make all windows transparent and then clicking the mouse to minimize all the windows.

Back story: For ease of access and to allow people to confidently explore the system.

Larson-Green, Microsoft’s head of Windows Experience said in an interview,

“We want to reduce the amount of thinking about the software that they have to do, so that they can concentrate all their thinking on the task they’re trying to get done. The primary things that help you create a good user experience are empathy, and being able to put yourself in the place of people who are using the products, User interface is customer service for the computer.”

Centralized planning, devising of precise methods to get user feedback and lots of surveys have helped Larson-Green’s team design Windows 7 better than Windows Vista.

Microsoft’s marketing team will survey vigorously to decide whether Windows 7 is a success and Larson-Green’s measure will be based on user comments in Best Buy and the comments posted by bloggers.

Related posts:
New Sidewinder X3 gaming mouse from Microsoft
Microsoft has introduced the new Sidewinder...
UAC in Windows 7 will nag users 29% less often
Microsoft has promised that one of the most hated...
Explore the Problem Steps Recorder
Problem Steps Recoder (PSR) allows users to record the problems...

Windows 7 RC to be released on May 5, 2009

chaks — Sun, 19 Apr 2009 03:45:37 +0000

A page on the Microsoft Partner website had an entry yesterday which revealed the Windows 7 RC date as May 5, 2009. The page announced that MSDN and Technet subscribers will be able to download the RC right away and others (may be public) starting from May 5, 2009.

However, Ars has got the news that the Windows 7 RC is available for download now only to OEM partners like Dell and not to every other MSDN/Technet subscriber:

“Currently the Windows 7 RC has not been avaiable through the TechNet subscription yet, only the Microsoft OEM partners such as Dell, Siemens are taking part in the RC’s this period of test.”

If you are trying to have a look at the Microsoft Partner website now for the Windows 7 RC release date, you will not be able to find any information there, as the entry has been removed from the website.� A similar page appeared in the Microsoft Technet website, recently hinting the RC release in May.

Related posts:
Mark Your calendar for Windows 7 Beta and RC expiration dates
Microsoft has confirmed to ComputerWorld today that Windows...
Windows 7 to be released as early as July
Reuters is reporting that Windows 7 could be...
Windows 7 Release Candidate Update for New Zealand users
From this blog post:

As per the Windows...

Microsoft backtracks, Office 2010 will have a public beta

chaks — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 04:48:18 +0000

Microsoft said yesterday that it had no plans to offer a beta publicly later this year after the Technical Preview Program in Q3, 2009 which is to be offered to invite-only users. Now Microsoft has backtracked the statement and promised today that it would provide ‘atleast a public beta’ to Office 2010.

A Microsoft spokesperson confirmed that

“This development cycle for Office is no different than years past; technical preview is usually invite-only, but still goes out to hundreds of thousands of people, and there is a public beta cycle where millions can download and try Office.”

Microsoft delivered two public betas for Office 2007,� it also let users try and download the preview from within their browsers.

Related posts:
Office 2010: No public Beta now in Q3, 2009
Using Windows earlier sighted that Office 2010 Beta 1...
Registration opens for Office 2010 Technical Preview Program
Microsoft has announced in Tech-Ed North America 2009, that the...
Public beta of Exchange 2010 released
Microsoft has announced that it will release a...

Microsoft to offer hosted security for Exchange

chaks — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 10:05:27 +0000

Microsoft will offer its first hosted security service, the Forefront Online Security for Exchange to keep malware and spam out of email inboxes starting from Thursday which will cost $20 per user per year or less based on volume licensing. A Web-based console will be used to set up the policies for virus and spam protection.

Microsoft will also release a public beta version of its Stirling security suite on Thursday which will include client, server, and application security technology and offer a single management console. Identity Lifecycle Manager will be renamed to Forefront Identity Manager and another product code-named Geneva, will improve the security of software and services at corporations.

Microsoft wants corporations to have a ‘fine-grained security policies and a deeper understanding about who in the organization is trying to access data and what they are trying to do with it’ so that they have a better “Business Ready Security”.

Related posts:
Microsoft announces 15% discount for new PCs with Windows Vista Business
Microsoft has announced a new price promotion scheme...
Microsoft hiring developers for Windows 8
Neoseeker has come across a job listing in...
Microsoft backtracks, Office 2010 will have a public beta
Microsoft said yesterday that it had no plans...

Office 2010: No public Beta now in Q3, 2009

chaks — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 09:08:37 +0000

Using Windows earlier sighted that Office 2010 Beta 1 will be due in early July and will not be available for public testing, and the second beta is due in early November. Now Microsoft has confirmed that the Technical Preview Beta program due for release soon will not be released to public and will be limited to a group of thousands of invite-only users starting from Q3, 2009.

Office 2010 Beta will be given to workers in Microsoft’s largest corporate accounts as well as run-of-the-mill consumers.

“The technology preview, as Microsoft will call the beta program, will involve ‘thousands of users’. At this point there is no (public beta) plan”.

Microsoft will ship both 32-bit and 64-bit versions of Office 2010, perhaps during the first half of 2010.

Related posts:
Microsoft backtracks, Office 2010 will have a public beta
Microsoft said yesterday that it had no plans...
Registration opens for Office 2010 Technical Preview Program
Microsoft has announced in Tech-Ed North America 2009, that the...
Public beta of Exchange 2010 released
Microsoft has announced that it will release a...

Microsoft confirms Windows 7 downgrade rights

chaks — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 07:34:43 +0000

Using Windows cited earlier regarding TechARP detailing about the Windows 7 downgrade rights.

Today we have Microsoft confirming and explaining the same in a blog post.

According to the blog post, users can downgrade to Windows XP and Windows Vista from Windows 7 via OEMs. OEM downgrade rights will be available for 6 months post Windows 7 General Availability.

OEM Downgrade rights will be available for 6 months post Windows 7 General Availability (aka Launch). This is not the first time that Microsoft has offered downgrade rights to a version other than its immediate predecessor and our Volume Licensing customers can always downgrade to any previous version of Windows.

For customers and businesses running Windows XP, Microsoft still recommends to first upgrade to Windows Vista before making the decision to upgrade to Windows 7

Microsoft recommends customers complete their testing and evaluation of Windows Vista software and determine the right time to migrate existing and new PCs to Windows Vista software.� For many customers and businesses, the most simple migration plan is to move to Windows Vista software as new PCs are acquired. If however, your business requires use of Windows XP Professional on new PCs and if you are running Windows Vista Business or Windows Vista Ultimate you have the automatic right to run a previous version of Windows on your PC for the life of your PC.

So, what about the most anticipated Windows 7 release date ?

We�re not making any new announcements about Windows 7 availability at this time.� As we have said, we are currently in the development stages for Windows 7 and expect it will take approximately 3 years from Windows Vista Consumer GA to develop. The specific release date will be determined once Microsoft meets its quality bar for release.

This clears many of the confusions regarding Windows 7 downgrade rights. For more information regarding Windows 7 downgrade rights, visit the blog post.

Related posts:
Windows 7 Downgrade Rights revealed
As Windows Vista users can downgrade to Windows XP, Windows...
Microsoft announces 15% discount for new PCs with Windows Vista Business
Microsoft has announced a new price promotion scheme...
Australia’s Commonwealth Bank and Centrelink already testing Windows 7
Just as we saw yesterday regarding a...

Public beta of Exchange 2010 released

chaks — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 04:27:12 +0000

Microsoft has announced that it will release a public beta of Exchange Server 2010, the next version of its email and calendar server today, and said the final version will be released by the year end which confirms the rumours that the RTM release of Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 is planned for early October 2009. Microsoft also confirmed that Office 2010 will be the official name for the next version of its Office productivity suite.

Exchange 2010 will continue to use the Jet database engine for storing messages. All new features available for Outlook client will be available for the premium users of Outlook Web Access.

New features in Exchange Server 2010 include

Built-in e-mail archive

View Emails in Conversation thread

Ignore Conversation, which allows users to mute an e-mail thread they are not interested in.

MailTips-� warns users before they send an e-mail if a particular recipient is out of the office and unavailable or warns users if the email is to be sent to a distribution group that is very large or includes recipients external to the company or warns if they are going to send an attachment outside their company’s firewall. MailTips will not be available on Windows Phones

Text previews of voicemails in Outlook

Tracks whether messages arrived with recipients

Images Courtesy: Microsoft

Outlook 2010 beta will be made available as a technical preview in the third quarter of the year and the preview will ship in Q1, 2010.

The Exchange 2010 Beta is available for download at the Microsoft Downloads section here.

For more information about the new features included in Exchange 2010 have a read here at the Technet site of Microsoft.

Related posts:
Microsoft backtracks, Office 2010 will have a public beta
Microsoft said yesterday that it had no plans...
Office 2010: No public Beta now in Q3, 2009
Using Windows earlier sighted that Office 2010 Beta 1...
Registration opens for Office 2010 Technical Preview Program
Microsoft has announced in Tech-Ed North America 2009, that the...

Alpha version of Windows 7 Software Logo Toolkit released

chaks — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 04:17:09 +0000

Microsoft has released an alpha version of the Windows 7 Software Logo Toolkit on� Microsoft Connect . Businesses can use the toolkit to verify an application/product’s compliance against the requirements of the Windows 7 Client Software Logo Program, generate a compliance report and submit the passing results to Microsoft and then begin using the Logo artwork.

Customers can make better purchase decisions by identifying products with “Compatible with Windows 7″ logo which have passed Microsoft’s tests for compatibility and reliability on Windows 7. The logo toolkit also helps to identify specific, commonly identified application issues to help partners deliver a product compatible with Windows 7

The beta version of the Windows 7 Software Logo Toolkit will be released during the 2nd half of 2009 and submissions for the logo will be accepted at the same time.

Related posts:
Microsoft confirms Windows 7 downgrade rights
Using Windows cited earlier regarding TechARP detailing about...
Survey: 83% of businesses won’t deploy Windows 7 next year
It looks like only a small percentage of businesses plan...
Australia’s Commonwealth Bank and Centrelink already testing Windows 7
Just as we saw yesterday regarding a...

New Sidewinder X3 gaming mouse from Microsoft

chaks — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 04:13:06 +0000

Microsoft has introduced the new Sidewinder X3 gaming mouse which will ship in May. The mouse has a similar set of features like its predecessor SideWinder models, the new features added now being the improved side button layout , the ambidextrous layout of the mouse and a wide Glide Feet.

SideWinder X3 features:

A 2,000 DPI laser tracking engine,

On-the-Fly DPI Switching to switch between 400, 800, and 2000 DPI

5 programmable main buttons to customize the main gaming buttons to your preference

Familiar shape for right or left handed comfort

Customized spell and action movements

Recessed side buttons and

Textured scroll wheel

The previous gaming mouse models SideWinder, SideWinder X5 and SideWinder X8 are sold at US$80, US$60 and US$100 respectively. This new gaming mouse model, SideWinder X3 is priced at $40 and hence will offer a cheaper option for game lovers.

The mouse is available for pre-sale on Amazon.com now.

Related posts:
Microsoft hiring developers for Windows 8
Neoseeker has come across a job listing in...
Microsoft expected to deliver Windows 7 public RC in May
Update: RC-escrow builds are not the same as RC builds...
Microsoft confirms Windows 7 downgrade rights
Using Windows cited earlier regarding TechARP detailing about...

Windows Live SkyDrive adds new features

chaks — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 00:32:07 +0000

The Windows Live Skydrive team has announced some of the new features introduced in Skydrive!

Now you can sort photos in your albums, slideshows and files by name, size, date, or type

If you have Silverlight, you can arrange your photos by simply dragging them in the order you want

You can view the photos your friends are tagged in by visiting their profile

The next time you visit your Favorites on Windows Live Toolbar, your existing favorites will automatically move to SkyDrive!

If you are not yet a Windows Live user, feel free to sign up here

Related posts:
Windows Live Essentials now available via Windows Update
Now that Windows Mail, Windows Photo Gallery has been replaced...
Web IM in Hotmail reaches more users
Users from Brazil, Canada, China, Germany, Netherlands, Norway, and...

Office 2010 will ship in both 32-bit and 64-bit flavors

chaks — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 00:07:05 +0000

Last month Ed Bott from ZDNet got a clue about the upcoming Office 2010 versions from an XML file used by the Windows Easy Transfer utility in Windows 7 and pointed out that Office 2010 would be shipping in both 32-bit and 64-bit versions. Today, in an e-mail to Ars Technica , a Microsoft spokesperson has confirmed that Office 2010 will be available in both 32 bit and 64 bit flavors.

Office 2010 Beta 1 is scheduled for an early July release and the Beta 2 in early November. The RTM release could happen as early as March 2010.� Also it is speculated by TechARP that the SKU lineup will be announced in Q2, 2009,� (May 2009), OEM royalty rates in Q3, 2009 and the marketing strategy and opportunities for OEM partners is scheduled for Q4, 2009.

The previous version of Microsoft’s Office suite, Office 2007 is nearing its final release with the launch of Service Pack 2 set for the 28th of this month.

Related posts:
Office 2010: No public Beta now in Q3, 2009
Using Windows earlier sighted that Office 2010 Beta 1...
Registration opens for Office 2010 Technical Preview Program
Microsoft has announced in Tech-Ed North America 2009, that the...
Microsoft backtracks, Office 2010 will have a public beta
Microsoft said yesterday that it had no plans...

Office 2007 SP2 due April 28th

chaks — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 00:03:52 +0000

The WSUS team recently blogged that the Service Pack 2 for Office 2007 is set for release in April. The Office Service Pack team has announced today that the formal release date set for the Service Pack 2 is April 28. Check out the updates in SP2 listed by Microsoft Update Product team here.

Keep an eye on the Office Sustained Engineering Blog for more updates about Office 2007 SP2.

Related posts:
Office 2007 SP2 due this month
The Windows Server Update Services (WSUS) Product team has
Office 2010 will ship in both 32-bit and 64-bit flavors
Last month Ed Bott from ZDNet got a...
Registration opens for Office 2010 Technical Preview Program
Microsoft has announced in Tech-Ed North America 2009, that the...

Invitation to attend the Imagine Cup Finals in Auckland

chaks — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 10:06:35 +0000

From Nick MacKechnie’s blog:

You are invited to see the top teams compete in the Imagine Cup Finals in Auckland!

Imagine Cup is a competition which encourages students to use technology to transform great ideas into real world solutions every year. Student teams from around New Zealand have come up with solutions to the world�s toughest problems. Join them at The University of Auckland Business School as they compete in the Imagine Cup 2009 National Finals and find out which team will be the ultimate winner and represent New Zealand in the world wide finals in Cairo, Egypt.

For the first time ever, watch the finalists present and demonstrate their unique solution to a panel of influential industry judges live and decide for yourself who should take out the title of Imagine Cup 2009 NZ. Register your place at the finals now and get the chance to win awesome prizes including one of three XBOX 360 consoles at the finals. Everyone is welcome!

What: Microsoft Imagine Cup 2009 National Finals

Where: The University of Auckland Business School

When: Wednesday 29^th April 2009, Kicking off at 6:30 P.M.

Register Here

No related posts.

Samsung’s website for Windows Mobile developers

chaks — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 09:46:12 +0000

The Samsung Mobile Innovator website for Windows Mobile developers noted by the Windows Mobile Team recently has a lot of notable features including a Getting Started tutorial on Windows Mobile Programming, how-tos on debugging with Visual Studio 2008, unit testing for devices, downloadable SDK for Windows Mobile and downloadable skins for device emulator along with

Lab.dev - A virtual device lab that allows developers to install and test applications on Samsung Windows Mobile devices over the Web

Access to the Samsung Reference Collection - Knowledge Base, Samsung Device Database, Samsung Mobile Innovator Wiki, and Samsung Windows Mobile SDK Documentation

Samsung Windows Phone Product Showcase

Access to Sammi - Samsung Mobile Innovator blog for Mobile Developers.

You can register for a free membership at the Samsung Mobile Innovator website here.

For more details visit the Samsung Mobile Innovator site.

Related posts:
Samsung OmniaHD gets a new name
Samsung has announced that OmniaHD is now going...
Google Maps for Windows Mobile updated
An update for Google maps for Windows Mobile,...
New Windows Mobile 6.5 designer themes
Microsoft recently announced plans to offer free designer...

Office 2007 SP2 due this month

chaks — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 09:30:54 +0000

The Windows Server Update Services (WSUS) Product team has blogged that Office 2007 SP2 is coming out for WSUS in April.

The major improvements in the Service Pack 2 for Office 2007 will be

Built-in ability to save as ODF & PDF formats

Improvements to Outlook�s performance and calendar reliability

Significant bug fixes for charts in core Office applications

Ability for client service packs to be removed using an uninstall tool

Customer-requested improvements to the Office Server products

For more highlights about what’s new in Office 2007 SP2, visit Office Sustaining Engineering blog and stay tuned for official announcement from the Office Service Pack Team.

Related posts:
Office 2007 SP2 due April 28th
The WSUS team recently blogged that the Service...
Office 2010 will ship in both 32-bit and 64-bit flavors
Last month Ed Bott from ZDNet got a...
Microsoft backtracks, Office 2010 will have a public beta
Microsoft said yesterday that it had no plans...

Australia’s Commonwealth Bank and Centrelink already testing Windows 7

chaks — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 04:13:09 +0000

Just as we saw yesterday regarding a Survey which said 83% wont deploy Windows 7 within a year after its release, it still doesn’t stop organisations from testing and evaluating Windows 7 even at its early beta stage. With Windows XP’s mainstream support ending today (April 14th, 2009) , i think even more vista-averse businesses will start evaluating Windows 7 at an early stage.

The Commonwealth Bank of Australia which currently uses Windows XP Professional in 38,000 desktop PCs has said in a press statement that it has examined Windows 7, but is yet to do a formal beta testing in its production environment. As Windows 7 is still in beta and has not yet been final tested, the bank says it is too early to provide with the public, its impressions on Windows 7. The bank does not have any plans to migrate to the new operating system as of now and the Windows 7 Beta examination was a part of the bank’s continuous software marketplace monitoring and decision making whenever new packages are released.

On the other hand, Australian Welfare agency Centrelink has tested early versions of Windows 7 and has long-term plans to migrate to Windows 7 from Windows XP in its 30,000 desktop Pcs. The agency sees Windows 7 to have gained “significant improvement in performance and quality” when compared to Windows Vista.� According to Centrelink, Improvements in deployment, management, performance and reliability makes Windows 7, the preferred long-term corporate desktop over Vista and XP depending on availability and testing and certification of final version.

Earlier in February, one of New Zealand’s website design companies, Enlighten Designs gave high praise for Windows 7 when it started testing the beta version of the OS in a virtual environment and planned migrate to Windows 7 as soon as it was commercially available.

So, has your organisation already started testing/evaluating Windows 7? If so, feel free to share with us via comments

Related posts:
Survey: 83% of businesses won’t deploy Windows 7 next year
It looks like only a small percentage of businesses plan...
Windows 7 Release Candidate now available for public download
Microsoft has released the Release Candidate version of Windows 7...
Office 2010 will ship in both 32-bit and 64-bit flavors
Last month Ed Bott from ZDNet got a...

Survey: 83% of businesses won’t deploy Windows 7 next year

chaks — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 10:22:01 +0000

It looks like only a small percentage of businesses plan to migrate to Windows 7 in the first year of the OS’s availability. Economic concerns, worries about compatibility, Windows Vista bugs and security issues will keep enterprise customers away from Windows 7 for atleast a year after the OS is released.

A survey of more than 1,100 IT professionals conducted by Dimensional Research on behalf of systems management appliance vendor KACE, regarding Windows 7’s early sales prospects, found that 83% of enterprises plan to skip the OS in its first year. 42% of the participants said that their organizations planned to deploy Windows 7 within 12 to 24 months of release. 24% said they would wait 24 to 36 months, and 17% said they would wait more than 36 months to migrate to Windows 7. However it is not clear from the survey whether the 42% accounts also those who will deploy Windows 7 within a year.

Even though Windows 7 is better than Windows Vista in terms of compatibility, performance and reliability, enterprises are not going to migrate immediately, as evaluating Windows 7 for their networks/premesis should take atleast a year. This survey exactly reflects the same. Head over to InformationWeek for more details of the survey.

Have your say in the poll below

Related posts:
Australia’s Commonwealth Bank and Centrelink already testing Windows 7
Just as we saw yesterday regarding a...
Microsoft confirms Windows 7 downgrade rights
Using Windows cited earlier regarding TechARP detailing about...
Ten Things IT Professionals Should Know About Windows 7

Application compatibility

Hardware compatibility and requirements

Better Together with...

Google Maps for Windows Mobile updated

chaks — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 10:15:01 +0000

An update for Google maps for Windows Mobile, Version 3.0.1 has been released. The Google Latitude background location updating has been fixed and Google Latitude will continue updating your location automatically in the background even when Maps for mobile is closed. Login errors and other Internal errors, backlight behaviour when running Latitude are also corrected in this version.

This update is available for Symbian S60 and Windows Mobile devices. See the release notes in Google’s website for the complete list of fixes.

Related posts:
Samsung’s website for Windows Mobile developers

The Samsung Mobile Innovator website for...
New Windows Mobile 6.5 designer themes
Microsoft recently announced plans to offer free designer...
Samsung OmniaHD gets a new name
Samsung has announced that OmniaHD is now going...

Microsoft announces 15% discount for new PCs with Windows Vista Business

chaks — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 08:52:22 +0000

Microsoft has announced a new price promotion scheme designed for small businesses customers who purchase new PCs pre-installed with Windows Vista Business. The offer allows small businesses with a maximum of 125 units to add Software Assurance to new PC’s within 180 days of purchase at a 15% discount. The offer will last till the end of June.

For more information regarding this scheme, please visit here

Related posts:
Microsoft confirms Windows 7 downgrade rights
Using Windows cited earlier regarding TechARP detailing about...
Mark Your calendar for Windows 7 Beta and RC expiration dates
Microsoft has confirmed to ComputerWorld today that Windows...
Alpha version of Windows 7 Software Logo Toolkit released

Microsoft has released an alpha version...