Viral Tarpara's Blog

Discover the Future of Visual Data Mining with Microsoft Pivot

Viral Tarpara — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 21:00:46 GMT

The world has too much information. If you query any search engine for any topic, you will likely be greeted by millions of links of results. Everyone knows that text cannot possibly be the end all, be all of data discovery. Surely as the volume of unmanaged data grows, which grows about 70% year over year, better tools must exist to navigate such data sets. Microsoft Live Labs is trying to tackle this enormous challenge with a technology called “Pivot.”

“Pivot is our most ambitious to date. Pivot makes it easier to interact with massive amounts of data in ways that are powerful, informative, and fun. We tried to step back and design an interaction model that accommodates the complexity and scale of information rather than the traditional structure of the Web.”

This is going to be a big area of research for Microsoft. If you think about the actual problems that people face when discovering data, Pivot tackles a very serious challenge. Data insights is going to be increasingly key for any individual doing research, commercial or academic.

If you still can’t see how cool this is, read Brandon Watson’s blog article about using Crunchbase as a data collection.

Chrome OS Engineering vs. Windows 7 Engineering

Viral Tarpara — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 20:03:00 GMT

Okay everyone, the moment has finally arrived! Google just announced…

A Big Pile of Nothing

It has been interesting reading the press and their view of the “game-changer” that is Chrome OS. Depending of what mindset you come from, your opinion of the project would be that of respect or if you’re like me, would be more attune to the statement “who cares.” If you haven’t kept up, then read Engadget for their review. It has been amazing seeing the comments from general techies. There are some consistent points made by most commentors, namely around speed, web-centricity, and cost.

Speed: The Chrome OS Unstory

“Oh my god, an operating system that boots in 7 seconds!”

The common thread embedded in the majority of news articles, whether it be TechCrunch or Reuters, is how this new Linux based OS performs so well in terms of speed. At Google’s launch event they used the following slide to describe traditional OSes vs. Chrome OS. If you’re technical like me, a few glaring issues come to mind. For example, what is a “standard kernel” ? Also, how “custom” is a firmware that boots a Linux environment really going to be?

If you want to see a modern operating system engineering decisions, check out Window 7’s Steven Sinofsky (fast foward to 33:33) showcase how modern computers will avoid putting apps in the boot path. Companies like Lenovo and Sony are starting to not put “crapware” in their machines. In fact, a lot of new custom software is taking advantage of features in Windows 7 like DeviceStage that provide device manufacturers a branded way to consolidate all software and documentation while keeping a standard UI. If you’re interested in a complete set of best practices for On/Off performance, check out some dedicated resources. But this is software at the OS level, what about pre-boot?

If you consider how most PCs today still have a legacy BIOS as its pre-boot initialization method, consider the following idea. If you could boot Windows in 10 seconds and start rocking away, would you really need Chrome OS? If you could go in and out of standby in about 2 seconds, is that a good user experience? Watch the following videos and be amazed!

How is this possible you say? It comes down to two things—one is that the BIOS is replaced with electronic firmware that initializes all hardware in under a second, and two, the machine uses a solid-state hard disk. If its not making sense where I’m going with this, it should. Windows runs great when the hardware isn’t a bottleneck. What does this have to do with Chrome OS? Well as it turns out, Chrome OS will only support SSD and electronic firmware. On top of that, they are limiting the number of hardware chipsets supported for devices like wifi. Only hardware approved by Google will boot in the OS. This is obviously to keep the performance of the OS lean and mean, but if you think about how much bigger Windows 7 is compared to Chrome, both in scope and size, we should all pause for a moment to realize how amazing of an engineering feat Windows 7 actually is. To show this further, I’ll hack Google’s slide below.

With further tuning and optimization, PCs will be able to achieve the same performance of a Chrome OS netbook running similar workloads. In fairness, the one really cool thing that Chrome OS has going for it is ARM support. Windows requires x86/x64 CPUs which are battery killers. So I’ll give energy efficiency to Chrome OS on ARM. I wish I could say that Redmond is working on native compiler technology that allows seamless application compatibility between ARM and x86/x64, but even if I knew of such a project, I couldn’t tell you. Windows/Office on ARM would be amazing!

Bottom line is that Google is not doing anything special here. They just happen to be releasing a product at a time when the hardware ecosystem is being refreshed to deliver on these new customer scenarios. Given the choice between an SSD-based Windows machines and a Chrome machine, the Windows machine wins every time.

Web-Centric: Especially When There Isn’t One

“The web is awesome, everything I do is on the web! Hold on, let me upload this 1080p video.”

What is likely to become painfully obvious is how Chrome OS will become limited where ever there is no internet. I’ll admit that in the developed world, those in the tech circles will always find a way to scout out internet access. Whether its an 3G connection, a wifi hotspot, or using an iPhone as a router, we geeks tend to be a resourceful bunch. What about everyone else? India definitely doesn’t have the fiber to serve over a billion people. In South Africa, the telcos are so bad that its faster to send data via carrier pigeon then over the DSL line. Yes, Google has this thing called Gears, but in its current state even simple things like being able to access GMail offline just don’t work. At most, Gears allows you to continue working inside your web app when your connection drops. If there is no connection to begin with, forget it.

There’s also another matter around rich content. Videos, photos, and music content is very important in modern day computing regardless of technical literacy. There isn’t enough bandwidth in the world to satisfy this complex need. Google is still years off from making a web-connected laptop your primary machine. The issue of a primary versus secondary machine is an important one, because you really have to ask yourself, is a Windows netbook really that bad?

The reason to ask yourself this question is that Google is pushing Chrome OS as a secondary device, much in the same way PC OEMs and Microsoft is marketing netbooks. The the dirty little secret that no one will officially tout is that Windows 7 running on a modern netbook is actually pretty awesome! Contrary to every online press article written, netbooks can be great primary machines. So even if you are the type that has a primary machine, wouldn’t you rather have a great synced up secondary device instead of a glorified iPhone laptop? Actually that is almost insulting to the iPhone because at least the iPhone has native applications, Chrome OS doesn’t. I’m waiting for a Bluetooth iPhone keyboard. That’ll will give me about 90% of every function a Chrome OS laptop could do.

There is, of course, the natural question between Android and Chrome OS. Sergey tried answering it—he wasn’t successful, that is unless you actually believe that a phone with Chrome OS consuming only web apps is a desirable goal. For me, called me old fashioned, I like being able to leverage hardware functions natively. I don’t mean to put a nail in the coffin for the idea of universal web apps, I mean Apple tried and failed, but at what point do all the engineers and designers begin to think, “what a waste of computer resources” having all things run in a browser? The web will have to change too much before this dream can fully be realized. So maybe this is Google’s ten year outlook, the death of HTTP.

Cost: Because No One Would Buy It

“We believe in the power of the community so that’s why we’re making it free!”

They’re making it free because they chose to use Linux. I think Linux has its place. I really question why they didn’t go with BSD like Apple, however. But that’s besides the point. Let’s think about Windows. Windows 7 doubled the sales of Vista. Vista outsold XP. Microsoft believes that at least some functions of software development are worthy enough to put a price tag on. In fact, the sole reason Windows 7 has sold so well and beat Harry Potter on Amazon pre-sales was because Redmond listened to all of you. Seattle has a lot of coffee and Redmond got a strong whiff and woke up.

For Google, the only way people would use their OS is if it were free. But also, it speaks to how they see the software profession as a whole. Keep in mind, Google’s end game is not to be a software company. They are an advertising company. They will do anything to achieve these goals in the digital world, so it only makes sense to push their ad gateway to the masses for free.

For a good segment of you, this point doesn’t carry much weight, after all what other company has given so much for so little? Microsoft did, and guess what, Microsoft stopped doing it when no one was left to challenge the dominant products. For all Google’s values about “do no evil,” they’ll creatively justify the same practices. Open-source does not an open ecosystem make. This will be especially true as trusted clouds and trusted apps flourish in the web domain as trust goes beyond simple code. Just like the many who feel bound to the rules that Microsoft sets, Google will try to bind you to a similar set on the web. We have observed this behavior in the AdSense, AdWords, and Andoid Marketplace business.

Why I Want Chrome OS to Be Awesome…r

It’s actually odd to attempt a conclusion in favor of a competing product. I work at Microsoft, a 90,000+ person company. I must absolutely love Windows, Windows Mobile, Office, Live Messenger, Bing, and IE…right? WRONG!

I love Windows 7. I love my iPhone. I love Google Voice. I love Microsoft Office. I love Bing. I love…Google Chrome (browser). I love the things I do because they are awesome and whatever Microsoft makes that isn’t awesome, they try to make it awesome..r (see IE9 video at 48:45). I really want a cloud OS. I want to be able to use a super fast, secure, light-weight web device for most of my stuff. I truly buy the idea and vision, but Chrome OS fails on so many levels to push any real boundaries.

They aren’t doing anything new that the likes of Intel or Ubuntu haven’t already done with Moblin or Ubuntu ReMix. Their vision is narrow and for that reason, I don’t see Google working towards anything great here. I’d be a certified lunatic to think that Google wasn’t capable of doing better because they absolutely are, they just simply aren’t incentivized to take on the same challenges that Microsoft and Apple do. Trust me though, if you think Microsoft is just blowing off Chrome OS, they are not. Windows is serious business not because it makes billions of dollars, but because billions of PEOPLE use it. Windows is a universal language unlike anything else. To close, lets be honest and acknowledge Google’s thought leadership and initiative, but let’s not jump the gun and see a desert oasis where all that exists is glimmering sand.

Dolly Parton Does IE8 Webslices!

Viral Tarpara — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 14:02:58 GMT

One of the most popular female country performers of all time, Dolly Parton is an international music icon. In conjunction with the international release of Dolly’s new CD/DVD set, Live From London, Dolly has added a Silverlight-based IE8 web slice to her web site, www.dollypartonmusic.net.

Be sure to check out the web slice and let us know what you think! This is a 3 tab web slice with the options of:

· Video Diary – see Dolly’s latest thoughts on video, with the beauty of Silverlight

· News – see the latest news, fan club announcements, and Dollyisms (like "It costs a lot of money to look this cheap”)

· Buy Now – view the latest deal from Dolly’s online store, Trinkets & Treasures

Also, Dolly has created a YouTube video (it’ll make you cringe a little) about IE8 web slices. There will be several new Dollyism’s that come from this video. I’d love to quote some of this, but I don’t want to spoil your upcoming laugh!

Classrooms with “Mini” Mainframe Using Multipoint Server

Viral Tarpara — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 13:41:46 GMT

The idea of using a single machine with multiple simultaneous users is not a new concept. After all, that is exactly what server admins do all the time with remote desktop and terminal services. But what hasn’t been as easy to do is give users access to their own desktop environment with they own keyboard and mouse while connected to a single machine. Partners like NComputing have made this scenario possible and Microsoft has recognized these values especially in the education sector and developing world. With quad-core and eight-core machines about to be released in the mainstream, does it continue to make sense having one computer per user?

Those of you old enough to work in the mainframe days know that the IT industry is a pendulum that constantly swings between the client-server model and the mainframe model. Microsoft Multipoint Server 2010 makes that Dell desktop sitting in the back of the classroom a mini mainframe! Imagine the following scenarios:

1. Give students their own individual computing experience.

With Windows MultiPoint Server 2010, students feel like they have their own computer instead of sharing one with other students. This is possible because each user station has access to the host computer’s processing capabilities.

2. Provide students with their own individual account.

You can easily create an account for each student. With individual accounts, students can set their own favorites in Windows Internet Explorer, customize desktop backgrounds, set up their own desktop icons, customize the Start menu, and more. Plus, it doesn’t matter which user station students log in to — they can always save and access their individual settings and work.

3. Easily manage student accounts.

MultiPoint Manager, an intuitive user interface, makes it simple to manage student accounts. You can easily delete an account, create a new one, or change a password from one convenient location. You can even set up generic or class specific accounts that anyone can use when you don’t want to manage many different individual student accounts.

4. Easily share files and videos with and between groups of students.

Want to share a file or video with students so they can collaborate on a project? Simply drag and drop content from your Documents Library to Public Documents and the content will automatically appear in all other users’ Document Library. Now everyone can access the information you want to share. You can even create entire folders to be shared.

5. Create private folders for students to save their private data.

Some folders should be public so everyone can access them — and some folders should be private so only certain people can view their contents. With Windows MultiPoint Server 2010, students can save files in their own private folders, accessible only to them and the teacher.

6. Watch videos or listen to music or audio without disturbing others.

With Windows MultiPoint Server, you can plug in a headset or microphone at each station. Then students can enjoy a multimedia experience without worrying about disrupting other peoples’ work.

7. Install an application once and it appears automatically for all users.

Whether you want to use Microsoft Office programs or compatible educational applications, Windows MultiPoint Server makes it simple to install software. Just install your program a single time on the host computer and it will be ready to use on each user station.*

* Applications do not come preinstalled with Windows MultiPoint Server 2010. You will need to check with individual software manufacturers to ensure proper licensing in a shared computing environment.

8. Use the "Disconnect" feature to save time.

With the Disconnect feature, students can save their working sessions without logging off, yet still free up the user station for someone else. Let’s say a student has multiple Internet Explorer tabs open for research along with Microsoft Office Word. If she doesn’t want to lose her working session just because she’s going to lunch, she can use the Disconnect feature instead of logging off. When she reconnects later — at any connected user station, everything appears on her desktop just the way she left it. If your students forget to disconnect, you can do it for them from the host computer or any user station.

9. Easily monitor the system.

The MultiPoint Manager user interface makes it simple to monitor and manage user stations. You can see how many stations are being used, which student is using which system, and check to see whether hardware is connected properly.

10. Get updates and patches through Microsoft Windows Update.

Of course it goes without saying that running a single computer is ten times greener than running ten separate computers. Schools can literally cut their power consumption to a fraction of what they spend today as a result!

To learn more about Microsoft Multipoint Server 2010, visit the website !

20 Free Apps for Windows 7 Power Users

Viral Tarpara — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 17:00:00 GMT

I read a great list of free applications on TechRadar that really enhance the usability of Windows 7 especially if you’re a power-user. Windows 7 is great, but some of these apps really take window management to the next level! There is a good mix of freeware and open-source software.

My Favorites

7stacks
7-zip
Handbrake
Ditto
Supercopier
Windows Live Essentials
Notepad ++
Fences

Stay Away from (in general)

- the registry cleaner crap unless you use legacy apps.

- defrag software unless you know you need it

SharePoint VCX Conference Videos Posted! (FREE)

Viral Tarpara — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 14:32:07 GMT

Attend at Your Convenience!

If you weren't able to make the SharePoint Live Virtual Conference & Expo live event on November 5th, you can now view the event On-Demand! They have got all the sessions you missed for you to peruse at your own pace and on your own schedule.

Take a look at the complete agenda online and Attend all the sessions you want, any time, from your home or office, now through February 5, 2010.

Sessions Now Available On-Demand

Keynote: SharePoint 2010: Connecting and Empowering Your People - Arpan Shah

Effective Backup and Restore Strategies for Your SharePoint Service - Joel Oleson

Top 10 Legal Mistakes a SharePoint Administrator Needs to Avoid - Martin Tuip

Client Object Model - Paul Stubbs

Silverlight and SharePoint - Paul Stubbs

Intro to SharePoint Tools - Steve Fox

SharePoint Developer Roadmap - Steve Fox

A Lap Around The New Security Features in SharePoint 2010 - Spencer Harbar

Introducing the New Service Infrastructure in SharePoint 2010 - Andrew Connell

Setting up a SharePoint 2010 lab on Microsoft HyperV - Bob Fox

Upgrading options and consideration for SharePoint 2010 - Shane Young

Introduction to Enterprise Content Management - Andrew Connell

Architecting a Robust Global SharePoint Infrastructure - Han Wang

SQL and Storage Considerations for SharePoint Server 2010 - Mike Watson

Mimosa NearPoint for SharePoint: Next Generation SharePoint Archiving & Recovery - Martin Tuip

register for free with promo code AX9P03!

- The SharePoint Live Virtual Conference Team

Forward to a Friend to Register for Free Today!

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A Partner’s Objection Handling Guide for Exchange 2010

Viral Tarpara — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 08:36:00 GMT

In my previous post , you read about the challenges and solutions that Exchange 2003 customers value. Now, that you understand the Exchange 2003 customer challenges and the way Exchange 2010 addresses these challenges, let's look at the common objections you might hear and how to handle these objections.

“Objection 1: We will wait until Exchange 2010 SP1 comes out.

One of the most common objections you might hear is that they want to wait for SP1 so that they feel the product is well tested and adopted by a broad customer base.

With Exchange 2010 there are some compelling reasons customers don't need to wait. First, Exchange 2010 is the most tested server product Microsoft has developed. Today, we are running Exchange 2010 as a service with over 10 million mailboxes deployed. This is our Outlook Live service for schools and universities under the Outlook Live name.

We have over 18 months of live customers on the Exchange product ' longer than any other beta test we've run. In addition, Exchange 2010 has 150 customers and 40 thousand customer mailboxes in production as of August 2009. Exchange 2010 is the first product that has been tested in this broad scale prior to launch and you can assure to your customers that Exchange 2010 has been tested and proven enough already at release.

Objection 2: Don't want to upgrade without Outlook 2010

Next common objection is waiting for Outlook 2010 before upgrading Exchange. Outlook 2010 will be available in spring of 2010, several months after Exchange 2010 becomes available.

In this situation, you want to shift your conversation from Outlook and talk about the overall cost savings opportunities by moving to Exchange 2010. As we reviewed earlier, you can get hard cost savings by adopting new storage option, replacing aging voicemail systems and using built-in mobility solution. None of these costs savings rely on Outlook. Another approach you can take is to encourage phased deployment. With shipment of Windows 7 and Office 2010, many organizations are likely to be upgrading their desktop applications together. Customers can start this wave by deploying Exchange first and then by the time the Exchange upgrade is done, move to upgrade the client software when Outlook 2010 is available.

Objection 3: It's hard to justify productivity benefits

Productivity improvement is one of the key benefits of Exchange 2010, yet some customers might say they don't buy productivity benefits because it's hard to quantify. In the tough economic times like now, optimizing resource utilization is as important as reducing costs and Exchange 2010 offers great new productivity tools such as conversation view, Mailtips, Ignore conversation and Outlook Mobile enhancements.

Objection 4: Email and voicemail are separate purchase decisions

Although voicemail can provide great value to Exchange organizations, the part of the organization that you talk to about Exchange might say that voicemail purchase decision is outside of their responsibility and therefore it's of less importance. The reality is that it's not less important, you just need to find the right part of the organization to bring into the conversation. Your customer can and will save money by moving to Exchange voicemail, so it is worth the time and energy to engage with the telephony or facilities department to have the voicemail conversation versus just leave it in the hands of the messaging department. We have many resources available to help you have the conversations with the customers and all of the resources are available on the UC web.

Objection 5: Exchange 2010 seems more complicated

You might also hear that Exchange 2010 seems more complicated than Exchange 2003 because for these customers server roles are new and the increased feature set is substantial.

You can respond to this objection by pointing out that:

The new role-based access control provides the ability to delegate administrative tasks to other roles outside IT such as compliance managers and HR, reducing burden on the messaging administrators.

With Exchange 2010 we introduce the Exchange Control Panel that is a web-based administration console that provides quick, easy access to the day-to-day admin tasks without having to use the Exchange Management Console.

Exchange 2010 provides graphical user interface for more features than Exchange 2007 and 2003, so IT pros now have the choice of a graphical or command line management. In summary, Exchange 2003 customers represent over half of the install base. These customers are ripe to upgrade to Exchange 2010 and we have a very compelling story to tell them. Whether it is addressing their key challenges or overcoming the objections, you should feel confident in the value the Exchange 2010 can provide to these customers.”

Julia White, Director of Product Management for Exchange

Based on this post and the previous one, hopefully, you’ve gotten an overall feel for what values Microsoft pillared the Exchange 2010 release!

Downloads

Evaluate Exchange 2010 FREE!

Exchange 2010 Deployment Assistant

Pitching Exchange 2010 to Exchange 2003 Organizations

Viral Tarpara — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 11:32:00 GMT

With the launch of Exchange 2010, I thought it would be a good idea to how the product team feels about Exchange 2010. Over the next few days, I’ll be clipping excerpts from inside Microsoft to hopefully give you all a view of how we see this next release of Exchange!

“Exchange holds approximately 70 percent of email market share today, but over half of Microsoft’s customers are still running Exchange 2003. This means most customers are currently working with 7 year old email technology.

With the launch of Exchange 2010, as well as Exchange 2003 mainstream support ended in April 2009, there is a tremendous opportunity to upgrade to Exchange 2010.

The pain points Exchange 2003 customers are facing

Microsoft spent the past several months talking with over 80 customers around the globe who are running Exchange 2003 to really understand the challenges these customers face with their current environment. Microsoft found 5 consistent trends.

First and foremost, messaging security and availability is the number one priority for IT pro customers and they are always looking for easier and more cost effective ways to keep their messaging servers secure and highly available.

To address continuous availability, Exchange 2010 introduces a streamlined new approach to natively offer high availability and disaster recovery, reducing or eliminating the need to costly third-party solutions.

To address security, as with Exchange 2007, Microsoft continues to offer Forefront Security for Exchange within the Exchange Enterprise CAL for anti-virus and anti-spam capabilities.

The next challenge Microosft found is mobility. As the mobile workforce continues to increase the demand for best in class mobile messaging also increases. This means both mobile phone and web-based email access. These customers have an urgency to provide a more robust and secure mobile solution for their users. Additionally, with the proliferation of many devices like Blackberry, iPhone, and Windows Mobile devices, it's becoming a challenge for Exchange 2003 customers to manage these various devices easily and cost effectively.

Exchange 2010 provides an out-of-the box mobile solution and web email capabilities with Outlook Web App. With Exchange Active Sync, literally every smart phone is supported, so customers can choose the device that best suites them. And, unlike IBM and other competitors, the web-based email client is also offered natively within Exchange.

With Exchange 2010, Outlook Web App, or OWA, is a best-in-class web client and is a key differentiator for Exchange 2003 customers.

Third, Microsoft heard about meeting the increased compliance and e-discovery requirements. This is a top of mind issue for Exchange 2003 customers. You might think that compliance is only relevant in certain industries like financial services or healthcare or just for large enterprises, but Microsoft heard the need for better and more cost effective tools from mid-marketing companies and across industries.

E-mail discovery is one of the biggest cost drivers, particularly related to personal folders or PST files. These files are expensive to find and search because they reside locally on users computers. To address this, Exchange 2010 introduces new integrated archiving functionality that allows customers to eliminate the PST files without disrupting the end-users experience.

The fourth area Microsoft heard about was increasing end users mailbox size while also lowering the storage costs. As email sizes and volume go up, users continue to demand larger mailboxes for better productivity and usability. Yet, with Exchange 2003, it's a challenge to do so without driving up the costs of storage. Storage is one of the biggest drivers of cost around email, which is why Microsoft has invested so much to reduce storage costs with Exchange 2010.

Last but not least, Microsoft heard about voicemail. Many voicemail systems were upgraded around Y2K and are now moving into expensive extended support or in many cases failing. Industry analyst have estimated that nearly 90% of voicemail systems will be upgraded or replaced over the next 2-3 years and in conversations with Exchange 2003 customers, many IT Pros are actively looking for an alternative, better solution like what is offered with Exchange 2010 voicemail with Unified Messaging.

Exchange 2010 can fully replace legacy voicemail systems with built-in Exchange unified messaging, eliminating the needs to maintain separate a voicemail system. With an Exchange based solution, customers get the additional productivity benefit of the truly unified inbox for email, voicemail, text previews of the voicemail and text messages all managed in one place.”

Julia White, Director of Product Management for Exchange

Fun Fact: Did you know that with Exchange 2010, you can natively manage mailboxes on-premise as well as those hosted in the cloud natively through a single management console? With 2010, you now have the flexibility to manage costs, compliance, reliability and security while being able to take advantage of new hosted technologies either via hosting partners or directly with Microsoft Online.

Downloads

Evaluate Exchange 2010 FREE!

Exchange 2010 Deployment Assistant

Try Out Office Web Apps, Edit Office Docs with SkyDrive

Viral Tarpara — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 11:42:36 GMT

I must admit, I don’t use SkyDrive as often I’d like simply because Microsoft is really good at providing me with a lot of enterprise storage internally. Nonetheless, I do use SkyDrive to share my presentations and decks with a lot of people. This is exactly why I was pleasantly surprised today when there was a link in the SkyDrive menu asking if I wanted to join the improvement program.

ACCEPT *click* :)

What I then witnessed was a shear surprise! Editing Office documents in the browser! Of course, as a Microsoft employee, I knew this was being worked on for the enterprise world with the likes of SharePoint 2010 and Office2010, but I had no idea that Windows Live was going to get such a polished treatment. So if you don’t use SkyDrive, my first question would be, why not? With 25GBs free, its a great way to share files. Secondly, if you want to try the future of Office on the web, join the improvement program by clicking on the text link in the SkyDrive menu. The only limitation I have found so far is that the Office document must be saved using the Open XML format i.e. PPTX, DOCX, XLSX extensions. For those of you who do not have Office 2007, you aren’t left out, you can download and install the Office Compatibility Pack for free. Make sure you also download the service pack for it as well.

Downloads:

Office Compatibility Pack

Office Compatibility Pack service pack 1

Hosted Microsoft Services on the Cheap? Yes Please!

Viral Tarpara — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 12:03:31 GMT

There has never been a better time for hosted business software! Software available today isn’t the same stuff that was offered by vendors ten years ago. In fact, the notion that hosted software lacks in customization and integration are things of the past. Microsoft’s latest foray in hosted services is a product called Business Productivity Online Services (BPOS). Imagine getting Exchange, SharePoint, and instant messaging all at a cost point lower than Google’s.

CNET article on Microsoft price drop

Office 2010 Tips – Make Quality Diagrams with Visio

Viral Tarpara — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 16:00:51 GMT

Get a backstage pass to vibrant diagrams

Microsoft Visio 2010 gives you fast and easy access to a rich set of diagram templates that meet your needs. Choose the right template for the job and you’re on your way to creating a professional-looking diagram that simplifies complexity and gets everyone on the same page. Just go to Microsoft® Office Backstage™ view to get started.

Step by Step:

To open a Visio template

1. Click the Office button in the Ribbon to go to Backstage view.

2. Click New to open a view of template categories and your recently used templates.

3. Click a Template Category folder such as Business, Flowchart, or Network to view available diagram templates.

4. Click Create to open the template type.

5. Start dragging pre-drawn shapes onto your diagram.

To open a new diagram based on another diagram

1. Click the Office button in the Ribbon to go to Backstage View.

2. Click New.

3. Click New from Existing and then select a Visio drawing file to serve as the template for a new diagram.

SharePoint Conference Day 2 – IT Pro Overview of 2010

Viral Tarpara — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 17:04:42 GMT

While I’m really busy tweeting live at this conference, I read a great overview for IT Pros who are interested in SharePoint 2010. I’m doing more of a dev focus for this conference so if you’re interested, follow me on Twitter @tarpara

See Natalya's post.

SharePoint Conference Day 1 – Keynote Bullet Points

Viral Tarpara — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 22:44:49 GMT

What a conference!
7400+ Attendees
150+ Breakout sessions, Hands On Labs, and Chalk Talks
7.5 Miles of Cat5 cable…ironically for the wifi connection
The biggest party the Mandalay Bay has ever had!

Excellent Bullet Points from Keynote session

SharePoint Conference has started stronger than any conference I’ve ever been too. There is no fluff, no BS, and its 100% relevant in today’s business environment. After watching the keynote, I started thinking about the role of rich clients and cloud services. Stay tuned for my end of the day write-up. If you want zero-day news snippets follow me on Twitter - @tarpara

Office 2010 Tips – Language Translation on Steroids laughs at Google Docs

Viral Tarpara — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 10:00:00 GMT

What language barrier?

Find improved tools for translation in Word

Word 2010 has great tools for anyone who’s ever worked with someone—a coworker, customer, or entire market segment—who speak a language different than their own. The improved translation tools in Word 2010 provide easy options for translating a word, phrase, or your entire document.

Use Word Translator

When working in a Word document, you may find the need to translate a word, phrase, whole paragraphs, or even the entire document into a different language.

Word 2010’s translation tools allow for all of the above.
Watch this short video of Word Translate options in action

Send Your Document to the Web for Instant Translation

Step by Step:

1. Start with a Word document you’d like to translate, and decide how much you need translated.

2. On the Review tab of the Ribbon, in the Language group, click Translate. You see the following options: Translate Document, Translate Selected Text, and Mini Translator.

· Translate Document takes you out of Word and into the browser, where you see an instant machine-generated translation of your document.

· The Translate Selected Text option opens the Research pane that you may know from earlier versions of Word. You see translations in the Research pane and can easily change translation languages for the selection.

· Finally, the improved Mini Translator allows you to point to a word and view an instant translation in a screen tip. To enable the Mini Translator, on the Review tab, click Translate and then click Mini Translator. You will be automatically prompted to select a translation language.

Note: Get extra help from the Mini Translator for English as a second language. Click the green arrow icon, as shown in this image, for English text-to-speech playback of your selected term.

Seriously, hardcore language translation has been in Office since the 2000 days. Office 2010 really takes it to the next level with the new browser integration! Of course if you really want to know what *cough* competition is doing, just visit their blog.

Office 2010 Tips – Visio “Quick Shapes” Remembers What You Use the Most

Viral Tarpara — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 10:20:28 GMT

A home for your favorite shapes and functions!

Microsoft Visio 2010 gives you fast and easy access to shapes for your diagrams. The new Quick Shapes area at the top of every stencil – above a faint dividing line – holds the shapes you use most often. Simply drag shapes into or out of the Quick Shapes area as needed. The new Quick Shapes stencil collects all Quick Shapes from open stencils in one, convenient location.

Step by Step:

To see the shapes in a stencil

· In the Shapes window, click the stencil’s title bar.

To add shapes to the Quick Shapes area of a stencil

· In a stencil window, drag a shape into the Quick Shape area (above the faint dividing line).

To use the Quick Shapes stencil

· In the Shapes window, click the Quick Shapes title bar. The Quick Shapes from each open stencil appear, grouped by stencil name, in the Quick Shapes stencil.

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Office 2010 Tips – Visio “Quick Shapes” Remembers What You Use the Most

Office 2010 Tips – Language Translation on Steroids laughs at Google Docs