Microsoft to avoid transparency with Windows 7

Glyn Moody hits the nail on the head with his critique of Microsoft’s proposed approach to Windows 7: Say little so that the market expects little. It’s not an unreasonable approach, and Microsoft did get burned for actually warning the market about what it would be providing, only to have to endure the consequences of not living up to the expectations it set, but I’m not sure it can afford to go back. Stating that it will be "more careful" with Windows 7, Microsoft’s representative noted:
"We know that when we talk about our plans for the next release of Windows, people take action," [Microsoft] said. "As a result, we can significantly impact our partners and our customers if we broadly share information that later changes."
Well, yes. But that’s the whole point behind transparency. As Glyn notes, it’s not that easy to do in practice, but it’s increasingly critical in the opening 21st Century.
 

News source: C|Net News

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Microsoft Virtual Earth Platform Selected by Leading State and Regional Agencies in the United States

The state Departments of Transportation for both Texas and Ohio are among the latest entities to build on top of the Microsoft Virtual Earth platform. Both agencies provide easy-to-use Web sites where citizens can find out the latest traffic information and accident details, and even see traffic camera views. These significant citizen traffic assistance features are the latest examples of governments across the country using Microsoft Virtual Earth to make everyday activities easier and citizens more informed.

Texas has used the Virtual Earth platform to develop a range of traffic and citizen information services statewide in addition to developing Virtual Earth-powered portals for cities including Houston, El Paso and San Antonio.

Source- Microsoft Press Release

New Social Bookmarking Features For MSDN and TechNet

Today Microsoft announced a preview of new social bookmarking capabilities for MSDN, TechNet and Expression as part of an expanded effort to open these sites up to the technical community.  Social Bookmarks allow members of the community to bookmark any URL on the web, apply tags, and save bookmarks in the new My Bookmarks tool.  All bookmarks, bookmarkers, and tags are enabled as links and can be “surfed” to discover new content and people. Social bookmarks are also integrated into the new Profile page and give every member of the community a new way to increase their visibility, impact, and influence.

New features include:

· Social Bookmarks Preview: With Social Bookmarks, users can save all their favorites online, see what others are bookmarking, find experts, and even get their bookmarks published on the website.

http://msdnbookmarks.com

http://technetbookmarks.com

http://expressionbookmarks.com

· All-new Forums: The new Forums site is easier to use, has a new UX, and new features like Live Update.

http://forums.msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/Forums/

http://forums.technet.microsoft.com/en-us/Forums/

http://forums.expression.microsoft.com/en-US/forums

· New Profile Page: A person’s profile is a key part of the new site experience and now features a large avatar image and feeds of contributions from key applications like Forums and Social Bookmarks.

· New Site Design: The MSDN and TechNet home pages and home pages for top Developer and TechCenters have been updated with a new design that increases the visibility of people and content from the community and other important resources.

· Improved Search: Improved auto-complete provides more search matches faster. Thirty-one languages are now supported.

http://search.msdn.microsoft.com/Default.aspx?locale=en-US

http://search.technet.microsoft.com/Default.aspx?locale=en-US

http://search.expression.microsoft.com/Default.aspx?locale=en-US

For more information on these announcements, please visit these blogs:

http://blogs.msdn.com/dantr/  Dan Truax, GM for the global MSDN, TechNet, CodePlex, and Expression sites

http://blogs.technet.com/johmar/  John Martin, Lead Evangelist for Server & Tools Online at Microsoft

Seattle Sounders FC and Major League Soccer Announce Sponsorship With Microsoft and Xbox 360

The Seattle Sounders FC and Major League Soccer (MLS) today announced a multiyear sponsorship with Microsoft Corp. and Xbox 360 video game and entertainment system. The landmark deal is highlighted by the “Xbox 360 LIVE” logo featured prominently on the Sounders FC jersey. Sounders FC will debut its new uniforms when the team takes the field for the first time in spring 2009.

Xbox 360 also will be featured as the presenting sponsor of the Sounders FC annual international tour and will gain entitlement to the team’s playing surface, “The Xbox Pitch at Qwest Field.” Xbox 360 will be recognized as the Official and exclusive Video Game Console of MLS.

Source- Microsoft Press release

Windows Live for Nokia now available in 33 different countries

We are continuing our work with Nokia and I’m pleased to announce that today we are making available the Windows Live services to an additional seven different countries for Nokia phone customers.   The Windows Live for Nokia service provides Hotmail, Messenger, Live Contacts and Spaces access to our customers that use the popular S60 mobile phone range.   The application is downloaded and installed on the device and once you sign in with your Live ID you have full access to your email, messenger, contacts, etc. 

The service was first announced last August and was initially available in 11 different markets and on 5 different mobile S60 handsets.  Last year we added an additional 15 new markets while adding a few new handsets.   Now today we are adding an additional 7 different markets for a total of 33.  On the device side we now support 16 different S60 handset models.   As before, the service initially will be a free trial and at some stage we will turn on billing, dates pending.     

The new markets being announced today are Hungary, Iceland, India, Israel, Poland, Romania and the USA.   This add to the existing list of Australia, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Indonesia, Ireland, Malaysia, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Philippines, Portugal, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Africa, Spain, Switzerland, Sweden, Thailand, UAE, UK and Vietnam

In terms of handsets the following S60 handsets are compatible with Windows Live for Nokia today - the Nokia N73, N80 Internet Edition, N95, N95 8GB, N76, N81, N82, N93i, E90, E65, E61i, E51, 6120*, 5700*, 6110*

* Note that users with these handsets must first download a software pack at www.nokia.com/windowslive

Source- Phil’s blog

ClearContext Personal Launches Beta

 If you’re swamped by email in your Outlook inbox, you have to try ClearContext, an Outlook add-in that helps analyze and organize your mail. The company has just launched a new product called ClearContext Personal, available as a free download that everyone can use (currently in private beta according to their product page, but a sign up list is available).

You may remember some of our earlier coverage of ClearContext (click here for 7 Outlook Tips). Now the company is rebranding their product naming conventions a bit along with the launch of several new features. The previous professional (paid) version of the software was called ClearContext IMS v4. Now, it’s a much more understandable “ClearContext Professional.” Registered users of IMS can upgrade and get access to the new features for free.

For everyone else, ClearContext Personal edition is offering some great tools which include the ability to see attachments and contacts from emails in each folder, the ability to save, sort, and forward those attachments, the ability to create distribution lists, meeting requests, etc. from those contacts, and more.

Source- Channel 10

Spread Firefox | Download Day 2008

Set a Guinness World Record
Enjoy a Better Web

Sounds like a good deal, right? All you have to do is get Firefox 3 during Download Day to help set the record for most software downloads in 24 hours - it’s that easy. We’re not asking you to swallow a sword or to balance 30 spoons on your face, although that would be kind of awesome.

By the way, the official date for the launch of Firefox 3 will be posted here soon - so check back! Join our community and this effort by pledging today.

Link: Spread Firefox | Download Day 2008

Download Windows Small Business Server 2008 RC 0

Windows Small Business Server 2008 (Windows SBS 2008) is an integrated server solution that helps you protect your business data, increase productivity and present a more professional image to customers. By providing many of the features used by larger companies –e-mail, an Internet connectivity, internal Web sites, remote access, support for mobile devices, file and printer sharing, backup, and restore–Windows SBS 2008 gives you the tools you need to help grow your business.
Windows SBS 2008 is available in two editions: Standard and Premium.
Standard Edition includes the software to install the primary Small Business Server. To install Standard Edition, you will need to download:

• SBS2008_RC0_ENU_DVD1.iso - Small Business Server Installation

Premium Edition includes software to install an additional Windows Server (either x86 or x64) for your domain, with the option of running SQL Server. To install Premium Edition, you will need to download:

• SBS2008_RC0_ENU_DVD1.iso - Small Business Server Installation
• SBS2008_RC0_ENU_DVD2.iso - Additional Server Installation x86
• SBS2008_RC0_ENU_DVD3.iso - Additional Server Installation x64
• SBS2008_RC0_ENU_DVD4.iso - SQL Server 2008 for Small Business CTP6

More information about Windows SBS 2008 editions is available here.

Download here