Windows 7 Beta General Availability to end soon…
Brandon LeBlanc, has posted a blog post, updating the dates and deadlines for the broad availability of Windows 7 Beta. Though if you are a TechNet or MSDN Subscriber this doesn’t apply to you and you would continue to enjoy the download till the beta ends!
The entire blog post can be read HERE.
Here are the main points from the site
The shutdown of general availability for the Windows 7 Beta will occur in 3 phases over the course of the next few weeks:
- Starting January 27th, the Windows 7 page will be updated with a warning that time is running out on downloading the Windows 7 Beta and that we will be limiting downloads shortly. People will be encouraged to register and start the download of the Windows 7 Beta sooner rather than later.
- February 10th, new downloads of the Windows 7 Beta will no longer be available. People who have already started their Windows 7 Beta download and have not yet finished will still be able to finish their download and are encouraged to do so.
- February 12th, people will no longer be able to complete their download of the Windows 7 Beta. Anyone who hasn’t finished downloading the Windows 7 Beta will be unable to do so.
Product keys for the Windows 7 Beta will continue to be available. So if you have the Windows 7 Beta but didn’t get a product key you will be able to do so even after February 12th.
Download System Center Data Protection Manager 2007 Service Pack 1
DPM 2007 SP1 maintains DPM 2007 as the new standard for Windows backup and recovery by introducing new workload capabilities, performance enhancements, features and options.
New workload capabilities include host-level and guest-level protection for Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V and Microsoft Hyper-V Server. DPM SP1 also enables protection of SQL Server 2008, Windows SharePoint Services and SQL Server mirrored databases, Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 and Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 indexes, and Exchange Standby Cluster Replication (SCR). DPM SP1 also enhances Windows SharePoint Services catalog backup performance.
DPM 2007 with SP1 can protect data across multiple Active Directory® forests (with two-way trust) as well as Hyper-V and file data stored locally on the DPM server. DPM SP1 also bundles features introduced in previous updates such as Windows Server 2008 System State and SQL Server 2008 protection, tape library sharing, and improved tape utilization.
Installing DPM SP1 adds functionality relevant to the new Data Protection Client Management License offering. This offering provides existing DPM Client protection at a preferred price.
With DPM SP1, DPM 2007 provides an integrated approach for backing up DPM data to the cloud. This new option is delivered in conjunction with a solution provider that provides a backup and recovery service in the cloud specifically designed to support DPM. To enable backup to the cloud, in DPM Administrator Console, go to “Manage online protection” in the Protection task area.
For release details for DPM SP1, please refer to Knowledge Base article KB959605: http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=137147.
DPM SP1 Release Notes can be found at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=135756.
For detailed information on features available in SP1, please visit http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=132612.
Download the 32 bit version here and 64 bit version here
Microsoft Office Outlook Connector 12.1 out of beta
Microsoft Office Outook Connector 12.1 is finally out of beta and is available for download here though it’s also available in the Windows Live essentials pack
With Microsoft Office Outlook Connector, you can use Microsoft Office Outlook 2003 or Microsoft Office Outlook 2007 to access and manage your Microsoft Windows Live Hotmail or Microsoft Office Live Mail accounts, including e-mail messages, contacts and calendars for free!
Outlook Connector enables you to use your Live Hotmail accounts within Outlook:
- Read and send your Office Live Mail/Windows Live Hotmail e-mail messages.
- Manage your contacts in Windows Live Hotmail.
- Use advanced options for blocking junk e-mail messages.
- Manage multiple e-mail accounts in one place.
- Manage, and synchronize multiple calendars, including shared calendars to Windows Live Calendar from Outlook.
Note to Premium Subscribers:If you are currently using MSN Calendar service, the Outlook Connector 12.1 will automatically migrate your calendar to the new Windows Live Calendar service. Once upgraded to Windows Live Calendar, you will be able to synchronize multiple calendars, including shared calendars to Outlook! However you will no longer be able to access MSN Calendar through Microsoft Office Outlook.
In order to make sure that all of your calendar items on the MSN Calendar service are correctly migrated to the Windows Live Calendar, you should follow these steps:
- With Outlook Connector 12.0 installed, synchronize your calendar in Microsoft Office Outlook with the MSN Calendar service one last time.
- After synchronization is complete, do not create new items on the MSN Calendar site. If you do, you will have to synchronize again using Outlook Connector 12.0 before migrating to Outlook Connector 12.1.
- Install Outlook Connector 12.1.
- Start Outlook. At this point, the Outlook Connector 12.1 will upload all of your appointments and meetings to your new Windows Live Calendar.
Announcing the release of SQL Server 2005 SP3
Microsoft released today SQL Server 2005 Service Pack 3 (SP3). SQL 2005 version should now be 9.00.4035.
Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Service Pack 3 (SP3) contains hotfixes that were included in cumulative update packages for SQL Server 2005 Service Pack 2 from cumulative update package 1 to cumulative update package 9, and fixes to issues that have been reported through our customer feedback platforms. It also includes supportability enhancements and issues that have been reported through Windows Error Reporting.
Related links:
- What’s New in SQL Server 2005 SP3
- List of the bugs that are fixed in SQL Server 2005 Service Pack 3 (KB 955706)
Downloads:
Source- MSDN Blog
System Center Mobile Device Manager 2008 SP1 Evaluation Edition
MDM is a Microsoft technology that helps Windows Mobile 6.1 devices work within the IT infrastructure of a company as trusted and managed members of the enterprise.
MDM consists of the following four main system components: MDM Device Management Server, MDM Enrollment Server, MDM Gateway Server, and Microsoft SQL Server 2005 databases. The SQL Server databases must be installed separately.
These components work with key IT services to give managed devices access to selected business data. The primary IT services that work with MDM are the following: Active Directory Domain Service, MDM software distribution, certificate services, and line-of-business application servers, such as Microsoft Exchange.
To learn more about MDM, see System Center Mobile Device Manager TechCenter.
(Related Resources - _http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/scmdm/default.aspx)
A look at a few post-NXE Xbox LIVE stats
With the NXE launch behind us and the Holiday right around the corner a few data points just landed in my inbox that I though you might find interesting:
- If LIVE were a U.S. city, it would be the largest city with over 14-million members. The equivalent of New York City, Los Angeles and Chicago combined.
- Since the New Xbox Experience launched on Nov. 19 the number of new friends added per Xbox LIVE member has risen by 33%.
- Xbox LIVE is not just games: With more than 45 global network and studio partners, and Netflix in the U.S., we offer more than 30,000 movies, TV episodes and music videos in both high and standard definition.
- In the past year the average number of unique visitors to Xbox LIVE each day has risen 66%
- Movie downloads increased 49% and TV episode downloads were up 30% the week after launch
- Xbox LIVE Arcade sales almost tripled in the first week after the New Xbox Experience launched
- Avatar-specific titles like A Kingdom for Keflings registered the second-best first week of performance ever
- UNO which was updated to include in-game Avatars, saw a 650% increase in sales in just one day
Source: majornelson.com
Download PerformancePoint Server 2007 SP2 Evaluation Version
PerformancePoint Server 2007 is an integrated performance management application that allows customers to monitor, analyze, and plan their business as well as drive alignment, accountability, and actionable insight across the entire organization. PerformancePoint Server 2007 provides all of the functionality that is needed to enable performance management in a single application, including scorecards, dashboards, management reporting, analytics, planning, budgeting, forecasting, and consolidation. The application is designed to reach all employees, across all business functions (finance, operations, marketing, sales, and human resources). For additional information on what’s new in SP2, please refer to: Planning Readme (http://go.microsoft.com/?linkid=9639480) Monitoring Readme (http://go.microsoft.com/?linkid=9639481)
PerformancePoint Server 2007 SP2 (x86) Evaluation Version
PerformancePoint Server 2007 SP2 (x64) Evaluation Version
Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac 12.1.5 Update
This update contains several improvements to enhance stability, compatibility, and performance. In addition, this update includes fixes for vulnerabilities that an attacker can use to overwrite the contents of your computer’s memory with malicious code. For more information about this update, please visit the Microsoft Web site.
Applies to: Office 2008, Office 2008 Home and Student Edition, Office 2008 Special Media Edition, Word 2008, Excel 2008, PowerPoint 2008, Entourage 2008.
