Microsoft Virtualization Readiness Launch
Get hands-on with virtualization – FREE!
Attend the event that lets you touch, talk about, and experience Microsoft virtualization solutions. Hear from Microsoft virtualization experts on how Microsoft uses virtualization in its own data centers. Dive into robust hands-on labs and gain a technical understanding of the Microsoft virtualization strategy. Then, take home a valuable set of free products and readiness-focused giveaways to help get you started:
- A one-year evaluation copy of Microsoft System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2008
- A copy of Understanding Microsoft Virtualization from the Desktop to the Data Center, by Mitch Tulloch
- Vouchers for Microsoft Server Virtualization Certification exam (70-652) and preparation course (a $316 value)
Spend a day learning how a well-designed virtualization strategy can help you control costs, improve service levels, and drive business agility. See solutions built on the Windows Server 2008 operating system with Hyper-V technology, System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2007, and Microsoft Desktop and Application Virtualization. And learn how you can leverage end-to-end virtualization to unlock benefits from the data center to the desktop.
Source- Technet Blog
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Microsoft Xbox 360 outsells PS3 in Japan in Sept
Microsoft Corp’s Xbox 360 outsold Sony’s PlayStation 3 in Japan in September, beating the rival machine in monthly unit sales for the first time in Sony’s home market, a game magazine publisher said.
Strong sales growth came after Microsoft cut prices for its game console last month.
Microsoft sold 53,547 units of the Xbox 360 in the four weeks to September 28, compared with 33,071 units of the PS3, data from Enterbrain showed on Friday.
Nintendo Co Ltd safely maintained its leading position in the Japanese console market, having sold 109,548 units of the Wii during the month.
Although popular in the United States, the Xbox 360 has been struggling to compete with the PS3 and the Wii in Japan, home to both Sony and Nintendo.
Source- Reuters
Microsoft Research Unveils Codex Project
Microsoft Research’s Ken Hinckley has unveiled a prototype device based on two OQO Model 02s running together.
Named "Codex", Hinckley believes it’s the future for gadgets as "dual-screen devices have become the subject of increasingly elaborate internet fantasies. Now, rumors about an Apple "Brick" device have stirred up dreams of future tablets, such as the alluring One Laptop Per Child v2.0 concept photos.
Nintendo invested in their dual screen gaming device the DS Lite which has become very popular in all markets. Dual screen computing is common in businesses and is known to increase productivity so perhaps a dual screen device isn’t a bad idea for the future?
Source: Microsoft Research Blog
Via- Neowin
Microsoft Launches MSNBC News Beta
Today Microsoft officially launched their MSNBC News beta in Media Center to the world (err, I mean US and Canada). This was actually something that popped up on one of my beta machines a few months ago, but when I asked about it Microsoft said I wasn’t even supposed to have it, and thus I didn’t blog about it. Much like the Internet TV Beta, access the new application can be found on the TV + Movies strip.
Ian Dixon and Brandon LeBlanc have some screenshots up on their respective blogs. These out-of-band “feature” plug-ins might be Microsoft’s hope to keep the Media Center platform moving between Windows releases, so I’m hoping this isn’t the last one that we will see.
- Access the latest U.S. Election 08 videos
- Editor Picks and Most Popular videos, as selected by viewers
- Five-day weather forecast for any zip code in the U.S.
- Customize your own news video playlists
- Ability to browse by category, such as Business, Sports, and Entertainment
- Search for stories using keywords
- Related videos for each story
Source- MSMVPS Blog
Final Silverlight 2.0 for Windows and Mac now looking like October
Microsoft is nearing the finish line with the 2.0 releases of both the Windows and Mac OS X versions of its Silverlight competitor to Adobe Flash.
Late last week, Microsoft released the first public Release Candidate (RC) test builds of Silverlight 2.0 for Windows and Mac OS X. The new RC 0 build is not designed for end users; it is aimed specifically at developers. As explained on the official Silverlight site:
“Silverlight 2 Release Candidate 0 (Silverlight 2 RC0) is now available to developers for testing purposes and to help prepare your Silverlight 2 Beta 2 applications for the release of Silverlight 2.”
I’m hearing that Microsoft is shooting to release to the Web the final Windows and Mac versions of Silverlight 2.0 around the first week or so of October. Microsoft had been shooting to deliver the final Silverlight 2.0 release this past summer, according to a Microsoft blogger who published the internal Silverlight timetable to his blog.
Source- blogs.zdnet.com
Download Windows Speech Recognition Macros
The Windows Speech Recognition Macros tool – or WSR Macros for short – extends the usefulness of the speech recognition capabilities in Windows Vista. Users can create powerful macros that are triggered by spoken commands which can perform a series of tasks from as simple as inserting your mailing address to as complex as providing a completely different speech interaction with applications.
While we have tried to make it easy to use, this release of WSR Macros is a technical preview of technology we are planning to release in the future. Not all the features we have planned are included, and some are incomplete. Users are cautioned to treat this release as “pre-beta.” While creating simple macros is very straightforward, the creation and editing of more complex macro files is best suited for advanced users. We welcome your feedback on how we can improve WSR Macros to best suit your needs.
Application Compatibility Logging in IE8
The latest Application Compatibility Toolkit (ACT) release, ACT 5.0.5428.1080 is publicly available and can be downloaded here.
To give you some background, ACT helps customers understand their application compatibility situation by helping identify which applications are compatible with Vista, IE7, and IE8 and which require further testing. ACT allows compatibility data to be uploaded from individual machines to a central location for analysis, grouping and reporting. Once an issue has been identified, help will be available on how to resolve a particular issue or create a workaround. Furthermore, partners and customers using ACT are able to post comments to the Online Application Community, where they can share data and information about application compatibility testing.
The IE components of ACT are:
- Internet Explorer Compatibility Test Tool (IECTT). The IECTT helps identify your Web-based issues, shows your results in real time, and allows you to upload and view the data in the Application Compatibility Manager (ACM), a part of the ACT toolkit. As you test your application or site, the IECTT records events in real time when compatibility issues occur. For instance, if one of your sites injects JavaScript to another site and the IE8 Cross-site scripting (XSS) filter detects this as a reflection attack, a Cross-Site Scripting Filter event would be logged in the IECTT UI.
- Internet Explorer Compatibility Evaluators (IECE). The IECE can be deployed within an enterprise and will help identify Web-based issues in the background. As you test your application or site, the IECE records events in the background as they occur. You will be able to view the logged events in the ACM after you upload them.
Source- IE Blog
Halo Wars – still planning to ship
In case you haven’t heard, Ensemble Studios is shutting down after they ship Halo Wars. This is a sad development for gamers everywhere but I guess it underscores the dominance of the special purpose gaming consoles over the desktop computer and gaming machine of the home. Is this the beginning of the end for powerful home computers? Who knows. But when was the last time you considered a desktop over a laptop?
Source- Technet Blogs
