Announcing: Availability of Infrastructure Updates

This morning we released to web three new important updates that affect SharePoint Server 2007, Windows SharePoint Services 3.0, Project Server 2007, Search Server 2008, Search Server 2008 Express and Project Professional 2007.

The Infrastructure Update for Microsoft Office Servers (KB951297) applies to:

• Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007
• Microsoft Office Project Server 2007
• Microsoft Search Server 2008
• Microsoft Search Server 2008 Express

The Infrastructure Update for Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 (KB951695) applies to:

• Windows SharePoint Services 3.0

The Infrastructure Update for Microsoft Office Project 2007 (KB951547) applies to:

• Microsoft Office Project Professional 2007

The Infrastructure Update for Microsoft Office Servers contains the new Enterprise Search features that were shipped in Search Server 2008 and Search Server 2008 Express that were are not already in SharePoint Server 2007; this includes Federated Search capability, a unified administration dashboard and several Search core platform performance updates.  Read more about the new Search features here.

There are several Content Deployment updates included in both the Infrastructure Update for Microsoft Office Servers and the Infrastructure Update for Windows SharePoint Services 3.0. These updates address many of the top customer reported issues with Content Deployment.  Read more about the Content Deployment updates here.

The Infrastructure Update for Microsoft Office Servers (KB951297) and the Infrastructure Update for Microsoft Office Project 2007 (KB951547) include several usability and performance updates for Project Server 2007 and Project Professional 2007 in addition to addressing the top customer reported issues.  Read more about the Project Server and Project Professional updates here and in this White Paper.

All three updates contain fixes and product performance updates driven by customer feedback which have resulted in significant platform performance improvements in several areas.  There has also been a focus on several core platform components, including improvements to upgrade, future patching and servicing, several targeted updates for workflow, the Business Data Catalog and inter-farm server authentication with Kerberos.  For more detailed information please read the KB articles listed further on in this post.

We strongly recommend that you install the updates that apply to you as soon as your patching and maintenance schedules permit.

The updates can be downloaded from the links below:

Infrastructure Update for Microsoft Office Servers (KB951297) - x86

Infrastructure Update for Microsoft Office Servers (KB951297) - x64

Infrastructure Update for Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 (KB951695) - x86

Infrastructure Update for Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 (KB951695) - x64

Infrastructure Update for Microsoft Office Project 2007 (KB951547) - x86

Source- MSDN Blog

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PerformancePoint Data Provider for Microsoft Dynamics GP 10 Now Available!

We are pleased to announce the availability of the Data Provider for Microsoft Dynamics GP which enables you to import data from Microsoft Dynamics GP into Microsoft Office PerformancePoint Server 2007, and is now available for download here: Link

About PerformancePoint Server 2007:
Microsoft Office PerformancePoint Server is a performance management application that helps users monitor the performance of their organizations, analyze the results, and make effective business decisions. While many solutions on the market focus on business analysts and BI experts, PerformancePoint Server is designed to reach everyone in your organization.

By importing Microsoft Dynamics GP data into PerformancePoint Server, you enable end users to create reports and scorecards with familiar and easy-to-use Microsoft Office applications, including Excel, Outlook, and SharePoint.

For more information about PerformancePoint Server, use this link to the PerformancePoint Server documentation available on TechNet.

Source- MSDN Blog

Microsoft Unveils Pricing and Partner Model for Web-Based Messaging and Collaboration Services

Stephen Elop, president of the Microsoft Business Division, today announced new pricing, packaging and partner compensation details for Microsoft Online Services. Microsoft Corp. is introducing two new suites of subscription services as part of the Microsoft Online Services family. The new offerings are tailored to meet the needs of the entire work force — from employees who use a PC infrequently to information workers who require advanced capabilities.

“Today we are taking an important next step in delivering Microsoft Online Services, and we’re doing so with a broad set of Microsoft partners, that are crucial to bringing this solution to our customers,” Elop said at the annual Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference in Houston. “Microsoft Online Services is a key component of the software plus services initiative, and we’re seeing customers, partners and even competitors embrace this flexible approach to the cloud.”

Microsoft Online Services delivers enterprise-class Microsoft software as subscription services to businesses of all sizes hosted by Microsoft and sold with partners, and include Microsoft Exchange Online, Microsoft Office SharePoint Online, Microsoft Office Communications Online, Microsoft Office Live Meeting, and Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online.

Source- Microsoft Press Release

The Microsoft Research ESL Assistant Prototype is Live

The Natural Language Processing Group in Microsoft Research is pleased to announce that its ESL Assistant is now available on the World Wide Web via a link at http://www.eslassistant.com.  A prototype writing assistance service designed for people who have learned English as a second or foreign language, the ESL Assistant uses statistical models to suggest corrections for a number of common learner error patterns that are not currently supported by the proofing tools in Microsoft Office products. The service also tries to help users judge the whether a suggestion truly represents an improvement by showing real-life examples returned by a web search. We hope that both learners of English and TEFL/TESL professionals will experiment with this service and find it useful. 

It is our hope that this prototype will begin to fill a long-standing gap in Microsoft’s English language proofing tools. Every day, throughout the world, millions of non-native speakers write English at school or work, on blogs, or in personal e-mail, both to communicate with their counterparts from English-speaking countries, and as often as not, to communicate with each other. Writing errors made by learners are often different from those made by individuals who have grown up speaking the language, and can be complex and subtly contextual in ways that are not easily addressed by syntactic or lexical rules. For these reasons, ESL errors were not supported by Microsoft Office’s proofing tools when they were originally developed over a decade ago. Today, however, we are better positioned to address the challenge of providing writing assistance to this fast-growing segment of Microsoft customers. Modern statistical models and tools now allow solutions that were once impossible. In particular, our group’s Machine Translation effort has generated valuable spinoffs in the form of huge language models, fast statistical taggers and other tools that we have reused for this proofing work, and we are now beginning to bring these to bear on the task of grammar checking.

Source- MSDN Blog

Microsoft Security Advisory (955179)

Vulnerability in the ActiveX Control for the Snapshot Viewer for Microsoft Access Could Allow Remote Code Execution

Microsoft is investigating active, targeted attacks leveraging a potential vulnerability in the ActiveX control for the Snapshot Viewer for Microsoft Access. An attacker could exploit the vulnerability by constructing a specially crafted Web page. When a user views the Web page, the vulnerability could allow remote code execution. An attacker who successfully exploited this vulnerability could gain the same user rights as the logged-on user.

The ActiveX control for the Snapshot Viewer for Microsoft Access enables you to view an Access report snapshot without having the standard or run-time versions of Microsoft Office Access. The vulnerability only affects the ActiveX control for the Snapshot Viewer for Microsoft Office Access 2000, Microsoft Office Access 2002, and Microsoft Office Access 2003.

The ActiveX control is shipped with all supported versions of Microsoft Office Access except for Microsoft Office Access 2007. The ActiveX control is also shipped with the standalone Snapshot Viewer.

For work-around and more info, please go to http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/advisory/955179.mspx

http://blogs.technet.com/msrc/archive/2008/07/07/snapshot-viewer-activex-control-vulnerability.aspx

Source- Donna’s Security Flash

Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online for Microsoft Office Outlook

This download installs Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online for Microsoft Office Outlook and the related Release Notes (Read me).
Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online for Outlook enables access to the same data through Outlook as Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online.
Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online for Outlook with Offline Access allows data to be taken offline.

Download here

Windows SteadyState 2.5

Windows® SteadyState™ 2.5 is now available on Windows XP and Windows Vista. Whether you manage computers in a school computer lab or an Internet café, a library, or even in your home, Windows SteadyState helps make it easy for you to keep your computers running the way you want them to, no matter who uses them.
Windows SteadyState runs on genuine copies of Windows XP Professional, Windows XP Home Edition, Windows XP Tablet PC Edition, Windows Vista Business, Windows Vista Ultimate, Windows Vista Home Basic, Windows Vista Home Premium, and Windows Vista Starter. And, Windows SteadyState is offered free of charge to Windows Genuine Advantage customers!
SteadyState Helps Make it Easier to Manage Your Shared Computers Shared computers are commonly found in schools, Internet and gaming cafés, libraries, and community centers. It is increasingly common for owners, teachers, or non-technical personnel to manage shared computers in addition to their many other responsibilities.
Managing shared computers can be difficult, technically challenging, time-consuming, and expensive. And what’s more, without system restrictions and protections, users can inadvertently change the desktop appearance, reconfigure system settings, and introduce unwanted software, viruses, and other harmful programs. Repairing damaged shared computers can require significant time and effort.
User privacy is also an issue for shared computer environments. Shared computers often use shared user accounts that make Internet history, saved documents, and cached Web pages available to subsequent users.
Windows SteadyState provides a more effective way to help defend shared computers from changes by untrusted users and unwanted software installations. It can also help safeguard system resources.
Windows SteadyState Features Windows SteadyState includes the following features to help you manage your shared computers:

• Getting Started – Provides the initial steps to help you during your first time use of Windows SteadyState.
• Windows Disk Protection – Help protect the Windows partition, which contains the Windows operating system and other programs, from being modified without administrator approval.Windows SteadyState allows you to set Windows Disk Protection to remove all changes upon restart, to remove changes at a certain date and time, or to not remove changes at all. If you choose to use Windows Disk Protection to remove changes, any changes made by shared users when they are logged on to the computer are removed when the computer is restarted
• User Restrictions and Settings – The user restrictions and settings can help to enhance and simplify the user experience. Restrict user access to programs, settings, Start menu items, and options in Windows. You can also lock shared user accounts to prevent changes from being retained from one session to the next.
• User Account Manager – Create and delete user accounts. You can use Windows SteadyState to create user accounts on alternative drives that will retain user data and settings even when Windows Disk Protection is turned on. You can also import and export user settings from one computer to another—saving valuable time and resources.
• Computer Restrictions – Control security settings, privacy settings, and more, such as preventing users from creating and storing folders in drive C and from opening Microsoft Office documents from Internet Explorer®.
• Schedule Software Updates – Update your shared computer with the latest software and security updates when it is convenient for you and your shared users.

Download here

Microsoft Launches Consumer Subscription Offering That Combines Microsoft Office and Windows Live OneCare

Microsoft Corp. today unveiled Microsoft Equipt, an all-in-one security and productivity software subscription service for consumers. In one easy installation, the service delivers award-winning anti-malware protection technology and features to simplify PC management and help improve performance, the productivity tools people use to organize their lives, and online services that help make it easy to keep in touch with friends and family.

Initially code-named “Albany,” Microsoft Equipt offers consumers Microsoft Office Home and Student 2007, giving them the latest versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote for their personal and school projects; Windows Live OneCare, the all-in-one security and PC management service; Windows Live tools, such as Windows Live Mail, Windows Live Messenger and Windows Live Photo Gallery so they can connect and share with people they care about most; and Office Live Workspace, a new service from Microsoft that makes it easy to save documents to a dedicated online Workspace and share them with friends and classmates. Anytime a new version of Office or Windows Live OneCare is released, Microsoft Equipt customers will get the version upgrades as part of their subscriptions.

Pricing and Availability

Microsoft Equipt is $69.99 (U.S.) estimated retail price for a one-year renewable subscription. Each subscription will be good for three home PCs, making Microsoft Equipt ideal for families and individuals with one or several computers.

Microsoft Equipt will be sold in nearly 700 Circuit City stores in the U.S. starting mid-July 2008.

Source- Microsoft Press Release