Get 15% off Office & Windows Server

Quick heads-up on our latest customer offer: get 15% off selected Microsoft Office & Windows Server products - offer ending December 31st, 2008.

Following on from our "Economy" campaign, this is a great way to help customers save money as they start to tighten their belts.

Details here: https://partner.microsoft.com/australia/40086487

Source- MSDN Blog

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EBS Migration & Installation Guides

Windows Essential Business Server Installation Guide
This document explains how to install Windows Essential Business Server in a production environment.

Migrating WSUS to Windows EBS
This document explains the optional migration of Microsoft Windows Server Update Services (WSUS) from an existing server in your environment to Windows Essential Business Server.

Migrating Exchange Server to Windows EBS
This document explains how to migrate existing mailboxes, offline address book generation processes, and public folder replicas to the Windows Essential Business Server (EBS) Messaging Server.

Migrating from Windows SBS 2003 to Windows EBS
Use this document to successfully migrate your environment from Windows Small Business Server 2003 (Windows SBS 2003) to Windows Essential Business Server (EBS).

Windows Essential Business Server Getting Started Guide
This document summarizes the installation and configuration of Windows Essential Business Server in a production environment

Source- Bink.nu

Six months in, Live Search cashback is cashing in

When we launched cashback nearly six months ago, we mentioned that we’re going to use these three criteria to measure the program:

1. Number of offers in the system
2. Advertiser ROI
3. Percentage of commercial searches as measured by ComScore

Well, we’ve been measuring, and today we can report that we’ve increased the number of product offers available in Live Search cashback by 30%, indicating strong advertiser interest in the program and early results on its ROI. Stephanie Tilenius, GM of eBay North America, has told us, "Microsoft Live Search cashback has improved our ROI on paid search by 50%, and based upon our shared success, eBay is increasing its search marketing spend with Microsoft Live Search by threefold." ShoeMall, a cashback advertiser also mentioned that the cashback program has increased their sales 6x since it began participating, prompting ShoeMall to devote even more marketing dollars to the program. In addition, we’ve seen a monthly average of 4.5 million unique users participating in cashback — they’ve conducted more than 68 million commercial queries.

In these tough economic times this early traction speaks to the differentiated and unique value proposition of Microsoft Live Search cashback for both consumers and advertisers. According to a custom comScore study, in Q2 2008, Microsoft Live Search referred almost 12% of total commercial online transactions and 13% of total online spending among key retail categories.

We’re encouraged by cashback’s first six months, but this is just the beginning — we have more up our sleeves. Keep watching.

Source- Live Search Blog

Expression Encoder 2 SDK Updated for Service Pack 1

We’ve just released an update to the SDK, which now incorporates the new features in Expression Encoder 2 Service Pack 1.

Here are the main things that are new in the SDK :-

Source- Expression Encoder Blog

Microsoft Store USA - Now Online - Shop Till You Drop!

Microsoft has just launched a store containing the entire line of Microsoft Products which includes all software, hardware, and peripherals.
With this launch, Microsoft customers in the U.S. are able to buy first-party software and hardware directly from Microsoft in a comprehensive online catalog. On our store, you’ll find products from many categories, ranging from Office 2007 Home and Student and Zoo Tycoon 2 to Xbox 360 Wireless Controllers and the new Zune with that cool Buy from FM feature.
You may now shop! - http://www.microsoftstore.com
Source - winoscentral.com

Windows Sysinternals Updates: ZoomIt v2.2, AccessChk v4.22

ZoomIt v2.2: This ZoomIt update makes it easier to see the drawing cursor when it’s small relative to the zoomed region by representing it as a cross hair, allows you to position the text cursor when you enter text mode, supports changing the text color for the break timer and while you’re placing the text cursor, and includes a number of other minor improvements.

AccessChk v4.22: This update fixes a bug that sometimes caused AccessChk to not show the full list of rights and privileges assigned to a user account.

Source- Windows Sysinternals Blog

25GB of Free Online Storage with Windows Live SkyDrive

The Windows Live SkyDrive Team has posted a in-depth post offering a overview of what’s coming with their next update. First and foremost: Windows Live SkyDrive will be boosting everyone’s storage from 5GB to 25GB. Secondly, they want to give you more control over your files by offering you new features to do so:

Download photos directed to your to Windows Live Photo Gallery.

Download as a .zip file. Download an entire folder in one compressed file (initially available only in the United States, Denmark, and Ireland).

Move files between folders.

Copy files to multiple folders.

Sharing photos is huge these days. They’ve added almost 20 new features to make the photo experience on Windows Live SkyDrive even better such as supporting People Tags, bigger thumbnails, and a new online slideshow using Microsoft Silverlight.

You will be able to also keep your Internet Explorer favorites synced up with multiple PCs using Windows Live SkyDrive and Windows Live SkyDrive.

There is a lot coming to Windows Live SkyDrive! Check out their blog post for more details on what’s coming up.

Source- Windows Experience Blog

Microsoft Introduces Updated Windows Live Services

Microsoft Corp. today announced the next generation of Windows Live, an integrated set of online services that make it easier and more fun for consumers to communicate and share with the people they care about most. The new generation of Windows Live includes updated experiences for photo sharing, e-mail, instant messaging, as well as integration with multiple third-party sites. The release also includes Windows Live Essentials, free downloadable software that enhances consumers’ Windows experience by helping them simplify and enjoy digital content scattered across their PC, phone and on Web sites. For more information about windows live go to http://www.windowslive.com.

Consumers today are creating online content and sharing it in many places across the Web. To help make is simple for the more than 460 million Windows Live customers to keep their friends up to date, Microsoft is collaborating with leading companies including Flickr, LinkedIn Corp., Pandora Media Inc., Photobucket Inc., Twitter, WordPress and Yelp Inc. to integrate activities on third-party sites into Windows Live through a new profile and What’s New feed. The new Windows Live also gives consumers the added convenience of having a central place to organize and manage information.

“Think of Windows Live as the single place where people using our e-mail, messaging and photo-sharing services can stay connected,” said Chris Jones, corporate vice president of Windows Live Experience Program Management at Microsoft. “Our customers have friends across the Web. They communicate through many unconnected Web services and want access to it all from a single location — without worrying about how it’s done. Now Windows Live takes care of that, with an integrated personal communication service that works across the Web with optimized experiences on the PC and mobile phone.”

Source- Microsoft Press Release