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Hi, I just got this alert from Windows Intune which tells me that the beta service will end soon and that I need to uninstall the beta software and if I have a full account, install the new software (or old software to then be upgraded) Important Notice Account:  David Overton Associates Source:    Path:        Type:  Important Notice Description We are pleased to announce that the new features and enhancements that were offered in the Windows Intune July 2011 beta are now commercially available! If you have a paid Windows Intune subscription, your service will be upgraded over the next few weeks, so that you can take advantage of these new features. You do not need to take any action. Your subscription and deployed Windows Intune clients will be automatically upgraded. Two weeks prior to your upgrade date, you will see an alert displayed in the Windows Intune administrator console that indicates the exact date and time when your subscription will be upgraded. If you participated in the Windows Intune July 2011 beta, please note that the beta service will conclude 30 days after the Windows Intune general availability date. After this date, you will no longer be able to access your beta account, and all account data will be deleted. If you choose to sign up for a trial or purchase the commercial release of Windows Intune, you must uninstall the Windows Intune July 2011 beta client software, restore your computers to their original pre-beta state, and install the new client software on all computers that you want to manage with Windows Intune. We highly recommend that you remove the client software and restore your computers to their pre-beta state, even if you choose not to continue using Windows Intune. An uninstall script has been made available to make this task easier. You can download the script here: http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=219678 . View this alert in the Windows Intune console:  https://manage.microsoft.com/Site/App.aspx I’ve done a few uninstalls,...

I saw this and thought I would share it. Hyper-V R2, which is in beta already supports hot add/remove of drives, so native SBS 2008 Backup will work as youcan now dynamically add and remove those USB drives and they can be configured as pass-through disks so you will not have to create VHDs on them. Other interesting features for me were the live migration and huge memory support , all in the free version along with the management console! Hyper-V R2 BETA is available to test here . There is also an overview document that can be found here . In the overview document is the summary of Hyper-V as shipping today and the products as of tomorrow: Capabilities Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2008 Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2008 R2 Windows Server 2008 R2 EE, DC Processor Architecture x64 only Yes Yes Yes Hypervisor-based Yes Yes Yes Product Type Standalone product Standalone product Operating System Number of Sockets (Licensing) Up to 4 Up to 8 Up to 8 = EE | Up to 64 = DC Number of cores supported by the hypervisor 24 (with QFE) 32 32 Memory Up to 32 GB Up to 1 TB Up to 1TB VM Migration None Quick and live migration Quick and live migration (EE & DC) Administrative UI Command line, text based configuration utility and remote GUI management Command line, text based configuration utility and remote GUI management Command line, remote management, and local GUI (Hyper-V Manager MMC) Management Existing management tools Manageable by SCVMM Yes (SCVMM 2008) Yes (SCVMM 2008 SP1) Yes (SCVMM 2008 SP1) Virtualization Rights for Windows Server guests 0 0 EE = 4 VM DC Edition = unlimited VM per proc Number of running VM Guests Up to 192, or as many as physical resources allow Up to 256, or as many as physical resources allow Up to 256, or as many as physical resources allow Storage Direct Attach Storage (DAS): SATA, eSATA, PATA, SAS, SCSI, Firewire, Storage Area Networks (SANs): iSCSI, Fiber Channel, SAS Planned Guest OS support Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2003 SP2, Windows 2000 Server, Novell SUSE Linux...

I created my Star Wars Deep Zoom preview and really liked it, but then contacted the author of the site to see how I could add more pictures and control the layout &/or host it myself. Normally when I ask these sorts of questions I get a response about "later" and "out of beta", but instead I got pointed to these 3 articles and I have to say Wow!! You can see what someone can do with this technology at The Hard Rock Cafe - http://memorabilia.hardrock.com/ Download the Preview of the Deep Zoom Composer What is the Deep Zoom Composer? Deep Zoom Composer allows you to quickly import your own images, arrange and position them to your liking, and export the final output as either a Deep Zoom Image or Collection that can be fed into Silverlight's MutliScaleImage control. This means that you too can use your own images and display them using our Deep Zoom technology. Download the Deep Zoom Composer However, having done this I needed a simple user guide. At this point the blog Expression Blend and Design : Deep Zoom Composer User Guide came to my aid where there is indeed the user guide to download. The tool is simple, but the guide helps you understand what you are doing. Finally, I had arranged my pictures, however the output did not have zoom and pan capability. Then I found the article Expression Blend and Design : Deep Zoom Sample with MouseWheel / Pan / Click-Zoom which basically enabled me to finish the job off. All quite simple and the output looks fantastic. In your Web Site project, inside your ClientBin folder, you will see a folder called vistaWallpapers. The vistaWallpapers folder contains the images, xml, and bin files Deep Zoom Composer (DZC) output. To reuse this sample for your own projects, delete the vistaWallpapers folder and import your own folder containing the DZC output. Once you have done that, open Page.xaml in your Silverlight project and change the source of your MultiScaleImage control to point to your new folder and its info.bin file in your Web Site project: Once...

I've spent the day using IE8 and while it is faster, some pages have problems. If your seeing this, download this add-on to submit to Microsoft. Report a Webpage Problem Internet Explorer 8.0 Beta Add-On The Microsoft Report a Webpage Problem Internet Explorer Add-on allows the user to submit a report to Microsoft for webpages they believe are having rendering problems, scripting errors, or various other types of problems Download details: Report a Webpage Problem Internet Explorer 8.0 Beta Add-On To use, go to the tools menu and select Report a Webpage Problem Then you get to submit a page like this: thanks David Technorati Tags: Beta , Microsoft , IE8 , Internet Explorer , Application Compatibility , Support

Each month the TRM blog product this great summary of the Microsoft world in various product areas. The blog can be found here http://blogs.technet.com/trm/ News Help your customers securely deploy Windows Server 2008 with the Windows Server 2008 Security Guide! http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=92550 Every day, adversaries attempt to invade your customers’ networks and access their servers—to bring them down, infect them with viruses, or steal information about customers or employees. Your customers are looking to Microsoft and Windows Server® 2008 to help them address these threats. To assist customers in taking full advantage of the rich security features in Windows Server 2008, Microsoft has developed the Windows Server 2008 Security Guide. The Windows Server 2008 Security Guide provides IT professionals with best practices, predefined security templates, and an automated deployment tool to help strengthen the security of servers running Windows Server 2008. Supporting Your Family, Friends, and Neighbours http://go.microsoft.com/?linkid=8287993 By Steve Riley, Senior Security Strategist, Trustworthy Computing Have you become a support professional outside of the workplace? Read this article and learn how to discuss security with your family, friends, and neighbours to better help them stay safe and secure online. More Security and Control for Mobile Devices http://go.microsoft.com/?linkid=8287995 Learn how to add, manage, secure, and update Windows Mobile devices like you do Windows-based laptops and PCs. Microsoft System Center Mobile Device Manager 2008 provides robust security features and a comprehensive device management solution that helps safeguard your corporate data, reduce the cost and complexity of mobile deployments, and centralize and simplify Windows Mobile device management. Island Hopping: The Infectious Allure of Vendor Swag http://go.microsoft.com/?linkid=8287996 The technique of island hopping -- penetrating a network through a weak link and then hopping around systems within that network...

According to the site Workspaces (WSS for Office Live users) is now not quite out of beta, but still has a lot to offer: Anywhere Access Save 1000+ Microsoft Office documents in one place Access them from almost any computer with a Web browser No more flash drives or sending yourself documents via e-mail Learn more Share with Others Invite people to your workspace You control who can view, comment, and edit your documents Stop manually merging versions from multiple people Learn more Extend the Microsoft Office Experience Open and save files directly from Word, Excel, and PowerPoint Synchronize contact, task, and event lists with Outlook No need to learn a new program Learn more In terms of what is actually new: Public availability of Office Live Workspace beta at http://workspace.officelive.com with immediate access and no waitlist (English language version only) The easy way to save Office documents to/from the web Organise documents and projects online and work on them from almost any computer (full Firefox support) Invite others to view, edit or comment on documents and workspaces Full document versioning and time-stamping View and comment on documents in the browser, even if Office is not installed Create simple Web notes and Web lists (export to Excel and/or synch with Outlook) Share screen and documents in real time through integration with Microsoft SharedView Brand new features, such as an activity panel, notifications, direct links and multifile upload While this is all very nice, there is actually some excellent materials, including videos and more explaining much at Permanent Link to Microsoft Office Live Workspaces Goes Live and some commentary about Google vs Office Live here and from Tech Radar here which goes as far as to say: Microsoft has launched its equivalent of Google Docs - but without the ability to edit documents. It’s left the actual editing of documents to Office itself and offers Office Live Workspace as a way for individuals and small businesses to share files on the web. A nifty Office...

As always, from the Technical RollUp : March 2008 - Technical Rollup Mail - Platforms blog posting. I've removed all the KB article stuff and it is worth pointing out that towards the end of the list are all the docs associated with what has changed with Windows Vista SP1: Blogs and information Windows Virtualization Team Blog http://blogs.technet.com/virtualization/ The World Simplified is a Virtual World http://blogs.technet.com/virtualworld/ Ask the Directory Services Team http://blogs.technet.com/askds/ Ask the Performance Team http://blogs.technet.com/askperf/ Microsoft Enterprise Networking Team http://blogs.technet.com/networking/ Ask the Core Team http://blogs.technet.com/askcore/ Microsoft Advanced Windows Debugging and Troubleshooting http://blogs.msdn.com/ntdebugging/ Terminal Services Team Blog http://blogs.msdn.com/ts/ The Hot Blog http://blogs.technet.com/hot/ Downloads Windows Server Update Services 3.0 SP1 Windows Server Update Services 3.0 Service Pack 1 (WSUS 3.0 SP1) delivers updates to corporate environments from Microsoft Update. This release fixes issue found since the release of the product. http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/info.aspx?na=22&p=1&srcdisplaylang=en&srccategoryid=&srcfamilyid=&u=%2fdownloads%2fdetails.aspx%3ffamilyid%3df87b4c5e-4161-48af-9ff8-a96993c688df%26displaylang%3den Microsoft Windows Server Update Services 3.0 SP1 Overview This paper introduces Microsoft Windows Server Update Services 3.0 Service Pack 1 (WSUS 3.0 SP1) and provides information about features, and server and client computer requirements. http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/info.aspx?na=22&p=2&srcdisplaylang=en&srccategoryid=&srcfamilyid=&u=%2fdownloads%2fdetails.aspx%3ffamilyid%3d1b5eac37-bd48-41fd-869b-f9b06fa64a61%26displaylang%3den Release Notes for Windows Server Update Services 3.0 SP1 These release notes describe known issues affecting Microsoft Windows Server Update Services 3.0 Service Pack 1 (WSUS 3.0 SP1) and include recommendations and requirements for...

I got the heads up on this on Friday, installed it today and already love it. Go to the MSN Direct site to learn more about what it is and how it works What is it MSN Direct for Windows Mobile is ready for a Technology Preview. It is a Windows Mobile Standard Smartphone application that connects to our information service and delivers the information that you care about – and it updates automatically – and you never have to enter an URL, or wait for a web page to load. What type of info can I get? Weather, Stocks, Top Stories, World news, Sports news, Entertainment news, Business, Travel, Tech, Health, even News of the Weird. *news includes: Top Stories, World news, Sports news, Entertainment news, Business, Travel, Tech, Health, even News of the Weird. Where do I get it from Download MSN Direct Will it work with my phone If it's in our Phone Finder , you're good to go. FAQ How much does MSN Direct cost? Microsoft does not charge anything for download or use of the MSN Direct application. Please note however, that downloading and using MSN Direct requires data connectivity from your wireless carrier, which may charge additional fees. Check with your wireless provider for its coverage areas and service fees. How do I get the MSN Direct application? 1. By Text Message: Enter your phone number on the website, and we will send a link to the download page directly to your mobile phone. 2. From Your Mobile Browser: On your mobile phone, open the web browser and go to http://phone.msndirect.com . Follow the instructions on the page to download and install MSN Direct. Other people have already started writing about it: http://www.modaco.com/content/Smartphone-Standard-News/265282/MWC-2008-Microsoft-releases-MSN-Direct-Technology-Preview-for-Windows-Mobile-Standard/#entry877361 http://www.downloadsquad.com/2008/02/11/microsoft-launches-msn-direct-for-windows-mobile/ Personally I would say if you have a Windows Mobile 5 or above phone, download it today!! ttfn David Technorati Tags: MSN Direct , MSN , Windows Mobile...

Earlier this month on the IE blog there was some discussion about IE8, almost the 1st discussion about this - Internet Explorer 8 . Now they talk about the "Standards Mode" and how for those who want near 100% standards based web sites can live happily together. It is worth saying that it might end up 100% standards based, but since I don't think such a thing exists, all I will say is that is passes all the standards tests. Acid is one of these tests. I strongly recommend you read the the whole blog Internet Explorer 8 and Acid2: A Milestone As a team, we’ve spent the last year heads down working hard on IE8. Last week, we achieved an important milestone that should interest web developers. IE8 now renders the “ Acid2 Face ” correctly in IE8 standards mode. If you’re not a web developer, the details of this blog post probably aren’t all that interesting for you. I’d like you to know that we’re building IE8 for many different customers (consumers, web service providers, independent software vendors, enterprises, web developers, and others), and we’ll cover more details of the non-developer oriented work (e.g. user experience, reliability, security, etc.) in other posts in the future, after MIX . While web developers will immediately recognize what Acid2 means, I want to step back and offer some context for other readers of this blog who may not be familiar with web standards. Briefly: Acid2 is one test of how modern browsers work with some specific features across several different web standards. At first glance, this test seems simple. I think it actually offers a view into the subtle and complex world of web standards in a number of ways. Showing the Acid2 page correctly is a good indication of being standards compliant, but Acid2 itself isn’t a web standard or a web standards compliance test . The publisher of the test, the Web Standards Project , is an advocacy group, not a web standards defining body. When we look at the long lists of standards (even from just one standards body, like the W3C ),...

If you do plan to deploy Windows Vista then you need to be aware of the information that these guides can give you: Windows Vista SP1 Guides for IT Professionals These guides will assist IT Professionals in evaluating and deploying Windows Vista SP1 and are downloadable versions of the SP1 guides found in the Windows Vista Technical Library . (http://technet2.microsoft.com/WindowsVista/en/library/90a564b9-34af-4a6b-937f-324e1862244b1033.mspx) Files in This Download The links in this section correspond to separate files available in this download. Download the files most appropriate for you. Deployment_Guide_for_the_Release_Candidate_Version_of_Windows_Vista_Service_Pack_1.doc Enterprise_Guidance_for_Application_Compatibility_Testing_and_Windows_Vista_SP1.doc Hotfixes_and_Security_Updates_included_in_Windows_Vista_Service_Pack_1.doc Notable_Changes_in_Windows_Vista_Service_Pack_1_Release_Candidate.doc Overview_of_Windows_Vista_Service_Pack_1.doc Download details: Windows Vista SP1 Guides for IT Professionals ttfn David Technorati Tags: Windows Vista , Vista , Service Pack , Service Pack 1 , Release Candidate , Documentation

Free Developer Events for Customers & Partners: MSDN: Microsoft’s Web Platform. IIS7 and ASP.NET 3.5 Date: 08 January 2008 Location: Reading MSDN: Sharepoint for Developers Date: 10 January 2008 Location: London MSDN: Windows Server 2008 for developers Date: 17 January 2008 Location: Manchester MSDN: Windows Server 2008 for developers Date: 23 January 2008 Location: Edinburgh MSDN: Windows Server 2008 for developers Date: 24 January 2008 Location: Edinburgh MSDN: Building Services: .NET FX 3.5, SOAP, REST, and Beyond Date: 29 January 2008 Location: Reading MSDN: Developing on the Windows Live Platform Date: 30 January 2008 Location: Birmingham MSDN: Web, Web, Web : Visual Studio 2008, ASP.NET 3.5 and Silverlight Date: 31 January 2008 Location: Bristol MSDN: What’s new in Smart Client Development Date: 31 January 2008 Location: Bradford Find out about all MSDN events ttfn David Technorati Tags: IIS7 , ASP.net 3.5 , SharePoint , Windows Server 2008 , Web services , SOAP , REST , Windows Live Platform , Visual Studio 2007 , Silverlight and Smart Client development , Developer , Event , Training

It's funny working in an industry where if you are not going at 50,000 miles an hour you are considered to be standing still. One area where Microsoft is speeding along is photography. In this post I will explore the announcements, the demos, short and long term products and then the future that lots of people are beginning to see. For me, the fact that people are already seeing such a future and its possibilities is very exciting (both the visions and the fact they are having them without drugs!! (humour)) Look at the recent events: Raw photo support in 2005 - Microsoft and Imaging Industry Leaders Unveil Support for Digital Photo HD (which some people thought was a JPEG killer.. tut tut) - HD Photo - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia JPEG XR - JPEG committee supports Photo HD as next gen JPEG TrustedReviews - Official Jpeg Successor Is Microsoft's HD Photo Now this is all very nice, but so what - a better format for bigger pictures, that could be a bit like FAT disks getting FAT32 format, but it is not. Now read about Photosynth and Seadeagon and you realise that people are not just seeing a HD future, but a future where seeing details and accessing them is much, much easier: The demos by themselves are awesome - Chris Koenig : Seadragon and Photosynth If you haven't already seen Seadragon or Photosynth , then you need to watch this video from TED 07 . The speaker, Blaise Aguera y Arcas , is an Architect at Microsoft, and responsible for the Seadragon product. This is AMAZING technology - absolutely unbelievable what they've been able to do here. You can try out Photosynth for yourself today, but Seadragon itself is not publicly available (I can't wait to get my hands on this Seadragon demo)! The short term future is described by people like Pete: Microsoft & Photography - Pete's Eats I've been a heavy Photoshop user since v2.5 now but thought I'd do some research at Microsoft to see what kinds of things we have to offer too. I have to say, I was pretty surprised at the content...

MSDN Events – Free Technical Events for Your Partners We have the following free MSDN developer events taking place as listed below covering various topics/technologies. It would be great if you could communicate these events with your partners to offer them the opportunity to receive technical 'know-how' demos and insights into our latest technologies. · 15 November 2007, Manchester MSDN: Building Dynamic Web Applications with Microsoft Silverlight · 20 November 2007, Edinburgh MSDN: SharePoint for Developers · 21 November 2007, Edinburgh MSDN: SharePoint for Developers · 22 November 2007, Bradford MSDN: SQL Server 2008 · 27 November 2007, Reading MSDN: An Introduction to the Microsoft Web Platform (and how do it for zip, nvada, zero cost to you) · 28 November 2007, Birmingham MSDN: Web, Web, Web: Visual Studio 2008, ASP.NET 3.5 and Silverlight · 29 November 2007, Bristol MSDN: What’s new in Smart Client Development Click Here If you wish to view the overall events homepage. ttfn David Technorati Tags: Developer , Silverlight , SharePoint , SQL Server 2008 , Smart Client

Obviously when I wrote the last blog entry on installing search server , not quite everything was working, although I did not realise it until a few errors appeared in the event log. The errors appear below - one is a DCOM permissions error and the other is a Gather error. The DCOM error Event Type: Error Event Source: DCOM Event Category: None Event ID: 10016 Date: 09/11/2007 Time: 06:35:26 User: NT AUTHORITY\NETWORK SERVICE Computer: HOMESERVER Description: The application-specific permission settings do not grant Local Activation permission for the COM Server application with CLSID {61738644-F196-11D0-9953-00C04FD919C1} to the user NT AUTHORITY\NETWORK SERVICE SID (S-1-5-20). This security permission can be modified using the Component Services administrative tool. For more information, see Help and Support Center at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp. Fixing the DCOM error is all about setting permissions in the DCOM system. The magical application was IIS WAMREG admin Service. I worked this out by following the instructions in the KB article at http://support.microsoft.com/kb/920783 . The Gatherer error Event Type: Warning Event Source: Windows SharePoint Services 3 Search Event Category: Gatherer Event ID: 2436 Date: 09/11/2007 Time: 06:50:19 User: N/A Computer: HOMESERVER Description: The start address <sts3://homeserver/contentdbid={d067c159-4b98-4bb4-85d9-0d440121788b}> cannot be crawled. Context: Application 'Search index file on the search server', Catalog 'Search' Details: The object was not found. (0x80041201) For more information, see Help and Support Center at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp. This error relates to the fact that we have removed the search from http://<servername> and added a different virtual server name. If you look at http://www.kevincornwell.com/blog/index.php/windows-sharepoint-services-wss-30-search-setup-notes/ then you will see that you need to also change the Alternate Access Mappings. Do this and your event viewer errors will go!...

I have only just been able to start playing with this, but it is looking good. I'm told that it does NOT YET load on SBS, but that the issue is being looked at (the auto config tools that make it so easy clash with the pre-defined IIS settings for SBS) and the plan is to support SBS too. I will look at how to hack it on SBS yet :-) More info can be found at Enterprise Search from Microsoft . So what is it? (basically, web, share and application search capability with lots of abilities, but some important ones picked out below). Familiar Search Experience Empower your users to quickly find the information they need through a familiar Search Center interface Pinpoint the most relevant information you need with recommended best bets , authoritative sources , term definitions , hit highlighting , and query correction . Retrieve concise and clear search results with duplicate collapsing , allowing you to quickly review a wide variety of relevant information. Stay on top of new information relevant to your work by subscribing to update notifications of your search results using e-mail and RSS alerts . Build upon a familiar user interface and application platform that lets you customize your search experience and the actions you can take on your search results. Search Center. Empower your people to quickly find the information they need through a familiar, web-style search interface and easy-to-use query syntax. Re-configure the layout of Search Center elements without writing any code. Content Summaries. Quickly browse textual summaries of content that appears in the context of your search terms. Hit Highlighting. Quickly spot where your search terms appear in search results and content summaries. Best Bets and Definitions. Highlights editorialized sites or definitions for common search terms likely to have a single authoritative answer. Query Correction. Receive helpful "Did you mean?" suggestions for misspelled queries. Duplicate Collapsing. Find the content you're looking for faster using more concise...

I thought I would repost this as it is a very often asked question. Eric who posted this has said as much as can be said today. I hope to be able to break silence soon on more :) The statement for me that has the most interest as many partners don't think about it is " Embracing Live Services". I can honestly say I don't know the details here, but for all those nay sayers about online / live / Software plus Service etc, this is another loud gong that the world is changing! Also, just one of those side notes, Exchange 2007 does not include Outlook anymore (Exchange 2003 did), so your customers must buy Outlook / Office to use Exchange outside the web based views. What is going to be in "Cougar?" There have been a few questions floating around about "Cougar," the next version of Windows Small Business Server, and what it will include and be based on. I thought I would post some of the information that is publicly available to help address some of these questions: Based on the Windows Server 2008 platform and technology wave Cougar will include these technologies: Windows Server 2008 Exchange Server 2007 Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 SQL Server 2005 System Center Essentials Dramatically improved management, protection, and business productivity Emphasis on simplicity and integration Providing value for new and existing partners Embracing Live Services 64-bit only Microsoft Small Business Community Blog : What is going to be in "Cougar?" ttfn David Technorati Tags: SBS Cougar , Cougar , Software plus Service , Windows Server 2008 , Exchange 2007 , System Center Essentials

Just recently I have been reading about the improvements in the Live services and then I saw Steve's entry on Live Books ( Live Search Books...wow ) and thought I had better go see what was going on. I went to the live search and searched for my favourite author and sure enough, up came his books, but what was nice is that most people don't know that Robert Heinlein also had an interest in the US economy. Books referring to his works here also appeared. I was then able to see how much of a reference to him was made and even choose to view those pages if the publisher of the book allowed it. Oh, try http://search.live.com/results.aspx?q=&mkt=en-US&scope=books&FORM=BBBB to get to the books search I also notices a load of other services you might want to try out: Web, images, videos, news, maps (I'll cover this later), MSN are all standard. Under the more tab though you get: Academic - I've used this to do research into academic papers that interest me Feeds - speaks for itself Health - See screen shot below Local - find local services - this is especially GREAT when using on a mobile - http://m.live.com Classifieds QnA - Ask questions and see if someone will answer them Macros - write macros to restrict / improve searches and then make them available to others The Book Search This is how my book search went - I put in the contents I wanted to see if a book. Not the books have summary information and then when you hover over them, more detail is provided, including where and how much of the book your looking at has references to the items you want to search Click on the book to see more To respect peoples property, the author may request a limit of how many pages you can view. To make this work, you might be prompted to sign in The pages in my book, with the detail I wanted to read Now for healthcare This is just a quick aside. I searched for back pain in the health care section - I got 3 sections of results - articles, web searches and sponsored links. Amazingly clear and simple. I'll...

I saw this and think it is amazing - I know there are already lots of translation services out there, but I like the way things are presented at this site. If you want to do free text or web site translation, have a look at http://translator.live.com/ . Once I'd tested translating a phrase or two (why do I always translate to Arabic??) I thought I would run UKSBSGUY through it. To see the site with just a toolbar to select the language - go to http://translator.start.com//BV.aspx?&MKT=en-GB#http://uksbsguy.com/ . You have a choice of several views - side by side top and bottom original with tooltip translation translated with original text in a tooltip I really like the last option, but play around with them yourself. - translated with English tooltips - English with translated tooltips - Top and bottom - Side by side ttfn David Technorati Tags: Translation , Live

I just saw these in my inbox (post holiday processing) and thought I would pass them on. 19 September, Edinburgh : MSDN - Introduction to .NET Framework V3.0 (& sneak preview of v3.5 changes) 20 Sept 07, Bradford : Introduction to .Net Framework V3.0 (& sneak preview of v3.5 changes) 25 Sept 07, Reading : Building Dynamic Web Applications with Microsoft Silverlight 26 Sept 07, Birmingham : OVERVIEW OF VISUAL STUDIO 2008 AND .NET FRAMEWORK 3.5 27 Sept 07, Bristol : OVERVIEW OF VISUAL STUDIO 2008 AND .NET FRAMEWORK 3.5 ttfn David Technorati Tags: MSDN Events , .Net 3.0 , .Net 3.5 , Visual Studio 2008 , Developers

A few people have asked me about Vista SP1 - what will it contain, how big will it be, can you tell me more, so I thought I would share these two articles with you. One is a press report of a discussion with Shannon on http://www.zdnet.com.au/news/software/soa/Windows-Vista-SP1-weighs-in-at-1GB/0,130061733,339281624,00.htm which states things like: the company has revealed that test versions of the update are currently 1GB As for what's in the Vista update, it's mostly a collection of existing fixes and tweaks aimed at improving stability and reliability of the operating system ability to encrypt multiple hard drive partitions using Vista's BitLocker feature removable storage file format known as exFAT as well as for EFI (extensible firmware interface), an alternative to the BIOS (basic input output system) that handles the initial start-up of a system changes to Vista's desktop search feature in response to complaints from Google or http://www.betanews.com/article/Windows_Vista_SP1_Will_Uninstall_Group_Policy_Management/1188398636 Probably in response to a few users' bewilderment over the seemingly unrestricted accessibility of what had actually been one of Windows Vista's most requested new security tools, Group Policy Management Console, Microsoft announced today that the act of installing Vista Service Pack 1 will simply delete the tool altogether Finally a Q&A was released on the Microsoft PressPass REDMOND, Wash, Aug. 29, 2007 – Microsoft today shared details on its plans for the first service pack of Windows Vista, including a timeline for its release. To learn more, PressPass spoke with Jon DeVaan, Senior Vice President of the Windows Core Operating System division at Microsoft. PressPass: There has been a lot of speculation around the first service pack for Windows Vista. When will it ship, and why are you just now sharing information on Windows Vista SP1? Jon DeVaan, Microsoft Senior Vice President, Windows Core Operating System Division DeVaan : We’re targeting the first quarter...

OK, So I now have 5 Popfly invites to hand out. It you want one, e-mail me via this link ( send request ). I'll look at the invites on Monday and send out some invites. thanks David Technorati Tags: Silverlight , popfly , invites

Many years ago I used to do database development and my preferred environment was FoxPro. Well, were now on version 9 and the latest service pack is in beta. Have a play, but think how you can move to Access or SQL in the future. Microsoft Visual FoxPro 9.0 Service Pack 2 and "Sedna" - Beta This download contains the BETA release for Microsoft Visual FoxPro 9.0 SP2 and the "Sedna" add-ons. This release has two parts: The Sedna Beta download contains six components: VistaDialogs4COM, Upsizing Wizard, Data Explorer, NET4COM, MY for VFP and VS 2005 Extension for VFP. The VFP 9.0 SP2 Beta download contains a patch that can be applied to VFP 9.0 or VFP 9.0 SP1. In addition to fixes to the core product, this patch contains significant enhancements to the Reporting features. Note that the SP2 patch can only be applied to VFP 9.0 or VFP 9.0 SP1. http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=05A0E7C9-43C1-417F-8810-AE7D7C66BAC8&displaylang=en ttfn David Technorati Tags: Foxpro , beta , service Packs

[updated to correct grammar in title - thanks to Warren Jacobi for pointing it out to me] I have been hearing about these at work - I don't have them yet, so can't comment on them, but apparently they will be going to trial soon and then out via updates. 938979 Vista Performance and Reliability Pack This update resolves a number of individual issues which may be affecting some computers running Windows Vista. These issues have been reported by customers using the Error Reporting service, product support, or other means. Installing this update will improve the performance and responsiveness for some scenarios and improves reliability of Windows Vista in a variety of scenarios. Some examples of the improvements contained in this update are: • Improves performance in resuming back to the desktop from the Photo and Windows Energy screensaver. • Resolves an issue where some secured web pages using advanced security technologies may not get displayed in Internet Explorer on Windows Vista. • Resolves an issue where a shared printer may not get installed if the printer is connected to a Windows XP or Windows Server 2003 system and User Access Control is disabled on the Vista client. • Resolves an issue where creating AVI files on Vista may get corrupted. • Improves the performance in calculating the ‘estimated time remaining’ when copying/moving large files. • Improves performance in bringing up Login Screen after resuming from Hibernate. • Resolves an issue where synchronization of offline files to a server can get corrupted. • Resolves a compatibility issue with RAW images created by Canon EOS 1D/1DS Digital SLR Camera which can lead to data loss. This only affects RAW images created by these two specific camera models. • Resolves an issue where a computer can lose its default Gateway address when resuming from sleep mode. • Improves the performance when copying or moving entire directories containing large amounts of data or files. • Improves the performance of Vista’s Memory Manager in specific customer scenarios...

I was jumping around the web and found this blog - definitely something to add to your readers. Below are just the 3 most recent Server Core blog entries that I think are all of massive interest. If you want a version of server that is so cut down that does not have .Net installed, does not have a GUI and so on - Core is for you. Server Core TechNet Webcast I did a TechNet Web cast on Server Core yesterday. If you missed it, it is now available at: http://www.microsoft.com/events/EventDetails.aspx?CMTYSvcSource=MSCOMMedia&Params=%7eCMTYDataSvcParams%5e%7earg+Name%3d%22ID%22+Value%3d%221032341828%22%2f%5e%7earg+Name%3d%22ProviderID%22+Value%3d%22A6B43178-497C-4225-BA42-DF595171F04C%22%2f%5e%7earg+Name%3d%22lang%22+Value%3d%22en%22%2f%5e%7earg+Name%3d%22cr%22+Value%3d%22US%22%2f%5e%7esParams%5e%7e%2fsParams%5e%7e%2fCMTYDataSvcParams%5e There were a couple of questions at the end regarding networking technologies that I didn’t know off the top of my head. Here are the answers: What version of SNMP is supported in Windows Server 2008? SNMPv1 and SNMPv2c see http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa379141.aspx for more info. How to enable/disable the Scalable Networking Pack (SNP) functionality in Windows Server 2008? You can use netsh interface tcp set global Andrew Posted Friday, June 29, 2007 1:18 PM by amason | 0 Comments IIS in Server Core For those of you at TechEd recently or who saw the articles, IIS is now a role included in the Server Core installation option. If you have access to the recently released CTP build, IIS is available for you to start testing. Because Server Core does not currently have any managed code support, IIS does not support ASP.NET when used on Server Core. The IIS PowerShell cmdlets are all based on WMI, so they can be used to remotely manage IIS running on a Server Core installation. Andrew Posted Tuesday, June 26, 2007 8:11 AM by amason | 4 Comments Step by Step guide for Server Core The Server Core step by step guide is now available in two locations 1 – To read online or print...

IIS7 is the web server in Windows Server 2008 and is not only already getting great press, but is already running Microsoft.com for us !! Once again, pinched from Technet. Administering IIS7 on Server Core Installations of Windows Server 2008 Posted 6/26/2007 3:34:00 PM As you may have seen from TechEd 2007 announcements and recent Bill Staples’ (IIS Product Unit Manager) blog, IIS7 is now supported on Server Core installation option of Windows Server 2008. We are hoping to address customer requests by offering lo ... http://blogs.iis.net/metegokt/archive/2007/06/26/administering-iis7-on-server-core-installations-of-windows-server-2008.aspx IIS7 on Server Core - June CTP build released! Posted 6/26/2007 3:06:00 PM I'm excited to announce that a new build of IIS7 and Windows 2008 Server is available for testing by Beta testers. This build includes updates and fixes made since the Beta 3 release earlier this year, and includes the previously announced IIS7 on Se ... http://blogs.iis.net/bills/archive/2007/06/26/iis7-on-server-core-june-ctp-build-released.aspx BlueDragon/CFML : an awesome IIS7 extensibility story Posted 6/25/2007 10:35:00 AM I've blogged a few times about the extensibility of IIS7, but here is a real world example that provides a really concrete idea of the real possibilities: Vince Bonfanti just announced end-to-end BlueDragon/CFML integration with IIS7 including core s ... http://blogs.iis.net/bills/archive/2007/06/25/bluedragon-cfml-an-awesome-iis7-extensibility-story.aspx Catalyst Software Publishes In-depth IIS7 Whitepaper for .NET Developers Posted 6/12/2007 1:55:29 PM Scott Seely just published a 30 page whitepaper on IIS7. It includes a great overview of many of the new IIS7 features and architecture, along with lots of great code samples for .NET developers. This is especially helpful if you're looking for ... http://blogs.iis.net/bills/archive/2007/06/12/catalyst-software-publishes-in-depth-iis7-whitepaper-for-net-developers.aspx ttfn David Technorati Tags: IIS7 , Longhorn , Windows...

Windows Server 2008: Maximize Control, Flexibility, and Protection See how Windows Server 2008 can help you increase the flexibility of your server infrastructure. Use the online resources to learn how you improve your organization's networking infrastructure, security, server performance, and reliability. http://go.microsoft.com/?linkid=7009024 Windows Server 2008: Maximize Control, Flexibility, and Protection > Overview Spend less time on day-to-day tasks and more time adding value to your business with this next-generation server operating system. Windows Server 2008 helps you to increase the flexibility of your server infrastructure while saving time and reducing costs. Powerful new management tools and security enhancements allow you to have more control over your servers while providing advanced protection so you can spend less time on everyday tasks and more time bringing greater value to your organization. Leverage these online resources to explore Windows Server 2008 today. Webcasts Watch these 90-minute Windows Server 2008 webcasts and learn how your organization can leverage the enhancements in Windows Server 2008. Tune in for live webcasts and stream or download webcasts for on-demand viewing. Virtual Labs Try out Windows Server 2008 during a virtual lab. It's simple—no complex setup or installation is required. You get a downloadable manual and a 90-minute block of time for each module, and you can sign up for additional 90-minute blocks anytime. Podcasts Stream or download these TechNet audio podcasts onto your favorite podcast software or mobile device. These podcasts are free and do not require registration—just click, listen, and learn about Windows Server 2008. Chats Join an online, text-based question and answer session in real time from a chat room. This is your opportunity to interact with Microsoft experts on Windows Server 2008, provide feedback, and get answers to your tough questions. Understand the Server Core Option for Installing Windows Server 2008 The Server Core installation...

I saw this and thought those of you with Mac customers might find this useful if Office 2007 is around or potentially around in their businesses. Also of note is the fact that beta, trial and RTM seems to be very blurred today. Do you ever deploy beta code? I do, often in small environments with big warning labels, but I do do it. Following on from some of your less than exuberant feedback about the new Mac converters, I looked into it. To summarise, the Mac BU have released the beta 1 of the file format converters of Office for Mac. You can download the converter for Word documents here . More info is at the ever useful macmojo blog First thing to point out is that this is a BETA and also that it is a BETA 1. There is a bug-ette in that apparently it doesn't handle some reserved characters from non-english languages or some special Unicode characters such as ™. Any docs that have these characters seem to screw up or don't convert at all. Apparently the issues with Unicode was documented in the help with the beta. There is a fix which will roll out with beta 2 of the converter which is due out soon but I can't tell you when. This is good to know but doesn't answer why it apparently needs admin rights to run. What interests me about this is people's expectation for product quality from a beta 1 now. I remember the day when anything short of RTM was not to be used in production and when beta 1 would be considered only for the enthusiast. Now that we live in the world of Internet startups, betas seem to be the norm. Office Rocker! : beta by far: the role of trial software - click for more! ttfn David Technorati Tags: Mac OS X , Mac Office , Office 2007 , beta

Don't you love the way the title of a product described what it is? While this product does what it says on the tin, it misses out the most important thing - what can you connect Outlook to. The answer is e-mail and contacts based on our Hotmail service, so this includes OfficeLive. If you sign up to one of the subscription OfficeLive services (i.e. you pay us to use it) then you get a connector which can do all this AND synchronise your calendar items too. Once in Outlook you can do all the searching, filing and manipulation you want to do. Today you can now download the beta of the next version of the Microsoft Office Outlook Connector. Download: Microsoft Office Outlook Connector (Beta) The Microsoft Office Outlook Connector is designed to let you access your Windows Live Hotmail account through Outlook 2003 or Outlook 2007. You will be able to download and install the Connector to sync up your email and contacts in Windows Live Hotmail for free. However, if you are a paid subscriber of MSN Premium, Office Live Essentials, or Office Live Premium you will get the added functionality of being able to sync up your calendar, tasks and notes from Outlook to Windows Live Hotmail. I know many of you probably took note to the statement made on the download page of being able to "synchronize your Windows Live Calendar in Outlook". Windows Live Hotmail currently has a built in calendar service which is essentially your Windows Live Calendar. Your calendar from Outlook is published and viewable through this service in Windows Live Hotmail. The Windows Experience Blog : Microsoft Office Outlook Connector Beta Now Available ttfn David Technorati Tags: Outlook , OfficeLive , Sync , beta

I was browsing Vijay's blog and notices a link to Sean Daniel's blog discussing Cougar. While there are many details of Cougar still to be released and some I would imagine still to be decided, here are some of the most interesting things he said: There will be a migration too that will take you from your current SBS to Cougar on ANOTHER BOX. We are still working on this solution. The SBS Backup solution is being completely re-vamped. However, we have made the full switch, and the backup solution will no longer support backing up to tape. Using snapshot technology, the backups will be extremely quick using incrementals that can be scheduled as often as every 30 minutes. A copy of NTBackup will be able to extract files from the old SBS 2003 format, but no new data can be added. Cougar will need to be installed behind some kind of firewall and the single-NIC model will be the only mode. You must use a firewall in front of the SBS box, this can be a hardware router type item, or a software firewall such as ISA. There is more at SeanDaniel.com - SBS 2003 and Technology Discussions: Hey! Where's my next version of SBS? , however I thought that was interesting enough to start things off. ttfn David Technorati tags: Cougar , SBS , Backup , Migration , ISA , x64

OK, so this is beta number 3 for the day and the one I use for about 95% of my blog writing. Hope along to Writer Zone: Windows Live Writer Beta 2 Now Available to get all the details, but once again, here is the summary: from here :-) This release incorporates a ton of feedback from our discussion forums and your blogs. Here are some of the new features you'll find in Beta 2: New Authoring Capabilities Inline spell checking Table editing Ability to add categories Page authoring for WordPress and TypePad Support for excerpts and extended entries Improved hyperlinking and image insertion Paste Special Integration and Compatibility SharePoint 2007 support New APIs enabling custom extensions by weblog providers Automatic synchronization of local and online edits Integration with Windows Live Gallery Support for Blogger Labels Plus... New look and feel Available in 6 languages Improved accessibility and keyboard support Many other frequently requested enhancements! Tables and spell checking Adding categories Page authoring We're also excited to announce that Windows Live Spaces , WordPress , and TypePad have all taken advantage of our new Provider Customization API to expose additional service-specific features within the Writer UI. ttfn David Technorati Tags: beta , live , writer

I know that you like the odd beta, so this is the 1st of 3 I will post today, so enjoy the code. Lots more information and pictures at Inside Windows Live Messenger . Important Details: Get Messenger 8.5 Beta1 (build 517) here Markets (Country + Language) in order to get this Beta out asap we limited the number of supported markets. If your market is not listed below, please know that we are working on it! English - United States, United Kingdom, India French - France Japanese - Japan German - Germany Chinese (Simplified) - China Spanish - United States, Spain What's new (ever get the feeling that this is a usability and eye candy update) Setup - the look, the desktop short cut, the start menu short cuts, Microsoft Update Sign-in - the look Menus - the look and feel Contact Window - the look Conversation Window - the look and a little feel New Emoticon - the bunny ttfn David Technorati Tags: beta , Messenger , Live

Just a quick one - I was playing around with SQL2005 on my Longhorn server and I could not connect from a remote machine - Ahh I thought, the firewall is in the way, but it turned out I had to do 3 or 4 things to get things working. The Microsoft KB article that pointed to the light was How to configure SQL Server 2005 to allow remote connections which covers how to enable the firewall for the 2 programs you need and so on. When you try to connect to an instance of Microsoft SQL Server 2005 from a remote computer, you may receive an error message. This problem may occur when you use any program to connect to SQL Server. For example, you receive the following error message when you use the SQLCMD utility to connect to SQL Server: Sqlcmd: Error: Microsoft SQL Native Client: An error has occurred while establishing a connection to the server. When connecting to SQL Server 2005, this failure may be caused by the fact that under the default settings SQL Server does not allow remote connections. This problem may occur when SQL Server 2005 is not configured to accept remote connections. By default, SQL Server 2005 Express Edition and SQL Server 2005 Developer Edition do not allow remote connections. To configure SQL Server 2005 to allow remote connections, complete all the following steps: Enable remote connections on the instance of SQL Server that you want to connect to from a remote computer. Turn on the SQL Server Browser service. Configure the firewall to allow network traffic that is related to SQL Server and to the SQL Server Browser service. Well, the above is all well and good, but we also need to remember that in a Vista and Longhorn setup the "admin" accounts do not have admin control over the database, so you may well also need to run the SQL 2005 Surface Area tool that enables you to add administrators I also found I had to enable network connections by going to the SQL Server Configuration Manager and enabling TCP connections on my IP v4 network. ttfn David Technorati tags: SQL , Vista , Longhorn...

I saw the news about Silverlight and the things that struck me was that it was a) cross platform and b) provided a fantastic experience. You can also use the Expression tools to build this stuff. So much was I impressed by the stuff that I have hosted it on my server for you to see what is there. To find out more go to Microsoft Silverlight It does pretty graphics, movies, effects like turning pages and more. If you install the runtime (you must have .Net 3.0 installed - i.e. native on Vista and installable for Windows XP) then pop along to http://uksbsguy.com/febctpsamples to see the demos. To get started you need to do some downloading (click below for Windows or http://www.microsoft.com/silverlight/asp/downloads.aspx for Windows and MAC): System Requirements and Installation Instructions There are a number of blogs on this product and they can be found at http://www.microsoft.com/silverlight/asp/blogs.aspx . It is also worth noting that the Silverlight web site ( http://www.microsoft.com/silverlight ) will be enabled with this technology today :-) Ok, so to the tech demos - obviously download the Sample Code for youself from the downloads pages about, however, the samples on the site look like this: Film Strip Provides a simple tool to show a group of bitmaps in something like an old fashioned movie film reel (hint, click the arrows at the bottom of the screen) Grand Piano Play 1 octive on the piano using the keys on your keyboard (z->m for the white keys for C through to B and then SDGHJ form the flats or black notes) PageTurn This is an electronic magazine with realistic page turning experience - inside a browser!! Grab the corner of the page on the bottom left to turn the pages and click the little two page icon in the far bottom corner of the screen to show the thumbnails. Sleek Video Player This video player itself did not inspire me much, however the video did make me laugh a lot!! I did notice that when I hover over the bottom of the video I get the option to move the slider along, which is neat! Sprawling...

Help us to shape next-generation 64-bit technology We are shipping a private beta of our upcoming 64-bit server for medium-size businesses, codenamed 'Centro', and we're looking for partners to test the technology and give us feedback. The server, which is an x64-only version of Longhorn targeted at smaller enterprises, will integrate Exchange 2007, System Centre Essentials, SQL Server 2005 and ISA Server. To sign up to the beta programme, go to http://connect.microsoft.com/ , click on 'Invitations' (in the left-hand navigation) and sign in with your Windows Live ID (Passport ID). Then enter the following invite ID; Extr-GHBC-JCJM. You will be asked to take a short survey. When you have completed the survey you will receive an email from MsftConn@microsoft.com . If you don't already trust this address, please add it to your trusted email addresses. More information on the beta programme More information on Centro Technorati tags: Centro , Beta , Exchange 2007 , System Center Essentials , SQL Server 2005

I am cheating as this artwork is all from the Office Live Website. You can go and claim your own domain and web site for free by going to http://office.microsoft.com/en-GB/officelive/default.aspx . This is an amazing solution for those customers who are too small for SBS or want as much as possible off premise, or want hosted solutions, but don't want full Exchange. Have a go!! ttfn David FREE Attract new customers Get started on the Web for FREE Create a professional Web site Learn more FREE Sign up now FREE .co.uk domain name for the first 10,000 UK customers Compare services Generate repeat business Create a professional Web site Organise your customer information online Share documents with online Workspaces Learn more Free during Beta Sign up now FREE .co.uk domain name for the first 10,000 UK customers Essentials = FREE during Beta, then £11.95 per month * * price excludes VAT Stay on top of your business Create a professional Web site Manage your projects and tasks Organise your customer information online Access your e-mail and appointments from the road Plus more space, more users, and more tools Learn more Free during Beta Sign up now FREE .co.uk domain name for the first 10,000 UK customers Premium = FREE during Beta, then £22.95 per month * * price excludes VAT

Finally Microsoft will deliver you a server that sits at home, is ideally suited for everyone in the house to use. It could even find itself into really small businesses in combination with Offie Live (backup and central monitoring provided by Home Server and e-mail, calendar, domain etc provided by Live). So what is it, well, think SBS, remove Exchange, SQL and ISA, update the wizards and remote access to be applicable for data sharing and a home network (but still keep them), then add some cool features like adding new disks the existing sharing volumes so exapansion is simply slotting in a new disk. This is Quattro, or Q or Home Server and the beta is coming soon too!! As is always, several people already blogged on it and gave some great links, but go check out the following: The Press Release Susan bradley's tour de force and more Official SBS, Centro & Home Server Blog 2nd Blog Susanne's hardware find and link to the marketing site and finally, even Vlad wanted one !! Now there are a few people who say they don't want a server at home, in any form, which is just fine - don't worry about the product - just because it is there does not mean you have to buy it. For those who do, this is cool... now how can I get on the beta ;-) ttfn David