Archive for June, 2006

Internet Explorer 7 Beta 3 is now available for download and includes improvements in reliability, compatibility, user features, and security. Although Internet Explorer 7 Beta 2 was layout complete, based on our customers’ feedback, we’ve made some additional changes to the look and feel of the browser. Beta 3 allows users to add the e-mail button back to the toolbar, enables users to reorder the tabs by dragging them to the left or right, and enables horizontal scrolling while zooming.
To improve the RSS experience, Internet Explorer 7 now allows users to update all their RSS feeds automatically. In addition, the user has more control in marking their RSS feeds as “READ.”


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PHLAT is a new interface for Windows Desktop Search (enabling search through a user’s own email, files, and viewed web pages). PHLAT lets you easily specify queries and filters, attempting to integrate search and browse in one intuitive interface. It really takes desktop search to the next level.

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CodePlex: CodePlex is a Microsoft’s community development Web site. You can use CodePlex to create new projects to share with your fellow developers around the world, join others who have already started their own projects, or use the applications on this site and provide feedback. to CodePlex, Microsoft’s community development Web site. You can use CodePlex to create new projects to share with your fellow developers around the world, join others who have already started their own projects, or use the applications on this site and provide feedback. Move over Source Forge.
CNet Story on CodePlex

For a long time now, Microsoft has been touting the end of phone tag. For several years, Microsoft has shown demos in which people can choose who contacts them, and when–and through the miracle of software, we are seamlessly connected to those with whom we want to communicate.

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Microsoft Robotics Studio: “?Ever hear of the Microsoft Robotics Group? Us neither. Well, we do have a robotics team and they have just released a technical preview of the Microsoft Robotics Studio, which is a development platform that provides some highly innovative functionality for those of you interested in building robots or applications that require extensive loosely-coupled distributed parallelism(Remember the CCR interview we did a while back? Well, here’s what’s become of that great work). Did you know that you can control a robot from a web page using the Microsoft Robotics SDK? Yeah, us neither.

Robotics Home Page: http://msdn.microsoft.com/robotics

Robotics Group team Blog: http://blogs.msdn.com/microsoft_robotics_studio/

MS Robotics Studio Feedback: http://connect.microsoft.com/roboticsstudio“

Microsoft’s Live-branded online services don’t end at the Web browser. They extend deep into Windows. MS last week showed off software for embedding its Web-based Windows Live ID authentication services within Windows applications.

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Windows Vista On-Demand Training
This content is intended to supply you, our valued Deployment Partners, with business value, feature and deployment details surrounding Microsoft Windows Vista.

• Windows Vista Deployment Start Video
• Manageability, Reliability and Performance Start Video
• Windows Vista Security Start Video
• Information Management Start Video
• Collaboration and Connectivity Start Video
• Windows Vista Business Value Scenarios Start Video
• Application Compatibility in Windows Vista Start Video
• Windows Client Licensing and Windows Vista Start Video
• Selling Windows Client Software Assurance Start Video
• Windows Vista and Enterprise Infrastructure Optimization Start Video
• Using TCO Data to Manage Desktop Deployment Discussions with Customers Start Video

On June 15, 2006, Ozzie assumed the title of Microsoft chief software architect previously held by Chairman Bill Gates, and is working side by side with Gates on all technical architecture and product oversight responsibilities in anticipation of Gatesâ?? departure from a day-to-day role in Microsoft in July 2008.

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Microsoft senior vice president Bob Muglia opened up TechEd 2006 in Boston Sunday evening by proclaiming that Windows Vista was the most secure operating system in the industry. But a bold statement can only go so far, and much of this week’s conference has been spent reinforcing that point.

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The Seattle Times: Business & Technology: Microsoft’s adCenter is Google, Yahoo! rival: “AdCenter will give advertisers sophisticated information about consumers, including their location, age, gender and sometimes, their level of wealth. That’s more than what Google and Yahoo! offer, said Joe Doran, senior director for monetization in Microsoft’s MSN ad-planning group.
The service will also allow advertisers to choose specific times of the day or week in which their ads would be displayed.
‘It’s a clear differentiation for us,’ he said. AdCenter will not give any information that can allow advertisers to personally identify a person, he added.”

MSDN documentation is now available in Wiki form. Its the same documentation (concentrating mainly on the .NET platform documentation), but with the ability to add comments and additional information. Unlike Wiki’s, you can’t change the actual documentation, but you can add information at the bottom of every page. What I Know Is that this will be a great for the Microsoft development community.

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Download details: SQL Server Everywhere Runtime
Details from Microsoft…”Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Everywhere Edition (SQL Server Everywhere) is designed for developers who need light weight, in process relational database solution for their applications that can be developed and deployed on desktop as well as on mobile devices. The SQL Server Everywhere CTP contains the runtime bits that can be used to develop and deploy applications on desktop only. The RTW of SQL Server Everywhere will contain the device support for developing and deploying applications on mobile devices.SQL Server Everywhere CTP is a powerful tool that makes it easy to develop desktop applications by supporting familiar Structured Query Language (SQL) syntax and providing a development model and API consistent with SQL Server. The SQL Server Everywhere CTP includes new features like DataDirectory support, ClickOnce support for ease of deployment (Please see ReadMe SQL Server Everywhere CTP Readme)”

Visual Studio Team Edition for Database Professionals is a big darn deal. It is way more than new tools for the DBA’s, it is a new way of managing database development. Now database development is handled like other forms of development. Check out this webcast.
Here is a little info from the event site.

..Bringing the database professionals into the core development process is the next step in creating a collaborative, high impact set of development tools. Managing change in the database has always been a challenge and VSTS-DP brings a new set of tools to help with the tasks at hand. Spend thirty minutes and learn about the features for this new product and how it will help you and your teams be more successful.

Highlights
Change Management
Project Based Development
Project Model that represents schema as objects providing a “personal sandbox” for offline development that lives within a Visual Studio Solution
Team Collaboration with Work Item and Process Integration with Team Foundation Server Automated Change Support
Rename Refactoring with the ability to preview pending changes prior to execution
Comparison Tools (Schema & Data Compare) allow comparisons & synchronization of schema and data with design/test/production databases
Source/Version Control of all database objects with the ability to reverse engineer a database to bring it under Source Control
Database Unit Testing
Leverages the Test Project Infrastructure
Generate “Real and Meaningful” Data Values through the ability to import information such as Row Counts and histograms from a real database
Data Generator provides Repetitive Dataset Generation for tests based on saved settings
Build / Deployment
MSBuild Integration for Database Deployments/Builds based on Projects
Either Create a new Database at the target location or Update an Existing Schema

Windows Vista Community: Windows Vista Beta 2 Customer Preview Program: Vista Beta 2 CPT is ready for download. Download the ISO, burn the DVD, and VISTA UP BABY!!
Note: There are two installation scenarios for Windows Vista Beta 2 (and RC1):
- You can do a clean installation. This process will overwrite any data that you have on your hard disk or on your installation partition. The overwritten data will be lost and unrecoverable. Clean is always a good idea.
- You can upgrade an existing installation of Windows XP.

Doug Mahugh : BI and Data Warehousing Webcasts: “Office 2007 will deliver a wide array of new BI capabilities, especially when combined with the BI and data warehousing features of SQL Server 2005. If you’re new to BI and DW, or just new to SQL 2005, there are four info-packed TechNet webcasts coming in the weeks ahead that you’ll want to check out. You can learn about SQL Server’s BI and DW now, and be ready to build on that knowledge with Microsoft Office Sharepoint Server 2007 when it’s released later this year.”

I have been using office 2007 Beta 2 for a few weeks now, and I am having a blast. I configured my blog account settings and a few seconds later I am writing this entry. It hooks up to Blogger, MSN Spaces, and SharePoint, with no problem. I do not know about other blog sites.