Author: rich_gibbons

Microsoft Licensing, products, Cloud, and more!
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Windows 8


Although we’re all caught up in the buzz waiting for Windows 7 to be released, MS have started looking forward to Windows 8!

A job posting highlighted by CodeName Windows is looking for someone to work on Distributed File System Replication (DSFR) technology for Windows 8:

“For the upcoming version of Windows, new critical features are being worked on including cluster support and support for one way replication. The core engine is also being reworked to provide dramatic performance improvements. We will also soon be starting major improvements for Windows 8 where we will be including innovative features which will revolutionize file access in branch offices.””

That last point shows that the advanced made in Windows 7 and Win Svr 2008 R2 with Branch Cache are only the beginning of Microsoft’s plans to help companies with satellite offices.

Windows Server 2011 (as I imagine it will be) gets in on the action too:

In Windows Server 2008 R2 release, the Server UX Test team (under the File Server Management organization) is finalizing the MMC [Microsoft Management Console] based User eXperience (UX)/Interfaces for the File Server Role. Currently the team owns DFS [Distributed File System] Management, Share and Storage Management, FSRM [File Server Resource Manager] & Classification UI, Disk Management, SMFS. For Windows 8, the SSD organization is working on the next version of the file server.

“As the team moved to Windows 8, you will have 2 main responsibilities – (i) put on the customer/design critique hat as we plan our next version file server management experience (i) participating in the architectural design, and development and driving automated testing for managing the next generation file server. Our current automation does not meet the multi-machine paradigm requirement and so you will contribute significantly in the development of test automation to validate setup/configuration of the new server, managing configuration changes, performing diagnostics and reporting using Power Shell, Command line, Object Model, UI.”

Thanks to Mary Jo for the job descriptions.

I know some people will think it’s weird that MS are working on another version of Windows while the newest version hasn’t been released yet, but that’s teh best way to ensure that the UX (User Experience) is very similar between the two aswell as keeping to the 3 year timeline.

I’m very excited for Windows 7 but I can’t help wondering what awesome features will be in Windows 8…any ideas?! 🙂

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Windows 7 RC Release Date


A “slip-up” on the Microsoft Partner Portal earlier revealed that the Windows 7 RC (Release Candidate) will be with us on 5th May 🙂

I got the Windows 7 beta as soon as it was available which was Build 7000 and I installed that on my desktop at home. There have been numerous leaks of newer builds (we’re up to 7077 now) but I’ve not moved up to any of these for 2 reasons:

1) I’m not sure of the legality of downloading a leaked beta build and I don’t want to get caught up in all that!

2) The hassle of backing up and upgrading for what might be imperceptible changes.

Despite, or perhaps because of that, I can’t wait to upgrade to the RC. To see the many 1000’s of changes and updates that have been made will be excellent.

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Windows Mobile 6.5 Launch


MS have confirmed that the offical launch date for Windows Mobile 6.5 is May 11th 2009, which is the first day fo this year’s TechEd event.

The Windows Mobile blog says:

“Stephanie Ferguson, GM (General Manager) of Business Experiences at Microsoft’s Mobile Communications Business is going to deliver the kick off launch presentation of Windows Mobile 6.5 on Monday, May 11th at 1:00PM – 2:15PM. This Tech Ed 2009 session focuses on one of the biggest launches in the history of Windows Mobile – Windows Mobile 6.5. It is targeted at both IT Professionals and Developers, with a cool demo and an outline of great stuff to come.”

winmo65_2winmo

It will still be a number of months until we see any WinMo 6.5 devices but TechEd will give us a chance to see even more about the features of the new mobile OS and more things to look forward to!

*Update* Microsoft Windows Mobile 6.5 phones will start being released on October 6th 2009 🙂

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Exchange 2010 Public Beta Released


Microsoft today (15/04/09) made the beta of Exchange 2010 available to the public-this can be downloaded here:

Get Exchange 2010 Beta

There are numerous new features in the latest incarnation of the world’s most popular email platform (I think that’s a safe statement to make?!) including:

·         OWA (Outlook Web Access) support for Internet Explorer (IE) 7 and 8, Firefox 3, and Safari 3.

 

·         MailTips. Are you about to accidentally send a personal e-mail to the whole company? A a time-sensitive e-mail to someone who is on maternity leave for six months? A 30MB attachment to people who have 20MB attachment size limits on their mailboxes? MailTips tells you before you send the message.

 

·         Conversation view. Have the arrangements for a company party Friday night cluttered up your mailbox to the point where you can’t find the approval e-mail for the urgent customer visit that you need to book today? Switch to conversation view, and collapse those 50 party discussions into one expandable node.

 

·         Calendar sharing extended to OWA

 

·         Automatically transcribed text-based preview of voice mail messages

·         Federation – Trust Exchange servers of partner organizations, share calendars, presence. You can schedule meetings with your business partners as easily as you can schedule meetings within the company.

·         Mailboxes can be moved during normal business hours with user online!

      ·      The Exchange 2010 version of OWA will have full parity with Outlook 2010 by the time they both ship; & the Windows Mobile client will come close.

One thing that might surprise some and will probably cause issues for others is that Exchange 2010 will require Windows Server 2008 minimum-so NO Windows Server 2003 support. I’m sure this won’t sit well with everyone but Windows Server 2008 is such a great product, and a huge leap forward from Server 2003, that I’m sure it will only benefit people to adopt it.

I’ve just seen a tweet from @Pbarone that Exchange 2010 will have a “mute” button which will allow you to remove yourself from email threads…that is seriously cool! At least a couple of times a week I find myself caught up in a “reply all/forward” whirlwind where I’m one of say, 6 people that all receive an email and then each of then “reply all” and then that receives multiple replies and so on. It’s very rare that I actually need to see these responses but once one person hits “reply all”, it seems to be the custom for everyone else involved to follow suit…and it can be really annoying so this mute button is a great new feature!

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Modern Day Samurai


This might be the most off topic thing I’ve posted on here so far but it’s awesome. This guy Isao  Machii is a master of the sword-cutting string beans horizontally, slicing moving bullets in half and all sorts! Also, the “English Subtitles done by a Japanese speaker” are brilliant 🙂

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Outlook Thread Compressor


Geek in Disguise Steve Clayton has posted about a great utility, Ewan Dalton’s Outlook Thread Compressor.

“it’s an add-in to Outlook which removes unnecessary emails, on the assumption that most people reply to mail and leave the original intact, so you could keep the last mail in each branch of a thread, and remove all the others.”

I’d just like to re-iterate Ewan’s disclaimer:

“Let me say that again: Thread Compressor, as it is configured by default, WILL DELETE DATA FROM YOUR INBOX.

If you choose to download it and use it from here, you do it with the author’s blessing, but it’s completely at your own risk and Microsoft cannot be held responsible for what it does.”
tc4

Head over to http://threadcompressor.co.uk/default.aspx for more info and to download this great tool.

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Twitter


I know every man and his dog has blogged about Twitter by now but I just want to do a quick post with my thoughts on the hottest Web 2.0 topic of the moment.

I took a while to get in to Twitter. I’d tried  a few times but thought it was boring, pointless and vain and then around November 2008 I finally got it 🙂 I saw the potential within Twitter for increasing/creating business contacts as well as discovering and learning about new things-and that’s how I use it.

You may have seen my “Windows 7 Diary” on the MS Technet letter a few weeks back…I found out about that through Twitter. I’ve got the Royal Institute Xmas Lectures on DVD…got that through Twitter. Got an early invite to Spotify…through Twitter. There are plenty more. too. It’s also great for connecting with people for work (I follow, and am followed by, a number of MS people) and strengthening relationships etc. For things like this I think Twitter is great and invaluable but there are 2 things I don’t get at all:

1) Following “celebs” for the sake of it. These can be media celebs such as Stephen Fry, Wossy, Russell Brand, Lily Allen and the 100’s others and/or “web celebs” such as Scobelizer, Loic etc. I follow Mr Fry as his tweets are for the most part interesting and pertinent while most, if not all, other celebs are amazingly bland and boring; however they still have 1000’s/10,000’s of followers for no real reason. I found particularly “Wossy” was very boiring and irritating!

2) Tweeting about what you’re doing: doesn’t that mean you’re not doing it?! I often see tweets such as “Am having lovely meal with family-great night”…really? If it’s that good why have you got your phone out and started Tweeting? Surely if it was that good, you’d be too busy enjoying yourself?! Another one you see is “Am really enjoying being with the kids”…do the kids really enjoy watching you type?!

I don’t want to sound too militant about it but certainly number 2 really strikes me as being odd! That said it’s each to their own and Twitter is great 😉

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Google Search Suggestions


As you’ve probably noticed, Google has recently started to suggest auto-completes for your searches…at first this annoyed me but now I quite like it. Not so much because it saves me an all important 0.75 seconds when searching but because it’s a great source of amusement; seeing what has been searched for, and how many people have used that search is brilliant! Here are some examples:

google1

Not by using the internet!
Not by using the internet!
Looks like some people have watched Twilight too much!
Looks like some people have watched Twilight too much!

There are quite a few more just using “how to”…some surprisingly rude, (although with it being the internet perhaps not that surprising!) which I decided not to put up here.

This is another favourite of mine:

That bloomin' Matt!
That bloomin' Matt!

Is this the same “Matt” who keeps getting lost or does this show that all people called Matt are no good at being on time?!

One thing I find a little odd (what with it being the internet) is that “porn” doesn’t come up with any suggestions…I was at least expecting to see “How to become a porn star” but no! However, there are 54,000 searches for:

Cheap Transition metals...
Cheap Transition metals...

I’d love to see what great examples you can find 🙂

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Microsoft Online/BPOS Guide


I’ve been working with Microsoft for months on BPOS, their Software Plus Services offering and getting the word out to customers etc…helping them align their business decisions with MS Online and more. I think that MS Online Services are excellent and will be a real game changer-allowing end users to increase profitability while simultaneously reducing costs and streamlining processes…what more could you want?! 🙂

I’ve put together a guide to MS Online Services (collectively called BPOS) over at:

https://richardgibbonsuk.wordpress.com/ms-onlinebpos/

which should answer most questions you might have. I’m constantly updating it as I discover/remember more info but please feel free to leave a comment if you’re question hasn’t been answered.

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Azurelight


Microsoft Architect Aleksey Savateyev is building a basic product support app…that is based in the cloud and is to be called “Azurelight”. It will collect feedback about products and allow users to exchange opinions on the products too. “It’s also intended to be used by developers as a reference application utilizing both Windows Azure and Silverlight for rich yet scalable and highly available business solutions…” as described by Savateyev himself.

Mary Jo Foleyreports that as well as utilizing Azure & Silverlight (as it’s name suggests) Azurelight will also use Microsoft’s ADO.NET Entity Framework, ADO.NET Data Services (aka Astoria) and SQL Data Services.

azurelight

Once it’s all up and running “sometime in the summer” of 2009 (via MSDN it seems) this should be a great example of what Microsoft’s technologies, both cloud and programming, can do 🙂

I’m excited about this program and as the source code will be released Free of Charge, I hope I’ll be able to make full use of Azurelight!

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