Author: rich_gibbons

Microsoft Licensing, products, Cloud, and more!
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Microsoft SkyBox Site nearly live


Near the top of Techmeme tonight is news that www.getskybox.com has made an appearance, although it now re-directs to a /myphone page on microsoft.com here and it seems SkyBox will now be called “MyPhone”.

MyPhone will allow you to:

  • Back up and restore your phone’s information to a password-protected web site
  • Access and update your contacts and appointments through your web account
  • Share photos on your phone with family and friends

    • Choice tidbits from the “More info” section include:

    • Most phones that run the Windows Mobile 6 operating system are compatible with My Phone service.
    • If you have an active connection with Microsoft Exchange server (which is frequently used for corporate e-mail), My Phone will not synchronize your contacts, calendar appointments, or tasks.
    • Users will be given a 200MB storage limit for Skybox.

    That storage limit is pretty small, I’ve got multiple GB’s of data on my device that’s a mix of wma’s, pdf’s, office docs, pictures and more and I’m sure most people have a similar amount. This means we’ll have to be pretty selective when it comes to what gets backed up and what doesn’t!

    Hopefully that limit will get upped, as it did with Skydrive or that SkyBox will one day let you use Skydrive as a storage area-it’d make sense based on the naming conventions. It’s a beta that hasn’t been released yet so there’s plenty of scope for things to change 🙂

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    Mmmmm…Bacon Blog


    I’ve seen this around in a few different places and it is pretty random, pretty useless and pretty funny…it’s Bacon on your blog!

    Check it out here

    bacon-blog

    I’m not sure why it’s been invented, or why I like it so much-but what can you do 🙂

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    Geek Grafitti


    A post on Gizmodo pointed me to this quite brilliant selection of “Geeky Grafitti” over @ Kontraband. There are 20+ pics in all but some of my faves are:

    c_run

    pac

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    Windows Mobile Timeline


    ZDNet’s Mary Jo Foley has again dug up more information on Microsoft’s plans for Windows Mobile, this time in the form of a rough timeline:

  • Windows Mobile 6.5 RTM (release to manufacturing): April 2009
  • First Windows Mobile 6.5 devices from cell phone makers: September 2009
  • Windows Mobile 7.0 release to testers: November 2009
  • First Windows Mobile 7.0 devices from cell phone makers: April 2010

    • I’m hoping that WinMo 6.5 is going to be available as a software update for current 6.1 devices but I’m not particularly hopeful. If it isn’t I think I’m gonna skip it completely & go straight to WinMo 7 in 2010..how about you?

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    My very own Historical Tweet


    Continuing with my fledgling internet star career, not only is my Windows 7 diary available on Microsoft Technet but I have also got a post up over at Historical Tweets.

    caesar-tweet

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    My Windows 7 Diary on Microsoft Technet


    Through the magic of Twitter, I heard that they were looking for user submissions for a “Windows 7 Diary” detailing how people are getting on with installing and using Microsoft’s new Operating System.

    I’d been keeping something of a record of my beta testing exploits on this blog anyway (as I’m sure all my regular reader now ha ha!) so I added to that and submitted it. Much to my surprise, mine was chosen to be part of this week’s Technet NewsFlash and also serialised over the week over at Curious George’s Technet Blog (Day 1 is down at the bottom).

    Feel free to let me know what you think!

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    Windows 7 versions


    As with Vista, there are going to be various versions of Windows 7, according to CNET:

    “Starter, Home Basic, Home Premium, Professional, and Ultimate. Unlike with Vista, however, the Home Basic version will be sold only in emerging markets.”

    I’m a huge fan of Windows 7 and also a big fan of Vista AND my job mainly revolves around Microsoft licensing-but even I think all these version is overkill. It confuses people and makes them apprehensive about buying a new licence-and people often hate what they don’t understand; I really think all these extra versions were a big part of Vista’s problem. It also makes it much more likely that people will buy a version of the OS that doesn’t include all the features they want and while MS have gone some way to combat this feature disparity (I.e. Pro will include Media Center), it isn’t perfect.

    It seems a lot of people have been worrying that they wouldn’t be able eligible for an upgrade licence unless they were running Vista, but that of course isn’t the case. All those XP users are perfectly able to purchase the Upgrade SKU to their chosen Windows 7 version.

    That said, the beta of Windows 7 is fantastic and you should definitely look at upgrading as soon as it’s available 🙂

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    More Windows Mobile SkyBox Info


    Mary Jo Foley over at ZDNet has got some great new info on Microsoft’s plans for SkyBox and Windows Mobile.

    SkyBox is the central online hub-a place to store photos, mp3’s, contacts etc as a backup for your device and we now have visibility of the timeline for this product.

    SkyBox 1.0 will go to beta in Mid-Feb and due to it’s ad-supported web portal, will be free which  like the sound of! You’ll be able to backup/restore your data as well as share it with other users-this is quite a neat feature as it means you no longer have to be in Bluetooth range…

    Come Summer ’09 we’ll have SkyBox 1.5 at which point it will branch off in to 2 versions: the free version with ads and a premium ad-free flavour. This 1.5 release will be available on WinMo 6.1, 6.5 AND select NON-WinMo phones.

    Sometime after that, I’d guess Q1 2010 will mark the arrival of the all-singing, all-dancing SkyBox 2.0, at this point users will be able to alter/manage their devices from the web. So you can change your wallpaper, add a new ringtone, install new apps etc all from the web-this is pretty freakin’ cool!!! Also by 2.0 Live Services including Mesh will be integrated and it will integrate with the upcoming SkyMarket where you can purchase new apps etc-a Microsoft version of the iPhone App store.

    I’m really excited about both of these services. My mobile is always a little bit out of the loop and to get things from there on to a pc-especially if not at home-can be a pain so SkyBox will make all that much easier and SkyMarket will mean us WinMo users can get some of the cool apps iPhone users have available 🙂

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    No more betas for Windows 7


    Steven Sinofsky has confirmed that the beta we are all using and loving is the only one we’ll get. The next step will be the Release Candidate (RC) which will have a complete feature set and be very close to the final version.

    His statement included:

    “We will continue to listen to feedback and telemetry with the focus on addressing only the most critical issues that arise. We will be very clear in communicating any changes that have a visible impact on the product. This release allows the whole ecosystem to reach a known state together and make sure that we are all ready together for the Release to Manufacturing. Once we get to RC, the whole ecosystem is in “dress rehearsal” mode for the next steps.”

    MS are still stating Jan 2010 as the release date as this fits 3 years after Vista, but I along with many others, think that Q3 this year is more likely.

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    More Leaked Windows Mobile 6.5 screenshots


    The guys over at Pocket PC thoughts have got some new WinMo 6.5 screenshots from a new manufacturer called CompuLab:

    winmo65_1

    winmo65_2

    I’ve got to say that I’m liking what I’m seeing here (apart from the scary Ostrich!)-the honeycomb style icon layout looks good and I imagine is a lot easier to navigate that what we have at the minute.

    These screenshots have got me looking forward to the upcoming release even more-how about you?

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