Author: rich_gibbons

Microsoft Licensing, products, Cloud, and more!
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itunes DRM Free!!!


It’s not often you’ll see an Apple related post on here…I’m not a big fan of His Steveness et al…but this is a big one.

iTunes will be completely DRM free by Spring/end of Q1, so late March/early April time and it’s about time too! Despite my opposition to Apple, I have to admit that, as a concept, iTunes is great (let’s not get into how slow, sluggish and buggy it can be) but only being able to play the tracks in iTunes really winds me up. Either that, or having to double up on everything in various formats in various placed just makes things complicated…and it’s an extra thing that you have to explain to parents 🙂

The big change that has allowed this is variable pricing so newer, more popular “bangers” will be around $1.29 but on the flip side-older songs will be as low as $0.69.

One thing that is very exciting about this is that Microsoft recently announced that Windows 7 will be able to play AAC files natively, so once they’re DRM free you can buy them from iTunes and then easily play them in Windows Media Player…nice 🙂

These two announcements being so close together does make me wonder if Bill & Steve had a little chat and decided to play nice!

I’m now trying to find out if this is going to be a US only thing, or if we’ll get it here in the UK too. I’ll update as soon as I know.

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Windows 7-better than XP?


It’s something few people have ever said about Vista, but it looks like it could become a widespread phrase soon:

“Windows 7 is better than XP”

There will of course be a certain group of people who will refuse to admit that is even possible however I and many others have been saying it for a while now-and now Engadget have reports of something approaching proof!

Adrian Kingley-Hughes from ZDNet compared XP, Vista and Windows 7 at performing everyday tasks such as “boot up, shut down, file maneuvers, installations and other common tasks” and “On both test systems, an AMD Phenom 9700 setup and an Intel Pentium Dual-Core E2200 number (with ATI and NVIDIA graphics, respectively), the Windows 7 install soundly bested XP and Vista task by task, with few exceptions.”.

While this isn’t an exact science, it’s certainly very indicative of how things will be once Win 7 is released-and it’s looking good 🙂 Especially considering that this is the Beta of Windows 7 that’s being tested so one would assume that it’s final RTM (Release to Manufacturing) version will be even slicker.

It seems that Microsoft are really onto a good thing here…I can’t wait!

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Windows 7 to come with DivX


According to apcmag.com, Windows 7 will include DivX out of the box.

“So what?” you might ask…this will go along way to putting an end to hours spend trawling the web to find the correct/latest codecs to play that (legally) downloaded/ripped for backup purposes movie; thus making media watching in Windows an even more enjoyable experience 🙂

Codec packs are often from unverified publishers and run the risk of infecting your PC with malware and/or you ending up with various conflicting codecs that slow your machine down. Windows 7 shows a real attempt by MS to give users what they need and want and to help make the user experience as smooth, safe and stable as possible-good on you boys!

It doesn’t stop there though…Windows 7 will also play the H.264 video and AAC audio formats, as used by  iTunes, via Windows Media Player. However, don’t get too excited as Good Ol’ Apple refuse to licence  their FairPlay DRM so tracks purchased via the iTunes store are still off limits to WMP…Boo Hiss I say-that would make things SO much easier for me and stop me having to double up on tracks in both AAC and WMA/MP3 formats. Still, the AAC inclusion should mean that WMP can search & index all the (non-purchased) iTunes media, so simplifying the listening experience.

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Amazing PDF Related Tricks


I’ve jsut seen this PDF How To over @ Mobile Read Networks and it’s pretty awesome! It’s “How to do Everything with PDF Files” without using Adobe Acrobat-so helping keep the costs down in these turbulent times 🙂

It’s basically a guide to all the various online sites and tools that can help with converting, generating and using PDG files. It includes all kinds of tips, tricks and hints some things I knew, some things I wished I knew and some things I hadn’t even thought of…includes gems such as:

Q: First things first – How do I create PDF documents on my computer without Adobe Acrobat?

A: Get a copy of DoPDF– it installs as a virtual printer driver on your desktop just like Acrobat and lets you print PDF files from any Windows application including images, documents, emails, websites, etc.

Q: How do I create a single PDF package by merging files of different formats.

A: Try Loop PDF– it’s a free service that lets you combine multiple documents, images and even web pages into a single PDF file.

Q: A PDF document has lot of links but I can’t click them as they are in plain text. How do I make them clickable?

A: Go to PDF Escape, upload the PDF and then place hyperlinks anywhere on the page.

This is a great collection of tips to have as PDF’s can be somewhat tricky when they want to be 🙂

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Microsoft @ CES 2009


The Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2009 is only 5 days away (01/01/09) and is the first big show of it’s kind this year.

**Update: See what came out of the CES KEynote here**

This time it’s going to be Steve Ballmer delivering the Keynote now that Mr Gates is no longer the day to day head of MS but he’s not going to be alone. Robbie Bach, President of the Entertainment & Devices division @ Redmond will be there too…a new Xbox perhaps? Oddly I’m not a fan of the Xbox so I’d be happier to see him announcing the availability of the Zune in the UK 🙂

You know what, I’ve got a feeling that the next version of WinMo (so 6.5) is going to be mentioned at CES today too…and maybe a home version of Surface, haha 🙂

You can see Steve’s streamed webcast on January 7th 2009 @ 02:30 am GMT (18:30 PST) in 100K, 300K or 750K .

Hopefully Mr Ballmer will give us another Youtube moment!

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Problems with Sky+


I came downstairs on Xmas morning and before I made a brew, ate some chocolate or even opened my presents, I turned on the TV for some background noise/eye candy. On it came with some overly repeated Xmas song…but the inane video never appeared. I flicked over-nothing. MTV Base-nothing. Bravo-nothing. BBC 1-nothing…sound but no picture…maybe it’s the weather messing with the signal, I’ll put on something recorded…but no. Couldn’t play anything back or play Anytime either.

I did the usual checks which for me include:

Are all the cables connected? (That’s Scart leads and also the 2 LNB leads)

Turn it off at the wall, wait 3 minutes and turn it back on again.

If you’ve still got nothing, it’s on to more in-depth activities:

Press the services on the Sky Remote, select option 4 then, in quick succession, press “0”+”1″+”Select”…this will get you the “secret Engineer’s” menu as I’ve heard it called. The first option here is “LNB Setup” and this sorts out a lot of problems. Turn the options off, save settings and press the “Sky” button to return to normal programming…you should see a “no satellite signal is being received” message. Go back to the “Secret” menu and press the red button to “reset the settings”.

Sadly none of this worked in this case and I had to get a new box installed. The guy came out, swapped the boxes and all seemed well. The next day I noticed that most of the recordings I’d set had failed with a “Recording Interrupted-Please wait” message being displayed; however not all recordings-some were fine which was puzzling. I checked that all the cables were properly connected, which they were, and became even more puzzled. It then dawned on me that the successful recordings were all from terrestial stations (BBC 1,2, ITV and C4) but anything off a “Sky” channel failed. I then tried channels such as BBC 4, ITV 2, CBeebies etc and they all recorded without a hitch…so now any and all channels owned by a terrestrial tv company worked fine but none of the others-I found, and still find, this to be really weird (if anyone’s got an answer for why this was the case-please let me know!).

A quick Google search for the error message (which isn’t in the Sky+ Trooubleshooting guide) showed it was down to the viewing card not being correctly paired with the new box. (Thanks to DigitalSpyfor that-a very helpful site). I ranfg Sky on 08442 411 258 (this is the number for Viewing Card related issues, the main number is 08442 410 800) to get the card paired up properly. The first guy told me to wait a few more hours as complete activation can take 24 hours (hmmm) I did and nothing changed so I called again. This 2nd time the guy was very helpful, send out “a signal” and advised me to wait between 2 minutes and 4 hours…I gave it 5 mins and all was working again-whoo hoo!

I hope this helps 🙂

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Fix for Zune 30GB


Even though, or perhaps because, I still can’t buy a Zune here in the UK, I like to keep my eye on news relating to these wonderful devices. I saw earlier today a number of reports about the 30GB editions of the Zune locking up and “bricking” for no apparent reason.

**Update** It turns out that this was down to a Toshiba driver in the clock.

Microsoft have now released an official reason for the problem and, more importantly a fix for the issue. It all comes down to these particular devices having some issues with the leap year so MS have said “That being the case, the issue should be resolved over the next 24 hours as the time change moves to January 1, 2009. We expect the internal clock on the Zune 30GB devices will automatically reset tomorrow (noon, GMT). ”

The full statement from Microsoft (which I saw via Gizmodo) is below. The official Zune Team blog is http://zuneinsider.com/ so you can check there for more info on this, and other Zune related topics 🙂

Early this morning we were alerted by our customers that there was a widespread issue affecting our 2006 model Zune 30GB devices (a large number of which are still actively being used). The technical team jumped on the problem immediately and isolated the issue: a bug in the internal clock driver related to the way the device handles a leap year. That being the case, the issue should be resolved over the next 24 hours as the time change moves to January 1, 2009. We expect the internal clock on the Zune 30GB devices will automatically reset tomorrow (noon, GMT). By tomorrow you should allow the battery to fully run out of power before the unit can restart successfully then simply ensure that your device is recharged, then turn it back on. If you’re a Zune Pass subscriber, you may need to sync your device with your PC to refresh the rights to the subscription content you have downloaded to your device.

Customers can continue to stay informed via the support page on zune.net (zune.net/support).

We know this has been a big inconvenience to our customers and we are sorry for that, and want to thank them for their patience.

Q: Why is this issue isolated to the Zune 30 device?
It is a bug in a driver for a part that is only used in the Zune 30 device.

Q: What fixes or patches are you putting in place to resolve this situation?
This situation should remedy itself over the next 24 hours as the time flips to January 1st.

Q: What’s the timeline on a fix?
The issue Zune 30GB customers are experiencing today will self resolve as time changes to January 1.

Q: Why did this occur at precisely 12:01 a.m. on December 31, 2008?
There is a bug in the internal clock driver causing the 30GB device to improperly handle the last day of a leap year.

Q: What is Zune doing to fix this issue?
The issue should resolve itself.

Q: Are you sure that this won’t happen to all 80, 120 or other flash devices?
This issue is related to a part that is only used in Zune 30 devices.

Q: How many 30GB Zune devices are affected? How many Zune 30GB devices were sold?
All 30GB devices are potentially affected.

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Royal Institution Christmas Lectures 2008


I was a regular watcher of the Royal Institution Christmas Lectures in years gone by, but have found the last few years to be somewhat lacklustre. I’d still watch them but always feel a little short changed 😦

This year (2008) is much better though, this year’s lectures are all about computers and are being delivered by Prof. Chris Bishop, head of Microsoft Research in Cambridge! I know I’m a couple of days late with this post but my Sky+ has been playing up so today was my first chance to once them, and they’re definitely worth the wait. Today’s (Wednesday) lecture contained a great explanation of Binary counting which I think will be used as a reference base for a lot of people as it was very concise and easy to understand.

The 2nd episode (that was shown on Tuesday night) contains some great demo’s of some of the wonderful technology that MS Research have been/are creating including Surface and the Roundtable. It was great to hear the sounds of wonder and awe as the kids present saw what the Surface table was capable of…and I have to say I was pretty impressed by the Video puzzle as well!

MS Surface Video Puzzle
MS Surface Video Puzzle

 This next picture shows the 360-degree panoramic view of the Roundtable displayed on Microsoft’s spherical display. It looks much cooler in the video as Prof. Bishop scrolls the panorama around the sphere!

Roundtable on a Sphere
Roundtable on a Sphere

 Other posts on the Roundtable can be found here.

For anyone that has missed the lectures and/or simply wants to re-watch them, they are now available an DemandFive completely free.

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Predictions for Microsoft in 2009


Mary Jo Foley has come up with her list of what she thinks Microsoft will, and won’t, do in 2009 and it looks like a pretty good list.

However the one I disagree with most is number 10:

“10. Become so completely consumed by Apple envy that it over-invests on the consumer side of the house. In 2009, Microsoft’s failure to tend to its enterprise knitting will begin hurting its business software/services sales.”

Although it’s clear that MS are looking to grow in many consumer based areas, I really don’t think they’ll let the corporate Enterprise market slip and/or lose focus. This area is where MS earn the most money and the most respect so they MUST keep tending to it and with all the releases we are already looking at for 2009 including OCS 2007 R2, Office 14, Sharepoint 14, VStudio 2010, SQL 2010, Biztalk 2009 and many more, I’d say that the Enterprise market is being pretty well looked after already.

On top of this is Microsoft’s Software+Services push, which is a HUGE focus for them as evidenced by the WPC 2008 and later events I attended at Reading campus. The US launch was November ’08 and has already taken off very well and the UK launch is due around May time. MS are getting partners ready to take S+S to the marketplace in a confident, well balanced way and I truly believe this will be a huge part of 2009 for anyone involved with MS on a corporate level; whether as a customer, partner or competitor. I’m going to say that Microsoft’s S+S will be a contributing factor to helping the UK get out of the credit slump faster than expected…how’s that for a prediction?! 😉

I also think the Zune will start to make an appearance in Europe. I’ve already heard that France is slated to be the next country to get the Zune and I can’t imagine that the UK can be far behind if that is true.

I would put a top 10 list together but so many would be the same as Mary Jo’s it hardly seems worth it!

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Microsoft eBook reader


I wasn’t aware that Microsoft had any real entry into the eBook reader world but thanks to MobileRead Networks, I do now! They have in fact, got a whole web site devoted to it here.

From that site you can download “Microsoft Reader” a “free, downloadable software application that allows you to read eBooks on Windows-based devices you may already own.” which sounds pretty good to me 🙂 There are 3 versions of the software for Desktops/Laptops, Tablets & UMPC’s and Pocket PC’s.

eBooks seem like a great idea but I can’t be bothered to get another device a la Kindle so being able to read eBooks on my HTC Diamond seems like a good idea. Yeah, the screen isn’t particularly big but I don’t mind-the convenience wins for me.

*Update* I’ve been doing a bit of Googling and it seems that MS Reader doesn’t yet work with WinMo 6.1, which is a bummer. It will install but won’t activate, which is always the key part with Microsoft 🙂 The forum post here shows that MS are aware of it (as do other Google finds) but there still doesn’t seem to be a fix. This is a shame as it’s going to put a lot of people off upgrading to 6.1 and then people like me who are already on 6.1 are stuck 😦

When and if I hear something further, I’ll update this post ASAP!

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