Author: rich_gibbons

Microsoft Licensing, products, Cloud, and more!
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Microsoft Thumbtack


Thumbtack is a new release out of the Microsoft Live Labs, “A single place to save or share the stuff you want from all around the web” as MS say.

I’ve had a little play around with it and it’s not bad. They suggest using it to share lists with your friends, lists such as your favourite restaurants but that doesn’t really apply to me as I don’t have that many friends & I don’t like that many restaurants šŸ™‚

They also suggest using it to collect info on purchases etc that you’re researching online (you could use it for other research too I.e dissertations, coursework and the like) but for this, I’d much rather use OneNote. It’s got more features, is moreĀ intuitive and feels a lot more robust that Thumbtack. OneNote is one of my favourite MS programs and I think really shows what Microsoft can do and how good software really can make things easier so Thumbtack does haveĀ a lot to live up to I suppose!

I can see that for more social people this could come in pretty handy, especially as it’s completely Web based so all your mates will be able to see what you send them…

All in all, a pretty good new release-just not for me…

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Microsoft Softwear


Microsoft Softwear…that’s not a spelling mistake, that’s Microsoft’s newest release. Clothes by Microsoft = Softwear!

There are a number of different t-shirts, some designed by Common (the formerly good rapper) and all harking back to the days of MS-DOS et al…you can see the full ranges here.

I know the vast majority of people are going to find this the most Uber-geekiest they’ve ever seen-but I think they’re awesome! The missus has just informed me that I’m a “massive geek” to confirm that!

My 3 favourite t-shirts are:

These are “in stores December 15th” according to the site but which stores and can I get them in the UK?!

**Update** Two of these bad boys (the Binary Code Tee and the Bill Mugshot Tee)Ā are on UrbanOutfitters.com, but just those two. They cost $28 ($34 inc Tax) and Urban Outifitters will ship to the UK BUT the shipping will cost $56!!! That means for one T-shirt you’re looking at $90, which today is Ā£57.68…they’re cool but that’s a bit too much in my opinion!

I’ve had a look on urbanoutfitters.co.uk but I can’t see any on there, hopefully they, or another retailer, will get them over here quick sharp šŸ™‚

If you’ve got any more info-hit me up and let me know!

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Microsoft release Open Source Content Management System


Microsoft have released an Alpha version of Codename “Oxite”, their new Open Source Content Management Solution. Oxite is available from the CodePlex website hereĀ and it is available under the Microsoft Public Licence.

Microsoft say:

“Oxite provides you with a strong foundation you can build upon – pingbacks, trackbacks, anonymous or authenticated commenting (with optional moderation), gravatar support, RSS feeds at any page level, support for MetaWebLog API (think Windows Live Writer integration made easy), web admin panel, support for Open Search format allowing users to search your site using their browserā€™s search box, and more – so, you can spend time on designing a great experience.ā€

It’s customizable, Open Source nature means that should customers wish to, they can swap out MS tech such as Live Search & SQL for other, non-MS versions instead.

This release seems a little odd as MOSS (Sharepoint) 2007 can do all this and more, so why bother? For the cynical among us it could be nothing more than an attempt to increase Microsoft’s Open Source credentials to gain favour with users and other industry factions. I agree that is probably part of it, but I also think it’s a genuine attempt to help people in the Open Source community benefit from Microsoft’s experience with MOSS 2007…but then I would šŸ™‚

Let me know what you think of this in the comments…

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Microsoft Licence RSA Technology


Microsoft have announced that they have licensed RSA’s Data Loss Prevention (DLP) technology and will include it in future versions of Exchange server, Sharepoint server & “similar” products. There’s no word whether it will feature within Office but it would seem likely as Sharepoint is part of the Office family and Office also includes Exchange’s desktop client, Outlook. Also, as the point of origin for the vast majority of documents (spreadsheets, Word documents, .ppts etc), extra security in Microsoft Office seems a logical idea.

This will integrate with Active Directory Rights Management Services (AD RMS)Ā so the RSA software will identify in file servers, databases, datacenters, Sharepoint repositories etc and then AD RMS will enforce the policies. These policies can be used to prevent certain people performing certainĀ tasks withĀ certain documents so for instance the HR Dept. can view and print wage spreadsheets, but only the Finance Dept. can edit them.

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Windows 7 Beta Release Date


It seems that Microsoft are pointing us towards a January 2009 release date for the Windows 7 beta, rather than December 2008 as originally thought.

**Update-it seems we have dates for when the beta will be available here.

According to the Register, MS have updated their sites to show that event attendees won’t receive a physical copy of theĀ  beta in their hands until an event on 13/01/09. If you’re at an event before then, you will get teh beta DVD mailed to you later.

Despite this, ZDNet’s Mary Jo Foley thinks we could be on for a December 17th release..who will be proved right? I’m very excited about getting my hands on a proper beta of Windows 7 so the sooner the better I say!

**Update** Yesterday (16/12/08) Microsoft sent invitations to select “beta tech testers” giving them early access to Windows 7 Beta 1. The note from MS contained the line “While (the Windows 7) beta will not be available until early 2009…” so a general release date in January is nearly confirmed.

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A Moonwalking bird


I’ve just seen this on an episode of QI, it’s a bird that can MOONWALK, true comedy genius!

This is very random and unrelated to anything else on my blog-but who cares-it’s brilliant! Just so you know, it’sĀ a Mannikin bird…

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No reasonable person should trust Apple’s marketing


I’m a Microsoft fan and don’t have much, if any, love for (M)Apple-but now it seems neither do Apple.

In a 9 page response to a customers complaint re: the “twice as fast for half the price” claim, Apple state, and I quote (the bold is mine):

“Plaintiff’s claims, and those of the purported class, are barred by the fact that the alleged deceptive statements were such that no reasonable person in Plaintiff’s position could have reasonably relied on or misunderstood Apple’s statements as claims of fact.”

So either we’re all reasonable people and all know that Apple’s marketing is a tissue of lies, deceipt and $8 pee covered phones or we believe that they don’t outright lie and are therefore “unreasonable” šŸ™‚

Gizmodo have got the hook up on this here…

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Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 Service Pack 2


Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 Service Pack 2 Betais now available to people with MSDN and/or Technet subscriptions to begin testing.

Then from December 4th, the Customer Preview Program will launch via Technet hereĀ for testing by all, though Microsoft recommend it’s forĀ “enthusiasts, developers, and IT Pros” šŸ™‚

SP2 will wrap up all the updates released since SP1 and include improvements from Customer Experience Improvement Programme too. For more information on specific changes with Vista SP2, check out Mike Nash’s blog post hereĀ and/or check out the Notable Changes document.

Thanks to Gizmodo for the following list of changes & improvements:

Emerging Hardware Support

ā€¢SP2 contains Blue tooth 2.1 feature pack supporting the most recent specification for Blue tooth technology
ā€¢Ability to record data on Blu-Ray media,
ā€¢Adds Windows Connect Now (WCN) Wi-Fi Configuration to Windows Vista SP2,
ā€¢exFAT file system now supports UTC timestamps, which enables correct file synchronization across time zones.
ā€¢SP2 provides support for new form factors, such as ICCD/CCID. new form factor support ā€“example USB form factor as opposed to PCMCIA).
ā€¢Support for the new VIA 64-bit CPU
Security

ā€¢SP2 includes all previously released security updates, and builds on the proven security benefits of Windows Vista
ā€¢Secure Development Lifecycle process updates, where we identify the root cause of each security bulletin and improve our internal tools to eliminate code patterns that could lead to future vulnerabilities
ā€¢Reliability
ā€¢SP2 addresses previously released reliability updates, as well as addressing crashes, caused by Microsoft code, discovered since the launch of SP1
Performance

ā€¢Resume performance when Wi-Fi connection is no longer available after resume from sleep
ā€¢Inclusion of Windows Search 4 for improved indexing performance, improved relevancy in search, broader indexing scenario inclusion, as well as new Group Policy integration for Windows Search,
ā€¢Improvements to the RSS feeds sidebar gadget to improve update performance and responsiveness
Application Compatibility

ā€¢It is our goal that applications that run on the Windows Vista Operating System today and are written using public APIs will continue to work as designed on Windows Vista SP2.
ā€¢Previously released Application Compatibility updates are included in Windows Vista SP2.
ā€¢Spysweeper and ZoneAlarm now working with POP3 email accounts
Administration and Support Improvements

ā€¢Customers installing .net framework 3.5 service pack 1 will notice shorter download and installation times with Vista service pack 2 or Windows 2008 service pack 2 already installed,
ā€¢Service Pack Clean up tool (Compcln.exe): This tool helps restore the hard disk space by permanently deleting the previous versions of the files (RTM & SP1) that are being serviced by Service Pack 2.
ā€¢Single installer for both Vista & Server 2008
ā€¢Ability to detect an incompatible driver and block service pack installation or warn users of any loss of functionality
ā€¢Better error handling and providing more descriptive error messages where possible
ā€¢Better manageability through logging in system event log
ā€¢Componentization for Serviceability of the installer
Some Specific Fixes/Additions Include:

ā€¢Inclusion of Hyper-V
ā€¢Event logging support in SPC
ā€¢DNS Server now listens over ISATAP address
ā€¢Fixes DRM issues from WMP upgrades
ā€¢Windows Vista Feature Pack for Wireless
ā€¢Reduction of resources required for sidebar gadgets
ā€¢Improved power settings for WS08

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Microsoft Research Projects


Microsoft Research Labs have brought us some great things over the years-the 2 big ones at the minute being the Microsoft Surface table and also the Roundtable Video Conferencing Device, but that isn’t all. NetworkWorld have got an article on “10 Microsoft Research Projects” but I’m just going to take a look at theĀ one that really interests me:

Code Name Pictionaire:

I hadn’t seen anything about this one before but it looks pretty cool, like a cousin of the Surface more than anything. You can type directly onto it via standard keyboard, write on it via an interactive whiteboard, manipulate images using multi-touch, play videos and more. You could have, for example, 16 people all armed with keyboardsĀ sitting around it collaborating on an article, thesis, new song or whatever you can imagine really.

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Microsoft Zune is better than the iPod


Microsoft Zune is better than the iPod. That might seem like a bold statement but this postĀ from Jeff Blankenburg shows that it is true, at least in my opinion.

I’ve wanted a Zune for a long time and the reasons listed by Jeff just make me want one even more! I’ve got an iPod but I’ve not been 100% happy with it for some time and being something of a Microsoft “fanboy”-the Zune seems like the way to go if only they’d make them available here in the UK. I really don’t see why they’re restricted to the US and Canada…if anyone’s got any ideas or info-please let me know šŸ™‚

There are numerous reasons over at Jeff’s blogĀ but here are the ones that really impress me:

1) It comes with FM Radio. Now in itself this is pretty cool as it’s sometimes good to have the radio on rather than just mp3’s, but the thing that puts it above and beyond is the “Add to Cart” option. With this, if you hear a track on the radio that you want, press the button and it downloads it from the Zune Marketplace! I think this feature should be pushed much harder as it’s unlike anything else I’ve seen…many a time I mean to get a song of iTunes later but forget-this solves it! Or you hear a song on the radio but didn’t catch the title or artist name to search for it later?-this solves it!

2) The Zune Pass. This gives you subscription based access to the entire Zune Marketplace for $15 a month, so you can listen to any of the tracks as many times as you want in that month AND you can keep 10 songs a month permanently, making it great value. Making itĀ AWESOME value is that you can use 1 Zune Pass to fill 3 Zunes so most households will need just the one! You’ll just have to share the 10 “For keeps” songs between you… šŸ˜‰

I really wish that they were available over here. When I was in Texas earlier this year I was very tempted to pick one up then, but as far as I can see there are various parts that won’t work over here such as the Zune Marketplace and I guess the Download from Radio won’t be configured with UK data either. This means at the minute it isn’t really a viable choice for me…

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