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Windows 8 Media Center / Player

Given the changing landscape, the cost of decoder licensing, and the importance of a straight forward edition plan, we’ve decided to make Windows Media Center available to Windows 8 customers via the Add Features to Windows 8 control panel (formerly known as Windows Anytime Upgrade). This ensures that customers who are interested in Media Center have a convenient way to get it. Windows Media Player will continue to be available in all editions, but without DVD playback support. For optical discs playback on new Windows 8 devices, we are going to rely on the many quality solutions on the market, which provide great experiences for both DVD and Blu-ray.

Read More – http://blogs.msdn.com/b/b8/archive/2012/05/03/making-windows-media-center-available-in-windows-8.aspx

Windows 8 Release Preview coming June

Steven Sinofsky, president of Microsoft’s Windows Division, took the stage for the first day of the Windows Developer Days conference in Japan to announce the Release Preview of Windows 8 will launch during the first week of June. The news confirms previous speculation that the Windows 8 release candidate would be called a "Release Preview." Microsoft’s Building Windows 8 Twitter account confirmed the news via tweet, providing the announcement photograph seen above and the following statement:

Announce…Windows 8 Release Preview first week of June. Here’s the announce from Japan’s Windows 8 Dev Days #thankyou

Link – http://www.neowin.net/news/windows-8-release-preview-coming-first-week-of-june

Skype 1.0 released on Windows Phone

Following a short beta period, Microsoft’s Skype app for Windows Phone is ready for prime time. Today the Microsoft Skype Division released the first non-beta version of the application, Skype 1.0, which is available as a free download on the Windows Phone Marketplace.

Derek Snyder, head of mobile product marketing at Skype, announced the release in a posting on the Skype blog. In the post, Snyder stated that Microsoft has "tested and certified" the following Windows Phone devices:

  • Nokia Lumia 710
  • Nokia Lumia 800
  • Nokia Lumia 900
  • HTC Titan
  • HTC Radar
  • Samsung Focus S
  • Samsung Focus Flash

Download – http://www.windowsphone.com/en-GB/apps/c3f8e570-68b3-4d6a-bdbb-c0a3f4360a51

Update Rollup 2 for Exchange 2010 Service Pack 2

Earlier today the Exchange CXP team released Update Rollup 2 for Exchange Server 2010 SP2 to the Download Center.

This update contains a number of customer-reported and internally found issues since the release of SP2 RU1. See KB2661854: Description of Update Rollup 2 for Exchange Server 2010 Service Pack 2 for more details.

Microsoft Deployment Toolkit (MDT) 2012

Microsoft Deployment Toolkit (MDT) 2012 is the newest version of Microsoft Deployment Toolkit, a Solution Accelerator for operating system and application deployment. MDT 2012 supports deployment of Windows 7, Office 2010 and 365, and Windows Server 2008 R2 in addition to deployment of Windows Vista, Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2003, and Windows XP.

Download – http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=25175

Microsoft Office for Mac 2011 Service Pack 2

Microsoft has released an update for Microsoft Office for Mac 2011. This update provides the latest fixes to Office for Mac 2011. Additionally, this update contains stability and reliability improvements.

Download – http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2685940

Windows Server 8 – Deduplication

One of the long overdue features of Windows Server 8, is Data Deduplication. Deduplication can be enabled for NTFS volumes, and is part of the File Server role.
Deduplication works by examining the files on the disk, looking for duplicate files, once one is found the duplicate file will be referenced to the first file found. This means that two identical 1GB files, would only take up 1GB (The First File) + 4KB (The second file that points to the first file). This will intern allow us to store much more data onto a single disk.

Installing Deduplication –

The first step is to add the data deduplication role service; this is done in the new Server Manager and is a single step.

dedupe

Once the role is installed, the next steps are to start the Data Deduplication Service (ddpsvc) and set it to Automatic startup. This is done in the normal services management snap-in. Then, each eligible volume needs to be configured for deduplication. Keep in mind that C:\ drives are not supported for NTFS deduplication, Configuring a volume for deduplication is done by right-clicking on the volume in Server Manager and selecting “Configure Deduplication”.

de2

There are two primary options for deduplication, folder and file type exclusions. Those are configured in Server Manager when deduplication is configured. Microsoft don’t recommend deduplication certain file type such as; SQL Databases, VHD Files, Exchange Database. As this could result in a performance decrease. (Testing in a small lab, the performance decrease was unnoticeable.)

de3

Windows 8: Where’s our hardware reimagined?

Summary: I want to see, touch or buy a Windows tablet that will get me excited about Windows 8. Six months or so from launch, there’s still nothing filling that gap.

Along with “fast and fluid,” one of the most (over) used catch phrases about Windows 8 is “Windows reimagined.” I’d assume we also are going to see some “reimagined” PCs, too, that will make using the touch-centric Windows 8 less painful and more compelling.

Link – http://www.zdnet.com/blog/microsoft/windows-8-wheres-our-hardware-reimagined/12340?tag=search-results-rivers;item17

System Center 2012 Downloads

System Center Monitoring pack for SQL Server

The Monitoring pack for SQL Server provides the capabilities for Operations Manager 2007 R2 and Operations Manager 2012 to discover SQL Server 2005, 2008, 2008 R2, and SQL Server 2012. It monitors SQL Server components such as database engine instances, databases, and SQL Server agents.

System Center Monitoring Pack for System Center 2012 – Orchestrator

The monitoring pack fmonitors the health and availability of Microsoft System Center 2012 – Orchestrator.

System Center Security Monitoring Pack for Endpoint Protection

This monitoring pack provides real time monitoring capabilities of security incidents detected by Endpoint Protection clients.

System Center Integration Pack for IBM Tivoli Netcool/OMNIbus

The Integration Pack for IBM Tivoli Netcool/OMNIbus is an add-on for System Center 2012 – Orchestrator that enables you to automate actions in response to alerts that are raised within IBM Tivoli Netcool/OMNIbus.

System Center Integration Pack for HP Operations Manager

The Integration Pack for HP Operations Manager is an add-on for System Center 2012 – Orchestrator that enables you to automate the consolidation and correlation of fault and performance events across you entire physical and virtual IT infrastructure.

System Center Integration Pack for Active Directory

The Integration Pack for Active Directory is an add-on for System Center 2012 – Orchestrator that enables you to connect Orchestrator to your Active Directory Server to automate its management.

System Center Integration Pack for HP Service Manager

The Integration Pack for HP Service Manager is an add-on for System Center 2012 – Orchestrator that enables you to retrieve, create, update and monitor tickets in HP Service Manager.

System Center Integration Pack for VMware vSphere

The Integration Pack for VMware vSphere is an add-on for System Center 2012 – Orchestrator that enables you to connect System Center Orchestrator to your VMware vSphere server to automate actions in VMware vSphere to enable full management of the virtualized computing infrastructure.

System Center Integration Pack for HP iLO and OA

The Integration Pack for HP Lights-Out (iLO) and Onboard Administrator (OA) is an add-on for System Center 2012 – Orchestrator that enables you to automate HP iLO and OA commands.

System Center 2012 – Operations Manager Component Add – On

This page contains an additional tool that applies to System Center 2012 – Operations Manager

System Center Monitoring Pack for System Center 2012 – Configuration Manager

This monitoring pack helps administrators manage and administer Configuration Manager servers, computers, databases, services, disks, applications, or any other kind of object that requires monitoring..

Microsoft Visio 2010 and SharePoint 2010 Extensions for System Center 2012

Enable Visio diagram to integrate current health state from System Center 2012 – Operations Manager

System Center Monitoring Pack for WS-Management and SMASH Device Discovery

This monitoring pack adds a new template to System Center 2012 – Operations Manage to enable discovery and management of WS-Management/SMASH compliant devices..

System Center 2012 – Configuration Manager Component Add-ons and Extensions

Download and install add-ons and extensions for the System Center 2012 – Configuration Manager component.

System Center 2012 – Service Manager Component Add-ons and Extensions

Download and install add-ons and extensions for the System Center 2012 – Service Manager component.

System Center 2012 – Orchestrator Component Add-ons and Extensions

Download and install add-ons and extensions for the System Center 2012 – Orchestrator component.

System Center 2012 Configuration Manager

Configuration Manager 2012 was built on the vision of a user-centric client-management model with the vision of empowering the user, unifying infrastructure, and extending management control across the platform. With Configuration Manager 2012, we have improved Client Patching, end point protection, better compliance/reporting and management of devices synching with the network.

Technical Documentation Download for System Center 2012 – Service Manager

This page lists the technical documentation downloads that are available for the Service Manager component of System Center 2012.

Technical Documentation Download for System Center 2012 – Unified Installer

This page lists the technical documentation downloads that are available for System Center 2012 – Unified Installer.

Technical Documentation Download for System Center 2012 – Operations Manager

This page lists the technical documentation downloads that are available for the Operations Manager component of System Center 2012.

Technical Documentation Download for System Center 2012 – Virtual Machine Manager

This page lists the technical documentation downloads that are available for the Virtual Machine Manager component of System Center 2012.

Technical Documentation Download for System Center 2012 – Orchestrator

This page lists the technical documentation downloads that are available for the Orchestrator component of System Center 2012.

System Center Monitoring Pack for Active Directory (AD)

The Monitoring Pack for Active Directory (AD) provides both proactive and reactive monitoring of your Active Directory deployment.

Bing Desktop Beta

Bing Desktop provides an automatic update of the Windows Desktop Background image to the Bing home page image each day. In addition, Bing Desktop offers an easily accessible yet unobstrusive search box to streamline searching without opening the browser.

Download – http://download.microsoft.com/download/9/7/8/9782D80D-1CB1-48A0-9138-E8C67782866E/BingDesktopSetup.exe

Internet Information Services (IIS) 8.0 Express Beta

IIS 8.0 Express is a simple and self-contained version of IIS 8.0 that is optimized for developers.

Link – http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=29055

Download Microsoft SQL Server 2012 RTM

Microsoft SQL Server 2012 enables a cloud-ready information platform that will help organizations unlock breakthrough insights across the organization.
Here is the fully functional trial version which will expire after six months:

Link – http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/info.aspx?na=41&srcfamilyid=a74d1b60-6566-4551-b581-03337853b82b&srcdisplaylang=en&u=http%3a%2f%2fdownload.microsoft.com%2fdownload%2f4%2fC%2f7%2f4C7D40B9-BCF8-4F8A-9E76-06E9B92FE5AE%2fENU%2fSQLFULL_ENU.iso

Microsoft Script Explorer for Windows PowerShell Beta 1

Microsoft® Script Explorer for Windows PowerShell® (pre-release) helps scripters find Windows PowerShell scripts, snippets, modules, and how-to guidance in online repositories such as the TechNet Script Center Repository, PoshCode, local or network file systems and Bing Search Repository. Microsoft® Script Explorer enables:

Link – http://download.microsoft.com/download/7/5/5/755B2E4D-0C72-46D3-AC59-B362BB471979/ScriptExplorerSetup.msi

Windows 8 Consumer Preview

Moments ago in Barcelona, we announced the release of Windows 8 Consumer Preview, available to download now for anyone interested in trying it out. We’ve been hard at work for many months now, and while we still have lots more to do, we’re excited to show you our progress with the latest preview of the new operating system.

Link – http://windowsteamblog.com/windows/b/windowsexperience/archive/2012/02/29/introducing-windows-8-consumer-preview.aspx

Skype arrives on Windows Phone 7

Microsoft has announced that Windows Phone 7 device owners can now download Skype software directly to their device or from the Windows Marketplace on their PC.

Skype for Windows Phone Beta, launched on Monday, comes with features such as free audio and video calls to other Skype users over 3G, 4G or Wi-Fi, as well as the ability to call landlines or mobile phones for a fee. Group chats and one-to-one instant messaging are also available.

Link – http://blogs.skype.com/en/2012/02/skype_brings_voice_and_video_c.html