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This white paper helps customers compare Windows Vista® advancements with Microsoft® Windows® XP Professional. Using this comparison, customers can adjust their expectations for the security, management, deployment, mobility, and productivity of either operating system. For each feature or capability, each section compares key Windows Vista advancements against Windows XP.

Full Article – http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=37d0c614-9c06-4b61-bb2e-6ab9953a14ab&DisplayLang=en#filelist

The 2007 Microsoft Office system already provides support for 20 different document formats within Microsoft Office Word, Office Excel and Office PowerPoint. With the release of Microsoft Office 2007 Service Pack 2 (SP2) scheduled for the first half of 2009, the list will grow to include support for XML Paper Specification (XPS), Portable Document Format (PDF) 1.5, PDF/A and Open Document Format (ODF) v1.1.

When using SP2, customers will be able to open, edit and save documents using ODF and save documents into the XPS and PDF fixed formats from directly within the application without having to install any other code. It will also allow customers to set ODF as the default file format for Office 2007. To also provide ODF support for users of earlier versions of Microsoft Office (Office XP and Office 2003), Microsoft will continue to collaborate with the open source community in the ongoing development of the Open XML-ODF translator project on SourceForge.net.

Full Article – http://blogs.msdn.com/koenvant/archive/2008/05/22/microsoft-office-2007-service-pack-2-will-support-xps-pdf-and-odf.aspx

HOUSTON — May 20, 2008 — Today at Citrix Synergy™, the event where virtualization, networking and application delivery meet, Citrix Systems, Inc. (Nasdaq: CTXS), and Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq: “MSFT”) announced the immediate availability of Citrix Branch Repeater™, an innovative new line of branch office appliances developed and marketed as part of a strategic alliance between the two companies. By staging the delivery of applications and Windows services closer to branch office users, Citrix Branch Repeater helps make branch office computing faster and more cost-effective for companies of all sizes.

Citrix Branch Repeater will be sold as part of the Citrix Delivery Centerâ„¢ product family, an end-to-end infrastructure designed to help customers transform static datacenters into dynamic delivery centers. Just as digital television repeaters amplify and retransmit media signals to homes in a given neighborhood, Citrix Branch Repeater sits between corporate datacenters and branch offices, amplifying and retransmitting applications to branch office users. Based on Windows Server and available with Microsoft Internet Security and Acceleration (ISA) Server software, the Citrix Branch Repeater provides an ideal complement to application virtualization solutions, enhancing application delivery and performance while simultaneously delivering critical Windows Server infrastructure services in the branch.

Mozilla has unveiled Release Candidate 1 for Firefox 3, as the June release of the popular open-source browser creeps closer.

Mozilla claims the latest itineration contains around 14,000 updates, though the one most people are liable to notice is the page rendering, now handled by the Gecko 1.9 Engine which puts a significant spring in Firefox’s step when loading web pages.

Full Article – http://www.pcpro.co.uk/news/198402/firefox-3-release-candidate-1-unveiled.html

This is the official software development kit that allows developers to integrate tools, editors, designers, languages, and other features inside Visual Studio 2008 Service Pack 1 Beta.
Key features in the Visual Studio 2008 SDK 1.1 Beta include:

• Significant reduction in size for Visual Studio Shell redistributable packages.
• Support for progress feedback in a chained installation.
• Visual Studio Shell development now supports normal user.
• New XML Tree Editor sample.
• Updated shell documentation.

Full Article – http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=7BD9F51B-DC46-4935-8D69-58E22AF94BD3&displaylang=en

Microsoft ® Windows Server ™ 2003 Performance Advisor is the latest version of Server Performance Advisor, which is a simple but robust tool that helps you diagnose the root causes of performance problems in a Microsoft Windows Server 2003 deployment. Server Performance Advisor collects performance data and generates comprehensive diagnostic reports that give you the data to easily analyze problems and develop corrective actions

Microsoft ® Windows Server ™ 2003 Performance Advisor provides several specialized reports, including a System Overview (focusing on CPU usage, Memory usage, busy files, busy TCP clients, top CPU consumers) and reports for server roles such as Active Directory, Internet Information System (IIS), DNS, Terminal Services, SQL, print spooler, and others.

Full Article – http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=09115420-8c9d-46b9-a9a5-9bffcd237da2&DisplayLang=en

Microsoft ® Windows Server ™ 2003 Performance Advisor is the latest version of Server Performance Advisor, which is a simple but robust tool that helps you diagnose the root causes of performance problems in a Microsoft Windows Server 2003 deployment. Server Performance Advisor collects performance data and generates comprehensive diagnostic reports that give you the data to easily analyze problems and develop corrective actions

Microsoft ® Windows Server ™ 2003 Performance Advisor provides several specialized reports, including a System Overview (focusing on CPU usage, Memory usage, busy files, busy TCP clients, top CPU consumers) and reports for server roles such as Active Directory, Internet Information System (IIS), DNS, Terminal Services, SQL, print spooler, and others.

Full Article – http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=09115420-8c9d-46b9-a9a5-9bffcd237da2&DisplayLang=en

If Microsoft follows the same schedule it did last year, the Spring system update for the Xbox 360 should be right around the corner. Today, an alleged and wholly unconfirmed list of changes included in the “Q2 2008” update was sent to us, supposedly forwarded from an internal source. The full list—which is after the jump—features about 80 new feature additions, tweaks and changes but was purported to be incomplete and subject to change.

Some are simply interesting as curiosities, such as an option to purchase Xbox Live memberships for charities and the addition of a Media section for audio delivered through feeds, such as podcasts. Others sound more feature robust, such as Windows Live Mail integration and an expanded “Inside Xbox” with news, weather, entertainment, help and community features.

Full Article – http://kotaku.com/5008939/rumored-xbox-360-spring-update-touts-motion-sensor-features-game-installs

If Microsoft follows the same schedule it did last year, the Spring system update for the Xbox 360 should be right around the corner. Today, an alleged and wholly unconfirmed list of changes included in the “Q2 2008” update was sent to us, supposedly forwarded from an internal source. The full list—which is after the jump—features about 80 new feature additions, tweaks and changes but was purported to be incomplete and subject to change.

Some are simply interesting as curiosities, such as an option to purchase Xbox Live memberships for charities and the addition of a Media section for audio delivered through feeds, such as podcasts. Others sound more feature robust, such as Windows Live Mail integration and an expanded “Inside Xbox” with news, weather, entertainment, help and community features.

Full Article – http://kotaku.com/5008939/rumored-xbox-360-spring-update-touts-motion-sensor-features-game-installs

SQL Server Compact 3.5 SP1 Beta is the service pack release for SQL Server Compact 3.5 and it also installs with SQL Server 2008 CTP and Visual Studio 2008 SP1 Beta. The Beta release has the following new features:

• Support for the ADO.NET Entity Framework for creating flexible, strongly typed queries by using LINQ. Install Visual Studio 2008 SP1 Beta for developing ADO.Net Entity Framework applications with SQL Server Compact 3.5 SP1 Beta
• Case-sensitive collations at the database level
• SSMS in SQL Server 2008 can be used for administering a SQL Server Compact database
• Ability to replicate the new data types in SQL Server 2008 such as date, time, datetime2, datetimeoffset, geography, and geometry. The new data types in SQL Server 2008 are mapped to nchar, nvarchar, image, etc.
• Data replication with SQL Server 2000, SQL Server 2005 and SQL Server 2008 by using Synchronization Services for ADO.NET v1.0 SP1 Beta for both desktop and mobile devices
• Data replication with SQL Server 2005 and SQL Server 2008 using merge replication and Remote Data Access (RDA) and enhanced version compatibility for merge replication

Link – http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=68539fae-cf03-4c3b-aeda-769cc205fe5f&DisplayLang=en

Virtual PC 2007 SP1 is available!

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=28c97d22-6eb8-4a09-a7f7-f6c7a1f000b5&displaylang=en

via Virtual PC Guy’s Blog:

Virtual PC 2007 SP1 now available

PowerCommands 1.1 is a set of useful extensions for the Visual Studio 2008 adding additional functionality to various areas of the IDE. The source code is included and requires the VS SDK for VS 2008 to allow modification of functionality or as a reference to create additional custom PowerCommand extensions. Visit the VSX Developer Center at http://msdn.com/vsx for more information about extending Visual Studio.

Download PowerComamnds here : http://code.msdn.microsoft.com/PowerCommands

This is an updated version of the System Preparation tool (Sysprep.exe) for Microsoft Windows XP Service Pack 3, as contained within the file deploy.cab.

The System Preparation tool
The Windows XP System Preparation tool enables administrators to prepare Windows XP system images as part of an automated deployment. You can use the System Preparation tool to perform the following tasks in a manner that is supported by Microsoft:

• Prepare Windows for duplication from one computer to another computer.
• Change security identifiers (SIDs) and other system and configuration settings to make them unique.
• Configure user-specific information to be customized by the end-user when Windows starts the first time.
• Create images of operating systems.
• Duplicate disks.
• Automate the Windows mini-Setup program.
• Perform auditing tasks.

The Sysprep.inf file
The Sysprep.inf file is the answer file for the Sysprep.exe program. To build the Sysprep.inf file, run the Setup Manager Wizard. Select the Sysprep Answer file option.
The Deploy.cab folder
The Support\Tools\Deploy.cab folder includes detailed documentation that describes the latest features of the deployment tools and how to use them. The documentation includes the Sysprep.exe program.

Full Article – http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=673a1019-8e3e-4be0-ac31-70dd21b5afa7&DisplayLang=en

This blog entry covers a issue that some customers have encountered with the release of SP3 for Windows XP. The service pack supports the use of the /integrate command to integrate(or also called slipstream) SP3 into a Windows XP flat. It is supported to run the command with the following media

Windows XP Professional RTM

Windows XP Professional SP1

Windows XP Professional SP2

The problem arises if the /integrate command is run under Windows Vista or Windows Server 2008. The /integrate process will not report any error and appear to work but if you try to install from the media your product key may not be accepted. Luckily the fix is easy. Run the /integrate command under Windows XP or Windows Server 2003. For more information around this issue see http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;950722

Author:
Scott McArthur
Support Escalation Engineer
Microsoft Corporation Enterprise Support

In this article, we will look at five features of Windows Vista that are often misunderstood, provide their background and rationale, and present the straight scoop on how to deal with them. Based on feedback from IT professionals, these features are: User Account Control, Image Management, Display Driver Model, Windows Search, and 64-bit architecture.

Full Article – http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=1c15d3c5-a926-4703-a788-fab165e23dc7&displaylang=en&tm