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We shipped Silverlight 2 last month.  Over the last 4 weeks, the final release of Silverlight 2 has been downloaded and installed on more than 100 million consumer machines.  It has also recently been published to corporate administrators via the Microsoft SMS and Microsoft Update programs to enable them to automatically deploy across enterprises.  Over 1 in 4 computers on the Internet now have some version of Silverlight installed.

Silverlight 2 was a major release, and delivered an impressive set of cross-browser, cross-platform functionality for Media and Rich Internet Application experiences.  It has been great watching new sites launch using it.

Media Experiences

Silverlight 2 enables the highest quality video on the web, and delivers it with the lowest TCO of any media platform.

One of the capabilities built-into Silverlight 2 is its support for “adaptive streaming” – which enables video to be delivered at multiple bitrates (for example: 400Kbits, 800Kbits, 1.5Mbits, 2Mbits) with Silverlight dynamically choosing the optimal bitrate to use depending on the network bandwidth and CPU capability of the client (it can also automatically switch bitrates seamlessly if conditions change later). 

Full Article – http://weblogs.asp.net/scottgu/archive/2008/11/16/update-on-silverlight-2-and-a-glimpse-of-silverlight-3.aspx

The Internet Explorer 8 Release Candidate is the last major IE8 testing milestone. It indicates that we believe that IE8 is implementation complete for CSS 2.1. We also believe IE8 RC1 has the most complete implementation of the CSS 2.1 specification in the industry.

The only way to know if a browser has correctly implemented a specification is to develop a comprehensive set of tests for the specification. These can be used to determine both the support for a specific part of the spec and the behavior of a specific browser. Web developers can also use these test pages as examples of how to combine various layout properties and elements in their pages and know that their page will interoperate well across all the browsers that pass those tests.

Full Article – http://blogs.msdn.com/ie/archive/2009/01/27/microsoft-submits-thousands-more-css-2-1-tests-to-the-w3c.aspx

Microsoft debuted its Windows Experience Index (WEI) tool in Windows Vista as a way to measure the relative performance of the components in your PC. As such, each key hardware device in the PC, including the microprocessor, RAM, graphics (for the UI and for more advanced tasks), and hard disk, is assessed and awarded a sub-score; and the lowest scoring component is used as the basis for the system’s overall WEI score. In general, a higher-scoring PC will perform better, overall, than a lower-scoring PC. Likewise, a higher-scoring component on one PC likely performs better than a lower-scoring component on a second PC.

Full Article – http://www.winsupersite.com/win7/ff_wei.asp

ince Windows NT4, clients who wanted to join a domain always needed a direct connection to the domain, either via VPN, dial-in or direct connection. New in Windows 2008 R2 is the option for an offline domain join.. how does this work.. ? read on!

A new program is introduced called djoin.exe. We can use djoin.exe to join a computer to the domain without actually having a connection to it.

How does this work?

1. Logon to a system that already is a member of the domain with an account that is allowed to join computers to the domain

2. Use djoin.exe to create a text file (the blob) that contains all information for the computer to join the domain when it is online.

3. On the new computer use djoin.exe to import the blob

4. Reboot the new computer when it’s connected to the network

Full Article – http://blog.avanadeadvisor.com/blogs/parzival/archive/2009/01/27/12399.aspx

Web-based email is great because you can check it from any computer, but there’s one little catch: it’s inherently limited by your internet connection. From public WiFi to smartphones equipped with 3G, from mobile broadband cards to fledgling in-flight wireless on airplanes, Internet access is becoming more and more ubiquitous — but there are still times when you can’t access your webmail because of an unreliable or unavailable connection.

Today we’re starting to roll out an experimental feature in Gmail Labs that should help fill in those gaps: offline Gmail. So even if you’re offline, you can open your web browser, go to gmail.com, and get to your mail just like you’re used to.

Full Article – http://gmailblog.blogspot.com/2009/01/new-in-labs-offline-gmail.html

Joey was there for me in a pinch when I went looking for something new to put up for today.
He was doing some work on a demo for Active Directory Recycle Bin, and he showed me what he’s working on.
The new Recycle Bin functionality in Server 2008 R2 is really cool – you can actually undelete objects, and all their attributes are restored as if the object never went away – no requirement to rejoin the domain for computer objects, for example.
The feature is all implemented in PowerShell, so Joey also gives us a sneak peek at the new PowerShell GUI.

Full Article – http://edge.technet.com/Media/Active-Directory-Recycle-Bin/

Internet Explorer 8 is the latest version of the familiar web browser you are most comfortable using, helping you get everything you want from the web faster, easier, more privately and securely than ever before.

• Faster Internet Explorer 8 is more responsive with new pages and tabs, opening up fast and reliably. You can now get to the information you care about most, in fewer steps; one click access to your webmail, favorite news sites or other online services.
• Easier Reduce the steps to accomplish many common tasks, and automate your access to real time information updates. You can keep track of your favorite sports team, news, weather with a single click.
• More Private Helps protect your privacy and confidential information where ever you go on the web.

Download http://www.microsoft.com/windows/internet-explorer/beta/default.aspx

If you live in the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, France, Japan, Spain, Germany, Italy, and the Netherlands then you have a new way to get your Hotmail on your mobile phone: via POP3. The POP3 protocol is a standard email protocol that lets you retrieve email messages from a server and deliver them to your designated program.

Here’s the technical information you need to know:

POP server: pop3.live.com (Port 995)  
POP SSL required? Yes
User name: Your Windows Live ID, for example [email protected]
Password: The password you usually use to sign in to Hotmail or Windows Live
SMTP server: smtp.live.com (Port 25)  
Authentication required? Yes (this matches your POP username and password)
TLS/SSL required? Yes

First off: thank you for your interest in beta testing Windows 7! As we near January 24th, we wanted to update everyone again on the next steps for the Windows 7 Beta. The amount of feedback we have received has been amazing and continues to pour in. We are at a point where we have more than enough beta testers and feedback coming in to meet our engineering needs, so we are beginning to plan the end of general availability for Windows 7 Beta.

Because enthusiasm continues to be so high for the Windows 7 Beta and we don’t want anyone to miss out we will keep the Beta downloads open through February 10th. Customers who have started but not completed the download process  will be able to do so through February 12th.

Full Article – http://windowsteamblog.com/blogs/windows7/archive/2009/01/23/general-availability-for-the-windows-7-beta-to-end.aspx

t’s astonishing to consider how dramatically Microsoft’s strategy for Windows has changed over the past decade. Ten years ago, Microsoft was being sued by the US government for bundling so-called middleware products in Windows, potentially harming competitors and consumers alike. Many, myself included, questioned the strength of the software giant’s eventual antitrust settlement, but the ramifications of that agreement don’t just persist today; they in fact guide Microsoft’s product development in ways that few could have possibly foreseen. The most obvious result of that settlement, in fact, is the Windows Live Essentials suite, a collection of Windows applications that, a decade ago, Microsoft thought nothing of bundling directly into the OS. Today, they are free but separately acquired. As Windows users, we are all the benefactors of that change.

Full Article – http://www.winsupersite.com/live/essentials_2009.asp

While Microsoft’s attempts to streamline and simplify the Windows 7 user interface are arguably the number one focus for this new Windows version, personalization isn’t far behind. According to the software giant, a huge percentage of Windows users customize their PC desktop with a picture, using either a personal photo or something that they’ve downloaded from the Web. And users are clamoring for more ways in which to customize the PC experience and make it their own. In Windows 7, Microsoft offers two key desktop customization features that address these needs: Styles and desktop slide shows.

Full Article – http://www.winsupersite.com/win7/ff_styles.asp

Via the suggestion box, Dominic Self asks why screen resolution is a global setting rather than a per-user setting. Well, first of all, it’s not even a global setting. It’s a session setting.

That it’s not a global setting is not readily apparent most of the time since only Windows Terminal Server is set up to support multiple simultaneous interactive sessions. On Windows Terminal Server, you specify the properties of the virtual monitor you wish to connect with, including resolution, and the server accommodates your wishes. Well, up to a point. I mean if you ask for a 1,000,000×1,000,000 pixel screen, the server is probably going to say “As if!” (The Remote Desktop Connection feature found in, for example, Windows Vista Ultimate is basically the same thing, but on a smaller scale.)

Full Article -  http://blogs.msdn.com/oldnewthing/archive/2009/01/19/9339091.aspx

Via the suggestion box, Dominic Self asks why screen resolution is a global setting rather than a per-user setting. Well, first of all, it’s not even a global setting. It’s a session setting.

That it’s not a global setting is not readily apparent most of the time since only Windows Terminal Server is set up to support multiple simultaneous interactive sessions. On Windows Terminal Server, you specify the properties of the virtual monitor you wish to connect with, including resolution, and the server accommodates your wishes. Well, up to a point. I mean if you ask for a 1,000,000×1,000,000 pixel screen, the server is probably going to say “As if!” (The Remote Desktop Connection feature found in, for example, Windows Vista Ultimate is basically the same thing, but on a smaller scale.)

Full Article -  http://blogs.msdn.com/oldnewthing/archive/2009/01/19/9339091.aspx

lease take a look at this “not-yet-complete” listing of IE8 Group Policies.  Keep in mind that this is a work-in-progress as IE8 is still in beta and content within the XLS file could (and probably will) change without notice.  Something that I really like about the XLS is that I can sort the policies by the minimum version of Internet Explorer required to use the policy:

Please download the attachment and review the contents.  If you see anything that doesn’t look correct, please add your feedback to the blog and we’ll take a look!

Regards,

The IE Support Team

Filed under: Group Policy

Attachment(s): IE8 Group Policy Settings.xlsx

We’re busy going through tons of telemetry from the many people that have downloaded and installed the Windows 7 beta around the world. We’re super excited to see the excitement around kicking the tires. Since most folks on the beta are well-versed in the hardware they use and very tuned into the choices they make, we’ve received a few questions about the Windows Experience Index (WEI) in Windows 7 and how that has been changed and improved in Windows 7 to take into account new hardware available for each of the major classes in the metric. In this post Michael Fortin returns to dive into the engineering details of the WEI.

The WEI was introduced in Windows Vista to provide one means across PCs to measure the relative performance of key hardware components. Like any index or benchmark, it is best used as a relative measure and should not be used to compare one measure to another. Unlike many other measures, the WEI merely measures the relative capability of components. The WEI only runs for a short time and does not measure the interactions of components under a software load, but rather characteristics or your hardware. As such it does not (nor cannot) measure how a system will perform under the your own usage scenarios. Thus the WEI does not measure performance of a system, but merely the relative hardware capabilities when running Windows 7.

Full Article – http://blogs.msdn.com/e7/archive/2009/01/19/engineering-the-windows-7-windows-experience-index.aspx