Visio 2010 Beta coming soon…

It’s been several months since the Technical Preview was released and we started talking about Visio 2010 on this blog.  The product team has been hard at work responding to your feedback, fixing bugs and polishing the application.  Next month we are scheduled to release the Visio 2010 Beta, which will be open to the public.  If you haven’t had the opportunity to try Visio 2010 for yourself, this is your chance.

Sometimes it’s hard to wait patiently for new software releases, so to put your mind at ease we’ve created a special alert system that will notify you when you can download the Beta.  Head over to http://visiotoolbox.com/2010/ and click on the big green button.  You’ll also find a handy diagram explaining the software delivery process (approximately) and several other pages highlighting some of the new capabilities of Visio 2010 and Visio Services.

Visio 2010 Beta coming soon…

It’s been several months since the Technical Preview was released and we started talking about Visio 2010 on this blog.  The product team has been hard at work responding to your feedback, fixing bugs and polishing the application.  Next month we are scheduled to release the Visio 2010 Beta, which will be open to the public.  If you haven’t had the opportunity to try Visio 2010 for yourself, this is your chance.

Sometimes it’s hard to wait patiently for new software releases, so to put your mind at ease we’ve created a special alert system that will notify you when you can download the Beta.  Head over to http://visiotoolbox.com/2010/ and click on the big green button.  You’ll also find a handy diagram explaining the software delivery process (approximately) and several other pages highlighting some of the new capabilities of Visio 2010 and Visio Services.

Clean Install Windows 7 with Upgrade Media

It was the final unanswered question about Windows 7. But now, thanks to numerous reader reports and my own hands-on experience, I’m can now report that Microsoft is still making it difficult to clean install Windows 7 with Upgrade media. But fear not, there is some good news. While you can’t simply use Upgrade media to do a clean install of Windows 7 on an unused PC with a blank hard drive, the workaround this time is easier than ever. Assuming you know the trick.

Link – http://www.winsupersite.com/win7/clean_install_upgrade_media.asp

Amazon to release Kindle reader for Windows PCs in November

Microsoft managed to keep a couple of news nuggets under wraps until the actual launch of the product on October 22. The most interesting to me was that Amazon is working on a Kindle reader application that will work on Windows XP, Vista and Windows 7 machines.

The beta of the Kindle reader will be released internationally some time in November, said Laurent Selier, Senior Product Line Manager for Kindle, who was demoing the app at the Windows 7 launch event in New York City today. Users interested in notification about the beta can sign up at Amazon’s Kindle for PC site.

Link – http://blogs.zdnet.com/microsoft/?p=4319&tag=col1;post-4319

RDS CAL Single Pack now available

Remote Desktop Services client access licenses (RDS CALs) were formerly sold in packs of 5 and 20. Customers buying Retail RDS CALs didn’t have a choice of buying a single CAL, which meant that they had to buy the next higher CAL Pack. For example, if the customer wanted 6 CALs, he had to buy two 5-CAL Packs.

In response to customer requests, we now offer Single CAL Packs, giving customers the ability to buy exactly the number of CALs that they need. Single CAL Packs are available for Windows Server 2008 and Windows Server 2008 R2 in the following two types:

Link – http://blogs.msdn.com/rds/archive/2009/10/22/rds-cal-single-pack-now-available-in-retail-channel.aspx

Windows 7 Media Center: Netflix and Internet TV

Just days before it officially launched Windows 7 around the world, Microsoft quietly updated the Windows Media Center component of that OS, dramatically increasing the availability of online content. The update takes two forms: Compatibility with Netflix "Instant Queue" streaming and the final version of Internet TV, which provides a pretty decent selection of free TV show content as well as, surprise, surprise, access to video podcasts via Zune Marketplace.

Link – http://www.winsupersite.com/win7/wmc_netflix.asp

Windows Mobile 7 to feature more operator-specific UXs

If you’ve been hoping Windows Mobile 7 will bring unification to the user experience of the Windows Phones ecosystem then you should give up and go home immediately.

A recent Microsoft job advertisement signals that the Windows Mobile team will not only support the layer of custom interfaces on most Windows Phones today at an OEM level but will even help create custom interfaces for individual operators comes Windows Mobile 7.

Link – http://www.istartedsomething.com/20091022/windows-mobile-7-feature-more-operator-uxs/

Visual Studio Express Editions are now live and available for download!

The Visual Studio Express family is unchanged from 2008 as it comes in four flavors

You can also download an ISO image that contains all of the Express produc

Windows Mobile 6.5.1 on the way

When Microsoft launched Windows Mobile 6.5 earlier this month, the latest version of the company’s operating system for cellphones and mobile devices was met with lukewarm (if not hostile) reviews. In a nutshell, the biggest complaint is that the operating system was essentially unchanged from the previous few versions and didn’t offer much to convince users to stick with the platform instead of switching to an iPhone, Blackberry, Google Android, or Palm device.

Link – http://www.downloadsquad.com/2009/10/20/windows-mobile-6-5-1-on-the-way/

24 years of Windows package design

Software packaging isn’t exactly the epitome of great design. And, as the world’s most used operating system – and being from Microsoft – Windows has had some rather dull boxes designed for it to sit within.

But it’s also had some great packaging designed for it too, so we’ve gathered together images of the box art from each version of Windows, from 1985’s Windows 1.0 to next week’s Windows 7.

Link – http://www.techradar.com/news/software/operating-systems/24-years-of-windows-package-design-643034

Windows retrospective: boot screens through the ages

With Windows 7 upon us next week, it’s time to take a quick look back at the good, bad and downright ugly of Windows versions past and present.

So our first look down memory lane focuses on the mighty boot screen. Windows boot screens aren’t exactly a scientific representation of the performance of each version of Windows, but the sea changes in the move to Windows 95 and then to XP are clear, while Vista’s blank space probably said more than we ever knew at the time about how the OS would be received. Anyway, on with the (slide)show!

Link – http://www.techradar.com/news/software/operating-systems/windows-retrospective-boot-screens-through-the-ages-642928

VS 2010 Beta 2 is Now Available for MSDN Subscriber Download

This includes:

  • VS 2010
  • .NET 4.0
  • TFS 2010

The VS Beta also includes the features formerly known as Team System role SKUS.  Very shortly I’ll be writing a post on the packaging changes we are making to combine and simplify the VS/VSTS products.

MSDN subscribers can download Beta 2 today (It will be available to the rest of the world on Wednesday).

https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/subscriptions/securedownloads/default.aspx

The 10 Things to Do First for Windows 7

When you run your thumb down the list of new features and improvements in Windows 7 (see the feature comparison chart at tinyurl.com/win7featuregrid), you’re bound to wonder how you’re going to get your arms around all that new technology so that you can deliver it to your users without too much disruption.

Following are 10 steps that can help you accomplish that goal.

Link – http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/magazine/ee518862.aspx

Sneak Preview: Chrome OS Browser Video Tour

Recently, various outlets, such as TechCrunch, had reported that an early build of Chrome OS has been leaked into the wild. Well, I hate to tell you but those reports weren’t exactly accurate.

What leaked was in fact was an Alpha/Beta implementation of the Chromium browser that will be used in Chrome OS. As such, it was distributed in .deb package format, which is the very same format used by Debian-based Linux distributions, such as Ubuntu.

Link – http://blogs.zdnet.com/perlow/?p=11332&tag=content;perspective

VMware: five biggest challenges of server virtualisation

Although the benefits of virtualising x86 servers have been pushed relentlessly for the past five years or so, much less discussed have been the challenges involved in moving to a world where resources are pooled and everything is linked.

The complexity that such a scenario generates can have a knock-on effect on issues ranging from infrastructure and licensing to skills, which means that migrating to the new environment can end up being an expensive upfront proposition.

Link – http://www.computerweekly.com/Articles/2009/10/16/238145/vmware-five-biggest-challenges-of-server-virtualisation.htm

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