The Windows Phone Developer Tools Beta includes the following
- Visual Studio 2010 Express for Windows Phone Beta
- Windows Phone Emulator Beta
- Silverlight for Windows Phone Beta
- Microsoft Expression Blend for Windows Phone Beta
- XNA Game Studio 4.0 Beta
Windows Phone Developer Tools Beta
Deep Zoom Composer
We are pleased to present Deep Zoom Composer, a tool to allow the preparation of images for use with the Deep Zoom feature in Silverlight 3. The new Deep Zoom technology in Silverlight allows users to see images on the Web like they never have before.
Hotmail rollout picks up steam!
Here at Hotmail, we’ve been busy getting our latest release out to our customers – upgrading server clusters, building the new indexes for conversation threading, and making tweaks to our site metrics and deployment software. This deployment was complex, but it has been one of the smoothest in Hotmail history. We know many of you have been anxious to get the new Hotmail for your own accounts ever since we announced the new features, and we appreciate your patience and your feedback.
MSDN Subscriber Benefits for Windows Azure Double
The benefits for MSDN subscribers have now doubled the initial Windows Azure benefits by extending the offer from eight months to 16 months.
Premium, Ultimate, and BizSpark subscribers get 750/hours per month of compute time, 10 GB storage, and a million transactions per month. Also included are AppFabric, Data Transfer, and three SQL Server instances.
Microsoft Windows 7 SP1: Coming in early 2011
The first service pack (SP1) for Windows 7 will emerge in the first half of 2011 according to Microsoft.
SP1 for Windows Server 2008 R2 will also be released in the same timeframe, according to the company’s TechNet Evaluation Center website.
The Windows 7 SP1 will include updates based on those delivered by the Windows Update online service since the OS’s launch last October, as well as additional tweaks based on customer feedback.
A behind-the-scenes look at designing the new Hotmail: part one
One of the things we hear about the most is inbox overload: folks want to find important emails quickly. Whether it’s an important back-and-forth conversation with friends or a YouTube video that brightened your day, it can be hard to find the messages that matter most. When we set out to design the new Hotmail, our main goal was to solve the problem of too much clutter.
Beta for Next Version of Microsoft Security Essentials Now Available
Today we are announcing the beta for the next version of Microsoft Security Essentials. Microsoft Security Essentials was first released in September 2009 and is our award-winning no-cost light weight anti-malware service. It’s designed to help address the ongoing security needs of PCs running genuine Windows – helping keep people protected from viruses, spyware, and other malicious software.
Windows Vista SP2 and Windows Server 2008 SP2 Service Pack Blocker Tool Expiration
For those of you who use the Windows Service Pack Blocker Tool, we want to let you know that the Windows Vista SP2 and Windows Server 2008 SP2 blockers will expire on August 24th 2010. After the expiration date, Windows Vista SP2 and Windows Server 2008 SP2 will be offered through Windows Update on computers that had previously installed the block.
Windows Phone 7 in-depth preview
Microsoft still has a few months before it intends to get the first volley of Windows Phone 7-based products to the marketplace, but we’ve recently been provided with reference hardware — a not-for-retail Samsung called "Taylor" that’s closely modeled on the Symbian-based i8910HD — to get a feel for where they’re at as the clock ticks down. Is this shaping up to be a killer platform for the next generation of high-end smartphones? And more importantly, can it win customers? Read on for our first take.
Link – http://www.engadget.com/2010/07/19/windows-phone-7-in-depth-preview/
A Windows Phone 7 Milestone
The Windows Phone engineering team has hit a very meaningful milestone; one that we’re calling technical preview. We are certainly not done yet – but the craftsmen (and women) of our team have signed off that our software is now ready for the hands-on everyday use of a broad set of consumers around the world – and we’re looking forward to their feedback in the coming weeks, so that we can finish the best Windows Phone release ever together.
Microsoft Terapixel
Imagine having the ability to take a virtual tour of the cosmos from your living room. Not just a flat, two dimensional tour, but an experience so engrossing that you have the ability to see the entire sky at once then zoom into detailed views of distant galaxies. The Terapixel project from Microsoft Research makes all of that possible, by creating the largest and clearest image of the night sky ever produced—a terapixel image, now available in the WorldWide Telescope and Bing Maps.
Link – http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/projects/terapixel/default.aspx
Update on the rollout of the new Hotmail
The Hotmail rollout continues to go along smoothly and we’re right on track with our release plan, having now upgraded nearly 50 million accounts on several different clusters. Of course, we continue to get comments from many of you who are eager to get access to the new Hotmail, and we’re just as eager to get the new version out to everyone.
Windows Small Business Server “7” and “Aurora” Preview
On Monday, July 11, 2010, Microsoft will finally reveal some news I’ve been itching to share for months: The company is splitting its Windows Small Business Server (SBS) line into two products. Both will be based on the Windows Server 2008 R2 codebase. But where the first of these products, currently codenamed Small Business Server "7," will logically replace existing, traditional SBS products, the other, currently codenamed "Aurora," goes in a far more exciting new direction.
Windows Small Business Server "7" and "Aurora" Preview
On Monday, July 11, 2010, Microsoft will finally reveal some news I’ve been itching to share for months: The company is splitting its Windows Small Business Server (SBS) line into two products. Both will be based on the Windows Server 2008 R2 codebase. But where the first of these products, currently codenamed Small Business Server "7," will logically replace existing, traditional SBS products, the other, currently codenamed "Aurora," goes in a far more exciting new direction.
Beta testing Microsoft RemoteFX in Service Pack 1
In March, Microsoft announced RemoteFX and how it enables a rich desktop experience for endpoint devices ranging from traditional PCs to the most lightweight of thin client devices. Customers have since been eager to get their hands on the code. Yesterday, at WPC, we announced that RemoteFX is available to the public through Windows 7 Service Pack 1 (SP1) and Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 Beta!
