Emergency IE Patch Fixes Zero-Day Flaw

Today we released MS10-018 out-of-band due to increases in attacks against Internet Explorer 6 and Internet Explorer 7 using the vulnerability discussed in Security Advisory 981374. I want to reiterate that Internet Explorer 8 is not affected by this issue so customers using this version are not affected by these attacks and we continue to encourage customers to upgrade to the newer version because it provides more security and protection.

Link – http://blogs.technet.com/msrc/archive/2010/03/30/security-bulletin-ms10-018-released.aspx

Windows Phone 7 Series Icon Pack

This download contains a set of 64 application bar icons that you can use when developing applications for Windows Phone. In addition to the 64 icons in PNG format (32 dark and 32 light), this package also contains vector versions that can be easily imported into Microsoft Expression Blend 4 Beta when using the Microsoft Expression Blend Add-in Preview for Windows Phone.

Link – http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=369b20f7-9d30-4cff-8a1b-f80901b2da93&displaylang=en

Microsoft My Phone for Windows Mobile 6+

Microsoft My Phone provides online access to the content on your Windows mobile phone. This free service syncs the important information on your Windows phone (e.g., contacts, calendar appointments, tasks, text messages, photos, video, etc.) with a password protected Web site. Once synchronized, it’s easy to back-up and restore your phone data. My Phone provides an easy-to-use Web portal where you can access and manage content on your phone, and share that information with others.

Link – http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?displaylang=en&FamilyID=45cd0b4e-cb8c-460c-8f62-b27758721aa8

Microsoft Dynamics CRM 5 release later this year

Microsoft is releasing on March 25 a Community Technology Preview (CTP) test build of the next version of its Dynamics CRM product, which is codenamed CRM 5.

Today’s release is the third CTP of CRM 5, according to a press release from the company. Micrsosoft is making it available to 400 selected partners (which includes independent software vendors, system integrators, VARs and hosters). It sounds like the CTP is not aimed at end users.

The CTP is available both as on-premises software and via a pre-release version of Dynamics CRM Online.

Link – https://partner.microsoft.com/global/productssolutions/dynamics/microsoftdynamicscrm

Microsoft hopes Bing users pick up the tab

When it released Bing last year, Microsoft hoped that users would be willing to click on a host of additional options presented in a column along the left side of Bing search results.

It turns out, though that disappointingly few users clicked on the added options. The low click rate meant that some of the pages that Microsoft invested the most in–topic pages, articles, and custom data feeds–were being overlooked by lots of users.

Link – http://news.cnet.com/8301-13860_3-20001118-56.html

Using Office Web Apps to Create New Files

Office Web Apps can be installed as part of a SharePoint deployment. Also, Office Web Apps will be available on Windows Live SkyDrive. One difference between Office Web Apps in these two environments is how you create new files.

Link – http://blogs.msdn.com/officewebapps/archive/2010/03/24/9984516.aspx

BizTalk 2009 R2 gets a new name; still due in 2010

It’s not often you see the Softies simplifying a product name rather than making it more complex. But it seems that’s what the BizTalk integration server team is doing, rechristening the product formerly known as BizTalk Server 2009 R2 as “BizTalk Server 2010.”

Link – http://blogs.zdnet.com/microsoft/?p=5656

Microsoft’s Virtualization

You would have thought that Microsoft had its hands full last week with its coming out parties for two major future platforms, Windows Phone and Internet Explorer 9, last week at the MIX’10 conference in  Las Vegas. But late in the week, the software giant surprised me with a sweeping set of announcements concerning almost all of its virtualization technologies.

Link – http://www.winsupersite.com/server/virt_jihad.asp

A look at the mobile version of Firefox

firefox_mobile_1 Mozilla has only rolled the browser out to one handset so far — Nokia’s Maemo-based N900, pictured here running the application — but it plans to create versions for the Android and Windows Mobile platforms.

Link – http://www.zdnet.co.uk/news/mobile-apps/2010/03/22/a-look-at-the-mobile-version-of-firefox-40088394/#story

Outlook Mobile Update

Now you can keep valuable information at hand with the new Microsoft Office Outlook Mobile Update and Microsoft Exchange Server 2010.

The Outlook Mobile Update is available for Windows Mobile 6.1 phones. When your phone is connected to Exchange Server 2010, you are automatically informed if there is an update. If you have a Windows phone running Windows Mobile 6.5, you do not need this update.

Link – http://msexchangeteam.com/archive/2010/03/17/454307.aspx

First Windows Phone 7 commercial

Windows Phone 7 handsets might be a few months away, but we already have the first commercial.

Windows Virtual PC – no hardware virtualization update now available for download

The update to Windows Virtual PC to support running on systems without hardware virtualization is now available for download.  You can grab it here:

You can also read the full KB article here: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/977206

Windows Virtual PC – no hardware virtualization update now available for download

The update to Windows Virtual PC to support running on systems without hardware virtualization is now available for download.  You can grab it here:

You can also read the full KB article here: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/977206

Windows Virtualization Team Blog Dynamic Memory Coming To Hyper-V

I’ve had the pleasure of talking with customers in the last few months and the Hyper-V R2 reception has been nothing but unequivocally positive. Whether it’s been folks in small, medium or the enterprise, they appreciate the new capabilities in Windows Server 2008 R2 Hyper-V and the free Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2008 R2. At the same time, we’re always listening to our customers to better understand their business requirements and requests so we know know what to build for subsequent releases. Today, we’re pleased to announce new capabilities that will enhance both virtualized server and virtualized desktop deployments:

Link – http://blogs.technet.com/virtualization/archive/2010/03/18/dynamic-memory-coming-to-hyper-v.aspx

IE9 – About the Platform Preview

When we released IE8, we said that our next steps started with listening to your feedback. A major part of what we heard, including comments to that same post, was that developers wanted more builds, more often. At the same time, given the high expectations of our users and the breadth of impact of changes we make to our platform, we need to carefully balance the quality of what we release with the frequency of releases. With the Platform Preview we want to strike a balance that provides developers an early and reliable hands-on experience with key parts of IE. With this Platform Preview, developers and people interested in standards and web development can try out new platform functionality and provide early feedback.

Link – http://blogs.msdn.com/ie/archive/2010/03/16/about-the-platform-preview.aspx