Microsoft Silverlight 4 Tools for Visual Studio 2010 RC

This package is an add-on for Visual Studio 2010 RC to provide tooling for Microsoft Silverlight 4 and RIA Services. It can be installed on top of either Visual Studio 2010 RC or Visual Web Developer 2010 Express RC. It extends existing Silverlight 3 features and multitargeting capabilities in Visual Studio 2010 to also create applications for Silverlight 4 using C# or Visual Basic.
Silverlight 4 Tools for Visual Studio 2010 RC includes several features:

  • Support for targeting Silverlight 4 in the Silverlight designer and project system
  • RIA Services application templates and libraries
  • Support for Silverlight 4 elevated trust and out-of-browser applications and other new Silverlight 4 features

Link – http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?displaylang=en&FamilyID=05b2c62c-6b1d-4822-9b2b-7d1410af452d

Microsoft IE9 developer preview

On March 16, Microsoft is making a first developer preview of Internet Explorer (IE) 9 available for download from www.IETestDrive.com.

The IE 9 Platform Preview doesn’t include the IE 9 user interface; instead, it is the plumbing, specifically the new Microsoft JavaScript engine (which is codenamed “Chakra”) and the new graphics subsystem, coupled with a home page full of test sites. There’s no back button and no built-in security. It’s basically the IE 9 rendering engine and early developer tools.

Link – http://ie.microsoft.com/testdrive/

Windows Phone 7 Dev tools now available

At MIX today, Windows Phone 7 Development tools were announced to the public. You can download these from here: http://www.microsoft.com/express/phone/

Windows Phone Developer Tools includes:

· Visual Studio 2010 Express for Windows Phone

· Windows Phone Emulator

· Silverlight for Windows Phone

· XNA Game Studio 4.0 CTP

Exchange Scalability Limits Worksheet Available

No matter how many lines of code it has, every software application has scalability limits.

Some limits can be caused by limits that are external to the application itself, while others can be inherent within the application. As a software engineering team, it is important for us to understand the scalability limits of the solution as a whole; this includes the limits of both external dependencies and internal code. Not only does this enable us to document and communicate this information to our customers, but it also helps us make better software. It provides us with a deeper understanding of our application within the most demanding environments.

Exchange 2010 is new and different from its predecessors in that, unlike all previous versions of Exchange, Exchange 2010 is the first version designed specifically to run as an on-premises application, as a hosted service in the cloud, and as a combination of both (cross-premise). At 20 million mailboxes and growing, it’s more important than ever that our understanding of the limits of Exchange be crisp.

Link – http://msexchangeteam.com/files/12/attachments/entry454118.aspx

New Hotmail sign-in page

7587.hotmailsignin_5F00_thumb_5F00_1EF9C2BA Sometime today, the Hotmail sign in page was updated. Although there is nothing new feature wise, General performance seems to have been improved. The update is in preparation for Wave 4, of the Windows Live line-up.

Link – http://mail.live.com

Getting a reputation: How SmartScreen looks at URLs

When an abuser–a spammer, phisher, or malware distributer–attacks someone, they have to do two things. First, they deliver a communication (often a spam e-mail), that entices the victim. Second, they "seal the deal" by actually selling the product, stealing the personal information, or installing the malware. (The second part is sometimes referred to as "collecting the conversion.") Dick Craddock and I have talked about some of the steps we take to block abusers’ initial communications in previous posts (Fighting the war on spam, Spam, phishing, and other annoyances, and Preventing spam and phishing using e-mail authentication). I’m going to talk about some of the work we do to keep abusers from "sealing the deal."

Link – http://windowsteamblog.com/blogs/windowslive/archive/2010/03/12/getting-a-reputation-how-smartscreen-looks-at-urls.aspx

Active Directory Explorer v1.3

Active Directory Explorer (AD Explorer) is an advanced Active Directory (AD) viewer and editor. You can use AD Explorer to easily navigate an AD database, define favorite locations, view object properties and attributes without having to open dialog boxes, edit permissions, view an object’s schema, and execute sophisticated searches that you can save and re-execute.

AD Explorer also includes the ability to save snapshots of an AD database for off-line viewing and comparisons. When you load a saved snapshot, you can navigate and explorer it as you would a live database. If you have two snapshots of an AD database you can use AD Explorer’s comparison functionality to see what objects, attributes and security permissions changed between them.

Link – http://download.sysinternals.com/Files/AdExplorer.zip

MSN Homepage Launch Begins Today

Today is an exciting milestone for MSN. We are beginning the launch of our new homepage to our customers in the U.S. The new MSN homepage cuts through the clutter with a clean, new design and offers search, news, local and social networking – all in one place. We encourage you to try the new homepage today and learn more about the many cool features.

Link – http://msnblog.msn.com/blogpost.aspx?post=1686726

Microsoft adds XNA Game Studio 4.0 to its Windows Phone 7 arsenal

This week, at the Game Developers Conference (GDC), Microsoft is slated to begin explaining part of its Windows Phone 7 tooling story — specifically how it plans to get more games developed for its new mobile platform.

One key to that story is its XNA Game Studio tool suite. This week, the company is sharing more about version 4.0 of that suite and providing attendees of the San Francisco conference with a preview of what’s in it.

Link – http://blogs.zdnet.com/microsoft/?p=5541

Get Office for Today or Tomorrow

Today’s post is just a quick status update to keep everyone in the loop on the progress Office 2010 is making, as well as to provide finalized details for our Office 2010 Technology Guarantee.

Starting today, consumers who purchase and activate Office 2007 will be able to download Office 2010 at no additional cost when it becomes available in June 2010.

Link – http://blogs.technet.com/office2010/archive/2010/03/04/get-office-today-or-tomorrow.aspx

Microsoft’s Courier

03-05-10courier We’ve been dying to know more about Microsoft’s Courier tablet / e-book device ever since we first caught wind of it last September, and while our entreaties to Mr. Ballmer went unanswered, we just learned some very interesting information from an extremely trusted source. We’re told Courier will function as a "digital journal," and it’s designed to be seriously portable: it’s under an inch thick, weighs a little over a pound, and isn’t much bigger than a 5×7 photo when closed.

Link – http://www.engadget.com/2010/03/05/microsofts-courier-digital-journal-exclusive-pictures-and-de/

Users to get Office 2010 on May 12

Microsoft is specifying a real date on which business users will be able to get their hands on Office 2010 and SharePoint Server 2010: May 12.

Consumers will have to wait until June to buy the product online and at retail, Microsoft officials said on March 5, via a post to the Microsoft Office 2010 Engineering blog.

Link – http://blogs.zdnet.com/microsoft/?p=5513

Update Rollup 2 for Exchange Server 2010 (KB979611)

Update Rollup 2 for Exchange Server 2010 resolves issues that were found in Exchange Server 2010 since the software was released. This update rollup is highly recommended for all Exchange Server 2010 customers.

Link – http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?displaylang=en&FamilyID=6d3ae3e0-3982-46d6-9e9c-7d7d63fae565

Microsoft is discontinuing Windows Essential Business Server

Microsoft is discontinuing its Windows Essential Business Server product, a bundle aimed at midsize businesses, the company said Friday.

The product combined Windows Server 2008, the Exchange e-mail server, and management tools into a single software package.

Link – http://blogs.technet.com/essentialbusinessserver/archive/2010/03/05/new-it-trends-bring-change-to-mid-market-product-line.aspx

iPad to hit the U.S. on April 3

Eager for the Apple iPad? You’ll finally be able to get your hands on the tablet in the U.S. starting Saturday, April 3.

Apple announced Friday that the Wi-Fi version of the iPad will launch in the United States on that date, followed by the Wi-Fi + 3G edition later in the month. Additionally, both versions will hit Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Spain, Switzerland, and the U.K. in late April.

Starting March 12, consumers can preorder both the Wi-Fi and Wi-Fi + 3G models from Apple’s online store or reserve a Wi-Fi version to pick up on April 3 at any Apple retail store.

Link – http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-10464361-37.html

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