Office 2010 is on Track for an April RTM

The Office team has just posted some great news on their blog.  Office 2010, SharePoint 2010, Visio 2010 and Project 2010 are all on track to RTM next month!

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 URL Rewrite Module 2.0 for IIS 7 – RC

URL Rewrite Module 2.0 provides a rule-based rewriting mechanism for changing requested URL’s before they get processed by web server and for modifying response content before it gets served to HTTP clients.

Link –http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?displaylang=en&FamilyID=c8d3e2a4-5d14-434b-a067-39a6fb8b9311

Microsoft URL Rewrite Module 2.0 for IIS 7 – RC

URL Rewrite Module 2.0 provides a rule-based rewriting mechanism for changing requested URL’s before they get processed by web server and for modifying response content before it gets served to HTTP clients.

Link –http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?displaylang=en&FamilyID=c8d3e2a4-5d14-434b-a067-39a6fb8b9311

Keeping the Messenger service running—on a massive scale

If you read Jeff Kunins’ post a few weeks ago about the growth of Windows Live Messenger in the last decade, you already know that Messenger’s growth has been pretty phenomenal. With such growth comes passionate feedback from customers, and a unique set of challenges around supporting those customers with a reliable service. My name is Russ Arun, and I’m a Group Program Manager for Windows Live, focusing on the server side of Messenger.

Link – http://windowsteamblog.com/blogs/windowslive/archive/2010/03/02/keeping-the-messenger-service-running-on-a-massive-scale.aspx

Keeping the Messenger service running—on a massive scale

If you read Jeff Kunins’ post a few weeks ago about the growth of Windows Live Messenger in the last decade, you already know that Messenger’s growth has been pretty phenomenal. With such growth comes passionate feedback from customers, and a unique set of challenges around supporting those customers with a reliable service. My name is Russ Arun, and I’m a Group Program Manager for Windows Live, focusing on the server side of Messenger.

Link – http://windowsteamblog.com/blogs/windowslive/archive/2010/03/02/keeping-the-messenger-service-running-on-a-massive-scale.aspx

No Windows Phone 7 upgrade for Windows Mobile 6.x devices

Microsoft’s tight hardware spec for Windows Phone 7 smartphones means that Windows Mobile 6.x devices – including HTC’s just-launched HD2 – can’t be upgraded.

Owners of HTC’s highly-praised HD2 touchscreen smartphone will be unable to upgrade the device to Microsoft’s new Windows Phone 7 software when the OS is released towards the end of the year.

Link – http://apcmag.com/microsoft-no-windows-phone-7-upgrade-for-windows-mobile-6x-devices.htm

Microsoft to offer European users browser choice

As of Monday users will be able to select an alternative browser from a pop-up menu or opt to stick with Internet Explorer.

According to Microsoft, this "browser choice screen" will present users with a list of leading browsers — including Mozilla’s Firefox, Apple’s Safari and Google’s Chrome — presented in random order, in keeping with its agreement with the European Commission.

The pop-up screen provides three options:

1. Click on "Install" to install one of the listed browsers.

2. Click on "Tell me more" to get more information about any of the browsers — these links are provided by each browser provider.

3. Click on "Select Later" to review the choice screen the next time you log onto your computer.

Microsoft says the screen will be offered as an automatic download through Windows Update for Windows XP, Windows Vista and its latest operating system, Windows 7.

Xbox Project Natal review

Microsoft has been running ‘secret’ demonstrations of its much-talked about Xbox 360 Project Natal system in London.

The motion control and voice recognition system has been much debated since its unveiling at E3 last year but what’s the reality of the user experience as it nears launch? Is it really a game-changer or just another gimmick?

Link  – http://www.techradar.com/news/gaming/consoles/hands-on-project-natal-review-673321

Engineering Messenger for real relationships

The first thing that comes to mind when you think of Windows Live Messenger is usually instant messaging – bouncing short text messages back and forth. But there are tons of things we’ve built into Messenger to make that experience more meaningful, and closer to a real face-to-face interaction.

Link – http://windowsteamblog.com/blogs/windowslive/archive/2010/02/25/engineering-messenger-for-real-relationships.aspx

Microsoft Baseline Configuration Analyzer 2.0

Microsoft Baseline Configuration Analyzer 2.0 (MBCA 2.0) can help you maintain optimal system configuration by analyzing configurations of your computers against a predefined set of best practices, and reporting results of the analyses. Best practices are developed by a product development team or domain experts, and are packaged in the form of a best practice model. Models are available as separately-downloadable packages that can be run and analyzed by MBCA. MBCA lets users work with best practice models in a consistent, user-friendly way.

Download – http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?displaylang=en&FamilyID=1b6e9026-f505-403e-84c3-a5dea704ec67

Microsoft launches Windows MultiPoint Server 2010

Today Microsoft is launching Windows MultiPoint Server around the world. Windows MultiPoint Server is available for purchase through OEMs and Microsoft Academic Volume Licensing (VL) customers on March 1, for schools and educational institutions (mainly for use in classrooms, labs and libraries).

Windows MultiPoint Server, based off Windows Server 2008 R2, is designed to enable multiple people (students) to share access to a single host PC through a “station” simultaneously. A station is a device that connects to a host PC running Windows MultiPoint Server via USB and connects to a keyboard, mouse, and monitor. Windows MultiPoint Server shares out an “instance” of Windows to a specific station via Remote Desktop Services (formerly known as Terminal Services) technology built in to Windows Server 2008 R2. If you have 1 host PC with Windows MultiPoint Server, you can support up to 10 people connecting to it and using it at the same time (hardware permitting of course). Each person independently controls familiar Windows experience.

Link – http://windowsteamblog.com/blogs/windowsexperience/archive/2010/02/24/windows-multipoint-server-2010-brings-more-affordable-computing-for-education.aspx

Windows Activation Technologies Update for Windows 7

In the coming days, we’ll be deploying a new update for Windows Activation Technologies, the set of built-in activation and validation components built into Windows 7. Called Windows Activation Technologies Update for Windows 7, this update will detect more than 70 known and potentially dangerous activation exploits. Activation exploits are sometimes called “hacks”, and attempt to bypass or compromise Windows’ activation technologies. This new update is further evidence of Microsoft’s commitment to keeping customers and partners secure. The update will determine whether Windows 7 installed on a PC is genuine and will better protect customers’ PCs by making sure that the integrity of key licensing components remains intact.

Link – http://windowsteamblog.com/blogs/genuinewindows/archive/2010/02/11/windows-activation-technologies-update-for-windows-7.aspx

Microsoft expands Outlook 2010 Social Connector to Facebook

Microsoft has announced that official connectors, built by MySpace and Facebook for Outlook Social Connector, will be available for download in the first of half of this year.

The software giant also announced the immediate availability of the LinkedIn Outlook Social Connector that was first demonstrated in November 2009. The download is now live and allows LinkedIn users to see their LinkedIn contacts latest activity and also add new people to LinkedIn via the interface.

Link – http://www.linkedin.com/outlook

Yahoo! and Microsoft to Implement Search Alliance

Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT”) and Yahoo! (Nasdaq “YHOO”) announced today that they have received clearance for their search agreement, without restrictions, from both the U.S. Department of Justice and the European Commission, and will now turn their attention to beginning the process of implementing the deal.

Implementation of the deal is expected to begin in the coming days and will involve transitioning Yahoo!’s algorithmic and paid search platforms to Microsoft, with Yahoo! becoming the exclusive relationship sales force for both companies’ premium search advertisers globally. Once the transition is completed, the companies’ unified search marketplace will deliver improved innovation for consumers, better volume and efficiency for advertisers and better monetization opportunities for web publishers through a platform that contains a larger pool of search queries.

Link – http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2010/feb10/02-18searchalliancepr.mspx

Update – Restart Issues After Installing MS10-015 and the Alureon Rootkit

We wanted to provide you with an update on our ongoing investigation into the “blue screen” issues affecting a limited number of customers who installed MS10-015. We have been working around the clock with our customers, partners and several teams at Microsoft to determine the cause of these issues. Our investigation has concluded that the reboot occurs because the system is infected with malware, specifically the Alureon rootkit. We were able to reach this conclusion after the comprehensive analysis of memory dumps obtained from multiple customer machines and extensive testing against third party applications and software. The restarts are the result of modifications the Alureon rootkit makes to Windows Kernel binaries, which places these systems in an unstable state. In every investigated incident, we have not found quality issues with security update MS10-015. Our guidance remains the same: customers should continue to deploy this month’s security updates and make sure their systems are up-to-date with the latest anti-virus software.

Link – http://blogs.technet.com/msrc/archive/2010/02/17/update-restart-issues-after-installing-ms10-015-and-the-alureon-rootkit.aspx

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