Tag: Microsoft

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Microsoft Unveils New Silverlight 2 Beta

MS-SilverLite

New light on the company’s Silverlight 2 browser plug-in technology, a Microsoft official wrote a blog post today that emphasized RIA (rich Internet application) development capabilities planned for an upcoming beta release.

Microsoft’s Scott Guthrie, general manager in the Microsoft Developer Division, provided a list of features planned for Silverlight 2 and the beta in his blog. A Microsoft representative subsequently described the blog as the most detail provided to date on Silverlight 2.

With the Silverlight platform, Microsoft is expected to tackle Adobe and its popular Flash technology in the RIA space. Microsoft’s Mix08 conference in Las Vegas in two weeks seems like the obvious place to introduce the beta as Silverlight was the star attraction at the Mix07 conference last year. The Microsoft representative would not comment on whether this would actually be the case but did acknowledge plans to ship the beta during the first quarter of this year.

The introduction of Silverlight 2, which had previously been named Silverlight 1.1, is critical to Microsoft as it battles Adobe, an analyst stressed.

“That’s the one that uses the .Net Framework for programming so it can leverage all of Microsoft’s developer tools,” said analyst Rob Helm of Directions on Microsoft, an independent research firm. “Developer tools could become Microsoft’s secret weapon,” since many developers already are familiar with Visual Studio and .Net Framework, he said.

The 1.0 version of Silverlight has been more geared to video, while Silverlight 2 adds .Net development and transactional capabilities. To bolster RIA development, the Beta 1 release will include a Windows Presentation Foundation UI framework for building rich Web applications. It offers a “powerful” graphics and animation engine plus support for higher-level capabilities, such as controls, layout management, data-binding, and template skinning, Guthrie said.

source:pcworld

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Microsoft Unveils Free SkyDrive Online Storage Service

Win-Sky

Microsoft on Friday quietly took the wraps off a free online storage service that it says is the final piece of its Windows Live Internet services portfolio.

Windows Live SkyDrive offers users up to 5 GB of free storage in password-protected servers. Users can also create folders accessible to friends, colleagues, or the general public. They can access their folders from any computer connected to the Internet by signing on to their Windows Live account.

SkyDrive had been undergoing testing for the past several months, Microsoft said.

Windows Live now offers a range of online services in addition to SkyDrive, including tools for e-mail, blogging, instant messaging, and social networking.

The effort is part of Microsoft’s attempt to keep pace with Google and acquisition target Yahoo in the growing Web services market.

Google recently launched its Google Apps service — a suite of hosted products that includes a word processor and a spreadsheet, as well as e-mail and calendaring tools. Yahoo also offers free e-mail and messaging services and an online storage depot called Briefcase that offers up to 25 MB of free space.

Windows Live also reflects Microsoft’s recognition that many of the software products that are today sold in boxes on store shelves are migrating to the Web. As a result, the company needs to figure out how to enhance its Web offerings without undercutting sales of its packaged applications, from which it derives the bulk of its revenue.

 source:informationweek

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‘Cougar’ The New Microsoft’s Small-Business OS

 Microsoft

Microsoft on Wednesday revealed details of the next version of its Windows OS for small businesses and formally introduced a new product line aimed at small and mid-size businesses.

Microsoft Windows Small Business Server (SBS) 2008, formally code-named “Cougar,” is one of two software bundles in Microsoft’s new Windows Essential Server Solutions line; it also includes Windows Essential Business Server 2008, formerly code-named “Centro” and aimed at mid-sized companies. Both products are based on the same code as Windows Server 2008, the next version of Microsoft’s enterprise server OS.

The software also provides integration with Microsoft’s Web-based service, Microsoft Office Live Small Business, to help companies set up and manage Web sites and Web-based collaboration workspaces for employees. Support for Windows Mobile devices, so employees can access business information and e-mail remotely, also is bundled in.

SBS 2008 will be demonstrated on hardware from Dell at Microsoft’s Feb. 27 event in Los Angeles, in which Microsoft will highlight a triptych of releases — Windows Server 2008, Visual Studio 2008 and SQL Server 2008. Both SBS 2008 and Windows Essential Business Server 2008 are scheduled to be available in the second half of 2008.

source:pcworld 

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Microsoft Plans To Authorize A Proxy Fight To Oust Yahoo

 Micro-yahoo

Microsoft plans to strengthen its pursuit of Yahoo this week when it authorizes a proxy fight to get rid of Yahoo’s board, meaning the 19-day-old acquisition attempt will soon turn a darker shade of ugly, according to The New York Times.

The proxy fight will cost Microsoft between $20 million and $30 million, much less than having to significantly up its offer for Yahoo, The Times reported Tuesday morning, quoting anonymous sources.

The aggressive move would be reliable with Microsoft’s statements hinting that it’s willing to acquire Yahoo via unsympathetic means if necessary. Yahoo’s board rejected unanimously Microsoft’s offer, calling it too low.

source:pcworld 

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Windows 2008 Products Are Really Reedy For Launch??

MS-2008

In Los Angeles on Feb. 27, Microsoft will formally introduce Windows Server 2008, SQL Server 2008, and Visual Studio 2008. In many respects, they need no introduction. As the flagship products in Microsoft’s enterprise line, they’re used by millions of customers. Sales of Microsoft’s servers and tools have grown more than 10% annually for the last 22 quarters, fueling an $11.2 billion business. Windows Server Enterprise Edition alone grew at 35% last quarter.

The game tables are idle and the hallways are quiet on Microsoft’s Redmond, Wash., campus. All heads are down as the company’s developers race to meet their deadline for what’s billed as Microsoft’s biggest enterprise product launch ever. They’re not even close to making it.

But it’s been five years since Microsoft released a new server operating system–Windows Server 2003–and three years since it upgraded the database that runs on top of it, SQL Server. So the hoopla isn’t surprising, and, according to InformationWeek’s just-completed survey, there’s pent-up demand. But Microsoft–as it too often does–has fallen behind on two of the key pieces. SQL Server 2008’s delivery date has been pushed back to the third quarter, and the much-anticipated Hyper-V virtual machine hypervisor is running as much as six months behind Windows Server 2008, meaning Hyper-V probably won’t ship until the third quarter, either.

In other words, it will still be months before IT departments can push ahead with Windows Server virtualization or SQL Server upgrades, and it’s impossible to know the quality of those releases in the meantime. Microsoft’s vision for data center automation–a work-in-progress for the past five years that it now calls “Dynamic IT”–remains unfinished business. We’ll get back to that, but first the basics:

  • Windows Server 2008 was released to manufacturing earlier this month and will be generally available March 1. In addition to Hyper-V, major improvements include Server Core for task-specific deployment, Server Manager for simplified management, and a new version of Microsoft’s Web server, Internet Information Services 7.0.
  • SQL Server 2008’s key advances include no-fuss data encryption and a resource governor for tuning performance.
  • Visual Studio 2008 shipped in January. Its distinguishing features are the ability to develop applications for multiple versions of the .Net Framework and a focus on Web development.

Microsoft officials are trying to assuage concerns about Windows Server 2008’s compatibility with the applications customers use. A major compatibility program is under way, with 80 apps expected to be certified for use with Windows Server 2008 by late February and hundreds more vetted by Microsoft to work with the new operating system. The company has set up a Web site (www.windowsservercatalog.com) to track progress.

Adam Baum, an IT architect with the city of Mesa, Ariz., says Windows Server 2008, SQL Server 2008, and Visual Studio 2008 are evidence that Microsoft’s data center strategy is progressing. “They’ve listened and added what people wanted,” he says.

 

source:informationweek
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New Microsoft Forums

MS-Logo

Microsoft has been running newsgroups and forums to provide community support for its products.. incidentally, many MVPs come from forums where they are TOP contributors to the forums..

but this isn’t about MVPs today 🙂

it is about MS forums… to begin with Microsoft used Community Server from Telligent to host its forums. And now they are revamping the same on to its own code.. in the background, there seems to be an entire Community Platform emerging with blogs, tags, forums & wikis within Microsoft.. (very much in line with MSs focus on community)..

The new forums are available at:
http://forums.msdn.microsoft.com/

http://forums.technet.microsoft.com/

http://forums.community.microsoft.com/

source:reuters 

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Hackers Attack Code For Works Bug Using Microsoft Products

MS-bugs

No sooner had Microsoft issued a massive set of security patches for its software than hackers started posting code showing how to exploit one of the flaws.

The proof-of-concept code, posted Wednesday to the Milw0rm Web site, exploits a bug in the Microsoft Works file converter software that is part of Office 2003 and can be used to run unauthorized software on a victim’s computer.

The flaw also affects Works 8 and Works Suite 2005. To fall prey to the attack, a victim would first have to open a malicious Works attachment.

Hackers have uncovered many of these file-format bugs in recent years and they are generally not used in widespread attacks. In fact, security vendor Symantec predicts that we’ll see fewer of these attacks in the months ahead as online criminals increasingly rely on browser bugs to do their dirty work.

Still, Periman expects criminals to try out this latest attack code. “It’s so simple,” he said. “All you have to do is get someone to open the document.”

The software vendor released 11 sets of patches this week, fixing 17 flaws in its products, but this is the first exploit code to pop up following the updates. A second program exploiting one of these vulnerabilities — this one in an ActiveX control used by the Visual FoxPro database — was posted to Milw0rm in September, months before Microsoft patched the issue.

source:pcworld 

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Microsoft moved up the Vista SP1 Release for Tech Users

SP1

It was the second time in three days that Microsoft changed the release of the release-to-manufacturing (RTM) version of Vista SP1 for the IT professionals and developers who pay hundreds of dollars annually for the right to download and test software before it’s offered to the general public.

Microsoft Corp. has moved up the availability of Windows Vista Service Pack 1 (SP1) for TechNet and Microsoft Developer Network subscribers, saying they will be able to download the update by Friday at the latest.

Saying “We heard you,” an unidentified Microsoft employee posting to the MSDN Subscriptions blog spelled out the new timetable: “Windows Vista SP1 anticipated to be available to MSDN Subscribers by end of week,” the blogger wrote.

On the TechNet Plus blog, where subscribers had denounced Microsoft’s decision to delay the final code until early next month — and then in a change announced Monday to a vague “later this month” — another Microsoft blogger confirmed that SP1 would also be available to TechNet subscribers on the same day. “It will become available for both programs at once,” said Kathy Dixon of Microsoft.

Dixon was responding to a user who noted the availability change for MSDN subscribers.

Although Microsoft did not specify the day, Friday is the most likely candidate; earlier this week, the company said it would let Volume Licensing customers download the bits on Friday.

Although Microsoft did not specify the day, Friday is the most likely candidate; earlier this week, the company said it would let Volume Licensing customers download the bits on Friday

source:pcworld

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Microsoft is busy preparing its IE8

IE-8

Web site developers may be interested to hear promises made in blog posts by the IE8 platform architect Chris Wilson, who says there is a “lot of potential breakage” in the new browser.

With half a billion supposed IE users and thousands of sites already customised to work with earlier browsers, IE8 has the potential to make Web surfing slicker, or to screw it up for thousands of people.

The team wants IE8 to support the right standards without “breaking the existing Web”. The new hope is an opt-in approach to standards using a element rather than a blanket approach. In theory, this should help avoid the problems that plagued Web sites when IE7 first launched.

No matter what you think if IE, it’s clear that the developer team is aware of these problems. Their goals are certainly admirable, according to this blog post: “We must deliver improved standards support and backwards compatibility so that IE8 continues to work with the billions of pages on the web today that already work in IE6 and IE7 and makes the development of the next billion pages, in an interoperable way, much easier.”

As Chris Wilson explains, “many sites had worked around many of the shortcomings or outright errors in IE6, and now expected IE7 to work just like IE6… Sites didn’t work, and users experienced problems.”

source:itnews 

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Vista SP1 Prerequisites Rolled up in Patch

Vistas1

Microsoft included a set of nonsecurity updates that prepare customers to install Windows Vista Service Pack 1 as part of its monthly “Patch Tuesday” security fixes.

Two of three prerequisite updates needed to install SP1 are hitting Microsoft’s Windows Update for the first time today, along with the usual batch of security updates it releases every month.

KB937287 is an update to Vista’s servicing stack, and KB938371 is a multicomponent update, according to the blog post attributed to Nick White, a product manager on the Vista team. Both must be installed before a machine can successfully be updated to Windows Vista SP1.

The technologies — called KB937287 and KB938371 — are marked “Important” and will install automatically if a Windows user has Windows Update set to the recommended configuration, according to a post on the Windows Vista team blog.

The third prerequisite to installing SP1, KB935509, also is being released through Windows Update Tuesday. However, that technology is an update of a previously released technology, not a brand new release.

source:pcworld