Kurt Shintaku's Blog

Out of the hundreds of case studies that we’ve published, here’s some of the ‘bigger name’ examples I’ve picked out of our case study vault of the customers that have already made the move to Windows 7 that I’m excited about.

Hope I get to submit one of you for a Windows 7 case study some day.  It’s a cool way to get your name in lights, and a nice clip to attach to the ol’ career file.

• General Mills
  ”Using Windows 7, we delivered a fun, engaging cooking experience with an application that is radically simple to use. ”
  http://www.microsoft.com/casestudies/Case_Study_Detail.aspx?CaseStudyID=4000006867
• Intel
  ”With Windows 7 and Intel vPro technology, we can maximize user productivity while making the most of the increased energy efficiency, security, and manageability of new PCs.”
  http://www.microsoft.com/casestudies/Case_Study_Detail.aspx?CaseStudyID=4000006185
• Indiana University
  ”The problems that existed in the past from installing and uninstalling traditional applications are gone.”
  http://www.microsoft.com/casestudies/Case_Study_Detail.aspx?CaseStudyID=4000006450
• Purdue University
  ”By eliminating application conflicts and consolidating packaging for desktop computer and Remote Desktop Services environments, we made deploying and managing applications much easier.”
  http://www.microsoft.com/casestudies/Case_Study_Detail.aspx?CaseStudyID=4000006540
• City of Miami
  ”Windows 7 is easily the most robust and reliable operating system that I have used in my 34 years of working in IT.”
  http://www.microsoft.com/casestudies/Case_Study_Detail.aspx?CaseStudyID=4000006189
• 3M
  ”We had heard about the great performance, reliability, and security benefits that Windows 7 offers, and it made sense to take advantage of them.”
  http://www.microsoft.com/casestudies/Case_Study_Detail.aspx?CaseStudyID=4000006073
• Hughes Network Systems
  ”Our hope was that BranchCache could deliver excellent application performance over the wide area network, and our testing definitely proved that it did.”
  http://www.microsoft.com/casestudies/Case_Study_Detail.aspx?CaseStudyID=4000005404
• Dell
  ”The software imaging work for Windows 7 will take 50 percent less time … plus we can make changes to the image on the fly. This enables us to keep applications up to date and computers protected …”
  http://www.microsoft.com/casestudies/Case_Study_Detail.aspx?CaseStudyID=4000005061
• Continental Airlines
  ”Our Windows Presentation Foundation–based gate display system improves customers’ experience with the airline, improves our on-time performance, and ultimately helps the business’s bottom line.”
  http://www.microsoft.com/casestudies/Case_Study_Detail.aspx?CaseStudyID=4000004874
• Chevron
  ”User Account Control is a solid enabler along the path towards a safer, more stable, and predictable computing experience.”
  http://www.microsoft.com/casestudies/Case_Study_Detail.aspx?CaseStudyID=4000003420

pptPlex uses Plex technology to give you the power to zoom in and out of slide sections and move directly between slides that are not sequential in your presentation. 

pptPlex was recently updated for Powerpoint 2010 & Windows 7.

OFFICE LABS BLOG:  pptPlex now supports PowerPoint 2010!

Today’s update fixes a few compatibility bugs with PowerPoint 2010, but it also includes an important user experience change with regard to sections.

Powerpoint 2010 “Sections”

In PowerPoint 2007, there was no concept of sections, thus pptPlex added the concept.  In PowerPoint 2010, there is a concept of sections, thus pptPlex takes advantage of that concept.  What this means is that when you’re using pptPlex in PowerPoint 2010, to create, remove, or rename a section, you’ll need to use the PowerPoint user experience, not the pptPlex experience.  There will be no “Insert New Section” button in the pptPlex ribbon, and the section divider slides won’t be necessary.  Read more about sections in PowerPoint 2010.

Note that the above changes relate to PowerPoint 2010 only.  pptPlex in PowerPoint 2007 is not affected.

Multi-touch in Windows 7
The second major change in today’s update is support for multi-touch in Windows 7.  If you are running Windows 7 on a computer that supports multi-touch, pptPlex will support several gestures when presenting, including:

• Pinch to zoom
• Swipe to go to next/previous slide
• Tap to zoom
• Two-fingered tap to zoom out

[taken from the OfficeLabs blog]

DOWNLOAD:  pptPlex add-in for Powerpoint
http://www.officelabs.com/projects/pptPlex/Pages/default.aspx

Internet Explorer 8 was designed to be a fast browser: it should start quickly and load pages instantly. The ‘new tab’ page makes navigating the internet much faster and easier. Internet Explorer 8 also pioneered innovations like tab isolation to improve stability and automatic crash recovery. With these performance improvements, Internet Explorer 8 has enhanced the browsing experience of over 300 million consumers.

This white paper will help you learn how to fix some common configurations of Internet Explorer 8 that slow down your web browsing. We will give you some insight into the complex browser ecosystem and walk through a series of tips and tricks for how to enhance the performance of Internet Explorer 8 to get you to your destination as quickly as possible. We will present these tips from least technical to most technical, so you can try as many solutions as you feel comfortable with.

Here’s a sample:

1. Add-ons cause most browser crashes, accounting for over 70% of Internet Explorer 8’s crashes. Slowdowns in Internet Explorer 8 are very often caused by add-ons – especially when you open a new browser window or tab.
   
2. If Internet Explorer 8 has an abnormally long load time, it may be because you have a large number of sites listed in your Restricted or Trusted sites zone. Some security programs like SpyBot Search & Destroy will place thousands of sites in these zones to try and prevent you from accessing unsafe websites. Although this is not the recommended implementation, you may have unknowingly applied this setting if you have ever used their “Immunize” feature.
   
3. …it is widely known that older versions of Adobe Flash may result in browser crashes or hangs. If you have Google Desktop or other toolbars and extensions installed, please visit their home pages to make sure you have updated to the latest version.
   
4. If a user agent string gets too long, the web site that is trying to read it may refuse your browser’s request for site content. This may result in an unnecessary slowdown as the web site and your browser communicate back and forth requesting information.
   
5. Internet Explorer 8 allows the browser to make up to 6 connections per server to retrieve information to display your web page. This means that when downloading multiple files at the same time, you can have a maximum of 6 concurrent downloads at any time from a particular server. Sometimes, increasing the maximum number of connections Internet Explorer 8 can make with a server at any given time can increase the performance of your browsing and downloading experience.

• WHITEPAPER:  Internet Explorer 8 Performance Whitepaper
  http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?displaylang=en&FamilyID=0c7f25e1-8f0a-475c-9324-32c12ab68c3c

The Configuration Manager 2007 Toolkit V2 contains 11 downloadable tools to help you manage and troubleshoot Configuration Manager 2007.

The following list provides specific information about each tool in the toolkit.

• Client Spy – A tool that helps you troubleshoot issues related to software distribution, inventory, and software metering on Configuration Manager 2007 clients.
• Delete Group Class Tool – A tool used to remove inventory group definitions along with history data, tables, views and stored procedures for the group.
• Desired Configuration Management Migration Tool – A tool used to migrate from the DCM Solution for SMS 2003 to DCM in ConfigMgr 2007.
• Desired Configuration Management Model Verification Tool – A tool used by desired configuration management content administrators for the validation and testing of configuration items and baselines authored externally from the Configuration Manager console.
• Desired Configuration Management Substitution Variable Tool – A tool used by desired configuration management content administrators for authoring desired configuration management configuration items that use chained setting and object discovery.
• Management Point Troubleshooter Tool – A tool that checks a computer system before and after a management point installation to ensure that the installation meets the requirements for management points.
• Policy Spy – A policy viewer that helps you review and troubleshoot the policy system on Configuration Manager 2007 clients.
• Preload Package Tool – A tool used to manually install compressed copies of package source files on Configuration Manager 2007 sites.
• Security Configuration Wizard Template for Configuration Manager 2007 – The Security Configuration Wizard (SCW) is an attack-surface reduction tool for the Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2 operating system. Security Configuration Wizard determines the minimum functionality required for a server’s role or roles, and disables functionality that is not required. The Configuration Manager 2007 Service Pack 2 Security Configuration Wizard template supports new site system definitions and enables the required services and ports.
• Send Schedule Tool – A tool used to trigger a schedule on a Client or trigger the evaluation of a specified DCM Baseline. You can trigger a schedule either locally or remotely.
• Trace32 – A log viewer that provides a way to easily view and monitor log files created and updated by Configuration Manager 2007 clients and servers.

Get the tools here:

• DOWNLOAD: System Center Configuration Manager 2007 Toolkit V2
  http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?displaylang=en&FamilyID=5a47b972-95d2-46b1-ab14-5d0cbce54eb8

The Windows® 7 operating system and its default browser, Windows® Internet Explorer® 8, offer many exciting new features and benefits. However, organizations may find that some of the older applications they rely on are not yet functional or supported in the new Windows 7 operating system. These applications may require a previous version of the Windows® operating environment—one running Windows® Internet Explorer® 7 or Microsoft® Internet Explorer® 6. 

Microsoft provides several alternate ways to create a virtual operating environment on which you can run earlier versions of Internet Explorer. These virtualization options include:

• Microsoft® Enterprise Desktop Virtualization (MED-V)
• Windows® XP Mode
• Terminal Services

These solutions can deliver a seamless and cost-effective way for organizations to continue to run their older applications.  This white paper provides information to help you select the virtualization alternative that is appropriate for your organization. This paper provides the benefits, costs, and limitations of each virtualization option; it also describes step-by-step guidance and best practices for setting up the virtual environments and for running them securely.  

• DOWNLOAD:  Solutions for Virtualizing Internet Explorer (1.1MB)
  http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?displaylang=en&FamilyID=495934c8-5684-451c-a16e-5ceb50706a42

Quick reference guide to commonly-used Windows PowerShell commands. For best results, open the file in Microsoft Word, print the contents to legal-sized paper (8 inches by 14 inches), and fold the resulting printout in half, making a four-page booklet.

• DOWNLOAD: Windows PowerShell Quick Reference
  http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?displaylang=en&FamilyID=df8ed469-9007-401c-85e7-46649a32d0e0

We’ve officially released the next wave of Microsoft Office and related products. Designed to deliver a unified experience across the PC, phone and browser, this wave includes Microsoft Office 2010, Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010, Microsoft Visio 2010 and Microsoft Project 2010.

Join us for the virtual launch event on May 12^th. Check out the presskit materials here for release announcements, see also the following new/updated resources and downloads.  This is pretty much the kitchen sink for anyone in IT involved with desktop productivity:

• Microsoft SharePoint Designer 2010 (64-bit)
• Microsoft SharePoint Designer 2010 (32-bit)
• Microsoft SharePoint Foundation 2010
• Office 2010: Product Guides
• Deployment Options for Office 2010
• 64-bit Client Installation of Office 2010
• Deploy Multilanguage Packs for Office 2010
• Group Policy settings reference for Office 2010
• Volume Activation of Office 2010
• Beyond Office 2010 – The Future of Productivity
• Microsoft Office 2010 for Healthcare Providers
• Office 2010 Help Files: Office Fluent User Interface Control Identifiers
• Office 2010 Reference: Office Fluent User Interface XML Schema
• Office 2010 Administrative Templates and OCT
• Office 2010 KMS Host License Pack
• Services in SharePoint 2010 Products
• Topologies for SharePoint Server 2010
• Cross-farm Services in SharePoint 2010 Products
• SharePoint Server 2010 performance and capacity test results
• SharePoint Enterprise Search
• Hosting Environments for SharePoint 2010 Products
• SharePoint Server 2010 performance and capacity white papers
• SharePoint Server 2010 software boundaries and limits
• SharePoint extranet topologies
• Databases in SharePoint 2010 Products
• SharePoint Server 2010 SPModule .zip file
• SharePoint 2010 Products MP for Operations Manager 2007
• SharePoint Foundation 2010 MP for Operations Manager 2007
• FAST Search Server 2010 for SharePoint Evaluation Guide
• SharePoint Server 2010 Search Eval Guide
• Getting Started with Enterprise Search
• Capacity management overview for SharePoint Server 2010
• Project Server 2010 deployment planning podcast
• Quick Start Guide for Outlook Voice Access 2010
• InfoPath 2010 Reference: InfoPath 2010 Developer Reference for Form Templates
• InfoPath 2010 Enhanced Integration with SharePoint Server 2010 and Its Implications When Designing Forms for Applications
• Visio 2010: Visio Viewer

The folks at Graphic.ly are working on a Windows 7/WPF based application that allows you to purchase and view comic books and graphic novels on your computer whether it’s a convention Windows PC or a Tablet or a Touch-based computer. 

Purchases are said to be going for $1.99 each which puts the costs in the same realm as traditional comics.  Whether this will resonate with people, one can only wonder.  Comics have historically always been a physical collectible with half the pleasure arising from owning a physical object, the ability to trade that object, and evaluate the value of that object in comparison with other’s interest.  There’s not much thrill in owning Green Lantern #1 when it’s just bits, right?  Personally, I get a high every time I open my mailbox to find a physical magazine in there for me to open up and discover what new PC got evaluated by Maximum PC’s editors… or what up and coming games is being hyped by the reviewers at Official Xbox Magazine.

But then again, if you’re always on the road, and tend to chew up content faster than they can produce it, maybe a ‘purchase & download online’ model makes sense.  With a large store with content, it’s wholly possible to never run out of stuff to read ever again.

Anyway, the application is in beta and requires one to submit an application to be accepted into the private beta.  Invitations are handed out on an as needed basis so if you’re interested, try applying.

• BETA:  Graphic.ly Beta Application for Windows 7
  http://graphic.ly/about.html

(Can’t wait? @graphicly is apparently publishing line jump codes over Twitter.  You’ll figure out what this means if you apply for the private beta.)

For the first time, I’m allowed to talk about it.  And yes.  It’s good.  Very very good.

I’m officially allowed to have friends & relatives come over and game as guests on the MP beta now on my personal Xbox 360.  For those of you still waiting, the beta will of course be going live for the rest of the world on May 3rd – and in order to participate, you MUST own a copy of the Halo: ODST campaign disc.  It’s a requirement to initialize and play the downloadable Multiplayer Beta.

One thing?  ‘Invasion’ is SICK.  Just sayin’.

Share your pain and win!
Tell us your tales of IT fails and you could win:

• Star prize of a Sony Vaio X laptop
• One weekly winner gets their story made into a cartoon and recieves a framed version
• One weekly winner gets 100 pounds to spend in the Microsoft Store
• Three weekly runners up receive 30 pounds to spend in the Microsoft Store.

If you win, you’ll have your tale ‘cartoonized’. as the tale below is:

• LINK:  Where’s the ‘any’ Key
  http://www.wherestheanykey.co.uk/