Kurt Shintaku's Blog

Do you think of yourself as someone with a flair for web design? How would you like a free pass to the SharePoint conference & ultimate bragging rights with your friends?

Here is what you need to do. Dream up what you think the homepage of the SharePoint conference should look and feel like. Don’t worry about the content; we are most interested in the look and feel, colors & layout. Will you go wild or will you go conservative? You decide!

The competition is open now & ends on June 19, 2009.

• Full competition details & Official Rules
  Follow the conference on twitter: http://www.twitter.com/SPConf

[taken from the Sharepoint Team blog]

Would you be interested in a site that provided both Technical & Business Career information, along with how to manage your career in the IT field?  Maybe you’re interested in Technology & Business alignment.

Introducing Microsoft THRIVE. 

This is our site to assist IT Professionals & Managers in evolving their careers.

• http://www.microsoft.com/click/thrive/

While I generally try to avoid referring to other blogs, my coworker Keith Combs wrote a somewhat inspiring post on his blog about what THRIVE is and what it’s designed to do:

• Microsoft Thrive – website portal launches
  http://blogs.technet.com/keithcombs/archive/2009/02/10/microsoft-thrive-website-portal-launches.aspx

UPDATE 6/1/09:
So apparently, the instructions for this thing were screwed up.  The page that originally told people about this offer failed to mention that the promo code “9350-Y2W6-3676” has to be redeemed at a special web site:

• https://www.microsoftelearning.com/eLearning/enterCode.aspx

Once you do this, you’ll get to sign into Windows Live ID to take advantage of the offer.

————

Psst.  Want a massive amount of free training on Hyper-V & Microsoft’s Virtual Machine Manager 2008?

This collection of five 2-hour courses helps you develop the skills necessary for implementing and managing Hyper-V in an IT environment, as well as creating and managing virtual machines and hosts in a virtual environment. Use promo code 9350-Y2W6-3676 to receive your discount. Please note: you must use the link above to take advantage of this offer.

This offer includes the following:

• Course 6320: Introducing the Hyper-V Technology
• Course 6321: Configuring a Virtual Environment
• Course 6322: Deploying Systems in a Virtual Environment
• Course 6323: Optimizing a Virtual Environment
• Course 6324: Managing a Virtual Environment by using SCVMM

Yeah.  It’s a huge deal.  AND IT EXPIRES ON JUNE 30TH.

So jump on it!

• FREE e-Learning Collection- Prepare for Exam 70-652 (TS:  Windows Server Virtualization, Configuring) ($159 US value)
  http://co1piltwb.partners.extranet.microsoft.com/mcoeredir/mcoeredirect.aspx?linkId=11053980&s1=cde6874f-8b16-debd-4c72-a98d4741cb2f

With the release of Office 2010, we will be announcing a new product, “Sharepoint Workspace 2010”. 

Some may recognize the product’s functionality as being roughly similar to Groove 2007 which we are retiring.  Effectively Groove is getting a new name however there will be some dramatic improvements to the product’s ability to integrate and provide offline access to both Sharepoint content as well as other content stores.

• SharePoint Workspace will provide easy access to SharePoint content (or content from any server that implements the publicly documented protocols) in an effort to provide a seamless online/offline experience.
• SharePoint Workspace 2010 will be easier to deploy and easier to manage, and it supports a new set of scenarios to help Office and SharePoint users be more productive.  It will also make it easier for IT folks to implement a consistent information strategy based on SharePoint technology throughout the organization.
• There will be changes in the way the product is delivered, as well – e.g. SharePoint Workspace (and OneNote, for that matter) will be added to the Microsoft Office Professional Plus 2010 release.  Keep an eye peeled for further announcements from Microsoft on new product plans for Office.

If any of you are still running Office 2000, be aware that Microsoft Office 2000 leaves extended support on July 14, 2009.  What this means is that put bluntly:

• No further security patches will be created for Office 2000, unless you’re a Microsoft Premier Support customer that’s purchased a ‘custom support agreement’ with Microsoft. 
  (Don’t get any ideas BTW – these agreements are far north of $100k+ for a single year of post end-of-life support.  I’ve only seen one of these ever purchased by a customer in my 14 years at Microsoft.)
• Office 2000 patches published on or before July 14, 2009 will remain on the Download Center. For more information, please see the Office 2000 Lifecycle policy.

NO MORE “OFFICE UPDATE” WEB SITE
Additionally, starting August 1, 2009, Microsoft will discontinue support for the Office Update website.  Customers can access the equivalent functionality of the Office Update site via Microsoft Update. 

This move will allow us to provide a more simplified and consistent experience for users across Microsoft products.  At the same time we will also discontinue the Office Inventory Tool.  The July Office Inventory Tool will remain available for download on the Download Center, but it will not be updated after August 1, 2009.  We recommend that IT admins who use the Office Inventory Tool switch to Windows Server Update Services (WSUS) for deploying Office updates within their corporate network.

To continue getting the latest updates for Microsoft Office products, use Microsoft Update.  For more information see the Office Update FAQ.

The OpenXML Document Viewer project idea came from the discussions with the participants of the Document Interoperability Initiative (DII) workshops (in particular last year’s Cambridge event). The point was to find a way to simply be able to view Open XML files as HTML. Following up, Microsoft provided funding to start the Open XML Viewer project, an open source project developed by MindTree Limited. The first beta version was unveiled at the last DII in Brussels, giving a first peak of the viewer (see a demo here).

Today I’m excited to announce the version 1.0 of Open XML Document Viewer. It provides direct translation for Open XML Documents (.DOCX) to HTML, enabling access to the information in the Open XML format from any platform with a Web browser. The project, which already includes a plug-in for Firefox IE7 and IE8 and now also offers a plug-in for Opera, allows users to view Open XML documents (.DOCX) within the browser on Windows and Linux platforms without the need to install Microsoft Office or other productivity products.

(And before you ask, yes, it works with Firefox 3.x)

The core of the project is the Translation Engine that does most of the work, meaning opening the .DOCX document, reading, mapping and transforming to HTML. The Translation engine is exposed as a client side browser plug-in with support for Firefox, Opera, and Internet Explorer, and as a cross platform command line translator for use in server side applications.

The result is a translator that enables Open XML document (.DOCX) visibility within browser applications without the use of any of the usual office productivity or word processing applications, across multiple platforms and environments, as either a server side application or as a client side end user solution. Developers, Independent Software Vendors (ISVs), Solutions Integrators & Mobile Solution providers can use these tools to enable their customers to view Open XML documents on heterogeneous platforms and browser applications. Be sure to check out the Demo web site. It showcases server side document processing scenarios that represent very typical use cases.

We’re very excited with this new version and look forward to your feedback.

Join us at http://www.codeplex.com/OpenXMLViewer

MORE INFO:
http://blogs.msdn.com/interoperability/archive/2009/05/17/openxml-document-viewer-v1-released-viewing-docx-files-as-html.aspx

FEATURE LIST/PROJECT SITE:
http://www.openxmlviewer.com

Well, the other shoe dropped.  After months of psuedo-marketing leaks and rumors…

• Microsoft Announces the Expansion of the Zune Entertainment Service to New Platform and Markets; Confirms New Zune HD Portable Media Player
  http://www.microsoft.com/Presspass/press/
  2009/may09/05-26ZuneHDPR.mspx

What’s New?
Simply put, Zune’s shipping with a bunch of new platform defining capabilities encompassed in what purports to be Zune 4.0 software:

• Access to the LARGEST video on-demand service in the world.  Bigger than iTunes, Comcast, DirecTV, CinemaNOW, Hulu… Xbox LIVE Video Marketplace!
• Touch screen interface leveraging capacitive touch instead of resistive touch – the way studies have shown consumers prefer to interact with touch interfaces
• 720p video output over HDMI for viewing on bigger screens
• HD radio receiver to provide digital quality local over-the-air broadcasts
• OLED 480×272 display, full screen browser, WiFi connectivity

When?
This fall!  For those of you looking for something OTHER than an iPod, you’re gonna love the Zune HD.

As a big Microsoft Xbox Live Marketplace user as well as a big Zune user, I’m really excited to see what they haven’t revealed.  Because this was already a huge announcement.

And I know there’s things they haven’t announced yet. [grin]

 
We’re pleased to announce the launch of the very first TechNet Virtual Conference taking place on 19 June 2009.

• Register now for the UK’s first TechNet Virtual Conference
  http://technet.microsoft.com/en-gb/dd819085.aspx

We understand that time and budget pressures make attending events difficult – so to help both you and the environment we decided to take the TechNet Conference virtual. Now you can keep up to date with all the latest Microsoft insights and product developments from the comfort of your own desk.

The good news is that registration is FREE.  The bad news is that this is a United Kingdom production, meaning there’s a time difference where they’re ahead 8 hours.  (This means that technically, the even starts at 1:30AM Pacific Time on June 19th.  Yeah – I know.  I hope it’s being recorded too.)

Virtual Keynote Featuring Mark Russinovich… and more!
We are also really pleased to announce an exclusive keynote featuring Mark Russinovich, Microsoft Technical Fellow specializing in the Windows platform.

Additionally, to accomodate the needs of both IT Professionals as well as IT Decision Makers and Licensing Specialists, we are presenting TWO tracks:  One for IT Professionals, another for IT Management.

Technical presentation topics will include:

• Windows 7 Deployment and Management
• Windows Server 2008 R2 – 10 things to make life easier for IT Pros
• Do More with Less Using Windows PowerShell™ 2.0
• Desktop Deployment at Microsoft
• Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack – how to improve efficiencies
• An overview of Office Communications Server R2 and Voice Capabilities
• Trials and Tribulations of SharePoint implementation
• Data Protection Manager – the one stop shop for protecting your critical data

Management presentation topics will include:

• Windows 7 Deployment and Management
• How IT will change over the next 10 years and why you should care
• Growing the Business and Managing costs at Microsoft – An Insider’s View
• Server Licensing Changes in a Virtual World
• SLIM: Sustainable Lifecycle and Innovation Management
• Millennial Worker – The new world of business

Register now!
http://go.microsoft.com/?linkid=9666808

Visual Studio 2010 and the .NET Framework 4 mark the next generation of developer tools from Microsoft. Designed to satisfy the latest requirements of developers, Visual Studio delivers key innovations in the following areas:

• Enabling emerging trends
  Every year the industry develops new technologies and new trends. With Visual Studio 2010, Microsoft delivers tooling and framework support for the latest innovations in application architecture, development, and deployment.
• Inspiring developer delight
  Ever since the first release of Visual Studio, Microsoft has set the bar for developer productivity and flexibility. Visual Studio 2010 continues the tradition by significantly improving the experience for all software development roles.
• Riding the next generation platform wave
  Microsoft continues to invest in the market-leading operating system, productivity applications, and server platforms to deliver increasing customer value. With Visual Studio 2010, customers will have the tooling support that is required to create amazing solutions around these technologies.

For downloads or more information:

• DOWNLOAD:  Experience the Visual Studio 2010 beta now on MSDN
  http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/subscriptions/downloads/default.aspx?pv=18:370
• DOWNLOAD: Visual Studio 2010 Professional Beta 1 – Web Installer
  http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=75cbcbcd-b0e8-40ea-adae-85714e8984e3&displaylang=en
• DOWNLOAD:  Visual Studio 2010 Team System Beta 1 – Web Installer
  http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=147407
• INFO:  Visual Studio 2010 Product Page
  http://www.microsoft.com/visualstudio/products/2010/default.mspx

Join RSA and Microsoft For a Complimentary Lunch Seminar:

An Integrated Approach to Information Protection:
Automating Rights Management with Data Loss Prevention

If you are charged with safeguarding sensitive information, please join RSA and Microsoft to discuss advancements in information protection throughout the infrastructure based on content, context,
and identity.

Learn, how Microsoft Active Directory Rights Management Services (AD RMS) and RSA Data Loss Prevention (DLP) Suite are working together to help customers discover, protect and securely share sensitive information both within and across company boundaries with an integrated approach to data security.

Reduce risk & exposure with the knowledge that your information remains an asset and never becomes a liability!

Seminar topics for discussion will include:

• The Microsoft and RSA groundbreaking partnership – future ready to support RSA DLP enabled Microsoft products
• Challenges, strategies and solutions – top criteria to consider as you evaluate DLP solutions
• Case study – gain valuable insight into Microsoft’s own Data Loss Prevention deployment
• Building a DLP implementation plan – best practices to help you develop a solid implementation plan

Date & Location
June 18 – 11:00 am -2:00 pm
Irvine, CA
(Lunch Served)

Watch the RSA DLP Suite in Action!

Register

(http://info.rsasecurity.com/EventRegistration.asp?ID=Event_S_DLP_Seminar_West_Q209)

Space is limited. Register today to reserve your seat.
For more information on RSA and Microsoft solutions:
http://www.rsa.com/dlp and http://www.microsoft.com/ida