Kurt Shintaku's Blog

Interesting news today from the WSJ. 

APRIL 28, 2009, 2:45 P.M. ET.
Microsoft, Verizon in Talks to Launch iPhone Rival
By AMOL SHARMA and NICK WINGFIELD

Microsoft Corp. is in discussions with Verizon Wireless to launch a touch-screen multimedia cellphone on the carrier’s network early next year, in a bid to compete with Apple Inc.’s iPhone, people familiar with the matter said.

Microsoft’s project, which is code-named "Pink," is aiming to produce a phone that extends the tech giant’s Windows Mobile cellphone operating system, adding new software capabilities. It would also likely include Microsoft’s new Windows Marketplace for Mobile, a mobile application store along the lines of Apple’s, these people said.

While Microsoft is involved in the design of the phone’s software and hardware, a third-party is expected to make the device, just as Google Inc. has worked closely with partners to make handsets based on its Android operating system, people familiar with the matter say.

The Microsoft-Verizon relationship is evolving from a more limited search-and-advertising partnership the companies struck early this year. The two companies are looking for a response to the iPhone, which has boosted the fortunes of their rivals, Apple and AT&T Inc. AT&T’s exclusive rights to the iPhone in the U.S. expire next year, but the carrier is trying to get a one-year extension, people familiar with the matter say.

Apple has had discussions with Verizon in recent months about its product roadmap, including a mobile multimedia device that is bigger than the iPod Touch but smaller than a laptop, one person familiar with the situation said. However, the talks have not become advanced, the person said. Some analysts say Apple may simply be trying to gain negotiating leverage over AT&T by holding early talks with Verizon.

Verizon has performed well despite not having the iPhone. On Monday, the company reported solid first-quarter results in its wireless business, edging out AT&T in net customer additions. Still, Verizon has sought to come up with a true rival to the iPhone. Last year, it launched Research In Motion Ltd.’s touch-screen BlackBerry Storm.

The Pink project is the work of a team of designers within Microsoft’s mobile division known as the premium mobile experiences group, which is focused on creating software for mobile phones that connect to a variety of online consumer services, such as social networking and photo-sharing applications. That group includes staffers from Danger Inc., a company that Microsoft acquired a year ago that designs the software in the Sidekick, a popular cellphone sold by T-Mobile.

LINK: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124093915558664239.html

It’s out there.  Not much more to say other than there’s a few highly recommended sets of fixes in here that makes this SP a “must install” for Sharepoint, Outlook, and Excel.

• LIST OF UPDATES:
  http://support.microsoft.com/kb/968170
• PRESS RELEASE:
  http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/features/2009/Apr09/04-28Office2007SP2QA.mspx
• OFFICE SE BLOG RELEASE:
  http://blogs.technet.com/office_sustained_engineering/
• DOWNLOAD:
  
• 2007 Microsoft Office Suite Service Pack 2 (SP2)
  http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=b444bf18-79ea-46c6-8a81-9db49b4ab6e5&displaylang=en
• 2007 Microsoft Office Servers Service Pack 2 (SP2)
  http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?displaylang=en&FamilyID=b7816d90-5fc6-4347-89b0-a80deb27a082
• Microsoft Office SharePoint Designer 2007 Service Pack 2 (SP2)
  http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?displaylang=en&FamilyID=88eff285-0b92-45ed-979b-65aa22304dd6

Here’s a few of the major functional changes:

Save as ODF 1.1 for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint
OpenDocument 1.1 (ODF) has been added as an available file format for saving documents in Word, Excel and PowerPoint. Doug Mahugh has covered this extensively in his blog, and the ODF 1.1 implementer’s notes have also been available for a while. We first announced our intent to add ODF to the list of supported file types over a year ago. It is great to see this activity come to fruition. I’m especially pleased / surprised at the level of engagement from folks in the ODF community, helping talk through some of the harder parts of the installation. In case you are observing the feature-level impact of saving to ODF in Office, you can visit the links below to learn more about how ODF in Office will behave.

• PowerPoint: http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/powerpoint/HA102877231033.aspx
• Excel: http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/excel/HA102877221033.aspx
• Word: http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/word/HA102835631033.aspx

Save as PDF and XPS
Many have seen our announcement a few years back about the addition of PDF and XPS to the list of supported file types of Office 2007. This add-in was originally offered a free download for Office 2007, but SP2 has taken that a step forward and added the bits to the release – no longer a manual download. PDF export functionality will continue to support the creation of PDF 1.5 documents, as well as the ability to generate PDF/A – IS19500 compliant files.

File format converter API
Stephen Peront has an excellent post which illustrates how to use this new interface. The converter API is an extension of our strategy to support file format choice in our products. It enables solution developers to register a new file type for Office, so that it appears in the file type drop-down dialog box for saving documents next to the other 18 that you now get in the box. In a way this will help developers “future proof” Office desktops for new document format standards that may emerge.

Charting Object Model for Word and PowerPoint
An area of pain for users of Office charting has been addressed. A charting Object Model (OM) for Word and PowerPoint has been added to align with the charting support in Excel. Many customers expressed a need to programmatically insert, manipulate the size, and set the formatting of the charts similar to what was provided in the Office 2003 release.  Potentially managing charts programmatically across the three core applications could save workforces thousands of hours of manual labor, depending on the level of complexity and content re-usage taking place. For more information on the changes to the Word and PowerPoint OM’s for Charting, look at this post from David Hale on the Office Developer Content blog.

Cryptographic Agility
Today Vista supports a feature / interface commonly referred to as Cryptographic Next Generation (CNG). Essentially this refers to a capability of Vista which (among other things) allows you to swap crypto providers without breaking your solutions, or perhaps to help future-proof Office 2007 installations about encryption algorithms that may emerge in the future. Office 2007 SP2 has been updated to support the same CNG functionality when installed on Vista. This provides the capability to swap crypto providers for Office documents. This was done in part to help people who desire to implement Suite-B encryption for Office documents. David LeBlanc has written an excellent post describing this addition in depth.

Outlook Performance
One of the most important end user benefits of the SP2 release is the improvement in Outlook performance. I have been dogfooding SP2 for over a month now, and I can attest personally to the life improvement that these changes bring. I think if you asked the Outlook team, they’d be quick to tell you that SP2 is an update you should install as soon as you can.

Performance improvements that apply to the following general responsiveness areas:

• Startup: Removes lengthy operations from initial startup
• Shutdown: Makes Outlook exit predictably despite pending activities.
• Folder View and Switch: Improves view rendering and folder switching.
• Calendar improvements: Improves data structures and the reliability of calendar updates
• Data file checks: Greatly reduces the number of scenarios in which you receive the following error message when you start Outlook: “The data file ‘ file name ‘ was not closed properly. This file is being checked for problems. “

Office Service Pack Uninstall Tool
Traditionally, you cannot uninstall Microsoft Office service packs without completely uninstalling the Microsoft Office products. The new Microsoft Service Pack Uninstall Tool for the 2007 Microsoft Office suite (Oarpman.exe) lets you uninstall all the updates for the 2007 Office desktop products that are included in the 2007 Office suite SP2. The Service Pack uninstall tool will be available on the Microsoft Download Center as a free download.

You can use this tool to streamline the removal of all the client updates or individually
– Sample command line:  “msiexec /i { MSI GUID } MSIPATCHREMOVE={ Patch GUID } /l*vx Path of the log file “

—————–

If you want to learn more:
Lots of folks will have lots to say about SP2 – they should; it’s a big release. Here are some links to great blogs that you can read. The table below contains a link to the KB articles & downloads for each product to be released.

For those individuals having problems with “comment SPAM” or “post SPAM” on Windows Live Spaces, and are interested in having things corrected, I suggest the following courses of action:

1. FEEDBACK
   Please provide your feedback through the Windows Live feedback form at the following URL:

   https://feedback.live.com/default.aspx?productkey=wlspaces 

   For those of you who’ve already done it, if you’re happy with our current provisions for preventing or eliminating comment SPAM, great.  Good to hear it. 

   If not, I suggest you write again.  It’s not like we keep feedback forever, y’know.

2. SUPPORT
   Please open a support ticket on Windows Live Spaces requesting a means of easily removing multiple SPAM entries from your comments field at the following URL:

   https://support.live.com/eform.aspx?productKey=wlspaces&ct=eformts

   This will again provide a record of need in our support database.  If enough tickets get opened, it’ll rise to the top of our priorities.

If you want something fixed, you need to report it.  And do it again.  And again.  And again.

Well, looks like the cat’s out of the bag.  Virtual XP lives.  And it’s gonna be free and ready to deploy with Windows 7 desktops.  Completely free.  

For those that know MDOP, think of it as MED-V for consumers.

WHAT IS “MICROSOFT ENTERPRISE DESKTOP VIRTUALIZATION” (MED-V)?
For Enterprise IT professionals familiar with Microsoft’s Enterprise Desktop Virtualization solution (a.k.a. MED-V, formerly “Kidaro”) you’ll find “Windows XP Mode” very familiar. 

Essentially with MED-V, you run compatibility-challenged applications within a local Windows XP virtual machine on Windows Vista however this differs from simply using Virtual PC 2007 in several very important ways.  The biggest most noticeable difference is that the application running within a virtual machine is bordered with a RED outline, and the rest of the Windows XP virtual machine is completely invisible to the user.

Microsoft Enterprise Desktop Virtualization (MED-V)
See my demo MEDV above,  Notice the RED OUTLINE around Word 2002 running within the XP virtual machine.  The rest of the XP virtual machine is “hidden” by MED-V.

There are other benefits from MED-V including centralized change control, byte-level differencing, etc.  but from a visibility standpoint, this is the benefit most people see.

WHAT ABOUT “WINDOWS XP MODE”?
“Windows XP Mode” (XPM) from an end user experience is very similar.  XPM provides:

• the ability to install applications into Windows 7 however funnel the installation & files into a local Windows XP virtual machine
• the capability of running that application directly from a shortcut within Windows 7’s START menu and have it appear on the Windows 7 desktop as a standard application window, while in reality, it’s running within the XP virtual machine

In this manner, “Windows XP mode” is similar to MED-V however, XPM does NOT have a RED outline around applications running within XPM.

Windows 7 “Windows XP Mode”
Word 2003 running within an “invisible” virtual machine, along side Word 2007 running natively
If nothing looks unusual in the above image… good!  Then we’re doing our job well.

As you can see the photo above(taken from Paul Thurrott’s site – no point in reinventing the wheel here) the same scenario of showing two versions of Word running at the same time each looking like their running within Windows 7 natively when in reality Word 2003 is running seamlessly within a virtual machine.

Essentially “Windows XP Mode” will be an “OOB” or an “out-of-band” released product that will be downloadable for licensed users of the business editions of Windows 7 – namely Professional, Enterprise, and Ultimate.

It will ship with a fully licensed copy of Windows XP with SP3 to allow end users to legally run Windows XP within Windows 7 without relicensing the OS.

UH… WHY?
Besides the obvious ability to run applications that require Windows XP to execute, Paul Thurrott points out the primary reason for Windows XP Mode:  By isolating all legacy compatibility functions into an optionally installable virtual machine, compatibility hooks for applications don’t need to exist in the core OS.

The fact is, all those legacy APIs & libraries from previous revisions of Windows burden the OS when in reality, only folks with compatibility issues need them.  The majority of people will use applications that have no need for Windows XP compatibility so why include it in EVERY DEPLOYED COPY OF WINDOWS 7?

By making Windows XP Mode an optional virtual machine, Windows 7 becomes lighter and cleaner than it’s predecessors.

——————

FYI:  FOR THE RECORD, THIS IS NOTHING LIKE MAC OS X
Before certain individuals start crowing that Mac OS X had this capability years ago with Mac OS 9, to be clear – this is nothing like that.  This is complete hardware virtualization and dramatically more advanced work than what Mac OS X did to execute legacy applications due to the simple fact that Windows XP was and remains a much more advanced OS that Mac OS 9 classic.

For example, Mac OS 9 never had preemptive multitasking nor did it have memory protection, capabilities that were both available all the way back in Windows 95.  Mac OS 9’s time slicing and memory model across applications was more accurately the same as CPU time allocation and memory management within Windows for Workgroups 3.1.  A more appropriate analogy would be the execution of 16-bit Windows 3.1 applications within Windows NT 3.1’s WoW subsystem.

Enterprises across the world need to build applications that span their network and bring together services, systems, and people. The new BizTalk Server 2009 enables this connectivity while eliminating many of the cost and complexity challenges enterprises currently face.

Microsoft product specialists and experts from gold-certified partner Neudesic will give you a “first look” at BizTalk Sever 2009 and how they can help streamline and integrate business processes while reducing cost and complexity.

AGENDA:

• 8:30 – 9:30  What’s new with BizTalk Server 2009
• 9:30 – 10:30  Using Microsoft ESB Guidance to reduce cost and complexity
• 10:30 – 11:30  Interactive Q&A discussion about SOA and ESB and emerging technologies

WHO SHOULD ATTEND
Application Development Directors/Managers and Architects, Supply Chain Directors, Process Analysts, and Developers who are interested in learning more about the features available in BizTalk Server 2009 and their impact on SOA and BPM solutions.

EVENT DETAILS:
May 26, 2009
8:30 am – 11:30 am
Microsoft Los Angeles Office
333 South Grand Avenue
Suite 3300
Los Angeles, CA 90071
(213) 806-7300

REGISTRATION:
Please contact me for registration details if you’re a customer of mine.

Looks like we’ve created yet another game… this one’s called “Are you Certifiable?”

• LINK:
  http://www.microsoft.com/click/
  areyoucertifiable/

With a bit of humor, you can see that they highlight “Clippy” as one of the avatars that you can use to represent you in the game, along with some other highly recognizable pictures from Microsoft lore.

It seems to be patterned after “Who wants to be a Millionaire?” with questions that you might find on certification exams.

In fact, one of the features of the game will really “ring home” as familiar:  You have the ability to get and use vouchers that give you “abilities”:

There’s apparently something like 400+ questions in the game so you’re not likely gonna “run out” of interesting challenges and get bored.  I’m kinda surprised that I hadn’t heard about this before though.

NOTE:  Top score appears to be around 30,000.

I have to admit, this is really super cool.

General Mills, as part of their Brand Marketing Strategy, is leveraging Microsoft Tag, to reach out to their customer base and encourage more interaction with consumers beyond just “reading an advertisement”.

By integrating Microsoft Tag, they actively engage their customers at a richer level by bridging them from static advertisements to immersive ones online that provide stronger context, interactivity, and optimally, greater consumer value.

Microsoft Tag provides:

1. Client Software:
   The client software runs on virtually any camera phone on the market, including Apple’s iPhone, RIM’s Blackberry series, Nokia’s Symbian phones, and of course Windows Mobile devices.  The software captures and interprets the tags and sends the user to a mobile web site.
2. Tag Format:
   The “Microsoft Tag” itself is a Microsoft-developed format that distinguishes itself from other camera-consumable 2D coding systems by being very versatile in it’s usage.  It’s EXTREMELY “durable” and readable even if blurred from motion, distance, or lighting.  It can be placed on magazine ads, product boxes, and traditional surface mediums as usual, but it can also be used on:
   1. Billboards, bus ads, and other “distance” advertising mediums
   2. Computer screens & TV ads
      (For example, the Microsoft Tag images in this blog post are VERY small… but they’ll still work with a 640×480 camera using the tag reader despite being blurred or of poor visibility)
3. Service Backend:
   The Microsoft Tag software not only sends the consumer to the appropriate mobile web site, it also tracks the users hit centrally on the Tag Services’ backend so companies advertising with it can see how effective they are and potentially when, where (based on ad placement), and how often people are responding to their ads in REAL TIME – metrics that have to date been unavailable to marketers.

Finally – there’s a way to reach out the the customer and provide immediate gratification and additionally make the ad “sticky” by enabling an ad to have a purpose other than being informative or to increase brand awareness. 

Now advertisements are DIRECTIONAL.  They funnel customers to where you need them to go online.

(And by the way… Microsoft Tag is currently free!)

Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Reporting Services Add-in for SharePoint Technologies (Reporting Services Add-in v10.00.2531) enables you to take advantage of SQL Server 2008 report processing and management capabilities within Windows SharePoint Services (WSS) 3.0 or Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007. The download provides the following functionality:

• A Report Viewer Web Part that provides report viewing capability, export to other rendering formats, page navigation, search, print, and zoom.
• Web application pages so that you can create subscriptions and schedules, and manage reports, models, and data sources.
• Support for using standard Windows SharePoint Services features including document management, collaboration, security, and deployment with report server content types.

This Reporting Services Add-in works together with SQL Server 2008 Reporting Services, which is required for the report server instance. SQL Server 2008 Reporting Services provides the following functionality for a report server that runs in SharePoint integrated mode:

• Synchronization from the SharePoint content database to the report server database.
• A custom security extension that uses SharePoint permissions to control access to report server operations.
• A delivery extension that you can use in subscriptions to deliver reports to SharePoint libraries.
• A revised Reporting Services Configuration tool that you can use to configure a report server for SharePoint integrated operations.
• A SOAP endpoint for managing report server content in SharePoint integrated mode.
• Support for new data-driven subscriptions and URL parameters.
• In-place upgrade of the Reporting Services Add-in.

Report Builder 2.0 ClickOnce update for the RS SharePoint add-in
Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Report Builder 2.0 provides an intuitive report authoring environment for business and power users. It supports the full capabilities of SQL Server 2008 Reporting Services. This download provides a ClickOnce update for the RS SharePoint add-in.

Warning:
The Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Reporting Services Add-in for SharePoint Technologies requires a SQL Server 2008 Reporting Services (SSRS) instance. This add-in is not supported with earlier versions of SSRS.

DOWNLOAD:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?displaylang=en&FamilyID=58edd0e4-255b-4361-bd1e-e530d5aab78f (197MB)

Microsoft Office Visio 2007 Professional Add-In for Rack Server Virtualization (Virtual Rack) – Version 1.2

This amazing Add-in from Microsoft® Office Visio® 2007 Professional helps you plan virtualization.
With over 70% of server hardware being under-utilized, this very valuable tool can draw a clear picture of your hardware utilization. This tool auto-generates the diagram of your rack and provides clear server details from a linked Excel template. Analyze your racks and servers using WMI or get the utilization data over time using the Operations Manager connection.

Use the virtualization button to see the before and after detailed diagram of your racks. See clearly where you have the opportunity to save on space and power.

See the power of Data Visualization at work with this Add-in For Visio 2007

DOWNLOAD:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?displaylang=en&FamilyID=3250331a-0116-4064-92d1-50b9b0727b75 (6.1MB)

—————————

Videos:

• The Visio Effect – Introduction to the Rack Server Virtualization Add-In for Visio 2007
  http://www.microsoft.com/video/en/us/details/2c3f48e1-7154-4c3e-8990-dd6cfd3f4ac1
• How it works – Rack Server Virtualization Add-In for Visio 2007 Pro – Part II
  http://www.microsoft.com/video/en/us/details/0518603b-86ea-4f9b-9dca-fd3a71da1ccb

Requires:

• .NET Framework 2.0 Download and install the .NET framework 2.0:
  http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=0856eacb-4362-4b0d-8edd-aab15c5e04f5&displaylang=en
• Visual Studio 2005 Tools for Office SE runtime:
  http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=F5539A90-DC41-4792-8EF8-F4DE62FF1E81&displaylang=en
• Windows Installer 3.1:
  http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=889482fc-5f56-4a38-b838-de776fd4138c&displaylang=en
• Office 2007 Primary Interop Assemblies:
  http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=59daebaa-bed4-4282-a28c-b864d8bfa513&displaylang=en

Microsoft Office Visio 2007 Professional – System Center Operations Manager & System Center Configuration Manager Add-In – Version 1.5

In Microsoft Visio 2007® diagrams, appropriate data can be attached to the shapes depending on the nature and domain of the diagrams. Visio Add-In for System Center allows IT professionals to visualize data from the System Center Operations Manager (SCOM) and System Center Configuration Manager (SCCM) by generating the diagrams for each machine configured for it. The Add-In allows filtering of data, automatic generation of diagrams and an automatic refresh of the associated data.

DOWNLOAD:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?displaylang=en&FamilyID=33a8efde-d72f-4bbb-a353-a1f2833fd2d5 (9.0MB)

——————

Videos:

• The Visio Effect:  Intro to the System Center Operations Manager & System Center Configuration Manager Add-In
  http://www.microsoft.com/video/en/us/details/cedcddcf-a1cc-49d2-bd6b-3fb50ca5d237
• How It Works:  System Center Operations Manager & System Center Configuration Manager Add-In
  http://www.microsoft.com/video/en/us/details/2306793c-1125-4709-97f4-eb2f197af0df

Requires:

• .NET Framework 2.0 Download and install the .NET framework 2.0:
  http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=0856eacb-4362-4b0d-8edd-aab15c5e04f5&displaylang=en
• Visual Studio 2005 Tools for Office SE runtime:
  http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=F5539A90-DC41-4792-8EF8-F4DE62FF1E81&displaylang=en
• Windows Installer 3.1:
  http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=889482fc-5f56-4a38-b838-de776fd4138c&displaylang=en
• Office 2007 Primary Interop Assemblies:
  http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=59daebaa-bed4-4282-a28c-b864d8bfa513&displaylang=en

http://www.visiotoolbox.com