Kurt Shintaku's Blog

[taken from http://wmpoweruser.com/?p=4223]

iGR,  a market strategy consultancy focused on the wireless and mobile communications industry has published some details of their 400 developer study of US based mobile developers.

Interesting, and contrary to the current received wisdom  Windows Mobile is well ahead of the other mobile OS’s in terms of developer activity and interest. Nearly 60% of the 404 developers were working on Windows Mobile software, versus less than 20% for the iPhone and RIM.

Even when it comes to future intention to develop, Windows Mobile is still the leading OS, with more work being planned on the OS than any other.

Now of course the question arises that if developers are so busy on Windows Mobile, where are the apps. iGR does not expand on this, but its likely many of these apps are never released to Handango, but are hard at work in warehouses and post rooms and a variety of enterprise roles.

See more information on this interesting study at the FiercelyWirelss webinar here.

A couple days ago, President Obama named Craig Mundie, Microsoft’s Chief Research & Strategy Officer to his 20-member President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology.

Craig Mundie’s biography is available here:
http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/exec/craig/?tab=biography

Of note is the paragraph in his biography of this appointment:

In April 2009, President Barack Obama appointed Mundie to the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, which advises the administration on technology, scientific research priorities, and math and science education. Since August 2000, he has also served on the National Security Telecommunications Advisory Committee, advising White House staff on issues affecting the security of the nation’s telecommunications infrastructure. In April 2002, Mundie joined the Task Force on National Security in the Information Age to help develop a strategy for using technology to address new security challenges. Since February 2002, Mundie has been a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, a nonpartisan organization dedicated to increasing America’s understanding of the world and contributing ideas to U.S. foreign policy.

Announcements:

• Read the White House statement here:
  http://www.whitehouse.gov/the_press_office/President-Obama-Announces-Members-of-Science-and-Technology-Advisory-Council/
• Read Microsoft’s statement here:
  http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2009/apr09/04-27statement.mspx
• Post on “Microsoft on the Issues”:
  http://microsoftontheissues.com/cs/blogs/mscorp/archive/2009/04/27/obama-names-craig-mundie-to-sci-tech-advisory-council.aspx

Did you ever wish you could dictate tasks or notes into your Windows Mobile phone while you’re traveling and have it translate to TEXT?

Windows Mobile to get voice command capability

New service that will work on Windows Mobile 6.5 devices lets users search, send texts, and place calls using voice commands

Microsoft has high hopes that a new speech-recognition application for the forthcoming Windows Mobile operating system will be attractive enough to draw people to the phone platform.

On Wednesday, Microsoft planned to announce a new service that will work on Windows Mobile 6.5 devices and will let people speak into the phone to search the Internet, make phone calls and dictate text messages. The technology comes from Tellme, a company that offers hosted voice recognition services and was acquired by Microsoft in 2007.

…

Oh – did I mention, this is free?  For a video of how this works, go to:

• TellMe Web Site
  http://www.tellme.com/you

——————
Media links:

• Infoworld:  Windows Mobile to get Voice Command Capability through Tellme
  http://www.infoworld.com/d/mobilize/windows-mobile-get-voice-command-capability-536
• Mobility Digest: Tellme- Say it. Get it…in WM 6.5
  http://www.mobilitydigest.com/tellme-say-it-get-itin-wm-65/

Check this out:  Facebook using Silverlight

http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=4369475&server=vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=1&show_portrait=0&color=&fullscreen=1
Microsoft shows off Facebook Open Stream API demos from Rafe Needleman on Vimeo.

This is actually a set of snapshots highlight WPF usage with Facebook.

• Microsoft Previews Great WPF and Silverlight Apps with Facebook OpenStreams API
  http://team.silverlight.net/announcements/microsoft-previews-great-wpf-and-silverlight-apps-with-facebook-openstreams-api/

Interestingly, only Neowin seems to have picked it up.

• Microsoft demos Facebook using Silverlight and WPF
  http://www.neowin.net/news/main/09/04/28/microsoft-demos-facebook-using-silverlight-and-wpf

[partially taken from the Windows Team Blog]

Today we are announcing the Release to Manufacturing (RTM) of Service Pack 2 (SP2) for Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008. SP2 represents the latest step in Microsoft’s commitment to continuous improvement. It includes all updates that have been delivered since SP1, as well as support for new types of hardware and emerging hardware standards. 

And since it comes with a single installer for both Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008, SP2 will be easy for IT Pros to manage, deploy, and support. For a complete overview of the changes introduced in SP2 for Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008, check out the notable changes document on TechNet.

We expect Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 SP2 to be publicly available in Q2 2009:
I have a ton of information on the Service Pack itself but I’m currently embargoed so once I get the green light, I’ll open the gates.

[took the above image from http://www.xpmediacentre.com.au/images/windowsmc/vistasp2.jpg because it was damned funny.  Hope y’all don’t mind.]

Tuesday, May 19th, 2009 – 10:00 AM ET

Risk visibility, understanding the customer base and managing the customer on-boarding process is now a top priority for every board executive in Finance. During a time of increased competitiveness and uncertain economic conditions, financial organizations need to have a more complete picture of their customers. Often, solutions can be expensive and have lengthy implementation periods. Enterprise search is a fraction of the cost of traditional data integration solutions and can deliver in-year ROI.

Join us for a live interview with Julia Sutton, Global Head of Customer Accounts from Citigroup who will explain how her team is using innovative solutions to mitigate risk and help the organization identify who they should be thinking about lending to.

To register for the webinar, please click here
http://www.fastsearch.com/citigroup

[I’m reposting this blog post on the Live Search Webmaster blog here because I’ve received complaints about MSNbot crawling from folks recently.]

MSNbot Complaint Escalation Path

The Live Search development team is busy making significant improvement to the quality and depth of our search index, and these changes often affect how our crawler, MSNBot, collects data. As we test new algorithms, we invite webmasters to contact us to give us feedback on these changes, especially if you have any concerns.

Live Search always encourages webmasters to use our product support escalation paths to help identify and resolve issues as quickly as possible. We thought this would be a good time for a quick reminder on how to send us your feedback. For specific questions and concerns about our bot behavior and crawl frequency, please do one of the following:

· Check the Live Search Webmaster Center’s Crawling/Indexing Feedback and Discussion forum. Check to see if your feedback has already been addressed in an existing thread. If not, post your feedback in a new thread. Please be sure to include all of the pertinent details surrounding your incident. This will help us investigate the incident from our side and assist in the process of providing a response to you.

If you don’t want your details posted in the forum, please post the basic information and identify the issue as a private matter. The Webmaster Center forums moderator will contact you directly for more information.

· Contact Live Search Support directly. You can use the Live Search Support form to send us your feedback. Select option Other from the form’s drop-down list and complete the rest of the form. Include as much detail as you can in the comments box on specific events, dates, and other information that will assist us in tracking down the details from our side.

Of course, all feedback is welcome, not just bot-related issues. Once we have received your feedback, we will investigate and get back to you as soon as possible. Please allow time for the technical investigation.

Thank you for your assistance in enabling us to address your issues, questions, and concerns with Live Search.

— Nathan Buggia and Brett Yount, Live Search Webmaster Center

[taken from the Live Search Webmaster blog – http://blogs.msdn.com/webmaster/archive/2009/04/23/msnbot-complaint-escalation-path.aspx]

In response to customer inquiries to what our response is to a potential disaster such as a pandemic flu, Microsoft has a prepared explanation as to what our procedures are for addressing such a situation.

We believe this document best describes Microsoft’s approach to business continuance and how we are addressing the latest threat.

Microsoft’s Flu Pandemic Preparedness Program

Microsoft is dedicated to the safety and well-being of its employees worldwide and is responding to this risk by developing specific Pandemic Flu preparedness and response plans. 

In addition, Microsoft has established certain business continuity plans to facilitate resumption of critical business function following an interruption to operations caused natural disasters and other defined circumstances. Emergency situations such as bomb threats, medical, fire, earthquake, civil disturbances, and many other emergencies are  considered in Microsoft’s continuity planning. These plans are aimed at ensuring that through proper planning and preparation, interruptions can be minimized and avoided whenever possible. For example, systems exist for routing customer calls to provide seamless connection to support personnel independent of site location. 

…

[Read more in the document, downloadable below]

http://cid-00da410c7f7e038d.skydrive.live.com/embedrowdetail.aspx/Miscellaneous/MicrosoftPandemicResponse.pdf

I’m parsing through some files on Office 2007’s CD ROM (don’t ask) and I’m examining one of the setup files content.  One of the qualifiers for the edition, along with “IsUltimate”, “IsEnterprise”, and “IsHomeStudent” includes, “IsMondo”.

…Wait.  As in, Office 2007 “Mondo” Edition?

I’m a blue badge and even I’ve never heard of this thing in any of the Office SKUs. And I’m one of those pre-sales techs that reviews all the SKUs with a fine toothed comb so this was a little distressing that there might be an edition on our price sheets that I’d somehow missed. 

But seriously.  How does one miss something called “Mondo”?  So naturally, I start searching and about the 3rd result into the search, I come up with this:

Scott Hanselman’s Computer Zen – Office 2007 won’t upgrade from a …
… Local" DisallowAbsent="no" DisallowAdvertise="no" PreReq="IsEnterprise; IsEnterpriseR; IsHomeStudentR; IsOneNoteHS; IsOneNote; IsOneNoteR; IsUltimate; IsUltimateR; IsMondo"/> and I …
www.hanselman.com/blog/Office2007WontUpgradeFromAPrereleaseVersionOfThe2007OfficeSystemOff…
Cached page

How ‘bout that?  It’s a test edition of Office that we have internally.  I’d thought of doing some digging around to get more details on what it’s purpose is but then it dawned on me that even if I did find out… it probably wouldn’t be that interesting and I probably couldn’t blog about it, so why bother?

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