Kurt Shintaku's Blog

Did you ever wonder what happened to Microsoft Producer 2003?  Well, here comes the beta for Powerpoint Producer 2007 which was released today, with the RTM slated for August 2008.

WHAT IS POWERPOINT PRODUCER?
Microsoft Powerpoint Producer 2007 is a Powerpoint add-in that makes it possible for presenters to essentially capture their presentation – voice, video, slides and all – into a single browser-viewable multimedia presentation that’s archivable to the network, to the Internet, to your own storage, or to CDROM for distribution.

HOW TO GET THE BETA:

1. Go to http://connect.microsoft.com and sign in using your Windows Live ID
2. Go to the Connection Directory tab, and then click Office in the Categories list in the left-hand navigation pane.  Scroll through the “Connections” available and find Producer for PowerPoint 2007 Beta.
3. Click + Add to Your Dashboard.
4. Click the Producer for PowerPoint 2007 Beta link to go to the beta site.
5. Click the Downloads link in the left-hand navigation pane to download and install Producer 2007.

The file is called “MicrosoftProducer2007.zip” and The download is 48.67MB in size.

This is a REALLY good quick reference sheet.  It has basically everything that a new person to Sharepoint Server 2007 would want to look at for training.

For example, it has a pointer to how to order the Sharepoint Technical Resource DVD for $5 – an invaluable resource. (http://go.microsoft.com/?linkid=8981464)

It covers both IT Pros as well as Developers in 2 double-sided sheets and comes as a downloadable PDF file.

DOWNLOAD: 
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=d41140ab-0ea3-47c7-be56-f42424166608&DisplayLang=en

Today we released the final version of Windows Search 4.0 to Microsoft Download Center. Windows Search 4.0 updates search in Windows Vista, Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2008 and Windows Home Server. This release comes after a public Windows Search 4.0 Preview, which was a success thanks to great community participation – with around 300,000 downloads.   Since the Preview was released, a number of quality improvements have been made to the product based on feedback provided by the community.

• Download: Windows Search 4.0 for Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 (x86)
• Download: Windows Search 4.0 for Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 (x64)

More download packages are available on http://support.microsoft.com/kb/940157 as well as more information about the changes made.

Changes:

1. Performance & Reliability – Everything’s faster and the indexing engine will continue on it’s merry way even through system failures, without starting from scratch
2. Peer-to-peer searches – Data can be searched for across other machines using Windows Search 4.0
3. Management through Group Policy – This is dramatically more detailed than before providing controls over what gets searched, and what kind of network utilization is a machine has.
4. Exchange Online Indexing – Index your mailbox when online, even if you don’t run in cached mode.  This has minimal impact on the Exchange Server.
5. EFS Encrypted File Indexing – This will search through encrypted contents even if encrypted however only people that have access to the content will see results based on the search.

SP1 for PerformancePoint Server 2007 is now released and available for download. PerformancePoint Server 2007 with Service Pack 1 (SP1) includes enhancements such as improved query performance, increased compatibility with Windows Server 2008, SQL Server 2008, additional data sources, and more filtering capabilities for reports and dashboards. These enhancements boost the already robust capabilities of PerformancePoint Server 2007.

You can download SP1 from the following locations:

• PerformancePoint Server 2007 Service Pack 1 (x86)
  http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=28B1F86B-B7F2-4215-8BC9-8F8507FF8831&displaylang=en
• PerformancePoint Server 2007 Service Pack 1 (x64)
  http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=6245C354-9191-4C4D-8C0C-C10D6C778AF8&displaylang=en

What’s New for PerformancePoint Planning Server SP1

• Windows Server 2008 Support
• Excel add-in Performance Improvements – The Performance of opening reports and opening and refreshing workflow assignments is improved significantly.
• New workbook option Clear Changes after workflow action – When you set this option to True, it automatically clears any changes after the workflow action occurs when the form is used in an assignment. This improves performance of subsequent queries. However, if submission fails with this option set the user will be unable to resubmit the changes and the changes will be lost.
• New workbook option Enable what-if analysis – When you set this option to True for a matrix, the add-in automatically performs what-if calculations that show the effect the change will have on an assignment if submitted. If False, no changes are applied to the matrix, this can help improve query performance.
• Annotations – Forms and Reports can now be created for models that have annotations disabled.)
• Workflow Assignments – Contributors can now use the discard action after submitting an assignment to clear the version of the form template they recently submitted allowing the most recently published version of the form template to be retrieved.
• User Dimension – Allows creation of dimension properties that link to the user dimension.
• Kerberos Support – The PPS Planning Service can now reside on the same IIS server as other IIS sites that also require Kerberos authentication.
• Data Import Wizard is decoupled from Microsoft Dynamics AX and works with any data provider – The data import wizard is now a generic data integration wizard that allows customers and partners to develop their own data providers to integrate source financial data. The PerformancePoint Server Data Integration Toolkit, provided by Microsoft, is a companion tool that provides a data integration framework. You can use this framework to create your own data providers. To obtain this toolkit, visit the following web site: http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=117552&clcid=0x409

What’s New for PerformancePoint Monitoring Server SP1

• Microsoft Windows Server 2008 Support
• Default Display Conditions can be Created – It is now possible to add a default display condition report view (see related blog post also posted today)
• Multi-select Filter Enhancements – Multi-select Monitoring server filters now pass to multi-select SQL Server Reporting Services report parameters and Strategy Map views
• Time Intelligence Post Filter formula date corrections
  • In some instances filters were passing a one day offset, this is resolved
  • Date format of filter will now honor localized formats
• Negative numbers will not cause a text wrap in scorecards
• Dashboard filter performance improvements
• Expand/collapse functions work properly with hidden parent KPI members
• Tabular filter enhancements
• Limit of 1,000 characters in an MDX expression for KPIs has been removed
• No longer blocked from using SQL Server 2008 as a data source (NOTE: full support for 2008 is coming in SP2, we just won’t prevent you from running on it with SP1)

What you need to know about installing:

• The SP1 file MUST be installed on every PPS Monitoring Server in your environment
• The SP1 file MUST also be installed on every MOSS/WSS box that has the PPS Web Parts installed
• Dashboard designers should download the Dashboard Designer from the server again after the server has been upgraded

For additional information on what’s new in SP1, please refer to:
Planning Readme: http://office.microsoft.com/download/afile.aspx?AssetID=AM102778581033

Monitoring Readme: http://office.microsoft.com/download/afile.aspx?AssetID=AM102778591033

There is another perception that Windows Vista underperforms in every area of the system when compared to Windows XP.  This bothers me because I have Windows Vista & Windows XP side-by-side all the time.  I kept one machine on Windows XP for the exclusive purpose of understanding the differences in usage and overall “feel” while maintaining my primary machine as a Windows Vista box.

Now I know that the critics aren’t doing the same because I have the same stuff loaded on both of them.  And not like your typical dinky benchmark testing stuff like Office or Adobe Acrobat or Photoshop.  I’m talking the stuff that the average power using human uses.  Stuff like SnagIt, uTorrent, MuvAudio, SyncToy, Foldershare, Juice/iPodder, Slingplayer, Pinnacle Studio, AnyDVD, etc.

See?  Real software & tools.  And all of it works brilliantly on Windows Vista.  If anything I’ve noticed that I see far fewer “pauses” in the OS on Windows Vista than I do on Windows XP.   XP has always had the tendency to freeze because of bus contention or something.  I never get that on Windows Vista and that for me has been really nice.

TALKING ABOUT PERFORMANCE
Without getting into the differences in hardware requirements between Windows Vista and its predecessor, this screencast – Windows Vista SP1 outperforms Windows XP SP2 in file copy – shows the under-the-covers process traces of just how it achieves its performance lead running on the same hardware as Windows XP.

Windows Vista SP1 outperforms Windows XP SP2 in file copies
http://go.microsoft.com/?linkid=9033360

Not good enough?  Fine.  Here’s a 3rd party study that concluded the same thing:  Windows Vista SP1 is faster than Windows XP SP2.

Responsiveness of Vista, Vista SP1 and Windows XP on common business tasks
http://www.principledtechnologies.com/clients/reports/Microsoft/VistaSP1XPVistaBusResp0208.pdf

Don’t believe Principled Technologies study?  How about Ed Bott from Ziff Davis?

Vista screams past XP in gaming tests!
http://blogs.zdnet.com/Bott/?p=458

And don’t even get me started on UAC.

We had 5,212 customers, partners, journalist and speakers in Orlando, FL at the TechEd North America Developers 2008 conference.  This is twice what we had last year.

This year, at Tech·Ed Developers, there are 16 technical tracks that span more than 615 learning opportunities and cover the latest Microsoft technologies.

WANNA SEE?
Are you missing it?  Well next year, if you’re one of my customers give me a ping and I’ll see if I can’t discount you.  In the meantime, you can view Bill Gates’ keynote, along with other presentations highlighting the futures for the developer platform, at:
http://www.microsoft.com/techedonline/

TECHED BLOGGERS!
We also made available a place for bloggers to register their blogs where they write about TechEd Developer 2008.  People about their experience at TechEd and have their articles highlighted on the front page.
http://techedbloggers.net/

HOT PRESS TOPICS
Besides talking about how this was Bill Gates final keynote address, the Beta 2 release of Silverlight 2 generated the most chatter in the press, followed by Internet Explorer 8 Beta 2, “Oslo”, and “Velocity”. Microsoft’s partnership with IBM on DB2 integration generated a decent amount of coverage, as did the Visual Studio 2008 extensions for Windows SharePoint Services & the Microsoft Sync Framework.

The photo you see to the right is a picture of the Ballmer-bot.  A robot programmed with the Microsoft Robotics Studio to represent our CEO/President, Steve Ballmer.

Wouldn’t it be cool to be able to control Powerpoint on your laptop from your Windows Mobile phone?
How about the ability to adjust the volume or change the song playing on Windows Media Player?

Windows® SideShow™ for Windows Mobile® is an application for Windows Mobile 5 and Windows Mobile 6 Pocket PCs and Smartphones that allows you to use your Windows Mobile device as a Bluetooth SideShow-compatible device.

This enables you to use your phone as an extra window into your PC. You can both access your computer’s information from your Pocket PC or Smartphone, and control the computer through a gadget interface. While the phone is out of range, or when your computer is off, you can continue to view content sent to the phone previously. This makes it easy to send information to the phone that you’ll need later on.

The developer preview is an English-only release.  Developers may discuss the technology at our forums for it at http://forums.microsoft.com/MSDN/ShowPost.aspx?PostID=3432513&SiteID=1.

TOUR: 
For a screenshot tour of Sideshow, check out Chris Craft’s site at:
http://www.cjcraft.com/blog/2008/06/04/WindowsSideShowForWindowsMobileBetaSeeTheScreenshotTourFirst.aspx
(The screenshot to the left was taken from his screenshot tour)

MORE INFO:
For more on Sideshow itself, visit:
http://g.live.com/8SEENUSGALLERY/GALDEVCENTERSideShow1

DOWNLOAD: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=79f19684-f862-4e02-a2b0-0003b4565f34&displaylang=en

As you may be aware, the cost of digital data leakage per year across industries is now being measured in the billions and incurs more than financial repercussions, including damage to public image, loss of credibility with customers and loss of competitive advantage.

Microsoft is delivering a webcast series that will delve into key information protection scenarios within an enterprise and discuss how to address applicable security and data leakage concerns. Attend these free webinars to get the information you need to make smart choices in deploying your security strategy.

Register now for each webcast by simply clicking on the webcast links below!

• Enterprise Information Protection: Understanding Complex Scenarios and Design Considerations
  Wednesday, May 28, 2008 9:00 am – 10:00 am Pacific Time
  In this session, we will cover the critical aspects and architecture design considerations around information protection deployments under complex scenarios, including architecture considerations and client and server considerations.
• Microsoft’s Internal Use of Rights Management Services (RMS) and Best Practices
  Wednesday, May 28, 2008 11:00 am – 12:00 pm Pacific Time
  Come and learn how Microsoft IT has deployed Active Directory Rights Management Services internally. Attendees can expect to get an inside look at how Microsoft uses RMS internally, best practices for deploying RMS, and deployment scenarios.
• Information Protection: Protecting Sensitive Data with Active Directory Rights Management Services in Windows Server 2008
  Tuesday, June 3, 2008 9:00 am – 10:00 am Pacific Time
  Join us in this session to learn how Active Directory Rights Management Services in Windows Server 2008 addresses the significant customer needs around secure anywhere access for information, with identity-based protection and policy that spans the entire information lifecycle.

Check this out:  MSN has a piece of software that you can download that will automatically repair/fix most of the common problems that people encounter.

It’s called “MSN Auto Care” and it can be found here:
https://account.live.com/autocare.aspx

It works surprisingly well!  I really does check everything that’s needed to get MSN Premium/Dial-up up and running again.  And it allows you to save the results in a file in the event you need to contact Support and they need the results.

Download MSN Auto Care
MSN Auto Care is a tool you can install to diagnose and automatically fix common MSN Premium and MSN Dial-up problems. When you have problems with MSN, use Auto Care to help ensure that the software is running properly.

Get help with this

To install Auto Care, click the appropriate link below, click Run, and then click Install. Auto Care will start automatically. To access Auto Care for later use, go to C:/Program Files/MSN/Support, and then double-click AC.exe.

Microsoft respects your privacy. MSN Auto Care doesn’t collect any information from your computer, and it doesn’t send anything to your computer. For more information: Read the privacy statement | Read the MSN Subscription Agreement

To download MSN Auto Care, click a link:

• Download on Windows XP or later
• Download on earlier versions of Windows

Ooh.  Cool.  Windows Live OneCare 2.0 1-year subscription for FREE.  Great for folks that need an “all-encompassing” protection solution.

PURCHASE: 
Amazon.com Windows Live OneCare 2.0:  $30 – $30 rebate = FREE

Here’s a few cool facts that I bet you didn’t know:

1. COVERS 4 COMPUTERS
   A single OneCare purchase can be installed across 4 different computers you own.
2. AUTOUPDATE
   The software automatically updates itself – not just the virus definitions but also the actual software itself.  This ensure that the binaries are up to date without any assistance from a relative or friend.
3. NETWORK BACKUP
   The software will also backup content to another drive on the system or to a network location on a home network.  This makes sure that duplicates of critical are always available for the owner on another volume without the person even knowing it.
4. FIREWALL MANAGEMENT
   OneCare automatically manages your firewall settings to protect against common known intrusions and threats from the open Internet.  These port settings and restrictions aren’t something that I’m aware any other vendor provides other than actual firewall vendors like BlackIce.
5. MAINTENANCE AUTOMATION
   Besides protecting the system, OneCare provides on-going maintenance of the PC, including defragmentation of the drive for performance, clearing out of “trash” like temp files & cached Internet files, backuping data on a regular basis, autoscanning for spyware as well as viruses, etc.