Posted by: kurtsh | June 14, 2006

RELEASE: Microsoft Office 2004 for Mac 11.2.4 Update

Microsoft Office 2004 for Mac 11.2.4 Update fixes vulnerabilities in Office 2004 for Mac that an attacker can use to overwrite the contents of your computer’s memory with malicious code. This update also fixes issues in Microsoft PowerPoint 2004 and Entourage 2004, and it includes all of the improvements released in all previous Office 2004 updates.
 
(My friend got the drop on me on this one.  Good job Blake.)

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Posted in Release

Posted by: kurtsh | June 12, 2006

EVENT: Microsoft TechEd 2006 – Live Broadcasts!

Missing TechEd 2006?  Don’t despair – you can still get to see 40 of the presentations delivered through Live Webcasts!

This Sunday, June 11th, we will kick off TechEd 2006 — Microsoft’s largest annual customer conference for IT Pros and developers from around the world. More than 12,000 customers, partners, journalists, industry analysts, and Microsoft staff will converge on Boston for five very busy and exciting days. This year, Tech•Ed attendees will enjoy 480 breakout sessions, 300 chalk talks, 120 hands-on labs, hundreds of product demonstrations and countless hours of networking and information sharing with Microsoft experts as well as partners and industry peers.  See the keynotes here:

 
If you can’t be there, be at Virtual TechEd! For the first time ever you can see and hear much of what TechEd has to offer by visiting the Virtual TechEd site at http://virtualteched.com. Virtual TechEd’s team of editors and bloggers will bring you compelling video and audio productions featuring hot topics and cool technology, plus news, breakout highlights, and more. Whether you’re at Tech·Ed 2006 but can’t see everything, or you want to see what you are missing, visit VirtualTechEd.com for the latest news and on-site video logs.
 

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Posted in Multimedia

Posted by: kurtsh | June 12, 2006

VIDEOS: WinHEC Presentations & Demos

There are a ton of newly posted presentations from WinHEC on MICROSOFT.COM.
 
—————-
BitLockerTM Drive Encryption Hardware Enhanced Data Protection — Shon Eizenhoefer
This session introduces the BitLocker feature, along with usage and recovery scenarios. It also provides a detailed look at how BitLocker works and includes the details that you need to build PC client systems that can support BitLocker and take advantage of the associated native operating system support for TPM 1.2.
·          Introduction. Encryption and TPM Features
·          Trusted Platform Module Architecture and definition.
·          Encryption Architecture Static Root of Trust
·          Disk Layout And Key Storage.
·          BitLockerTM Interface.Recovery Scenarios and Methods
·          BitLockerTM Interface.Recovery Scenarios and Methods
·          Building BitLockerTM Systems
·          Enterprise Customer Needs
—————-
Windows Vista Performance Technologies — Gabriel Aul
New performance-related technologies will be introduced in Windows Vista. They include Superfetch, external memory devices, and hybrid hard drives. In this session you will hear directly from the development team about the hardware and driver implications of these technologies: memory management implications, changes to the way in which startup applications are loaded, and the impact of having hybrid hard drives in the system.
·          System Responsiveness
·          Superfetch
·          ReadyBoost
·          ReadyDrive Hybrid Hard Disk
·          Performance Tuning and Diagnostics 
—————-
Windows Vista System Requirements — Richard G. Russell
This session covers the Windows Vista minimum supported and minimum recommended system requirements, the requirements to run the Windows Vista Aero user interface, and the basics of the Windows System Assessment Tool (WinSAT), which measures the performance of the processor, memory, graphics, and disk. One use of WinSAT in Windows Vista is to determine if a system can run the Aero user experience. In this session, you will hear directly from the development team how WinSAT works and how you can use it in your own development process.
·          System Requirements: Memory and Features
·          Aero Requirments
·          Tools for Consumers
·          The Windows System Assessment Tool. Overview and Scenarios
·          WinSAT API. Data Store. Graphics Assessment, Memory and Storage.
·          Processor and Video Decode Assessment.
·          The Windows Vista System Performance Rating. 
·          Future Technologies
http://www.microsoft.com/emea/itsshowtime/sessionh.aspx?videoid=165
—————-
Windows Vista and Windows Server Longhorn Security Platform Enhancements — Avi Ben-Menahem, Chris Corio
This session introduces several of the new security architecture components and technologies in Windows Vista and Windows Server Longhorn. Covered topics include enhancements to Credential Providers for logon and authentication, key service providers for the next-generation cryptographic architecture, and smartcard modules for token devices. There will also be in-depth information about new technologies such as User Account Control, which will change the default execution environment for applications, and the new Code Integrity security technology. We will discuss Code Integrity’s impact on drivers and highlight of the importance of signing 64-bit drivers as well as the new requirement for PIC signatures on all 64 bit kernel mode code. Lastly, we will provide an overview of BitLocker™ Drive Encryption.
 
·          Microsoft Operations Framework et System Center
·          System Center Reporting Manager 2006
·          SMS 2003 Desired Configuration Monitoring
·          Systems Management Server 2003 SP2
·          Systems Management Server v4
·          Microsoft Operations Manager v3
·          Microsoft System Center Essentials
·          Processus et Donnée. Biztalk Server. SQL Server
—————-
Power Management  In Windows Vista — Pat Stemen
Windows Vista will contain significant changes to the Windows power management architecture. This session provides an overview of these changes and explains how system manufacturers can build on them. It also covers new power management usage models such as hybrid sleep and away mode, including details on how system manufacturers can integrate device and software power management with the Windows power manager. Finally, this session discusses standby resume performance in Windows Vista, demonstrates how system manufacturers can measure and tune system resume performance, and outlines best practices for ensuring optimal system resume performance.
 
·          Microsoft Operations Framework et System Center
·          System Center Reporting Manager 2006
·          SMS 2003 Desired Configuration Monitoring
·          Systems Management Server 2003 SP2
·          Systems Management Server v4
·          Microsoft Operations Manager v3
·          Microsoft System Center Essentials
·          Processus et Donnée. Biztalk Server. SQL Server
HD DVD and Windows Vista: Futures and Opportunities — Jordi Ribas
This session describes Microsoft’s vision for HD DVD, including the features and business and consumer benefits of the format. It also provides a technical overview of HD DVD support in Windows Vista, scenarios for Windows Vista PCs, and associated hardware requirements.
·          Why HD DVD? The Opportunity
·          Benefits and differentiators
·          HD DVD Architecture
·          HD DVD and Windows Vista
·          HD DVD Experience Initiative for Windows Vista
—————-
Windows Server Compute Cluster Server and Desk-side Clusters  — Anand Krishnan
Windows Compute Cluster Server 2003 brings together the power of commodity x64 computers with the ease of use and security of the Windows operating system to provide a secure and affordable high-performance computing (HPC) solution. This session outlines Microsoft’s vision for the growing "personal supercomputing" market and the opportunities it provides for hardware partners.
·          What Is HPC? Some Applications
·          Entry Price-points, Comercial Adoption and Market Growth.
·          Challenges in HPC today. Microsoft’s Vision and Initiatives.
·          Compute Cluster Server 2003: Value Proposition and Target Verticals
·          Partners and HPC Institutes. Bringing HPC Into The Mainstream
·          Deskside Supercomputing, What Should it Look Like?
—————-
Keynote: Advancing the Platform – Bill Gates
Bill Gates focuses on how key technology investments are paving the way for a shift to a new platform and innovative market opportunities. Gates also discusses the impact of the introduction of Windows Vista and Windows Server "Longhorn".
 
·          Industry Megatrends
·          Windows Virtualization
·          The PC Ecosystem. Investing for the Future
·          Announcing Beta 2
·          Customer: Alan Nunns. Chevron
·          Windows Vista Demo
·          The "Live" Era. Live Demo
—————-
Keynote: Windows Vista — Will Poole
Will Poole will present key new scenarios in Windows Vista and the business opportunities for the hardware industry. Poole will discuss major trends and inflection points in business, mobility, and consumer market spaces and will describe how hardware products can benefit. Hear how Microsoft’s exciting new operating system will usher in opportunities to deliver integrated experiences and drive demand for premium hardware.
·          Windows vista: Premium Hardware delivering Business Value
·          Windows vista key features
·          Demo: XPS Document Workflow
·          Mobility Demo: Tablet Touch UI. Slide Show. Ready Drive
·          Computing for Consumers Challenges and Opportunities
·          Key Consumer features: Digital Cable Reciever. HD DVD Games.
·          The Windows Ecosystem
·          Logo Programs for Devices. New Hardware Opportunities
·          The Microsoft FlexGo Ecosystem
—————-
Keynote: Infrastructure for the People Ready Business — Bob Muglia
Bob Muglia will outline Microsoft’s promises to IT and how they enable IT Pros and development teams across the IT lifecycle. Muglia will also discuss platform advancements in the areas of Right Server for the Right Job, Universal Distributed Storage and Self Managing Dynamic Systems.
 
·          Winning With Windows Server
·          Opportunities: Small Business. High Performanc Compunting.
·          Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Scalable Networking Pack
·          Windows Server Codename Longhorn
·          Server Manager Demo. Windows Power Shell
·          Storage investments
·          Opportunities and investments
·          System center Virtual Machine Manager
·          Intent to acquire Softricity
·          Windows server Longhorn Timeline
 

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Posted in Multimedia

Posted by: kurtsh | June 12, 2006

RELEASE: Systems Management Server 2003 R2 now available

Microsoft Systems Management Server 2003 R2 is now available
We are proud to announce the release of the Systems Management Server 2003 R2, the latest addition to the Microsoft System Center family of management products.
 
Systems Management Server 2003 R2 helps streamline your IT infrastructure by improving client security and simplifying the distribution of updates for line-of-business and third-party software applications, quickly, cost-effectively, and efficiently.
 
SMS 2003 R2 provides the following key capabilities:
 
Inventory Tool for Custom Updates
Building a more secure and reliable infrastructure while lowering operating costs relies on the ability to update independent software vendor (ISV) and in-house applications as well as updates provided by Microsoft. With SMS 2003 R2 and the Inventory Tool for Custom Updates (ITCU), organizations can achieve this goal quickly and efficiently.
 
ITCU consists of two components:
• Integrated Scanner. Designed for evaluating target clients for software update compliance.
• Publishing Tool. Designed to allow the ISV or line-of business (LOB) application developer to create software update catalogs that can be imported into SMS. The native SMS 2003 Software Updates Management (SUM) functionality can then use these catalogs to determine applicability and automatically remediate as necessary.
 
Scenarios:
• Vendors create catalogs of update definitions for commercial software applications.
• Customers create catalogs of update definitions for in-house LOB applications.
• Solution-providers build catalogs of updates for organizations to which they provide services
 
Scan Tool for Vulnerability Assessment
Software installation errors and mis-configurations compromise security and stability, resulting in escalated support costs. Scan Tool for Vulnerability Assessment (STVA) can help prevent errors, increasing your organizational uptime and helping you build a more secure infrastructure. The tool provides vulnerability assessment reporting for common software mis-configurations using the Microsoft Baseline Security Analyzer (MBSA) 2.0 engine.
 
Scenarios:
• Scan for an organization’s vulnerabilities that may exist because of mis-configuration errors.
• Example checks made by STVA:
• Are unnecessary services installed and running?
• Do file shares have appropriate permissions?
• Is Windows Firewall enabled?
• Are automatic updates enabled?
• Are strong passwords enforced?
• Are unsecured guest accounts enabled?
• Are there too many local administrators on a single computer?
  
Device Management Feature Pack Update
In addition to releasing SMS 2003 R2, we are proud to announce the availability of the Device Management Feature Pack Update. This updated feature pack allows SMS 2003 to support Windows Mobile 5.
 
Download the bits and evaluate the technology. (All SMS customers that have Software Assurance will be getting this release.)

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Posted by: kurtsh | June 12, 2006

NEWS: “Why people should look very closely at licensing Office Professional today”

This is a really huge reason for folks to license Office Professional if you’re on an Enterprise Agreement or have Software Assurance:  All licenses of Office Professional 2003 convert to Office Professional Plus 2007
 
This means that if one were to get Office PROFESSIONAL 2003 today with Software Assurance or on an Enterprise Agreement, in 2007 they would get
a.      Publisher
b.      InfoPath
c.      Rights Management Creation/Origination licensing
d.      Workflow Capability within Office Professional Documents
e.      Report & Spreadsheet Publishing Technology through Excel Professional
f.       Slide Publishing Technology through Powerpoint Professional
 
Everything underlined is new to Office licensees on EA/SA. 
 
Office Standard licensees get none of the above.  If you don’t understand the value of letters d, e, & f, I would encourage you to start investigating what’s new in Office 2007, and pay particular attention to:
1) Report Center
2) Sharepoint slide publishing
3) Office workflows

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Posted in Offer

Posted by: kurtsh | June 12, 2006

INFO: How Microsoft defends against SPAM, Viruses, and Phishing

The increasing threat of unwanted e-mail (spam), viruses, phishing and malicious software (malware) on the Internet is as much a concern for Microsoft as it is for any company. The problem has steadily grown in the past several years to the point where every enterprise connecting to the Internet must take precautions against such attacks.

 

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Posted in Info

Posted by: kurtsh | June 12, 2006

TRAINING: New Business Skills courses now available

WAIT!  Before you blow this off, take a look at some of the course titles:  You might find them quite interesting.
  • 4007: Creating Effective Presentations Using Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2003
  • 4008: Building Better Microsoft Office Word 2003 Documents in Less Time
  • 4006: Time and Task Management Using Microsoft Office Outlook 2003
  • 4009: Setting Up Projects for Success Using Microsoft Office 2003
  • 4001: Team Collaboration Using Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services
  • 4010: Online Merchandising Using Microsoft Office FrontPage 2003
  • 4002: Forecasting and Trend Analysis Using Microsoft Office Excel 2003
  • 4003: Summarizing Microsoft Office Excel 2003 Data to Make Better Business Decisions
  • 4004: Managing Critical Business Information Using Microsoft Office Access 2003
  • 4005: Managing Financial Information Using Microsoft Office Access 2003

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Posted in Training

Posted by: kurtsh | June 12, 2006

TRAINING: All MIX06 Sessions now posted online

Did you miss MIX06?  (MIX was the conference for Internet developers that took place in Las Vegas a few months ago – it was sold out and so much of a success that they’re going to expand the venue for next year to accommodate more attendees.
 
All the sessions from the event have been posted online for people to review and peruse at their leisure – from the keynote to the breakouts.
 

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Posted in Training

Posted by: kurtsh | June 12, 2006

RUMOR: Various discussions around Playstation 3

I’m tracking this story ’cause it’s like a big geek soap opera.  I haven’t seen so much "he said, she said" since the last time my wife turned on "Desperate Housewives".  I’m kinda waiting for Ars Technica to chime in on this since they’re usually the gurus of hardware analysis.
 
——————–
PS3 hardware slow and broken
"…Someone screwed up so badly it looks like it will relegate the console to second place behind the 360. All the devs I talked to were lukewarm on the 360 architecture but universally negative on the PS3. Revelations like this go a long way to explain why you keep hearing about simmering problems from the Sony devs. 
You end up with a console with half the triangle setup rate of the 360, a crippled CPU that is a bitch to program, and tools that are atrocious compared to the 360. To make matters worse, you have an arrogant set of execs telling us that twice the price is worth it for half the power, a year late…"
——————–

Top developers slam PS3 "broken" allegations

"…the site based its assertions on a claim that the NVIDIA-designed RSX graphics unit has a slower triangle setup rate than the ATI-designed part in the Xbox 360, and on a slide from Sony’s Devstation event a few months back showing the memory access speeds within the console.
However, speaking to GamesIndustry.biz this week, several developers who are familiar with the PS3 hardware have rubbished the claims made by The Inquirer – describing both sets of figures as "entirely meaningless."
——————–
More PS3 Downgrades on the Way
"…He’s back. The connected PS3-party wet blanket who brought us covert info on the PlayStation 3 has dug up some dirt from a phantom insider who claims the PS3 may see even more downgraded specs. From lower clock speeds to an external power brick to who-knows-what-else, one thing we know for certain is that we sure as hell won’t be getting what was promised at E3 2005."
——————–

Report: Square Enix working on PS3, Vista MMORPG
"The XBox 360 operating system shares enough similarities with Windows, he said, so that porting the Windows version of FFXI to the 360 was a fairly quick task. A PlayStation 3 version of FFXI, on the other hand, would require redeveloping the game almost from scratch, a process that Tanaka estimated would take two or three years. As a result, FFXI will emphatically not be a launch title for the PlayStation 3. In fact, Tanaka did not commit to bringing out FFXI for the PlayStation 3 at any time. He feels that the resources required to port the game to the PlayStation 3 might be better invested in a new game that’s built from the ground up for next-gen hardware–but his team has yet to make a final decision one way or another."

——————–

Rumor: PS3 "slow and broken"?
"From the way that article was written, you can tell that the person doesn’t do any PS3 development, as he isn’t talking at all about the other smaller processors which surround the Cell," one developer said. "I am not sure if the final development kits are out yet (maybe to just a few developers), so I don’t know what he is benchmarking against. Also, he is doing a lot of bashing, so it is hard to take him seriously. Basically, if what they say is correct, then the PS3 would be good with games like Fight Night, where you have a small environment with just a couple characters, but with big open area games, like Grand Theft Auto, it will have problems."

——————–

Update: Top developers slam PS3 "broken" allegations

"Yes, two cycles to set up a tri, 550Mhz/2 = 275. Same as every G7x, the same number latest NV GPUs have.
I nabbed these images from the SA thread on the original article, which should illustrate for the confused how the 16mb/s figure is a non-issue:"
PICTURE 1: (PS3) http://imagesocket.com/images/ps3mem3fd.png
PICTURE 2: (PC)  http://imagesocket.com/images/pcmem2b7.png
 

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Posted in Commentary

Posted by: kurtsh | June 12, 2006

OFFER: Free XBox Live Diamond Discounts

If you own an XBox Live account, there’s a really neat card you can get called the XBox Live Diamond card – completely free.  It provides you with discounts on various services, foods, restaurants and all sorts of other stuff.
 
Once you’ve signed up, here’s where you can access your benefits and find out what places have discounts available for using your XBox Live Diamond Card.  (You might have to print out a coupon from the web site FYI.)
GET DISCOUNTS HERE:  http://www.xboxlivediamond.com/
 
I wouldn’t be making that big a deal about this unless I’ve actually USED it a couple times and found it useful.  Here’s some of the neater discounts that I’ve made use of that I bet you didn’t know your XBox Live Diamond card could do:
 
Dave & Busters:
Get $10 free game play, when you buy $20 in game play
http://www.daveandbusters.com/promo/xbox/
Carl’s Jr:
Free Western Bacon Cheeseburger, with the purchase of a Western Bacon Cheeseburger and Medium Drink
http://www.xboxlivediamond.com/xbox/images/MKP_Splash/carls_jr_coupon_2006.pdf
Free BBQ Chicken Sandwich, with the purchase of a BBQ Chicken Sandwich and a Medium Drink
http://www.xboxlivediamond.com/xbox/images/MKP_Splash/carls_jr_coupon_2006.pdf
Wienerschnitzel:
Free chili hot dog, when you purchase a chili dog of equal or lesser value.
http://www.xboxlivediamond.com/xbox/images/MKP_Splash/wiener_xbox_coupon.pdf
Papa John’s:
Free large original crust one-topping pizza, when you buy an extra-large specialty pizza
http://www.xboxlivediamond.com/FramePage.aspx?cat=23038&VendorCouponURL=
 
1-800-PetMeds
25% off all orders
http://www.xboxlivediamond.com/FramePage.aspx?cat=21685&VendorCouponURL=
(Note:  This is a really nice discount.  I personally order Frontline Plus for my dog, and normally the cost at PetCo is $150, since it includes CA tax.  With this discount, an order from PetMeds is $116, since it doesn’t require tax.)
 
 

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