Posted by: kurtsh | June 8, 2005

NET: theSpoke – a Blog for Students

I totally forgot about this thing.  We built this blogging forum called "theSpoke" to enable college students to blog about whatever they want. 

There’s a lot of student .NET Developers here.  Like this fella:
http://www.thespoke.net/MyBlog/travisowens/MyBlog.aspx

What is theSpoke?
theSpoke is a digital lifestyle club for students from around the world where film, music, gaming, sports and culture merge with technology. It’s your place on the web to discuss, debate, learn, and make an impact. If it’s impossible for you to talk about life without talking about technology, then theSpoke is the place for you.

http://www.thespoke.net/qotd/firstpage.aspx

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Posted in Computers and Internet

Posted by: kurtsh | June 8, 2005

RTM: Windows Update Services 2.0 now available

Microsoft Windows Server Update Services (WSUS) enables information technology administrators to deploy the latest Microsoft product updates to Microsoft Windows Server 2000, Windows Server 2003, and Windows XP operating systems. By using Windows Server Update Services, you can fully manage the distribution of updates that are released through Microsoft Update to computers in your network.

Brief Overview:
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserversystem/updateservices/evaluation/overview.mspx

Full Overview: (Download)
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=2478D594-A29C-483C-9DC1-9740BF3081A5&displaylang=en

Windows Update Services 2.0 Download:
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserversystem/updateservices/downloads/WSUS.mspx

Windows Update Services 2.0 Diagnostic Tool:
http://download.microsoft.com/download/7/7/4/7745a34e-f563-443b-b4f8-3a289e995255/WSUS%20Server%20Debug%20Tool.EXE 

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Posted in Release

Posted by: kurtsh | June 8, 2005

NEWS: “Direct Push Technology” for Exchange Server 2003

Yesterday, we announced the upcoming "direct push technology" for mobile devices that we will be releasing in the upcoming Messaging & Security Feature Pack for Exchange Server 2003.

"Direct Push Technology" is real-time, always-on, IMMEDIATE delivery of email to your mobile device running Windows Mobile 5.0.   Yes, that’s right… just like a RIM Blackberry.  Except now you get your choice of device software and form factor to use.  Rugged?  Stylish?  Color?  Cheap?  Expensive?  Built-in keyboard?  Slide-out keyboard?  Super small?  Extended battery life? 600mhz processor?  .NET framework inside?

Now, you get to choose.  And you’ll always get your mail immediately, without delay. 

The ‘direct push technology’ accomplishes this by establishing an maintaining an HTTP/S pipe from the Exchange Server ‘front end server’ (usually the OWA server) to your mobile device over the data network of your carrier, like Verizon, T-Mobile, Sprint, or AT&T/Cingular.  This pipe is ‘put to sleep’ to maintain a connection but to minimize actual traffic to "keep the connection alive".  This allows the server side to scale to 1000’s of devices.

I’ve noticed that some folks in the press are calling this a "Blackberry killer" because with this Feature Pack, there’s no need for a Blackberry Enterprise Server to act as an intermediary any more to get ‘push-enabled mail’.  There might be some truth to this but one thing’s for certain:  Now Exchange Server 2003 owners will now be able to get "direct push" to their PDAs, out-of-the-box, without paying for anything extra.

And in the same Service Pack, we’ll be releasing SenderID support to filter out email spam without a return domain that matches it’s originating IP address.
"Microsoft’s enterprise messaging server will gain antiphishing capabilities before the end of the year, the company said Monday. Exchange Server 2003 Service Pack 2, due in the fourth quarter, will feature Sender ID support, the first implementation of this e-mail authentication technology in Microsoft’s messaging and collaboration server."

All out of the box… no extra charge.  That’s value.

Exchange Server 2003 SP2: 
http://www.microsoft.com/exchange/downloads/2003/sp2/faq.mspx

Feature Pack: 
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsmobile/business/5/default.mspx

Press Release:
http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=109&STORY=/www/story/06-06-2005/0003818225&EDATE=

Background story on Direct Push & "How this all works":
http://blogs.technet.com/exchange/archive/2005/06/07/406035.aspx

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Posted in Computers and Internet

Posted by: kurtsh | June 8, 2005

BETA: SQL Server 2005 Community Tech Preview June 2005

This is what we probably would have called "Beta 3" if we could just standardize our naming conventions and stick with them for once in our lives.  I swear…  I have no idea why we do this to our customers. 

Windows 95.  Windows ME.  Windows 2000.  Windows XP. 
SQL 7.0.  SQL 2000.  SQL "Yukon".  SQL 2005 Beta 2.  SQL 2005 CTP June.

————————————-

SQL Server 2005 June CTP. We released the first public CTP for SQL Server 2005. The SQL Server 2005 June CTP is feature complete, and we encourage you to download this version as a great start your evaluation of the product.

http://www.microsoft.com/sql/2005/productinfo/ctp.mspx

SQL Server 2005 benchmarks. We also announced the first TPC benchmark results for SQL Server 2005 with HP, NEC Corp. and Bull. These companies are leading the way in demonstrating the performance that SQL Server 2005 will provide. Although the tests were conducted using early builds of SQL Server 2005, the results are indicative of the scalability and cost effectiveness you can expect to experience with SQL Server 2005. In three TPC-H benchmarks, SQL Server 2005 had up to 162 percent higher performance than SQL Server 2000 and 38 percent higher performance than Oracle’s best result on a 16-processor Intel® Itanium® 2 server at a cost that is 20 percent less per query. In addition, HP also posted a TPC-C result on SQL Server 2005 that is the highest TPC-C result ever for Windows, beating the one million transaction-per-minute mark. The result had 7 percent better performance and cost 37 percent less per transaction than Oracle’s best result on a 64-processor Intel® Itanium® 2 server. The benchmark information is available at http://www.tpc.org/ .

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Posted in Beta

Posted by: kurtsh | June 6, 2005

NEW: IBM/Lenovo Launches Thinkpad Tablet PC!

On Monday, June 6th at 9 am EDT Lenovo will announce their entry into the Tablet PC market, the ThinkPad X41 Tablet. This will be Lenovo’s first product release and is targeted at the enterprise market. Microsoft is pleased to support this announcement with a first look in Steve Ballmer’s keynote at TechEd in Orlando on the same day.

The ThinkPad X41 Tablet brings together a lightweight and thin form factor, outstanding security, first-class wireless connections, and the productivity benefits of Tablet PC functionality. Features include:

  • The ThinkPad X41 Tablet is an ultra-portable Tablet PC that is competitively light, weighing only 3.5 lbs
  • Long battery life (up to 6.3 hours on an 8-cell battery)
  • ThinkVantage Technologies, with biometric fingerprint reader, for ultimate productivity and unsurpassed security – making the ThinkPad X41 Tablet the most secure convertible Tablet PC available today.
  • Full-size keyboard, 170 degree viewing screen and ThinkPad X4 Dock.
  • Microsoft’s newest Tablet PC operating system, Windows XP Tablet PC Edition 2005.

http://www.pc.ibm.com/training/tablet-landing-page.html

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Posted in Computers and Internet

Posted by: kurtsh | June 6, 2005

BETA: .NET Compact Framework 2.0 Redistributed Package Beta 2

The Microsoft .NET Compact Framework 2.0 Beta 2 Redistributable includes everything you need to run .NET Compact Framework applications, including the Common Language Runtime and the .NET Compact Framework class library.

Important: This package uses ActiveSync to update the device. Make sure to dock your device before running NETCFSetupv2.msi. You can run the ActiveSync setup later by going to your install folder and running NETCFSetupv2.msi once the device is docked. Those not using ActiveSync can run the CAB files which match the device found in the install folder directly on the device.

http://go.microsoft.com/?linkid=3211187

 

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Posted in Uncategorized

Posted by: kurtsh | June 2, 2005

BETA: Windows Server 2003 R2 Beta releases!

Microsoft has just released a beta version of Windows Server 2003 R2. This new release makes it easier and more cost effective to extend connectivity and control to identities, locations, data and applications throughout and beyond an organization. Windows Server 2003 R2 is an update release of the Windows Server 2003 operating system. Built on Windows Server 2003 with Service Pack 1, Windows Server 2003 R2 takes advantage of the stability and security of a proven code base while extending connectivity and control into new areas. Windows Server 2003 R2 offers all the benefits of Windows Server 2003 with SP1 while greatly improving identity and access management, branch server management, storage setup and management, and application development inside and outside an organization’s boundaries. Windows Server 2003 R2 is designed to be slipstreamed into existing Windows Server 2003 environments without re-testing or re-certifying existing roles or applications or upgrading to new Client Access Licenses, easing administrative burden and simplifying deployment and adoption.

Windows Server 2003 R2 builds upon the increased security, reliability and performance provided by Windows Server 2003 with Service Pack 1 and demonstrates our commitment to continuously improving the Windows Server platform.  Windows Server 2003 R2 is scheduled for availability in the second half of 2005. Customers with servers covered by Software Assurance or Enterprise Agreements will be eligible to receive R2 at no charge. After R2 is made generally available, customers will receive it automatically when ordering Windows Server 2003 software. All others can purchase the server license to get the R2 functionality.

BETA SOFTWARE:  http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserver2003/R2/trial/default.mspx

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Posted in Beta

Posted by: kurtsh | May 31, 2005

TOOL: How to use Sharepoint as a Blog

Wanna setup a blog?  Try Windows Sharepoint Services!

I am in the middle of potentially transitioning my blog to a Windows Sharepoint Services site that I own that has the Sharepoint template for blogging installed on it.

Here are some examples of individuals using Windows Sharepoint Services for Blogging:
LauraJ’s "Using Sharepoint as a Blog" http://blogs.msdn.com/lauraj/archive/2004/03/24/95549.aspx
Sig Weber’s Sharepoint-based Blog: http://www.asaris-matrix.com/sweber/playground/default.aspx?category=SharePoint
Colin Walker’s Sharepoint-based Blog:  http://randomelements.me.uk/
BlueDog’s Sharepoint-based Blog:  http://www.bluedoglimited.com/SharePointThoughts/default.aspx
 "Let’s talk about blogging with Sharepoint" PART 1:  http://www.bluedoglimited.com/SharePointThoughts/ViewPost.aspx?ID=89
 "Let’s talk about blogging with Sharepoint" PART 2:  http://www.bluedoglimited.com/SharePointThoughts/ViewPost.aspx?ID=90
 "Let’s talk about blogging with Sharepoint" PART 3:  http://www.bluedoglimited.com/SharePointThoughts/ViewPost.aspx?ID=91
Stepto’s FP+Sharepoint-based Blog:  http://www.stepto.com/default/default.aspx
Ian Morrish’s Sharepoint-based Blog:  http://www.wssdemo.com/blog/default.aspx
Collution’s Sharepoint Blog:  http://dev.collutions.com/blogs/sample/default.aspx

DOWNLOAD:  Installable Site Definition for Sharepoint Blog:  http://workspaces.gotdotnet.com/cBlog

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Posted in Tools

Posted by: kurtsh | May 31, 2005

TOOL: Audioblender.net, a Sound Recorder replacement for Windows XP

http://www.audioblender.net/

AudioBlender.NET is designed to be used as a freely available replacement for Microsoft’s Sound Recorder. It is a sound recording/editing application that handles many advanced operations of sound editing with an easy-to-use interface. AudioBlender.NET is written in C# with managed DirectX libraries.

Feature List

  • Record audio from a selected input device
  • View graphical representation of sound in the Waveform Display
  • Support for multiple track playback and editing
  • Add/Remove audio effects in real-time
  • Write new audio effects with the Effects API
  • Cut/Copy/Paste functionality to edit sections of audio
  • Undo operations to reverse changes in audio
  • Works with WAV, MP3, and WMA file formats
  • Intuitive User Interface
  • Support for mixing audio clips
  • Rip music from CDs
  • Write tracks to CDs
  • Add 3-D positioning effects

Requirements

  • Personal computer with Intel-compatible processor running Microsoft Windows 2000 or later version.
  • Pentium III (or equivalent) processor or better
  • .NET Framework v1.1
  • Microsoft DirectX 9.0
  • 256 MB minimum System Memory
  • 10 MB hard drive space for software installation
  • Recommended 1 GB for audio editing/storage

 

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Posted in Tools

Posted by: kurtsh | May 31, 2005

NOT NEWS: IE7.0 won’t be available for Win2000

File this in the ‘duh’ file, but IE7.0 WON’T be available for Windows 2000 users.  Attached is the IEBlog entry that highlights this point.

http://blogs.msdn.com/ie/archive/2005/05/27/422721.aspx

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Posted in Product

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