Posted by: kurtsh | May 10, 2005

E3 PASSES: Electronic Entertainment Expo passes for my customers

I have a few E3 guest passes for employees of Countrywide or Mattel.   Regristration opens at Monday May 16th, 8:00AM.  The actual expo portion of E3 (the part we have access to) is open on May 18th.

http://www.e3expo.com/

This will be a great way to hear about the next-generation XBox.  Or at least be a part of the hoopla.  Oh yeah – also, we have a TV special on MTV that will introduce the world to the new console called "MTV Presents: The Next Generation Xbox Revealed" on Thursday, May 12th at 6:30PM on MTV.

So anyway, if you’re interested and would like to go to E3 as a guest of Microsoft, and of course you’re my customer (and for those of you reading this that aren’t affiliated with Countrywide or Mattel, I’m sorry but I don’t have anything for the public) please catch me the next time I’m walking through and I’ll get you one.  If you haven’t been there before, be aware that it’s sheer chaos getting registered so you’ll want to get in line VERY EARLY with your E3 pass, and two forms of identification to "prove your involvement in the Entertainment industry".

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Posted in Games

Posted by: kurtsh | May 9, 2005

WARNING: Windows 2000 end of Mainstream Support: June 30, 2005

On June 30th, 2005, the Windows 2000 Product family (including Windows 2000 Server, Advanced Server, Datacenter Server, and Windows 2000 Professional client) will transition from its Mainstream Support to its Extended Support Phase. This transition marks the progression of Windows 2000 through its product lifecycle. The Windows 2000 family entered the marketplace in February 2000 and remains a robust, mature product as it enters its 5-year Extended Support lifecycle phase.

Overview:

  • Microsoft offers a minimum of 10 years’ support (5 years Mainstream + 5 years Extended) for Business and Developer products. Microsoft’s Support Lifecycle policy provides transparent, predictable coverage of Microsoft products and continues to set the standard for product support policies industry-wide
  • On June 30th, 2005, the Windows 2000 Product family (including Windows 2000 Server and Advanced Server) will transition from its Mainstream Support to its Extended Support Phase. Extended Support for Windows 2000 will continue for at least five years, through June 2010.
  • Microsoft is not ending support for Windows 2000. During the Extended Support phase Microsoft will continue to provide security hot fixes and paid support but will no longer provide complimentary support options, design change requests, and non-security hotfixes (without an Extended Hotfix Support Agreement, which must be acquired by Sept. 30th for non-SA customers).

Where can I get more information?

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Posted in Computers and Internet

Posted by: kurtsh | May 9, 2005

TOOL: Encrypt MSN Messenger traffic!

SimpLite, the free MSN Messenger encryption solution

You are using MSN Messenger to chat with your friends or colleagues. Did you know your messages are sent over the Internet in cleartext form?

By encrypting messages before they leave your computer to the Internet, SimpLite-MSN prevents eavesdroppers from reading your personal MSN Messenger conversations. As the original successor of Simp 1.0, SimpLite-MSN benefits from state of the art algorithms to secure your messages, whilst maintaining an intuitive interface.

SimpLite-MSN is free for personal use at home or at the office.

DOWNLOAD:  http://www.secway.fr/products/simplite_msn/home.php?PARAM=us,ie

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Posted in Tools

Posted by: kurtsh | May 9, 2005

RTM: XBox Theme/Skin for Exchange 2003 Outlook Web Access

Creating and Deploying Outlook Web Access Themes

Summary

This topic provides information intended to help Exchange administrators in the design and modification of Microsoft Office Outlook Web Access for Exchange Server 2003 themes.

When designing the Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 release of Outlook Web Access, Microsoft decided to unify the use of style sheets. This decision kept the appearance of the Outlook Web Access client similar to that of Microsoft Office Outlook 2003. In the course of this work, a few highly enthusiastic folks on the Outlook Web Access team realized that it would be relatively easy to offer a "skin" or "theme" capability to the release. Because of these efforts, you can create your own Outlook Web Access themes. This topic covers the basics of creating and deploying a theme in Outlook Web Access.

DOWNLOAD:  http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/info.aspx?na=90&p=&SrcDisplayLang=en&SrcCategoryId=&SrcFamilyId=aeca9fe8-e8fc-455a-9d65-468d194e866b&genscs=&u=http%3a%2f%2fdownload.microsoft.com%2fdownload%2f6%2f5%2ff%2f65f18bbf-8823-4583-b5e8-8205408051da%2fCreatingOWAThe

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Posted in Release

Posted by: kurtsh | May 9, 2005

GUIDE: Install and Upgrade to Windows Server 2003 R2

GUIDE: Install and Upgrade to Windows Server 2003 R2

Overview

Describes how to install and upgrade from earlier versions of Windows Server to Windows 2003 R2. Includes information about installing Server 2003 from the product CDs, a shared network resource, and using unattended setup. Also includes information about upgrading Server 2003 from the product CDs, a shared network resource, and using unattended setup.

DOWNLOAD:  http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=8690c156-82e1-4d5d-aa24-111627091832&displaylang=en

 

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Posted in Document

Posted by: kurtsh | May 9, 2005

RTM: SQL Server 2000 Service Pack 4

SQL Server 2000 Service Pack 4

SQL Server 2000 Service Pack 4 (SP4) adds platform support for Microsoft Windows Server 2003 x64 Edition, allowing 32-bit SQL Server 2000 applications to run on 64-bit platforms using the Windows on Windows emulator (WOW64). SP4 addresses specific issues discovered in SQL Server 2000 since its ship date. SP4 is also the first service pack to service the 64-bit edition of SQL Server.

Because SQL Server service packs are cumulative, SP4 includes all fixes from previously released Service Pack 1 (SP1), Service Pack 2 (SP2), Service Pack 3 (SP3), and Service Pack 3a (SP3a). SP4 can be applied to an original SQL Server 2000 installation or to one where SP1, SP2, SP3, or SP3a was previously applied.

This service pack includes the MS03-031 security bulletin released in July, 2003.

SQL Server 2000 SP4:

  • Includes a new version of MSXML version 3.0 SP6. With SP4, the OPENXML statement is updated to use a custom-built XML parsing technology designed to be backward compatible with MSXML 2.6.
  • Includes MDAC 2.8 SP1 except for Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 platforms, where it is included with the operating system service packs for those platforms.

Adds the following platform support:

  • With Microsoft Windows Server 2003 x64 Edition, SP4 provides support for 32-bit SQL Server applications on 64-bit architectures using the Windows on Windows emulator (WOW64). For more information on specific 64-bit platforms supported, see the Windows Server 2003 x64 Editions Product Overview.
  • With SP4, you can leverage 64-bit processor architectures using 32-bit SQL Server applications when running in WOW64.
    Note: SQL Server 32-bit applications, including SQL server client tools, are still not supported on WOW64 for IA64. Also, currently 32-bit Reporting Services is not supported to run on WOW64 on IA64 and x64 platforms running Windows Server 2003 x64 Edition.

Improves documentation; the Readme documents are reorganized into four distinct readme files for the different SP4 components:

  • ReadmeSql2k32sp4: Readme for Service Pack 4 for Microsoft SQL Server 2000 (32-bit)
  • ReadmeSql2k32asp4: Readme for Service Pack 4 for Microsoft SQL Server 2000 Analysis Services
  • ReadmeSql2k32desksp4: Readme for Service Pack 4 for Microsoft SQL Server 2000 Desktop Engine (MSDE 2000)
  • ReadmeSql2k64sp4: Readme for Service Pack 4 for Microsoft SQL Server 2000 (64-bit)

Benefits

In addition to providing the latest updates and fixes, SQL Server 2000 SP4 provides enhanced performance, security, and serviceability.

Performance

  • SQL Server 2000 SP4 improves performance on 64-bit systems with 32 or more processors.

Security

SQL Server 2000 SP4 provides:

  • Refreshed, more secure Visual Database Tools (Table Designer, Database Diagrams, and Query Designer).
  • New registry entries to provide additional control over security, metadata, and memory management.

Serviceability

  • SQL Server 2000 SP4 introduces new serviceability functionality that enables you to remove hotfixes applied to SP4 and later versions of SQL Server 2000 running on Microsoft Windows XP and Windows Server 2003.
  • SP4 itself cannot be rolled back.
  • Error reporting can be enabled for selected instances during the SP4 installation.

For descriptions of additional changes, please refer to the readme files for SP4.

DOWNLOAD:  http://www.microsoft.com/sql/downloads/2000/sp4.asp

 

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Posted in Release

Posted by: kurtsh | May 9, 2005

BETA: Windows Server 2003 R2 Customer Preview Program/BETA launches

Windows Server 2003 R2 Customer Preview Program launched.  Go have download Windows Server 2003 R2 through the Customer Preview Program.  No Betaplace enrollment required.
 
See below for download link, Reviewer’s Guide, FAQ document, and other links:
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserver2003/R2/default.mspx

Site Highlights

 

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Posted in Beta

Posted by: kurtsh | May 5, 2005

TOOL: VSPlus for Virtual Server 2005

VSPlus for Virtual Server 2005

Interesting little -free- Win32 tool for managing multiple physical Virtual Servers from a single console instead of using the WebAdmin console. Also includes a command line tool for managing VS instances via batch file or command line instead of writing .VBS stuff.

http://citynav.com/vsplus/

 

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Posted in Tools

Posted by: kurtsh | May 4, 2005

BETA: SUA – “Subsystem for UNIX-based Applications”

I wanted to let you know that we have a new version of SFU available – the component that can be used to port UNIX applications to Windows (Interix) is now called Subsystem for UNIX-based Applications (SUA) and is part of the Windows Server 2003 R2 operating system beta.

The new features are:

  1. Support for AMD-64 – this means that you can now port and run your UNIX scripts and applications on AMD64 hardware and not just x86.
  2. Support for custom UNIX Oracle and SQL Server applications – we have introduced a new paradigm called "mixed-mode programming" that lets UNIX applications link with the Windows client libraries of these databases, e.g. Oracle Call Interface (OCI) for Oracle, and SQL ODBC for SQL Server.
  3. System-V Release 5 (SVR-5) utilities
  4. A Visual Studio debugger add-in to debug ported UNIX applications using the rich Visual Studio debugger. 

This beta is ready now and following are the instructions to sign-up.

  1. Go to http://beta.microsoft.com and sign-in using your .Net Passport
  2. Select to sign-in using a Guest ID of "WSR2Beta" (case-sensitive – if you experience problems, cut/paste the GuestID rather than typing it)
  3. Complete the nomination survey

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Posted in Beta

Posted by: kurtsh | May 4, 2005

On Corporate Blogs & Trackbacks

This is a a entry that Robert Scoble wrote a couple years ago on the topic of Corporate Blogging.  I think it’s particularly relevant these days now that my customers are actually taking Blogging seriously as a means of building community around corporate intellectual property.

http://radio.weblogs.com/0001011/2003/02/26.html

——————————–

Y’know, on the topic of corporate blogging – I briefly turned on ‘trackbacks’ on my blog to help my customers link back to my blog without copying everything into an entry to their own personal blog.

Then I discovered that someone (with no relation to me), had out of nowhere found my blog and tracked-back to a specific entry.  After inspecting this person’s blog and their comments, I realized that I had really no interest being associated with their thoughts, opinions, or blog entries.

Sigh.  That’s the interesting thing about the Internet.  It’s like a electronic-microcosm (macrocosm?) of the Santa Monica DMV. 

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Posted in Personal

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