Posts

Showing posts from 2006

Deciphering "Broadcast Channels" on Windows Mobile

for all those, who possess a Windows Mobile - it is full of functionality in every corner! there has been one that has been bugging me for long - "Broadcast Channels". this is one that has been there on the phone since long but I didn't know what to do with the same. so here is some info for those who have the same thoughts: Start -> Settings -> Phone (icon) -> More (tab)-> Broadcast Channels (enable checkbox) -> Click Settings Button -> Choose Language (drop-down menu) -> Recieve Channel Lists (enable checkbox): The following are operator message codes. You'll need to enter these in manually into the text box Operator Message Codes: 000 Index 010 Newsflashes 020 Hospitals 022 Doctors 024 Pharmacies 030 Road Reports - Long Distance 032 Road Reports - Local 034 Taxis 040 Weather 050 District Cell Information 052 Network Information 054 Operator Services 056 Directory Enquiries - National 057 Directory Enquiries - International 058 Customer Care -

New Multimedia Gadgets for Live Spaces

  · new Soapbox Gadget developed by the Soapbox team for uploading and showing your personal Soapbox videos on your Space · gadget which allows you to include custom HTML in your Space · video player gadget which can place a video from any of the popular video sites on your Space · YouTube video player which allows you to place a video from YouTube on your Space · slideshow and badge ) which have two different styles rotates pictures based off RSS and/or tags · polling gadget for adding a poll to your Space · Gadget subpage or the Windows Live Gallery   Technorati tags: live spaces , microsoft

Adding HTML signature to Outlook 2007

When i moved to Outlook 2007, i lost my earlier Feedburner that i so much loved! I wanted to put that back in my signature. However, the familiar Tools - Options -> Mail Format -> Signatures button didn't help. When i pasted the HTML there, it retained the HTML as text without changing anything. So, here's something that told me what to do. I saved the snippet in a file and ended it with extension .html. I opened the file in IE and copied the required section y selecting and then using Ctlr + C. Then i went back to the signature window of Outlook 2007 and pasted this using Ctrl + V. This put the signature there!

Your 2 Cents About Microsoft Community Support

The Windows Server Product Team would like to hear from you about User Group Community support. This is a direct anonymous survey, with the goal to improve services targeted towards User Groups. Microsoft wants to know what your experiences are with the community resources and information that is available to you today as a member of the User Group Community. They also want to know what you think could be done to improve your Community Experience. This is your chance to make your voice heard, so please take a couple of minutes to provide your candid feedback via the survey so they can provide the most effective experience possible. Link to the survey: User Group Community Survey . Thanking you in advance, The Windows Server Community Team from http://www.nogeekleftbehind.com/

Yahoo finds characteristics of Influential consumers

  Interesting findings on top influencers: http://yhoo.client.shareholder.com/press/ReleaseDetail.cfm?ReleaseID=222291 the only thing is that the study was conducted on Consumer electronics ($300 or greater purchase), Automobiles, Vacations (Family vacation including a hotel stay) and Home mortgages.

Invitation for Internship at Micrsooft - IT India (GDCI), Hyderabad

Intern Program’ at Microsoft IT-India About Microsoft IT-India : Microsoft IT - India (earlier known as GDCI), is a seamless extension of the global Microsoft IT teams in Redmond, USA. Microsoft IT-India is a four year old organization, with talented IT professionals, and is a great place to build career dreams and aspirations. Microsoft IT–India develops mission critical applications that support Microsoft businesses worldwide and manage s Microsoft worldwide IT infrastructure. Working on next generation technologies to create software that helps Microsoft and its customers realize their full potential, is a challenge that drives us. We are looking for ‘Academic Interns’ Internship is a unique programme at Microsoft, which gives an opportunity for young and talented minds to see through the myriad technological innovations. ‘Academic Interns’ will come on board in Mid-January 2007 for a period of minimum 5 months (as part of fulfilment of their academic degree). All positions are

Windows Mobile Device Center

running on Vista has been a pleasure.. i was recently issued a toshiba portege M400 tablet and i installed Vista on the machine. what toshiba forgot to tell me was that i needed a BIOS upgrade and there was no mention of it either on the support site. the downloads they have is for earlier BETA releases and they didn't work on Vista Enterprise RTM. heck, even the tablet mode didn't kick when when i rotated the screen :( What worked though was their biometric device with the driver that was supplied at the support site. thanks to internal MS tools, i got to upgrade my BIOS to v3.x. with that everything started flying perfectly! next came my Windows Mobile device and syncing it with my tablet. unfortunately, Vista didn't seem to have activesync that i had grown so used to... so i had to look around and discovered that i need Windows Mobile Device Center to sync my windows mobile with my PC. TechNet had some content on it and told me that for first time use i had to connect my

Red Hat steps in where Microsoft left in Kerala

So, Mr. VS Achuthanandan frees Kerala state of Microsoft and invites Red Hat to come in :) Economic Times reports that Red Hat will be raking in all the moolah from the schools. In my earlier post on the issue, I had asked the same questions: Who is going to install and maintain the Linux systems in various schools even when the software is FREE? Who is going to re-train the students and professors on a new technology that is used only on 5 - 10% of the world? Linux certifications - who needs them? The answer has come - implementation vendor Red Hat.  it is indeed the state spending its money YET AGAIN for an idealogical high ground. What the govt. is doing is really a duplicate effort and the rupees spent here could have been utilized somewhere else on areas where it was needed. Technorati tags: kerala , linux , myopia , red hat , microsoft

MS develops alternative to Flash

While on the web, what is the one technology that you would think of when developing light weight games? FLASH of course... it is light weight and has plenty of developers/ designers available on the same to make the content. there has been no alternative to flash, well almost till NOW! Microsoft has come up with a new technology called WPF/E. The technology is currently in BETA and is a subset of its desktop counterpart - WPF. This technology can not only run on Windows but also on Mac and in future on Linux as well. When you run any WPF/E application, it would first install a runtime of around 2 MB. This is different from .NET 2.0 or 3.0. the tool currently being envisaged for use with WPF/E is Expression Interactive Designer that works using XAML. As of today, one can design UIs using the Interactive Designer and then import it into WPF/E (that also uses XAML). Some sample applications and more information on WPF/E including games are available at: www.microsoft.com/wpfe So thos

XNA Game Studio Express Has Been Released!

XNA Game Studio Express has been released! To download the released product for Windows, head over to: http://msdn.com/xna/gse/ . This tool helps develop games for even XBOX 360. To hos the game on XBOX 360 you will need additional things: You can now also purchase a subscription to the XNA Creators Club from the Xbox Live Marketplace on your Xbox 360 console if you have an active silver or gold Xbox Live subscription. On the Xbox Live blade, go to "Xbox Live Marketplace" Select "Games" and then "All Game Downloads" Scroll down the list to find the "XNA Creators Club". Here you'll be able to go under Memberships to purchase a 4-Mo membership for $49.00 or an Annual (12-mo) membership $99.00. You'll also need to download the XNA Game Launcher from the same area. Having done so, you will find a new XNA Game Launcher program on your Games blade under Demos and More. Once you're up and running, please refer to the XNA Documentation

Adding RSS feeds to Outlook 2007

The next step was to add all my RSS feeds to the Outlook 2007. I have been using RSS Bandit earlier to read all my feeds and I exported all the feeds from there as an OPML. Next, while in Outlook 2007, I imported the OPML using the RSS Subscriptions (right click) -> Import an OPML file option. All my feeds got imported. Things to note: While I added it to my personal folder, the feed got added in the Mailbox J All the categories were lost from OPML and a flat list of feeds was only available. Now I am off to reading my mails oops! RSS feeds…

Office Outlook 2007: Rules Migration

Migrating my older Office Outlook 2003 mailbox was seamless (or so it seemed). Outlook 2007 (with the help of Exchange Server 2007) was smart enough to figure all my settings just from the email address that I had specified during configuration. I easily added my older 2003 PST file using the normal Data File addition procedure. What didn't happen was migration of rules from older system to the new one. For some reason, I could see them listed in the Tools -> Rules and Alerts menu but they wouldn't fire. After breaking my head for a while this is what worked for me: One TIME only: On the Rules and Alerts box, Click on Options and then Click on "Upgrade Now" button. Then you will need to close the dialog boxes using Ok and apply J Now For every rule: Delete the rule Click Apply Click Ok Recreate the same rule Click Finish Click Apply This is intentionally detailed for skipping any "Apply" or "OK&qu

Exchange Server 2007 is released

Microsoft has shipped Exchange Server 2007 to manufacturing. Customers can sign up for a free evaluation of the software at this Web site . Over 500,000 beta testers helped shape and strengthen it. Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 delivers fantastic: · Unified Messaging that delivers voice mail and fax messages to the Exchange inbox · Greater mobility support – for example, IT administrators can enforce security policies on mobile devices with greater control and granularity and end-users get full fidelity HTML mail · 64-bit architecture that allows organizations to increase the number of users per server or allow larger mailbox quotas while reducing per-mailbox storage costs · Anti-spam that ensures mail from your contacts gets through, while keeping the bad stuff out Today within Microsoft over 125,000 mailboxes are running on Exchange Server 2007 with more than 30,000 of those enabled for Unified Messaging.  They currently have great availability of around 99.95%!   the only thing th

ECMA approves Office Open XML as a standard - MS Office becomes standards compliant

ECMA has approved Office Open XML as a standard. This means that all the MS Office products (2007 product line) are now standards compatible. Apple, Barclays Capital, BP, The British Library, Essilor, Intel, Microsoft, NextPage, Novell, Statoil, Toshiba, and the United States Library of Congress have worked together as part of a cross-industry collaborative effort. Further, ECMA will submit the standard to ISO for potential fast-track certification. Corel and Novell have already announced to create products on the same standard. so what is being shared here? Source Code of Office applications - NO Format of Office formats - YES Is the current .docx etc Open XML (ODF): No Can one get an ODF file from MS Office files: YES (via addin) The format documentation is extremely detailed, with over 6,000 pages of specifications and samples. Developers can create applications that can interoperate with Open XML with high fidelity across different types of applications and usage. here are s

I upgrade my machine

My machine has been upgraded to a Toshiba Tecra M400 Tablet. It is preloaded with Vista Enterprise RTM and Office 2007... ..................... I am off to the New Day!

Windows Live Search for Mobile Available in BETA

Windows Live Search (WLS) in BETA has been made available for mobile devices. this is one of the products that analysts are predicting is going one up against Google maps: http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/smartphones/windows-live-search-for-mobile-vs-google-maps-mobile-218467.php you can use both Windows and J2ME phones to use this. WLS installs a mobile client on your phone and you can then use that client for all your searches. While WLS has been good for cities in US, India is still missing from the areas mapped by WLS. Google seems to do better with India. Wonder how long before India is mapped and made available online by WLS.

Digital Games Genres

Lifted this from a survey i was filling. this kinda details various genres of games in existence today :) Action (ex: Prince of Persia, Grand Theft Auto) Adventure (ex: Myst III, Clock Tower 3) Arcade Classics (ex: Pac Man, Defender, and Donkey Kong) Card, Board & Casino (ex Hoyle Casino, Monopoly, Hearts) Driving Combat/Mayhem (ex: Twisted Metal, Full Auto, and Midtown Madness) Extreme Sports (ex: Tony Hawk's Pro Skater, SSX, Dave Mirra BMX) Fighting (ex: DOA4, Soul Caliber, Street Fighter) Flight/Space Combat (ex: Crimson Skies, Freelancer, and Ace Combat) Flight Simulations (ex: Flight Simulator, Combat Flight Simulator) Kart-Style Racing (ex: Mario Kart, Diddy Kong Racing) Life Simulations (ex: The Sims, Zoo Tycoon) Massive Multiplayer On-line (ex: World of Warcraft, Everquest II, and City of Heroes) Music & Rhythm (ex: Parappa the Rapper, Dance Dance Revolution) Off-Road/Rally Racing (ex: Rallisport, Colin McCrae Rally, 4x4 Evolutions) Platformers (ex:

Now Get a FREE Vista / Office 2007

MS is running a promotion by which you can get a FREE Vista copy or Office 2007. The theme of the promotion is that Vista and Office together are much better TOGETHER . To win, you just need to finish viewing 3 webcasts for each product. You can reach this site at: http://www.powertogether.com The conditions for this promotion are: open only to legal residents of the 50 United States (includes District of Columbia) 18 years of age or older So, if you qualify for the above two (for Indians this woul dbe more difficult ;)), head over to the site and win genuine products!

Popular Choice: Which Camera to buy?

Most of us already have a digital camera. So those of you looking for one or those looking for replacement camera, here is a good resource put out by Flickr called Camera Finder. Well one can now put your hands where your mouth is. So here is the best camera in each category: Overall: Canon EOS Digital Rebel XT Point & Shoot (this is the consumer category): Canon PowerShot SD400 Cameraphone: Sony Ericsson K750i The above rating is based on the no of people using the camera and uploading pictures in Flickr.   Technorati tags: technology , hardware , camera

Indian Indipodcast Scenario

Well here is little of indipodcasts that i have come to know about: http://www.podmasti.com/  - Mostly bollywood http://www.theindicast.com/  - Mostly economic issues   My thought about the podcasts is that they are totally non-professional. While i agree that these guys are first in the podcast scene the quality they are churning out is utterly ridiculous. why would you want to listen to them when inthe conversation you hear heavily accented language (hindi/ english/ mumbaiya)? hevay breathing and an occasional knock on the microphone is just another icing on the cake. So my advice to the podcasters, especially professional ones is: Get professional quality equipment. Bad equipment doesn't help Get some speaker training.. make the podcast pleasant to hear. In still nascent world of podcasting in India, there is already a beginning. Let's make the beginning a good start!

Microsoft beats Oracle in security showdown

Microsoft is beating Oracle hands down with the security of its database, according to a new report. Microsoft patched 59 vulnerabilities in its SQL Server 7, 2000 and 2005 databases during the period, while Oracle issued 233 patches for software flaws in its Oracle 8, 9 and 10g databases. read more  |  digg story

Windows PowerShell Released

Windows PowerShell (Microsoft’s new command line scripting and administration too) has officially RTW’d.  Most people that are familiar with both PowerShell and the Unix command say that PowerShell far surpasses any shell available on Unix. http://windowsvistablog.com/blogs/windowsvista/archive/2006/11/14/it-forum-day-one-windows-vista-and-windows-powershell.aspx http://blogs.msdn.com/powershell/archive/2006/11/14/windows-powershell-1-0-released.aspx http://www.leeholmes.com/blog/DownloadTheOfficialWindowsPowerShell10Release.aspx

MS Office Live leaves BETA and is released

Office Live had been in BETA for sometime for US market. It has now been released there. Officially, it still has to be released for India even though it is an online service. Office Live is targeted towards small businesses and offers them hosting combined with email and other small applications that they might need for day to day business. Nearly 200,000 have already participated in the Office Live beta and over 100 partners will be building solutions on this platform.  Office Live is a set of web-based products built to help small businesses attract and retain customers -- and ultimately grow -- by providing a business domain and company-branded e-mail, Web site hosting and easy-to-use design tools, and online tools and Workspaces to help manage their business and share with others.  Please visit the Office Live site to see these three great service offerings, ranging from free (yes, FREE) to $40 per month.  CNBC has a story on it at"   CNBC news story

Finding the newsletter solution

For Community Server , there doesn't seem to be a feature for sending a newsletter to only subscribed members. Here is a simple solution from JO Eriksson  on designing a simple opt out newsletter scheme for Community Server installation. Now the only thing while i was implementing it for Community Server 2.1 (Standard Edition) was that the Stored procedure (meant for migrating existing users into the role) produced in the post wasn't working for me. Appears there was a schema change in CS 2.1. I have modified the SP to work with CS 2.1 as follows:   CREATE TABLE #NewRole ( [UserId] [uniqueidentifier] NOT NULL , [RoleId] [uniqueidentifier] ) INSERT INTO #NewRole (UserID) select userid from aspnet_Users where userid not in ( select aspnet_users.userid from aspnet_UsersInRoles inner join aspnet_users on aspnet_Users.UserId = aspnet_UsersInRoles.UserId where aspnet_UsersInRoles.RoleId = 'bb497bc8-d18a-4244-8b1b-8aaa80dc974d' ) UPDATE #NewRole SET RoleID = 'bb497bc8

TCO: 'Cause decisions are driven by logic

It doesn't make sense to talk about TCO (Windows vs Linux) for any other country when your business is operating in India. So, how does Total Cost of ownership (TCO) look  like when your company is located in India and you are going to be deploying a large solution. Linux deplyoment is 15.9% MORE EXPENSIVE than Windows in India. this data has been provided by Frost & Sullivan and independently verified by Cap Gemini. Some interesting factiods about the study: Software cost is just about 6.8% of the TCO; Hardware constitutes about 46% of the TCO TCO of Linux is greater than that of Windows 2003 server by 15.9%   - Training cost are 60% higher on Linux servers than Windows 2003     server. Downtime costs on Linux servers are 25% higher than Windows 2003.   - Linux environments exhibit 30% higher soft costs than Windows 2003     server environments. TCO of Linux is greater than that of Windows across 3 workloads that account for nearly 80% of x86 servers   - Application

Being at IndiMix 06

the IndiMix 06 is all it promised and more. IMHO, MS has moved away from the regular "boring" event patterns of the past. the event this time has a very professional look - from badges to the notebooks. what is outstanding is the amount of AV that is being now used. wonderful opening videos, introduction videos and questions from people from across India. the event started with a larger than life presence of Steve Ballmer (i know people thought that SteveB was not going to be there at the event). his focus was primarly on the Live platform. the panel discussion was amazing that followed. The panelists were: Anil Kumble Shaadi.com CEO CEO - NDTV Online Hungama.com CEO GM, MSN India The questions were answered very well and i took a jab of the entreprenuership from there. And did I mention that there were XBOX 360s present at the venue for FIRST HAND EXPERIENCE! The meeting with MVPs is a high point for me (including Satheesh whom I met for the very first time!).. some notes wi

Microsoft Vista is Released

After releasing Office 2007, Microsoft has now made Vista available to market. The build no. of the RTM is 6000.16386. Some amazing facts on the journey to Windows Vista: Windows Vista will be available in over 100 languages. Windows Vista will have more than 50% more device drivers inbox at RTM than Windows XP had, plus thousands more will be on Windows Update before general availability. This means more devices just work on Plug and Play. Windows Vista is the first Microsoft product that has incorporated the Secure Development Lifecycle from the beginning There were already around 60,000 machines at Microsoft running Windows Vista Windows Vista is the fastest installing version of Windows (between 15 and 20 minutes) Today the release is only for busines users. General users will have to wait till Jan 30th when Vista becomes broadly available. I am truly excited for the new software that promises much better experience than even its latest RC1!

.NET Framework 3.0 Released

Microsoft .NET framework 3.0 has been officially released. this means that Vista will come with .NET framework 3.0 installed with it. .NET 3.0 will let the developers experience the entire power of Vista platform. More details here: http://www.netfx3.com/blogs/news_and_announcements/archive/2006/11/06/.NET-Framework-3.0-has-been-released_2100_.aspx

MS Office 2007 Released

Microsoft Office 2007 has been released to manufacture. In simpler terms, MS Office System 2007 is now a released product supported by MS. Some common questions i have heard: Does it mean it is zero bugs? No, it doesn't. For software to be released, it has to clear the ZBB (Zero Bug Build). However, there are bugs/ features that are always put for SP1. So, internally you can be sure that SP1 is on its way. Does it mean it is not good? No again. In the software development world this is the way to work. You release a product (time vs effort scenario) and then provide additional upgrades and fixes in time. Is the DVD for the same available? not yet for the general people. This time the release of the products has been staggered into a Business Release and General Availability. Nov 8th marks the business release. The general availability will be around end Jan 2007. For the business release, here is a website on value of MS OFfice to businesses (expect very little/ zero dev

Your site: Powered by Windows Live Search

Now you can use Windows Live Search to search your site. The Google Search box has been available for long and now Windows Liver Search gives it to you. The search button comes in 2 flavours: Advanced Search Box that allows your readers to search both your site and the web without leaving your site, by placing the search results in a pop-up <DIV> element. this is very cool. HTML Search Box that redirects your readers back to Live.com to see search results specific to your website or the web in general. You can generate your own Live Search button for your site at: http://search.live.com/siteowner?mkt=en-us The look and feel of the search box can be manipulated by modifying the script for Search button that is generated.

Watch SteveB Live in Mumbai at IndiMix and win XBOX 360

Image
The online extravaganza of the year… You wouldn't want to miss !!! Stars from the worlds of Cricket, Bollywood, Design and Enterprise take centre-stage, as Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer heralds “the next Web now”. Be sure to join us online to watch the entire event live from Mumbai!! Dont miss host Mandira Bedi as she anchors the online show and engages you in contests. Win thousands of really cool prizes! Entertainment. Sports. Design. Technology. Business. ON indiMIX ’06 - Internet TV… Witness the next era of Web. November 9 – Be on msn.co.in/indimix

Microsoft Office Accounting 2007 Express available for FREE

Microsoft has made Office Accounting 2007 available for FREE download. this would allow accountants to work on accounting for FREE. from the official site: "This application is tailored to the millions of home-based, sole proprietor and small businesses that currently use pen and paper or spreadsheets like Excel to do their accounting." More details are available at: http://www.sbaisbetter.com/overview.html

Windows Live Barcode Launched

Windows Live initiative has added another service to its boque called the Live Barcode. More details about the service is located at: https://barcode.ideas.live.com/ The idea here is to use a barcode sort of thing (QR Code) to exchange information. the live service will provide you with ability to create QR Code you can then use a decoder software to capture QR Code via a built-in camera.  I forsee a Windows Mobile application coming out soon for this :)

Windows Media Player 11 Released

In a recent poll with merawindows.com , Windows Media Player got the place as the "Favourite Media Player" with 56% of the votes. A close second was WinAmp with 24% of all the votes. At that time, the current version of the Windows Media Player was 10. Microsoft has now announced the release of Windows Media Player v11. You can download the same from here . A lot of plug ins as also available at: http://www.wmplugins.com/   Technorati tags: windows media player , software , microsoft

Windows Defender Released (RTM)

Simply put Windows Defender is FREE anti-spyware from Microsoft. the official description reads as - "Windows Defender is a free program that helps you stay productive by protecting your computer against pop-ups, slow performance and security threats caused by spyware and other potentially unwanted software."   Defender has been in BETA for quite sometime. It has now been released as a supported product at: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=435bfce7-da2b-4a6a-afa4-f7f14e605a0d&DisplayLang=en With BETA phase, the product gained huge maturity with community support (SpyNet). It is one of those elements that are quintessential to any PC installation. So, if it is not still on your PC, get it on!

New MVPs Announced for Q1 FY07

The MVP Program gives out annual award to community members who have demonstrated leadership in the community. Though one can apply anytime, the awards are announced once a quarter. The ones awarded this quarter are:   Abhishek Arya Visual Developer - ASP/ASP.NET Amit Agarwal Windows - Shell/User Anand Khanse Windows - Shell/User Aneesh Retnakaran Windows Server System - SQL Server Baalendu Sharma Windows - Shell/User Mahesh Mitkari Visual Developer - Visual C# Mahesh Satyanarayana Windows - Security Praveen Nair Visual Developer - ASP/ASP.NET Rahul Nathan Windows - Networking Saurav Srivastava Windows - Shell/User Sujay Sarma Visual Developer - Visual Basic Thota Umesh Windows - Shell/User Vishal Gupta Windows - Shell/User   More information at: www.microsoft.com/india/mvp   Technorati tags: india , MVP

Mobile Syncronisation from desktop data store a breeze

If you are a developer and have worked in mobile space the biggest hurdle would have been ensuring connectivity between desktop DB and the Mobile DB. Some of us used replication to get over the issue and the more daring ones used RDA or something highly customised. Microsoft has now come up with a very very cool alternative called the Access Database Synchronizer (ADS) that would synchronize the data from your Access database to the Mobile SQL DB via Active Sync. In official terms: Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Everywhere Edition Access Database Synchronizer provides a way to synchronize data between Microsoft Access database on a desktop and Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Everywhere Edition database on a device. The setup installs the desktop component required for synchronizing Microsoft Access database with SQL Server Everywhere Edition database on the device. It also includes a read me file which has the documentation for the solution and a sample application. The sample application show

Cider - Sept CTP is out!

The September Community Technology Preview (CTP) of Cider is now available! The September CTP of Cider is being released as part of the September CTP for Visual Studio Code Name 'Orcas' – Development Tools for .Net Framework 3.0. This toolset includes both Fidalgo and Cider. There are no any new features in this CTP. It is merely a refresh of August CTP bits to make them compatible with the new .Net Framework September CTP. The Cider feature set is identical to the feature set released in August. (For more info on the features available in August CTP, see August CTP Release Notes .) Full release notes and installation information for the September CTP are available on external Cider Wiki . But the basic install instructions are: 1. Visual Studio 2005 RTM 2. .Net Framework 3.0 September CTP 3. Visual Studio Code Name ‘Orcas’ for NetFX 3.0 Sept. CTP Category: microsoft , Visual Studio ------------------------------------------------------------------------

Are you a Blogger? Then be a Blogstar!!

Image
  The hunt is on. Microsoft is hunting for the best developer bloggers in India. Presenting the Microsoft BlogStars Contest! Create greater impact in the vibrant developer blogger community, showcase your thoughts and experiences around Microsoft technologies and technology in general. Here's your shot at glory. Register, blog your way to victory and become the first ever Microsoft BlogStars!  

XBOX 360 Launch in India

Image
It was Sept 23rd that XBOX 360 was launched in India at a fun filled evening at Ansal Plaza Atrium. We had Akshay Kumar doing a rope descent trick and a british troupe of trapez artists. You could even experience playing with XBOX 360 at the Experience Zone at the venue. The fun really began with Euphoria playing and people dancing. Another interesting thing was Palash (lead singer) and I share the same birthday (23rd Sept)... Amongst interesting questions was when would Halo 3 be coming to India? And that was answered with "sometime in 2007" by Peter Moore. Category: microsoft , india ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.

Becoming a Gaming MVP :)

With impending launch of XBOX 360 in India (23rd Sept 2006) a lot of people are excited. Some of the hard core gamers are readying to frag the opponents on XBOX 360. If you are an enthusiast and active in the community you can get nominate yourself as an MVP at: www.microsoft.com/india/mvp Here is an interesting post in which Microsoft Gaming MVPs talk about their community contribution: http://on10.net/Blogs/TheShow/3722/ Some gaming MVP sites: http://www.xbox365.com/ http://www.gamingsteve.com/ http://www.gamingsteve.com/ http://www.strategyinformer.com/ http://www.dreamstation.cc/   tags: microsoft , gaming , XBOX

Hunt for the Best Developer Bloggers in India by MS India

There are lots of great dev blogs out there.  Through a contest, Microsoft India hopes to engage the blogger community, garner mind-share with the folks. This does highlight that Microsoft is serious about bloggers!! Many of Microsoft employees are avid bloggers and Microsoft is one of the few companies with a pervasive blogger culture. Add to it there is really no blogging guideline within MS except - "Use your judgement"! This leads to very frank and unbiased (as unbiased as it can get) conversations!!   If you are a winner (amongst TOP 20), you will win some cool prizes and an opportunity to be a part of the MS Blogging Leadership Cell (MBC). Now even if you don't win you get to benefit from the huge traffic that being on Blogstar Blogroll can get you :).. so get the wagon on the road: www.microsoft.com/india/blogstars

Jim Allchin publishes open letter to Developers

Jim Alchin recently published an open letter to developers today to encourage the testing of applications on Vista and to further contextualize the developer opportunity on the Vista platform. Please see the attached link: http://msdn.microsoft.com/windowsvista/letter/default.aspx

हिन्दी दिवस : 14 सितम्बर

14 सितम्बर को हिन्दी दिवस था । कितनों ने ईसे मनाया ? कहीं कुछ हुआ हो की नहीं हमारी क्लोनी मे कवि सम्मेलन हुआ और ऐसा हुआ जिसका जवाब नहीं । हिन्दी के कुछ महान कवि आऐ - श्री उदय प्रताप सिन्ह, श्री शैलेश लोधा, श्री बशिर बद्र । कविता के माध्यम से काफी अच्छी बातें कही । दिल में ऐक ख्याल आया की बहुराषट्रिय कंपनियों में एसा कोई भी अवसर नही मनाया जाता । हिन्दी दिवस के उपल पर हिन्दी Search Engine के बारे में पता चला - http://www.raftaar.com  । इससे हिंदी भाषा का प्रयोग Internet पर बढेगा ।

New Game Discovered: Porok

Ok seriously, this is a fun video to watch.. really fun :) http://www.bestadsontv.com/ads_latest.php and click on the "Porok" video... Guaranteed to make you laugh and play some more !!!

Windows Shell Team launches community website

The Windows Shell Team has announced the first ever public presence on the Internet with shell: revealed ( http://www.shellrevealed.com/ ). The goal of this site is to connect to  community of users, developers, and 3 rd parties and to share collective knowledge of Windows. The core of the site is a team blog where members of the Shell team will post on various Windows-related topics; not just about Vista, but about Windows in general. This aims to be a  FAN site, a site for people that LOVE Windows and want to know more about the Shell Team (who they are, what they do, and how they do it). Here’s how you can get involved: · Help drive people to the site · Create discussion threads · Participate in discussion threads · Moderate discussions · Provide information/links for us to display on the site · Make the site fun – help create interesting content tags: microsoft , windows , community

Technology Myopia in Kerala

It doesn't happen everyday that a government sets itself in a way that may well turn out to be a disaster. The recent decision by Kerala Govt. to mandate Linux in high schools is just one of them. This is in the aftermath of having banned Colas in the state. ( So tell me are colas more dangerous or are cigrattes and alchol? Why not ban them instead? ) "Stallman has inspired Kerala’s transition" quotes the education minister. Since when did foreign nationals start insipiring Indian govts. to take action? The interest of a state and region are now better understod by a foreign national? "Achuthanandan’s government to develop the state as a FOSS (free and open software systems) destination" - WHY? WHY? the govt. is now deciding on behalf of its citizens what technology will students study? after liberalisation in '91, it was amply clear that there is merit in delinking economy and politics. why link up politics and technology now? I would really like to

Brian Valentine leaves MS

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/2003245359_microsoft06.html Brian Valentine the person behind the past three versions of Microsoft's flagship operating-system software toward completion, left MS on Friday (i.e. Sep 1) to take a senior position at Amazon.com . Of what i have hear about Brian, he was a much loved guy and a very unconventional one. His departure does seem to really cause a heartache. In the past few days, a slew of top executives have left the organisation. It worries me to see so many people leave. I wonder if it is a people's issue or something else (read change in guard at MS - Bill Gates retiring from the organisation and Steve Ballmer taking charge) microsoft

XBOX website in India launches

XBOX finally arrives in India with complete community support. Check out the Indian website of XBOX at: http://www.xbox.com/in You have forums and other great stuff that you can reach out to get support.

Windows 2003 Driver for Compaq NC6000 laptop

Today i tried to install Windows Server 2003 on Compaq NC6000. What a miserable failure! the OS installed fine but the most crucial drivers were not avaialble for the same. Namely, network etc. this means that i can't connect to internet or to my LAN. this sucks big time!! reaching to the instant support, i was informed that NC6000 doesn't support Windows Server 2003.. what crap! how can a generic hardware of a laptop not support? essentially, i have come to the conclusion that HP/ Compaq doesn't want us to install Windows Server 2003 on NC6000. Is this right?

In India? Get a FREE Vista BETA 2 DVD

Got to know of this great site, www.merawindows.com where you can register and receive a Windows Vista DVD for FREE. the registration at the site is FREE as well. The site aims to be the Community Site for Windows in India. I am already registered, are you? Once you complete registration (only takes 2 mins) remember to update your profile on the site as well to include your mailing address to which they will be shipping the DVD. to know how to update your address (it is not that intuitive), refer to the FAQs on the site.

Microsoft Acquisitions in 2006

On an average Microsoft acquires 10 - 12 companies an year, but this year it has acquired around 20 !!! As with any other acquirer, Microsoft buys  to fill a product gap or enter a new market or secure a new channel. Here's a list of companies acquired in 2006: Lionhead Studios Game developer of famed "Fable" franchise for Microsoft Game Studios Apptimum Provides products that automatically transfer customers’ applications to new computers StringBean Their WinTarget product is an Internet Small Computer System Interface SAN solution Seadragon Helps solve the challenges of viewing large datasets on small displays Onfolio In the Windows Live toolbar, its technologies enhance the way people discover and reuse Web research Vexcel Offers photogrammetry, imagery and remote sensing technologies MotionBridge Offers search technology for mobile operators and the mobile Internet FutureSoft DynaComm product helps protect against phishing attacks and other Web threats UMT He

FREE Training on Microsoft Office 2007

Exclusive chance for you to dive deep into the 2007 Microsoft Office System! Spend a few hours every day taking free online learning courses and you will witness a sea-change in the way you work. Get to know how much you know! Assess your current skills on Microsoft Office System. Offer valid till August 31, 2006. Calling out all office users! Who want to improve their productivity and efficiency. Follow these free online modules and learn What’s New in Office 2007…   Big time opportunity for Advanced users! Here is an exciting learning offer that takes you from threshold to the pinnacle of the 2007 Microsoft Office  System. Sign up for free online trainings & courses to get familiar with new suites, servers and programs of Office 2007.   More to come for Developers… Check out for the new courses on 2007 Microsoft Office System in  June end. • Take an inside look at building and developing solutions with Microsoft Office SharePoint Servers 2007 •Learn how to develop solut

Blogcasting using Microsoft Tools

If you ever wanted to blogcast, here is an interesting link to explore: http://blogs.technet.com/jhoward/archive/2005/01/24/359391.aspx John here explains in detail the use of Windows Media Encoder (a FREE utility) for recording your blogcasts :)

Web Service Software Factory Released

This deliverable is available on MSDN at: http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/en-us/dnpag2/html/servicefactory.asp The Web Service Software Factory, also known as the Service Factory, enables developers and architects to build more consistent, higher quality distributed systems with less effort. The Service Factory is based upon a robust layered architecture and includes written and automated guidance that spans all layers of a service including the service interface, business logic and data access logic. The Service Factory helps build services using technologies available today that are aligned with future technologies – specifically WCF and LINQ. The following list represents some of the challenges addressed in this release: Designing messages and service interfaces. Applying exception shielding and handling. Designing business entities in the domain model. Translating messages to and from business entities. Designing, building, and invoking the data access layer. Planning for

Microsoft Photosynth

Microsoft Photosynth takes the idea of photo stitching several steps further, by reconstructing the photographs in quasi-3D. Quasi because it doesn't build up a 3d model, but it lets you look around and does all the stitching in realtime. The best thing is that it has markers where all the photos were taken. It uses uploaded photos from various people and stitches them together to create a live photo panorama of the location e.g. different photos from different people of Qutab Minar can be stitched together to create a virtual tour. Next when someone uploads the Qutab Minar pic, it automatically calculates and assimilates the photo. This is the first release apparently from  Microsoft Live Labs’ . The actual application may be released in the near future around Oct 2006. This project is a result of cross group collaboration with the University of Washington , Microsoft Research , recent acquisition Seadragon Software , PIX , and Windows Live Local . The videos give a taste of t

Windows Live Mail Desktop BETA

What is Windows Live Mail Desktop? One place to see e-mail from multiple accounts? Even AOL and Gmail? That's exactly what you'll get when you download this zippy little program. It's an easy new way to keep track of your newsgroups and RSS feeds, too.   Features: · Junk and phishing protection · Support for RSS feeds · Photo email (share & publish your photos as slideshows to the internet!) · Blog it! · 3 pane view of email · Integration with Windows Live Messenger · Active Search · Multiple account aggregation · Instant Search · Free client access to your hotmail account · Lots more and with even more to come!   How to get it? 1. Go to http://ideas.live.com 2. Find the tile for “Windows Live Mail Desktop beta” 3. Click on “sign up” (if you’re NOT signed in with your Passport email address) 4. Click on “download” (if you ARE signed in with your Passport email address) 5. Walk through the beta agreement and accept. 6. Download and you’re done! 7. Be su

Office Developer Webcasts

The Office Platforms Team has begun a new series of webcasts devoted to developing the new breed of applications for Microsoft Office System 2007 hosted by the experts themselves. These webcasts provide great depth on the massive amount of new features in Microsoft Office System and the great tools support built in and available through Visual Studio and the new VSTO tools. Air Time (Pacific Standard Time) Webcast Title Presenter 7/11/2006 10:00 AM Overview of Developer Technologies for Windows SharePoint Services Mike Ammerlaan 7/12/2006 10:00 AM ARCast: Hey Architects! Meet the 2007 Office System Ron Jacob 7/18/2006 10:00 AM Developing SharePoint Workflows Using Visual Studio 2005 Eilene Hao 7/19/2006 10:00 AM Designing Collaborative Business Processes with the 2007 Microsoft Office System Atanu Banerjee 8/8/2006 10:00 AM Introduction to Visual Studio Tools for the 2007 Microsoft Office System Eric Carter 8/9/2006 10:00 AM Integrating Your Solutions with the 2007 Microsoft O

Do you need a Live QnA invite?

What is Live QnA? Windows Live QnA  lets you ask any question and get the answers from people who have the answers you’re looking for. If you want to try that out, please leave a comment here and i would send you an invite. I only have 5 invites that are flying out FAST!!! I have a special preference for people who have used Yahoo Q&A as well :)

MSN Spaces about to be reborn as Live Spaces

With evolution of MSN Services to Live, spaces can't be left behind. Live Spaces is just around the block, about to be released. For a preview of what's new, checkout: http://discoverspaces.live.com/ In sort, the story is enhanced photo sharing and social networking experience!

DotNetNuke - How to make Site Performance ROCKING!!

my experience is based on DNN 3.3.3 and on trying to figure out how to run a site faster on DNN.. i am running SQL Server 2005 Standard Edition SP1 and Windows Server 2003 Standard Edition SP1. my hardware is a dedicated machine running 1 GB RAM, P4 3.0 GHz and 120 GB HDD. Have also enabled IIS Compression http://www.24dnn.com/tabid/59/ctl/ArticleView/mid/404/articleId/10/Enabling-ISS-Compression-in-IIS6.aspx   First thing to make sure is that network, disk and CPU nos are running fine.. you can use Performance Monitor to see these nos.. Network: Avaialble Bandwidth CPU: % Processor Disk: % Disk Time   Initially my HDD was showing almost 100% disk time all the time. i had to request a hard disk change from my hoster (which they graciously did!)   the CPU utilization after hard disk change was almost running 100%. Some host level changes that I implemented: Turn off all schedules by Scheduler Mode to Disabled. Actually, the blocking schedule was for sea