Windows Vista – Underestimated?

Some facts (and not opinions or hearsay) about Vista:

1. Worldwide Reach: Over 140 million licenses sold to date.

2. Adopted as fast as Windows XP: Millions of enterprise seats deployed, and growing on pace to deploy at a similar rate to Windows XP among businesses.

3. Enhanced Security: Less than half the vulnerabilities of Windows XP; a machine is 60% less likely to be infected with malware vs. Windows XP

4. Hardware Compatible: Over 79,000 devices and components are supported out of the box – 47,000 more since RTM.

5. Application Compatible: Over 200 Line of Business applications unblocked, 99 percent of top selling consumer applications are compatible.

6. Solid Performance: In recent tests, Windows Vista Service Pack 1 was noticeably more responsive after rebooting than Windows XP on several common business operations.

7. Total Cost of Ownership: Reports show $251 per mobile PC per year in cost savings.

8. Energy Efficient: Energy savings of $38.3 thousand per year for a well-managed 2,500 PC organization.

Some Positive articles about Vista in press:

· CRN, “Shout it from the rooftops: Vista’s more secure,” http://www.crn.com/software/205918138

· CBS News, “Don’t Fear the Vista from Your Windows,” http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/06/30/scitech/pcanswer/main4218082.shtml?source=search_story

· CNET, “Microsoft to businesses: Now is the time to switch to Vista,” http://news.cnet.com/8301-10784_3-9959703-7.html

· Wall Street Journal, “Vista Looks to Pioneers,” http://online.wsj.com/article/SB119007886334230695.html

· PC World, “Windows Vista: 15 Reasons to Switch,” http://www.pcworld.com/printable/article/id,128656/printable.html

· TheStreet.com, ”Why Upgrade to Vista?” http://www.thestreet.com/funds/goodlife/10356669.html

Technorati tags: tags, vista, windows

Silverlight 2: BETA 2 Releasing

Silverlight 2 BETA 2 will be releasing later in this week. Silverlight 2 improved over Silverlight 1 by incorporating .NET CLR in it thereby immensely improving the usefulness..

The BETA 2 now takes Silverlight 2 to “Enterprise Ready” status with a commercial go-live license available… Some improvements included in BETA 2 are:

• New and improved controls (over 40 new controls - button, check box, date controls, gridview, layout, TabControl, text wrapping and scrollbars for TextBox, and for DataGrid additions include Autosize, Reorder, Sort)
• Networking improvements (cross-domain networking support for calling REST, WS*/SOAP, POX, RSS, and standard HTTP services, upload support for WebClient, and duplex communications)
• Data handling Improvements (can now provide one way or two way databinding to any number of data sources including LINQ)
• Improvements in error handling, reporting and development experience
• Updates to Deep Zoom and animation  (XML-based file format for Deep Zoom image tiles, as well as a new MultiScaleTileSource that enables existing tile databases to utilize Deep Zoom. build ads that plug into Silverlight and work with myriad network and syndication providers in the ecosystem)
• Updates to ensure WPF compatibility
• General improvements in performance and keyboard input support

One of the beacon deployments of Silverlight is going to be at Beijing Olympic Games where it will be used to  deliver an exclusive access to over 3000 hours of live and on-demand video content.

Silverlight 2 is going to debut in Fall of 2008.

Can you think of getting left behind?

Technorati tags: silverlight 2, beta 2, RIA

Virtual PC releases SP1: Build a machine inside ur machine today

Microsoft has released its service pack for the Virtual PC 2007 software. Virtual PC is a Windows software that lets you “virtualise” computer hardware so that you can run heterogeneous operating systems on your machine – actually much better than dual booting option…

If you followed my twitters, I had been trying to get a VPC running with Windows Server 2008 Standard Core. It was unsuccessful. Even after successful completion all i would get is a black empty window.

With SP1 release now following OS support has been added:

Windows Vista® Ultimate Edition with Service Pack 1 (SP1)
Windows Vista® Business Edition with Service Pack 1 (SP1)
Windows Vista® Enterprise Edition with Service Pack 1 (SP1)
Windows Server® 2008 Standard
Windows XP Professional with Service Pack 3

And now i have been able to create my VPC successfully..

SP1 is now available at Microsoft download.

But before you go building ur VPCs here are few things i learnt (and you should too):

1. I started with a Core 2 Duo machine with 2 GB RAM. You need a BIG machine to get started.
2. Ample free space on your primary Hard disk partition is required (around the size of OS ur trying to install). I started from 2.21 GB free HDD space and while building the VPC only 826 MB remained.
3. If you are using virtual hard disk make sure you provide it room to grow to the maximum available size on the HDD. (The recommendation for Server 2008 is 512 MB RAM and 65536 MB HDD space.)
4. Close all applications esp Internet Explorer. The Virtual PC consumed from 5- 50% of CPU and around 43 MB of commit memory size. However, IE was a memory hog with all its add-ins..
5. The final install of Windows Server 2008 Core is around 1.5 GB on HDD.

Start buildling ur VPC today!

Technorati tags: virtual PC, Windows Server 2008 core, creating VPC, SP1

OpenXML wins ISO Standardisation and gets Better with Community

The FINAL verdict on ISO standardisation is out and OpenXML is now an ISO standard.

This standardisation process (that has consensus at its heart) has given an overwhelming endorsement (with 86% of voting national bodies) for ratification of OpenXML as an ISO standard.

The ISO standardisation process has strengthened the OpenXML standard making it much better than ever before. What is even better is that OpenXML is now in stewardship of the community and NOT “owned” by any company. The real motives  behind the protectionist “Open Source” (what a fallacy) lobby now stands exposed..

A lot of countries changed their votes from “No” to “Yes” after their comments were addressed during the Ballot Resolution Meeting process. While the LITD 15 Committee at the BIS didn’t endorse the OpenXML standard but the positive endorsement of various industry bodies and India’s leading IT companies prove that OpenXML has opened up a huge business opportunity for everybody! It has the potential to become the next Y2K goldmine that most of the Indian companies owe their fortunes to..

Another debate that gets settled is that we do need different standards as much as we need different products in the ecosystem.. the strongest standard would only gain widespread adoption and will survive! we don’t need to artificially create barriers for standards or products..

However, the work for Microsoft has only begun.. it needs to continue to work in an open & collaborative manner with various bodies and continue to bring more standards to marketplace.

And the community can reliably start building solutions using OpenXML standard. Here’s what one of my friends from community suggested someone should do - “Build a lightweight FREE application that people can use to author OpenXML documents on their PCs”.. now let the innovation begin!

Related Posts:

Witness the Academia - Industry divide!

OpenXML and ISO standardisation: Community contribution shines

OpenXML: Microsoft gets it right, will India too?

Use Java with OpenXML

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

Technorati tags: OpenXML, ISO, India

Microsoft licenses Flash lite for Windows Mobile Devices

At the recently concluded Mix 08, Microsoft showcased Silverlight 2.0 working on Windows Mobile. In addition, Nokia licensed Silverlight to display on its mobile device.

In a recent news, it is said that Microsoft is licensing Flash Lite for display with Windows Mobile Devices. Here's what ZDNET thinks of it: http://blogs.zdnet.com/BTL/?p=8240

Now i don't think what ZDNET thinks is at all on the mark for the following reasons:

1. it has already being displayed at Mix 08 and I don't doubt that it is going to come out soon.
2. If MS has to dissect Flash lite to learn it, there is no need to license the same.
3. Why wud MS want to make Adobe look relevant, when it is fighting Silverlight war with Flash and Expression suite war with Adobe designer suite?

I think:

1. Microsoft will continue to prefer Silverlight for its mobile devices.
2. Flash Lite provides Windows Mobile owners additional avenue of using content.
3. In the new found Interoperability "karma", Microsoft may want various technologies to play on Windows Mobile.

In any case, it is the ultimate consumers who are going to benefot from this deal!

Technorati tags: flash. mobile. silverlight

OpenXML: Microsoft gets it right, will India too?

What does being an Indian meant to me till now? i think it has been assimilating various cultures in my personal value systems and being better than all of them.. the sum of all is greater than cultures added together..

OpenXML is the same.. it provides a culture new to us that promises efficiencies in the future.. it is upto us to take up all that is there and make a story better than each of them put together.. different cultures, different standards have been always beneficial for the world leading to choice & ensuring the survival of the fittest... if TCP/IP was not given a chance in the world dominated by Novell Netware's XNS stack, would Internet ever be around?

OpenXML is the "opening" up of Microsoft Office. the earlier binary format of MS Office is now available for viewing & working upon by anyone. This has been a long way for Microsoft when in 2004 EU recommended that MS opens it Office formats. there may have been licenses granted to 3rd party developers for building products but OpenXML makes it available to all the developers of the Microsoft Technology ecosystem.

Microsoft does get things wrong but with OpenXML it is bang on target.. why shouldn't it be when OpenXML was formulated out of concerns of the community that uses its products. MS first decided to present OpenXML as an ECMA standard in 2006. i had posted about OpenXML being adopted as an ECMA standard here.

Next when it was put forward to be ratified as a standard from ISO, India decided to vote against the same in Sept 2007!

This I think is primarily against Indian values of giving everyone a fair chance! here are some of the reasons that India should reconsider their stand on OpenXML:

1. Microsoft technologies are an ecosystem like any other technology. Killing a standard here amounts to killing an ecosystem! does india want its IT story to turn sour? Not only Microsoft ecosystem but also Java ecosystems as OpenXML can be leveraged from Java as well. Here is an example of using Java on OpenXML.
2. OpenXML provides an opportunity to convert numerous Office documents of yesteryears to be converted to open format so that it be maintained and acted upon now and in future? OpenXML ensures long term preservation of content.
3. OpenXML is technically superior to competing formats given it has support for custom schemas i.e. for any document format that your company devises. Not only this, it has great accessibility support and focuses on maintaining fidelity in the office documents.
4. Does Govt. of India want to be seen as a closed economy or be seen as a cultivator of open economy encouraging better products and services?
5. The OpenXML standard is available for FREE and there is no IP issues around the same. Given the freedom that OpenXML provides, what could be so wrong with OpenXML?
6. Microsoft as a company has given many good products and technologies to the world (including the now famous AJAX)... why should a company with such wide penetration and technical depth be not supported in opening up its technologies to the world?

One does wonder though if OpenXML was developed by Microsoft to serve it "secret" purpose? In fact, the standard was developed in consultation with a lot of companies and many others have already implemented support in their products e.g. Apple, Corel, Novell, IBM (Websphere Portal, DB2 Content Manager V8.4, Lotus Quickr, Lotus Symphony & DB2 9 pureXML) & Google (use filetype:docx, filetype:xlsx, filetype:pptx in your search terms).. Now doesn't it seem ironic that many of these companies are at forefront of opposing OpenXML standard?

There are primarily 2 reasons for this contradiction:

1. Some companies want to use the standardization process as a barrier to trade.. getting a standard disapproved shields them from ever facing competitive threats in the govt. procurement. this should never be allowed to happen!
2. Given widespread adoption of MS Office technologies, these vendors don't want to be cutoff from the opportunity OpenXML brings about in the market.. we should welcome the move as it encourages competition.. what can be more exciting than an IBM product that does a better job handling Office formats than Microsoft does :) ?

So what is the current situation and do we have a second chance to correct our mistakes?

As of now, MS has provided solutions to all 3,522 comments that were raised on the specification by various national bodies. This gives India time will Feb 25th to study the specifications after which there will be a Ballot Resolution Meeting in Geneva from February 25 – 29. Following this conference, the National Bodies will then have 30 days to evaluate their final position on OpenXML as a standard.

And if there is a 3rd party non-sponsored indepth report one may wish to see on OpenXML, here is one from Burton group: http://www.zdnetindia.com/index.php?action=articleDescription&prodid=16128&biznews=biztechNews

And here's the community that supports OpenXML: www.openxmlcommunity.org

I hope when the time comes to finally vote, we stand true to our character of being Indians & embrace all the variety that world has to offer to us..

Technorati tags: openXML, india

mySQL won't shine with Sun Acquisition

mySQL - the poster child of Open source DBs has being acquired by Sun Microsystems. this gives mySQL a shot in the arm as far as funding goes.. what remains to be seen is whether mySQL will continue on its own flavour of Open Source or change course as Star Office did?

this also puts Sun in direct competition with Oracle & IBM with their own brands of DB they are trying to push in the market. the vendor competition is always strong in the Linux areas where Oracle & IBM both place their products. Sun has now directly engaged with Oracle & IBM (both with their Open source marketing tactic blaring loudly).. claims to who is a better open source advocate are bound to come up soon...

This may not effect MS SQL market much given that organisations make their choice of platform earlier and choose database later on.

Another glaring issue IMHO is the integration of cultures of two organisations.. from what it looks like, Sun has a very corporate culture while mySQL has a more fun & open culture where singing songs is a tradition.. imagine singing song in Sun HQ :).. these differences generally become visible when people start leaving.. Sun will have to manage this difference - maybe embrace & assimilate or change the culture at mySQL..

However, a trend that can be discerned is the commoditisation of IT..  how do companies make profit in these cases? how does Red Hat make money when its entire business is based on a FREE product? or how does mySQL (& now Sun) make money when it is a FREE product? the business model around this that has emerged is of providing service.. and the ability to provide service increases when you make the product tough to implement to the degree that you would essentially need service to use that FREE product..

to me the future of mySQL from open source (as in FREE) seems challenging with the acquisition by Sun!

Technorati tags: mySQL, Sun

Low Cost PCs make their debut in India

With Tata's Nano starting the low cost revolution, it is time IT caught up with its own version :).. Today's papers are talking about HCL releasing a new laptop for INR 14,000/- or USD 350. A widely known project on similar lines has been OLPC that promises to deliver laptops at USD 100 or INR 4000. Indian govt. seems to have rejected that concept all together.

The HCL PC has 2 GB flash based (solid state) drive instead of a  regular Hard Drive. Other features include 7" LCD, built-in wireless, USB, PC Card socket and runs Linux. Reference:

http://www.ciol.com/content/15108102822.aspx

In a similar news, Sify has been planning to create a thin client device that can serve as set-top box and connect with servers in the backend. It is using Windows CE to run this think client. This service will run on subscription model.

What needs to be seen is would consumers buy crippled, single purpose devices (e.g. for browsing) from these vendors? while on paper, the low cost looks good, would people settle for less? the computer signifies the "next" step for most Indian house holds, are they willing to compromise on their aspirations? my bet is that households wudn't buy a "cheap" dream...

the alternative channel that these PCs need to explore is to come to the market via govt agencies and channels like PDS..

Technorati tags: PC, cheap

Performing Excorsism on my PC

Not real ghosts!

But ghost applications that are not reported in the Add/ Remove Programs on the PC? this may happen with any program and then they just keep consuming memory and CPU.. how do u get rid of them?

In one of my machines, i was seeing SQLExpress instances running when i had uninstalled the same already..

the research on the internet led to: http://blogs.msdn.com/astebner/archive/2005/09/13/465401.aspx

here's the trick:

1. Download msiinv.zip
2. Extract the contents of msiinv.zip to the folder c:\msiinv on your system
3. Click on the Start menu, choose Run, type cmd and click OK
4. Run c:\msiinv\msiinv.exe -p > c:\msiinv_output.txt
5. Look at the output from msiinv.exe in a text editor such as notepad and locate each of the products that are installed that have SQL 2005 in the name
6. Click on the Start menu, choose Run and type cmd
7. For each of the SQL 2005 product codes found in the msiinv.exe output, run msiexec /x {Product Code} from the cmd prompt - this command will likely generate the same errors shown above but it is good to run it just in case
8. Download the smartmsizap tool
9. For each of the SQL 2005 product codes found in the msiinv.exe output, run smartmsizap.exe /p {Product Code} from the cmd prompt

Go exorcise the ghosts from your PC..

Technorati tags: uninstalling applications, windows

Outlook satiates at 3GB

Well u can say that i am a power user of Outlook :).. i realised this recently when my local PST file went to about 3.3 GB... i was blissfully unaware till -

there were no mails coming to Outlook anymore.

so how bad did it look?

when i received a mail it wud show up for a moment in my Windows mobile device that is set to sync with Exchange.. then it would vanish and since my default location is my local PST, i wud expect to find it there.. the problem was Outlook 2007 SP1 didn't have the mails that it was supposed to be having..

now, i mentioned that i am a power user and if i don't have a mail in 10 secs i know that something is wrong! this went on for around a day!

enter tech support.. the single pointed agenda for us then was to reduce the size of PST to around  1GB... a lot of mails were deleted.. then a new PST created and mails moved over so that my default PST was around 1GB.. i was informed that the maximum recommended PST file size for Outlook was 2 GB.. then it was time for a reboot...

voila! the mails were back, even the ones that had vanished.. it is now time to action each of those mails :)

Technorati tags: outlook, PST

Office 2007 SP1 is Released

Get the Office 2007 SP1 here:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=9EC51594-992C-4165-A997-25DA01F388F5&displaylang=en

this SP1 appears for the client tools. i am still waiting for the WSS SP1 to come through!

Technorati tags: Office SP1

BarCamp 3 in Delhi

The Delhi/NCR BarCamp was my first experience with "unconference" style meetings. I decided to attend the same even though it takes me 2 hours drive one way to get there. Delhi can be a confusing place to drive in if u r starting from Gurgaon, crossing whole of Delhi and then crossing whole of Noida :)

The first thing i noticed at the venue was that the car parking was full! I was registrant no # 108 (and i guess a total of around 125 out of 240 registrants ~50%) and was aided very helpfully through the registration process. The enthusiasm at the camp was infectious as the moment i landed I was accosted by Sun Partner company - Navisite who were canvassing about their offerings for Startups!

The sessions were being held in 2 rooms - one on blogging and one on core technology. The interest in blogging was apparent! However at the event, the focus was networking.

The audience mainly consisted of startups, entrepreneurs and freelancers. it was clear that technology of choice for startups was PHP, mySQL alongwith Linux backend.. MS needs to hugely amplify the talk about its offerings for startups..

I attended the following sessions:

1. 4Ps of Blog Marketing
2. Building a successful blog
3. Delhi Bloggers
4. Designing Usable Social Applications
5. Ruby on Rails
6. Mashups

Session to session sentiment caught at my twitter.

I chose to present on a simple topic - Everyday productivity using Windows Live Tools. You can get the presentation (~ 368.4 KB, adjusted to include URLs) at:

http://cid-b57885a726c2b921.skydrive.live.com/self.aspx/Presentations/Everyday%20Productivity.pptx

To view the same, you might need the PowerPoint 2007 Viewer available here.

Stolen moments from the BarCamp are available here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/buddychints/sets/72157603420748406/

Another outstanding feature was the level of infrastructure that the organisers were able to provide at the event. this included - very yummy food, pens & notepads and free internet! hats off to the volunteer organisers due to whom the event was even possible and was such a large success!

Technorati tags: barcamp, live tools, productivity

Read Office 2007 docs on Windows Mobile

If you have been using Windows Mobile to read documents on the fly, you know that till now Office 2007 docs cudn't be read... :(

Office Mobile 6.1 has now been released for Windows Mobile 5.0 Pocket PC and Windows Mobile 6 devices.  The upgrade is a free download and will allow you to open and edit Office 2007 file format documents from Word (.docx) and Excel (.xlsx) You can also view Powerpoint 2007 (pptx) documents. 

Other improvements include:
• Enhanced viewing experience for charts in Excel Mobile.
• Ability to view SmartArt in PowerPoint Mobile.
• Ability to view and extract files from compressed (.zip) folders.

This free upgrade works only for Windows Mobile powered devices that have an earlier version of Office Mobile.

Well i tried to install the same on my HP 6965, but the upgrade failed.. i am still investigating..

Technorati tags: mobile, office 2007

Use Java with OpenXML

The set of people crying hoarse over OpenXML and the problems it poses should pay attention to this:

Microsoft has provided a sample demo that shows OpenXML usage in Java ...  The demo shows the interoperability available to people irrespective to the choice of technology they make. I think this further demonstrates that OpenXML is a standard rather than proprietary information format that many believe it is..

In this demonstration ability to allow Java programs to consume Excel spreadsheets directly and to create Excel spreadsheets on the fly is shown.

Let ODF up the ante with a .NET - ODF demo... nah! they don't have time.. busy bashing Microsoft on some gathering i presume?

Get the code here: http://www.codeplex.com/openxmljavademo

Technorati tags: OpenXML, Java, interoperability, standards

Microsoft Software Licensing & Protection Services

Microsoft has released a new toolkit that is guaranteed to make the ISVs and other software houses jump in delight.. drum rolls for rollout of MS Software Licensing & protection services..

the MS SLP provides reliable, convenient, and more secure way to distribute your software.

with .NET assemblies it is still possible to reverse engineer the code with right tools and enough time :).. to protect the code on a commercial basis MS SLP provides an interesting option.. Managing licensing & activation is also where MS SLP can help.

While the advanced services are avaialble for a price, the code protection is available for FREE at: http://www.microsoft.com/SLPS/downloads.aspx

To read more: http://www.microsoft.com/SLPS/

Technorati tags: SLP, code protection

Visual Studio 2008 and .NET 3.5 Released

Visual Studio 2008 has finally come out of the BETA tag and has RTMed! Alongwith the release of VS 2008, .NET 3.5 has also been released. Not only meant for professional developers alone, Visual Studio 2008 also comes in Express Editions that are available for FREE. The products can be downloaded here.

I have been running VS 2008 BETA 2 for sometime and it has been simply wonderful. the best feature in VS 2008 has got to be multi-targetting that enables VS 2008 to target .NET 2.0, 3.0 or 3.5 development. Not only that, VS 2008 can also be used to develop Silverlight applications.

However, as a community person the feature that is killer for me is support for developing Web 2.0 applications that is included in VS 2008. This includes:

1. AJAX Support
2. JavaScript Intellisense
3. JSON Support
4. RSS and ATOM support

The above capabilities are enough to develop all the Web 2.0 applications and in fact i have used VS 2008 to develop a facebook application for reporting Traffic Violations (still under development). you can reach the facebook application here.

The rest the releases namely Windows Server 2008 and SQL server 2008 would be coming in the first quarter of 2008.

Read the release announcement here.

Technorati tags: Visual Studio 2008, annoucement

Windows SteadyState 2.5 BETA launched

Windows SteadyState let's you restore your PC to an earlier stage. Earlier it was called the Shared Computer Toolkit... While it has been available for Windows XP, a BETA version for Vista is now available. If you are interested in this, you can get a BETA at: http://forums.microsoft.com/WindowsToolsandUtilities/ShowPost.aspx?PostID=2420600&SiteID=69

The Windows SteadyState 2.5 Beta is also featured on the Microsoft Connect Homepage : http://connect.microsoft.com/site/sitehome.aspx?SiteID=286

Technorati tags: steadystate, Vista

Upgrading DotNetNuke Forums to 4.04.1

One of the most widely used features in any community is the forums... DotNetNuke - my personal favorite had a forum module as well...

recently a new version of DNN - 4.7 was released alongwith a new updated forums module - 4.4.1. we quickly upgraded the forums on our DNN installation.

after the install which was uneventful, all the members at the site got the administrator rights for the forum. this gave us a few anxious moments. on research we discovered that while earlier, forums module needed "Edit" permission for all users, the latest release doesn't require the same. all that was required was to limit the permissions for the forum users to "Read" for the module! the forums are looking good and working great!

And yes, if you are looking for the drop down to edit permissions, you can do so by selecting the "Edit" radio button located at the top of the page.

Technorati tags: DotNetNuke, upgrade, forums

New Versions of Windows Live Applications Released

Microsoft has today released enhanced versions of Live Applications that include Messenger, Live Writer, Live Mail, Live Photo Gallery and Family Safety Beta.

In fact each of these new applications deserve a deeper review but for this post, i would limit to the enhancements that these applications offer:

• Now you can post your photos to Flickr in addition to Windows Live Spaces directly from inside Windows Live Photo Gallery
• Set up your events, manage invitations, and collect photos from everyone using Windows Live Events
• Live Calendar let's you manage your schedule and share your availability.
• Automatically rotate and group your photos by time when you import them using Windows Live Photo Gallery
• Windows Live Writer lets you work off-line and easily add maps, videos, pictures, and more to your blog
• Keep all your e-mail in one place using Windows Live Mail
• Use Windows Live OneCare Family Safety to keep track of your what children are doing on-line
• Set up a vacation auto-reply in Windows Live Hotmail
• Use the unified contacts for all your communications in Windows Live, including pictures and gleam notifications in Windows Live Messenger to keep up with updates from your contacts on Windows Live Spaces

All this is available at one location: http://www.windowslive.com

And also announced is the availability of @live.com domain emails. You can even migrate your existing @hotmail.com account to @live.com. http://www.windowslive.com/freshstart.html

Technorati tags: windows live, live calendar

Windows Live Messenger IM Control for your blog/ website

here's a blog/website widget that is sure to get you jumping in your chair - the Live Messenger IM Control.

The Windows Live Messenger IM Control lets people on the Web reach you in via your normal Messenger interface. The control also shows your Messenger status. Live Messenger IM Control just runs in the browser and lets site visitors message you without requiring Messenger on the visitor's machine.  It doesn't even require the visitor to have a Live Messenger account as they can post as anonymous user. The IM Control is supported in IE6, IE7, and Firefox 2.0 on Windows and Firefox 2.0 on Mac OS. 

So, how do you get started?

To use the IM Control:

1. Go to http://settings.messenger.live.com/applications/websettings.aspx.  Sign in with your Windows Live ID as needed.

2. Turn on your Web settings to show your presence and receive IM from the Web. 

3. Pick a way to show your presence (the icon or the mini-messenger window)

4. Copy the HTML from the page and post it on your Web site.

5. When a visitor comes to you page, they can click on “Begin a conversation” to start sending you IM. 

I have implemented this already and you can see it in action located to the right here. the only customisation i made was changing the width of the iframe to fit in the narrow right margin of this page.

Note that if you turn on Web settings, anybody on the Web can see your presence and send you IM messages.

to view a more step by step instruction, please click here.

Technorati tags: Live Messsenger IM Control, blog widget