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05 Sep, 2008
Monday, November 24, 2008
Windows Azure (Red Dog) as : Never Seen Before
How can you explain a cloud operating system in just 145 seconds? Microsoft has the perfect answer to this, and you will be able to find the video embedded at the bottom of this article. Moreover, the Redmond company also managed to add comic value to its inhouse developed video explanation of Windows Azure, codenamed Red Dog. The video does not manage to break any cinematic boundaries, but it is a testimony of how much Microsoft has evolved its communications strategy.
“OK, so it’s hardly Monty Python but… This was a bit of work that myself, Mark Quirk, Michael McClary, George and Will worked on as a simple explanation of Azure (RedDog at the time…). Yes, that’s me on the treadmill with the bandage on my head. The things we do,” revealed Marc Holmes, Evangelist at Microsoft UK.
“Holmesey reckons it’s not exactly Monty Python but I’m not so sure…this is the video our DPE gurus put together for our UK company conference to explain Red Dog (aka Windows Azure). They get the message across in 145 seconds of comic value. Seriously, Mark and Marc’s talents are wasted in DPE,” stated Microsoft's Steve Clayton.
A more by the book definition of Windows Azure is an Internet-scale cloud services platform which uses Microsoft datacenters for hosting. Via Azure, Microsoft is essentially offering an Internet operating system along with a collection of tools and services designed to enable developers to build Cloud applications.
But at the same time, Windows Azure is not limited to just Cloud applications. The platform supports applications designed to run on connected devices, as well as on PCs and on servers, and even online and on-premise hybrid programs.
Microsoft released the first Community Technology Preview of Windows Azure at the Professional Developers Conference in Los Angeles at the end of October.
“OK, so it’s hardly Monty Python but… This was a bit of work that myself, Mark Quirk, Michael McClary, George and Will worked on as a simple explanation of Azure (RedDog at the time…). Yes, that’s me on the treadmill with the bandage on my head. The things we do,” revealed Marc Holmes, Evangelist at Microsoft UK.
“Holmesey reckons it’s not exactly Monty Python but I’m not so sure…this is the video our DPE gurus put together for our UK company conference to explain Red Dog (aka Windows Azure). They get the message across in 145 seconds of comic value. Seriously, Mark and Marc’s talents are wasted in DPE,” stated Microsoft's Steve Clayton.
A more by the book definition of Windows Azure is an Internet-scale cloud services platform which uses Microsoft datacenters for hosting. Via Azure, Microsoft is essentially offering an Internet operating system along with a collection of tools and services designed to enable developers to build Cloud applications.
But at the same time, Windows Azure is not limited to just Cloud applications. The platform supports applications designed to run on connected devices, as well as on PCs and on servers, and even online and on-premise hybrid programs.
Microsoft released the first Community Technology Preview of Windows Azure at the Professional Developers Conference in Los Angeles at the end of October.
Microsoft Accepting Input on Silverlight 3 Features
In mid-October Microsoft made available for download the RTW (release to web) Build of Silverlight 2, and now the company is already looking forward to the next iteration of its Adobe Flash killer. Scott Guthrie, corporate vice president of the .NET Developer Platform, revealed that Silverlight 3 was planned for availability in 2009, promising a plethora of additional features.
At the same time, Microsoft is offering developers the chance to have a say in the development process for the successor of Silverlight 2. Via the Silverlight Feedback Survey, developers can give Microsoft their two cents on Silverlight.
“We’ve put together a short survey to help us improve our Silverlight features and API. Spend 15 minutes and tell us what is good and bad about Silverlight so far,” explained Brian Goldfarb, Microsoft lead product manager.
The last item of the survey deals with Silverlight 3. The Redmond company is asking developers to nominate key features that could be added in the next version Silverlight, or to point to existing features that need improving.
“Thank you for agreeing to help out with feedback on Microsoft Silverlight 2. Your feedback will be invaluable in helping us improve our products and tools. The survey should take you less than 15 minutes, and its important to provide as much detail as you can. All feedback is anonymous,” promised Pete Faraday, product manager, developer Tools Division.
The survey allows participants to rate Silverlight 2 in accordance with a range of aspects, from graphics and animation, to media, control skinning, layout, tools, and even deployment. Delivering a taste of Silverlight 3, Guthrie informed that H.264 video support would be included, but also additional media enhancements, on top of 3D support, GPU hardware acceleration, more controls and richer data-binding support.
Silverlight 2 RTW (2.0.31005.0) is available for download here.
A New Wallpaper for Every Startup
Even if we might not always be aware of this fact, most of us like to have our things organized in a predefined manner, this being the way we feel most comfortable. Moreover, this is true both for our material possessions, like furniture or our wardrobe, and our virtual data. Just in case this introduction confused a bit, I will simply ask you to think of your computer – your desktop, to be more precise. I am sure that you have a certain layout for all your icons that you have been using for a long time, and this is probably the case with your wallpaper too.
Also, let's assume that you like the WYSIWYG software – “what you see is what you get,” the type of application that doesn't require you to be a genius to come to grips with the functions of all the buttons, or to play the detective to discover their hidden menus. And this is where Wallpaper Changer comes to take the center stage: as you can see, even its name is self-evident and reveals its functionality, which is to change the background of your desktop.
On the other hand, many of us have large collections of pictures in various formats, and usually not all of them are of very high quality. Instead of manually adding each good image to the playlist, you can easily specify a folder, and add only the file that is in one of the following formats: JPG, BMP, GIF or PNG (of course, you can also choose to load all the supported files from a certain folder).
Moving along to the Options window, now is the time to stress that Wallpaper Changer can be configured to run unattended in the background, without disturbing you from your work. The only thing you need to do is just to set the options once, and they will remain the same even if you reset the software. To be more precise, you can choose to hide it in the system tray or Start menu, as long as you remember the key combination that needs to be pressed to bring it back to the foreground.
We have now reached what can be called the very essence of this software, namely the automatic wallpaper switching. You will have the possibility to change it every hour or at a time interval of your choosing, or you can just replace it at system startup. As is the case with music playlists, here too you can specify the order of the pictures, or you can settle for the random mode, if you want to be pleasantly surprised every time you open your PC.
A great feature of Wallpaper Changer is that it allows you to resize or tile your images, depending on their dimensions, without asking you for these settings every time it modifies the background. Since we’re speaking of “set once, forget about it” options, you can also select the background and icon colors for your desktop (or even hide them when you want to admire a particular landscape in all its greatness). Even if these features may not seem all that relevant, they come to complement the purpose of Wallpaper Changer, which is to personalize the appearance of your computer.
The Good
Wallpaper Changer enables you to build lists with your favorite pictures and then to save them, so that you don't have to add them again every time you need to exit and relaunch the app. In addition, it displays the size of each image, and you can anticipate the way it will fit your desktop, meaning, whether it will be stretched or tiled.
The Bad
Unfortunately, this software does not enable you to perform any type of editing on your images - some basic functions (such as brightness and contrast adjustment, simple cropping or rotating) would have greatly increased the value of Wallpaper Changer. Moreover, this application does not include any type of localization, hence the interface language cannot be changed depending on the user's native language. Furthermore, considering that the app targets a wide range of people, the possibility of customizing from this perspective too would have been quite useful.
The Truth
Being a highly flexible tool, you can adjust Wallpaper Changer to suit your most eccentric needs in terms of desktop background management. You can replace your existing wallpaper every 30 minutes or at Windows startup, create transparent desktop icons, verify the screen resolution to suit your images, match the wallpaper with the desktop captions, and so on. On top of all this, Wallpaper Changer is a free app, lacking only some language packs and basic editing functions that would have made it a truly excellent one.
Here are some snapshots of the application in action:
Also, let's assume that you like the WYSIWYG software – “what you see is what you get,” the type of application that doesn't require you to be a genius to come to grips with the functions of all the buttons, or to play the detective to discover their hidden menus. And this is where Wallpaper Changer comes to take the center stage: as you can see, even its name is self-evident and reveals its functionality, which is to change the background of your desktop.
On the other hand, many of us have large collections of pictures in various formats, and usually not all of them are of very high quality. Instead of manually adding each good image to the playlist, you can easily specify a folder, and add only the file that is in one of the following formats: JPG, BMP, GIF or PNG (of course, you can also choose to load all the supported files from a certain folder).
Moving along to the Options window, now is the time to stress that Wallpaper Changer can be configured to run unattended in the background, without disturbing you from your work. The only thing you need to do is just to set the options once, and they will remain the same even if you reset the software. To be more precise, you can choose to hide it in the system tray or Start menu, as long as you remember the key combination that needs to be pressed to bring it back to the foreground.
We have now reached what can be called the very essence of this software, namely the automatic wallpaper switching. You will have the possibility to change it every hour or at a time interval of your choosing, or you can just replace it at system startup. As is the case with music playlists, here too you can specify the order of the pictures, or you can settle for the random mode, if you want to be pleasantly surprised every time you open your PC.
A great feature of Wallpaper Changer is that it allows you to resize or tile your images, depending on their dimensions, without asking you for these settings every time it modifies the background. Since we’re speaking of “set once, forget about it” options, you can also select the background and icon colors for your desktop (or even hide them when you want to admire a particular landscape in all its greatness). Even if these features may not seem all that relevant, they come to complement the purpose of Wallpaper Changer, which is to personalize the appearance of your computer.
The Good
Wallpaper Changer enables you to build lists with your favorite pictures and then to save them, so that you don't have to add them again every time you need to exit and relaunch the app. In addition, it displays the size of each image, and you can anticipate the way it will fit your desktop, meaning, whether it will be stretched or tiled.
The Bad
Unfortunately, this software does not enable you to perform any type of editing on your images - some basic functions (such as brightness and contrast adjustment, simple cropping or rotating) would have greatly increased the value of Wallpaper Changer. Moreover, this application does not include any type of localization, hence the interface language cannot be changed depending on the user's native language. Furthermore, considering that the app targets a wide range of people, the possibility of customizing from this perspective too would have been quite useful.
The Truth
Being a highly flexible tool, you can adjust Wallpaper Changer to suit your most eccentric needs in terms of desktop background management. You can replace your existing wallpaper every 30 minutes or at Windows startup, create transparent desktop icons, verify the screen resolution to suit your images, match the wallpaper with the desktop captions, and so on. On top of all this, Wallpaper Changer is a free app, lacking only some language packs and basic editing functions that would have made it a truly excellent one.
Here are some snapshots of the application in action:
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Windows Vista Upgrade Advisor 1.0
Brief Description
Windows Vista Upgrade Advisor is designed to help Windows XP users identify whether their PCs are ready for an upgrade to Windows Vista, which edition of Windows Vista meets their needs, and which features of Windows Vista will be able to run on their PCs.
Overview
Windows Vista Upgrade Advisor will help you determine if your current PC is ready for an upgrade to Windows Vista. It will also help you to choose the edition of Windows Vista that's right for you. Download the Upgrade Advisor to run an analysis of your current PC and use the detailed feedback to ensure that your PC is ready for the edition of Windows Vista that you want.
Instructions
- Click the Download button on this page to start the download
- Do one of the following:
- To start the installation immediately, click Run.
- To save the download to your computer for installation at a later time, click Save.
- To cancel the installation, click Cancel.
Microsoft details the Windows 7 Taskbar
Chaitanya Sareen, Windows Team at Microsoft, has produced a blog post detailing the new Windows 7 Taskbar.
In the post Sareen highlights the following areas of evolution:
* Refreshed Look
* Pinning
* Unification
* Interactive, Grouped Thumbnails
* Aero Peek
* Jump Lists
* Custom Window Switchers
* Thumbnail Toolbars
* Notification Area
* Overlay Icons and Progress Bars
* Color Hot-track
* Start Menu
In the post, Sareen also posts screen shots of one of the latest builds of Windows 7 at Microsoft, Build 6948.fbl_shell_dex.081112-1755. Most of the features we already know about from PDC but one interesting addition, that Microsoft didn't demonstrate at PDC, is overlay icons and progress bars in the taskbar. Microsoft now allows application developers to give feedback about progress by having their taskbar button turn into a progress bar. This is particularly useful for file copy progress, as shown below. An icon can now also be shown over a program's taskbar button.
If you are interested in the Windows 7 development or the new taskbar then it's a worth while read and explains some of the design decisions that Microsoft have made.
If you're interested in all the features being demonstrated on video then we recorded several videos at PDC where members of the Windows team demonstrated the new Taskbar.
source: neowin.net
In the post Sareen highlights the following areas of evolution:
* Refreshed Look
* Pinning
* Unification
* Interactive, Grouped Thumbnails
* Aero Peek
* Jump Lists
* Custom Window Switchers
* Thumbnail Toolbars
* Notification Area
* Overlay Icons and Progress Bars
* Color Hot-track
* Start Menu
In the post, Sareen also posts screen shots of one of the latest builds of Windows 7 at Microsoft, Build 6948.fbl_shell_dex.081112-1755. Most of the features we already know about from PDC but one interesting addition, that Microsoft didn't demonstrate at PDC, is overlay icons and progress bars in the taskbar. Microsoft now allows application developers to give feedback about progress by having their taskbar button turn into a progress bar. This is particularly useful for file copy progress, as shown below. An icon can now also be shown over a program's taskbar button.
If you are interested in the Windows 7 development or the new taskbar then it's a worth while read and explains some of the design decisions that Microsoft have made.
If you're interested in all the features being demonstrated on video then we recorded several videos at PDC where members of the Windows team demonstrated the new Taskbar.
source: neowin.net
Vista SP2 RC in February, RTM in April 2009
Microsoft is laboring to serve Service Pack 2 for Windows Vista a little over a year after the availability of Service Pack 1, beating Windows 7 to the market.
source: news.softpedia.com
The first development milestones of Windows Vista Service Pack 2 have already shipped to testers and are even available for download for users of the operating system outside of the limited testing pool selected by Microsoft. Come 2009, the Redmond company will make available the Release Candidate of the operating system's SP2 one year after the RTM of SP1, just to deliver the gold bits a couple of months after that.
According to TechARP, Microsoft will offer the first Release Candidate of Service Pack 2 for Windows Vista in February 2009. Vista SP1 was of course released to manufacturing on February 4, 2008, concomitantly with the RTM of Windows Server 2008. Come April 2009, the software giant reportedly plans to sign-off the code for Vista SP2. As it happened with SP1, the RTM and availability deadlines for Vista SP2 might not coincide. Vista SP1 RTM'd in February but was only up for grabs in mid-March 2008.
While building Windows 7, the Redmond company is also looking to the evolution of Vista, but SP2 will be nothing more than a standard service pack release. Fact is that the impact delivered by SP2 for Vista SP1 is bound to be equivalent to that of SP3 for Windows XP SP2. While SP2 will represent an evolution for Vista, it will be nowhere at the level of Windows 7, which according to all reports will be offered by the end of 2009.
Microsoft already offered the first taste of Windows Vista SP2 via a Beta release, namely Build 6002.16497. By the looks of the first Beta Build of Vista SP2, Microsoft appears to focus on under-the-hood changes such as support for Bluetooth 2.1, and the introduction of Windows Search 4.0 and Windows Connect Now. Chances are very scarce that SP2 will do for SP1 what SP1 did for Vista RTM.
Windows Vista Service Pack 2 (SP2) Build 16497 is available for download here
According to TechARP, Microsoft will offer the first Release Candidate of Service Pack 2 for Windows Vista in February 2009. Vista SP1 was of course released to manufacturing on February 4, 2008, concomitantly with the RTM of Windows Server 2008. Come April 2009, the software giant reportedly plans to sign-off the code for Vista SP2. As it happened with SP1, the RTM and availability deadlines for Vista SP2 might not coincide. Vista SP1 RTM'd in February but was only up for grabs in mid-March 2008.
While building Windows 7, the Redmond company is also looking to the evolution of Vista, but SP2 will be nothing more than a standard service pack release. Fact is that the impact delivered by SP2 for Vista SP1 is bound to be equivalent to that of SP3 for Windows XP SP2. While SP2 will represent an evolution for Vista, it will be nowhere at the level of Windows 7, which according to all reports will be offered by the end of 2009.
Microsoft already offered the first taste of Windows Vista SP2 via a Beta release, namely Build 6002.16497. By the looks of the first Beta Build of Vista SP2, Microsoft appears to focus on under-the-hood changes such as support for Bluetooth 2.1, and the introduction of Windows Search 4.0 and Windows Connect Now. Chances are very scarce that SP2 will do for SP1 what SP1 did for Vista RTM.
Windows Vista Service Pack 2 (SP2) Build 16497 is available for download here
source: news.softpedia.com
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