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August 31  Annnnnd just like the Microsoft TechEd 2008 DVD kits, the Microsoft Management Summit DVD kits are still shipping, just in case I didn’t mention this before.
It's a TWO disc set of DVD’s that showcases all the highlights of the Microsoft Management Summit in Las Vegas this year. Here’s a quick run down of some of the things they went over: Recent Microsoft product releases which will be covered in detail during MMS 2008 include: - System Center Operations Manager 2007
- System Center Configuration Manager 2007
- System Center Data Protection Manager 2007
- System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2007
- System Center Essentials 2007
- System Center Remote Operations Manager 2007
- System Center Capacity Planner 2007
- Desktop Optimization Pack for SA
- Windows Server Update Services 3.0
In addition during the event there will be early looks at some releases due to ship during the coming year, including: - System Center Configuration Manager 2007 SP1
- System Center Configuration Manager 2007 R2
- System Center Operations Manager 2007 SP1
- System Center Mobile Device Manager
…and a ton of hands-on-labs. Kit price is $250. (As usual, if you’re a customer of mine, and you’re interested in a kit, let me know and I’ll see if I can get one comped for you.) LINK: https://shop.ecompanystore.com/mseventdvd/MSD_productdetail.asp?EventID=70873&TYPE=Microsoft+Management+Summit+2008  Oh yeah. The Microsoft TechEd 2008 DVD kits are shipping. 5 days of sessions and keynotes. 5 DVD’s of presentations, Live audio & synchronized Powerpoint recordings, hands-on-labs, and virtual machines. On a really thick kit of discs and stuff.
The original site is here:
http://www.microsoft.com/events/teched2008/default.mspx For a taste of some of the keynotes and presentations given, there are online versions of some recordings. Take a look at them at: One session that I recommend taking a look at just for sheer yuks is Laura Chappell’s session on network forensics and detecting hacking probes of your network. Laura’s somewhat famous for being so smart, she’s a little odd and in that way, very entertaining. If you view her other Wireshark University sessions you’ll undoubtedly hear about how she “optimizes” hotel networks with crappy bandwidth connections whenever she goes traveling on her own or what web site is the “worst” when if comes to design and bandwidth. Yep, this is the best resource for getting up to speed on all the stuff you missed at TechEd 2008. Kit price is $195. (And as usual, if you’re a customer of mine, let me know and I’ll look into getting a kit ‘comped’ for you.) August 29  Our Solution Specialist for Information Worker technologies, Ralf Weber put together this document of issues that an organization should anticipate having if they install Outlook 2003 over an existing installation of Office XP. It was done in tandem with several other technical resources and was so good that I thought it should be shared:
1. Upgrading to Outlook 2003 without upgrading the rest of Office limits Outlook functionality in the following ways: - Users cannot use Word as their Outlook email editor which also means:
- Users lose the ability to right click on a signature and choose a different one
- When selecting a different email account the signature won’t change to the one assigned to the new account
- The Outlook editor has fewer autocorrect features than Word and lacks auto text and other useful tools
- Users cannot use the MailMerge feature where it involves Outlook, especially users can’t:
- Start MailMerge from within Outlook
- Use Outlook contacts as data source
- Merge to email
- The Office envelope capability is not available.
- This is the email header that is displayed in Word, Excel and other Office programs when users click the envelope button or choose the File | Send to | Mail Recipient
- Users can still send documents as attachments
- Users won't be able to select a Contact and choose Actions, New Letter to contact.
- Minor problems can occur with the Office Assistant
- I.e. when one Office application turns the Assistant on, and another one turns it off
References: http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/ork2003/HA011402521033.aspx, http://www.slipstick.com/outlook/ol2003/upgrade.htm 2. Double efforts for Updates, Patches and Service Packs - Upgrading just Outlook means twice as much work when applying patches and service packs, as users need to apply patches for two (or more) versions. Users many need to repair Outlook 2003 after installing patches for older Office applications.
- Due to the tight integration of the Office applications updates for Office XP can reinstall Outlook 2002 bits. This results in Office XP needing to reconfigure itself each time Outlook 2003 is active.
- Detect and Repair may be more difficult and requires media for each version of Office
References: http://www.slipstick.com/outlook/ol2003/upgrade.htm 3. Other known issues - Error Message: "Excel could not start the e-mail program" when you users use the Send To command in Excel 2002, this occurs if
- Microsoft Office Outlook 2003 is the mail client AND
- Users try to send the workbook as the body of the message to the recipient.
References: http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;828509 
In a nutshell, one of the single most important, money-making elements of ‘search’ involve direct highly accurate consumer purchases. They allude to this in the PressPass announcement: “Microsoft’s search strategy is focused on three key areas: delivering the best results, simplifying key tasks and innovating in the business model. For commercial search, this means simplifying how consumers research and purchase online. Work is ongoing to ensure that Live Search delivers across all these categories, building on recent progress including the acquisition of Multimap and the decision to open a European Search Technology Centre this financial year.” Here’s the full article for those of you that missed it: Microsoft to Acquire Greenfield Online Including Its European Subsidiary Ciao, a Leading European Price Comparison and Shopping Site Acquisition of Ciao will expand Live Search offering in Europe. LONDON — 29 Aug 2008 — Microsoft Corp today announced that it has reached an agreement to acquire Greenfield Online Inc, owner of Ciao GmbH, one of Europe’s leading price comparison, shopping and consumer reviews sites, in a move that will further extend Microsoft’s search and e-commerce services in Europe. Under the terms of the agreement, Microsoft will commence a cash tender offer to purchase all of the outstanding shares of Greenfield Online for $17.50 (US) per share in a transaction valued at approximately $486 million (US). Ciao is a comprehensive source for intelligent shopping on the web, combining consumer reviews and ratings from a multimillion-user-strong online community with up-to-date price information from thousands of online merchants. It currently has more than 26.5 million unique visitors per month (source: comScore Inc, May 2008) across seven countries, who so far have generated more than 5 million product reviews. The acquisition signals a further milestone investment for Microsoft in Europe and will see Microsoft increase its European commercial search capabilities as part of its intent to make Microsoft Live Search the premier destination for consumers looking to research and purchase goods and services online, as well as enable merchants to drive greater online sales. Ciao’s technology platform, online community and extensive merchant relationships will be integrated within the Live Search platform to deliver a richer, more rewarding experience for both advertisers and consumers. In a related transaction, Microsoft has secured a buyer for Greenfield Online’s Internet survey solutions, a business that has been the cornerstone of Greenfield Online since 2001. Both transactions are expected to close during the fourth quarter of 2008. "Ciao’s success has been led by a team of talented people who took a unique combination of intuitive technology and the insight that comes out of their passionate consumer community to become one of Europe’s leading shopping comparison sites,” said John Mangelaars, vice president, Consumer and Online, Microsoft Europe, Middle East and Africa. “This makes the company a fantastic asset to the future of our search offer. Integrating Ciao’s capabilities into Live Search will provide a strong launchpad for our commercial search offer in Europe and enhance our e-commerce offering on MSN." Microsoft’s search strategy is focused on three key areas: delivering the best results, simplifying key tasks and innovating in the business model. For commercial search, this means simplifying how consumers research and purchase online. Work is ongoing to ensure that Live Search delivers across all these categories, building on recent progress including the acquisition of Multimap and the decision to open a European Search Technology Centre this financial year. Commenting on the announcement, Albert Angrisani, president and CEO of Greenfield Online, said, "We’re proud of the community that we have helped to establish, and we’re looking forward to exploring the new opportunities, technologies and relationships that Microsoft and the Live Search platform can unlock. Like Microsoft, we are passionate about delivering a great end-to-end commerce search experience. Today’s announcement will significantly accelerate our ambition and will deliver real benefit for consumers and merchants across Europe." Upon close of the agreement, the Ciao business will report to Rajat Taneja, general manager for Worldwide Commercial Search at Microsoft. LINK:
http://www.microsoft.com/emea/presscentre/pressreleases/WebShoppingEuroPR_29082008.mspx <taken from Bloomberg> Aug. 29 (Bloomberg) -- Microsoft Corp., the world's biggest software maker, agreed to buyGreenfield Online Inc. and its subsidiary Ciao GmbH for about $486 million in cash to add price- comparison sites in Europe. Greenfield shareholders will get $17.50 a share, Microsoft said today in a statement distributed by PRNewswire. LINK:
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=a9KxZWFi8UFI&refer=home 
If you haven’t been to http://www.mojaveexperiment.com recently, you may want to check it out. ![clip_image001[15]](http://blufiles.storage.msn.com/y1pLVty1EnbB-3MxuKkIntRb0p1T55ZlhmuvtuH1c8AYhiFrTE9dY_fNNY0F84IQkzDUwh4qNhuqTg?PARTNER=WRITER "clip_image001[15]") The “Mojave Experiment” has a new home - a brand new Microsoft Silverlight website with an HTML down-level experience.
New elements on the site include: - Interactive “Video Cloud” with new “Mojave” footage
- Six “Mojave” Demo Videos – See what they saw!
- Information about our upcoming events
- Improved list of Windows Vista Facts
In a few days, we’ll also be doing some other things. If you want a heads up on the general themes, take a look at http://windows.com/vistafacts and you’ll get a good idea of what to be expecting. Here’s a video that might be interesting to you as well: August 28  We're releasing an update to the desktop products MapPoint 2009 (Desktop Business Intelligence Mapping and Analysis Tool) and Streets & Trips 2009 (Desktop Consumer Trip Planning).
Contrary to the release of MapPoint 2006, there are quite a few more features and a whole new interface. MapPoint 2009 will be available September 1, 2008. Streets & Trips will be available in early October at your favorite retailer. For those who don't know, Streets & Trips has a subset of MapPoint functionality, but if you just want offline trip planning software S&T is the way to go. What’s New in Mappoint 2009
Here's a full list of feature enhancements: - Improved Live Search integration
- Over 1.5 million POI embedded in the products
- Single search box
- Enhanced POI result set with links to Live Maps yellow page and information details send to mobile integration
- Send to Mobile
- SMS messaging via Outlook
- Location information sent directly to your mobile device
- Link to Live Mobile
 Updated/Improved user interface - Updated icons throughout the site
- Toolbar redesign
- Pane consistency
MapPoint Office 12 compatibility - Ability to upload Office 2007 Word and Excel file formats
Entertainment Online - FREE 14 day trial membership for savings in restaurants, hotels, special events, and more
- Coupons available in U.S. and Canada
- Search for coupons by area and category
- Link to Entertainment Online site
Additional improvements - Updated map data and information on more than 1.5 million locations
- New, sleek GPS device (puck) for MapPoint North America
- Streamlined product installation and activation
- Configurable spoken street names and automatic re-routing
- 2.5D improvements (zoom to turn, indicator icon, etc)
- Updated Live Search for Windows Mobile install package included on the DVD
(Taken from http://www.mapforums.com/whats-new-mappoint-2009-a-8074.html) MAPPOINT 2009 FREE TRIAL
[as shamelessly stolen from the Mappoint blog]
If you're excited about the release of MapPoint 2009 today should be a bit more exciting for you because we released the MapPoint 2009 trial version for free download. I did a whole write up on the MapPoint 2009 release, so if you're still wondering about the features and highlights you should check that out. I did want to answer a couple questions / clarifications that have arisen as a result of my post, so I'll call them out here:  Q: Has the MapPoint 2009 programming model or map control changed?
A: No. The data has been updated and the UI for the client is drastically different, but the API remains the same. - Q: What are the release dates?
A: The North American version will be available for purchase on Sept. 1, 2008. The European Edition will be available Jan. 1, 2009. These are the same dates that the product will be available on MSDN. - Q: Do I still need to install the Access DB engine.
A: Yes. - Q: Is there still a limit for mapping 10,000 pushpins?
A: Yes and no. Make sure you read my write up on "Overcoming Pushpin Limitations in MapPoint 2009" to understand the problem. http://blogs.msdn.com/virtualearth/archive/2008/07/28/overcoming-pushpin-limitations-in-mappoint-2009.aspx  A coworker of mine recently asked what tools I use and cherish on my Verizon Samsung i760. Here’s a list of the things I consider invaluable.
Clean/Optimize/Free Up Memory
MemMaid is a tool that clears the IE Cache, frees up unallocated memory, and optimizes the device to keep it running quickly.
http://www.dinarsoft.com/memmaid/ Create Macros for Typing in Frequently entered text
TapText is a TSR tool that sits there on the top of the bar and allows you to automatically record macros of text entry and recall those macros to automatically type in your email address, your autosig, etc.
http://www.dinarsoft.com/taptext/ Keep Phone Unlocked past 15 minutes
LockMeNot is a tool that sends a keyboard interrupt to the device to keep it alive. This also of course prevents the screen from turning off but I think Cassio Goldschmidt, the author is working on that.
http://kurtsh.spaces.live.com/blog/cns!DA410C7F7E038D!3384.entry Show Stock/Weather on Today Screen
JournalBar is a small compact Today plug in for Pocket PC that displays the weather for 1-15 different geographies over a 7 day span based on zip code of country name. It will also display stock price for any number of companies and provide you with RSS pulled news into a small area of Today.
http://www.omegaone.com/journalbar/ppc/default.htm Kill Applications when you click “X”
PocketPlus has a TON of functionality however the best part is the ability to press the “X” button in the upper right hand corner and kill the current application. We have it for free on http://wmstuff.
http://www.spbsoftwarehouse.com/products/pocketplus/?en Take Voice recorded notes and Forward to Outlook Inbox
VoiceMinder now called Note2Self is a great tool that allows you to push a button, record your voice, and have it posted to your Outlook Inbox for you to later address. The subject line of the email is the time/date stamp.
http://webis.net/products_info.php?p_id=voiceminder Read RSS Feeds with fast feed refreshing
Newsbreak is a great tool for reviewing RSS feeds. What differentiates it from other Pocket PC Newsfeed readers is that it’s VERY FAST because it’s written in C++ relative to other tools that are written in .NET Compact Framework.
http://www.iliumsoft.com/site/nw/nb_trial.php Provide WYSIWYG Internet Browsing with Flash
Skyfire is a free browser that provides not only zoomable browsing experience but also provides in frame streaming audio/video. YouTube looks great!
http://www.skyfire.com Overclock your Pocket PC’s CPU
The i760’s clock speed is 399mhz normally out of the box. Pocket Hackmaster is a tool that will not only allow you to boost the CPU clock speed to 450mhz which makes the device faster but uses more battery, but also have it “autothrottle” the CPU clock so that it lowers the CPU clock speed to 298mhz when you’re just reading mail or your schedule. It’ll autothrottle the CPU up to 450mhz if you’re using a lot of processor for SlingPlayer or it’ll automatically switch clock speeds when you run a SPECIFIC user selectable program.
http://www.wizcode.com/products/view/pocket_hack_master Remap buttons to other actions
AE Button Plus is the only tool that can capture and redirect a button press to another button, to the execution of a program, or the press of a keyboard key. You can also map “single taps”, “double taps”, “triple taps”, and “holds” to different things for each button.
http://ae.inc.ru/aebplus.php TIP #1:
If you tether the i760 to your laptop you will likely need to do the following to ensure you maintain a consistent connection to the Internet: - Turn on USB Modem…
- …then go to SettingsàConnections TabàConnectionsàAdvanced TabàSelect Networks Button
- Change MyISP to My Work Network temporarily until you detether. This will prevent the interruption.
The phone attempts to Activesync I believe causing the device to drop the connection and this will prevent it from doing so. Tip #2:
If you need a USB charge & sync cable for the i760:  SyncToy 2.0 for Windows is available as a free download from the Microsoft Download Center. The easy to use, customizable application helps you copy, move, rename, and delete files between folders and computers.
There are files from all kinds of sources that we want to store and manage. Files are created by our digital cameras, e-mail, cell phones, portable media players, camcorders, PDAs, and laptops. Increasingly, computer users are using different folders, drives, and even different computers (such as a laptop and a desktop) to store, manage, retrieve and view files. Yet managing hundreds or thousands of files is still largely a manual operation. In some cases it is necessary to regularly get copies of files from another location to add to primary location; in other cases there is a need to keep two storage locations exactly in sync. Some users manage files manually, dragging and dropping from one place to another and keeping track of whether the locations are synchronized in their heads. Other users may use two or more applications to provide this functionality. Now there is an easier way. SyncToy, a free PowerToy for Microsoft Windows, is an easy to use, highly customizable program that helps users to do the heavy lifting involved with the copying, moving, and synchronization of different directories. Most common operations can be performed with just a few clicks of the mouse, and additional customization is available without additional complexity. SyncToy can manage multiple sets of folders at the same time; it can combine files from two folders in one case, and mimic renames and deletes in another case. Unlike other applications, SyncToy actually keeps track of renames to files and will make sure those changes get carried over to the synchronized folder.
We have collected feedback from the discussion forum on the Windows XP Professional Photography web site, from customer feedback surveys, from a large number of professional and hobbyist photographers at Microsoft, and from various world-wide forums, sites, reviews and blogs on the web. Based on your feedback, the following features were added to this release of SyncToy: - Dynamic Drive Letter Assignment: Drive letter reassignment will now be detected and updated in the folder pair definition.
- True Folder Sync: Folder creates, renames and deletes are now synchronized for all SyncToy actions.
- Exclusion Filtering Based on Name: File exclusion based on name with exact or fuzzy matching.
- Filtering Based on File Attributes: The ability to exclude files based on one or more file attributes (Read-Only, System, Hidden).
- Unattended Folder Pair Execution: Addressed issues related to running scheduled folder pairs while logged off.
- Folder Pairs With Shared Endpoints: Ability for folder pairs associated with the same or different instances of SyncToy to share end-points.
- Command line enhancements: Added the ability to manage folder pairs via the command line interface.
- Re-Architect Sync Engine: The SyncToy engine has been rearchitected to provide scalability and the ability to add significant enhancements in future releases.
- Sync engine is also more robust insomuch that many single, file level errors are skipped without affecting the entire sync operation.
- Sync Encrypted Files: Sync of Encrypted files works when local folder and files are encrypted, which addresses the common scenario involving sync between local, encrypted laptop PC folder and remote, unencrypted desktop PC folder.
- 64-Bit Support: SyncToy now has a native 64-bit build (x64 only) for 64-bit versions of Windows.
- Folder pair rename
- Sub-folder Exclusion Enhancements: Descendents created under excluded sub-folders are automatically excluded. Usability improvements for the sub-folder exclusion dialog.
- Folder Pair Metadata Moved: Folder pair metadata removed from MyDocuments to resolve any issues with server-based folder pair re-direction setup.
- Setup Improvements: Integrated setup with single self-extracting archive file and no extra downloads if you already have .NET Framework 2.0 installed. Enabled silent install for the SyncToy Installer file (see readme.txt file for more information). Removed combine and subscribe actions.
- Removed combine and subscribe actions.
Please continue to send us feedback about our tool, using the SyncToy - File Synchronization forum (listed below). Note: We've taken great care to ensure that this tool operates as it should, but it is not part of Windows and is not supported by Microsoft Technical Support. For this reason, Microsoft Technical Support is unable to answer questions about SyncToy. To speak to other users and contribute feedback about your experiences with SyncToy, please use the SyncToy forum at http://forums.microsoft.com/sync/ShowForum.aspx?ForumID=2026&SiteID=75. DOWNLOAD: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=c26efa36-98e0-4ee9-a7c5-98d0592d8c52&displaylang=en&tm  Today the world’s most popular browser just got a whole lot better.
We launched in English, German, Simplified Chinese and Japanese, and then follow with another 21 languages in mid-September. You can download Internet Explorer 8 Beta 2 now at http://www.microsoft.com/ie8.
Internet Explorer 8 is faster, easier and safer. To get a feel for the new IE8 experience, check out the videos here, download the product, and try it out. Here are my 5 personal favorites: - Accelerators - Highlight an address, click the blue button and hover over “Map” or try Right Clicking a Page and Choosing Translate with Windows Live. Check out the new IE Gallery that has cool accelerators and slices from Digg to FaceBook to Ebay
- Web Slices - Visit Live Search, search for “Seattle Weather” (or major city relevant to your region), hover over the rich search result and click the green button. Click it to add a Weather Web Slice to your Favorites Bar.
- Search Suggestions - Go to your Instant Search Box (top right) and type a search to see search suggestions in action.
- Navigation - Use the new Smart Address Bar to quickly find sites you’ve visited before. The Smart Address Bar searches your history, favorites AND feeds for pages that match what you’re typing.
- Security: IE8 has the best security features in the market today from its updated Smartscreen phishing and malware filter to domain highlighting to the industry leading cross-site scripting filter so I feel my machines, my identity and my family will be safer on the Internet.
FYI: Here’s a few things that IE8.0 has that Firefox doesn’t: - Out-of-the box integrated Accelerators put your favorite blog, mapping, mail, search and other services a click-away
- Built-in Privacy mode keeping you in control of what information you share and with whom, both on your PC and on the web
- Rich visual search results and instant answers from partners like Wikipedia, New York Times, and Amazon
- Intuitive tab grouping and color coding to mirror the way you browse and help organize your browsing experience
- Automatic tab-level crash recovery for uninterrupted browsing
Download IE8 Beta 2 here today! Tom Brown is a leading influencer of Microsoft’s Mavericks in Banking program, is a thought leader on Wall Street. He has some very interesting thoughts on the Financial Services industry that’s worth reading. What I Told Neil Cavuto This Week
Why I’m bullish on the financials Thomas Brown
Posted 08/21/2008
bankstocks.com
tbrown@bankstocks.com I went on Neil Cavuto’s show on the Fox Business Channel Tuesday night to discuss why I’m so bullish on the financials. Ironically, I found myself explaining that in the near term, my expectations for the group aren’t all that different from the bears’. Yes, there will be more loan losses, asset sales at depressed prices, and further negative asset marks. Credit is still deteriorating. All of which comes more or less straight out of Nouriel Roubini’s screenplay. The main difference between the Roubinis of the world and me, from what I can tell, is that I believe once all the sales, marks, and losses are done, over 95% of the companies in the industry will have survived and will have surprisingly robust business outlooks. The survivors will have fully recovered in three years. What’s more, I believe the stocks should be bought now; investors who wait for signs of major fundamental improvement will end up missing the boat. There is, first of all, the matter of the stocks’ valuations. In instance after instance, they are compelling. Earlier this week, for example, I posted an article here that laid out how MBIA’s adjusted book value—that is, its book value adjusted to include items that will almost certainly find their way into the company’s equity account but haven’t yet—adds up to $39.63 per share. Yet MBIA’s price lately comes to $10.75 per share—which means that in its current, severely beaten-down state, the stock trades at 27% of adjusted book. I will grant you that in the near term, the company might take some actions that could modestly erode its book value. But you’ll have a hard time denying that at 27% of book, the stock is discounting a level of losses and impairments that are highly unlikely to occur. MBIA’s valuation is just one of the more notable examples of the valuation extremes that have overtaken the financial sector. Most “controversial” financial services companies are trading at only 20% to 50% of their normalized valuations. I expect the companies to regain those valuations within three years. For investors, that means doubles, triples, and quadruples over that time period. In the meantime, signs have begun to appear that hint the beginnings of the end of the credit crunch might have commenced. As we’ve discussed here before, for example, the inflow of new bad subprime mortgage loans has fallen considerably in recent months. That’s good: fewer new delinquencies now means fewer foreclosures several months from now. And the rate at which delinquent loans are moving from early-stage buckets to later-stage ones has declined. More generally, on their second-quarter earnings calls a number of banks indicated they’re seeing a slowdown in the rate of new problem loans, as well. Does that mean the industry’s credit problems are on the verge of healing? Of course not, things are getting worse, not better. But the second derivative of deterioration—that is, the rate things are getting worse—has begun to improve. That’s key. As I’ve noted, investors who won’t buy the stocks until they see an absolute decline in credit problems will miss the bulk of the stocks’ coming move higher. We’re even seeing improvement in the main cause of the whole mess: the collapse in home prices. This item didn’t get much attention, but on Tuesday RealtyTrac announced that for the first time in 33 months, home sales in Southern California actually rose. That’s very good news, since it implies banks have finally found a clearing price at which they can dispose of their repossessed properties. The sooner banks REO clears the market, the sooner the housing market can return to normalcy. Will that happen overnight? Nope. But at least the process seems to be in place for it to happen eventually. Once the credit crunch does end, meanwhile, the outlook for the financials should be pretty darn good. Skeptics complain that the deleveraging the industry is going through means that returns must fall permanently. That’s crazy. Remember, companies are deleveraging—that is, withdrawing capacity--en masse. Lower capacity means higher returns. As Rich Pzena has pointed out, to say that the financials’ deleveraging must mean lower returns on lending is like saying a shut-in of capacity by the oil industry must mean lower oil prices. That makes no sense. In the meantime, demand for credit shows no signs of easing. As I say, investors who wait for an all-clear signal will have missed most of the coming move higher. The stock market moves on what it expects to happen in the future—sometimes well into the future, not on what it sees happening right now. There is no doubt that the financial services industry is currently in a world of hurt. Prices of financial services companies reflect that. The question now is, will the industry ever recover and, when? My answers: “Yes” and “Eventually.” Given the stocks’ valuations, and the first glimmerings of fundamental improvement that are appearing, that’s all you need to know. There is a new Directory Services Core Infrastructure presentation coming soon. You will need to register for this and it will be delivered August 21, 2008. It specifically goes into the new DS features offered in Win2008 and how they should make life better in your environment. This is technical, so bring your thinking caps. And no need for your checkbook, this is free. MCS Talks Infrastructure Architecture
REGISTER: http://blogs.technet.com/askds/archive/2008/08/11/mcs-talks-infrastructure-architecture.aspx .png "Tray Desktop Switch Window") Remember Virtual Desktop Manager for Windows XP? The Powertoy for providing multiple (4) views on a desktop? It’s back and it works for Windows Vista but it’s a completely different incarnation from Sysinternals.
It would appear that each of these windows is it’s own EXPLORER.EXE where one program running on one screen has no API accessible conduit between another program running on another screen. So if you need Office Communicator to work with Outlook, you have to keep both on the same Desktops window. “Desktops allows you to organize your applications on up to four virtual desktops. Read email on one, browse the web on the second, and do work in your productivity software on the third, without the clutter of the windows you’re not using. After you configure hotkeys for switching desktops, you can create and switch desktops either by clicking on the tray icon to open a desktop preview and switching window, or by using the hotkeys.” DOWNLOAD:
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/cc817881.aspx The widespread availability of next generation camera phones can provide real-time streaming of video across platforms. With onboard mega-pixel cameras and wireless Internet connectivity, the platform to enable a webcast can now fit into your pocket.
- Think of the convenience.
No more hauling around large laptop cases and bulky video cameras. Simply pull out your lightweight, pocket-sized camera phone and start webcasting right away. And don't worry about how to share video clips left on your phone, your video is automatically stored on a server ready for later viewing.
 - Imagine the applications.
To family and friends, your webcast is the hottest ticket in town. It means that no matter how far you travel, they can join in the fun as if they were there. If they miss it live, it’s available immediately on demand. Relying on big media for breaking news is a thing of the past. Whether it’s local or world events, your webcast can make a difference. You may be working “out in the field”, but now your live coverage of important situations lets you give decision makers back at the office a full view of the action. Livecast’s beta service is now available for Windows Mobile 5/6. PCs and Macs are supported through a subscribed beta program, and will soon be available in full release. You can easily try out Livecast yourself. Simply sign up, install software on your phone and start a webcast, streaming video to the internet. We’ll always offer a free trial account, and for power users a premium features package will be available for a monthly fee. LINK: http://www.comvu.com/  This is too cool not to mention.
Ever had a problem with using an optical or laser mouse over a shiny surface like a granite table? Mark DePue is research and development manager at the Microsoft desktop experiences group and he spoke at the Bloomberg Bootcamp on something coming down the pipe from MS Hardware: "This year we're introducing two new mice with our breakthrough tracking technology called Blue Track. The key to it is that it uses a big blue beam. And this is unlike any tracking technology that's been introduced to date. What it does is it gives you the ability to work on more surfaces than you've ever been able to do before. You'll see people taking their notebooks to more areas of the house. You'll also see business travelers who are in a different hotel room every other day want the ability to navigate on difference surfaces. Maybe it's a granite desk in one hotel and maybe it's a wood grain in another hotel. And this technology gives you the power and the flexibility to be able to track wherever and whenever you want."  An important new Microsoft Volume License brief, “Application Server License Mobility”, has been posted as of August 19, 2008 at http://www.microsoft.com/licensing/
resources/volbrief.mspx.
The new Volume License brief “Application Server License Mobility” is a key reference document that can help customers, partners, and the licensing community understand the details governing new rights available for certain Microsoft server products acquired through Volume Licensing. To help customers take advantage of virtualization technologies, Microsoft is updating its software licensing policies for server applications. In 2005, Microsoft introduced licensing changes that permitted greater mobility of software. This latest set of changes complement those 2005 enhancements, by allowing greater mobility of licenses across servers within data centers and server farms. With the changes, both licenses and software can move more freely across servers in a server farm, potentially reducing the number of licenses needed to support workloads. Effectively, the changes mean instead of counting instances or processors and licensing by server, customers are able to count instances or processors and license by server farm. This is accomplished by allowing customers to reassign licenses freely across servers within a server farm. The changes apply to software licenses for certain server applications and all external connector (EC) licenses. In these cases, the limitation on short-term (90 days or less) license reassignment is waived. This change does not apply to software licenses for the Windows Server® operating system, Client Access Licenses (CALs), or Management Licenses (MLs). This change applies only to licenses acquired under a Volume Licensing program. It does not apply to licenses acquired through other retail sources. DOWNLOAD: http://download.microsoft.com/download/3/d/4/3d42bdc2-6725-4b29-b75a-a5b04179958b/Application_Server_License_Mobility_VL_Brief.doc  The July Community Technical Preview (CTP) of Microsoft Robotics Developer Studio 2008 is now available for download. This is the 2nd CTP and like the first this one has a lot of new features and improvements. In addition to the list below you can see some of the features in the Welcome Letter and a complete list in the Whats New? document.
1. New samples and tutorials: This CTP has many new samples and tutorials including: 1. DSS Node Discovery using UPnP: A new UPnP sample illustrates how to use UPnP for discovering DSS nodes across a UPnP network. 2. Transport Extensibility: PipeTransport and PipeTransportHost are two new tutorials on how to write your own transport and load it in your custom host. In addition you will also find the UdpTransport and UdpTransport as additional transport samples. 3. LINQ: Service Tutorial 12 shows how to subscribe to the Directory Service using a LINQ Filter and how to receive filtered notifications. 4. Silverlight: The XBox Controller Viewer sample shows support for use of interactive Silverlight-based UI 5. Embedded Simulation Environment: The sample EmbeddedSim sample shows how to embed the Visual Simulation Environment in a custom Windows Forms user interface. 6. Simulated Pursuit Camera: The PursuitCamera sample shows how to implement a camera entity that follows behind a target and avoids obstacles. 7. Simulated 4x4-drive: The SimulatedFourByFourDrive sample shows how to implement an entity that behaves like a 4x4 off-road car. 2. Global Assembly Cache: Core CCR and DSS assemblies are put into the Global Assembly Cache. means that they are a shared resource for all installations on a single machine. 3. Simulation on 64-bit machines: Simulation now runs on 64-bit systems using the Microsoft Windows-32-on-Windows-64 (WOW64) subsystem. To use simulation on 64-bit machines, make sure you use dsshost32.exe which forces the WOW64 mode. 4. Visual Studio Project Wizards: The Visual Studio Project Wizards have been rewritten to make it much simpler to create new service projects directly from Visual Studio 2005 and 2008. Project wizards are provided for VB.Net and C# targeting .NET Framework. 5. Much Faster DSS Proxy Generation: The DssProxy tool has been completely rewritten to simplify the generation of service proxy assemblies and to make it much faster to compile services. In addition, the tool chain for writing services for .NET Compact Framework has been simplified to no longer need a companion service project targeting the desktop version of .NET Framework. This makes development for .NET Compact Framework much easier. 6. DSS Log Analyzer: The DSS Log Analyzer is a preview of a powerful new debugging and monitoring tool that can visualize and analyze message exchanges between services sent within a DSS node or across nodes. In addition to showing the actual messages that have been sent it also provides message correlations, time lines, and illustrates how multiple message interactions are causally linked over time. 7. Embedded Visual Simulation Environment: In addition to having a stand-alone UI, the Visual Simulation Environment can now be embedded in other applications. This enables other applications to show the Visual Simulation Environment as part of their application. Please help us making this release better by trying it out and send your comments, suggestions, and bug reports to our MSDN forums. DOWNLOAD:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=57CE326B-2125-4163-A33F-ED2F69E03B56&displaylang=en WHAT’S NEW:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/robotics/cc470040.aspx WELCOME LETTER:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/robotics/cc470038.aspx August 26 I completely stumbled upon this video from Sarcastic Gamer. It’s a real video of the first game created for Microsoft Surface, as written by Carbonated Games, the makers of UNO for the Xbox 360.  pptPlex is a plug-in that explores an alternate method for presenting a PowerPoint slide deck. Using pptPlex, you can present your slides as a tour through a zoomable canvas instead of a series of linear slides.
- Requirements:
Windows Vista/XP PowerPoint 2007 - Limitations:
None - Last updated:
08/13/2008 FAQ - get answers to frequently asked questions
Blog - read the latest news from the team
Discussions - connect with other users DOWNLOAD:
http://www.officelabs.com/projects/pptPlex/Pages/default.aspx USING PPTPLEX IN REAL LIFE:
 On a personal note: This is a really innovative way to present information that traditionally follows a timeline or a roadmap. Instead of delivering a linear slide deck, many people try to present decks that have hyperlinks within them that allow people to jump around the deck from slide to slide. When using pptPlex, it’s possible to show the entire timeline to an audience then jump around the timeline visually and deliver slides that match each area of either the timeline, roadmap, or tree that you’re presenting. Take the timeline you see to the right: The timeline has little white blocks in them – each of which represent a different slide: 
By clicking on an area of the time line you can see the different slides relevant to that area. And by clicking on a given slide, you can see the full content, then back up for a very interactive and lively experience for the audience. So if you want your audience to “stay awake”, this is a great way to keep their attention. Be the first one on the block using Powerpoint 2007 with pptPlex and watch people in your audience ask you, “How did you do that?”
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