Microsoft Windows Phone 7 Series – Try, Try and Try again

The New York Times says that Microsoft had to start the development of Windows Phone 7 from scratch because the previous previous was beyond redemption. While there are nice features here, the software has failed to excite the audience at Barcelona, though it did win good feedback from Business Users who like the seamless integration with Sharepoint, Outlook and Exchange.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/01/technology/01soft.html?hpw



Engadget in it editorial on the release of Windows 7 said this was a entire reboot and nothing from Windows Mobile survives. While the OS is very good, the battle is yet to be fought whether it can upend the iPhone and the Droid and carve a space for itself or will it go the way of the Palm Pre. http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/15/editorial-engadget-on-windows-phone-7-series/

Mary J Foley on Microsoft-Watch says that Windows 7 Phone Series will be delayed until 2011. Will Microsoft launch a branded phone with its own hardware.http://www.microsoft-watch.com/content/windows_7/windows_phone_7_series_offers_questions_hint_of_dell_smartphone.html



Gigaom says Window 7 Phone is a impressive try but it wont stick until they come up with a Appstore strategy which takes advantage of the Phone. http://gigaom.com/2010/02/15/windows-phone-7/



The Apple Blog was fulsom in its praise and said “Of all the companies competing in the cellphone industry, it is perhaps more than just a little poetic that Microsoft should be the first to offer a truly compelling product to rival Apple’s iPhone.” http://theappleblog.com/2010/02/16/microsoft-starts-over-announces-credible-iphone-competitor/

Microsoft Windows Phone 7 Series - Try, Try and Try again

The New York Times says that Microsoft had to start the development of Windows  Phone 7 from scratch because the previous previous was beyond redemption.  While there are nice features here, the software has failed to excite the audience at Barcelona, though it did win good feedback from Business Users who like the seamless integration with Sharepoint, Outlook and Exchange.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/01/technology/01soft.html?hpw

 

Engadget in it editorial on the release of Windows 7 said this was a entire reboot and nothing from Windows Mobile survives.  While the OS is very good, the battle is yet to be fought whether it can upend the iPhone and the Droid and carve a space for itself or will it go the way of the Palm Pre.   http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/15/editorial-engadget-on-windows-phone-7-series/

Mary J Foley on Microsoft-Watch says that Windows 7 Phone Series will be delayed until 2011.  Will Microsoft launch a branded phone with its own hardware.http://www.microsoft-watch.com/content/windows_7/windows_phone_7_series_offers_questions_hint_of_dell_smartphone.html

 

Gigaom says Window 7 Phone is a impressive try but it wont stick until they come up with a Appstore strategy which takes advantage of the Phone.   http://gigaom.com/2010/02/15/windows-phone-7/

 

The Apple Blog was fulsom in its praise and said “Of all the companies competing in the cellphone industry, it is perhaps more than just a little poetic that Microsoft should be the first to offer a truly compelling product to rival Apple’s iPhone.”  http://theappleblog.com/2010/02/16/microsoft-starts-over-announces-credible-iphone-competitor/

 

Microsoft Announced Launch of Windows Azure Platform

Microsoft Corp. today announced the availability of the Windows Azure platform at the Microsoft Professional Developers Conference (PDC). In his opening keynote address, Ray Ozzie, chief software architect at Microsoft, described Windows Azure and SQL Azure as core elements of the company’s cloud services strategy. The company also announced a set of new Windows Azure features, Windows Server capabilities, and marketplace offerings that will make it easier for developers to build profitable businesses from their Microsoft-based solutions.

“Customers want choice and flexibility in how they develop and deploy applications,” Ozzie said. “We’re moving into an era of solutions that are experienced by users across PCs, phones and the Web, and that are delivered from datacenters we refer to as private clouds and public clouds. Built specifically for this era of cloud computing, Windows Azure and SQL Azure will give developers what they need to build great applications and profitable businesses.”

In his keynote address, Ozzie described the company’s “three screens and a cloud” vision, where software experiences are seamlessly delivered across PCs, phones and TVs, all connected by cloud-based services. Underscoring the IT industry’s shift toward a hybrid approach of online services combined with on-premises software, Ozzie described the programming model for a powerful new generation of applications for both businesses and consumers, enabled by new Microsoft development tools and technologies. He also demonstrated customer and partner commitment to Microsoft’s development platform with Seesmic, WordPress and Cheezburger Network.

Marketplace and Information Services for Developers, Partners and Users

Ozzie also unveiled the next evolution of Microsoft Pinpoint, an online marketplace for Microsoft partners to market and sell their applications. The company introduced a new information service, Microsoft Codename “Dallas,” also available through Pinpoint and built completely on the Windows Azure platform, that enables developers and users to access premium commercial and reference datasets and content on any platform. Datasets currently available through “Dallas” include those from the Associated Press, Citysearch, DATA.gov, ESRI, First American Corp., infoUSA.com Inc., NASA, National Geographic TOPO!, NAVTEQ, RiskMetrics Group, the United Nations, WaveMarket Inc. and Weather Central Inc. Starting today, “Dallas” is available as a limited community technology preview (CTP)

Next-Generation Application Model

Bob Muglia, president of the Server and Tools Business at Microsoft, detailed the company’s strategy and road map for extending the Windows developer platform to the cloud, which is the next-generation application model, according to Muglia.

“Microsoft is converging on a common developer platform for both servers and services,” Muglia said. “Through this convergence, Microsoft will enable developers to continue using familiar .NET Framework and Visual Studio tools and technologies, as well as third-party tools such as Eclipse, to create and monetize applications that run on the server and as services in the cloud.”

Full Story Here:http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2009/nov09/11-17PDC1PR.mspx?rss_fdn=Press%20Releases

Patch Tuesday Will Be Biggest Ever with 13 Bulletins

Microsoft will issue its biggest ever security update on 13 October.The update will include 13 bulletins that between them tackle 34 vulnerabilities.Microsoft said that eight of the bulletins were rated as critical - the most serious sort of vulnerability.

The security patches will close loopholes in many different programs including different editions of Windows, Internet Explorer and some elements of Office.

One update, rated as critical, tackles a loophole in Internet Explorer 8 running under Windows 7. The next version of Microsoft's operating system is due to be released on 22 October.

Most people will get the updates automatically but links to download them can also be found on Microsoft's security pages. Once applied to a PC, the machine will need to be re-started before the fixes take effect.

In a blog posting giving an outline of the updates, Jerry Bryant, a Microsoft security expert, said two of the fixes were for problems flagged up in earlier advisories.

One of those loopholes, for the File Transfer Protocol (FTP) bundled in with Microsoft's Internet Information Server, is already being exploited by some hi-tech criminals.

Windows is by far the most popular target for cyber criminals and the vast majority of the millions of malicious programs, including worms and trojans, are aimed at the operating system.

Prior to the bumper October security update, Microsoft's biggest every update was released in June 2009. That package of 10 fixes tackled 31 vulnerabilities.

Source:http://tubagbohol.mikeligalig.com/index.php?topic=22954.0

Microsoft developing own brand smartphones?

Although Microsoft has repeatedly told the press that it would not be delevoping a Windows Phone of its own to go against the likes of HTC and other handset manufacturers, that hasn't stopped a new set of pictures leaking purporting to be just that.



Gizmodo, who seems to be on a Microsoft leaking role, are claiming that a pink handset manufactured by Sharp and sporting a qwerty keyboard will be released sometime in the not too distance future.

Aimed at the kids and leveraging Microsoft's Danger (the software company behind the sidekick) acquisition last year, the "Project Pink" phones are currently being referred to as Turtle and Pure and will have social media at its core and promise the usual array of communications skills.

"The hardware design has a definite younger feeling: Turtle looks like a chunky child's version of a Palm Pre, while Pure seems like a standard slider, and both are clearly plastic, with an overall sense of roundedness, thanks to lots of soft angles and circular keys," Gizmodo is reporting.

According to the story, the phones will also sport a Zune music store.
However as tech writer Richard Lai points out, the Turtle has a key marked with a ;) symbol suggesting this could just be a prank to entice and destroy Gizmodo's reputation.

Source:http://www.pocket-lint.com/news/27412/microsoft-developing-own-brand-phones

Bing 2.0 Is Coming

Bing 2.0 is coming! – The 2nd version of Bing search engine is most probably coming out on test as from next week. As you probably already know, Microsoft’s Bing has been launched some months ago and from we can see there are some really welcoming reviews about it.

However even with the high advertising and marketing of Bing, Google is still the best and most used search engine right now. In fact Google still rules a giant part of the Search Engine territory.

Microsoft however recently announced the arrival of a new updated version of Bing modified with some new and cool functionality for soon. A demo of the new Bing search engine is expected by the end of next week while the full release is expected in some weeks.

Microsoft has not given more details about this event.

Source:http://www.islandcrisis.net/2009/09/bing-2-0/

Hired gun for Microsoft, in dogged pursuit of Google

REDMOND, Wash.--Qi Lu knows as well as anyone just how difficult it is to take on Google.

For nearly a decade, Lu played a leading role in building Yahoo's Internet search and advertising technologies. The effort was so important that Yahoo backed it with billions of dollars to acquire companies, hire armies of engineers and develop and run its own systems. Yet Yahoo fell further and further behind and many analysts said the company was simply outgunned by Google.

Lu, who is 47, left Yahoo 14 months ago but now finds himself once again leading the charge against Google. This time, he is backed by a patron that vows to spend even more than Yahoo did on the mission: Microsoft.

"It's an unfinished mission that I would like to work on," he said.

The challenge for Lu and his team remains enormous, and success appears improbable. But since Steve Ballmer, Microsoft's chief executive, tapped him to become president of the company's online services division in December, Lu, a self-effacing engineer who is one of the most private and atypical executives in the upper ranks of the Internet industry, has earned the confidence of Microsoft's troops and helped to bring a dose of optimism to a beaten-down team.

Possessing unusual stamina and a maniacal work ethic, he has pushed his team hard to give Microsoft an important victory. In nightly 9:30 meetings over several weeks, he leaned on his managers to find creative ways to structure a sweeping and complex partnership with Yahoo. The deal, signed in July, will give Microsoft something it has coveted for years: a vastly larger audience that will make Bing, its search engine, the runner-up to Google.

By Miguel Helft [VIA:The New York Times ]

Also Read On :http://news.cnet.com/

Microsoft OneApp for feature phones

Microsoft OneApp brings some of the most popular applications all together in one place: Windows Live Messenger, Facebook, Twitter, and many more. Designed for feature phones, OneApp puts a great new mobile experience easily within the reach of hundreds of millions of new users.


A great mobile application experience

OneApp appears on a phone as a single application that allows users to easily access all of their mobile apps. It dynamically launches just the parts of an app that a person wants to use, eliminating additional installation time and the need to store all of their mobile apps on their phone. OneApp enables users to easily customize their mobile experience.

The most popular apps—and more coming all the time

OneApp removes the need for people to visit several sites searching for the apps they want and hoping they work on their phone. With OneApp it’s all right there, and apps are automatically updated with no extra effort by the user.

Designed for feature phones

OneApp was designed from the ground up to make it easy for people to access mobile apps on feature phones with limited memory and processing capability. Its lightweight on-phone footprint of just 150 KB makes the installation easy and fast. OneApp also includes cloud services that help offload processing and storage from the phone to the Internet, improving overall performance. OneApp runs on a wide range of phones with more being tested all the time.

[Via:http://www.microsoft.com/]

Microsoft to Open Retail Stores This Fall

Well, this is going to be fun! Microsoft, after dominating the operating system market, office software, is all set to rule the retail store front now. Microsoft, who hired former Wal-Mart exec David Porter to be its corporate vice president of retail stores back in February, has just confirmed that stores are, indeed, on the way -- and soon. COO Kevin Turner, confirmed the plans at the Worldwide Partner Conference in New Orleans yesterday, saying they're due to open this fall - just in time for the Windows 7 October 22 launch time frame.

Many of the Microsoft stores will open up right near Apple stores to compete with the popular Apple retail chains. Microsoft is slow to get into the market of having its own retail chain, which will sell all of their own products, much like Sony and Apple currently do.

Microsoft will soon set its foothold in the retail industry by opening up stores to sell their wide range of products, including both software and hardware, games and more. You can expect the entire range of Microsoft products from Windows OS, Office products to games, game consoles, computer devices, music devices and more in store. They have been manufacturing all kind of products, so it makes more sense for them to have their own retail units. This makes sense since they could achieve their ultimate objective of garnering more sales and profits in their own stores, than they would in a third party store, who have their own margins, thus making the final profits a bit lower.

The retail chains will be able to directly assist customers with their Microsoft purchases, rather than having large retail chains like Bestbuy sell Microsoft products.

Silverlight 3 to launch July 10

Earlier this year, Microsoft officials said they planned to deliver the final version of Silverlight 3 before the end of 2009. Looks like they meant months before…

Microsoft is planning to launch Silverlight 3 and its Expression Studio 3 family of designer tools on July 10 in San Francisco, company officials said on May 28.

Silverlight 3 adds 3D support, GPU acceleration, H.264 video support and out-of-the-browser capabilities to Silverlight, Microsoft’s competitor to Adobe Flash. The out-of-browser support will add to Silverlight capabilities that are available currently in Adobe AIR.

Microsoft released the one and only planned beta of Silverlight 3 in March 2009.

I’ll be interested to see how much, if any, of Silverlight 3 gets incorporated into the upcoming Windows Mobile 6.5 and 7.0 releases (thanks to the “Alchemy” component of the platforms, as well as the Office 2010 Web Apps (for which Silverlight is not required but will “enhance the experience”) …. Stay tuned.

More on:http://blogs.zdnet.com/microsoft/?p=2912

Moonlight 2 preview shows promise, still needs work

The developers behind the Moonlight project, an open source implementation of Microsoft's Silverlight media framework, have released a preview of Moonlight 2.0. The new version of Moonlight introduces compatibility with critical Silverlight 2.0 features, such as widgets and support for managed code.

The Moonlight project was first launched in 2007 as an experimental project undertaken by Novell's Mono team. It later gained official backing from Microsoft. The Redmond giant agreed to contribute to the effort by supplying documentation, test cases, and fully licensed codecs so that Moonlight can deliver full Silverlight compatibility to Linux users.

Moonlight 1.0, which was released earlier this year, enabled Linux users to view the Obama administration's official inauguration ceremony video stream. It was also used to build Moonshine, a browser plugin that uses Moonlight to play conventional Windows media streaming video content at a variety of websites.

Moonlight 2.0 preview is available for download from the Mono project's website. It is distributed as a Firefox plugin and is supported on both 32-bit and 64-bit Linux distributions. The entire plugin is roughly 9MB and it bundles the Mono virtual machine and other necessary runtime components. It uses several pieces of Microsoft's Silverlight stack, such as the Dynamic Language Runtime and Microsoft's Silverlight controls, which Microsoft has made available under the open source MS-PL license.

The Moonlight plugin itself is entirely open source and freely redistributable. The only component of Moonlight that cannot be redistributed or included out of the box are the codecs. The plugin will obtain a binary codec pack automatically from Microsoft after prompting the user.

I tested the Moonlight 2.0 preview on Ubuntu 9.04 with Firefox 3.0.10. It was easy to install and it loaded as expected when it encountered Silverlight content. Although a significant amount of progress has been made in the effort to achieve Silverlight 2.0 compatibility, the plugin is still at a relatively early stage of development and will require more work before it's production-ready. At the present time, it only works with a fraction of existing Silverlight 2.0 content. For an example that works reasonably well, check out the Dr. Dobb's Challenge 2 demo.

According to the roadmap, the developers plan to launch an alpha release next month, a beta release this summer, and the final 2.0 release in September. After the 2.0 release, the focus will shift towards delivering Silverlight 3.0 compatibility. Some Silverlight 3.0 API features have already been implemented in Moonlight 2.0, such as the SaveDialog and WriteableBitmap class.

Silverlight 2.0 offers some compelling features, such as the ability to interact with the page DOM using dialects of Python and Ruby. The Moonlight 2.0 preview brings those features to Linux users. If the developers can deliver full compatibility by the end of the summer and can catch up to Microsoft, the Moonlight project will ensure that Linux users don't get locked out as more high-profile adopters use Silverlight to deploy content on the Web.

Source:http://arstechnica.com

Microsoft repels Google with 40,000 e-mail account deal

Now Microsoft's Live@edu will be hosting messaging and storage platform by offering a substitute to the successful Google Apps education rush because Queensland University of Technology (QUT) will migrate some 40,000 student user accounts.

QUT joins "thousands of institutions around the world" by shifting to the Live@edu platform according to Microsoft. Microsoft Outlook Live, Microsoft Office Live Workspace and SkyDrive for storage are all included in the Live@edu suite of online applications.

When the existing email infrastructure "reached its limit of functionality and storage capacity QUT evaluate a host named Web-based e-mail solution which a big IT-expenditure for in-house. As per discussions with students, university administration and company representatives, and the deal included an opt-in trial involving students from the Faculty of Information Technology it was decided finally to go with Live@edu.

Actually Live@edu is attuned with "Windows, Mac and Linux machines" and with the IE, Firefox and Safari browsers. It’s being heard from QUT’s end that the university "carefully considered" various options and was happy to offer students a "greatly improved" e-mail service through Microsoft.

The students are provided with benefit of better capacity of mailbox and attachment file size, Also Live@edu service offers useful calendar, plus a number of improvements in related services, while retaining their identity as QUT students in their e-mail addresses. "The University will help by having automated service upgrades, and improved scalability and availability by setting up this software as a service offering from Microsoft."

Not only this QUT's 40,000 students will also have right to use a suite of online applications for the duration of this semester. Along with calendaring and contact management Live@edu service will horde student e-mail accounts with a 10Gb mailbox capacity, and allow 20Mb file attachments.

Not only this it will also provide include instant messaging and file sharing; Windows Live Spaces for personal Web publishing, blogging and photo sharing; and FolderShare, a private peer-to-peer network that allows users to synchronise files between multiple devices and share files with other student users features also.