Following Success of Windows on Netbooks, Microsoft Extends Windows Offering to Nettop Devices
Today at Computex, Microsoft Corp. announced that following the success of Windows on netbooks, the Windows offering is being extended to include nettop devices. Netbooks are commonly referred to as ultralow-cost PCs (ULCPCs) and were originally intended for students and other first-time PC customers in emerging markets. Nettop refers to desktops that are ultralow-cost.
In April, Microsoft announced the worldwide extension of the availability of Windows for this emerging class of devices that are primarily used for e-mail, accessing the Internet and instant messaging, and the company is seeing much demand among industry partners who want to ensure that customers can have the benefits of Windows on both new and existing devices.
View Full Article: Microsoft PressPass
Messenger 9.0 Beta to close by end of month
Mess.be: Today we, and probably everyone else who is an official BETA tester for the 9.0 client, has received an e-mail from Microsoft about the recent BETA program. According to the e-mail, over 1000 bugs and suggestions have been posted, and well over 5000 messages on the newsgroups! The e-mail continues to explain the long (unusual) silence over the past few months:
“For the past several months we’ve been gathering feedback from not only you, but also from past beta testers’ comments, other external Windows Live Messenger customers, and Microsoft employees. We’ve compiled a thorough list of feedback, and it’s now time to shift our focus to building the new version of Windows Live Messenger. Therefore, on June 24, we will close the official beta testing program.”.
The Messenger team looks dedicated to taking a look at all the bugs and suggestions which have been posted so far, promising to have process them all by the end of the week.
View Full Article: Mess.be
Bill Gates bids farewell in Tech·Ed keynote
In his farewell TechEd keynote, the last as Microsoft chairman, Bill Gates today announced a Go Live edition of Silverlight 2, a new data caching technology and a partnership with IBM.
Silverlight 2 beta 2 was released with a Go Live licensepermitting customers to use the prerelease software in productionshortly after the keynote had ended. The second beta of the Silverlight 2 tools for Visual Studio 2008 was released at the same time.
The betas feature set is complete, said Jonathan Perera, general manager of Microsofts Application Platform division, in an interview with SD Times. However, he could not confirm whether Microsoft had addressed developers complaints by expanding its isolated storage or by adding support for using HTML and Silverlight within the same application.
View Full Article: SD Times
Microsoft takes on 404 pages with Live Search
Microsoft plans to convert the 404 error pages on the microsoft.com domain, as well as other websites the company owns, to error pages with Live Search capabilities. This will allow Microsoft’s customers to search for what they were looking for right away, instead of being stuck at a 404 error page that is equivalent to hitting a dead end.
Furthermore, Microsoft has also released a toolkit for webmasters who also want to transform their 404 pages to search-enabled pages. The 1.13MB Web Page Error Toolkit, a customizable ASP.net application that replaces the default error page on one’s IIS server, is not limited to Live Search; web admins can choose whichever search engine they prefer.
View Full Article: Ars Technica
Court docs: Yahoo was averse to Google deal
Yahoo execs opposed the idea of a search-advertising partnership with Google as recently as the day before Microsoft made its acquisition offer, according to court papers made public today. In a Q&A prepared for a Jan. 30 internal meeting, Yahoo asserted that such a deal “may not take into account the longer term impact on the competitive market if search becomes an effective monopoly,” the court documents say.
That tidbit — and particularly the reference to the competitive impact — may provide fodder for Microsoft in its attempt to thwart the potential search-advertising partnership between Google and Yahoo. They started discussing such a deal as a means of fending off Microsoft’s bid.
View Full Article: Todd Bishop’s Microsoft Blog
In-game advertising ‘enhances realism,’ says focus group
Microsoft subsidiary Massive Inc. teamed up with media research firm Interpret LLC to study the efficacy of in-game advertising, and today released its findings.
Microsoft Launches Licensed Contract Manufacturers Marketplace for Hardware Technology
At COMPUTEX TAIPEI 2008, Microsoft Corp. is announcing the expansion of its intellectual property (IP) licensing program for Microsoft Hardware technologies with the launch of the Licensed Contract Manufacturers Marketplace and the expansion of its IP licensing portfolio with three new technologies Instant Viewer; Magnetic Recharging Cable; and Video Conferencing Digital Pan, Tilt, Zoom and Face Tracking to further demonstrate its commitment to shared industry success.
View Full Article: Microsoft PressPass
Microsoft: Partner Services Aren’t Going Away
Microsoft insists that channel partners are going to have plenty of chances to add value to its Online services portfolio, which includes Web-hosted versions of Exchange, SharePoint, Office Communications and Office Live Meeting.
For example, solution providers will be needed to connect in-the-cloud Exchange with servers using Active Directory as well as to handle the configuration of business rules, said Chris Capossela, senior vice president of the Microsoft Information Worker Product Management Group, in a recent interview with ChannelWeb.
View Full Article: ChannelWeb
Newest Windows Installer will enable multiple package installs
Managing a massive Windows installation has already been likened to administering a colossal database. Today, Microsoft added new functions to its Installer for setup packages, that really does start treating Windows like one.
Internet Explorer 8 Beta 2 now slated for August
Citing heavy customer feedback, Microsoft officials as high up as Bill Gates himself revealed today that the next public beta of IE8 won’t be going home with TechEd attendees this year.
