VT's Blog

Microsoft Releases Visual Studio 2010 RC!

Q: What was announced today?

A: Today, Microsoft announced a Release Candidate (RC) for Visual Studio 2010. The RC is available to MSDN subscribers today and will be available to the public on February 10. Microsoft is encouraging developers to download the RC and provide feedback.

Q: Why did Microsoft release an RC so close to launch of Visual Studio 2010?

A: Microsoft is highly committed to delivering a quality product in time for the Visual Studio 2010 and .NET Framework 4 launch. We received a lot of positive customer feedback on the new capabilities of Visual Studio 2010 and .NET Framework 4. At the same time, we also received feedback around performance issues.  Since then, our engineering team has been working to improve performance between Beta 2 and launch so we’re set to deliver a high quality product come April.  The RC released today delivers enhanced performance and is an added milestone to garner even more customer feedback before the final build is released.

Q: How does the Release Candidate address customer needs?

A: We heard from customers that performance in Beta 2 wasn’t everything they had hoped it would be. The RC released today delivers enhanced performance and is an added milestone to garner even more customer feedback before the final build is released. Specifically, customers will see performance improvements in loading solutions, typing, building and debugging.

Q: What if you receive negative feedback after customers evaluate the RC? Will the launch get pushed out?

A: We are committed to shipping a high quality product in April, and we want to do what is best for our customers. Significant performance improvements have been made to the RC, and we’re looking forward to customer feedback. From now until launch we will continue to evaluate the product and make sure it is up to developer expectations.

Q: What new features are in this RC?

A: There are no new features in this release. We focused exclusively on performance and there will be no further features added to the product between now and launch.

Q: Is the Visual Studio 2010 and .NET Framework 4 launch still planned for April 12, 2010?

A: Yes. Visual Studio 2010 and .NET Framework 4 will launch in cities all over the world on April 12. Major events will be taking place in the UK, China, Malaysia, India, and in the US at DevConnections in Las Vegas.

Q: What is the chance that it’ll slip more?

A: We are very confident in the schedule at this point. However, we are continuing to listen to customer feedback and we’ll ship a great product. Quality is much more important to Microsoft than a date.

Q: What improvements have you made to Visual Studio 2010 RC?

A: The Visual Studio 2010 RC addresses customer feedback that we received after the release of Beta 2. Customers can expect to see performance improvements with loading solutions, typing, building and debugging.

Q: Where can I get more information on the Visual Studio 2010 RC?

A: For additional information, check out today’s blog posts by Soma and Jason Zander. You can also download the RC build here.. 

Q: Where will the Visual Studio 2010 and .NET Framework 4 launch take place?

A: Visual Studio 2010 and .NET Framework 4 will launch in cities all over the world on April 12. Major events will be taking place in the UK, China, Malaysia, India, and in the US at DevConnections in Las Vegas. Learn more by visiting the conference homepage at http://www.devconnections.com.

Q: How can I provide feedback for the Release Candidate?

A: Visit the feedback page and let Microsoft know what you think about the RC! 

How One FireFox Plug-in Won Me Over

If you use Google Reader, stop.  It’s so Web 2.0.  If you are a big Firefox user, you will undoubtedly be a fan of the plug-in system.  Personally, I never used that many plug-ins because many would often taint the browsing experience for me.  Tabbed-browsing was enough in my online life. 

I personally didn’t care if I used IE8, Firefox, or Chrome.  With Firefox 3 and 3.5, I had enough and was tired of the crashing so I uninstalled it.  IE8 was really good as long as you didn’t install poorly written add-ons that caused “not responding” hangs.  When Chrome was released, I made it my default browser because I appreciated the minimalist look and feel as well as the performance.

So after being really happy with Chrome as my Webkit alternative, I discovered Feedly and I don’t think I’ll be able to read online news in the same way again!  Feedly is like a homepage on steroids because not only does it creatively surface content that you are subscribed to, but it has a recommendation UI that is just a joy to use.  It has become an invaluable tool for me especially when I’ve had a dry news day and need to find something to write about.

This is my Feedly page.  Its really like reading a website that is designed just for you.  Its like reading one that changes as you change, and learns what you like.  To bring in the post-iPad lexicon, “it’s magical!”  I personally skipped over the whole RSS/Atom crazy nonsense preferring to visit a handful of sites daily.  My motto was “that if I can’t remember it, its not important,” when it came to visiting sites.  This is not the case any longer.

I am really hoping the guys at Feedly think about a similar plug-in for IE and Chrome.  I have a feeling that IE9 Beta will have a great plug-in system. Chrome’s plug-in system is actually very elegant and will hopefully serve as a model for IE.  I think we’re entering a new era of the “browser wars” where its not so much a war any more but a slowly evolving “United Nations” where nations are collaborating on ideas and sharing the best developments.  Chrome’s security was definitely inspired by Windows OS security, so maybe IE user experiences can be inspired by Chrome and FireFox.

The only downside to all this great fun is that I have to use Firefox now, but I suppose there are worse things in life.  Version 3.6 is working pretty well so far.

Weekender: Facebook, Silverlight, CSS, Guy Kawasaki

CSS Zen Garden Illustrates the Power of CSS

This is a great site that shows real-time CSS design changes by simply clicking on a new theme. What is nice about the site is that it has a lot of content that perfectly shows how content is separated from the layout style. You can also download the files and play with the very well commented CSS so that even if you’re a beginner, you learn a lot!

Explorer Exposed Dissects the World of IE Quirks

If you’re a designer and who is trying to get a grip on a variety of IE related quirks, check this site out. What is really nice is that most of the major ones are covered and illustrated fully with detailed explanations and screenshots of the bug and fix. IE5+ are covered under the guide and is constantly updated for newer versions like IE7 and IE8.

Step-by-Step Guide to a Standards-based Site Using Expression Web 3

As someone who is learning web design, I found this 20 minute tutorial very useful. It really goes to explain some basics of Expression but also the finer details of web designing in general. If you don’t want to create your own assets, the tutorial also makes the ones in the video downloadable buy clicking on “Quick Start Guides” in the navigation.

Facebook Desktop Application Released in Silverlight 4 Beta

We all spend time on it, so why jump through the hoops of a browser? This Silverlight Facebook application adds a modern UI and cool visualizations to better show photos and comments. Many people I know use it as their default method to use the Facebook. To use it, visit the link. You can even right-click and install locally so you have a choice of running in the browser or as an application.

11 Outstanding Online Resources for Web Developers

Mashable compiles a great list of websites dedicated to improving web developer’s “nun-chuck skillz.” Included on this list are famous sites like Ajaxian, O’Reilly, and W3 Schools. Good descriptions and differentiations on about each site are described.

34 Favorite Windows 7 Tips

I could write about two dozen articles on many of the tips in this list, but why bother? Any person who reads this list will go from Windows novice to Windows power-user in minutes!

Add a Custom “Move To” Location to Windows Right-Click Menu

By default, Windows has a “Send To” feature in the context-menu, but this only copies a file. What if you want to move a file? Read about this registry key you can add.

The Art and Science of the Email Signiture

Email signatures are so easy to do well, that it’s really a shame how often they’re done poorly. Many people want their signature to reflect their personality, provide pertinent information and more, but they can easily go overboard. Why are email signatures important? They may be boring and the last item on your list of things to get right, but they affect the tone of every email you write.

Guy Kawasaki Shows Us How To Blog In Style

There’s something about a British accent. Whenever I hear it, I assume the person speaking with it is smart. Call it “accent profiling.” These ten qualities are the equivalents of a British accent when it comes to blog posts.

Microsoft IT Talks about Snow and Unified Communications

Snow Problem

What a winter! The long range weather forecasters got it wrong, traffic in south eastern England ground to a halt at the first sight of snow – my usual 25 minute journey home turned into a 4 hour drive battling against the elements - but Microsoft was ready!

For several years now Microsoft has been developing secure systems which allow employees and contractors to work remotely, seamlessly and with minimal impact to productivity.

When I first joined Microsoft in 2001 we used Broadband (ADSL) or dial up to connect to the Corporate Network (CorpNet) using a VPN link. Things have developed since then and we now have different ways to connect or access services depending on what we need to be able to do.

• OWA – Outlook Web Access allows everyone to connect to the Exchange Servers from any PC to use mail, calendar, contacts, tasks etc. from any internet connected PC using just a web browser and a secure web page. This can be used on any PC by any employee or contractor who has a corporate mail account.
• Exchange Anywhere – This used to have the very attractive and compelling name of RPC over HTTP or RPC/HTTPJ. Since the release of Exchange Server 2003 this service has allowed the use of a domain joined work PC connected to the Internet to access the Exchange Server without having to have a VPN link to CorpNet. This again is available to anyone with a corporate mail account.
• Remote Access Service (RAS) – This service has been available for many years but users can now connect in two ways:
  • Using an internal client called IT Connection Manager. IT Connection Manager sets up a VPN tunnel between the PC and CorpNet over the internet. While logging in (which requires dual factor authentication; in the case of Microsoft we use a Smartcard with a PIN) the system puts the machine into quarantine and performs a security check to ensure that the latest security updates have been installed, and that the corporate standard anti-virus, Microsoft Forefront Endpoint Protection, is active and up to date before completing the connection to CorpNet. This can take a frustratingly long time to complete. It also has the disadvantage that all traffic, including Internet traffic is tunneled through the CorpNet which can affect the quality of audio and video calls.
  • A newer VPN client is now being tested internally. This VPN client still uses a Smartcard for dual factor authentication and it also uses elements of NAP (Network Access Protection) so that rather than checking the status of the PC it checks a ‘Health Certificate’ to ensure security compliance, in most cases this is a lot quicker. This tool also has the advantage of tunneling CorpNet traffic over VPN but allowing direct access to Internet Traffic for services which do not need CorpNet access.
• Direct Access
  • With the advent of Windows 7 we are now trialing Direct Access. With Direct Access users can log onto their PC with their Smartcard and whether they have a connection to the CorpNet or a connection to the Internet their experience is exactly the same. Direct access also uses NAP and separates Corporate and Internet traffic.
  • There is also a very small pilot running within Microsoft IT which uses the BitLocker key and the TPM (Trusted Platform Module) chip in the PC to validate the user. This system, which I am testing, means that wherever I am, provided I have an internet connection, I can do exactly the same things that I can do from my desk. Apart from the initial setup I do not even need my Smartcard for access.

So, what has this to do with the weather? Having this technology available has meant that on days when I’m physically unable to get to the office I can still work effectively – snow or no snow! I have Broadband at home and so I simply plug in my PC and collect my mail, get access to all the SharePoint sites for collaboration, get access to the tools that I need to do my job on a day to day basis, make or take telephone calls using Microsoft Communicator (the VoIP client on my PC for OCS Enterprise Voice) as if I were in the office and join audio or video conferences using Microsoft Live Meeting. The only things that I cannot do are anything which needs physical touch on site and enjoy the great coffee from the Spacebar in Building 3! In reflection, the main issue is really the coffee, as our infrastructure is monitored and can be configured by our remote Global Operations Centres in the US and India.

As part of the business continuity planning, Microsoft IT has installed sufficient capacity in North America for all full time employees to be able to work remotely and currently, in EMEA, we are working towards this target.

The snow may have stopped the traffic in the south this year but it certainly did not stop the Reading based Microsoft staff working from home while the office was closed – keeping the business of IT going.

John Owen
IT Manager | Field IT
United Kingdom

John.Owen@Microsoft.com

Microsoft in Education – A Presentation by Steve Beswick

I managed to finally import, edit, and clean up the video from The SharePoint EDU Conference that took place back in the Summer 2009 in Birmingham.  There is a heavy SharePoint focus as you can tell by the name.  The content below is one of six videos that were recorded so stay tuned for more if you work in the education sector.  If you know someone in education, please forward the links to the content.  I should be getting new content upload every day. 

 

PHP SQL Server Driver for All You Communists

I’ve been meeting a lot of open-source devs lately and most tend to be genuinely surprised about the ability to now use SQL Server 2005/2008 with PHP applications.  The best PHP devs, especially those who own or run development houses, tend to be a platform neutral bunch even those that work almost exclusively on Linux, Apache, and MySQL.  They simply live, eat, and breath PHP and don’t care about the rest of the stack as long as it “just works.”

One of the biggest audiences that PHP devs haven’t been able to break into is the enterprise world.  I’m not talking about web companies like Facebook and the like, I’m talking about manufacturing, utilities, communications, transportation, government, etc.  By and large, a huge chunk of these industries rely, at least partially, on a big Microsoft technology stack. 

Its not only important to make a great web app in these places, but it is just as important that the system cleanly integrates as well.  Up until recently, the idea of running a PHP application on Windows just seemed ridiculous for a whole host of reasons, but now Microsoft is committing a lot of time and energy to ensure Windows and MS SQL provide a 1st class experience for the PHP community!

Introducing the SQL Server Driver for PHP

The SQL Server Driver for PHP is a PHP 5 extension that provides data access to SQL Server 2005 and SQL Server 2008. The extension provides a procedural interface for accessing data in all versions (including Express) of SQL Server 2005 and SQL Server 2008. The SQL Server Driver for PHP API includes support for Windows Authentication, transactions, parameter binding, streaming, metadata access, and error handling.

To use the SQL Server Driver for PHP, you must have SQL Server Native Client installed on the same computer on which PHP is running. For more information, see System Requirements (SQL Server Driver for PHP).

What's New in Version 1.1 of the SQL Server Driver for PHP

Support Resources

About Code Examples in the Documentation

Server Driver for PHP)

SQLSRV Constants

Example ApplicationGetting Started
Programming Guide

Full MSDN Reference Documentation on PHP SQL Driver

Of course, if after some really successful projects you find yourself making a ton of money from your clients, I suggest you check out .NET.  After all, .NET offers every style of programming you could want:

• functional
• declarative
• concurrent
• interpreted
• static
• dynamic

.NET also supports a huge number of languages under a common language runtime as well as a dynamic language runtime:

• C#
• VB.NET
• ASP.NET
• ASP.NET MVC
• Iron Ruby
• Iron Python
• F#

I highly recommend anyone who likes money check it out :)

Just Watched Obama Get Grilled by House Republicans QA for 90 minutes. WOW!

Sorry if politics isn’t your thing (it should be cause tech revolves around policy), and I am not trying to be hyperbolic when I say this but I think I’ve witnessed the most honest and open American political debate in my 27 years of life!  Although not quite British Parliament style, its reminded me of a the sparring matches between Tony Blair and the opposition.  It was like watching adult [Obama] lecture a bunch of petty school children [GOP] on why tattling is not a virtue.  There were some great insights into deep policy goals with specifics previously unreported in the news cycle.  If you’re American or Republican, you should watch it.  If you’re a Democrat, you already know most of the story.  If you’re a liberal or progressive, honestly, I think you should be worried cause Obama really isn’t a liberal at all.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Apple iPad – A Microsoft Allegory (Part 1)

Kudos to Apple on a fantastic product launch!  I give props where it is due and they really did create the perfect storm for the “product of the decade."  All the elements were there.  The years of anticipation, the official fake price leaks quoting $1000, the subsequent surprise price of $499 that sent stocks jumping, and the amazing marketing videos that illustrated the design challenges and goals of this new device, all needs were fulfilled to catapult the product into the hearts and minds of the consumers.

And then the blink of an eye, the event was over.  An eerie void clouded the blogosphere and news sites as people struggled to form a simple opinion for which Apple is notorious for evoking.  Love.  Magic.  Revolution.  No, these were not the words used for this chapter in history.  It did not take a genius to realize that the product was a “giant iPhone,” but was it more?  Calling it a giant iPhone just seemed too simplistic and all questioned whether Jobs had an angle that none could see.

Slowly by slowly, blog editorials began emerging from the silence enticing readers with imagery, screenshots, and videos.  Apple updated their website like a well oiled machine and people were consumed with emotions, but still no one could really form a clear opinion.  Engadget, TechCrunch, Gizmodo, Mashable, and GigaOM were all split amongst the staff.  Even in the land of Twitter, a giant war brewed as as 145,000 “twits” chose factions (Mashable).

“An opinion has to be formed.  A consensus must be reached!” thought the technical community.  Darkness.  The masses grew impatient.  Without the foresight and clarity of the journalists to navigate the maze of truth, the once proudly naif people rose up to challenge what Apple had told them.

Chaos begot chaos and when the voices of a million avatars could seem to grow no louder, a champion emerged.  Unity. 

 

Even those that wanted to defy could not help but be persuaded by the supreme [psuedo] logic of the Third Reich.

Will the backlash subside, or will it brew and be enshrined in the HP Slate?  Time will tell.  One thing is for certain, on Jan 27th, the world has changed.  The game has changed for the better.

 

In the immortal words of CharlieX, in response to @Chaosdevine, “this is so meH.”

Microsoft Releases Haitian Creole Translator for Haiti Aid Workers

Its been amazing to see the world community mobilize against the disaster in Haiti.  There isn’t a day that goes by where I see, hear, or read an amazing story about survival and philanthropy.  Microsoft has done a lot in this area to help.

“Since we first heard news of the tragedy in Haiti, there has been a remarkable outpouring of support from Microsoft employees. In the U.S. alone, about 4,300 employees have made contributions totaling approximately $800,000 ($1.6 million with corporate match). This is in addition to the incredible generosity that we are seeing from employees around the world. Beyond this direct monetary support, many employees have found ways to help with relief efforts by joining together to collect donations and increase awareness. Additionally, two employees were on the ground in Haiti working as volunteers with rescue and relief organizations.”

Lisa Brummel - Senior Vice President of Human Resources – Microsoft

What has been especially surprising outside of the monetary contribution, Microsoft is using their technology to improve the relief effort namely in areas of electronic communications and translations.  Bing Translator has introduced Haitian Creole, a language that many probably haven’t had a need to translate until recently.  As core infrastructure and telecommunications is solidified, machine translation will serve as an important tool for many foreign aid workers.

 

Visit www.MicrosoftTranslator.com

Microsoft Can Do Sexy Too…Pshh iPad

If you’ve heard or used our Arc Mouse, we now have a really cool companion item to go with it.  BEHOLD…the Arc Keyboard! 

 

That should hold you guys over until a do a full write-up on the iPad from the Microsoft employee angle out tommorow.  Seriously, Apple is loosing its design edge in the accessories department, I mean really, have you seen the iPad external keyboard? Yuck.  It looks like an aluminum Volvo 240 flattened by a bulldozer with the windows and hubcaps painted white.

Understanding Expression Blend Sketchflow in 5 Minutes

Taking the audio from the original recording presented during Oxford Geek Night, I created a video of an updated PowerPoint presentation on the topic.

February Live Webcasts from Microsoft

TechNet Webcast: Network Considerations for Deploying Communications Server 2007 R2 (Level 300)

Tuesday, February 02, 2010 - 11:00 AM - 12:30 PM Pacific Time

Desmond Lee, Senior Consultant, Winworkers Switzerland

http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032439126&Culture=en-US

TechNet Webcast: Deploying Kronos Workforce Management Solutions Using SQL Server 2008 (Level 200)

Wednesday, February 03, 2010 - 8:00 AM - 9:00 AM Pacific Time

Allan Hirt, SQL Server MVP, Megahirtz

Anu Chawla, Director, Microsoft Corporation

http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032439725&Culture=en-US

TechNet Webcast: Thrive Live! Conducting Effective Meetings (Level 100)

Wednesday, February 03, 2010 - 9:00 AM - 10:00 AM Pacific Time

Joe Webb, Chief Operating Manager, WebbTech Solutions

http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032433814&Culture=en-US

TechNet Webcast: Migrating Public-Facing Web Sites to SharePoint 2010 (Level 200)

Wednesday, February 03, 2010 - 1:00 PM - 2:00 PM Pacific Time

Rasool Ryani, Director, Metalogix

http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032438272&Culture=en-US

TechNet Webcast: Exchange Server 2010 Upgrade and Coexistence with Exchange Server 2007 and 2003 (Level 200)

Thursday, February 04, 2010 - 11:00 AM - 12:30 PM Pacific Time

Harold Wong, Senior IT Pro Evangelist, Microsoft Corporation

http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032438995&Culture=en-US

TechNet Webcast: Deploying PTC Windchill Using Microsoft SQL Server (Level 200)

Tuesday, February 09, 2010 - 8:00 AM - 9:00 AM Pacific Time

Allan Hirt, SQL Server MVP, Megahirtz

Anu Chawla, Director, Microsoft Corporation

http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032439727&Culture=en-US

TechNet Webcast: Information About Microsoft February Security Bulletins (Level 200)

Wednesday, February 10, 2010 - 11:00 AM - 12:30 PM Pacific Time

Jerry Bryant, Senior Security Program Manager Lead, Microsoft Corporation

Adrian Stone, Senior Security Program Manager Lead, Microsoft Corporation

http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032427679&Culture=en-US

TechNet Webcast: Creating Highly Branded, Rich User Experiences in SharePoint Server 2007 (Level 200)

Wednesday, February 10, 2010 - 1:00 PM - 2:00 PM Pacific Time

Ross S. Freedman, Director, Rightpoint

Jocelyn Ewert, Marketing Manager, Microsoft Corporation

http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032430168&Culture=en-US

TechNet Webcast: Deploying Siemens PLM Teamcenter Using SQL Server 2008 (Level 200)

Wednesday, February 17, 2010 - 8:00 AM - 9:00 AM Pacific Time

Allan Hirt, SQL Server MVP, Megahirtz

Anu Chawla, Director, Microsoft Corporation

http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032439852&Culture=en-US

TechNet Webcast: Project Professional 2010 and SharePoint Server 2010 Better Together (Level 100)

Thursday, February 18, 2010 - 8:00 AM - 9:00 AM Pacific Time

Erik Ku, MVP Microsoft Project, ITrain

http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032439857&Culture=en-US

TechNet Webcast: Resource Management in Microsoft Project 2010 (Level 200)

Tuesday, February 23, 2010 - 8:00 AM - 9:00 AM Pacific Time

Renke Holert, IT Project Manager and EPM Consultant, Holert.com

http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032433817&Culture=en-US

TechNet Webcast: Higher Education, Public-Facing Web Site Creation (Level 200)

Wednesday, February 24, 2010 - 1:00 PM - 2:00 PM Pacific Time

Tim Beamer, Technology Evangelist, Dell GICS Americas Microsoft Practice, Dell

http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032438041&Culture=en-US

TechNet Webcast: Microsoft Project 2010 Portfolio Analysis (Level 200)

Friday, February 26, 2010 - 8:00 AM - 9:00 AM Pacific Time

Hilde Corbu, Managing Partner, Trilex

http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032433322&Culture=en-US

TechNet Webcast: Troubleshooting Activation Issues with Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 (Level 300)

Friday, February 26, 2010 - 10:00 AM - 11:00 AM Pacific Time

Chris Jolley, Group Marketing Manager, Microsoft Corporation

Kim Griffiths, Senior Product Manager, Microsoft Corporation

http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032438706&Culture=en-US

Mr. Ballmer, Would You Sign My Mac?

Sorry, this was too funny not to post!  Well played Mr. Ballmer…well played.  Just out of curiosity, can you perhaps furbish me, employee #318193 with a personally signed version of my Lenovo (I’ll even take a Dell) ?  I know its not a Mac, but I swear it has Windows 7 on it :)

Macs get to have all the fun…*sigh*

 

Deepfat Rationalizes the Ribbon UI in Microsoft Office

My colleague Andrew Fryer (@deepfat) was annoyed at BETT 2010 conference by the number of older teachers, headmasters, and IT professionals whining about the Ribbon UI.  I told him that some people just can’t be convinced and will only go kicking a screaming.  I said this after spending about 15 minutes explaining to a guy why Microsoft has to change UIs as new computing paradigms arrive.  Evolution is important after all, although, I definitely know a few geezers still using WordPerfect on his 486 chugging along on a dial-up modem.

Seriously, imagine using a non-Ribbon UI on a touch-screen monitor or slate pc.  Anyways, Andrew has an interesting comparison between the Ribbon UI and the never ending debate between the metric (SI) and Imperial.  Read more for a good laugh.

 

 

 

 

How Microsoft Does ‘Cloud’ Security [WHITEPAPER]

 

Microsoft released a detailed whitepaper back in August outlining how security is done when it comes to running our Business Productivity Online Services (BPOS).  Many people are  only now just beginning to think about how businesses will change under a cloud model, especially since competitors are becoming increasing agile when it comes to being able to deliver business results.  Whether your business is manufacturing, shipping, technology, marketing, finance, entertainment, or government, your customers will always demand more agility.  The bottom line is that if you don’t provide it, someone else will, perhaps even at far lesser cost.   

A lot of organizational overhead is a direct result of complexity.  The goal of IT is to make one human capable to doing the work of multiple humans in the same way that a class 2 lever such as a wheelbarrow lets a man move dirt.  Believe me, in the modern world of white collar Britain, paperwork is dirt, and you want to move as much as you can as quickly as you can.  Having smart IT systems that take care of themselves or can be easily integrated with custom systems can be a huge competitive advantage to reduce costs and keep your employees efficient and happy.  At the same time managing IT can itself become a huge problem.  Wouldn’t it be nice if IT could focus on building and fixing the operations of the business that are unique rather than being bogged down with the mission-critical commodities services like email, file sharing, and communications?

The only thing stopping most business even considering this route is due to security and reliability.  Hopefully, this whitepaper will instil confidence that when done properly, hosted services from Microsoft can really be a winner.  Because BPOS is a growing business that represents mission critical services for organizations, namely, email via Exchange, document collaboration via SharePoint, and  web conferencing via Live Meeting, many larger enterprises may be curious about the security implications of hosting these services in a 3rd party cloud.  Read the whitepaper where Microsoft elaborates an end-to-end journey about privacy, datacenters, complicance, and continuity.