I was playing around with my new Vista build and wanted to log off the system, but I did not save my Word document so I've got the following error:

I really liked this error window, it is exactly telling me why the system cannot log off. So I had the choice continue log off and loose my document or click cancel and save my document.

This will really help the end-user to understand what is happening.

While I am preparing for the Vista security overview TechNet evening I read about a new functionality of Longhorn Server and Windows Vista client, it is called Network Access Protection (NAP). I will talk a little bit about this during the presentation but here is already a preview of what this does.

NAP will help you as an Administrator to make sure that the clients who are connecting to your network will be compliant with the policies you defined.

How NAP works:

1.      Client requests access to network and presents current health status

2.      DHCP, VPN or Switch Router relays health status to Microsoft’s Network Policy Server

3.      The Network Policy Server validates this against IT-defined health policies

4.      If the machine is policy compliant, it’s given immediate access to the corporate network

5.      If the machine is not policy compliant, it is put in a restricted VLAN and given access to fix up resources to download patches, configurations, signatures, etc.  Repeat 1-3.

Network Access Protection functions on four levels.  It validates compliance to policy, restricts access based compliance to policy, remediates as necessary, and grants access accordingly.  NAP ensures the client’s ongoing compliance to policy. The NAP platform functions in realtime.  It recognizes quarantines and remediates threats before they can even pose a threat to your network.

Visit the following site for more information about NAP.

Note: NAP is not the same as Network Quarantaine in Windows 2003

The following Linux operating systems have been tested and are on the list of supported guests for Virtual Server 2005 R2:

Support

Customers who deploy supported guest operating systems in Virtual Server 2005 R2 can get product support through their normal Virtual Server 2005 R2 support channels. The Virtual Machine Additions for Linux will also be supported through the same channels.

According to published reports, the Commission has sent Microsoft a note warning the company about potential antitrust concerns that might arise over Microsoft's bundling of Internet Explorer, Internet search and other features.

My colleague Hans Verbeeck created an interesting post about it and shows that he doesn't agree with the EU.  He shows in his post how easy it is to make a competitor's search engine the default search engine in IE7.

Just read his post if you want to know more about it. I follow Hans his thinking about it.

The IE team created a feedback site where you can enter the IE7 bugs. The site where you can put the bugs is the Connect site.

You will need a passport account to sign up for the Internet Explorer Feedback program.

Once signed up you can start giving your feedback and you will get a searchable public system for submitting and viewing the progress of bugs, leaving comments on bugs, and offering feedback and product suggestions.

Read the complete post on the IE blog

I hear you think how can I win that prize, it's simple i'll explain it.

The first thing is to think about a cool and useful project you could create with Visual Studio Express and/or SQL Server Express.

If your idea/project is chosen then you need to build the project.

Do you think to have the coolest project and want to win 10.00$ then go and subscribe
you on this site www.madeinexpresscontest.com.

My colleagues Tom Mertens and David Boschmans made their complete wrap-up about the Dev-IT Pro Days 2006. I took their list of Belgian bloggers , you can find them below, check it out to know what some of the Attendees and Speakers found about the event:

Let start with some of the men behind the Dev - IT Pro Days:

Tom Mertens: Belgian Developer & IT Pro Days 2006: Some Facts
David Boschmans: Wrapping up: Developer and It-Pro Days 2006

Now go on with some of the speakers and attendees:

• CoolzOr: day 1 and day 2. Also cross-posted here.
• Yves Hanoulle: Developer IT Pro Days is over.
• Pieter Gheysens: Dev & IT Pro Days 2006
• Hans Verbeeck: Developer & IT Pro Days Belgium
• Luc Van Braekel: At Microsoft event, Dutch trendwatcher talks about converging technologies
• Druppels: Van de vlinder en de pinguin (Dutch!)
• Tim De Keukelaere: DevITProDays - Day 1 and DevITProDays - Day 2
• Steven Wilssens: The Day after Developer and IT Pro Days 2006
• Grégory Renard (Rédo): Microsoft DevITProDays [Belgique] (French!)
• Nix: DEVITPROS 2006 JOUR 1/2
• MobileViking: Microsoft IT Pro and Developer Days 2006: a round-up
• Roy Osherove: One more DevDays Talk: Introduction to Agile Methodologies and Concepts 
• Frédéric De Vries gives his opinion (in Dutch) on Developer & IT Pro Days and FOSDEM. He also has pictures of both events.
• Wesley Baekelant says he wasn't too thrilled about the sessions? He claims most technologies are 'too old' to talk about them in such a way. 
• Didier Danse, a Belgian MVP, gives his quote (in French) for several parts of the event and ends up with an 8/10 for the entire event.
• Pieter Gheysens says the event was a great success.
• Steven Van de Craen got to see some interesting stuff on 2007 Office System.
• Bart De Smet, MVP and WPF speaker.
  
  
• Gerd De Bruycker, events manager of Tech Ed Europe
• Kurt Roggen, Windows 2003 R2 speaker

Let me know if you saw another blog about Dev & IT Pro days which is not in this list and I will add it onto this list.

I didn't know we hired a reporter Hans Verbeeck (also a MSFTie) for the Dev & IT Pro days, you can find his article on his blog http://blogs.msdn.com/hans_vb/archive/2006/03/09/547272.aspx

Hans your keynote was great and it was a pleasure to help you out.

It was indeed a lot of work but we had fun too.

Thanks Hans

Upcoming R2 Webcasts

With over 1.200 registrations the Developer & IT Pro Days are now officially sold out... We've exceed our target with 20% and for the first time in Developer & IT Pro Days history we have to close the registration early. See y'all in Ghent...

I just received this link from a colleague of mine just watch the
video and turn the sound on.

I liked it very much.

The Exchange blog just posted an interview with Terry Myerson , General Manager of Exchange, where he talks about Microsofts decision to build a 64-bit only version.

You can find the post here or a direct link to the mp3 & wma.

Txs to Harold Wong

This CTP includes both the full 64-bit version, and the 32-bit version for feature evaluation, training, and demonstrations.

Beta 2 is targeted mid-2006 for Beta 2, and remain on track to finish in the end of 2006 or early 2007.

Restore the Run command onto the Start Menu

The Run command has been hidden by default. To enable it, simply perform the following commands:

Right click on the Start button and click Properties.

In the Start Menu Properties dialog box click Customize

Scroll down and in the list unti you find Run command.
Check the box next to it.

Press Ok and here you go.

Microsoft has released the Windows Vista Product line-up:

I just received a mail from the TechNet webcast team below is an excerpt of this mail.

The Microsoft TechNet webcast team is trying out audio podcasts of some of their webcast content. 
We've heard that folks want audio on the go content, away from their machines.  You can either download or stream individual
webcasts, or download them all at once using a podcast reader.  
I just did the whole RSS feed with podcasts for first time.  

Pretty slick.  If you're new to this, check out the instructions at:  http://www.microsoft.com/windowsmobile/articles/podcasts.mspx

You can download Exchange Server 2003 audio-only webcasts by going to this webpage: http://www.microsoft.com/technet/scriptcenter/audio/exchange.mspx 

And, you can download Scripting Week 3 audio-only webcasts by going to this webpage: http://www.microsoft.com/technet/scriptcenter/audio/sweek3.mspx

Try it out and let us know

I’ve been using IE7 Beta 2 for a few weeks now and I must admit I like it alot and no it is not because I work at Microsoft.
I was a huge fan of firefox and was still using it at home but when I tried the IE7 Beta 2 with (finally)
tabbed browsing and a much cooler feature grouped favorites.

What is it, it’s simple you open a bunch of sites you visit a lot in different tabs and you add them as a favorites group onto your favorites.

Just click on Add/Subscribe button on the toolbar and choose the “Add Tab Group to Favorites”

With this done you can now open the sites within this group by a simple click on the blue Arrow.

All sites will now open in different tabs.

Try it and enjoy.

Peter De Serrano is a Belgian SQL Consultant and is actively looking for motivated people to help
him creating the "BElgian Microsoft Sql Server User Group"

So if you are intrested to help him co-found this user group
or to just be an active member read this http://home.scarlet.be/peterds/ReadMe.htm

The official site can be found @ address http://www.bemssug.org/

Follow all 4 webcasts, fill in the eval forms and receive a Microsoft travel mug and be make chance to win a Technet Plus subscription.

Here are the webcasts:

An Overview of Exchange “12” (Level 200)
Tuesday, March 14, 2006

Giving the Administrator More Control in Exchange “12” (Level 200)
Wednesday, March 15, 2006

Client Access and Web Services in Exchange “12” (Level 200)
Thursday, March 16, 2006

Message Security and Active Protection in Exchange “12” (Level 200)
Friday, March 17, 2006

Webcast and registration information is here:

http://www.microsoft.com/events/series/tnexchangeserver.mspx

I just saw a neat Internet Explorer 7 video  on Sean Alexander his blog - here is the link

The least-privileged user account  (LUA) approach ensures that users follow the principle of least privilege and always log on with limited user accounts.

The official launch date of the new operating system Windows Vista has not yet been set.

When will the final product be launched?
Enter your guess now and win an exclusive invitation to the international Vista launch event in the USA

In addition to a first-prize trip for one person to spend three nights in a four-star hotel and attend the launch -- the location of which has not been disclosed -- Microsoft is offering second-, third- and fourth-prize winners a new Xbox 360, and fifth- through 10th-place winners an Xbox Core System.

This contest is only available for the EMEA users and can be found here.

So I suggest all to join the beta experience and try Vista and maybe win the trip.