IE9 has reached a milestone in its’ release cycle – the release candidate is now available for download! Download the Internet Explorer 9 Release Candidate, Internet Explorer Administration Kit 9, and Internet Explorer 9 Blocker Toolkit today to explore new capabilities and tools for Microsoft’s enterprise-ready browser. http://go.microsoft.com/?linkid=9762084
..via the IEBlog:
The Release Candidate of Internet Explorer 9, available now at www.BeautyOfTheWeb.com in 40 languages, reflects our unique approach to building the best experience of the Web on Windows. IE9 also reflects a more open and transparent approach with its regular cadence of platform previews for developers and enthusiasts. With the Release Candidate, we’ve taken to heart over 17,000 pieces of feedback about IE9. You will find the product has made progress on all fronts—performance and standards, user experience, and safety and privacy.
We want to thank the millions of people who have installed and used Internet Explorer 9 during pre-release testing. The value of your feedback in developing the product is hard to overstate. The rest of this post highlights some of the changes made as we listened and acted directly on this feedback.
Performance & Standards: The Web Platform for Developers
The IE9 RC is faster with real world sites. In addition to making the script engine faster, we’ve improved and tuned the rest of the browser as well. You’ll find that Gmail, Office Web Applications, and many other sites are faster as a result of scenario tuning, network cache tuning, and new compiler optimizations. You’ll also find that the RC of IE9 often uses megabytes less memory than the beta because of changes like delayed image decoding. We’ve also improved the performance of things many people do every day, like find on page, and made improvements which extend battery life.
I am seen by many as a geek and this is a moniker I wear with pride, but I am not a single dimensional person. I also am very committed to personal development, family and community. One of the people I look to as a role model and inspiration is Bill Gates. My decision to seek out a role in Microsoft was not solely based on the software and solutions we build nor the fantastic company atmosphere, opportunity and challenge the organization provides. I was motivated by the one-time leader, his dedication and personal belief structure and in particular the philanthropic endeavors he has chosen to take with success.
Today I read the 2011 Letter from Bill Gates where he discusses the year that passed, the work that has been done and the work ahead for the Bill an Melinda Gates Foundation. I urge you to take a look, it is empowering and reminds me of the great things that come from our software beyond the business solution. The site includes a video introduction from Bill or you can just read the document from the link below
From The Desktop To The Cloud: Lets Manage, Monitor and Deploy The local IT Pro (Windows) User Group promised bigger and better and here it comes. On February 24th, Microsoft, the Windows user group, and the new System Center user group are collaborating to bring you a multi-track day at the Guinness Storehouse. Expert speakers will be presenting the following in 3 rooms at the same time:
Track 1: The Cloud Track 2: Deployment Track 3: Systems Management Each track has four sessions, so you can pick and choose which sessions you want to attend. Join us for a full day of action packed sessions covering everything from the Desktop To The Cloud and maybe even a pint of Guinness afterwards! When: February 24th, 2011. 9.30am – 5pm (registration from 9am) Where: Guinness Storehouse, St James Gate, Dublin 8.
Register now
Join us at the Guinness Store House on February 24th at 09:30 for a full day of action packed sessions covering everything from the desktop to The Cloud, and maybe even a pint of Guinness afterwards.
We have our a fantastic range of speakers ranging from MVPs to Microsoft Staff and leading industry specialists to deliver our sessions ensuring a truly unique experience. During this day, you will have the choice of attending sessions of your choice, covering topics such as Windows 7/Office 2010 deployment, management using System Center, and cloud computing for the IT pro (no developer content – we promise!).
You can register here. Please only register if you seriously intend to go; Spaces are limited and we want to make sure as many can attend as possible.
We will be running 3 separate subject tracks as follows:
Track 1: The Cloud
The sessions in this track introduce the IT pro to new ways of using cloud computing to provide IT based services to the users in their organisation.
Session 1: CRM Online
Session Description: Take a deep dive into CRM Online and show how you can integrate it with on-premise systems and existing cloud technologies. We will also a look at integration with XRM.
Speakers: Mark Gullick, Microsoft / James Finnegan, Microsoft
Session 2: Office 365
Session Description: Learn about Office 365, understand the offering and the features it provides, and how to plan and coexist with existing infrastructures.
Speaker: John McCabe, Microsoft
Session 3: Azure
Session Description: We will take a look at Azure from an IT Pro perspective and how you can leverage it, and plan to migrate systems and applications to The Cloud.
Speakers: Wilbour Craddock, Microsoft / Josh Holmes, Microsoft
Session 4: Intune
Session Description: This will be a detailed look at Intune, showing how you can build an MSP practice using Microsoft’s latest edition to the online services portfolio.
Speaker: Wilbour Craddock, Microsoft
Track 2: Windows 7/Office 2010 Deployment
The Windows 7 track will teach the attendee about the essential technologies for performing a successful deployment of Windows 7 and Office 2010.
Session 1: Microsoft Assessment & Planning Toolkit For Windows 7 and Office 2010
Session Description: The first step of any deployment is planning, and you need information to create an accurate plan. The Microsoft Assessment and Planning Toolkit (MAP) allows you to assess you existing desktop infrastructure. Armed with this information you can identify which hardware needs to be replaced, which needs to be upgraded, and which applications and drivers will require further administrative or engineering effort. This session will teach you how to use MAP to assess your infrastructure and produce the necessary reports.
Speaker: Aidan Finn (MVP – Virtual Machine), System Dynamics
Aidan Finn is the infrastructure team leader with System Dynamics, an Irish consulting company based in Dublin. Systems Dynamics provides expertise in IT infrastructure, business intelligence, and enterprise software development. Aidan is a former System Center Configuration Manager Most Valuable Professional (MVP), and is currently one of 60 Virtual Machine MVPs in the world. Aidan is the co-author of Mastering Windows Server 2008 R2 (Sybex, 2009) and Mastering Windows 7 Deployment (Sybex, 2011), and is the lead author of Mastering Hyper-V Deployment (Sybex, 2010).
Session 2: Application Compatibility Toolkit
Session Description: Have you got legacy applications or are responsible for a migration project to Windows 7? We will take a detailed look at how the Application compatibility toolkit can help mitigate and fix applications to run successfully on Windows 7.
Speaker: Sebastian Siminovich Blok, Microsoft
Session 3: Microsoft Deployment Toolkit 2010, Update 1
Session Description: The Microsoft Deployment Toolkit (MDT) is Microsoft’s free solution for providing advanced operating system image deployment for desktops and servers. This light touch solution allows the usage of task sequences to perform many tasks in a fire-and-forget manner. This means you can do more than just install an image; you can capture and restore user states, configure encryption, apply the latest patches, install software, and provide plug-and-play drivers … and do pretty much anything that can be scripted. This session will walk you through the set-up and usage of MDT to deploy and configure Windows 7.
Session 4: Office 2010 Deployment
Session Description: It is likely that you will want to deploy Office 2010 if you are upgrading to Windows 7. This session will show you the various methods that you can employ, from network-based administrative installations to App-V.
Speaker: Gerry Forde, Lakeland Dairies
Track 3: Systems Management
In this track you will see how Microsoft System Center products can be used together to automate many complex and time consuming operational tasks.
Session 1: System Center Ops Manager/Configuration Manager/ Service Manager
Session Description: The session will dive into the integration of OpsMgr, ConfigMgr and Service Manager to see how you can drive processes and track events.
Speaker: Paul Keely (MVP – System Center Operations Manager)
Session 2: System Center Virtual Machine Manager/ Operations Manager & Performance Resource Optimization (PRO)
Session Description: Learn more about Dynamic IT by seeing dynamic load balancing of virtual machines on Hyper-V with SCVMM & OpsMgr using PRO managements packs.
Speaker: Kevin Greene / Steve Blanche
Session 3: Opalis
Session Description: In this session we will explore the latest addition to the System Center family, Opalis, an extremely powerful orchestration engine for all type of operating systems and services.
Speaker: Aneko, Microsoft
Session 4: Private Cloud & Dynamic Datacenter
Session Description: Explore the private cloud from a relief scenario, and the experiences that were encountered on the journey to the private cloud.
Speaker: Damian Flynn (MVP – Virtual Machine), Lionbridge
Today we publically announced the release of SP1 for Windows Server 2008 R2 and Windows 7. SP1 also adds two new virtualization features: Dynamic Memory and RemoteRX. For those of you who haven’t been testing the Beta and RC, here’s a quick overview of these two great additions to an already exception product. The good news is that you’ll get a chance to test this out when we release it on February 22nd.
Dynamic Memory allows the allocation of a range of memory (min and max) to individual VMs, enabling the system to dynamically adjust the VM’s memory usage based on demand. This provides more consistency in system performance enabling better manageability for administrators.
Microsoft RemoteFX leverages the power of virtualized graphics resources and advanced codecs to recreate the fidelity of hardware-assisted graphics acceleration, including support for 3D content and Windows Aero, on a remote user’s device. This allows for a local-like, remote user experience over a variety of possible host, client and network configurations. Dynamic Memory is a new memory management feature of Windows Server 2008 R2 Hyper-V.
More detail to be found here from the Windows Team
Windows Server 2008 R2 and Windows 7 SP1 will be available through the following channels on the following dates:
· February 16: Code available for download by
o TechNet/MSDN Subscribers
o Volume Licensing Customers
· February 22: Code generally available through Download Center and Windows Update