VIRTUALBOY BLOG
More new books released, this time covering Virtual Server 2005! Great!
The 2 new books on Virtual Server 2005 are:
Happy Reading!
For all of you who love reading, and especially for those who love reading and love Vista, this is your lucky day!
3 new books on Windows Vista have been released:
On March 7th, Microsoft announced that it had acquired Apptimum Inc, a company which provides award-winning products that automatically transfer customers’ applications to new computers. Microsoft plans to use the acquired intellectual property and technology assets to provide Windows customers with the tools they need to simplify the transfer of their applications to their new computers.
According to this article on eWeek, Alohabob is due to be included in the first Release Candidate of Vista, scheduled for later this quarter. In the article, Jim Allchin, the co-president of Microsoft's platforms and services division, states that "Migrating applications and files from one computer to another using Windows has long been a tedious and time-consuming process, but that is now a thing of the past as Alohabob will make the application transfer experience easier and faster for customers".
Jim also went on to say that he has in fact been using the product, and managed to move all his applications from one computer to another in just 30 minutes. This speeds up the build of a new machine dramatically, as much of the time spent with a build is reinstalling up to the same point you were at before the rebuild. I personally, as a regular new-build tester of Vista, would welcome this ability to quickly move all my applications that were previously on an old build and place them on a new build. Bring on Alohabob!!
The article on eWeek goes on to talk about whether Jim beleives Vista will ship on time, his views on his own departure in January 2007 and the 12 principles to guide development of the Windows Desktop platform.
Should you be after even more information, you can read the announcement that Microsoft have acquired Apptimum Inc, or visit the Alohabob homepage.
Another new addition to the Windows Live Services, is an upgrade to the very popular MSN Spaces. Did you know that there are about 120 million unique spaces out there? In alphabetical order....
I've used MSN spaces for a while now, and I find it an excellent way to share photos, blog to my heart's content, view my Xbox Live GamerTag, and so on. With the update to Windows Live Spaces, the whole process and system has stepped up a gear. The look and feel is much more stylish, and it integrates incredibly well with a number of other Windows Live services such as Windows Live Messenger.
So, what's it all about? Well, Windows Live Spaces is an incredibly easy, yet powerful way to blog about anything you see fit, display photos, music lists and so on. Microsoft has also implemented controls addressing rising worries concerning minors using social networking sites. Users can control who may contact them through Live Spaces and also who can view their profile and site content. By default, the profile of users under 18 years old can only be viewed by people who are in that particular person's instant messaging contacts.
Windows Live Spaces allows you to effectively stay connected with friends, customise your environment, and stay safe whilst doing so. You can find out more information about Windows Live Spaces here.
If you are feeling particularly adventurous, you can visit my Windows Live Space, which, il admit, hasn't been updated for a while, but it's still pretty cool.
Now I know it has been a while since I have posted anything, and for those regular readers (1 or 2 of you!), it must have seemed like an eternity. The reason behind my lack of recent posts lies with a week’s holiday I spent in Miami, followed by a week in Orlando, attending the Microsoft Global eXchange. You may be thinking, “Why is he talking about this?” Well, conveniently, this post talks about a product that I saw previewed at MGX, and I thought it was worth sharing. Now I'm aware that this is now public knowledge, but it’s still a cool topic!
Basically, Microsoft Live Labs have developed a piece of software, Photosynth, which takes a large collection of photos of a place or object, analyzes them for similarities, and displays them in a reconstructed 3-Dimensional space. According to the Live Labs website, with Photosynth, you can:
These features sound pretty darn cool to me. According to the article found on CNet News, Mr Richard Szeliski, who leads the Interactive Visual Media Group at Microsoft, states Photosynth has the potential to create a complete virtual world made up of the world's photos. I knew there would be a mention of ‘Virtual’ in there somewhere!
You can visit the official Photosynth website, where you can stream a cool video which demonstrates Photosynth in all its glory. Alternatively, you can download the video in 3 different sizes; 320x180 (26MB), 640x360 (55MB), 1280x720 (155MB). You can also take the Photosynth Tour.
Personally, I think this look awesome. I hope you like what you see.