So I have been playing around with Vista SP1 RC and so far it has been a much more enjoyable experience from a usability perspective. The number UAC prompts are down, network performance regarding file sharing is now what it should have been at release...

Here's a tip for all of you out there.  In Vista, one thing that annoyed me was how disruptive the the CTRL+ALT+DEL screen was in switching from the desktop to the list.  Most of the time I would have to do this to bring up the task manager...

Bink.nu has an extensive list of new software that Microsoft will be unleashing in the marketplace. It is amazing to be part of this company during a time where there has been just a dramatic change in product life-cycles. This is in stark contrast to...

iFilters are like plugins for search products that extend the functionality of the indexing service.  Windows Indexing Service, MSN Desktop Search, Internet Information Server, SharePoint Portal Server, Windows SharePoint Services (WSS), Site Server...

My colleague James O'Neill beat me to this one.  SP1 for Office is finally here, and none the sooner as I was ready to destroy my laptop and beat it with a sledgehammer because of the stability issues with Outlook. Funny story, a lot of the bad rap...

During my presentation of Search Server 2008 in London in front of a great audience of about 200, I was showing off how businesses can pull in search results from 3rd party search engines using Federated Search . In my demo, I showed how using The Register...

Moving to the UK, some have questioned my motives, many have questioned my sanity, but almost all have complimented my style. I dress myself using one value, one ideal, that at the end of the day five minus four equals one, "one love." Why do...

I always get into the holiday mood late. While people graciously spend their Novembers shopping, feasting, and buying plane tickets to spend time with their loved ones, I get a head start in my procrastination efforts. The reality is I don't get into...

Here is the a quick blogcast showing how to index web sites, network file shares, Sharepoint sites, and Exchange Public Folders. This is very basic but will hopefully show you how easy the interface is. The parts will get increasingly complex in the coming...

My cousin decided to get a new place and needed to post pictures of their apartment on Craigslist.  I suggested they try panoramic pics of their place to show the size of the apartment.  Being a lazy person, he didn't care, so I did it for him...

We all do it. We all let email pile up in our inbox until we have unread emails in the triple digits. Whether it is Hotmail, GMail, or Outlook, it happens to the best of us. We are all in a continuous state of information overload cause us to ignore or...

I just wanted everyone to know that I've recently become aware of some audio glitches in my first two Christmas webcasts and I am trying to debug/resolve them.  If you try to get through some of the glitches, it eventually disappears.  The message...

This tip covers how to discover what is eating up all of your inbox quota/disk space via "folder size" window. Also the webcast will show you how to clean out hidden folders that may not show up in Outlook due to sync corruption. Finally, learn about...

Last friday, Microsoft took another step in improving its online consumer platform by purchasing WebFives. Webfives is an online rich-media blogging/social networking site geared towards filmmakers, musicians, and charities. It's technology is unique...

I know a few of you who attended my presentation on Search Server 2008 had questions regarding wildcard search capabilities. Sammy Jankis sums up SharePoint's wildcard search functionality pretty well. After reading his article if you find that you want...

Thank you all who attended the London TechNet event, Beyond SharePoint: Advanced Solutions in Business Intelligence and Enterprise Search. Please follow this link to download the attached PDF of my presentation around Microsoft Search Server 2008. ...

To my non-British readers out there, I will leave it up to you to ponder and visualize the delicacies of the UK.  This was posted in our break-room in the London office.  OKAY OKAY OKAY I HAVE to ask...what the hell are Midland Faggots? ...

Congratulations to the Office team in the MacBU!  I can't wait to get my hands on Office 2008.  For those of you interested, it will be available on shelves Jan. 15th.  Never seen Mac Office?  Hop on over to the site to see Office...

Microsoft announced yesterday that Tafiti , the experimental Silverlight front-end for Live Search, has been released under the Microsoft Shared Source Permissive License *it's like BSD*.  Here is the announcement.   Internally this caused a...

For the non developers out there, you may be wondering what Acid2 is, but in the web developer world, its HUGE!  Slashdot's tagging of the article is actually quite hilarious.  Read about this historic milestone on the IE Team Blog .  Also Channel9 has...

Merry Christamas! Here is a webcast tip that will quickly show you how you can add a second timezone view to your Outlook 'Day' calendar. Hope this tip helps you out.

TechNet Webcast: An In-Depth Look at SharePoint Server 2007 Search Technology (Level 200) Monday, December 17, 2007 - 11:30 AM - 1:00 PM Pacific Time Matt Hester, IT Pro Evangelist, Microsoft Corporation http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx...

Thursday was a busy day at Microsoft.  RC1 for Longhorn is now out and available for download.  To read up on some analysis about the update, check out James O'Neill's post . Going over to the other side of the "pond," Keith Combs...

I'm lazy today so I'll just copy an excerpt from Slashdot about something I will definitely be watching around open standards and file formats. lisah writes "Linux.com's Robin 'Roblimo' Miller will moderate a live debate today, Wednesday, December...