I have a really bad habit of occasionally reading Rob Weir’s blog.  For those of you who don’t know him, he’s one of IBM’s paid FUD masters that has a fanatical hatred of Open XML and all things Microsoft.  It’s a shame because he’s a really...

It is funny that of all the cultural and literary references in society, a kid’s cartoon movie like Toy Story is the reference of choice when choosing a title for a technology session.  What is it about cartoons that inspires even the oldest of our...

Slashdot has posted one the more positive Microsoft posts I can remember in recent time discussing the release of Web Sandbox source code from folks from Live Labs . History The Web Sandbox builds upon Microsoft’s experience with DHTML, Windows Live web...

I was reading the an article about the IE8 Blocker Toolkit and when reading the comments, someone was flaming about how bad the screenshots were because of the rough edges.  I personally use the OneNote 2007 Screen Grabber that allows me to capture any...

Did you ever wonder what it would sound like if two nerds were arguing about Windows XP vs. Vista vs. Windows 7?  Neither did I, but by some satanic curse, I clicked on this ridiculous article on InfoWorld which is driving me crazy.  It’s like...

Here’s a hint, he uses a Windows Mobile device called the Sectéra Edge .  This bad boy is NSA approved with dedicated ports and keys for classified and unclassified information.  Additionally, this phone is built like a tank, ruggedized to protect...

In some scenarios, Microsoft found that the CAL policy surrounding Hyper-V use made the solution more expensive than VMWare’s.  Customers who virtualized Windows Server 2003 required 2008 CALs even though they had purchased 2003 CALs.  One of...

My buddy James Senior has a quick post highlighting the new features in Windows 7 Media Center that was recently shown at CES.  The I found most interesting was Toshiba’s announcement that they will integrate with Windows Media center with a range...

KB 952273 The Office Compatibility Pack has been available for a long time as a free EXE download, but some IT administrators needed to deploy the pack centrally via MSI and AD.  The natural question for these people was, “where is the MSI download...

Here at the BETT stand, day 2, working at the Microsoft Techdesk has been really rewarding.  Apart from the typical SharePoint, Windows Server questions, and telling school IT admins why they are doing everything all wrong :), Windows 7 has been...

I read Tim Sneath’s blog and he had a massive post on some secrets in Windows 7 .  He had some great tips around keyboard shortcuts so I thought I would consolidate them for everyone’s benefits. Taskbar Shortcuts In Windows 7, you now permanently...

My good friend Jamie Burgess was kind enough to upload some great training videos around Windows 7 Beta.  This growing list will be getting larger and larger over time as new features are exposed and discussed.  Check our Youtube channel “ukdpe...

  It has been reported that some MSDN and TechNet subscribers trying to activate Windows 7 Beta are unable to get a key generated.  The TechNet team is aware of the issue and advise the following: Windows 7 Beta has a built in 30 day grace period...

As a Microsoft employee, this picture just makes my heart tingle.  It’s great to know that that we not only have a technically superior virtualization platform but that its also cheaper to manage.  This picture is evidence that hosters actually...

Listen to the podcast where I get asked about my views on Microsoft’s collaboration story and commitment to the open source community.  This was a fantastic experience done late last March at the Windows Server 2008 launch.  If you listen, watch...

Let’s face it, Powerpoint presentations in the 21st century are usually boring. There are so many cool features in Powerpoint 2007 yet people still use the application like a throwback from the mid 90’s. Office Labs is looking to change this perception...