Based on customer feedback, and the desire to streamline the deployment experience, the Microsoft Exchange team created a tool that generates customized instructions based on your deployment scenario. Access the Exchange Server 2010 Deployment Assistant, and answer a small set of questions to get a set of instructions tailored to your particular environment.

In this version of the Deployment Assistant, content is available for customers upgrading from Exchange 2003. Additional upgrade scenarios will be available in early 2010 (upgrading from Exchange Server 2007, or a mixed Exchange Server 2003/2007 environment for example). The team will also work on the integration of cross-premise scenarios.

More to come,

Mitch

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The Infrastructure Planning and Design team is working on a new guide: Microsoft Forefront Unified Access Gateway. Get the beta by visiting the Connect Web site.

This IPD guide outlines the critical infrastructure design elements that are key to a successful implementation of Forefront Unified Access Gateway (Forefront UAG). The reader is guided through the logical three-step process of selecting the Forefront UAG features required, determining the number of instances, and designing the infrastructure. If access logging is required, the guide leads the reader through selecting and designing the most appropriate data store.

Tell us what you think. Download the beta guide and send us your honest feedback at IPDfdbk@microsoft.com. We appreciate your input and will work to make each guide as helpful and useful as possible.

More to come,

Mitch

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Yesterday, at the Professional Developer’s Conference in Los Angeles, Microsoft announced a developer release of Silverlight 4 Beta. It is intended for software developers only, with no “go-live” licensing available and the end-user runtime of Silverlight 4 is not available. Check out what’s new in the Silverlight 4 Beta, and make sure you get the tools needed to make the beta experience productive.

More to come,

Mitch

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TechNet Magazine is relaunching its popular Tip of the Day feature, starting with a look at the best tips and tricks for Windows 7. Now we want to hear from you. Have a special workaround, tweak, or fix you’d like to contribute to the TechNet Magazine tips library? Just visit www.technetmagazinetips.com to share your tips and tricks for Windows 7.

More to come,

Mitch

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You can now download the Microsoft Office Professional Plus 2010 and SharePoint Server 2010 beta releases.

Here the list of new available betas:

·       Microsoft Office Professional Plus 2010 Beta

·       SharePoint Server 2010 Beta

·       Microsoft Visio 2010 beta

·       Microsoft FAST Search Server 2010 for SharePoint beta

·       Microsoft Project Professional 2010 Beta

·       Microsoft Project Server 2010 Beta

In addition, check out these resources to aid your evaluation and plan your deployment:

·       Learn about Volume Activation in 2010

·       See the New SharePoint Server 2010 Features and Functionality

·       Video Modules to Help IT Pros Get Started with SharePoint Server 2010

More to come,

Mitch

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