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IronPython, the Next-Gen Glue for the .NET Platform

Although, I was unable to attend MIX '07 this year, one of the most exciting announcements at the event was Silverlight, a next-generation media delivery format for the internet.  Couple with this announcement is something that I was amazed by.  Microsoft has announced support for Python and Ruby using their Dynamic Language Runtime (DLR)!  Python was my first scripting language and one of the first projects at my engineering internship at Intel was was to convert a whole bunch of nasty PERL code into a manageable script library that could be extensible and modular I'm sure I'll get a few emails from PERL fanatics.  IronPython is fully CPython-compatible implementation that gives programmers the ability to directly interface with .NET objects and attributes.  In addition to the manageability benefits of the platform, IronPython yields substantial speed improvements over CPython around 200%!  Learn more about IronPython and IronRuby by watching the MIX session here!

Student Game Designers to Show Off Their Skillz

CSU Fullerton requests that HS students under 16 bring your fake IDs their parents.

And There Was Much Rejoicing: XBox 360 to Support H.264 and MP4

This XBox 360 update just gets better and better.  Overshadowed by the fact that IM and communications will be unified on the 360 platform, less noise has been generated by what is, in my opinion, a much more significant feature.  Yes folks, your prayers have been answered!  Xbox 360 finally has more codec support!  Why is H.264 support great?  Afterall my entire collection of movie "backups" are in Divx or Xvid.  Does this mean I will be able to play them?  Likely not crossing my fingers.  But considering the future of content distribution coupled with the power of hardware coming out it will now be possible to use a 360 to be a major alternative for viewing user-generated video, not to mention better bang for buck than AppleTV cmon, give me iTunes support, sorry WMP team. 

*UPDATE - After some discussion on the internal Microsoft distribution lists, it seems that Divx, Xvid and Nero support should be there!  I made the mistake of assuming that all three of those codecs use ASP (advanced simple profile) by default.  As it turns out, all ASP means is that the encoder will use B-frames, 1/4 pel motion-compensation, GMC and a few other advanced encoding techniques.  None of these tend to be enabled by default.  Much of my legacy content on my drives use codecs that are mpeg-4 compliant, so most likey they will all work.  It will be interesting to see if the 360 will even attempt to read any ASP-encoded files, I know I have a few that use B-frames.  The hardware certainly is capable of decoding ASP considering h.264/AVC requires 2-3 times the processing power to decode.  However, the downside of all this is that the codec support will only be available via the 360 Dashboard, NOT through Media Center Extender (MCX) Xbox 360 Fall Update???.  All in all, this is still great news!

**UPDATE - Sorry, apparently I jumped the gun.  Divx and Xvid will not be supported if you are using the AVI container format.  You will have to demux the video stream using a program like VirtualDub and repackage the audio and video streams into the mp4 container format.  Pretty easy to batch process AND quick too, though it is an inconvenience.  Most front-end encoders give the option to create an mp4 output file rather than avi.  Of course the information regarding SP and ASP still apply to the video stream.  Thanks Ashley!

What's So Big About User-Generated Content?

Right now, if you're like me, you don't have many options to store high quality video, whether they be home videos, clips bittorrent downloads, or amateur films Hellboy.  Some of my Microsoft collegues would say WMV.  I'll pass, not because its not a great codec--afterall, VC-1 is part of the HD/Bluray spec--but because WMV is not fully supported by Microsoft on other platforms.  I would much rather compress my content using Divx or Quicktime/AVI H.264.  The problem that arises is that I can't stream either of these formats to my Xbox without recompressing using a tool like Transcode360.  The main culprit here is the cost of licensing.  It would be prohibitive and likely passed on to the consumer.  With a plethora of platforms like AppleTV,PSP, and now Xbox 360 supporting H.264, it will be much easier to transport and access content in an agnostic manor, just don't go over 5Mbps, AppleTV is a little picky.  Here is specifically what 360 owners are getting with this update:

• The name of game in tray is now displayed in the dashboard.
• When the user is in the dashboard and an Xbox 360 game is in the console then the name of the game is displayed in the tray icon of the dashboard. If the user highlights the tray icon then achievements and gamer score are displayed for that game based on the signed in user. Xbox1 games show the name and image of the game.
• Integrated support for the new Xbox 360 text input device. Note that this device includes a new wired headset.
• Playback progress bar indicates download completion.
• Switchable aspect ratio now available during video playback (Auto to Letterbox, Zoom, Stretch, Native).
• Player and friends lists now quickly show session presence information for quick identification of users that are joinable.
• H.264 video support: Up to 15 Mbps, Baseline, Main, and High (up to level 4.1) Profiles with 2 channel AAC LC and Main Profiles.
• Added MPEG-4 Part 2 video support: Up to 8 Mbps, Simple Profile with 2 channel AAC LC and Main Profiles.
• Show folder hierarchy for video content played from all devices.
• Bookmarks are stored for each video that the user plays remembering the users last location in the file as well as the aspect ratio that the user choose for that file.
• Video trick modes (fast forward, rewind, chapter skip) can now be used while downloading Video Marketplace content.
• Skip forward and backward functionality has been improved to skip to the next or previous chapter. Each video is divided into 10 “chapters” allowing you to quickly skip around video content.
• The information bar that is turned on via the On Screen Display (OSD) now shows you exactly where you are in the playback of the video file.  In addition it will also show for Video Marketplace content how much of the file has been downloaded and where the “chapters” exist in the file.
• Windows Media protected content (WM-DRM) can now be streamed from the PC to the console. If the WM-DRM license is missing or corrupted then a specific error message is displayed to the user. Bookmarking is also stored for protected content.
• When a user selects an item for download from Marketplace then the system will determine if there is sufficient disk space for the item and, if not, will ask the user to delete content on the HDD. The system provides a sorted by size list of videos, game trailers, demos and arcade content to aid the user in the deletion process. The same list of items are also available from within memory so that users can quickly see which items are consuming the most disk space.
• The console will block the user who attempts to download content onto a storage device that will never have the capacity to store the item without deducting any points associated with the content item.
• The screensaver is disabled when playing photos from any source

Kudos to the Xbox team once again for delivering!  Now I just need to batch process all my TV shows AVIs *see UPDATE* into H.264.

Stay tuned!  I'm sure there will be more news as the May 7th date approaches.

Xbox 360 Update to Expand Features with Windows Live

I can't wait for this update!  Now I can chat with Mom while playing Gears of War! Now I just want this IPTV update so I can trash the POS Motorola box that AT&T gives out.

Expanding the Largest Social Network on Television

Xbox 360 owners can connect with more than 260 million Windows Live Messenger users on Xbox 360, Windows-based PCs and Windows Mobile-powered devices beginning the week of May 7.

REDMOND, Wash. — April 8, 2007 — Your Xbox LIVE^® friends list is about to get a whole lot bigger. Microsoft Corp. today announced the launch of Windows Live™ Messenger on Xbox 360™, connecting friends across Xbox 360 consoles, Microsoft^® Windows^®-based PCs and Windows Mobile^®-powered devices. With this update to Xbox 360, friends and families can easily connect and chat directly from their television using Windows Live Messenger, a network of more than 20 billion relationships and more than 260 million active accounts.

Beginning the week of May 7, 2007, the Xbox 360 Spring Update will provide Xbox 360 owners worldwide with access to Windows Live Messenger features, broadening the communication options on the Xbox LIVE social network. Members of the 6 million-strong Xbox LIVE community currently send more than 2 million text and voice messages a day and can now use Windows Live Messenger to text chat with up to six people on their contact list at one time, while playing games, listening to music or watching movies. Text chat adds to the variety of options friends and families already have to communicate with on Xbox LIVE, including voice and video chat.

Current relationships on Windows Live Messenger and Xbox LIVE will be unified on Xbox 360 and users will see at a glance if their existing friends on Windows Live Messenger have gamertags, instantly expanding the breadth of connected experiences they can share online.

“Bringing the largest IM community in the world, Windows Live Messenger, to Xbox 360 makes sense, as Xbox LIVE has really become the largest social network on television,” said Jerry Johnson, product unit manager of Xbox LIVE at Microsoft. “For our growing community of 6 million on Xbox LIVE, using Xbox 360 is a very social, connected experience. They are using Xbox 360 to play games, music and movies while simultaneously communicating with one another through video, voice and text chat. With this announcement we are simultaneously expanding the access of Xbox LIVE users to existing friends and family while introducing Windows Live Messenger users to the benefits of Xbox 360.”

Beginning the week of May 7, users of Windows Live Messenger on Xbox 360 will text chat using the virtual keyboard accessible on Xbox 360, or by connecting a USB keyboard to the console. This summer Microsoft will launch a QWERTY text-input device, a new accessory that will connect directly into the Xbox 360 controller to support text and instant messaging.

Beyond Windows Live Messenger, the Spring Update for Xbox 360 includes hundreds of new features and enhancements including the following:

·         A richer Achievement notification pop-up will showcase the name of the unlocked Achievement and the gamerscore value without needing to leave the game to check the Achievements list.

·         Enhanced family settings features for Xbox LIVE communications enable different defaults for video chat and voice chat.

·         A new Xbox LIVE Marketplace blade lets Xbox LIVE members access the content they seek — whether it is game content or TV shows and movies (available in the United States) — from one place on Xbox LIVE.

·         Updates to Xbox LIVE Arcade allow owners to quickly see which Xbox LIVE Arcade games their friends are playing and join in the fun. Xbox LIVE members can also compare progress of leaderboard scores and Achievements directly with all friends on their friends list. Expanded Tell a Friend capabilities make it easier than ever to boast about Achievements and high scores.

·         A new option in Auto Downloads provides faster access to the entire collection of free, trial-version Xbox LIVE Arcade games.

·         New progressive download controls provide easy access to optimal viewing options by letting people fast-forward, rewind, pause and resume as their video is downloaded from Xbox LIVE Marketplace.

·         Extension of the background download functionality will allow owners to set their Xbox 360 console to turn off automatically after downloads are complete.

The Spring Update is free beginning the week of May 7 and is easily accessible to every Xbox 360 owner through Xbox LIVE or on Xbox.com.

 

DirectX Daddy Alex St. John: The Most Amazing Interview Ever!

Shacknews has, what can only be described as, the most inspirational interview on the internet as it applies to life at Microsoft or at least how it used to be.  Joining the company 8 months ago, I've had my fair share of crap happen to me, none of which I'm going to talk about give me 10 years and some stock options, but reading this article really put things into perspective as to exactly how an individual really can make all the difference at a company.  For those of you who don't know Alex St. John, current CEO of Wildtangent, he was the face of the Microsoft to the gaming industry.  He practically created the DirectX ecosystem during the Windows 95-era.  Amongst the topics in the article, the insights into the publishing industry, 3rd-party developer relationships, and corporate "politickery" stand out.  If you haven't read this article, you're really missing out.

Alex, you're my hero! Sorry Marlboro Man.

Gentlemen and Lady I know there's at least one out there, your Moment of Zen!

Xbox 360 Welcomes PS3 - It Was Brought..ed

So I was reading Engadget and ran across this article about how the European Xbox marketing team stuck it to Sony like the East Compton Clovers did to the Toros *sigh* Eliza Dushku.  Apparently Microsoft warmly welcomed Sony AND their customers with neat yes i said it swag posters, banners and even chairs for the poor souls waiting in line for the opportunity to buy a PS3.  Of course the day wouldn't be complete without a slew of SMS messages sent to attendees wishing them a great night and all day barges decorated with Xbox 360 logos running up and down the river.  Although, Xbox people blowing whistles on rooftops seemed a little too supportive of the PS3 Europe launch, no one will argue that there was just such a friendly warmth surrounding the event! 

EEX-BOX QUAISONT CAISONT!!!  Ladies and gentleman, your moment of zen!

5 Things About Me You All Probably Don't Know

So apparently my best friend since joining Microsoft, Anand Iyer, feels the need to involve me in his childish online ice breakers.  Apparently he is currently involved in an inescapable game of blog tag.  To better understand this phenomenon to the masses, I decided to research this odd online social dynamic with the world's definitive source for accurate, updated, and editable information--Wikipedia.org.  According to Wikipedia:

Blog Tag, or better known as memetag, and I quote, "is a blog tag that is included in all posts that reference a meme. When a meme is started on a blog — for example, 'your top five favourite movies' — the meme tag is included at the foot of the text of each post that responds to the meme invitation.  By including a memetag, bloggers are recognising the initial creator of the meme and allowing them to track how their meme has spread across the blogosphere through the use of social media tools such as Technorati.  While inclusion of a memetag is not mandatory, it is done in the spirit of information sharing across the web and is a system based on trust."

In all honesty, if there wasn't a wiki about it, I was going to create one and attribute it to Stephen Colbert hey it's true he created it.  But I suppose it would be interesting how far my online presence could propagate you can't start a sentence with 'but'.  So...

#5 - I wrote production design code in Intel's XScale Monahans chip. Did you ever wonder why your battery meter didn't work?  I converted old VHDL legacy code into fresh Verilog code.  It was pretty cool work and it taught me that I could never work in a cubicle again.  After my experience at that company, I was ecstatic to come to Microsoft.

#4 - I use Gmail for my personal email and my personal computer is an iBook G4.  I know what all of you are thinking.  That being said, if I didn't have my work laptop with Outlook 2007 on it, my productivity would go down 80%.  Please forgive me if I seem less than convinced when Eric Schmidt and Douglass Merrill say they completely "eat their dogfood" and use Google Apps within their company.  It wouldn't surprise me that they actually have a super-duper version of it running internally, but lets be honest, Google Apps, in its present form, is a half baked attempt at an enterprise suite.  Enterprises would be better off with deploying Office Live even if Microsoft is currently only targetting small and medium businesses with that offering.  The funniest part of the Google Apps video is when Merrill makes the argument that Google Apps meets your compliance standards because it meets Google's compliance standards.  WOW...I'm pissed, I should write an article about this.

#3 - My first computer was my Dad's AT&T 8088 machine with two double-density floppy drives and a green monochrome monitor.  I was age 4.  I learned how to turn on and load "Zaxxon" and "Wheel of Fortune" from disks.  Oddly I got glasses by age 5.  I wonder if it is a coincidence?

#2 -  I've seen a lot of the world and done some amazing things in my life so far.  I've gone skiing in the Himalayas, went white-water rafting in Nepal, seen half of Europe, seen some of Hinduism's and Jainism's most holiest shrines, and faced certain death in a Los Angeles drive-by but survived don't ever flip the bird at LAX.  If my life ended today, I would leave satisfied.

#1 -  And finally the number one thing you probably don't know about me, when I was 3, I rode a red tricycle down the stairs in my uncle's house because I saw a guy do it on a motorcycle on TV.  Let's just say to this day, every person in my family never fails to remind me of my...err..daring retarded nature.

*Tags TBA*

Thank you.  That is all.  Here it is!  Your moment of zen! milk does her body good *cards flying* *laughing like Letterman*

Video: Milk does body good! It did for Carmen.

And There Was Much Rejoicing: Visual Studio Works in Vista!

During the development of Windows Vista, several key investments were made to vastly improve overall quality, security, and reliability basically things that annoy you from previous versions of Windows. While we have made tremendous investments in Windows Vista to ensure backwards compatibility Wordperferct 2.0 thanks you, some of the system enhancements, such as User Account Control, changes to the networking stack, and the new graphics model, make Windows Vista behave differently from previous versions of Windows. These investments impact made sucky Visual Studio 2005. The Visual Studio 2005 Service Pack 1 Update for Windows Vista addresses areas of Visual Studio impacted by Vista enhancements (hazaa!).
Many of the Windows Vista enhancements are documented at the Windows Vista Development Center.

This download installs the Visual Studio 2005 Service Pack 1 Update for Windows Vista for the following Visual Studio SKUs:

• Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 Tools for Office
• Microsoft Visual Basic 2005 Express Edition
• Microsoft Visual C++ 2005 Express Edition
• Microsoft Visual C# 2005 Express Edition
• Microsoft Visual J# 2005 Express Edition (English Only)
• Microsoft Visual Web Developer 2005 Express Edition
• Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 Premier Partner Edition
• Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 Professional Edition
• Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 Standard Edition
• Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 Team Edition for Software Architects
• Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 Team Edition for Software Developers
• Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 Team Edition for Software Testers
• Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 Team Suite
• Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 Team Test Load Agent
• Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 Team Test Load Controller
• Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 Code Profiler
• Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 Team Explorer

Daylight Savings Time Information for the Frustrated IT Professional

I'm sure there are more than a handful of you that are swamped with some DST issues.  If you want to find the latest updated information, refer to these two links:

http://blogs.technet.com/keithcombs/archive/2007/03/02/get-your-daylight-savings-time-dst-answers-real-time.aspx

http://blogs.technet.com/dst2007/default.aspx

The first link will point you to information regarding a live chat room where you can share, troubleshoot, and get information regarding your DST issues.  The second link will point you to a blog dedicated to the DST issue.  Hopefully you can all resolve your questions!

Microsoft IT Showcase: How We Deployed Vista

Hi everyone!  I want to invite all of you out there to join Microsoft for a live webcast on March 27th, 2007 to learn how Microsoft deployed Vista within the company.  It will give all attendees a great 300-level view of the process as well as an inside look at MSIT!  Register here!  The webcast will be presented by Chad Lewis, Microsoft IT Group Program Manager.  For more information on our many IT showcases and whitepapers, go to http://www.microsoft.com/technet/itshowcase

And now back to college basketball :)

Microsoft IT Whitepaper on Virtualization

I'm sure many of you have seen this, and though I linked to it in response to one of my TechNet emails, I thought it should warrant a separate post.  The whitepaper is an interesting read on how MSIT has done planning and deployment of virtual servers using Virtual Server 2005.  Many businesses are now grasping the concept of virtualization and how it can reduce their IT costs.  Something that was only previously deployable with a large IT staff can now be done in a single room on a few boxes.  When I think of virtualization, I am reminded of that hilarious IBM ad with the guy who says, "the servers are our friends!"  If only their products were as easy to like as their messaging.  The point of that commerical is that as IT needs grow, it is logical to add more appliances and servers to meet those needs--but somewhere along the line, many IT departments forget about efficiency.  This is not surprising considering senior IT administrators are routinely tasked with putting out fires rather than being an active layer of overall business strategy.  As small and mid-size business managers wise up to the cost savings that virtualization can provide now and in the near future with Longhorn, it is important for professionals in the industry learn from best practices from corporations that have gone through the hurdles of deployment using alpha and beta builds.  Now, some two years later, explore how a mature solution like Virtual Server 2005 R2 can impact your business today.

TechNet Emails: Zooming Utility, Exchange 32-bit, TechNet Laptop Specs

So I received a lot of emails congratulating me on a well received presentation, but of course after reading the comment sheets I saw a good many of you were put off by the sound quality.  Rest assured future events will address this issue.  I'll be answering many questions as I get more time this weekend, as well as do a recap, but in the mean time, I thought I would answer a few emails.

Oscar of Gmail writes

Hi.

I was one of the many in your presentation in the SD convention center.

First of all let me say you did an awesome job, i dunno what other thought about it, but i think it had a little bit of everything and all well explained. I wanted to ask a question at the end of the presentation but a bunch of people just gathered like crazy .

My question was... what are your laptop specs, i mean you had like a bunch of windows and virtual machines running and i didn't see any lag or anything. Well i dunno if it was your laptop running all that cause i saw you had like 3 machines set-up.

Offtopic...

And yeah haha, i saw that WoW icon on one of those desktops, so i guess thats the MMO you talked about. Well then, thanx for the awesome presentation. I'll be reading your blog frequently now.

Thanks Oscar, I appreciate your words.  My laptops are awesome aren't they :)  At present I am using the IBM (Lenovo) T60P with a Core Duo & 3GB of RAM, though it ran great with 2GB.  The only reason Technet guys went up to 3GB was for the large number of server VMs we had to run.  Memory is the biggest limitation for us when doing demos since it must be statically allocated when using Virtual PC 2007 RTM (IT'S FREE) LIKE BEER!!!  The laptop has an ATI FireGL V5200 card, runs most of my DX9 and DX8 games at 1600x1200 and it has a built-in EVDO card from Verizon.  Using the drive bay, I have two 100GB 7200rpm drives.  Running flawless VPCs is all about managing CPU usage as well as memory.  If you have 5 VPCs running but are only at 40% CPU on average load, pile more on and you won't notice a thing as long as you have enough memory.  Just make sure you factor in CPU usage spikes per VM 'cause a dual processor will overload quickly as you increase the number of VMs.  Read about Microsoft IT and their experience with virtualization in house.  I also had a Dell Latitude D820 with 2GB RAM running on a Core 2 Duo.  It also had two 100GB drives and 1080P resolution.  The only thing two things i hate about the Dell are the video card drivers from Nvidia and the crappy trackpad.

Steve of BK Electric

Hey,

 

I was at your presentation yesterday morning. I learned alot, thanks! So I'm sold on exhange 2007 but I only have 32 bit hardware and no budget for new hardware.  So I have 2.5 questions.

1. will micrsoft be releasing a deployable 32 bit version?

    1.5. If so, when?

2. If I purchase a 64 bit license will it cover the 32 bit version when it is realeased?

 

Thanks!

Steve

Good questions Steve, and unfortunately I don't have an answer of you since I can't comment on vaporware *found it* fortunately I have an official answer if you read this FAQ.  For you lazy people, SBS "Cougar" will release after Longhorn and will be 64-bit ONLY.  I can tell you that our server products will all be supporting 64-bit here on out as it is much more efficient, stable, and secure platform compared to x86.  I wouldn't count on being able upgrade to 32-bit products in the near future.  For those of you making hardware decisions, buy x64 even if you plan on deploying 32-bit now.

Junianto of Hotmail

Hi Viral,

 

I attended your presentation at "Microsoft Launch" in San Diego, CA. I like it. It has a lot of good features with the new platform. My question is that where could I get a copy of the "zoom in" software that you have used during your presentation?

 

Thank you.

Regards,

Junianto

I'm Famous Now...in Ontario...

So even though my first solo event didn't run flawless 2 demos crashed, I met some amazing people and interacted with the local tech community.  I even got some press attention!  Unconfirmed, I was on the front page of the business section of the Inland Express Daily Bulliten.  Hopefully I won't have to buy $300 torn jeans and fake ripped t-shirts like Brad Pitt so that I can continue to stroll amongst the common folk.  Being the modest type, I haven't let my new found fame go to my head, for example, I'm not mad that I have yet to hear from Maserati about the car they want me to drive around when I go to all my events.  They probably just haven't read the papers yet. 

And There Was Much Rejoicing: Office Migration Planning Manager

For people who wanted to convert all their MS Office documents to the ECMA OpenXML file format *soon to be ISO ratified* in a batch process, this download will speed up your organization's migration.  IT'S FREE!! like beer!

Don't worry, it wont modify your orginal binary files, it will just create new XML equivalents in a separate folder.  There is no downside, unless you think files that take up half the size is bad.  *yay*