Microsoft
The move is complete…..almost. Everytime I have moved in my life it seems like it is months before things are truly in place. So far, The Nun and I have lined out the main living areas and our bedroom. We have painted a couple of other rooms and still have most of the house left. baby steps.
Anyway….the real reason for the post is to annouce that I am settled and I will be blooging again with regularity starting Monday (tomorrow!). I am also going to convert to Community Server 2.0 and get the site all updated. So do expect some up and down time for the next week.
Cheers!
When I decided to get all gung-ho on blogging, I did it for all the wrong reasons. There was some perceived pressure from management that blogging would be an unwritten requirement to succeed come annual review. There was the competitive factor from seeing some of my co-workers embrace blogging and become successful at it. Finally, there was the desire to try something new.
I have since learned that there are much better reasons for blogging.
First, let’s assume you aren’t blogging with the end-goal of making money directly through your blog by advertising. That is a whole different reason for blogging. Once that is out of the way, most technical bloggers blog for the following reasons: Raise awareness of a product or technology, to form a relationship with a community that has a common interest or goal, ensure correct and accurate information makes it to the public, and most importantly – being passionate about something.
While my blogging to date has sort of touched on some of those areas, what I have lacked so far has been the most important aspect – the passion. I have spent the past few weeks thinking about this and whether blogging is the right thing for me to do. I have decided that it is.
I do have some passion around a few products and technologies that Microsoft (and others!) has or will have. I just have a difficult time expressing that passion outside of being hip deep in product CD’s in my computer room. I think some of what I get to work with and see is fantabulistic. I just don’t express myself well when trying to communicate it in writing.
BUT! I seem to be able to tap that passion when I do live presentations. I get animated and excited. I get stressed when demos don’t work, and spastic when they do (there is no better feeling than demoing a beta product that has given you grief for weeks only to do it live and it work). So how do I tap that same energy, broaden it’s reach and appeal, while overcoming my lack of written communications skills?
My Answer: ScreenCasts
Actually, it isn’t my answer so much as a borrowed answer. Some of my co-workers have done a few screen casts already. If you have not seen Chris Henley’s fantastic ScreenCast on Vista Voice Recognition, then you have missed a phenomenal presenter with true passion talking about a very, very cool and useful technology in Vista. Go watch it now. I will gladly pause typing while you do.
Welcome back……now, go watch his ScreenCast on Vista Parental Controls……and now go watch his ScreenCast on PhotoStory. ScreenCasts are one of the coolest ways to talk about and show the technology that we (and others!) have.
So what does this all mean?
It means I am changing my blog. I am going to narrow the focus of my blog to fewer technologies. I talk about a lot of different products, but let’s face it, not all of them interest me. It is a lot easier to get truly excited when you are excited about the product. It makes you WANT to talk about it. So what do I LIKE? Small Business Server, Media Center, ISA, Exchange and Windows. That sounds like a lot but when you consider that Exchange and ISA are a part of SBS Premium and I have worked with SBS for 7 years now, it lends some perspective. I also run my own Windows, ISA, Exchange, Web servers at home (which I wouldn’t be doing if I didn’t LIKE to). I also have a secret love affair with my Media Center (actually, I built it for the Nun 3 years ago under the guise of a Christmas present……it’s really mine…..she just thinks it is hers…..) that I wish to extend and grow. Like any love affair, there are rough spots and like any relationship that you want to succeed there needs to be some good communication. So I want to communicate my ups and downs with the product.
I suppose I could just narrow the focus to SBS and Media Center. Now that I have typed that up, it even makes more sense. I will leave that up in the air for now.
There is another part to this as well. Community Server 2.0 is available now and I have been itching to try it. That means the blog gets a face lift and over all improvements. My understanding is that 2.0 is more than just a new coat of paint too. So I am going to change the look and feel of the blog over the next two weeks to go along with the refined focus. Btw, I was originally going to do this in the June timeframe (after the wedding…after the relocation) but I am really excited about doing the ScreenCasts so I have decided to do it now instead of later.
Besides…..I still feel a perceived pressure from management, I am still competitive with my peers, and……it’s something new to try!
Cheers!
Ps….I recently attended an MVP Briefing in San Diego and met some fantastic MVP’s. During the session, Ed Hickey, a Director (someone correct me if this title is incorrect) in the MVP Program explained some of the most basic criteria to being an MVP – Be Recognizable, Be Credible, Be Accessible. All of which apply directly to blogging as well. So that is my promise to you, faithful readers.
Double Cheers!
I have had a couple requests over the past two weeks for the Technet Resource DVD we gave out Oct-Dec at our SQL events. I am all out of the DVD’s I have so and I have decided against posting it online. Here’s why…
This DVD was sent to production almost 6 months ago. This was prior even to the release of SQL 2005. There is a substantial amount of information on the DVD that is based upon pre-release information and beta products. Many of the documents, utilities and even webcasts have been updated to reflect the features and capabilities of the final SQL 2005 product.
I will investigate what we will do for the current and future DVD’s and their exposure online. For now, the best way to ensure you get the DVD is to come to a free Technet Briefing near you (in the U.S.).
Cheers!
There is a new Administration Tool Pack that alloows you to administer some of the new Windows 2003 R2 features from an XP workstation. You can grab it here!
Cheers!
If you didn’t know, Technet has an Internet Radio show that you can access over the web. Our very own geek blogger, Robert Scoble, is currently featured with a couple of short interviews. You can stream it or download and MP3/W<A for offline listening on your favorite (Media Player!) audio listenin device.
Cheers!
Well how about this for some cool news…..headline – “Windows bumps Unix as top server OS”. I kinda like that headline!
Cheers!
I have noted in a couple of previous blog entries that I may be relocating up to the Bellevue/Redmond area so I can work closer to the mothership. Well, this post is my first official notice that, yes, I am going to be relocating.
This is something I have wanted to do for many years. I have discussed this with several managers over time and I have just been waiting for the right opportunity. I am fortunate that I am going to be able to make a “lateral” move. One of my fellow presenters who worked and lives in the northwest moved to a new role and I jumped on the chance to be able to backfill his position. Long term this is a great career move for me while for the short term I am able to continue doing what I like to do – live presentations.
For those of you that know me from SoCal, I am going to miss you and the area. Nothing can beat the SoCal weather and I have met some great people in the last three years I have spent here. I am not leaving immediately as I have to get through my wedding in April first. But things will be moving quite rapidly for me over the next couple of months. I expect to be fully relocated to the north by Jun 1st if things go smoothly.
My blog will move with me so you can expect to see it stay in place though I do intend to make some changes. I want to be more focused on some products that I like to work with: Media Center, Small Business Server, Exchange, ISA, Vista, Windows. I know that seems pretty broad, but it much more focused than my original intent of just blogging about everything I have to work with. I am even considering splitting the blog up around those products for organizational purposes (and my own sanity!)
As for my relationships with User Groups, the Community, and other local organizations, rest assured that I will pass that torch on to whoever is brought on board and make sure they continue to be involved.
Now…..go register for the local events we have this week!
http://technetbriefings.com
Cheers!
I came up to the Seattle, WA/Portland, OR area on Monday and with the exception of Monday (and later Tuesday evening), the weather up here has been spectacular. Not exactly fair to The Nun who is also here evaluating the area to give her stamp of approval on a move.
I had truly hoped the weather would revert to the normality of partly cloudy to overcast skies typical of the area so she could make a fair assessment of things. The last thing I want is for her to say “Yes!” only to relocate 3 months later to the REAL Seattle weather and not like it. So far, she has assured me that the mountains and trees, the astounding views, the friendly people, and her growing dislike for Southern California won’t be any impediment regardless of weather conditions. So I am going to hold her to that.
Sidenote – If you have been trying to reach me by email, I have been pseudo-intentionally ignoring email for a day or two which coincides with a mail server issue at work. Expect me to (hopefully!) start catching up in wee early hours of Monday morning.
Cheers!
Just annoucing that I will have some blog downtime over the next few days. I am having some housework done that will require electricty be shut down and computers moved around. Should be all good by Monday.
Cheers!
Here are the slides from this morning’s Webcast – MOM 2005 Technical Overview. If you are interesed in a replay of the webcast, check back at the Microsoft Webcast site fro archived webcasts. We record ALL webcasts and make themn available online within 24–48 hours.
Cheers!
I am delivering a webcast later this morning entitled – Microsoft Solutions to Windows Update Management. The Webcast starts at 9am Pacific Time and I expect all 23 of you to show up! :)
Cheers!
Straight from John Carmack…..
Xbox 360: 'A really sweet develoment system'
"The Xbox 360 will probably will be id's primary development platform. As it is right now, we would get the game up on the 360. When I would do major hack-and-slash architectural changes it was back on the PC, but it’s looking like the Xbox 360 will be our target. All of our tools are on the PC, and we’re maintaining the game running on the PC, but probably all of our gameplay development and testing will be done on the Xbox 360. It’s a really sweet development system."
Cheers!
This cartoon by Rohan Singh started my day off with a smile…..
Cheers!
I receive a lot of questions around Group Policy. One of the more common questions is about how to locate a policy in the large (and growing!) list of policies available. The good news is there is a nice reference spreadsheet that MS makes available for download here. Load this Excel spreadsheet and you can locate different policies easily and simply. It has seperate tabs for different administrative templates, Security Settings for Win 200o and also for Win 2003/XP.
Cheers!
Whew! I came home from Seattle for the weekend only to now be in Palm Beach, Florida. I am covering some Technet events for a co-worker who is working on a project. I am delivering in Palm Beach tomorrow and Tampa on Thursday. Looks like there are still spots open for registration. If you happen to be in either area this week, stop in and say hello! We will also be piloting a new customer registration system that should speed things up when you come in for the events. I would love to hear your feedback on the registration process.
I will be hopping on a plane Thursday evening to come back to SoCal.
Cheers!
Check out Stephen Toulouse information about the WMF/SetAbortProc vulnerability. I hope this puts to rest rumors about it being an intentional backdoor…
Cheers!
I managed to pick up an XBox through an online retailer just moments ago. I have been holding out for an XBox Premium bundle system and finally caught one online before they sold out.
How did I manage this? There is an interesting website called XBox360Tracker that provides updates on different XBox 360 bundles offered online by different retailers. It provides and RSS feed so you can quickly get updates by opening your reader. I saw a notification just 15 minutes ago on a system that didn’t cost into the 4 digits area and still gave me the options I wanted. I have been watching this thing since right around Christmas. Up until just last week, as soon as there was anything listed as available, by the time I made it to the ordering page for the retailer, they would be out of stock.
Now, I have been sitting on this tidbit since I picked it up from some other blogs as well as an internal alias for a while now. I am not going to apologize for withholding this information because like a lot of people, I want an XBox 360 too. I don’t get any special treatment for being an MS employee so I have been left to my own devices just like the rest of the world. Had I advertised this when I first heard about it I would have just diluted even further my chances of getting a 360 in a reasonable amount of time. But now that I have mine on order, I don’t mind letting my 18 regular visitors about it.
Cheers!
Robert Scoble comments on how he doesn’t care for the title of “evangelist”. He believes there is a religious connotation applied to it (and he is right about that). He goes on to explain why he doesn’t want religious customers. He details this along with a link to Guy Kawasaki’s blog entry on the Art of Evangelism which I think is a very good analogy for what we do. I think Scoble is too caught up in the religious meaning of the word which gets reinforced by Guy’s analogy.
I am also an evangelist. I am an ITPro Evangelist and I also have that on my business card. However, I started out not liking the title. I have since changed my mind to embrace it. When my title changed from “Technet Presenter” to “ITPro Evangelist” I didn’t care for it for the exact reason of its religious meaning. But as time has passed, I have realized that what I do as an ITPro Evangelist is exactly what a religious evangelist does – I speak the good word about Microsoft products and technologies to the masses in hope of educating the masses about what we have to offer. Maybe I will convert a few along the way; maybe I will turn some away. But I believe in my company and our products and think they can help a lot of people with their technical problems.
I decided to go check out Webster’s to see how they define evangelist –
Evangelist – 1) Any one of the four authors of the New Testament gospel books – Matthew, Mark, Luke, or John; 2) One who practices evangelism, especially a protestant preacher or missionary.
That led me to look up –
Evangelism – 1) Zealous preaching and dissemination of the gospel, as through missionary work; 2) Militant zeal for a cause
I also looked up the synonyms to see if maybe there was a better word for what we do –
Evangelist - advocate, champion, companion, converter, herald, messenger, missionary, pioneer, propagandist, proponent, proselytizer
I am all of those things for the company. However, none of those synonyms work as a job title as none of them truly convey the depth of what we do. Evangelist is a rather broad word that allows me combine all of those words to champion our products, convert the undecided and be a messenger both for the product team to the customer and for the customer back to the product teams. I think the word is perfectly appropriate in spite of the religious connection. If someone wants to spend all their time debating with me the religiousness of my job title, maybe they have some other non-technical issues I can’t likely help them with anyway.
Scoble doesn’t want “religious customers”. He wants “skeptical, educated, pragmatic” customers. I believe my role is to address the skepticism customers may have about our products, educate them about our products and give them the facts and practical information that allows them to use our products to solve their problems. I choose to do this by talking mainly about our own products where Scoble chooses to talk a lot about competitors.
I agree with Scoble that people should make educated choices about purchasing and implementing based upon a comparison of different products. I don’t think it is my job to educate people on 3rd party products though. The competition has their own evangelists. They don’t need Microsoft employees doing it for them. With so many products out there, it is very difficult for the average consumer and even the hard-core ITPro to know everything there it to know about all products. That is where I come in to make sure that MS products are being evangelized to the masses such that the features and capabilities are known. If we don’t then we become obscure. Without someone letting people know what Microsoft has to offer, we will cease to be relevant. Let the competition figure out how to be heard above the crowd while we focus on making sure we are.
Regardless, we are both evangelists and I believe the word appropriately describes what we should be doing for the company and for our customers.
So…..Hello, I am Chris Avis. I am an ITPro Evangelist for the Microsoft Corporation. What can I tell you about OUR products?
Cheers!
I made a few posts this morning from my hotel room using my Samsung i730 as a Bluetooth connected modem. I am super jazzed at the speed and stability of the setup. I decided to head down for breakfast and take my laptop and phone with me so I could read some blogs and news. I never bothered to disconnect the phone or the BT connection. I clipped the phone to my belt, grabbed the laptop, took the elevator down 10 floors, setup in the restaurant and, much to my surprise, everything was still connected. I popped right onto the Internet with no prompts for reconnection or credentials at all. I thought it was a fluke.
Well I just did the same thing coming back up to my room after breakfast and it was no fluke. I popped right back on, read a couple of articles and decided to make this post.
Why is this so amazing to me? Because I remember my first 300 baud AppleCat Modem which, while being a super cool device (at the time and still today), would disconnect if you sneezed within 50 feet of it – and that was a hardwire connection. My trip up and down was completely wireless and it never dropped.
Sweetness….
Cheers!
I would like some feedback from those who read (or at least glance at) my blog. I have been struggling with direction since starting up my blog and have finally come to a crossroads where I need to make a change. A couple of things have brought me to this decision – 1) There is a new version of Community Server that I want to migrate to and I am going to improve my hardware for my network. I like rebuilding my home network now and then just to get my hands dirty. 2) I have a tendency to blog about things that are interesting to me that I think others might find interesting as well. I also NEED to blog more about Microsoft products and technologies as I am an IT Pro Evangelist for the company. The problem is, blogging for work and blogging for interest seem to be muddling up the blog (IMO).
I am not trying to increase hits and readership so much as organize and structure what does get posted. I am even considering splitting my blog into two separate blogs – one for work and one for personal. The downside there is maintaining two blogs. The upside is organization and clarity.
Now….I work mostly with our “BackOffice” server products. I tend to gravitate towards Windows 2003, ISA, and Exchange (and all of their predecessors). I even supported the Small Business Server product as a whole from it’s inception through SBS 2000. I also have a passion around the Media Center and other consumer products (am I not a consumer?). Of course there are blogs-a-plenty on all of those items so I want to offer something they don’t, if I can.
So I would like some feedback from you. Do you like it the way it is? Would you like to see it split? And from a Microsoft perspective, is there something missing from other MS Product and Technology blogs that you want filled in? For that matter, is there an MS Product or Technology that isn’t getting enough or the proper “air-time”? What about podcasts and webcasts? What is valuable to you?
What it really comes down to is this – I don’t want to push a corporate agenda, I want to give you what you want. So…..What do YOU want?
Send me an email – chris.avis@microsoft.com or comment on this post about it. You can even, give me a call if you want – 760-695-7838 – if I don’t answer, leave me a message with a number and I will give you a ring back.
Cheers!
Thomas Hawk reports from CES on Dish Network’s new PVR and other HD goodies. I am with Thomas on the hope that Dish and MS (must…..not….be…..bias….) will sign some dort of a deal. Not sure that will happen given the recent MS/DirectTV news but I can only hope. I have been a Dish subscriber for many, many years now and have always liked their service. If Dish and MS could meet in the middle with content and Media Center it would be a match made in heaven for my houseld and many others.
Cheers!
I will be delivering some Technet sessions in Florida next week. Jan 17th in Royal Palm Beach and Jan 19th in Tampa. We are going to be covering a rather large set of topics including – New Features of Windows 2003 R2 such as Active Directory Federation Services, better Distributed File System capabilities, and benefits provided for Branch Office deployments. We will also be discussing some new features in Exchange 2003 SP2, and some great information on how to locate resources that every ITPro should know about to help make their day go a lot smoother.
I am looking forward to heading out to Florida next week and hope some of you make it as well.
Cheers!
Ps… I am delivering these same events in SoCal in late February. No registration links have been made available yet.
Presentations and WebCasts –
New Video & Audio based information for developers is located at these links:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/msdntv/archive.aspx
http://channel9.msdn.com/ShowForum.aspx?ForumID=14
http://msdn.microsoft.com/theshow/
http://msdn.microsoft.com/dotnetrocks/
Extending Visual Studio 2005 Team System – Discussion on how Microsoft IT extended Visual Studio 2005 Team System to incorporate software development lifecycle methodology process by modifying the default process template. By modifying the process template developer compliance increased and external tools were eliminated.
Getting Started – Visual Basic Fusion with Visual Basic 6 and Visual Basic .NET – This presentation walks you through the Visual Basic Fusion articles and shows how Microsoft Visual Basic 6 applications can be extended with the Microsoft .NET framework. This video is the second of a two-part presentation by Scott Swigart of Swigart Consulting.
Beta’s, RC’s and CTP’s…Oh My! –
Windows Workflow Foundation Beta 1.2 – Compatible with Office “12” (Beta 1) – Windows Workflow Foundation is the programming model, engine and tools for quickly building workflow-enabled applications on Windows. It consists of a Microsoft® WinFX® name space (System.Workflow), an in-process workflow engine, and designers for Microsoft Visual Studio 2005. Windows Workflow Foundation is available (currently as Beta) for both client and server versions of Windows. Windows Workflow Foundation supports a wide range of scenarios including workflow within line-of-business applications, user interface page flow, document-centric workflow, human workflow, composite workflow for service-oriented applications, business rule-driven workflow and workflow for systems management.
Microsoft Pre-Release Software WinFX Language Packs – December Community Technology Preview (CTP) – The WinFX language packs contain translated text, such as error messages, for languages other than English. Installation of a language pack is not required to run WinFX resources on a non-English operating system; however, it is recommended.
Note: An English WinFX language pack is not available because all text is in English by default. To download a specific language pack, select the target language from the change language drop-down.
Pre-released WinFX Runtime Components Tool – For best results, install on a computer that has not had pre-release versions of WinFX runtime Components 3.0 installed on it. If your computer has a pre-release version on it, follow the Uninstall Instructions below to uninstall these pre-release bits before installing the November CTP. You must remove them in the correct order to ensure a clean uninstall.
If you have a pre-release version of SQL Server 2005, MSDN, Visual Studio 2005, or the .NET Framework, you must uninstall them by following VS pre-RTM Uninstall Instructions.
Microsoft Pre-Release Software WinFX Runtime Components – December Community Technology Preview (CTP) – "Windows Presentation Foundation", "Windows Communication Foundation", and "Windows Workflow Foundation" are the names for three strategic developer technologies that Microsoft plans to ship in 2006 as part of the Windows Vista operating system. In addition, Microsoft is making these technologies available on Windows XP and Windows Server 2003. The WinFX Runtime Components December CTP enables developers to continue experimenting with early builds of these technologies, get acquainted with the development experience, and provide Microsoft with feedback.
Hotfixes, Patches, Updates, Service Packs —
Help for Subsystem for UNIX-based Applications SDK – This help file documents all the POSIX style APIs provided by Subsystem for UNIX-based Applications.
Australian Daylight Savings changes in Microsoft Products for the year 2006 – The Commonwealth Games are scheduled to be held during March 2006 in Melbourne Australia. Several Australian states including New South Wales, Victoria, Australian Capital Territory, South Australia and Tasmania, have changed the Daylight Savings transition end dates to the first Sunday of April 2006.
DirectX End-User Runtimes (December 2005) Full Download – This download provides the DirectX end-user multi-languaged redistributable that developers can include with their product. The redistributable license agreement covers the terms under which developers may use the Redistributable. For full details please review the DirectX SDK EULA.txt and DirectX Redist.txt files located in the license directory.
This package is localized into Chinese (Simplified), Chinese (Traditional), Czech, Dutch, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Polish, Portuguese (Brazil), Russian, Spanish, Swedish, and English.
DirectX End-User Runtime (December 2005) Web Installer – Microsoft DirectX is a group of technologies designed to make Windows-based computers an ideal platform for running and displaying applications rich in multimedia elements such as full-color graphics, video, 3D animation, and rich audio. DirectX includes security and performance updates, along with many new features across all technologies, which can be accessed by applications using the DirectX APIs.
Windows CE 5.0 Platform Builder Update – KB911711 – Fixes made in this update:
Component: Datasync
Description: ActiveSync connection may fail if a user attempts to re-connect to a device after failing to enter a password.
Tools and Apps –
PlaysForSure Portable Device Test Kit – Microsoft has established the PlaysForSure program to establish compatibility between music or video device and online stores that sell digital music and video using Windows Media technologies. If you are designing or manufacturing a portable media player device, you can use the PlaysForSure Portable Device Test Kit to verify that your device is compliant with the requirements of the PlaysForSure logo program. Please note that you must have a fully executed PlaysForSure Logo License Agreement in place with Microsoft prior to using the logo on your products or marketing materials.
Microsoft Domain-Specific Language (DSL) Tools – Using the Microsoft DSL tools you can create your own designer, integrated into Visual Studio, for a visual domain-specific language. The tools help you define the domain-specific language and generate the code of a graphical designer for you. The resulting designer uses the same underlying modeling technology that is used by the Class Designer and Distributed System Designers in Visual Studio 2005.
The Microsoft Tools for Domain-Specific Languages is part of the Visual Studio 2005 SDK.
SQL Server 2005 System View Map – The Microsoft SQL Server 2005 System View Map shows the key system views included in SQL Server 2005, and the relationships between them.
BizTalk Server 2004 Load Generation Tool – This tool is intended for developers and IT professionals to simulate load on a BizTalk Server. Using this tool, you can simulate load to instrument performance and stress against a BizTalk deployment. In addition, this tool may also be extended by developers to simulate load for custom transports. This tool should be used in a test environment only, and should not be used in a production environment. This tool is provided "as-is" and is not supported.
Visual Studio 2005 Tools for Office Sample: Deploying Visual Studio 2005 Tools for Office Solutions using Windows Installer – This download targets developers who want to deploy a Visual Studio 2005 Tools for Office solution using a Visual Studio 2005 Setup project to create a Windows Installer package.
The accompanying article provides the following discussions of Visual Studio 2005 Tools for Office deployment:
- An overview of the main steps required to deploy a Visual Studio 2005 Tools for Office solution.
- An overview of how to deploy a Visual Studio 2005 Tools for Office solution using the Visual Studio Setup project including how you can add the Visual Studio 2005 Tools for Office runtime and the Microsoft Office 2003 primary interop assemblies prerequisites to your setup packages.
- The steps for granting security trust to a solution.
Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 – Update to the Web Project Conversion Wizard – The Web Project Conversion Wizard in Visual Studio 2005 has been updated to handle newly discovered conversion issues. This update will improve the success rate of the wizard and make it easier for developers to convert their Visual Studio .NET 2003 Web projects to the new Visual Studio 2005 Web Site project model.
Case Studies, Guides and Whitepapers –
Moving to SQL Server 2005 at Microsoft – Discussion on how Microsoft IT moved its line-of-business applications to SQL Server 2005. Additionally, this paper also discusses a number of details and best practices that Microsoft adopted to move its applications on SQL Server 2005 that may help other organizations successfully plan and roll out SQL Server 2005.
Upgrading Visual Basic 6.0 to Visual Basic .NET and Visual Basic 2005 – This guide is intended for software technical decision makers, solution architects, and software developers who are involved in Visual Basic 6.0 application or component development. It helps you understand the issues and risks that go along with upgrading to Visual Basic .NET. It also provides steps for preparing your applications for a successful and cost-effective upgrade. Finally, it gives ideas and pointers about how advance your application after you successfully upgrade it to Visual Basic .NET.
SQL Server 2005business Intelligence Metadata Whitepaper – This white paper covers several interesting and unique methods for managing metadata in SQL Server Integration Services, Analysis Services and Reporting Services using built-in features including data lineage, business and technical metadata and impact analysis.
Related Download: The SQL Server 2005 Metadata Samples Toolkit can be downloaded from:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=11DAA4D1-196D-4F2A-B18F-891579C364F4&displaylang=en
Cheers!
Presentations and WebCasts –
Deploying SharePoint Products and Technologies for Enterprise Collaboration – Detailed discussion about the design and deployment of the Microsoft IT hosted collaboration platform. The platform supports personal storage, team Web sites, group and division portals, and enterprise services. With server farms centralized in three regional data centers, Microsoft saves both hardware and support costs.
Moving to SQL Server 2005 at Microsoft – Discussion on how Microsoft IT moved its line-of-business applications to SQL Server 2005. Additionally, this paper also discusses a number of details and best practices that Microsoft adopted to move its applications on SQL Server 2005 that may help other organizations successfully plan and roll out SQL Server 2005.
Hotfixes, Patches, Updates, Service Packs —
Update for Windows XP x64 Edition – KB903651 – See Below
Update for Windows Server 2003 – KB903651 – See Below
Update for Windows 2003 for Itanium-based Systems – KB903651– See Below
Update for Windows Server x64 Edition – KB903651 – Install this update to allow more than one domain-based DFS namespace to be created on a computer that is running Windows Server 2003, Standard Edition. After you install this item, you may have to restart your computer.
Australian Daylight Savings changes for Microsoft products for the Year 2006 – The Commonwealth Games are scheduled to be held during March 2006 in Melbourne Australia. Several Australian states including New South Wales, Victoria, Australian Capital Territory, South Australia and Tasmania, have changed the Daylight Savings transition end dates to the first Sunday of April 2006.
Update for Software Update Services – Run this script and follow the instructions in KB912307 to resolve an issue in Software Update Services (SUS) 1.0 Service Pack 1 (SP1) in which all previously approved updates may revert to an unapproved state and the status appears as "updated". This script will reset your approval settings to their previous state. SUS 1.0 SP1 servers that were deployed on or after December 13, 2005 will not encounter this issue.
Tools and Apps –
SQL Server 2005 System View Map – The Microsoft SQL Server 2005 System View Map shows the key system views included in SQL Server 2005, and the relationships between them.
Active Directory Migration Tool v2.0 – The Active Directory Migration Tool (ADMT) version 2.0 provides an easy, secure, and fast way to either upgrade from Windows NT Server 4.0 to Windows Server Active Directory service or restructure Windows Server Active Directory domains between forests or within a forest. The tool migrates users, groups, and computers between domains in a way that allows users to have access to their resources and applications at all times. Version 2.0 includes new features, such as password migration, a scripting interface, and a command line interface, that make migrations easier.
Also available is the Active Directory Migration Tool v3.0, which provides an integrated toolset to facilitate migration and restructuring tasks in an Active Directory infrastructure.
BizTalk Server 2004 Load Generation Tool – This tool is intended for developers and IT professionals to simulate load on a BizTalk Server. Using this tool, you can simulate load to instrument performance and stress against a BizTalk deployment. In addition, this tool may also be extended by developers to simulate load for custom transports. This tool should be used in a test environment only, and should not be used in a production environment. This tool is provided "as-is" and is not supported.
Case Studies, Guides and Whitepapers –
Microsoft CRM 3.0 Implementation Guide – This Implementation Guide provides the information required for a successful Microsoft CRM implementation into your business. This guide addresses the planning, installing (both hardware and software), pre-deployment testing, and operating tasks for the maintenance of the Microsoft CRM system.
This guide is written for the computer system administrator. This guide also assumes that any organization implementing Microsoft CRM software will have the services of an independent software vendor (ISV) or value-added reseller who is partnered with Microsoft and will help you with the entire process of implementing and maintaining your Microsoft CRM installation. Because of this assumption, there are references in this guide to these "partners" who are expected to provide various services to you.
Microsoft Dynamics CRM 3.0 Virtual PC Demonstration – Microsoft Dynamics CRM 3.0 release Virtual PC Demonstration. This demo is a one computer setup with Microsoft CRM 3.0 server and Microsoft CRM 3.0 client for Outlook. This demonstartion also contains Microsoft Exchange Server 2003, Microsoft SQL Server 2005, and Microsoft Visual Studio 2005.
Microsoft File Server Resource Manager – The Microsoft Corporation Information Technology group uses Microsoft Windows Server 2003 R2 File Server Resource Manager as a centralized tool for managing file servers located in branch offices around the world. File Server Resource Manager is a suite of tools that allows administrators to understand, control, and manage the quantity and types of data stored on their servers.
Live Communications Server 2005 Document: Configuring Certificates – This document explains how Live Communications Server 2005 uses certificates and how to configure certificates for each server role using your existing certificate infrastructure.
Terminal Services Scaling and Performance on X64-based versions of Windows Server 2003 – Microsoft Windows Server™ 2003 Terminal Server lets users run Microsoft Windows®-based applications on a remote computer that is running one of the Windows Server 2003 family of operating systems. This white paper contains results, analyses, and sizing guidelines for Terminal Services on x64-based versions of Windows Server 2003. Hewlett Packard worked in cooperation with Microsoft to perform the initial sizing tests and data collection in the Microsoft Enterprise Engineering Center in Redmond, Washington. The tests were performed using Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Enterprise x64 Edition and Windows Server 2003 Enterprise Edition with Service Pack 1 (SP1).
DirectX End-User Runtime – Microsoft DirectX is a group of technologies designed to make Windows-based computers an ideal platform for running and displaying applications rich in multimedia elements such as full-color graphics, video, 3D animation, and rich audio. DirectX includes security and performance updates, along with many new features across all technologies, which can be accessed by applications using the DirectX APIs.
DFS Operations Guide: Using the DFSRAdmin Command-line Tool – The Dfsradmin.exe command line tool is new for the Distributed File System (DFS) in Microsoft® Windows Server™ 2003 R2. Use this tool to administer DFS replication, including creation of replication groups and replicated folders, adding members to replication groups, and managing the location of staging folders. This guide offers step-by-step instructions for performing these common tasks by using DFSRAdmin.
SQL Server 2005 Business Intelligence Metadata Whitepaper – This white paper covers several interesting and unique methods for managing metadata in SQL Server Integration Services, Analysis Services and Reporting Services using built-in features including data lineage, business and technical metadata and impact analysis.
Related Download: The SQL Server 2005 Metadata Samples Toolkit can be downloaded from:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=11DAA4D1-196D-4F2A-B18F-891579C364F4&displaylang=en
Security –
Improving Security at Microsoft through Deployment of Windows XP SP2 – Overview of why and how Microsoft IT proactively deployed Windows XP Service Pack 2. Windows XP Service Pack 2 is a critical security release that addresses Internet-based security threats.
Windows Server 2003 PKI Operations Guide – How to configure and operate a Windows certificate authority, with operational scenarios, custom configuration information, sample commands, and best practices.
MBSA 2.0 Scripting Examples – Sample scripts that illustrate how to extend MBSA 2.0 for greater scalability during scanning and report rollup.
Cheers!
One of the downsides of traveling a lot is having to pay the exorbitant fees for Internet Access at hotels. Most charge $10/day though they will discount to $50/wk in some cases. The better (imho) hotels give it away for free (most Marriott Courtyards for instance). I have been looking for a supported means of using my Samsung i730, Bluetooth (to un-tether me from wires) and the fast Verizon EVDO network to circumvent using hotel networks. To date I have not found a “supported” method so today I took a chance on a hack. I am glad I did.
I am currently connected via BT to my i730, cruising the net, doing my email, and browsing…..and I am doing all of this with noticeably faster page loads than the hotel network was providing me (it would be even faster if it weren't for the BT bottleneck). In fact, the hotel I am in only allows for WiFi connections and can’t seem to provide that with any consistently. Their network dropped me a ½ dozen times before I successfully found, read about, and installed the hack.
So this post comes to you via my new BT/EVDO connection as per this posting over at PDAPhoneHome.com. They also have a nice running FAQ on the i730 and many other phones as well if you have never checked them out.
***Disclaimer*** This isn’t supported by anyone that I know of so take the necessary precautions.
Cheers!
I don’t use IM as much as I did say 5 years ago. So I don’t get too excited when new IM products come out. But I know other people do so i wanted to make sure everyone knows about the Windows Live Messenger Beta.
I just loaded it up on my machine simply enough and had access to all of my existing contacts immediately. I still get toasts notifying me of email on my Hotmail account and I can IM people. So the things *I* need are there.
I encourage you to play around with the other advanced features if you want to know more….
Cheers!
I am in Seattle and heard news from the Technet subscription team that a special beta release of Exchange “12” would be available in the March mailings. I wish I could say I was the first to get this news to you but my buddy Kevin,blogged about it from the meeting.
Cheers!
Scoble is still at CES and ran across a really cool sounding device that allows you to look through it at the sky, it can, through GPS and magnetic positioning determine where you are in relation to the objects in the sky and provide narratives about the objects…. Future…..here we are….
I do live presentations and often with my own equipment. I may have to add one of these to my travel bag…
AutoBlog has some pics up of what I think looks like a super-rugged golf cart but is more suited for off-road use. It is CES worthy because of the Bluetooth setup.
ChipChick is posting about some other interesting items at CES. I have 3 daughters so the pink hard drive seems to have some meaning here for me….
Yahoo! Has a cool CES blog if (like me) you aren’t there and want to stay up on some of the cool stuff….
Cheers!
Jason Calacanis, CEO of Weblogs, Inc, seems to think Google will build out a Google Office suite and Linux based Google O/S by year’s end. He also thinks Google will give the O/S away for free with a tie-in to Ad-Sense. *IF* Google were to provide *ANY* O/S I could see it having some tie to ad-sense. But making it free makes more sense. I am not sure they will do an O/S by the end of this year. After that? Possibly…..
Cheers!
Scoble is at CES and linking to gobs of cool stuff. My fave is the 102” Plasma…..drool!
Anandtech has an article on the new ATI OCUR (Open Cable Uni-Directional Reciever) one of the first of I hope several cable and satellite card tuners that will pump HD content to MCE without needing an OTA antenna. I didn’t exactly have fun putting mine up!
ATI’s Press Release for the OCUR.
Windows MCE + DirectTV partnership announced by BillG at CES (Fast Forward to 56:00). Yahoo picked this up as well along with other notes from CES. And finally, DirectTV’s Press Release on this (no mention of MCE though)
Press Release on HD-DVD Support for XBox 360. More on this from GameSpot
Gary Krakow talks about Slingbox gets even better by delivering movie content to mobile devices.
Cheers!
For those of you that attended the SFNTUG meeting this evening, it is now almost 1am and I am at a wall. I have been fiddling with the demo I tried to deliver for about an hour now and I am no closer to getting it working.
I am crashing out for the evening, but rest assured I will be looking at it more tomorrow…..scratch that…..TODAY…..(just later)
Cheers!
I am delivering Part 1 on Thursday and Part 2 on Friday. We will discuss the challenges an organization faces when dealing with multiple identities and intranet/extranet acess. We will discuss security repurcussions and using Microsoft Identity Information Server. I will update this post in a day or two with the slides I will be using.
Cheers!
Our presentation team had a meeting a few months ago where they brought out a professional photographer to take what were essentially publicity stills of our presenters to use on web and print materials. We had a little fun with it and each of us presented the corporate image as well as an alter-ego. You can view these secondary personalities for our Technet team here. Just mouse over the presnter picture for a glimpse into our other selves…..
You can see our MSDN counterparts here….
Cheers!
This morning I delivered a webcast on MOM 2005 Sizing and Performance. Once of the questions that came up was this —
Can I use MOM 2005 Reporting with SQL 2005 Reporting Services?
I checked the MOM 2005 System Requirements and it notes that SQL 2000 Reporting Services would be required.
I also checked the MOM 2005 team product blog and did not see any announcement of being able to use SQL 2005 for the reporting services.
Finally, I pinged a couple internal distribution lists looking for some guidance and was told taht we do NOT currently support using SQL 2005 for either the MOM Reporting services *or* the MOM database.
I would encourage you to subscribe to the MOM blog above as I am sure it will be annouced there first, and to check the MOM site I linked to above as it will get posted there as well.
Cheers!
As promised, here are some WMV files of the demo sessions that I had to cut from this afternoon’s webcast. The upside is you can download these and view at your own liesure. Please email me if you have questions!
Demo 1 – Introducing System Center
Capacity Planner Pre-Req’s
Installing Capacity Planner 2006
A Brief Introduction
Demo 2 – Creating Architecture Profiles
Creating the Global Topology
Creating Usage Profiles
Creating Hardware Profiles
Demo 3 – Running Model Simulations
Exploring the Topology Viewer
Running the Model Simulator
Viewing Simulation Results
Cheers!
There have been many requests from across the country to post the scripts we use in our SQl Demos from the “Best Of…” and SQL Launch Events. Harold Wong zipped them up and sent them to me to post here.
Cheers!
Presentations and WebCasts –
New Video & Audio based information for developers is located at these links:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/msdntv/archive.aspx
http://channel9.msdn.com/ShowForum.aspx?ForumID=14
http://msdn.microsoft.com/theshow/
http://msdn.microsoft.com/dotnetrocks/
MSDN TV: Late Binding in Visual Basic – Paul Vick and Erik Meijer discuss the role that late binding plays in Visual Basic, allowing a more dynamic style of programming than is possible in some other .NET languages. They also show some future ideas for how late binding might make programming against data such as XML radically easier.
Hotfixes, Patches, Updates, Service Packs —
DirectX9.0c Redistributable (October 2005) – Multilingual – This download provides the DirectX 9.0c end-user multi-languaged redistributable that developers can include with their product. The redistributable license agreement covers the terms under which developers may use the Redistributable. For full details please review the DirectX SDK EULA.txt and DirectX Redist.txt files located in the license directory.
This package is localized into Chinese (Simplified), Chinese (Traditional), Czech, Dutch, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Polish, Portuguese (Brazil), Russian, Spanish, Swedish, and English.
Windows CE 5.0 Platform Builder Update – KB910869 – Fixes made in this update:
Component: DirectX
Description: Launching applications after playing video may result in an error.
Windows CE 5.0 Platform Builder Update – KB910643 – Fixes made in this update:
Component: DirectX
Description: Playback of WMA files may consume large amount of memory.
Australian Daylight Savings Changes for Microsoft Products for the Year 2006 – The Commonwealth Games are scheduled to be held during March 2006 in Melbourne Australia. Several Australian states including New South Wales, Victoria, Australian Capital Territory, South Australia and Tasmania, have changed the Daylight Savings transition end dates to the first Sunday of April 2006.
Daylight savings end for 2005/2006
For the Year 2006 only, the published Daylight Savings end transition dates (as at 14th September, 2005) for each of the states of Australia are:
Victoria 27/03/2006 To 2/4/2006
ACT 27/03/2006 To 2/4/2006
NSW 27/03/2006 To 2/4/2006
Tasmania 27/03/2006 To 2/4/2006
South Australia 27/03/2006 To 2/4/2006
Note: Clocks are advanced at 2am by 1 hour on start day to become Summer Time.
Clocks are wound back at 3am by 1 hour at end day to become Standard Time.
The change to Daylight Savings will affect the transition settings for the following time zone rules:
(GMT + 10:00) Canberra, Melbourne, Sydney
(GMT + 10:00) Hobart
(GMT+09:30) Adelaide
Currently supported versions of products shipped by Microsoft have Daylight Savings transition dates that do not cater for the abovementioned change. These products include:
Microsoft Windows ME
Microsoft Windows 2000
Microsoft Windows Server 2003
Microsoft Windows XP
Microsoft Windows CE / Mobile
Microsoft Exchange server 2000
Microsoft Exchange Server 2003
Tools and Apps –
Microsoft CRM 3.0 SDK – The Microsoft CRM 3.0 SDK is for developers, system customizers and report writers. It contains the following sections:
· Server Programming Guide – A guide for developers writing server side code, custom business logic, integration modules, workflow assemblies and more. This guide provides an architectural overview of Microsoft CRM, the entity model, security model, Web services, and sample code.
· Client Programming Guide – A guide for developers customizing the Web client or the Microsoft CRM client for Outlook, including scripting, integration of custom Web pages, and sample code.
· Report Writers Guide - A guide for developers writing reports for Microsoft CRM using Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services Report Designer.
CLR Managed Debugger (mdbg) Sample – To build and run the CLR Managed Debugger (mdbg) sample you will need to have the .NET Framework 2.0 SDK (release build – version 2.0.50727) installed on your system. This is included with Visual Studio 2005 and the Visual Studio Express Editions. If you do not have Visual Studio 2005, you can download and install Visual C# 2005 Express Edition to build the sample. In both Visual Studio 2005 and Visual C# 2005 Express Edition, you can build mdbg using the solution file included with the mdbg source. Additionally, the sample can be built using nmake (included in the .Net Framework SDK) and the makefile script.
Case Studies, Guides and Whitepapers –
Microsoft CRM 3.0 Implementation Guide – This Implementation Guide provides the information required for a successful Microsoft CRM implementation into your business. This guide addresses the planning, installing (both hardware and software), pre-deployment testing, and operating tasks for the maintenance of the Microsoft CRM system.
This guide is written for the computer system administrator. This guide also assumes that any organization implementing Microsoft CRM software will have the services of an independent software vendor (ISV) or value-added reseller who is partnered with Microsoft and will help you with the entire process of implementing and maintaining your Microsoft CRM installation. Because of this assumption, there are references in this guide to these "partners" who are expected to provide various services to you.
Microsoft KPIUtil.exe tool for Microsoft Office Business Scorecard Manager 2005 – KPIUtil.exe is a tool that allows users to connect to both a Microsoft® Office Business Scorecard Manager 2005 server and a Microsoft SQL Server™ 2005 Analysis Services server to do the following:
- Generate SQL Server 2005 Analysis Services key performance indicators (KPIs) from Business Scorecard Manager KPIs.
- Generate Business Scorecard Manager KPIs from SQL Server 2005 Analysis Services KPIs.
- Save a configuration file that contains parameters (including the connection information to the SQL Server 2005 Analysis Services server and the Business Scorecard Manager server) that you entered by using KPIUtil.exe. You can use the saved configuration file either to generate KPIs from a command prompt or to open the configuration file in KPIUtil.exe at a later time.
Cheers!
First….the Bad…
In all my years of working with computers, I have never had a RAM chip go bad, in a machine, DURING normal operations. I have killed them off when swapping them. I have zapped them when laying out in the open. But never had one go bad, in the case, while performing it’s duties. But that is exactly what happened to my firewall server yesterday. Of course everything else is behind that server so when it died, my virtual world ceased to exist.
The Good…
I will have some additional downtime today. I am supposed to recieve two Buffalo Technologies 1.6 TB NAS boxes today.
That’s right……3.2 Terabytes of storage to ease my storage woes. I already have two terabytes scattered amongst the many machines that are on the network, but it has been quite cumbersome for a while now to remember what drives are where and more importantly, where I am putting things.
So that means some downtime later today as I move some things around and get a little better organized. Will post again when I have had a chance to play with the boxes and let you all know a mini-review of the Buffalo products.
Cheers!
Here are the slides for the Webcast we did this morning. I have added a couple extra decks that add some additional information for your use. If you are interested in seeing this session LIVE, check out www.technetevents.com for a live “Best Of SQL” event near you.
Cheers!
Microsoft SQL Server 2000 SP3a Replication Components — Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Mobile Edition (SQL Server Mobile) is the compact database for rapidly developing applications in both native mode and the .NET Compact Framework that extend enterprise data management capabilities to devices.
Microsoft SQL Server 2000 SP3a Replication Components installs the SQL Server 2000 SP3a Replication Components on the IIS box. The components are required for connecting with the SQL Server Mobile database on the mobile device.
SQL Server Migration Assistant for Oracle v2.0 — SQL Server Migration Assistant (SSMA) is a complete suite of tools that dramatically cuts the effort, cost, and risk of migrating from Oracle to SQL Server. SSMA automates almost every aspect of the migration process including assessment, schema and data migration, business logic conversion, and validation. Companies such as Motorola and Simon & Schuster have used SSMA to migrate their business-critical databases quickly, easily and accurately.
With SSMA, IT organizations now have the freedom to move to SQL Server and take advantage of SQL Server's exceptional security, scalability, developer productivity, and the industry’s lowest total cost of ownership.
Cheers!
Virtual Server 2005 R2 Release Notes — These release notes provide information about how to install and use Virtual Server R2. They include information about performing new and upgrade installations, as well as descriptions of the new features and known issues of this release. It is important to note that all information about the new features available in this version is provided in these release notes. This new information is not included in the Virtual Server Administrator’s Guide or Administration Website Help.
Virtual Machine Network Driver for Microsoft Device Emulator — The Virtual Machine Network Driver allows the Device emulator's OS (or even the Virtual PC OS, as the case may be) to emulate its own network connection. Since the physical network interface on the host machine is now "virtualized", you have a way to get two IP Addresses - one for the host PC, and one for the operating system that is running within the Device Emulator (or Virtual PC). Device Emulator users using the VMNet Driver can connect to the host machine over TCP or UDP as the alternative to the standard "Activesync over DMA" solution.
Cheers!
Microsoft Exchange Server Best Practices Analyzer Web Update Pack — This download contains the latest ExBPA.Config.xml and ExBPA.chm files. Use this package to update your existing installation of the Exchange Server Best Practices Analyzer. NOTE: If Internet connectivity is available, the Exchange Server Best Practices Analyzer will attempt to automatically update itself from the Internet. Where updates are being applied automatically, there is no need to download the Web Update Pack.
To find out which version of ExBPA.Config.xml is installed on your computer, click the 'About Exchange Server Best Practices Analyzer' link within the tool. The upper version number refers to the core application (e.g. 2.5.7720.2), the lower version is for the configuration XML file.
Exchange Servce Management Guide — Microsoft Exchange Service Management is a top-down, business-driven approach to managing a messaging environment. It specifically addresses the strategic business value that an Exchange team generates and the need to deliver a superior messaging service.
The guidance will help you implement process and team best practices within the corresponding components of the Exchange Service Management solution: Microsoft Operations Manager 2005 SLA Scorecard for Exchange and Systems Management Server 2003 Desired Configuration Monitoring.
This guide, along with SLA Scorecard and Desired Configuration Monitoring, targets the most critical areas for managing computers running Microsoft Exchange Server and for performing configuration and performance management.
Cheers!
Microsoft Windows AntiSpyware (Beta) – Windows AntiSpyware (Beta) is a security technology that helps protect Windows users from spyware and other potentially unwanted software. Known spyware on your PC can be detected and removed. This helps reduce negative effects caused by spyware including slow PC performance, annoying pop-up ads, unwanted changes to Internet settings, and unauthorized use of your private information. Continuous protection improves Internet browsing safety by guarding over fifty (50) ways spyware can enter your PC.
Participants in the worldwide SpyNet™ community play a key role in determining which suspicious programs are classified as spyware. Microsoft researchers quickly develop methods to counteract these threats, and updates are automatically downloaded to your PC so you stay up to date.
Note to users with expired versions of Windows AntiSpyware (Beta)
Did your Windows AntiSpyware (Beta) expire? Download and upgrade to the latest version of Windows AntiSpyware (Beta) today for an extension. If you are unsure of the version or when your Windows AntiSpyware (Beta) will expire, you can follow these instructions on how to check the expiration date and version of your Windows AntiSpyware (Beta).
XP Embedded SP1 Security Update: Microsoft Security Bulletins MS05-041, MS05-042, MS05-044, MS05-045, MS05-046, MS05-047, MS05-048, MS05-049, MS05-051, and MS05-052 – This Microsoft Windows XP Embedded with Service Pack 1 component update addresses ten (10) new or reissued security bulletins. After applying this package to an XP Embedded database, the following issues will be resolved:
XP Embedded SP2 Security Update: Microsoft Security Bulletins MS05-009, MS05-041, MS05-042, MS05-044, MS05-045, MS05-046, MS05-047, MS05-048, MS05-049, MS05-050, MS05-051, and MS05-052 – This Microsoft Windows XP Embedded with Service Pack 2 component update addresses eleven (11) new or reissued security bulletins. After applying this package to an XP Embedded database, the following issues will be resolved:
Update for Windows XP – KB894395 – Install this update to correct an issue where the Japanese Input Method Editor (IME) Composition window or the IME Candidate window remains visible even after that window loses focus. After you install this item, you may have to restart your computer.
Cheers!
Microsoft Availability Reporting Management Pack for MOM 2005 — The Microsoft Operations Manager 2005 Availability Reporting Management Pack collects and analyzes data from the event logs of your servers, and generates reports that you can study to improve server availability and reliability. You can identify the causes for planned and unplanned downtime and take preemptive actions to decrease downtime in the future.
MOM 2005 SLA Scorecard for Exchange — The Microsoft® Operations Manager (MOM) 2005 SLA Scorecard for Exchange provides you with an executive dashboard to measure and trend service availability and workloads across multiple server roles in an Exchange Server messaging environment. This solution also enables you to define desired service levels and identify the cause of service outages.
With the SLA Scorecard, you can configure service level agreement (SLA) targets by server role. It uses aggregated MOM 2005 data to compare actual availability to SLA targets that you have defined. You can view the data as trends by week, month, and year. You can also export service outage details to Microsoft Office Excel® for detailed analysis.
In addition to reports, several performance and activity measures provide you with detail about messaging infrastructure activity and use. Correlating this data with availability data helps you determine the causes behind SLA targets that aren't achieved. With this information in hand, you can fine-tune your infrastructure components to more effectively achieve the SLA target. Similar to the availability metrics, each measure can be reported as a trend by week, month, or year.
Microsoft Systems Management Server 2003 Desired Configuration Monitoring — SMS 2003 Desired Configuration Monitoring is a powerful solution to maintain a consistent configuration across all server roles and hardware types and ensure that all servers have required software updates, service packs, and drivers installed. This solution will monitor most Microsoft Windows Server System™ applications and hardware configurations and will run on any server application where configurations can be accessed through Microsoft Active Directory, Window Management Instrumentation, metabase, file system, and registries.
Cheers!
Beta’s, RC’s and CTP’s…Oh My! –
Microsoft Management Console (MMC) 3.0 Pre-Release (RC1 Refresh) – Microsoft Management Console 3.0 Pre-Release (Based on Windows Server 2003 R2 RC1).
MMC 3.0 (formerly MMC 2.1) ships as a component in Windows Server 2003 R2 and Windows Vista, and continues to be the host for a variety of OS and 3rd party administrative tools.
DPM Consistency Checker – Because of changes and improvements made to DPM as a result of the beta test after the DPM Beta was released, the upgrade process requires that you run this tool to ensure that replicas created with DPM Beta are compatible with DPM 2006.
Hotfixes, Patches, Updates, Service Packs —
XP Embedded SP1 Security Update: Microsoft Security Bulletins MS05-041, MS05-042, MS05-044, MS05-045, MS05-046, MS05-047, MS05-048, MS05-049, MS05-051, and MS05-052 – This Microsoft Windows XP Embedded with Service Pack 1 component update addresses ten (10) new or reissued security bulletins. After applying this package to an XP Embedded database, the following issues will be resolved:
XP Embedded SP2 Security Update: Microsoft Security Bulletins MS05-009, MS05-041, MS05-042, MS05-044, MS05-045, MS05-046, MS05-047, MS05-048, MS05-049, MS05-050, MS05-051, and MS05-052 – This Microsoft Windows XP Embedded with Service Pack 2 component update addresses eleven (11) new or reissued security bulletins. After applying this package to an XP Embedded database, the following issues will be resolved:
Update for Windows XP – KB894395 – Install this update to correct an issue where the Japanese Input Method Editor (IME) Composition window or the IME Candidate window remains visible even after that window loses focus. After you install this item, you may have to restart your computer.
Update for Windows 2000 – KB894395 – Install this update to correct an issue where the Japanese Input Method Editor (IME) Composition window or the IME Candidate window remains visible even after that window loses focus. After you install this item, you may have to restart your computer.
Office 2003 SP2 for Language Interface Pack – Office 2003 Service Pack 2 (SP2) for Language Interface Pack ensures that Office 2003 performs with complete functionality when you use an Office 2003 Language Interface Pack.
Microsoft AntiSpyware (Beta) – Windows AntiSpyware (Beta) is a security technology that helps protect Windows users from spyware and other potentially unwanted software. Known spyware on your PC can be detected and removed. This helps reduce negative effects caused by spyware including slow PC performance, annoying pop-up ads, unwanted changes to Internet settings, and unauthorized use of your private information. Continuous protection improves Internet browsing safety by guarding over fifty (50) ways spyware can enter your PC.
Participants in the worldwide SpyNet™ community play a key role in determining which suspicious programs are classified as spyware. Microsoft researchers quickly develop methods to counteract these threats, and updates are automatically downloaded to your PC so you stay up to date.
Note to users with expired versions of Windows AntiSpyware (Beta)
Did your Windows AntiSpyware (Beta) expire? Download and upgrade to the latest version of Windows AntiSpyware (Beta) today for an extension. If you are unsure of the version or when your Windows AntiSpyware (Beta) will expire, you can follow these instructions on how to check the expiration date and version of your Windows AntiSpyware (Beta).
Tools and Apps –
Microsoft ActiveSync 4.1 – Worldwide English – ActiveSync® 4.1 is the latest sync software release for Windows Mobile 5.0-based devices.
Microsoft ActiveSync provides a great synchronization experience with Windows®-based PCs and Microsoft Outlook right out of the box. ActiveSync acts as the gateway between your Windows-based PC and Windows Mobile-based device, enabling the transfer of Outlook information, Office documents, pictures, music, videos and applications from your desktop to your device. In addition to synchronizing with a desktop PC, ActiveSync can synchronize directly with Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 so that you can keep your e-mail, calendar data, notes and contact information updated wirelessly when you’re away from your PC.
User Profile Hive Cleanup Service – The User Profile Hive Cleanup service helps to ensure user sessions are completely terminated when a user logs off. System processes and applications occasionally maintain connections to registry keys in the user profile after a user logs off. In those cases the user session is prevented from completely ending. This can result in problems when using Roaming User Profiles in a server environment or when using locked profiles as implemented through the Shared Computer Toolkit for Windows XP.
Microsoft Availability Reporting Management Pack for MOM 2005 – The Microsoft Operations Manager 2005 Availability Reporting Management Pack collects and analyzes data from the event logs of your servers, and generates reports that you can study to improve server availability and reliability. You can identify the causes for planned and unplanned downtime and take preemptive actions to decrease downtime in the future.
Microsoft Office Business Scorecard Manager 2005 Trial Version – The downloads on this page include a trial version of the product. The trial version is valid for use for 180 days after you install it.
- Microsoft Office Business Scorecard Manager Server 2005 (Business_Scorecard_Manager_Server.exe) The server component is the core of the Business Scorecard Manager performance management system. It is comprised of a web service, a metadata database, and Web parts. The download also includes the Scorecard Manager Server Planning and Administration Guide to aid you in the installation process.
- Business Scorecard Builder (Business_Scorecard_Builder.exe) The Business Scorecard Builder is an application that you use to connect, create, and manage scorecard elements, views, and roles and to publish updates to Business Scorecard Manager Server.
Microsoft Operations manager 2005 SLA Scorecard for Exchange – The Microsoft® Operations Manager (MOM) 2005 SLA Scorecard for Exchange provides you with an executive dashboard to measure and trend service availability and workloads across multiple server roles in an Exchange Server messaging environment. This solution also enables you to define desired service levels and identify the cause of service outages.
With the SLA Scorecard, you can configure service level agreement (SLA) targets by server role. It uses aggregated MOM 2005 data to compare actual availability to SLA targets that you have defined. You can view the data as trends by week, month, and year. You can also export service outage details to Microsoft Office Excel® for detailed analysis.
In addition to reports, several performance and activity measures provide you with detail about messaging infrastructure activity and use. Correlating this data with availability data helps you determine the causes behind SLA targets that aren't achieved. With this information in hand, you can fine-tune your infrastructure components to more effectively achieve the SLA target. Similar to the availability metrics, each measure can be reported as a trend by week, month, or year.
Case Studies, Guides and Whitepapers –
Live Meeting 2005 Document: Live Meeting 2005 Registration User’s Guide – Live Meeting 2005 Registration is a feature set of Live Meeting Professional Edition that allows meeting organizers to schedule meetings, create registration pages and manage the registration process for large scale marketing events, training seminars, or any Live Meeting session where an organization needs to track or control attendance.
This user's guide is designed to provide detailed instruction to users of Live Meeting who will organize and manage registered events. Users can follow instructions to create an event and registration page, to manage registrant information, and to manage event information.
Ensuring Identity Consistency at Microsoft – Learn about how Microsoft IT developed the AutoConsistency Manager application. AutoConsistency Manager moves Microsoft one step further in the long-term roadmap toward an end-to-end identity management service that is built on Microsoft Identity Integration Server (MIIS) 2003. AutoConsistency Manager connects to multiple identity stores, including the Active Directory directory service. Based on a set of business rules and corporate security account policies, it automatically checks for, resolves, and reports discrepancies in identity information. As a result, identities are always consistent with the authoritative source. AutoConsistency Manager provides a greater oversight of identities across the enterprise and helps improve network security and regulatory compliance.
Structured Active Directory Schema Management at Microsoft – Detailed discussion of Microsoft IT’s Active Directory schema change management process. Schema changes are frequent at Microsoft, and require a structured workflow to ensure a consistent, smooth, and successful implementation. The change process that Microsoft IT institutionalized establishes clear standards, expectations, and timelines. The change process mitigates risks and helps to optimize results. The structured workflow normalizes schema changes. It provides clear responsibilities to all involved parties, eliminates schema change issues early in the process, and enables timely, optimized results.
Scorecards Provide a Foundation for Business Performance Management at Microsoft – Learn about how Microsoft IT integrates Microsoft Office Business Scorecard Manager 2005 into its business performance management system, making IT performance information easy to find and deliver, clearly associated with supporting contextual data, and shared across the enterprise. Using scorecards to monitor performance against objectives while facilitating accountability, Microsoft IT enhances the quality of business strategy execution and demonstrates the value of IT across the enterprise.
Software Assurance Benefits Comparison Chart – This chart explains which Software Assurance benefits apply to each Microsoft Volume Licensing program.
If you are not currently a Software Assurance customer, please visit the Microsoft Volume Licensing Web site to learn more about the many benefits of Software Assurance.
Microsoft Content Management Server 2002 Online Help – Note If the topics in this file do not appear as you expect (you see "Page cannot be displayed" or "Action canceled," for example), see the Instructions section on this page.
This download contains information about using Microsoft Content Management Server 2002, including the following:
- What’s new with MCMS 2002, roles and responsibilities, Microsoft Technical Support contact information, and using MCMS Help
- Using the Authoring Connector with Microsoft Word 2002 or Microsoft Office Word 2003 to author and edit documents
- Sample deployment configurations, deployment checklists, and issues to consider before deploying MCMS 2002
- Concepts and architecture for MCMS 2002
- Managing site structure and workflow
- Tools and technologies to help administrators and site developers
- Troubleshooting
- Site Author Tutorial and Site Manager Tutorial
- Authoring content from the Web site using MCMS Web Author.
Routing and Remote Access (RRAS) Registry Entries – The registry entries listed in this document affect Routing and Remote Access and were introduced in the Microsoft® Longhorn operating systems.
Permission Letter for Faculty Participation in Student Select – Microsoft Academic Volume Licensing customers may now obtain Student Select software licenses for faculty and staff employees. If your institution is currently enrolled in the Student Select program in the U.S. or Canada and you would like to allow your employees to participate under your Student Select Enrollment, we are extending permission to do so through the use of an open letter agreement.
Note: This permission applies to customers that are located or reside in the United States (not including U.S. territories such as Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Virgin Islands) and Canada only. Please check with your local Microsoft subsidiary for information regarding availability outside of the U.S. and Canada.
Using Microsoft Windows Compute Cluster Server 2003 Job Scheduler – Microsoft® Windows® Compute Cluster Server 2003 brings high-performance computing (HPC) to industry standard, low-cost servers. Jobs—discrete activities scheduled to perform on the compute cluster—are the key to Windows Compute Cluster Server 2003 operation. Cluster jobs can be as simple as a single task or can include multiple tasks. In some situations, tasks are serial—running one after another; in others, they are parallel—running all at the same time. The structure of the tasks in a job is determined by the dependencies among tasks and the type of application being run. In addition, jobs and tasks can be targeted to specific processors within the cluster. Processors can be reserved exclusively for jobs or can be shared among jobs and tasks.
This paper describes the concepts behind the job lifecycle and provides information on using the Job Scheduler to effectively manage jobs in the compute cluster.
ADFS Step-by-Step Guide – This guide provides instructions for setting up Active Directory Federation Services (ADFS) in a small test lab environment and should take approximately 3 hours to complete. It walks you through how to set up a claims-aware application and a Windows NT token–based application on an ADFS-enabled Web server. It also explains how to configure two federation servers that authenticate and authorize federated access to both types of application. No additional downloads are required, you can simply use the code in the document to create the claims-aware application.
IPv6 Transition Technologies – This article describes IPv6 transition technologies and how these technologies are supported by the IPv6 protocol for the Windows Server 2003 family, Windows XP with Service Pack 1, and Windows XP with Service Pack 2. This article is intended for network engineers and support professionals who are already familiar with basic networking concepts, TCP/IP, and IPv6. This article contains sections on transition mechanisms, tunneling configurations, 6to4, ISATAP, Teredo, PortProxy, migrating to IPv6, IPv6 automatic tunneling, and 6over4.
Updates to Understanding IPv6 – The Microsoft Press book "Understanding IPv6," by Joseph Davies, was published in November 2002. Since then, there have been changes to Internet standards for IPv6 and in Microsoft's support for IPv6 in Windows XP and the Windows Server 2003 family. This white paper describes those changes in detail, referencing chapter and page numbers where needed and providing links to additional technical information.
Understanding Mobile IPv6 – Mobile Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6) allows an IPv6 node to be mobile—to arbitrarily change its location on the IPv6 Internet—and still maintain existing connections. Connection maintenance for mobile nodes is not done by modifying connection-oriented protocols such as TCP, but by handling the change of addresses at the Internet layer using Mobile IPv6 messages and options and processes that ensure the correct delivery of data regardless of the mobile node's location.
Live Meeting Document: Administrator’s Guide – This guide explains how manage your Live Meeting memberships and account preferences. The topics in this document include:
- Managing roles, members, and groups
- Setting account preferences and templates
- Managing brands
Cheers!
Update for Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 – KB910393 — Microsoft has released KB910393 Update. This update is intended for systems running Update Rollup 2 for Microsoft Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005.
Install this update to prevent Windows Media Player 10 setup from overwriting digital rights management (DRM) files installed by Update Rollup 2 for Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 (KB900325).
For more information about this update, read Microsoft Knowledge Base Article 910393. (This site may be in English.)
Cheers!
Presentations and WebCasts –
New Video & Audio based information for developers is located at these links:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/msdntv/archive.aspx
http://channel9.msdn.com/ShowForum.aspx?ForumID=14
http://msdn.microsoft.com/theshow/
http://msdn.microsoft.com/dotnetrocks/
Channel 9 Video Interview MSDN – November 16, 2005 – “Coding for Fun”, “Exchange ‘12’”, and More!
MSDN TV: Favorite v2.0 Features in the Base Class Libraries – Kit George and Ari Weinstein give a rundown of their favorite Base Class Libraries (BCL) features new to the .NET Framework 2.0. Some are larger items which you may have heard of. Others are smaller "hidden gold" items that may be hard to find out about in any other forum. Discussed in the episode are Generic collections, new String APIs (Split, Contains, and IsNullOrEmpty), the TryParse pattern, Console improvements, new APIs for simpler file access (File.ReadAllLines and its cousins) and the Stopwatch class. Feel free to visit the BCL blog for other hints/suggestions.
Enhancing Developer productivity by Using SQL Server 2005 – Detailed discussion on SQL Server 2005 common language runtime (CLR) support to increase developer productivity and create a flexible pricing application solution at Microsoft.
Beta’s, RC’s and CTP’s…Oh My! –
Microsoft Visual Studio Extensions for WinFX - November CTP – The Visual Studio 2005 Extensions for WinFX November Community Technology Preview (CTP) provides developers with support for building WinFX applications using the final released version of Visual Studio 2005. This support includes XAML Intellisense support through schema extensions for the editor, project templates for the Windows Presentation Foundation (formerly code named “Avalon”) and the Windows Communication Foundation (formerly code named “Indigo”), and WinFX SDK documentation integration. It does not include a graphical design surface for either the Windows Presentation Foundation or the Windows Communication Foundation.
Microsoft Pre-Release Software WinFX Runtime Components – November CTP – "Windows Presentation Foundation", "Windows Communication Foundation", and "Windows Workflow Foundation" are the names for three strategic developer technologies that Microsoft plans to ship in 2006 as part of the Windows Vista operating system. In addition, Microsoft is making these technologies available on Windows XP and Windows Server 2003. The WinFX Runtime Components November CTP enables developers to continue experimenting with early builds of these technologies, get acquainted with the development experience, and provide Microsoft with feedback. More details about these technologies are below.
Note: This is a pre-beta release. Therefore, do not install these builds on machines you depend on. If you have a previous version of Avalon ("Windows Presentation Foundation"), Indigo ("Windows Communication Foundation"), or pre-released versions of .NET Framework 2.0 installed you must read this before download.
Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 Extensions for Windows Workflow Foundation Beta 1.2 for Microsoft Pre-Release Software WinFX Runtime Components – November CTP (who comes up with the names for this stuff?!?!?!?!?) – Windows Workflow Foundation is the programming model, engine, and tools for quickly building workflow-enabled applications on Windows. It consists of a Microsoft® WinFX® namespace (System.Workflow), an in-process workflow engine, and designers for Microsoft Visual Studio 2005. Windows Workflow Foundation is available (currently as Beta) for both client and server versions of Windows. Windows Workflow Foundation supports a wide range of scenarios including workflow within line-of-business applications, user interface page flow, document-centric workflow, human workflow, composite workflow for service-oriented applications, business rule-driven workflow, and workflow for systems management. The Microsoft Pre-Release Software WinFX Runtime Components - November CTP must be installed before installing this package.
Microsoft Windows SDK for the November 2005 WinFX Runtime Components CTP – IMPORTANT: This version of the Microsoft Windows SDK is intended to support only the Microsoft® Pre-Release Software WinFX® Runtime Components - November Community Technology Preview (CTP) on Windows® XP and Windows Server® 2003 SP1 only.
While this version of the Windows SDK also contains pre-release content for Windows® Vista, the Win32-related content is not compatible with publicly available versions of Windows. This release of the Windows SDK is compatible with the RTM version of Microsoft® Visual Studio 2005.
The Windows SDK includes content for the APIs in Windows Vista, including the WinFX technologies: .NET Framework 2.0, Windows® Presentation Foundation, Windows® Communications Foundation, and Windows® Workflow Foundation. Because the Windows SDK now contains the WinFX SDK content, the WinFX SDK will no longer be released separately.
Pre-released WinFX Runtime Components Uninstall Tool – For best results, install on a computer that has not had pre-release versions of WinFX runtime Components 3.0 installed on it. If your computer has a pre-release version on it, follow the Uninstall Instructions below to uninstall these pre-release bits before installing the November CTP. You must remove them in the correct order to ensure a clean uninstall.
If you have a pre-release version of SQL Server 2005, MSDN, Visual Studio 2005, or the .NET Framework, you must uninstall them by following VS pre-RTM Uninstall Instructions.
IronPython 0.9.5 – IronPython is the codename for an alpha release of the Python programming language for the .NET platform.
It supports an interactive interpreter with fully dynamic compilation. It is well integrated with the rest of the framework and makes all .NET libraries easily available to Python programmers.
Visual Studio 2005 Tools for Office Sample: Outlook Samples (Beta) – This “Microsoft® Visual Studio® 2005 Tools for Microsoft Office – Outlook® Samples (Beta)” release includes five sample projects that demonstrate some of the many ways to develop Microsoft Office Outlook 2003 add-in solutions by using Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 Tools for the Microsoft Office System, Beta 2.
Microsoft Solutions Framework for Agile Software Development – Beta – This download contains the agile process guidance that will be shipping with Visual Studio Team System. MSF for Agile Software Development is a scenario-driven, context-based, agile software development process that utilizes many of the ideas embodied in Team System. This process incorporates proven practices developed at Microsoft around requirements, design, security, performance, and testing. This new release introduces the new Team Model, Mindsets, and Principles. It also contains many clarifications of the activities.
Hotfixes, Patches, Updates, Service Packs —
Update for Microsoft Windows XP Tablet PC Edition Development Kit 1.7 – English – The Windows XP Tablet PC Edition Software Development Kit facilitates building ink-enabled applications for Tablet PC. The combination of software and hardware in a Tablet PC enables these methods of user interaction and allows for a rich, interactive, and productive computing experience for users.
The Tablet PC platform encompasses Windows XP and its extensions that enable input and output of handwriting and speech data on a Tablet PC as well as interchange of this data with other computers. The Windows XP Tablet PC Edition Software Development Kit (SDK) enables you to build ink-enabled, pen-enabled, and speech-enabled applications and supporting hardware for the Tablet PC.
Windows CE .NET 4.2 Platform Builder Update – KB909973 – Fixes made in this update:
Component: Compiler
Description: ARM processor only: Compiler may cause Datatype Misalignment exception.
Windows CE Platform Builder Update – KB909368 – Fixes made in this update:
Component: DirectX
Description: Video playback may hang after backwards skip.
Windows CE 5.0 Platform Builder Update – KB908026 – Fixes made in this update:
Component: TimeSVC
Description: Under certain circumstances SNTP service may set local time incorrectly.
Tools and Apps –
Microsoft Application Verifier – Application Verifier is a runtime verification tool for unmanaged code that assists in quickly finding subtle programming errors that can be extremely difficult to identify with normal application testing.
Application Verifier is designed specifically to detect and help debug memory corruptions and critical security vulnerabilities. It makes it easier to create reliable applications by monitoring an application's interaction with the Windows operating system, profiling its use of objects, the registry, the file system, and Win32 APIs (including heaps, handles, locks, and more). It also includes checks to predict how well the application will perform under Least-privileged User Account operation.
SQL 2005 Express Edition Documentation and Samples – SQL Server 2005 Express Edition (SQL Server Express) is the next version of MSDE 2000. It is a free, easy-to-use, lightweight version of Microsoft SQL Server 2005. Integrated with Microsoft Visual Studio 2005, SQL Server Express makes it easy to develop data-driven applications that are rich in capability and fast to deploy. To download the samples and product documentation for SQL Server Express, click the links in the Files In This Download section. For the SQL Server Express site on MSDN, SQL Server discussion forums, and SQL Server 2005 product documentation, click the links in the Related Resources box.
Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Mobile Edition Server Tools – Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Mobile Edition (SQL Server Mobile) is the compact database for rapidly developing applications in both native mode and the .NET Compact Framework that extend enterprise data management capabilities to devices.
Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Mobile Edition Server Tools installs the SQL Server Mobile Replication Components on the IIS box. The components are required for connecting the SQL Server Mobile database on a mobile device to a SQL Server 2005, SQL Server 2000 SP3a, or SQL Server 2000 SP4 database.
Microsoft SQL Server 2000 SP4 Replication Components – Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Mobile Edition (SQL Server Mobile) is the compact database for rapidly developing applications in both native mode and the .NET Compact Framework that extend enterprise data management capabilities to devices.
Microsoft SQL Server 2000 SP4 Replication Components installs the SQL Server 2000 SP4 Replication Components on the IIS box. The components are required for connecting with the SQL Server Mobile database on the mobile device.
Microsoft SQL Server 2000 SP3a Replication Components – Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Mobile Edition (SQL Server Mobile) is the compact database for rapidly developing applications in both native mode and the .NET Compact Framework that extend enterprise data management capabilities to devices.
Microsoft SQL Server 2000 SP3a Replication Components installs the SQL Server 2000 SP3a Replication Components on the IIS box. The components are required for connecting with the SQL Server Mobile database on the mobile device.
Windows Media Encoder 9 Series x64 Edition – Windows Media Encoder 9 Series x64 Edition is a powerful tool for content producers who want to take advantage of the many innovations in Windows Media 9 Series including high-quality multichannel sound and high-definition video quality on x64 platforms.
Windows Media Format 9.5 SDK (x64) – The Microsoft Windows Software Development Kit (SDK) provides the documentation, samples, header files, libraries, and tools you need to develop applications that run on Windows. The applications you develop with this edition of the SDK can run on the x64 based versions of Windows Server 2003 SP and Windows XP x64 Pro Edition.
Feature Pack for SQL 2005 – Nov 2005 – The Feature Pack is a collection of standalone install packages that provide additional value for SQL Server 2005. It includes:
- Latest versions of redistributable components for SQL Server 2005
- Latest versions of add-on providers for SQL Server 2005
- Latest versions of backward compatibility components for SQL Server 2005
Sample Code Generator 1.4.2.1 – The Sample Code Generator (XSDObjectGen) tool takes an XSD schema as input and generates sample code showing how to mark up C# and VB.Net classes so that when serialized with the XML serializer, the resulting XML will be valid according to the original schema. This update fixes some documentation changes and corrects a problem where the wizard did not generate code in some environments.
SQL Server Migration Assistant for Oracle v2.0 – SQL Server Migration Assistant (SSMA) is a complete suite of tools that dramatically cuts the effort, cost, and risk of migrating from Oracle to SQL Server. SSMA automates almost every aspect of the migration process including assessment, schema and data migration, business logic conversion, and validation. Companies such as Motorola and Simon & Schuster have used SSMA to migrate their business-critical databases quickly, easily and accurately.
With SSMA, IT organizations now have the freedom to move to SQL Server and take advantage of SQL Server's exceptional security, scalability, developer productivity, and the industry’s lowest total cost of ownership.
Case Studies, Guides and Whitepapers –
Microsoft Visual Studio Team System Licensing White Paper – This white paper provides an overview of Visual Studio 2005 Team System licensing, focusing on typical configuration and deployment issues. This document will provide a general understanding of the core features, typical deployment scenarios and required licensing for the Visual Studio 2005 Team System product line.
BizTalk Server 2006 CTP: Installation Instructions and Known Issues – The installation instructions explain how to install BizTalk Server 2006 Community Technical Preview on Windows XP, Windows 2000 Server, or Windows Server 2003. The known issues file describes known issues about the Community Technical Preview release.
NOTE: For the Beta 1 version, click here.
BizTalk Server 2006 Beta 2 Installation and Known Issues – The installation instructions explain how to install BizTalk Server 2006 Beta 2 on Windows XP, Windows 2000 Server, or Windows Server 2003. The known issues file describes known issues about the Beta 2 release.
NOTE: For the Beta 1 version, click here.
For the Tech Preview version, click here.
Installing and Configuring Microsoft BizTalk Adapters for Enterprise Applications Beta 2 – Installing and Configuring Microsoft BizTalk Adapters for Enterprise Applications Beta 2
Visual Basic Language Specification 8.0 – The Visual Basic Language Specification provides a complete description of the Visual Basic language 8.0.
SQL 2005 Virtual Backup Device Interface Specification – The SQL Server 2005 Virtual Backup Device Interface Specification contains updated information about the Virtual Backup Device interface. Independent software vendors (ISVs) can use the Virtual Backup Device application programming interface (API) to integrate SQL Server into their products. This API is engineered to provide maximum reliability and performance, and to support the full range of SQL Server backup and restore functionality, including all hot and shadow-copy backup capabilities.
Using Microsoft Message Passing Interface – This paper describes the concepts behind the Microsoft Message Passing Interface (MPI) software (called MS MPI), a portable, flexible, vendor- and platform-independent standard for messaging on High Performance Computing (HPC) nodes. MPI is the specification, and MS MPI, MPICH2, and others are the implementations of that standard. MPI2 is an extension of the original MPI specification.
Fundamentally, MPI is the interconnection between nodes on an HPC cluster, tying nodes together. MPI provides a portable and powerful inter-process communication mechanism that simplifies some of the complexities of communication between hundreds or even thousands of processors working in parallel.
Migrating Parallel Applications – When migrating UNIX- and Linux-based HPC applications to Windows, the programmer has two choices:
• Migrating to native Windows
• Migrating to Subsystem for UNIX-based Applications (SUA)
Although not providing full access to the rich Windows application execution environment, SUA can provide a relatively easy migration of UNIX applications with little code change required. The migration of the core MPI code of an HPC application is greatly simplified by the inclusion of MS Message Passing Interface (MPI) as part of Microsoft Windows Compute Cluster Server 2003. MS MPI is based on and compatible with MPICH2, the most widely used MPI implementation, while providing improved security and job management capabilities.
This paper provides details on the two available migration paths.
Using the Microsoft Windows Computer Cluster 2003 Job Scheduler – Microsoft® Windows® Compute Cluster Server 2003 brings high-performance computing (HPC) to industry standard, low-cost servers. Jobs—discrete activities scheduled to perform on the compute cluster—are the key to Windows Compute Cluster Server 2003 operation. Cluster jobs can be as simple as a single task or can include multiple tasks. In some situations, tasks are serial—running one after another; in others, they are parallel—running all at the same time. The structure of the tasks in a job is determined by the dependencies among tasks and the type of application being run. In addition, jobs and tasks can be targeted to specific processors within the cluster. Processors can be reserved exclusively for jobs or can be shared among jobs and tasks.
Parallel Debugging Using Visual Studio 2005 – Visual Studio 2005 Professional Edition and Visual Studio 2005 Team System support remote debugging of applications, including parallel applications. Visual Studio 2005 includes features that make it an effective debugging tool for Message Passing Interface (MPI) applications. You can execute the MPI applications directly from the Visual Studio session and specify the number of processors to use for the application. And when you set breakpoints in the application, you can have those breakpoints apply to all processes or only to some processes by filtering the breakpoints.
This paper describes how to use Visual Studio 2005 to directly debug parallel High Performance Computing applications on a local desktop or on a compute cluster.
Cheers!
Microsoft Exchange Server Mgmt Pack for MOM 2005 — Release Date: 11/02/2005
The Exchange Server Management Pack includes rules and scripts to track performance, availability, and reliability of Exchange components, such as Internet-related services, Extensible Storage Engine, System Attendant, Microsoft Exchange Information Store service, and SMTP.
This management pack not only validates the availability of communication services but also sends test e-mail to verify operations and measures actual delivery times.
The Exchange Management Pack Configuration Wizard provides a graphical user interface to configure Exchange 2000 and Exchange 2003 Management Packs, including test mailboxes, message tracking, and monitoring services.
The Exchange Server Management Pack Guide for MOM 2005 explains how to use the Exchange Management Pack to monitor and maintain messaging resources. You can download the management pack guide from the Microsoft Web site (http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=2215EEAB-41D7-423D-9F54-01F0DF4647E9).
Cheers!
Using iSCSI with Virtual Server 2005 R2 — This paper provides brief background information about iSCSI and describes ways to use iSCSI with Microsoft Virtual Server 2005 R2.
The iSCSI protocol, which unifies the TCP/IP networking protocol with the SCSI storage protocol, defines the rules and processes for transmitting and receiving block storage data over TCP/IP networks. Support for iSCSI is provided with Microsoft® Windows Server™ 2003, Microsoft Windows® 2000, and Microsoft Windows XP, and in Microsoft Virtual Server 2005 R2. With iSCSI, the hardware needed for connecting servers to storage is less expensive and less complex than with the common alternative, Fibre Channel.
Virtual Server Host Clustering Step-by-Step Guide for Virtual Server 2005 R2 — This document provides an introduction to the methods and concepts of Virtual Server host clustering. With Virtual Server host clustering, you can provide a wide variety of services through a small number of physical servers and, at the same time, maintain availability of the services you provide. If one server requires scheduled or unscheduled downtime, another server is ready to quickly begin supporting services. Users experience minimal disruptions in service.
Virtual Server host clustering is a way of combining Microsoft® Virtual Server 2005 R2 with the server cluster feature in Microsoft Windows Server™ 2003. This document describes a simple configuration in which you use Microsoft Virtual Server 2005 R2 to configure one guest operating system, and configure a server cluster that has two servers (nodes), either of which can support the guest if the other server is down. You can create this configuration and then, by carefully following the pattern of the configuration, develop a host cluster with additional guests or additional nodes.
Cheers!
Malicious Software Removal Tool – KB890830 — The Microsoft Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool checks Windows XP, Windows 2000, and Windows Server 2003 computers for and helps remove infections by specific, prevalent malicious software—including Blaster, Sasser, and Mydoom. When the detection and removal process is complete, the tool displays a report describing the outcome, including which, if any, malicious software was detected and removed. The tool creates a log file named mrt.log in the %WINDIR%\debug folder.
This tool is not a replacement for an anti-virus product. To help protect your computer, you should use an anti-virus product.
IEEE 802.1X for Wired Networks and IPSec with Microsoft Windows — Microsoft® Windows Server™ 2003 and Windows® XP support both the IEEE 802.1X standard for wired networks and the Internet Protocol security (IPsec) Internet standard. The IEEE 802.1X standard for wired networks provides authentication and authorization protection at the network edge where a host attaches to the network. IPsec provides peer authentication and cryptographic protection of IP traffic from end-to-end. This white paper describes the security and capabilities of 802.1X for wired networks and IPsec based on industry standards and their support in Windows Server 2003 and Windows XP, and provides comparison information when evaluating deployment of these security technologies.
Update for Windows Server 2003 – KB907986 — Install this update to correct an issue in which the IIS Manager (UI) stops responding when exiting the Secure Communications dialog box in Windows Server 2003 R2. After you install this item, you may have to restart your computer.
Update for Windows Server 2003 (x64) – KB907986 — Install this update to correct an issue in which the IIS Manager (UI) stops responding when exiting the Secure Communications dialog box in Windows Server 2003 R2. After you install this item, you may have to restart your computer.
Cheers!
Hotfixes, Patches, Updates, Service Packs —
Update for Office 2003 – KB907417 – You can get specific information about this update in the Microsoft Knowledge Base article Description of the Update for Office 2003 (KB907417).
Note: Users of Indonesian, Malay, Urdu, and Vietnamese language versions of Outlook 2003 can download and install office2003-kb904631-fullfile-enu.exe. Refer to the Instructions section below for details.
Update for Outlook 2003 Junk Email Filter – KB907492 – You can get specific information about this update in the Microsoft Knowledge Base article Description of the Update for Outlook 2003 Junk E-mail Filter (KB907492).
Note: Users of Indonesian, Malay, Urdu, and Vietnamese language versions of Outlook 2003 can download and install office2003-kb904631-fullfile-enu.exe. Refer to the Instructions section below for details.
Content Management Server 2002 SP2 – Microsoft® Content Management Server 2002 Service Pack 2 (SP2) provides the latest updates to Content Management Server 2002.
This service pack requires the following previously released update(s):
Content Management Server 2002 SP2 introduces compatibility with Visual Studio 2005 and SQL Server 2005. Service Pack 2 also introduces compatibility with x64-compatible versions of Windows in 32-bit emulation mode. You can get specific information about this update in the Microsoft Knowledge Base article Description of the Content Management Server 2002 Service Pack 2.
Update for Windows Server 2003 – KB907986 – Install this update to correct an issue in which the IIS Manager (UI) stops responding when exiting the Secure Communications dialog box in Windows Server 2003 R2. After you install this item, you may have to restart your computer.
Update for Windows Server 2003 (x64) – KB907986 – Install this update to correct an issue in which the IIS Manager (UI) stops responding when exiting the Secure Communications dialog box in Windows Server 2003 R2. After you install this item, you may have to restart your computer.
Tools and Apps –
Windows User State Migration Tool v2.6.1 – Microsoft® Windows® User State Migration Tool (USMT) version 2.6.1 migrates user files and settings during deployments of Windows 2000 or Microsoft Windows XP. USMT 2.6.1 provides enterprise migration capabilities such as unattended migration, multi-user profile support and compression. USMT 2.6.1 is intended for administrators who are performing automated deployments.
USMT 2.6.1 includes two command-line tools named Scanstate and Loadstate. Scanstate captures an intermediate store with the user files and settings from the source computer. Loadstate restores these files and settings to the destination computer.
USMT 2.6.1 also has five default migration rule (.inf) files named Migapp.inf, Migsys.inf, Miguser.inf, Sysfiles.inf, and ArchiveApp.inf. You can alter the default .inf files and you can create customized .inf files. Depending on what you want to migrate, you can specify all or none of the default .inf files on the command line.
The entire migration process is driven by the .inf rules, which you can modify, and logic that is built-in to the tool. When using USMT for automated migration, in almost all cases you should modify the .inf files to better handle your unique situation.
Mint Source – Mint Source is the unconventional new starter kit for students that enables you to quickly get your hands on the freshest, hottest technology from Microsoft. Think of it as direct line to Microsoft information. We’ll give you samples of what you can do and the tools to do it. Get ahead. Get Mint Source… and be the first to download the latest knowledge and tools. Free ‘n’ easy just got easier.
Case Studies, Guides and Whitepapers –
Deploying and Managing Microsoft Windows Compute Cluster Server 2003 – Microsoft® Windows® Compute Cluster Server 2003 supports several different deployment scenarios based on the different system configurations the administrator selected before deployment. Deployment is simplified by the Compute Cluster Administrator, which provides a wizard interface that guides administrators through the process after deployment decisions are made.
This paper discusses each supported deployment scenario and covers the basics of post-deployment compute cluster administration.
How to Install and Configure Small Business Accounting 2006 on Windows SBS 2003 – Microsoft® Office Small Business Accounting 2006 is a comprehensive financial management program that helps small business owners and office managers handle the financial needs of their business using software that has the look and feel of Microsoft Office and offers great integration with other Microsoft Office programs. It can be installed on a standalone computer, or on a peer-to-peer network environment for multiple users. If you centralize the database to run on Microsoft Windows® Small Business Server 2003 server software, multiple people can use Small Business Accounting 24x7, they can remotely access Small Business Accounting and backups will be performed automatically. To properly configure Small Business Accounting 2006 to run on a Windows Small Business Server 2003 network, follow the steps in this document.
Microsoft IT Academy Program Guide for the North America Region – The Microsoft IT Academy program is a complete technology training solution for faculty and students that includes a coordinated curriculum, courseware and online collaboration tools to help people achieve certification in Microsoft technologies. When institutions become members of the Microsoft IT Academy program, they immediately gain a teaching structure, faculty training program, and marketing materials that help elevate community recognition and attract students. This program guide addresses key programmatic and administrative elements that are essential to achieving and maintaining Microsoft IT Academy status.
Beta 2 Reviewers Guide for DFS Solutions in Windows 2003 R2 – This guide provides system requirements, installation instructions, and step-by-step walkthroughs for deploying namespaces and DFS Replication using the Beta 2 release of Windows Server 2003 R2.
Research Brief: Encouraging Returnds for Microsoft System Center Data Protection Manager – In May 2005, ESG surveyed more than 200 IT professionals to assess their attitudes towards Microsoft’s new System Center Data Protection Manager (DPM) product. Our conclusion? Microsoft is poised to make significant inroads into the market for Windows-based data protection solutions: Close to one-half of all IT professionals surveyed would consider a Microsoft data protection solution and 100 percent of the respondents familiar with DPM believe their organization will evaluate the product. Research findings reveal that users are most interested in a Microsoft data protection solution because of the operational efficiencies they expect to gain by standardizing on Microsoft products. Specifically, users believe that a Microsoft data protection solution would have superior integration with Microsoft applications and server infrastructure compared to other vendors’ offerings, and as a result, would allow them to leverage existing Microsoft skills to more easily manage the data protection process.
Microsoft CRM 3.0 Reaadme – This document provides important late breaking information about Microsoft CRM 3.0 that is supplements the Microsoft CRM documentation.
Cheers!
SQL 2005 Samples and Sample Databases – The samples download provides 103 samples for SQL Server 2005, demonstrating the following components:
- Database Engine, including administration, data access, Full-Text Search, CLR integration, Server Management Objects (SMO), Service Broker, and XML
- Analysis Services
- Integration Services
- Notification Services
- Reporting Services
- Replication
The samples databases downloads include the AdventureWorks sample online transaction processing (OLTP) database, the AdventureWorksDW sample data warehouse, and the AdventureWorksAS sample Analysis Services database. These databases are used in the samples and in the code examples in the SQL Server 2005 Books Online.
Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Upgrade Advisor – Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Upgrade Advisor analyzes instances of SQL Server 7.0 and SQL Server 2000 in preparation for upgrading to SQL Server 2005. Upgrade Advisor identifies deprecated features and configuration changes that might affect your upgrade, and it provides links to documentation that describes each identified issue and how to resolve it.
Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Express Edition – Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Express Edition (SQL Server Express) is a powerful and reliable data management product that delivers rich features, data protection, and performance for embedded application clients, light Web applications, and local data stores. Designed for easy deployment and rapid prototyping, SQL Server Express is available at no cost, and you are free to redistribute it with applications. Because it is part of the Microsoft Windows Server System, SQL Server Express is designed to integrate seamlessly with your other server infrastructure investments. For more information about SQL Server Express, see the SQL Server Express page on MSDN.
Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Enterprise Evaluation Edition – Microsoft SQL Server 2005 is comprehensive, integrated data management and analysis software that enables organizations to reliably manage mission-critical information and confidently run today’s increasingly complex business applications. By providing high availability and security enhancements as well as embedded reporting and data analysis tools, SQL Server 2005 allows companies to gain greater insight from their business information and achieve faster results for a competitive advantage. And, because it is part of Windows Server System, SQL Server 2005 is designed to integrate seamlessly with your other server infrastructure investments.
This fully functional trial software will automatically expire after six months. You can obtain the fully licensed version at any time.
For information about the different editions of SQL Server 2005, see the feature comparison page.
Microsoft SQL Server Managements Studio Express – CTP Nov. 2005 —Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio Express (SSMSE) provides a graphical management tool for SQL Server 2005 Express Edition (SQL Server Express) instances. SSMSE can also manage relational engine instances created by any edition of SQL Server 2005. SSMSE cannot manage Analysis Services, Integration Services, SQL Server 2005 Mobile Edition, Notification Services, Reporting Services, or SQL Server Agent.
Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio Express - Community Technical Preview November 2005 is unsupported pre-release software.
Cheers!
New Video & Audio based information for developers is located at these links:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/msdntv/archive.aspx
http://channel9.msdn.com/ShowForum.aspx?ForumID=14
http://msdn.microsoft.com/theshow/
http://msdn.microsoft.com/dotnetrocks/
Presentations and WebCasts –
MSDN TV: IronPython – Pyton on the .NET Framework – IronPython is the codename for a new implementation of the Python programming language on the .NET Framework. It is fast - up to 1.8x faster than Python-2.4 on the standard pystone benchmark. It supports an interactive interpreter with fully dynamic compilation as well as static compilation to produce pre-compiled executables. It's well integrated with the rest of the Framework and makes all of the .NET libraries easily available to Python programmers. In this episode Jim Hugunin introduces IronPython with demos showing interactive exploration and GUI building from a command prompt as well as simple embedding as a scripting language in an existing Windows Presentation Foundation application.
Channel 9 Video Interview – Nov. 9, 2005 – There are a BUNCH of interviews in this download!
Hands-On Labs –
Visual Studio 2005 Tools for Office Training: Outlook Hands-on-Labs – “Microsoft® Visual Studio® 2005 Tools for Microsoft Office – Outlook® Hands-on Labs” step you through the process of creating and working with Microsoft Office Outlook 2003 add-in solutions by using Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 Tools for the Microsoft Office System, Beta 2. The labs are in both Microsoft Visual C#® code and Microsoft Visual Basic® 2005 code.
Web Services Enhancements 3.0 Hands-on-Lab – Exploring Security – Learn how to secure Web services without writing code, how to author security policies, and how to leverage the WSE programming model to secure your Web services.
Web Services Enhancements 3.0 Hands-on-Lab – Exploring Messaging – Learn how to create Web services with Web Services Enhancements 3.0 which extends the .NET Framework 2.0 ASMX Web Services to provide additional messaging abilities such as hosting ASMX Web services in console applications, using MTOM to send binary data efficiently and build your own peer to peer instant messaging program.
Beta’s, RC’s and CTP’s…Oh My! –
Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio Express November 2005 CTP – Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio Express (SSMSE) provides a graphical management tool for SQL Server 2005 Express Edition (SQL Server Express) instances. SSMSE can also manage relational engine instances created by any edition of SQL Server 2005. SSMSE cannot manage Analysis Services, Integration Services, SQL Server 2005 Mobile Edition, Notification Services, Reporting Services, or SQL Server Agent.
Microsoft CRM 3.0 SDK – Preliminary – The Microsoft CRM 3.0 SDK is for developers, system customizers and report writers. It contains the following sections:
· Server Programming Guide – A guide for developers writing server side code, custom business logic, integration modules, workflow assemblies and more. This guide provides an architectural overview of Microsoft CRM, the entity model, security model, Web services, and sample code.
· Client Programming Guide – A guide for developers customizing the Web client or the Microsoft CRM client for Outlook, including scripting, integration of custom Web pages, and sample code.
· Report Writers Guide - A guide for developers writing reports for Microsoft CRM using Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services Report Designer.
Windows Workflow Foundation 1.2 for Office “12” (Beta 1) – Windows Workflow Foundation is the programming model, engine and tools for quickly building workflow-enabled applications on Windows. It consists of a Microsoft® WinFX® name space (System.Workflow), an in-process workflow engine, and designers for Microsoft Visual Studio 2005. Windows Workflow Foundation is available (currently as Beta) for both client and server versions of Windows. Windows Workflow Foundation supports a wide range of scenarios including workflow within line-of-business applications, user interface page flow, document-centric workflow, human workflow, composite workflow for service-oriented applications, business rule-driven workflow and workflow for systems management.
Hotfixes, Patches, Updates, Service Packs —
Windows CE .NET 4.1 Platform Builder Update – KB909084 – Fixes made in this update:
Component: MSHTML
Description: The Soft Input Panel (SIP) may not appear when focus is set to a text box.
Windows CE .NET 4.2 Platform Builder Update – KB909250 – Fixes made in this update:
Component: DirectX
Description: MP3 files with certain metadata may not play correctly.
Windows CE 5.0 Platform Builder Update – KB909476 – Fixes made in this update:
Component: Compiler
Description: ARM processor only: The adjustor thunk may reuse the r3 register without saving it. Compiler may cause Datatype Misalignment exception.
Windows CE 5.0 Platform Builder Update – KB909073 – Fixes made in this update:
Component: DirectX
Description: Source filter may not work correctly. As a result, a user may not know the bitrate for the input stream.
Update for Windows Embedded for Point of Service – KB903937 – This update resolves an issue where Remote Assistance does not function under Windows Embedded for Point of Service.
Tools and Apps –
Microsoft .NET Framework SDK v2.0 Samples Download – This self-extracting Zip file contains the latest Technology and Application samples available for the .NET Framework SDK 2.0 release. The Technology and Application samples demonstrate code functionality found in version 2.0 of the .NET Framework and Visual Studio 2005.
Using these samples requires installation of the .NET Framework 2.0 redistributable and the .NET Framework SDK 2.0 , also available on Download Center.
.NET Framework 2.0 SDK (x86) – The Microsoft .NET Framework Software Development Kit (SDK) v2.0 (x86) includes tools, documentation and samples developers need to write, build, test, and deploy .NET Framework applications.
You must install the .NET Framework Redistributable Package version 2.0 (x86) prior to installing the .NET Framework 2.0 SDK (x86).
Mobile Ink To-Do Starter Kit – This Visual C# and Visual Basic .NET Starter Kit is a complete Mobile PC and Tablet PC application. The starter kit contains a semi-transparent form for taking notes and keeps them synchronized through a Web Service. It also supports battery awareness and online and offline data, two key features of a great Mobile PC applications. The project comes ready to compile and run and it's easy to customize with only a little extra programming.
Word 2003 Sample: Importing XML Data to Word 2003 using Visual Studio Tools for Office – This download accompanies the MSDN article "Importing XML Data to Word 2003 Using Visual Studio Tools for Office" available from the Additional Resources box.
With this sample, you can import XML data from a database into Word documents using Visual Studio Tools for Office, Version 2003. You will also create a document programmatically that contains a button control allowing the user to access a database.
Visual Studio Tools for Office – v2003 Sample: Building a Professional Excel Stock Allocation Application – This sample solution illustrates the process of creating a Microsoft Excel Stock Allocation application in Microsoft Visual Basic .NET using Microsoft Visual Studio Tools for the Microsoft Office System, Version 2003.
The associated MSDN article discusses the implementation process used to create the application. Code snippets illustrate individual components of this Stock Allocation application.
SQL 2005 Samples and Sample Databases – The samples download provides 103 samples for SQL Server 2005, demonstrating the following components:
- Database Engine, including administration, data access, Full-Text Search, CLR integration, Server Management Objects (SMO), Service Broker, and XML
- Analysis Services
- Integration Services
- Notification Services
- Reporting Services
- Replication
The samples databases downloads include the AdventureWorks sample online transaction processing (OLTP) database, the AdventureWorksDW sample data warehouse, and the AdventureWorksAS sample Analysis Services database. These databases are used in the samples and in the code examples in the SQL Server 2005 Books Online.
Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Upgrade Advisor – Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Upgrade Advisor analyzes instances of SQL Server 7.0 and SQL Server 2000 in preparation for upgrading to SQL Server 2005. Upgrade Advisor identifies deprecated features and configuration changes that might affect your upgrade, and it provides links to documentation that describes each identified issue and how to resolve it.
Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Express Edition – Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Express Edition (SQL Server Express) is a powerful and reliable data management product that delivers rich features, data protection, and performance for embedded application clients, light Web applications, and local data stores. Designed for easy deployment and rapid prototyping, SQL Server Express is available at no cost, and you are free to redistribute it with applications. Because it is part of the Microsoft Windows Server System, SQL Server Express is designed to integrate seamlessly with your other server infrastructure investments. For more information about SQL Server Express, see the SQL Server Express page on MSDN.
Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Enterprise Evaluation Edition – Microsoft SQL Server 2005 is comprehensive, integrated data management and analysis software that enables organizations to reliably manage mission-critical information and confidently run today’s increasingly complex business applications. By providing high availability and security enhancements as well as embedded reporting and data analysis tools, SQL Server 2005 allows companies to gain greater insight from their business information and achieve faster results for a competitive advantage. And, because it is part of Windows Server System, SQL Server 2005 is designed to integrate seamlessly with your other server infrastructure investments.
This fully functional trial software will automatically expire after six months. You can obtain the fully licensed version at any time.
For information about the different editions of SQL Server 2005, see the feature comparison page.
Visual Basic 6.0 to Visual Basic .NET Upgrade Assessment Tool – The Visual Basic 6.0 Upgrade Assessment Tool measures application upgrade effort. This tool analyzes the application components and the relationships between them from an upgrade perspective, considering elements, constructs, and features that consume resources during an upgrade. It generates a group of reports that are used for calculations related to task effort and cost. The user can specify configuration values that will override the initial estimation inputs to adapt the assessment tool to their needs.
Microsoft Core XML Services (MSXML) 6.0 – The Microsoft Core XML Services (MSXML) 6.0 release provides standards-conformant implementations of:
- XML 1.0 (DOM & SAX2 APIs)
- XML Schema (XSD) 1.0
- XPath 1.0
- XSLT 1.0
In addition, it offers client and server-safe components for XML over HTTP. MSXML6 is also the first version of MSXML to provide a 64-bit redistributable package.
Web Services Enhancements 3.0 for Microsoft .NET – WSE 3.0 simplifies the development and deployment of secure Web services. It enables developers and administrators to apply security policies to Web services running on the .NET Framework 2.0. Using WSE 3.0, Web services communication can be signed and encrypted using Kerberos tickets, X.509 certificates and other custom binary and XML-based security tokens. In addition username/password credentials can be used for authentication purposes. An enhanced security model provides a policy-driven foundation for securing Web services. WSE also supports the ability to establish a trust-issuing service for retrieval and validation of security tokens, as well as the ability to establish more efficient long-running secure communication via secure conversations.
Web Services Enhancements 3.0 for Microsoft .NET Redistributable Runtime MSI – This is the redistributable package for WSE 3.0. For an overview of WSE 3.0 see the Web Services Enhancements page.
Case Studies, Guides and Whitepapers –
Visual Basic 6.0 to Visual Basic .NET FMStock Upgrade Case Study: Before Upgrade – This case study showcases the process of upgrading a Microsoft Visual Basic 6.0 application to a functionally equivalent Visual Basic .NET application using the Visual Basic Upgrade Assessment Tool, the Visual Basic Upgrade Wizard, and the guidance chapters using the Fitch & Mather Stocks 2000 (FMStocks 2000) application as a reference application. It describes the issues encountered while upgrading the FMStocks 2000 application to Visual Basic .NET, identifies their resolutions, and explains how these resolutions were determined. The aim of this case study is not to identify all the issues involved in upgrading to Visual Basic .NET; the aim is to demonstrate the approach taken
to identify issues and resolve them.
This case study will also serve as a starting guide for those who would like to test the assessment tool and upgrade wizard by using FMStocks 2000 as a sample application. This will give developers some familiarity with these tools and with the upgrade process before starting a real upgrade project.
Visual Basic 6.0 to Visual Basic .NET FMStock Upgrade Case Study: Post Upgrade – This case study showcases the process of upgrading a Microsoft Visual Basic 6.0 application to a functionally equivalent Visual Basic .NET application using the Visual Basic Upgrade Assessment Tool, the Visual Basic Upgrade Wizard, and the guidance chapters using the Fitch & Mather Stocks 2000 (FMStocks 2000) application as a reference application. It describes the issues encountered while upgrading the FMStocks 2000 application to Visual Basic .NET, identifies their resolutions, and explains how these resolutions were determined. The aim of this case study is not to identify all the issues involved in upgrading to Visual Basic .NET; the aim is to demonstrate the approach taken
to identify issues and resolve them.
This case study will also serve as a starting guide for those who would like to test the assessment tool and upgrade wizard by using FMStocks 2000 as a sample application. This will give developers some familiarity with these tools and with the upgrade process before starting a real upgrade project.
Upgrading Visual Basic 6.0 Applications to Visual Basic .NET and Visual Basic 2005 – This guide is intended for software technical decision makers, solution architects, and software developers who are involved in Visual Basic 6.0 application or component development. It helps you understand the issues and risks that go along with upgrading to Visual Basic .NET. It also provides steps for preparing your applications for a successful and cost-effective upgrade. Finally, it gives ideas and pointers about how advance your application after you successfully upgrade it to Visual Basic .NET.
Cheers!
I have had many, many requests for the slide decks I was working from for the Nov 15/17 Best of SQL presentations…
Here ya go!
Cheers!
…via the Anti-Malware Engineering Team.
…and some information on disabling the ActiveX control that was later delivered by Sony that allows you to block this control.
Cheers!
I have had a couple of people ask me for the AdventureWorks trace file that I used during my SQL Database Tuning Advisor demo from yesterday’s SQL Event.
Posted Here…
Cheers!
The Anti-Malware Team has posted a blog entry annoucing the availability of the signatures to detect and remove the Sony XCP software.
Find it here….
Cheers!
Press Release!
Finally! Though I have nothing against my STB’s (they are hidden out of site anyway), I will be happy to get rid of the extra cabling needed to support them. Anytime I eliminate wiring it makes me happy.
Also, if I read the article correctly, this makes getting an XBox 360 more appealing since we will be able to stream that HD content to an XBox 360 that is acting as a Media Center Extender (MCX). For that matter the article implies we can stream the HD content to a PC!
Cheers!
One of my co-workers, Harold Wong, posted an announcement to his blog about Exchange “12” being a 64–bit only platform.
Cheers!
I wanted to put up a post last night with my findings on my test system. Well…..I didn’t get in till late last night and didn’t have time to get to it. So it is on my plate for this weekend.
I did pick up one of the CD’s that is impacted by this – Our Lady Peace – “Healthy in Paranoid Times”
So look for the post before Monday!
Cheers!
Very cool information on how you can log on as a local admin but drop your rights while cruising the web to a lower permissioned account. While this is cool, I would still, as a rul, recommend that anyone only log in as an admin if they have to do admin functions. If all you need to do is read email or cruise the web, the admin should use a seperate, less powerful account.
Cheers!
Sony has been hit with it’s first lawsuit (class action even!) regarding it’s DRM rootkit technology….
Mark Russonovich’s blog on how he found it on his system….
Short list of affected CD’s…
Washington Post article…
Slashdot info on the lawsuit…
**Update** – Link to Sony’s “Service Pack” to disable the DRM rootkit (make a backup of your system BEFORE running this. I have read reports that trying to remove thr DRM kit can cause problems. I have not confirmed myself)
The Nun and I buy a LOT of music CD’s which go directly into our Media Center PC. When I first caught wind of of this, I ran RootKitRevealer on my Media Center and thankfully didn’t have anything unusual listed. But that didn’t make me feel any better about it. Especially since I don’t know what it would look like even if I was affected by this.
So today I am going to head out and find one of the CD’s, build a sandbox system, “infect” it with music, and then run the test again.
I will blog about this with screen shots later this evening.
Cheers!
Presentations and WebCasts –
ISV Chalk Talk – Vista user Account Protection – A technical discussion at PDC 2005 on what’s new in Windows Vista User Account Protection
Tools and Apps –
Windows SharePoint Services Applications Template: Employee Activities – The Employee Activities Site application for Windows SharePoint Services is a central site for communicating information to employees about company clubs, teams, and events. With this application, employees can sign up for activities, access contact and schedule information, participate in discussions and surveys, and view activity photos. Now companies can more easily keep employees up to date on activities in which they may participate, and employees can quickly access the information they need to get involved.
User Profile Hive Cleanup Service – On Windows 2000 the service deals with application event log event 1000 from source Userenv where the message indicates that the profile is not unloading and the error is "Access is denied". On Windows XP and Windows 2003 the equivalent events are 1517 and 1524 from source Userenv.
To accomplish this the service monitors for logged off users that still have hives loaded. When that happens the service determines which applications have handles opened to the hives and releases them. It logs the application name and what registry keys where left open. After this the system finishes unloading the profile.
Guides and Whitepapers –
ASP.NET 2.0 Hosting Deployment Guide – The ASP.NET 2.0 Deployment Guide is a reference for web hosters who are interested in adding ASP.NET 2.0 to their existing Windows hosting service. Besides improving developer productivity, ASP.NET 2.0 also provides benefits for hosted environments, including support for shutting down inactive applications and locking down rogue applications. Enhanced health monitoring configuration can be used to set thresholds and severity levels for monitoring the health of ASP.NET.
Application Platform (SQL Server, Visual Studio, and BizTalk Server) White Paper – This paper outlines the Microsoft application platform—the confluence of servers, clients, and devices that can help connect people with business-critical information across the enterprise, thus driving overall business success. This paper focuses on Microsoft’s latest investments in business intelligence, integration, and developer productivity with updated releases of Microsoft SQL Server 2005, Microsoft BizTalk Server 2006, and Microsoft Visual Studio 2005, respectively.
Microsoft CRM Implementation Guide – This Implementation Guide provides the information required for a successful Microsoft CRM implementation into your business. This guide addresses the planning, installing (both hardware and software), pre-deployment testing, and operating tasks for the maintenance of the Microsoft CRM system.
This guide is written for the computer system administrator. This guide also assumes that any organization implementing Microsoft CRM software will have the services of an independent software vendor (ISV) or value-added reseller who is partnered with Microsoft and will help you with the entire process of implementing and maintaining your Microsoft CRM installation. Because of this assumption, there are references in this guide to these "partners" who are expected to provide various services to you.
Microsoft CRM 3.0 Customization Planning Forms – This download includes one file for each customizable entity in Microsoft CRM. Each file includes default forms, views, attributes, and reports for the entity, with tables to add information on what you want to change. These files are designed to be printed and brought to meetings where managers and employees determine how to customize Microsoft CRM for their specific business needs.
Microsoft CRM 3.0 Online Help – This download contains the concepts and procedures from Microsoft CRM 3.0 online Help. You can use this download to view Microsoft CRM 3.0 online Help on a computer that does not have Microsoft CRM installed. The help files are the same as those included in the product.
Because these help files are not being viewed in the context of Microsoft CRM, the form on each topic for sending documentation feedback does not work. To send documentation feedback, e-mail mscrmdf@microsoft.com.
IDC Mission Critical Tracker 2005 (Long Version) – During the spring and summer of 2005, IDC conducted a worldwide survey of the Mission Critical Market for Microsoft. Using their proven, rigorous survey methodology, IDC asked large Enterprises around the world what their Mission Critical IT applications looked like. Questions covered Operating Systems, Application Platforms, Application Servers, Portals, Message Queuing and more. 1918 responses were gathered from 9 Countries, in order to put together a comprehesive picture of the Mission Critical Application Software Market. This document contains the results of that survey.
Microsoft Office Business Scorecard Manager 2005 Technical White Papers – Microsoft Office Business Scorecard Manager 2005 empowers users to optimize business performance through strategic decision making. These downloads include white papers for developers.
- Installing and Managing Alerts Using Business Scorecard Manager (Business_Scorecard_Manager_Alerts_WP.doc) This white paper explains the detailed steps required to install and manage alerts using Business Scorecard Manager 2005.
- Building Custom Report Views for Microsoft Business Scorecard Manager 2005 (Business_Scorecard_Builder_Custom_Report_WP.doc) This white paper provides information for building custom report views, by creating a sample custom report view, then developing a configuration component and a Web component.
- Using MSMQ Triggers with Business Scorecard Manager (Business_Scorecard_Manager_MSMQ_WP.doc) This white paper describes how to use Microsoft® Message Queuing Services (MSMQ) 3.0 with Microsoft Office Business Scorecard Manager 2005. Readers should be familiar with MSMQ.
- Passing Parameters in Business Scorecard Manager 2005 (Business_Scorecard_Manager_Passing_Parameters_WP.doc) This white paper is intended for developers who want to create custom views for scorecards by sending data from page filters, row slices and column slices from a scorecard view through a query string to an Office Report View Web Part.
Introduction to Microsoft Identity Integration Server 2003 – This roadmap describes the documentation available for Microsoft® Identity Integration Server (MIIS) 2003 and Identity Integration Feature Pack (IIFP) for Microsoft® Windows Server™ Active Directory. The first section, Common Tasks, allows you to search MIIS 2003 resources for specific information about a task you might want to do.
The second section, Documentation Summary, provides a complete list of the MIIS 2003 documentation sets with a brief summary of each document. The documentation summary is divided into five categories: technical reference, design and planning, walkthroughs, operations, and Resource Tool Kit to make it easier to locate specific documentation.
Step-by-Step Guide for Setting up a PPTP based Site-to-Site VPN Connection in a Test Lab – This guide describes the configuration of a Point-to-Point Tunneling Protocol (PPTP)-based site-to-site virtual private network (VPN) connection using five computers in a test lab. The VPN connection described in this guide enables you to simulate and observe Microsoft® Windows® Server™ 2003 site-to-site VPN functionality. The VPN connection described in this guide is for testing purposes only, and cannot be used in a production environment.
This guide assumes familiarity with Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP), IP routing, and the capabilities of the Windows Server 2003 Routing and Remote Access service.
Step-by-Step Guide for Setting Up VPN based Remote Access in a Test Lab – This step-by-step guide includes updates to the original guide due to security enhancements in the release of Windows Server 2003 with SP1 and Windows XP Professional with SP2.
This guide provides detailed information about how you can use five computers to create a test lab with which to configure and test virtual private network (VPN) remote access with the Windows XP Professional with Service SP2 and the 32-bit versions of Windows Server 2003 with SP1 operating systems. These instructions are designed to take you step-by-step through the configuration required for a Point-to-Point Tunneling Protocol (PPTP) connection, a Layer Two Tunneling Protocol (L2TP) with Internet Protocol security (L2TP/IPsec) connection, and a VPN connection that uses certificate-based Extensible Authentication Protocol-Transport Level Security (EAP-TLS) authentication.
Creating a Systemized Approach to Regulatory Compliance at Microsoft – Detailed discussion of some of the processes and tools that the Microsoft Information Technology (Microsoft IT) group currently uses to systemize the approach of supporting regulatory compliance activities at Microsoft. Increased governmental oversight in recent years has resulted in new texts and requirements that affect organizations in a wide range of industries. To reduce the overhead of remaining compliant in the constantly evolving regulatory landscape, Microsoft is creating a holistic approach to regulatory compliance. This approach uses a framework of common security controls, unique tools for monitoring, and IT tools for tracking and reporting compliance.
Cheers!
Just a couple of new items this week —
Update for Windows Server 2003 x64 Edition (KB904714) — Install this update to enable client computers to use the Windows Indexing Service when searching for a network-shared file on a Windows Server 2003-based computer. This update resolves an issue in which the Windows Indexing Service cannot not be used if the index is not 100 percent up-to-date. After you install this item, you may have to restart your computer.
Update for Windows Server 2003 (KB904714) — Install this update to enable client computers to use the Windows Indexing Service when searching for a network-shared file on a Windows Server 2003-based computer. This update resolves an issue in which the Windows Indexing Service cannot not be used if the index is not 100 percent up-to-date. After you install this item, you may have to restart your computer.
Windows XP Language Interface Pack — Microsoft Windows XP Language Interface Pack (LIP) is a high-quality, localized "skin" for emerging or minority language markets, such as Catalan, Lithuanian, and Thai. Based on MUI technology, LIP provides the desktop user with an approximately 80% localized user experience by translating a reduced set of user interface elements. LIP is installed on a licensed copy of Windows and a fixed base language.
Synchronizing Images and Files in Windows XP using Microsft SyncToy — Increasingly, computer users are using different folders, drives, and even different computers (such as a laptop and a desktop) to store and retrieve files. There are new sources of files coming from every direction: digital cameras, e-mail, cell phones, portable media players, camcorders, PDAs, and laptops. Yet managing hundreds or thousands of files is still largely a manual operation. In some cases it is necessary to move files from one place to another; in other cases there is a need to keep two storage locations exactly in sync. Some users manage files manually, dragging and dropping from one place to another and keeping a mental card catalog in their heads. Others use one or more applications of one sort or another to provide this functionality for them.
Microsoft Color Control Panel Applet for Windows XP — The Microsoft Color Control Panel Applet adds a new 'Color' item to the Windows control panel, providing a single place to view and edit color management settings in Windows XP. Using it, you can install and uninstall color profiles, change color profile associations for displays, printers and scanners, view detailed properties for color profiles (including a 3D rendering of the color space gamut), and rename color profiles, keeping the filenames and "internal" names consistent.
This tool also enables Windows to automatically adjust the gamut curve of the display when a color profile containing gamut table information is set as the default profile for the display. Typically, such profiles are created by custom monitor calibration tools, such as those available from ColorVision, GretagMacbeth, and X-Rite. If a color profile has this information, it is shown with an asterisk (*) in the user interface.
Using the Microsoft Color Control Panel Applet, you can:
- Install and uninstall ICC color profiles
- Inspect, rename, and compare two different color profiles
- View a 3D graphics plot of color profile color gamuts
- Associate color profiles with devices such as printers, monitors, and scanners
- Apply custom color gamut adjustments to one or more displays “on the fly”
- Set up display calibration reminders at intervals you specify
Cheers!
This is the Tweak MCE Power Tool for those that have loaded the Rollup 2 Patch.
Tweak MCE PowerToy — Tweak MCE gives you access to systems settings and options not normally exposed in the Windows XP Media Center Edition user interface, including remote control settings, Skip and Replay time customizations, user interface options, and more. It also helps you to optimize Media Center Extender for plasma and non-CRT displays.
I had some problems with mine as I had the old version loaded already BEFORE I installed the Rollup 2 Patch. I could not get the new one loaded till I removed the old one.
When trying to remove the old version, I received a message asking me to provide the path to the original TweakMCE.msi file from which I loaded the PowerToy. Well that file had long since been deleted so I grabbed the old version again (here), dropped it on the desktop of my MCE box, did a right-click on TweakMCE.msi, selected repair, let it finish. I then went back to Add/Remove and I was able to successfully remove the old version and subsequently install the new version.
I have not yet had a chance to play with all the settings so look for a write up later on the new version.
Cheers!
Not much new this week for System Management…..
MOM 2005 Summary Reporting Pack — The MOM 2005 Summary Reporting Pack extends the MOM data warehouse to provide long term reports on performance metrics and alerts based on weekly and daily summarization of data. Key reports include Exchange resource and protocol utilization, AD disk utilization and replication latency, OS performance, and generic summary reports for performance counter analysis, alert counts, and alert resolution times. The Summary Reporting Pack increases the performance and reduces the storage resources required for long term reporting with the MOM data warehouse.
Cheers!
Presentations and WebCasts –
ISV Chalk Talk – Vista user Account Protection – A technical discussion at PDC 2005 on what’s new in Windows Vista User Account Protection
Tools and Apps –
Windows SharePoint Services Applications Template: Employee Activities – The Employee Activities Site application for Windows SharePoint Services is a central site for communicating information to employees about company clubs, teams, and events. With this application, employees can sign up for activities, access contact and schedule information, participate in discussions and surveys, and view activity photos. Now companies can more easily keep employees up to date on activities in which they may participate, and employees can quickly access the information they need to get involved.
User Profile Hive Cleanup Service – On Windows 2000 the service deals with application event log event 1000 from source Userenv where the message indicates that the profile is not unloading and the error is "Access is denied". On Windows XP and Windows 2003 the equivalent events are 1517 and 1524 from source Userenv.
To accomplish this the service monitors for logged off users that still have hives loaded. When that happens the service determines which applications have handles opened to the hives and releases them. It logs the application name and what registry keys where left open. After this the system finishes unloading the profile.
Guides and Whitepapers –
ASP.NET 2.0 Hosting Deployment Guide – The ASP.NET 2.0 Deployment Guide is a reference for web hosters who are interested in adding ASP.NET 2.0 to their existing Windows hosting service. Besides improving developer productivity, ASP.NET 2.0 also provides benefits for hosted environments, including support for shutting down inactive applications and locking down rogue applications. Enhanced health monitoring configuration can be used to set thresholds and severity levels for monitoring the health of ASP.NET.
Application Platform (SQL Server, Visual Studio, and BizTalk Server) White Paper – This paper outlines the Microsoft application platform—the confluence of servers, clients, and devices that can help connect people with business-critical information across the enterprise, thus driving overall business success. This paper focuses on Microsoft’s latest investments in business intelligence, integration, and developer productivity with updated releases of Microsoft SQL Server 2005, Microsoft BizTalk Server 2006, and Microsoft Visual Studio 2005, respectively.
Microsoft CRM Implementation Guide – This Implementation Guide provides the information required for a successful Microsoft CRM implementation into your business. This guide addresses the planning, installing (both hardware and software), pre-deployment testing, and operating tasks for the maintenance of the Microsoft CRM system.
This guide is written for the computer system administrator. This guide also assumes that any organization implementing Microsoft CRM software will have the services of an independent software vendor (ISV) or value-added reseller who is partnered with Microsoft and will help you with the entire process of implementing and maintaining your Microsoft CRM installation. Because of this assumption, there are references in this guide to these "partners" who are expected to provide various services to you.
Microsoft CRM 3.0 Customization Planning Forms – This download includes one file for each customizable entity in Microsoft CRM. Each file includes default forms, views, attributes, and reports for the entity, with tables to add information on what you want to change. These files are designed to be printed and brought to meetings where managers and employees determine how to customize Microsoft CRM for their specific business needs.
Microsoft CRM 3.0 Online Help – This download contains the concepts and procedures from Microsoft CRM 3.0 online Help. You can use this download to view Microsoft CRM 3.0 online Help on a computer that does not have Microsoft CRM installed. The help files are the same as those included in the product.
Because these help files are not being viewed in the context of Microsoft CRM, the form on each topic for sending documentation feedback does not work. To send documentation feedback, e-mail mscrmdf@microsoft.com.
IDC Mission Critical Tracker 2005 (Long Version) – During the spring and summer of 2005, IDC conducted a worldwide survey of the Mission Critical Market for Microsoft. Using their proven, rigorous survey methodology, IDC asked large Enterprises around the world what their Mission Critical IT applications looked like. Questions covered Operating Systems, Application Platforms, Application Servers, Portals, Message Queuing and more. 1918 responses were gathered from 9 Countries, in order to put together a comprehesive picture of the Mission Critical Application Software Market. This document contains the results of that survey.
Microsoft Office Business Scorecard Manager 2005 Technical White Papers – Microsoft Office Business Scorecard Manager 2005 empowers users to optimize business performance through strategic decision making. These downloads include white papers for developers.
- Installing and Managing Alerts Using Business Scorecard Manager (Business_Scorecard_Manager_Alerts_WP.doc) This white paper explains the detailed steps required to install and manage alerts using Business Scorecard Manager 2005.
- Building Custom Report Views for Microsoft Business Scorecard Manager 2005 (Business_Scorecard_Builder_Custom_Report_WP.doc) This white paper provides information for building custom report views, by creating a sample custom report view, then developing a configuration component and a Web component.
- Using MSMQ Triggers with Business Scorecard Manager (Business_Scorecard_Manager_MSMQ_WP.doc) This white paper describes how to use Microsoft® Message Queuing Services (MSMQ) 3.0 with Microsoft Office Business Scorecard Manager 2005. Readers should be familiar with MSMQ.
- Passing Parameters in Business Scorecard Manager 2005 (Business_Scorecard_Manager_Passing_Parameters_WP.doc) This white paper is intended for developers who want to create custom views for scorecards by sending data from page filters, row slices and column slices from a scorecard view through a query string to an Office Report View Web Part.
Introduction to Microsoft Identity Integration Server 2003 – This roadmap describes the documentation available for Microsoft® Identity Integration Server (MIIS) 2003 and Identity Integration Feature Pack (IIFP) for Microsoft® Windows Server™ Active Directory. The first section, Common Tasks, allows you to search MIIS 2003 resources for specific information about a task you might want to do.
The second section, Documentation Summary, provides a complete list of the MIIS 2003 documentation sets with a brief summary of each document. The documentation summary is divided into five categories: technical reference, design and planning, walkthroughs, operations, and Resource Tool Kit to make it easier to locate specific documentation.
Step-by-Step Guide for Setting up a PPTP based Site-to-Site VPN Connection in a Test Lab – This guide describes the configuration of a Point-to-Point Tunneling Protocol (PPTP)-based site-to-site virtual private network (VPN) connection using five computers in a test lab. The VPN connection described in this guide enables you to simulate and observe Microsoft® Windows® Server™ 2003 site-to-site VPN functionality. The VPN connection described in this guide is for testing purposes only, and cannot be used in a production environment.
This guide assumes familiarity with Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP), IP routing, and the capabilities of the Windows Server 2003 Routing and Remote Access service.
Step-by-Step Guide for Setting Up VPN based Remote Access in a Test Lab – This step-by-step guide includes updates to the original guide due to security enhancements in the release of Windows Server 2003 with SP1 and Windows XP Professional with SP2.
This guide provides detailed information about how you can use five computers to create a test lab with which to configure and test virtual private network (VPN) remote access with the Windows XP Professional with Service SP2 and the 32-bit versions of Windows Server 2003 with SP1 operating systems. These instructions are designed to take you step-by-step through the configuration required for a Point-to-Point Tunneling Protocol (PPTP) connection, a Layer Two Tunneling Protocol (L2TP) with Internet Protocol security (L2TP/IPsec) connection, and a VPN connection that uses certificate-based Extensible Authentication Protocol-Transport Level Security (EAP-TLS) authentication.
Creating a Systemized Approach to Regulatory Compliance at Microsoft – Detailed discussion of some of the processes and tools that the Microsoft Information Technology (Microsoft IT) group currently uses to systemize the approach of supporting regulatory compliance activities at Microsoft. Increased governmental oversight in recent years has resulted in new texts and requirements that affect organizations in a wide range of industries. To reduce the overhead of remaining compliant in the constantly evolving regulatory landscape, Microsoft is creating a holistic approach to regulatory compliance. This approach uses a framework of common security controls, unique tools for monitoring, and IT tools for tracking and reporting compliance.
Cheers!
SQL 2005 Launched this week and with it we also have some great new tools and documents for your SQL implementations! Enjoy!
Don’t forget to check out a Best Of SQL Event in your area!
Finally, look for a SQL Launch Event coming to your part of the world soon!
SQL Server Express Utility – SSEUtil.exe is a tool that lets you easily interact with SQL Server. Among other things, it allows you to:
• Connect to the main instance or user-instance of SQL Server.
• Create, attach, detach, and list databases on the server.
• Upgrade database files to match the version of the server.
• Execute SQL statements via the console (similar to SQLCMD).
• Retrieve the version of SQL Server running.
• Enable and disable trace flags (for example, to trace SQL statements sent to the server by any client application)
• List the instances of SQL Server on the local machine or on remote machines.
• Checkpoint and shrink a database
• Measure the performance of executing specific queries.
• Create and playback lists of SQL commands for the server to execute.
• Log all input and output.
SQL Server Health and History Tool (SQLH2) – This version of SQLH2 supports SQL Server 2005 RTM collection. SQLH2 collects four main types of information:
1. Feature Usage – What services/features are installed, running and level of workload on the service.
2. Configuration Settings – Machine, OS and SQL configuration settings, SQL instance and database metadata.
3. Uptime of the SQL Server service
4. Performance Counters (optional) – Used to determine performance trends
Application Platform (SQL Server, Visual Studio, and BizTalk Server) White Paper – This paper outlines the Microsoft application platform—the confluence of servers, clients, and devices that can help connect people with business-critical information across the enterprise, thus driving overall business success. This paper focuses on Microsoft’s latest investments in business intelligence, integration, and developer productivity with updated releases of Microsoft SQL Server 2005, Microsoft BizTalk Server 2006, and Microsoft Visual Studio 2005, respectively.
SQL Server 2005 Books Online – Download Books Online for Microsoft SQL Server 2005. Books Online is the primary documentation set for SQL Server 2005. It includes the following:
- Setup and upgrade instructions.
- Information about new features and backward compatibility.
- Conceptual descriptions of the technologies and features in SQL Server 2005.
- Procedural topics describing how to use the various features in SQL Server 2005.
- Tutorials that guide you through common tasks.
- Reference documentation for the graphical tools, command prompt utilities, programming languages, and application programming interfaces (APIs) that are supported by SQL Server 2005.
- Descriptions of the sample databases and applications included with SQL Server 2005.
Using SQL Server 2005 Integration Services (SSIS) in a Scalable Business Intelligence Solution – Discussion on how Microsoft IT used SQL Server 2005 Integration Services to create a flexible and scalable business intelligence solution. By using SQL Server 2005 Integration Services, Microsoft IT was able to reduce data processing time by 80 percent.
SQL Server 2005 Express Edition Documentation and Samples – SQL Server 2005 Express Edition (SQL Server Express) is the next version of MSDE 2000. It is a free, easy-to-use, lightweight version of Microsoft SQL Server 2005. Integrated with Microsoft Visual Studio 2005, SQL Server Express makes it easy to develop data-driven applications that are rich in capability and fast to deploy. To download the samples and product documentation for SQL Server Express, click the links in the Files In This Download section. For the SQL Server Express site on MSDN, SQL Server discussion forums, and SQL Server 2005 product documentation, click the links in the Related Resources box.
AdventureWorks OLTP Database Diagram – Download a diagram of the AdventureWorks sample OLTP database. The AdventureWorks sample OLTP database is used in samples for SQL Server 2005 and product documentation for SQL Server 2005 and SQL Server 2005 Express Edition. The diagram is available in both HTML and Visio 2003 format.
Cheers!
Lots of new stuff for Exchange this week!
Microsoft Exchange Server Best Practices Analyzer Tool v2.5 — The Exchange Server Best Practices Analyzer programmatically collects settings and values from data repositories such as Active Directory, registry, metabase and performance monitor. Once collected, a set of comprehensive ‘best practice’ rules are applied to the topology. Administrators running this tool will get a detailed report listing the recommendations that can be made to the environment to achieve greater performance, scalability and uptime.
Microsoft Exchange Server Exchange Profile Redirector — Updates Outlook profiles after moving mailboxes across Exchange organizations or administrative groups.
Microsoft Exchange Server Disaster Recovery Analyzer Tool v1.0 — The Exchange Server Disaster Recovery Analyzer programmatically collects configuration data and header information from databases and transaction log files. The tool analyzes all headers and creates a detailed list of instructions explaining what the problem is, and how to resolve it.
Microsoft Exchange Server Performance Troubleshooting Analyzer Tool v1.0 — The Exchange Server Performance Troubleshooting Analyzer programmatically collects configuration data, performance counters and live tracing information from an Exchange server. The tool analyzes each subsystem to determine individual bottlenecks, then aggregates the information to provide root cause analysis.
Microsoft Exchange Server JetStress Tool — Use Jetstress to verify the performance and stability of a disk subsystem prior to putting an Exchange server into production. Jetstress helps verify disk performance by simulating Exchange disk Input/Output (I/O) load. Specifically, Jetstress simulates the Exchange database and log file loads produced by a specific number of users. You use Performance Monitor, Event Viewer, and ESEUTIL in conjunction with Jetstress to verify that your disk subsystem meets or exceeds the performance criteria you establish. After a successful completion of the Jetstress Disk Performance and Stress Tests in a non-production environment, you will have ensured that your Exchange 2003 disk subsystem is adequately sized (in terms of performance criteria you establish) for the user count and user profiles you have established. It is highly recommended that the Jetstress user read through the tool documentation before using the tool.
Note Jetstress is only supported when running with Exchange 2000 or Exchange 2003 or newer versions of ESE.DLL. Also, due to this support limitation, Jetstress is only supported on Windows 2000 Server, Windows Server 2003, Advanced Server, Datacenter and newer Windows OS platforms (Windows NT 4.0 and older builds are not supported).
Microsoft Exchange Server Management Pack Configuration Wizard — Provides a graphical user interface to configure Exchange 2000 and Exchange 2003 Management Pack, including test mailboxes, message tracking, and monitoring services.
Microsoft Exchange Server Public Folder DAV-based Administration Tool — Use the Exchange Server Public Folder Distributed Authoring and Versioning (DAV)-based Administration tool (PFDAVAdmin) to perform various management tasks related to public folders and mailboxes. The tool checks the permissions status of each public and mailbox folder and corrects any problems found. The ability to bulk export/import the permissions and replica lists make this tool invaluable in achieving greater productivity in managing public folders. The program can also reports content information of each public folder and mailbox folder such as the number of items in each folder, size of folder and most recent modification date of any item in the folder.
Microsoft Exchange Server Management Pack for MOM 2005 — Release Date: 11/02/2005
The Exchange Server Management Pack includes rules and scripts to track performance, availability, and reliability of Exchange components, such as Internet-related services, Extensible Storage Engine, System Attendant, Microsoft Exchange Information Store service, and SMTP.
This management pack not only validates the availability of communication services but also sends test e-mail to verify operations and measures actual delivery times. The Exchange Management Pack Configuration Wizard provides a graphical user interface to configure Exchange 2000 and Exchange 2003 Management Packs, including test mailboxes, message tracking, and monitoring services. The Exchange Server Management Pack Guide for MOM 2005 explains how to use the Exchange Management Pack to monitor and maintain messaging resources. You can download the management pack guide from the Microsoft Web site (http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=2215EEAB-41D7-423D-9F54-01F0DF4647E9).
Cheers!
New Video & Audio based information for developers is located at these links:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/msdntv/archive.aspx
http://channel9.msdn.com/ShowForum.aspx?ForumID=14
http://msdn.microsoft.com/theshow/
http://msdn.microsoft.com/dotnetrocks/
Presentations and WebCasts –
The .NET Show: WinFX SDK (Live! From PDC05 – 300k) – In this special episode that was recorded LIVE at PDC05 we meet with Steven Goulet, Christine Kleinke, and Brent Rector to discuss the WinFX SDK documentation and development tools.
ISV Chalk Talk – Windows Vista SDKs with Steven Goulet – A discussion at PDC 2005 with Eddie Amos who runs a team of architects geared towards ISVs
ISV Chalk Talk – Vista User Account Protection – A technical discussion at PDC 2005 on what’s new in Windows Vista User Account Protection
Hands On Labs –
Power Management (Hands-on Lab, C#) – In this lab you will create a simple application that displays the power source of the computer and battery information. The application then uses this information to adjust its functionality. In Exercise 1 you will write the code to discover information about the current power source. In Exercise 2 you will build a notification event that will be raised when the power source changes. In Exercise 3 you will add a class that adjusts its behavior based on the current power source. Exercise 4 extends the solution further by showing you how to prevent the system from shutting the screen down if the application is using it. All sample code is in C#.
Tablet PC: Advanced Development with Stylus Input APIs (Hands-on Lab, C#) – The objective of this lab is to familiarize you with using the Tablet PC RealTimeStylus (RTS) APIs. To do so, you will create a pair of RTS plug-ins. The first plug-in is a packet filtering plug-in that demonstrates packet modification by constraining all (x,y) packet data within a rectangular area. The second plug-in is a simple custom dynamic renderer plug-in that renders stylus input by drawing a small circle around each (x,y) point. You will then use your plug-ins in a sample application that is provided for you. All sample code is in C#.
Working with Windows Synchronization Manager on Mobile Computers running Windows XP – In this Lab you will create a class library that you can register with the Windows Synchronization Manager to synchronize files from a server directory to a client directory. The objectives of this lab are: To learn how to use the Windows Synchronization Manager Interfaces. To create a C# class library that can synchronize files. To understand how to display properties for the items being synchronized.
Getting Started with Developing for the Tablet PC (Hands-On Lab, VB.NET) – This lab introduces the features and benefits of Tablet PC and describes the benefits of developing applications for Tablet PC form factor. The lab also introduces basic concepts of working with the Tablet PC platform. You create a Windows Form application that is a physician's prescription pad. The application demonstrates manipulating basic ink properties, collecting ink, rendering ink, and exposing handwriting recognition functionality. All samples are in Visual Basic .NET.
Getting Started with Developing for the Tablet PC (Hands-on Lab, C#) – This lab introduces the features and benefits of Tablet PC and describes the benefits of developing applications for Tablet PC form factor. The lab also introduces basic concepts of working with the Tablet PC platform. You create a Windows Form application that is a physician's prescription pad. The application demonstrates manipulating basic ink properties, collecting ink, rendering ink, and exposing handwriting recognition functionality. All samples are in C#.
MSDN TV: CLR Method Dispatch Internals – From Static to Dynamic – Joe Duffy and Joel Pobar walk through the various flavors of method dispatch the Common Language Runtime (CLR) has to offer, from static to dynamic. The discussion focuses on the under-the-hood details and performance characteristics of the spectrum, and offers insight and guidance into which style might be appropriate for your application or compiler.
Channel 9 MSDN Videos – October 31, 2005 – A variety of videos from Channel 9
Channel 9 MSDN Videos – November 3, 2005 – Yet more videos from Channel 9!
Beta’s, RC’s and CTP’s…Oh My! –
BizTalk Server 2006 CTP: Installation Instructions and Known Issues – The installation instructions explain how to install BizTalk Server 2006 Community Technical Preview on Windows XP, Windows 2000 Server, or Windows Server 2003. The known issues file describes known issues about the Community Technical Preview release.
NOTE: For the Beta 1 version, click here.
Hotfixes, Patches, Updates, Service Packs —
Windows CE 5.0 Platform Builder Update – KB908958 – Fixes made in this update:
Component: DHCP
Description: DHCP release packet may contain an invalid client ID.
Windows CE 5.0 Platform Builder Update – KB903076 – Fixes made in this update:
Component: DirectX
Description: This update addresses an issue with the stream bandwidth controller and a possible out-of-memory condition when buffering.
Windows CE .NET 4.2 Platform Builder Update – KB909483 – Fixes made in this update:
Component: Filesys
Description: Repeated creation of a file may exhaust system memory.
Windows CE .NET 4.0 Platform Builder Update – KB909364 – Fixes made in this update:
Component: RDP
Description: A memory leak may occur when redirecting a serial device via RDP.
Tools and Apps –
.NET Framework 2.0 SDK (IA64) – The Microsoft .NET Framework Software Development Kit (SDK) v2.0 (IA64) includes tools, documentation and samples developers need to write, build, test, and deploy .NET Framework applications on IA64 platforms.
You must install the .NET Framework Redistributable Package version 2.0 (IA64) prior to installing the .NET Framework SDK (IA64).
Visual Studio 2005 Tools for Office Sample: Excel Invoice Application – This sample solution introduces Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 Tools for the Microsoft Office System by demonstrating an Excel Invoice solution. The sample code covers the following topics:
- New Visual Studio 2005 Tools for Office design time experience
- New Named Range and List Object host controls
- New managed actions pane
- Windows Forms controls embedded in the Excel worksheet
The associated MSDN article discusses the implementation process used to create the solution. C# and Visual Basic code snippets illustrate individual components of this Invoice application.
IronPython 0.9.4 – IronPython is the codename for an alpha release of the Python programming language for the .NET platform.
It supports an interactive interpreter with fully dynamic compilation. It is well integrated with the rest of the framework and makes all .NET libraries easily available to Python programmers.
Windows SharePoint Services Applications Template: Employee Activities – The Employee Activities Site application for Windows SharePoint Services is a central site for communicating information to employees about company clubs, teams, and events. With this application, employees can sign up for activities, access contact and schedule information, participate in discussions and surveys, and view activity photos. Now companies can more easily keep employees up to date on activities in which they may participate, and employees can quickly access the information they need to get involved.
SharePoint Products and Technologies SDK – Note: For the most current version of this SDK documentation, see MSDN Online.
Microsoft SharePoint Products and Technologies uses a common set of Microsoft® Windows Server™ 2003 services named Windows® SharePoint Services, to take advantage of the performance, stability, and security features of the Microsoft .NET Framework. Use Windows SharePoint Services to create and maintain team sites. Microsoft Office SharePoint Portal Server 2003, a server product, is built on Windows SharePoint Services, and adds features used to build and manage integrated, large-scale portal solutions.
Microsoft .NET Framework v2.0 Redistributable Package (x86) – The Microsoft .NET Framework version 2.0 redistributable package installs the .NET Framework runtime and associated files required to run applications developed to target the .NET Framework v2.0.
The .NET Framework version 2.0 improves scalability and performance of applications with improved caching, application deployment and updating with ClickOnce, support for the broadest array of browsers and devices with ASP.NET 2.0 controls and services. For more information on the .NET Framework 2.0, click here.
SQL Server Express Utility – SSEUtil.exe is a tool that lets you easily interact with SQL Server. Among other things, it allows you to:
• Connect to the main instance or user-instance of SQL Server.
• Create, attach, detach, and list databases on the server.
• Upgrade database files to match the version of the server.
• Execute SQL statements via the console (similar to SQLCMD).
• Retrieve the version of SQL Server running.
• Enable and disable trace flags (for example, to trace SQL statements sent to the server by any client application)
• List the instances of SQL Server on the local machine or on remote machines.
• Checkpoint and shrink a database
• Measure the performance of executing specific queries.
• Create and playback lists of SQL commands for the server to execute.
• Log all input and output.
Mobile Ink To-Do Starter Kit – This Visual C# and Visual Basic .NET Starter Kit is a complete Mobile PC and Tablet PC application. The starter kit contains a semi-transparent form for taking notes and keeps them synchronized through a Web Service. It also supports battery awareness and online and offline data, two key features of a great Mobile PC applications. The project comes ready to compile and run and it's easy to customize with only a little extra programming.
SQL Server Health and History Tool (SQLH2) – This version of SQLH2 supports SQL Server 2005 RTM collection. SQLH2 collects four main types of information:
1. Feature Usage – What services/features are installed, running and level of workload on the service.
2. Configuration Settings – Machine, OS and SQL configuration settings, SQL instance and database metadata.
3. Uptime of the SQL Server service
4. Performance Counters (optional) – Used to determine performance trends
Media Transfer Protocol Porting Kit – MTP was first shipped as part of the Windows Media Device Manager 10 SDK. This porting kit includes the complete MTP specification, updated design documentation, updated sample source code, software to implement a PC-based MTP simulator, and MTP test tools.
Internet Explorer Developer Toolbar – The Internet Explorer Developer Toolbar provides several features for exploring and understanding Web pages. These features enable you to:
-- Explore and modify the document object model (DOM) of a Web page.
-- Locate and select specific elements on a Web page through a variety of techniques.
-- Selectively disable Internet Explorer settings.
-- View HTML object class names, ID's, and details such as link paths, tab index values, and access keys.
-- Outline tables, table cells, images, or selected tags.
-- Validate HTML, CSS, WAI, and RSS Web feed links.
-- Display image dimensions, file sizes, path information, and alternate (ALT) text.
-- Immediately resize the browser window to a new resolution.
-- Selectively clear the browser cache and saved cookies. Choose from all objects or those associated with a given domain.
-- Choose direct links to W3C specification references, the Internet Explorer team weblog (blog), and other resources.
-- Display a fully featured design ruler to help accurately align objects on your pages.
Guides and Whitepapers –
ASP.NET 2.0 Hosting Deployment Guide – The ASP.NET 2.0 Deployment Guide is a reference for web hosters who are interested in adding ASP.NET 2.0 to their existing Windows hosting service. Besides improving developer productivity, ASP.NET 2.0 also provides benefits for hosted environments, including support for shutting down inactive applications and locking down rogue applications. Enhanced health monitoring configuration can be used to set thresholds and severity levels for monitoring the health of ASP.NET.
Application Platform (SQL Server, Visual Studio, and BizTalk Server) White Paper – This paper outlines the Microsoft application platform—the confluence of servers, clients, and devices that can help connect people with business-critical information across the enterprise, thus driving overall business success. This paper focuses on Microsoft’s latest investments in business intelligence, integration, and developer productivity with updated releases of Microsoft SQL Server 2005, Microsoft BizTalk Server 2006, and Microsoft Visual Studio 2005, respectively.
Microsoft CRM Implementation Guide – This Implementation Guide provides the information required for a successful Microsoft CRM implementation into your business. This guide addresses the planning, installing (both hardware and software), pre-deployment testing, and operating tasks for the maintenance of the Microsoft CRM system.
This guide is written for the computer system administrator. This guide also assumes that any organization implementing Microsoft CRM software will have the services of an independent software vendor (ISV) or value-added reseller who is partnered with Microsoft and will help you with the entire process of implementing and maintaining your Microsoft CRM installation. Because of this assumption, there are references in this guide to these "partners" who are expected to provide various services to you.
SQL Server 2005 Books Online – Download Books Online for Microsoft SQL Server 2005. Books Online is the primary documentation set for SQL Server 2005. It includes the following:
- Setup and upgrade instructions.
- Information about new features and backward compatibility.
- Conceptual descriptions of the technologies and features in SQL Server 2005.
- Procedural topics describing how to use the various features in SQL Server 2005.
- Tutorials that guide you through common tasks.
- Reference documentation for the graphical tools, command prompt utilities, programming languages, and application programming interfaces (APIs) that are supported by SQL Server 2005.
- Descriptions of the sample databases and applications included with SQL Server 2005.
Using SQL Server 2005 Integration Services (SSIS) in a Scalable Business Intelligence Solution – Discussion on how Microsoft IT used SQL Server 2005 Integration Services to create a flexible and scalable business intelligence solution. By using SQL Server 2005 Integration Services, Microsoft IT was able to reduce data processing time by 80 percent.
SQL Server 2005 Express Edition Documentation and Samples – SQL Server 2005 Express Edition (SQL Server Express) is the next version of MSDE 2000. It is a free, easy-to-use, lightweight version of Microsoft SQL Server 2005. Integrated with Microsoft Visual Studio 2005, SQL Server Express makes it easy to develop data-driven applications that are rich in capability and fast to deploy. To download the samples and product documentation for SQL Server Express, click the links in the Files In This Download section. For the SQL Server Express site on MSDN, SQL Server discussion forums, and SQL Server 2005 product documentation, click the links in the Related Resources box.
Microsoft Visual Studio Team System Licensing White Paper – This white paper provides an overview of Visual Studio 2005 Team System licensing, focusing on typical configuration and deployment issues. This document will provide a general understanding of the core features, typical deployment scenarios and required licensing for the Visual Studio 2005 Team System product line.
AdventureWorks OLTP Database Diagram – Download a diagram of the AdventureWorks sample OLTP database. The AdventureWorks sample OLTP database is used in samples for SQL Server 2005 and product documentation for SQL Server 2005 and SQL Server 2005 Express Edition. The diagram is available in both HTML and Visio 2003 format.
IDC Mission Critical Tracker 2005 (Long Version) – During the spring and summer of 2005, IDC conducted a worldwide survey of the Mission Critical Market for Microsoft. Using their proven, rigorous survey methodology, IDC asked large Enterprises around the world what their Mission Critical IT applications looked like. Questions covered Operating Systems, Application Platforms, Application Servers, Portals, Message Queuing and more. 1918 responses were gathered from 9 Countries, in order to put together a comprehesive picture of the Mission Critical Application Software Market. This document contains the results of that survey.
Cheers!
I was recently notified I won a contest (that I didn’t know existed!) for most blog post hits for the month of October. Dean Andrew, a manager in our Technet Webcasts group, posted about my winnings.
The great thing about that particular post is that it was a post to help advertise a webcast for another team member.
Everybody Wins!
Cheers!
c|net reported yesterday on our new name for our anti-spyware efforts. My buddy Kevin reported as well on his blog.
While I don’t want to be negative (I think the product kicks ass), I have never understood how Microsoft comes up with the names for our products. With a name like “Windows Defender”, it damn sure better defend my Windows install, and my Office install, and all my 3rd party apps, and anything else on my PC or it doesn’t do what it’s name implies. That is also the perception I think the public will have – even though the name is WINDOWS defender, the public will see it as MY-ENTIRE-COMPUTER Defender.
To be clear – I love the product but I don’t like the name. I have been using the Anti-Spyware beta (formerly Giant Anti-Spyware) since just after the acquisition. It is a solid product and will benefit millions of users in it’s final form. But that name basically states, “I am a product that will defend (read this as ‘protect’) your system from harm”. If there is ever an issue with this app and some damage is done, the press (read this as ‘bloggers’) will have a hey day with us based on the name alone.
But, even though I don’t like the name, I don’t there will be a major (bad) event as a result of a breakdown in Windows Defender. There will be growing pains, there will be some issues, but the product rocks. I think we have raised the bar for the bad guys. They will of course start taking jumps at that bar and someone will clear it eventually. Then the collective “we” of good guys across the industry will roll out some new protection app/mechanism and the race starts again.
If you haven’t loaded up the Anti-Spyware Beta/Windows Defender, go check it out. I run it side-by-side with SpyBot Search and Destroy and between the two of them my system (heavily used all over the web) has been spyware free since doing so months and months and months ago.
Cheers!
Although you don’t get to see nearly as much of the car as I would like, this video still shows a nice modified Scion xA with three XBox 360’s installed to it. The car is very well tricked out though you won’t be driving it anywhere with funky weather…..
Cheers!
My co-worker and friend Michael Murphy is debuting the first of his Internet Radio series today with an interview with Bill Zack, co-author of Programming SQL 2005 (due out from MSPress early 2006).
From MJ’s site — “In keeping with that theme here is a 20 minute interview with Bill Zack, one of the co-authors of Programming SQL 2005 due out from MS Press early 2006. We spend the first five minutes discussing Bill's many other projects including his software architects User Group in Manhattan and get into a discussion of SQL 2005 at about the 4:45 mark.”
Chek it out!
Cheers!
Some weeks ago I posted a challenge where if the Anaheim launch event had the highest attendance of all the US launch events I would let an attendee at one of my SoCal events shave my head. I want to assure you that I did not have the event closed to save my hair. The response to the SQL launch has been phenominal across the country. This is the not only event that is closed (or will close) because we hit maximum capacity at the associated venue. I imagine MOST of the events will close as we get closer to event days so if you are interested in attending in your part of the US, you better register now.
Cheers!
Microsoft Management Console (MMC) 3.0 Pre-Release (RC0) – NOTE: This RC0 Pre-Release is provided for participants of specific partner beta programs. If the beta program you are participating in does not specifically require RC0, you should use the most recent MMC 3.0 packages available here.
Microsoft Management Console 3.0 Pre-Release (Based on Windows Server 2003 R2 RC0).
MMC 3.0 (formerly MMC 2.1) ships as a component in Windows Server 2003 R2 and Windows Vista, and continues to be the host for a variety of OS and 3rd party admin tools.
Windows SharePoint Services Language Template Pack SP2 – Windows SharePoint Services Language Template Pack Service Pack 2 (SP2) ensures that Windows SharePoint Services performs with complete functionality when you use a Language Template Pack. This is the first service pack for Windows SharePoint Services Language Template Pack. Service Pack 2 adds support for Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 and for x64-compatible 64-bit processors. Version 2 of this download adds support for the Hindi locale.
MIIS Capacity Planning – This document presents server configuration recommendations for a server hosting Microsoft Identity Integration Server (MIIS) 2003. The recommendations presented here are based on tests designed to determine the most effective use of central processing units (CPUs), memory capacity, disk access, and disk capacity on a server hosting MIIS 2003. Other factors, such as database performance and the impact of the network, are also included.
Updates to Understanding IPv6 – The Microsoft Press book "Understanding IPv6," by Joseph Davies, was published in November 2002. Since then, there have been changes to Internet standards for IPv6 and in Microsoft's support for IPv6 in Windows XP and the Windows Server 2003 family. This white paper describes those changes in detail, referencing chapter and page numbers where needed and providing links to additional technical information.
System Center Capacity Planner 2006 (Beta Refresh) – Microsoft System Center Capacity Planner 2006 (BETA Refresh) delivers state of the art easy-to-use modeling technology to bring unprecedented functionality and flexibility to the process of performance analysis and planning of system deployments of Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 and Operations Manager 2005. Microsoft System Center Capacity Planner 2006 (BETA Refresh) provides the IT professional with the tools and guidance required to architect a deployment in the most efficient manner, while facilitating future planning by allowing for "what-if" analysis.
System Center Capacity Planner 2006 (Beta Refresh) provides the following benefits:
- Proactive Performance Planning
- Infrastructure Planning and Optimization
- Performance Analysis and Predictive Reporting
- Cost Analysis and Justification
Cheers!
Step-by-Step Guide for Secure Wireless Deployment for Small Office/Home Office or Small Organization Networks – This whitepaper presents two deployment methods for secure wireless access, one for small office/home office (SOHO) networks and one for small organization that are domain-based networks, built using Windows Server 2003 technologies. This paper contains information you can be use to determine the preferred method for deploying secure wireless access in existing SOHO networks or small organization networks. The topic also provides step-by-step instructions for setting up secure wireless connections, after the preferred deployment method has been determined. Additionally, if you are planning a new network with wireless access or considering changing to a different type of network with wireless access, this paper provides information that can assist you in determining which type of deployment best suits your needs.
Update for Windows Server 2003 for Itanium based Systems – KB904639 – Install this update to address an issue that will keep some applications from running in a 64-bit environment. When you try to run a 64-bit application that uses an Interface Remoting component of Microsoft Data Access Components (MDAC) 2.8, you may receive an "access violation" error message, or the dllhost.exe process may display 100% CPU utilization when viewed with Task Manager. After you install this item, you may have to restart your computer.
Update for Windows Server 2003 (x64) – KB904639 – Install this update to address an issue that will keep some applications from running in a 64-bit environment. When you try to run a 64-bit application that uses an Interface Remoting component of Microsoft Data Access Components (MDAC) 2.8, you may receive an "access violation" error message, or the dllhost.exe process may display 100% CPU utilization when viewed with Task Manager. After you install this item, you may have to restart your computer.
Update for Windows Server 2003 (32bit x86) – KB905639 – Install this update to address an issue that will keep some applications from running in a 64-bit environment. When you try to run a 64-bit application that uses an Interface Remoting component of Microsoft Data Access Components (MDAC) 2.8, you may receive an "access violation" error message, or the dllhost.exe process may display 100% CPU utilization when viewed with Task Manager. After you install this item, you may have to restart your computer.
Cheers!
New Video & Audio based information for developers is located at these links:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/msdntv/archive.aspx
http://channel9.msdn.com/ShowForum.aspx?ForumID=14
http://msdn.microsoft.com/theshow/
http://msdn.microsoft.com/dotnetrocks/
MSDN TV: Web Service Enhancements (WSE) 3.0 and Secure Web Services -- Web Service Enhancements (WSE) 3.0 will be released as part of the Visual Studio 2005 wave of technologies bringing with it an easy to use toolkit for building secure Web services. Built on the latest versions of the Web Service protocols such as WS-Security, WSE 3.0 is ideal for building secure, distributed applications using open standards to achieve interoperability. Mark Fussell discusses the driving goals for the WSE 3.0 release, how security best practices have been incorporated by introducing "turnkey security scenarios" and the relationship between WSE 3.0 and Windows Communication Foundation (WCF), the future Web Services platform from Microsoft.
Beta’s, RC’s and CTP’s…Oh My! –
Windows “Monad” Shell Beta 2 (for .NET Framework 2.0 RC/RTM) x64 — Windows "Monad" Shell is a new interactive command-line and task-based scripting technology in Windows that enables administrators to more efficiently and securely automate and control system management tasks on both desktops and servers. "Monad" Shell provides powerful task-based control (via built-in command line tools and utilities) and a powerful scripting language that enables comprehensive scripted control of the Windows operating system and applications.
Windows “Monad” Shell Beta 2 (for .NET Framework 2.0 RC/RTM) x86 — Windows "Monad" Shell is a new interactive command-line and task-based scripting technology in Windows that enables administrators to more efficiently and securely automate and control system management tasks on both desktops and servers. "Monad" Shell provides powerful task-based control (via built-in command line tools and utilities) and a powerful scripting language that enables comprehensive scripted control of the Windows operating system and applications.
Microsoft Management Console (MMC) 3.0 Pre-Release (RC0) – NOTE: This RC0 Pre-Release is provided for participants of specific partner beta programs. If the beta program you are participating in does not specifically require RC0, you should use the most recent MMC 3.0 packages available here.
Microsoft Management Console 3.0 Pre-Release (Based on Windows Server 2003 R2 RC0).
MMC 3.0 (formerly MMC 2.1) ships as a component in Windows Server 2003 R2 and Windows Vista, and continues to be the host for a variety of OS and 3rd party admin tools.
Microsoft CRM 3.0 SDK – Preliminary – The Microsoft CRM 3.0 SDK is for developers, system customizers and report writers. It contains the following sections:
· Server Programming Guide – A guide for developers writing server side code, custom business logic, integration modules, workflow assemblies and more. This guide provides an architectural overview of Microsoft CRM, the entity model, security model, Web services, and sample code.
· Client Programming Guide – A guide for developers customizing the Web client or the Microsoft CRM client for Outlook, including scripting, integration of custom Web pages, and sample code.
· Report Writers Guide - A guide for developers writing reports for Microsoft CRM using Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services Report Designer.
Hotfixes, Patches, Updates, Service Packs —
Windows CE 5.0 Platform Builder Update – KB904260 — Fixes made in this update:
Component: .NET CF v2.0
Description: Integration of .NET Compact Framework v2.0 into Windows CE 5.0.
Windows CE 5.0 Platform Builder Update – KB904775 – Fixes made in this update:
Component: DirectX
Description: This update addresses the issue with new keyframes not rendering correctly when scanning through a paused video clip.
Windows CE 5.0 Platform Builder Update – KB904256 – Fixes made in this update:
Component: DirectX
Description: MP3 files with certain metadata may not play correctly.
Windows CE .NET 4.2 Platform Builder Update – KB908788 – Fixes made in this update:
Component: DHCP
Description: DHCP release packet may contain an invalid client ID.
Tools and Apps –
Windows SharePoint Services: IntelliSense XML File -- This download includes an update of the Microsoft.SharePoint.xml file used to produce IntelliSense information about the Windows SharePoint Services managed object model within the context of the Visual Studio .NET integrated development environment.
SharePoint Portal Server 2003: IntelliSense XML Files -- This download includes updates for the following XML files used to produce IntelliSense information about the SharePoint Portal Server 2003 and Windows SharePoint Services managed object models within the context of the Visual Studio .NET integrated development environment (IDE):
- Microsoft.SharePoint.xml
- Microsoft.SharePoint.Portal.xml
- Microsoft.SharePoint.Portal.SingleSignon.xml
- Microsoft.SharePoint.Portal.SingleSignon.Security.xml
- Microsoft.SharePoint.Portal.Admin.Search.xml
.NET Compact Framework 2.0 Redistributable – The Microsoft® .NET Compact Framework 2.0 Redistributable contains the common language runtime and class libraries built for the .NET Compact Framework. In addition to supporting version 2.0, it also supports applications developed for version 1.0 and service pack releases before version 2.0.
Microsoft Report Viewer Redistributable 2005 – Microsoft Report Viewer control enables applications that run on the .NET Framework to display reports designed using Microsoft reporting technology. This redistributable package contains Windows Forms and ASP.NET Web server control versions of the Report Viewer. For more information about Microsoft reporting technology, click here
Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 Tools for the Microsoft Office System Redistributable Package (x86) – Microsoft Visual Studio Tools for the Microsoft Office System is the technology that brings the power and productivity of Visual Studio .NET and the .NET Framework to business solutions built on Microsoft Word 2003, Microsoft Outlook 2003, Microsoft Excel 2003 or Microsoft InfoPath 2003.
Microsoft Visual J# v2.0 Redistributable Package – The Visual J# Redistributable Package is not intended to run applications written with other Java-language development tools. Applications and services built with Visual J# will run only on the .NET Framework and will not run on any Java Virtual Machine. Visual J# has been independently developed by Microsoft and is not endorsed or approved by Sun Microsystems, Inc.
.NET Framework 2.0 SDK (IA64) – The Microsoft .NET Framework Software Development Kit (SDK) v2.0 (IA64) includes tools, documentation and samples developers need to write, build, test, and deploy .NET Framework applications on IA64 platforms.
.NET Framework 2.0 SDK (x64) – The Microsoft .NET Framework Software Development Kit (SDK) v2.0 (x64) includes everything developers need to write, build, test, and deploy .NET Framework applications—documentation, samples, tools and compilers.
.NET Framework 2.0 SDK (x86) – The Microsoft .NET Framework Software Development Kit (SDK) v2.0 (x64) includes everything developers need to write, build, test, and deploy .NET Framework applications—documentation, samples, tools and compilers.
Microsoft .NET Framework v2./0 Redistributable Package (x64) – The Microsoft .NET Framework version 2.0 (x64) redistributable package installs the .NET Framework runtime and associated files required to run 64-bit applications developed to target the .NET Framework v2.0.
The .NET Framework version 2.0 (x64) improves scalability and performance with improved caching, application deployment and updating with ClickOnce, support for the broadest array of browsers and devices with ASP.NET 2.0 controls and services and 64-bit support. For more information on the .NET Framework 2.0 click here.
Microsoft .NET Framework v2.0 Redistributable Package (IA64) – The Microsoft .NET Framework version 2.0 (IA64) redistributable package installs the .NET Framework runtime and associated files required to run 64-bit applications developed to target the .NET Framework v2.0.
The .NET Framework version 2.0 (IA64) improves scalability and performance, improved caching, application deployment and updating with ClickOnce, support for the broadest array of browsers and devices with ASP.NET 2.0 controls and services and 64-bit support. For more information on the .NET Framework 2.0, click here.
Guides and Whitepapers –
Application Integration and Process Intelligence using BixTalk Server 2004 – Discussion on how BizTalk Server 2004 and BizTalk Adapter v2.0 for mySAP Business Suite provides Microsoft a framework to create a business integration and intelligence solution that improved application integration and document processing visibility.
Visual Studio Team Foundation Installation Guide – This is the most current version of the Installation Guide for Visual Studio 2005 Team Foundation Server. It contains any changes that were made to the guide since shipping.
Presentations and WebCasts –
Visual Basic – Debugging VB6 and VB.NET – In this demonstration, you will see how debugging works when you have an application that uses both Visual Basic 6 and Visual Basic .NET. This video is presented by Scott Swigart of Swigart Consulting.
Getting Started – Visual Basic Fusion with VB 6 and VB.NET – This presentation walks you through the Visual Basic Fusion articles and shows how Microsoft Visual Basic 6 applications can be extended with the Microsoft .NET framework. Two videos presented by Scott Swigart of Swigart Consulting are provided with this download.
Tablet PC Development Overview – New to Tablet PC Development? Learn how to use the Tablet PC Platform API to extend existing applications or create applications specifically targeted to take advantage of the power of pen and ink in computing.
Cheers!
SQl Server Migration Assistant for Oracle v2.0 Beta — SQL Server Migration Assistant (SSMA) is a complete suite of tools that dramatically cuts the effort, cost, and risk of migrating from Oracle to SQL Server. SSMA automates almost every aspect of the migration process including assessment, schema and data migration, business logic conversion, and validation. Companies such as Motorola and Simon & Schuster have used SSMA to migrate their business-critical databases quickly, easily and accurately.
With SSMA, IT organizations now have the freedom to move to SQL Server and take advantage of SQL Server's exceptional security, scalability, developer productivity, and the industry’s lowest total cost of ownership.
SQl Server Health and History Tool (SQLH2) Performance Collector — The SQLH2 Performance Collector is a stand-alone service of Microsoft Windows that collects and stores performance counter data from selected servers. You should install this optional component if you are interested in collecting performance counters along with system information. The SQLH2 Collector gathers the data that this service collects and stores this data in the repository when you run the SQLH2 Collector. To obtain the SQLH2 Collector, search the Microsoft download site and search for "SQLH2".
Improving Data Securoty by using SQL Server 2005 — Detailed discussion describing how Microsoft IT uses SQL Server 2005 to improve data security for its line of business applications. SQL Server 2005 enabled Microsoft IT to implement column-level encryption together with a robust, and yet easy-to-use encryption key management framework.
Cheers!
SteveB, BillG and Ray Ozzie showed off some of our new “Live” offerings today in San Francisco.
Some of the buzz items to check out….
Microsoft Live – On the surface appears to be the same as www.start.com
Microsoft Gadgets – “gadgets” (read this as plug-ins) for Windows Live
Live Ideas which links to some other VERY cool items….
Windows Live Safety Center – on demand virus scan/clean and general PC health check
Windows Live Mail – I call this Hotmail 2.0 though the Hotmail people may not like that
Windows Live Favorites – gonna love this! I keep my favorites on a thumb drive. No More!
Windows Live Messenger – Next generation web based Messenger
Windows OneCare Live – an advanced version of the Sfety center that performs backups, AV scanning, Malware scanning and more
Windows Live Mobile – New Mobile search specifically formatted for small footprint devices. Search for, get maps to, and call whatever you are looking for!
More on these later as I get a chance to play with them!
Cheers!
I am back and catching up. I just posted a BUNCH of link posts to a variety of new downloads that have been made available over the past 3 weeks. Sorry to flood your feeds with all fo that but there was just so much good stuff to make people aware of.
My hands are actually cramping a little so I am going to take wrist saving “anti-carpal-tunnel” break, get some other work done and then post about what I have decided to to about my blog in the next few weeks.
Back in a bit!
Cheers!
Woo HoO! I have been wating for this game for a Loooooong time! i wore out many a mouse with the first two iterations of AoE. This looks to be way better than the previous two.
Check it out!
Cheers!
SMS 2003 Inventory Tool for Dell Update — SMS 2003 Inventory Tool for Dell Updates is an add-on to SMS 2003 Service Pack 1 (SP1) that enables customers to use the SMS 2003 Software Update Management feature to update their Dell servers. Customers will be able to deploy BIOS, firmware, and driver updates to their Dell servers using the same process that they use for deploying security and other updates with SMS.
SMS 2003 Inventory Tool for Dell Update includes the following components:
- Setup – Windows Installer based setup that allows SMS administrator to install all required components on the SMS site server.
- Inventory Tool for Dell update (scan tool) – this tool is being built using SDK components provided by Dell Inc. It scans a Dell server for installed and missing updates, just like MBSA scans the computer for Microsoft security updates.
- Sync tool for Dell update – this tool downloads a catalog from Dell’s website on a recurring schedule. This catalog describes all published Dell updates.
- Update to Distribute Software Update Wizard (DSUW) – Setup will install an update to DSUW to show new UI that allows to manually import multiple component updates contained within a single system update.
- Version 3.0 must be installed to coincide with work with the latest Dell catalog.
Microsoft Windows Server Base Operating Systems Mgmt Pack for MOM 2005 — The Microsoft® Windows® Base Operating System Management Pack monitors the performance and availability of Microsoft® Windows® Operating Systems versions 4.0 and later. By detecting, alerting on, and automatically responding to critical events and performance indicators, this Management Pack helps indicate, correct, and prevent possible Operating System service outages. This Management Pack plays an important role in ensuring that your Operating Systems and their components are available and working correctly.
By using embedded expertise, this Management Pack highlights performance, health, and availability conditions that indicate problems. It can in some cases even identify issues before they become critical thus providing you with a level of customer responsiveness that increases the overall availability and performance of your Microsoft® Windows® Operating Systems. As a result, this Management Pack will reduce the cost of ownership by enabling proactive management and reducing resolution times for the issues identified.
Cheers!
First, I am happy to annouce that Exchange Server 2003 SP2 *will* be support within a virtualized environment starting with the release of Virtual Server 2005 R2. See this link for more info.
Configuring SMTP for both Authenticated and Anonymous Connections at Microsoft — Detailed discussion on how Microsoft IT enabled its internal SMTP servers to serve both authenticated and specific, per-IP anonymous connections.
What’s New in Exchange Server 2003 — This guide provides important information about using Microsoft Exchange Server 2003. The purpose of this guide is to outline the features in Exchange Server 2003 and provide the basic information necessary to begin using these new features. This is not a comprehensive document about Exchange, but a guide for getting started with testing and running Exchange 2003. This guide supplements the release notes (releasenotes.htm), and should be read only after reviewing the release notes. The release notes contain critical information about known issues with Exchange 2003. This guide is designed to benefit Exchange administrators who will be testing and deploying Exchange 2003. Furthermore, this guide assumes that you have an excellent working knowledge of Exchange 2000. Its structure is based on Exchange components; specifically, each chapter itemizes the new component features and discusses how to begin using them.
Update for Outlook 2003 Junk Email Filter – KB906173 — You can get specific information about this update in the Microsoft Knowledge Base article Description of the Update for Outlook 2003 Junk E-mail Filter (KB906173).
Note: Users of Indonesian, Malay, Urdu, and Vietnamese language versions of Outlook 2003 can download and install office2003-kb904631-fullfile-enu.exe. Refer to the Instructions section below for details.
Exchange Server 2003 Service Pack 2 (SP2) — Exchange Server 2003 Service Pack 2 (SP2) offers new features and improvements to Exchange Server 2003. New features include support for mobility and message hygiene. Improvements have been made to address performance and reliability with public folders and with database size restrictions.
New for mobility is direct push, which is an Exchange technology that maintains an open connection between the mobile device and the server. Remote wipe is another new feature, and it enables administrators to delete sensitive data from a lost or stolen mobile device. Other features include global address list (GAL) lookup, policy provisioning whereby administrators can make supported policies more secure, support for certificate-based authentication, use of S/MIME to sign and encrypt mail, and server-based synchronization of Tasks.
Anti-spam improvements are included in the release of the integrated version 2 of Microsoft Exchange Intelligent Message Filter, and Sender ID, which is an industry-standard framework. Version 2 of Intelligent Message Filter contains significant improvements in the anti-spam area for SP2.
For Exchange Server 2003 Standard Edition, the hard-coded licensing database size limit has been increased from 16 GB to 75 GB. The administrator can set a protective database size limit (prevent unintentional database size growth). The default value will be 18 GB in SP2 for Standard Edition and the default can be changed.
Public folders are now more manageable. Administrators can now track who deleted public folders, stop and resume public folder replication, synchronize the public folder hierarchy, propagate access control list (ACL) changes through public folder hierarchy, and propagate replica list changes through the public hierarchy. Many of the improvements work toward minimizing the effect of replication storms.
There is a new version of the offline address book (OAB 4.0) that features the reduction in the OAB size, differential OAB update files, indexing based on locale setting, and improved diagnostic logging.
Cheers!
Patterns and Practices Security Engineering Explained — This download describes the patterns & practices Security Engineering approach that can be used to integrate security into your application development life cycle. The Security Engineering approach contains activities for identifying security objectives, applying secure design guidelines, creating threat models, conducting security architecture and design reviews, performing security code reviews, security testing, and conducting security deployment reviews.
Windows XP Security Guide — The Windows XP Security Guide has been updated to provide specific recommendations about how to harden computers that run Windows XP with Service Pack 2 (SP2) in three distinct environments:
- Enterprise Client (EC). Client computers in this environment are located in an Active Directory directory service domain.
- Stand-Alone (SA). Client computers in this environment are not members of an Active Directory domain.
- Specialized Security - Limited Functionality (SSLF). Client computers in this environment are subject to extraordinary security concerns. These concerns are so great that a significant loss of functionality and manageability is acceptable.
Information about the security features in SP2 was included as an appendix to the previous version of this guide. This information has now been integrated throughout the guide, and thoroughly tested templates for Windows Firewall security settings (Windows Firewall replaced the Internet Connection Firewall in SP2) are provided. Information is also provided about closing ports, Remote Procedure Call (RPC) communications, memory protection, e-mail handling, Web download controls, spyware controls, and much more.
This guide is primarily intended for consultants, security specialists, systems architects, and IT planners who plan application or infrastructure development and the deployment of Windows XP workstations in an enterprise environment.
Windows Server Update Services Operations Guide — Comprehensive guidance on the major tasks involved in administering and troubleshooting Microsoft Windows Server Update Services (WSUS), including synchronization and managing computers and computer groups, as well as viewing, approving, testing, and storing updates, and running reports.
Update for Windows Server x64 – KB907639 — Install this High-performance Computing (HPC) update to Microsoft Windows Remote Installation Services (RIS) to obtain changes to RIS specifically designed to operate in the Windows 2003 Compute Cluster Server environment.
Update for Windows Server 2003 – KB907639 — Install this High-performance Computing (HPC) update to Microsoft Windows Remote Installation Services (RIS) to obtain changes to RIS specifically designed to operate in the Windows 2003 Compute Cluster Server environment.
Update for Windows Server 2003 Itanium – KB907639 — Install this High-performance Computing (HPC) update to Microsoft Windows Remote Installation Services (RIS) to obtain changes to RIS specifically designed to operate in the Windows 2003 Compute Cluster Server environment.
Update for Windows Server 2003 – KB897616 — Install this update to correct an issue in which Internet Connection Sharing does not appear in the properties of the active network connection after you install Active Directory to configure a computer that is running Windows Server 2003 with Service Pack 1 as a domain controller. After you install this item, you may have to restart your computer.
Update for Windows Server 2003 Itanium – KB897616 — Install this update to correct an issue in which Internet Connection Sharing does not appear in the properties of the active network connection after you install Active Directory to configure a computer that is running Windows Server 2003 with Service Pack 1 as a domain controller. After you install this item, you may have to restart your computer.
Update for Windows Server 2003 x64 – KB897616 — Install this update to correct an issue in which Internet Connection Sharing does not appear in the properties of the active network connection after you install Active Directory to configure a computer that is running Windows Server 2003 with Service Pack 1 as a domain controller. After you install this item, you may have to restart your computer.
Update for Windows 2000 – KB908506 — Install this update to address an issue on computers running Windows 2000 Service Pack 4 in which clients accessing a print device attached to a print server are no longer able to print when using the Lexmark Monolithic PCL driver after installing security bulletin MS05-043 (KB896423). After you install this item, you may have to restart your computer.
Implementing WSUS with ISA Server 2004 to manage Remote Clients — Today’s companies have a growing mobile workforce. Keeping these assets up to date with current patches is extremely important to ensure continued productivity and decreased security risk. Many organizations are finding it more and more difficult to keep these mobile devices patched as the need for VPN decreases as the number of applications utilizing Internet protocols such as HTTP and HTTPS grows. Using Windows Server Update Services (WSUS) in combination with Internet Security and Acceleration Server 2004 (ISA 2004) organizations can extend their existing Intranet based patch management to their growing number of mobile devices. The purpose of this document is to detail the implementation planning and steps needed to create an Internet based patch management solution using WSUS and ISA 2004.
Exchange Server 2003 SP2 — Exchange Server 2003 Service Pack 2 (SP2) offers new features and improvements to Exchange Server 2003. New features include support for mobility and message hygiene. Improvements have been made to address performance and reliability with public folders and with database size restrictions.
New for mobility is direct push, which is an Exchange technology that maintains an open connection between the mobile device and the server. Remote wipe is another new feature, and it enables administrators to delete sensitive data from a lost or stolen mobile device. Other features include global address list (GAL) lookup, policy provisioning whereby administrators can make supported policies more secure, support for certificate-based authentication, use of S/MIME to sign and encrypt mail, and server-based synchronization of Tasks.
Anti-spam improvements are included in the release of the integrated version 2 of Microsoft Exchange Intelligent Message Filter, and Sender ID, which is an industry-standard framework. Version 2 of Intelligent Message Filter contains significant improvements in the anti-spam area for SP2.
For Exchange Server 2003 Standard Edition, the hard-coded licensing database size limit has been increased from 16 GB to 75 GB. The administrator can set a protective database size limit (prevent unintentional database size growth). The default value will be 18 GB in SP2 for Standard Edition and the default can be changed.
Public folders are now more manageable. Administrators can now track who deleted public folders, stop and resume public folder replication, synchronize the public folder hierarchy, propagate access control list (ACL) changes through public folder hierarchy, and propagate replica list changes through the public hierarchy. Many of the improvements work toward minimizing the effect of replication storms.
There is a new version of the offline address book (OAB 4.0) that features the reduction in the OAB size, differential OAB update files, indexing based on locale setting, and improved diagnostic logging.
Deploying Microsoft Windows Server Update Services — Comprehensive guidance on deploying Microsoft Windows Server Update Services (WSUS), including a description of how WSUS functions, and descriptions of WSUS scalability and bandwidth management features, as well as step-by-step procedures for installation and configuration of the WSUS server. You will find how to update and configure Automatic Updates on client workstations and servers that will be updated by WSUS, steps for migrating from Microsoft Software Update Services (SUS) to WSUS, and steps for setting up a WSUS server on an isolated segment of your network and manually importing updates.
Cheers!
User Profile Hive Cleabup Service — On Windows 2000 the service deals with application event log event 1000 from source Userenv where the message indicates that the profile is not unloading and the error is "Access is denied". On Windows XP and Windows 2003 the equivalent events are 1517 and 1524 from source Userenv.
To accomplish this the service monitors for logged off users that still have hives loaded. When that happens the service determines which applications have handles opened to the hives and releases them. It logs the application name and what registry keys where left open. After this the system finishes unloading the profile.
Scripting Week 3 Samples — Sample scripts presented during the Scripting Week 3 webcast series (held October 24-28, 2005) on TechNet. All of the scripts demonstrated during the week-long series are included in this download.
Structured Active Directory Schema Management at Microsoft — Detailed discussion of Microsoft IT’s Active Directory schema change management process. Schema changes are frequent at Microsoft, and require a structured workflow to ensure a consistent, smooth, and successful implementation. The change process that Microsoft IT institutionalized establishes clear standards, expectations, and timelines. The change process mitigates risks and helps to optimize results. The structured workflow normalizes schema changes. It provides clear responsibilities to all involved parties, eliminates schema change issues early in the process, and enables timely, optimized results.
Storage manager for SANs Quick Start Guide — The Storage Manager for SANs component of the Microsoft Windows Server™ 2003 R2 operating system enables you to provision storage on one or more storage subsystems on a storage area network (SAN). Based on Microsoft Virtual Disk Service (VDS) technology, Storage Manager for SANs allows provisioning on Fibre Channel and Internet SCSI (iSCSI) storage subsystems.
ADFS Step-by-Step Guide — This guide provides instructions for setting up Active Directory Federation Services (ADFS) in a small test lab environment and should take approximately 3 hours to complete. It walks you through how to set up a claims-aware application and a Windows NT token–based application on an ADFS-enabled Web server. It also explains how to configure two federation servers that authenticate and authorize federated access to both types of application. No additional downloads are required, you can simply use the code in the document to create the claims-aware application.
Step-by-Step Guide to Setting up Server for NIS — Microsoft® Windows Server for NIS enables a Microsoft Windows–based Active Directory domain controller to administer UNIX Network Information Service (NIS) networks. This guide describes installation and NIS migration tasks required to configure Server for NIS on your network.
Beta 2 Step-by-Step Guide for Storage Resource Manager — The Storage Resource Manager component of the Microsoft® Windows Server™ 2003 R2 operating system enables system administrators to understand how storage is being used and to manage the use of their storage by generating storage reports, applying quotas to volumes and folders, and screening files on the server. This guide provides installation instructions and step-by-step walkthroughs for creating quotas, creating file screens, and scheduling storage reports.
Print Management Step-by-Step Guide — Print Management provides up-to-the-minute details about the status of printers and print servers on the network. You can use Print Management to install printer connections to a group of client computers simultaneously. Print Management can help you find printers that have an error condition by using filters. It can also send e-mail notifications or run scripts when a printer or print server needs attention. On printer models that provide a printer Web page, Print Management has access to more data, such as toner and paper levels, which you can manage from remote locations, if needed.
Windows Server Update Services Operations Guide — Comprehensive guidance on the major tasks involved in administering and troubleshooting Microsoft Windows Server Update Services (WSUS), including synchronization and managing computers and computer groups, as well as viewing, approving, testing, and storing updates, and running reports.
MSN Messenger 7.5 for Windows — Chat online, in real time, with friends, family, and colleagues. It's faster than e-mail, more discreet than a phone call, and best of all – it's free! MSN Messenger is more than just text, it’s a great way to collaborate with co-workers or touch base with family and friends. You can even send an instant message to a contact’s mobile phone. Customization features help you personalize your chats and make your connections even more meaningful.
ADAM Step-by-Step Guide — The Active Directory directory service in Microsoft Windows 2000 and in Microsoft Windows®Server 2003 is the fastest growing directory service for intranets and extranets, as a result of its rich integration of directory support and security, scalability, and native Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) support. Active Directory in Windows Server 2003 builds on that success by supporting a number of new LDAP capabilities that are targeted for information technology (IT) professionals and applications developers. Active Directory Application Mode is one of these new capabilities. Organizations, independent software vendors (ISVs), and developers who want to integrate their applications with a directory service now have an additional capability in Active Directory that provides numerous benefits.
Overview of ADFS in Windows Server 2003 R2 — Federated identity management is a standards-based technology and information technology process that enables distributed identification, authentication, and authorization across organizational and platform boundaries. Federated systems need to interoperate across organizational boundaries and connect processes utilizing different technologies, identity storage, security approaches, and programming models. Within a federated system, an organization needs a standardized and secure way of expressing not only the services it makes available to trusted partners and customers but also the policies by which it runs its business, such as which other organizations and users it trusts, what types of credentials and requests it accepts, and its privacy policies.
The Active Directory Federation Services (ADFS) solution in Windows Server 2003 R2 helps administrators address these challenges by enabling organizations to securely share a user's identity information.
Internet Explorer 7 Beta 1 Technology Overview — Internet Explorer 7 Beta 1 includes advancements in security and browsing experience for end users, functionality and compatibility for developers and manageability for corporate network administrators. Beta 1 is intended to enable developers to begin to test the new browser for compatibility with their applications and Web sites. Read the Technology Overview to learn more.
Cheers!
837115: How to diagnose and fix user profile unloading problems -->
New Video & Audio based information for developers is located at these links:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/msdntv/archive.aspx
http://channel9.msdn.com/ShowForum.aspx?ForumID=14
http://msdn.microsoft.com/theshow/
http://msdn.microsoft.com/dotnetrocks/
Scripting Week 3 Sample Scripts — Sample scripts presented during the Scripting Week 3 webcast series (held October 24-28, 2005) on TechNet. All of the scripts demonstrated during the week-long series are included in this download.
MSDN TV: Introducing “Cider” – The Visual Studio Designer for WPF (Avalon) — Mark Boulter and Mike Harsh give an overview of "Cider", the visual designer for Windows Presentation Foundation (formerly code-named "Avalon") that will be part of a future version of Visual Studio.
Channel 9 MSDN Videos – Oct. 18th, 2005 — Channel 9 interviews Paul Yuknewicz, Eddie Churchill, Mark Boulter, Infopath team, Monad team, MSN Search, Sidebar and Gadgets team, and VSTS's Source Code Management team.
Beta’s, RC’s and CTP’s….Oh My! —
Microsoft CRM 3.0 SDK – Preliminary — The Microsoft CRM 3.0 SDK is for developers, system customizers and report writers. It contains the following sections:
Server Programming Guide – A guide for developers writing server side code, custom business logic, integration modules, workflow assemblies and more. This guide provides an architectural overview of Microsoft CRM, the entity model, security model, Web services, and sample code.
Client Programming Guide – A guide for developers customizing the Web client or the Microsoft CRM client for Outlook, including scripting, integration of custom Web pages, and sample code.
Report Writers Guide - A guide for developers writing reports for Microsoft CRM using Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services Report Designer.
Hotfixes, Patches, Updates, Service Packs —
Windows CE 5.0 Platform Builder Update – KB908999 — Fixes made in this update:
Component: DirectX
Description: An exception may occur when a variable in the source filter is not initialized.
Windows CE 5.0 Platform Builder Update – KB909076 — Fixes made in this update:
Component: DirectX
Description: When playing a video with subtitles, first subtitle may not render correctly.
Windows CE 5.0 Platform Builder Update – KB908955 — Fixes made in this update:
Component: DirectX
Description: There may be no sound when playing certain MP3 files.
Windows CE 5.0 Platform Builder Quarterly Update (Jul-Sep 2005) — This is a set of updates for Windows CE Platform Builder released during the period of July 1 through September 30, 2005. These Microsoft Windows CE updates are fixes for Windows CE operating system problems you run into during the development and maintenance of your custom platform. To qualify for consideration for an update, a problem needs to cause an excessive amount of work and not have a reasonable workaround.
Windows CE .NET 4.2 Platform Builder Update – KB909204 — Fixes made in this update:
Component: MSHTML
Description: A memory leak may occur when playing audio files.
Windows CE .NET 4.2 Platform Builder Update – KB908363 — Fixes made in this update:
Component: DirectX
Description: A video distortion may occur if the video window is hidden and then subsequently redrawn during WMV/MPEG-4 video playback.
Windows CE .NET 4.2 Platform Builder Quarterly Update (Jul-Sep 2005) — Windows CE Sustained Engineering team has implemented a new Update packaging system based upon the Windows Installer. These changes apply to Windows CE .NET 4.2 and beyond. All update packages released after January 1, 2005 will be provided using the new installer technology. Once one of these new packages is installed, you will no longer be able to install older packages.
Note: This does not affect Windows CE .NET 4.1 or earlier. These operating systems are using our original packaging technology. This is a set of updates for Windows CE .NET Platform Builder released during the period of July 1 - September 30, 2005. These Microsoft Windows CE updates are fixes for Windows CE operating system problems you run into during the development and maintenance of your custom platform. To qualify for consideration for an update, a problem needs to cause an excessive amount of work and not have a reasonable workaround.
Windows CE .NET 4.1 Platform Builder Update – KB909257 — Fixes made in this update:
Component: RDP
Description: A memory leak may occur when redirecting a serial device via RDP.
Windows CE 3.0 Platform Builder Update – KB909148 — Fixes made in this update:
Component: NetBIOS
Description: A socket leak may occur when connecting/disconnecting to TCP port 139 without sending data.
Tools and Apps —
Extending Visual Studio 2005 Team System — Discussion on how Microsoft IT extended Visual Studio 2005 Team System to incorporate software development lifecycle methodology process by modifying the default process template. By modifying the process template developer compliance increased and external tools were eliminated.
Guides and Whitepapers —
Microsoft Application Platform Overview — Information technology and its effective use to address changing business requirements is central to an organization’s ability to compete. With the advent of new technologies and the use of the Internet to achieve tighter integration between an organization and its customers and business partners, the potential of IT has only grown. Successful organizations will be able to realize that potential by building a new generation of connected systems. Connected systems are applications that leverage the network to link the actors and systems that drive business processes. Connected systems pull together a constellation of services and devices, to more effectively meet modern day business challenges. Building connected systems requires a comprehensive enterprise software platform, but also a new service-oriented architectural approach to address the integration imperative.
ReportViewer Samples for Visual Studio — Visual Studio 2005 includes new ReportViewer controls that you can use to add rich data reporting to Windows forms and ASP.NET applications. This download provides two complete samples so that you can view the control and sample reports in a finished application.
- The RSSNewsReader sample is a Windows form application written in Visual C#. It retrieves data from live news feeds and presents that data in a report. The report demonstrates how to use parameters to filter the dataset.
- The Web Log Analyzer is a Windows form application written in Visual Basic. It analyzes log files created by Web servers, such as Microsoft Internet Information Services (IIS). It includes reports that show statistics on page hits, server activity, and referrals from other sites.
Presentations and WebCasts —
Network Location Awareness — Cell phones use network awareness to work seamlessly moving from point to point, but what do computer applications need to do when people move their mobile PCs from one network to another all day long? Learn how to use the existing Windows XP network management APIs. We'll show you how to build a strategy for leveraging those APIs to create great, network-aware applications for Tablet PC and mobile PCs.
Advanced Tablet PC Development Topics — Are you mastering the fundamentals of the Tablet PC Platform and eager to learn more? Are you already an expert and want a few tips and tricks? This is the session for you. Learn about features such as implementing gesture recognition, using the Clipboard, storing recognition results, and the new RealTimeStylus API.
In Depth – Ink Data Management — Do more with the Ink data that you collect on the Tablet PC Platform. This session teaches you all about managing, analyzing, and interacting with the Ink data that your Tablet PC application collects. Learn about concepts relevant to the Ink API such as hit-testing Ink, choosing different types of bounding boxes for different tasks, using Bezier Control Points, using stroke Intersections, and more.
Basic Considerations for Mobile PC Development — Become familiar with the core set of considerations for writing a Mobile PC application: power management, network awareness, display awareness, and activity awareness. We'll also provide some guidance on choosing a platform (Pocket PC, Windows XP, or Windows XP Tablet PC Edition).
Cheers!
Office Related —
Microsoft Office for Mac 11.2.1 Update — This update fixes a synchronization issue in versions of Microsoft Entourage that have been updated with Microsoft Office 2004 for Mac Service Pack 2 (11.2.0). The issue might cause data loss when Entourage attempts to synchronize with an Exchange mailbox that was moved to a different server running Microsoft Exchange Server. This update also resolves issues with setting Exchange server permissions and printing calendars. We strongly recommend that all Entourage users who have installed Office 2004 Service Pack 2 (11.2.0) install this update.
Applies to: Microsoft Office 2004 Standard Edition, Office 2004 Student and Teacher Edition, Office 2004 Professional Edition, Entourage 2004.
Office 2003 Add-in: Web parts and Components — Microsoft Office Web Parts and Components is a collection of Web Parts, Web Part Page solutions, templates, and data retrieval services that work closely with Microsoft Office 2003 and Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services 2.0. These added features are particularly useful for large organizations that have deployed Microsoft Office throughout their organization and that want to take advantage of the enhanced functionality and efficiencies these Web Parts and components provide for their sites.
Microsoft Office Business Scorecard Manager 2005 Trial Version — The downloads on this page include a trial version of the product. The trial version is valid for use for 180 days after you install it.
- Microsoft Office Business Scorecard Manager Server 2005 (Business_Scorecard_Manager_Server.exe) The server component is the core of the Business Scorecard Manager performance management system. It is comprised of a web service, a metadata database, and Web parts. The download also includes the Scorecard Manager Server Planning and Administration Guide to aid you in the installation process.
- Business Scorecard Builder (Business_Scorecard_Builder.exe) The Business Scorecard Builder is an application that you use to connect, create, and manage scorecard elements, views, and roles and to publish updates to Business Scorecard Manager Server.
Office 2003 SP2 for Multilingual User Interface Pack — Microsoft® Office 2003 Service Pack 2 (SP2) for Multilingual User Interface Pack ensures that Office 2003 performs with complete functionality when you use an Office 2003 Multilingual User Interface Pack. Some of the fixes included with Service Pack 2 (SP2) have been previously released as separate updates. This service pack combines them into one update.
Microsoft Office Business Scorecard Manager 2005 and Microsoft Dynamics Whitepaper — Microsoft Office Business Scorecard Manager 2005 empowers users to optimize business performance through strategic decisions making. The white paper in this download explains the relationship between Microsoft Dynamics and Business Scorecard Manager 2005.
- Business Scorecard Manager and Microsoft Dynamics (Microsoft_Dynamics_and_Microsoft_Office_Business_Scorecard_Manager_2005_Overview.doc)This white paper explains how the capabilities of Microsoft® Dynamics™ (formerly Microsoft Business Solutions) and Business Scorecard Manager 2005 come together to offer a comprehensive way to help organizations gain deeper contextual insight into what business drivers matter most.
Microsoft Office Business Scorecard Manager 2005 Technical White Papers — Microsoft Office Business Scorecard Manager 2005 empowers users to optimize business performance through strategic decision making. These downloads include white papers for developers.
- Installing and Managing Alerts Using Business Scorecard Manager (Business_Scorecard_Manager_Alerts_WP.doc) This white paper explains the detailed steps required to install and manage alerts using Business Scorecard Manager 2005.
- Building Custom Report Views for Microsoft Business Scorecard Manager 2005 (Business_Scorecard_Builder_Custom_Report_WP.doc) This white paper provides information for building custom report views, by creating a sample custom report view, then developing a configuration component and a Web component.
- Using MSMQ Triggers with Business Scorecard Manager (Business_Scorecard_Manager_MSMQ_WP.doc) This white paper describes how to use Microsoft® Message Queuing Services (MSMQ) 3.0 with Microsoft Office Business Scorecard Manager 2005. Readers should be familiar with MSMQ.
Microsoft Office Business Scorecard Manager 2005 Operations White Paper — Microsoft Office Business Scorecard Manager 2005 empowers users to optimize business performance through strategic decisions making. The white paper in this download is for operations managers and executives.
- Operations: Aligning Strategy and Action with Business Activity Monitoring (Business_Scorecard_Manager_Operations_WP.doc) This white paper examines how a Business Activity Monitoring (BAM) solution and scorecard interface can help overcome the problems associated with aligning operational activities and corporate strategy and conquer the difficulties involved in identifying, monitoring and acting on urgent problems quickly and effectively
Microsoft Office Business Scorecard Manager 2005 Datasheet — Microsoft Office Business Scorecard Manager 2005 empowers users to optimize business performance through strategic decision making. This download includes a product data sheet.
- Business Scorecard Manager Data Sheet (Business_Scorecard_Manager_Data_Sheet.doc) This data sheet explains the features and benefits of Business Scorecard Builder 2005, with examples and sample screens from the product.
Microsoft Office Business Scorecard manager 2005 Sales White Paper — White Paper: "Use Scorecards and Dashboards to Measure, Monitor, and Drive Agile and Responsive Sales Performance" (Business_Scorecard_Manager_Sales_WP.doc) This white paper examines how an advanced scorecarding solution can help overcome the common challenges faced by many sales organizations.
Visio 2003 SP2 for Mulingual User Interface Pack — Visio 2003 Service Pack 2 for Multilingual User Interface Pack ensures that Visio 2003 performs with complete functionality when you use a Visio 2003 Multilingual User Interface Pack. Some of the fixes included with Service Pack 2 (SP2) have been previously released as separate updates. This service pack combines them into one update.
This service pack also includes all updates previously released for Visio 2003 Multilingual User Interface Pack:
Update for Access 2002 – KB904018 — You can get specific information about this update in the Microsoft Knowledge Base article Description of the Update for Access 2002 (KB904018).
If you do not have Microsoft Access 2002 installed but you were offered this update by Microsoft Update, Office Update, Automatic Updates, or the Office Update Inventory Tool, please see this knowledge base article: KB905867: When you visit the Office Update Web site you are prompted to install the update for Access 2002 that is described in Knowledge Base article 904018 if you do not have Access 2002 installed
SharePoint Related —
Windows SharePoint Services Organizational Issues White Paper — Supporting collaboration solutions is as much or more about supporting human activity or behavior – people working together – than it is about technology. Organizations deploying Windows SharePoint Services solutions need to ensure that the solution fits within the corporate culture. Many organizations are deploying collaborative solutions to save on operating costs, make people more productive, and foster new ideas and innovation. IT organizations responsible for WSS deployments have an opportunity to support and enable business transformation by understanding how their organization works today and using this understanding to successfully plan and implement a solution that truly drives business value.
This paper is designed to help guide project teams responsible for deploying WSS (usually part of the IT organization) through some recommended solutions for the organizational and cultural challenges associated with deployments of collaboration solutions based on Windows SharePoint Services (and also, SharePoint Portal Server).
Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services Inside Out — Dig into Windows SharePoint Services—and discover how to deliver Web-based workspaces that simplify information sharing and team collaboration! This supremely organized reference packs hundreds of timesaving solutions, troubleshooting tips, and handy workarounds in concise, fast-answer format. It’s all muscle and no fluff. Find the best and fastest ways to perform everyday tasks, and challenge yourself to new levels of SharePoint mastery!br />
In this sample chapter, you will learn about:
1) Editing site navigation.
2) Usining dynamic web templates.
3) Integrating CSS styles with FrontPage.
4) Combining styles and themes with FrontPage.
5) Using interactive buttons.
6) Scripting DHTML behaviors.
Deployment and Customization Best Practices for Windows SharePoint Services — This document provides answers to some of the most frequently asked questions (FAQs) that IT professionals have about Windows SharePoint Services. The questions and answers will be of specific interest to system architects, implementers and operations staff who have deployed, are deploying or are evaluating the deployment of Windows SharePoint Services in a medium or large size organization….
Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services Step-by-Step — Quickly teach yourself how to make team collaboration easy—and more productive—with Windows SharePoint Services. With STEP BY STEP, you drive the instruction. Work at your own pace through the book’s lessons and build new skills using the files on CD. You’ll learn exactly what you need to know about using Windows SharePoint Services to help you—and your team—share ideas and information more efficiently!br />
In this sample chapter, you will learn to:
1) Create sites.
2) Manage site users and permissions.
3) Manage sites and child sites.
4) Change a site's theme.
5) Save and use a site as a template.
6) Delete a site.
Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services Inside Out — Dig into Windows SharePoint Services—and discover how to deliver Web-based workspaces that simplify information sharing and team collaboration! This supremely organized reference packs hundreds of timesaving solutions, troubleshooting tips, and handy workarounds in concise, fast-answer format. It’s all muscle and no fluff. Find the best and fastest ways to perform everyday tasks, and challenge yourself to new levels of SharePoint mastery In this sample chapter, you will learn about:
1) Using built-in web parts.
2) Adding ASP.NET server controls.
3) Installing and using Office 2003 web parts and components.
4) Customizing site definitions.
Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services Inside Out — Dig into Windows SharePoint Services—and discover how to deliver Web-based workspaces that simplify information sharing and team collaboration! This supremely organized reference packs hundreds of timesaving solutions, troubleshooting tips, and handy workarounds in concise, fast-answer format. It’s all muscle and no fluff. Find the best and fastest ways to perform everyday tasks, and challenge yourself to new levels of SharePoint mastery!br />
In this sample chapter, you will learn about:
1) Opening a SharePoint site.
2) Avoiding compability issues.
3) Creating a SharePoint site.
4) Adding new site pages to an existing site.
5) Exploring SharePoint packages.
6) Importing SharePoint packages.
7) Backing up a SharePoint site.
8) Restoring a SharePoint site.
SharePoint Portal Server SP2 — Microsoft® Office SharePoint® Portal Server 2003 Service Pack 2 (SP2) contains significant security enhancements, in addition to stability and performance improvements. Some of the fixes included with SP2 have been previously released as separate updates. This service pack combines them into one update.
eLearning —
Microsoft eLearning Library (MELL) Trial Versions — Take a test run of the Microsoft eLearning Library (MELL) Desktop Edition for yourself and see how it can help you maximize your Microsoft software investment by increasing productivity and decreasing support costs. To check out our interactive training and reference product for the information worker, download this limited-content trial version of the MELL Desktop Edition.
Other —
Software Assurance Benefits Comparison Chart — This chart explains which Software Assurance benefits apply to each Microsoft Volume Licensing program.
If you are not currently a Software Assurance customer, please visit the Microsoft Volume Licensing Web site to learn more about the many benefits of Software Assurance.
Microsoft CRM 3.0 Implementation Guide — This Implementation Guide provides the information required for a successful Microsoft CRM implementation into your business. This guide addresses the planning, installing (both hardware and software), pre-deployment testing, and operating tasks for the maintenance of the Microsoft CRM system.
This guide is written for the computer system administrator. This guide also assumes that any organization implementing Microsoft CRM software will have the services of an independent software vendor (ISV) or value-added reseller who is partnered with Microsoft and will help you with the entire process of implementing and maintaining your Microsoft CRM installation. Because of this assumption, there are references in this guide to these "partners" who are expected to provide various services to you.
Project Server 2003 SP2 for Multilingual User Interface Pack — Project Server 2003 Service Pack 2 for Multilingual User Interface Pack ensures that Microsoft® Office Project Server 2003 performs with complete functionality when you use a Project Server 2003 Multilingual User Interface Pack. Some of the fixes included with Service Pack 2 (SP2) have been previously released as separate updates. This service pack combines them into one update.
Cheers!
Migrating from SBS 2000 or Windows 2000 Server to Windows SBS 2003 Server — To upgrade to Microsoft® Windows® Small Business Server 2003 from Microsoft Small Business Server 2000 or Windows 2000 Server, you must perform a server migration. A server migration includes installing Windows Small Business Server 2003 on a new computer, and then migrating data and settings. You can complete a server migration to either a retail installation of Windows Small Business Server 2003 or to a computer purchased from an original equipment manufacturer (OEM) that was preinstalled with Windows Small Business Server 2003.
Cheers!
Live Meeting 2005 Add-in: Live Meeting Add-in Pack — The Live Meeting Add-In Pack consists of three distinct add-ins: the Live Meeting Add-in for Outlook, the Office Collaboration Add-in, and the Live Meeting add-in for Instant Messaging, each which offer unique features.
Live Meeting Add-in for OutlookWith the Live Meeting Add-in for Outlook, you can:
- Schedule a Live Meeting from Outlook
- Identify individual meeting participants as attendees or presenters
- Send separate invitations for attendees and for presenters
- Specify default meeting options and override those defaults for specific meetings
Live Meeting Add-in for Office Collaboration
- With the Office Collaboration Add-in, you can start a Meet Now meeting directly from Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Visio, or Project. The document appears in an application sharing session.
Live Meeting Add-in for Instant Messaging
- If the recipient also has the Live Meeting Add-in Pack installed, you can start a Live Meeting from Windows Messenger or from MSN Messenger.
Cheers!
Project Server 2003 SP2 — Microsoft® Office Project Server 2003 Service Pack 2 contains significant security enhancements as well as stability and performance improvements. Some of the fixes included with SP2 have been previously released as separate updates. This service pack combines them into one update.
This service pack also includes this update previously released for Project Server 2003:
Project Server 2003 SP2 will install even if Service Pack 1 has already been installed on your computer.
Project Server 2003 SP2 also includes stability improvements developed as a result of user input from the Microsoft Online Crash Analysis in Project Server 2003 and from Microsoft Product Support feedback.
You can get specific information about this update in the Microsoft Knowledge Base article (887621): Overview of the Project Server 2003 Service Pack 2.
Cheers!
Scripting Week 3 Program — Get a sneak peek at Scripting Week 3, a series of five webcasts on system administration scripting to be held October 24-28, 2005 on TechNet. The program includes a detailed description of each webcast, biographies of the presenters, even a Scripting Week trivia quiz. And don't miss the special offer from Microsoft Press, featuring 40% off on selected MS Press books.
Microsoft Management Console (MMC) 3.0 Pre-Release (RC1) — Microsoft Management Console 3.0 Pre-Release (Based on Windows Server 2003 R2 RC1).
MMC 3.0 (formerly MMC 2.1) ships as a component in Windows Server 2003 R2 and Windows Vista, and continues to be the host for a variety of OS and 3rd party administrative tools.
Cumulative Help for Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Multilingual User Interface Pack — Many enterprise customers have deployed the Windows Server 2003 Multilingual User Interface Pack in their corporations in order to enable network administrators to administer the server in their native language and reduce server management costs in multilingual computing environments.
Microsoft has provided an update to the MUI Help system that includes important new information for customers who have deployed MUI with the Windows Server 2003 operating system. This update contains important security information and updates as well as documentation for new features that ship with Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 1.
Cheers!
Ocober 11th 2005 Enterprise Update Scan Tool (standalone version) — Microsoft has released a new tool designed to help enterprises detect updates provided with the Microsoft Security Bulletins released October 11, 2005. This tool is a command line scanning tool built for the sole purpose of helping customers determine systems that may need security updates provided with the released bulletins. Users of this tool should have experience in deploying software to corporate environments and with using command line tools. More information on this tool can be found in the readme.rtf documentation packaged with the tool download.
Extended Security Update Inventory Tool — The SMS Extended Security Update Inventory tool is a scan tool built for the sole purpose of helping customers determine SMS client computers that may need security updates that are not detectable using the existing SMS Security Update Inventory Tool built on MBSA. Like the SMS Software Update Inventory tool, this tool also has the instructions for locating each applicable update, downloading it from Microsoft, and deploying it using SMS . The SMS Extended Security Update Inventory Tool is built on Enterprise Scan Tool (EST) detection technology. For more information about the exact detection capabilities of EST and how it differs from MBSA, see Microsoft Knowledge Base Article 894193. For more information on the SMS Extended Security Update Inventory Tool, please see the included user guide and release notes.
Microsoft Windows malicious Software Removal Tool – KB890830 — The Microsoft Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool checks Windows XP, Windows 2000, and Windows Server 2003 computers for and helps remove infections by specific, prevalent malicious software—including Blaster, Sasser, and Mydoom. When the detection and removal process is complete, the tool displays a report describing the outcome, including which, if any, malicious software was detected and removed. The tool creates a log file named mrt.log in the %WINDIR%\debug folder.
Cheers!
Scripting Week 3 Program — Get a sneak peek at Scripting Week 3, a series of five webcasts on system administration scripting to be held October 24-28, 2005 on TechNet. The program includes a detailed description of each webcast, biographies of the presenters, even a Scripting Week trivia quiz. And don't miss the special offer from Microsoft Press, featuring 40% off on selected MS Press books.
SMS 2003 SP1 Hotfix: Access Violation in DSUW for SMS 2003 Inventrory Tool for HP Updates – KB906554 — You must install this Distribute Software Updates Wizard (DSUW) hotfix on your SMS 2003 Service Pack 1 (SP1) site server and on all SMS remote administration consoles in your SMS environment that are used for authorizing updates for HP servers.
If you do not install this hotfix for SMS 2003, you will not be able to authorize HP ProLiant and Integrity updates using the DSUW tool.
SMS 2003 SP1 Hotfix: SMS 2003 Administrator Console Reports Display Incorrect Data – KB900401 — If you view the software update reports under Reports in the Microsoft Systems Management Server (SMS) 2003 Administrator Console, some reports display incorrect data. For example, reports such as the Software updates for a specific computer report display incorrect data if a software update that applies to an SMS client computer no longer applies. In this example, you install the software update on the SMS client computer so that the software update is no longer applicable.
Cheers!
Exchange Server Error -1018 — Detailed discussion of the conditions that result in error -1018. It also covers the detection mechanisms that Exchange uses to discover and recover from damage to its database files.
Microsoft Excahnge Server Best Practices Analyzer Tool — This download contains the latest ExBPA.Config.xml and ExBPA.chm files. Use this package to update your existing installation of the Exchange Server Best Practices Analyzer. NOTE: If Internet connectivity is available, the Exchange Server Best Practices Analyzer will attempt to automatically update itself from the Internet. Where updates are being applied automatically, there is no need to download the Web Update Pack.
Cheers!
Windows Media Connect 2.0 — Installing Windows® Media Connect enables you to deliver music, photos, and videos that reside on your Windows XP PC to devices that support the UPnP protocol. This includes digital audio receivers, connected DVD players, set-top boxes and more. After you install this item, you may have to restart your computer.
Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 Update Rollup – KB908250 — Microsoft has released Update Rollup KB908250. This update is intended for systems running Update Rollup 2 for Microsoft Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005.
Update Rollup 2 for Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 – KB900325 — Update Rollup 2 for Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 contains new features, functionality and improvements, including:
- The ability to connect Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 to Xbox 360 to stream music, photos, recorded TV and video
- Support for DVD changers
- Improved DVD burning capabilities
- Stability and quality improvements
This update is highly recommended for all Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 customers.
Windows XP Media Center Diagnostics Kit v3.0 — A set of tools to evaluate readiness of Windows XP Media Center Edition PCs and troubleshoot video quality issues. The Media Center Diagnostics Kit includes tools that allow users to explore PC configuration settings, test for a variety of video playback capabilities and evaluate video quality for color and grayscale accuracy.
Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 Update Rollup 2 SDK — The Media Center SDK is designed to help developers create applications and software components that take advantage of features provided by Windows XP Media Center Edition.
The Media Center SDK enables developers to:
•Create Media Center hosted HTML applications.
•Create Media Center hosted add-ins using managed code.
•Direct Media Center to schedule the recording of TV programs from hosted HTML applications, add-ins, and external Windows applications.
•Create device drivers and other software components that receive status information about the state of Media Center.
•Create an input method editor (IME) module that adds a localized version of the on-screen keyboard, keypad, and input method editor to Media Center
New Video & Audio based information for developers is located at these links:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/msdntv/archive.aspx
http://channel9.msdn.com/ShowForum.aspx?ForumID=14
http://msdn.microsoft.com/theshow/
http://msdn.microsoft.com/dotnetrocks/
MSDN TV: Hello, WWF! — Dharma Shukla and Don Box provide a code-centric high level walkthrough of the Windows Workflow Foundation (WWF), a programming model, engine, and tools for quickly building workflow enabled applications on Windows.
Channel 9 Interview – October 12th, 2005 — You are going to have to clikc it to find out what it is about!
Channel 9 MSDN Videos – October 10th, 2005 — Channel 9 interviews Mike Murray, Dave Treadwell, and others.
Guides and Whitepapers —
ASP.NET 2.0 Hosting Deployment Guide — The ASP.NET 2.0 Deployment Guide is a reference for web hosters who are interested in adding ASP.NET 2.0 to their existing Windows hosting service. Besides improving developer productivity, ASP.NET 2.0 also provides benefits for hosted environments, including support for shutting down inactive applications and locking down rogue applications. Enhanced health monitoring configuration can be used to set thresholds and severity levels for monitoring the health of ASP.NET.
Microsoft CLR Overview — The .NET Framework from Microsoft provides services to application developers that are necessary to quickly create scalable solutions that meet stringent requirements for security, manageability and productivity. This whitepaper introduces the guiding principles and thoughts behind the .NET Framework, the core features of the Common Language Runtime and its supporting Framework Base Class Libraries and how it is evolving in the next major version…
Betas and CTP’s —
Microsoft Expression “Acrylic Graphic Designer” October CTP — Microsoft Expression "Acrylic Graphic Designer" (code name) is a professional illustration, painting, and graphic design product. Visit the Acrylic Graphic Designer Features page for an overview of the main features. For more detailed information please view the videos which are also available on the Acrylic Graphic Designer site.
Acrylic Octpber 2005 CTP XAML Exporter — With the XAML export feature in Microsoft Expression "Acrylic Graphic Designer" (code name), both vector and raster elements can be exported to the XAML mark-up language used by Windows Vista's underlying Windows Presentation Foundation.
Installation of the XAML Exporter is required to use Acrylic Graphic Designer October 2005 CTP software.
Acrylic Graphic Designer CTP is a professional illustration, painting, and graphic design product. Visit the Graphic Designer Features page for an overview of the main features. For more detailed information please view the videos which are also available on the Acrylic Graphic Designer site.
Microsoft .NET Framework v2.0 Redistributable Package Release Candidate (x64) — IMPORTANT: This Release Candidate is a pre-release version of the .NET Framework v2.0 (x64) redistributable package.
The Microsoft .NET Framework v2.0 Release Candidate installs the .NET Framework runtime and associated files required to run applications developed to target the .NET Framework v2.0.
The .NET Framework version 2.0 improves scalability and performance of applications with improved caching, application deployment and updating with ClickOnce, support for the broadest array of browsers and devices with ASP.NET 2.0 controls and services. For more information on the .NET Framework 2.0, click here.
Microsoft .NET Framework v2.0 Redistributable Package Release Candidate (IA64) — IMPORTANT: This Release Candidate is a pre-release version of the .NET Framework v2.0 (IA64) redistributable package.
The Microsoft .NET Framework v2.0 Release Candidate installs the .NET Framework runtime and associated files required to run applications developed to target the .NET Framework v2.0.
The .NET Framework version 2.0 improves scalability and performance of applications with improved caching, application deployment and updating with ClickOnce, support for the broadest array of browsers and devices with ASP.NET 2.0 controls and services. For more information on the .NET Framework 2.0, click here.
Microsoft .NET Framework v2.0 Redistributable Package Release Candidate (x86) — IMPORTANT: This Release Candidate is a pre-release version of the .NET Framework v2.0 (x86) redistributable package.
The Microsoft .NET Framework v2.0 Release Candidate installs the .NET Framework runtime and associated files required to run applications developed to target the .NET Framework v2.0.
The .NET Framework version 2.0 Release Candidate improves scalability and performance of applications with improved caching, application deployment and updating with ClickOnce, support for the broadest array of browsers and devices with ASP.NET 2.0 controls and services. For more information on the .NET Framework 2.0, click here.
IronPython 0.9.3 — IronPython is the codename for an alpha release of the Python programming language for the .NET platform.
It supports an interactive interpreter with fully dynamic compilation. It is well integrated with the rest of the framework and makes all .NET libraries easily available to Python programmers.
Tools and Apps —
Window XP Media Center Edition 2005 Rollup 2 SDK — The Media Center SDK is designed to help developers create applications and software components that take advantage of features provided by Windows XP Media Center Edition.
The Media Center SDK enables developers to:
•Create Media Center hosted HTML applications.
•Create Media Center hosted add-ins using managed code.
•Direct Media Center to schedule the recording of TV programs from hosted HTML applications, add-ins, and external Windows applications.
•Create device drivers and other software components that receive status information about the state of Media Center.
•Create an input method editor (IME) module that adds a localized version of the on-screen keyboard, keypad, and input method editor to Media Center.
Xinput Driver for Microsoft Common Controller (64bit) — The Microsoft Common Controller Driver is a new game input standard that is used for both the Xbox360 console and for Windows XP SP1 and above. The Xbox360 controller or any controllers that utilize this standard will enable the device to be used on Windows also. This Redistributable Package includes the driver for hardware vendors to redistribute with their hardware. For the most current APIs of the Microsoft Common Controller, please download the latest DX SDK. These APIs are called Xinput APIs.
Xinput Driver for Microsoft Common Controller (32bit) — The Microsoft Common Controller Driver is a new game input standard that is used for both the Xbox360 console and for Windows XP SP1 and above. The Xbox360 controller or any controllers that utilize this standard will enable the device to be used on Windows also. This Redistributable Package includes the driver for hardware vendors to redistribute with their hardware. For the most current APIs of the Microsoft Common Controller, please download the latest DX SDK. These APIs are called Xinput APIs.
Microsoft IntelliSense XML Files for Visual Studio Tools — Adds summary descriptions of types, members, and parameters to IntelliSense ToolTips in code and in the Object Browser for Microsoft Office Word 2003, Microsoft Office Excel 2003, Microsoft Office Outlook 2003, and Microsoft Office 2003 Shared PIAs in Microsoft Visual Studio .NET 2003 and Visual Studio 2005.
Microsoft Character Code Conversion Routines for HKSCS-2004 — The Microsoft Character Code Conversion Routines for HKSCS-2004 contains two conversion/trans-coding functions. Use the functions to write applications to transform, trans-code, and migrate HKSCS character data encoded with old encodings to character data with new Unicode 4.1 encodings.
Hotfixes, Patches Updates, Service Packs —
Windows CE 3.0 Platform Builder Update – KB909012 — Fixes made in this update:
Component: EDBG
Description: Under certain circumstances EDBG may infinitely retransmit network frames. As a result the device appears to hang and the network connection to ESHELL is lost.
Windows CE 3.0 Platform Builder Update – KB 908379 — Fixes made in this update:
Component: MsgQue
Description: MsgWaitForMultipleObjects may not handle tick-count roll-over correctly.
Windows CE .NET 4.2 Platform Builder Update – KB908362 — Fixes made in this update:
Component: TCP/IP
Description: A device when set up as a server can be attacked by a client device.This security update addresses this issue.
DirectX 9.0 SDK Update – October 2005 — This DirectX SDK release contains updates to tools, utilities, samples, Documentation, and runtime debug files for x64 and x86 platforms. This release also include a public pre-release of Microsoft Cross-Platform Audio Creation tool and Managed Direct Code for Beta 2 (2.0 CLR).
Microsoft.Ink.dll CLR2.0 Update – KB900722 — ompatibility issues (events not firing, classes being disfunctional) with CLR2.0 have been found in Windows XP SP1/SP2 versions of Microsoft.Ink.dll on Tablet PCs. Because this DLL is a system file on these configurations, they require update through Windows Update.
Update for Windows Embedded for Point of Service – KB903089 — This update resolves an issue where IIS's FTP functionality is not functioning properly on Windows Embedded for Point of Service.
Cheers!
Microsoft Office Business Scorecard Manager 2005 Sales White Paper — White Paper: "Use Scorecards and Dashboards to Measure, Monitor, and Drive Agile and Responsive Sales Performance" (Business_Scorecard_Manager_Sales_WP.doc) This white paper examines how an advanced scorecarding solution can help overcome the common challenges faced by many sales organizations.
Microsoft Office Business Scorecard Manager 2005 CFO White Paper — White Paper: "Achieving Compliance and Strategy Execution Using Microsoft Office Business Scorecard Manager 2005" (Business_Scorecard_Manager_CFO_WP.doc) Intended for CFOs, this white paper explains how Business Scorecard Manager can enhance visibility and compliance while helping companies align tactics with strategy to achieve substantial business performance improvements.
Microsoft Office Business Scorecard Manager 2005 Documentation — The downloads on this page include documentation that provides information about features of the product and how to use it. Business Scorecard Manager 2005 documentation includes the following:
- Microsoft Office Business Scorecard Manager 2005 ReadMe (ReadMe.htm) The ReadMe contains important information that was not available when the documentation for the product was written. Workarounds are provided for known issues.
- Business Scorecard Manager Server Planning and Administration Guide (AdminGuide.exe) The Planning and Administration Guide contains information that system administrators use to install, configure and manage a Business Scorecard Manager server deployment.
- Business Scorecard Builder Help Documentation (Builder_Help.exe) The Business Scorecard Builder Help includes conceptual and procedural information for users who create scorecards in the Business Scorecard Builder application.
- Business Scorecard Manager API Reference (ScoreCardAPI.exe) The Application Programming Interface (API) reference is a complete reference to the Business Scorecard Manager 2005 API for developers.
- SharePoint Web Part Help (Views_Help.exe) The SharePoint Web Part Help is written for end users who use Business Scorecard Manager scorecards and reports on a SharePoint site.
Update for Windows 2000 – KB820608 — Install this update to resolve an issue in Windows 2000 that restricts the functionality of the Exchange Best Practices Analyzer (ExBpa) tool. This tool is used to diagnose issues in an Exchange environment. After you install this item, you may have to restart your computer. Once you have installed this item, it cannot be removed.
Microsoft Enterprise Services — Today’s IT world is heterogeneous. Even organizations that attempt to standardize on a single platform discover that they must interact with outside organizations that use disparate platforms. When building enterprise applications, organizations must take into account the various technologies with which they must interoperate. This may mean working with an entirely different hardware and operating system platform or working with multiple database engines. It may also mean the need to send messages from one platform to another.
baseline BIS TCO Assessment – v3 — Give your customers a FREE, full-featured TCO assessment! The Baseline BIS TCO Assessment analyzes a customer's actual IT costs and helps you to measure the ROI of migrating to Windows Server 2003 and Exchange Server 2003 from NT4, NetWare, Exchange 5.5, and GroupWise. It will only take you about 1 hour to gather information about their IT environment for the tool. The Online Training and a Brand New Project Guide are also available – Training is HIGHLY recommended. This tool is focused on the 50-500 Desktop customer (up to 1000 employees). It is designed to be completed and delivered by a Partner, not the end customer.
Microsoft Content Management Server FAQ — This is a collection of questions and answers about Microsoft® Content Management Server (MCMS) gathered from the MCMS newsgroup. This content is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights. If you have feedback about one of these topics or would like to add information, please post your comments to the MCMS newsgroup.
Windows SharePoint Servces language Template Pack SP2 — Windows SharePoint Services Language Template Pack Service Pack 2 (SP2) ensures that Windows SharePoint Services performs with complete functionality when you use a Language Template Pack. This is the first service pack for Windows SharePoint Services Language Template Pack. Service Pack 2 adds support for Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 and for x64-compatible 64-bit processors. Version 2 of this download adds support for the Hindi locale.
Office 2003 Add-in: OUtlook Calendar Views — The Microsoft Office Outlook 2003 Calendar Views Add-in makes it easy for you to view your Outlook Calendar appointments through a filter that is based on Outlook labels and categories. For example, you can create a view that shows you only the appointments on your calendar that are labeled Must Attend, or are categorized as Important.
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Deployment of IEEE 802.1x for Wired Networks Using Microsoft Windows — This article describes how to deploy IEEE 802.1X authentication for wired networks using authenticating switches, wired client computers running Microsoft Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, or Windows 2000, and a wired authentication infrastructure consisting of Windows Server 2003 or Windows 2000 Active Directory directory service domain controllers, certification authorities, and Internet Authentication Service servers.
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Introduction to Windows Small Business Server for Enterprise IT Pros — f you are an Enterprise IT Pro who is installing or supporting Windows SBS 2003 for the first time or who just wants to know more about it, this paper is for you!
This paper begins with a brief survey of the Windows SBS 2003 design philosophy. It then continues with the Top 10 must-know facts that Enterprise IT Pros unfamiliar with Windows SBS often miss, it highlights the Top 10 cool features of Windows SBS, and then it concludes with a quick look at some of the standard scenarios that you’re likely to find in many Windows SBS installations.
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SQl Server Migration Assistant for Oracle v2.0 Beta — SQL Server Migration Assistant (SSMA) is a complete suite of tools that dramatically cuts the effort, cost, and risk of migrating from Oracle to SQL Server. SSMA automates almost every aspect of the migration process including assessment, schema and data migration, business logic conversion, and validation. Companies such as Motorola and Simon & Schuster have used SSMA to migrate their business-critical databases quickly, easily and accurately.
With SSMA, IT organizations now have the freedom to move to SQL Server and take advantage of SQL Server's exceptional security, scalability, developer productivity, and the industry’s lowest total cost of ownership.
Cheers!
MOM 2005 Service Pack 1 Installation Guide — Microsoft Operations Manager (MOM) 2005 with Service Pack 1 (SP1) offers the latest security enhancements and features. This Service Pack applies to Microsoft Operations Manager 2005 and Microsoft Operations Manager 2005 Workgroup Edition.
SMS 2003 SP1 Hotfix: When a computer name of an SMS 2003 SP1 Advanced Client is changed, a resync or a full inventory is submitted — KB903933 — If the computer name of a Microsoft Systems Management Server (SMS) 2003 SP1 Advanced Client is changed, the delta hardware inventory that is created following the rename will be rejected. This causes a resync, or a full inventory to be submitted.
Additionally, all inventory history for the previous computer name will be removed from the SMS site database. Note Current inventory information for the new computer name is retained. Only the inventory history is removed.
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System Center Capacity Planner 2006 (Beta Refresh) — Microsoft System Center Capacity Planner 2006 (BETA Refresh) delivers state of the art easy-to-use modeling technology to bring unprecedented functionality and flexibility to the process of performance analysis and planning of system deployments of Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 and Operations Manager 2005. Microsoft System Center Capacity Planner 2006 (BETA Refresh) provides the IT professional with the tools and guidance required to architect a deployment in the most efficient manner, while facilitating future planning by allowing for "what-if" analysis.
Windows SharePoint Services Administrator’s Guide — This guide is a compiled Help file and opens HTML Help.
Windows SharePoint Services 2.0 Language Template Pack — Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services helps your team share and manage information and documents in a Web site. Language packs allow the creation of Web sites in different languages; multiple language packs can be installed on the same server.
With this language template pack you can create Web sites in languages other than the default language selected at installation. Note You do not need to download a language pack for the language you selected at installation.
Microsoft Offfice Business Scorecard Manager 2005 Docs — The downloads on this page include documentation that provides information about features of the product and how to use it. Business Scorecard Manager 2005 documentation includes the following:
- Microsoft Office Business Scorecard Manager 2005 ReadMe (ReadMe.htm) The ReadMe contains important information that was not available when the documentation for the product was written. Workarounds are provided for known issues.
- Business Scorecard Manager Server Planning and Administration Guide (AdminGuide.exe) The Planning and Administration Guide contains information that system administrators use to install, configure and manage a Business Scorecard Manager server deployment.
- Business Scorecard Builder Help Documentation (Builder_Help.exe) The Business Scorecard Builder Help includes conceptual and procedural information for users who create scorecards in the Business Scorecard Builder application.
- Business Scorecard Manager API Reference (ScoreCardAPI.exe) The Application Programming Interface (API) reference is a complete reference to the Business Scorecard Manager 2005 API for developers.
- SharePoint Web Part Help (Views_Help.exe) The SharePoint Web Part Help is written for end users who use Business Scorecard Manager scorecards and reports on a SharePoint site.
Update for Windows 2000 – KB904368 — Install this update to resolve an issue in which Microsoft Office programs may stop responding when you try to save new files to a floppy disk drive after installing Update Rollup 1 for Windows 2000 Service Pack 4. After you install this update, you may have to restart your computer.
Cheers!
Update for Windows XP – KB904412 — Install this update to address several possible issues associated with connecting a Serial Bus Protocol 2 (SBP-2) device, such as an IEEE 1394 device, to a Microsoft Windows XP Service Pack 2-based computer. After you install this item, you may have to restart your computer.
Update for Windows XP – KB906569 — Install this update to add a Tools tab to the System Configuration Utility (msconfig.exe). The Tools tab will allow further diagnostic tools to be launched from within the System Configuration Utility. After you install this item, you may have to restart your computer.
Windows XP Language Interface Pack — Microsoft Windows XP Language Interface Pack (LIP) is a high-quality, localized "skin" for emerging or minority language markets, such as Catalan, Lithuanian, and Thai. Based on MUI technology, LIP provides the desktop user with an approximately 80% localized user experience by translating a reduced set of user interface elements. LIP is installed on a licensed copy of Windows and a fixed base language.
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Live Meeting 2005 Windows Based Meeting Standalone Installer — The Microsoft® Office Live Meeting Windows-based Meeting Console Standalone Installer allows organizations to manually install the Live Meeting console for computers that are running the Microsoft Windows® operating system. The Standalone Installer provides an alternative to the default autoinstaller, which may not work in certain locked-down desktop environments.
Live Meeting 2005 Windows Based Meeting Console Standalone Installer – All Languages — The Microsoft® Office Live Meeting Windows-based Meeting Console Standalone Installer - All Languages allows organizations to manually install the Live Meeting console for computers that are running the Microsoft Windows® operating system. The Standalone Installer provides an alternative to the default autoinstaller, which may not work in certain locked-down desktop environments.
This version of the installer includes the resources for all the supported languages (Chinese - Simplified, Chinese - Traditional, English, French, German, Japanese, Korean, Spanish). For IT managers who need to deploy the console for various languages, it offers the convenience of only having to manage one file.
Live Meeting 2005 Windows Based Meeting Consoles — The Microsoft Office Live Meeting Windows-based Meeting Console Standalone Installer allows organizations the option to manually install the Live Meeting console for computers that are running the Microsoft Windows operating system.
Cheers!
New Video & Audio based information for developers is located at these links:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/msdntv/archive.aspx
http://channel9.msdn.com/ShowForum.aspx?ForumID=14
http://msdn.microsoft.com/theshow/
http://msdn.microsoft.com/dotnetrocks/
Channel 9 MSDN Videos — October 3, 2005 — Channel 9 talks with a bunch of teams and gets a tour of the Computer History Museum.
Hotfixes, Patches, Updates, Service Packs —
Windows CE 5.0 Platform Builder Update – KB904259 — Fixes made in this update:
Component: GDI
Description: This update addresses the issue of Font linking via AddFontResource not working correctly.
Windows CE 5.0 Platform Builder Update – KB904258 — Fixes made in this update:
Component: FATFS
Description: An error may occur when flushing to a file.
Windows CE 5.0 Platform Builder Update – KB904524 — Fixes made in this update:
Component: Regcomp.exe
Description: DCOM may not work correctly with hive base registry.
Windows CE .NET 4.2 Platform Builder Update – KB9044241 — Fixes made in this update:
Component: DirectX
Description: This update addresses some thread synchronization issues.
Visual FoxPro 9.0 SP1 Beta — Download Service Pack 1 public beta for Microsoft Visual FoxPro 9.0. There is no expiration date for the SP1 beta of Visual FoxPro 9.0 beta, and release of the final version of SP1 is scheduled for sometime around the end of 2005. Because this is a pre-release build of SP1 for Visual FoxPro (VFP) 9.0, the quality of it will not be of the same caliber as that of the final release.
Presentations —
Advances in Creating Tablet Enabled Applications — Learn how ink integrates into the Windows Presentation Foundation (formerly codename "Avalon") and what the new and improved recognition APIs can do. When using the Windows Presentation Foundation, the stylus is a premier input device adjacent to the keyboard and mouse, ink is a core data type, and several ink controls are built in. The ink analysis API unifies layout analysis (e.g., distinction of drawing, words, paragraphs, etc.) and ink to text recognition under a single API, in addition to improvements in accuracy and supported structures (e.g., bulleted lists and call outs). The combination of these advances and the expansion into touch digitizers enables new scenarios.
Developing Power-Aware Applications — Learn how to take advantage of the updates to the power APIs, the new sleep/wake states and other improvements in Windows Vista to ride the wave of mobile PC computing. In this session, we cover power management best practices, including how to integrate your application with system power policy and behaviors. We show you how to register for and properly respond to common power management events, such as monitor on/off and user presence.
Auxilliary Devices: Reaching Your Users When Their Machine is Off — Auxiliary Display is new to Windows Vista and provides users quick access to data even when their PC is turned off. It targets many classes of devices including laptop lid displays, front panel displays and connected devices. A set of APIs are provided that allow applications to easily send data to Auxiliary Display devices. This session demonstrates the basics of creating an application that sends data to auxiliary displays using these APIs and tools available in the Windows Vista Platform SDK.
Anywhere Access to Data — Explore strategies for accessing data on the Windows Mobile platform when users are sometimes connected and sometimes not including strategies for synchronizing, caching, and other important behaviors.
Centralizing Data Synchronizationwith the bew Sync Center — This session focuses on Microsoft's plans around data synchronization. The new Sync Center in Windows Vista will become the hub for all data synchronization between the PC and applications, services, devices and other computers. We take a closer look at the development framework as well as the end user experience that Sync Center helps create.
Hands On Labs —
Hands on Lab: Building Energy Smart Applications (C#, Windows Vista) — You will learn to tell when the computer suspends and then resumes activity. The lab introduces how Windows Vista provides power management notification messages and how you can use those notifications. Finally, you will explore the new power plan features in Windows Vista. The lab will explain how your application should take advantage of the active power plan.
Hands On Lab: Getting Started with the Tablet PC Platform (C#, Windows Vista) — The first objective is to introduce you to the features and benefits of Tablet PC's and to describe the benefits of developing applications for Tablet PC form factor. The second objective is to introduce basic concepts of working with the Tablet PC platform.
Hands on Lab: Getting Started with the Tablet PC (VB, Windows Vista) — The first objective is to introduce you to the features and benefits of Tablet PC's and to describe the benefits of developing applications for Tablet PC form factor. The second objective is to introduce basic concepts of working with the Tablet PC platform.
Hands On Lab: RalTimeStylus (C#, Windows Vista) — The objective of this lab is to familiarize you with using the Tablet PC RealTimeStylus (RTS) APIs. To do so, you will create a pair of RTS plug-ins. The first plug-in is a packet filtering plug-in that demonstrates packet modification by constraining all (x,y) packet data within a rectangular area. The second plug-in is a simple custom dynamic renderer plug-in that renders stylus input by drawing a small circle around each (x,y) point. You will then use your plug-ins in a sample application that is provided for you.
Tools and Apps —
Web Services Enhancements 3.0 October CTP for Microsoft .NET — WSE 3.0 simplifies the development and deployment of secure Web services. It enables developers and administrators to apply security policies to Web services running on the .NET Framework 2.0. Using WSE, Web services communication can be signed and encrypted using Kerberos tickets, X.509 certificates and other custom binary and XML-based security tokens. In addition username/password credentials can be used for authentication purposes. An enhanced security model provides a policy-driven foundation for securing Web services. WSE also supports the ability to establish a trust-issuing service for retrieval and validation of security tokens, as well as the ability to establish more efficient long-running secure communication via secure conversations.
Web Services Enhancements 3.0 October CTP for Microsoft .NET Redistributable Runtime MSI — This is the redistributable package for WSE 3.0. For an overview of WSE 3.0 see the Web Services Enhancements page.
DirectX 9.0 SDK (October 2005) — This DirectX SDK release contains updates to tools, utilities, samples, Documentation, and runtime debug files for x64 and x86 platforms. This release also include a public pre-release of Microsoft Cross-Platform Audio Creation tool and Managed Direct Code for Beta 2 (2.0 CLR).
DirectX 9.0c Redistributable (October 2005) – Multilingual — This download provides the DirectX 9.0c end-user multi-languaged redistributable that developers can include with their product. The redistributable license agreement covers the terms under which developers may use the Redistributable. For full details please review the DirectX SDK EULA.txt and DirectX Redist.txt files located in the license directory.
This package is localized into Chinese (Simplified), Chinese (Traditional), Czech, Dutch, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Polish, Portuguese (Brazil), Russian, Spanish, Swedish, and English.
DirectX 9.0 SDK (October 2005) Symbol Files — This download contains all the symbol files for the DirectX 9.0c release for Windows 98, Windows ME, Windows 2000, Windows XP, and Windows Server 2003. The Windows XP Service Pack 2 symbol files are located in the Platform SDK.
InkListBox Control — InkListBox is a custom control for managed Windows Forms application running on a Tablet PC. The control extends the ListBox class with ink functionality. The control provides pen-enabled navigation, including navigation through gestures as well as ink input for navigation through long lists. The download includes sample code, written in C#.
SQL Server Migration Assistant for Oracle v2.0 Beta — SQL Server Migration Assistant (SSMA) is a complete suite of tools that dramatically cuts the effort, cost, and risk of migrating from Oracle to SQL Server. SSMA automates almost every aspect of the migration process including assessment, schema and data migration, business logic conversion, and validation. Companies such as Motorola and Simon & Schuster have used SSMA to migrate their business-critical databases quickly, easily and accurately.
Sample Code Generator 1.4.2.0 — The Sample Code Generator (XSDObjectGen) tool takes an XSD schema as input and generates sample code showing how to mark up C# and VB.Net classes so that when serialized with the XML serializer, the resulting XML will be valid according to the original schema.
Windows “Monad” Shell Beta 2 Documentation Pack — The documents included are:
- The "Getting Started" guide, an 80-page introduction to using the shell and the MSH language supported by the Windows "Monad" Shell (GettingStarted.doc).
- A single-page summary of the MSH language, formatted as a tri-fold (LanguageQuickReferenceTriFold.doc).
- A quick-start guide to tracing in the Windows "Monad" Shell (TracingQuickStart.doc).
- The three Hands-On Labs from the 2005 Professional Developers Conference: "Monad Scripting" (MonadScripting-HandsOnLab.doc), "Building Monad Cmdlets" (BuildingMonadCmdlets-HandsOnLab.doc) and "Creating Monad Providers" (CreatingMonadProviders-HandsOnLab.doc).
Project 2003 Tool: Scrum Solution Starter — Scrum is an Agile project management practice that employs short iterations and continuous improvement. The Scrum solution starter extends Microsoft Office Project Professional 2003 or Project Standard 2003 and enables project managers to perform basic Scrum work. The Scrum solution starter includes a Project template that is set up for a product backlog or a sprint backlog, and a COM add-in that exports the project data to Microsoft Office Excel and generates burn-down graphs and cumulative flow diagrams.
ILMerge — ILMerge is a utility that can be used to merge multiple .NET assemblies into a single assembly. ILMerge takes a set of input assemblies and merges them into one target assembly. The first assembly in the list of input assemblies is the primary assembly. When the primary assembly is an executable, then the target assembly is created as an executable with the same entry point as the primary assembly. Also, if the primary assembly has a strong name, and a .snk file is provided, then the target assembly is re-signed with the specified key so that it also has a strong name.
Cheers!
There is a new Windows XP Security Guide available for download here…
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I have been traveling….I have had countless con-calls….I have been in meetings….and when I have not been doing work related stuff I have been trying NOT to think about work. Thus, the inactivity on my blog.
I needed a little off time from blogging to decompress and set some priorities. We had a team meeting this past week which allowed me to vent a few frustrations, get some direction from my management and team members, and let off a little steam. It was good for me and I hope good for our team.
I have three things I am focusing on the next 1–2 months:
The next iteration of the Technet Resource DVD
The upcoming “Best of…. SQL!” events
The SQL 2005 Launch on December 6th
Technet Resource DVD – This is a DVD that gets handed out at our live events across the country. It is also available at trade shows and will be available at your local SQL Launch events. The DVD has a large number of resources to help the ITPro with everyday activities. It includes, whitepapers, technical specifications, webcasts, slides and demo shorts of the delivered presentations and much more.
Best Of….SQL! Events – Leading up to the SQL Launch we are delivering free technical sessions that were developed from some of the best SQL sessions we have run in the previous few months. You can check for where the events are in your part of the US here.
SQL 2005 Launch – For the SoCal area, we are on for December 6th at the Anaheim Convention Center. Don’t forget to Register online and show up at the event to get your free software!!!
Let me add a 4th area of focus as well….blogging….I am brainstorming with friends, acquaintances, co-workers on how to make our team blogs the #1 source of information for ITPros across the world. While this will be a learn as I go process, I want to assure you that I am doing everything I can to make this a valuable resource for you.
Any suggestions you have please send to me at chrisavi@microsoft.com !!
Cheers!
Whew! I am still travelling for another week and then I get some much needed downtime where I will be back in the swing and more active with my blogging again. Look for a few changes at the site in about two weeks!
Cheers!
…I am everywhere…..
I like to travel. Be it personal or work related I normally enjoy it. But I am burning out. I have done quite a bit of cross time zone travel the past month or two and it has worn me down. I am in Anchorage this week. Home on Friday. A week later I hit the East coast with my fiance to attend her mother’s wedding. On the way back I stop in Dallas for a week for a team meeting. Then I get a break…..no more cross time zone travel for about 6 weeks. It will be a working vacation of sorts where I get to spend some much needed home time with my bride to be, catch up on housework, and start blogging regularly again.
I have also given additional thought to how I blog and what I blog about. It isn’t like I want to be Scoble but I would like to increae readership with something valuable. I have been tossing around some media casting ideas with a couple of other co-workers which may come to fruition here in a couple weeks when my travel dies off. I am also going to do some regular posting around Group Policy and ISA. I will likely narrow my categories a little so if you have subscribed to any of the category feeds, please watch them over the next two weeks to see what if any changes I make.
More later…..
Cheers!
Windows Server Update Services Operations Guide — Comprehensive guidance on the major tasks involved in administering and troubleshooting Microsoft Windows Server Update Services (WSUS), including synchronization and managing computers and computer groups, as well as viewing, approving, testing, and storing updates, and running reports.
Cheers!
New Video & Audio based information for developers is located at these links:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/msdntv/archive.aspx
http://channel9.msdn.com/ShowForum.aspx?ForumID=14
http://msdn.microsoft.com/theshow/
http://msdn.microsoft.com/dotnetrocks/
Visual Studio 2005 Team System Foundation Installation Guide — were made to the guide since shipping.
Note: On computers with security update 896358 installed, downloaded Compiled Help Module (CHM) files cannot be opened. For more information, see KB902225.
Windows CE 5.0 Platform Builder Update – KB904253 — Fixes made in this update:
Component: Integration
Description: This update allows Platform Builder 5.0 to interpret a debug symbol format in PDB files that is also used by Visual Studio tools.
Windows CE 5.0 Platform Builder Update – KB898069 — Fixes made in this update:
Component: TimeSVC
Description: A leak may occur when DST notification gets added into the notification database when the device is soft booted.
Office Small Business Accounting 2006 SDK 1.3 — The Microsoft Office Small Business Accounting Software Development Kit (SDK) includes everything developers need to write, build, and deploy Microsoft Small Business Accounting integrated applications – documentation and samples.
Cheers!
Windows Sharepoint Services Admin Guide — This version of the Administrator's Guide includes updates for Windows SharePoint Services Service Pack 2 (SP2). The following topics are new:
- What's New in Windows SharePoint Services Service Pack 2
- Allowing Web Applications to Coexist with Windows SharePoint Services
- Preparing Front-End Web Servers for Windows SharePoint Services
Update for Windows XP x64 Edition – KB907865 — Install this update to address multiple issues in the IPSec Policy Agent. The IPSec Policy Agent (IPsecsvc.dll) manages Internet Protocol security policy. After you install this item, you may have to restart your computer.
Update for Windows XP – KB907865 — Install this update to address multiple issues in the IPSec Policy Agent. The IPSec Policy Agent (IPsecsvc.dll) manages Internet Protocol security policy. After you install this item, you may have to restart your computer.
Update for Windows Server 2003 64–bit Itanium – KB907865 — Install this update to address multiple issues in the IPSec Policy Agent. The IPSec Policy Agent (IPsecsvc.dll) manages Internet Protocol security policy. After you install this item, you may have to restart your computer.
Update for Windows Server 2003 – KB907865 — Install this update to address multiple issues in the IPSec Policy Agent. The IPSec Policy Agent (IPsecsvc.dll) manages Internet Protocol security policy. After you install this item, you may have to restart your computer.
Update for Windows Server 2003 x64 Edition – KB907865 — Install this update to address multiple issues in the IPSec Policy Agent. The IPSec Policy Agent (IPsecsvc.dll) manages Internet Protocol security policy. After you install this item, you may have to restart your computer.
MSN Messenger 7.5 for Windows — Chat online, in real time, with friends, family, and colleagues. It's faster than e-mail, more discreet than a phone call, and best of all – it's free! MSN Messenger is more than just text, it’s a great way to collaborate with co-workers or touch base with family and friends. You can even send an instant message to a contact’s mobile phone. Customization features help you personalize your chats and make your connections even more meaningful.
Active Directory Migration Tool v3.0 — The Active Directory Migration Tool version 3 (ADMT v3) simplifies the process of restructuring your operating environment to meet the needs of your organization. You can use ADMT v3 to migrate users, groups, and computers from Microsoft® Windows NT® 4.0 domains to Active Directory® directory service domains; between Active Directory domains in different forests (interforest migration); and between Active Directory domains in the same forest (intraforest migration). ADMT v3 also performs security translation from Windows NT 4.0 domains to Active Directory domains and between Active Directory domains in different forests.
Microsoft Application Compatability Toolkit v4.1 — The Microsoft Application Compatibility Toolkit (ACT) for Windows XP, including Service Pack 2, and Windows Server 2003 contains the tools and documentation you need to evaluate and mitigate application compatibility issues before deploying on these platforms. Tools include the latest versions of the Microsoft Application Analyzer that simplifies application inventory and compatibility reporting, the Internet Explorer Compatibility Evaluator that assists testers in locating compatibility issues with Internet Explorer on Windows XP Service Pack 2, and the Compatibility Administrator that provides access to the necessary compatibility fixes to support legacy applications in Windows.
Windows Sharepoint Services with SP2 — Windows SharePoint Services with Service Pack 2 is the Windows Server 2003 component that helps organizations increase individual and team productivity by enabling them to create Web sites for information sharing and document collaboration.
Important This download is an updated version of Windows SharePoint Services and contains all updates included in Windows SharePoint Services Service Pack 2 (SP2). After installing this software you do not need to install the SP2 update. If you previously installed Windows SharePoint Services and only need SP2, you can download Windows SharePoint Services SP2 separately.
Overview: Windows Sharepoint Services 2.0 SP2 Beta in Windows 2003 R2 — This document details the new features available in Windows SharePoint Services 2.0 SP2 beta, which is part of Windows Server 2003 R2. This version of Windows SharePoint Services 2.0 SP2 is available in Windows Server 2003 R2 Beta2, RC0, RC1 and RTM. The document describes how to configure and test the new features, as well as any workarounds which are required to enable them.
Windows Sharepoint Services SP2 — Windows SharePoint Services Service Pack 2 (SP2) contains stability and performance improvements. Some of the fixes included with SP2 have been previously released as separate updates. This service pack combines them into one update.
This service pack includes updates previously released for Windows SharePoint Services:
Office Communicator 2005 Planning and Deployment Guide — This document defines an important point in the evolution of instant messaging at Microsoft. Microsoft views instant messaging and presence as critical pillars in enabling new customer business experiences. This document guides you through the steps in evaluating and deploying Communicator 2005.
Data Protection Manager 2006 Operations Guide — Microsoft System Center Data Protection Manager 2006 (DPM) is a server software application that enables disk-based data protection and recovery for file servers in your network. The DPM Operations Guide includes recommendations for monitoring and managing DPM operations. The guide also provides instructions for troubleshooting issues with data protection and recovery.
Data Protection Manager 2006 Planning and Deployment Guide — This guide provides an introduction to Microsoft System Center Data Protection Manager 2006 (DPM), specifies requirements and recommendations for preparing the deployment environment, and offers strategies for setting up data protection. The guide also provides step-by-step instructions for installing and configuring DPM, and includes an introduction to the DPM user interface.
Cheers!
I am delivering a webcast next Wednesday on AD Remote Admin. We will talk about remote deployments of AD, using WMI for remote admin, as well as a variety of tools from the resource kit and some that are shipped on the Windows 2003 media.
Cheers!
Security Fix for DirectX 8 — DirectX consists of a set of low-level Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) used by Windows programs for multimedia support. Within DirectX, the DirectShow technology performs client-side audio and video sourcing, manipulation and rendering.
There are two buffer overruns with identical effects in the function used by DirectShow to check parameters in a Musical Instrument Digital Interface (MIDI) file. A security vulnerability results because it would be possible for a malicious user to attempt to exploit these flaws and execute code in the security context of the logged on user.
Internet Explorer 6 Spervice Pack 1 — Internet Explorer 6 SP1, the latest version of Internet Explorer for users not running Windows XP, provides a flexible and reliable browsing experience with enhanced Web privacy features for all Windows users. This version includes a full installation of the Web browser and the most recent version of Outlook Express, the e-mail client that is included with Internet Explorer.
Anti-phishing White Paper — The focus of this white paper is to describe the basic workings of a new capability, the Microsoft® Phishing Filter, which will be included in the upcoming release of Internet Explorer 7, and as an add-in to the MSN Search Toolbar. The Microsoft Phishing Filter will not only help provide consumers with a dynamic system of warning and protection against potential phishing attacks, but — more important — it will also benefit legitimate ISPs and Web commerce site developers that want to try to ensure that their brands are not being “spoofed” to propagate scams and that their legitimate outreach to customers is not confusing or misinterpreted by filtering software.
Mobile Vista Inrtroduction — Mobile Vista Introduction
Microsoft Identity and Access Management Series — The overview describes the series, how it is structured and provides information about the following:
- How to access the Tools and Templates
- Style conventions in the papers
- Consulting services and system integrators
- Independent hardware and software vendors
Setting up IPSec Domain and Server Isolation in a Test Lab — The objective of setting up domain isolation in a test lab is to configure a test lab network in which isolated domain member computers accept only authenticated communications initiated from other domain member computers, while ignoring communications initiated from non-isolated computers outside the isolated domain. The objective of setting up group-specific server isolation in a test lab is to configure a test lab network in which a server computer accepts only authenticated communications initiated from domain member computers that are members of a specific security group, while ignoring communications initiated from non-isolated computers outside the isolated domain and isolated computers that are not members of a specific security group.
Multilingual Interface Package for Windows Messenger 5.1 — For Windows XP Multilingual User Interface users, the Multilingual UI Pack for Windows Messenger 5.1 is available from this page. Windows Messenger allows real-time communication with other contacts who are using instant messaging (IM) services including those provided by the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) as offered by Microsoft Office Live Communications Server. Windows Messenger also provides connectivity to the Microsoft .NET Messenger service and is the IM client of choice for businesses in managed environments.
Federated Identity and Access Resource Kit for Sept 2005 CTP — Microsoft Federated Identity and Access Resource Kit Sept 2005 Community Technology Preview includes samples of Security Token Services and step by step instructions on how to build WCF applications/services that integrate with "InfoCard".
Microsoft Shared Computer Toolkit for Windows XP — The Microsoft Shared Computer Toolkit for Windows XP provides a simple and effective way to defend shared computers from untrusted users and malicious software, safeguard system resources, and enhance and simplify the user experience. The Toolkit runs on genuine copies of Windows XP Professional, Windows XP Home Edition, and Windows XP Tablet PC Edition.
Cheers!
New Video & Audio based information for developers is located at these links:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/msdntv/archive.aspx
http://channel9.msdn.com/ShowForum.aspx?ForumID=14
http://msdn.microsoft.com/theshow/
http://msdn.microsoft.com/dotnetrocks/
Channel 9 MSDN Videos – September 19th, 2005 — Channel 9 talks with a bunch of teams. Hotmail, MSN, Watson, Aux Displays, VB, Crypto
Visual FoxPro 9.0 SP1 (Beta) — Download Service Pack 1 public beta for Microsoft Visual FoxPro 9.0. There is no expiration date for the SP1 beta of Visual FoxPro 9.0 beta, and release of the final version of SP1 is scheduled for sometime around the end of 2005. Because this is a pre-release build of SP1 for Visual FoxPro (VFP) 9.0, the quality of it will not be of the same caliber as that of the final release.
Live Meeting 2005 Web Parts — The Live Meeting 2005 Web Parts integrate Live Meeting with Windows SharePoint Services and SharePoint Portal Server to aggregate information together within a single portal so that teams can interact more effectively.
By integrating with Live Meeting Portal, users can seamlessly view their upcoming Live Meetings or recently made recordings without having to log-in or remember any passwords. Not only do the web parts provide a view into Live Meeting from SharePoint, but they also allow a user to conveniently publish meetings and recording into a shared event calendar, so that team members can interact more effectively by having everything in one place.
Live Meeting 2005 Document: Live Meeting Web Parts Administrator’s Guide — The Live Meeting Web Parts Administrator's Guide provides information to help administrators install, configure, and troubleshoot the Live Meeting Web Parts.
The Live Meeting Web Parts make it possible for users of Windows SharePoint Services or SharePoint Portal Server to seamlessly view their upcoming Live Meetings or recent recordings without having to log in or remember any passwords.
In addition to providing a view into Live Meeting from SharePoint, the Web Parts also allow a user to conveniently publish meetings and recordings into a shared event calendar, so that team members can interact more effectively by being able to access everything from a single portal.
Media Transfer Protocol Enhanced Specification — This specification is intended to define the transport-independent portion of MTP in a way that is agnostic to both device type and OS. Additional specification on how this protocol is defined over a particular transport is required to fully implement this protocol, and will be provided either in an appendix or in a separate document. Certain operating systems or device classes may require a particular subset of MTP to enable their minimal scenarios; it is strongly suggested that implementers investigate the intended usage scenarios to determine if any such requirements exist.
Office “12” XML Schema Reference – PDC 2005 Preview — This download contains DRAFT documentation for XML schemas used in Microsoft Office "12" including Microsoft Office "12" Word, Microsoft Office "12" Excel® and Microsoft Office "12" PowerPoint® schemas.
Microsoft Application Compatibility Toolkit — The Microsoft Application Compatibility Toolkit (ACT) for Windows XP, including Service Pack 2, and Windows Server 2003 contains the tools and documentation you need to evaluate and mitigate application compatibility issues before deploying on these platforms. Tools include the latest versions of the Microsoft Application Analyzer that simplifies application inventory and compatibility reporting, the Internet Explorer Compatibility Evaluator that assists testers in locating compatibility issues with Internet Explorer on Windows XP Service Pack 2, and the Compatibility Administrator that provides access to the necessary compatibility fixes to support legacy applications in Windows.
IronPython 0.9.2 — IronPython is the codename for an alpha release of the Python programming language for the .NET platform.
It supports an interactive interpreter with fully dynamic compilation. It is well integrated with the rest of the framework and makes all .NET libraries easily available to Python programmers.
Windows CE .NET 4.2 Platform Builder Update (KB908073) — Fixes made in this update:
Component: Core GWES
Description: Multiple calls to SendMessageTimeout may cause an exception.
Systems management Server 2003 SP1 Advanced Client for Windows XP Embedded — With the SMS 2003 SP1 Advanced Client for Windows XP Embedded, you can use SMS 2003 to manage hardware devices that are running the Windows XP Embedded operating system. These devices include, but are not restricted to, point of sale (POS) terminals, automated teller machines (ATMs) and Windows-based thin clients.
Microsoft Character Code Conversion Routines for HKSCS-2004 — The Microsoft Character Code Conversion Routines for HKSCS-2004 contains two conversion/trans-coding functions. Use the functions to write applications to transform, trans-code, and migrate HKSCS character data encoded with old encodings to character data with new Unicode 4.1 encodings.
ISV Chalk Talk — IIS 7.0 with Chris Adams — A technical discussion at PDC 2005 on what’s new in the upcoming IIS 7.0
ISV Chalk Talk — Team System Training — A discussion with a Microsoft partner on Visual Studio Team System Training options
ISV Chalk Talk — Shanku discusses Microsoft Atlas — Shanku discusses the new Microsoft Atlas tools and technologies
ISV Chalk Talk — Partnering with Microsoft with Rob Bernard — A discussion with the GM of the Microsoft Global ISV partnering group
Media Transfer Protocol Porting Kit — MTP was first shipped as part of the Windows Media Device Manager 10 SDK. This porting kit includes the complete MTP specification, updated design documentation, updated sample source code, software to implement a PC-based MTP simulator, and MTP test tools.
ILMerge — ILMerge is a utility that can be used to merge multiple .NET assemblies into a single assembly. ILMerge takes a set of input assemblies and merges them into one target assembly. The first assembly in the list of input assemblies is the primary assembly. When the primary assembly is an executable, then the target assembly is created as an executable with the same entry point as the primary assembly. Also, if the primary assembly has a strong name, and a .snk file is provided, then the target assembly is re-signed with the specified key so that it also has a strong name.
ASP.NET Technical Overview — This paper will provide a technical overview of ASP.NET, including a discussion in greater detail of how ASP.NET delivers value to developers, administrators, and users today: Along the way the paper will also describe:
• how ASP.NET fits into existing, heterogeneous enterprise environments
• the innovative control-based ASP.NET model that powers the productivity boost
• how ASP.NET makes web services easy
• and finally, how the next version of ASP.NET will advance the state of the art even further
Cheers!
TechMemeorandum links to an interesting article at A List Apart on a new CSS spec that allows for the easy implementation of columnized text. I am NOT a web designer, but have certainly felt the pain of trying to get text formatted properly in browsers. *Amazing* it has taken 10 years to do something that newspapers figured out a centrury ago!
Cheers!
You would think i would have gotten enough SQL in the past few months. I am attending the SQL PASS Conference in Grapevine, Tx this week. Nice to be back home for a week, get some more SQL training and see some friends and family……
Will provide reports on the conference as days go on…..
Now…..I need to find the closet Pancho’s and a Schlotsky’s!
Cheers!
For the 20+ in attendance at last night San Diego NPA session….thank you!
Here are the slides from the session. In the slides are links to some of the items discussed. Please let me know if there is a link missing or if you need more info.
Some great questions emailed to me (during the session!) –
Can the dictionary used by OWA be updated/swapped/modifed?
No. At least not a method that Microsoft provides or supports. However, I did some searching and found a commercial product that extends OWA Functionality. One piece of it is managing the OWA Dictionary. It isn’t the only one either. Link 2 Link 3
Is there a quick and dirty means of telling what version of a .PST you have (ANSI or Unicode)?
Yes. I literally just figured it out too!
To figure out the version you have, view the properties of the PST in question, click advanced, and then check the “Format:“ field. The one shown clearly states (97–2002) which is the ANSI version with the 2 gig limit. If it simply reads “Personal Folders File” it is the Unicode format that will hold 20 gigs or more.
This is also the screen where you can rename your PST file from “Personal Folders” to something more intuitive if you have multiple PST files.
Cheers!
I picked up this webcast for tomorrow. I am placing some supporting information online now, and will update this post over the next week with anything I find that is interesting. if you have suggestions, hit the comments (I am still waiting to hear from the CS Forums on the remember me function).
For those of you new to AD or if you want a quick refresher – Intro to AD in Win 2003 whitepaper
I will briefly mention a nice Excel spreadsheet you can download that has all of the available GP settings as of 2003 SP1. I posted about this after Part 2.
The Group Policy Management Console (GPMC) is here.
Excellent whitepaper on Admin of GP with GPMC.
If you work for an enterprise this page links out to some more detailed management information when using the GPMC.
For you scripters out there, you have to bookmark the Scripting Guys and the Technet Script Center. From here you can grab the Scriptomatic tool, learn about scripting, and automate your daily rigor.
WMI Information can be found here.
For some free support on Group Policy, try the Microsoft Group Policy Newsgroup – peer-to-peer support and MVP’s hang out there. MS People too.
Cheers!
I have a problem.
I have a customer facing job and the distinct ability to forget someone’s name immediately after they say the final syllable. It is uncanny. Anything I can read or learn to help overcome this trait I try. Robert Scoble found this posting on “Listening to Customers” through Memeorandum. So I gave it a read. I was hoping it was an article on listening in the now and being able to retain information. Turns out the article was really about filtering who and what to listen to. Not what I hoped for but an excellent read.
The first thing I picked up was how similar the first section is to concepts in Malcom Gladwell’s “The Tipping Point”. The concept of early adopters and mavens is identified very early on in the book. I think these people should be listened to very carefully, but like Ken Norton notes, “…companies have been lured to their doom by a very small, well-meaning and vocal group of power users who fooled the company…”. The early adopters don’t have all the answers. Ken goes on to talk about Middle and Late adopters and identifies some of their traits. I think he is right on the mark.
After reading the post a second time, it jolted me because I sometimes think *I* have all the answers. *I* know what people want. *I* know this isn’t true, but I let myself believe it anyway. I need to spread myself out and talk to a wider audience. I need to listen to what they say and throw out some of the perceptions I have. Clean slate time.
I had an opportunity to do that this past weekend. Microsoft held an informal gathering of MS Developer Evangelists from all over the world (already in L.A. for the PDC) and local college students to brainstorm on “digital lifestyle”. I piggybacked on this from the ITPro side as I have a passion around getting our technologies in the hands of students. I wanted to know – straight from students – what they thought of Microsoft and the products we have.
Let’s jump back to the clean slate thing real quick.
I grew up in the old days of real “chalkboards” that used super-dusty chalk. None of this fancy, low dust stuff. Dry erase boards were a still a pipedream. The chalkboards we had were a dark, heavy black and the chalk was a blinding, dusty white. Anything written on the boards was NOT easy to remove. It took some effort to really get the chalk off. Forget about it if the eraser was choked up with chalk dust. To really get it clean you had to use a damp cloth.
I thought I had a clean slate when I sat in on this meeting. Turns out I used an eraser instead of a damp cloth so I still had remnants lurking around my brain. Perceptions of students that just weren’t accurate.
As Ken Norton and Malcom Gladwell note, there are early adopters. In the computer world these are the uber-geeks that must have the beta before anyone else. They will gladly take an alpha as well. Thankfully, we did not have a room of uber-geeks. We had a room with some geeks, some developer students and then……miracle of miracles……history majors, pre-law, language majors and others. My first blown perception was that ONLY CompSci students would want to attend. Thankfully, we had an excellent mix.
My second blown perception was this: I thought the students would have heard about all of the products we have released and already made a choice on using the product or learning more about them. I was shocked and amazed when I spoke to three students together (2 – CompSci, 1 – Political Science) and none of them had heard of Media Center. I was even more shocked when they reacted to it as a very cool product they would use regularly (had they heard about it before now). Isn’t this part of our target market – students who need a PC and a digital media device when they leave home for school?
With that I whipped out the damp cloth and wiped away anything I thought I knew about the students and what they knew about our products. The only thing I was dead on about was the “hip and cool” factor. It does play a big part in product perception. From the students –
iPods are hip and cool (and very much associated with Apple) and….they just work (till they break). Windows is not cool. Office is cool, but only because you can’t survive as a student without it. Linux users are perceived as hip and cool (and knowledgeable) because they know more than just Windows and Office. Linux is cool because it is new and different (though none of the 6 students I talked to had ever used it). Microsoft is perceived as the “grandma company” and Windows as “grandma’s operating system”. Ouch. “If your friends think it is cool, you probably will too.” (peer-to-peer marketing). Apple makes “cool” products and students know what those products are. Microsoft makes Windows and Office. Beyond that the association of Product Name to Microsoft trails off very quickly. (Wouldn’t it be great if we (MS) were more identifiable as one of the companies that made some of their cell phones work!?!?!). Oh yeah. Microsoft is Evil. But I never got a clear answer as to why. (Peer-to-peer perception spreading).
It was quite refreshing to hear all of this from a group other than the ITPros I speak to most every other day. The “I work in the field” ITPros know what MS products are and how they are used. Some think MS is evil but for different reasons than “my friend says so, so it must be” (though I would argue that this form of peer-to-peer perception spreading is a lot more prevalent than we realize). But I build my own perceptions about how the industry perceives Microsoft around the ITPros I am primarily connected to. The fact is, we have a 90%+ share of the home user/desktop market and they have a lot of spending dollars. We need to listen to them (and all the sub-groups) as well.
BTW…..There was a lot more valuable stuff in this brainstorming session besides the cool factor, but this post is already longer than I wanted.
What all of this boils down to is making sure when I decide to wipe slates clean that I use a damp cloth instead of a chalk laden eraser. There exist groups other than the ITPros I speak to that can give some excellent feedback on our products. I am going to keep my eyes and ears open.
Cheers!
So you want to know when the next Live Technet Briefing is going to be in your area. You could go to http://www.technetbriefings.com and look it up. Or you could open your Feed Aggregator and get it there……what?!?!?!……Events as feeds?!?!?!?…….NO WAY!?!?!?!?
Way….
Technet and MSDN have RSS feeds for upcoming events that can be narrowed down by state. Unfortunately (especially for those in Texas and California) that can be a pretty big geographical area so I am going to raise a ruckus internally to see if we can narrow the focus a little.
For now, sign up for the feed for your states and don’t worry about missing another event email…
Cheers!
I have been trying to figure out where i stand on this Google WiFi thing. One one side we have a company that can help make WiFi access as widespread as McDonald’s. On the other we have the same company channeling and cataloging all of this information through it’s own servers.
I want access from anywhere/anytime. The Price? I have to give up some privacy.
Check out this article by Seth Jayson over at the Motley Fool. He does a great job of summing the issue up.
Google is (right now) an advertising company. That is where their revenue comes from. Google Desktop, GoogleTalk, GMail, and now the WiFi are all means of collecting more specific information about you, me, everyone so that marketing and advertising can be more targeted. Brilliant Plan. But I don’t like it because I don’t want to be targeted. I don’t want “better” advertising designed to circumvent my willpower to get me to buy. What Google is doing is brilliant…..for them. What they are doing is not so nice for consumers.
Cheers!
AVICode .NET Mgmt Pack for MOM 2005 — Targeted to systems operators responsible for monitoring system health, AVIcode’s .NET management pack operations edition for Microsoft Operations Manager 2005 provides a consolidated view of all applications featuring simple health status indicators within MOM 2005 Operator Console.
It also provides quick identification of faulty application components and performance hotspots, as well as manual and automatic routing of alert notifications to the appropriate application support team. Performance hotspots are identified by resource type for monitoring response times. Exception and performance events are consolidated by root cause facilitating quick resolution.
SMS 2003 Service Pack 1 Hotfix – KB900401 — If you view the software update reports under Reports in the Microsoft Systems Management Server (SMS) 2003 Administrator Console, some reports display incorrect data. For example, reports such as the Software updates for a specific computer report display incorrect data if a software update that applies to an SMS client computer no longer applies. In this example, you install the software update on the SMS client computer so that the software update is no longer applicable.
For more information on this update, see Microsoft Knowledge Base article (KB 900401). The Microsoft Systems Management Server (SMS) 2003 Administrator Console reports display incorrect data (900401)
SMS 2003 Service Pack 1 Hotfix – KB906554 — You must install this Distribute Software Updates Wizard (DSUW) hotfix on your SMS 2003 Service Pack 1 (SP1) site server and on all SMS remote administration consoles in your SMS environment that are used for authorizing updates for HP servers.
If you do not install this hotfix for SMS 2003, you will not be able to authorize HP ProLiant and Integrity updates using the DSUW tool.
For more information on this update, see Microsoft Knowledge Base article (KB 906554). An access violation occurs when you use the Distribute Software Updates Wizard in the SMS 2003 Inventory Tool for HP ProLiant and Integrity Updates (906554)
Cheers!
Release Notes for SBS 2003 Service Pack 1 — Welcome to the Release Notes for the Microsoft® Windows® Small Business Server 2003 with Service Pack 1 server software. These release notes contain information that will help ensure proper installation and use of the product. They are the most current version of the release notes, and contain additional information that was not available when the CDs were released to manufacturing.
Before installing these updates, you should read the release notes to familiarize yourself with any known issues.
Cheers!
Windows Vista UX Guidelines — Use this page to download a preliminary draft of the Microsoft Windows Vista User Experience Guidelines (or “UX Guide” for short). These guidelines contain information on What’s New in Windows Vista, design principles, guidelines for controls, text, windows, and aesthetics. They will help designers and developers create high quality, consistent Windows Vista applications.
Cheers!
Microsoft Location Finder — Microsoft Location Finder is a client-side application that turns a regular WiFi enabled laptop, Tablet or PC into a location determining device without the addition of any separate hardware. When launched by a user, Microsoft Location Finder uses WiFi access points - or reverse IP lookup when WiFi is not available - to center and display the person's location on an MSN Virtual Earth map, enabling the user to quickly and easily search in their present location.
Cheers!
Microsoft Digital Image Starter Edition 2006 — Microsoft Digital Image Starter Edition 2006 has all the high-quality, easy-to-use tools you need to create, organize, enhance, and share family memories – whether you're an advanced shutterbug or just getting started in the world of digital photography. This 60-day downloadable trial contains features available in the full retail version of Microsoft Digital Image Suite 2006, which will de-feature to minimal functionality once your trial period has ended.
Cheers!
Update for Exchange 2003 – KB888619 — This update resolves problems that were found in the Exchange 2003 DAV since Exchange 2003 SP1 was released. Click the More Information About This Download link in the Related Resources section for a list of the fixes that are included in this update.
Update for Exchange 2000 – KB892986 — This update resolves problems that were found in the Exchange 2000 DAV since Exchange 2000 SP3 was released. Click the More Information About This Download link in the Related Resources section for a list of the fixes that are included in this update.
Cheeers!
SQL Server 2005 September CTP: Books Online — Download Books Online for the Microsoft SQL Server 2005 CTP September 2005. Books Online is the primary documentation set for SQL Server 2005. It includes the following:
- Setup and upgrade instructions.
- Information about new features and backward compatibility.
- Conceptual descriptions of the technologies and features in SQL Server 2005.
- Procedural topics describing how to use the various features in SQL Server 2005.
- Tutorials that guide you through common tasks.
- Reference documentation for the graphical tools, command prompt utilities, programming languages, and application programming interfaces (APIs) that are supported by SQL Server 2005.
- Descriptions of the sample databases and applications included with SQL Server 2005.
SQL Server 2005 September CTP: Upgrade Advisor — Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Upgrade Advisor analyzes instances of SQL Server 7.0 and SQL Server 2000 in preparation for upgrading to SQL Server 2005. Upgrade Advisor identifies deprecated features and configuration changes that might affect your upgrade, and it provides links to documentation that describes each identified issue and how to resolve it.
SQL Server 2005 Upgrade Advisor - Community Technology Preview September 2005 is unsupported pre-release software.
SQL Server 2005 September CTP —
SQL Server 2005 drives better decision-making with enterprise-grade reporting and data analysis. A highly reliable database platform for critical applications, SQL Server 2005 delivers high levels of availability, performance, and security.
SQL Server September 2005 Community Technology Preview (CTP) is the second version of SQL Server 2005 made available for general testing. The previous CTP was available only in English and Japanese. SQL Server 2005 September Community Technical Preview Developer Edition and Express Edition are each available in nine languages: Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, and Spanish. All other editions are available in English and Japanese. Not all languages are currently available; they will be added to the Download Center as they are completed
Cheers!
Live Communication Server 2005 with SP1: All Technical Documents — This download contains the full documentation set written for the Live Communications Server 2005 with Service Pack 1.
Live Meeting 2005 Meeting Console Stand-alone Installer — The Microsoft® Office Live Meeting Windows-based Meeting Console Standalone Installer - All Languages allows organizations to manually install the Live Meeting console for computers that are running the Microsoft Windows® operating system. The Standalone Installer provides an alternative to the default autoinstaller, which may not work in certain locked-down desktop environments.
This version of the installer includes the resources for all the supported languages (Chinese - Simplified, Chinese - Traditional, English, French, German, Japanese, Korean, Spanish). For IT managers who need to deploy the console for various languages, it offers the convenience of only having to manage one file.
Cheers!
New Video & Audio based information for developers is located at these links:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/msdntv/archive.aspx
http://channel9.msdn.com/ShowForum.aspx?ForumID=14
http://msdn.microsoft.com/theshow/
http://msdn.microsoft.com/dotnetrocks/
Channel 9 Interview – September 13, 2005 — Have to click the link to find out the interviews!
Channel 9 Interview – September 14, 2005 — Have to click the link to find out the interviews!
Channel 9 Interview – September 15, 2005 — Have to click the link to find out the interviews!
Microsoft Codename Max — Microsoft® Codename Max is not like any other product. That's because it's not a product—it's your opportunity to try an exciting new user experience from Microsoft. Today Max lets you make lists of your photos and turn them into beautiful slide shows to share with your family and friends. Tomorrow...who knows?
*Note: This is a Preview release. Therefore, do not install this on machines you depend on. Microsoft Codename Max requires the WinFX September CTP in order to function properly. Max will install this for you. However, if you have a previous version of WinFX Runtime Components, Avalon ("Windows Presentation Foundation"), Indigo ("Windows Communication Foundation"), or Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0 installed, please uninstall before installing Max.
Windows CE 5.0 Platform Builder Update – KB905911 — Fixes made in this update:
Component: USB Function
Description: This update addresses the following issues on ARMV4i platform:
o The USB serial device may not get enumerated correctly by Windows XP host.
o A failure may occur when attempting to copy a large file over ActiveSync 3.7 to the device.
Windows CE 5.0 Platform Builder Update – KB904643 — Fixes made in this update:
Component: USB 2.0
Description: A memory leak may occur when a USB 2.0 device is inserted/removed multiple times.
AVICode .NET Mgmt Pack for MOM 2005 — Targeted to systems operators responsible for monitoring system health, AVIcode’s .NET management pack operations edition for Microsoft Operations Manager 2005 provides a consolidated view of all applications featuring simple health status indicators within MOM 2005 Operator Console.
It also provides quick identification of faulty application components and performance hotspots, as well as manual and automatic routing of alert notifications to the appropriate application support team. Performance hotspots are identified by resource type for monitoring response times. Exception and performance events are consolidated by root cause facilitating quick resolution.
SQL Server 2005 September CTP 2005: Book Online — Download Books Online for the Microsoft SQL Server 2005 CTP September 2005. Books Online is the primary documentation set for SQL Server 2005. It includes the following:
- Setup and upgrade instructions.
- Information about new features and backward compatibility.
- Conceptual descriptions of the technologies and features in SQL Server 2005.
- Procedural topics describing how to use the various features in SQL Server 2005.
- Tutorials that guide you through common tasks.
- Reference documentation for the graphical tools, command prompt utilities, programming languages, and application programming interfaces (APIs) that are supported by SQL Server 2005.
- Descriptions of the sample databases and applications included with SQL Server 2005.
SQL Server 2005 Upgrade Advisor September CTP 2005 — Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Upgrade Advisor analyzes instances of SQL Server 7.0 and SQL Server 2000 in preparation for upgrading to SQL Server 2005. Upgrade Advisor identifies deprecated features and configuration changes that might affect your upgrade, and it provides links to documentation that describes each identified issue and how to resolve it.
SQL Server 2005 Upgrade Advisor - Community Technology Preview September 2005 is unsupported pre-release software.
SQL Server 2005 September CTP — SQL Server 2005 drives better decision-making with enterprise-grade reporting and data analysis. A highly reliable database platform for critical applications, SQL Server 2005 delivers high levels of availability, performance, and security.
SQL Server September 2005 Community Technology Preview (CTP) is the second version of SQL Server 2005 made available for general testing. The previous CTP was available only in English and Japanese. SQL Server 2005 September Community Technical Preview Developer Edition and Express Edition are each available in nine languages: Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, and Spanish. All other editions are available in English and Japanese. Not all languages are currently available; they will be added to the Download Center as they are completed
Windows Vista UX Guidelines — Use this page to download a preliminary draft of the Microsoft Windows Vista User Experience Guidelines (or “UX Guide” for short). These guidelines contain information on What’s New in Windows Vista, design principles, guidelines for controls, text, windows, and aesthetics. They will help designers and developers create high quality, consistent Windows Vista applications.
Visual Studio 2005 Extensions for Windows Workflow Foundation — Windows® Workflow Foundation is the programming model, engine and tools for quickly building workflow-enabled applications on Windows. It consists of a Microsoft® WinFX® name space (System.Workflow), an in-process workflow engine, and designers for Microsoft Visual Studio 2005. Windows Workflow Foundation is available (currently as Beta) in both client and server versions of Windows and it includes support for both system workflow and human workflow. Windows Workflow Foundation supports a wide range of scenarios including workflow within line-of-business applications, user interface page flow, document-centric workflow, human workflow, composite workflow for service-oriented applications, business rule-driven workflow and workflow for systems management.
Windows Workflow Foundation Beta 1 – Hands-on Labs — Windows Workflow Foundation is the programming model, engine and tools for quickly building workflow enabled applications on Windows. This download is a set of 12 Hands-on Labs for Beta 1 of Windows Workflow Foundation. Each lab is approximately 60 minutes of work. The download is a self-extracting archive that includes lab manuals for each lab, pre-requisite files for the labs and sample completed solutions for each exercise in the labs. MSDN has more information about Windows Workflow Foundation.
Microsoft Pre-Release Software – WinFX Runtime Components – September CTP — "Windows Presentation Foundation", "Windows Communication Foundation", and "Windows Workflow Foundation" are the names for three strategic developer technologies that Microsoft plans to ship in 2006 as part of the Windows Vista operating system. In addition, Microsoft is making these technologies available on Windows XP and Windows Server 2003. The WinFX Runtime Components September CTP enables developers to continue experimenting with early builds of these technologies, get acquainted with the development experience, and provide Microsoft with feedback.
Visual Studio Extensions for WinFX September CTP — The Visual Studio 2005 Extensions for WinFX September Customer Technical Preview (CTP) provides developers with support for building WinFX applications using Beta 2 of Visual Studio 2005. This support includes XAML Intellisense support through schema extensions for the editor, project templates for the Windows Presentation Foundation (formerly code named “Avalon”) and the Windows Communication Foundation (formerly code named “Indigo”), and WinFX SDK documentation integration. It does not include a graphical design surface for either the Windows Presentation Foundation or the Windows Communication Foundation.
Microsoft WinFX SDK for WinFX Runtime Components – September CTP — The Microsoft WinFX® SDK contains documentation, samples, and tools designed to help you develop managed applications and libraries using WinFX, which is the set of next-generation managed APIs provided by Microsoft.
This release of the SDK includes content supporting the .NET Framework 2.0, the Windows Presentation Foundation (formerly code named "Avalon"), the Windows Communications Foundation (formerly code named "Indigo"), and the Windows Workflow Foundation (formerly code named "WinOE").
MSN Search SDK Beta — The MSN Search SDK provides documentation that describes the core concepts, requirements, development guidelines, and class library for the MSN Search Web Service. The SDK also contains sample code that demonstrates application development techniques using the MSN Search Web Service.
Office “12” XML Schema Reference – PDC 2005 Preview — This download contains DRAFT documentation for XML schemas used in Microsoft Office "12" including Microsoft Office "12" Word, Microsoft Office "12" Excel® and Microsoft Office "12" PowerPoint® schemas.
Integrated Software Development at Microsoft using Visual Studio 2005 Team System — Discussion on how the eBusiness Integration Services IT development group used Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 Team System to tightly integrate the Software Development Life Cycle process within its team environment.
Microsoft Domain-Specific Language (DSL) Tools — Using the Microsoft DSL tools you can create your own designer, integrated into Visual Studio, for a visual domain-specific language. The tools help you define the domain-specific language and generate the code of a graphical designer for you. The resulting designer uses the same underlying modeling technology that is used by the Class Designer and Distributed System Designers in Visual Studio 2005.
The Art of Building a Reusable Class Library — In these slides, Brad Abrams and Krzysztof Cwalina present and discuss the merits of designing and creating the best class libraries. Krzys and Brad leverage real examples from the .NET framework libraries (or even day to day life!) to help give a background and firm infrastructure for the basis of these guidelines, and how you can use them to make your own coding experience more productive.
Internet Explorer Developer Toolbat Beta — The IE Developer Toolbar provides several features for deeply exploring and understanding Web pages.
-- Explore and modify the document object model (DOM) of a web page.
-- Locate and select specific elements on a web page through a variety of techniques.
-- Selectively disable Internet Explorer settings.
-- View HTML object class names, ID's, and details such as link paths, tab index values, and access keys.
-- Outline tables, table cells, images, or selected tags.
-- Validate HTML, CSS, WAI, and RSS web feed links.
-- Display image dimensions, file sizes, path information, and alternate (ALT) text.
-- Immediately resize the browser window to 800x600 or a custom size.
-- Selectively clear the browser cache and saved cookies. Choose from all objects or those associated with a given domain.
-- Choose direct links to W3C specification references, the Internet Explorer team weblog (blog), and other resources.
-- Display a fully featured design ruler to help accurately align objects on your pages.
The Developer Toolbar can be pinned to the Internet Explorer browser window or floated separately.
Cheers!
Cululative Help Update for Windows 2003 Multilingual User Interface Pack — Many enterprise customers have deployed the Windows Server 2003 Multilingual User Interface Pack in their corporations in order to enable network administrators to administer the server in their native language and reduce server management costs in multilingual computing environments.
Microsoft has provided an update to the MUI Help system that includes important new information for customers who have deployed MUI with the Windows Server 2003 operating system. This update contains important security information and updates as well as documentation for new features that ship with Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 1.
Windows Messenger 5.1 — Windows Messenger allows real-time communication with other contacts who are using instant messaging (IM) services including those provided by the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) as offered by Microsoft Office Live Communications Server. Windows Messenger also provides connectivity to the Microsoft .NET Messenger service and Exchange 2000 Server Instant Messaging Service.
Windows Messenger 5.1 replaces Windows Messenger 5.0 and is the required version of Windows Messenger to take advantage of certain new features in Microsoft Office Live Communications Server 2005:
- Federation (sharing IM and presence between two or more organizations)
- Advanced architecture (higher availability and failover support)
Internet Explorer Toolbar Beta — The IE Developer Toolbar provides several features for deeply exploring and understanding Web pages.
-- Explore and modify the document object model (DOM) of a web page.
-- Locate and select specific elements on a web page through a variety of techniques.
-- Selectively disable Internet Explorer settings.
-- View HTML object class names, ID's, and details such as link paths, tab index values, and access keys.
-- Outline tables, table cells, images, or selected tags.
-- Validate HTML, CSS, WAI, and RSS web feed links.
-- Display image dimensions, file sizes, path information, and alternate (ALT) text.
-- Immediately resize the browser window to 800x600 or a custom size.
-- Selectively clear the browser cache and saved cookies. Choose from all objects or those associated with a given domain.
-- Choose direct links to W3C specification references, the Internet Explorer team weblog (blog), and other resources.
-- Display a fully featured design ruler to help accurately align objects on your pages.
Automated Deployment Services (ADS) 1.1 — With Windows Server 2003, Microsoft extends the platform to make it easier for administrators to build and administer very large, scaled out deployments of Windows servers. Automated Deployment Services (ADS) includes a new set of imaging tools developed by Microsoft and a more secure, remote-able infrastructure for rapidly deploying both Windows 2000 Server and Windows Server 2003 onto bare metal servers. In addition, ADS offers a more secure, reliable script execution framework that lets administrators perform script-based administration on 1,000 servers as easily as they once did on a single server.
MSN Screen Saver Beta —
Personalize with background photos and news and weather information from MSN® or any RSS feeds from websites you choose.
Search the Web and click news headlines directly from the Screen Saver.
Stay connected with MSN Hotmail®, MSN Messenger, and MSN Spaces. Track how many unread Hotmail messages and current Messenger conversations you have, and display blogs and photos from your friends’ MSN Spaces.
Update Rollup 1 for Windows 2000 SP4 – KB891861 — This update consists of previously released recommended, critical and security updates for Windows 2000, rolled into one convenient package. Installing this item provides you the same results as installing the individual updates. After you install this item, you may have to restart your computer.
Malicious Software Removal Tool – KB890830 — The Microsoft Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool checks Windows XP, Windows 2000, and Windows Server 2003 computers for and helps remove infections by specific, prevalent malicious software—including Blaster, Sasser, and Mydoom. When the detection and removal process is complete, the tool displays a report describing the outcome, including which, if any, malicious software was detected and removed. The tool creates a log file named mrt.log in the %WINDIR%\debug folder.
This tool is not a replacement for an anti-virus product. To help protect your computer, you should use an anti-virus product.
Microsoft will release an updated version of this tool on the second Tuesday of each month. New versions will be made available through this web page, Windows Update, and the Malicious Software Removal Tool Web site on Microsoft.com.
Cheers!
I wish I could say I had been on this bandwagon before now. But I thought it would take longer than this for me to really want to give up on keyboard based authentication. I like having to remember a series of keystrokes and entering them in proper order to gain access to my machine. Sure, Mondays usually mean I have more backspaces in my passphrase than on other days. I like my keyboard based authentication. Passphrases are the last thing I really HAVE to remember these days thanks to Google, Robo-Form, Credit-Card swipers, proximity sensors, Voice-Command, Media Center, and any number of techno-memory-sucking-ology devices I have.
No More.
Ken Young over at vnunet.com reports “'Acoustic spying' can crack passwords simply by listening to keystrokes”
I imagine it will take some time before the spy shop down the street that sells the mini-cameras, micro-cams, and other eavesdropping devices will have the “Super Remote Keyboard Password Cracker” that will record keystrokes “from as far away as 20 feet!”. The fact is it is just a matter of time. It will happen and it will become common place over time.
That means it is time to seriously consider other authentication options. What does that leave us? We are already seeing bio-metrics in the form of finger-print readers (which are already appearing on some laptops and other devices…..I predict 3 years they are standard unless we find them completely insecurable) and iris scanning. Voice Recogition has been touted for years but is still not a reality and has no chance of ever bing viable unless we can develop a means of properly filtering background noise.
My fear is this speeds up the development of technologies that can do quick DNA analysis using a sample of just about any kind of biological material left behind a la Gattaca. Maybe we refine it such that no physical need be taken from a subject. Even if a physical sample is required I imagine the time in which we can get a result will continue to be reduced to “on the spot analysis”. I could literally sneeze and get sampled by everyone around me. Oh, let’s not forget the black-market in body parts to be stolen, borrowed, grown for use to circumvent biometrics (okay….maybe that is a little over the top….but we should all know by now that ANYTHING is possible…..read some old science fiction from 50 years ago and look at how much USE to be fantastical and how much of it is now reality. Everything written in Science Fiction will come to pass. Mark My Words! I will prove this one day when I travel back in time from the future after being cloned from some DNA samples take from an archeological dig 1000 years in the future….”When found….the subject was gripping what appeared to be an ancient communications device called a laptop……it appears the subject died while working on a rambling, disconnected blog entry….”)
I don’t want my DNA on file. That is just too much information to have on me anywhere. I think during my lifetime we might manage to maintain the right to keep our DNA private. But sometime after I am gone, that will change. We will lose one of the last remaining rights of ownership – ownership of ourselves – only to be cataloged somewhere and brought up at a moments notice to check the ability to get on public transportation, verify that I am the same Chris E. Avis that bought tickets to the football game (or even movies), and of course, if the Chris E. Avis you know has any odd genetic traits that you should become prejudiced about upon gaining that previously unknowable and decidedly unimportant knowledge.
Only a hop skip and a jump till this….
I am holding onto my keyboard as long as I can…….just going to turn the desktop radio up louder…
Cheers!
I went to do a Google search (first one of the day I think…..I am trying to wean myself….. I am liking SearchMSN more and more as I use it….I think it is just habit….more on that later) and I find the following on the lead page -
Get less spam. Use all 2.5GB for your real email instead. Gmail.
Maybe I just haven’t noticed it. Maybe it has been there for days, weeks, months. Google, with it’s understated viral marketing techniques, may have simply under advertised me.
Or, maybe I was the first one to see it and this is a scoop…..
Probably not…..
Cheers!
I mentioned this in a Group Policy webcast the other day. This is an Excel spreadsheet that has all of the Group Policy Objects and their settings – updated for 2003 SP1. It is nicely broken out by tabs for different ADM templates and Security Settings by O/S.
Cheers!
Someone used a camera phone or something similiar to capture the BillG and Napoleon Dynamite clip at PDC. It isn’t great quality, it is shown from a pretty extreme angle, and it is funny. I debated on whether I should link to it or not and the way I see it is like this…..
It wasn’t me (as in I didn’t record it)….I didn’t go to PDC.
According to the counter at iFilms (where it is being hosted) it has been seen 53,000+ times.
The cat is out of the bag…..
BUT…..I have opted not to link to it. You should be able to find it easily enough with the information provided. After watching it……and laughing……I realized the violation of trust that occured. The fact is, someone recorded it when they were expressly forbidden from doing so. It demonstrates to me that we just can’t trust anyone these days. I fully expect this to be released as a VCD which can be bought on a street corner for $5.00 in a few days. At the very least it will be all over the web.
It reminds me of after the 2003 PDC when preview versions of Longhorn were distributed and those were leaked and subsequently sold on the street. An unfinished and decidely inferior product being sold by someone capitalizing on the unsuspecting or geek-greedy.
In the case of this film, it is also an inferior copy AND was never meant to be seen by the public (at least at this time).
I would like to say some other really ugly things about the individual that recorded and leaked the video. But I am trying to be decent where they weren’t…..
Cheers….
SQl Server Migration Assitant for Oracle v2.0 Beta — SQL Server Migration Assistant (SSMA) is a complete suite of tools that dramatically cuts the effort, cost, and risk of migrating from Oracle to SQL Server. SSMA automates almost every aspect of the migration process including assessment, schema and data migration, business logic conversion, and validation. Companies such as Motorola and Simon & Schuster have used SSMA to migrate their business-critical databases quickly, easily and accurately.
With SSMA, IT organizations now have the freedom to move to SQL Server and take advantage of SQL Server's exceptional security, scalability, developer productivity, and the industry’s lowest total cost of ownership.
Licensing
SSMA is a FREE download, and is available for use by any customer or partner with no charge or any obligations. However, the product requires a license key for activation. The key can be obtained after quick and simple registration. Microsoft reserves the right to use an e-mail address or phone number provided during registration in order to contact a customer regarding his/her SSMA experience.
Cheers!
Improving IT Efficiency at Microsoft using Virtual Server 2005 — Microsoft uses the new capability within Virtual Server to consolidate server in a data center and enhance utilization and reduce costs associated with large datacenters.
Cheers!
Update for Windows XP x64 (KB903081) — Install this driver update (version 5.2.3790.2497) to address multiple possible issues associated with using the Microsoft Storport storage driver for your host bus adaptor (HBA) removable storage device in Windows Server 2003. After you install this item, you may have to restart your computer.
Cheers!
Step by Step Guide for setting up Server for NIS — Microsoft® Windows Server for NIS enables a Microsoft Windows–based Active Directory domain controller to administer UNIX Network Information Service (NIS) networks. This guide describes installation and NIS migration tasks required to configure Server for NIS on your network.
Update for Windows Server 2003 for Itanium-Based Systems (KB903081) — Install this driver update (version 5.2.3790.2497) to address multiple possible issues associated with using the Microsoft Storport storage driver for your host bus adaptor (HBA) removable storage device in Windows Server 2003. After you install this item, you may have to restart your computer.
Update for Windows Server x64 (KB903081) — Install this driver update (version 5.2.3790.2497) to address multiple possible issues associated with using the Microsoft Storport storage driver for your host bus adaptor (HBA) removable storage device in Windows Server 2003. After you install this item, you may have to restart your computer.
Update for Windows Server 2003 (KB903081) — Install this driver update (version 5.2.3790.2497) to address multiple possible issues associated with using the Microsoft Storport storage driver for your host bus adaptor (HBA) removable storage device in Windows Server 2003. After you install this item, you may have to restart your computer.
Unix Side Components for Identify Mgmt if UNIX – Shipped with Windows Server 2003 R2 — Identity Management for UNIX -> Password Synchronization for Windows Server 2003 R2 RC0 helps integrate Windows and UNIX networks by simplifying the process of maintaining secure passwords in both environments. Users are freed of the difficulty of maintaining separate passwords for their Windows and UNIX accounts or having to remember to change the password wherever it is used. With Password Synchronization, whenever a user's password is changed on a Windows-based computer or domain, the password can also be automatically changed on every UNIX host for which the user has an account. Password Synchronization can also be configured to change the user's Windows password when the user's UNIX password is changed.
Update for Identity Integration Feature Pack 1a for Windows AD (KB884192) — This update resolves several issues as outlined in Knowledge Base Article 884192.
Update for Identity Integration Server 2003 SP1 (KB842531) — The following software is required for an installation of this update to Microsoft Identity Integration Server 2003:
- Microsoft® Windows® Server 2003, Enterprise Edition
- Microsoft® SQL Server™ 2000, Standard or Enterprise Edition, Service Pack 3 (SP3) or later
- Microsoft® Identity Integration Server 2003, Enterprise Edition SP1
Beta 2 Reviewers Guide for Microsoft Services for Network File System in Windows 2003 R2 — Microsoft Services for Network File System (MSNFS) is a component of Windows Server 2003 R2 that provides a file-sharing solution for enterprises that have a mixed Windows and UNIX environment. MSNFS allows users to transfer files between Windows Server 2003 R2–based and UNIX–based computers using the Network File System (NFS) protocol.
This document describes MSNFS for Beta 2 and provides information about setting up a test environment to evaluate the functionality of MSNFS with respect to the requirements of your enterprise.
Microsoft Password Change Notification Service — The Microsoft Password Change Notification Service enables synchronization of password changes in Active Directory to Microsoft Identity Integration Server Service Pack 1 (MIIS) or the Microsoft Enterprise Single Sign-On (ENTSSO) service. These components simplify password management in organizations with multiple user identity repositories.
Cheers!
LCS 2005 Document: Upgrading from Evaluation for Full Release — This document guides you through the process of upgrading from Live Communications Server 2005 Evaluation Edition to the Live Communications Server 2005 Full Release.
Cheers!
Release Notes for SBS 2003 SP1 — Welcome to the Release Notes for the Microsoft® Windows® Small Business Server 2003 with Service Pack 1 server software. These release notes contain information that will help ensure proper installation and use of the product. They are the most current version of the release notes, and contain additional information that was not available when the CDs were released to manufacturing.
Cheers!
AVICode .NET Mgmt Pack for MOM 2005 — Targeted to systems operators responsible for monitoring system health, AVIcode’s .NET management pack operations edition for Microsoft Operations Manager 2005 provides a consolidated view of all applications featuring simple health status indicators within MOM 2005 Operator Console.
It also provides quick identification of faulty application components and performance hotspots, as well as manual and automatic routing of alert notifications to the appropriate application support team. Performance hotspots are identified by resource type for monitoring response times. Exception and performance events are consolidated by root cause facilitating quick resolution.
Cheers!
New Video & Audio based information for developers is located at these links:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/msdntv/archive.aspx
http://channel9.msdn.com/ShowForum.aspx?ForumID=14
http://msdn.microsoft.com/theshow/
http://msdn.microsoft.com/dotnetrocks/
Channel 9 MSDN Videos – September 7th — Channel 9 talks with Google's Blogger Team, gets a tour of the Cambridge Research Lab, Scott Guthrie demos ASP.NET, and we visit Amazon to get a tour of their Web Services.
Channel 9 MSDN Videos – September 9th — Channel 9 talks with WMI team, VSTS team, CLR Security Team, Virtual Earth team, Women of PDC, Windows Mobile, Neil Roodyn, and others
Movile Vista Introduction — Just what it says!
Windows “Monad” Shell Beta 2 (x86) — Windows "Monad" Shell is a new interactive command-line and task-based scripting technology in Windows that enables administrators to more efficiently and securely automate and control system management tasks on both desktops and servers. "Monad" Shell provides powerful task-based control (via built-in command line tools and utilities) and a powerful scripting language that enables comprehensive scripted control of the Windows operating system and applications.
Windows “Monad” Shell Beta 2 (x64) — Windows "Monad" Shell is a new interactive command-line and task-based scripting technology in Windows that enables administrators to more efficiently and securely automate and control system management tasks on both desktops and servers. "Monad" Shell provides powerful task-based control (via built-in command line tools and utilities) and a powerful scripting language that enables comprehensive scripted control of the Windows operating system and applications.
Windows Vista UX Guidelines (preliminary) — Use this page to download a preliminary draft of the Microsoft Windows Vista User Experience Guidelines (or “UX Guide” for short). These guidelines contain information on What’s New in Windows Vista, design principles, guidelines for controls, text, windows, and aesthetics. They will help designers and developers create high quality, consistent Windows Vista applications.
MapPoint Web Service SDK, v4.0 for VS.NET 2003 — The MapPoint Web Service SDK contains documentation that describes the core concepts, requirements, development guidelines, and class library for MapPoint Web Service. The SDK also contains sample code, both in C# and Microsoft Visual Basic .NET, demonstrating a variety of application development scenarios using MapPoint Web Service.
Windows CE 5.0 Platform Builder Update (KB904257) — Fixes made in this update:
Component: DirectX
Description: New key frames may not render correctly when scanning through a paused video clip.
Utilities and SDK for UNIX-based Applications — Utilities and SDK for UNIX-Based Applications is an add-on to the Subsystem for UNIX-Based Applications (referred to as SUA, hence forth) component that shipped with Microsoft Windows Server 2003 R2. This consists of the following components:
- Base Utilities
- SVR-5 Utilities
- Base SDK
- GNU SDK
- GNU Utilities
- UNIX Perl
- Visual Studio Debugger Add-in
In addition to the features provided in Windows Services For UNIX 3.5, this release enables 64-bit application development for SUA. This release also enables development and porting of custom UNIX applications using the Windows OCI (Oracle Call Interface) and Windows ODBC libraries (collectively referred to as ‘Mixed Mode’ in the rest of the document).
MSN Messenger Activity SDK — Get state-of-the-art information about building applications for MSN Messenger. The MSN Messenger Activity API gives you innovative tools to build applications that integrate with MSN Messenger and reach millions of users worldwide.
VS 2005 Tools for Office Beta 2 Sample: Redesigning an Excel VBA Soultion for .NET — This sample solution teaches how to redesign an Excel VBA solution for .NET using Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 Tools for the Microsoft Office System Beta 2. The solution is written in Microsoft Visual Basic.
The associated MSDN article discusses the process used to redesign the VBA solution to Visual Studio 2005 Tools for Office. Code snippets illustrate individual components of the migration.
SQL Server Migration Assistant for Oracle v2.0 Beta — SQL Server Migration Assistant (SSMA) is a complete suite of tools that dramatically cuts the effort, cost, and risk of migrating from Oracle to SQL Server. SSMA automates almost every aspect of the migration process including assessment, schema and data migration, business logic conversion, and validation. Companies such as Motorola and Simon & Schuster have used SSMA to migrate their business-critical databases quickly, easily and accurately.
With SSMA, IT organizations now have the freedom to move to SQL Server and take advantage of SQL Server's exceptional security, scalability, developer productivity, and the industry’s lowest total cost of ownership.
SQL 2005 Mobile Edition Tool Beta 1 for IIS and SQL 2005 Beta 2 (USA) — SQL Server 2005 Mobile Edition (SQL Mobile) is the compact database for rapidly developing applications in both native mode and the .NET Compact Framework that extend enterprise data management capabilities to devices.
Companies and users of SQL Mobile that plan to synchronize to SQL Server 2000 or SQL Server 2005 Beta 2 databases will need to install this Server Tools release on their servers running Internet Information Services (IIS).
Cheers!
I had my largest attended SQL presentation yesterday in Irvine, Ca. Crowd of 300 showed up in spite of PDC being around the corner in LA. (my event was FREE…..well…..almost….had to pay for parking). If you couldn’t make it to Irvine, we are repeating it in San Diego tomorrow (Thursday).
While my content is ITPro focused, I had at least 100 developers in the room which demonstrates to me the overwhelming desire for knowledge around what can be done with SQL once it is in place. No doubt in my mind that SQL is the back-bone of many an organization’s data storage. These companies need to know what SQL can do for them. They need to know how to use SQL to do their bidding.
I think we need some seminars on how to get data in and out of SQL, how to analyze that data, how to leverage Visual Studio to create awesome applications for SQL, and how to make sure the data in the server is avaialable all the time. Let me know what you think…
I am linking back to some previous posts which points out some excellent resources for SQL 2005. Make sure to check the main SQL 2005 site for the latest SQL product, and launch information.
In addition, Kevin Remde has noted some important changes that have been announced for the release of SQL 2005.
Paul Flessner (a Senior VP at MS) talks about why we are making these changes.
Finally, the new SQL 2005 September CTP is available for download now!
Cheers!
Bill Gates seen here with John Heder, star of Napoleon Dynamite.
Microsoft has done many parodies over the years to help promote products or just to have fun. Rumor has it this one is to be used for college recruitment efforts. It was shown at our techReady event a couple weeks ago and again at the PDC in LA this week.
If it leaks……email me….. :)
Cheers!