Tomorrow is Canada Day so a shout out to my friends north of the boarder as well as the many local Canucks we have on campus, at the Microsoft MCDC and MS Canada. Canada is so much more than Bob and Doug McKenzie (I'm shoring my age). And with a nod to...

Engadget reports that local public school students were provided some free Zunes in Liberty, Missouri ... "handing out a hundred and change media players -- Zunes, to be specific -- to local high school and middle school students for listening to lesson...

Today in Bill Gates' last day as a full-time employee; he remains as chairman and will -- by his own admission -- be here from time to time. Todd Bishop from the Seattle P-I covers Microsoft for the paper, and is on-site covering an event this morning...

From Seth's Blog: Learning from frustration "If you have to put me on hold, don't play bad 1980s music. Play me Bill Cosby or Steven Wright. Or why not give me a choice of 100 songs/audiobooks to choose from? " Here's the big lesson, I think...

Rick Broida of PC World has an article on MSN Tech & Gadgets, Diversify Your Backups to Prepare for a Data Disaster ... If a natural disaster wipes out your hard drive, it will probably destroy your local backups, too. Here's a backup plan that will...

I have seen a couple of customer instances (including one at home ;) where I wanted to move downloaded games and other content from an old Xbox 360 to a new system (as we did when we moved to an . Well, now there's a way to do it. Click here for more...

Greg Shields' Vista EXE Deep Dive series, now on part 3 , is certainly worth a look and a link, as it provided a list of GUI-based wizards and control panels accessible quickly via the command-line. "...this series brings together many hours of research...

We already have one billion PCs in use today according to many estimates (including Forrester's forecast last summer of one billion PCs in use by the end of 2008 ). The numbers are ahead of schedule, given that Microsoft predicted 1 billion Windows PCs...

Today, Bill Veghte (SVP in the Online Services and Windows BG) posts a letter discussing Windows XP, more info on Windows Vista, and the future leading to Windows 7. Upon visiting the Windows page on Microsoft.com this afternoon, I was prompted to open...

Last week, Mary Jo Foley posted an article on how Microsoft earmarks another $200 million for Windows advertising ... According to a June 20 Fortune Magazine article, Microsoft has earmarked "an additional $200 million for Windows advertising this year...

As I work in the Windows division, a letter made its way to my office: a customer mail sent to one of our senior leaders that asked... "How do I set up Internet Explorer to be my default web browser?" Simple question you may say, but unfortunately in...

Sometimes a backup isn't a backup, especially when the file recovery fails.  So it's nice to have a trick in your back pocket, literally when it comes on a small, USB smart drive. As anyone who is an IT Pro or sysadmin for their family and friends...

This week has been a busy one, with the kids finishing school and prepping for summer break, reviews of upcoming communications, customer reports, dogfood testing of new software and preparations for end of the fiscal year. Oh, and I clean installed a...

Of interest from today's news... HP to Open Service and Support Centers in Arkansas, New Mexico HP HPQ today announced plans to open new, state-of-the-art customer service and technical support centers in Conway, Ark., and Rio Rancho, N.M. The centers...

Mary asked yesterday morning... "I read today that computer manufacturers will start charging customers who want to "downgrade" to Windows XP. Is this true?" While I can't comment (and don't specifically know) how each of our OEMs are handling...

As I break for lunch, this MSN Music note (pardon the pun) on Microsoft will continue to support MSN Music DRM : this from letters to MSN Music customers... On April 22, Microsoft notified you that as of August 31st, 2008, we would be changing the level...

Of interest: In addition to the story of the incomparable JC Cannon (formerly a Privacy Strategist and now of the SQL team), I found this story a new Microsoft site http://www.youatmicrosoft.com . Soni is in the Windows Server group and works to make...

When Katie Couric asks, "Are you satisfied?" what's your answer? (Thanks to Jane for the link and info...) "An annual survey recently said that most of us are - at least when it comes to being consumers. The report on consumer satisfaction found that...

An interesting post today on Consumerist where an HP Customer Service rep comes across with a sales offer ... A reader on Consumerist.com relates an encounter (over chat?) with an HP customer service representative to discuss a hardware failure with his...

Of interest: VentureBeat interviewed Robbie Bach, President, Entertainment & Devices Division here at MS , the group responsible for Microsoft games, hardware (like mice, keyboards and Surface), Zune, Mac software, Xbox 360 and more. This is the first...

Now available: Microsoft Tech•Ed 2008 Highlights from Orlando, where you can view video highlights and keynote addresses by Bill Gates and Bob Muglia from Server and Tools Business division, all from Microsoft Tech•Ed 2008 North America. Tags: conferences...

New on Microsoft Presspass ... "Napkin sketches were the inspiration behind the winning design for Microsoft’s Next Gen PC Design Competition. Find out why Bill Gates hand-picked this concept, and see the other award-winning designs." I guess that this...

Sure, you could spend your free time creating a robot rock group as noted on MAKE , or you could try to figure out the current time in parts of Asia... S. Asia clocks seem to be set to Twilight Zone (Seattle Times Newspaper) -- Today, Pakistan becomes...

Darren Murph over at Engadget reports that the HP MediaSmart Connect is finally available for pre-order, an Extender for Windows Media Center system, for your HDTV. "The unit plays nice with other UPnP- and DLNA-compliant devices and includes 802.11a...

As I've posted previously, there's been a great deal of discussion on Windows XP support past June 30, and downgrades from Windows Vista . Thanks to Michael and Mike in the Windows marketing group for pointing out that you can find out more at the facts...