Satisfy Me

Microsoft on standards, behind the scenes building Windows 8, and more of what I've read this week

2012-02-10T22:23:17Z

A few links of interest today… a quick post as I need to get through my email. Busy week.

With Valentines around the corner, I particularly enjoyed these 16 things Calvin & Hobbes said better than anyone else http://on.news.me/zyH7yH via @moorehn

Thanks to Larry Hryb (aka @majornelson) we're reminded what happens to the losing team’s championship shirts: http://mjr.mn/wNXkqn #SuperBowl

This great news on the Microsoft Giving Campaign: Microsoft Employees Give Back in Record Fashion: US$100.5 million in 2011 http://bit.ly/z8yEPr

My take on what the PC will look like in five years, with a nod to my son's possible Windows PC in 2016: http://bit.ly/wFJ7Ti

Microsoft’s public statement on support for industry standards: http://bit.ly/wW1hrw, plus our blog post on Microsoft’s position and support for industry standards: http://bit.ly/zfQEtK

BuildWindows8: Good grief. We said "Media Center will definitely be part of Windows 8" in http://blogs.msdn.com/b/b8/archive/2011/09/02/reflecting-on-our-first-conversations-part-2.aspx http://pic.twitter.com/8c2IJM7U

Also from the Win8 team: Behind the scenes building Windows on ARM, "WOA".. video demo and tons of details see post http://win8.ms/woa ... lots to read about! :-)

While we're on the topic: CNET reported that Metro's not just an interface to Microsoft. "It's an ethos." Here's why it rules. http://cnet.co/zOoHEn

Since we're on a roll, how about this post on Windows 8, which should be called "Alive and kicking!" ;) via @MichaelGillett

And worth reading: "Designing Windows 8 or: How to Redesign a Religion" http://gizmo.do/A28FqP via @MPalermiti

Via toddbishop: Microsoft merges voice-response tech into 24/7 Inc., promises smarter self-serve calls http://bit.ly/xWoPiF

From Microsoft Australia: SMB Video Series: How to manage your PCs #intune http://spr.ly/6016RL9o

Via Forrester Research: Top customer experiences can come from unexpected places - what brands surprise you with their customer experience? http://bit.ly/wipkA0

From Linda Thomas: Facebook Timeline: Disliked by the Masses http://on.mash.to/zg8Ngq

Related, @marypcbuk's article 'Why Windows 8 needs architectural hygiene for WOA' http://bit.ly/yMdZBb #zdnetuk

Via danah boyd: More people live alone than at any other time in history. This is good & bad. @NYTimes oped by @EricKlinenberg: http://bit.ly/wHBsYN

Is This Living Room Big Enough for My TV? @NYTimes has some helpful hints: http://nyti.ms/yC5cq8

Related, this from Om Malik on why smartTVs are going to be the next net neutrality battle ground. http://gigaom.com/broadband/smart-tvs-cause-a-net-neutrality-debate-in-s-korea/

From Eric Ligman, Microsoft Unveils Microsoft Dynamics CRM Mobile http://ligman.me/AnTpdZ #msuspartner #mspartner via @kevinmachayya

Alan Moore explains the Guy Fawkes mask, Occupy, Anonymous and anti-ACTA protests http://dlvr.it/1BLFZr

The erudite Michael S. Kaplan blogs: The oft-repeated 'What version of Unicode do we/will me support?' question, Redux http://blogs.msdn.com/b/michkap/archive/2012/02/06/10264279.aspx

Vinod Khosla: Lies, Damned Lies, and Medical Science - Magazine - http://snip.it/s/1qzl

The average price of a home in Menlo Park has already gone up from $1.8m to $2m ahead of Facebook's IPO http://www.bloomberg.com/video/86075210/

From Roger von Oech, creativity strategy: For a fresh approach: "Change Viewpoints." Fun story at: http://j.mp/cwp106

Via Fast Company: With "Lillyhammer" @Netflix Wants To Destroy Traditional TV, Get You "Hooked" On All-At-Once Watching http://is.gd/cbgz4C by @AustinCarr

By SAI: The Least Stealthy Startup In The Valley Has Officially Launched $CSCO by @Julie188 http://read.bi/wTZK9m

From Techland: Study suggests that Apple mobile apps are more crash-prone than Android apps | http://ti.me/AsgiNP

From VentureBeat: Dylan's Desk: What it takes to compete with Silicon Valley http://wp.me/p1re2-1Bpm

In the Wall Street Journal: Are French parents superior? This author says while American’s fret, French raise happy children without the anxiety. http://on.wsj.com/yHEZQx

Just a reminder: Google+ ‘is not a social network’ http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/google/8880977/Google-is-not-a-social-network.html via @Telegraph. Confused with a movie of the same name

Via Bruce Temkin: Thinking about a Chief Customer Officer role within your company? Check out my new post: http://experiencematters.wordpress.com/2012/02/10/advice-for-chief-customer-officers/ #cx custexp

Cisco’s Vision: Top 5 Future Technology Trends http://ow.ly/8BuxN

Harvard Biz Review: America's Next Top Engineer: She Needs Your Models http://s.hbr.org/AmXFRt

Via Dare Obasanjo: the difference between solving problems in real life versus school - http://i.imgur.com/Lus4Y.png #programming

How can we capitalize on #cloud computing to strengthen the #EU economy? http://om.ly/BlxCI from Microsoft Europe

More on Kinect for Windows: Game on for commercial use http://bit.ly/zYxOEn

Tarran Vaillancourt, Why I love #Windows7 - it can help employees be more productive while achieving better work-life balance http://bit.ly/wFu7vh "Ohmmm" :)

W3C co-chair: Apple, Google power causing Open Web crisis (@stshank / CNET) http://news.cnet.com/8301-30685_3-57373764-264/web-leader-apple-google-power-causing-open-web-crisis/ http://www.techmeme.com/120210/p21#a120210p21

Here's How Microsoft Could Sell Lots Of ARM Tablets To Big Companies (MSFT) http://read.bi/yZKHKk, via Everything Microsoft

Also courtesy Vinod Khosla: The Future of Peer Review - http://snip.it/s/1qqx

From Jessica Vascellaro, With 5.2% of PC shipments and 13.9% of smartphone shipments globally here's one way Apple wants to close the gap. http://on.wsj.com/yHSOa0

Thanks to David Aronchick for the pointer on this great essay… may you all never have this problem: http://bit.ly/yHvYYM How to Minimize Politics in Your Company via @bhorowitz

Steve Wildstrom reports Why Tablets are Important For eCommerce | http://techpin.io/zCr0Rn The Daily @Techpinion

And to round it out, from @tgrumm: Hilarious - Will Ferrell introducing da Bulls http://bit.ly/yXLgv8

Did you see 'Walk Off the Earth' cover song that got 50,000,000 views AND a record deal? http://on.mash.to/y2LBmA

Tags: articles, what I read, twitter.

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Six months and Google finally acknowledges I'm me: the troubles with "real" identities

2012-02-02T00:58:00Z

(Written late last night, this addresses the long saga I've had with Google in confirming my name on their services.)

Busy week this, given we have so many great people in town for TechReady 14 in Seattle, but I'll still try and find time to celebrate my eleventh anniversary at Microsoft. In my time here and in the industry, I've seen my share of interesting emails and headlines: last year at this time it was about the Transition to IPv6 and how it's "not the End of the World". (We're still working hard on that transition, as are many of our customers, partners and much of the industry.) Today I reflected on another headline, especially poignant given some of the headlines we're seeing today on our awareness campaign: "Google to give closed-door briefing on policy changes."

Today's interesting email comes from the oddest of places when you consider the topic…

Google.

If you've read some of my past posts, you know that it's been several months since I first noted Google doesn't believe I'm me, and the troubles with real identities. Back in August, I noted that Google's new services had some trouble with my name and had suspended my profile (note that's my emphasis in bold)as I violated the Google+ Names Policy.….

"It appears that the name you entered doesn’t comply with our Names Policy. The Names Policy requires that you use the name that you are commonly referred to in real life in your profile. Nicknames, maiden names, and so on, should be entered in the Other Names section of the profile. Profiles are currently limited to individuals; we will be launching a profile for businesses and other entities later this year.

"Your profile will be suspended until you do edit your name to comply with the Names Policy..."

Hmmm… I've heard something like that before: "You will comply. Resistance is futile. You will be assimilated." Ah, okthxbai.

This was around the time that many folks were noting a heavy handed and less than level approach the company in Mountain View was applying, just as I encountered on Facebook. (But that was fixed... twice.) I've been me longer than Google's been Google (or perhaps their real name is actually "googool"? ;) But I'll let that slide for the moment. And I'll pass on how less-than-NSFW spammers had better luck registering for Google's service: see this post of "Google asleep at the switch" in ComputerWorld.

Columnist extraordinaire Violet Blue wrote last December in her post 2011: Nymwars Year Zero of how Google Plus with its “real names” policy ignited the Nymwars. She ran into the account suspensions buzz saw in Google+, running into a similar situation as I had, highlighting "Google Plus’ contradictory behavior: Google+ was simultaneously, blatantly allowing certain people to violate the policy." (Vic, I wonder who they're talking about?) Liz Gannes wrote about this challenge in her article on how Google & Facebook want to unify our identities w/ single account (theirs). Mike Swift over at the San Jose Mercury News reported on the 'Nymwars' debate over online identity, and just who decides how a person is known on the Internet. And several good folks noted the problem in Google + posts but to no avail, including this post on "Real unconventional names = bad. Fake 'normal' names = OK" from Mike Elgan, and this excerpt from an eloquent post by my friend, Jon Pincus…

"Dj ASHBA and Chamillionaire the Ceo are ok; Doc Popular, Technogran, and Kaliya IdentityWoman aren’t. 50 Cent and Jennifer 8. Lee are cool; M3 Sweatt isn’t." [ I hope that I'm still cool in some Circles. ;) ]

A week ago, Violet Blue noted in her updated post how covered some of the new Google+ name policy changes, referencing Bradley Horowitz's announcement in regard to the use of pseudonyms and nick names, and the need to allow these for many valid reasons. The new policy allows the addition of a nickname to a users’ pre-existing display name, and allows the use of pre-existing pseudonyms (with "a modicum of provable fame/notoriety). But I found little in the way of clarification or expedience on approving what they already outlined around "the name that you are commonly referred to in real life." In his post, Mr. Horowitz continued their analysis of all name appeals on Google+, a majority wanted to add nicknames, about 20% were business names, and the last 20% would either prefer to use a pseudonym or another unconventional name. Which put me into that last bucket. What I found somewhat incredulous was this part of his post:

"Since launch we've listened closely to community feedback on our names policy, as well as reviewed our own data regarding signup completion. The vast majority of users sail through our signup process -- in fact, only about 0.1% submit name appeals."

Really? (/sethmeyers emphasis) If you consider the "law of large numbers" and take the company's membership numbers as gospel, you get figure of something like 90,000 appeals on the high side. Which makes me part of the 0.1%. ;) More from Mr. Horowitz’s post:

"If we flag the name you intend to use, you can provide us with information to help confirm your established identity. This might include:
   - References to an established identity offline in print media, news articles, etc
   - Scanned official documentation, such as a driver’s license
   - Proof of an established identity online with a meaningful following"

Check, check and check: I'd provided all of these things in all prior attempts, just as I did with Facebook previously. I decided to submit my appeal one last time with the requested documentation, this time citing search engine results from Bing and Google… and one additional item: a list of names of folks I know at the company in Mountain View.

For some who found quick resolution, it took knowing the right person on the new social service, or getting through to Natalie Villalobos via Twitter. Others have had their requests languish for months, many ignored by what seems to be a less than optimal submission process that might get your name reviewed by a real person. I submitted information not once, twice, three times, but at least four. I even sent personal notes to old friends in Mountain View, including a couple to my former associate Vic Gundotra.

It's taken me about six months since the Google robot reviewers adjudicated on my moniker. Today I found the following mail in my Inbox, the first email I've received from anyone at Google on the subject…

From: 111238458468081184848-noreply@google.com
To: M3 Sweatt
Subject: Your Google+ Appeal

Hello,
Thanks for sending us your appeal. You're right: your name does comply with the Google+ Names Policy. Your name has been updated on your Google+ profile. If you submitted the appeal during sign up, your profile has now been restored. Log in to Google+.
Sorry for the inconvenience,
The Google+ team.
Log in to Google+. You can't reply to this message.

Wow. Gee, kthxbai. I'm live on G+ here.

Actually, IIRC it does comply with the original Google+ Names Policy, but not the updated version of the policy that disallows the use of numbers, symbols, and obscure punctuation. The transliterated version of my name, 斯维特埃姆三, sailed through review, but I fear that folks like Bo3b Johnson will have a difficult time.

The last line in which I find indicative of this entire escapade: you can't reply to this message. You may find it difficult to get a hold of a real person to review your real name (I'm not the only one getting a hold of customer support as noted here on theinquirer.net). I know how frustrating it is when you can't reach a real person to resolve an issue with a big company, even at a company the size of Microsoft – hey, that's one of the very things I spend my days working to improve across our product and services teams. We're certainly not perfect, but we work really hard at improving our record.

Closing thoughts on all this? Unless you're persistent, someone takes note of the issue, and have good support and documentation, you may have a long wait until someone agrees that you're really you. Which frankly I don't need Google to tell me that: Bing and other search engines help affirm what my friends, family and associates already know. In the end, Google still refers to me as a number (111238458468081184848), so it's ironic numbers aren't supported.

When a company asserts to manage my identity, they should work harder to correct their mistakes.

Tags: CPE, Microsoft, customer satisfaction, Social, Google

Also available via http://bit.ly/Av3Wbg and on G+

Bill Gross: Twenty Amazing Facts Learned at the 2012 World Economic Forum in Davos

2012-01-30T02:17:00Z

Bill Gross is founder of the technology incubator Idealab and more companies than I can count (he says “100 companies in last 30 years” so perhaps I can count that high). Mr. Gross tweeted “while on [his] quest for learning in life and at conferences." (Follow him on Twitter as well as on his blog at http://www.BillGross.com.)

So, a tip of the hat to you, sir: for me, the cost to attend WEF virtually and digest everything on the Davos stream in real time in my PJ's: $0 (priceless ;)

With his coverage and that of the other quarter of attendees on Twitter, I was able to keep up in real time (which explains why I was cranky and tired this week) and almost felt as though I were in Davos. I appreciated the openess and how many people tweeted, published blog posts from the event, and the access the press had to attendees, with sessions live online in real-time (http://wef.ch/live).

But, sadly, without the incredible Swiss hospitality, food and snow. And the Occupy protesters!

So, from his tweets, here are Bill’s “Twenty Amazing Facts Learned at WEF 2012”

There are only 52 companies on Earth worth more than Apple's $97.6B hoard ofcash.
Kodak invented the digital camera in 1975 & their board buried it b/c it looked too disruptive
iTunes alone generated 50% more revenues than ALL of #Yahoo last year
From Angela Merkel - "there are 23 million companies in the EU & there are 23 million jobless."
There were ~2,600 attendees & more than 5,000 Army members guarding #Davos - more than 2/attendee!
There are 371,000 babies born each day. There are 377,900 iPhones sold each day.
Annual growth in China 9%, India 8%, Africa 5.5%, Europe 0%.
Over next several years world will need amount of food = to all produced in last 10,000 years!
89 percent of young people want a job that helps to change the world for the better.
In a hyper connected world average is over as we all knew it - we are now competing with the whole planet.
Spanish unemployment surges to 22.8%. Under 24 years old - 51.4%. Staggering.
1 in every 2 people in India is under 25 years old (and they want their piece of the pie).
Because of corruption, U.S. investment in India went down from $24B in 2010 to $11B last year.
The U.S. economy grew at its fastest pace in 1 and a half years in the 4th quarter of 2011.
a: The poorest 2 billion people spend 40-60% of income on food & 15-20% on energy. And 15 b: Each year of secondary school increases a girl's future wages up to 20 percent.
47% of time spent using smartphones is spent on= Facebook.
Apple's cash reserve is enough to pay off the total public debt of 8 countries in the EU.
New era of volatity - the S&P Index moved > 2% more than 60 days in 2011. In 2005 - Zero.
Avg cost of attending Davos: Food ($2k) + Hotel ($3k) + Flights ($6k) + Transfers ($9k) + EntryFee ($20k) = $40,000
On Hacking, the Intellectual Attacks come from China & the Financial Attacks come from Russia.

WRT number 19: $9K in transfers?!?

Tags: WEF, Davos, conferences, World Economic Forum, 2012.

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Surviving TechReady 14 in Seattle 2012: A few helpful tips and hints

2012-01-29T03:53:00Z

Here's a link to my post with some helpful hints on Surviving TechReady in Seattle, from 2010. Many of the links and info points are still relevant…

Going to TechReady next week in Seattle? It seems from what I read on Twitter that we will have a number of people visiting the fair Emerald City for next week's geek festivities.

To aid in your visit to the fair city by the Sound, I've posted here a few hints along the lines of my notes from Surviving CES in Las Vegas and Surviving MGX. Using that post as a template, here are a couple of resources for you - I will add to the page later as I have time.

First off, a public service announcement.

I have to agree with LyalinDotCom: remember to watch what you say online when you talk about #tr14. What I said about tweeting (remember to be thoughtful) still stands,

Head over to this post for more general information.

First, an update with couple of things you should know.

Weather? Oh, yes. We haz plenty, so pack light and perhaps a light jacket. Keep in mind that it's winter in the Puget Sound area, and following our Snowpocalypse a week ago there is still a chill in the air. As opposed to TR in the summer when it's a lovely high 70s to low 80s, you can expect rainy, cool weather

Weather in Seattle via Bing Weather

NOW	SAT	SUN	MON	TUE	WED
43° Cloudy °F \| °C	47° / 41°	49° / 42°	49° / 40°	48° / 38°	47° / 40°

Next 5 days

Weather Maps: Temperature · Doppler Radar · Precipitation · more (Data from AccuWeather on bing.com/weather)

A couple of quick tips...

General information. The City of Seattle has a great online online visitor's guide with lots of helpful information, complete with virtual tours, tips on staying safe, places to eat and shop and more.

What to wear. Weather will get down into the high 30's so bring an umbrella and a warm jacket... unless you're Canadian or Scandinavian, then bring shorts and t-shirts. ;)

Dress in comfortable clothes and wear great, comfortable shoes. And don't bring the stylish shoes, go for comfort as you will be standing and walking. A lot. My pick: your favourite sneakers (perhaps a cool new pair of Vans), anything from Ecco, Rockport or New Balance. And see also a few travel recommendations from Colin Cowie on packing.

Also, bring a shoulder bag (a messenger bag works well) for hauling around all the schwag you'll likely pick up and for toting your phone, mini notebook, digital camera, and other essentials: a bottle of water or juice, snack bars and fruit… oh, sorry, I mean Red Bull and Jolt, family sized Hershey's and a package of gummies.

Getting from the airport to anywhere: A great resource is available at the official Seattle visitor's travel page, with a special money-saving nod to the new Link Light Rail which will get you to and from SeaTac airport in comfort and high-tech style, in about 35 minutes for under $3 a ride. As the site notes, it's the best deal in town. You may still have a trek to your hotel, but likely it won't be far from one of the light rail stops.

A taxi ride will save you a few minutes but run you a little more, costing between $35-40, closer to $50 if you're staying in Bellevue (closer to Microsoft main campus and our offices in dowwntown Bellevue). If you decide to take a cab, pair up (or three or four) with folks going to the same hotel and split the taxi fare.

Getting a taxi at SeaTac is pretty easy - there are ususally plenty of taxis in the official queue. Please don't take an unlicensed cab: we want you to get to the event safe and sound!. .

Have anything to add? LMK in the comments.

For now, here are a couple of additional links:

http://www.seattlemag.com/ and http://www.seattlemet.com/ – Both online versions of these Seattle magazines are great resources for where to eat, what to see and where to go when in Seattle. SeattleMet has a calendar right on their home page of what to do in the city.

Tags: Microsoft, Seattle, Bellevue, TechReady, travel tips .

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Six months and Google still doesn't believe I'm me: the troubles with "real" identities

2012-01-20T23:14:00Z

Remember when I noted that after three months, the nameless folks at Google insisted I wasn't me ?

Well, I've been suspended by Google...

"Your profile has been suspended.

"It appears that the name you entered does not comply with the Google+ Names Policy.

"The Names Policy requires that you use the name that you are commonly referred to in real life in your profile. Nicknames, previous names, and so on, should be entered in the Other Names section of the profile. Profiles are limited to individuals; use Google+ Pages for businesses and other entities."

In other words, I do not comply. ;)

After all these months, I've not been able to reach anyone in Google's customer service department (do they have one?) or been contacted by the company for more information. I can't even comment on the issue when raised on Google Plus, as raised by Mike Elgan.

Oh, well.

As I noted previously, perhaps Google should Bing it. Similar results on Google's search site, too. To be frank, I was "M3" long before Google was, well Google,. And even then, I wonder if Google had tried to register their name, they'd be denied as it wasn't their name wasn't correct (see googol). And it's been the subjuect of web humour and discussion as noted here and here.

danah boyd wrote in her post about the the value of pseudonymity that "enforcing “real names” policies in online spaces is an abuse of power." Since then, we have seen several high profile examples that have come to light, where both pseudonyms as well as real-life names were wantonly eradicated as Google enforced its "real names" policy.

As eloquently put by my friend, Jon Pincus,a few months ago when Plus was referred to a still being in the pilot phase...

"Meanwhile, back on the nymwars front, several of the people on the suggested users list have names that violate the guidelines. It really highlights the inconsistency of Google’s policies: Dj ASHBA and Chamillionaire the Ceo are ok; Doc Popular, Technogran, and Kaliya IdentityWoman aren’t. 50 Cent and Jennifer 8. Lee are cool; M3 Sweatt isn’t. Once again, to quote Vic, there’s still a ways to go."

True dat.

With a nod to my friend, Oliver, as I'm unable to get on + with the name that I am commonly referred to in real life, I transliterated it. Perhaps now someone at Google will approve it. ;)

More at https://plus.google.com/u/0/103606875168508866506

Given Vic Gundotra's first name is Vivek, I wonder if his profile would've been denied? Or perhaps he's leading the way on the use of 'nyms, as they're called. ;)

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What will the PC look like in five years? Here's one look at my son's possible Windows PC in 2016

2012-01-06T20:11:00Z

The other day I mused about my past predictions of future PCs, noting how far we've come for price/performance over the last few years since 2004…

Way back in 2003, I worked in the Windows Hardware group, and was asked [in 2004] to present at an industry conference about "the PC of tomorrow". Looking at what we had shown off that year at our Windows Hardware Engineering Conference (WinHEC), I suggested the machine of PC of 2008 would be a multi-processor, 8GB machine with a 200GB HDD, DVD-multi optical and integrated web cam and telephony for under a grand (US$)."

Last night after the kids went to bed, I decided to address the question of what I thought my son's PC would look like in four or five years. (This is my own look at one possible scenario, and not to be taken as a definitive view from our company on the direction of the PC. Now you know a little more about how I spend my spare time. #geek)

My initial thought in 2008 was that by the time our eldest son would be in high school (that will be this fall), he'll be taking a light and sleek, slim-line, multicore notebook with slot-loading DVD, wide screen display, 16GB or memory and a 256GB SSD drive... all for under $1,000.

But I said that his main device will be a phone.

Since that prediction in 2008, we've seen comparatively incredibly powerful machines available for under $1,000, noting the recent addition at our home of a new Sony VAIO AIO, complete with an Intel core i5 processor, 4GB of memory, a 1TB HDD, touch input and much more in a very stylish package. By this fall, you'll likely see similar packages complete with a faster processor, more memory and a larger HDD for the price I recently paid. Given inflation, the price in 2016 may be higher than $1,000, but it's likely you'll still be able to find a good PC at that level, and at various price points depending on your needs.

My guess in 2008 that he would spend more time on his phone than he does his notebook is probably true, but that's changing: he now creates much more content with his PC than ever before. Today he has a sub $1,000 Alienware M11x notebook as his primary PC, with an Intel core i5 processor, 8GB of RAM and a 500GB HDD, which may be upgraded to a larger traditional HDD or even a new solid state drive (SSD) in the fall (shhh… don't tell him). The processor and RAM may be fine… but we'll see what the market offers during the back to school and holiday 2012 shopping season.

But what about the time our oldest is ready for college, in 2016?

First, I'll bet he'll have more than one PC, but with a similar user experience on all of them.

One computer will have a keyboard in addition to touch input. That's the convertible tablet notebook PC.
The other will likely be light, streamlined and have very few moving parts. That's the slate.
The last will be a smartphone.

Last year, Steve Ballmer said that there were three areas of innovation to watch:

"No. 1, your computer will learn to recognize you, even more than it does today. It will see you. It will recognize your gestures, your voice, your fingers,"

"Secondly, "My computer will actually learn to understand me,"

"Then he mentioned cloud computing, where software and data are stored at remote servers run by companies like Microsoft and Amazon.com. People access the software through computers, mobile phones and televisions.

"The cloud is essentially a buzzword that refers to using the Internet to connect you even more seamlessly to the people and information that's important to you," Ballmer said. "Those phenomena, in the large, will be the source of so many new companies ... that it will be a really exciting time over the next five, 10 years."

All good things to consider in the PC of five years in the future. Perhaps even this fall, given some of the advances we see today, particularly when it comes to touch input and speech recognition, plus the incredible shift to the cloud (for storage and services).

As my son will be editing video, writing code, playing very involved online games and managing his multimedia website empire, his primary PC will likely be a convertible tablet the size of a magazine that is power-smart and runs for hours on a single charge, plugs into a nice dock and large screen/TV on his desk, complete with array mics, HD quality cameras (front and back), and a HD quality multi-touch screen. He'll still type and mouse, given the need to interact with content (audio, video and code) as well as having his computer handle day to day dictation. Today, I like having the option of using my current HP Elitebook 2760p either as a slate or a full fledged notebook PC with attached keyboard (that also protects the screen). I'm also intrigued by the form factor of the Acer Iconia Tab W500 (at right), providing the mobility of a slate with the productivity of a notebook. (I wonder if this approach will catch on in the future or be supplanted by a slate with an external keyboard.)

I think that his slate, used for consumption, reading assignments, social media, entertainment content and some limited game play, will have very similar specs – just as we see in the specs closely shared by the current Samsung Series 9 notebook PC and the complimentary Samsung Series 7 slate PC (shown at right) – both running the same Windows OS.

Not only will these devices recognize his voice, his face and his fingerprints, with the Windows OS and the right Office suite ;) they will understand his schedule, his likes and dislikes, priorities and help him make better decisions (with a great decision engine, no doubt ;).

Given our household, I expect we'll have a future iteration of the Windows Home Server – perhaps a networked NAS device that also connects and synchronizes with offline storage for cloud access and back up to avoid catastrophes. When you consider today that each member of our household has 25GB in the cloud for free on Windows Live (via SkyDrive), signing in to Windows with a Windows Live ID will be a more seamless experience, and (as Steven noted in the linked post) more personal and easier to set up as it protects your privacy and safety. As connections to these servers gets faster and more efficient, new scenarios that have not been fully available before will be possible. We've started to outline some of the ways that the cloud will be a mainstream way to access and leverage content from just about anywhere you have a connection.

Common to these devices will be incredibly fast boot times. You can also imagine that 16 to 32GB of RAM will be more common, and given recent market research report estimates, the top size of a single very large capacity disk drive will increase to 8TB, with 1TB (perhaps 2TB) of on board SSD storage – maybe half that on the slate – will be available. The processors on these PCs of 2016 will have power that easily bests the Core i7-3960X of today (with six cores and a 15MB L3 cache) to manage what's there on the PC, as well as his constant communications over the mobile Internet.

Absent on both of these: DVD-multi optical. Just as the floppy disk disappeared from view a few years ago (is there a mainstream OEM offering an on-board floppy?), I expect that mostly desktop machines will feature Blu-Ray DVD read/write support, with most slim notebooks looking to the Web for content and apps, on occasion utilizing external drives for adding archived content and installing legacy applications (for installing classics like Zoo Tycoon 2, of course).

Still prevalent will be the ubiquitous RJ-45 Ethernet port, headphone and mic jacks, USB 3.0 and Thunderbolt ports, and of course the SD card slot. I'll still be using SD cards for the vacation photos and video on 128 and 256GB SD cards from my HD camcorder on the PC, for editing, publishing and archival.

In 2003, I suspected that telephony would be better integrated into the PC of 2008 – perhaps not as literal as the telephone handset of our Athens PC prototype shown in the mock ad above, but integrated with an array of microphones and integrated. That's there as well, just as it is today, via a headset or on-board audio, but I expect even better integration with mobile phones. I expect that he'll make most of his phone calls from that PC as well, multitasking as he does today: chatting away while playing games, doing homework and working on his various projects on a slim, fact slate/notebook.

The icing on this hardware cake will be the additional power outside the box. Given he'll be connected to the most powerful servers on the planet anywhere and everywhere, the cloud will provide the real computing horsepower he needs to handle heavy computer lifting.

So I'll stick with my wager: off hours, my son's primary technology consumption and communication device will be a phone... with his two PCs and cloud storage allowing him to express his creativity and manage his life. (What the phone will look like is anyone's guess, but I do like where we're going with the Windows Phone form factor – eventually I'll be able to replace the contents of my slim wallet with my phone, but I'm not sure we'll get there by 2016.)

Now if I could only get him to clean up his room to make it as organized as his Windows desktop. ;)

Additional perspectives:

Q&A: "Athens" Prototype PC Inspires Innovations Showcased at WinHEC 2004: A blast form the past, in an interview with Tom Phillips at the 2004 Windows Hardware Engineering Conference, talking about the evolution of the PC as a center for information-worker communication and collaboration.

Microsoft's Home of the Future: If you want to get a glimpse of one Microsoft view on the Home of the Future, then take a tour with Steve Clayton, as shown here:

Microsoft Office Productivity Future Vision: Find out how technology could transform the way we get things done at school, at work, and in the home over the next 5 to 10 years. (Video release: 2009)

Tags: Windows, Windows 7, Microsoft.

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Surviving CES in Las Vegas: A few helpful hints for 2012

2012-01-05T19:31:00Z

in this post, I offer a few tips for those heading off to CES 2012 in Las Vegas this week...

As you may already know, CES 2012 begins this week in Las Vegas (officially, CES is January 10-13). Yes, it's true that researchers have determined that stress may cause the brain to become disconnected, but you don't have to be disconnected at when traveling to Las Vegas.

BTW, you can find Microsoft this year at Central 7244 (here's a map). Yes, we announced that the 2012 CES tech show will be our last where we have a booth.

As noted in the Wall Street Journal...

"CES, as the event is universally called, is used by many high-tech companies to show off what they have developed—as well as product plans for the rest of the year. The event has assumed increased importance as consumer purchases of goods have topped revenue from business customers for many electronics companies."

Once again, I was asked not once, not twice but a half dozen times in the last day for a couple of restaurant recommendations and a link to my past, popular post, "Surviving CES in Las Vegas: A few helpful hints". So with a tip of the hat to my old friends and definite foodies at Rogers (love Aureole), I offer a few tips for those heading off to Vegas this week for the event, updating the bits from previous blog posts.

I'll add additional tips this week as they come in. I can't wait to see what there is to offer from Microsoft and many other exhibiting companies.

Attending CES virtually: I certainly agree that regular visits to Engadget and Gizmodo is a good start start, particularly as Robert notes…

"Engadget has more than 10 people walking the floor for you. Why? So you don’t have to!"

I'll be watching the CES feed from ZDNet and other reporters on the scene, and following some of the suggestions and links in Scoble's "how to-survive CES without getting off the couch.

Who to follow on Twitter: If you want to watch the tweet streams in the Twittershpere from are a great number of folks attending CES active on Twitter,follow the unfiltered Tweet stream in the Twittershpere by searching the Twitter hash tag #CES12 and hash tag #CES.

You'll also find many Microsofties, reporters and commentators (including the erudite @edbott, @inafried, @maryjofoley and @robpegoraro) as well as many media outlets.

As noted by @ednmagazine recommends you follow the (my view) irrepressible @sylviebarak, in addition to @Patrick_Mannion, @awolfe58, @junkoyoshida, @EDNmagazine, @DesignNews and @ee_times.

Real-time coverage and daily wrap ups: In addition to the Microsoft CES News Center, the central online resource for Microsoft news at CES, here are a few more feeds to watch:

And don't forget Steve Ballmer’s keynote, taking place LIVE on our Facebook page this Monday, 1/9 at 6:30pm PST at http://on.fb.me/ywDHN1 (per our own Kristina Libby, Frank Shaw and others).

Additional "be prepared tips" for CES: For some additional tips, see Betsy Aoki's Tips for surviving CES, and other survival tips courtesy of Bing, including CES 2012 survival tips from Reginald Levine of the Atlanta Examiner, and Preparing for CES 2012: Trends, Tips, Keynotes, & Hotspots by Canadian Marketnews' own Christine Persaud.

Microsoft At CES

As noted above, the Microsoft booth at CES is at Central 7244 (here's a map). Yes, we announced that the 2012 CES tech show will be our last where we have a booth. And no, once again, I will not be there: you have to leave someone at home. (I have already seen a few cool new things making a debut at CES, such as the very sexy [redacted] from [redacted] and the incredible [redacted] from [redacted]. ;)

For more on all the Microsoft and partner happenings at CES, be sure to visit The Microsoft CES News Center, the central online resource for Microsoft news at CES.

Steve Ballmer's CES Keynote: Planning on going to Steve Ballmer’s keynote? Remember that attendees attending in person must have their CES conference badge, required for admission. While no other special credentials are required, you should plan on getting there at least one hour prior to the keynote: general admission is first-come, first-served and seating begins at 6 PM. Watching virtually? Steve's keynote will take place LIVE on our Facebook page this Monday, 1/9 at 6:30pm PST: http://on.fb.me/ywDHN1.

A Few General Travel Tips for CES

Flight and Hotel: If you don't already have either of these, good luck. You'll have a better chance of winning big on nickel slots than finding either at this late date. Stay home and read the daily CES blogs.

But if you must go, try booking online, going stand-by, or fly and drive from another major city. As for hotels, call a well-connected travel agent or try to find a room in town (downtown Las Vegas)... otherwise, find a friend staying at the Embassy Suites across from the LVCC and snag the pull-out couch, offering to go Dutch for dinner at Aureole (where you'll be buying the wine, of course ;).

Show Passes: If you haven't already done so, register now. This year, use use priority code AN14 when registering. You can also register at the Las Vegas Convention Center (CES Central Plaza, Main Registration Area, or the Las Vegas Hilton Ballrooms) and at the Venetian Meeting Rooms, Level 2).

If you have your badge... Go straight to any Badge Holder pick-up location. As the CES notes, be sure to bring your personal ID, such as a driver's license or passport. You’ll also need one business ID such as a business card.

As CES reminded me, "if you received your badge in the mail, be sure to bring it with you to the show. Each registrant who received a badge by mail will need to go to a badge holder pick up location to get their official International CES badge holder. Admittance without a badge holder is not permitted."

To avoid lines at registration, pick up your badge holder at any of the following badge holder pick up locations starting on Sunday at McCarran Airport, ARIA, Circus Circus, Excalibur, MGM Grand, Mirage, Riviera, Westin Casuarina, Wynn and Venetian, or on Monday at the LVCC.

If you don't have your badge... go to one of the CES registration areas to pick it up. See just below for locations or check out the yellow highlighted areas on this show locations map. Again, bring your personal ID, such as a driver's license or passport. You’ll also need one business ID such as a business card.

If this is your first time at CES… check out the CES official newbie guide. CES includes a few helpful hints of their own on navigating The CITY…

CES TechZone: More than 20 targeted areas focusing on technologies and topics that interest you. From the latest in 3D to ZigBee, you can see all the 2012 CES TechZones here.

Official CES Social information… New and improved for 2012, CES Social Circle is the official social media site for the 2012 International CES. In association with CEA, digital marketing firm Pyxl designed and developed this dynamic data visualization site. Social Circle intelligently finds, indexes and aggregates social content from around the web in one easy-to-digest visual dashboard. By utilizing a variety of social media APIs, Social Circle visualizes articles, tweets, Facebook posts, photos, videos and official CES content, before, during and after the event. Visit Social Circle at http://social.cesweb.org, and find CES on:

CES Registration assistance numbers and email addresses:

Inside U.S.: 866-233-7968, and CESreg@CE.org

Outside U.S.: +1 301-694-5243, and Internationalreg@CE.org

Press: 703-907-4365, and Press@CE.org

Exhibitor: 866-233-7968, and Exhreg@CE.org

What to Wear

Pack light. Keep in mind that it is cold in Vegas this time of year: the weather will be near freezing at night ("but it's a dry cold") and up in the mid 50-60's during the day (or about 10-15 degrees for my friends outside the States). Check the weather report for Vegas here.

CES attire: depends who you are, what you're doing there. If you are doing demo duty, chances are the standard dress includes khaki or dark pants and company provided shirts: ask for two shirts and have one laundered daily if you are on booth duty each day. (Shame on the companies that only give out one shirt to booth staff, and double for those companies that don't spring for padding under the carpet at the booth.) See also a few travel recommendations from Colin Cowie on packing.

For after the day's event, you'll need bring a jacket that you can wear as you brave the winds from the Arctic tundra as you make your way from the LVCC to your hotel. But wear a stylish shirt underneath just in case for the late-night antics around town... or better, bring a nice shirt allowing for a quick change prior to dinner and doesn't require a trip back to the hotel. I mean, c'mon: this is Vegas... (Please note that this part of the post is shallowly geared towards the boys: ladies heading off to Glitter Gulch should pack accordingly, but still bring comfortable shoes for the show floor. They may not be pretty, but you'll be happier come dinner time.)

No matter what: wear great, comfortable shoes. And don't bring the stylish shoes, go for comfort as you will be standing and walking. A lot. If you've been to CES in Vegas previously, you'll recall that many smart execs are often seen roaming the floors in walking shoes or sneakers. My pick: anything from Ecco, Rockport or New Balance, which all have nice shoes in black to go with your winter wool suit or trousers.

Getting around CES and Las Vegas

Getting from the airport to anywhere: Remember, if you need to get a taxi cab at McCarran airport, look to the departures area where people are exiting the taxi. (Just a suggestion, not an endorsement.) If you arrive into Vegas with other folks on the same flight, consider renting a limo or get together an impromptu set of people going to roughly the same hotel on the strip: that way you'll pay one limo fee.

Cars and parking: Last, unless you plan on traveling off the main strip, generally don't rent a car (take a cab). You'll avoid the hassle of trying to find a space in a short period of time, and any hassles with daily hotel parking – it used to be that rates on the Strip were as near and dear – and just as expensive – as a flat in SoHo. My Twitter friend Mary Branscombe notes at CES 2012, many hotels on the strip (or nearby) offer free parking, which is great if you're driving to Las Vegas. But CES recommends and encourages attendees to take the shuttles as parking at the LVCC and around the strip can be tough during the show, as well as a hassle (I once waited 30 minutes for my rental car at one theme hotel).

Travel from the strip to the LVCC. On the strip, well, you're on your own. I suggest comfortable walking shoes. Lots of good info on the CES site when it comes to travel via car and parking, Most CES-affiliated hotels have shuttle busses to the LVCC, but get there early as many are filled to capacity. When leaving the LVCC and faced with a bus line longer than the The Road Ahead, check out the busses with shorter lines destined for other hotels that may be within walking distance of your destination (get the map of shuttle bus stops for more details).

Shuttle busses: While taxis are ubiquitous around Vegas, there are other modes of transportation to get to and from CES. The International CES offers complimentary shuttle service on all four days of the International CES. We'll even help you get to the airport as you head home after several successful days of networking and deal making.

The Las Vegas Monorail connects the Las Vegas Convention Center (LVCC) and Las Vegas Hilton to a variety of hotels, including MGM Grand, Bally's, Flamingo, and Harrah's. Traveling at a top speed of 50 mph, the monorail is often the quickest travel option to and from the International CES. And the Las Vegas Monorail is a deal when you consider the costs (in cash and time): $5 per ride or the incomparable deal of the three-day pass for $40. Heck, you'll spend that much in a single cab ride in the wrong line of traffic.

Food

Bring your favourite snack food. See below on booking restaurants early (call before you fly) and be sure to bring your favourite portable snack foods (such as trail mix, snack bars) as the food selection on the show floor leaves something to be desired. (Note that the cafeteria at the main entrance does serve a reasonable selection of breakfast items.)

Personally, I find that Odwalla bars travel well, particularly the C Monster and Berries GoMega. You'll be the envy of all waiting in line for the hot dogs that have been slowly rotating on the burners since 2007. (I'd also like to call out Mrs. May's Trio bars for quick, light snacks. Rob Pegoraro is partial to Clif Bars, which will do in a pinch, tho' I find them quite woodsy for my tastes. ;)

There's nothing like dinner in Lost Wages: I like standing in lines waiting for a table about as much as enduring some of the things you probably won't ever see on the evening news. Unless you already have a reservation at one of the better places on the strip, and if you lack an invite to a team or company event (or even if you have one and they chose the buffet at Circus Circus - private joke), there are lots of great places to consider for dinner (many of them off the strip, if you don't mind a drive). Let me know your own best selections for the area!

For starters, check out Vegas ratings on Gayot.com's list of top Vegas restaurants as well as Frommers.com list of top Vegas eateries.

On the strip... price-is-no-object favourites include Aureole (awesome), The Rosewood Grill (with huge, photogenic lobsters), Piero's Italian, The Palm Steakhouse, Emeril Lagasse's Delmonico Steakhouse, Nobu for sushi at the Hard Rock and Seablue at the MGM. If you are dining with a small set of people (two or three people) then consider eating at the bar at one of the better places: you'll bypass the wait and often get the same food as in the main restaurant. Mary also raves about the fantastic food at Shibuya in the MGM.
Off the strip... favourite restaurants include the India Palace, Thai Spice, Roy's... and my personal favourite, Rosemary's Restaurant, which reminds of the great food of New Orleans, courtesy of Michael and Wendy Jordan.
To keep within your per diem... I like the always wonderful Lotus of Siam for Thai (just off the strip), Market City Caffe at the at the Monte Carlo Hotel, the Burger Bar at the Mandalay Bay, Capriotti's Deli and the Bougainvillea Cafe at Terrible's Hotel (great breakfasts). Add to that in addition to the buffets at many of the top hotels (a great list is on gayot.com noting top buffets). One way top top out the per diem in a single sitting (but so worth it) is at L'Atelier de Joël Robuchon at the MGM Grand Hotel is an awesome value for the money, with an incredible French tasting menu.
For breakfast or dinner, go for the amazing French cuisine at Bouchon at the Venetian, from Thomas Keller of the famed French Laundry restaurant in Napa Valley. A great place to splurge. As noted above, yogurt and basics are available at the LVCC entrance. Avoid anyone on the street offering you a flyer "to a great place for breakfast" that looks like anything but a great place for breakfast. If you've been to Vegas previously, you know what I mean.

A note on booking tables... Consider booking your table through your hotel concierge as noted above: if you haven't called them in advance, ask for their help in booking a table (tip, please) and get their business card with their phone number after you check in... and give them a tip if they offer a direct dial number. A good concierge may be able to score a reservation to a hard-to-book place: I have found that your best bet is a well-connected hotel concierge if a direct call to the restaurant doesn't pan out. Also, look to your credit card company (many offer a concierge service) or try your hand (or mouse) booking a table at OpenTable.com. Many of the restaurants still show availability on OpenTable.com as of today, so book early.

A few general travel tips for CES

Say hello your new best friend: the hotel concierge. Introduce yourself and hand them a business card. That one move may come in hand later more than you know. See 'dinner' and 'getting to the airport' for starters. If you plan on doing a lot of schmoozing at CES, call them and introduce yourself now to let them know you will be staying at the hotel. As Cowie notes, "ask your concierge to make some reservations for you now at top restaurants so you don't find that you can't get in when you arrive there in peak season. Tip the concierge the moment you arrive..." See, you can learn helpful travel hints from a man that you thought only had great party design sense. ;)

Know what's going on off-show hours. "No, really... we were entertaining clients at 'O' last night..." Before you depart, visit the New York Times' guides to Las Vegas and go to the Time Out Las Vegas Site for a list of sights and attractions around this gambling capital. Vegas is not just about casinos and floor shows: there are fine art museums like the Venetian Guggenheim, the roller coaster at New York New York (which is usually quite crowded).

Unfortunately, with a nod to my own geekyness (and many others in Windows, not naming names) the Star Trek: The Experience at the Hilton closed. A toast to my old friend, Ian, who I believe will likely be in LV for CES: he originally introduced me to Quark's Bar and Grill long ago (in a galaxy...) which actually had some reasonable lunch fare. C'est la vie.

The Times has a great 36 Hours in Las Vegas guide that should not be missed (Bookmark or print an XPS file of their Las Vegas restaurant listings and main attractions).

See the Review Journal's Best of Las Vegas site prior to heading to Vegas. The Journal has the rankings from everything from the best restaurants to the best Elvis Impersonator (it's Trent Carlini, according to the 'Next Best Thing'). Great shows include Blue Man Group, Celine Dion, Donny & Marie (really!), the always classic Mystère Cirque du Soleil, O Cirque du Soleil, and the incomparable Penn and Teller.

All in all, try to have fun... just don't try to expense it. And if you must, tell folks that the night out at Penn and Teller really was for a business meeting, that you had to go and it wasn't very good. (But careful, as it truly is a great show.)

Going Home

Getting to the airport. Finding a cab on the last day of CES is like looking for your 25-character product ID code for software you first installed a year ago. Trust me on this one. Arrange a car in advance through your concierge for more than one traveler. Or that concierge you tipped earlier just may have arranged a shuttle for a small group that has an opening.

If you don't have a ride from the LVCC... I have found that when leaving the LVCC directly for the airport, go to the head of the line and ask if anyone else is destined for the TSA security screener at McCarran... and if there's room, offer to pay for their ride. Best if you have carry-on luggage and not the 12-spaces high demo rack destined for cargo check in. (Please note that I have used this tactic once or twice and found it to be tremendously helpful, but do not endorse the practice... particularly when the line is long and tempers are high. In these cases, be discreet ;) This strategy also works in hotel lines, just don't do it within earshot of a taxi driver. (You saw "Taxi Driver," right?)

If you're press (blogs are press, right?) there is a shuttle service to McCarran every 30 minutes on January 9 and Thursday from 10 am to 7 pm from the LVCC and Sands front entrances for $5 per person one-way, cash only. (Thanks to Tara, Jaime and Sarah for the info on their site, and see Sarah's tips here on surviving CES with links to the items that "other CES veterans have brought to past shows here .")

Tags: Microsoft, Xbox 360, CES 2012, CES, travel tips .

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A past look at future tech: thoughts on the Windows PC of 2008 back in 2003... and 2012's in 2008

2012-01-04T04:11:00Z

Here's a blast from the past, when I predicting the average PC of 2012 back in 2008... and the PC of 2008 back in 2003:

Way back in 2003, I worked in the Windows Hardware group, and was asked to present at an industry conference about "the PC of tomorrow". Looking at what we had shown off that year at our Windows Hardware Engineering Conference (WinHEC), I suggested...

"the machine of PC of 2008 would be a multi-processor, 8GB machine with a 200GB HDD, DVD-multi optical and integrated web cam and telephony for under a grand (US$)."

In the summer of 2008 I purchased something quite close to that, as I noted here:

"... in our house is the new HP TouchSmart IQ506 which is quite nice, has very good specs and can be found at a broad range of retail and etail stores. With an Intel Core 2 Duo, 4GB of memory, 500 GB, a 22 inch touch screen, TV tuner and more..."

The configuration cost me about $1,100, which I noted was considerably less expensive than a similarly configured iMac 20-inch at the time (2008 SRP of $1,749.00 with 4GB or memory and 500GB HDD).

I further prognosticated in 2008...

"... by the time our eldest makes it into senior high school [2012], he'll be taking a light and sleek slimline, multicore notebook with slot-loading DVD, wide screen display, 16GB or memory and a 256GB SSD drive... all for under $1,000.

"But... his main device will be a phone."

So let's take a look at what you get today for about $1,000:

Yesterday I purchased a slim Samsung Series 9 notebook PC with an Intel Core i5-2467M 1.60 GHz running Windows 7 Home Premium, 13.3 inch active matrix TFT colour LCD, 4 GB of memory, 128 GB SSD, 1.3 MP HD webcam, premium audio, USB 3.0 ports, Micro HDMI, Ethernet (10/100/1000), seven hours of battery life, 802.11b/g/n, Bluetooth, under three pounds.

Oh, and far less than the $1,000 targeted, including tax.

Or for just under $1,000 (it was on sale ;) was the Samsung Series 7 slate PC running Windows 7, with an Intel Core i5-2467M processor, 4 GB of memory and a 128GB SSD on a 11.6-inch, multi-touch screen, dual webcams (2.0 MP front, 3.0 MP rear HD cameras), USB 2.0, Micro HDMI, MicroSD - and under two pounds.

Interesting.

What Tom Phillips said then easily resonates today:

"It is our hope that together with the industry we can deliver on the challenge of true system development and deliver what our customers desire - compelling, innovative experiences that improve the way they live, work and are entertained. And as a result, people will get more value out of their PCs."

My personal guess is that a year from now we'll see similar sleek and slim multicore notebook offerings with up to 8GB of memory and a 256GB SSD drive for close to $1,000. (Standard disclaimer applies, please don't attribute this as an official view of anything save a parent planning his back-to-school budget. ;)

The same will go for power all-in-one desktops, just as I noted recently: I purchased a great new Sony VAIO AIO for under $1,000 just before the holidays, complete with 4GB of memory, a 1TB HDD and touch input. By next year, double the memory and the size of the HDD.

But what about the time our oldest is ready for college?

More on that tomorrow: I have to head off and get this boy of the future (and his younger brother, class of 2019) ready for bed.

Tags: Windows, Windows 7, Microsoft.

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Advisory: Windows Cumulative Update for Samoa, as they skip Friday and change their time zone

2011-12-29T04:28:00Z

As I noted in a prior post, Samoa will move their time zone this week, essentially traveling to the future...

When is December 30th not December 30th?

When it's 2011 in Samoa.

[rimshot]

As you may have read, Samoa has decided to move ahead in time and join neighbors and trading partners on the western side of the International Date line (like Australia and New Zealand). In doing so, Samoa will move from December 29th directly to December 31st this year. As Alan Boyle wrote this week in his post on MSN...

"Just this once, Samoa is making Dec. 30 disappear.

"It's the key step in the Pacific island nation's plan to move from the eastern to the western side of the International Date Line and mesh its work week with two of its primary trading partners, New Zealand and Australia. The New Zealand territory of Tokelau is making the switch as well.

"In doing business with New Zealand and Australia, we're losing out on two working days a week," Stuff.co.nz quoted Samoan Prime Minister Tuila'epa Sailele as saying. "While it's Friday here, it's Saturday in New Zealand, and when we're at church Sunday, they're already conducting business in Sydney and Brisbane."

"Samoa will go directly from 11:59 p.m. Thursday, through midnight to 12:01 a.m. Saturday.

"It hasn't been controversial," the editor of the Samoa Observer, Mata'afa Lesa, told me today. (Yes, definitely still today.) "People are realizing when they sleep tomorrow night, they'll wake up on Saturday."

Not contraversial? I'm not so sure, but that's not a matter for this post. Just ask people who will miss a birthday (perhaps they won't age a year?) or a special anniversary.

Technical Changes

The change will be a move from from UTC -11:00 to UTC+13:00, and a change in the display name for UTC +13:00 time zone (Nuku’alofa, Samoa). So, on the next clock tick after Dec 29, 2011 at 23:59:59, Samoa’s UTC offset becomes UTC +13:00. And the next clock tick will be is Dec 31, 2011 00:00:000. Cartographers will have some challenges dealing with all the updates to maps, moving the International Date Line to 171 degrees longitude west of Greenwich.

Associated challenges

There are also other technical challenges as I called out last year… as this change again occurs at midnite, but this time with good reason…

Here's my regular advice for governments: in support of these types of changes, we provide guidance and Microsoft's Policy in Response to DST/TZ Requests. It's important for countries and territories to work towards seamless transitions to new DST and time zones policies, providing ample advance notice (of a year or more) with published confirmation of planned changes.

In addition – and this is important – we suggest that entities considering moves to DST implement changes at the next clock tick after 01:59:59 rather than at 00:00:00. Making the change at midnight can impact daily scheduled system events that sometimes occur at 12:00 midnite, such as back ups, data pulls or other automated tasks.

But I imagine that in Samoa's case with this change, it would have been a greater challenge to have December 30th last only a few hours. Noting the article cites "there were 767 births and 43 marriages registered" on December 30th, I sympathize for the loss of a special day.

What's Microsoft doing about this change?

Microsoft is aware of the upcoming change in time zone and shift in date for Samoa, and we're looking at ways to minimize the impact this change has on our customers and partners. As with other changes to daylight saving time and time zones (like the recent change in Russia, noted here), this requires an update to the OS.

So users should look at the December 2011 cumulative time zone update for Windows operating systems avilable at http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2633952.

In addition to the change to the UTC offset for Samoa standard time from (UTC-11) to (UTC+13) -- which will change the time zone’s display name to "(UTC+13:00) Samoa" -- we also made additional changes since the last semi-annual Windows cumulative time zone update (back in August):

Kaliningrad Standard Time:
As previously announced in Microsoft Knowledge Base article 2625508, Belarus has decided to discontinue daylight saving time from 2011 and stay on permanent "summer time." That article suggested that users move to a "workaround time" of Kaliningrad standard time. This windows update makes the move permanent by including Minsk in the display name for Kaliningrad standard time. The new display name for Kaliningrad standard time is "(UTC+03:00) Kaliningrad, Minsk."
E.Europe Standard Time:
The display name for this time zone has been updated to "(UTC+2:00) Nicosia."
Bahia Standard Time [Display Name "(UTC-3:00) Salvador"]:
A new windows time zone has been created for the Brazilian state of Bahia.
Fiji Standard Time [Display Name "(UTC+12:00) Fiji"]:
Sets the 2012 DST start date to occur on the fourth Sunday of January.

Most applications and services reference the underlying Windows OS for their TZ and DST rules, with some exceptions. This change in Samoa has the potential for worldwide impacts on time references for multinational customers. Updates will be important not only for users in Samoa but for connected systems around the world, particularly Samoa's closest partners in the region. Additional information is also available on our official Daylight Saving Time Help and Support Centre at http://www.microsoft.com/time.

So happy new year! Take comfort that at least Samoa decided not to skip that holiday. ;)

Tags: Microsoft, Daylight Saving Time, Daylight Savings Time, RSS, DST, Samoa

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Three months now and Google insists I'm not me. The troubles with "real" identities and the latest 'nymwars'

2011-11-18T04:06:00Z

Interesting article in today's San Jose Mercury News: Who has the right to decide how you're known on the Internet -- you, or the online service you're using?

'Nymwars' debate over online identity
explodes

By Mike Swift mswift@mercurynews.com

Who has the right to decide how you're known on the Internet
-- you, or the online service you're using? That simmering question, which
erupted with the launch of the new Google (GOOG)+ social network
this summer, rolled into a boil this week with two high-profile developments.

First, Facebook decided to enforce its "real names only" policy against internationally
known author Salman Rushdie, changing his page -- without his consent -- to the name
on his passport, Ahmed. Next, the Justice Department told

Congress that it needs the ability to prosecute people who provide false information to
websites with the intent to harm others, stirring fears across cyberspace that people
might be busted for lying about their weight and age on Match.com.

It's been three months: as noted in a prior post, Google doesn't believe I'm me. This started in mid August when I found the following note from Google on my profile…

"After reviewing your profile, we determined that the name provided violates the Google+ Names Policy."

Really?

This from Google's policy…

"Your common name is the name your friends, family or co-workers usually call you. For example, if your legal name is Charles Jones Jr. but you normally use Chuck Jones or Junior Jones, any of these would be acceptable."

Maybe Google should Bing it. Similar results on Google's search site, too.

At least Facebook has a customer service group of sorts to resolve these types of issues (although it took some time as I noted here).

Friends have still managed to find me on their network.

And an interesting side note: Given Vic Gundotra's first name is Vivek, I wonder if his profile would've been denied? Or perhaps he's leading the way on the use of 'nyms, as they're called. ;)

Tags: Social, Google

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It's Time To Fall Back An Hour in the US and Canada: Daylight Saving Time Ends This Sunday

2011-11-05T05:32:00Z

Yes, it's that time again if you'll pardon the pun, to fall back in much of the Northern Hemisphere.

Daylight saving time ends at 2:00AM local time on Sunday, November 6, 2011, in much of the U.S and Canada, except in parts of the countries (including Hawaii and Arizona). You can read more than you'll ever want to know about DST here and on our official Microsoft Daylight Saving Time Help and Support Center at http://www.microsoft.com/time.

This year, DST in much of the US and Canada ends in accordance with the US Department of Energy's Energy Policy Act of 2005 that was passed into law. DST will end later than it did prior to 2007, on the first Sunday of November; more details on the new DST start and end times can be found here). This results in a new DST period that is approximately three to four weeks longer than in previous years.

The switch to daylight saving time also means the time zone suffix changes, now using Daylight Time: for example, Pacific Standard Time is now Pacific Daylight Time (aka PDT). The other time zones move to Mountain Daylight Time (MDT), Central Daylight Time (CDT), and Eastern Daylight Time (EDT).

As I noted in this article, Microsoft strongly recommends that DST and time zone updates be installed on all affected systems, devices and applications to ensure consistency with current DST rules and time zone settings worldwide. Customers should review the product updates available and posted on this site and at http://support.microsoft.com/gp/dst_prodlist for the latest and updated information of Microsoft products affected by daylight saving time.

Fall Back: Daylight Saving Time Ends Sunday: Don't forget to turn your clocks back an hour before turning in Saturday night. Most of the U.S. returns to standard time Nov. 6 at 2 a.m. (MSN.com).

Here's more coverage from Bing News

On a personal note, remember to keep things in perspective. Time is a precious thing. Never waste it...

Have a good evening.

Tags: Microsoft, Daylight Saving Time, Daylight Savings Time,DST:

References to DST on Bing: 45,300,000 (up three fold from 2010).

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The time has come to move on… to Windows 7 (especially if you're still on Windows XP)

2011-10-27T20:57:00Z

It's time to make a move away from Windows… Windows XP that is.

As Rich Reynolds noted in his post on the Windows team blog commemorating Windows XP this week…

"We’ve been talking a lot about the anniversary of Windows XP and how much technology and business have changed since a decade ago when it launched. Today we officially commemorate its 10 year anniversary and we also celebrate the anniversary of Windows 7 officially being in market for two years on Saturday.

"We also thought it would be fun to represent the shifts over the last decade through this infographic.

"Although a lot has changed since we launched Windows XP, the one constant that remains is our focus on enriching people’s lives through the power of technology."

I agree.

And perhaps with all the talk of "falling behind" and changing the batteries in your smoke detectors, I'll say that upcoming "fall back" from daylight saving time is a good time to go out and get a new PC, or at least upgrade to Windows 7. (Disclosure: I upgraded my own HP Touchsmart to Windows 7 from Windows Vista.)

Get a good-looking new PC. It’s a great time to get a new PC that, as the Windows team says, goes great with your living room and your budget. I'm looking to replace my now three year old PC at home with a new All-in-One (love the design of the HP Touchsmart) and considering the latest version of the line, such as this HP TouchSmart 610-1151f. (The new 420 and 520 model in the line are also quite nice.) I'm also looking at the new Sony VAIO VPCL235FX/B and the Samsung DP700 (which you can use as a mega-slate, with it's full flat design).

Tags: Microsoft, articles, blogs, Microsoft, Windows 7

Clubhouse Tags: Clubhouse, Windows 7, computers, how-to

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Announcement: Late breaking 2011 time zone changes for Armenia and Ukraine (again)

2011-10-22T21:03:00Z

I originally posted that we confirmed that Armenia, Belarus and Ukraine won't fall back but also stay permanently on summer time on October 30, similar to the move in Russia.

Well, it appears that that these decisions were recently reversed.

Please note we have received reports that Armenia and Ukraine have canceled their proposed changes. (http://blogs.technet.com/b/dst2007/archive/2011/10/19/notice-ukraine-and-armenia-revert-2011-dst-cancellation.aspx).

According to reports in Rada and Kyivpost that we have confirmed through our offices in the region, Ukraine will not stay on permanent summer time and instead will fall back to winter time on October 30, 2011 as originally scheduled. If these reports become the plan of record, customers in Armenia and Ukraine will not have to adjust time zone settings on their computers that are running Windows operating system.

The Microsoft Knowledgebase article KB2625508 has been updated with this information.

Our advice? Check with your local government if you live in Armenia or Ukraine to get more details. This is one of the reasons we recommend that in order to achieve more seamless transitions to new DST and time zone policies, Microsoft requests that governments provide the following:

Ample advance notice (1 year or more) of the planned change.
Official published confirmation of planned changes to DST or time zones.
Concentrated efforts on promoting the change to the affected citizens.

Tags: Microsoft, Daylight Saving Time, Daylight Savings Time, RSS, DST, Russia

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Google determines I'm not me: the troubles with "real" identities

2011-10-20T21:15:36Z

Love it. As noted in a prior post, Google doesn't believe I'm me: the troubles with "real" identities. This started in mid August.

Today I found the following note from Google on my profile…

"After reviewing your profile, we determined that the name provided violates the Google+ Names Policy."

Really?

This from Google's policy…

"Your common name is the name your friends, family or co-workers usually call you. For example, if your legal name is Charles Jones Jr. but you normally use Chuck Jones or Junior Jones, any of these would be acceptable."

Maybe Google should Bing it. Similar results on Google's search site, too.

A benefit I've found at Microsoft over some of our competitors: our customer service staff if fairly accessible and responsive on various social media networks. For example, type in "microsoft support" in Twitter's search box under "Who To Follow" and you'll see several links to our service teams from many of our teams, including…

MicrosoftHelps – Official account for Microsoft Customer Service & Support

XboxSupport – Guinness World Record Holder: Most Responsive Brand on Twitter

ZuneSupport – Official Zune Support on Twitter

Oh, an interesting side note: Given Vic Gundotra's first name is Vivek, I wonder if his profile would've been denied? ;)

Tags: Social, Google

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Advisory: Fiji plans to shift from daylight saving to standard time earlier in 2012

2011-10-20T17:45:49Z

As you may have read, Fiji has decided to shift their move back to standard time earlier than originally planned in 2012. This from the Government of Fiji…

"The end of daylight saving scheduled initially for the 26th of February 2012 has been brought forward to the 22nd of January 2012.

"The commencement of daylight saving will remain unchanged and start on the 23rd of October, 2011. An official gazette reflecting this change will be released early this week."

Technical Changes

The change will be a move from the original scheduled date of Sunday, February 26, to January 22, 2012. Folks in Fiji will then turn back their clocks one hour from 3:00:00 AM FJST (Fiji Summer Time) to 2:00:00 AM FJT (that's Fiji Time).

Now, who wouldn't want to be on Fiji Time? I thought it was always summer time in Fiji, where the temperatures in summer and winter are around 85-88ºF (or 30ºC for my shivering friends up north).

Associated challenges

There are also other social challenges as this change happens with only a few months warning. Here's our regular advice for governments: in support of these types of changes, we provide guidance and Microsoft's Policy in Response to DST/TZ Requests. It's important for countries and territories to work towards seamless transitions to new DST and time zones policies, providing ample advance notice (of a year or more) with published confirmation of planned changes.

What's Microsoft doing about this change?

Microsoft is aware of the upcoming change in time zone, ending daylight saving time earlier in Fiji, and we will work to minimize the impact this change has on our customers and partners. As with other changes to daylight saving time and time zones (like the impending change in Russia noted here), this will require an update to the OS, likely as part of the Windows December Cumulative Update. Most applications and services reference the underlying Windows OS for their TZ and DST rules, with some exceptions. This change in Fiji has the potential for worldwide impacts on time references for multinational customers. Updates will be important not only for users in Fiji but for connected systems around the world. Further information will be shared here and reported on our official Daylight Saving Time Help and Support Centre at http://www.microsoft.com/time as status updates are available.

Tags: Microsoft, Daylight Saving Time, Daylight Savings Time, RSS, DST, Fiji

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Posted: Information on preparations for daylight saving time changes and Microsoft Office 365

2011-10-13T20:26:27Z

My friends over in the Office 365 team have provided some guidance on their community site about preparing for daylight saving time changes around the world…

If the country or region where your organization or some of your users reside has changed their policy of recognizing daylight saving time, or changed the local time offset from Coordinated Universal Time (UTC), you need may need to update Windows, Exchange, Outlook, or other programs to accommodate these changes.

Even if your time zone hasn't changed, if you interact with other computers or users globally, your computer needs to be able to do accurate date and time calculations for events elsewhere in the world.

Installing the time zone updates as soon as possible minimizes the number of Outlook and Exchange meetings or calendar events that are scheduled during the transition from the old to the new time and dates.

Steve Jobs 1955 - 2011

2011-10-06T01:55:00Z

I'm sad today. Many of us knew this was coming with Steve's recent departure from day to day at Apple. It still doesn't prepare you for when the day comes.

Steve Jobs said in his infamous commencement speech at Stanford University...

"Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life... Because almost everything — all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure — these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important."

I wish him well.

If you would like to share your thoughts, memories, and condolences, please email rememberingsteve@apple.com.

As was posted on our corporate site today here, here's a statement from Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer.

“I want to express my deepest condolences at the passing of Steve Jobs, one of the founders of our industry and a true visionary. My heart goes out to his family, everyone at Apple and everyone who has been touched by his work.”

Announcement: Late 2011 time zone changes for Armenia, Belarus, Ukraine

2011-10-05T17:24:00Z

Important update October 21, 2011: Please note we have received reports that Armenia and Ukraine have canceled their proposed changes. (http://blogs.technet.com/b/dst2007/archive/2011/10/19/notice-ukraine-and-armenia-revert-2011-dst-cancellation.aspx).

The Microsoft Knowledgebase article KB2625508 has been updated with this information.

[10/06/2011: See this blog post form the Windows team for more information on the changes.]

As I noted in a post last week, we confirmed that similar to the move in Russia, that Armenia, Belarus and Ukraine won't fall back but also stay permanently on summer time on October 30.

Microsoft’s guidance for Windows to the affected countries will be to move to another time zone has been released in the KB Article 2011 time zone changes for Eastern Europe…

Ukraine, Belarus, and Armenia have decided to discontinue daylight saving time in 2011. According to the current Windows time zone rules, daylight saving time (summer time) is (UTC+3:00) in Belarus and Ukraine and (UTC+5:00) in Armenia. Summer time is scheduled to end on October 30, 2011 and move to winter time, which is (UTC+2:00) in Belarus and Ukraine and (UTC+4:00) in Armenia. According to the latest changes, they will remain on summer time (UTC +3:00) indefinitely and will not "fall back" to winter time. However, Ukraine, Belarus, and Armenia have now discontinued winter time and will remain permanently on summer time.

The native time zones for the affected countries will be updated in the next planned cumulative Windows time update in December 2011. No hotfix is planned for release in the interim. Users in these time zones should move to the following alternative suggested time zones:

(UTC +3:00) Kaliningrad

(UTC +5:00) Tashkent

Note To move to the "(UTC +3:00) Kaliningrad" time zones, customers must first install the August 2011 cumulative time zone update for Windows operating systems (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2570791). A new time zone will be created for Ukraine and Belarus in the December 2011 Windows time cumulative update, which users can move back to.

Affected Country Current Native Time Zone Current Standard Time Current Summer Time (DST) New Workaround Time Zone (no DST)

Belarus

(UTC+02:00) Minsk

UTC+2:00

UTC+3:00

(UTC +3:00) Kaliningrad

Ukraine

(UTC+02:00) Helsinki, Kyiv, Riga, Sofia, Tallinn, Vilnius

UTC+2:00

UTC+3:00

(UTC +3:00) Kaliningrad

Armenia

(UTC+04:00) Yerevan

UTC+4:00

UTC+5:00

(UTC +5:00) Tashkent

For more information, click the following article number to view Microsoft Knowledge Base article 2570791 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2570791/) August 2011 cumulative time zone update for Windows operating systems

Tags: Microsoft, Daylight Saving Time, Daylight Savings Time, RSS, DST, Russia

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Armenia, Belarus, Ukraine to abolish Daylight Saving Time, Microsoft guidance for Windows

2011-09-30T18:21:00Z

[Updated 21 October, 2011] Please note we have received reports that Armenia and Ukraine have canceled their proposed changes. (http://blogs.technet.com/b/dst2007/archive/2011/10/19/notice-ukraine-and-armenia-revert-2011-dst-cancellation.aspx). According to reports in Rada and Kyivpost, Ukraine will not stay on permanent summer time and instead will fall back to winter time on October 30, 2011 as originally scheduled. If these reports become the plan of record, customers in Armenia and Ukraine will not have to adjust time zone settings on their computers that are running Windows operating system.

As I noted this week noted this week, I posted on the Microsoft Corporate blog about our efforts to inform our customers and partners on our activities related to the end of daylight saving time in the Russian Federation, a change noted earlier this year. For our customers and partners worldwide, this means there are some things to be aware of and in some cases work to do to prepare for this change.

As you may know, in 2011, the Russian government adopted a law to cancel Summer Time (the region's term for daylight saving time, or DST) and won't “fall back” to standard, winter time.

We now have confirmed reports that similar to the move in Russia, that Armenia, Belarus and Ukraine won't fall back but also stay permanently on summer time on October 30. (There have been some initial rumours about other countries following Russia’s lead and considering cancelling Daylight saving time too. We will also provide details on these changes as they come up and are ratified and enacted into law.)

Microsoft’s guidance for Windows to the affected countries will be to move to another time zone (referred to as ‘workaround time zone’ in the table below).

The ‘workaround time zone’ will be used until Microsoft updates the native time zones in the next Windows Time Zone Cumulative Update (scheduled for December 2011). No Hotfix will be issued in the interim for these changes.


Country	Current Native Time Zone	New Standard Time	Daylight Time	Workaround Time Zone (No DST)
Belarus	(UTC+02:00) Minsk	UTC+2:00	UTC+3:00	(UTC +3:00) Kaliningrad
Ukraine	(UTC+02:00) Helsinki, Kyiv, Riga, Sofia, Tallinn, Vilnius	UTC+2:00	UTC+3:00	(UTC +3:00) Kaliningrad
Armenia	(UTC+04:00) Yerevan	UTC+4:00	UTC+5:00	(UTC+05:00) Tashkent

Tags: Microsoft, Daylight Saving Time, Daylight Savings Time, RSS, DST, Russia

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Changes to daylight saving time in Russia for 2011: third party resources & guidance

2011-09-29T18:46:33Z

A question from the virtual mailbag today…

"I know that you have released guidance on Microsoft products and services for the end to Summer Time in Russia. But what about other products in our stack?"

Good question.

Here are the responses I'm aware of today.

Blackberry: To find the latest DST updates available for BlackBerry, navigate to the BlackBerry Knowledge Base (http://btsc.webapps.blackberry.com/btsc/microsites/microsite.do) Enter the Search term “daylight savings time” and Sort By: Publication Date. RIM has established a release schedule of Spring and Fall that matches Microsoft’s cycle closely. Enterprise customers are advised by their Support Account Managers when a new DST patch is released. Customers are also able to receive interim updates that can be deployed to devices by the “Script method” before the spring or fall scheduled release.

I'll add other links to this page as we're aware of them, and list them on the "Other Resources" tab on our Daylight Saving Time Help and Support Center. In the past, we saw good information from many different companies as I noted here. Likely you should be able to find guidance from your device and system providers.

Tags: Microsoft, Daylight Saving Time, Daylight Savings Time, RSS, DST, Russia

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DON’T Turn Back the Clock: Microsoft Provides Resources for Change in Daylight Saving Time in Russia

2011-09-29T13:24:00Z

Early this morning, I posted on the Microsoft Corporate blog about our efforts to inform our customers and partners on our activities related to the end of daylight saving time in the Russian Federation, a change noted earlier this year. For our customers and partners worldwide, this means there are some things to be aware of and in some cases work to do to prepare for this change. (long link: http://blogs.technet.com/b/microsoft_blog/archive/2011/09/29/don-t-turn-back-the-clock-microsoft-provides-resources-for-change-in-daylight-saving-time-in-russia.aspx).

As you may know from my prior posts on the subject, Russia has decided to cancel daylight saving time (DST) in the country and will not “fall back” to Russian Standard Time this fall. The country will no longer have to make the twice-a-year changes to their clocks in the future. And while the elimination of DST directly affects those living in Russia, given the size and impact of the Russian market, the ramifications are global. At Microsoft, we’re stepping up work with our customers and partners to address the impact on users’ computers and servers.

By the way, an important note: the rules for daylight saving time remain in effect and the same in the United States and Canada, as well as for many other countries that use DST and "Summer Time" over the summer months. The latest changes are noted in my post here, and cals out the exception that is Newfoundland (as the DST start time and end time for Newfoundland Standard Time [Display Name "(UTC-3:30) Newfoundland"] has been updated from 12:01 A.M. to 2:00 A.M.).

In the post, there’s information for consumers (chances are they already have the needed updates via WU)...

So what should you do to make sure that your computers are ready for the change?

If you use Microsoft Update on your PC at home, chances are you're already covered. The latest update – the August 2011 Cumulative Time Zone Update for Windows – may already be installed on your PC if you have turned on Automatic Update in Windows. This ensures you’ll get the latest security and other important updates from Microsoft automatically. This latest update includes the changes for Russia as well as other worldwide changes (including Turkey, Egypt, Morocco, Fiji, Samoa and Newfoundland). If you’re not sure if the update has been applied, visit the Microsoft Update site for more information.

If someone manages your network at work, it’s likely the needed updates are schedule to be deployed to your computers and devices, if they haven’t been installed already.

For IT professionals managing PCs, servers and Microsoft software installations, please visit http://www.microsoft.com/time for more details. Also, visit the support websites of any other software companies to see if you need to apply any updates. It’s not just Microsoft software that may require updates.

The calls to action for IT Pros to visit the corporate site for more details and to attend one of the upcoming webcasts to help prepare for these changes and to learn more. We’re offering a series of new webcasts to help customers and organizations preparing for daylight saving time, particularly these new changes in Russia, beginning on Oct. 3rd. This is part of our “step-by-step” program on making the DST transition. Geared toward IT professionals, we’ll walk through a general overview of DST and the impacts and solutions for Windows, Outlook and Exchange. To find a list of these upcoming webcasts, visit http://www.microsoft.com/time.

Webcasts start up on October 3rd and will offer more guidance to IT Pros on the impacts and solutions for many of our software and services offerings. For more information on DST and a list of the upcoming webcasts, visit Microsoft Daylight Saving Time Help and Support Center (http://www.microsoft.com/time). There you’ll find links to updates for various products in support affected by this change, as well as other various changes to DST offsets and time zones around the world. Additionally, the team in Microsoft Russia provides specific details and guidance in country at http://support.microsoft.com/gp/cp_dst/ru.

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Announcement: Microsoft webcasts on DST changes in Russia: Oct 3rd & 6th

2011-09-29T05:07:00Z

We're doing another series of webcasts next week to help customers and organizations preparing for daylight saving time, particularly the new changes in Russia this year. This is part of our "step-by-step" program on making the DST transition. Geared toward IT Professionals, we'll walk through a general overview of DST and the impacts and solutions for Windows, Outlook and Exchange.

Understanding and preparing for 2011 Russian Daylight Savings Time Change (VIR71CAL)

October 3rd at 4:00PM PDT
Click here to register for the webcast. You can login with existing Academy Live username and password or click "Register Now" to join for the first time.

Presented By:
M3 Sweatt, Partner, Program Management & CPE, Microsoft
Matthew Brown, Senior Program Manager, Microsoft
Mike DeGooyer, Senior Program Manager, Microsoft
Bala Sivakumar, Program Manager, Microsoft
Ron Ragsdale, Program Manager, Microsoft
Jenny Liu, Program Manager, Microsoft

Session Overview: In 2011, the Russian government adopted a law to cancel Daylight Saving Time (DST). As a result, Russia will not “fall back” to Winter time. This webcast will discuss the implications of that decision and what Microsoft is doing to mitigate those implications for our Customers and Partners.

Level: 200

Microsoft Customer Information

Before the Webcast: Please ensure you have downloaded the latest version of Microsoft Office Live Meeting 2007. For an overview of the Microsoft Office Live Meeting 2007 platform and features, please view the Getting Started guide here.

You'll find a list of these upcoming webcasts on our DST & TZ site at http://www.microsoft.com/time. We also include a few archived, on-demand webcasts available here: http://support.microsoft.com/gp/dst_webcasts.

We'll also host a second webcast next week to accomodate customers and partners in earlier time zones on October 6th at 7:00AM PDT. We'll be providing login information for this Live Webcast shortly on the DST Webcasts Page of http://www.microsoft.com/time.

Tags: Microsoft, Daylight Saving Time, Daylight Savings Time, RSS, DST, Russia

Also available via http://bit.ly/prZNgE

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Microsofties: When it comes to Tweeting, be thoughtful

2011-09-22T21:44:00Z

For all you 'softies a reminder: please watch what you tweet and share in the social mediashpere about meetings or any Microsoft event.

I posted this about tweeting: remember to be thoughtful.

And did this one over the summer…

Always nice to catch up on industry news from good folks like Mary Jo Foley, just don't be the news. ;)

Tags: Microsoft, travel tips .

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Get Outlook 2010 SP1 for displaying two separate time zones in the Calendar

2011-09-15T23:22:32Z

Want another reason to install Outlook 2010 SP1?

In Outlook, you can display two separate time zones in the Calendar. This allows you to see your local time zone and the time zone of a city that you often travel to. When you travel to that other time zone, you can use the Swap Time Zones option to change the position of the time bar in the Calendar. Using the Swap Time Zones option in Outlook 2010 results in unexpected behavior.

This issue is fixed in Outlook 2010 SP1 and Microsoft recommends that customers download and install this service pack to avoid this problem. Customer who have not yet installed Outlook 2010 SP1 can find a work around for this issue in Outlook 2010 in the KB Article 2507003 Using Outlook 2010 Swap Time Zones to switch from non-DST to DST Time Zone does not enable DST in Windows.

Tags: Microsoft, Daylight Saving Time, Daylight Savings Time, RSS, DST, Russia, Outlook

Also available via http://bit.ly/oGOknk

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Announcement: Microsoft webcast on daylight saving time changes in Russia

2011-09-12T23:58:00Z

[Update 9/19/2010: The materials from our webcast, along with a recording of the webcast itself, are now available here.]

Here's an interesting webcast we have coming up this week…

We're also offering a series of new webcasts to help customers and organizations preparing for daylight saving time, particularly the new changes in Russia this year. This is part of our "step-by-step" program on making the DST transition. Geared toward IT Professionals, we'll walk through a general overview of DST and the impacts and solutions for Windows, Outlook and Exchange.

Understanding and preparing for 2011 Russian Daylight Savings Time Change (VIR66CAL)

September 15, 2011, 10:00 am to 11:30 am Pacific Daylight Time (Click here to calculate your local time)

Level: 200

Microsoft Customer Information

Technical Support: Having trouble with the conference on the day of the session? Click here for Live Meeting support or call: 866-493-2825

Tags: Microsoft, Daylight Saving Time, Daylight Savings Time, RSS, DST, Russia

Also available via http://bit.ly/qm8qhX

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Affected Country	Current Native Time Zone	Current Standard Time	Current Summer Time (DST)	New Workaround Time Zone (no DST)
Belarus	(UTC+02:00) Minsk	UTC+2:00	UTC+3:00	(UTC +3:00) Kaliningrad
Ukraine	(UTC+02:00) Helsinki, Kyiv, Riga, Sofia, Tallinn, Vilnius	UTC+2:00	UTC+3:00	(UTC +3:00) Kaliningrad
Armenia	(UTC+04:00) Yerevan	UTC+4:00	UTC+5:00	(UTC +5:00) Tashkent

Satisfy Me

Microsoft on standards, behind the scenes building Windows 8, and more of what I've read this week

Six months and Google finally acknowledges I'm me: the troubles with "real" identities

Bill Gross: Twenty Amazing Facts Learned at the 2012 World Economic Forum in Davos

Surviving TechReady 14 in Seattle 2012: A few helpful tips and hints

Six months and Google still doesn't believe I'm me: the troubles with "real" identities

What will the PC look like in five years? Here's one look at my son's possible Windows PC in 2016

Surviving CES in Las Vegas: A few helpful hints for 2012

A past look at future tech: thoughts on the Windows PC of 2008 back in 2003... and 2012's in 2008

Advisory: Windows Cumulative Update for Samoa, as they skip Friday and change their time zone

Three months now and Google insists I'm not me. The troubles with "real" identities and the latest 'nymwars'

'Nymwars' debate over online identity explodes

It's Time To Fall Back An Hour in the US and Canada: Daylight Saving Time Ends This Sunday

The time has come to move on… to Windows 7 (especially if you're still on Windows XP)

Announcement: Late breaking 2011 time zone changes for Armenia and Ukraine (again)

Google determines I'm not me: the troubles with "real" identities

Advisory: Fiji plans to shift from daylight saving to standard time earlier in 2012

Posted: Information on preparations for daylight saving time changes and Microsoft Office 365

Steve Jobs 1955 - 2011

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