Nick MacKechnie

WorldWide Telescope Brings Space Exploration to Earth

The final frontier got a bit closer today as Microsoft Corp. officially launched the public beta of its WorldWide Telescope, which is now available at http://www.worldwidetelescope.org. WorldWide Telescope is a rich Web application that brings together imagery from the best ground- and space-based observatories across the world to allow people to easily explore the night sky through their computers.

Checkout the official Press Release.

Nick.

Interesting Downloads for Week Ending 5-9-2008

Hi All,

Please find attached the listings of new or updated downloads for the week ending 9th May 2008.  Key ones include:

Infrastructure Development & Operations

• Microsoft System Center Capacity Planner 2007 Model for Microsoft System Center Operations Manager 2007

• Windows XP Service Pack 3 Network Installation Package for IT Professionals and Developers

• Podcasts: How Microsoft IT Implemented New Storage Designs for Exchange Server 2007

• Update Rollup 2 for Exchange Server 2007 Service Pack 1 (KB948016)

• Step-by-Step Guide for Testing Hyper-V and Failover Clustering

• Systems Center Operations Manager 2007 SP1 Documentation

Solutions & Solution Development

• Web Services Interoperability: Fact and Fiction

• MSDN Community Distribution CD May 2008

• Microsoft Expression Blend 2.5 March 2008 Preview

• Software + Services: An Architect's Perspective

Security, Policy & Compliance

• System Center Operations Manager 2007 SCW Roles and Security Hardening Guide for Windows Server 2003

• Michael Howard Discusses the Microsoft SDL Development Practices

• Identity & S+S: from the enterprise to the Internet and back

• Windows Mobile SSLChainSaver

Other

• How Microsoft runs its business? - Technical Perspective

• Outlook 2007/2003/2002 Add-in: Personal Folders Backup

• Webcast setup and troubleshooting guide

Nick.

http://cid-2a56954c01a1caa0.skydrive.live.com/self.aspx/Public/Interesting%20Downloads/2008/Interesting%20Downloads%20for%20Week%20Ending%205-9-2008.zip

Microsoft and RIM to Bring Windows Live Services to BlackBerry Smartphone Customers

SEATTLE, Wash., and WATERLOO, Ontario — May 12, 2008 — Microsoft Corp. and Research In Motion (RIM) today announced an agreement to provide Microsoft Windows Live services on BlackBerry^® smartphones. As a result of this collaboration, BlackBerry smartphone customers will enjoy easy mobile access to Windows Live Messenger and an enhanced level of integration between Windows Live Hotmail and the BlackBerry platform.

The integration of Windows Live services into the BlackBerry platform will allow customers who use Windows Live Hotmail and Windows Live Messenger on their BlackBerry smartphone to benefit from the BlackBerry platform architecture with the ability to communicate in real time using push technology, and an exceptional mobile communications experience. Customers will also be able to seamlessly access their Windows Live Hotmail and Windows Live Messenger account from their BlackBerry smartphone by simply entering their Windows Live e-mail address and password once.

“The BlackBerry platform is respected around the world for providing optimized messaging capabilities, and RIM continues to look for ways to provide customers with a wide range of communications options and the best possible mobile experience,” said Mark Guibert, vice president, Corporate Marketing at RIM. “Our relationship with Microsoft and the addition of Windows Live services to BlackBerry smartphones help us build on that strategy for our customers.”

Among other features:

Windows Live Hotmail for BlackBerry will allow customers to do the following:

•Use BlackBerry “push” technology for automatic message delivery and message synchronization so customers’ online account is up to date with actions taken on their BlackBerry smartphone

•Use a dedicated inbox for Windows Live Hotmail messages, which are automatically delivered to the smartphone. Customers can also choose to receive their Windows Live Hotmail messages, along with messages from other e-mail accounts, within a single inbox on their BlackBerry smartphone

•Display HTML e-mail with the ability to view graphics, Web links and contact photos in e-mails

Windows Live Messenger for BlackBerry will allow customers to do the following:

•Send instant messages and join group chats

•Set status and see the presence of friends and colleagues within Windows Live Messenger or their contact cards

•Customize status messages

•Save conversations

•Showcase their Display Picture (Avatar)

•Send and receive pictures and files

•Use more than 60 emoticons

“Over 430 million people around the world rely on Windows Live to stay in touch,” said Brian Arbogast, vice president of the Mobile Services organization at Microsoft. “Our collaboration with RIM will enable BlackBerry smartphone customers to take full advantage of Windows Live, whether at work or on the go.”

Windows Live services for BlackBerry smartphones are expected to be available beginning this summer with support for multiple languages.

(Source- http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2008/may08/05-12WLBlackberryPR.mspx?rss_fdn=Press%20Releases)

SCCP 2007 Model for Operations Manager 2007 reaches RTW!

The System Center Capacity Planner 2007 Model for Operations Manager 2007 provides best-practice guidance and hardware-specific knowledge to help information technology professionals make solid architecture decisions when planning a new deployment or changes to an existing deployment of System Center Operations Manager 2007 (v3 and SP1).

Feature Bullet Summary:

· Simple installation and setup

· Provides knowledge of System Center Operations Manager 2007

· Recommended topology for Operations Manager 2007 deployments in a Graphical User Interface

· Export topology to Visio and corresponding server configuration to Excel

· Model server performance and end-user response time for Operations Manager 2007 deployments

· Hardware library includes popular configurations for Operations Manager 2007 deployments

· Create custom hardware for Operations Manager 2007 deployments

The model will be available shortly as a free, downloadable plug-in to SCCP from the SCCP 2007 download catalog:

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sccp/bb969059.aspx.

Nick.

Update Rollup 2 for Exchange Server 2007 Service Pack 1 (KB948016)

Hi All,

Update Rollup 2 for Exchange Server 2007 Service Pack 1 (SP1) resolves issues that were found in Exchange Server 2007 SP1 since the software was released. This update rollup is highly recommended for all Exchange Server 2007 SP1 customers.

For a list of changes that are included in this update rollup, see KB948016.
This update rollup does not apply to Exchange Server 2007 Release To Manufacturing (RTM). For a list of update rollups applicable to Exchange Server 2007 RTM, refer to the section Update rollups for Exchange Server 2007 RTM in the Knowledge Base article KB937052.
This is a cumulative update rollup and replaces the following:

• KB945684 Update Rollup 1 for Exchange Server 2007 Service Pack 1 (KB945684)

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=99DA32E0-D9E3-4156-AABF-8369BF96E3E7&displaylang=en

Nick.

Windows XP Service Pack 3 has Released to Web

Hi All,

Today Microsoft released Windows XP SP3 to the web. It is available right now for download via:

· Microsoft Download Center: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=5b33b5a8-5e76-401f-be08-1e1555d4f3d4&DisplayLang=en or

· The Microsoft Update Catalog: http://catalog.update.microsoft.com/v7/site/search.aspx?q=windows%20xp%20sp3

Background Release timelines:

Over the last few weeks, various information has been released regarding Windows XP SP3. The purpose of this posting is to provide you all with the latest information and resources regarding Windows XP SP3. My goal is to provide you with accurate and reliable up-to-date information, as well as links to the official web sites that provide the latest updates as they become available.

Windows XP SP3 was Released To Manufacturing (RTM) on April 21st (US Time) with the release to customers and OEMs via the various channels forthcoming. Following the RTM of SP3, some compatibility issues were discovered between Windows XP SP3 and Microsoft Dynamics Retail Management System (RMS). For this reason, the release of SP3 to the Web was delayed. However, it was available via MSDN and Technet subscription channels. Now it is available on all the usual channels. Microsoft expects to begin automatically distributing Windows XP SP3 via Windows Update in early summer - US Time.

Overview of SP3:

Windows XP SP3  includes all previously released updates for Windows XP, including security updates, out-of-band releases, and hotfixes.  It contains a small number of new updates, that can help make it easier for Windows XP customers to be sure their system is up-to-date, but should not significantly change their Windows XP experience.  Enhancements  to Windows  XP SP3 (such as, for example, NAP) will make it easier for corporate customers to co-manage both operating systems within their corporate environments, as customers are gradually moving to Windows Vista via hardware refresh. A blocker tool is available, which companies can use to prevent unintended installations of Windows XP SP3 among their managed PCs, links to the tool and relevant TechNet article can be found in the resources below.

Windows XP SP3 resources and guidance can be found at the following locations:

· Windows XP SP3 Overview Whitepaper: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=68C48DAD-BC34-40BE-8D85-6BB4F56F5110&displaylang=en

· Windows XP SP3 Technet landing page: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/windowsxp/0a5b9b10-17e3-40d9-8d3c-0077c953a761.aspx

· Technet Forums for questions, feedback, bug reports: http://forums.microsoft.com/TechNet/ShowForum.aspx?ForumID=2010&SiteID=17

· Windows Service Pack Blocker Tool Kit (to temporarily block updates via Windows Update): http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=d7c9a07a-5267-4bd6-87d0-e2a72099edb7&DisplayLang=en and a Blocker Tool Kit TechNet article: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/windowsvista/bb927794.aspx

· Windows XP SP3 Release Notes: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=60807c3a-8969-4ddf-beb2-8bfac9ed416b&DisplayLang=en

· KB Article 946480 - List of fixes that are included in Windows XP Service Pack 3: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/946480

· Blog on SP3 from the Windows Performance Team: http://blogs.technet.com/askperf/archive/2008/04/29/windows-xp-service-pack-3-rtm-rtw.aspx

Windows XP SP3  - Known Issues:

Please Review the release notes for the latest known issues: http://download.microsoft.com/download/c/d/8/cd8cc719-7d5a-40d3-a802-e4057aa8c631/relnotes.htm

Support Lifecycle Information:

As with all releases of new Service Packs, the release of Windows XP SP3 has triggered the timeline for expiry of support for Windows XP SP2, which is 24 months following the release of SP3, in accordance with the lifecycle policy. This means that to remain supported, customers should plan to have upgraded their systems to Windows XP SP3, or migrated to Vista SP1, by July 13^th, 2010. This date is officially published and updated the Microsoft Lifecycle page http://support.microsoft.com/lifecycle/?p1=6794.

Nick.

Windows PowerShell V2 Community Technology Preview 2 CTP2

Hi All,

Windows PowerShell V2 CTP2 introduces several significant features to Windows PowerShell 1.0 and Windows PowerShell V2 CTP that extends its use, improves its usability, and allows you to control and manage the Windows environment more easily and comprehensively.

· This software is a pre-release version and should not be deployed in a production environment. It will not work the way a final version of the software does. Features will change before final release.

· The goal of this CTP2 release is to provide a preview to the community on early thinking and direction on key V2 features and get early feedback on them.

· Windows PowerShell V2 CTP2 release is compatible with and replaces previous versions of Windows PowerShell. You must uninstall any previous version of Windows PowerShell to install the Windows PowerShell V2 CTP2 release.

· Windows PowerShell V2 CTP2 uses the execution policy setting from the previous installation, if present. The Windows PowerShell installer does not remove or change the execution policy when you uninstall Windows PowerShell.

· The Windows PowerShell V2 remoting features work correctly only on Windows Vista with Service Pack 1 (SP1) and on Windows Server 2008.

· Windows PowerShell background jobs (PsJobs) rely on the remoting features of Windows PowerShell V2. To use PsJobs, remoting must be enabled on Windows PowerShell, even if the PsJob runs only on the local computer.

Selected New Features in Windows PowerShell V2 CTP2
(Please refer to Release Notes and Help topics for more details)

· PowerShell Remoting

· Graphical PowerShell

· ScriptCmdlets

· Modules

· Transactions

· Eventing

· Restricted Runspaces

· RunspacePools

· Background Jobs

· Data Language

· Script Internationalization

· Script Debugging

· 51 New Cmdlets

· Parser Tokenizer API

· New PowerShell Hosting APIs

· Metadata APIs for Command and Parameters

Please visit this site for more information including the system requirements, Instructions and to download the appropriate files and documents.

Nick.

Interesting Downloads for Week Ending 5-2-2008

Hi All,

Please find attached the listings of new or updated downloads for the week ending 2nd May 2008.  Key ones include:

Infrastructure Development & Operations

SharePoint Administration Toolkit

Microsoft Deployment Toolkit 2008 Source Code

Microsoft Operations Framework (MOF) 4.0

Documentation for Windows Deployment Services in Windows Server 2008

Microsoft System Center Mobile Device Manager 2008 Resource Kit

Solutions & Solution Development

Microsoft® Expression® Studio 2 Trial

Microsoft® Expression® Blend™ 2 Trial

Microsoft® Expression® Design 2 Trial

Microsoft® Expression® Encoder 2 Trial

Microsoft® Expression® Web 2 Trial

Windows PowerShell V2 Community Technology Preview 2 (CTP2)

Security, Policy & Compliance

Microsoft Baseline Security Analyzer 2.1 (for IT Professionals)

Microsoft Identity Integration Server 2003 SP2 Update

Microsoft Forefront Client Security Enterprise Manager

Other

Microsoft Assessment and Deployment Solution for Midsize Businesses Version 2.1

http://cid-2a56954c01a1caa0.skydrive.live.com/self.aspx/Public/Interesting%20Downloads/2008/Interesting%20Downloads%20for%20Week%20Ending%205-2-2008.zip

Microsoft Delivers Cost-Effective Customer Support With Automated Service Agent

Today at the SSPA Best Practices 2008 conference, Microsoft Corp. announced that it has further enhanced its online self-service and internal support tool, Microsoft Automated Service Agent (ASA), with a variety of new features. Powered by Microsoft’s natural language technology, ASA is a hosted solution that allows customers to interact in a chat-style session and ask questions in their own words, and helps them get concise, accurate answers. The solution helps to deflect support calls, guide users to the right answers, and serve as a valuable knowledge resource inside the enterprise. A winner of the Spring 2008 SSPA Recognized Innovator Award for Innovation in Usability, Microsoft ASA currently has customers across multiple industries, including the financial, high-tech and telecommunications industries.

“As consumers are becoming accustomed to the immediate resources of the Internet, they expect the same level of satisfaction in their customer service interactions,” said David Sliter, group general manager of the Industry Solutions Group at Microsoft. “We developed the Automated Service Agent to empower customers to resolve their own issues and to alleviate the burden of assisted service calls. As an effective online support solution, ASA helps enterprises enhance the customer service experience by helping provide fast, accurate answers that enable immediate customer action.”

New Features and Functionality

The latest version of ASA offers a number of key features that help improve the customer experience. The features include new feedback functions, troubleshooting and search capabilities, and the ability to guide customers through rich content and highly secure tools already on the site, which include the following:

• In-Agent Feedback allows enterprises to dynamically capture ASA success rate and fine-tune content.

• Decision Trees allow enterprises to quickly create troubleshooting trees that can help guide customers to the right answers.

• ASA in SharePoint Query allows users access to internal networks of information through a SharePoint search.

• Side-by-Side ASA positions the ASA window to the side of the primary Web browser so users can view both ASA responses and Internet content simultaneously.

Internal IT Support

Microsoft ASA also can be used as an internal IT support solution and serve as a knowledge tool for help desk agents within an enterprise. Because ASA can handle a wide array of topics, programs, features, troubleshooting and valuable how-to information, the solution can help reduce service-desk call volumes, improve help desk operations, and improve end-user productivity.

“With Web 2.0 changing the way we interact with the Internet, enterprises need to incorporate strategies that enable them to respond to the unique requests of their customers,” said Mary Wardley, vice president, enterprise applications and customer relationship management (CRM) software at IDC. “Providing a self-service channel on the Web has become a necessity for companies that wish to enhance their customer service interactions. Microsoft Automated Service Agent can help improve the customer experience and complement existing CRM solutions.”

“We needed to find a solution that would reduce contact volume caused by tax filing deadlines,” said Kris Nagoda, project manager for TurboTax Interactive Agent at Intuit Inc. “By implementing Microsoft Automated Service Agent, we saw virtually immediate benefits with a significant reduction in customer contacts. In addition, the solution is easy to deploy and maintain, so we are able to constantly improve the ASA and provide a better experience for our customers.”

About Microsoft Automated Service Agent

Microsoft Automated Service Agent (ASA) is a hosted solution that provides customer service and internal support to enterprises. By leveraging its natural language technology, ASA has the ability to communicate conversationally with customers and deliver concise, accurate answers. The ASA platform currently handles millions of chat sessions, which help reduce support costs and provide a better overall experience for customers. More information on Microsoft Automated Service Agent can be found at http://www.microsoft.com/asa.

(Source - http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2008/may08/05-05ImprovedASAPR.mspx?rss_fdn=Press%20Releases)

Office Interactive command guides and viewers to ease your upgrade to 2007

Hi All,

Here is a list of all guides and viewers for Office 2003 while you are test and deploy Office 2007 in your environment.

1. Excel 2007 Guide: Excel 2003 to Excel 2007 interactive command reference guide

2. PowerPoint 2007 Guide: PowerPoint 2003 to PowerPoint 2007 interactive command reference guide

3. Outlook 2007 Guide: Outlook 2003 to Outlook 2007 Interactive Command Reference Guide

4. Word 2007 Guide: Word 2003 to Word 2007 interactive command reference guide

5. Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint 2007 File Formats

6. PowerPoint Viewer 2003

7. Word Viewer 2003

8. Excel Viewer 2003

9. PowerPoint Viewer 2007

10. Word Viewer 2007 (replaces all previous versions)

11. Visio 2007 Viewer

Nick.

New Zealand TechEd Early Bird Registrations are now open!

Hi All,

TechEd is New Zealand’s largest and best education, training and networking event for the IT sector. Held in Auckland over 3 days, the main Tech Ed event will attract over 2,000 attendees encompassing IT Professionals, Developers, IT Managers and Technical Decision Makers from a full spectrum of industry sectors and organisation sizes.

With 11 tracks, 140 sessions and 100+ national & international speakers, this sell–out event offers attendees the chance to network with peers and to evaluate the full range of current and upcoming Microsoft technologies first hand. There are also a number of ancillary events which all contribute to the total Tech Ed experience, including the infamous TechFest party, Hands on Labs, and the exhibitors MarketPlace .

TechED 2008 will be held in Auckland at Sky City on the 1^st  to the  3^rd of September.

Register now and on September 1st -3rd 2008, you'll be a part of the New Zealand TechEd experience!
Early-bird registrations are only available for the first 1,000 tickets sold, or until 30th June (whichever occurs first).

To Register, please go here - http://www.microsoft.com/nz/teched08/register.aspx

Conference Benefits

Delegates registering for the event will receive:

• Entrance to all Conference Sessions available
• Entrance to the MarketPlace
• Entrance to TechFest
• Tech Ed 2008 conference bag and collateral
• Tech Ed Mini Guide
• Unlimited access to the Hands On Labs, subject to availability
• Day catering
• Entrance to Ask The Experts
• Entrance to Farewell Drinks

Nick.

Introducing the Microsoft Support Lifecycle Policy Blog

Hi All,

The Microsoft Support Lifecycle blog site is now live - http://blogs.technet.com/lifecycle/default.aspx.

As most IT Professionals are aware, the Microsoft Support Lifecycle is the set of policies that governs the length of support for all Microsoft products.  Or, as described by the Microsoft Lifecycle website, "provides consistent and predictable guidelines for product support availability when a product releases and throughout that product’s life". 

The goal of this blog is not to replace the main http://support.microsoft.com/lifecycle website as the authoritative source for information on the policy.  Instead, the goal is to use this blog as an informal communication mechanism to supplement the site and answer some of the common questions.

Nick.

Announcing the Microsoft SharePoint Administration Toolkit

Hi All,

The Microsoft SharePoint Administration Toolkit contains functionality to help administer and manage Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 and Windows SharePoint Services version 3.0. 

Overview

This tool pack is oriented towards helping SharePoint administrators with complex or demanding tasks—and we will have updated releases several times each year.  Each release of this kit will include new or improved functionality to make managing SharePoint easier and less time consuming.

This first release contains two very useful tools which are both supported on Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 and Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007.  The first tool, called "Batch Site Manager", adds new functionality through Central Administration.  From the new "Move, Lock, and Delete Site Collections" page on Applications Management you can schedule bulk operations against site collections in the farm—including moving site collections between content databases!  The second tool is actually a new command in STSADM called "updatealert". This command will refresh all alert URLs in a specific site collection, which is extremely important should you change the URL of a web application or after an upgrade.

Download

x64 Architecture

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=F8EEA8F0-FA30-4C10-ABC9-217EEACEC9CE&displaylang=en

x86 Architecture

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=263CD480-F6EB-4FA3-9F2E-2D47618505F2&displaylang=en

Other Links

Announcement (Sharepoint Team Blog)

http://blogs.msdn.com/sharepoint/archive/2008/04/30/announcing-the-first-release-of-the-microsoft-sharepoint-administration-toolkit.aspx

Detailed Whitepaper (MSDN)

http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=117212&clcid=0x409

Nick

Microsoft Operations Framework 4.0-Simplifying IT Service Management

Microsoft is pleased to announce the release of Microsoft Operations Framework (MOF) 4.0.

This new version of MOF has been extended to include best practice guidance for additional phases and activities of the IT Service lifecycle including those all important “pre-production” phases where risks and issues can be identified and eliminated before they have a chance to negatively impact the quality of your production IT Services.

Below is the new MOF 4.0 graphic depicting the 4 Phases (Plan, Deliver, Operate and Manage), 16 Service Management Functions (SMFs) and 6 Management Review points.

MOF 4.0 applies service management concepts to the tasks and challenges IT professionals face every day. The guidance it provides puts IT pros in the spotlight—it speaks to their needs and provides them with job aids to help them make sound decisions. MOF 4.0 features guidance specifically written to help CIOs, IT directors, IT managers, and IT professionals at all levels plan, deliver, operate, and manage IT services across the lifecycle.

In version 4.0, MOF introduces a new structure that puts emphasis on outcomes, results, and roles in a format that’s easy to reference. Because every group, team, and company is unique, the service management functions (SMFs) in MOF 4.0 are anchored by questions that support the decision-making process within an organization. This new, streamlined approach makes it possible to use either the entire framework or just one component of the framework to solve a particular problem.

The practical guidance in MOF 4.0 features processes; governance, risk, and compliance activities; management reviews; and best practices from Microsoft Solutions Framework (MSF). Finally, to ensure industry alignment, MOF 4.0 supports the best practices found in frameworks such as ITIL, CoBIT, and ISO 20000.

The new release of MOF offers concise, practical guidance across the IT lifecycle, but it doesn’t stop there. Another very important element of version 4.0 is our online community: a platform where IT professionals can contribute their own timely, relevant recommendations for achieving reliable, cost-effective IT services…and benefit from the contributions of their peers.

What To Do Next

Download MOF 4.0 now at www.microsoft.com/MOF, then join the online MOF community. See what you can contribute—and what you can gain—by participating in forums and blogs, providing feedback, and supporting other IT professionals.

Nick

Mac Messenger 7.0 is released

Messenger for Mac 7 is an integrated communications client that enables you to communicate with contacts within and outside your organization. Messenger for Mac 7 is a Universal application that is built to run on both PowerPC-based and Intel-based Macs and makes it easy to take advantage of the full power of real-time communications.

http://www.microsoft.com/mac/downloads.mspx?pid=Mactopia_Office2008&fid=8FE8C32A-6D7A-482B-97C6-42562F089EE4#viewer