It is fascinating when companies takes very seriously their environmental responsibilities and go beyond words and nice canned statements into tangible actions. Today Microsoft announced Microsoft Hohm.
This is a blog ready communication that I got from the Hohm team today announcing the beta availability:
“ Microsoft Hohm is a free online beta application that helps you save energy and money. With Microsoft Hohm you can better understand your home energy usage, get recommendations to conserve energy and start saving. As with any recommendation engine, Hohm will provide increasingly more accurate and relevant suggestions for energy conservation as its users contribute home energy input and feedback. One of the objectives during our beta period is to refine our tool and further increase the value our product can offer to you.
Microsoft Hohm uses advanced analytics licensed from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the Department of Energy to give you personalized energy saving recommendations. These recommendations are tailored based on your specific household circumstances including home attributes and use of appliances and systems. You will also be able to compare your energy usage that of with others in your area. In this beta version, the Microsoft Hohm team will learn from its users and communities and will make improvements to the site and analytics.
Microsoft Hohm helps utilities to better serve their customers by providing clear insight into their energy consumption, allowing them to make more informed decisions to save energy and money.”
Sign up and start saving now. It’s free: www.microsoft-hohm.com
An area where Microsoft is making a significant investment to ensure the digital safety of our customers is Security. It is very well known that security is also an underlying component that defines how pleasant and reliable is the experience when working with your device (PC, phone, etc) and favorite applications.
Today Microsoft announced a new beta opportunity, the former codename “MORRO” gets live as a Microsoft Security Essentials!. Due to the importance of this product, this beta offers a comprehensive experience for our influencers and communities because beta testers will not only have the opportunity to take first look or play with it at home or wherever they decide; they will also have support via Microsoft answers where qualified experts can answer their questions or exchange comments/ideas.
As part of the listening strategy, Microsoft enabled a feedback submission form at Microsoft Connect to collect your feedback and a small survey to understand the scenario of usage.
Try it out and let us know what do you think!
Nestor.-
One of the mechanism to collect feedback from our customers are the technical previews and the Betas. A popular one at this moment is Windows 7 where we saw a high interest from our influencers and technical communities.
If you still using the Windows 7 Beta version now is time for you to move to the Release Candidate (called RC) and fast. Starting July 1st, the Beta will start to behave abnormally (reboot every 2 hrs) and it will expire Aug 1st.
Want to download the RC? . The RC download program closes August 15th, so hurry up. After that, you won’t be able to get the download, but you can still install the RC and get a key if you need one. (To get a key, just go to the Downloads page and follow the instructions.)
If you’re using the Windows 7 Release Candidate, we hope you like what you see. Let us know -- go to http://input.microsoft.com and tell us what you think. You’ll be able to give feedback on various aspects of the operating system.
Thanks
Nestor
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| | Springboard Series Virtual Roundtable (https://ms.istreamplanet.com/springboard) Windows 7, is approaching fast. We’re going to examine Windows 7 application compatibility not only from the perspective of moving from Windows Vista, but also for those coming from Windows XP. Join a selected Microsoft panel to discuss the most common challenges around application compatibility when coming from a legacy operating system, why changes were made along the way, compatibility technologies inside the OS and methods for getting incompatible applications to run on Windows 7. Along the way we share tips and tricks, demonstrate free tools to analyze and fix applications and answer your specific questions about application compatibility live. Oh wait! there is more: In Part 2 of this Virtual Round Table discussion (planned for later this Summer/Fall), we’ll discuss the options and approaches for using virtualization tools In depth to address application incompatibilities – including presentation virtualization, desktop virtualization and application virtualization. We’ll be sending out more details and posting information to www.microsoft.com/springboard for part 2 as the dates are finalized. As part of the “virtual” experience, you may submit your questions about Windows 7 Application Compatibility to the panel live during the event—or submit questions in advance to vrtable@microsoft.com. | | | 
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Now you can translate your Microsoft Office documents with Microsoft Translator – right within Office! You can translate words, phrases, or even your entire document, through the Research task pane. Check out the new installer you can download to make this really easy!
This works for both Microsoft Office 2003 and 2007. The current default in Microsoft Office is WorldLingo – this installer will update your task pane to use Microsoft Translator as the default translator for the languages we provide.
On March the 1st we are going to have more than 1,500 Most Valuable Professionals (MVP) in our main campus for 4 days in an event called the “Worldwide MVP Summit”.
I have the privilege to manage this program for Microsoft and since the last 5 years it allows me to connect with the elite of the technology. It is amazing to see how these independent experts who have a deep knowledge about Microsoft products and technologies are willing and eager to share what they know with their peers at the technical communities (online, offline, professional, etc).
My program has a global nature and Microsoft awards MVPs almost everywhere but thanks to an Australian Windows Live MVP John O’Brien who developed this cool silverlight application http://www.soulsolutions.com.au/silverlight/mvpsummit09; I can describe -in a graphical way the worldwide scope of the MVP award program.
The application highlights the country/city of the MVPs who are going to be in town attending our MVP summit next month, just take a look and check if someone lives close to you and engage with him/her at your local technical community.
Short after Steveb presentation at CES, the Most Valuable professionals, selected Community influencers & customers/partners and MSDN/TechNet subscriber will gain access to the Windows 7 Beta 1.
This version differs from PDC one because @ PDC the company distributed a preview and a this time is a formal beta opportunity where Microsoft will be enabling additional resources for Beta tester.
As a Windows 7 power user (not developer or heavy IT Professional) I can say people will see interesting functionality and some new ways to get their stuff done. Some features goes beyond a nice look & feel user interface. I have been testing a bunch of Bluetooth devices such as: Headset, Smart phones, webcams, GPS, printers, mouse, keyboards, etc from diverse manufacturers and like my experience with Windows Vista they connected to my Win7 PC without any kind of problems.
On the application side I have installed more than 50 Microsoft and non Microsoft applications that are running flawlessly. The combination with IE8 really rocks!
The boot process is excellent and areas like connectivity are user friendly.
If you are MVP just check your inbox to see how to get the beta, other community influencers and MSDN/TechNet subscribers just go to the download center.
Enjoy and let us know what you think.
Nestor
In the pacific northwest the year 2008 is almost over and we are getting ready to receive a brand new 2009.
2009 is going to be a very active year in terms of community and voice of the customer @ Microsoft because during 2009 we will have the Windows 7 beta, the release of the Vista SP2 and some activity around the new version of Office where MVPs and the technical community will play an active role providing feedback around these products.
In the mean time I want to say thank you to all of you for your vibrant involvement in the technical communities during 2008 and hope all the best for the new year.
Happy New Year!
Nestor
I got this from Clint Edmonson who is an Architect Evangelist at Microsoft. He wrote a couple of documents (zip file) containing the C# and VB.NET editions of what he calls his "reference coding standards”. While many of you may not agree with his standards definitely is a good start to create your own, I read the C# one and was really good in my opinion.
Grab them. Customize them. Share with your friends is free :)
Thanks
Nestor
Since the beginning of the year, the developer community joined one of the most exciting initiatives to shape the future of Team System, the Team System 2010 Community Technical Preview program. Now is time to take the next step and as most of you know, if you’ve been using the Team System 2010 Community Tech Preview VPC, you’ve probably noticed that the instance of Visual Studio within the VPC is getting close to expiring.
We expect that the Team System CTP will cease functioning around the end of the year and after that return the message “The evaluation period for Visual Studio Trial Edition has ended”.
Now what? well Microsoft posted a set of links to provide some guidance on how to deal with the Team System 2010 CTP Expiration in our sites Connect and MSDN download pages.
If you want to have additional information that may help you to work around this issue, I saw these excellent posts that in my opinion should answer many of your questions:
· JeffBe Blog Post
· Brian Keller’ Blog Post
Also the first episode of 10-4 shows customers how to download the VPC and how to disable the clock: http://channel9.msdn.com/shows/10-4/10-4-Episode-1-Working-with-the-Visual-Studio-2010-CTP-VPC/
Thanks so much for your active participation and the feedback provided. Way to go!
Inside and outside Microsoft Vista is a conversation topic that with some frequency is present at technology discussions and conversations. At community level Vista is a conversation driver in forums, newsgroups and bulleting boards because the number of people that love it, doesn’t like it or simply hate it.
One of the hot conversation topics is support and it is key for all Vista users and a special note is for the very end user who is not technology savvy at all (like my mom) but uses Vista on a daily basis for mail, chat or just internet browsing.
Our Most Valuable Professionals are independent leaders with deep knowledge of Microsoft technologies that shares their knowledge at the technical communities with other participants. One of the communities were you can find these experts is at the Windows related communities (Vista, XP, etc). They are active there and built a strong reputation among the participant because their knowledge and because they are the voice of the community at Microsoft.
One of the feedback often collected from our MVPs was around the end user experience when looking for technical information about our Windows Client Operating Systems (e.g.: Vista, XP, etc) as well as for other end user applications.
Microsoft took this feedback and other feedback coming from small and medium businesses and corporate customers and launched a community site for consumers called Microsoft Answers.
What exactly is Microsoft Answers for Windows Vista?
· A rich, interactive community self-help experience with active participation of dedicated Windows Vista support engineers.
· One place for consumers to quickly and easily find Windows Vista support content from Microsoft and the community.
· A site built with consumers in mind—from content to tone to aesthetic. The message is “you’re welcome here, it’s easy to participate, and we’re here to help.”
How the sites works?
Well the site has different sections where the user can find information, however I would like to highlight these 3 cool sections because them save time and takes you directly where you want to go (uhmm… I heard these words somewhere before):
Search for existing answers to your question.
.gif "Use the search bar at the top of the page to see if your question has already been asked")
Use the search bar at the top of the page to see if your question has already been asked.
Browse our specific category pages under Find Answers.
.gif "Browse our specific category pages under Find Answers")
Review the top questions and answers.
Ask the Community.
.gif "Ask the Community")
Ask other people how they fixed a problem, or discover what you can do with Windows Vista.
Give a try, and get your answers today …
Vista = "View" in Spanish
Today I got excellent news about an alliance between Microsoft and one of the most popular social media sites for sharing presentations called SlideShare. This is another end user delivery of the Microsoft’s vision for Software plus Services! It gives users the flexibility to develop and share presentations from the desktop and share it with their social networks via the cloud.
SlideShare, which in my opinion is the most popular social site for presentations on the web and currently used by general public and professional, just released a Ribbon Add-in for PowerPoint which offers a full set of SlideShare social features making the integration between the most popular desktop presentation software in world and the most popular social media site for presentation sharing seamless and smooth.
The Ribbon Add-in for PowerPoint enables key social features of SlideShare directly into Powerpoint and makes these accessible without leaving PowerPoint ! cool isn’t it?
This is the new ribbon add-in
You can download the ribbon here. To install it, you will need to have PowerPoint 2007, Vista or Windows XP Service Pack 2 or later, and the .NET Framework 3.5 SP1.
Enjoy it!
Nestor
At Microsoft we value your comments and feedback.
At this moment the Windows engineering teams are conducting a listening exercise in key areas as is described below that you may want to take a look and let us know what you think.
This is an opportunity for you to tell Microsoft what you feel the needs and priorities for improving are on:
Voice your feedback and ideas!
Thanks
Nestor.-
Besides what Mac lovers or Linux lovers can say, Windows is the foundation of the personal computing and a mandatory reference when people speaks about personal productivity or how the computer came to make our lives easier, fun, productive and helps people to realize their full potential.
This may sound too much marketer or a compilation of clichés by some people :) however I think Windows is now part of the human history as the tool which make computing accessible to everyone.
This is a very nice coverage of the 25 years http://www.internetnews.com/software/article.php/3784541/After+a+Quarter+Century+of+Windows.htm
Happy birthday!
I'm very passionated about live services, finally the information embargo is over and you can take a look of the upcoming live services here
http://windowslivewire.spaces.live.com/blog/cns!2F7EB29B42641D59!17757.entry
