Dr. Z's Blog

Life at Microsoft: The truth revealed...again!

zxue — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 21:19:38 GMT

Check out this Channel9 video that reveals life at Microsoft that you haven’t seen. Guaranteed!

The Toolshed Man Starts a New Chapter

zxue — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 17:21:30 GMT

A colleague of mine, who I got to know while working out of the Microsoft New England office, decided to start a new chapter after 12 years of service. He is best known as Russ’s Tool Shed. If you think developing .NET applications can be fun, you are absolutely right. Check out one of his episodes on Channel9.

Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 Launch Event Contents

zxue — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 14:49:55 GMT

Thanks to all who attended the launch event this week at Tyson’s Corner. You can find and download the contents of the morning sessions of the Windows Server 2008 R2 track. If you are looking for Windows 7 contents from the launch event, please contact your session speakers directly.

The trigger start service demo including step by step instructions can be found here.

Two Roundtable Discussions on Windows 7 Application Compatibility

zxue — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 18:30:21 GMT

Part 1: Get your questions answered on 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.

Part 2: Virtualization. In part two of this Springboard Series Virtual Roundtable on Windows 7 Application Compatibility, you'll hear from Microsoft Technical Fellow Mark Russinovich and a panel of experts on how virtualization tools can help you with application compatibility concerns whether you're migrating from Windows Vista or Windows XP. Get powerful insight into how presentation virtualization, desktop virtualization and application virtualization can reduce testing times, expedite deployment, and ultimately help you streamline PC management. Also covered are the latest desktop virtualization technologies from Microsoft including Microsoft Application Virtualization (App-V), Microsoft Enterprise Desktop Virtualization (MED-V), and Windows XP Mode for Windows 7.

Resources for Developing Windows 7 Applications

zxue — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 20:01:15 GMT

Microsoft has put together a list of online resources to help developers get started with creating Windows 7 applications, including links to application compatibility tool, Windows SDK, managed code for Windows 7 APIs, and the training kit. See more detail here. The training kit includes many sample Windows 7 applications and presentations.

Also, you can download and run a reference Windows 7 application called “PhotoView” at the MSDN site. The application features the Image Viewer, a WPF application that runs on XP. But when you run the same application on Windows 7, it unlocks new technologies such as Taskbar, the Sensors and Location Platform, and Multitouch, as well as “old” Vista friends such as Application Recovery and Windows Search.

Technorati Tags: Windows 7,Application Development,Training Kit,PhotoViewer

Windows 7 Runtime Libraries Available for Vista and Windows Server 2008

zxue — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 14:33:22 GMT

Microsoft has just released a set of runtime libraries to support some Windows 7 features on Vista and Windows Server 2008. This means that developers can add Windows 7 features to applications that run on Vista and Windows Server 2008.

These libraries as listed below are already included in Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2, but now are available as a separate download through Windows Update, Windows Server Update Services and the Microsoft Download Center.

Windows Graphics, Imaging, and XPS Library
Windows Automation API
Windows Portable Devices Platform (for Vista Only)
Windows Ribbon and Animation Manager Library

For more detail, visit the Windows Team blog site and the Microsoft’s Support site here.

One-Day Windows 7 Developer Boot Camp at PDC 09

zxue — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 13:06:44 GMT

It’s not too late to register for the free Windows 7 Developer Boot Camp to be held on November 16 (the day before the PDC conference). Top Windows 7 engineers will lead a full-day, technical workshop focused on optimizing application performance, reliability, and security on the Windows 7 platform. (Register via the PDC09 conference site to attend.)

More detail at http://microsoftpdc.com/Sessions/WKSP08

7 Ways to Change the World with Windows 7

zxue — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 15:09:57 GMT

To celebrate the launch of Windows 7 we are launching an exciting new online competition called 7 Ways to Change the World on October 21^st 2009. The competition encourages people to create a two minute video explaining how they believe a Windows PC could help a nonprofit make a greater impact. There will be 7 winners, and each person who submits a winning entry will receive a new PC with Windows 7 and a $7,000 grant for their chosen NGO. Detail at http://www.7waystochangetheworld.com/

SmileBooks Windows 7

zxue — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 17:47:57 GMT

Check out this cool photo book tool called SmileBooks on Windows 7. It makes editing and publishing photo/text albums easy and enjoyable and allows you to order prints of your photo book inside the tool. Watch the video and download the demo to see how it works! Try the new multi-touch features if you have a touch screen monitor.

http://www.smilebooks.com/windows7/

What you need to know about Windows 7

zxue — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 17:56:20 GMT

MSNBC.COM has just published a PCWorld article by Harry McCracken that goes over some basic and advanced features of Windows 7 from the perspective of end users. Mr. McCracken shares his experience and views regarding user interface, file management, homegroup – a network resources sharing feature for printers for example, security, free applications you can download from Windows Live Essentials, device management, and system performance. It’s a great article to read.

In terms of Windows 7 system performance, PC World conducted WorldBench 6 Nero tests that indicated that “Windows 7 showed big improvements. Performance nearly doubled on average over Vista, which indicates that the new OS enhances hard-disk performance.”

The only thing that I may advise differently is that you don’t have to wait to enjoy Windows 7 experience. If you have an old computer, download a free upgrade advisor tool from Microsoft and check if it meets recommended hardware requirements. See a sample screenshot below. (I ran the tool on a Windows 7 Ultimate edition. You may get a result when running the tool on XP or Vista.) If so, you can get started with migrating from XP or directly upgrading from Vista.

Windows 7 Launches and First Microsoft Store Opens Today

zxue — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 14:28:27 GMT

Windows 7 and Windows 7 PCs are available today in more than 45,000 retail stores around the globe. Watch Windows 7 launch events live at http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/windows7

Also, the very first Microsoft retail store opens for business in Scottsdale, Arizona. A second store will open Thursday, October 29 in Mission Viejo, California. This Microsoft Store and the corresponding online store at http://microsoftstore.com will offer PCs, accessories, and third-party software directly to consumers. The online store offers a download option for some of the Microsoft software products such as Windows 7 and Office 2007. Check it out…

Building A Windows Server 2008 R2 Hyper-V Ready Hardware Server with a Small Budget

zxue — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 01:46:27 GMT

As an architect evangelist at Microsoft, I am eager to get my hands on a Windows Server 2008 R2 Hyper-V Server and explore and learn about the virtualization technology. Since the laptops I normally use didn’t meet three Hyper-V prerequisites, I decided to build a custom server with a small budget. I used some parts from an old desktop, including a case, a monitor, a keyboard and a mouse, but replaced everything else inside the case.

After spending a couple of hours on newegg.com, I finalized my hardware list as shown below. Let me explain what the list consists of.

Item	Description	Product Name at newegg.com	Qty	Price
1	Processor	CPU INTEL\|CORE I7 920 2.66G 45N R - Retail	1	$279.99
2	Motherboard	SERVER_MB SUPERMICRO\|MBD-X8STE-O R - Retail	1	$269.99
3	RAM/Memory	MEM 2Gx3\|CRUC CT3KIT25672BA1339 R - Retail	2	$291.98
4	Power Supply	PSU DYNAPOWER USA\|EJ-65P.C6576 650W - OEM	1	$99.99
5	Hard Drive	HD 500G\|SEAGATE ST3500418AS % - OEM	2	$109.98
6	DVD	DVD BURNER SAMSUNG \| SH-S223L % - OEM	1	$31.99
Total				$1,083.92

Processor: The first item I needed was a CUP that is Hyper-V ready, i.e. a 64-bit processor with hardware-assisted virtualization and Execute Disable Bit capabilities. I’ve read reviews about Intel’s Core i7 and wanted to see how fast this Intel i7-900 series processor goes. It’s worth mentioning that the CPU comes with heatsink and fan, which is very convenient and cost-saving.

Motherboard: I then found a few motherboards that support Intel Core i7 (CPU Socket Type LGA 1366) and decided to go with a Supermicro server motherboard based on some buyers’ reviews. This board comes with integrated graphics and 2 integrated Ethernet ports that support three connection speeds, 10/100/1000Mbps. However, it does not have any audio output. You will need an audio/sound card if you want to use it for gaming.

RAM/Memory: I wanted the custom-built server to run many virtual machines, which means lots of RAMs. Newegg does a great job by letting you know the products that are recommended for the one you’ve selected. So I selected 2 packs of Crucial memory kit (DDR3 1333) which gives me 12 GB of memory.

Power Supply: While I could use an old power supply unit, I decided to get a new one with 650W power supply. (If you plan to add more PCI/PCIe boards for gaming, for example, you may want to get a 1000+W power supply unit.)

Hard Drive: The Supermicro board supports up to 6 SATA interface storage devices with RAID 0/1/5/10. I wanted to stick with the low budget, so I went with 2 Seagate SATA hard drives, each with 500 GB space for better I/O performance: one drive for the server operating system with Hyper-V enabled, and the second drive for all VHD virtual images.

DVD: I need a DVD to run setup programs and optionally write data to DVD, and choose a low-cost Samsung’s DVD burner.

Once I submitted the order, the package with all the parts arrived in a few days, one day earlier than the estimated arrival date. I quickly put the parts together inside the case, but paid special attention while unpacking the Core i7 processor and snapping it in the socket. I then completed Windows Server 2008 R2 setup without error, enabled the Hyper-V role, and rebooted the server. I got a Windows Server 2008 R2 Hyper-V up and running. It worked! It was fast!

I checked the computer’s properties and verified that all 12 GB of RAMs were detected on the 64-bit server. The processor reading showed the default values, Intel Core i7 920 @ 2.67 GHz 2.67 GHz. The reason why the CPU’s frequency showed twice is because the CUP supports simultaneous multi-threading also known as hyper-threading. When the multi-threading is enabled, the OS thinks there are two processors instead of one physical processor.

To verify that i7 quad-core works properly, I checked the parameters inside the Device Manager. As you can see, Windows Server 2008 R2 recognized all 8 logical units thought there was only one physical processor.

It was fun to complete the project, and I was very pleased with the server performance including the boot-up process. My next step is to test virtual machines on the server. Stay tuned…

Windows 7 Online Training

zxue — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 01:27:05 GMT

Microsoft has put together a collection of Windows 7 online training resources for developers at Channel9. Topics in the collection include:

multitouch
sensors and location
taskbars
ribbon
shell libraries
background services
instrumentation and performance
installer detection
data redirection
high DPI
session 0 isolation
user interface privilege isolation
version checking

It is available at http://channel9.msdn.com/learn/courses/Windows7/

Live Webcast of Windows 7 Launch Event in NYC 10/22/09

zxue — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 20:36:02 GMT

At 11 a.m. EST, October 22, 2009, Steve Ballmer will host a press event and webcast in New York City to celebrate this worldwide launch of the Windows 7. To view the live webcast (or to watch the recording later) tune in to: http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/.

Innovation Showcase Windows 7 Contents

zxue — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 15:49:51 GMT

Thanks so much for attending the Innovation Showcase at Reston MTC. Let us know if you are working on any Windows 7 applications and would like to share your experience and success with us.

You can download all four presentations here.