DavidOverton.com
This site is my way to share my views and general business and IT information with you about Microsoft, IT solutions for ISVs, technologists and businesses, large and small.  

Microsoft

  • Microsoft Security products - Forefront and the next version codename Stirling

    I have grabbed these security tit-bits from Technet this month and thought I would share them with you. Expect to be playing with Forefront in one form or another with a year, so might as well see what it does now :-) Microsoft Unveils Next-Generation Forefront Business Security Solution Codename "Stirling" http://go.microsoft.com/?linkid=6951832 Announced this month, the new Microsoft Forefront solution, codename "Stirling," is a single product that will deliver unified security management and reporting with comprehensive, coordinated protection across client, server applications, and network edge. "Stirling" acts as a distributed system, sharing and correlating information to identify complex threats, and dynamically responding to protect the organization. Microsoft Forefront Client Security 120-Day Trial Is Available http://go.microsoft.com/?linkid=6959785 Microsoft Forefront Client Security 120-day trial version is available for evaluation, a security solution that helps protect...
    Posted to David Overton's Blog by David Overton on Sun, Jul 8 2007
  • This consumer operating systems stuff is harder than 1st thought – Red Hat and Novell no longer targeting consumers with desktop Linux

    I saw this and it made me smile – looks like building a desktop OS for consumers is harder than people thought :-) And I thought consumers were more willing to put in time to fiddle too, so that makes the enterprise play even less likely for me!! Red Hat skips consumer Linux desktop Red Hat has no plans to create a traditional desktop product for the consumer market, but will continue to place its bets on a desktop for commercial markets. "We are focused on infrastructure software for the enterprise market, and to that market we are offering the Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop," said Michael Chen, vice president of corporate marketing at Red Hat. "You need a different support ecosystem and applications for the consumer desktop," Chen added. Among the company's desktop goals for 2008 and 2009 is to ensure that its desktop products complement its server and middleware products, Red Hat said in a company blog post Wednesday. Red Hat's strategy is similar to that of Novell , which is currently...
  • Some Technical Longhorn documentation

    Windows Longhorn Beta 3 Microsoft have unveiled the first publicly available test version of Windows Server, code-named “Longhorn” as Beta 3. The release allows people to evaluate the increased control, flexibility and protection and is available for download today at http://www.microsoft.com/getbeta3 . Please note this public beta is not supported for use in a production environment. The final version of Windows Server “Longhorn” is on track for release to manufacturing in the second half of 2007. http://www.microsoft.com/getbeta3 Windows Server "Longhorn": Server Core Organisations need their servers to be running effectively for as much time as possible. Windows Server "Longhorn" Server Core helps organisations to achieve this goal. Now, administrators can choose to install Windows Server "Longhorn" with only core server functionality and without any extra overhead. By reducing the roles that can be performed by the server, and removing the graphic user interface (GUI), the organisation...
    Posted to David Overton's Blog by David Overton on Mon, Apr 30 2007
    Filed under:
  • Do you want to write code for Windows Home Server? Do you want intellisense to make it easier?

    I came across this and thought I would share it. Microsoft have released the SDK for Windows Home Server, but you don't get intellisense with it. The SDK can be found at http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa496121.aspx . HomeServerControls Documentation for Developers If intellisense, public classes and methods mean absolutely anything to you, then Brendan Grant is your man. Due to the lack of intellisense documentation, he has compiled an XML file and an accompanying help file explaining what some of the public classes and methods exposed by HomeServerControls do. More information and the downloads are on Brendan’s blog and also on the accompanying thread on the Windows Home Server forums. HomeServerControls Documentation for Developers « MS Windows Home Server ttfn David Technorati Tags: Developer , Windows Home Server , Intellisense
    Posted to David Overton's Blog by David Overton on Tue, Sep 25 2007
  • FoxPro Service Pack beta

    Many years ago I used to do database development and my preferred environment was FoxPro. Well, were now on version 9 and the latest service pack is in beta. Have a play, but think how you can move to Access or SQL in the future. Microsoft Visual FoxPro 9.0 Service Pack 2 and "Sedna" - Beta This download contains the BETA release for Microsoft Visual FoxPro 9.0 SP2 and the "Sedna" add-ons. This release has two parts: The Sedna Beta download contains six components: VistaDialogs4COM, Upsizing Wizard, Data Explorer, NET4COM, MY for VFP and VS 2005 Extension for VFP. The VFP 9.0 SP2 Beta download contains a patch that can be applied to VFP 9.0 or VFP 9.0 SP1. In addition to fixes to the core product, this patch contains significant enhancements to the Reporting features. Note that the SP2 patch can only be applied to VFP 9.0 or VFP 9.0 SP1. http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=05A0E7C9-43C1-417F-8810-AE7D7C66BAC8&displaylang=en ttfn David Technorati Tags: Foxpro , beta...
    Posted to David Overton's Blog by David Overton on Mon, Aug 20 2007
    Filed under: , ,
  • Read between the lines of the recent Google/Yahoo/Microsoft announcements

    I saw this and had to share ... just a little too much truth in them I think :-) The Google Strategy Will Backfire We forget that Google is still a very young company. But they just reminded us ... Continue Parsing Yahoo!: What Makes You Think We're Desperate? Given its grim outlook as a stand-alone company, Yahoo! suppresses its glee as it steps into play ... Continue Parsing Google: Don't Trust the Old Bully, Just the New One Parsing Google: Only benevolent giants like us should be able to buys things ... Continue Parsing Microsoft, the New Champion of Choice Protecting the existence of alternatives to a dominant player used to seem like a bad idea in Redmond. Suddenly, Microsoft is using the language it has fought against for so many years ... Continue Spin Blog - Business Spin by Jack Flack - Portfolio.com ttfn David Technorati Tags: Google , Yahoo , Microsoft , Marketing , Spin
    Posted to David Overton's Blog by David Overton on Mon, Feb 4 2008
    Filed under: , ,
  • If you want to get UK dialect words into the Microsoft dictionary then send the words asap (by 31st May)

    I have only just seen this in my inbox, but it looks worth doing!! Do you have a ‘benny’ if you can’t find ‘owt’ in your familiar local lingo when you are writing documents and letters? To celebrate the launch of the 2007 Office system and the richness of the British language, Microsoft has partnered with the British Library to develop a series of online dictionaries made up of local dialects...and we want you to contribute! How many people talk about ‘hoying’ a ball or even taking a ‘crib’ when they have a cup of tea? With an ever increasing mobile population, Microsoft and the British library and keen to preserve local identities and heritage. Jonathan Robinson, curator of English accents and dialects at The British Library says: “Britain has a rich heritage of different accents and dialects and, contrary to popular opinion, there is still a great deal of lexical diversity across the UK - where else would you find the words ‘cob’, ‘batch’, ‘bun’, ‘barm cake’, ‘stotty cake’, ‘scuffler’ and ‘bread cake’, all meaning...
    Posted to David Overton's Blog by David Overton on Tue, May 29 2007
  • Windows Server 2003 and 2008 Technet information inc Cluster Edition information, AD Explorer, IIS7, Scenario feedback for Windows Server 2008

    Windows Server 2003 (including Cluster Edition) HPC Grid-Computing White Paper This paper explains the benefits of integrating Windows Compute Cluster Server 2003 with Platform Computing's LSF grid-enabled solution, and describes the architecture and configuration of this integrated high-performance computing (HPC) solution. HPC Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) Solution Brief FLUENT 6.3 running on the Windows Compute Cluster Server operating system yields a cost-effective parallel processing solution for CFD analysis. FLUENT 6.3 users running simulations on Windows can exploit the larger memory address space provided by 64-bit systems to run more detailed FLUENT simulations. CCS 2003 Partner White Papers Learn more about compute clusters, today's applications, and options available to you from CCS Partners. Microsoft iSCSI Software Initiator Version 2.04 This is the latest version of the Microsoft iSCSI Software Initiator. The Microsoft iSCSI Software Initiator enables connection of a Windows 2000, Windows...
  • How to get delivery problems examined by Microsoft for Windows Live Hotmail

    This is a really quick post, but sometimes people talk about delivery problems with Windows Live Hotmail and want to know if the problem is with Hotmail or some other part of the system. There is a team who can help with deliverability issues and will investigate these issues after a small amount of self checks (is the power turned on, do you have internet access, are the Hotmail servers working correctly etc). To get access to this team you need to fill out a form that can be found by going to http://postmaster.live.com/Troubleshooting.aspx and following the link to contact support under the " “Sender services, tools, and issue submission" section. As you can see from the image on the left, there are a number of items you can get help with. thanks David Technorati Tags: Hotmail , Windows Live Hotmail , troubleshooting
    Posted to David Overton's Blog by David Overton on Mon, Jul 16 2007
  • Windows Vista for beginners - new Vista Wallpaper collection by Hamad Darwish

    I found this great site - http://www.vista4beginners.com - which has some interesting content - first up, some great new wallpapers for Vista - which are great Vistas. Vista Wallpapers Collection Fri, 03/02/2007 - 11:46 — admin Today we are very pleased to announce that our site is hosting a great collection of Windows Vista wallpapers that did not make the cut into the final Vista Collection. The author of these great wallpapers is Hamad Darwish - a talented young man from Kuwait with a passion for photography. Read more Source: Windows Vista for beginners | Windows Vista made simple Technorati tags: Windows Vista , Vista , Wallpaper
    Posted to David Overton's Blog by David Overton on Sun, Mar 4 2007
  • The IW Center - podcasts on the office system

    I was looking for a trickle of information that includes videos and podcasts on the technologies around Office 2007 and the Office System. The IW Center is just the right place to get this info - worh a look. ttfn David
    Posted to David Overton's Blog by David Overton on Tue, Aug 15 2006
  • World's first IT support professional - just made me laugh

    [updated with a URL rather than embedded object] I got this mailed to me at work and just p**sed myself laughing - even my good lady thought this was fun. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OMa3QBqf3t4 ttfn David Technorati Tags: Fun , Support , IT Support
    Posted to David Overton's Blog by David Overton on Fri, Apr 27 2007
    Filed under: ,
  • Office Rocker!'s Office Live - Live interview with Tim Kimber (including the BT deal)

    If you have never heard of Office Live, go read the whole interview. If you have heard of it, but don't see the value, go read the interview to see what BT are doing with it. If you do not know about the BT and Microsoft Office Live deal.... I think you get the idea - it is not long, but will make you think for a bit about business models. Office Live - Live interview As Office Live comes out of beta, I thought it would be good to catch up on the latest news. Today I'm joined by Mr Office Live himself - Tim Kimber to tell us more: Hi Tim, perhaps you'd like to introduce yourself and what you do? I'm the Office Live Business & Marketing lead for Microsoft UK. Office Live is a set of web services for Small Businesses to help them get online and start promoting their companies how long has Office Live been available in the UK - is it still in beta? We launched the beta of Office Live in the UK on 21st November 2006, so we've been in market for around 6 months. We came out of beta on 23rd May...
    Posted to David Overton's Blog by David Overton on Fri, Jun 15 2007
    Filed under: , ,
  • Bad links now fixed

    Sooo many of you clicked the links in the posts from the last two days, but got an OWA screen that I had to go back and edit about 16 posts. All fixed now - thanks to Rob for pointing it out. ttfn David
  • Help us to shape next-generation 64-bit technology - from Microsoft Partner Newsletter

    Help us to shape next-generation 64-bit technology We are shipping a private beta of our upcoming 64-bit server for medium-size businesses, codenamed 'Centro', and we're looking for partners to test the technology and give us feedback. The server, which is an x64-only version of Longhorn targeted at smaller enterprises, will integrate Exchange 2007, System Centre Essentials, SQL Server 2005 and ISA Server. To sign up to the beta programme, go to http://connect.microsoft.com/ , click on 'Invitations' (in the left-hand navigation) and sign in with your Windows Live ID (Passport ID). Then enter the following invite ID; Extr-GHBC-JCJM. You will be asked to take a short survey. When you have completed the survey you will receive an email from [email protected] . If you don't already trust this address, please add it to your trusted email addresses. More information on the beta programme More information on Centro Technorati tags: Centro , Beta , Exchange 2007 , System Center Essentials , SQL Server 2005
  • Office 2007 blog worth reading - information resources and what will change between now and the release

    Hello again, I have now been running Beta 2 of Office 2007 for a while and still love the product. It is still toooooo memory hungry - don't try running it on a 256MB machine, but it is still a product I constantly find myself missing when I have to go back to older versions. Search and the new UI are both godsends, as is the ability to make something more visually impactful. OK, so the blogs - there is this guy Jensen Harris - his blog is amazing. I would just like to point out two of his posts. The 1st includes a bunch of links for information - go get them if you want to know more about Office: http://blogs.msdn.com/jensenh/archive/2006/05/24/605678.aspx - snippet of most interest: Office User Interface Video Tour : This is a live action movie in which Julie Larson-Green and I give you a quick tour of the UI and some of the thinking that went into it. The build we were using for the video is a lot older than Beta 2, so you might notice some rough spots. Nonetheless, a number of people have said that they found...
    Posted to David Overton's Blog by David Overton on Sun, Jun 18 2006
    Filed under:
  • Virtual Earth and Silverlight enable you to hunt aliens in many places

    This little mashup of Microsoft technologies just shows how things are going to change in the future. You can shoot aliens at any location that has birds eye view (In the UK that includes ( Wembley Stadium , Blackpool Tower , Millennium Dome and Brighton Pier ) http://www.andybeaulieu.com/silverlight/DestroyAll/Default.html?latitude=40.689059&longitude=-74.04455 ttfn David Technorati Tags: Local.live.com , silverlight
    Posted to David Overton's Blog by David Overton on Mon, Jul 2 2007
    Filed under: , ,
  • Fantastic looking MiniPC's from Engadget - SA800 is stacked and ready to roll

    As is always the case, saw this and thought I would pass it on. Oh modular box of silicon affection, how we love thee. The latest -- the SA800 -- from MiniPC (Japan) is a DIY house of fun packing up to a Core 2 Duo T7600, 2GB of 667MHz DDR2 memory, 2.5-inch 40GB SATA disk, and an Intel 945GT chipset. Want more disk, no problem, stack a 3.5-incher in an extra slab above. Better video with HDMI-out or optical drives? Yup, they've got a stackable component for that and more. Have it your way starting early July in Japan. MiniPC's SA800 is stacked and ready to roll Posted Jun 29th 2007 8:57AM by Thomas Ricker Filed under: Desktops MiniPC's SA800 is stacked and ready to roll - Engadget ttfn David Technorati Tags: MiniPC , SA800 , Stacked
    Posted to David Overton's Blog by David Overton on Fri, Jun 29 2007
    Filed under: ,
  • New blog "hackers @ microsoft"

    A new blog has opened at Microsoft called "hackers @ microsoft". As many people know Microsoft is very strongly involved in the security arena. Part of this is having people who have hacked or now hack against our products to understand how to make them more secure. This group of people know have a voice in the blogsphere. Welcome to a new blog from Microsoft. The focus of this blog is likely to be a little different from most other blogs you'll see on blogs.msdn.com. Microsoft employs some of the best hackers in the world and actively recruits them and develops them. They work on all kinds of projects, whether it be in development, research, testing, management and of course security. Of course, there is controversy even in the word " hacker " but I don't think that should stop us from using it in the manner I think is the most appropriate. At his or her core, a true hacker is someone who is curious and wants to learn how systems work. This can and of course at Microsoft is done in...
    Posted to David Overton's Blog by David Overton on Thu, Aug 30 2007
  • Microsoft Rolling Out ODF Document Converter and participating in Standards processes

    This is not new news, but when I was at the Technet event yesterday it did come up. Someone asked about the what and why of Open XML and Open Document format. Luckily Darren Strange was on hand to answer the question (which he has done before). ODF is a great standard, but does not allow for amny of the things that our customers want, such as charts (to name just one). It is not unusual to have more than one standard way to do things (such as ASCII and EBDIC for character sets), so while ECMA has ratified OpenXML we are now working with a 2 nd standards body (ISO) to also get OpenXML ratified there too. For more information about the ODF converter, have a look at http://sourceforge.net/projects/odftranslator/ for the code and this article for news - Microsoft Rolling Out ODF Document Converter . Ttfn David
    Posted to David Overton's Blog by David Overton on Wed, Mar 21 2007
  • BBC News Online | Technology | Decoys fix quantum key swapping

    As some of you might know, my background was in Security for a while and I studied how Quantium keys and security could be used while at University (RHUL for those who want to look it up, although for me it used to be called Royal Holloway and Bedford New College, University of London). Anyway, quantum keys and entanglement were the talk of the days and how bullet proof they were. Well now it appears that they might not be quite so amazing, or at least our ability to use them without leakage. Anyway, I saw this at the BBC technology site and it is nice to see that there is a light at the end of the tunnel :-) Decoys fix quantum key swapping British scientists have found a way to fix a vulnerability in quantum cryptographic systems. If left unpatched, the flaw would make it possible to grab information about the keys used to scramble information without being detected. The flaw emerges because of the way that laser diodes emit the photons of light used to carry quantum key data. Using decoy photons, researchers...
    Posted to David Overton's Blog by David Overton on Mon, Mar 19 2007
    Filed under: ,
  • IE 7 reaches 100 million users | CNET News.com

    This is an interesting one - I have IE 7 installed on all my machines except my SBS 2003 server and the reason for it not being on there is because I like to have an IE6 hanging around for those sites where I have no other option - and browsing on the server (sorry Susan) is something I really, really try to avoid, so the site must be important enough to me, trusted and not need any java etc before I will consider using it. Anyway, that means that 7 PCs in the house (counting the 2 work laptops) are IE 7. I have not found a site that does not work yet, although some like the Live Spaces photo uploading tool is a bit of a pain in the bum to get working (you need to run as admin in Vista). IE 7 reaches 100 million users Web browser now second only to IE 6 in terms of usage in the U.S., Microsoft announces. More than 100 million people have installed Internet Explorer 7, making it the second most used browser in the U.S., trailing only its predecessor--IE 6, the software maker said Friday. "I'm pleased to report...
  • How to do mapping on a mobile device or laptop without GPS, earn money while contributing to the project and mapping the world using GPS, mobile cell and WiFi access points (Navizon Peer-to-Peer Wireless Positioning system is the product)

    I've started looking at this application and found it better than I had hoped. It is simple - it triangulates your position using Wifi and phone cells and emulates a GPS should you need it for another application. It also uses GPS to capture the settings from the other two items and give them a more accurate placement, so learning information about masts, power etc. So, I've been using this to map my common routes and earn points (*which has just changed as a process), but in a week I've earn't 3274 points and I have not been driving every day and my trips have been short. Once I earn 10,000 points I get $20 courtesy of PayPal. I expect to get a significant amount of those points today on my 2 hours drive to a partner and back. I can also earn points by getting an award for signing people up and them doing the same as me. To sign up for this, go to http://my.navizon.com/Webapps/UserAdmin/register.aspx?referral_code=5D565A5E5C5E which includes my reference code (5D565A5E5C5E). Being referred by...
    Posted to David Overton's Blog by David Overton on Thu, Jan 24 2008
  • "I've purchased the Windows Vista anytime upgrade key - I think I need a new disk (DVD)" - "nope" says David

    I've been mucking around with Vista (formally Longhorn) for about 3-4 years. This means that things like "all editions are on the one DVD" is pretty much ingrained in my skill, however sometimes I forget that this was not the norm previously and sometimes trips people up. I got a mail the other day that said (edited a bit and published with permission of the sender): I installed Vista Business on my PC. I read in your blog that if you use a genuine Vista DVD (including a MAPS version), then you would not need the upgrade disk. I tried to upgrade to Ultimate. I made the purchase online and and attempted the upgrade. I need the disk. I went back online and ordered it and now I am waiting to upgradewindowsanydaynow. Did I do something wrong? The answer was very, very simple - take the downloaded utility, run it and when it asks for the Vista DVD, put in the same one you already have. However, since I have to admit that I have NEVER actually bought an upgrade key online I replied: You absolutely should not require...
  • Windows platform documentation (Windows Server System Reference Architecture, Planning VM Manager deployment, Installing and configuring VM Manager, Windows HPC Server 2008 Technical Overview, Windows Server 2008 Developer and App Compat testing)

    The TRM blog can be found here December 2007 - Technical Rollup Mail - Platforms Infrastructure Planning and Design The Infrastructure Planning and Design (IPD) guides are the next version of Windows Server System Reference Architecture. The guides in this series help clarify and streamline design processes for Microsoft infrastructure technologies, with each guide addressing a unique infrastructure technology or scenario. http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/info.aspx?na=22&p=5&SrcDisplayLang=en&SrcCategoryId=&SrcFamilyId=&u=%2fdownloads%2fdetails.aspx%3fFamilyID%3dad3921fb-8224-4681-9064-075fdf042b0c%26DisplayLang%3den Planning a Virtual Machine Manager 2007 Deployment This content provides an introduction to System Center Virtual Machine Manager (VMM) 2007 and practical guidance for planning a VMM deployment. http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/info.aspx?na=22&p=15&SrcDisplayLang=en&SrcCategoryId=&SrcFamilyId=&u=%2fdownloads%2fdetails.aspx%3fFamilyID%3d3e674bc0-bb85-47ae...
« First ... < Previous 32 33 34 35 36 Next > ... Last »

(c)David Overton 2006-23