Blogs

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...

I have to admit I have not done any extensive testing, but this little tool seems like a good thing to have around! For more information, have a look at Sandboxie . About Sandboxie When you run a program on your computer, data flows from the hard disk to the program via read operations. The data is then processed and displayed, and finally flows back from the progam to the hard disk via write operations. For example, if you run the Freecell program to play a game, it starts by reading the previously recorded statistics, displaying and altering them as you play the game, and finally writing them back to disk for future reference. Sandboxie changes the rules such that write operations do not make it back to your hard disk. ttfn David Technorati Tags: Sandboxie , Tips , application testing

Don't you love the way the title of a product described what it is? While this product does what it says on the tin, it misses out the most important thing - what can you connect Outlook to. The answer is e-mail and contacts based on our Hotmail service, so this includes OfficeLive. If you sign up to one of the subscription OfficeLive services (i.e. you pay us to use it) then you get a connector which can do all this AND synchronise your calendar items too. Once in Outlook you can do all the searching, filing and manipulation you want to do. Today you can now download the beta of the next version of the Microsoft Office Outlook Connector. Download: Microsoft Office Outlook Connector (Beta) The Microsoft Office Outlook Connector is designed to let you access your Windows Live Hotmail account through Outlook 2003 or Outlook 2007. You will be able to download and install the Connector to sync up your email and contacts in Windows Live Hotmail for free. However, if you are a paid subscriber of MSN Premium, Office...

Microsoft SQL Server Code Name “Katmai” SQL Server code name "Katmai," the next release of Microsoft SQL Server, provides a comprehensive data platform that is more secure, reliable, manageable and scalable for your mission critical applications, while enabling developers to create new applications that can store and consume any type of data on any device, and enabling all your users to make informed decisions with relevant insights. http://www.microsoft.com/sql/prodinfo/futureversion/default.mspx http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2007/may07/05-09KatmaiPR.mspx Technorati Tags: Katmai

SQL Server 2000 Standard Edition FIX: You may receive an assertion or database corruption may occur when you use the bcp utility or the "Bulk Insert" Transact-SQL command to import data in SQL Server 2000 http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=933573 FIX: Error message when you use the sp_addarticle stored procedure to add articles to an existing transactional replication publication in SQL Server 2000: “Cannot create a file when that file already exists” http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=932686 FIX: The Sqldumper.exe utility cannot generate a filtered SQL Server dump file when you use the Remote Desktop Connection service or Terminal Services to connect to a Windows 2000 Server-based computer in SQL Server 2000 http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=928079 FIX: The sp_droparticle stored procedure performs very slowly if the @immediate_sync property is set to TRUE in SQL Server 2000 Service Pack 4 http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=932674 SQL Server 2000 Analysis Services FIX: An access violation may occur...

Susan's blog has recently come under my radar again (meaning I have time to read blogs), so I am posting lots of things from here. This one is a product which if your customer is DR minded could enable them to spawn a Virtual PC/Server and run the backup in it. An awesome addition. He took a backup image he had done of a server, he then fired up virtual pc and restored the backed up "real" server to a virtual one and flagging the "check for hardware changes and deal with it automatically" function that the IT pro version does. Very impressive and very cool. You can even mount the image and browse a read only version of the server if you need to extract data or what not. http://www.storagecraft.com/products/ShadowProtectIT/ Check it out... very cool. The biggest thing at New Orleans.. was not the throwing of the beads...but StorageCraft and Mark Crall - E-Bitz - SBS MVP the Official Blog of the SBS "Diva" ttfn David Technorati Tags: SBS 2003 R2 , Backup , DR , Virtualisation

I've worked with Jason for years, although our paths have diverged recently as he has become more "Enterprise" and I have become more "Small" business. However he is still known inside and outside Microsoft as Mr Mobile (ask Vlad as he talks about " Jason Langridge , the #1 Microsoft Mobile blogger"). Anyway, pop along to Jason's blog to learn much more, including where to get the download if Windows Update is not good enough for you. Windows Mobile Device Center v6.1 Last week the Vista Blog team hinted at an upcoming update to the Windows Mobile Device Center but it finally got released last night. The update is available for download from microsoft.com as well as via Windows Update. As well as focussing on continually improving reliability and performance the update also provides enhanced functionality which includes: • Windows Mobile 6 feature support - Information Rights Management activation - Automatically configure the Windows Mobile 6 device to open IRM-protected...

Congratulations to Susanne on her impending job move. She is the best UK SMB Girl out there :-) She often keeps Microsoft straight with her views and I will always be grateful for her honest conversation and being a good friend. Anyway, as always you can go to her blog, but here is an extract. Note, she is still the UK SMB Girl and not just a Westcoast employee, so remember to treat her as a person and not just a support line for Westcoast. But you can’t take SMB out of the girl! July is going to be a busy time for me, I’m off to the Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference to speak at the Small Business Symposium (hope to see you there!) and I’m also off to pastures new in terms of my career. After being with Readycrest for seven years (well really since I was 13 when the sales office was my bedroom!) I’m taking a change in career and will be working with Westcoast Distribution as their Microsoft Channel Development Manager with a specific focus on the SBSC community. I’m not going to talk much more about Westcoast...

This is a little old, but I needed to get it out. Basically, if you want some help building applications that take advantage of Windows Vista functionality, go and look at this. Project codename "Glidepath" is an Evangelism initiative targeted at helping MicroISVs get started and be successful with a focus on Windows Vista. Project Glidepath includes a free software factory add-in for Visual Studio 2005 that delivers, via RSS, guidance, content, code samples, step-by-step instructions and even custom tools that help MicroISVs take full advantage of Windows Vista including .NET 3.0 (WPF, WCF, WF, and CardSpace) as well as many non-technical aspects of being a MicroISV. Project Glidepath also features the Windows Vista Spotlight highlighting MicroISV applications available worldwide that are compatible with Windows Vista. Full information plus community forums and a blog are available via www.projectglidepath.net Windows Vista Team Blog : Small Software Developers: Get Flying with Windows Vista ttfn David...

http://www.clipaday.com/videos/ridiculous-image-technology-coming You will see Sea dragon, PhotoSynth and see more. I rate this 10/10!! ttfn David Technorati Tags: PhotoSynth , Seadragon , Microsoft , Research

It is rare that I copy a MS web page directly, but the information in here is amazing and worth spreading the news on. I found the Microsoft Partner Drive Your Business web site and not only does it have the information below. It also has references like " Read How a Partner Maintains 100% Growth Year After Year ". If you have seen one or two of them, don't fret - look at all six options and tell me if even one of them was a nice surprise for you. Are you looking for ways to strengthen your business performance? Find out how partners in the Microsoft Partner Programme are outperforming 12 out of 14 industry benchmarks through market differentiation. Find Out the Partner Pathway to Business Performance Is your company as profitable as it could be? Take a comprehensive assessment that measures your business performance across key indicators, including profit margins and revenue growth. Get Your Customised Business Report Increase your market visibility, generate sales leads, and promote your business...

I wrote about this the other day, that Windows Server 2008 (Longhorn) will be the last 32-bit Server product from Microsoft however some people have taken Bill Laing's comments to include Windows Client (i.e. Vista v.Next). Here is the official low down. Bill Laing, a General Manager in the Microsoft Windows Server Division, has been quoted as saying that Windows Server 2008 will be the last 32-bit operating system. Bill is a server guy and indeed Windows Server 2008 is the last 32-bit server operating system – all future operating systems for server hardware from Microsoft beyond Windows Server 2008 will be 64-bit. A few folks took Bill’s comments on Windows Server and applied them to Windows Client deriving that Windows Vista would be the last 32-bit operating system. That is an incorrect extension. While Windows Vista includes both 32-bit and 64-bit and there is a growing community of drivers for 64-bit Windows Vista we have not decided when Windows Client will follow Windows Server and become 64-bit only...