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July 2007 - David Overton's Blog
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  • Worldwide Partner Conference - WPC in Denver - Small Business Symposium and more

    I'm not there, so can't tell you what they said, but I can point to others who have and point you to their blogs: WWPC PreDay Recap MAPS Training Requirement for MAPS WWPC Cougar WWPC Small Business Symposium WPC Small Biz Symposium Kicks Booty At the Small Business Symposium http://www.iqubed.biz/blog/2007/07/04/countdown-to-microsoft-wwpc-07/ ttfn David Technorati Tags: SBSC , WPC , Partner Conference

  • Worldwide Partner Conference - WPC in Denver - what I know so far - Dynamics CRM Live

    Microsoft Announces Product Offerings and Customer Early Access Program for Microsoft Dynamics Live CRM - This could be huge - $44 per calendar month per user for Professional CRM and $59 for Enterprise edition (Professional Edition plus offline support)!!! Then, when you thought it was not so good for partners, look at the models: With the new Live service, partners in the Microsoft Dynamics CRM ecosystem will have new opportunities to deliver value to their customers and to drive revenue for their businesses by developing and deploying solutions across the three deployment options — Live, on-premise and partner-hosted models . For revenue in the new Live model, partners will be compensated on a recurring basis, not a one-time basis; each year they will receive 10 percent of the yearly Software as a Service (SaaS) subscription revenue for each customer for whom they are the partner of record. During 2008, a special incentive will allow partners to receive 15 percent of the SaaS subscription revenue for that year...

  • Worldwide Partner Conference - WPC in Denver - what I know so far - Software plus Service

    Steve Ballmer has stated his case for Software PLUS Service. This should not be news for anyone who has been watching the world, but what is great to see if how Microsoft is trying to get it's existing partner leveraged model to work in the new web 2.0/3.0 world. Of course this will not suit everyone, but if done well, everyone can move forward is a happy little dance as things get re-jigged. Ballmer Outlines Microsoft's Software-As-A-Service Plans - Software - IT Channel News by CRN and VARBusiness noted Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer believes the evolution of the "computational model" and new user interfaces are going to create a flood of opportunities for the vendor's channel partners. In a Tuesday keynote speech to more than 12,000 attendees at Microsoft's worldwide partner conference in Denver, Ballmer provided insight into the Windows Live platform and how new technologies like Silverlight mark the beginning of the transformation to a new user interface model. Ballmer peppered his...

  • Windows Live OneCare 2.0 Beta - sign-up

    I saw on the OneCare blog that a new beta is out this can be signed up for at Windows Live OneCare 2.0 Beta . I like OneCare - while it has it cranky moments (like I have to manually remove the old product to install the beta) it works better than some others I could mention without killing my machine or network. It is the product that I have bought for my home to protect it. According to the sign up site, this is what OneCare does. Windows Live OneCare 2.0 Beta - All-in-one security and performance for all your PCs Windows Live OneCare is an automatically self-updating PC care service that's on whenever your PC is on, helping provide persistent protection against viruses, hackers, and other threats. It also performs regular tune-ups to help keep your PC running at top speed, and helps you back up important documents. Runs quietly in the background, providing anti-virus, anti-spyware, online identity and scam protection (anti-phishing) and firewall protection Updates itself to help you keep ahead of the latest...
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  • 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

  • How to use the new Security features in Vista and Internet Explorer to stop malware (spyware and viruses) from infecting your computer - all in a Video presented with Silverlight

    The Video I have delivered a number of Vista and Office demos over my time, so I decided to record a number of them for others to borrow, use, learn from or anything else they choose. This video covers the following subjects in enough detail for people to hopefully understand what they need to know on how to use these features in Windows Vista and understand how to be a little safer online: Phishing protection in Internet Explorer ActiveX blocking in Internet Explorer Windows Defender in Windows Vista To see the video played using Silverlight (just try it) click here *. I am hoping that in the near future that the WMV file will be available at new bCentral - the UK Small Business Center on MS.com. At the moment it is not available there, but a copy can be found here * it will take a few moments to open if you have Silverlight installed and require you to download Silverlight if you don't, but it is a 1MB download How I made it I simply ran through part of my normal demo talking as I went. When presenting to...

  • Star Wars art work from Celebration Europe

    While I was at Star Wars Celebration Europe I managed to spend quite a bit of my unearned bonus on bits of "art". Some I will put pride of place on my wall, others will go in a tube because I don't have enough wall space. Here is what I bought (I just photographed them and then used a tool to remove the perspective from the photos, but don't expect print quality images): From Steven D Anderson the "Dark Avenger" poster, signed by him and one of 250 (11 / 250) and the little post card of the two ladies with blasters. Next up was Joe Corroney - I love his work especially since he also does some of the Star Wars comics. He has a web site http://JoeCorroney.com and his Star Wars blog can be found at http://blogs.starwars.com/joecorroney/70 . As you can see from the pictures on the left, I was lucky enough to not only get number 20 of 250 from his collection, but also the ORIGINAL PENCIL drawing that made this great poster. WOW, amazing and top. This is my best treasure from this event....

  • Vista Deployment training

    M icrosoft Windows Vista: Doing Deployment Right! This one-day session is a combination of presentations that focus on growing services opportunities for partners, and a series of new technical exercises that highlight some of the compelling new design enhancements in deploying Windows Vista desktops. Click here to enrol. ttfn David Technorati Tags: Vista , Deployment , Training

  • 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
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  • Technet Answers on licensing Office 2007 for Terminal Server and Disaster Recovery licensing

    I was reading the latest Technet newsletter and saw this and thought I would pass on these two items: 2. How do I license Microsoft Office so my users can access it over Terminal Service? Microsoft has produced a Word document (126Kb) that discusses the options available to customers who would like to configure access to Office in this way. 3. How does Microsoft license its products for use in a disaster recovery situation? View the guide to "Cold" Server Back-Up for Disaster Recovery" . ttfn David Technorati Tags: Licensing , DR , Disaster Recovery , Office 2007 , Terminal Services

  • Windows Server 2008 (Longhorn) webcasts for this month

    Events/WebCasts Windows Server 2008: Maximize Protection, Control, and Flexibility Watch these on-demand webcasts and learn how you can capitalize on new features to improve your organization's networking infrastructure, security, server performance, and reliability. Also, test drive Windows Server 2008 in a virtual lab and download the latest audio podcasts. http://go.microsoft.com/?linkid=7043006 TechNet Radio: Review of Server Management in Windows Server 2008 Listen in as Andrew Mason (Principle Program Manager for Server Core), Jeffrey Snover (Architect for PowerShell), and Eduardo Melo (Program Manager for Server Manager) discuss the role of Server Management in Windows Server 2008. Each will briefly discuss some of the new features of Server Core, PowerShell, and Server Manager. We also talk with Jeff Woolsey about the latest updates in Virtualization. http://go.microsoft.com/?linkid=7043008 TechNet Webcast: Technical Overview of Active Directory Domain Services in Windows Server 2008 (Level 300) Monday...

  • Windows Server 2008 (Longhorn) Virtual Labs, podcasts, webcasts, voting on feedback to product teams, understanding Server Core, PowerShell Quick Reference Guide

    Windows Server 2008: Maximize Control, Flexibility, and Protection See how Windows Server 2008 can help you increase the flexibility of your server infrastructure. Use the online resources to learn how you improve your organization's networking infrastructure, security, server performance, and reliability. http://go.microsoft.com/?linkid=7009024 Windows Server 2008: Maximize Control, Flexibility, and Protection > Overview Spend less time on day-to-day tasks and more time adding value to your business with this next-generation server operating system. Windows Server 2008 helps you to increase the flexibility of your server infrastructure while saving time and reducing costs. Powerful new management tools and security enhancements allow you to have more control over your servers while providing advanced protection so you can spend less time on everyday tasks and more time bringing greater value to your organization. Leverage these online resources to explore Windows Server 2008 today. Webcasts Watch these...

  • 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...

  • IIS7 - the next generation of Web Servers from Microsoft in Windows Server 2008

    IIS7 is the web server in Windows Server 2008 and is not only already getting great press, but is already running Microsoft.com for us !! Once again, pinched from Technet. Administering IIS7 on Server Core Installations of Windows Server 2008 Posted 6/26/2007 3:34:00 PM As you may have seen from TechEd 2007 announcements and recent Bill Staples’ (IIS Product Unit Manager) blog, IIS7 is now supported on Server Core installation option of Windows Server 2008. We are hoping to address customer requests by offering lo ... http://blogs.iis.net/metegokt/archive/2007/06/26/administering-iis7-on-server-core-installations-of-windows-server-2008.aspx IIS7 on Server Core - June CTP build released! Posted 6/26/2007 3:06:00 PM I'm excited to announce that a new build of IIS7 and Windows 2008 Server is available for testing by Beta testers. This build includes updates and fixes made since the Beta 3 release earlier this year, and includes the previously announced IIS7 on Se ... http://blogs.iis.net/bills/archive/2007/06...

  • Live Earth Concerts - playback available, plus the "how it was made with MSN"

    On Saturday, 7/07/07, MSN sponsored Live Earth, The Concert for a Climate in Crisis . This 24-hour global event featured more than 150 of the world’s top bands performing on all seven continents, with concerts in Sydney, Tokyo, Shanghai, Istanbul, London, New York, and other cities around the world. There have been many, many critics of the Live Earth concert ("all the pop stars traveling leaves a huge carbon footprint" , "there was not 2 billion people watching", "why should we believe the pop stars", " climate change is not real, not even the scientists can agree "), but even if the world is not about to blow up, surely being better to the planet is good for us, great for our children and sometimes a matter of survival for other people and animals in the more extreme climates. If you have missed everything that Live Earth was about, go have a look at the SoapBox video here . An interesting blog on the whole should we shouldn't we explore these types of events can be...
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  • IIS7 Hosting offers

    IIS7 is coming in Windows Server 2008 (Longhorn). Microsoft is hosting microsoft.com using it and you can with others too. This information is from Technet. More free IIS7 Web hosting offers hit the Web Posted 6/15/2007 10:29:00 PM Since my last post introducing the bleeding edge IIS7 hosters who started offering free hosting on Beta 3, several new Web hosters joined the mix, including gate.com, parking.ru and myhosting.com who went live today! If you're looking for a free Web ... http://blogs.iis.net/bills/archive/2007/06/15/more-free-iis7-web-hosting-offers-hit-the-web.aspx www.Microsoft.com is live on IIS7 beta 3 - are you? Posted 6/15/2007 8:59:04 AM The www.Microsoft.com guys have been running IIS7 on some of their servers since early beta days, but I was excited to get an email this week which announced that they are running IIS7 on all of their servers! (except for a single box which ... http://blogs.iis.net/bills/archive/2007/06/15/www-microsoft-com-is-live-on-iis7-beta-3-are-you.aspx TechEd Video...

  • Search Appliance from Scan for use inside your business based on Microsoft SharePoint technologies

    Lets be honest, when it comes to searching a desktop's files, Vista is the best. When it comes to searching the internet, some other vendors do a pretty good job. Now, to help you search all the files in your business you can search the whole lot through a server appliance. Now that might not be that exciting, but it is important that you use something that is designed to search business files and not the internet as the search engine here. Microsoft UK and SCAN Develop MOSS Search Appliance Microsoft in the UK have broken new ground, partnering with SCAN technolgies to develop a Search Appliance based on MOSS. The appliance will be offered across the MOSS SKU range and hardware specification can be tailored to meet customer requirements http://sharepoint.microsoft.com/blogs/fromthefield/Lists/Posts/Post.aspx?ID=12 ttfn David Technorati Tags: MOSS Appliance , Search , SharePoint
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  • SBS 2003 R2 Premium Edition, Downgrade options, including SQL 2005 to SQL 2000 - for a limited time only

    In a recent announcement we now offer the ability to downgrade the Premium technologies in R2. More information can be found at http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserver2003/sbs/downgrade/default.mspx with a FAQ at http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserver2003/sbs/evaluation/faq/bizsolutions.mspx . Please note that this is a time limited capability due to the End of standard support of SQL 2000. If you have licensed a copy of Windows Small Business Server 2003 R2 Premium Edition (which includes Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Workgroup Edition), but your line of business applications are not yet available on the Microsoft SQL Server 2005 platform, you may be able to request downgrade rights to SBS 2003 SP1 Premium (which includes Microsoft SQL Server 2000 Standard Edition the version of Microsoft SQL Server that shipped with Small Business Server 2003 and SP1), and use the downgraded SQL Server in your SBS 2003 R2 environment. You may exercise this downgrade through the channel in which you licensed your original version...

  • Improvements in display technology

    I was browsing the Trends Blog I came across these. While not core or even necessarily affordable, it is worth seeing what is coming. Large touch screen Touch Me: Dahan Unveils the T-View, 120 Inches of Touchability - Gizmodo “Korean company Dahan has come up with a monster 10-foot touchscreen with an amazing 10 millisecond response time. The T-View runs in Windows 2000 or XP, uses rear projection and a surface mirror system, and corresponds to multi-finger touch….” Hi-res screens Dell Redesigns The LCD: Dell’s Display Port Prototype Will Allow for Resolutions 4x Better Than HD “It measures about half an inch thick and packs a resolution that’s 4x sharper than the current HDTV resolutions. It’s part of Dell’s new Display Port technology. The new interconnect will let you daisychain multiple monitors and connect other peripherals via one bi-directional cable. As you can see from the pic, it’ll also allow for embedded peripherals around the display (this one has speakers built in on the side).” Monitors with two...

  • Green phone charging from Orange - designed for Glastonbury, but still useful

    Since I have been posting a few things on being greener, this is something that can help charge your phone on a beech, in the garden on anywhere else. Orange goes green for festival phone-fueling “Orange today launched a prototype wind-powered charger capable of delivering a constant supply of green juice despite “the unpredictable English climate”. How? The turbine charges a battery, and it’s from that power pack that the phone’s own battery is charged. It is, of course, a variation of one on humanity’s oldest devices, the windmill, though this time kitted out in suitable, sponsor-friendly colour. The windmil weighs a mere 150g - let’s hope it’s capable of being anchored against strong gusts - and is compact enough to be tucked into a rucksack.” ttfn David Technorati Tags: Climate Change , phone charging
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  • Visual Studio F5 debugging of ASP.NET applications on Vista

    If you are having problems with authentication issues when trying to debug with Visual Studio on Vista then there is a fix for you. A Visual Studio patch that fixes the Visual Studio F5 debugging of IIS7 applications on Windows Vista Home Premium and above has been released! This patch solves the "An authentication error occurred while communicating with the web server. Please see Help for assistance.", and "Debugging failed because integrated Windows authentication is not enabled. Please see Help for assistance" errors, that until now had to be worked around using the instructions below. This patch also enables customers using Windows Vista Home Premium customers to use Visual Studio F5 debugging, who were not able to use this feature at all previously because Windows Authentication was not available on Windows Vista Home Premium. Mike Volodarsky's ServerSide : Fix problems with Visual Studio F5 debugging of ASP.NET applications on IIS7 Vista ttfn David Technorati Tags: Developer , Vista...

  • If you want to know more about the "minimal" installation of Windows Server 2008 (Longhorn), let me introduce you to the Server Core Blog

    I was jumping around the web and found this blog - definitely something to add to your readers. Below are just the 3 most recent Server Core blog entries that I think are all of massive interest. If you want a version of server that is so cut down that does not have .Net installed, does not have a GUI and so on - Core is for you. Server Core TechNet Webcast I did a TechNet Web cast on Server Core yesterday. If you missed it, it is now available at: http://www.microsoft.com/events/EventDetails.aspx?CMTYSvcSource=MSCOMMedia&Params=%7eCMTYDataSvcParams%5e%7earg+Name%3d%22ID%22+Value%3d%221032341828%22%2f%5e%7earg+Name%3d%22ProviderID%22+Value%3d%22A6B43178-497C-4225-BA42-DF595171F04C%22%2f%5e%7earg+Name%3d%22lang%22+Value%3d%22en%22%2f%5e%7earg+Name%3d%22cr%22+Value%3d%22US%22%2f%5e%7esParams%5e%7e%2fsParams%5e%7e%2fCMTYDataSvcParams%5e There were a couple of questions at the end regarding networking technologies that I didn’t know off the top of my head. Here are the answers: What version of SNMP is supported...

  • Worldwide Partner Conference - WPC in Denver - what I know so far - Office Live and Windows Live as a platform for partners to build on

    Office Live is already a great success, but today Microsoft announced even more to make it a business for partners to make success for them and their customers. We've released information about partners, solutions and using Windows Live, sample sites and more information on how to make it a business success. Have a look at Microsoft Office Live Launches Partner Program, Helps Partners Reach Small Businesses for more information. Add to this the extra opportunities that Windows Live also brings and the new tools to build on there too ( http://partner.live.com/windowslive/ ) and you really start to get something amazing. The press release Microsoft Office Live Launches Partner Program, Helps Partners Reach Small Businesses includes a reference from Solution Canvas: Solution Canvas is a Glasgow, Scotland-based Microsoft Gold Certified Partner that uses the Microsoft Office Live platform to host justia, a powerful practice management system for small legal firms. justia offers a cost-effective solution that provides...

  • How to add a trade-in line item (i.e. give cash back to discount a deal) to BCM 2007

    Someone asked me how to do this and I discovered that you can't have a negative discount percentage, negative quantity or negative price. So this makes it impossible to do... well, no, but it is not quite as easy as we would like. To make it work you need to create a Product and Service csv file to import to make it work. Here are the step by step instructions on installing it and using it. Installing the trade-in items Go to the BCM menu and select the Product and Services menu item Press the import button at the bottom of the dialog to get the screen shown on the left Create a csv file on your desktop called tradein.csv (start / run "notepad %homepath%\tradein.csv") Copy and paste the text below into the text file and save Trade In (10000), Trade in, -10000 Trade In (1000), Trade in, -1000 Trade In (100), Trade in, -100 Trade In (10), Trade in, -10 Trade In (1), Trade in, -1 browse the csv file on your desktop and press import Job done Using the trade-in items in an opportunity Now we have these...

  • Its a shame when plans don't work out - another side of the story (When Linux drives you to Windows)

    The e-week article Windows Server Woos Linux Customers has some very interest facts. Not all of them are pro-Microsoft, but it does show that some of the marketing fluff out there is not quite right yet either. The migrations come after a quarter in which Windows Server revenue grew faster than Linux revenue—the first time that has happened since research company IDC started tracking Linux server spending in 1998. Recent Linux-to-Windows converts include consumer products manufacturer Unilever, online retailer Overstock.com, French sports yacht Areva Challenge (the French entry for the 32nd America's Cup yacht race), and California candy maker Jelly Belly. Windows is particularly gaining ground against Unix and Linux on the supercomputing front, a space that Microsoft did not play in until 2006, when it released its Windows Compute Cluster Server 2003 product. <snip> Candy maker Jelly Belly, of Fairfield, Calif., had a challenge of a different kind: Its Linux-based VPN software, which it declined to...
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(c)David Overton 2006-23