Windows Vienna

The next Windows OS  release is codenamed “Vienna” ,”Windows Seven” or “Windows 7″ .

The next client version of Windows was originally codenamed “Blackcomb,” though the company renamed it to “Windows Vienna” in early 2006 and to “Windows Seven” or “Windows 7″ more recently.

Microsoft currently plans to ship Vienna in 2009, about two to two and a half years after Vista. The next major release of Windows is expected two years after Vienna, in 2011.

29 April 2007 in OS | Comments (0)

Windows Server Code Name “Longhorn” Public Beta

Windows Server Code Name “Longhorn” is the next generation of the Windows Server operating system gives you more control, greater flexibility, and increased protection for your server infrastructure while reducing time and costs.

Microsoft Windows Server code name “Longhorn” helps IT professionals to increase the flexibility of their server infrastructure while offering developers a more robust Web and applications platform for building connected applications and services. Powerful new management tools and security enhancements offer more control over your servers and network and provide advanced protection for your applications and data.

28 April 2007 in Beta Testing & OS | Comments (0)

.NET Framework 3.5 Beta 1 Released

The Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5 Beta 1 is a preview release of the latest version of the .NET Framework. Many ISV’s, enterprises and Microsoft product teams are successfully building on the new features Windows Workflow Foundation (WF), Windows Communication Foundation (WCF), Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF) and Windows CardSpace in the .NET Framework 3.0. Microsoft plans to continue to invest in the .NET Framework developer platform and in support of existing users the .NET Framework 3.5 has a minimal number of breaking changes. So that existing applications built for .NET Framework 2.0 or .NET Framework 3.0 should continue to run without requiring changes. The .NET Framework 3.5 adds new features in several major technology areas; including:

• Deep integration of Language Integrated Query (LINQ) and data awareness
• ASP.NET AJAX for quickly creating more efficient, more interactive and highly-personalized Web experiences that work across all the most popular browsers
• New web protocol support for building WCF services including AJAX, JSON, REST, POX, RSS, ATOM and several new WS-* standards
• Full tooling support for WF, WCF and WPF including the new workflow-enabled services technology
• New classes in the base class library (BCL) for the .NET Framework 3.5 address the most common customer requests.

.NET Framework 3.5 is planned to release at the end of 2007 and will ship with Visual Studio code name Orcas and will also continue to be available for separate download from MSDN.
Download .NET Framework 3.5 Beta 1

28 April 2007 in Beta Testing & Developer Tools | Comments (0)

Microsoft to offer $3 software for students

Microsoft Corp.’s local office is looking to make available a low-cost software bundle designed for students, according to a recent announcement by company chairman Bill Gates.

In a Microsoft-sponsored government leaders forum in Beijing, Gates announced the Student Innovation Suite, which costs $3 and will be offered for government purchase especially in developing countries.

The package includes Windows XP Starter Edition. Microsoft Office Home Edition and other software designed for students.

The product, however, will not be available commercially. Rather, it will be sold directly to government intended for projects aimed at providing PCs to schools for student use

21 April 2007 in News | Comments (0)

Microsoft Silverlight

On ^16thApril Microsoft officially unveiled the name for what was previously known as the “WPF/e” at the 2007 National Association of Broadcasters Conference. WPF/e is now Microsoft Silverlight.Silverlight is a cross-browser, cross-platform plug-in for delivering the next generation of media experiences and rich interactive applications (RIAs) for the Web.It’s a new cross-browser, cross-platform plug-in that allows users a new and richer multimedia experience when using a Web browser (for example, it supports 720p HD media playback). Web developers targeting IE, Firefox and even Apple’s Safari browser can all make use of Silverlight for a consistently amazing experience. It’s also a client- and server-agnostic platform; this means that the runtimes are the same on any platform, allowing you to deliver the Silverlight experience from an Apache web server, if you like — without requiring any MS software on the server. Learn more about Microsoft Silverlight,

18 April 2007 in Developer Tools & News | Comments (0)

Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 Beta

Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 provides users with streamlined real-time communications on an extensible VoIP foundation that provides the operational control your organization requires.

Office Communications Server 2007, the next evolution of Live Communications Server, delivers streamlined communications for your users so they can find and communicate with the right person, right now, from the applications they use most—like Microsoft Outlook.

Learn more about Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 Beta.

Download Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 Beta. (Registration required

18 April 2007 in Beta Testing | Comments (0)

Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 Beta

Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 provides users with streamlined real-time communications on an extensible VoIP foundation that provides the operational control your organization requires.

Office Communications Server 2007, the next evolution of Live Communications Server, delivers streamlined communications for your users so they can find and communicate with the right person, right now, from the applications they use most—like Microsoft Outlook.

Learn more about Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 Beta.

Download Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 Beta. (Registration required

18 April 2007 in Beta Testing | Comments (0)

Sandcastle - March 2007 CTP

Sandcastle produces accurate, MSDN style, comprehensive documentation by reflecting over the source assemblies and optionally integrating XML Documentation Comments. Sandcastle has the following key featuresL:

• Works with or without authored comments
• Supports Generics and .NET Framework 2.0
• Sandcastle has 2 main components (MrefBuilder and Build Assembler).
• MrefBuilder generates reflection xml file for Build Assembler.
• Build Assembler includes syntax generation, transformation..etc
• Sandcastle is used internally to build .Net Framework documentation.

Required Software:

• Microsoft .NET Framework Version 2.0
• HTML Help Workshop. Download here Size: 3.3MB

Download Sandcastle March 2007 CTP
Size: 5.7MB

13 April 2007 in Developer Tools | Comments (0)

Microsoft Robotics Studio 1.5

The Microsoft® Robotics Studio is a Windows-based environment for academic, hobbyist and commercial developers to easily create robotics applications across a wide variety of hardware. This installation package installs the Microsoft Robotics Studio along with samples and tutorials.

The goal of the Microsoft Robotics Studio is to supply a software platform for the robotics community that can be used across a wide variety of hardware, applicable to a wide audience of users, and development of a wide variety of applications. As a platform, our intent is also to enable third parties to supply support for new hardware, technologies, and tools, just as Microsoft Windows provides a platform for others to bring their products and technologies to the community of PC users. So while we may populate our platform with some of our own contributions, those should not be considered exclusive to tools or libraries provided by other parties looking to provide interesting technologies for this platform.

The Microsoft Robotics Studio delivers three areas of software:

A scalable, extensible runtime architecture that can span a wide variety of hardware and devices. The programming interface can be used to address robots using 8-bit or 16-bit processors as well as 32-bit systems with multi-core processors and devices from simple touch sensors to laser distance finding devices.
A set of useful tools that make programming and debugging robot applications scenarios easier. These include a high quality visual simulation environment that uses the Ageia Technologies’s PhysX engine.
A set of useful technology libraries services and samples to help developers get started with writing robot applications.

Microsoft Robotics Studio can be used to develop services that can be deployed on Windows CE. The development tools themselves do not run on Windows CE, only the services developed for Windows CE.

Learn more about from the following links,

• Microsoft Robotics Studio Blog
• Microsoft Robotics Studio Forum
• Microsoft Robotics Studio Developer Center

Download Microsoft Robotics Studio 1.5 (CTP April 2007)
Size: 54.3MB

Requirements:

• .NET Framework 2.0 Software Development Kit (SDK)
• Any edition of Visual Studio 2005

13 April 2007 in Developer Tools & Robotics | Comments (0)

Microsoft to integrate Windows Live Messenger with Xbox 360

Microsoft has confirmed the imminent launch of Windows Live Messenger on Xbox 360 as part of the Xbox 360 Spring Update, allowing Windows, Xbox 360, and mobile users to communicate with each other, also confirming a mini-keyboard controller for X360 and many other Xbox 360 OS additions.

The Xbox 360 Spring Update, available from May 7, 2007, will include Windows Live Messenger, allowing users to text chat with up to six people on their contact list at one time while playing games, listening to music or watching movies.

Text chat using Windows Live Messenger is possible using the virtual keyboard accessible on Xbox 360, or by connecting a USB keyboard to the console. In addition, this summer Microsoft will launch a QWERTY text-input device, a new accessory that will connect directly into the Xbox 360 controller to support text and instant messaging.

Beyond Windows Live Messenger, the Spring Update for Xbox 360 includes many new features and enhancements including the following:

• A richer Achievement notification pop-up will showcase the name of the unlocked Achievement and the gamerscore value without needing to leave the game to check the Achievements list.
• Enhanced family settings features for Xbox Live communications enable different defaults for video chat and voice chat.
• A new Xbox Live Marketplace blade lets Xbox Live members access their game, TV show, and movie content from one place on Xbox Live.
• Updates to Xbox Live Arcade allow owners to quickly see which Xbox Live Arcade games their friends are playing and join in the fun. Xbox Live members can also compare progress of leaderboard scores and Achievements directly with all friends on their friends list.
• New progressive download controls provide easy access to optimal viewing options by letting people fast-forward, rewind, pause and resume as their video is downloaded from Xbox Live Marketplace.
• Extension of the background download functionality will allow owners to set their Xbox 360 console to turn off automatically after downloads are complete.

The Spring Update is free beginning the week of May 7 and is easily accessible to every Xbox 360 owner through Xbox Live or on Xbox.com.

Source: Gamasutra

11 April 2007 in News | Comments (0)