Microsoft Subnet welcomes new blogger Ron Barrett to the Microsoft Subnet community! The focus of his new blog, launched this week, is on helping IT professionals run Windows environments with ease. "A big component of my blog is the tools and upgrades, both from Microsoft and others," he writes. Plus, you will absolutely love his sense of humor (an important attribute for all Windows IT professionals!). If you have a favorite Windows add-on tool, post a comment in Ron's blog and let him know. Ron has been a technology professional in the trenches for over a decade, working for several major financial firms and dotcoms, plus he's penned several Windows-related books. He's already been working to bring you the scoop on great Windows tools. Check out these recent posts: * A Better Windows World… Really! * Does the Office Ribbon have you coming "unwound"... Here's some help * Three great IT tools you can carry with you * Easy Windows Management that's even easier on your pocket
Wouldn't it be amazing if Microsoft issued an announcement saying that Patch Tuesday was canceled this month, as no patches were necessary in any of its software. Well, that's obviously not going to happen in May.
Microsoft to EU: Please forget about the $1.3 billion fine05/09/08Microsoft, don't hold your breath that the EU will pat you on the shoulder and forgive the $1.3 fine it imposed in February.
It is good for all concerned (including Microsoft itself, your customers and your stock holders), that you have arrived at the modern age and published the protocols for Windows, Office and other applications. This allows Windows to remain viable -- to be a target for open source developers wanting to create great new apps for it, instead of being slowly replaced by Linux (which might still happen). But you were more-or-less required to open your APIs when you lost your antitrust case in 2004 and you were told to offer licenses to open source developers at a fair price. A $1.3 billion fine, plus changing market conditions, finally forced you to do the right thing. You haven't given the EU much reason not to fine you, or to withdraw fines already assessed. Can't blame you for trying to get the fines erased, but last time you tried, in 2007, it didn't work. It's doubtful that it will work now.
So, the OpenOffice.org Community has announced the public beta release of OpenOffice.org 3.0, a new version of the free office productivity software suite. Its got better Mac support plus a bunch new features, this story from Macworld reports, including a new "Start Centre," new icons and a new zoom control in the status bar. Calc, the spreadsheet tool, now has a new "solver" component, supports workbook sharing, and increases size to 1024 columns per sheet. Writer, the word processor, has an improved notes feature and displays multiple pages while editing. Other enhancements have been made to Chart, Draw and Impress.
Secure home drug machines from Microsoft?05/09/08Can you imagine trusting Microsoft and HP to securely and accurately "print up" your medications at home? Many of us can't even get the combo to reliably print out directions from Mapquest. Still, it's a cool vision -- the kind of out-of-the-box thinking that makes the technology industry so much fun.
Telescope: made Robert Scoble want to cry05/09/08Scoble sent tongues in the blogosphere wagging in February when Microsoft showed this to him under NDA. He posted that he saw something so amazing that he couldn't talk about that he just wanted to cry. Microsoft has now announced that it will launch Worldwide Telescope, a tool for exploring images of the night sky, by the end of May, free to anyone who wants to use it, Microsoft's chairman said Friday. What Scoble loved about it was, in his own words, " Zoom out. Zoom out. Zoom out. Zoom out. Pan over to Mars. What a glorious view. You�ve never seen Mars like that through your $2,000 Celestron Telescope."
Write a screenplay, win prizes and grow to love Vista05/08/08Love Microsoft or hate Microsoft, you have to admit that it can often rise to genius level when it comes to marketing.
Whereas Cisco has created a completely dorky videogame and has organized a big cash-prize tournament for the game to promote its latest router, Microsoft's scheme to promote Vista has more panache. It launched a "collaborative" film competition called Ultimate Video Relay. Award-winning director, Kyle Newman, has begun a film (Act 1: The Cube video) Contest entrants are invited to submit an Act 2 to the script that continues the story (by May 19). Later the contest will call for entries for Act 3 (to be submitted by July 21).
Congratulations to Lucia Washaya (pictured, right), LAN and Special Equipment Technician for United Nations Integrated
Office in Sierra Leone! She is the winner of the April New Horizons giveaway. She correctly answered the trivia question by stating that Figure 9.3 depicts the reliability monitor. She already knows the training she plans to take, Course 6425A, Configuring Windows Server 2008 AD Domain services.
Microsoft news from Network World
Is Cisco Unloading To Pump Up The Numbers?Just what's going on at Cisco? And is this a sign of things to come? Brad Reese has a stunning post today with his observation that Cisco may ...Read more
Mitchell Ashley is a serial entrepreneur who is currently CEO and Chief Strategist of his fourth company, Converging Network, LLC.
Why hello PowerShell 2.0 CTP2…Not sure how I missed this, not only on Friday night, but throughout the weekend. But, the PSH product team finally decided to release the CTP2 to the public. ...Read more
Tyson Kopczynski is a specialist in Active Directory, Group Policy, Windows scripting, Windows Rights Management Services, PKI, and IT security practices and the author of Windows PowerShell Unleashed.
Of Flying PigsYes, Las Vegas is generally an interesting place without shows above and beyond its regular fare. But the 2008 Microsoft Management Summit (MMS) had its own debut - pigs with wings. ...Read more
Kerrie Meyler's current book, System Center Operations Manager 2007 Unleashed is now available. Check out out this free chapter.
Final thoughts on Starter GPOs...at least for nowStarter GPOs bring the template concept to group policy administration. Using this feature can make your group policy implementation easier to use and understand. Starter GPOs also facilitate sharing GPOs ...Read more
Glenn Weadock is an instructor with Global Knowledge, teaching the MCSA, MCSE, Server 2008 and Vista tracks. WIN a free 'Cool Stuff' gift from Global Knowledge. See details to the right of this page.
OCS 2007 R2 coming in Q4?I heard a rumor last week that Microsoft might be releasing an R2 version of OCS 2007 prior to the next planned release of OCS 2009. My guess is this ...Read more
When not writing Microsoft-related books, Alex is a senior IT consultant and involved in many early adopter and TAP programs, working with new technology often 2-3 years before public release.
MCTS for Windows Vista quickly approaching 20,000 certifications.Over at CertCities.com, they reported an interesting tidbit news relating to the Microsoft Windows 2008 certifications. The number of people who have taking the MCTS: Vista- Configuration exam is quickly ...Read more
When not writing books on Microsoft certifications and technologies, Patrick Regan is a senior network engineer at Pacific Coast Companies, supporting a large enterprise network.
Database failure? Don’t update your resume - You can be the hero!SQL Server is architected so that you can recover ALL of the committed transactions right up to the point of failure. This fact did not go unnoticed by financial services ...Read more
Brian D. Egler, MCITP-DBA/MCSE/MCT, is currently an instructor with Global Knowledge, teaching various Microsoft training courses. Enter the free monthly giveaway sponsored by Global Knowledge. Details are on the right of this page.
I love my boss – I’m self employedI saw this on a bumper sticker this morning and it really made me laugh. My “company” is three years old this week and when I started the practice, my ...Read more
When not co-authoring books such as Essential SharePoint 2007, Sue Hanley is an information architect.
Manage your Assets, Helpdesk and your Boss..When I'm talking about trying to improve, the enterprise there is no escaping one constant factor, MONEY! No matter how much we say IT is a profit center not a ...Read more
Ron Barrett is president of RARE-TECH, an IT training and consulting company. He is a co-author of The Administrator's Guide to Microsoft Office 2007 Servers, How to Cheat at Administering Office Communications Server 2007, and a contributor to many other titles.
SharePoint Development OptionsDevelopers trying to get started with SharePoint quickly discover that Visual Studio has little integration with SharePoint sites. Therefore, they have to come up with a development strategy before they ...Read more
Scot Hillier is Microsoft Subnet's May guest blogger. Win one of 15 free copies of WSS and MOSS 3.0 Development (Video Training): 10 Solutions Every SharePoint Developer Should Know How to Create by Scot Hillier. Click for entry details.See two free training video excerpts:10 projects every SharePoint developer should know how to create and Lesson 4: Aggregating lists.
20 most useful Microsoft sites and moreMicrosoft Subnet is dedicated to make your job easier and your day more fun. Here are a few of our biggest hits. Read More
20 most useful Microsoft web sites
Vista bashing popular but inaccurate
Your migration and deployment toolbox in WS2008
Gartner Predicts Comet Strikes Microsoft in 2011
Microsoft Mesh could end Windows OS as we know it
Converging on Microsoft podcast series 03/13/08, Network World
Mitchell Ashley talks with interesting people about topics in the world of Microsoft.
Latest episode: David Lynch discusses managing virtualized environments 3/31/08 (30:54)
Previous episode:
Mike Rothman on all things security
03/12/08 (26:16)
All previous episodes.
Todd Bishop's Microsoft Blog
The Road to Know Where
The Converging Network
istartedsomething
Groklaw
Scobleizer
ScottGu's Blog
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Microsoft TechNet Edge
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footnoted.org
All about Microsoft
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On Tuesday Microsoft will fix critical bugs in Word, Publisher and the Jet database software. Plus, it will release a less-critical update for its antivirus products, fixing a flaw that attackers could use to launch a denial of service (DoS) attack against products such as Windows Live OneCare and Microsoft Forefront Security. READ MORE.
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THREE MARVELOUS MAY GIVEAWAYS
A MICROSOFT TRAINING COURSE WORTH UP TO $2,500 FROM NEW HORIZONS Click here for entry instructions. New Horizons Computer Learning Centers is sponsoring a monthly contest on Microsoft Subnet. One lucky reader will win a free Microsoft training course worth up to $2,500. The winner can choose any five-day (or shorter) Microsoft course among the comprehensive New Horizons' catalog. Plus check certification guru Patrick Regan's blog (May trivia question hint: "MCTS for Windows Vista quickly approaching 20,000 certifications" )
FREE BOOKS FROM PEARSON EDUCATION Click here for entry instructions. Win one of 15 copies of the training video, WSS and MOSS 3.0 Development (Video Training): 10 Solutions Every SharePoint Developer Should Know How to Create, by Scot P. Hillier, a $69.99 value. Watch two free training videos. 10 projects every SharePoint developer should know how to create, Lesson 4: Aggregating lists GET FREE CHAPTERS of an entire library of books for Microsoft professionals. (Hint: "the collaborative application markup language or CAML".)
A $500 GIFT CARD FROM GLOBAL KNOWLEDGE Click here for entry instructions. Global Knowledge is giving one lucky reader a $500 gift card. Check out the Global Knowledge Microsoft course catalog. (Hint: The Boston Marathon) Plus, read the blogs from Global Knowledge trainers Glenn Weadock: Windows Server 2008 and Brian Egler: SQL Server Strategies
Imagine Cup 2008 in France is in April with final winners announced May 15. Check out this video of the event, along with blogs, forums and more. Microsoft's Imagine Cup is a competition for students that spans a year. Students compete in various categories. Winning projects reflect valuable, real world solutions, while giving students the opportunity to grab cash prizes.
PRODUCTMicrosoft Tech-Ed North America 2008 IT Professionals will take place June 10-13 in Orlando. Microsoft offers an online schedule builder application that integrates with Outlook's calendar. Also check out the Microsoft bloggers at virtualteched.com who have begun to offer information about the products that will be featured at Tech Ed.
LEARNINGMicrosoft's Second Shot program has been extended until June 30. Get a free second chance to pass your Microsoft Certification exam. This offer covers any IT professional, developer, project manager, or Microsoft Dynamics certification exam. Just register for this offer before your first exam, and you will get two chances to pass.
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