Month: July 2009

Microsoft & Yahoo! Change Search Landscape

by ucinfo, posted in Uncategorized

Interesting, suppose it what Microsoft wanted in the first place!

Source: http://www.microsoft.com/Presspass/press/2009/jul09/07-29release.mspx?rss_fdn=Press%20Releases

SUNNYVALE, Calif. and REDMOND, Wash. — 29 July, 2009 — Yahoo! and Microsoft announced an agreement that will improve the Web search experience for users and advertisers, and deliver sustained innovation to the industry. In simple terms, Microsoft will now power Yahoo! search while Yahoo! will become the exclusive worldwide relationship sales force for both companies’ premium search advertisers.

Free Exchange 2010 Training

by ucinfo, posted in Exchange, Flaphead, MsExchange, Training

Check these out:

Collection 6899: Exploring Features of Exchange Server 2010
https://www.microsoftelearning.com/eLearning/offerDetail.aspx?offerPriceId=249671

This two-hour collection provides you with an overview of the new features in Exchange Server 2010. It also describes the enhancements made over Exchange Server 2007.
The clinics within this collection cover:

  • New features in Exchange Server 2010
  • Technology enhancements
  • Management tools used in Exchange Server 2010
  • Managing a Mailbox server
  • Unified Messaging in Exchange Server 2010
  • High availability features in Exchange Server 2010
Clinic 6900: Introduction to Exchange Server 2010
https://www.microsoftelearning.com/eLearning/courseDetail.aspx?courseId=117959&tab=overview

This one-hour clinic describes Exchange Server 2010 features, deployment scenarios, and development platform options.  It also contains descriptions of tools used for managing Exchange Server 2010.
This clinic covers the following topics:

  • Exchange Server 2010 features
  • Deployment scenarios
  • Business-to-business support
  • Storage, compliance, and development platform enhancements
  • How RBAC works
  • Management tools such as EMC, PowerShell, and ECP
Clinic 6901: Exchange Server 2010 in an Enterprise
https://www.microsoftelearning.com/eLearning/courseDetail.aspx?courseId=118212&tab=overview

This one-hour clinic describes Exchange Server 2010 features that are useful in an enterprise. It covers features such mailbox server configurations, unified messaging, and high availability.
This clinic covers the following topics:

  • Features of a Mailbox server
  • How Unified Messaging works in 2010
  • Mailbox Availability in Exchange Server 2010                                    
  • Data Protection in Exchange Server 2010

Announcing The Office Communications Server Remote Connectivity Analyzer

by ucinfo, posted in Flaphead, OCS

Interesting .. http://blogs.msdn.com/scottos/archive/2009/07/28/announcing-the-office-communications-server-remote-connectivity-analyzer.aspx

Following on the heels of success of the Exchange Remote Connectivity Analyzer (created by Shawn McGrath and Brad Hughes), Premal Gandhi (UC Support Escalation Engineer), Matthew Fresoli (Supportability Program Manager) and Jason Stine (Senior Lead Program Manager) have been busy designing and writing a complimentary tool: The Office Communications Server Remote Connectivity Analyzer.

The tool is available at https://www.TestOcsConnectivity.com

BMW to Exit Formula One at End of 2009 Season

by ucinfo, posted in !News, Flaphead

Ohhh dear

Source: http://www.bmw-sauber-f1.com/en/index.html?lity=lswitch_pl#/news/~337|0/

The BMW Group will not continue its Formula One campaign after the end of the 2009 season. Resources freed up as a result are to be dedicated to the development of new drive technologies and projects in the field of sustainability. BMW will continue to be actively involved in other motor sports series. The landmark decision to restructure BMW Motorsport’s activities was made at the Bocard of Management’s meeting yesterday.

… It only took us three years to establish ourselves as a top team with the BMW Sauber F1 Team. Unfortunately, we were unable to meet expectations in the current season …

MMMUG August 2009

by ucinfo, posted in Exchange, Flaphead, MMMUG

This should be a good one!

The August 2009 MMMUG Meeting will be on Tuesday the 25th of August in the usual location, the Microsoft offices at Cardinal Place, near London Victoria.

This month we have Ewan Tsang-MacKellar from Microsoft who will be diving into all the High Availability options in Exchange 2010.

The meeting starts at 18:35 and finishes at 21:00. Food and drinks will be provided!

To sign up, or for more information, post at the forum thread below:

http://www.mmmug.co.uk/forums/thread/28465.aspx

Look forward to seeing you all there.

Microsoft Proposal to European Commission

by ucinfo, posted in !News, Flaphead, Windows

So this is quite funny, in Europe we will get a version of Windows 7 that has no web browser!  Question, how do you get firefox if this ur only PC?  The only way I can see is, you use Windows Update, that will give you IE8, then you download firefox and remove IE8.!  What a farse!

So check this, it does make sense. http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2009/jul09/07-24statement.mspx?rss_fdn=Press%20Releases

REDMOND, Wash. – July 24, 2009 – As the European Commission has just announced in a statement, Microsoft has made a new proposal in an effort to address competition law issues related to Internet Explorer and interoperability.

Under our new proposal, among other things, European consumers who buy a new Windows PC with Internet Explorer set as their default browser would be shown a ‘ballot screen’ from which they could, if they wished, easily install competing browsers from the Web. If this proposal is ultimately accepted, Microsoft will ship Windows in Europe with the full functionality available in the rest of the world. As requested by the Commission, we will be publishing our proposal in full here on our website as soon as possible.

Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 R2 Site Resiliency White Paper

by ucinfo, posted in Flaphead, OCS

Source: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?displaylang=en&FamilyID=c930febb-3a44-4bf3-969d-1c52675a7063

Using backup and restoration procedures for site disaster recovery as described in the Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 R2 documentation library topic Backup and Restoration, can entail some downtime for users.

This white paper describes a site resiliency solution for Office Communications Server 2007 R2. The solution includes an Enterprise pool that spans two geographically separate sites. The solution provides a failover mechanism between the two sites to ensure that Office Communications Server functionality such as instant messaging, presence, and conferencing remains available even if one of the sites becomes unavailable.

Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2

by ucinfo, posted in Flaphead, Windows

The wait is finally over ;-)

http://www.microsoft.com/Presspass/press/2009/jul09/07-22Windows7RTMPR.mspx?rss_fdn=Press%20Releases

REDMOND, Wash. — July 22, 2009 — Microsoft Corp. today announced the release to manufacturing (RTM) of Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2, the next versions of its flagship desktop and server operating systems. With the completion of this development phase, industry partners are readying products in time for the Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 worldwide general launches. Windows 7 will be generally available to customers around the world on October 22, and Windows Server 2008 R2 will be generally available on or before that date

….

http://windowsteamblog.com/blogs/windows7/archive/2009/07/21/when-will-you-get-windows-7-rtm.aspx

Developers with MSDN Subscriptions, IT Professionals with TechNet Subscriptions will be able to download Windows 7 RTM in English on August 6th and remaining languages by October 1st.

If you are a Volume License (VL) customer with an existing Software Assurance (SA) license you will be able to download Windows 7 RTM in English starting August 7th via the Volume License Service Center (VLSC). The rest of the languages for Windows 7 RTM should be available within a couple of weeks after that. Volume License customers without a SA license will be able to purchase Windows 7 through Volume Licensing on September 1st as we announced last week at WPC09. Mark these dates on your calendar and start making your deployment plans!

Good bye Windows Mobile .. Hello iPhone

by ucinfo, posted in Apple, Flaphead, iPhone, Mobile

I have been using PIM devices for a very long time.  It started with a Psion, then on Palm until a Microsoft entered the frame.  I had numerous Compaq iPaqs, some HTC devices and finally converged to windows mobile with combined phone/PDA.  My latest Windows Mobile device is a Samsung Omnia.

Now before I upgraded to it, all around me had this iPhone thing. I thought it looks nice, but I will stick with what I have.  I upgraded my Omnia to Windows Mobile 6.1 and all was fine, but the phone just felt sluggish.  All I really use on a phone is push activesync to my exchange server and my hotmail (that was push but this just killed the battery).  I had hoped the Omnia would be a “swish” as the iphone, but I was very wrong!

Now the apps for WM devices are really good, but you have to hunt for them or find them by word of mouth.  This is a bit of a pain, but I suffered ;-)

Push came to shove when I was called on my omnia and the device just looked at me and rang .. it didn’t show me the number calling or anything.  Then a number of times I would make a call and it would drop out.  I would reset the device and that didn’t help.

So to the iPhone.  My main b1tch about the iPhone is O2.  I have been with tmobile for a long time.  I have a number of SIMs with them and I don’t want to move, just to get an iPhone.  Ari pointed me to play.com as the offer sim free, unlocked iPhones.  Okay they are not cheap but its an option.

My iPhone came with an Italian manual, and once I had installed iTunes, it registered and works like a dream .. time to play ;-)

So it’s been a few days, and boy, in comparison to Windows Mobile .. well there is no comparison.  I can NOW see what all the fuss is about, the iPhone is an awesome bit of kit, responsive, easy to use and the App Store just rocks.  Even battery life in comparison to my Omnia is excellent, only 50% in a day, and I am abusing it more than the Omnia.

I am finding that its hard to put down, and getting applications from the App Store is so simple and a lot of the them are free.

My current favourites of the moment are: TweetDeck, mBox Mail (for my hotmail), Faces Lite (for picture contacts), Tube Boards, Sky News, Sky+ and Ragdoll lite.  [Thanks to Ari, Matt and Manoj for recommending these!]

I have also invested in an incipio feather cover from amazon and a ZAGG invisibleSHIELD from Carphone warehouse.

I’ll let you know how I get on, but this is one of the best gadget choices I have made in a very long time ..