Friday 30 March 2007

Expression Suite to RTM before April 20

It has recently come to my understanding that Expression Studio, the new suite of professional design tools from Microsoft, which includes Expression Blend, Expression Web, Expression Design and Expression Media are all expected to finalise and RTM (release to manufacturing) before April 20. This is the date of Microsoft’s design-oriented design conference MIX 2007 in Las Vegas.

Recently, Microsoft announced the every attendee of MIX07 will receive a free commemorative copy of Expression Studio. This could only mean one thing - the product must be finished, produced and packaged before the event begins. If this isn't the case then there is a whole lot of explaining for Microsoft to do.

With only 20 days to go, it may seem like an overwhelming task to ship four products, of which two are still in beta. It was only two weeks ago that Expression Design was updated to Beta 2 status and Expression Blend as a Release Candidate. However, the bug count at their respective beta portals suggests both products are progressing extremely well with most new bugs fixed within hours if not days. This is something the Vista team should definitely learn from.

Ray Ozzie, Chief Software Architect at Microsoft, is most likely to announce the availability of Expression Studio at the MIX07 keynote. Expression Studio is expected to retail for US$599. My best guess is that Expression Studio will RTM on April 8.

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Saturday 24 March 2007

Vista Ultimate Team Shows Off New DreamScene Wallpaper



The group manager for Windows Vista Ultimate, Alex Kipman, has posted a new video of an upcoming DreamScene wallpaper. It features an animated version of the glowing back-lit orb wallpaper released two weeks ago.

The glowing back-lit Vista orb wallpaper was one of two Windows Vista Ultimate branded wallpapers released on the 8th of March. The popularity of these wallpapers was reflected through the download numbers, with nearly one hundred thousand downloads.

The main advantage of the new DreamScene wallpaper is that it features all the hallmarks of a great wallpaper: it looks good; isn't intrusive; and isn't branded. Hats off to Microsoft for doing such a great job.

It should also be noted that the increased transparency from the Ultimate team about their future plans is a very welcome change from the many years of complete secrecy, ever since the beta program. One can only hope that the future of Vista Ultimate Extras is not going to be countless years of DreamScene content packs.

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Monday 19 March 2007

Comparison - "Soar" and "Wow"

Back in 2001 Microsoft launched the "Soar" campaign to market Windows XP. Six years on Microsoft has launched the "Wow" campaign to market Windows Vista. How do the television advertisements for the two operating systems differ?



• 1:00min runtime
• Story-driven - continuous journey
• Fantasy
• Very audible background music
• Upbeat, lots of action, movement
• Eight scenes with the operating system in action
• No speech
• $200 million advertising budget




•1:00min runtime
•Theme driven - each scene is separate
•Real experience
•Ambient background music
•Emotional, inspirational, slow movements
•No scene of the operating system in action
•Speech & voiceover
•$500 million advertising budget


The Windows XP “Soar” advertisement shows how Windows XP benefits the user in eight separate scenes. On the other hand the Windows Vista "Wow" advertisement doesn't show the operating system in action at all. If you exclude the Flip3D sequence, it doesn't show any useful features or even what it is. Although both advertisements are very good, it is interesting to see how times have changed.


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Thursday 15 March 2007

Elusive Emoticons in Windows Live Messenger to Raise Money for Charity

Microsoft has decided to help charity, with the help of users, through it's Windows Live Messenger instant messaging client. i'm is the new initiative from Microsoft, embedded into WLM 8.1, which allows users to donate money to a charity of their choice without forking out a cent. The donation will be paid for by Microsoft, which has decided to share a portion of the program's advertising revenue with some of the world's most effective organisations. The charity the user wishes to support is determined by the i'm emoticon code the user places in their display name.


Whenever a user starts a conversion using an i’m emoticon in their display name, a portion of the advertising revenue from the ads displayed in the message window will be donated to the charity of your choice. Currently, there is no cap on the amount donated to each charitable organisation. According to Microsoft: "The sky's the limit". Unfortunately, the i'm initiative is only available in the United States at present, however it will commence in Australia in the next few months, although users elsewhere can still use the emoticons. The i'm emoticon codes for the various charities can be found below, along with instructions on how to use them.

Text Code

Cause

*red+u

American Red Cross

*bgca

Boys & Girls Clubs of America

*naf

National AIDS Fund

*mssoc

National Multiple Sclerosis Society

*9mil

ninemillion.org

*sierra

Sierra Club

*help

StopGlobalWarming.org

*komen

Susan G. Komen for the Cure

*unicef

The US fund for UNICEF

*wwf

World Wildlife Fund

*oxfam

Oxfam

*one


*acs


*hsus


*care



The charities related to the final four codes in the list have not yet been disclosed by Microsoft.

Once you enter an i'm emoticon code into your display name, the following icon should appear beside your display name:



To begin using i'm emoticons:
1. Download Windows Live Messenger 8.1 instant messenger service.
2. Place the i'm emoticon code of your choice into your Display Name by:
1. On the top of the WLM Contacts window, click the arrow next to your name and select “Options”.

Screenshots courtesy of Microsoft
2. Next to your desired display name, type in one of the above i’m emoticon codes, in support of your charity, then click OK.

Screenshots courtesy of Microsoft
3. Keep having conversations so that you can continue funding the charity of your choice.

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Monday 12 March 2007

New Windows Vista Boot Screens

Thanks to iemanduitnederland for creating these boot screens. Download the following boot screens individually or download all of them in one zip archive. There is also a boot screen generator included for you to create your own boot screens.

Please backup your “winload.exe.mui” file before you try this.

How to install:
1. Navigate to c:\windows\system32\en-US for English installations or the appropriate directory for your installation.

2. Open the properties of the file "winload.exe.mui" and edit the permissions so that you can take full control of the file and replace it in the following step.

3. Now copy the chosen boot screen from the package and replace it with the one in the system32\en-US folder.

4. Go to start > Run, and type "msconfig".

5. Select the "Boot" tab and enable "No GUI Boot".

6. Close msconfig and reboot your computer.


Windows Vista Boot Logo Generator

Single Archive Download

Aurora 3D (Grey Text)














Download

Aurora 3D (White Text)













Download

Black Aurora













Download

Blue Whipe













Download

Clear White













Download

Clear Black













Download

Logo Black













Download

My White Vista













Download

Wow













Download

AMD X2













Download

ATi













Download

CoolerMaster













Download

Intel Core 2 Duo













Download

Nvidia













Download

Colourised Slogan













Download

Orbed Slogan













Download

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Sunday 4 March 2007

Microsoft Drastically Slashes Office Ultimate 2007 Prices for Students


Microsoft has begun a very unique marketing campaign aimed at students to help combat piracy and boost the sales revenue of Office 2007. The campaign, known as itsnotcheating aims to stop piracy among students by selling Office Ultimate 2007 at extremely low and affordable prices.

Selling for a price of only $75 Australian dollars for an unlimited license and $25 for a one year license, Microsoft is in effect offering a discount of 94% to students. Office Ultimate 2007 has a recommended retail price in Australia of $1175. The commencement of the offer also marks the first time that Microsoft is selling its software on a subscription-model, which we will no doubt see more of in the near future.


Those customers who purchased Office 20007 Home and Student Editions before the commencement of this offer have effectively wasted $174 and didn’t even receive Outlook. When this offer was approved by Microsoft it is highly likely that they knew they weren’t losing $1100 per copy. So if Microsoft can afford to sell Office Ultimate 2007 for only $75, how much is Office Ultimate 2007 really worth?

This offer has no doubt upset many of Microsoft’s retail partners. They have been left with no possible way to compete against a $75 Office Ultimate 2007, because Microsoft wholesales Home and Student Editions for more than that price. This is a serious blunder on Microsoft’s part as the retail partners are the ones who have spent thousands of dollars on advertising, promoting Home and Student Editions, only to lose their business to Microsoft themselves.

Microsoft has no doubt embarked in this marketing campaign out of complete desperation because of the large-scale piracy it endures, from within institutions like universities. High software prices have no doubt forced many students to seek alternatives to purchasing legitimate software. It remains to be seen if this marketing campaign will actually work by combating piracy and boosting Office 2007 sales.

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Thursday 1 March 2007

Vista Ultimate Not So Ultimate After All

Windows Vista Ultimate was marketed by Microsoft as the operating system of "choice for those who want to have it all". But Microsoft has left out something very important from their "most complete edition of Windows Vista": Extended Lifecycle Support.

While browsing Microsoft's Support Lifecycle pages I observed some interesting oddities. According to the Windows Vista Ultimate Support Lifecycle page support ends on April 10, 2012, putting it in the same boat as Windows Vista Home Basic and Home Premium. On the contrary both Windows Vista Business and Enterprise receive Extended Support, which means five more years of support until April 11, 2017.


Support for consumer products ends after five years and have no Extended Support option, according to Microsoft's Support Lifecycle Web page. It was always assumed that Windows Vista Ultimate, marketed by Microsoft as having the most consumer and corporate features, would be supported for more than five years. Microsoft currently offers Vista Ultimate to businesses for volume-licensing purchases.

The problem of limited support potentially creates numerous problems for small businesses looking for improved security. BitLocker Drive Encryption, which is extremely helpful in protecting sensitive data from theft, is available only in Vista Enterprise and Vista Ultimate. However, Vista Enterprise is available only through volume licensing purchases, which is very rarely utilised by small businesses.

The designated five years of Mainstream Support for Windows XP Home Edition and Media Centre Edition ended one month before the release of Windows Vista. However, Microsoft responded by extending its support for Windows XP for another five years up until April 8, 2014.

It is highly likely that Microsoft will bow to the increased pressure from customers to extend its support for Windows Vista Ultimate, much like they did with Windows XP.

An even more baffling contradiction is that the Microsoft Office product range is treated in a different way. The Office 2007 Support Lifecycle page, states that the Student and Home Editions will receive extended support right up until April 4, 2017. Even though these two editions are lower-end versions for consumers, they receive extended support just like their more expensive counterparts.

It seems Microsoft has decided that its ultimate version of Windows Vista, the “choice for those who want to have it all", is not worthy of Extended Support, while the lower cost consumer editions of Microsoft Office are. Only time will tell if Microsoft bows into the pressure from consumers of Windows Vista.

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