Microsoft and the University of Virginia are working on a pilot program that is linking students and teachers via wireless and wired connections and unique Tablet PC-based learning solutions. The pilot program, which will launch in the fall, involves 400 students in the school's biochemistry, psychology, and statistics programs, all of whom will use Microsoft OneNote-equipped Tablet PCs running Windows XP Tablet PC Edition. Students will use this unique hardware-software combination to save lecture notes electronically and access online exercises live in the classroom.
Just got another email for Ditto about Windows Update version 5 Release Candidate 2!
Dear Windows Update V5 Beta testers:
Windows Update V5 RC2 is now available for Windows XP SP2 (build 2120), Windows XP RTM/SP1, Windows Server 2003, and Windows 2000 SP3/SP4. The website and the Windows Update pages on BetaPlace are ready for testing! Please go to http://beta.microsoft.com for the link to the Windows Update V5 RC2 page and detailed instructions on installing the bug reporting Microsoft Beta client.
PLEASE NOTE! IMPORTANT
- The pre-release versions of Windows Update are for testing purposes only.
- Please do not depend on the pre-release versions of Windows Update to keep your computer secure and up to date. If you are not a Windows XP SP2 Beta program participant, you can keep your computer secure and up to date by visiting the http://v4.windowsupdate.microsoft.com site. If you are part of the Windows XP SP2 Beta program, please take extra care regarding computer security, as you will not be able to go back to the Windows Update V4 site.
For all Beta Testers
When you visit the Windows Update V5 RC2 site, the Windows Update client software on your computer will be updated to the RC2 version. After the Windows Update client software is updated, an error 0x800A01AE can occur. To avoid this error and complete install of the updated client, you must restart your computer. If you attempt to scan for updates without restarting your computer, you will continue to receive this error.
For Windows XP SP2 Beta Testers
If you are a Windows XP SP2 Beta tester, please download and install Windows XP SP2 (build 2120) before performing any further Windows XP SP2 and Windows Update V5 testing.
For All Other Windows Update Beta Testers
Windows Update beta testers using Windows XP (SP1 or RTM), Windows Server 2003 (RTM), or Windows 2000 (SP3 or later) should:
- Go to http://beta.microsoft.com
- Sign in using your passport.
- Click the Windows Update V5 link.
- Accept the EULA. (If you have not already accepted the EULA, you must do so before advancing to the Windows Update V5 beta pages.)
- Access the Windows Update V5 preview site. Follow the instructions on the BetaPlace Windows Update page at http://beta.microsoft.com.
The Windows Update Beta team will continue to send out news updates. Please send content suggestions or comments regarding the beta page layout to *******@microsoft.com or post them to the newsgroup.
Thank you very much!
Windows Update Team
Thanks to Ditto, our Microsoft beta insider, I have received this email notifying about Beta Program for Microsoft's Live Communication Server 2005, here are the details...
As you know, you have been nominated to join the Beta Program for Microsoft's Live Communication Server 2005 release. You were recently sent a request to submit a preliminary survey, so that we may learn more about your interest and qualifications, but we still have not heard from you.
Currently, your status with the Beta program has been marked as "Pending", and we have assigned you a BetaID. The next step is very simple; We can change your status to "Approved", and can officially enroll you in this exciting program, however, you must submit the preliminary survey first. At this stage, your responsiveness is more important to us than your particular deployment plans, because this program is dependent on good customer feedback. Your feedback is very important to us!
Please note that our survey process for this Beta program will differ from past programs. Rather than send you one long survey, we intend to administer several short surveys that are tailored to your role and expertise regarding LCS 2005. This preliminary survey, which should take you no more than 20 minutes to complete, will provide us crucial information to determine which future surveys to send you.
Please click on the link below to complete the LCS 2005 Beta Program Preliminary Survey. When you arrive at the survey site, enter in your BetaID, which appears below.
Bob Muglia may have one of the hottest seats in all of Microsoft. The desktop version of Longhorn, Microsoft's next release of Windows, may receive most of the ink. But it is the server version that is more vital to the software giant's long-run ambitions. That's because some of the most heavily touted features of Longhorn--such as mainframe-caliber computing, better security and management and networkwide search--rely on Longhorn Server.
Comcast Cable, one of the largest cable operators in the United States, on Thursday signed a deal to funnel Microsoft's latest TV software to millions of set-top boxes.
The agreement will enable Comcast Cable to use Microsoft TV Foundation 1.7 software to display program choices for up to five million of its customers. The Philadelphia-based cable company, a division of Comcast with more than 21 million subscribers, has the option of extending the software to other consumers later.
Microsoft's digital video recording (DVR) software supports a dual tuner that allows simultaneous recording of two TV programs. It also supports advanced interactive TV services such as digital video recording, video on demand and high-definition television.
Microsoft on Thursday said that Oracle has pledged to make its database software work better with Microsoft's development tools. The companies said that Oracle has joined Microsoft's Visual Studio partner program and that later this year it will release a free software download for Microsoft's Visual Studio .Net 2003 development tools.
The software download will make it easier to write Windows-based applications that access data stored in an Oracle database, said Prem Kumar, a vice president in Oracle's server technology division.
There's more to search than devising the perfect algorithm. Two of the newer kids on the search block - Microsoft and Amazon's A9 subsidiary - shared their visions for the future of search during their Thursday keynote addresses at the World Wide Web conference here.
Neither executive was willing to discuss near-term products or strategies. Microsoft is known to be prepping new search technologies that are expected to allow users to search seamlessly across their local machines, corporate networks and the Internet. The new MSN Search part of the equation is expected to debut later this year or early next. A first version of the WinFS file-system subsystem will be integrated into Longhorn when it ships in 2006+. And A9 recently unveiled a beta version of a new search site that builds on top of Google.
How do you explain Real Simple Syndication (RSS) to 100 CEOs, some of whom are barely comfortable checking their own e-mail? Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates found a way, as part of his keynote that kicked off the company's eighth annual CEO summit taking place in Redmond over the next two days. The summit was closed to the press, but the Gates keynote was Web cast for members of the media.
Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates told more than 100 CEOs that Web services--and Microsoft's software in particular--are quietly driving a "rewiring of the economy" in the post-dot-com era.
Gates said the pending beta of the next version of Visual Studio--together with Web service standards and new speech, collaboration and wireless applications--will simplify business-process re-engineering and boost information worker productivity.
"This statement is like deja vu. People said that in the late '90s and didn't most of them go out of business? Yes. But the difficult work to make this happen has only been taking place now," Gates told CEOs gathered at Microsoft's Redmond, Wash., headquarters for its eighth annual CEO Summit.
This week, the world's largest computer maker unveiled three new Pocket PC devices, the first such devices to run the most recent release of Microsoft's PDA OS. Dell's new Axim X30 Pocket PC line runs Windows Mobile 2003 Second Edition (SE), but that's not the only unique thing about these machines: Two of the models offer both Wi-Fi (the 802.11 wireless standard) and Bluetooth capabilities at unheard-of lowball prices. For price-conscious Dell, these machines are a logical extension of the company's standard pricing policy, but the Axim X30's effects will likely reverberate around the PDA community for weeks to come.