Microsoft announced some SharePoint product updates that may have gotten trampled under a stampede of information flowing out of Redmond this week.
The dust is now settling from this week's release of Microsoft Office 2007 Service Pack 2, Vista SP2 and Windows 7 release candidate. Amidst all of the excitement, many may not have noticed that Microsoft also released SP2 product updates for Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 and Windows SharePoint Services 3.0.
For those IT pros looking to apply SP2 to MOSS 2007 and WSS 3.0, Microsoft explained that you do not need to have Service Pack 1 installed first. The new service pack contains SP1, along with a number of fixes and performance improvements, which are described here.
Microsoft announced last week that it is seeking customers willing to test their databases in a cloud-based data connectivity project.
The testing is part of "Project Huron," a synchronization-enabled cloud data hub that's being developed as part of Microsoft's SQL Data Services effort. The technology combines Microsoft's Sync Service with its SQL Data Service, all of which is hosted using Microsoft's Azure cloud computing platform.
One of the purposes of Project Huron is to make it easier for multiple users to access and modify data without conflicts. Data access occurs via a publish-and-subscribe model.
Microsoft on May 7 announces its first official Facebook application for all Windows Mobile 6 phones and newer. Microsoft also issues a list of 12 prohibited application types for its Windows Marketplace for Mobile. Microsoft on May 7 announced its first official Facebook application for all
Windows Mobile 6 phones and newer.
The application is available as a free download here or directly from a user's mobile Web browser here.
Microsoft said the Windows Mobile Facebook application is the only version available on the market that allows the user to upload video directly from the phone.
With Windows 7, Microsoft appears to be on track to banish the demons of Windows Vista into the mists of history. It's a testimony to the company's ability to finally stop denying that anything was wrong with Vista and start focusing on making the next version better.
That's a marked contrast to the state of affairs in Windows Mobile, where things seem to be moving in the opposite direction. Quite simply, the sluggish pace of Windows Mobile development is having a negative impact on Microsoft's ability to compete in the mobile space.
Steve Ballmer never got around to finishing his graduate work at Stanford's business school, leaving after a year to join his pal Bill Gates at then-startup Microsoft.
That was 29 years ago, and you'd have to say things turned all right for him.
On Wednesday, the billionaire CEO of Microsoft revisited the campus as an invited guest of the university's Entrepreneurial Thought Leaders seminar series. Some tech gossip sites had speculated that Ballmer arrived earlier in the week to pursue talks with Yahoo about a search partnership deal.
Microsoft has tweaked and renamed its anti-piracy technology in Windows 7. Formerly known as Windows Genuine Advantage, the technology is now called Windows Activation Technologies.Microsoft has introduced changes to its anti-piracy features for its operating system in Windows 7, starting with a new name.
Formerly known as Windows Genuine Advantage, the anti-piracy technology has been rebranded Windows Activation Technologies in Windows 7. But in addition to the name change, the company has tweaked the technology to improve the user experience.
Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer began his talk at Stanford University by offering a quick course in economics.
Explaining the economic crisis that has slowed business worldwide and caused Microsoft to have its first companywide layoffs, Ballmer told the crowd at the school's packed Memorial Auditorium, "The world borrowed too much money."
Then he went back to his obligatory chat about the early days at Microsoft, including when he dropped out of Stanford's business school to join the software maker. He noted that he knew how to read a balance sheet, but not much else.
Microsoft took the covers off a new Website Thursday aimed at convincing IBM WebSphere customers to move their applications to Windows.
Named WebSphereLovesWindows.com, the site purports to prove that users can knock down hardware costs by as much as two-thirds by simply adopting less-expensive Intel servers and, of course, Microsoft software.
"Given the current economy, we're looking for places our customers can save," Steven Martin, senior director of developer platform marketing at Microsoft, told InternetNews.com.
Take that, iPhone.
Microsoft moved to gain some much needed buzz for its Windows Mobile platform with today's announcement of new voice recognition from its TellMe Networks subsidiary. The news comes on the two-year anniversary of Microsoft's purchase of TellMe for a reported $800 million.
The new service makes voice recognition features available at the touch of a single button on Windows Mobile phones. For example, press the button and say "text" to open a text box, speak the text message and then say "send" to send it to anyone on the user's contact list.
Microsoft announced late yesterday that it has released the second service pack for Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 to manufacturing, but it will still be some time before it's actually in customers' hands.
"Today we are announcing the Release to Manufacturing of Service Pack 2 for Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008," Microsoft blogger Brandon LeBlanc said on the Windows Blog.
Microsoft is hoping that release of SP2 will help spur corporate deployments that have been on hold as most IT shops wait for Windows 7 to ship.