Microsoft Kinect Supplies Running Low

By DustinPosted on

Fears of a Christmas holiday shortage of Kinect devices for the XBox 360 comes as many retailers are sold out of their pre-order allocations. While Microsoft is surely trying to keep up with demand, shortages usually cause a lot more hype for a product, and people want it more. Very similar to WiiFit, Elmo, and many others, regardless of the quality.

The high price of the system – which retails for around £130 and doesn’t include an Xbox 360 console – was expected to put many consumers off, particularly those who had already invested in a “casual” gaming system such as the Nintendo Wii, or Sony’s rival format, the PlayStation Move.

Pirates Crack Windows 7

By DustinPosted on

Pirates have finally cracked and created an installation disk for Windows 7. They have tested it on computers from 28 OEM’s. They come pre-activated, no key required. They also come with new, unsupported security vulnerabilities. I never trust a program that comes from a pirate, as they use their own code to hack it to do what they want. That code could be malicious, or just sloppy, introducing a new security hole. You never can tell. Microsoft is probably cooking up a Windows Update to patch the hack.

It appears that users can simply download the pirated Windows 7 Ultimate SKU, extract the ISO, burn it onto a disk, and then install it, without ever being required to enter a product key, or to activate the platform.

More Ray Ozzie Docs

By DustinPosted on

Ray Ozzie has added some new documents on his webpage, this time some personal notes from Windows 1.01. Some nice little notes there, and some proof that they were using Macintosh as their inspiration. These blasts from the past are pretty awesome to look at.

Your response to my previous post was overwhelming; thanks.  While on the subject of 1985 nostalgia, I’ve uploaded one more final scan – some personal notes of mine from that era related to Windows.  I frequently traveled to Microsoft because I’d known Bill since my Software Arts days.  Our startup, Iris Associates, had also been doing very early work with Windows as one of its first ISV’s.

XBox Live Friends List to Stay At 100

By DustinPosted on

Earlier today, a German site had posted that XBox Live was going to up their maximum friends count to 1000, up from 100. Major Nelson has denied that is the case, at least in the United States. We’ll see what is going on in Germany, true or false, and let you know.

The 100 friend limit on Xbox Live was mostly due to gamers who were still playing Halo 2. The original Xbox only allowed for 100 friends and that bled over into this generation. Now that online support for all original Xbox titles has ceased, we expected to see a significant change in the number of friends we can have. Hyrb says Microsoft is always looking for ways to make Xbox Live better through customer feedback, so let’s take him up on that. If you start bugging Microsoft to give you higher friend cap now, maybe it’ll be placed in the November update.

Windows 1.0 Documents Found

By DustinPosted on

Ray Ozzie, Microsoft’s Chief Software Architect, is back to blogging. His first post includes some Windows 1.0 launch documents. I remember drooling over Windows 1.0 and wanting it. I didn’t get into the Windows game until 2.0, however. Been loving it ever since (although, I did skip over ME and went straight to Win2K), and will continue to use it for many years to come. Sometimes, I really kinda miss the old CGA monitors…

Inside a sealed packet I found a wonderful artifact from decades ago – a folder of collaterals from the Windows 1.0 launch event.  It was possibly handed to me at that time by Pam Edstrom, whose business card was enclosed.

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It’s also a reminder that we’re nearing a key milestone:  November 20, 2010, the 25th anniversary of Windows.

Microsoft Anti-OpenOffice Video

By DustinPosted on

I’ve recommended OpenOffice to several people looking for a free alternative to Microsoft Office. While I wouldn’t use it in an enterprise quite yet, or with any VBA/Macro type environment, it is still a good alternative for basic word processing and spreadsheet duties. For anything more, MS Office is definitely the product to have. It is any wonder that OpenOffice brags about MS Office compatibility and interoperability?! Why would you claim that your product is almost as good as the competition, but not quite? Hmmmm…. Free does have it’s costs.

Chat With Us At Microsoft Technical Chat

By DustinPosted on

Today at 10:00am PST (11:00 MST), meet up with friends, colleagues, and new faces at a Microsoft chat. Up for discussion is Windows 7, Office 2010, and other general discussion. Should be very informative for all! Hope to see you there!

Would you like to learn more about the cool new features in Office 2010 and Windows 7 and what has changed since previous versions? Do you use Microsoft Office but would like to learn tips and tricks to be more productive at home, school or at work? Perhaps you are a new user who has questions on how to get started with Windows 7 or using the Office ribbon? Or would like to learn how to protect your computer from malware and viruses. Or perhaps you are just stuck and need answers. The Microsoft Most Valuable Professionals (MVPs) are here to help! The MVPs are the same people you see in the technical community as authors, trainers, user groups leaders and answerers in the Microsoft forums. For the first time ever we have brought these experts together as a collective group to answer your questions live. MVPs will be on hand to take questions about Microsoft Office 2010 or Office 2007 products such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Access, Project, OneNote and more. As well as the Windows 7 and earlier versions such as Windows Vista. In addition to Microsoft Office, the chat will cover Windows related topics such as upgrading, setup and installation, securing your PC, Internet Explorer, personalizing your computer desktop or having fun with Windows Live Essentials to share photos, make movies and more. All levels of experience are welcome from beginners and students to intermediate power users. Please join us for this informative Q&A style chat and bring on your basic and your tough questions!

Is Quality Enough For Windows Phone 7

By DustinPosted on

Neowin attempts to answer the question “Is Quality Enough for Windows Phone 7”? There is no doubt that Windows Phone 7 is any good; it is. Now, it just has to persuade the consumers that they NEED it. From what I’ve seen already, I may look into replacing my Android powered phone. Of course, I need to wait a bit until my apps are able to be replaced (Google Sky Maps, Maps, GPS, etc.). If Microsoft and/or other developers can do that, I will have a new phone straight away! I am already looking into doing a little development on the platform myself. Nothing major, just a few little utilities.

If we could pretend that iOS, Android, and WP7 all came out at the same time, WP7 would be my easy pick for front-runner. Personally, I’m a fan of the Android OS and of open source products in general. However, if they tried to compete with WP7 after a simultaneous release, they wouldn’t stand a chance in the consumer market. Mircosoft’s retail marketing machine would indeed be an extremely difficult opponent to overcome. However, reality is reality, and Google Android has had a huge head start on the market that Apple wasn’t able or willing to gobble up. Android will take a solid hit with the release of a decent competitor, but it will take some serious marketing and industry tactics, both strong areas for Microsoft, to actually surpass Android’s continual chokehold on the mobile OS industry.

Upcoming Windows Phone 7 Games

By DustinPosted on

Sure, we all use our phones to call people. But, anybody can make a phone that does that. Where they really shine is when you are sitting in a waiting room for an hour or two, bored, and wanting to waste some time. Most phones have internet browsers, but what most people want are the games! Microsoft has a decent lineup of upcoming games to be available when the phones are finally going out the door. Judging from the videos, these phones are going to be beasts and should be pretty darn good in the graphics department. Of course, I don’t get the whole Zombie appeal these days. What’s with that? Now, just as with the phone, there begs the question: Will they be any good?

Microsoft is pushing games as a big reason to buy the phones. At a press conference Monday morning, the company showed off some titles gamers can look forward to from Electronic Arts and others, and previewed the way the phones will integrate with the Xbox Live online gaming service for Xbox 360. (Msnbc.com is a joint venture of NBC Universal and Microsoft.)