Microsoft is in the process of updating their website, going for a new Windows Phone 7 Metro UI style. What do you think of the new interface?
Steve Ballmer says that the Xbox isn’t a gaming machine… Seriously? True, you can do so much with an Xbox: Netflix, Hulu, Facebook, chat and tons more. However, I look at it first and foremost a gaming machine. I really can’t imagine someone buying an Xbox 360 just for the media aspect. The PS3 used to be the best, lowest cost Blu-ray player out there, which made it something more and gave reason to buy it for something other than gaming, but not the Xbox. Sorry, Steve. It’s a gaming machine.
Q: You sold 8 million Kinects over the holidays, more than you expected. What differentiates it from other gaming consoles on the market?
A: Xbox isn’t a gaming console. Xbox is a family entertainment center. It’s a place to socialize. It’s a place to watch TV. We have Hulu coming. It’s the only system where you are the controller. Your voice, your gestures, your body.
Microsoft has stated that taking screenshots are not important for the end-user. Yes, I understand that you can take screenshots through the emulator with the SDK, but there are many times that I take screenshots (when doing a review of software, etc.) while using the device. I’d like to see either Microsoft enable the functionality or a third party create something that will do it.
According to Woodman, it’s also not always the users who help Microsoft determine which features need to be fast-tracked. “We do a lot of things for reporters,” Woodman said. “I would argue things like the Mac connector software–the software that lets you take your Windows Phone and connect it to an Apple PC of some form, and basically pull over music from iTunes and photos and that kind of stuff–it wasn’t built because we thought there was a significant market opportunity for Mac loyalists out there who were dying to buy a Windows Phone. It was built because reporters would show up with Macs,” Woodman said.
The other half of the equation, Woodman explained, is that developers who wanted to take screenshots of their applications have had the means since the introduction of the Windows Phone 7 SDK. “There’s a ton of ways to do it in within the emulator, so application developers have no problem with that,” Woodman said.
After a blunder in December over an update for Outlook 2007 which caused slow loading, connection issues and automatic archiving, Microsoft has re-released the update fixing the original issue without the major side effects. If you are using Office 2007 and Outlook 2007, be sure to grab this update.
Microsoft has pulled the plug on updates before. In April, it retracted a patch for Windows 2000 — which at the time was still supported — over what it called “quality issues.” And in early 2008, the company yanked an update designed to prep Windows Vista for Service Pack 1 (SP1) after users flooded support forums with tales of endless reboots.
While video game sales are generally down, the XBox 360 has been enjoying the extra sales. These are probably attributed to the Kinect system bringing in a lot of new customers. They sold so much in December that they ran out and had to eat into the production of January and February.
In order to make those numbers happen, Microsoft said it made available units from its January and February production runs. “Despite this, Microsoft still experienced out of supply situations in late December, and it expects supply constraint to continue in January and February as it works with retail and manufacturing partners to expedite production and shipments to replenish the channel,” a Microsoft spokesperson said in a statement, confirming news of the shortages from earlier in the day.
Rumors have it that the RTM (Release to Manufacturer) of Service Pack 1 for Windows 7 and Server 2008R2 is finally being released to OEM’s today. This should be the final release of the SP, no more betas or release candidates.
In a blog posting on Thursday, Microsoft’s Russian Windows Virtualization team confirmed that the final build of Windows 7 SP1 is 7601.17514.win7sp1_rtm.101119-1850. The Russian site also explains that the Service Pack will be available publicly today. Microsoft generally releases Service Packs on a Tuesday so it’s not clear whether the Russian technet post is referring to a public release to select partners or a full web release. WinRumors understand the software giant will ship the release to its OEM partners today but that a web release is expected at a later date.
UPDATE: Apparently, the service pack has already hit the torrent sites. While I’m not going to post public links to the files, I can at least make sure you get the correct one. MD5 hashes:
X86: 4BF28FC00D86C936C89E2D91EF46758B
X64: 28D3932F714BF71D78E75D36AA2E0FB8
Happy 25th Birthday, Excel! It’s been one heck of two and a half decades. I remember you from DOS days. I wasn’t very good at it then, either! I’m not bad, but nothing to call myself an expert. I have family & friends for that! I don’t use it for anything major. Follow the link for a nice history lesson on the great Microsoft Excel.
Here at Microsoft, we are celebrating the 25th Anniversary of Microsoft Excel by taking a look through its compelling and dramatic history, which is filled with great tech tidbits. In this video, we talk to Scott Oki, Charles Simonyi, Jeff Raikes, and other visionaries behind Excel. We go back to the beginning of the story with Multiplan, MS-DOS, and Lotus 1-2-3. The initial codename for Excel was “Odyssey” and that project kicked off in 1983. Now, watch to learn more. Part Two will air tomorrow.
Microsoft is active in many social networks, from Facebook to Twitter. However, finding their correct, official accounts can be a chore at times. This is a compilation on Twitter and Facebook accounts for the REAL Microsoft Corporation. If anyone has any more that should be added to this list, please feel free to let me know!
Twitter:
@MSWindows – Microsoft Windows.
@WindowsLive – Microsoft Windows Live.
@MajorNelson – Major Nelson, aka Larry Hryb of the Xbox 360 group.
@liveframework – Live Framework.
@livemesh – Sync, share, and access the information you want.
@SharePoint – SharePoint product group – managed by @LLiu.
@bizspark – Microsoft BizSpark for startup companies.
@zunemarketplace – Zune Marketplace for the Zune media player.
@wmdev – Windows Mobile development
@microsofttag – Microsoft Tag
@ch9 – listen to the cockpit, help us fly the plane
@ch10 – Channel 10 is Microsoft’s online community for the technology enthusiast.
@ch8 – Microsoft’s community for students.
@mixonline – Come check us out at www.visitmix.com
@MicrsftTech4All – News from the Microsoft accessability crew.
@MSDN – Updates from the MSDN site team.
@adCenterBlog – News, Tips, Tricks & Best Practices From Microsoft adCenter
@MVPBuzz – News and information from the MVP team (Microsoft Most Valuable Professional)
@Bing – Bing Search Engine
@MSFTnews – Official news for MSFT Corporation
@Microsoft_EDU – Microsoft Education
@msdynamicscrm – Microsoft Dynamics
@msftdynamicserp – Microsoft Dynamics ERP marketing team
@msdyncomm – Microsoft Dynamics Community
@MSproductivity – Productivity tips from the Enterprise team
@MSPlatformReady
@office365 – Microsoft’s online Office 365
@teched – TechEd, Microsofts annual conference
@mspartner – For Microsoft Partners
@msdn – Updates from the MSDN Site
@windowsphone – Windows Phone updates and tips
@sharepoint – Sharepoint Team
@ie – Internet Explorer
@windowsazure – Windows Azure
@visualstudio – Visual Studio
@WP7Expert – Windows Phone 7 information for retailers
Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/Microsoft – Microsoft US
http://www.facebook.com/MicrosoftCanada – Microsoft Canada
http://www.facebook.com/MSSharePoint – Microsoft Sharepoint
http://www.facebook.com/MicrosoftCareers – Careers at Microsoft
http://www.facebook.com/MicrosoftStore – Microsoft Store
http://www.facebook.com/sinofsky – Steven Sinofsky, head of the Microsoft Windows team
http://www.facebook.com/MicrosoftExpression – Microsoft Expression
http://www.facebook.com/microsofttag – Microsoft Tag
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Microsoft-NET/22354871088 – Microsoft .Net Developers
http://www.facebook.com/Office – The Microsoft Office page
http://www.facebook.com/MVPAwardProgram – The Microsoft MVP Program
http://www.facebook.com/Bing#!/pages/Microsoft-Community-Contributor/113784705335192 – Microsoft Community Contributor Page
http://www.facebook.com/Bing – Bing Search Engine
One of the biggest complaints about IE9 Beta has been the location of the tabs in relation to the address bar. I haven’t had any issues with it, but Microsoft has responded by allowing users to move the tabs to below the address bar. Of course, this isn’t good enough for everyone, some of which would rather have it ABOVE the address bar.
Microsoft is currently testing builds of Internet Explorer 9 that include the ability to re-position the tabs to below the address bar. The current public beta build does not include this capability and Microsoft is expected to build this into the Release Candidate. Users can turn the functionality on by selecting “show tabs below address bar” after right clicking in the tab area of Internet Explorer 9 (see video below). The option will address some complaints from the public beta.
Google’s removal of the H.264 codec in their browser, Chrome, has had some heated discussion online lately. Microsoft has responded to their goof in a humorous way, and in a very true way.
“We expect even more communication between people in the coming year and are therefore focusing our investments in languages that are created based on constructed language principles. To that end, we are changing the spoken and written language of this nation to make it consistent with the form of speech already supported by the Language Creation Society.
Specifically, we are supporting the Esperanto and Klingon languages, and will consider adding support for other high-quality constructed languages in the future. Though English plays an important role in speech today, as our goal is to enable open innovation, its further use as a form of communication in this country will be prohibited and our resources directed towards languages that are untainted by real-world usage.”