http://keznews.com/server.php?web_link=winbeta.org News en-us http://media.keznews.com/pics/logo_windows_portal.jpg http://keznews.com/ http://keznews.com/43740=Microsoft_s_problematic_lack_of_nightly_builds_for_IE Many wonder why Microsoft doesn't offer nightly buildsor at least something fairly frequentof Internet Explorers. Ars talks to Microsoft's general manager for Internet Explorer, who says the IE9 development cycle will look much the same as previous versions. We don't think that's a great idea...<br /><br /> <br> <br><img src="images/news/icons/view.gif"></img> View Full Article: <a href="http://arstechnica.com/microsoft/news/2009/11/microsofts-problematic-lack-of-nightly-builds-for-ie.ars" target="_blank">Ars Technica</a> Fri, 20 Nov 2009 23:16:06 http://keznews.com/43733=Microsoft_Windows_chief_decries_standards_grandstanding Microsoft will be compliant with industry standards in Internet Explorer 9 such as HTML 5, but Steven Sinofsky, president of the Windows and Windows Live division, decried the habit of vendors getting ahead of the process. <br /><br /> <br> <br>"We are not trying to market things that are not there for developers to use yet," said Sinofsky during an interview with <i>Network World</i>. "Whether they are in IE or not, saying you are standards based but then saying you are the most HTML 5 compliant browser does not make sense because the standard is not <complete> yet. There is a little bit of a time warp going on."<br /><br /> <br> <br><img src="images/news/icons/view.gif"></img> View Full Article: <a href="http://www.networkworld.com/news/2009/111909-microsoft-windows-sinofsky.html?fsrc=netflash-rss" target="_blank">Network World</a> Thu, 19 Nov 2009 23:16:12 http://keznews.com/43732=Ballmer__it__quot_matters_quot__that_Apple_has_gained_share Microsoft chief Steve Ballmer today warned at a yearly shareholders' meeting that the company needed to improve the standing of Windows in the future. The executive was emphatic that Microsoft was still in a comfortable position with "96 out of 100" choosing Windows worldwide but acknowledged that Apple had cut into Microsoft's share in the past year. He downplayed the amount, labeling it a "a couple of tenths of a percent" but added that even the claimed amount was significant and worth fighting for.<br /><br /> <br> <br><img src="images/news/icons/view.gif"></img> View Full Article: <a href="http://www.electronista.com/articles/09/11/19/ms.shareholder.meeting.shows.share.worries/" target="_blank">Electronista</a> Thu, 19 Nov 2009 23:16:12 http://keznews.com/43729=Windows_Home_Server_Power_Pack_3_available_November_24th The Windows Home Server Team is pleased to announce that Power Pack 3 will be available in all shipping languages (Chinese, English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, and Spanish) on November 24th, 2009. Power Pack 3 will be made available to existing users via Windows Update. Users need to have Windows Home Server with Power Pack 2 already installed on their home server. Power Pack 3 will automatically install as part of Windows Update if Automatic Updates is enabled on the home server.<br /><br /> <br> <br><img src="images/news/icons/view.gif"></img> View Full Article: <a href="http://windowsteamblog.com/blogs/windowshomeserver/archive/2009/11/19/windows-home-server-power-pack-3-available-november-24th-includes-enhance ments-for-windows-7-based-computers.aspx" target="_blank">Windows Team Blog</a> Thu, 19 Nov 2009 19:16:14 http://keznews.com/43727=National_Security_Agency_beefed_Win_7_defenses The National Security Agency helped Microsoft harden Windows 7 against attacks and is providing similar assistance to Apple, Sun Microsystems and Red Hat too, an agency official said.<br /><br /> <br> <br>The admission came in prepared remarks delivered Tuesday by Richard Schaeffer, the NSA's information assurance director, at a hearing before the Senate's Subcommittee on Terrorism and Homeland Security.<br /><br /> <br> <br><img src="images/news/icons/view.gif"></img> View Full Article: <a href="http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/11/19/nsa_enhanced_windows7_security/" target="_blank">The Register</a> Thu, 19 Nov 2009 07:16:11 http://keznews.com/43716=IE9_to_support_hardware-accelerated_rendering Microsoft is focusing on speedy graphics rendering for its next version of Internet Explorer.<br /><br /> <br> <br>Internet Explorer 9 will take advantage of a computer's graphics hardware to better render online images, videos, animations and other graphics, said Steven Sinofsky, president of Microsoft's Windows and Windows Live division...<br /><br /> <br> <br><img src="images/news/icons/view.gif"></img> View Full Article: <a href="http://blog.seattlepi.com/microsoft/archives/185536.asp?source=rss" target="_blank">Seattle PI's Microsoft Blog</a> Wed, 18 Nov 2009 19:16:18 http://keznews.com/43715=Microsoft_Office_2010__SharePoint_2010_public_betas_now_available_for_download Microsoft released on November 18 the public beta of Office 2010. It can be downloaded by anyone for free, as of 1 pm ET today.<br /><br /> <br> <br>Microsoft is making available several different versions of Office, as well as a beta of SharePoint Server 2010 to interested testers, includingMicrosoft Office 2010, SharePoint Server 2010, Visio 2010, Project 2010 and Office Web Apps. The betas are available at <a href="http://www.microsoft.com/2010" target="_blank">www.microsoft.com/2010</a>.<br /><br /> <br> <br><img src="images/news/icons/view.gif"></img> View Full Article: <a href="http://blogs.zdnet.com/microsoft/?p=4600" target="_blank">Mary Jo Foley's Blog</a> Wed, 18 Nov 2009 19:16:17 http://keznews.com/43714=Microsoft_touts_groundbreaking__clip-on__for_Active_Directory Microsoft will pass out beta code Wednesday it hopes will define the next evolution of directories. It's a modular add-on that is built on a database and designed to add querying capabilities and performance never before possible in a directory.<br /><br /> <br> <br>The code is so early-stage it does not have an official name, although internally Microsoft calls it Next Generation Active Directory (NGAD). Microsoft introduced NGAD, which it calls a directory federation technology, on the second day of its annual Professional Developers Conference going on this week.<br /><br /> <br> <br><img src="images/news/icons/view.gif"></img> View Full Article: <a href="http://www.infoworld.com/d/applications/microsoft-touts-groundbreaking-clip-active-directory-957?source=rss_infoworld_news" target="_blank">InfoWorld</a> Wed, 18 Nov 2009 19:16:17 http://keznews.com/43712=The_Radeon_HD_5970__Completing_AMD_s_Takeover_of_the_High_End_GPU_Market Lets get straight to the point, shall we? Today AMD is launching the 5970, their dual-GPU card that finishes building out AMDs technical domination of the high-end market. With it AMD delivers the absolute victory over NVIDIAs GTX 295 that the Radeon 5870 couldnt quite achieve and at the same time sets the new high water mark for single-card performance...<br /><br /> <br> <br><img src="images/news/icons/view.gif"></img> View Full Article: <a href="http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3679" target="_blank">AnandTech</a> Wed, 18 Nov 2009 11:16:11 http://keznews.com/43711=Microsoft_s_Ray_Ozzie__Apps_don_t_make_your_phone_special Microsoft's chief software architect Ray Ozzie weighed in at <a href="http://microsoftpdc.com/">Microsoft's Professional Developers Conference</a> today on the battle between different smartphone platforms (including Windows Mobile). It's not the applications available on the various platforms that will be the differentiators, Ozzie said, even though that's what many companies and writers seem to focus on.<br /><br /> <br> <br><img src="images/news/icons/view.gif"></img> View Full Article: <a href="http://venturebeat.com/2009/11/17/microsofts-ray-ozzie-apps-dont-make-your-phone-special/" target="_blank">VentureBeat</a> Wed, 18 Nov 2009 07:16:10 http://keznews.com/43710=Inside__quot_MinWin__quot__the_Windows_7_kernel_slims_down Back in 2003, Microsoft assembled a team of engineers to rethink the lowest levels of Windows, so that the OS could be more easily slimmed down and secured to run in servers and embedded applications. That project, called "MinWin," has now started to bear fruit...<br /><br /> <br> <br><img src="images/news/icons/view.gif"></img> View Full Article: <a href="http://arstechnica.com/microsoft/news/2009/11/inside-minwin-the-windows-7-kernel-slims-down.ars" target="_blank">Ars Technica</a> Wed, 18 Nov 2009 07:16:10 http://keznews.com/43705=Microsoft__Dallas__muscles_Google_data_crusade Microsoft is hoping to out-Google Google by unlocking the world's information and slapping a GUI on the front end.<br /><br /> <br> <br>Today, the company unveiled Dallas, which chief software architect Ray Ozzie said would deliver "data as a service." He described it as a "game changing" subsystem of Microsoft's Windows Azure computing and storage service.<br /><br /> <br> <br><img src="images/news/icons/view.gif"></img> View Full Article: <a href="http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/11/17/microsoft_dallas_data_service/" target="_blank">The Register</a> Tue, 17 Nov 2009 23:16:09 http://keznews.com/43704=ASUS_best__HP_worst_for_notebook_reliability A new study published by <a href="http://www.squaretrade.com/pages/laptop-reliability-1109/" target="_blank">SquareTrade</a> revealed that the smaller name brand notebook manufacturers are usually more reliable than their larger rivals. Of the top nine, ASUS has the lowest tracked breakdown rate with fewer than 10 percent of its notebooks failing in the past two years. Toshiba, Sony and Apple also have better-than-average performance and are either just over or under the same figure.<br /><br /> <br> <br><img src="images/news/icons/view.gif"></img> View Full Article: <a href="http://www.electronista.com/articles/09/11/17/reliability.study.has.apple.4th.place/" target="_blank">Eletronista</a> Tue, 17 Nov 2009 23:16:09 http://keznews.com/43697=AMD_turbo_boosts_Flash_Player_10_1_with_ATI_Stream_technology Chip giant AMD has announced that the Flash Player 10.1 beta released by Adobe today is to offer support for platforms powered by Vision Technology from AMD to deliver high-quality, high definition (HD) on Flash platform -based video and other rich Web based content and applications.<br /><br /> <br> <br><img src="images/news/icons/view.gif"></img> View Full Article: <a href="http://blogs.zdnet.com/hardware/?p=6161" target="_blank">ZDNet Hardware 2.0 Blog</a> Tue, 17 Nov 2009 19:16:11 http://keznews.com/43696=How_Microsoft_is_(and_isn_t)_using_its_Windows_Azure_cloud_system At its Professional Developers Conference in Los Angeles this week, Microsoft will try to sell companies and developers on the benefits of its new Windows Azure cloud computing platform, in preparation for its official rollout. But it looks like one of Azure's toughest customers will be Microsoft itself.<br /><br /> <br> <br>Tony Scott, who oversees Microsoft's internal IT systems as the company's chief information officer, outlined the benefits of Azure during a speech last week to the Society for Information Management's national convention. At the same time, he noted one of its current shortcomings, and he made it clear that Microsoft isn't taking its systems completely to the cloud, even in the long run.<br /><br /> <br> <br><img src="images/news/icons/view.gif"></img> View Full Article: <a href="http://www.techflash.com/seattle/2009/11/how_microsoft_is_and_isnt_using_azure.html?ana=from_rss&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_camp aign=Feed%3A+TechFlash_ToddBishop+%28TechFlash+-+Todd+Bishop%27s+Microsoft+Blog%29&utm_content=Google+Reader" target="_blank">Todd Bishop's Microsoft Blog</a> Tue, 17 Nov 2009 19:16:10 http://keznews.com/43694=PDC_2009__Scuttling_huge_chunks_of_Vista_architecture_for_a_faster_Windows_7 The reason Windows Vista seemed slow, and somehow, strangely seemed even slower over time, is now abundantly clear to Microsoft's architects: The evolution of computer <i>hardware</i>, particularly the CPU, exceeded anyone's expectations at the time of Vista's premiere in early 2007. But the surge in virtualization, coupled with the rise of the multicore era, produced a new reality where suddenly Vista found itself managing systems with more than 64 total cores...<br /><br /> <br> <br><img src="images/news/icons/view.gif"></img> View Full Article: <a href="http://www.betanews.com/article/PDC-2009-Scuttling-huge-chunks-of-Vista-architecture-for-a-faster-Windows-7/1258443953" target="_blank">BetaNews</a> Tue, 17 Nov 2009 11:16:08 http://keznews.com/43693=Adobe_Releases_Flash_Player_10_1_And_AIR_2_0_“_Both_Include_Multi-touch_Support A mere week after <a href="http://www.adobe.com/">Adobe Systems</a> reported that it would be shedding nearly 700 employees or <a href="http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/11/10/layoffs-reported-at-adobe/">9% of its total worldwide workforce</a>, the company is releasing two highly anticipated new products that have been in the works for a while: <a href="http://www.adobe.com/products/flashplayer/">Flash Player 10.1</a> and <a href="http://www.adobe.com/products/air/">AIR 2.0</a>.<br /><br /> <br> <br>Both of the products are being released with a &#8216;beta&#8217; label at the same time for all 3 major operating systems (Windows, Mac and Linux) and x86-based netbooks, and are available now via <a href="http://labs.adobe.com/">Adobe Labs</a>...<br /><br /> <br> <br><img src="images/news/icons/view.gif"></img> View Full Article: <a href="http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/11/16/adobe-flash-player-10-1-air-2-0/" target="_blank">TechCrunch</a> Tue, 17 Nov 2009 07:16:09 http://keznews.com/43686=Microsoft_donates__NET_Micro_Framework_to_open_source Microsoft has released part of its .NET Framework - the part for internet-connected smart devices - into the open-source community.<br /><br /> <br> <br>The company said on Monday that it's releasing source code for the .NET Micro Framework under an Apache 2.0 license. Microsoft is also creating a community of "interested and involved members to help shape the future direction of the product." The community's web site was still under construction at time of the announcement.<br /><br /> <br> <br><img src="images/news/icons/view.gif"></img> View Full Article: <a href="http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/11/16/dot_net_micro_framework_open_sourced/" target="_blank">The Register</a> Mon, 16 Nov 2009 23:16:08 http://keznews.com/43684=Microsoft_makes_available_new_high_performance_Windows_Server_test_build Microsoft made available on November 16 <a href="http://www.microsoft.com/hpc/en/us/default.aspx">a code-complete beta of Windows HPC (High Performance Computing) Server 2008 R2</a> to selected testers.<br /><br /> <br> <br>The company made the announcement at the <a href="http://sc09.supercomputing.org/">Supercomputing 2009</a> show in Portland, Oreg., where officials said they planned to provide all of the 4,500 or so of the attendees with the bits today. Microsoft also will be providing select testers with access to the downloadable beta via the Connect site today. Microsoft is expecting to release at least one more beta of HPC Server 2008 R2 before rolling out the final version some time in 2010.<br /><br /> <br> <br><img src="images/news/icons/view.gif"></img> View Full Article: <a href="http://blogs.zdnet.com/microsoft/?p=4550" target="_blank">Mary Jo Foley's Blog</a> Mon, 16 Nov 2009 19:16:11 http://keznews.com/43683=Office_2010_Beta_Available_for_Download_via_MSDN_and_TechNet The Beta bits of Office 2010 Beta along with Office Web Applications are now up on MSDN and TechNet Plus. TechNet Plus and MSDN subscribers can now download and evaluate Office 2010 Beta before the official public availability on November 18th. The most significant change in this Beta Build from the <a href="http://www.redmondpie.com/office-2010-x64-technical-preview-screenshots/" target="_blank">Technical Preview</a> is the new installation procedure for test versions of Office 2010 SKUs, Upload Center, modified version of Backstage view and new refreshed icons for all Office products. Office 2010 Beta is available in both 32 and 64-bit flavors.<br /><br /> <br> <br><img src="images/news/icons/view.gif"></img> View Full Article: <a href="http://www.redmondpie.com/office-2010-beta-available-for-download-via-msdn-and-technet-9140115/" target="_blank">Redmond Pie</a> Mon, 16 Nov 2009 19:16:10