.NET MVP KenLin's Blog : Other

IE8 Beta is officially launched!

kenlin — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 02:08:00 GMT

IE8 Beta is officially launched in the MIX08. And you may download it and try it now. Here is the email from the IE team,

As of 12 pm today, we officially launched IE8 Beta!! Please check out Dean Hachamovich (IE General Manager) in the MIX08 keynote. To download IE8 Beta 1, please click here. Please read the Release notes and the IE8 Readiness Toolkit which will give a detailed description of the features. We would like to introduce to you our feedback form, which allows you to submit bugs directly to the IE team! Before submitting an issue, please search for your bug. If you find your bug, please rate the bug which will give us an idea of how many people have run into the same problem. Please only rate bugs that are important to you. If you do not find your bug, then submit a feedback form with the details of your bug. We have made several updates to the IE8: Technical Beta Program available on connect. Please check it out! Best regards, The IE Team

Microsoft Commits to November Release Date for Visual Studio 2008 and the .NET Framework 3.5

kenlin — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 06:49:00 GMT

BARCELONA, Spain — Nov. 5, 2007 — Today, during the keynote address at Microsoft TechEd Developers 2007, S. “Soma” Somasegar, corporate vice president of the Developer Division at Microsoft Corp., announced that Microsoft will release Visual Studio 2008 and the .NET Framework 3.5 by the end of November 2007. Visual Studio 2008 and the .NET Framework 3.5 enable developers at all levels to rapidly create connected applications that offer compelling user experiences for Windows Vista, Windows Server 2008, the 2007 Microsoft Office system, mobile devices and the Web. Soma also unveiled plans to open new opportunities for Visual Studio partners, as well as to deliver new tools and resources for developers, including a first Community Technology Preview (CTP) of the Microsoft Sync Framework and new capabilities for Popfly Explorer.

“The highly social and visual nature of the Web has fundamentally changed what users expect from all applications they interact with, regardless of whether it’s on a customer-facing Web site or Windows rich client application, or a desktop business application built using Microsoft Office,” said Somasegar. “Traditionally, organizations have been hard pressed to deliver the richer, more connected applications and services they need to boost productivity, drive revenue and stay ahead of the competition. With Visual Studio 2008 and the .NET Framework 3.5, it is easy for developers to use the skills they already have to build compelling applications that take advantage of the latest platforms.”

FWBS Ltd., Xerox Corp., Dell Inc. and K2 are just a few of the early adopter customers that are already experiencing the benefits of these releases. FWBS used Visual Studio, the .NET Framework and the Microsoft Office system to build an Office Business Application (OBA) for the law field. The application enables users to work within Microsoft Office — the tools they use every day — while also dramatically improving productivity and helping users respond quickly to changing business needs.

Xerox has also had early success developing applications with the new tools. “We’ve already seen significant advantages from using Visual Studio Team System 2008 and .NET Framework 3.5. With the first application we built, we easily saved 50 percent of the time and money it would have taken to create the same application with other tools,” said Eugene Shustef, feature design lead, Global Technology, Xerox. “That’s more than a savings to IT — it delivers a huge time-to-market advantage because it put the tool into the hands of our analysts six months sooner than they would have had it otherwise.”

Creating New Opportunities for Partners

Microsoft also announced plans to make additional investments in the Visual Studio partner ecosystem. In response to partner feedback and in order to provide better support for interoperability with other developer tools and cross-platform scenarios, Microsoft is today announcing plans to change licensing terms, no longer limiting partners to building solutions on top of Visual Studio for Windows and other Microsoft platforms only. This licensing change will be effective for the release of Visual Studio 2008 and the Visual Studio 2008 SDK.

“Integrating dynaTrace’s cross-platform application performance management and diagnostics product with Visual Studio has opened up additional commercial opportunities for our business and delivered a compelling solution for our customers. .NET and Visual Studio is a strategic platform for our business, and Microsoft’s additional investments in the partner ecosystem make it even more compelling,” said Klaus Fellner, senior director of product marketing at dynaTrace. “We’re looking forward to taking advantage of the new technology available with the launch of Visual Studio 2008 and the partner benefits available through the Visual Studio Industry Partner (VSIP) program.”

In addition, Microsoft announced plans to create a shared source licensing program for Premier-level partners in the VSIP program. The program will provide these partners with the ability to view Visual Studio IDE source code for debugging purposes, and simplify the process of integrating their products with Visual Studio 2008.

Tools for Today and Tomorrow

Microsoft also announced a number of additional resources for developers of all skill sets, enabling them to make the most out of their Microsoft tools investments to build great applications on the latest platforms:

•

The first CTP of the Microsoft Sync Framework demonstrates Microsoft’s ongoing investments in synchronization and builds on the synchronization functionality available in Visual Studio 2008. With Visual Studio 2008, developers can rapidly take advantage of offline synchronization capabilities to sync-enable applications and services easily with rich designer support. The Microsoft Sync Framework extends the support featured in Visual Studio 2008 to also include offline and peer-to-peer collaboration using any protocol for any data type, and any data store. This is part of Microsoft’s long-term commitment to providing synchronization for partners and independent software vendors that can embed the Sync Framework into their applications easily to create rich sync-enabled ecosystems that allow any type of data to follow their customers wherever they go.

•

A new release of Popfly Explorer will add new Web tools that provide Web developers and Popfly users an easy way to add Silverlight gadgets built in Popfly to their Web pages, as well as publish HTML Web pages directly to Popfly.

These latest releases are part of the broader Microsoft Application Platform, a portfolio of technology capabilities and core products that help organizations develop, deploy and manage applications and IT infrastructure. They also mark another major milestone leading up to the global launch of Windows Server 2008, Visual Studio 2008 and SQL Server 2008 on Feb. 27, 2008, in Los Angeles.

Product Information and Availability

Visual Studio 2008 and the .NET Framework 3.5 will be available by the end of November 2007. The .NET Framework 3.5 will also be available to end users via a free, optional download from Microsoft Update. A CTP of Microsoft Sync Framework is available today at http://msdn.microsoft.com/sync. Popfly Explorer is a hosted development environment available today at http://www.popfly.com. More information about all of these releases is available at http://www.msdn.microsoft.com/vstudio.

VS2008 Beta2 VPCs re-released

kenlin — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 06:58:00 GMT

As you might already know, the VS2008 VPC will be expired on Nov 1st, the VSTS team is going to release a new VPC with updated expiration date. Detail in below,

As the final act in our saga of expiring VPCs, I'm happy to announce that we've reissued VPCs for VS2008 Beta2 with an updated expiration date. You can find the updated links on the VS2008 download page:

Visual Studio Team System 2008 Beta 2 Team Suite VPC

Visual Studio Team System 2008 Beta 2 Team Suite & Team Foundation Server VPC
Thanks to everyone that has helped us get the word out about this situation and please accept our apologies for any inconvenience this might have caused you. Needless to say, we're taking steps now to ensure that we don't make this particular mistake again.

Source from Jeff Beehler's Blog -- VS2008 Beta2 VPCs re-released

FrontPage Server Extensions for IIS7

kenlin — Tue, 11 Sep 2007 08:07:00 GMT

If you are a .NET Developer, and you might found out that Vista( or Windows Server 2008) is not including the Frontpage Server Extensions for IIS7, this component which is important to ASP or ASp.NET web site.

A good news from IIS.NET, they are going to make a seperate installion package for you to install the FrontPage Server Extensions for IIS7. Althought it is still in Beta stage, you may try to install and test on it.

[OverView]

Microsoft and Ready to Run Software have released a beta version of the FrontPage 2002 Server Extensions (FPSE 2002) for Windows Server Code Name "Longhorn" and Windows Vista.

[Features]

This version of FPSE 2002 introduces no new functionality, and is essentially the same version that was created for Windows Server 2003 that has been updated to work on Windows Server Code Name "Longhorn" and Windows Vista.

[Benefits]

FPSE 2002 enables web hosters and developers to author their web content on servers or workstations that are running IIS 7.0 on Windows Server Code Name "Longhorn" and Windows Vista.

[Requirements]

The following role services and features are required to install FPSE 2002 on Windows Code Name "Longhorn"; if they are not already installed on your computer, they will be installed for you automatically when you install FPSE 2002:

1. Web Server (IIS) Role Services:

a. Web Server

1) Common HTTP Features (Static Content, Default Document, Directory Browsing, HTTP Errors)
2) Application Development (ISAPI Extensions, ISAPI Filters)
3) Security (Windows Authentication, Request Filtering)
4) Health and Diagnostics (HTTP Logging, Request Monitor)
5) Performance (Static Content Compression)

b. Management Tools (Role Services)

1) IIS 6 Management Compatibility (IIS 6 Metabase Compatibility)
2) IIS Management Console

2. Features:

a. Windows Process Activation Service

1) Process Model .

[Source from IIS.NET] More Detail Here
(Specially thanks for news reporter, Tony Cheung from Hong Kong)

The Power Together Campaign - FREE Vista and Office2007

kenlin — Wed, 29 Nov 2006 10:47:00 GMT

Read from MCT Private newsgroup, knowing that there is a chance for you to get a free copy of Microsoft Vista Business and Microsoft Office Professsional 2007 with FULL license. YES, Free and FULL license. So if you miss out the chance to be beta tester of Microsoft Connect and submitted bug(s) to get your free copy, here is another chance for you. All you have to do is complete three webcast from Vista and Office from the website within 30 days of registration, then you will get one or both if you complete them both.

Don't be too happy yet, there are some conditions,
1) You are legal residents of US and 18 years ago or older.
2) You are not participate in the Microsoft Partner Program or the MSDN.

These offers expire on 28th Feb, 2007, or while supplies last, so don't wait and visit there for your OWN, FREE and FULL copy of Microsoft Vista Business and Microsoft Office Professional 2007.

Good Luck!

http://www.powertogether.com/

Zune devices and service will hit the shelves tomorrow!

kenlin — Tue, 14 Nov 2006 13:50:00 GMT

Just got a private email about Zune Announcement, its devices and service will hit the shelves tomorrow!!! Here is the letter.

We’re excited to share with you that Zune devices and service will hit the shelves tomorrow!

When the team began on this voyage a few months ago their goal was fairly simple: to create a platform that would enable new experiences and narrow the gap between artists and their audiences. Digital entertainment stands at a transition point today. By adding human power to the equation – both the power of the individual and the power communities we are excited to see where we this journey takes us.

To make sure they could compete, not only did they design Zune to be the best device and software on the market today, but they also bet on the basic elements to allow the experience to grow with you. For example, by providing a rich screen and wi-fi in every device they added a layer of future proofing for new innovative scenarios. And of course, they designed the entire system with the idea of ever expanding on the core principle of Connected Entertainment through software and services.

And speaking of performing, let’s talk about the music that is launching the device at venues all over the U.S. Today we have free flash concerts popping up in six cities across the country. Check out the post-show comments, photographs and video from the concerts available at www.zune.net beginning this evening.

We’re sure you’ve seen a lot of press coverage since we first announced our Zune plans. Like anything of this nature a lot of it has been great and of course some of it has been critical. That’s OK. One thing for sure is that a LOT of people are talking about it. Here are some quotes we thought showed an appreciation of how our social story is taking shape.

“Most analysts say this sharing feature - which Apple has yet to offer on the iPod - may form the kernel of an advantage that Microsoft will exploit to build a community of digital media consumers. Microsoft could also link Zune's online customers with those using its Xbox 360, who typically sign up and use Xbox Live, an online, real- time gaming service.” - Kevin O’Brien, International Herald Tribune

And from today’s New York Times.

“There is going to be a lot of noise this holiday around the latest attempt to take a bite out of Apple's market share -- Microsoft's Zune. The combination device and service is backed with a marketing campaign valued in the hundreds of millions, as Microsoft aims to set the Zune apart as a community-based music-sharing experience. … The debate rages over how big a draw this functionality (referencing the send feature) will be, but already Microsoft has succeeded in capturing a great deal of awareness over the product, something Apple is accustomed to having all to itself.” – Reuters shopping guide appearing in The New York Times today.

So now the answer to the question that we know is top of your mind – how and when can we buy a Zune player? Be sure to tell your friends and family that the Zune players are hitting the shelves in over 30,000 retail outlets tomorrow (the largest retail rollout of any Microsoft product ever).

Enjoy!

Sheri Sullivan

WinClient Communications team

Office 2007 is ready in MSDN Download

kenlin — Tue, 14 Nov 2006 03:53:00 GMT

Office 2007 Professional is ready to be able to download from MSDN now! Go and get it

Right now only Office 2007 Professional and individual applications are on Connect.
We’ll see if they add other suites (Professional Plus and Ultimate).

Windows Vista Pre-order price is……

kenlin — Wed, 20 Sep 2006 03:48:00 GMT

Pre-Order Price List from Amazon (taken on 31/8/2006 and all prices are in USD):

Full versions
- Windows Vista Home Basic: $199
- Windows Vista Home Premium: $239
- Windows Vista Business: $299
- Windows Vista Ultimate: $399

Upgrade versions
- Windows Vista Home Basic Upgrade: $99.95
- Windows Vista Home Premium Upgrade: $159
- Windows Vista Business Upgrade: $199
- Windows Vista Ultimate Upgrade: $359

P.S. Windows Vista Enterprise could be only available to Microsoft Volumn License Customers, this version is not available for retail purchase.

Microsoft is also planning to release "Additional License" packs, which will be including only the Product Key, thus enabling customers to use the OS on a second computer.

Installing Windows Vista RC1 in VMWare Workstation

kenlin — Thu, 14 Sep 2006 05:50:00 GMT

If you are trying to install Windows Vista RC1 in VMWare Workstation, you may see setup appear to hang on the text-mode screen that says "Windows is loading files...".

Actually what has happened is that Vista Setup is already in graphics mode trying to do things, but something about the way it switches the display adapter into graphics mode is not working right on VMWare.

Since Microsoft makes a competitive product, Virtual PC, this is funny that they come out with a major new test release(Windows Vista RC1) that just not work on VMWare Workstation. Or Product team did not test this product with VMWare Workstation? But in my memory, I can recall that Microsoft also using VMWare Workstation before Microsoft has bought VirtualPC.

After researching, I found that there is a workaround, for now, while VMWare works on the problem. Before you install Windows Vista RC1 to VMWare Workstation, you may edit the virtual machine's .vmx to include the following,

svga.maxWidth = "640"
svga.maxHeight = "480"

You can get Vista installed in VGA 16 color 640x480 mode (it will look awful) and then when you get everything running, install VMWare tools and take out those two lines and you'll be good to go.

New Display Driver for Windows Vista RC1

kenlin — Thu, 07 Sep 2006 05:53:00 GMT

Windows Vista RC1 has been released to Beta Testers for almost a week, and it is also becoming public download since today(as Patrick S blogged, click here for detail). ATI and Nvidia has also released their most update display driver for Windows Vista RC1. You may download them and install into your Windows Vista RC1.

ATI Product series supported:

Radeon®
9500, 9550, 9600, 9650, 9700, 9800, X300, X600, X700, X800, X850, X1300, X1600, X1800, X1900 series

Mobility™ Radeon®
9550, 9600, 9700, 9800, X300, X600, X700, X800, X1300, X1400, X1600, X1800 series

CrossFire™ Xpress 3200 series

Radeon® Xpress 200, 200M series

Download here

Nvidia Product series supported:

Geforce 6200 or above

NVIDIA Quadro FX330 or above

Geforce FX5100 or above

GeForce/Quadro driver Windows Vista x86 Download here
NVIDIA nForce driver Windows Vista x86 Download here
Release Note: 96.33_ForceWare_WinVista_Release_Notes.pdf

I want more Windows Sidebar Gadgets!!!

kenlin — Thu, 22 Jun 2006 05:42:00 GMT

There are few Windows Sidebar Gadget comes with Windows Vista. However, have you try to find more gadgets? You may reach http://www.microsoftgadgets.com/ , and browse to the Gallery tab and find the gadgets which fits your want. However, they are live.com gadgets if you look carefully.

I found a new site, there are really many gadgets for Windows Sidebar. You may be try to browse there and download any one of them. There are 10 gadgets now, but it may be more when day is passing. If you are sidebar gadget developer, you may also submit your gadget and Microsoft may publish it on that webpage too.

URL: http://gallery.microsoft.com/


Lights Out!	"Today Is" Calendar	Sudoku Assistant	Seattle Traffic (Beta)	Jamometer!

Echo (Beta)	Poker (Beta)	Memory	Sudoku (Beta)	Scribble (Beta)

Microsoft Server Championship 2006

kenlin — Fri, 31 Mar 2006 05:12:00 GMT

Last Sat, I help on MVP Booth in Microsoft Server Championship 2006. I took a lot of photos.

Here thanks to Andy Kwok, Daniel Lai, Nori Chan and Richard Wu. With their help , we have done well. We talk a lot about MVP in HK. And sure we got lovely Long shirt from helping this booth. Do you like it? And hope that there are more people know this Microsoft MVP program in HK. We are waiting to see more Microsoft MVPs in HK and get close together.

I talk about ebook on .NET 2.0 and MOC course materials with Nori Chan. And I do think that MOC for .NET2.0 is not a good material to learn it. I ask for the ebook from Nori Chan and hope that I could get my upgrade path asap.

Peter Ty told me that my last blog about China, the editor is living in Japan and it might not be a good article about China this word. Well, I am not telling everyone that hte editor is correct or not, I am just giving a article that I got the result after searching. I also get some history information about this wording, sure there are lots of other explaination in the net. And which one is correct and which is not, this depends on what you think. As it is hard to find the REAL. From my point, I don't think that it is an insult wording. My point is, some Chinese word are really just get the 拼音 directly from English word. ie, Coke Cola(可口可樂), Coffee(咖啡)...etc

Finally the result of the Microsoft Server Championship 2006 is released, Daniel Lai and his team get second. But it is not his fault as someone in his team, know nothing about Server trusting(but that guy can get second from SBS/Server ... @@ ... Interesting...) . If Daniel Lai has formed a team with good player, He must won. As you know, noone can say first if Daniel Lai said he is second MOM/SMS Specialist in HK. I think he is in First 5 in the world tin ah....Anyway, He still get $5,000 from it........Oh....XBOX 360.....

In that morning, Daniel Lai has said that I can buy XBOX 360 too....Well, I think....only Tony know what I am being from my family. So....I can only say, Within this year, I have no chance to buy anything for my self, I don't even have money to buy just a 512 Mb Ram, You can see how poor I am being(althought he does not believe. And many does not too.). But this is not my fault. I also wanna do saving, but I am still have no chance to clear my balance. Every month I got new request from family, sometimes, I do wonder if my family's member think that I won a first prize from mark six? Anway I wish I can play XBOX 360 too....but....I don't even have chance to play XBOX(anyone who has XBOX and also XBOX360, please borrow me the old one).....Anyway.....I believe that tomorrow will be better(Sometimes I do feel....hopeless, being old and poor, youngers do not feel that, they have more life time do earn enough money).

After that I join the User Group's meeting, we also discuss about the web hosting, the seminars for the coming years, and the MSDN flash in HK. Hope we will be dding well in this coming year. And i hope that we could work closer and better together.

Suppose that I join my frd's birthday party after the meeting, however, i was too tired and I left at 11:30pm. After home, I go bath and sleep right away. So so so tired.

Developers will have impacts due to the WinXP SP2

kenlin — Tue, 10 Aug 2004 16:51:00 GMT

As WinXP SP2 is going to be released and it change a lot to your Windows XP by applying a lot of security. These including These technologies include:

a)Network protection
b)Memory protection
c)Improved email security
d)Safer browsing

To developers these technologies will have impacts on the applications that they create and the tools they use. There are many codes that one may need to rewrite. So, don't wait and go to check asap, found out what the area of update is and what your code has to changed for SP2
More Info...

WinXP SP2(final) Build 2180 will be released soon!

kenlin — Mon, 09 Aug 2004 23:00:00 GMT

Read from Windows & .NET Magazine and know that finally WinXP SP2 is going to be released. It is Build 2180. For MSDN Subscriber could be able to download soon. However, for this week, Only English and German version. Early next week Japanese version will be there too. And lately next week, you may found in the Windows Update(When is the Traditional Chinese version????). This SP2 will be including .NET Framework v1.1 Runtime Library and its size will be 272Mb(Good news as it is now only optional to download the .NET Framework Runtime Library).

More info....

However, From MVP Private newsgroup, I heard that there will be Build 2812 or 2813.....Well, Don't know where/how they got the news, you may found it out once you have installed it.

YOU' VE HEARD OF C# AND J# ... WHAT ABOUT X# (AND F#)?

kenlin — Fri, 06 Aug 2004 04:19:00 GMT

I received another email from Windows & .NET Magazine, and found this....X#?

=======
X#
=======
Then I search on Google, Also found a Blog, Don Box's Spoutlet(Architect, XML Messaging Microsoft). He did mention this in 2001...but....this blog has stopped since Jan2004, Don't know why....

Well, If you wanna know more about X#, go to TechTarget.com(for Web Services professionals)

X# is the name that has been given to a "data-centric" programming language that Microsoft is said to be developing in order to make it easier for a programmer to specify XML-defined data and how it should be handled by the program. Sometimes referred to as functional programming, a language like X# might allow a programmer who identified an XML document to write a language statement to address a particular data item by symbolic name and specify what to do with it.

=======
F#
=======
What about F#? Here is F# in Microsoft Research

F# is combining the safety and productivity of ML and Caml with the libraries, tools and cross-language working of .NET.

New: Planning and development are now beginning for F# 0.7. A draft description of some changes in the works can be found in the version 0.7 README file.

Windows & .NET Magazine is going to Rename

kenlin — Fri, 06 Aug 2004 04:18:00 GMT

Don't know any of you is subscribing this magazine, but it is a good magazine which has many update info about windows & .NET related sever. I just know that this Magazine is going to rename, Reason? New Name? Read the following la....

As many of you already know, with our September 2004 issue, Windows
& .NET Magazine becomes Windows IT Pro. This is not only a change
in name, but a new opportunity for Windows IT Pro to provide you with
more chances to participate and even more valuable resources to assist
you in your everyday information needs.

Over the past year we have been slowly developing a reader's Advisory
Panel which has helped us with many of the changes you will be seeing
in our magazine and content beginning September 1st. We would now
like to open participation in that on-going panel to a broader group of our
readers and would like to invite you to participate.

The Windows IT Pro Advisory Panel is already an influential group of
readers and web users who are called upon routinely to provide insight
and opinions about Windows IT Pro and advertiser products and
services, the IT industry as a whole, and many other characteristics of the
IT industry that are current and relevant. Our editors and many of our
advertisers have grown to rely on the input of this group over the short
time our panel has been in existence.

We contact panel members on a weekly basis with brief, three to five
question inquiries, invitations to participate in Advisory Bulletin Board
discussions, and requests to complete on-line surveys. Occasionally, we
may even seek your insights in person in a focus group at conferences
such as Connections or Tech Ed (if we learn you plan to be there
anyway.) Participants in many of the formats we use have told us they
are interesting and fun. In other words, we would like to maintain a
valuable and engaging relationship with you over time. And the decision
to participate is yours each time we send a request.

As a reward for your participation in the Windows IT Pro Advisory
Panel we offer monthly and quarterly drawings for some of the T-Shirts,
caps and other fine memorabilia related to our magazine. (Some of those
may be collectables now!) Many of the research projects themselves
also have incentives for participation that are more dependent on the
amount of time and effort required on your part. Again, we want to make
this process valuable to you as well.

If you would like to be a member of the Windows IT Pro Advisory Panel
please go to the URL shown on the bottom of this page and fill out the
enclosed registration form. We apologize that in some cases we may
already have much of this information in another form, but our systems
are not tied at this time.