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Today, Microsoft Live Labs is announcing the Volta technology preview, a developer toolset for building multi-tier web applications using existing and familiar tools, techniques and patterns. Volta’s declarative tier-splitting enables developers to postpone architectural decisions about distribution until the last possible responsible moment. Also, thanks to a shared programming model across multiple-tiers, Volta enables new end-to-end profiling and testing for higher levels of application performance, robustness, and reliability. Using the declarative tier-splitting, developers can refine architectural decisions based on this profiling data. This saves time and costs associated with manual refactoring. In effect, Volta extends the .NET platform to further enable the development of software+services applications, using existing and familiar tools and techniques.
You architect and build your application as a .NET client application, assigning the portions of the application that run on the server tier and client tier late in the development process. You can target either web browsers or the CLR as clients and Volta handles the complexities of tier-splitting. The compiler creates cross-browser JavaScript for the client tier, web services for the server tier, and all communication, serialization, synchronization, security, and other boilerplate code to tie the tiers together. In effect, Volta offers a best-effort experience in multiple environments without requiring tailoring of the application.
Written by kenlin@HK [MVP] on December 6th, 2007 with comments disabled.
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A version of ‘12 Days of Christmas’ that mentions Vista, though it could really apply to any OS.
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After a year, Mary Jo asks the same question. Could it be that the answer is ‘There aren’t any’? It’s not suprising that business isn’t pushing hard to adopt Vista, there currently are few good reasons to upgrade, but for some, many reasons not to.
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Long Zheng describes the disappointing, long awaited release of the new Yahoo Messenger. I may not even bother downloading this one…
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A year after being announced, a weak version of Yahoo’s Vista optimized messenger (no video or audio) is released. Why bother…
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Ed Bott does some network copy tests with the SP1 RC code, and sees up to 300% increase over the RTM release.
Written by Joe on December 6th, 2007 with comments disabled.
Read more articles on Compatibility and Humor and News and RC and Software and Yahoo and sp1.
The Microsoft Security Response Center today announced what to expect in the December 2007 Security Bulletin, due next Tuesday ‘at or around 10 a.m. Pacific Time’. Included in the Security updates are six for Windows and 1 for IE. There will also be non-security updates released, which will include 6 released through Microsoft Update (likely non-Windows related), and 1 through Windows Update (likely Windows related).
I suspect at least two (one for Windows Vista, one for IE7) will be related to the vulnerability announced earlier this week. Outside of that, it’s hard to tell how many will affect Vist, as in the past many that do relate to XP or 2003 are not issues in Vista. So, we don’t know how much to expect, but using a term that’s become popular recently, get ready to receive some ‘bits’ on Tuesday!
Written by Joe on December 6th, 2007 with comments disabled.
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Today we're making available the release candidate (RC) of Windows Vista SP1 via Microsoft Connect, and tomorrow subscribers to TechNet and MDSN will have access to those RC bits too. In addition, the RC will be available to the public next week via Microsoft's Download Center. The release candidate phase of beta software is typically the final phase before the RTM (release-to-manufacturing) of a product and indicates that the code has attained a significant level of performance and stability.
Let me call out several changes made since the Beta release of Service Pack 1 -- many of which came about as a result of direct feedback from our Beta-testing community (thank you!):
- The size of the standalone installers have decreased significantly. For example, the standalone installer packages consisting of all 36 languages (x86 and x64 chip architectures) are smaller by over 50%. The standalone installer packages consisting of just the 5 languages (again, x86 and x64) slated for initial release are more than 30% smaller in size.
- The required amount of disc space for SP1 installation has also decreased significantly. Furthermore, with the RC, if more space is required to install SP1, an error message will now display exactly how much space is needed to complete the installation.
- Previous SP1 versions left behind a directory of files that wasn't needed after installation and occupied about 1GB of space; the RC includes automatic disk clean-up to remove this directory.
- Installation reliability has been improved based on bug reports and error codes reported from Windows Update (thanks, Beta testers!). Testing shows that these improvements have significantly increased the proportion of successful installations of the RC.
- We've improved the user experience of installing SP1 via Windows Update. During the Beta release, users installed without much guidance from Windows Update. The RC now contains a series of screens with detailed information on SP1...more
Written by ShaDow on December 6th, 2007 with comments disabled.
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Microsoft has announced the release of Windows 2008 RC1 beta.
This release candidate is open to the general public for testing. You can download a 30 day evaluation from any of the links below:
Windows Server 2008 Standard RC1 (x86 and x64)Windows Server 2008 Enterprise RC1 (x86 and x64)Windows Server 2008 Datacenter RC1 (x86 and x64)Windows Web Server 2008 RC1 (x86 and x64)Windows Server 2008 for Itanium-Based Systems RC1Not all of the links above were working at the time I wrote this. They should be within the next 24 hours. If you are still having trouble...visit
this download page
Written by Steve Wiseman on December 6th, 2007 with comments disabled.
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Photograph by Flickr user Gertie_DU
I really try to avoid copying and pasting content from other sources whenever possible, but in this case I don’t think I could have said it any better. Whilst you could argue a Mozilla developer commenting on Internet Explorer is obviously biased, but I think he cares about Internet Explorer as much as any Microsoft enthusiast would and shares the same doubts. I however have used a different picture to illustrate the point. Asa Dotzler says,
Dean, over at the IEBlog, introduces the world to the name of the next IE release, “Internet Explorer 8″ and not much else.
He closes with “please don’t mistake silence for inaction.”
I don’t think people were mistaking silence for inaction, Dean, and talking down to them like that does your efforts no good service.
You all shipped IE 7 more than a year ago and presumably wrapped up major development on it 3 to 6 months before that, so I’ve got no doubt you all have been working on IE 8 for at least a year and a half. Your IE blog audience can figure that out too.
It’s not the lack of action that people are concerned about. It’s the lack of communication.
What your silence for the last 18 months of IE 8 development tells the Web developers of the world that you don’t give a shit what they’ve got to say about it.
If that’s they way Microsoft is going to continue doing business, then so be it, but don’t pretend that it’s something it isn’t. Don’t treat the people at your blog like children. They won’t appreciate that.
Written by Long Zheng on December 6th, 2007 with comments disabled.
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Better late than never is overstated, what took so long?
A preview version of exclusive Yahoo Messenger for Windows Vista is finally available today after almost 12 months of radio silence. Hard to believe this application was announced all the way back in January at CES 2007. During the same amount of time, Microsoft has delivered five versions (3 beta, 2 final) of Windows Live Messenger.
However above all, the new Yahoo Messenger is possibly the first real mainstream application to take advantage of Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF) and a number of Vista APIs for which I salute them for adopting new technology.
Comparing this preview release to the original conceptual design by Frog Design shows a number of subtle interface modifications but also a major disappointment.
Changes to the interface include the application windows are now encapsulated inside Windows Aero Glass frames. On one hand, this satisfies Microsoft’s Vista user experience guidelines which suggests all windows use the standard frame, but on the other seem rather quirky because the application has two harshly different styles of transparency.
The major disappointment is the lack of voice, video and sharing capabilities which were widely fanfared and demonstrated at CES. These features simply don’t exist in this version which leaves this client nothing more than just a fancy text instant messenger. The official blog states explains these features and more are coming in future releases which I hope isn’t on another 12-month cycle.
One of the major roadblocks for WPF applications has been performance and it looks like this application suffers the same fate. On a dual-core system with a more than plentiful graphics card, this application can’t even render the emoticon popout opening and closing without obvious pauses. Generally when anything animates, CPU usage flies right up and performance hits rock bottom.
Along with the client is also a Sidebar gadget that allows for easy access to favorite buddies, a.k.a. people you want to stalk. Unfortunately I couldn’t get this gadget to even load, where it would just display a red cross like an image failed to load in Internet Explorer. I gave up after several tries.
For more than 12 month’s work, this application is an embarrassment. It looks great with a lot of fancy graphical wizardry, but there’s not much here. Unless they fix the performance issues and add back the features which were exciting, it is simply not worth switching to from Windows Live Messenger or even Yahoo Messenger 9.
Update: I’ve heard some indication that Yahoo Messenger and presumably WPF runs better in Vista SP1.
Written by Long Zheng on December 6th, 2007 with comments disabled.
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This time-limited release of Windows Server® 2008 Release Candidate will expire on June 30, 2008. After this time, you will need to uninstall the software or upgrade to a later release or a fully-licensed version of Windows Server® 2008.
This product requires a valid product key for activation within 30 days of installation..
If you have received a product key via email confirmation, you may use the key with the software you download from this site or with a DVD containing Windows Server® 2008 Release Candidate.
If you have not received a product key, you can obtain one by visiting one of the following sites:
* Developers
* IT Professionals
Download : Windows Server 2008 Standard RC1 (x86 and x64)
Download : Windows Server 2008 Enterprise RC1 (x86 and x64)
Download : Windows Server 2008 Datacenter RC1 (x86 and x64)
Download : Windows Web Server 2008 RC1 (x86 and x64)
Download : Windows Server 2008 for Itanium-Based Systems RC1
Link : Get Key
Written by ShaDow on December 6th, 2007 with comments disabled.
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Introducing Windows Live OneCare, the all-in-one, always-on PC care service from Microsoft. It works quietly in the background on your computer, so you don't have to worry about nasty interruptions from viruses, spyware, hackers, and other unwanted intruders. It also goes beyond security, regularly backing up all your important files and cleaning up and tuning up your computer to help keep it running at top speed. Because you have better things to do with your PC. Windows Live OneCare helps protect your computer, and its automated optimization features keep your PC running at its speediest.
Written by ShaDow on December 6th, 2007 with comments disabled.
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Microsoft Office 2007 SP1 will be available for download Dec 11. The improvements in 2007 Office System SP1 are in response to direct feedback from power users at large organizations or indirect feedback from home and Office users through the Dr. Watson bug-reporting system.
It will eliminate many deployment barriers. it will provide support for Windows Server 2008, and will provide critical fixes.
2007 Office System SP1 will not be released to AU immediately. Instead, the Microsoft Office System team will announce the ate to use automatic updating so IT departments will have time to learn yourself about SP1 and determine the best method to deploy it.
For more information, see the Microsoft Office download site.
Written by Ankur Mittal on December 6th, 2007 with comments disabled.
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