MSOZACADEMICThere has been a lot of press recently regarding Microsoft taking a lot of customers feedback (in fact over 500,000 “send feedback” submissions) but not communicating back to the community updates on changes.
The Windows 7 blog has been updated with just this, communication back to the community on changes made directly based on users’ feedback.
Luke
Aussie MSP Lead
The University of Western Australia
When the Windows 7 beta was released last week, MSDN subscribers got to jump the queue, and were given access to Windows 7 two days before the public… and without all the site up-down stuff.
One of the benefits to being a Microsoft Student Partner is you not only get access to a great range of Microsoft resources, but you also get a free subscription to MSDN.
So if you are going to be a University student in 2009 and have a passion for technology, apply to become a Microsoft Student Partner today for the 2009 year.
Luke
UWA MSP
Being an MSP demands dedication. We encourage every MSP to undertake 4 activities and numerous voluntary activities throughout the year which are designed to suit everyone’s level of ability and creativity. Activities range from giving technical lectures on campus, writing articles for the student newsletter to entering the Imagine Cup or running your own computer society.
BUT… we will recognize and reward each activity you undertake. The more you do, the more chances you’ll have of wining one of our fantastic end-of-year prizes. MSPs get together, share experiences, attend Microsoft training and events and even get together for the odd meal or friendly drink.
In order to be eligible, you must be:
Send your completed application form via email to: i-karoes@microsoft.com
For more information about Microsoft Student Partners go to http://www.student-partners.com
Ever wondered what Microsoft is up to? What the next version will look like, or what the next big thing is? Luckily Microsoft, like most other companies, releases public (and private) betas to help iron out bugs in their software and to give user and developers a taste of what is to come.
I’ve collated three such Microsoft Beta sites for your browsing pleasure….
Formerly knows as Microsoft Beta, Connect is the place to go for any new piece of software or technology that Microsoft is planning. The site revolves around allowing users to download beta software, test it and return any feedback or bugs that they have found.
Connect also allows you to sign up to waiting lists for the closed betas (such as Live Mesh) and coordinates invite-only betas. Additionally, the more you participate on Connect, the more likely that you’ll be invited to the next private beta (Windows 7, anyone?). Certain betas also offer incentives for bugs, such as the Microsoft Assessment and Planning beta, who recently handed out copies of Vista and Office to their top 10 bug reporters, as well as a 80Gb Zune to the top bug reporter.
Another brilliant point of the Connect site is that it allows you to preview next generation paid-for software for free. For instance, Expression Studio was and Live OneCare is currently available in their next versions as beta software, allowing you to “try before you buy”.
Anyone using Office 2007 must visit the Office Labs – if only to grab Search Commands (more on Search Commands later). Office Labs is the site where the Microsoft Office group post beta versions of the latest add-ons and tools for Office, making it a must for any one who uses Office on a regular basis.
My favourite tool from Office Labs is Search Commands – this adds an extra tab to the Office Ribbon Bar that allows you to search for a button or command. For instance searching for “Header” brings back “Insert Header”, “Go To Header” and “Header\Footer Options” amongst other useful buttons. This makes the transition between Office 2003 and 2007 a breeze and follows Vista’s new paradigm of searching for everything, rather than having to memorise each particular tool.
Contrary to what its name suggests, Live Labs is more about new technologies to make Rich Internet Applications then the next version of the Windows Live Software Suite. For any Web Developer or Designer, the possibilities and technologies that are presented by Live Labs makes your mouth water.
Two technologies that I’m watching *extremely* eagerly on the Live Labs site are Volta and Deepfish. Volta allows web applications to be developed in .NET as a standard Windows Applications, then automatically transformed into ASP.NET, HTML and JavaScript; while ensuring that best practices for compatibility, HTML validation, security and efficiency are met; in effect this allows any Windows Developer to become an awesome Web Developer, and that those (kinda) old .NET application that you want to share can be converted to an easy to share Web Application. Deepfish is a technology that deals with something I am passionate about: Windows Mobile. The browsing experience on Windows Mobile, especially an older device like mine, is awful. The browsers to choose from are either Pocket IE (which is non-standard complaint, and only has half CSS and JavaScript implementation), Opera Mobile (which is extremely slow and eats memory on my device – not to mention costs money) or NetFront Browser (which crashes when there is too much JavaScript (like Google Maps…)). Deepfish overcomes these issues by rendering the page on a server, then displaying the rendered content on the Windows Mobile phone, this allows a standards compliance, quick rendering and a reduction is bandwidth used. Unfortunately, Deepfish is in closed beta and only supports static (ie no JavaScript) pages – but we can always hope!
http://research.microsoft.com/
Although not a true beta site, for blue-sky research and technology that is just awesome, look no further than Microsoft Research.
Microsoft Research does offer a download section, with some cool technologies, as well as a feed of articles and information from the labs. Microsoft Research is a must for any tertiary level researcher, as it is the section of Microsoft that often partners with Universities and also offers a number of research orientated tools, such as Singularity.
- Daniel
Curtin MSP
Many of you may have heard the recent announcements regarding Internet Explorer 8 and it’s change to now render in Standards Mode by default.
Well here is your chance to get a preview at that, and start seeing how this is going to impact your development in the futre. When Microsoft released Internet Explorer 7, it broke a lot of sites, simply because the developers were too lazy to test beta versions with their products. Make sure you test it out before it is released.
Apart from rendering in standards mode by default, IE8 includes some new features that are:
Activities
WebSlices
Favorites Bar
Automatic Crash Recovery
Improved Phishing Filter
You can download the beta at http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/winfamily/ie/ie8/readiness/Install.htm
Luke
MSP (UWA)
