Microsoft

Microsoft Releases Silverlight Plugin

September 5, 2007

Silverlight, Microsoft’s Flash competitor, is out of beta as of today! According to a PCWorld article:

The 1.0 version of Silverlight, which is being released to the Web, is geared to providing video. Accessible at the Silverlight Web page, it has been available in a beta release. A more potent successor, Silverlight 1.1, will provide for more interactive content, including support for .Net development and transactional capabilities. It remains only available in an early alpha release format.

While Silverlight currently works with Windows and Macintosh, Microsoft is endorsing Novell’s plan to make Silverlight run on Linux clients via the Moonlight project.

[...]

Microsoft cites several differentiators between Silverlight and Flash. Silverlight, Deshpande said, offers high-definition video at a lower cost and functions with Microsoft’s developer tools. The company also is offering a SaaS-based component, Silverlight Streaming by Windows Live.

Microsoft Starting to Abandon the “Live” Brand?

March 7, 2007

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Microsoft may have finally seen the light, and is killing the Live name in many products, and also jettisoning the honchos who oversee the brand.

Windows Live WiFi, for example, has been renamed MSN WiFi, and Windows Live Shopping, which was once called MSN Shopping, is back to being called MSN Shopping again. Then there’s the MSN Soapbox product, which used to be called Windows Live Video until it was renamed in September.

[Read more at source]

I agree, Windows and Office Live really are a mess. What Microsoft needs is some organization.

Legal Windows Vista Ultimate for Free?!

March 6, 2007

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This sounds too good to be true. Correct me if I’m wrong, but I think this is indeed legitimate.

Microsoft is running a promotion whereby upon purchase of an OEM version of Windows Vista Ultimate you get the following hardware items for free:

Kingston 2GB Flash Drive
Artec HDTV Tuner
D-Link WiFi Pocket Router
Epson PictureMate Pal

NewEgg.com also has a promotion page for this deal.

The value of the items wasn’t advertised, but I found the model numbers for 3 of the 4 products and did some searching. Here’s what I found:

Kingston 2GB Flash Drive – $76.99
Artec HDTV Tuner – $59.99
D-Link WiFi Pocket Router – $46.99
Epson PictureMate Pal – Couldn’t find the model number; an Epson PictureMate Pal printer on NewEgg (don’t know if it’s the same one) cost $133.99, so I think that’s a safe guess

The total price for these four items adds up to $317.96. And what how much is Vista Ultimate OEM from NewEgg? Yep, only $199.99.

Assuming you were able to resell these hardware items at the above prices, you would get Vista Ultimate for free and get $117.97 extra. Or you could keep one or two of the items and sell the rest to recoup the cost of Vista. Or you could just keep all of them. All the same, totally cool.

Coming Up Next: Office “14″

February 15, 2007

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According an FAQ on the SuperSite for Windows:

Office 14 is the next version of Office 2007 (or what Microsoft calls the 2007 Microsoft Office System). [...] 14 is the version number. Office 2007 was called Office 12 internally at Microsoft. The company skipped 13 for superstitious reasons.

Superstitious silliness if you ask me. I did wonder though how they were going to handle this, but I didn’t think they’d actually skip the version number!

Windows Vienna Coming in 2009?

February 11, 2007

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According to a PCWorld article:

With Vista just out the door, Microsoft Corp. is now drawing up plans to deliver its follow-up client operating system by the end of 2009, according to the executive in charge of building the product’s core components.

It looks like they also have a name for it besides “Vienna”:

Last year, Microsoft said that the code name for this Vista follow-up is Vienna, but Fathi said he could not disclose the current name. “We’ve been told not to use it publicly,” he said.

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