Random "Microsoft" Goodness

More than 10 posts in a month. Wow, I either found a bunch of news or I found a little more time to post content. Hmm.. I am sure its not the latter. Oh well here is some random news that just so happens to be centered around Microsoft and it's many products. Minus the Zune 2, HALO 3 and Windows Home Server stuff. Ooo.. I may have another post in me this week yet!

OOXML: A month or so ago the Open XML standard was up for adoption in Europe. To say that there was some controversy around the voters and the voting process would be a very large understatement. It seems that the same endgame happens anytime money is involved with standards, format adoption and [here comes the nasty comments about me] Open Source initiatives. Check out the story below.

http://www.consortiuminfo.org/standardsblog/article.php?story=20071016092352827

Office 2007 Online Converts: No its not what you think. Mary Jo Foley's Microsoft Watch is a good blog that is worth a read on some of the inside moves with the company. In a recent post she gives some NPD numbers on retail sales of Office 2007 and how people buying it through Microsoft via the method of converting their trials is somewhat affecting retail sales. Looks like Office 2007 is a hit and everyone wants a piece of the pie. Even Mac owners are buying Office in droves and they don't even get the Ribbon until next year. See the article link below.

http://www.microsoft-watch.com/content/business_applications/office_trial_causes_channel_conflict.html

Vista Out Of Memory .. Again: Remember those posts from May, June and maybe even July about Vista and it's hotfixes on moving files? As usual in life you fix one thing and one other thing breaks. ZDNet is saying that memory gets eaten fast when moving files. C'mon SP1..

http://blogs.zdnet.com/hardware/?p=829

SP1 Spoofing: Speaking of SP1 for Vista.. Did you know that if you are really crazy and really desperate you could actually fool Windows Update into giving it to you.. right this second? Ars Technica links to another site that tells you in detail on how to do just that, however, just reading the Ars description gives me a headache. So those who live in their registries go forth and conquer.

http://arstechnica.com/journals/microsoft.ars/2007/10/16/windows-update-spoof-allows-early-download-of-vista-sp1

Whew! All this posting. It has been soo long since I went mad with info. Shout out to one individual at a particular company who always reminds me when we talk that I don't post enough on my blog. Now the conversations will switch to what I *AM* posting right? I tell ya there is no pleasing the internet.

A few months ago I decided that the old format was stale. A new look for a new operating system sounded good to me. Well I haven’t really changed the format much but you do see that I have changed the name. I guess the rest will come later. For now the old Tech Update is no more. Long live the RAT!

Steve’s Word Or Phrase Of The Moment

Aggregator

Description: In internet terms this refers to a web site that acts as a portal to others on various subjects that may interest you in a specific way. This mainly comes into play with Social Networking sites where Cloud Computing selects links that may appeal on mass to the group. An example of this would be dig.com and one that is more moderated/edited for it’s community would be slashdot.com.

Top Tech Tid Bits: Dean has done a much better job at summing up the last two weeks in Assistive Technology releases than I could do here. Check out his update at the link below.

http://www.topdotenterprises.com/tid104.htm

January Issue Of Access World : Some great articles on the Amigo and the Mobile Speak vs. Talks debate:

http://www.afb.org/aw/main.asp

~~ Vista and Office Corner

Vista Performance Tests: Let’s get to the good stuff on Vista right out of the box. Here’s a link to some horse power tests of the new OS on various systems.

http://techgage.com/article/windows_vista_system_performance_reports

Family Discounts Not Working? Every launch has it’s problems. But offering someone something then not coming through on day of release when people want to spend their money? This just isn’t cool.

http://www.neowin.net/index.php?act=view&id=37734

Speech Recognition In Vista Too Good? It looks like if the Moon is aligned with Mars and you leave your microphone on and a whole bunch of other stuff.. someone could take over your system through Vista’s Speech Recognition.

http://arstechnica.com/journals/microsoft.ars/2007/2/1/6862

Security Now: There has been a lot said about why Vista’s Digital Rights Management is so prevalent in the new operating system. One of the best analysis and commentary on this issue I have heard yet is in this issue of the Security Now podcast. Download the show at the link below.

http://www.twit.tv/sn77

Vista Tips/Tricks from PC Magazine: About half of these are good. The other half.. eh.

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1895,2088459,00.asp

New York Heart Vista: Think that people are going to slowly move to Vista? Well 3.5 million just made the switch in New York.

http://arstechnica.com/journals/microsoft.ars/2007/1/17/6667

Inside The Vista Kernel: Straight up geek talk about the programming challenges in Vista.

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/technetmag/issues/2007/02/VistaKernel/default.aspx?pf=true

Vista Service Pack 1: Here’s a bit more about the upcoming Service Pack 1 currently scheduled for August 07.

http://apcmag.com/5098/microsoft_kick_starts_vista_sp1

Open Document Format Converter For Office 2007: As promised the Add On is on the web and can be added to Office Suites from Microsoft.

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20070202-8764.html

Office 2007 Keyboard Commands Explained? This is unfortunately a little screen shot driven but still a good read.

http://lifehacker.com/software/microsoft-office/screenshot-tour-the-keyboard-shortcut-goodness-of-microsoft-office-2007-229556.php

~~ Futureproof

This section will feature new tech that is either on it’s way or it just sounds too good to be true. Either way it caught my ear and I thought it was worth a look.

Reqall: This new device may just be in the concept stages but CNET makes it sound very interesting for those who wish to use their voices instead of a keyboard.

http://crave.cnet.com/8300-1_105-1-0.html?keyword=ReQall

The Microsoft Ultimate Keyboard: This sounded really interesting until

http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/peripherals/microsoft-ultimate-wireless-7000-keyboard-handson-230062.php

Flash Drives That Will Rule The World: Eventually we will all be flash.

http://blogs.zdnet.com/Bott/?p=186

Microsoft Home Server: It’s sad I know but I really will end up buying one of these. Check out the description below to see that the unit doesn’t even come with a monitor, keyboard or mouse. It’s a real server that connects to your home network through this technology that doesn’t need wires. It’s all the rage with the kids these days.

http://winsupersite.com/reviews/whs_preview.asp

~~ Diversions

This section is devoted to those funny things that others may or may not bludgeon you with in emails at work. No not chain emails promising that Bill Gates will send you money. But we do have a Bill Gates link if that helps any. Again these are just for fun. Everyone needs fun I tell you.

Bill Gates runs like a girl: G4’s old humor driven Macworld Keynote where a Steve Jobs impersonator cracks on Bill Gates.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=v1wAl56n82k

Apple iPHONE’s hidden features: As seen on Conan O’Brian.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gUiruUEah-I