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The first review is in. I don’t want to spoil the ending , or anything, but to quote Sally Field: “He liked it! He really liked it!”
Reviewing Ed Bott’s Windows 8 Head Start | 7 Tutorials
After being walked through the basics by the earlier chapters, I think many non-expert, non-developers would feel confident trying out some of these more advanced topics. Having instructions from someone who really knows what he’s doing, and who can write everything clearly and without confusing jargon, is always important to understanding.
And a reminder that my special offer on this book is still valid.
Windows 8 Head Start is based on the Windows 8 Developer Preview, and in its 100 pages you’ll get a thorough overview of the new user interface and learn what you need to know to prepare. When the Consumer Preview arrives (in “late February”), I’ll immediately begin updating the book and making it substantially longer.
And here’s the best part:
If you purchase the current edition you will get the next edition for free.
Oh, and I have a coupon code you can use to get 30% off your order total when you check out. That means you’ll pay $6.96 instead of the list price of $9.95.
The book is available in a single download package that contains full-color editions suitable for reading on any device. Use the PDF file on your PC or Mac, copy the MOBI file to your Amazon Kindle, or use the EPUB file on a Nook or other Android device.
Interested? Here are the details:
You can purchase the book at the Amazon or B&N store, but the checkout discount is only available from FairTrade DX directly. (Copies purchased from any source are eligible for the free update to the next edition.)
Why am I doing this? Because I want your feedback. Tell me what you want me to cover in the next edition and you’ll see that feedback reflected in my update.
This essay by Wondermark cartoonist David Malki is thoroughly delightful, entertaining, and educational.
I’ve excerpted one of the more boring parts here, but the entire thing is filled with eye-opening historical footnotes and observations.
Patent law was created to preserve the rights of an inventor to the profits derived from his invention, without fear of the invention being duplicated by a rival; trademark law, the same for brand names (essentially to prevent counterfeit goods from being sold under a reputable name); and copyright law, the same for works of creative expression such as books, plays, and music. The three forms of intellectual property are nowadays often bundled together as far as legal rights are concerned, but it wasn’t always so.
Not convinced? As Malki points out, in 1877 someone in Congress tried to stealthily push through a law that would have abolished patents.
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I’ve heard from a few friends who were concerned after they read this story by The VAR Guy:
Ziff Davis Enterprise, Channel Insider, eWeek Sold: Now What?
The short version is this: a spinoff from the 20th Century Ziff-Davis publishing empire was sold, and the acquiring company plans to lay off 80-90% of the staff. The company being sold is Ziff Davis Enterprise, which publishes eWeek, Baseline Magazine, CIO Insight Magazine and Channel Insider.
Here’s the part to pay close attention to:
Today’s news has nothing to do with Ziff Davis (a completely separate company) and ZDNet (the popular blog destination, also a separate business).
I write for ZDNet, which is a member of the CNET family of companies, which in turn is owned by CBS.
The ZD in ZDNet derives from its heritage with the old publishing company, but the two companies’ paths diverged a long, long time ago.
The VAR Guy post has a good recap of how the various “companies whose names begin with Z” have evolved through the years. You can also read my brief history, from 2006:
Anyway, best of luck and good wishes to my fellow writers/reporters who are getting pink slips.
I literally laughed out loud this morning when I saw these sponsored ads on a search results page at Bing:
(No, I didn’t bother clicking.)
Meanwhile, back in the real world…
The beta of Windows 8 (officially called the Consumer Preview) will be publicly released in “late February.”
Here are some links that might help you get caught up.
I’m also soliciting feedback on whether and how you plan to test the Windows 8 beta … sorry, Consumer Preview. Please take a second to vote in this ZDNet poll. If you have any additional suggestions or comments, feel free to leave them in the comments here.
Good news—the Windows Phone Marketplace for apps and games is opening for business today in five new spots—Argentina, Indonesia, Malaysia, Peru and the Philippines.
If you live in one of these countries, tapping on the Marketplace tile will soon (it might a few hours for all the lights to come on) put loads of great apps and games at your fingertips. One important caveat: Your phone will need to have Windows Phone 7.5 installed to access the new stores. (Look here for update instructions.)
If you’re a developer and want to make sure your app lands in one of these new stores, make sure to check out Todd Brix’s post today on the Developer Blog.
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The Kinect for Windows SDK enables developers to create applications that support gesture and voice recognition, using Kinect sensor technology on computers running Windows 7, Windows 8 developer preview (desktop apps only), and Windows Embedded-based devices.
The Kinect for Windows SDK includes the following:
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With the Lync Server 2010 Bandwidth Calculator, you can enter information about your users and the Lync Server features that you want to deploy, and the calculator will determine bandwidth requirements for the WAN that connects sites in your deployment.
| Version: | Feb2012 | Date Published: | 2/2/2012 |
| Language: | English |
| File Name | Size | |
|---|---|---|
| Lync_2010_Bandwidth_Calculator.zip | 3.8 MB | Download |
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I don’t write about Linux much, but this story by fellow ZDNet blogger Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols caught my eye today:
Red Hat extends Red Hat Enterprise Linux lifecycle to ten years
I’m a big believer in “It’s not broke, then don’t fix it.” So is leading Linux company, Red Hat. The company has just announced that it is extending the production lifecycle of Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) 5 and 6 from seven to 10 years in response to enterprise customer demand and Red Hat’s hardware original equipment manufacturer (OEM) partners.
A lot of consumers and tech bloggers fail to understand that enterprises prefer stability over shiny new toys. It’s hard to imagine using a 10-year-old mobile phone or MP3 player, but boring corporate apps need stability on the dektop and server sides.
Interestingly, this puts the leading maker of Linux servers on the same support lifecycle as … Microsoft. Consumer versions of Windows are supported for five years, business versions (including servers) get extended support for a total of 10 years.
I’ve got an old but still useful post that explains it all:
How long will Microsoft support XP, Vista, and Windows 7?
The point of having a predictable release cycle—a new Windows version every three years—is to encourage upgrades. That’s especially true for consumers, who can skip one version but not two. Even so, full support will be available until the beginning of 2015. For businesses, anyone considering a Windows 7 migration can take comfort in knowing it will be supported for nearly another decade more—until January 14, 2020.
If you’re curious about how this translates into actual dates, the post also includes a table that breaks support for desktop Windows versions down by version.
The Cloud Services Management Pack is now available for download. It contains:
1) Model extensions for the SCSM CMDB to store additional types of data which are useful for managing a private cloud.
2) Views so that the cloud-related data can be easily viewed in the Configuration Items workspace in the SCSM console.
3) Service request templates for common scenarios related to private cloud management such as provisioning/deprovisioning VMs, allocating capacity pools, creating new projects, and so on.
4) Request offerings based on the service request templates that can be published to the Service Catalog on the self-service portal.
5) Automated workflows in SCSM to automatically fulfill some of the requests.
6) Runbooks for Orchestrator to automatically fulfill other types of requests which need to be executed on other System Center components such as Virtual Machine Manager
Go here to download:
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“RIM is pleased to launch BlackBerry Business Cloud Services for Microsoft Office 365. This new cloud-based option allows customers to cost-effectively support mobility across their organizations and easily manage and secure their BlackBerry deployments,” said Alan Panezic, Vice President, Enterprise Product Management and Marketing at Research In Motion. “We continue to build upon the end-to-end BlackBerry solution for our business and government customers with both on-premise and cloud-based solutions, a range of technical support options to suit any size organization, and a growing ecosystem of apps and services for users.”
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Cedrick Delmas, marketing director of Microsoft France, was asked by Lepoint.fr in a new interview (translated by Eurogamer's Oli Welsh): "Rumours indicate the presentation of a new Microsoft machine at E3 in June..."
His response:
"We're in an industry that talks a lot, that likes telling stories. I am not convinced that things will happen this year. The Xbox 360's cycle is not over at all. The proof is that we haven't price cut this year.
"Afterward, what will happen at E3, it's still too early to say. What's certain is that there will be nothing new in 2012. If we wanted to counter Nintendo, we would have to be in a position to release something immediately, and that is not at all the case.
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This morning, we reached an important development milestone: the beginning of the "Office 15" Technical Preview Program. Office 15 is the codename for the next generation of the Microsoft Office products and services, and the Technical Preview is the first time we share our work with a select group of customers under non-disclosure agreements. These customers play a key role in our development process by testing early builds and providing feedback, which we incorporate into the final release.
At this early point in our development cycle, I'm not able to share too much about Office 15, but I can tell you Office 15 is the most ambitious undertaking yet for the Office Division. With Office 15, for the first time ever, we will simultaneously update our cloud services, servers, and mobile and PC clients for Office, Office 365, Exchange, SharePoint, Lync, Project, and Visio. Quite simply, Office 15 will help people work, collaborate, and communicate smarter and faster than ever before.
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| File Name | Size | |
|---|---|---|
| PSTCapture.msi | 10.4 MB | Download |
| PSTCaptureAgent.msi | 556 KB | Download |
| PSTCaptureAgent_x86.msi | 548 KB | Download |
PST Capture is used to discover and import Outlook Personal Folder (.pst) File Format files into Exchange Server and Exchange Online. PST Capture helps an organization that wishes to gain more control over their email data repositories by placing them into Exchange. By optionally installing PST Capture Agents on target machines, administrators can determine where .pst files are located and who their file owner is via the PST Capture Console. Administrators can import .pst files via Import Lists to Exchange Server or Exchange Online. Data can be directly imported into the primary mailbox or associated archive mailbox.
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This update contains hotfixes for issues that were fixed after the release of SQL Server 2008 R2 SP1.
Note The build of this cumulative update package is known as build 10.50.2796.0.
Important notes about this cumulative update package
| KB number | Description |
| 955850 | Error message when you try to use the binaries from the SQL Server System CLR Types package (SQLSysClrTypes.msi): "Unable to load DLL 'SqlServerSpatial.dll': This application has failed to start because the application configuration is incorrect" |
| 970198 | FIX: You receive an incorrect result when you run a query that uses the row_number function in SQL Server 2008 or in SQL Server 2008 R2 |
| 2159286 | FIX: The Remote Registry service crashes when an application tries to retrieve performance counter data from an instance of SQL Server on another computer |
| 2445812 | FIX: A column that uses the DATETIME data type does not replicate to an Oracle subscriber by using a transactional replication in SQL Server 2008 or in SQL Server 2008 R2 |
| 2510788 | FIX: Success message is incorrectly logged when a distributed transaction of an SSIS 2005 package, of an SSIS 2008 package or of an SSIS 2008 R2 package is aborted |
| 2515286 | FIX: "There is no function '{urn:schemas-microsoft-com:xml-sql}:variable()" error for an XQuery query that updates the value of an XML column in SQL Server 2005, in SQL Server 2008 or in SQL Server 2008 R2 |
| 2550375 | FIX: Deadlock might occur in sys.dm_database_encryption_keys DMV in SQL Server 2008 R2 when you run log shipping from many databases to one secondary server |
| 2562753 | FIX: Slow performance when an MDX query uses unary operators on parent/child hierarchy members in SSAS 2008 R2 if you define a scope calculation on these members and if the query accesses multiple dates in a time dimension |
| 2567366 | FIX: Slow performance when you restore a database in SQL Server 2008 R2 if CDC is enabled |
| 2580224 | FIX: Incorrect results when you commit the Unpivot transformation to a SSIS package in SSIS 2008 or in SSIS 2008 R2 |
| 2583994 | FIX: SSIS Checkpoint restores an incorrect variable value for an Execute SQL Task item of a For Loop Container item in SSIS 2008 or in SSIS 2008 R2 if an SSIS package executes again after it fails or stops |
| 2588506 | FIX: SQLGetDiagRec function does not return errors in SQL Server 2008 or in SQL Server 2008 R2 if more than 2100 query parameters are sent |
| 2588970 | FIX: "Server: Msg 7359" error when you run a distributed query in SQL Server 2008 or in SQL Server 2008 R2 if a schema version is updated more than five times |
| 2591461 | FIX: "Unexpected error from SE OLEDB interface" error when you run a full-text search query in SQL Server 2008 or in SQL Server 2008 R2 |
| 2597229 | FIX: Report Builder 3.0 stops responding if SSRS 2008 R2 uses forms authentication |
| 2598903 | FIX: SQL Server Agent job randomly stops when you schedule the job to run past midnight on specific days in SQL Server 2005, in SQL Server 2008 or in SQL Server 2008 R2 |
| 2603910 | FIX: Backup fails in SQL Server 2008 or in SQL Server 2008 R2 if you enable change tracking on the database |
| 2606301 | FIX: High memory usage when you run Replication Snapshot Agent in SQL Server 2008 or in SQL Server 2008 R2 |
| 2606918 | FIX: NULL value in the Retention column in sysmergepublications table and effects on the metadata cleanup process when you set up a merge replication environment in a republishing topology in SQL Server 2008 R2 |
| 2616117 | FIX: Incorrect mail profile is displayed in the Alert System page in SQL Server 2008 R2 |
| 2616718 | FIX: Poor performance when you synchronize the data from a SQL Server 2008 R2 publisher to a SQL Server compact 3.5 subscriber |
| 2618676 | FIX: Transaction log backup is created even though the full backup is canceled in SQL Server 2008 or in SQL Server 2008 R2 |
| 2618680 | FIX: "Not registered correctly" error when you use a pull subscription and the Replication Interactive Conflict Resolver |
| 2620762 | FIX: Acknowledgement messages are not sent by a SQL Server 2008 R2 Service Broker target |
| 2622668 | FIX: Error message when you delete some records of a table at the publisher if the schema name of the table is not [dbo] |
| 2622823 | FIX: ghost_record_count values keep increasing in SQL Server 2008 R2 |
| 2624272 | FIX: Error 9013 when you try to start the SQL Server services after you apply SQL Server 2008 R2 SP1 for SQL Server 2008 R2 |
| 2624527 | FIX: Clustered index is not used in the execution plan in SQL Server 2008 R2 if a query uses two or more partitions |
| 2626637 | FIX: DRILLTHROUGH statement does not work if it is run against some attribute members whose values contain one or more double quotation marks in SSAS 2008 R2 |
| 2628126 | FIX: "Fulltext index error during compression or decompression" error when you create a full-text index in SQL Server 2008 or in SQL Server 2008 R2 if the primary key is set to a BIGINT column |
| 2628712 | FIX: An infinite loop occurs in a hierarchy that contains a circular relationship in SQL Server 2008 R2 |
| 2629168 | FIX: Internal error when you update a cellset that is returned after you run a query against a perspective in SSAS 2008 R2 |
| 2629456 | FIX: Access violation when you insert a record into a new empty partition in SQL Server 2008 or in SQL Server 2008 R2 |
| 2632021 | FIX: A SSRS 2008 R2 report that has toggle items is not paginated |
| 2633271 | FIX: SQL Server services cannot be stopped on a computer that has SQL Server 2008 R2 Express Edition installed |
| 2634571 | Improvements for the DBCC CHECKDB command may result in faster performance when you use the PHYSICAL_ONLY option |
| 2635827 | FIX: Access violation when you run a DBCC CHECKDB command against a database that contains a table that has a spatial index in SQL Server 2008 or in SQL Server 2008 R2 |
| 2638216 | FIX: Error message when you run a query that uses an MDX reserved keyword as a parameter name in SSAS 2008 R2 |
| 2638448 | FIX: Access violation when a query is compiled or recompiled in SQL Server 2008 or in SQL Server 2008 R2 |
| 2639301 | FIX: Error message when you review a SSRS 2008 R2 report that has a tablix data region if the region contains some chart or gauge or map items |
| 2641923 | FIX: Incorrect custom color distribution when you use numeric values for the Start Value and the End Value of custom color distribution buckets in SSRS 2008 R2 |
| 2641971 | FIX: "Error: Data conversion failed" error when you use multiple characters as the column delimiter in Flat File Connection Manager in SSIS 2008 R2 |
| 2643340 | FIX: Action property does not work when you view an SSRS 2008 R2 report in Report Manager |
| 2644396 | FIX: Merge replication changes are missing on a SQL Server Compact subscriber when they subscribe to a partition in SQL Server 2008 R2 |
| 2645648 | FIX: Export procedure fails when you export a 64-bit SSRS 2008 R2 report that contains multiple levels of document map to the PDF format |
| 2646224 | FIX: Query plan is displayed as an XML document incorrectly when you set the SHOWPLAN_XML option to ON in SQL Server 2008 R2 SP1 |
| 2647120 | FIX: Incorrect page numbers are displayed when you export a SSRS 2008 R2 report into PDF format |
| 2648158 | FIX: "The process could not execute" error message when you set a nonzero value in the MaxCmdsInTran parameter of the Log Reader Agent in SQL Server 2008 R2 |
| 2649359 | FIX: An access violation occurs in the "sqlservr!CSbMsgDispatcher::CSbReceivedDialog::AppendMsg" class in SQL Server 2008 R2 |
| 2651629 | FIX: Error message when you use DTA to tune one or more queries against a database that contains many objects in SQL Server 2008 R2 |
| 2652582 | FIX: "Invalid authorization specification" error message when you run the SQL Server 2008 R2 Analysis Services Deployment Wizard by using the SQL Server Authentication mode |
| 2653893 | FIX: It takes a long time to restore a database in SQL Server 2008 R2 |
| 2633151 | The SQL Server database transaction log file does not grow by the configured file growth value |
Request a download: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2633146
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