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Introducing SketchFlow for Expression Blend 3 Preview

od3n — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 13:15:08 +0000

With the delivery of Expression Blend 3 Preview, Microsoft mentioned SketchFlow, described by Bruce Kyle, an architect evangelist for Microsoft in the Developer & Platform Evangelism team, as “a rapid prototyping capability that makes it easy to communicate design intent to stakeholders.” SketchFlow is a tool set up to add on to Expression Blend 3 and to streamline the early stages or project design by allowing developers to literally sketch out their ideas. S. Somasegar, senior vice president, Developer Division, emphasized that SketchFlow was focused on the concept behind a certain project rather than on its visual identity and that, as such, the tool offered “sketch-styled” controls.

However, even if only sketches, the prototypes do not suffer from the perspective of functionality, and all ideas can be seamlessly “upgraded” to high-fidelity controls when devs choose to do so.
“SketchFlow prototypes are quick and informal, enabling designers to easily explore a variety of ideas. You can run and explore prototypes from the first rough sketch on. When you are ready to develop further, you can convert a prototype into a real application in Expression Blend or Visual Studio,” Somasegar added. “When you start working on a new prototype project for either WPF or Silverlight, you’ll see the panels, control toolbox, and artboard that you are likely accustomed to in Expression Blend. You can use the existing set of controls found in Expression Blend 3 or your own custom controls.”

The tool comes to the table with the SketchFlow Player, permitting developers to easily share and showcase their concepts. Via the player, prototypes can not only be viewed as animations, but can also be navigated and even allow for UI states to be interchanged with ease, and with minimal cost and effort when it comes to the actual development of the user interface.

“SketchFlow leverages features of Expression Blend 3 to let you make your prototypes come alive. Add interactivity without code using Behaviors, prototype your data-driven UI with sample data, and import content from Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator,” Somasegar added.

Expression Blend 3 Preview is available for download here.

Silverlight 3 Beta 3 is available for download here.

Portable Windows Movie Maker

od3n — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 12:04:42 +0000

Windows Movie Maker is a free Microsoft utility for Windows that lets you create and edit video files. But for some reason, the most recent versions of Movie Maker for Windows Vista and 7 don’t have all the features and transitions you can find on earlier builds.

So one developer decided to take matters into his own hands and create a portable version of Windows Movie Maker based on Movie Maker 2.1. You can run Portable Windows Movie Maker on any computer with Windows XP, Vista, or 7. And since it’s portable, you can run it from a USB flash drive or a folder on your hard drive without installing it.

As an added bonus, the developer added some extra transitions and effects.

Windows 7 RC Build 7100 Leaked and Available for Download

od3n — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 09:23:32 +0000

Just a day after information on Windows 7 Build 7100 made it into the wild, the actual bits for the fully fledged Release Candidate of the next iteration of the Windows client have been leaked and are now available for download via torrent trackers. Meanwhile, Microsoft has yet to confirm or deny Build 7100 as the RC of Windows 7, but Steven Sinofsky, senior vice president, Windows and Windows Live Engineering Group, did explain that
the radio silence from Redmond was catalyzed by the amount of work and focus on the development process. But while the Redmond company is keeping mum on Windows 7 Build 7100, any user with a BitTorrent client can already start playing with the Release Candidate bits.

So far only the 32-bit version of Windows 7 RC Build 6.1.7100.0.winmain_win7rc .090421-1700 was leaked to torrent websites. The download weighs in at 2.35 GB and is available as an ISO image that has to be burnt on a DVD. As was the case with the vast majority of previous pre-release development milestones of Windows 7, the leaked RC Build 71000 offers the Ultimate SKU of the operating system. Testers can continue using the Windows 7 Beta Build 7000 product keys in order to activate the RC Build 7100 bits.
Microsoft has already managed to confirm, at least unofficially, that the RC for Windows 7 is just around the corner. The Redmond company’s partners have already been served the bits, which explains the leak. Next in line to get their hands on Windows 7 Release Candidate Build 7100 are MSDN and TechNet subscribers, but not just yet. Downloads of Windows 7 RC Build 7100 are planned to go live on May 5, 2009. Hopefully, Microsoft has learned its lesson with Windows 7 Beta back in January 2009, and already has the necessary infrastructure in place for the public testing phase to kick off in full throttle.

Windows 7 Release Candidate (RC) Build 7100 Already Signed Off

od3n — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 08:54:00 +0000

Microsoft is making headway with the development of Windows 7 and closing on the availability of the first and only Release Candidate of the operating system. In this regard, the Redmond company has reportedly already signed off on Windows 7 RC. 7100.0.winmain_win7rc.090421-1700 is the full version of the Release Candidate bits for the next iteration of Windows. Microsoft has of course offered no official confirmation on the build string for Windows 7 RC Build 7100. The Redmond company has also not commented on self-leaked information that it has already made Windows 7 RC Build
7100 available to partners, and that MSDN and TechNet subscribers would be receiving the green light for downloads by the end of April with the public release planned for the first week in May.

The last pre-RC build of Windows 7 to make it into the wild was tagged 7077. The Release was indicated as the RC-Escrow build, again with Microsoft mum on the matter. Subsequently information and screenshots on Windows 7 Build 7082 were leaked. Wzor indicated that Microsoft had been hard at work, making its way toward Windows 7 RC Build 7100, having compiled the following development milestones: 6.1.7078.0.winmain_win7rc.090406-1758, 6.1.7079.0.winmain_ win7rc.090407- 1902, 6.1.7080.0.winmain_ win7rc.090408- 1900, 6.1.7081.0.winmain_ win7rc.090409- 1900, 6.1.7082.0.winmain_ win7rc.090410- 1901, 6.1.7083.0.winmain_ win7rc.090413- 1900, 6.1.7084.0.winmain_ win7rc.090414- 1900, 6.1.7085.0.winmain_ win7rc.090415- 1900, 6.1.7086.0.winmain_ win7rc.090416- 1900, and 6.1.7087.0.winmain_ win7rc.090417- 1900.

Windows 7 RC Build 7100.0.winmain_win7rc .090421-1700 was signed off on April 21, 2009, according to the version number. The software giant is looking to offer the bits via MSDN and TechNet by the end of this month. At the same time, Microsoft pointed to May 5, 2009 as the deadline for the availability of Windows 7 RC. Along with the Windows 7 client, the software giant will also serve Windows Server 2008 R2 RC. Of course, with Microsoft offering nothing on Windows 7 RC through the company’s official channels, all leaked information should be taken with a grain of salt.

Office 2010 Gets a Redesigned Logo

od3n — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 08:48:59 +0000

On April 15, 2009, Microsoft confirmed officially that the next iteration of the Office System, codenamed Office 14, would be branded as Office 2010. The Redmond company is in the early stages of development, but it has already delivered an Alpha version of Office 2010 to selected testers. Subsequently, screenshots of Office 14 were leaked into the wild, and you can get a taste of what the successor of Office 2007 will have to offer via the images included with this article (courtesy of iGeneration).

Microsoft has redesigned the Office logo for the 2010 version as you can see, opting for a less colorful version compared to its precursor, and moving completely away from the concept of the Windows logo. At the same time, Office 2010 will be the release in which the Redmond company will introduce the Ribbon/Fluent graphical user interface to Outlook. In this manner, Outlook 2010 falls in line with the other programs of the productivity suite, and evolves from the graphical user interface used in Office Outlook 2007.
The first public technical preview of Office 2010 would be offered in the third quarter of 2009, Microsoft revealed, no telling exactly when. On April 15, the software giant also pointed to the first half of 2010 for the general availability of Office 2010.

“We are really pleased with the potential of the next version of Office-related products and excited about the value that they will bring to our customers. You will see much more from us in the coming months. I think that all of our customers — people who use Office at home or at work, IT professionals, developers, and businesses of all sizes — will be thrilled about the choice, flexibility and enriched experience that these products will deliver across all types of devices,” revealed Chris Capossela, senior vice president of Microsoft’s Information Worker Product Management Group, the past week.

Defining Microsoft Advertising

od3n — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 08:43:53 +0000

This summer Microsoft Advertising will move to the next stage in its evolution. At least this is the promise from Mark Young, general manger of the Global Trade Marketing Advertising team. The move is planned to coincide with the Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival, which is scheduled to take place between June 21 and 27, 2009. Young indicated that the software giant had been cooking a new look for Microsoft Advertising, but that a fresh feel as well as an overhauled tagline would be delivered.
Microsoft Advertising currently attempts to “connect with your target audience across multiple digital touchpoints,” according to Microsoft.

“Our investments and our ongoing commitment to digital advertising is quite simple (no matter how complicated we try to make it at times) – we empower brands to extend the boundaries of creativity, consumer connections and customer intelligence. We deliver on this commitment to our customers and partners; we make it easy for media and technology to work together to delight and engage the consumer,” Young said.
Borrowing from the Windows marketing campaign debuted in the fall of 2008, Microsoft Advertising will focus on enabling customers to take full advantage of the commercial power associated with what the company referred to as a world without walls. The absence of “walls” is designed to be symbolic of the span that Microsoft Advertising has, on the Redmond company’s portfolio of properties and across a 1 billion strong audience, on a daily basis.

“Before, if you were buying digital advertising from Microsoft, you were traditionally buying from MSN. But now with the growth in services like Hotmail, Messenger and adCenter coupled with the acquisitions of Aquantive, Massive and Screentonic, and with Xbox Live becoming an amazing reach vehicle, it became necessary to combine all these great marketing assets under one brand,” Young added.

Windows Live Update Just Around the Corner

od3n — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 17:31:39 +0000

Microsoft is gearing up to introduce a new update to Windows Live. Brian Hall, general manager of the Windows Live Business Group, indicated that the refresh was just around the corner, while at the same time, making sure to point out that the evolution of the collection of services and applications under the Windows Live brand umbrella was also possible by building bridges to third parties. In this regard, the focus of the upcoming Windows Live update is set on enabling users to enjoy a higher level of flexibility when it comes down to sharing contacts with other websites and aggregating activities. Windows
Live will simply get a social networking boost.

“We’ve added 20 new third-party content partners that you can integrate with Windows Live, bringing the total number of third-party content partners to more than 30,” Hall added. “According to the latest data from comScore, there are more than 600 million active users on the various blogging sites, social networks and photo sharing sites that Windows Live has partnered with, and many of these people also make up the 500 million users on Windows Live. This update will make it easier for Windows Live customers to connect with their activities on these other sites and share them with friends in their Windows Live network.”
In addition, Microsoft has also labored to make it easier for end users to control their contact data. The software giant has bridged Windows Live with MySpace, hi5 and Tagged, streamlining the process associated with inviting contacts to and from these online properties. What the Redmond company is attempting to do, is allow users to keep a single set of contacts over all websites, not just Windows Live, or their preferred social network.

“People love the availability of all these online capabilities, but it’s reaching a tipping point where the bigger challenge is bringing them together in a manageable way,” Hall added. “What we’re doing with this update is using Windows Live to integrate the best of social networking and other communication networks in a way that doesn’t require signing up for yet another social network. If you’re happy with a social network, that’s great. You should keep using it. Our goal is to make your online experience more valuable by connecting them together.”

Windows 8 Grows in the Shadow of Windows 7

od3n — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 05:57:35 +0000

Sure enough, the next iteration of Windows is at center stage, but this does not mean that it is getting Microsoft’s undivided attention. In fact, Windows 8 is growing in the shadow of Windows 7, as the Redmond company has made sure to confirm. The past week, the software giant indicated that it was ready to kick off major improvements designed to revolutionize file access in branch offices for Windows 8. But at the same time, this is not the only aspect of Windows 8 under focus. Microsoft also offered official confirmation that it was planning the next generation of the file server for Windows 8, the successor of Windows 7.

“In Windows Server 2008 R2 release, the Server UX Test team (under the File Server Management organization) is finalizing the MMC based User eXperience (UX)/Interfaces for the File Server Role. Currently the team owns DFS Management, Share and Storage Management, FSRM & Classification UI, Disk Management, SMFS. For Windows 8, the SSD organization is working on the next version of the file server,” a job posting from Microsoft, via Mary Jo Foley, reads.
Microsoft has yet to make available for download the first and only Release Candidate of Windows 7. In fact, the software giant plans to deliver Windows 7 RC only on May 5, 2009, as a public download, with MSDN and TechNet subscribers scheduled to get the bits earlier, but no telling when exactly. Still, this does not exclude the scenario in which Microsoft has at least started planning Windows 8, if not even debuted the development process.

“As a member of the test team, you will focus on working closely with the dev team to finish the automation development for our Windows Server 2008 R2 components. This will provide valuable ramp-up and familiarity with our existing test automation infrastructure. As the team moved to Windows 8, you will have 2 main responsibilities – (i) put on the customer/design critique hat as we plan our next version file server management experience (i) participating in the architectural design, and development and driving automated testing for managing the next generation file server,” it is added in the job posting

Windows 7 RC on May 5, Windows 7 Build 7082 Already Here

od3n — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 05:29:21 +0000

The fully fledged Release Candidate of Windows 7 is planned for availability on May 5, 2009. Testers should not expect Windows 7 client RC alone, as Microsoft is also set to make available Windows Server 2008 R2 Release Candidate also on May 5. The information was provided by the Microsoft Partner Program website, and indicated that the company’s partners as well as MSDN and TechNet subscribers could access the full RC bits of Windows 7 as of April 18. As far as MSDN and TechNet are concerned, I can confirm that subscribers continue to have access only to the Beta Build 7000 of Windows 7, and that the RC of the next iteration of Windows was not live at the time of this article. However, Microsoft continues to advance steadfast toward the signing-off of Windows 7 RC, and offered Build 7082 to select testers.

“We are pleased to announce that Windows 7 Release Candidate (RC) is available. Windows 7 RC is the prerelease version of Windows 7. Since this is not the final release, your PC will gather and send information to Microsoft engineers to help them check the fixes and changes made based on testing of Windows 7 Beta,” reads the message from Microsoft to partners, via Bink. “Test-drive Windows 7 RC today to see for yourself—and to show your colleagues and customers—how Windows 7 delivers improved management, security, reliability, and performance. Download Windows 7 RC. Partners: If you have a subscription to MSDN or TechNet, you can download Windows 7 RC now. Otherwise, you can download Windows 7 RC starting May 5, 2009.” (emphasis added)

There is no telling whether the details provided by the software giant via the Microsoft Partner Program website are in concordance with partners actually receiving the Windows 7 RC bits. As I have already said, this scenario is not valid for MSDN and TechNet, where Microsoft continues to serve Build 7000 and the associated activation product keys and downloads. Speculation indicates that some of the Redmond company’s closes partners, OEMs in particular, have indeed been granted early access to Windows 7 RC. In this context, MSDN and TechNet subscribers will have to wait a tad longer, no telling just how long. As far as the public is concerned, May 5 is the day they need to look forward to.

Meanwhile, Windows 7 Build 7082 from the RC-branch was handed to testers. PCBeta is offering a few screenshots of the Chinese version of Windows 7 Build 7082. The past week, Windows 7 Build 7106, from the RTM-branch, also in Chinese, was leaked into the wild and is now available for download via torrent websites.

Don’t Wait for Windows 7 SP1

od3n — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 21:34:12 +0000

There’s no need to wait for Windows 7 Service Pack 1 in order to embrace the next iteration of the Windows operating system from Microsoft. At the end of March 2009, analysis company Gartner revealed a similar conclusion, indicating that Service Pack 1 was no longer the OS evolution milestone it once was, especially when it comes down to Windows 7. Microsoft saw eye to eye with Gartner on this matter and revealed that SP1 would not be a milestone designed to mark the maturity of Windows 7 in terms of security and stability.

“Windows 7 is an operating system that from the get go will be as secure as possible, and even from Beta stage is extremely stable. It’s not recommended for customers to deploy it in production environments just yet, however, they should not hesitate to test the platform in technology adoption programs. And we actually are recommending that customers test Windows 7,” revealed Tudor Galos, Windows Business Group Lead at Microsoft Romania, exclusively to Softpedia. “And yes, it wont be necessary for users to wait for SP1. Practically, not even Windows Vista required users to hold out for Service Pack 1.”

Galos referred not only to businesses but also to end users when indicating that “conventional wisdom” to postpone the adoption of a new Windows operating system until Service Pack 1 was an unnecessary strategy. But while for Vista RTM SP1 represented indeed a landmark in evolution, Windows 7 RTM will already have had its predecessor take in the heavy barrage of fire related to software incompatibilities, lack of hardware support and poor performance.
Being built as an evolution of Vista, Windows 7 comes with the guarantee of compatible software products and extended hardware support, and Microsoft has made sure of this aspect by only bumping the version number from 6.0 (Vista) to 6.1 (Windows 7). Testers that have been already running Windows 7 pre-release builds have been able to evaluate the stability of the platform on their own, even if the operating system has yet to hit Release Candidate. At the same time, Microsoft indicated as early as the Beta Build 7000 that the Windows 7 performance cat was already in the bag, revealing that the client left Vista in the dust, and exemplifying with the start-up time measuring contest.

Still, Galos also indicated that customers should look to Vista for the time being. “We recommend that they start with Windows Vista, with SP1 or SP2. And the reason is that Vista is a fully supported OS. Microsoft will not offer support for Windows 7 until launch. And we’re advising users to run Windows Vista SP1. The difference is consistent between Vista RTM and Service Pack 1. The operating system now offers great performance and a high level of security, that security that end users need.”

Windows Vista Service Pack 2 (SP2) Release Candidate (RC) is available for download here.