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November 23
Explore as Administrator PowerToy overcomes the limitations of Windows Explorer inability to throw up a UAC prompt when creating a folder within or copying a file into a protected folder such a Program Files or Windows. This is because, when running as a administrator with UAC enabled, your standard user token does not have write permissions to these protected folders.
Microsoft Office Home and Business "Click-to-Run" 2010 Beta is the essential software suite for managing small businesses and working from home. Enhanced tools and features help you run your business, connect with customers, and organize your household more efficiently. Office Home and Business 2010 features new photo, video, and text effects for creating standout documents and presentations. New communication tools in Outlook 2010 help you stay in touch and organized. Office Home and Business 2010 makes it easier than ever for you to manage things in the office, at home, or in between.
Manage your business more efficiently with flexible tools.
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Organize finances with Excel 2010 and get data analysis tools to make informed decisions at a glance.
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Share and edit documents with business partners, customers, or friends using Web-based versions of Word, Excel, and PowerPoint 2010.
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Manage projects and resources from a single place by organizing your information in OneNote 2010.
Upgrade your customer communications.
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Create professional-looking communications faster with easy-to-use templates in Word and PowerPoint 2010, then add polish with updated text effects, photos, or videos.
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Minimize inbox clutter with new conversation management tools in Outlook 2010.
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Manage contact information from anywhere with Outlook 2010 on any PC or your mobile phone.
Organize and simplify your household routine.
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Help your child create high-quality class presentations using a variety of tools for adding video, photos, and text effects in PowerPoint 2010.
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Prepare and manage a budget easily with ready-to-use templates and analysis tools in Excel 2010.
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Connect with others, manage your calendar, and stay on top of your to-dos with Outlook 2010.
What is Click-to-Run? Click-to-Run is a new way to download and install Microsoft Office which uses virtualization to allow you to use your Office programs as they are streamed and cached on your computer. To enable you to use your Microsoft Office programs while they are streamed to your computer, the Microsoft Office Click-to-Run service is installed to your computer. Once streaming has completed, your Office suite is also completely installed to your computer and available when you are offline.
Microsoft's MSN Arabia has released a free set of 10 EID (local) "Holiday" Emoticons for Windows Live Messenger.
November 21
Microsoft Office Outlook Connector (version 14.0.4514.1004) - access and manage your Microsoft Windows Live Hotmail or Microsoft Office Live Mail accounts, including e-mail messages, contacts and calendars for free from within Outlook 2010. (Thanks Anirban)
RAW pictures are high-quality, uncompressed files that differ by camera manufacturer. Some common file name extensions for RAW picture files include: .cr2, .crw, .dng, .nef, .orf, .rw2, .pef, .arw, .sr2, .srf, and .tif.
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Canon (.CR2, .CRW & .TIF)
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Nikon (.NEF Nikon Electronic Format)
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November 19
Microsoft PowerPivot for Excel 2010, is a data analysis add-in that delivers unmatched computational power directly within Excel 2010. PowerPivot gives users the power to create compelling self-service BI solutions.
Take advantage of familiar Excel tools and features:
- Process massive amounts of data in seconds
- Load even the largest data sets from virtually any source (including Access, Excel, SQL Server…)
- Use powerful new analytical capabilities, such as Data Analysis Expressions (DAX)
- Make the most of multi-core processors and gigabytes of memory
November 18
Microsoft Office 2010 (Beta) Filter Packs is a single point-of-distribution for Office IFilters. IFilters are components that allow search services to index content of specific file types, letting you search for content in those files. They are intended for use with Microsoft Search Services (Sharepoint, SQL, Exchange, Windows Search).
The Filter Pack includes:
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Legacy Office Filter (97-2003; .doc, .ppt, .xls)
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Metro Office Filter (2007; .docx, .pptx, .xlsx)
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Zip Filter
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OneNote filter
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Visio Filter
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Publisher Filter
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Open Document Format Filter
DOWNLOAD MICROSOFT OFFICE 2010 - Client, Web & Mobile
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Download --> Microsoft Office Professional Plus 2010 - With Microsoft Office Professional Plus 2010, your people get a wide range of powerful new ways to do their best work from more places – whether they’re using a PC, smartphone or web browser. From insightful updates to Excel, PowerPoint, Word and Outlook, to new server integration capabilities that make it easier for everyone to track, report and share vital information, Office Professional Plus 2010 offers the complete package through familiar, intuitive tools.
What's Included:
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Access
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Communicator
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Excel
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InfoPath
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OneNote
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Outlook
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PowerPoint
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Publisher
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SharePoint Workspace
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Word
Download --> Microsoft Office 2010 Also Available in:
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"Click-to Run" Download --> Microsoft Office Home and Business 2010 is the essential software suite for managing small businesses and working from home. Enhanced tools and features help you run your business, connect with customers, and organize your household more efficiently. Office Home and Business 2010 features new photo, video, and text effects for creating standout documents and presentations. New communication tools in Outlook 2010 help you stay in touch and organized. Office Home and Business 2010 makes it easier than ever for you to manage things in the office, at home, or in between.
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Download --> Office Mobile 2010 (Beta) brings the powerful Microsoft Office 2010 tools you use every day at work, home, or school, to the screen of your Windows phone with rich interfaces especially designed for small devices.
Features:
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View and edit your Microsoft® Office documents with confidence.
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Stay connected to work from anywhere with SharePoint Workspace Mobile.
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Stay connected to work from anywhere with SharePoint Workspace Mobile.
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Use PowerPoint Mobile as a presentation aid.
ACCESS 2010:
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Access 2010 Office System Driver: Data Connectivity Components installs a set of components that can be used by non-Microsoft Office applications to read data from and write data to 2010 Office system files such as Microsoft Access 2010 (mdb and accdb) files and Microsoft Excel 2010 (xls, xlsx, and xlsb) files. Connectivity to text files is also supported. ODBC and OLEDB drivers are installed for application developers to use in developing their applications with connectivity to Office file formats.
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Access 2010 Beta Download: Access Runtime provides a rich platform for developing database management solutions with easy-to-use customization tools. If no end-user customization is required (including report modifications), you can choose to distribute those Access 2010 solutions so that they run without requiring a full installation of Access 2010 . To do so, you must package and distribute your application with the Access 2010 Runtime.
EXCEL 2010:
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Excel 2010 Add-In for Manipulating Points on Charts (MPOC) - Microsoft's Excel Team felt the ability to directly resize or reposition points on a chart had deprecated since Excel 2003. For example, in Excel 2003 double-clicking on a data point in a column chart would reveal surface handles that could be used to resize the columns, or visually smooth the curves. In an effort to restore this lost functionality, they have developed a sample Add-In that can be used in both Excel 2007 and Excel 2010. (From: MSDN)
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OUTLOOK 2010:
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Business Contact Manager for Outlook 2010 Beta ( 32-bit & 64-bit) provides contact management, sales, marketing and project management for the small business or small team.
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Office Outlook Connector ( 32-bit & 64-bit) - access and manage your Hotmail or Live Mail accounts, including e-mail messages, contacts and calendars for free from within Outlook 2010. (Support: MSDN)
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VDialer is a CodePlex add-in that allows you to initiate a Vonage call directly from the Outlook contact list or contact item. Just select the contact you want to call and your phone will start ringing - as soon as you pick up the phone call is placed.
POWERPOINT 2010:
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Deploying Broadcast Slide Show - Broadcast Slide Show is a new capability in Microsoft Office 2010 that enables presenters to broadcast a slide show from PowerPoint 2010 to remote viewers who watch in a Web browser. Broadcast Slide Show provides companies with a low-infrastructure presentation broadcast capability that works through the Web. This paper provides a summary of this capability for SharePoint system administrators and IT managers and prepares them to effectively evaluate, plan for, and implement Broadcast Slide Show in their environments.
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Presentation Companion 1.0 [Beta] works with Microsoft Office PowerPoint Mobile to control a PowerPoint presentation on your laptop, as well as view speaker notes on your Windows phone as you control the presentation.
Download --> Microsoft Project Professional 2010 Beta ( 32-bit & 64-bit) - Microsoft Project Professional 2010 Beta gives you powerful, visually enhanced ways to successfully manage and deliver a wide range of projects. Easier and more intuitive, Project Professional 2010 Beta provides flexible choices to simplify planning, collaboration and resource management.
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Project 2010 Reference: Software Development Kit (SDK) is a beta release helps solution providers, value-added resellers, and other developers learn about new features in the Project Server 2010 platform, and how to extend and integrate Project Server 2010 with other applications for enterprise project management (EPM). It features conceptual and "How to" articles, sample code, and programming references for the Project 2010 clients and Project Server 2010.
Download --> Microsoft Visio Premium 2010 Beta ( 32-bit & 64-bit) takes diagramming to a new level with dynamic, data-driven visualization tools and templates, enhanced process management capabilities, and advanced Web sharing. Bring real-time data together from multiple sources, including Excel and Microsoft SQL Server, in one powerful diagram using vibrant graphics like icons and data bars. Manage processes with sub-processes and rules and logic validation to ensure accuracy and consistency across the organization. Create SharePoint workflows and export them to Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010 for real-time execution and monitoring. Share refreshable, data-linked diagrams over the Web with anyone, even those who don’t own Visio.
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Visio 2010 (Beta) Viewer allows anyone to view Visio drawings and diagrams (created with Visio 5.0, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2007, or 2010) inside their Internet Explorer version 5.0 or later Web browser.
OFFICE 2010 TOOLS:
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Microsoft Office ScreenTip Language ( 32-bit & 64-bit) language and help users navigate Microsoft Office applications installed in a language they do not understand.
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Office 2010 (Beta) Administrative Template files (ADM, ADMX/ADML) and Office Customization Tool includes updated Group Policy Administrative Template files and Office Customization Tool OPA files for use with Office 2010 (Beta) applications. It also includes an \Admin folder with an updated Office Customization Tool, and ADMX, ADML, and ADM versions of Office 2010 (Beta) system Administrative Template files for Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008. For administrative template files, you may use the ADM files for any Windows operating system, or the combination of ADMX and language-specific ADML files on computers running at least Windows Vista or Windows Server 2008. This download also includes a workbook (Office2010GroupPolicyAndOCTSettings.xls) that provides information about Office 2010 (Beta) Group Policy settings and OPA settings.
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Microsoft Office 2010 KMS Host License Pack contains an executable file that will extract and install KMS (Key Management Service) host license files. These license files are required for the KMS host service to recognize Office 2010 KMS host keys. It will also prompt you to enter your Office 2010 KMS host key and activate that key. After this is done, you may need to use the slmgr.vbs script to further configure your KMS host.
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Microsoft Office 2010 (Beta) Filter Packs is a single point-of-distribution for Office IFilters. IFilters are components that allow search services to index content of specific file types, letting you search for content in those files. They are intended for use with Microsoft Search Services (Sharepoint, SQL, Exchange, Windows Search).
The Filter Pack includes:
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Legacy Office Filter (97-2003; .doc, .ppt, .xls)
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Metro Office Filter (2007; .docx, .pptx, .xlsx)
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Zip Filter
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OneNote filter
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Visio Filter
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Publisher Filter
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Open Document Format Filter
OFFICE 2010 DEPLOYMENT RESOURCES:
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Deployment Options for Microsoft Office 2010 - describes and illustrates the client deployment methods for Microsoft Office 2010. Deployment options include network share, Group Policy startup scripts, managed deployment, and virtualization.
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Deploy Office Web Apps - Office Web Apps are online companions to Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, Microsoft PowerPoint and Microsoft OneNote applications that allows users to access documents from anywhere. Users can view, share, and work on documents with others online across personal computers, mobile phones, and the Web. Office Web Apps are available to users through Windows Live and to business customers with Microsoft Office 2010 volume licensing and document management solutions based on Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010.
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Microsoft Office 2010 Deployment Kit for App-V is required for sequencing and deploying Office 2010 client products with Microsoft Application Virtualization (App-V). This kit includes the components required for Office license activation. This product must be installed on the App-V sequencing station prior to monitoring the Office 2010 client installation. This product must also be installed on the client machines to which virtualized Office 2010 client packages will be deployed.
OFFICE 2010 DEVELOPER REFERENCE:
- Combined Office 2010 developer references
- Access 2010 Developer Reference
- Excel 2010 Developer Reference
- Outlook 2010 Developer Reference
- PowerPoint 2010 Developer Reference
- Project 2010 Developer Reference
- Publisher 2010 Developer Reference
- Visio 2010 Automation Reference
- Visio 2010 ShapeSheet Reference
- Word 2010 Developer Reference
MICROSOFT OFFICE 2010 TEAM BLOGS:
MICROSOFT OFFICE 2010 APPLICATION BLOGS:
November 17
Advantages - Running Office 2010 64-bit provides the following advantages:
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Ability to utilize additional memory.
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Excel 2010 can load much larger workbooks. Excel 2010 made updates to use 64-bit memory addressing to break out of the 2-GB addressable memory boundary that limits 32-bit applications.
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Microsoft Project 2010 provides improved capacity, especially when you are dealing with many subprojects to a large project.
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Enhanced default security protections through Hardware Data Execution Prevention (DEP).
Disadvantages - The following issues might affect compatibility:
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Microsoft Access MDE/ADE/ACCDE files - Databases that have had their source code removed (such as .mde, .ade, and .accde files) cannot be moved between 32-bit and 64-bit editions of Office 2010. Such databases that are created by using 32-bit Office (any version) can be used only with 32-bit Office, and a database that is created on 64-bit Office can be used only on 64-bit Office.
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ActiveX controls and COM Add-ins - ActiveX controls and add-in (COM) DLLs (dynamic link libraries) that were written for 32-bit Office will not work in a 64-bit process. As a result, Office 2010 64-bit solutions that try to load 32-bit ActiveX controls or DLLs will not work.
In addition to controls that load into Office applications, there are also Web-based solutions that use ActiveX controls in Microsoft Internet Explorer. Office 2010 64-bit editions install Office 32-bit clientside controls for supporting Web solutions in a browser. The workaround for resolving these issues is to obtain 64-bit compatible controls and add-ins or to install Office 2010 32-bit (WOW).
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Office Graphics (OArt) - For Excel integration, conversion of OLE, form controls, and ActiveX to CompatE2os in Excel 2010, some controls are not available in 64-bit Office 2010. An example is the Microsoft Date and Time Picker Control 6.0 (SP4), which is accessed on the Excel 2010 Developer tab, by clicking Insert, and selecting More Controls under ActiveX Controls section.
Graphics rendering. There are differences between the 32-bit and 64-bit Graphics Device Interface (GDI) that might have performance implications because of the lack of MMX support on 64-bit. Intel's MMX technology is an extension of the Intel architecture (IA) instruction set. The technology uses a single-instruction, multiple-data (SIMD) technique to speed up multimedia and communications software by processing data elements in parallel.
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Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) - VBA code that uses the Declare statement to access the Windows application programming interface (API) or other DLL entry points will see differences between 32-bit and 64-bit versions. The Declare statement must be updated with the PtrSafe attribute after inputs and outputs to the API have been reviewed and updated. Declare statements will not work in 64-bit VBA without the PtrSafe attribute. New data types are added to 64-bit Office 2010 VBA: LongLong and LongPtr.
General Feature Deprecations - The following section lists feature deprecations:
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Microsoft Access - The Replication Conflict Viewer is removed from both the 32-bit and 64-bit installations of Office 2010. This functionality can still be implemented by using a documented custom function, ReplicationConflictFunction. For information, see the Access 2007 Developer Reference.
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Publisher - The Microsoft Works database converter (wdbimp.dll) is removed from both 32-bit and 64-bit installations of Office 2010. This converter was previously used in the Mail Merge functionality to connect to a data source created in Microsoft Works.
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Word - Microsoft Office Document Imaging (MODI) and all its components are deprecated for both 32-bit and 64-bit Office 2010. The legacy Equation Editor is not supported on 64-bit Office 2010, but is supported for 32-bit Office 2010 installations (WOW64). WLL (Word Add-in libraries) WLL files are deprecated for both 32-bit and 64-bit Office 2010. A WLL is an add-in for Microsoft Word that you can build with any compiler that supports building DLLs. November 16
This Year's KROQ's Almost Acoustic Christmas 2009 Line-up:
DECEMBER 12th
- AFI
- Rise Against
- Alice In Chains
- 30 Seconds to Mars
- Three Days Grace
- Anberlin
- Dead By Sunrise
DECEMBER 13
- Muse
- 311
- Slightly Stoopid
- Phoenix
- The Bravery
- Metric
- Vampire Weekend
- Cage the Elephant
- White Rabbits
Listen Now --> KROQ's Almost Acoustic Christmas 2009
Full Disclosure: I provide KROQ with on-site I.T. Support for this event, so I'm a bit biased about the music! (^_^) November 15
There's a slew of "official" blogging resources for Microsoft's upcoming Office 2010 - you just need to know where to look! (Thanks John)
MICROSOFT OFFICE TEAM BLOGS:
MICROSOFT OFFICE APPLICATIONS:
My favorite Alternative Rock station in Los Angeles is KROQ -- I like streaming them at work.
KROQ.Com's website was just upgraded to feel more "blog like" and includes the ablity for listeners to leave feeback, as well as interact with KROQ's Staff.
If you too are a KROQ fan -- check out their new KROQ 2.0 Website, and leave them comments (positive & negative).
And now CodePlex has a third program: Bing on Desktop Changer that downloads Bing images and sets them as your Windows Desktop Wallpaper.
While I too like using Bing's images for my Desktop Wallpaper -- can we please stop (re)developing this application? November 14
BootFromUSB is a simple application to automate the manual preparation process for booting Hyper-V Server 2008 R2 off of USB drives.
Includes:
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Excel
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Office Web Apps
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OneNote
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Outlook
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PowerPoint
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Word
Download --> Office Professional 2010 Beta combines everything you need to create, edit, and share documents from virtually anywhere. You get top-of-the-line tools to run your business and projects efficiently.
Includes:
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Access
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Excel
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Office Web Apps
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OneNote
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Outlook
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PowerPoint
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Publisher
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Word
Download --> Office Professional Plus 2010 Beta (Volume licensing only) is one of the best productivity experience across the PC, phone, and browser for what you depend on today and what you'll expect tomorrow. It helps you rise to the challenge of today's business environment without losing sight of what's needed for IT success.
Includes:
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Access
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Communicator
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Excel
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Infopath
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Office Web Apps
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OneNote
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Outlook
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PowerPoint
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Publisher
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SharePoint Workspace
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Word
Sign-up for Microsoft Office 2010 Beta Software & Services:
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Microsoft Project Server 2010 Beta: Use innovative capabilities in a familiar UI to capture work in a centralized repository, build and maintain project schedules online, and create powerful dashboards and reports.
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Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010 Beta: Find out how this integrated suite of server capabilities can help your organization by providing comprehensive content management and enterprise search, accelerating shared business processes, and facilitating information-sharing across boundaries for better business insight.
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Microsoft Visio Premium 2010 Beta: The advanced diagramming tools of Visio 2010 helps you simplify complexity with intuitive and professional-looking diagrams, dynamic and data-driven visuals, and new ways to share on the Web in real-time. Simply connect your diagram to popular data files (such as Excel), publish your data-linked diagram to SharePoint, and provide access to others on the web.
November 13
How to Setup Windows 7 for Left Handed People:
STEP ONE - Swap Left & Right Mouse Buttons
- Click (Start) selecting Control Panel
- Click "Ease of Access"
- Click "Change how your mouse works"
- Click "Mouse settings"
- From the Buttons tab select "Switch primary and secondary buttons"
- Click <OK>
STEP TWO - Change the Mouse Pointers
Download --> Left-Handed Mouse Pointers point to the right, instead of the left, which may feel more natural for left-handed users. The pointers are available in three sizes--standard, large, and extra-large.
Microsoft Launches Office 2010 Website (Training, Software & Other Resources)
November 12
- Geographic Map Shapes for Microsoft Visio - Create maps using this set of shapes depicting regions of the world. Use Visio to arrange the shapes in their correct geographic locations.
- Network Equipment Shapes for Microsoft Visio - A set of 24 Microsoft Visio stencils containing manufacturer-specific network equipment shapes for rack and data center diagrams. Create detailed rack and data center diagrams using this set of 2,000 shapes representing network equipment from 3Com, APC, Cisco, Dell, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Nortel, Panduit, and Sun Microsystems. These shapes are exact replicas of the network devices and are drawn to scale with port-level details. Front and rear views are included for most devices.
- Office Communications Server 2007 and 2007 R2 Visio Stencils contain icons for Office Communications Server 2007 and 2007 R2 server roles and components.
November 11
I see Microsoft's Terry Zink has revised his post -- it now says "I have temporarily removed this post while I look at some more data."
But on the Internet, you can't really retract anything. Here's Terry's original article:
Today, November 11, 2009, 8 hours ago | tzink
One of the pieces of conventional wisdom that goes through my head is that if you install pirated versions of software, then your computer is more likely to be infected with malware. It makes sense; in order for spammers/malware authors to take control machine, they offer users cheap software. Yet this cheap software comes with a heavy price tag – you relinquish control of it to the whims and fancy of the spammer or malware writer to do nefarious things like spam, host phishing pages, host fast flux, serve as a command-and-control center, and so forth. Furthermore, individuals with pirated software are also much less likely to download security updates and therefore remain exposed and vulnerable for longer periods of time and, therefore, more prone to malware infection.
That’s the theory. But is it true?
To test this, I compared the data in the Microsoft Security and Intelligence Report and the Business Software Alliance Piracy Study. I used Microsoft’s metric of CCM, Computers Cleaned per thousand executions of the Malicious Software Removal Tool. I extracted the countries in common between the two reports and ran two correlation studies, one for 1H 2009 compared to the 2008 piracy rate, and another for 2H 2008 compared to the 2008 piracy rate.
Below are the top 10 countries for CCM in 1H 2009 and the change from 2H 2008 (green is good and represents a decrease, red is bad and represents and increase):
I have removed Serbia and Montenegro as it represented an outlier. Note that 4 of the top 6 countries (Turkey, Spain, Saudi Arabia and Taiwan) have all had substantial increases of malware infection (and removal) compared to the previous six months of the year. Below is a table of rates of piracy for the top ten countries:
For interest’s sake, here are the best countries with the lowest rates of piracy:
You can see that the US has the lowest rate of piracy which surprises me a little bit given that so much spam comes out of the US. Next, to determine if there is any relationship between the two of them, I calculated the statistical correlation between the two and plotted a scatter plot. I did this comparing the 1H 2009 CCM to the rate of 2008 software piracy, and then the 2H 2008 CCM to the rate of 2008 software piracy. Below are the results:
In 1H 2009, 0.8% of the variance of the rate of piracy is associated with the CCM, and in 2H 2008, 1.1% of the variance of the rate of piracy is associated with the CCM. In other words, there is no statistically significant relationship between the rate of software piracy and the rate of malware detection.
Quite frankly, this surprises me. It completely goes against my theory that I spoke about at the start of this post. The SIR does suggest that update service usage declines as the rate of software piracy increases but there there are too few data points to make any conclusions. It is possible that pirated versions of software do not update as frequently and are therefore more prone to being exposed longer. However, if this were true one would expect there to be at least some relationship between the rate of piracy and the CCM metric.
But for now, the evidence does not support the theory.
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