Product Highlights:

 

• Reduce your risk in choosing a search solution by starting with a free, full application you can download and set up to meet your needs immediately
• Go from downloading to searching in minutes with a streamlined setup process

Easy to configure and maintain:

• Review common administrative tasks, search status, and settings in a single view
• Manage content sources and search scopes, authoritative sources, key words, best bets, and other configurable relevancy settings through a powerful, easy-touse management console
• Index common information sources with Indexing Connectors for file servers, Web sites, Microsoft SharePoint® sites, Microsoft Exchange Server public folders, as well as EMC Documentum, IBM FileNet, and Lotus Notes repositories
• Monitor search performance and improve search relevance with query and results reporting
• Help ensure that only the right people can find information with a search engine that utilizes your user authentication infrastructure for enhanced security

Powerful enough to meet your search needs:

 

• Empower your users to quickly find the information they need through a familiar, Web search-style interface
• Deploy a search capability optimized for business data to deliver highly relevant results across intranet and public-facing Web site content
• Scale your deployment to meet your needs with no preset document limits and continuous index propagation
• Easily upgrade to a multiserver topology with Microsoft Search Server 2008 or Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 as your enterprise search needs evolve

 

Download --> Search Server 2008 Express (32-bit/64-bit)

 

Additional Search Server 2008 Express Resources:

 

• Install Instructions: Search Server 2008 Express from TechNet

Search Server 2008 Express Language Packs (x86/x64):

Currently Available: Arabic, Brazilian, Bulgarian, Catalan, Chinese-Simplified, Chinese-Traditional, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Estonian, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hindi, Hungarian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Latvian, Lithuanian, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Serbian (Latin), Slovak, Slovenian, Spanish, Swedish, Thai, Turkish, Ukrainian

 

MFCopy is a command line tool showcasing the Windows 7 Media Foundation source reader and sink writer APIs.  This tool copies multimedia files from one multimedia container to another.  Copying can involve simply remultiplexing the streams, transcoding to convert the streams to a different format.

Download --> MFCopy

 

Microsoft has released their official Bing App for iPhone and iPod touch; available from the iTunes App Store, or m.bing.com.  (Thanks Kristin)

Download --> Bing App for iPhone

 

Bing Maps Silverlight Control Software Development Kit (SDK) provides the binaries and programming reference for the Bing Maps Silverlight Control. You can use this control to build your own Web sites that use Bing maps.

First Look: Microsoft Office 2010 Overview:

Part I - Envision the Possibilities  Office 2010 ushers in a new era in productivity software by making the reliable tools you’ve come to expect from Microsoft easier to use and more powerful than ever. In this part of the book, you’ll get the big picture view of how Office 2010 improves the way you work every day.

This part of First Look: Microsoft Office 2010 includes the following chapters:

 

• Chapter 1: Welcome to Office 2010
• Chapter 2: Express Yourself Effectively and Efficiently
• Chapter 3: Collaborate in the Office and Around the World

Part II - Hit the Ground Running  Each of the applications in Office 2010 offers new ways to communicate your ideas more visually and effectively, features that enable you to collaborate easier than ever before, and ways to access your work from anywhere, anytime. Whether you spend your time in Office 2010 generating content, managing projects, or analyzing financial data, you will discover new capabilities that streamline your tasks, add professional impact, and add flexibility and creativity along the way.

This part of the book introduces you to the new features in each application and gives you some hands-on experience with different elements so that you can get up to speed quickly with this new release:

 

• Chapter 4: Create and Share Compelling Documents with Word 2010
• Chapter 5: Create Smart Data Insights with Excel 2010
• Chapter 6: Manage Rich Communications with Outlook 2010
• Chapter 7: Produce Dynamic Presentations with PowerPoint 2010
• Chapter 8: Organize, Store, and Share Ideas with OneNote 2010
• Chapter 9: Collaborate Effectively with SharePoint Workspace 2010
• Chapter 10: Create Effective Marketing Materials with Publisher 2010
• Chapter 11: Make Sense of Your Data with Access 2010

Part III - Next Steps with Office 2010  Now that you have explored the new features in each of the core Office 2010 applications, this part of the book helps you answer the question, “What next?” Because Office 2010 is an integrated suite of applications, you can use the programs together gracefully to get more out of the files you create and share. This part also spotlights the security measures you’ll find in Office 2010 and introduces various ways you can learn more about the programs and increase your own proficiency.

You’ll find the following chapters in this closing part of First Look: Microsoft Office 2010:

 

• Chapter 12: Putting It All Together
• Chapter 13: Security in Office 2010
• Chapter 14: Training Made Easy

 

Download --> First Look: Microsoft Office 2010

Download --> Chemistry Add-in for Word 2007

Adventure - Few games can be said to have created a genre. But Atari’s Adventure is rightfully considered by many to be the first ever action-adventure game. It was also the first ever to allow a player to have a stash of items, requiring the player to select which one to use at any given moment. Your mission: find the enchanted chalice and return it to the gold castle.

 

Asteroids - No history of the Golden Age of Arcade Games is complete without praising Asteroids, a game so popular that video arcade owners were sometimes forced to install larger boxes to hold the amount of quarters that were spent by players.

 

Battlezone - A forefather of today’s 3D action games, Battlezone was introduced in 1980. It was so advanced at the time that the U.S. Army ordered modified versions of the games for training purposes.

 

Crystal Castles - Noteworthy for being one of the first arcade games with an actual ending, in Crystal Castles the player controls Bentley Bear, who collects gems located throughout castles while avoiding enemies out to get him as well as the gems.

 

Lunar Lander - Often duplicated, never equaled. The objective of Lunar Lander is to pilot a lunar landing module as it prepares to touch down on the moon. With gravity, a finite fuel supply and the craft’s handling characteristics to contend with, find one of the flat areas for a safe landing.

 

Yars' Revenge - Atari's best selling original title for the 2600, you are a Yar: an insectoid creature who must nibble or shoot through a barrier in order to fire his "Zorlon Cannon" into the breach and destroy the evil Qotile.

 

Office 2010 Forums:
 

• Microsoft Office 2010 Tech Preview
• Microsoft Office 2010 Beta
• Microsoft Office 2010 Key Management Service (KMS) and Multiple Activation Key (MAK) Volume Activation
• Microsoft Office 2010 Document & Application Compatibility
• Microsoft Office 2010 Home and Business (Click-To-Run)
  
• Access 2010
• Excel 2010
• OneNote 2010
• Outlook 2010
• PowerPoint 2010
• Word 2010

The Bing API Software Development Kit provides:

 

• A Compiled HTML Help file that documents core concepts, available protocols and SourceTypes, and reference infomation necessary for developing applications with the Bing API.
• 65 code samples covering each of three protocols (JSON, XML, and SOAP) for each SourceType in multiple languages (JavaScript for JSON, Visual Basic and C# for XML and SOAP).

Download --> Bing API Software Development Kit (SDK)

PROTECT:  Back up and restore files and PCs - Windows Home Server completes an image-based back up of every home computer every day, so you can restore a single file or an entire PC.

 

• Restore home computer step by step.
• Data recovery step by step.

CONNECT:  Access your data anywhere - You and your family can now access the home network-at home, in the office, or even on the road.

 

• Connect and upload photos step by step.

ORGANIZE:  Store and share digital files - Organize your digital media in a central location, making it easier to share photos, music, videos, and more.

 

• Organize, store, and stream your digital files step by step.

GROW:  Increase your storage capacity - Easily increase your data storage, by adding additional internal or external hard drives of any size, and install innovative add-ins to make the most of your home network.

 

• Increase your data storage step by step.

Download -->  Windows Home Server with Power Pack 3 - 30 Day Trial

 

Microsoft has released their "MSN Search Toolbar" upgrade to "Bing Search Toolbar" for Firefox & Internet Explorer.

 

• Easy access to entertainment, breaking news, videos & more.
• Be productive while surfing with confidence using the new integrated Safety Center.
• Customize your toolbar by adding and arranging features.

Download --> Bing Search Toolbar

NOTE:  Asynchronous UDFs are exactly what they sound: you can create a user-defined function (UDF) which starts some asynchronous process (such as sending out a request) and immediately returns. Excel tracks the pending result. When the result becomes available, the add-in sends it back to Excel through a call-back function. This lets you send out many external requests at the same time, to be concurrently run on external resources.

New Holiday Goodies:

• Arabia Eid al-Adha "Holiday" Emoticons for Windows Live Messenger
  
  
• Holiday Trivia Slideshow with Windows Media Center and Windows 7
  
  
• “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Flake” Holiday Theme from Saks 5th Aveneue (From: Windows Team Blog)
  
  
• Video Holiday Card Package – holiday theme package that includes music and title slides to spruce up your video cards. (From Windows Live Blog)
  
  
• Winter Desktop Theme to Windows 7 (similar to Windows XP Winter Fun Pack)
  
  
• Yule Log Visualization for Windows Media Player (updated for Windows 7)

1. Install Yule Log Visualization for Windows Media Player
2. Open Windows Media Player
3. Go to Now Playing --> Visualizations --> Yule Log
4. Play your music

 

Vintage Holiday Goodies for Windows XP:
  

• Christmas Theme 2004 – A Christmas desktop theme with new wallpaper, animated cursors, new icons, new sounds, and a 3D screensaver.
   
• Digital Photography, Communications, and Browsing Winter Fun Pack Download – Discover a fun set of Internet Explorer holiday favorites (over 50 great holiday sites) and use the Fun Pack templates to create custom greeting cards.
   
• Digital Photography Winter Fun Pack 2003 – The holidays are a great time to share photos with friends and family. This download includes several tools that let you display your photos on your PC in fun ways, or create cards with holiday-themed templates.
   
• Windows Media Player 9 Series Winter Fun Pack Download 2002 – Includes the Holiday Music Auto Playlists Fun new holiday themed Auto Playlists use the Smart Jukebox features in Windows Media Player 9 Series to find and organize your holiday music into mixes.
   
• Windows Media Player 9 Winter Fun Pack 2003 – Dress up your Player for the holidays, organize your holiday music, or reorganize your whole music library. The Winter Fun Pack includes skins, auto playlists, a visualization, and a tool to export details about your whole catalog to put you and your computer into the holiday spirit.
   
• Winter Fun Pack 2004 for Windows XP Installer.
   
• Winter Fun Pack for Windows Movie Maker 2 (2002 & 2003) Check out this expansive collection of wintry sound effects, holiday music, titles, video titles and cut scenes!
   
• Winter Fun Screensavers – “Holiday Snowflakes” transforms your computer monitor into a winter wonderland with three-dimensional snowflakes falling from the sky.

 DO IT YOURSELF: 

Find:  Holiday clips, templates, and how-to articles 

Find:  Holiday Clip Art

How to:  Create Holiday stationery with Outlook Express

How to:  Create your own holiday and special occasion greeting cards

Microsoft Office Clip Art & Templates 

 

• Christmas  Clip Art & Templates
  
• Hanukkah Clip Art & Templates
  
• Kwanzaa Clip Art & Templates
  
• General Holiday & Winter

Microsoft Works Winter Holiday Templates 

Odds & Ends

 

• Family Newsletter
   
• Holiday Music CD case insert template and (Avery 5824) label
  
• Holiday Party Planner Template
  
• Letter to Santa Clause
  
• Santa Hat OneNote Stationary
  
• Snowflake (Avery) Decals

1. Office 2010 Tool: Compatibility Inspector compares existing (legacy) code against the Office 2010 object model by using a text search for known properties and methods that have changed. You can run the tool against specific projects. You also have the option to mark those areas in the code where text search has identified a possible object model match. The comment will include description of what was found along with possible remediation link to online content or help.
   
   
2. Office 2010 Tool: Office Environment Assessment Tool is a comprehensive environment scanning tool. This tool (along with documentation) assists a customer in the assessment phase of deployment. It identifies:

• Currently installed applications and installation environment
• Add-ins currently in use by Office clients
• Programs that are not registered as add-ins but still interact with Office programs
• Report: Environmental assessment (potential upgrade issues)
• Report: Add-ins assessment--list of third party programs and information about the compatibility of those programs with Microsoft Office 2010

The individual features supported in this version (v1.0.1) of the library are:

• Windows 7 Taskbar

Jump Lists, Icon Overlay, Progress Bar, Tabbed Thumbnails, and Thumbnail Toolbars

• Windows Shell

Windows 7 Libraries
Windows Shell Search API support
Explorer Browser Control
A hierarchy of Shell Namespace entities
Windows Shell property system
Drag and Drop for Shell Objects
Windows Vista and Windows 7 Common File Dialogs, including custom controls
Known Folders and non-file system containers

• DirectX

Direct3D 11.0, Direct3D 10.1/10.0, DXGI 1.0/1.1, Direct2D 1.0, DirectWrite, Windows Imaging Component (WIC) APIs

• Windows Vista and Windows 7 Task Dialogs
• Sensor Platform APIs
• Extended Linguistic Services APIs
• Power Management APIs
• Application Restart and Recovery APIs
• Network List Manager APIs
• Command Link control and System defined Shell icons

 

Microsoft's Forefront Team has (finally) joined Twitter. (Thanks Joel)

Microsoft Forefront Team Twitter Feed --> @MS_Forefront  

• SPELLING BEE - Family Guy & Windows - Peter, patriarch of the Griffin household, tries his hardest to spell Windows 7.

    

 

• STATE OF WINDOWS 7 - Family Guy & Windows - Thanks to Windows 7, Stewies plan to rule the world is now simplified.

 

 

• WINDOWS STEWIE - Family Guy & Windows - Stewie claims Windows 7 was his idea. Get in line, Stewie. 

 

  
  (Thanks Brad!)

 

Microsoft's Office Project 2010 Team has (finally) joined Twitter. (Thanks Steven)

Office Project 2010 Team Twitter Feed --> @MSFTProject 

 

Microsoft Office Language Interface Pack 2010 Beta provides a user interface for:

 

• Microsoft Excel 2010 Beta
• Microsoft Outlook 2010 Beta
• Microsoft PowerPoint 2010 Beta
• Microsoft Word 2010 Beta

 

Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac Home & Student Edition will be available for only $99 starting this Friday, November 27, through Monday, November 30!