Friday, July 30, 2010

Microsoft slates IE9 beta for September

Microsoft slates IE9 beta for September
MIcrosoft will ship a beta of Internet Explorer 9 (IE9) in September, a company executive said today.

If the timeline is accurate, the IE9 beta release will come a month later than earlier speculation, which had settled on August, a pick based in large part on PowerPoint slides purportedly from a Microsoft MCTS Training presentation that focused on Windows 8 , the next iteration of the company's OS.
Gartner Research Report: Magic Quadrant for Application Delivery Controllers, 2009: Download this special report

Today, Kevin Turner, Microsoft's chief operating officer, said that IE9 would reach beta this fall. "We're really excited about IE9, which will be beta and coming out in September," said Turner during the company's annual day-long presentation to Wall Street analysts.

Turner also boasted of Internet Explorer's recent turnaround, claiming that it had gained usage share the last two months.

According to Web analytics company Net Applications, IE did increase its global share by a record six-tenths of a percentage point during June. However, Net Applications had IE losing, not gaining, ground worldwide in May.

As of June 30, IE accounted for an estimated 60.3% of all browsers used during the month.

Since March, when the company debuted a rough-around-the-edges IE9 developer preview, the company has updated the bare-bones browser twice, most recently in late June .

After Turner's announcement of a September beta for IE9, Microsoft declined to answer additional questions, including when during the month users could expect the more stable preview, or whether the beta would be open to everyone, as the developer previews have been.

"We do not have any additional specifics to share at this time about when Internet Explorer 9 Beta will be available," a company spokeswoman said.

Microsoft has also refused to name a release schedule for the final build of IE9. Most pundits now believe Microsoft won't wrap up the browser until 2011.

That will be the case if Microsoft MCITP Certification mimics the timeline it used for Internet Explorer 8 (IE8), which reached the beta milestone in March 2008 but didn't ship until March 2009 .

Using IE8's schedule as a guide, users can expect to see the final version of IE9 in September 2011.

IE9 will run on Windows Vista and Windows 7 , but not on Windows XP, the nearly-nine-year-old operating system that still accounts for 68% of all versions of Windows still in use.

Microsoft slates IE9 beta for September

Microsoft slates IE9 beta for September
MIcrosoft will ship a beta of Internet Explorer 9 (IE9) in September, a company executive said today.

If the timeline is accurate, the IE9 beta release will come a month later than earlier speculation, which had settled on August, a pick based in large part on PowerPoint slides purportedly from a Microsoft MCTS Training presentation that focused on Windows 8 , the next iteration of the company's OS.
Gartner Research Report: Magic Quadrant for Application Delivery Controllers, 2009: Download this special report

Today, Kevin Turner, Microsoft's chief operating officer, said that IE9 would reach beta this fall. "We're really excited about IE9, which will be beta and coming out in September," said Turner during the company's annual day-long presentation to Wall Street analysts.

Turner also boasted of Internet Explorer's recent turnaround, claiming that it had gained usage share the last two months.

According to Web analytics company Net Applications, IE did increase its global share by a record six-tenths of a percentage point during June. However, Net Applications had IE losing, not gaining, ground worldwide in May.

As of June 30, IE accounted for an estimated 60.3% of all browsers used during the month.

Since March, when the company debuted a rough-around-the-edges IE9 developer preview, the company has updated the bare-bones browser twice, most recently in late June .

After Turner's announcement of a September beta for IE9, Microsoft declined to answer additional questions, including when during the month users could expect the more stable preview, or whether the beta would be open to everyone, as the developer previews have been.

"We do not have any additional specifics to share at this time about when Internet Explorer 9 Beta will be available," a company spokeswoman said.

Microsoft has also refused to name a release schedule for the final build of IE9. Most pundits now believe Microsoft won't wrap up the browser until 2011.

That will be the case if Microsoft MCITP Certification mimics the timeline it used for Internet Explorer 8 (IE8), which reached the beta milestone in March 2008 but didn't ship until March 2009 .

Using IE8's schedule as a guide, users can expect to see the final version of IE9 in September 2011.

IE9 will run on Windows Vista and Windows 7 , but not on Windows XP, the nearly-nine-year-old operating system that still accounts for 68% of all versions of Windows still in use.

Microsoft research depth enabled Kinect

Mundie: Microsoft's research depth enabled Kinect
Few companies have the research depth to build something like Kinect, Microsoft's forthcoming Xbox add-on that allows a user to control a game through body movements -- in fact, Microsoft itself initially thought it would be impossible, its top research executive said Thursday.

Microsoft MCTS Training came up with the concept behind Kinect after the Wii proved there is a gaming segment beyond the traditional young male, said Craig Mundie, Microsoft's chief research and strategy officer, speaking at the company's annual analyst day. The company sought to advance the Wii idea by getting rid of the controller completely, he said.
Least Privilege Application Compatibility for Windows 7 Migrations: Download now

People in the Xbox business unit researched the concept and determined it couldn't be done, he said. "They concluded it was impossible. It wasn't going to work," he said.

But then they decided to approach workers in Microsoft's research arm. Researchers there in a wide array of fields including depth sensing, machine learning, speech recognition, gestural interface, computer vision, identity recognition, sound processing and parallel computing got together to build what is now known as Kinect.

"To build this product, you had to have all of them," Mundie said. Few if any other companies are likely to have researchers in all of those fields, he said.

Microsoft will have gone, in three years, from "impossible to shipping" when it starts sending out Kinects, Mundie said. The Kinect will be available in early November, he said.

The 3-D sensing technology for Kinect comes from the Israeli chip-design startup PrimeSense. The technology senses a user's movements, such as a kick, jump or punch. PrimeSense is supplying the chips for Kinect, which had been called "Project Natal" during research and development, as well as licensing the reference design for the 3D sensor.

The concept behind Kinect has applications beyond gaming, Mundie noted. "It portends a revolution in the way people will interact with computers," Mundie said.

But Kinect is only one half of the puzzle. While it handles natural user interface on the input side, computers will also need a natural interface on the output side. To display a combination of the two, Mundie showed a video clip of a research product the company has been working on. It showed a woman speaking with an avatar of a nurse on a computer about her son's illness. The woman and the avatar interacted as a patient might talk to a nurse Microsoft MCITP Certification.

Microsoft research depth enabled Kinect

Mundie: Microsoft's research depth enabled Kinect
Few companies have the research depth to build something like Kinect, Microsoft's forthcoming Xbox add-on that allows a user to control a game through body movements -- in fact, Microsoft itself initially thought it would be impossible, its top research executive said Thursday.

Microsoft MCTS Training came up with the concept behind Kinect after the Wii proved there is a gaming segment beyond the traditional young male, said Craig Mundie, Microsoft's chief research and strategy officer, speaking at the company's annual analyst day. The company sought to advance the Wii idea by getting rid of the controller completely, he said.
Least Privilege Application Compatibility for Windows 7 Migrations: Download now

People in the Xbox business unit researched the concept and determined it couldn't be done, he said. "They concluded it was impossible. It wasn't going to work," he said.

But then they decided to approach workers in Microsoft's research arm. Researchers there in a wide array of fields including depth sensing, machine learning, speech recognition, gestural interface, computer vision, identity recognition, sound processing and parallel computing got together to build what is now known as Kinect.

"To build this product, you had to have all of them," Mundie said. Few if any other companies are likely to have researchers in all of those fields, he said.

Microsoft will have gone, in three years, from "impossible to shipping" when it starts sending out Kinects, Mundie said. The Kinect will be available in early November, he said.

The 3-D sensing technology for Kinect comes from the Israeli chip-design startup PrimeSense. The technology senses a user's movements, such as a kick, jump or punch. PrimeSense is supplying the chips for Kinect, which had been called "Project Natal" during research and development, as well as licensing the reference design for the 3D sensor.

The concept behind Kinect has applications beyond gaming, Mundie noted. "It portends a revolution in the way people will interact with computers," Mundie said.

But Kinect is only one half of the puzzle. While it handles natural user interface on the input side, computers will also need a natural interface on the output side. To display a combination of the two, Mundie showed a video clip of a research product the company has been working on. It showed a woman speaking with an avatar of a nurse on a computer about her son's illness. The woman and the avatar interacted as a patient might talk to a nurse Microsoft MCITP Certification.

Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Microsoft Security Essentials beta out just when it needed most

Microsoft Security Essentials beta out just when it needed most
As Microsoft and everyone else running a Windows shop scrambles to thwart a “highly dangerous zero-day vulnerability,” the software giant stays on schedule, today releasing a beta version of the next Microsoft MCTS Training Security Essentials anti-malware service.

Security Essentials, launched in September 2009, is free software that protects computers running ”genuine” versions of Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7. On a blog post Tuesday, Microsoft’s Brandon LeBlanc itemizes the new features of the beta:

Windows firewall integration. During setup, Security Essentials gives users the option of turning the Windows Firewall on or off.

Enhanced protection for web-based threats. Security Essentials integrates with the Internet Explorer Web browser to protect against Web-based threats.

New protection engine. The beta offers enhanced performance, detection and cleanup of malware.

Network inspection system. Security Essentials will now have built-in protection from network-based exploits.

It’s unlikely the new Microsoft Security Essentials beta will protect against the latest zero-day vulnerability since so little is known about it -- except that it’s bad. As Network World's Jon Brodkin reported, the threat "allows attackers to hack systems using malicious shortcut files. The vulnerability could be exploited remotely, but is more likely to be exploited using removable drives, such as USB sticks, according to Microsoft MCITP Certification." The company said it has some "workarounds" to minimize the threat but no patch as of yet.

Security Essentials ranked fourth in market share -- at 7.48 percent -- among free computer security software offerings, according to a study released earlier this month by Opswat, a security software vendor.

This latest beta version of Security Essentials is available now on a limited, first-come-first-served basis in English, Israel and Brazilian Portuguese. It will be available in China in Simplified Chinese later this year.

Microsoft Security Essentials beta out just when it needed most

Microsoft Security Essentials beta out just when it needed most
As Microsoft and everyone else running a Windows shop scrambles to thwart a “highly dangerous zero-day vulnerability,” the software giant stays on schedule, today releasing a beta version of the next Microsoft MCTS Training Security Essentials anti-malware service.

Security Essentials, launched in September 2009, is free software that protects computers running ”genuine” versions of Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7. On a blog post Tuesday, Microsoft’s Brandon LeBlanc itemizes the new features of the beta:

Windows firewall integration. During setup, Security Essentials gives users the option of turning the Windows Firewall on or off.

Enhanced protection for web-based threats. Security Essentials integrates with the Internet Explorer Web browser to protect against Web-based threats.

New protection engine. The beta offers enhanced performance, detection and cleanup of malware.

Network inspection system. Security Essentials will now have built-in protection from network-based exploits.

It’s unlikely the new Microsoft Security Essentials beta will protect against the latest zero-day vulnerability since so little is known about it -- except that it’s bad. As Network World's Jon Brodkin reported, the threat "allows attackers to hack systems using malicious shortcut files. The vulnerability could be exploited remotely, but is more likely to be exploited using removable drives, such as USB sticks, according to Microsoft MCITP Certification." The company said it has some "workarounds" to minimize the threat but no patch as of yet.

Security Essentials ranked fourth in market share -- at 7.48 percent -- among free computer security software offerings, according to a study released earlier this month by Opswat, a security software vendor.

This latest beta version of Security Essentials is available now on a limited, first-come-first-served basis in English, Israel and Brazilian Portuguese. It will be available in China in Simplified Chinese later this year.

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

The Ongoing Transformation Of Hardware

The Ongoing Transformation Of Hardware
Before the 1970s the word “hardware” usually meant one of two things: the beautiful chrome handles on your new dresser and the kitchen cabinets, or the hammer, saw, and nails that you purchased at the local hardware store. Then came the computer boom! Hardware took on a new meaning! If all the programming that made a computer work were called software, then the hard box and its components took on the name of hardware Microsoft MCTS Training.

Hardware became a massive, competitive industry that expanded beyond the largest, most powerful dreams of the 1970s. Made of hundreds of various components that can be added, disconnected or exchanged depending on which features you want, the computer has a versatility that is limited only by ones imagination, budget and, realistically, one’s patience.

The basic components consist of the system unit itself (which contains the so-called brains of the computer, the CPU, plus various items referred to as ‘boards’), the keyboard, mouse, speakers, and of course, the monitor. To these basics one can add printers, scanners, PC cameras, digital cameras, video cameras, and joysticks.

During the mid 1980s several home-type computers became available for the courageous home-computer geek. These used only floppy disks, for the hard disk was still not portable in size. Writing a book could use up to 75 floppy disks and nevertheless was a major improvement over creating or working with a typewriter.

After a few years the amazingly huge 10 MB Hard Disk came out for home use, replacing the need for using floppies except for backups. Since 10 MB didn’t really hold all much data, the world of floppies was still lively.

There was a word whispered about in murmurs in computer circles back then: Gigabyte! It meant something so huge in size that the human mind couldn’t quite grasp it. Then it happened. A 100 MB hard disk evolved into a 1 Gigabyte hard disk. People wondered if it could possibly be reliable. And while they wondered, computer stores started selling 10 Gigabyte hard disks. People blinked and the hard disks were 100 Gigabytes.

While the capacity of the hard disk increased, the size of the outside hardware began to get smaller and smaller, and before long – there it is, sitting in the palm of your hand! The flexibility of the hardware opens the door to thousands of various software applications: now, instead of using the keyboard to punch in letters, one can just talk to a computer and it will record what was said. Modern e-mail delights people of all ages as they communicate in seconds around the world. And, computers can also read your e-mail back to you in the language of your choice Microsoft MCITP Certification.

The competition between the hardware manufacturers has resulted in prices dropping and dropping, creating a beautiful opportunity for people of all income levels and all ages to now enjoy a computer in their own home.

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