Moonlight 0.8 Downloads for Unix Systems

Moonlight

A page to track the various projects that make up the Mono-based implementation of Silverlight.

The goals are:

• To run Silverlight applications on Linux.
• To provide a Linux SDK to build Silverlight applications.
• To reuse the Silverlight engine we have built for desktop applications.

You can see screenshots of the work in progress here.

Moonlight is an open source implementation of Microsoft Silverlight for Unix systems.

More details and download

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Grand VS Offer - Offer on the next Generation of Development Tools

 

Developing smart client applications with rich user experience continues to be better, faster and more profitable with this amazing discount offer available on Visual Studio. Purchase Visual Studio licenses under Microsoft Open License (License + Software Assurance) before September 24th and take advantage of the huge discount as per below slabs.

Participants obtaining new Open license (License plus Software Assurance)

1 or more Visual Studio Pro with MSDN  Professional Get 10% discount  1 or more Visual Studio Pro with MSDN  Premium Get 12% discount  1 or more Visual Studio Team  Development  with MSDN Premium Get 15% discount *Terms & conditions apply

SO WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR? ACT FAST TO AVAIL THIS OFFER ON THE NEXT GENERATION OF DEVELOPMENT TOOLS! Offer valid from August 20 – September 24, 2008

Visit here : Microsoft.

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Discover resources to improve your productivity! With " www.ConnectWithLife.co.in "

Microsoft products and tools provide the productivity boost you need to quickly complete time-consuming developing tasks. Like Microsoft Visual Studio Team System, which provides real-time visibility into project activities and tracking, making it easy to assemble project tracking reports. Which means you don't spend your evenings in the company of your monitor.

Discover more resources designed to help you work better and get more out of life. 
Virtual Tech Days is on its way. Check this site on 2nd September

 

 

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Get Internet Explorer 8 Beta 2 , Grab the latest version of Microsoft's Web Browser

See what we’ve done to put the web at your service and make Internet Explorer 8 the best browser for everyday browsing.

Accelerators

Accelerators let you efficiently complete your everyday browsing activities like mapping directions, translating words, emailing your friends, and more in just a few mouse clicks. Learn more.

Common accelerator showing driving directions

InPrivate Browsing

Browse the web without saving your history with Internet Explorer 8’s InPrivate Browsing. Now you can shop for that special gift with confidence knowing your family won’t accidentally find out or use a shared computer without leaving a trace. Learn More.

     The InPrivate button on the Address Bar

Web Slices

Keep up with changes to the sites you care about most. Add a Web Slice and you won’t have to go back to the same website again and again for updates on news, stock quotes, online auctions, weather, or even sports scores. Learn more.

                      A common Web Slice

Search suggestions

Search smarter with detailed suggestions from your favorite search providers and browsing history. See visual previews and get suggested content topics while you type in the enhanced Instant Search Box. Learn more.

                   A search showing visual content

SmartScreen Filter

New security features help to protect you against deceptive and malicious websites which can compromise your data, privacy and identity. Learn more.
A blocked website because reported as unsafe

Download it Now.

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Adobe Photoshop Elements 7 (beta)

In the beta release of Adobe Photoshop Elements 7, this photo editor and organizer hasn't made a major leap forward, but in convenience and alacrity, it's still several steps ahead of comparable packages. The most notable news is the major push Adobe is making to add online functions. Although the version I tested was a beta, I found its editing functions surprisingly stable and quick. Those familiar with the editing portion of previous iterations will find the same full, quick, guided edit modes in their accustomed places, with a few appreciated additions, too.

Read the Adobe Photoshop Elements 7 (beta) full preview....

Source : here

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Windows Live Hotmail Wave 3 Coming Soon!

Faster than ever. It'll be up to 70 percent faster to sign in and see your e-mail.¹ Of course, along with more speed, you'll get powerful technology that deflects spam and helps protect you against viruses and scams.

Simpler, cleaner design. We're combining the classic and full versions of Hotmail, so you get access to everything Hotmail has to offer. The reading pane will let you check out your e-mail without having to open it up.

Put more you in your e-mail. New themes and colors will let you design the look of your inbox, so your personality can really shine through.

Closer to your contacts. Just start typing in the "To" line and you'll get a choice of e-mail contacts that most closely match what you've typed. Plus, it'll be even easier to e-mail groups of people.

Cool stuff coming soon. We've got even more great updates to Hotmail for you to look forward to, like ever-increasing storage², the ability to IM right from Hotmail, and new calendar features that make it easier to share your calendar with family and friends.

Take a look:
Windows live hotmail

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Photoshop for Windows Mobile

Adobe may be the number one name in desktop graphics (and its Flash technology still rules Web video), but image editing is slowly but surely escaping the bounds of the traditional computer, and Adobe is working hard to create a presence in those new areas.

So today, while also announcing new versions of its consumer-level still and video image editors (Photoshop Elements 7 and Premier Elements 7), Adobe also revealed plans to release a beta of its first Windows Mobile application, with support for a limited number of handsets, next month.

The mobile app will work with Adobe's existing Web-based image editing and storage service, Photoshop Express, which is being rebranded as Photoshop.com. While a basic version with 5GB storage will remain available for free, regardless of whether you buy Elements or Premiere, Adobe will offer people who purchase either of the packages separately ($100 each) or the two as a $150 bundle, the option of upgrading to Photoshop.com Plus, with 20GB of storage, for $50 a year.

The idea is for all these products to integrate with each other. The Windows Mobile app won't have image-editing features per se, but it will let you organize and easily upload your camera phone creatons to Photoshop.com for sharing and editing. (In the next day or so we will be posting a roundup review of Web-based image editors, including the app formerly known as Photoshop Express).

At launch, the Photoshop.com Windows Mobile app will be available only for the Motorola Q9 Music and Q9 Global; Samsung's Blackjack I and II; and several members of the Treo 700 series.

However, Adobe says you'll be able to use Shozu to move images to Photoshop.com from an iPhone, BlackBerry Pearl, Motorola Razr, Nokia 5310, and Nokia 6301.

Review By : PC World

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Silverlight 2 (Beta 2) Blueprint for SharePoint

The Silverlight Blueprint for Sharepoint is now in Beta 2. Code for the version which works with Silverlight 2 Beta 2 is now available at http://www.codeplex.com/SL4SP/Release/ProjectReleases.aspx?ReleaseId=16420.

 

The updated release of the Silverlight Blueprint for SharePoint is a little different from the original blueprints as with this release we've created a set of self-contained samples that using the blueprint methodology you can deploy to your SharePoint site to test out the Silverlight applications. The goal of the blueprints is to give you some guidance on how to integrate Silverlight applications with SharePoint. There are many possibilities here, and we've put together just a few to get you started.

Note: Make sure you amend the web.config file in the root folder of your SharePoint site to allow for your Silverlight application. We discuss this and provide a link to a sample web.config file, in the FAQ document located on the Releases tab.

For more information about Software-plus-Services Blueprints please visit out main landing page on Channel9: http://channel9.msdn.com/blueprints.

Source : here

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Windows Live Messenger 9 Build 14.0.3921.717 leaked

This is Windows Live Messenger version 2009 aka Windows Live Messenger 9, the latest version of Windows Live Messenger from Microsoft. WLM, right now, is in beta stage, so ONLY beta testers will be able to sign in!

Today, shortly after 0 AM, the latest Windows Live Messenger Build has been leaked. This Build features WPF effects and has a well designed User Interface

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Streets and Trips 2009 trial edition

Overview

Every trip is a good one with Microsoft Streets & Trips 2009! With tools and features to help you create custom routes, set driving preferences, plan breaks, and calculate travel costs, this trip planning software makes travel easier, whether you're going around town or anywhere across the U.S. and Canada. As the #1 best-selling travel and map software, it gets you where you're going quickly, easily, and without all the guesswork.

 

System Requirements

• Supported Operating Systems: Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 2; Windows Vista; Windows Vista 64-bit Editions Service Pack 1; Windows XP Service Pack 2

• PC with 300 megahertz or higher processor clock speed
• Windows Vista® with Service Pack 1, Windows® XP with Service Pack 2, or Windows Server® 2003 with Service Pack 2 (64-bit versions of Windows XP and Windows Server excluded).
• Internet Explorer® 5.5 browser software or later, Internet Explorer 7.0 included (will not displace your primary browser)
• For Windows Vista: 1 GB of RAM
• For Windows XP: 128 MB of RAM (256 MB recommended)
• For Windows Server 2003: 256 MB of RAM
• Running additional applications simultaneously may require additional memory
• Available hard-disk space: 1.9 GB. Some users may require up to an extra 100MB for System Files Update (hard disk usage will vary depending on configuration)
• DVD-ROM drive
• Super VGA (1024 x 768) or higher resolution monitor with 256 colors
• Microsoft Mouse, Microsoft IntelliMouse®, or compatible pointing device

Additional items or services required to use certain features:
• For Voice Output: any of the operating systems listed in the above system requirements and a compatible soundcard
• Microsoft Exchange, Internet SMTP/POP3, IMAP4, or MAPI-compliant messaging software required to use Send to Mobile and Send To as attachment; Microsoft Office Outlook® 2003 or Office Outlook 2007 required to use Send To as picture
• 14,400-baud or higher recommended
• Broadband Internet service strongly recommended for online search
• Some Internet functionality may require Internet access and payment of a separate fee to an Internet service provider; local and/or long-distance telephone toll charges may apply.

 

File Name:	ST_2009.exe
Version:	2009
Date Published:	8/22/2008
Language:	English
Download Size:	1173.4 MB

 

Download 

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Microsoft Slashes the Price of Office 2007 Ultimate by 91%

Microsoft has slashed the price of the Ultimate SKU of its Office 2007 System by no less than 91%, taking into consideration the estimated retail price offered by the company. The resulting offering made available under The Ultimate Steal brand umbrella is an initiative geared towards students on several markets worldwide. According to the Redmond company, The Ultimate Steal will be opened to students in the U.S., Australia, Mexico, Taiwan, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Italy, Korea, Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom.

"Students responded overwhelmingly to The Ultimate Steal last year, telling us that they need Microsoft Office for their studies and want more flexible ways to get the latest version," revealed Naman Khan, worldwide public sector strategy manager for Microsoft Office. "This offer provides students with an accessible and convenient means to acquire technology at a great price to help them reach their academic goals. The Ultimate Steal is the latest offer in a long history of compelling academic offers from Microsoft to students, and we’re happy to extend the program to several additional countries this year."

For as little as $59.95, Office Ultimate 2007 is indeed nothing short of a steal, offering students the following components: Access, Accounting Express, Excel, Groove, InfoPath, OneNote, Outlook, PowerPoint, Publisher and Word. In order to access the offering students must possess a valid email address associated with an .EDU domain for an educational institution. For the time being the program is live only in the U.S. but the countries listed at the beginning of this article will follow, with Microsoft promising to include even additional markets.

Source : Softpedia.

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Visual Studio Team System 2008 Database Edition GDR release

Very happy to announce that Gert and co just released CTP16, of the Visual Studio Team System 2008 Database Edition GDR release. We are yet another step closer to reaching the finish line which is waiting for us at PDC in Oct of this year.

This release adds the following features:

• VSDBCMD.EXE
  
  • We added independent commandline deployment and reverse engineer, which can be used on machines that do not have Visual Studio installed, in order to deploy the results of a database project build (.dbschema file), or if you need to generate a .dbschema file so you can for example compare it, this commandline tool will let you do that as well.
• Database Project (.dbproj) Upgrades
  
  • CTP15 enabled upgrade of project files, but did not included updating Data Generation Plans (.DGEN files), which now be upgraded when they are opened the first time inside the DGEN designer.
• Schema Compare
  
  • You can now choose the SQL Command Variables (SQLCMD) to use during a Schema Compare session by clicking the “Specify SQLCMD variables” button on the Schema Compare toolbar. This will allow you to compare projects that are using SQLCMD variables and provide the contextual information via the variable values.
  • You can now set the Schema Compare options at the session level, in addition to Tools->Options, by clicking the Settings button on the Schema Compare toolbar.
  • And you can now save your Schema Compare session and reopen it again. We also added an item template for this, name "Schema Comparison"
    
• Extensibility
  
  • We finished the namespace and assembly naming cleanup. As a result all assembly names and namespaces have been changed. This means if you have code leveraging our extensibility mechanisms you need to update the assembly references and namespaces in your code.
  • We added the ability to add your own refactoring types! So now you can create your own refactoring command and have it change all the required references inside the schema. This is above and beyond the ability to create your own refactoring targets (the sources your want to change by an refactoring type), static code analysis rules, data generators, data distributions and test conditions.
  • We now also offer public access to our TSQL parsers for SQL Server 2000, 2005 and 2008, including the script generator functionality.
• And then there are many more enhancements in the parser, interpreter, validation, build and deploy.

Pre-requisites:

CTP16 requires the following components to be installed:

• Visual Studio 2008 SP1 RTM
• Microsoft SQL Server Compact Edition 3.5 SP1

Download location:

You can download CTP16 from the following location:

• http://download.microsoft.com/download/0/a/e/0ae1153a-8798-474a-93e6-d19299f37c8b/setup.exe
• http://download.microsoft.com/download/0/a/e/0ae1153a-8798-474a-93e6-d19299f37c8b/Readme.mht
• http://download.microsoft.com/download/0/a/e/0ae1153a-8798-474a-93e6-d19299f37c8b/VSTS 2008 Database Edition GDR Documentation.zip

NOTE: If you have a previous version of the GDR installed, you will have to first uninstall this and then install the latest CTP16 bits.

To set the expectations we are not 100% done with SQL Server 2008 support, the parser was just code complete after we were done with this release and this work is now being consumed by the interpreter, script generator, validation and build and deployment components. There will be a public release candidate once we are code complete, so one more release between now and RTM.

We are looking forward to your feedback which you can post to our MSDN forum and please file bugs and improvement requests using our Microsoft Connect site.

News Source : here .

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2008 Beijing Olympics Flash Drives (The Best from Lenovo)

China just kicked off 2008 Summer Olympics with an opening ceremony that cost upwards of $300 million USD - a budget that guarantees the most spectacular fireworks and pageantry in the one-of-a kind bird nest-like venue. Lenovo as the first Chinese company to throw in its support behind Beijing Olympic Committee is the official flash drive designer and manufacturer for this world's sport event. To make back all the money poured into the sponsorship program, Lenovo has released several limited editions of the Olympic-themed flash drives. And here they are.

You've probably seen the first one - already made public in the blogsphere long ago - has the same material as the Olympic torch. The $980 RMB 4GB thumbdrive features the game logo in the center which is surrounded by some swirly cloud in red.

The Mascot-series consists of six 4GB flash drives with their front side printed with a Fuwa image and the one with the Beijing Olympic logo. This set goes for $199 RMB.

As for the last one, if someone gives this to you as a present, you must be some very prestigious person as you become one of the ten owners of this extremely limited edition drive set. Five 1GB titanium drives with swiveling USB plug come in a special mahogany box as shown below.

Source : here.


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Photosynth goes live!

From today Photosynth is publicly so you can not only view others 'synths' but create and upload your own using the free Photosynth tools.
Photosynth is a new technology which allows you to stitch a collection of digital photos of a location or object into a 3D, 360 degree experience.



Each synth is created by detecting overlap/similarities in 3-300 photos and then stitching them all together to form a 3D recreation of the subject.

 
  


Photosynth is based on Seadragon technology, to find out more and download the tools visit photosynth.net.

News source : here .


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How many people make Windows 7?

Microsoft's Engineering Windows 7 has a long post by Steve Sinofsky on the background to Windows' development. He lists the various groups that contribute to the project -- from Applets and Gadgets to Windows App Platform -- and says:

we create feature teams with n developers, n testers, and 1/2n program managers. This ratio is pretty constant across the team. On average a feature team is about 40 developers across the Windows 7 project.

So, 40 developers times 23 groups comes to 920 people, so the total is probably around a thousand. Assuming they cost Microsoft $100,000 per year each, that comes to $100 million a year.

It sounds like a big team, but maybe not so big if you break it down. If there are 40 people working on something like IE8 or Media Center, that means there are (following Sinofsky's formula) only 16 actual programmers on each team.

Is that too many, or too few?

IBM had over a thousand people working on OS/2, and at the time, most people reckoned that was bloated.....

Source : here.


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Windows Mobile 6.1 update released for Motorola Q9h

 

 

Attention all Motorola Q9h owners: Motorola has released an official Windows Mobile 6.1 update that you can download for free from the company's Web site.


The upgrade obviously brings the latest version of the mobile operating system to the AT&T smartphone, as well as promise of improved performance and speed. As with all updates, be sure to back up all your data since the process will wipe your device.

News Source : here.



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10 Gadgets That Look (Almost) Good Enough to Eat

1. Hamburger Phone	2. Vavolo Chocolate Doughnut 1GB	3. Croissant Wrist Rest	4. Toast Clock
5. Fried Rice in a Spoon Cell Phone Strap	6. Electronic Yodeling Pickle	7. USB Fruit Flash Drive	8. Solid Alliance Kobe Beef Case
9. Vavolo Fortune Cookies USB Drive	10. Diner Dirt Buster

Add Word/Excel 97-2003 Documents Back to the "New" Context Menu After Installing Office 2007

If you are using Office 2007 in an environment where everybody else is using Office 2003, you might have already set Excel or Word to always save to 2003 format, but what about when you create new documents using the New menu? The only choices are now to create files in 2007 format, but we can add the old ones back.

In case you aren't sure what I mean, just right-click on the desktop and choose New from the context menu, and you'll see Microsoft Office Word Document in the list, which creates a blank .docx file.

We can add the old item back to the list with a simple registry hack.

Manual Registry Hack

The "New" items are stored under the file type definition, under a ShellNew key. In order to create a blank document, you have to add a key named Nullfile to the right-hand side.

Open up regedit.exe through the start menu search or run box, and then browse down to the following key for the .doc extension:

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.doc\Word.Document.8\ShellNew

Simply create a new string value on the right-hand side and name it Nullfile. You might have to wait a few minutes before it shows up in the New list, or you can always log out and back in.

You can do the same for the .xls file extension for Excel 97-2003 documents by browsing down to this key, and create the same Nullfile value on the right-hand side.

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.xls\Excel.Sheet.8\ShellNew

 

For Powerpoint 97-2003 you can browse down to the following key, creating the value again like before.

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.ppt\PowerPoint.Show.8\ShellNew

 

You should see the items on the right-hand side now, but if you don't you may have to wait a few minutes or log out and back in.

Downloadable Registry Hack

You can simply download, extract, and then double-click on one of the included files to add the information into the registry. Each file is named according to the document type. There's also included files to remove them as well.

Download AddOffice2003DocumentsToNewMenu Registry Hack

Source : here

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What is new in the ASP.NET 3.5 Extensions Preview

 

1.  Silverlight Support 

Updated the old control.. it is now called   here is an example usage:

This gives a fully functioning media player that works on Firefox, Safri, IE, mac and windows.  I can chose from 10 or so stock templates for the look and feel or grab one and customize it in Expression (it is just a bunch of Xaml) to make it fit into my site..  Oh, and notice, there is no more click-to-activate and no client side JavaScript or Xaml coding required at all! 

Oh, I didn't use it in this demo, but we also renamed to

Read more about these in the ASP.NET Silverlight quickstarts

2. AJAX Support

Updated the history support and integrated it more deeply into the product... This gives developers full control of the meaning of the browsers forward and back buttons within their applications.  Rather than the syntax, there is now a simple property on ScriptManager called "EnableHistory.  Notice I am also setting EnableStateHash to false as it makes debugging easier as it leaves the URL string human readable.. you may or may not want that in your site, so it is an option.   Then I set a server side method HistoryNavigate that handles the pushing stuff into the property bag when navigating away and pulling it out of the property bag when navigating into the page.

Then, any time your app process a user action that represents a change it state, you can add a history point this creates a new "backbutton" state.


Click to zoooom ++

Then, each time the page is navigated, you get a chance to check out that state and initialize your controls based on it.  Notice after I update the controls, I kick the UpdatePanel to update as well.. 

Read more in the Ajax quickstarts..

3. MVC within a Web Site project

There have been a ton of great MVC samples... This one I wanted to try what is not considered a best practice, but it does help you learn what is going on with MVC and web site projects.    I wanted to quickly write an RSS feed of the video in my site.   I used the data model I already had for this site, then added a very simple controller...   Notice the nice clean URLs I get?  Notice how i can pass in arguments so that folks can build up customer feeds?   It is simple to build your just about anything you can do wit Linq..

Click to zoooom ++

But the best part?  Check out the RSS feedcode.. I litterally just grabbed the feed from my blog and parameterized it based on the ViewData..  One tip, notice I had to start he Xml on the SAME LINE as the Page directives.. the ensures there is no leading whitespace (which the RSS spec does not allow)...

Click to Zoooom ++

Read the full post on this... RSS Feed with the new ASP.NET MVC Framework

4. Dynamic Data...

Ok, ok.. I didn't get a chance to add dynamic data to MySilverlightTV... but I still plan to.  In the mean time, check out Scott Hunter's new blog.. he introduces dynamic data and will be talking about it more in the future.  Also, check out the quickstarts for a very good overview..

Download the full sample here

MySilverlightTv(noVideos).zip (1.3MB)

Note, you can grab the "Data\Media" dir from the original one if you all the cool videos for a demo.

Source : here .

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