This has me really confused - I was checking my WHOIS for my domain names to see when I need to renew them, and thought I’d check out Microsoft’s WHOIS as a simple query. After going to a number of different websites to verify this, I saw this on the WHOIS search. If anyone has any idea how this could have happened, let us know.

Please note: some strong language in places. If anyone has a low disposition, please don’t read some of the things below.

Edit: Wendy, in your lame attempt to explain this one to me (bless), it seems that Google and a lot of the other big websites out there have the sam problem. It’s not down to the individual websites, it’s something to do with the WHOIS search itself. I think…

Alright everyone, I am very sorry about these being so late. Any way pictures after the jump 

This is a picture of the band Angels and Airwaves who played before Bill came on to stage, the sound system at that theater literally moved my hair. 

Here is Angels and Airwaves again. The video in the back was really amazing showing people from all over the world using Vista. 

This is when Bill first came on stage. He first started talking about his “Wow” moment and how far we have come. 

The backdrop says it all :) 

Right here we see Bill and Steve about to introduce the partners on stage and give them a plaque with Windows Vista Home Basic upgrade disc, and Office 2007 Ultimate. 

Here is Bill again; he is talking about all the testing. For some reason he thought that TechBeta and TAP were the same as the CPP… Some testers, TechBeta were a bit upset about this because they felt they worked harder than CPP (which they did by filing bugs) any way. Windows Vista is the BEST version of Windows EVER! Get Vista! 

Well being GMT+13 at the moment (@ 11.04pm) Windows Vista releases to the people of New Zealand in 1 hour. There is no flashy launch party here (as far as I know) however that launch right here in New Zealand means that the main event in New York is literally only hours away.

So what of the launch party in NYC? Well none of the “full time” staff of MSBLOG (so-to-speak) is going however we do have our very own reporter on the scene (a foreign correspondent if you will) associating himself with MSBLOG.
Mr Cullen D will be writing from the launch event that is nearly upon us. Cullen is a keen Vista/Longhorn tester so the articles he will bring us will give us poor people who can’t attend a great insight into what the launch celebration for THE greatest Operating System is like.

So don’t fret-MSBLOG will bring you the goods once again,
Stay tuned,
Look forward to it,
It should be GREAT!!!

What do you do on a quiet Friday afternoon if you have an extra billion dollars to burn?  Well, why not take a flier on some MSFT.  At the close today, 31 million shares traded driving the stock up 59 cents (1.91%).  It’s hard to imagine why someone would need to get that much stock on their sheets before the weekend, but obviously there must have been a reason.  Whether we’ll ever find out is the question.

This is of course nothing compared to the 59 dollars plus that MSFT were pulling on the Eve of the Y2K scare-perhaps MSFT need another scare to jump share prices again

Well, it went from a public site to a beta preview… and now it seems to have opened up again. I get confused, I don’t really know what they’re doing and personally I like their site at the moment and it’s easy to use, so why spoil it? Anyway you can check it out and even your localised Microsoft homepage.

1. Check out http://labs.microsoft.com/en/us for their default site (namely the United States of America)
2. You can also change the last two letters to your localised country - not all of them work but these do:
              http://labs.microsoft.com/en/gb for the United Kingdom
              http://labs.microsoft.com/en/au for Australia
              http://labs.microsoft.com/en/ca for Canda

Here’s a screenie - it’s quite big so you might want to save it to your hard drive if you have a small resolution screen.

Today at the keynote at ITForum in Barcelona, we announced the official release of Windows PowerShell 1.0!  

For those of you unfamiliar with Windows PowerShell, it is a best of breed next-generation commandline shell designed from the ground up to be flexible and powerful while still remaining easy to use. Many thanks go to our friends at MySpace.com for coming all the way to Barcelona to show how they’re using Windows PowerShell in production today for the mission critical task of maintaining and managing the second busiest website in the world.

To download Windows PowerShell, please visit: http://www.microsoft.com/powershell/download

Source: Powershell blog

Just got a private email about Zune Announcement, its devices and service will hit the shelves tomorrow!!! Here is the letter.

We’re excited to share with you that Zune devices and service will hit the shelves tomorrow!
When the team began on this voyage a few months ago their goal was fairly simple:  to create a platform that would enable new experiences and narrow the gap between artists and their audiences.  Digital entertainment stands at a transition point today.  By adding human power to the equation – both the power of the individual and the power communities we are excited to see where we this journey takes us.
 
To make sure they could compete, not only did they design Zune to be the best device and software on the market today, but they also bet on the basic elements to allow the experience to grow with you.  For example, by providing a rich screen and wi-fi in every device they added a layer of future proofing for new innovative scenarios.  And of course, they designed the entire system with the idea of ever expanding on the core principle of Connected Entertainment through software and services.

And speaking of performing, let’s talk about the music that is launching the device at venues all over the U.S.  Today we have free flash concerts popping up in six cities across the country.  Check out the post-show comments, photographs and video from the concerts available at http://www.zune.net beginning this evening.
 
We’re sure you’ve seen a lot of press coverage since we first announced our Zune plans.  Like anything of this nature a lot of it has been great and of course some of it has been critical.  That’s OK.  One thing for sure is that a LOT of people are talking about it.  Here are some quotes we thought showed an appreciation of how our social story is taking shape.
 
“Most analysts say this sharing feature - which Apple has yet to offer on the iPod - may form the kernel of an advantage that Microsoft will exploit to build a community of digital media consumers. Microsoft could also link Zune’s online customers with those using its Xbox 360, who typically sign up and use Xbox Live, an online, real- time gaming service.” - Kevin O’Brien, International Herald Tribune
 
And from today’s New York Times:
“There is going to be a lot of noise this holiday around the latest attempt to take a bite out of Apple’s market share — Microsoft’s Zune. The combination device and service is backed with a marketing campaign valued in the hundreds of millions, as Microsoft aims to set the Zune apart as a community-based music-sharing experience. … The debate rages over how big a draw this functionality (referencing the send feature) will be, but already Microsoft has succeeded in capturing a great deal of awareness over the product, something Apple is accustomed to having all to itself.”  – Reuters shopping guide appearing in The New York Times today.
 
So now the answer to the question that we know is top of your mind – how and when can we buy a Zune player?  Be sure to tell your friends and family that the Zune players are hitting the shelves in over 30,000 retail outlets tomorrow (the largest retail rollout of any Microsoft product ever).  

Enjoy!
Sheri Sullivan
WinClient Communications Team

If you are intrested, you can see some screenshots of the new Microsoft Windows Vista RTM build HERE. These screenshots also include the Windows Vista Ultimate extras that were a mystery in previous builds.

Enjoy.
Source: Active Win

I remember starting out beta testing-signing up on beta place ages ago to become a Microsoft Beta tester… Well overnight betaplace (beta.microsoft.com) has vanished, replaced by it successor Microsoft Connect (connect.microsoft.com) which has just recently been updated to version 2.2.
I am sure a lot of the MSFT staff will miss betaplace as Connect is sometimes labelled as a slow piece of software (but it can only get better right?)

Farewell beta place-Long live the memories

A little while ago The guys at the Feedback Loop posted about a Microsoft Connect 2.2 Preview.

Well as of last night Connect 2.2 has been deployed to the public (you may notice some slight UI changes when you next visit)

Not sure if it’s me but it seams faster. Great to see this upgrade.
Checkout the Feedback Loop’s Blog post

Computer World reports that PC manufacturers which had expected to get their hands on the final version of Windows Vista today will have to wait a couple more weeks for the operating system, according to sources familiar with Microsoft Corp.’s plans.Microsoft originally targeted today for Vista’s release to manufacturing, but a last-minute bug that “took most of the Vista team by surprise” caused an unexpected delay, the Vista team discovered the bug, which “would totally crash the system, requiring a complete reinstall,” in Vista Build 5824 on Oct. 13. The team fixed the bug a week later in Vista Build 5840, he said, but the delivery of the operating system to PC makers was delayed. Therefore the team is now targeting a new date of Nov. 8 for Vista’s release to manufacturing.

Although this dosen’t change my perspective on Vista being a really great operating system-finding a bug at the last minute does put a damper on its credibility….hopefully that’s the only hiccup and Vista will be the very best Operating System out there today.

Earlier this week a server on the backend of the WGA service experienced a bug that resulted in a temporary outage. As a result, some systems were incorrectly flagged as being non-genuine, and we want to confirm for those who contacted us about this that it was indeed an error.  The WGA team has apologized for any disruption this may have caused for our customers.
The bug that caused this issue was identified and fixed within twenty four hours of being discovered.

1. Here are the specific steps that can be taken now to fix this issue on any affected system that isn’t genuine:
   Delete the data.dat file from C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Windows Genuine Advantage\data (The drive letter will depend on where the OS was installed)
2. Revisit http://www.microsoft.com/genuine/downloads/validate.aspx to confirm whether the machine is genuine.
3. Run wgatray.exe /b from the command line to ensure that the latest validation is updated for WGA Notifications.  This command may be absent from the user’s machine and should not be considered an error.  Please ensure that this is run as an Administrator.  A reboot may be required to remove all non-genuine notifications.

The team have also implemented a webpage with special instructions that will receive any traffic from systems that are running on product keys that could have been affected by this issue.

A KB Article has been written to further point the steps to take inorder to fix the problem.

Here’s the press release from the BBC:

Quote (slightly edited)
The BBC has signed an agreement with Microsoft to explore ways of developing its digital services. The non-exclusive memorandum of understanding sets out a framework for joint projects between the two organisations.

This includes plans for next-generation web 2.0 and ways to share online content in the future. BBC director general Mark Thompson said there had been unprecedented rates of change in technology. He said: “To ensure that the BBC is able to embrace the creative challenges of the digital future, we need to forge strategic partnerships with technology companies and distributors for the benefit of licence payers.”

Mr Thompson and Ashley Highfield, director of new media and technology at the BBC, met Microsoft chairman Bill Gates on Wednesday as part of a fact-finding tour in Seattle, US. They are also speaking to other companies, including Real Networks, IBM and the makers of the virtual world Second Life. A BBC spokeswoman said the memorandum of understanding was the beginning of a dialogue between Microsoft and the BBC.

Potential areas of collaboration include search and navigation, distribution and “content enablement”. However, any procurement of new technology with the company would be subject to regulatory approval. Bill Gates said: “Microsoft’s strength is in driving digital innovation, and our vision is to open up rich, new consumer experiences that allow people to enjoy digital content anytime, anywhere and on any device.

“This vision fits squarely with the BBC’s charter to lead the industry in delivering content that is compelling and accessible.”