As a treasured member of Microsoft’s technical communities, you are invited to join us in this first ever held round of major gathering, Community Technology Update in Kuching, Malaysia. The event is about sharing and bringing together like minded folks like you together and helping to drive community awareness and event.

The brainchild and initiative of 4 Musketeers (Chan Ming Man, Patrick Yong; Jabez Gan and Walter Wong) and run by the Kuching community and for the community, this half day ‘devInTown‘ affair will uncover the cool and latest technologies surrounding , Windows Presentation Foundation, LINQ and Windows 7 - delivered by our very own Microsoft MVPs. Each session will last for 45mins and will include a community sharing session whereby we will bring you up close and personal with the MVPs and hear them share their community experiences. We will wrap things up with an interactive Q&A session to answer all your burning technical queries.

For more information regarding this event, please take a look at this link.

Microsoft announced this week that it will begin providing on-demand access to the full versions of retail video games. That means titles like BioShock (6 Ggigabytes) and Mass Effect (7 GB) can be downloaded through the Xbox Live online gaming service, which has more than 17 million members. The growth of these type of bandwidth-draining services has been a major driver in Microsoft’s decision to build its own content delivery network.

This news is hot on the heels of the planned purchase of a new Chicago Data-center worth 185 Million.

Jeff Cohen, the general manager of Microsoft’s Edge Computing Network, discussed the company’s content delivery infrastructure in his May 11 keynote at the first Content Delivery Summit. Cohen said video delivery accounted for just 10 percent of Microsoft’s content delivery in 2007, but has since grown to 40 percent, consuming as much bandwidth as the company’s “large file” downloads of software and security updates.

“The content is exploding,” Cohen said at the event, part of Streaming Media East. But the barrier to entry for the CDN market is steep. ”It takes a huge amount of capital to get into this space, even for Microsoft.”

That’s why Microsoft uses its Edge Content Network to deliver about 40 percent of the content on its network, while farming out the remaining 60 percent to existing CDN partners including Akamai (AKAM), Limelight Networks (LLNW), Level 3 (LVLT) and ChinaCache.

As Neowin points out, it may well not be for absolutely everyone, but it does appear to be so. Confirmation will be needed from Microsoft but as of yet, they are not commenting on this. Still, if it works for you, you will have access to a wealth of Office, Windows and Dynamics software for three months for absolutely nothing.

Once you make your way through the online “ordering” process, you will receive an email confirmation shortly afterwards. This will provide you with download links and your access information to begin downloading.

Hmmph looks like the rest of us miss out.

This post was retrieved from Zack W’s blog @ http://blogs.zdnet.com/igeneration (check it out)- hopefully he dosen’t mind

[Update]: Ars Technica is reporting that this offer may not be for one year as first thought, but only three months. Never-the-less, it’s best to get in early and make the most of this while you can.

[Update 2]: It appears as though there are errors in requesting keys and we are hearing that this offer may have been limited to a select few rather than public. Microsoft has not officially responded to requests for comment. (Neowin)

Check out Kristan Keeny’s Site for latest update

“Microsoft is committed to ensuring that IT professionals and developers continue to have the platform and technologies to drive maximum value and business results. Getting the most out of IT investments is even more important in today’s economy,” Microsoft senior vice president Bill Veghte said in a prepared statement. “It is these very skills that make them so valuable and why we constantly strive to empower them with an integrated suite of products and technologies that help them anticipate and respond quickly to changing business requirements. Nowhere is this more apparent than in Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2.” Veghte also confirmed that Windows 7 would ship before the end of the year. “With early RC testing and extensive partner feedback we’ve recived, Windows 7 is tracking well for holiday availability.”

Wow 2 Blog posts within a week…whats up with that?
Regardless of this miracle Microsoft just let the guys on the SP2 Beta that its RTM’ed and available for download-Here’s an excerpt of what they said to us:

Hello SP2 Beta testers…The following message was released…

 

Today we are proud to announce the launch of Service Pack 2 for Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008.  Service Pack 2 (SP2) represents the latest step in Microsoft’s commitment to continuous improvement.  It includes all of the updates that have been delivered since SP1, as well as support for new types of hardware and emerging hardware standards.  And since it comes with a single installer for both Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008, SP2 will be easy for IT Pros to manage, deploy, and support.  For an overview of the changes introduced in SP2 check out the notable changes document.

 

Consumers with Windows Vista SP1 don’t need to do anything special to get SP2; simply turn on Windows Update and sometime during the coming months your computer will download and prompt you to install SP2.  Business customers with Windows Vista will find that the transition to Windows 7 will be significantly more straightforward due to the high degree of compatibility between Windows Vista and Windows 7.  If your Windows Vista SP1 deployment is already underway we recommend you continue with SP1 as planned.  Then you can deploy SP2 using your systems management infrastructure.  If you are in the early stages of deployment or still planning Windows Vista deployment our best advice is that you plan on testing and deploying Windows Vista SP2. 

 

So there you have it…Go grab a copy from Technet and check out the notable changes here:
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd335036.aspx

Regards,

Patrick Squire

Today whilst opening up the default MSN homepage in I.E I was stunned to find that it had been hacked by “Peace Crew”.

I asked Nathan Mercer at MSFT what the story was and apparently the Hijackers stole the DNS entry from their registrar and redirected.

Windows Server had no part to play in this incident the attackers simply took the site down at a higher level. Looks like not everyone is immune to hackers then huh.

http://www.msn.co.nz

An output of their DNS entries shows:

Edit: Appears to be fixed now

Edit2: Looks like they took over a raft of New Zealand websites including WindowsLive.co.nz, MSN.co.nz, Microsoft.co.nz, Hotmail.co.nz, Live.co.nz next to HSBC.co.nz, Sony.co.nz, Coca-Cola.co.nz, Xerox.co.nz, Fanta.co.nz, F-Secure.co.nz and BitDefender.co.nz. (http://blogs.zdnet.com/security/?p=3185)

Do you want to get certified, but it’s too expensive? I have great news for you! From now till  April 31st, you can get a 10% discount off Microsoft certification exams. To get the 10% discount, just follow the easy steps below:

1. Go to http://www.learnandcertify.com/

2. Use the voucher code: MY3909BC

3. Schedule an exam and you are ready to go!

Again, this offer ends on April 31st, so what are you waiting for? Get certified now! And the above voucher is only for Malaysia.

A short blog post - But check out the list of Win 7 Secrets over at Tim Sneaths MSDN blog… Its deff worth a read!!!

(Little secrets built into Win 7 that increase productivity and make it a more easier/powerful tool to use .  )

http://blogs.msdn.com/tims/archive/2009/01/12/the-bumper-list-of-windows-7-secrets.aspx

For the very first time, we’ll showing a 2 hour Microsoft client and server platform demo-relay and *drum roll* a sneak preview of Windows 7!

Go to www.microsoft.com/malaysia/events/technetmsdn/ to reserve a seat. Please note that agenda(especially keynote) in the website is not updated, we’ll have the website updated with finalized topics by end of this week.

Our first session of Hands On Lab is listed as below:

Topic: Overview of Hyper-V & System Center Virtual Machine Manager (SCVMM)
Date: 20th December, 2008
Time: 9AM - 1PM
Location: APIIT, Technology Park Malaysia, Bukit Jalil
Fee: FREE

Objectives

Virtualization is the future of IT world. In this seminar will briefly describe the overview for Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V technology and the power of System Center virtual machine manager 2008. After this seminar, the participants should have more basic understanding on Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V technology and as well as System Center Virtual machine manager 2008.

Source: http://elite.net.my/blogs/announcements/archive/2008/11/26/Announcing-Hands-On-Lab-Sessions-by-ELITE-_2D00_-An-overview-of-Hyper_2D00_V-_2600_-SCVMM.aspx

Edit*: The beta for CoD WAW has now cloed - however the following information still does apply to some users of the RTM game.

I know this isn’t really related to Microsoft in any way but the public beta for Call of duty World At War has just come out and I am a huge fan. You can download yourself a free copy of the game if you go to http://www.callofduty.com/ and register to get a serial number and a download link.

If you are running a Vista machine you will most likely run into some difficulties when running the game for the first time after installation. These errors are:

-Message box displaying missing d3dx9_37.dll (or something along those lines)
-Message Box displaying: “Error during initialization: Unhandled exception caught”

To remedy these problems do the following:

The Missing DLL file (d3dx9_36.dll) is attributed to an outdated version of Microsoft DirectX. Simply point your browser to here (http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=2DA43D38-DB71-4C1B-BC6A-9B6652CD92A3&displaylang=en) to download the Microsoft DirectX 9/10 web download application. This will determine the version of DirectX installed on your system and apply the latest SDK updates accordingly.

After this install is complete the error should no longer appear and the game should run fine.

The second error: “Error during initialization: Unhandled exception caught” is a stupid error attributed to the Way the game uses the Windows Vista playback Device.

To remedy this problem click:
Start>Control Panel>Sound

Right Click on the default playback device (e.g. Speakers) and click properties. From there select the Advanced tab.
To eliminate this error the default playback format must be set at 24 bit 48000Hz (Studio Quality). Simply select this from the dropdown list and apply the settings.

Try launching the game now-Everything should run fine.

 Any Questions or comments-don’t hesitate to post them below.

-Patrick (>DDC<Ping)

Edit: Looks like the beta has closed down-we’ll soon see if these errors happen in the full version released in the states today & New Zealand on friday

Edit2: Thanks to xGame (see his comment below):
to any1 having problem with “error during intialization…” in xp go to: control panel->phone and modem options->modems->remove the modem/modems you are not using

Windows® Azure is a cloud services operating system that serves as the development, service hosting and service management environment for the Azure Services Platform. Windows Azure provides developers with on-demand compute and storage to host, scale, and manage Web applications on the Internet through Microsoft® data centers.

To build these applications and services, developers can use their existing Microsoft® Visual Studio® 2008 expertise. In addition, Windows Azure supports popular standards and protocols including SOAP, REST, and XML. Windows Azure is an open platform that will support both Microsoft and non-Microsoft languages and environments.

 What is the Azure Services Platform?

There is a new logo for .NET now, so it is change from

into

The following are the blog from the .NET Team about the new logo.

Why did we do it?

We needed a logo that was in sync with the key values that we want .NET to stand for: consistency, robustness and great user experiences. We also wanted a logo that conformed to the design principles that are driving Microsoft’s brand identity evolution and is reflected in newer brands such as Silverlight, Surface and more.  Finally, we needed a logo that is more strongly aligned with the portfolio of brands that .NET is most strongly aligned with: Silverlight, Visual Studio and the AppPlat server products.

The result is a design we refer to as the “wave.”  The design is strong, simple and distinctive. The suggestion of the letter ‘N’ in the design will become instantly recognizable over time as shorthand for the .NET brand name.

It’s one of many things we’re actively doing to renew our commitment to the future around the overall Rich Platforms we have today.

Hope all have fun at PDC2008 and you’ll see glimpses of what I mean there

Onwards and embrace the new .NET logo!

Wish me luck!

Round One Quizzes are during the following times (don’t miss out!!)

EDIT: Round One Quizzes have finished-Round 2 Begins on 6/11/2008 with Quiz 2A… I better Start Studying!!!

Imagine cup started back in 2003 when it made its debut in Brazil. From there it wen to Japan, India, Korea and France (last year). This time round (Imagine Cup 2009) the competition is to be held in the land of Civilization-Cairo, Egypt.

This competitions primary focus is to solve a real life problem (this years topic [although broad] is “Imagine a world where technology helps solve the toughest problems facing us today.“).

The software Development challenge is the Competitions main focal point, but it also caters for people from various other backgrounds, including:

Compared to the years past Imagine Cup 2009 is quite different from its predecessors…
Last years Imagine cup consisted of 9 competitions in total. Imagine Cup 2009 has only 8 competitions, coupled with some dramatic changes.

Project Hoshimi/Interface design and Algorithms have been removed completely to be replaced by two new competitions:

• Mashup-Idea is to create a new and useful Web 2.0 application that is connected to the Imagine Cup theme (using technologies such as PopFly).
• Robotics-This competition is a mathematical obstacle course where students must navigate a series of brain teasers, code challenges and algorithmic puzzles to demonstrate their ability to understand the potential of robots in our world.

• First Category:
  • Software design.
  • Embedded Development.
  • Game Development.
• Second Category:
  • Robotics & Algorithms.
  • IT Challenge.
  • Mashup.
• Third Category:
  • Photo Story.
  • Short Film.

Good luck to all those participating this year…
And if you are a student that has not signed up check out http://www.imaginecup.com to sign up.

By the way-congrats KenLin for the 1000th post on MSBLOG (the previous one )

The next release of Visual Studio is Visual Studio 2010 and the .NET Framework 4.0.

In addition, if you go down the page here, you find some juicy goodness:

“Better Together – Visual Studio Team System Development Edition and Database Edition
In recognition of the increased need to integrate more of the lifecycle members together, we will provide a unified Development and Database product in Visual Studio Team System 2010. Beginning October 1, 2008 Development Edition and Database Edition MSDN subscribers will have access to both products.”

Great news!

You’ll find versions for 32- and 64-bit editions of Windows Vista, Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, and Windows Server 2008. In addition to English, IE8 Beta 2 is available in Japanese, Chinese (Simplified), and German. Additional languages will be available soon.

While Beta 1 was for developers, we think that anyone who browses or works on the web will enjoy IE8 Beta 2. Before the team blogs about our Beta 2 in detail, here’s an overview of what you’ll find in IE8.

We focused our work around three themes: everyday browsing (the things that real people do all the time), safety (the term most people use for what we’ve called ‘trustworthy’ in previous posts), and the platform (the focus of Beta 1, how developers around the world will build the next billion web pages and the next waves of great services).

To download, click here.

Source: IEBlog

For the people who doesn’t know what Bitlocker is: Bitlocker is a drive encryption technology by Microsoft. Unlike EFS (Encrypted File System) which is a file level encryption technology, Bitlocker will encrypt the entire disk or volume or partition. OS and data files would be encrypted.

The bad news is, Bitlocker comes only in Windows Vista Business/Enterprise/Ultimate editions…

If you need a full disk encryption but do not have the $$$ to purchase any of the above Windows Vista license, introducing - TrueCrypt 6.

TrueCrypt 6 is a full disk encryption just like Bitlocker, but it can do more than Bitlocker (sorry Microsoft!). Depending on the password that you input during the bootup, TrueCrypt will load the respective operating system the password corresponds to. So if you are being “knife-pointed” and was asked for your OS password, you can provide the thelf/attacker the password to load a not-so-important-operating system. Savvy?

Creating a volume in TrueCrypt

So how is it better/worse than Bitlocker? Here is my breakdown:

Pros of TrueCrypt:

- Much more flexible/More options VS Bitlocker: Simple straightforward wizard
- Different password to load different OS VS Bitlocker: Can only protect one OS/Not so straightforward if 2 or more OSes need to be protected.
- Type of encryption can be specified VS Bitlocker: Microsoft sets the Encryption for you.
- Protect/Hide different volumes VS Bitlocker: Not supported…

Cons of TrueCrypt:

- Too many options - Normal users tend to stay away VS Bitlocker: Straightforward process.
- Not easy/Not hard to setup VS Bitlocker: Easy to setup if using Bitlocker Drive Preparation Tool.

So which one do you prefer? Which is better? Why? Have your say!

The output was:

Executing “Export Configuration”
Executing “Validate File”
Executing “Establish WMI Connections”
Check the log file “C:\DOCUME~1\ADMINI~1.OCS\LOCALS~1\Temp\export[2008_07_09][15_39_26].html” for details.
ERROR (0×80041010):

On opening the log file, I was presented with the following helpful unhelpful log file.

 (click to enlarge)

Thanks to Google, I searched using the error as the keyword and found out that this error means “An error message of 0×80041010 means that you are trying to reference a WMI class that does not exist.”

The syntax that I used was:

lcscmd /config /action:export /level:machine /configfile:c:\backup\ocsserversettings.xml /fqdn:ocs.blizhosting.com

Where it should be:

lcscmd /config /action:export /level:machine /configfile:c:\backup\ocsserversettings.xml /fqdn:member01.ocs.blizhosting.com

Stupid me… Duh!!

But I think the error in the log file should be more helpful tho.

Today is in-fact MSBLOG’s third birthday-Where have the years gone?

It seems that I write this post every year on this very date and reminisce of past times.
The sad fact of the matter is that everyone has moved on now it seems.
Here’s what some of the best people I have known are up to these days:

• -Zack is now studying at Kent University (studying Computer Science at the very home of Bluejay-a Java compiler used by many first year CS students around the world). Zack is also blogging for ZDNET (http://blogs.zdnet.com/igeneration/) where he keeps tabs on the technology world from a student’s point of view.
• -Andre N has just landed an internship with Google (Congrats)-He starts on the 8th as a developer
• -Jabez is in his final year at College
• -I am in my 2nd to last year of college-I am a Microsoft Student Partner for MSDNAA and I work for IBM.
• -Joseph is studying at College
• -Patrick E is still working for Microsoft in a permanent position and frequently travels the world
• -Dennis has started his own company in Germany as a consultant
• -As for the others, sorry, I don’t particularly know what you do full time but they’re excelling in their chosen IT field.

Although the blog is not updated all that often, we will defiantly put on the odd post here and there.

Happy Birthday MSBLOG,  Thanks for reading

Patrick Squire