The Origami Experience 2.0 has been released for download on the Microsoft Download Center today!

Download: Origami Experience 2.0

The Origami Experience 2.0 is designed for Ultra-Mobile PCs that run Windows Vista. To run the Origami Experience 2.0, a UMPC with the following specifications is recommended:  

• Minimum 100 MB of available hard disk space
• Minimum 1 GB of system memory
• Touch panel display (required for Origami Picture Password)

The Origami Experience 2.0 requires the following software installed:  

• Windows Internet Explorer 7. Origami Experience 2.0 requires Internet Explorer 7 for its RSS platform.
• Windows Media Player 11. Origami Central requires Windows Media Player 11 in order to manage and play media.
• Microsoft Office Outlook 2007. The calendar tile in Origami Now works only with Office Outlook 2007 Calendar. The mail tile in Origami Now works with Office Outlook 2007 Mail and Windows Mail.
• The Windows update available here: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/932406 . This update is highly recommended if you use the mail tile in Origami Now with Microsoft Office Outlook 2007.

I've been taking a closer look at the Origami Experience 2.0 software here on the Windows Experience Blog with a 4-part series of in-depth posts. You can

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Not necessarily a "Windows Experience" (although it does improve the Windows Experience) - I'm making this post on behalf of the Windows Search Team. Oh and I am really excited for this release.

Today we released the final version of Windows Search 4.0 to Microsoft Download Center. Windows Search 4.0 updates search in Windows Vista, Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2008 and Windows Home Server. This release comes after a public Windows Search 4.0 Preview, which was a success thanks to great community participation - with around 300,000 downloads.   Since the Preview was released, a number of quality improvements have been made to the product based on feedback provided by the community.

Download: Windows Search 4.0 for Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 (x86)

Download: Windows Search 4.0 for Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 (x64)

More download packages are available on http://support.microsoft.com/kb/940157.

So, what's new in this release?

First and foremost: we've introduced some performance and reliability improvements. Queries are faster, as is indexing - how much faster depends on your machine and your data. Improved reliability means that system failures won't get in the way of the indexer and all of your data

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Last week I posted an update on Certified from Windows Vista products in which at the end of the post I mentioned I had something else planned in regards to Certified for Windows Vista. Here at Microsoft in Redmond, the Windows Vista Logo Team made a poster that was put up around campus showcasing the Certified for Windows Vista logo. I thought the poster was really neat so I asked Deryl if he wouldn't mind if we released it as desktop wallpaper here for you to add Certified for Windows Vista to your desktop.

Below are links to download the Certified for Windows Vista wallpaper for your desktop (depending of course on your screen resolution) courtesy of Windows Live SkyDrive:

Enjoy the wallpaper!

For those not really interested in this wallpaper - you might check out another wallpaper of mine I released last month. I also hope to create some more wallpapers for you here in the coming months.

If you have messed around in Windows Server 2008 Core installation you've probably had some challenges along the way - like: how do I join a computer to the domain using a command prompt, how can I add Features, tweak the firewall etc. Well, a nice and very useful solution to many of the basic configuration tasks is out there - and it's free of course!

Go check out CoreConfigurator (Server Core Configurator) written by Guy Teverovsky - look how easy it is and stop acting like a geek sent back to the early 90s :-)

Download here and enjoy!

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When you have the Group Policy Preference (GPP) Client Side Extensions (CSE) downloaded you'll notice that they are not (yet) in the .MSI format - so using Group Policy Software Installation (GPSI) is not possible. Bummer, right!?

We have .EXE files for Windows XP/2003 and .MSU files for Windows Vista... But that's not the only thing we need to think about. Before "deploying" these things to the clients on the network we need to know the OS version (XP/2003/Vista), the OS architecture (32 or 64 bit), the Service Pack Level, and whether or not the Group Policy Preference Pre-requisites (WmlLite - http://support.microsoft.com/kb/914783/en-us) are installed.

To make all this pretty easy I've created a "demo" script for deploying the GPP CSEs using Startup Script - or a manual launch (in admin context). My good friend Jeremy Moskowitz asked me to do this - so, a couple of hours later the "demo" - or "beta" - script is public (download below)...

Note: I haven't been able to test in all scenarios yet, but I *think* they are all covered pretty well by now. Please report back if you find any problems - any feedback is welcome!

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Here we are - Group Policy Preference Client Side Extensions are now available for download. This is a cool thing bringing lot's of Group Policy Power to admins around the world!

The GPP CSEs are included in Windows Server 2008 RTM, but can now be downloaded for:
Windows XP SP2+ (32/64 bit)
Windows Server 2003 SP1+ (32/64 bit)
Windows Vista RTM+ (32/64 bit)

These are the links:
GPP CSEs for Windows Vista (KB943729)
GPP CSEs for Windows Vista x64 Edition (KB943729)
GPP CSEs for Windows Server 2003 (KB943729)
GPP CSEs for Windows Server 2003 x64 Edition (KB943729)
GPP CSEs for Windows XP (KB943729)
GPP CSEs for Windows XP x64 Edition (KB943729)

To get Group Policy Preferences on your network all you need is a single Windows Server 2008 as

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