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 ...

Microsoft opened up the kimono today on Press Pass.

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!

I was exporting the settings for Microsoft Office Communications Server today, using the command line tool LCSCMD.exe.

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.

After yesterdays announcements Microsoft finally demonstrated Windows 7 in public yesterday.

Microsoft has been investing in many forms of natural input to enable users to interact with the PC and their devices using touch. Last year at the All Things Digital conference Bill Gates introduced Microsoft’s surface computer. This year Julie Larson-Green (VP, Windows Experience Program Management), who was responsible for the innovative Office 2007 design, demonstrated the multi-touch innovations first previewed in Surface that will ultimately play a part of the next version of Windows.

Could this now be the start of Microsoft slowly revealing more information over the coming months until their grand double of PDC/WinHEC in November?

Video: http://video.msn.com/video.aspx?vid=8700c7ff-546f-4e1d-85f7-65659dd1f14f

Demo Transcript: http://d6.allthingsd.com/20080527/gates_ballmer/

Source: Neowin

From Budapest, Hungary, comes news of a strange — and perhaps scary — moment for Steve Ballmer today. The Microsoft chief executive was speaking at Corvinus University when a protester interrupted and started throwing eggs at him, according to report on the Hungarian-language Index news site. Here’s the Index video of the incident, via YouTube:

Video from HU TV2 channel:

Before throwing what appeared to be three eggs, the protester demands that Microsoft give back money “stolen” from the Hungarian people. He wore a shirt that said “Microsoft = Corruption.” It’s difficult to hear, but Bloomberg News, citing the Index report, says that the protester “yelled that Ballmer should pay back taxpayer money.”

After taking cover behind a desk, a clearly surprised Ballmer recovered and resumed his presentation as the protester was led out of the room. “It was a friendly disruption,” he said, pacing around and grinning. “That broke my train of thought.”

News Source: SeattlePI
and Thehotfix

With the availability of rich media such as online video becoming more and more important in day-to-day life the Windows Live team have come up with a pretty neat idea to share video with a friend through Windows Live Messenger.
Messenger TV is born: Launching in 20 countries (Surprisingly not the U.S) and in 12 languages, Microsoft hopes to lure a few more people away from youtube and onto the MSN powered service.

“Watching online video is no longer about one person in front of their computer, it’s now a social experience. Users can now share a selection of free content and watch it at the same time as their friends through Messenger TV.” 

To do this Microsoft have partnered with a number of popular content providers, such as MTV, Sony BMG Music Entertainment, National Geographic, and the U.K.’s Channel 4 to offer content that people will want to watch

To give it a whirl simply open up a convo with a friend, click activities and select Messenger TV. If you cant wait to try it with a buddy you could add the bot (MessengerTV@live.com [click on the link to add]) and it will take care of the rest.

The service is determined by your Internet Language