Mary Jo

From Microsoft Watch: We asked and we received. Just yesterday, we wondered aloud when that elusive Office 2007 Beta 2 Technical Refresh (TR) build would appear. Now we know: Thursday September 14 at 9 a.m. PST. That’s when Microsoft is set to post the last public test build of its next-generation Office suite.Office 2007 Beta […]

Microsoft plans to make the final public test build of Office 2007 available on September 14 to the more than 3.5 million testers who were part of the company’s Beta 2 test program. Microsoft will allow Office Beta 2 testers to download for free the Office 2007 Beta 2 Technical Refresh (TR) from the Microsoft […]

Microsoft has issued what it’s calling “The Open Specification Promise” in order to insure customers and developers interested in implementing 35 Web services specs (in which Microsoft has played a role in creating) that they won’t be sued for doing so. On the list is everything from SOAP, to WS-Federation, to WS-Trust. (The move sounds […]

Microsoft has signed a deal with Disney to install a replica of the Microsoft Home of the Future at Disneyland,LonghornBlogs discovered. The installation will cost Microsoft an estimated $10 million. It’s a two-year deal. Got to wonder if the Softies will start selling Zunes and Xboxes in a nearby gift shop…

ExtremeTech builds a PC optimized for Windows Vista, component-by-component. Their total price: A steep $2,525 (in hardware only – not including the cost of the operating system and/or apps) for the ultimate Vista rig. And that’s without high-definition optical drives and next-gen DirectX 10 video cards, which the editors are expecting to arrive around the […]

Microsoft issued three security bulletins covering three flaws on September 12, this month’s Patch Tuesday. Notable among them is a re-release of an Internet Explorer (IE) mega-patch. The re-release adds a tenth, new patch covering a previously missed IE vulnerability. The new bunch of patches also includes a critical patch for Microsoft Publisher.

Microsoft is refreshing the test code for its PerformancePoint Server 2007 product that it currently is testing in a limited, closed beta with 20 to 25 partners. Microsoft is planning to make the updated bits available “sometime later this week, but not today” according to a Microsoft spokeswoman on September 12. A first public beta […]

A few readers have been asking for an update on the whereabouts of the refreshed Office 2007 test code, known as the Office 2007 Beta 2 Technical Refresh (TR). Microsoft tells us it is due out some time this week. In other words, real soon now. The TR refresh, designed to run well on Windows […]

From Microsoft Watch: While it shares the same build number as Windows Vista Release Candidate 1 (Build 5600), the newest Longhorn Server build is not yet at release-candidate stage. Microsoft has posted Longhorn Server 5600,dubbed the August Community Technology Preview (CTP) build, for download, however. The latest server refresh includes bug fixes, stability improvements and […]

Microsoft has finally chosen a successor to Doug Burgum, head of the Microsoft Business Solutions (MBS) business: Satya Nadella, who is currently corporate VP of MBS. Last November, Microsoft commenced an external and internal searchamong dozens of candidates for the new MBS head. Burgum will remain as Senior VP of the MBS group through June […]