Microsoft Support & Discussions

By Thurrott, Paul Microsoft this week revealed that the latest update to its Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack, MDOP 2011 R2, is now available. As you may recall, MDOP is a collection of useful desktop management applications, servers, and utilities that is available to Microsoft’s business customers. Source: Win Super Site

The latest version of my Microsoft Codename Tracker chart is done and ready for download. The theme of the month is internal codenames at Microsoft. Source: All About Microsoft

FIM fans: There’s a new beta available for download of the next version of Microsoft’s Forefront Identity Manager. Source: All About Microsoft

As of August 1, Microsoft’s most recent version of the Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack (MDOP) — MDOP 2011 R2 — is generally available for download. Source: All About Microsoft

At the very end of last week, there were a couple of Microsoft-related IP news nuggets worth noting, including the finalization of the Nortel patent sale a damages award in the Alcatel-Lucent vs. Microsoft IP case and Google’s purchase of 1,000 IBM patents. Source: All About Microsoft

Microsoft announced plans for its Windows 8 developer conference in mid-September, known as Build, back on June 1. As of August 1, the Build Web site now shows the conference to be sold out. Source: All About Microsoft

Windows IT Pro Check out the new Windows 8 Start screen, and learn how Mango will improve the Windows Phone 7 user experience. ... Source: Win Super Site

Windows IT Pro Microsoft

Windows IT Pro Just a day after announcing that it had completed development of Windows Phone 7.5, previously code-named Mango, Microsoft delivered updated developer tools and a new build of the OS to programmers. There's just one catch: The Windows Phone 7.5 build that Microsoft handed out isn't the final version. ... Source: Win Super Site

Microsoft managed to keep its 12,000 or so attendees of its annual Microsoft Global Exchange sales conference from tweeting and blogging company secrets last week. But at least one enterprising attendee managed to grab one of those infamous sales videos that the company loves to show at these events. Source: All About Microsoft

By Thurrott, Paul Just a day after announcing that it had completed development of Windows Phone 7.5, previously codenamed Mango, Microsoft delivered updated developer tools and a new build of the OS to programmers. There’s just one catch: The Windows Phone 7.5 build that Microsoft handed out isn’t the final version, it’s a near-final release candidate (RC) build instead. Huh? Source: Win Super Site

By Thurrott, Paul Check out the new Windows 8 Start screen, and learn how Mango will improve the Windows Phone 7 user experience. Source: Win Super Site

By Thurrott, Paul Microsoft

On the heels of its announcement that it had released to manufacturing the Windows Phone operating system 7.5 — better known as “Mango” — Microsoft execs said they’re now updating Mango developers with a near-final build. Source: All About Microsoft

By Thurrott, Paul Microsoft today unveiled the results of a recent study in which its Internet Explorer 9 web browser is shown to provide compelling financial benefits over previous IE versions. The study, which was commissioned by Microsoft and performed by Forrester, examines the economic impact of deploying IE 9 at a composite organization--culled from several Microsoft TAP (technology adoption program) customers--with 50,000 desktops. Source: Win Super Site

Drag and drop is a user interaction model that we all use on a day to day basis, probably without giving it much thought. We drag files from one folder to another, text from one area of a document to another, and PowerPoint slides from one place in the presentation to another. HTML5 Drag and Drop, available in IE10 Platform Preview 2, brings this natural, familiar behavior to the Web. Magnetic Poetry on the IE Test Drive site is example of a site that uses HTML5 Drag and Drop to create an experience that previously would have needed a plug-in or JavaScript library. For an in-depth look at how this demo works, check out t…

By Thurrott, Paul Like many of you, I have multiple email accounts. Like some of you, I have far too many email accounts. And in keeping with my desire to simplify wherever possible, I’ve been thinking a lot about the best way to consolidate these accounts into more manageable groups. And there are a couple of general approaches that may make sense. Source: Win Super Site

The Microsoft social-media project formerly codenamed Tulalip is just one of many social-media experiments and incubations at Microsoft. Another is Microsoft Nuggets, a presentation about which I found recently thanks to a tip from Francisco Martin Garcia (@fmartin_garcia). (click on image above to enlarge) Nuggets — which is using a tag line of “Civilizing Tribal Knowledge” — is [...] Source: All About Microsoft