Microsoft Support & Discussions

Microsoft has made available for download, as of March 28, the first Windows Thin PC Community Technology Preview (CTP) test build. View the full article

There’s going to be more than one way for customers to take advantage of Microsoft’s server application virtualization (Server App-V) technology when it becomes commercially available later this year. View the full article

Supersite Today: Nintendo releases the 3DS, Crysis 2 hits Xbox 360, WWDC 2011 rumors, Intel lowers prices on SSDs, New York Times launches confusing new digital subscription plans, Apple and Amazon are both working on digital locker services, and some opinions about AT&T, Microsoft, and Windows Phone software updates. ... View the full article

Microsoft officials (and some of their defenders) are cautioning that too much is being read into the angry feedback from early users. I disagree. Microsoft needs to get serious about WP7 transparency to keep its loyalists around. View the full article

Windows IT Pro When Google announced a new version of its Android mobile OS designed specifically for tablet devices, there was some confusion about whether the OS would make its way to Android-based smartphones too. This past week, however, details emerged about Google's plans. ... View the full article

Supersite ActiveX Filtering is a new IE 9 feature that can block all ActiveX controls from working within the browser via a single switch. Then, users (or corporate administrators) can re-enable controls only on those sites they explicitly trust. You can also to re-enable specific controls globally, so they always work no matter which site you visit. ... View the full article

Supersite In the latest episode of the Windows Weekly podcast, Leo and I discuss the never-ending saga of the first Windows Phone 7 software update, Amazon's Appstore for Android, Microsoft suing Barnes and Noble over the Nook eBook reader, Mozilla Firefox 4, Windows Intune, and AT&ampampampampampT's plan to buy T-Mobile. ... View the full article

Supersite IMDb is the ultimate entertainment-oriented site for fans of movies and TV shows, and now its available in a great Windows Phone 7 app as well. ... View the full article

Here’s a guide to the various plans and price points for Office 365, Microsoft’s hosted server application bundle that will launch in mid-2011. View the full article

Supersite The latest major update to Mozilla's venerable Firefox web browser offers a new user interface, better performance, better add-on management, and PC-to-PC sync. But is it enough to stave off competition from Microsoft and Google? ... View the full article

Microsoft announced this week that it is making a change to its Core CAL (Client Access License) bundle — something of interest to its business customers who purchase enterprise products. View the full article

Windows IT Pro An often irreverent look at some of this week's other news, including the Windows Phone has jumped the shark, other bloggers, reporters, and analysts finally wake up to my claims about Windows Phone, AT&T is perhaps the worst Windows Phone partner on earth, some European carriers now blaming Microsoft for Windows Phone update delays, System Center expands, heads to the cloud Google book deal shot down by federal judge, US states eye antitrust probes of Google, and more... ... View the full article

Microsoft is claiming the company is seeing 20,000 new SharePoint users added every day. And that’s been the case for the last five years, the Softies say. View the full article

Last summer, Microsoft execs said to expect Windows Embedded Handheld 7 — an enterprise-targeted update to its ruggedized-device operating system — to arrive in the second half of calendar 2011. But those plans seemingly have changed. View the full article

Supersite Amazon's Appstore is so good that it puts Android within striking distance of the iPhone for the first time, from a functionality and desirability perspective. This is a big deal, folks. ... View the full article

Microsoft posted a new status-check page for the first two Windows Phone 7 updates at the end of the day on March 23. View the full article

While Microsoft is rolling out a number of test builds of various private-cloud building blocks this week, the company also is poised to deliver a beta of Server App-V, one of its public-cloud foundation technologies. View the full article

Microsoft is making available a toolkit designed to help developers writing Windows Phone 7 applications that make use of Windows Azure cloud services. View the full article

SCCM 2012, when it ships later this year, is going to enable management for iPads, iPhones, Symbian devices, Android devices and Windows Phone 7 devices. View the full article

Microsoft isn’t always the quickest in updating the executive bios on its corporate Web pages. But sometimes, former managers just disappear from the executive bio pages. View the full article

Windows IT Pro At the Microsoft Management Summit (MMS) in Las Vegas this week, Microsoft announced the immediate availability of Windows Intune, its new cloud-based PC management and security service. Windows Intune is available in 35 countries and comes with a 30-day free trial so IT pros and admins can try out the service in the real world. ... View the full article

Microsoft is making one of its new hybrid cloud/on-premise products — Windows Intune — commercially available as of March 23. Here are 10 things Microsoft customers, potential customers and/or partners may want to know about the product. View the full article

Windows IT Pro After months of delays, silence, and shattered customer relations, Microsoft on Tuesday began rolling out its first software update for Windows Phone 7. However, it's releasing the update over time, in batches, and most users still haven't been offered the change to upgrade. Many will need to wait for weeks. ... View the full article

On March 22, Microsoft began trickling out the first of its major Windows Phone 7 operating-system updates, codenamed “NoDo.” The full rollout may take weeks. View the full article

Windows IT Pro Online retailing giant Amazon on Tuesday launched its Appstore for Android, an online marketplace for the mobile OS that drives many smartphones and, increasingly, tablet devices. ... View the full article