Microsoft Support & Discussions

Supersite 12/1/2010 4:20 PM After 12 years of manually updating my site like a 1990's throwback, we've finally moved the SuperSite for Windows to a modern content management system (CMS). I'm excited by this for obvious reasons, but the real work is still ahead. Here's what's available now. ... View the full article

Supersite 12/1/2010 3:03 PM Western Digital finally gets it right with the WD TV Live Hub, a combination media hub and media streamer with excellent format compatibility, good services functionality, and a great new UI. ... View the full article

Supersite 12/1/2010 9:36 AM Good morning. Already December. Sigh. Speaking of which, the SuperSite switchover to a new content management system is happening late today. Pray for me. No, seriously. -- People continue to misunderstand my stance on Apple's iPad, which I feel is deeply flawed in its current form. (The device, not my stance. Ahem.) But it's worth discussing, which is why I keep bringing it up. I mean, Apple is on to something here, right? And I've been preaching simplicity and the need for a from-scratch platform for years. So the iPad is, to me, tantalizingly close. And worth criticizing. Anyway, given my recent article, How Apple Can…

Supersite 12/1/2010 9:25 AM I wrote in WinInfo this morning that HP has dropped its Windows Home Server product line, which is like kicking someone when they're down, given the recent bad news about Drive Extender. Ed Bott has weighed in on the situation as well, and like me, he calls out Microsoft for publicly masking the reasons for discontinuing Drive Extender. (Which is odd, because Microsoft told me, point blank, the real reasons over a month ago and made no attempts to cover it up.) But Ed also offers some advice about fixing Home Server: First, optimize the basic Windows Home Server product as a single-drive product, with 1 to 3TB of storage i…

Windows IT Pro 12/1/2010 8:05 AM HP this week revealed that it will discontinue its well-regarded MediaSmart Server line, which runs Windows Home Server (WHS). The news comes on the heels of a Microsoft announcement about the removal of a key data storage feature from the next WHS version ... View the full article

Windows IT Pro 12/1/2010 8:04 AM Microsoft this week touted Net Applications and Forrester data that shows, for the first time, that business use of the aging and insecure Internet Explorer (IE) 6 web browser is finally on a steep decline. Meanwhile, business usage of the more modern and safe IE 8 browser is on a similar upward trend ... View the full article

Email was designed as an electronic replacement for snail mail, but being replaced itself because email is too slow and too formal for the coming generation. Get ready for it: Email is dead. View the full article

I’m kicking off a three-part series on the road to Office 365. Today, I’m looking at the early history of the products and people that put the cogs in motion for Microsoft’s software-as-a-service play. View the full article

The current version of Apple's iPad is deeply flawed, but Apple can make a few hardware changes and turn this device into a mainstream computing platform for the 21st century. View the full article

Just when it looked as if Microsoft had thrown in the towel in the ongoing patent infringement case involving Toronto-based i4i, the Supreme Court has agreed to reconsider Microsoft’s appeal. View the full article

In the latest episode of the Windows Weekly podcast, Leo and I discuss the first 25 year of Microsoft Windows, Microsoft's decision to open Kinect to hacks, Google Cloud Connect, Windows Phone OS heading to tablets, and Microsoft's decision to kill Drive Extender. View the full article

Windows Phone is a game changer for the smart phone market, but I think that Microsoft is setting its sights too low: In 2011, the software giant should fix the problems, fill the functional gaps, and push Windows Phone into the mainstream. Here's how I think this can happen. View the full article

After over 12 years as a largely static web site, the SuperSite for Windows will soon transition to a new content management system back-end. I'll need your patience, your help, and your advice during this transition. View the full article

I am stuck in offine mode in outlook 2010 and get back to online mode. Any ideas? mjpsmith@nc.rr.com View this thread

A week after rolling out its seventh developer preview of Internet Explorer (IE) 9, Microsoft has gone back and delivered an update for the beta of IE 9, the first full beta of Microsoft’s next-gen browser which the company delivered in mid-September. View the full article

In a move that has riled a number of Windows Home Server enthusiasts, Microsoft has announced it is removing its Drive Extender storage technology from the upcoming Windows Home Server ‘Vail,” Small Business Server Essentials “Aurora” and Windows Storage Server 2008 R2 Essentials

Microsoft and Southwest Airlines are teaming to make free holiday photos available to travelers this holiday season. The program, unveiled on November 23, is one of several promotional events Microsoft is doing this year to highlight new and existing Windows 7 PCs and Windows Live services. View the full article

In this week's mailbag, understanding linked Windows Live IDs and Windows Phone, whether Windows 8 will be 64-bit only, transferring files between print queues, changing the Live ID associated with your Xbox LIVE account, whether Call of Duty: Black Ops is as easy as described in a You Tube video, and whether you can install 32-bit and 64-bit versions of Windows 7 on different PCs using the same product key. View the full article

Microsoft is going "all-in" with cloud computing, and there's no better evidence than Office 365, which seamlessly blends hosted versions of Exchange 2010, SharePoint 2010, and Lync 2010 with client and web versions of Microsoft Office, all for a reasonable cost. View the full article

Microsoft will be making changes to its Windows Server pricing in January 2011 that will affect companies that are in the commercial hosting business. View the full article

Both Google and Microsoft are intent on being Office users’ preferred way of collaborating on documents. Microsoft’s solutions are SharePoint, Office Web Apps (and its Microsoft Docs sibling). Google, as of November 22, has its own alternative: Google Cloud Connect for Microsoft Office. View the full article