4 Live Communications Server 2003 Documents Available (Oct 17)
With Live Communications Server 2003, people can connect to each other and to information instantly, whenever and wherever they need to. Live Communications Server 2003 offers a secure, reliable and easy-to-manage alternative to publicly available instant-messaging (IM) services. Enterprises can take advantage of the productivity gains that make IM popular, while helping to protect valuable intellectual property and corporate privacy.
Download: Live Communications Server 2003 Document: Reference Guide
The Reference Guide details the client configuration and policies, reference hardware and environment, Active Directory® directory service, and Microsoft Windows Management Instrumentation extensions that are installed as part of Microsoft Office Live Communications Server 2003.
Download: Live Communications Server 2003 Document: Release Notes 1.0a
The Release Notes Update contains new information for Microsoft Office Live Communications Server 2003 Standard Edition.
Download: Live Communications Server 2003 Document: Migration Guide
The Migration Guide provides a migration guide for organizations making the important move from Microsoft Exchange 2000 Instant Messaging to Microsoft Office Live Communications Server 2003 Standard Edition.
Download: Live Communications Server 2003 Document: Deployment Guide
The Deployment Guide explains how to implement the best practices for planning, designing, migrating to, and deploying Microsoft Office Live Communications Server 2003 Standard Edition in your enterprise.
Information Workers at Companies Using Microsoft Office System Improve Communication and Collaboration (Oct 16)
Early Adopter Customers Report An Average Productivity Gain of 25 Percent
Microsoft Corp. today announced that American Management Systems Inc. (AMS), Graphic Packaging International Inc., Honeywell International Inc., Lockheed Martin Corp. and Virgin Entertainment are among the companies now achieving greater individual, team and organizational productivity using Microsoft’s communication and collaboration solutions. Enterprise companies participating in Microsoft’s early adopter program reported an average productivity gain of 25 percent through use of the communication and collaboration capabilities in the new Microsoft® Office System, which is scheduled for release Oct. 21.
Inefficient, expensive collaboration is a major business challenge in today’s economy. The Microsoft Office System meets the collaboration challenge head-on by delivering easy-to-use programs, servers and services that help streamline communication and encourage collaboration both inside and outside of organizations. Companies are adopting the user-centric technology in the Microsoft Office System as a way to increase individual, team and organizational responsiveness, as well as eliminate inefficiencies inherent in collaboration today. Customers report that the Microsoft Office System provides measured collaborative benefits such as shortening project cycle times, reducing the number of meetings teams have inside their organizations by one-third, cutting operating costs from 10 percent to 20 percent, and increasing customer satisfaction, customer retention and revenue generation by as much as 20 percent.
Microsoft products that contribute to enhanced end-user communication and collaboration include the 2003 editions of Microsoft Office, Microsoft Office SharePoint (TM) Portal Server 2003, Microsoft Windows® SharePoint Services, Microsoft Exchange Server 2003, Microsoft Office Live Meeting, Microsoft Office Project 2003 and Microsoft Office Project Server 2003, and Microsoft Office Live Communications Server 2003.
Read full article at PressPass: Information Workers at Companies Using Microsoft Office System Improve Communication and Collaboration
Sports- Trading Card Dynamic Web Template (Oct 16)
This zip files cotains all the files and images necessary to get you started in building a sports-related Web site using Microsoft Office FrontPage 2003.
Download: Sports- Trading Card Dynamic Web Template
Gates foretells death of spam (Oct 16)
Microsoft chairman Bill Gates believes the computer industry will outgrow spam, and predicts that Wi-Fi will be a key technology both for homes and business.
Speaking at ITU Telecom World 2003, Gates said that Wi-Fi had taken off in the four years since the last event, and that it would find its way quickly into the enterprise and be key to developing the digital home.
“Wi-Fi in the enterprise is on the way to becoming a common sense tool to drive business productivity,” he said.
In residential areas Wi-Fi could drive “the dream” of the digital home, he added.
But security is still a major issue for Microsoft. Gates acknowledged that the “level of richness and maturity” needed to secure the wired and wireless digital world has yet to appear.
Gates said much of Microsoft’s $6.8bn (£4.1bn) investment in research and development was being focused on this area, and suggested radical changes in the way society approaches internet technologies.
He called on anonymity to be removed from internet protocols like SMTP, because it allows spammers to mimic other users, and suggested that passwords could be replaced by smart cards and biometric technologies.
“We have to know who is accessing the network. By being able to identify who the sender is we will be able to make the spam problem essentially go away,” he said.
Gates added that by the end of the decade the majority of homes in most developed countries will be connected to the internet by broadband.As Wi-Fi had been a surprise in the last four years, the service opportunities offered by broadband would “surprise us all”, he said.
One such service, IP-TV, would be offered by all major broadband operators this decade. IP-TV would offer a much richer user interface than TV “as we historically know it”, he added.
Read article at VNUnet: Gates foretells death of spam
5 Project 2003 Server Related Downloads Available (Oct 16)
Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services Migration Tool
SMIGRATE helps you migrate to Windows SharePoint Services from SharePoint Team Services when upgrading to Microsoft Office Project Server 2003 from Microsoft Project Server 2002.
Microsoft Office Project Server 2003 In-Box Documentation
Documentation about various Project data formats and setup scenarios that can be used out-of-the-box.
Microsoft Office Project Server 2003 ConnInfo Utility
The ConnInfo tool ensures that Project Server administrators maintain user roles and registry settings when moving Project Server data to a new database server.
Microsoft Office Project Server 2003 Restore Single Project Tool
RestoreP can backup a single project from a saved backup and restore it to the Project Server database.
Microsoft Office Project Server 2003 WinHTTP Proxy Configuration tool
Proxycfg is required to configure proxy settings for Microsoft Office Project Server 2003 deployments.
7 Security Bulletins (Oct 16)
And on top of the just released Rollup package comes some additional critical fixes.
MS03-046 : Vulnerability in Exchange Server Could Allow Arbitrary Code Execution (822363)
MS03-045 : Buffer Overrun in the ListBox and in the ComboBox Control Could Allow Code Execution (824141)
MS03-044 : Buffer Overrun in Windows Help and Support Center Could Lead to System Compromise (825119)
MS03-043 : Buffer Overrun in Messenger Service Could Allow Code Execution (828035)
MS03-042 : Buffer Overflow in Windows Troubleshooter ActiveX Control Could (826232)
MS03-041 : Vulnerability in Authenticode Verification Could Allow Remote Code Execution (823182)
Update Rollup 1 for Microsoft Windows XP (Oct 16)
It’s here!!! Finally 
This update consists of previously released critical updates, for Windows XP, rolled into one convenient package. Installing this item provides you the same results as installing the individual updates. After you install this item, you may have to restart your computer.
Download: Update Rollup 1 for Microsoft Windows XP (English)
Download: Update Rollup 1 for Microsoft Windows XP (different language)
Exchange 5.5 Information Store Patch 2657.74 (Oct 15)
This patch resolves problems that were found in the Exchange Server 5.5 Information Store since SP4 was released.
Using the Microsoft Office Outlook 2003 client to modify rules or to import rules into a mailbox that is located on a Microsoft Exchange Server 5.5 computer can result in a server-side rule with a malformed property. The execution of rules in this condition may cause the Microsoft Exchange Information Store service to unexpectedly stop responding.
More info: Information Store Intermittently Stops Responding and an Access Violation Occurs in EcDSDNFromSz (829418)
Download: Exchange 5.5 Information Store Patch 2657.74 (English)
Download: Exchange 5.5 Information Store Patch 2657.74 (different language)
Your Potential, Our Passion (Oct 14)
Today I went to the TechNet MSDN Briefings 2003 in The Hague. Bill Gates was special host at this briefing to talk about the vision of Microsoft and how they created software with that vision and what will be the next steps for the coming years to pursue that vision even more.
Getting to The Hague was a hard task as the NS (Dutch Railways) were on a strike and no train stopped between Rotterdam and Leiden (The Hague is in between for the ones with no topographical knowledge of The Netherlands). Getting in the wrong room with just executives of companies that are Microsoft partners was real easy; I was there very early and with just nothing to do me and my friend just starting to walk around in the building to see if there was anything to do. With two security guards at every door we figured that if we went to places we shouldn’t be going we probably get halted. The reality was different; when we saw a fancy room with loads of people we just walked in. In fact we even got greeted by the security guards!
After a cup of tea a conference room opened and we got a presentation by a company that analyzes the behaviour of people and translates that into the vision of people in general. This presentation was followed by one from Bill Gates! I’ll spare you the details of the presentation as the pictures of the most important slides will speak for themselves.
Because we were in the Executives Circle session we missed the Key Note for the general public as the large conference room was completely sealed when Bill Gates entered (yep, now security worked!). All with all not too bad as he gave kind of the same presentation which we could follow outside on a TV screen. Quite fun to see him do the same presentation directly again after the first one.
The rest of the day I attended the following sessions;
Exchange Server 2003: mobility, RPC over HTTP and migration explained
Windows 2000 Active Directory Diagnostics, Troubleshooting and Recovery
Windows 2000 Security
I also included some pictures of the most important slides of the Exchange session.
I’ll post the full presentations when I’ve got them available.
View: Pictures of Bill Gates at the TechNet MSDN Briefings 2003 in The Hague
NetStores FrontPage E-commerce Add-in (Oct 14)
NetStores E-Commerce Add-Ins For FrontPage give Web Designers and Site Builders the tools to quickly add complete e-commerce capabilities including: shopping cart, search features, quick search, add to cart, and many ordering capabilities for conducting E-commerce. With the NetStores E-Commerce Solution, designers can quickly build and customize a Web site integrated with credit card processing, B2B, B2C, merchant accounts, without the need for additional software for their hosting platform.
Download: NetStores FrontPage E-commerce Add-in for FrontPage 2000 and 2002
Microsoft Insider: Office System Preview (Oct 14)
In this edition of Insider, hosts Ari Bixhorn and Chris Flores give you an in-depth preview of the new Microsoft® Office System.
Learn how the new Microsoft Office Professional Edition 2003 can save you time and help you work more productively. Watch demonstrations of new and revamped Office technologies, plus see the new Microsoft Office Word 2003 and Microsoft Office PowerPoint® 2003 in action. Listen to Robert Rounthwaite as he discusses how Microsoft Office Outlook® 2003 can help you combat junk e-mail, then watch a demo of the program so you can see for yourself.
Preview one of the best parts of the new Office: Microsoft Office OneNote™ 2003. See how it will completely change the way you take notes. Then watch how it works with a Tablet PC to make your standard notepad and pen virtually obsolete.
Download: Microsoft Insider: Office System Preview for Windows Media Player 9 (55MB)
Microsoft Office Project Server 2003 SetTracing Utility (Oct 13)
Microsoft Office Project Server 2003 uses the Project Server Tracing Service to log application errors to the Event Viewer. The Project Server SetTracing Utility also allows you to redirect the tracing output to a log file, or to the Event Viewer and a log file. Directing application errors to a log file will output the errors to a format that you can send to Microsoft Product Support Services, making it easier for them to help determine the cause or causes of any errors your organization may be running into.
Download: Microsoft Office Project Server 2003 SetTracing Utility
Microsoft Launches Visual Studio Tools for the Microsoft Office System (Oct 13)
Microsoft Is Providing the Tools and Technologies Developers Need To Build Next Generation of Solutions for the Office System
Microsoft Corp. today announced the launch of Microsoft® Visual Studio® Tools for the Microsoft Office System, which brings the power and productivity of Visual Studio .NET 2003 and the Microsoft .NET Framework to business solutions built on the latest versions of Microsoft Word and Microsoft Excel. Microsoft Office is the most broadly used client application in the world, used or customized by nearly 3 million developers and over 400 million users. With today’s launch, Microsoft is now providing professional developer customers with the compelling developer tools that they need to take advantage of the power and flexibility of the .NET Framework in their Office-based solutions.
In addition, the Microsoft Office Access 2003 Developer Extensions will be paired with Visual Studio Tools for the Microsoft Office System and offered at an upgrade price to users of the previous Office Developer Edition products. The Access Developer Extensions provide the tools and resources developers need to more quickly and easily create, test and deploy sophisticated Microsoft Access solutions.
“Developers wanting to build solutions for Word and Excel will find greater productivity with Visual Studio Tools for the Microsoft Office System,” said Eric Rudder, senior vice president of the Servers and Tools group at Microsoft. “The customization opportunities offered by Visual Studio Tools for the Microsoft Office System will help businesses achieve faster time to market for their internal and external applications.”
Read full Press Release: Microsoft Launches Visual Studio Tools for the Microsoft Office System
Big changes for Office (Oct 13)
Quite a critical article about the new Microsoft Office 2003 Family;
Getting the most out of Microsoft’s imminent Office upgrade will require a host of other software updates
Firms wanting to reap the productivity and collaborative benefits of Microsoft’s Office System, which launches on 21 October, should be prepared for a long haul, according to experts.
“To gain full functionality, firms will have to switch their whole environment to Server 2003, SharePoint Portal 2003 and Exchange 2003,” said Clive Longbottom of analyst Quocirca. “Desktops should be the last piece of the puzzle.”
Longbottom said firms would need to set up good policies and procedures for collaboration with automated access rights to shared documents. He added that some firms would have to train staff to XML-enable documents.
Collaborative functionality is the jewel in the crown for the revamped Office, said Longbottom. “But Office will not become a corporate tool without changing procedures,” he added. “It is up to firms to decide where the value lies and how to make it work.”
Read article at VNUnet: Big changes for Office
Added Search Functionality (Oct 12)
I did some updating on my site over the weekend and I added Google search functionality to my website. The search link is added to the navigation.
I also changed all the pages of this web to reflect the style used on the main page and to have navigation as well.
Hope you like it!
