Microsoft Increases Exam Pricing

Effective July 1, 2011, the retail price of Microsoft Certifications
will increase worldwide.* This change reflects the significant value
that our certifications provide to our customers and our continual
investment in new and enhanced Microsoft Certifications and other
program improvements. Continue At Source 
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Office 365 Hits Public Beta, Small Businesses Get the Next Generation Cloud Productivity Service

David Kroenke has authored more than 15 undergraduate business technology textbooks over the past few decades, with titles including “Database Conceptsâ€� and, most recently, “Using MIS.â€� As a small-business owner working with a handful of co-writers, editors, designers and contractors, Kroenke often collaborated via telephone, email and file-sharing — and mailed printed copies of book drafts to his team for review. However, once he became a beta tester for Microsoft Office 365, it changed the way his business works.     “I work out of two offices, and Office 365 saves me the hassle of tracking book files between so many different places,â€� said Kroenke. “I don’t have to wonder where I put everything, because it’s always available to me, no matter where I am.â€�  As soon as he heard about Office 365, Kroenke signed up for the limited beta program.   Office 365 Availability  Office 365 is on track to launch worldwide later this year. Today, people can secure a spot in the Office 365 public beta and learn more about the service at http://www.Office365.com, and follow Office 365 on Twitter (@Office365), Facebook (Office 365), and the Office 365 blog for the latest information.  Customers can find information at the Office 365 Marketplace, and partners can submit new apps and solutions.  â€œOffice 365 has opened up a whole new world of productivity for me — I feel like a kid in a candy shop,â€� said Kroenke.   “After using it for just a few weeks, Office 365 simplified my business, giving me more time to focus on the work that’s most important. We can brainstorm in real time, organize, and streamline the book-editing process. Office 365 gives small-business owners like me many of the tools we never had before.  â€œWith just one click, I can show my co-worker a document I’m working on and make suggested changes while in a videoconference; we can even use a virtual whiteboard. My co-worker might be in Ohio, while I’m in Seattle, but we’re drawing on the same whiteboard, just like we’re sitting in the same room. That is just really, really cool,â€� said Kroenke.     Office 365 Hits Public Beta, Small Businesses Get the Next Generation Cloud Productivity Ser
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17 Security bulletins today!

Get ready for a massive update round this month, affecting Windows, Office, Office web app and Visual Studio.                                      Bulletin ID                        Maximum Severity Rating and Vulnerability Impact                        Restart Requirement                        Affected Software                                  Bulletin 1                         Critical            Remote Code Execution                        Requires restart                        Microsoft Windows,           Internet Explorer                                  Bulletin 2                         Critical            Remote Code Execution                        Requires restart                        Microsoft Windows                                  Bulletin 3                        Critical            Remote Code Execution                        Requires restart                        Microsoft Windows                                  Bulletin 4                        Critical            Remote Code Execution                        May require restart                        Microsoft Windows                                  Bulletin 5                         Critical            Remote Code Execution                        May require restart                        Microsoft Windows                                  Bulletin 6                         Critical            Remote Code Execution                        May require restart                        Microsoft Windows,           Microsoft Office                                  Bulletin 7                         Critical            Remote Code Execution                        Requires restart                        Microsoft Windows                                  Bulletin 8                         Critical            Remote Code Execution                        May require restart                        Microsoft Windows                                  Bulletin 9                         Critical            Remote Code Execution                        Requires restart                        Microsoft Windows                                  Bulletin 10                         Important            Remote Code Execution                        May require restart                        Microsoft Office                                  Bulletin 11                         Important            Remote Code Execution                        May require restart                        Microsoft Office,           Microsoft Server Software                                  Bulletin 12                         Important            Remote Code Execution                        May require restart                        Microsoft Office                                  Bulletin 13                         Important            Remote Code Execution                        May require restart                        Microsoft Windows                                  Bulletin 14                         Important            Remote Code Execution                        May require restart                        Microsoft Developer Tools and Software                                  Bulletin 15                         Important            Information Disclosure                        Requires restart                        Microsoft Windows                                  Bulletin 16                         Important            Remote Code Execution                        May require restart                        Microsoft Windows                                  Bulletin 17                         Important            Elevation of Privilege                        Requires restart                        Microsoft Windows                    More details: Microsoft Security Bulletin Advance Notification for April 2011
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Early Windows 8 Milestone 1 build 7850 leaked

WinRumors reports:  An early Milestone 1 version of Windows 8 leaked publicly on Tuesday.  The build is currently being distributed on FTPs and file sharing sites after an anonymous leakster posted the bits to the beta archive site. The build is an early sample of Microsoft’s work with Windows 8 and does not reflect the current state of winmain builds. As the build was compiled in late September it has since expired and those wishing to experiment with it will need to turn their BIOS clocks back.  The build is currently available on private FTP sites and is expected to be made available on the usual torrent and file sharing sites in the next few hours.  6.1.7850.0.winmain_win8m1.100922-1508_x86fre_client-enterprise_en-us.iso – 2.45 GB (2,637,101,056 bytes)     Source: Winrumors
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iSCSI Initiator Users Guide for Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2

Microsoft® Internet iSCSI Initiator enables you to connect a host computer that is running Windows® 7 or Windows Server® 2008 R2 to an external iSCSI-based storage array through an Ethernet network adapter. You can use Microsoft iSCSI Initiator in your existing network infrastructure to enable block-based storage area networks (SANs). SANs provide iSCSI target functionality without investing in additional hardware, and they enable the use of iSCSI storage devices in home and small offices.  iSCSI SANs and iSCSI storage devices are popular for a variety of reasons. They offer the ability to do the following:Leverage existing investments in Ethernet infrastructures and expertiseLeverage existing investments in IP protocolOffer dynamic capacity expansionSimplify SAN configuration and managementCentralize management through storage consolidationProvide scalable performanceProvide higher storage utilizationPresent volumes as a block storage device. This makes iSCSI devices ideal for use by enterprise applications such as Microsoft Exchange Server and Microsoft SQL Server®. In particular, Microsoft iSCSI Initiator is the component in the overall iSCSI environment that creates the appearance that the iSCSI SANs are locally attached disks.    Download details iSCSI Initiator Users Guide for Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2
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Microsoft Security Update Guide, Second Edition

The Microsoft Security Update Guide is a valuable source of in-depth information and tools that can help you protect your IT infrastructure while creating a safer, more secure computing and Internet environment. We developed this guide to help IT professionals better understand and maximize Microsoft security update release information, processes, communications, and tools.  Download the full guide More info: Microsoft Security  Microsoft Security Update Guide  MSRC
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Windows Thin PC Community Technology Preview (CTP)

Windows Thin PC (WinTPC) is a smaller footprint version of Windows 7 that allows customers to repurpose existing PCs as thin clients without requiring the VDA license to access VDI desktops. WinTPC replaces WinFLP. In addition, WinTPC will offer:      Rich VDI experience through support for RemoteFX     Improved end point security by denying certain disk writes via filters     Enterprise-grade management support through System Center                     https://connect.microsoft.com/windowsembedded/program6810
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System Center Configuration Manager 2012 Beta 2

System Center Configuration Manager 2012 helps IT empower people to use the devices and applications they need to be productive, while maintaining corporate compliance and control.  Consumerization is a growing challenge for IT organizations. System Center Configuration Manager 2012 helps IT empower people to use the devices and applications they need to be productive, while maintaining corporate compliance and control. The boundaries between work and life have blurred to where people expect reliable, consistent access to corporate services from wherever they are, on any device they're using. Using System Center Configuration Manager 2012, organizations can:      Empower people to be productive from anywhere on whatever device they choose. This includes the wide range of devices that connect to Exchange ActiveSync, including Windows Phone, Symbian, iOS, and Android-based devices. Through the new application model, the best application experience can be delivered to the user based on their identity, their device, and their connection.     Streamline operations with a unified infrastructure that integrates client management and protection across mobile, physical, and virtual environments. Improved capabilities such as Forefront Endpoint Protection integration, role based administration, and virtualization scenario support will simplify both infrastructure and processes for IT.     Drive organizational efficiency for IT with improved visibility and enforcement options for maintaining system compliance. This means fewer mouse clicks to accomplish tasks and higher degrees of automation in activities such as patch management and settings enforcement.     Download details System Center Configuration Manager 2012 Beta 2
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System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2012 Beta – Evaluation

System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2012 delivers industry leading fabric managment, virtual machine management and services deployment in private cloud environments.  System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2012 delivers industry leading fabric managment, virtual machine management and services deployment in private cloud environments. Virtual Machine Manager 2012 offers key new features that include hypervisor creation and management, network management, storage management, private cloud creation, self-service usage and service creation. It features deep investments in server application virtualization, service design and service modeling all of which can be used to efficiently offer an on-premises private cloud.    Feature Summary     Fabric Management             Hyper-V and Cluster Lifecycle Management – Deploy Hyper-V to bare metal server, create Hyper-V clusters, orchestrate patching of a Hyper-V Cluster         Third Party Virtualization Platforms - Add and Manage Citrix XenServer and VMware ESX Hosts and Clusters         Network Management – Manage IP Address Pools, MAC Address Pools and Load Balancers         Storage Management – Classify storage, Manage Storage Pools and LUNs             Resource Optimization             Dynamic Optimization – proactively balance the load of VMs across a cluster         Power Optimization – schedule power savings to use the right number of hosts to run your workloads – power the rest off until they are needed         PRO – integrate with System Center Operations Manager to respond to application-level performance monitors             Cloud Management             Abstract server, network and storage resources into private clouds         Delegate access to private clouds with control of capacity, capabilities and user quotas         Enable self-service usage for application administrator to author, deploy, manage and decommission applications in the private cloud             Service Lifecycle Management             Define service templates to create sets of connected virtual machines, os images and applica tion packages         Compose operating system images and applications during service deployment         Scale out the number of virtual machines in a service         Service performance and health monitoring integrated with System Center Operations Manager         Decouple OS image and application updates through image-based servicing         Leverage powerful application virtualization technologies such as Server App-V               Download details System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2012 Beta – Evaluation
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Announcing Microsoft® Visual Studio® LightSwitch™ Beta 2

Microsoft® Visual Studio® LightSwitch™ Beta 2 is available for download! MSDN subscribers using Visual Studio 2010 can download the beta immediately with general availability on Thursday, March 17. Download LightSwitch Beta 2 (MSDN Subscribers with Visual Studio 2010)Thursday's 10:00 AM PDT general availability download will be here.Please see “What’s New in Beta 2� for information on new capabilities, installation options, and compatibility notes for this release. Unfortunately, due to the many improvements in Beta 2, projects created in Beta 1 cannot be opened or upgraded. You can find instructions for moving your existing projects forward on the LightSwitch team blog. We are happy to announce that Beta 2 comes with a “Go Live� license which means you can now start using Visual Studio LightSwitch for production projects!Since the launch of Beta 1, the team has been heads down in working through your feedback and has made some improvements that I think you’ll agree are pretty cool. Publish to Azure: the Publish Wizard now provides the ability to publish a LightSwitch desktop or browser application to Windows Azure, including the application’s database to SQL Azure. The team is planning a detailed tutorial of this experience that will get posted on the team blog later this week.Improved runtime and design-time performance: Build times are 50% faster in Beta 2 and we have made the build management smarter to improve iterative F5 scenarios by up to 70%. LightSwitch Beta 2 applications will startup up to 30% faster than Beta 1. New features like static spans will include related data in a single query execution and improve the time to load data on a screen by reducing the total number of server round-trips. The middle tier data load/save pipeline has been optimized to improve throughput by up to 60%.Runtime UI improvements: Auto-complete box, better keyboard navigation, and improved end-user experience for long-running operations.Allow any authenticated Window user: When Windows authorization was selected in a LightSwitch app, you previously needed to add the Windows users who are allowed to use the application into the User Administration screen of the running application. This is cumbersome in installations where there are a large number of Windows users and when you just wanted to open the app up to all Windows users. The project properties UI now allows you to authenticate any Windows user in a LightSwitch application while still using the LightSwitch authorization subsystem for determining user permissions for specific users. Download Link AboveContinue At Source
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Internet Explorer Administration Kit 9

The Internet Explorer Administration Kit (IEAK) 9 simplifies the creation, deployment and management of customized Internet Explorer 9 packages. IEAK 9 can be used to configure the out-of-box Internet Explorer 9 experience or to manage user settings after Internet Explorer 9 deployment.The links in this section correspond to separate files available in this download. Download the files most appropriate for you.OverviewInternet Explorer Administration Kit (IEAK) 9 enables the most efficient way to deploy Internet Explorer 9 and manage Web-based solutions. Learn how to tailor a custom browser to meet your customers' needs. Please note: You must have Internet Explorer 9 installed on your computer in order for IEAK 9 to run successfully.System RequirementsSupported Operating Systems:Windows 7;Windows 7 Service Pack 1;Windows Server 2008 R2;Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1;Windows Server 2008 Service Pack 2;Windows Vista Service PackVisit the IEAK 9 site on TechNet for more information on the Internet Explorer Administration Kit (IEAK) 9. Download At Source 
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Office 365 and BlackBerry

We have exciting news for Microsoft Online Services customers. We are in the process of updating pricing for Hosted BlackBerry Service for Exchange Online to make this service available free of charge.  Starting today, BlackBerry mobile e-mail for new Exchange Online customers is now free through our Business Productivity Online Suite (BPOS).  For existing customers, we expect to be able to provide more information later this month on how you can take advantage of this change. In addition, Hosted BlackBerry service will be available for free with Office 365 after it launches later this year. Blackberry-maker Research in Motion (RIM) will introduce a new BlackBerry cloud-based service later this year.  The service will be hosted, licensed and supported by RIM who have committed to offer their new BlackBerry cloud based service for Exchange Online starting at $0 per user per month. This is a good deal for customers. We want people to have the best productivity experience across the PC, phone and browser, and this agreement shows our commitment in action. Here are just a few benefits this new service model will bring to customers:  Full Story At Source
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2.3 Million Downloads of IE9 in the first 24 hours

Internet Explorer 9 has now been downloaded 2.35 million times in the first 24 hours since its Monday night release. That is over 27 downloads every second, or over 240 downloads every 9 seconds. Wow.We want to thank everyone around the world for downloading IE9 and the enthusiastic reception. 2.3 million downloads in 24 hours is over double the 1 million downloads we saw of the IE9 Beta and four times that of the IE9 RC over the same time period.In case you missed it, check out the collection of videos from the SxSW launch event.  Ze Frank’s demo of Star.ME is one not to be missed!You can see all of the demos and the complete launch event by clicking play below. And to download Internet Explorer 9 for yourself, visit http://www.beautyoftheweb.com.
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Internet Explorer 9 Released

  It is here         DOWNLOAD
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