Vista Non-SP Support Ends

By DustinPosted on

Support has ended for Windows Vista with no service pack installed. While Microsoft has the no-support going on, they have changed their support policy to offer limited support for it’s products. Windows 2000 and XP SP2 support ends this July. Make sure you update your operating system with the newest service pack to remain eligible for full support from Microsoft. Out of all the support I’ve done with many home, small business and enterprise infrustructures, I’ve only had to call Microsoft once. In the end, I was able to fix it by myself.

Microsoft listened carefully to this feedback and, as a result, updated the Service Pack Support policy to provide customers with limited troubleshooting on unsupported service pack versions.

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Original XBox Live Service Ends Today

By DustinPosted on

For those that still enjoy going online with your older XBox system, the time to shelve the online games is here. Microsoft officially is shutting down the XBox Live service for the original XBox system tomorrow. Some old games, and a lot of memories are with that old machine. You can still play offline, or system link, or use a third-party system like XLink Kai to play online.

Today marks the last day that the Xbox Live service will be available for those who are still clinging to their original Xbox consoles. Microsoft announced back in February that as of April 15, all active servers for original Xbox Live subscribers will be shut off. This means that all multiplayer components of original Xbox games, including those available through the Xbox 360

Office 2010 RTM Rumor

By DustinPosted on

The latest reports say that Microsoft Office 2010 has been signed off, and is in RTM stage. This means that it is going to the printing press, so to say. The final version is done. WZOR has a great track record of being right on these rumors, so there is little doubt that this is report is accurate.

However, Wzor notes that Office 2010 RTM should be expected any day now, and it was the Russian website that pointed to April 12 as the RTM development milestone for the productivity suite. According to what little information is available, two assemblies of Office 2010 are considered for the RTM Build. Wzor claims to have additional information related to the potential Office 2010 RTM Builds, but that it will only publish it after Microsoft decides which of the releases will be offered to customers.

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Microsoft to Outsource IT Department

By DustinPosted on

In a move that a lot of IT professionals in the USA are a bit upset about, Microsoft is outsourcing it’s internal IT department to India based Infosys. The people in Redmond develop and market the applications, but when they go down, they call to the other side of the world to fix it. When, it used to be just next door? Very efficient. Although, I guess Indian workers are a much better economic choice. No sense in boosting the US economy, anymore, right Microsoft?

The pact will involve the transition of work now performed by other partners and is not intended at displacing work done by Microsoft, according to Nataraj. “There is no job loss for Microsoft per se,” he said. Microsoft for years has used offshore service providers to manage its infrastructure, applications, help desk and desktop support.

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Apple and Microsoft Together?

By DustinPosted on

While I don’t talk about Apple products on this site, this was too good to pass up. The iPad finally has multitasking ability! However, it is only done through the help with Microsoft. Not to mention using a 15 year old operating system. This guy got his iPad to run Windows 95, although slowly. Not bad at all. The more I see the iPad in action, the less I feel I need one. Maybe I’m missing the point?

Microsoft Accounts for 13.6% of Washington State Economy

By DustinPosted on

With the economic slump in the US right now, it’s nice to know that Microsoft is contributing to 13.6% of the gross state product for the State of Washington. Great job, Microsoft. That’s a pretty large sum for a single company.

Additionally, according to a 2009 study by the Milken Institute, 23.4 of North America’s software jobs are in the Seattle area, thanks to Microsoft and its affiliated companies. That gives Jet City “a decisive lead in this category,” the study states.

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What Were They Thinking?

By DustinPosted on

We’ve all seen the Seinfeld and Gates commercials, some have seen the Family Guy promo’s. I’m not sure if you were as confused as I was as to where they were trying to go with them. I thought it was a joke, or possibly a Mac ad with a Bill Gates look a like at first. But, I have to admit: it did get our attention. May not have had the attention that Microsoft wanted, but they definitely got us to perk our ears up a bit. TechFlash tries to answer the question with an interview with David Webster, from Microsoft.

Well, mystery solved, I guess. Today I sat down for a surprisingly entertaining discussion with David Webster, the chief strategy officer in Microsoft’s central marketing group. We talked about lots of interesting and wonky tech business stuff, such as how the company is attempting to make its advertising more persistent and true-to-life, and how it’s trying to shape its overall brand image not through a broader corporate campaign but instead by aiming to project a consistent personality through the advertising for its individual products.

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10 Reasons Why you Shouldn’t Wait For SP1 on Windows 7

By DustinPosted on

A few people, and a lot of businesses notoriously wait for the first service pack to upgrade to a new operating system. eWeek has compiled a list of 10 reasons why you don’t need to wait for the upcoming (and already leaked on torrents) service pack to upgrade to Windows 7.

But Windows 7 is a different story altogether. It doesn’t have the kind of issues that XP and Vista did when they first hit store shelves. It’s a robust operating system that can be relied on even before the first service pack is released. Simply put, users who are on the fence about Windows 7 shouldn’t wait for Service Pack 1.

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