Order the free Windows Home Server 120-Day Evaluation Kit today. Microsoft will ship it to you free of charge
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LINQ (Language Integrated Query) is a programming model that introduces queries as a first-class concept into any Microsoft .NET language. The goal of this printable book is to give you a comprehensive overview of this new and powerful technology by using clear and real examples that help you to discover the capabilities of LINQ. To start playing with LINQ, you need the new version of Microsoft Visual Studio code named “Orcas.”
If you are not a developer or if you are not yet deeply interested in LINQ details, read this chapter to learn what LINQ is and what you can do with it, temporarily ignoring detailed “how to” instructions and best practices.If you want to go deeper into LINQ architecture, syntax, and implementations, read Chapter 4, “LINQ Syntax Fundamentals.” Chapter 5, “LINQ to ADO.NET,” is the chapter you should read if you are interested in querying relational data. And read Chapter 6, “LINQ to XML,” if you need to deal with angle brackets Get access to the entire contents of the print book, Introducing Microsoft Linq, as well as additional chapters from the other two titles when you sign up for the download.
Power Point Producer 2007 is a free add-in which enables PowerPoint users to capture, synchronize, and publish audio, video, slides, and images to create engaging rich media presentations that can be viewed in a web browser.
Following are some features revealed in internet explorer 8 - Activities, WebSlices, Favorites Bar, Automatic Crash Recovery, and Improved Phishing Filter.
The DreamSpark program includes Windows Server 2003 Standard Edition, Visual Studio 2008 Pro; XNA Game Studio 2.0; Visual Studio 2005 Pro, Expression Blend; Expression Design, etc.
Currently this opportunity is available for the students in the US, UK, Canada, China, Germany, France, Finland, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and Belgium and more countries will be added in future.
[Source – Sofpedia]
Download it from here
Track - Vistablog
It explains as - “Tafiti, ("do research" in Swahili) is an experimental search front-end from Microsoft, designed to help people use the Web for research projects that span multiple search queries and sessions by helping visualize, store, and share research results. Tafiti uses both Microsoft Silverlight and Live Search to explore the intersection of richer experiences on the Web and the increasing specialization of search”.
You can select items like web, news, RSS, image from the left side for search. Search results can be dragged from the results pane to so called 'shelf 'which provides a place to store associated search results, such as the things you want to retain from a particular query or a set of queries. Hover over a particular shelf and click to type a label on the text box which appears.
You can also see research result as a tree view. Clicking on the Tree View link will provide a tree-based visualization of your web search results. This tree visualization slowly cycles through and displays all the results for your query. You can adjust how many results are show using the slider bar located beneath the tree. You can return to the main result window by pressing the ESC key or by clicking on the star in the top right of the screen.
Tafiti uses Silverlight 1.0 RC and
Visit and leave feedback on Tafiti by clicking on the feedback link located in the upper left of the Tafiti UI. In addition, you can send email directly to tafiti@microsoft.com
Requirement: Silverlight 1.0 RC on your computer to view the site.
Microsoft introduced a new Malware Protection Center Portal - official Version 1- to the public. It offers an encyclopedia of malware where you will get the detailed information about, tools and resources for investigating threats, option to download Microsoft's latest antivirus and anti-spyware signatures, listings of the top threats and other tools.
You can get detailed analysis of various threats caused by the malicious software like it’s after effects and remedies to cure it etc from here. In addition, you can also submit files that are suspected of containing malware or potentially unwanted software to Microsoft using their online form (file size limited to 10Mb) and Microsoft Malware Protection Center will send you the results of the analysis on the submission.
Popfly helps non-professional developers to build everything from Xbox games to Robotics to custom web applications using Windows Home server, a fun, free and easy way to build and share mashups, gadgets, web pages, and applications. Popfly consists of two parts
(1) Popfly Creator tool- A set of online visual tools for building Web pages and mashups (web application that combines information from two or more websites) designed to create web experiences without being a programmer.
(2) Popfly Space - A social network designed to connect the millions of non-professional creators in the world who work on everything from mashups to game development to hardware hacks. Users can build and share projects using Popfly Creator.
Microsoft has released the final version of Developer Toolbar for Internet Explorer 6 and 7 which provides many features for exploring and understanding Web page. This add-on enables users to analyze the code of a web page by color coding the HTML source, matching CSS selectors to page elements, can modify the document object model of a web page, determine and indicate the specific elements on a web page, validate HTML, CSS, WAI, and RSS web feed links, Display image dimensions, file sizes, path information, and alternate (ALT) text, Selectively clear the browser cache and saved cookies and more. Source: Betanews.com
Windows Live Gallery – A one-stop location to personalize your Windows Vista and Windows Live experiences with fun and interesting content- is the most visited personalization site on the internet. 
Microsoft has renovated Soapbox on MSN Video unveiling a new website. The new user interface is the major sweetening introduced to Soapbox. And the users will be benefit with dynamically scaling thumbnails and page, a new video player with integrated Play lists and Progressive Download Indicators, enhanced full screen experience, and a video gallery. However, as MSN Video is available for all users, Soapbox is still a limited beta program, accessible by invitation only. Additionally, Microsoft has also made available a new MSN Video , featuring a user friendly interface and Soapbox-based functionality.
Visit MSN Soapbox .
News source www.news.softpedia.com
Microsoft has introduced a one-stop location for delivering software updates, drivers and hot fixes for a range of Microsoft products.The Microsoft Update Catalog Beta comes with user friendly interface that enables to search for and find updates, drivers and hot fixes. With ‘Microsoft Update Catalog’, you can create a list of updates for a variety of products by using the Ad to Basket option. All the updates in the basket can be downloaded simultaneously, and a window will guide you through the download process.
Microsoft recommended that non-corporate users should fix to automatic updating or to use Microsoft Update website and leave the MU Catalog, as the service is still in beta stage in order to compensate for any functionality issues.
Link to Microsoft Update Catalog Beta
Microsoft unveiled a new Web Browser for mobile phone called DeepFish. The browser enhances the existing mobile browsing technologies by displaying content in a view that is closer to the desktop experience. The browser is able to adjust normal desktop webpage into a smaller image for mobile screen. The zoom-in function allow user to zoom the desired part by clicking on the screen. Limited downloads available. For more result and download visit the site: http://labs.live.com/deepfish/default/aspx
Microsoft recently conducted a photo competition named PhotoVista in
The new release includes the following standalone builds of Service Pack 2:Windows Server 2003 SP 2 (32-bit x86), Windows Server 2003 R2 SP 2 (for x64) and Windows XP Professional SP 2(x64).
HD Photo is the new name for Windows Media Photo. Both names refer to the exact same file format. The Windows Media Photo name is still used to describe the implementation of HD Photo in Microsoft Windows products
Microsoft has announced the beta release of HD Photo plug-ins for Adobe Photoshop. These plug-in enable users to edit and print HD Photo files from within Adobe Photoshop, and include support for high dynamic range pixel formats. These plug-in let photographers to save a raw image taken directly from a camera's image sensor as an HD Photo image. The plug-ins works with Photoshop CS2 and with the upcoming CS3.
HD PhotoMicrosoft is providing the opportunity for game developers to participate the Dream-Build-Play game development contest, offering a $10,000 grand prize and the opportunity for a winner’s game to be published on Xbox LIVE
Prize includes an opportunity for the winner to receive an Xbox LIVE Arcade publishing contract, providing a chance to showcase the winner’s game on Xbox LIVE
Dream-Build-Play is open to any user of XNA Game Studio Express, including the Garage Games Torque X platform. No purchase is necessary to compete.
The contest ends 2 July 2007, and winners will be announced 13 August at Microsoft Game fest 2007 in
Dream-Build-Play is a global contest that offers aspiring game developers the opportunity to showcase their innovation and talent to the world. More than 20 winners will be selected to win fantastic prizes with a total value of more than $40,000 from Microsoft, Alienware, Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) Inc., Autodesk Inc. and Softimage Co.
Click here to enter the contest
To begin developing an application for Windows or create a dynamic website, you will be able to access a centralized learning environment with Microsoft Visual Studio Express Edition.
The learning content starts with a step by step approach to become a brilliant developer. Microsoft categorized the content according to the level of difficulty.
So the developers will be able to select content that is appropriate to their skills.
Link to the site