New FolderShare client for Windows available

There's a new version of FolderShare for Windows that's designed to help improve security and reliability. To bring as many people as possible up to date, we’ll start prompting users to upgrade this week. When the time comes, you won't be able to sign in until you update. We understand this process may cause some inconvenience, so we strongly encourage you to get a head start and install the new version today.

Thanks for your patience as we get FolderShare into even better shape!

—The FolderShare team

Source: foldershareteam.spaces.live.com

BizTalk R3 Announced

Steve Martin sent out the announcement yesterday that the BizTalk Server line of products would be getting an R3 update during the first half of 2009. BizTalk Server 2006 R3 moves the BizTalk platform to the Windows Server 2008, SQL Server 2008, and .NET Framework 3.5 wave of releases. In addition, there are feature enhancements planned for:

• Supporting UDDI 3.0
• Improved integration and hosting with service-oriented applications
• Connectivity with RFID and mobile devices
• Enhanced interoperability for business protocols such as EDI and SWIFT

You can read the original announcement by Steve on BizTalk Server 2006 R3 for more details.

Microsoft Not To Raise Bid For Yahoo!

Chief Executive Officer of Microsoft Corp, Steven Ballmer was adamant and refused to raise its $44.6 billion offer for Yahoo! Inc. The CEO of Washington-based Microsoft said, “We know what Yahoo is worth to us. We offered a lot of money: $44 billion. It is not a lot of euros anymore. If their board thinks that's fair, great. If not, we'll move forward,"

Ballmer did clarify as to what he meant by ‘moving forward’. He however clarified that Microsoft would not make a bid for Google primarily for regulatory reasons.

Yahoo! has four days before Microsoft's deadline to agree to its offer or face a hostile takeover fight and risk a lower bid. Earlier Yahoo! had rejected Microsoft’s offer and had argued that it's worth more than the $31 a share in cash and stock that the latter offered. Yahoo! management and directors have said Microsoft's cash-and-stock offer "significantly" undervalues their company.

Meanwhile, Yahoo! also announced its first-quarter financial results on April 22nd. These results were closely watched as these could make a statement in themselves and coax Microsoft for a higher bid. Revenue, excluding the amount paid to advertising partners, rose to $1.35 billion. That beat forecasts of $1.32 billion.

After the results, CEO and co-founder Jerry Yang reinforced that the Microsoft bid was low and said, "The quarter's results underscore the fact that our strategy and investments are beginning to pay off. Our board and management are committed to choosing a path to maximize stockholder value and will not enter into any transaction that does not recognize the full value of this company."

Are these results good enough to compel Microsoft shell out a higher amount? At least Steven Ballmer does not think so. He has already threatened to take the proposal straight to shareholders if Yahoo doesn't agree to its terms by April. 26. Prior to the declaration of the results, e had said, "I wish Yahoo all the success with its results, but it doesn't affect the value of Yahoo to Microsoft."

Microsoft fell 17 cents, or 0.6 percent, to $30.25 in Nasdaq Stock Market trading yesterday. The shares have fallen 15 percent this year. Yahoo fell 1 cent to $28.54 yesterday and the stock has risen 23 percent this year.

Source- TheMoneyTimes

DreamSpark: Free Microsoft software offered to all students globally

DreamSpark is a new program that launched today (Feb 18th) with Bill Gates giving the keynote. If you're a student you can get

• Windows Server 2003
• Visual Studio 2008 Professional Edition
• SQL Server 2005 Developer Edition
• Microsoft Expression Studio including Expression Web, Blend, Design and Media
• A one year subscription to XNA Game Studio Creator's club

DreamSpark is simple, it's all about giving students Microsoft professional-level developer and design tools at no charge so you can chase your dreams and create the next big breakthrough in technology - or just get a head start on your career.

Here is what the Microsoft press release reads-

Microsoft Corp. Chairman Bill Gates today will unveil a software giveaway that will ultimately provide millions of college and high school students around the world with access to the latest Microsoft developer and designer tools at no charge to unlock their creative potential and set them on the path to academic and career success.

The Microsoft DreamSpark student program (http://channel8.msdn.com) makes available, at no charge, a broad range of development and design software for download. The program is now available to more than 35 million college students in Belgium, China, Finland, France, Germany, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the U.K. and the U.S. Broad global coverage, as well as an expansion of the program to high school students around the world, potentially reaching up to 1 billion students worldwide, will continue throughout the next year. Gates will share details with students and faculty at Stanford University as part of a U.S. and Canada college tour that kicks off today.

For full information, check out https://downloads.channel8.msdn.com/ and watch Max Zuckerman's interview with Bill Gates

Microsoft .NET Compact Framework 3.5 Redistributable

The Microsoft® .NET Compact Framework 3.5 Redistributable contains the common language runtime and class libraries built for the .NET Compact Framework. In addition to version 3.5 support, it also supports applications developed for version 1.0 and 2.0. The .NET Compact Framework 3.5 provides new features such as Windows Communication Foundation, LINQ, SoundPlayer, new runtime tool support, and many other features.
Important: To develop .NET Compact Framework applications, Microsoft Visual Studio 2008 is required.
This package uses ActiveSync 4.0 to update the device. Before running NETCFSetupv35.msi, connect your device to your PC. If your device is not connected, ActiveSync will store the CAB file and will not install the package until you connect. If you are not using ActiveSync, run the CAB files on the device that correspond to the device–specific CAB files found in the install folder.
System Requirements
Supported Operating Systems: Windows 2000 Service Pack 4; Windows CE .NET; Windows Mobile 2003 SE software for Pocket PC; Windows Mobile 5.0; Windows Mobile 6; Windows Vista; Windows XP
Supported Device Operating Systems: Windows Mobile Software for Pocket PC 2003, Windows Mobile 5.0 for PocketPC and Smartphone, Windows CE .NET 5.0 and higher.
Important: This download utilities Microsoft® Windows® Installer technology. Windows 98 and Windows ME users should install the Microsoft® Windows® Installer 2.0 before proceeding with this download.
Download: Microsoft .NET Compact Framework 3.5 Redistributable
Link: Home Page

Sysinternals Suite Build 2008.01.04

The Sysinternals Troubleshooting Utilities have been rolled up into a single Suite of tools. This file contains the individual troubleshooting tools and help files. It does not contain non-troubleshooting tools like the BSOD Screen Saver or NotMyFault. Microsoft acquired Sysinternals in July, 2006. Whether you’re an IT Pro or a developer, you’ll find Sysinternals utilities to help you manage, troubleshoot and diagnose your Windows systems and applications. If you have a question about a tool or how to use them, please visit the Sysinternals Forum for answers and help from other users and our moderators.
What's New ( January 4th, 2008 ):

• Updated Autoruns to version 9.01: Autoruns v9.01 fixes a bug in the way that it handles certain shell extension points and adds awareness of several additional shell extensions.
• Updated PsExec to version 1.94: This update fixes a bug in the timeout option and it makes it possible to use more options when launching local processes, like processor affinity, without administrative rights.
• Updated Tcpview to version 2.52: Tcpview v2.52 fixes a bug that causes partial display of UDP endpoints on Windows XP.
• Sigcheck to version 1.41: This Sigcheck update correctly displays long comments in file version information.

Download: Sysinternals Suite
View: Applications Descriptions
Link: Home Page | Official Forum | Official Blog

Microsoft Robotics Studio (1.5) Refresh

As a platform, our intent is also to enable third parties to supply support for new hardware, technologies, and tools, just as Microsoft Windows provides a platform for others to bring their products and technologies to the community of PC users. So while we may populate our platform with some of our own contributions, those should not be considered exclusive to tools or libraries provided by other parties looking to provide interesting technologies for this platform.
The Microsoft Robotics Studio delivers three areas of software:

1. A scalable, extensible runtime architecture that can span a wide variety of hardware and devices. The programming interface can be used to address robots using 8-bit or 16-bit processors as well as 32-bit systems with multi-core processors and devices from simple touch sensors to laser distance finding devices.
2. A set of useful tools that make programming and debugging robot applications scenarios easier. These include a high quality visual simulation environment that uses the AGEIA Technologies™ PhysX™ engine.
3. A set of useful technology libraries services and samples to help developers get started with writing robot applications.

Our development environment runs on the platforms listed in the section "System Requirements". It can be used to support robots that support these platforms as well as robots that can be remotely controlled from a PC running a supported platform. The remote control can for example be through a serial port, Bluetooth®, RF or Wi-Fi. We provide information that can be used by hardware or software vendors to make their products compatible with our development platform.
System Requirements

• Supported Operating Systems: Windows CE; Windows Server 2003 R2 (32-Bit x86); Windows Server 2003 R2 x64 editions; Windows Vista; Windows XP; Windows XP 64-bit
• To use Microsoft Robotics Studio with .NET Framework 2.0 Software Development Kit (SDK): .NET Framework 2.0 Software Development Kit (SDK) (x86 or x64)
• To use Microsoft Robotics Studio with Visual Studio 2005: Any of the Visual 2005 Express Editions, Visual Studio 2005 Standard Edition, Visual Studio 2005 Professional Edition or Visual Studio 2005 Team System Edition

Important: With the exception of the Simulation Engine, Microsoft Robotics Studio is fully compatible with 64-bit Windows. The Simulation Engine uses the XNA Framework which does not yet support 64-bit Windows so you can't run simulation on 64-bit Windows. Microsoft Robotics Studio can be used to develop services that can be deployed on Windows CE. The development tools themselves do not run on Windows CE, only the services developed for Windows CE.
 

Download: Microsoft Robotics Studio (1.5) Refresh
Link: Home Page

Microsoft ILMerge 2.0.7.1226

ILMerge is a utility that can be used to merge multiple .NET assemblies into a single assembly. ILMerge takes a set of input assemblies and merges them into one target assembly. The first assembly in the list of input assemblies is the primary assembly. When the primary assembly is an executable, then the target assembly is created as an executable with the same entry point as the primary assembly. Also, if the primary assembly has a strong name, and a .snk file is provided, then the target assembly is re-signed with the specified key so that it also has a strong name. ILMerge is packaged as a console application. But all of its functionality is also available programmatically. Note that Visual Studio 2005 does allow one to add an executable as a reference, so you can write a C# client that uses ILMerge as a library. If you are using Visual Studio 2003, you must use the v1.1 version of ILMerge and rename it to be a dll in order to use it as a reference.
There are several options that control the behavior of ILMerge. See the documentation that comes with the tool for details. The v2.0 version of ILMerge runs in the v2.0 .NET Runtime, but it is also able to merge v1 or v1.1 assemblies. However it can merge PDB files only for v2 assemblies. The v1.1 version of ILMerge can only process assemblies built in the v1.1 runtime (but does merge PDB files for those assemblies). Currently, ILMerge works only on Windows-based platforms. It does not yet support Rotor or Mono. It runs in the v2.0 .NET Runtime, but is also able to merge v1 or v1.1 assemblies.
System Requirements
Supported Operating Systems: Windows 2000; Windows Server 2003; Windows XP
Important: Make sure you have the latest service pack and critical updates for the version of Windows that you are running. To find recent security updates, visit Windows Update.
 

Download: Microsoft ILMerge 2.0.7.1226
Link: Home Page

5 Years Later, Microsoft IPTV Coming to India

At a press event in Mumbai, India today, Microsoft announced a partnership with India's Reliance Communications Ltd. to bring IPTV service to the country by March 2008.

Microsoft Corp. and Reliance Infocomm Ltd. today announced that the two companies plan to work together to jointly create, test and deliver next-generation Internet Protocol (IP)-based television services using an upcoming IPTV solution being developed by Microsoft® TV. This new technology is designed to enable Reliance Infocomm to leverage its nationwide high-speed infrastructure to deliver a unique set of next-generation television services that take full advantage of its state-of-the-art network. The new relationship also will enable the companies to test the benefits to Indian households of leading Microsoft technologies such as Windows Media® 9 Series, Microsoft .NET and Microsoft Windows Server 2003.

"We are happy to be working with Microsoft to create and test a solution that will help Reliance Infocomm offer our customers a variety of services for a rich TV experience," said Amit Khanna, official spokesperson, Reliance Infocomm. "This understanding highlights the strategic relationship between Reliance Infocomm and Microsoft to provide next-generation broadcast TV and video-on-demand services to our Indian consumers."

"Microsoft TV's IPTV solution allows Reliance Infocomm to maximize the value of its network," said Moshe Lichtman, corporate vice president of the Microsoft TV Division. "Reliance Infocomm has the strategic vision to look to the future and next-generation TV services. Reliance Infocomm clearly recognizes the value that software can add to the IPTV and advanced video services market, and we are pleased to kick off our new IPTV efforts by announcing this alliance with one of India's largest private-sector enterprises."

Source- Microsoft Press release

Project Gatineau Web Analytics Begins Beta Today!

We are happy to announce that Project Gatineau, Microsoft’s new, free web analytics service, is ready for beta testing and the first invitations are now being sent to customers.

To manage Project Gatineau’s growth and give customers the best web analytics service possible, the beta is for US advertisers by invitation only for the moment. 

All advertisers can request an invitation here: http://advertising.microsoft.com/microsoft-adcenter-gatineau

Project Gatineau’s web analytics are useful to sites of all sizes – from smaller sites that can’t afford an expensive web analytics solution to larger sites looking for a boost in their web analytics capabilities.

With the Gatineau beta, you can learn more about where your visitors come from and easily measure your marketing campaigns across any medium and from any traffic source.

Features include:

• Click and visitor tracking reports
• Marketing campaign reporting and conversion tracking
• Unique demographic and geographic information from your site visitors

Of course, Project Gatineau is a beta service so we are still adding features and working hard to improve.

With your participation and feedback, we hope you will help us build Gatineau into the best web analytics service possible.

Request your invite today!

Check out the adCenter Forums to see what people are saying!

Thanks

Ian Thomas & Justin Carder - Microsoft Project Gatineau

Source: http://blogs.msdn.com

Microsoft Accepting Applicants for Next-Gen PC Design Competition

Microsoft Corp.’s annual Next-Gen PC Design Competition is open for online entry submission until 11:59 p.m. EST Dec. 14. The competition aims to encourage ongoing enthusiasm for Windows-based PCs by engaging the imagination and creativity of the industrial design (ID) community and delivering a resource for the PC industry at large.

With this competition, Microsoft hopes to identify great talent and spur a dialogue between the ID field, the PC industry and their shared customers regarding what makes a great PC fit their customers’ digital lifestyle.

This year’s competition theme focuses on designs that help people fuel their passion, whether it’s music, traveling or photography. This year’s next-generation PC designs must contain scenarios and features that address ways to help people pursue their passions more easily, more powerfully and more enjoyably — and even how to help users obtain results they had never thought possible. This is also the first year the competition will look at software and hardware as part of the PC design. Applicants will need to focus not only on exterior design, shape and color, but they must pay attention to programs that will enhance what people feel passionate about. Successful entries will clearly define and thoroughly understand the audiences that the PC is designed for as well as the culture, lifestyle, habits and practices of the user.

All eligible entries will be reviewed January through April 2008 by a distinguished panel of Industrial Designers Society of America (IDSA)-member judges from the international PC and industrial design community in addition to representatives from leading hardware manufacturers. The entries will be scored by the following criteria:

•Innovation. Is the design new and unique?

•User experience and interaction. In what ways does the design make the PC easier to use?

•Aesthetics. How does the appearance enhance the emotional appeal of the product?

•Technology integration. How is the design enhanced by new technologies?

•Windows software. How does this design enhance or expand the users’ experience with Windows?

•Market viability and manufacturability. Who does this design appeal to, and what are the viable markets?

•Ecology. How is the design environmentally responsible?

Five winners will be selected, and up to five honorable mentions may be chosen by the judges. From Feb. 15 through March 15 the selected finalists will be posted on the Next-Gen PC Design Competition Web site, http://www.nextgendesigncomp.com, where the public will be invited to vote for its favorite entry to determine the Public’s Choice Award. The winners will be announced in May 2008 and honored at the 2008 Windows Hardware Engineering Conference (WinHEC). More information about the competition, including how to enter, is available at http://www.nextgendesigncomp.com.

Source: Microsoft Press release

Join the Microsoft Student rockstar contest!!!

Few days ago Microsoft announced the 2nd edition of the Student Rockstar contest. Calling out all young technology enthusiasts to learn more about Microsoft technologies, share knowledge, participate in competitions, projects, events, quizzes, and much more. For these activities, you earn points and get a rank in the contest, which eventually determines your rewards and opportunities. This is the perfect chance to try your luck at becoming a Microsoft Student Partner or win XBoxes, Windows mobile phones and flash drives.

Register before 25th Sept 2007 to win 50 bonus points!
Also an exciting competition is being held by Microsoft- “Light Up Your College” – that gets your creative juices flowing and gives you the chance to design an innovative website for your college, using Microsoft Next Web technologies.
So, if you’re interested in web development, you can make this your first step to real life assignments and in the run, win prizes worth Rs.50,000 !
Find out more… http://www.studentrockstar.com/LightUpYourCollege.aspx

This contest is only for the students studying in engineering colleges in India.

So hurry up friends and join the student rockstar contest here- http://studentrockstar.कॉम

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New Windows LifeCams unleashed

Today MS Hardware announces two new LifeCam models that will hit store shelves later this month.  The VX-7000 and the NX-3000 each boast a sleek design alongside impressive features for capturing and sharing photos with friends and family.

Life Cam VX-7000

In addition to advanced sharing capabilities, the LifeCam VX-7000 includes a 2.0 megapixel sensor to deliver High Definition video (2.0 MP) and still photography (7.6 MP interpolated) and brings a sleek new design to desktop webcams. The VX-7000’s additional features and benefits include the following:

• The slim, glossy, sleek design allows the LifeCam to blend seamlessly into the PC monitor.
• The built-in unidirectional microphone with acoustic noise cancellation delivers crystal-clear audio.
• A 71-degree, wide-angle lens fits more people on the screen at once.
• Automatic adjustments for low-light conditions provide superior color quality.
• The glass element lens delivers clear video quality.
• An illuminated LED indicates the camera is in use.

For laptop PCs, the NX-3000 offers video at 640x480 resolution, HD still photography (1.3 MP) and a built-in unidirectional microphone with acoustic noise cancellation.  Other features are:

• Automatic audio control to enhance sound clarity
• Swivel lens to adjust camera angle for use on notebooks
• Illuminated LED indicates when it's in use
• Video Effects to personalize video calls
• Protective carrying case

Life Cam – LCNX3000

Microsoft is also launching a sleek new notebook webcam, the LifeCam NX-3000. This new LifeCam features brilliant video (640x480 pixels), High Definition still photography (1.3 MP) and a built-in unidirectional microphone with acoustic noise cancellation. The LifeCam NX-3000 also offers these features:

• Automatic audio control provides enhanced sound clarity.
• The swivel lens allows users to adjust the camera angle for ultimate notebook mobility.
• An illuminated LED indicates the camera is in use.
• Video Effects enable users to personalize video calls with fun visual elements such as snow, stars and flowers.
• The protective carrying case enables easy and convenient portability while on the go.

LifeCam users with Windows Live Messenger (Beta) should note that they can take advantage of a new virtual photo album called Photo Swap, which allows sharing of photos in real time.

Both the VX-7000 and NX-3000 will be available later this month, at estimated retail prices of US$99.95 and US$59.95, respectively.

Microsoft announces the new SideWinder Mouse

Microsoft's legendary SideWinder line is back, with a new mouse announced this morning at the Games Convention in Liepzig, Germany. The SideWinder Mouse has been designed from the ground up for superior gaming performance, and is brimming with top-end features:

• A "macro record" button, for binding a string of commands to a single button
• Five other buttons that can be mapped to your choice of function
• Removable weights for perfect balance
• A "quick turn" function, enabling you to spin on the spot with a touch of a button
• On-the-fly DPI switching, as already seen in Microsoft's Habu Razr: click a button to choose between three sensitivity levels
• A built-in LCD screen that shows the DPI setting and macro record icons
• Changeable feet, so it'll glide perfectly over any surface
• A dedicated Game Explorer button, giving instant access to the Games Explorer in Windows Vista.

It's wired - no chance of missing a vital shot thanks to a tricky wireless signal - but it comes with a cable anchor, so the cable is weighed down on the desk and you don't have to worry about hauling it throught the mass of cabling lurking behind your gaming rig.

That would be just about every excuse for losing at Quake busted in one single product, and it's all wrapped up in a black-and-red chassis with metal switches that should perfectly complement the pimped-out, blue-lit gaming rig without looking too out of place next to a slightly more normal PC. It's out on September 27th, and will be $79.95 in the US; we'll update this when the UK price is confirmed.

source- Windows Vista Magazine

Microsoft Confirms Windows Seven

Windows Seven now has an official ship target - 2010.
At Microsoft's Global Exchange (MGX) annual sales conference in Orlando this week, Microsoft shared a bit more - albeit at a high level - on Windows Seven, according to a copy of a slide deck I saw that was distributed to the field sales force during the conference. Among the information shared was that Microsoft is anticipating it will take at least three years from now to get the next version of Windows client out the door.
Last time anyone got Microsoft to talk dates about Windows Seven, the next big Windows client release, a Windows exec slipped up and said something about 2009.
Microsoft officials told MGX attendees that the company is currently internally planning Windows Seven. So far, the company has determined Windows Seven will come in both 32- and 64-bit flavors. No word on how many SKUs or any kind of guidance on features was provided, but Microsoft did say it would address both consumer and business segments with Windows Seven. Microsoft is mulling the concept of how to extend Windows Seven with subscription-based services, according to the deck - more like Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack (MDOP), which Microsoft currently offers to its Software Assurance customers, than Windows Live, however.

 

source- neowin

Channel 8 coming soon

Channel 8 is the next best thing to come from Microsoft Communities, designed for students, by students, and for students. It’s hosted on the MSDN website so it’s for students developing and getting their hands knee deep in code and suchlike.

It’s been in the works for some time now but it’s almost ready to kick off. Charles who runs Channel 9 says, “The most important aspect of Channel 8 is the Student, not programming languages. We want to provide a place for technical students to call their home on the web; a place to meet and share ideas with fellow thinkers, and this means Channel 8 will be and provide, in time, many things that matter to students”.

See the splash screen - http://channel8.msdn.com.

Microsoft takes on Joost with LiveStation

It sure took them a while, but at least this time they started before the competition's product went final, was a huge hit and had a massive userbase.
Microsoft Research has teamed up Skinkers Limited to offer live broadcasting of television on your computer by means of a p2p network. The service uses Silverlight, Microsoft's answer to Adobe's Flash, to playback the content on the broadcasted channels. "Imagine your audience being able to watch your live TV content at their desktop, at the airport, at home and in fact, anywhere they can get an Internet connection to their PC! Imagine a quality image with no buffering or stopping! Imagine the possibilities of being able to allow your audience to 'click' on a TV advert exactly as they do on the web but while watching your existing TV channels. All without having to change your current business processes in the slightest!" Let's hope when the two go at it, they'll not only be fighting for picture quality and reliability but for less advertisements as well. The beta program will start small, but all requests will be considered as more testers are needed.
 Link: LiveStation Beta Signup | Home Page

Windows Installer 4.5 Beta Accepting Nominations

The Windows Installer team is closing in on our Beta release of Windows Installer 4.5 so it's time to open the Beta program. As usual, the connect site at http://connect.microsoft.com is the host for the program. The Windows Installer 4.5 specific subsite is at https://connect.microsoft.com/programdetails.aspx?ProgramDetailsID=1506.

We're opening nominations ahead of our beta documentation and binary release. For now, the draft white paper "Agility Trends in Package Software" is posted at https://connect.microsoft.com/Downloads/DownloadDetails.aspx?SiteID=432&DownloadID=7300. The draft paper frames the problems we're targeting with the Windows Installer 4.5 release.

This paper is part of the information we offered the tools vendors on the Live Meeting call we had last month. I'm still working on improved broad live meeting logistics and a bit more polished demo that I'll provide later in the beta program. Your patience is appreciated as the information is gradually staged out of the Windows Installer team.

Thank you for joining our Windows Installer 4.5 beta program

Source: blogs.msdn.com

Little-Known Facts About Well-Known Leaders - Bill Gates

Everyone knows the most recent headlines about our country’s greatest leaders. In this feature, we’d like to shed some light on the lesser-known facts about these folks in hopes of giving you a little greater insight as to what makes them tick.

Bill Gates

• William Henry Gates was born on October 28, 1955, in Seattle, Washington, USA.
• His father William was a corporate lawyer, and his mother Mary was a schoolteacher.
• By the age of 17, Gates had sold his first computer program, a time-tabling system for his high school, for $4,200.
• Gates scored 1590 on his SAT standardized test. The top score for the test is 1600.
• Gates told his university teachers he would be a millionaire by age 30. He became a billionaire at age 31.
• While at Harvard, Gates co-wrote Altair BASIC, which became Microsoft’s (then called Micro-Soft) first product.
• He met his wife, Melinda French, in 1987 at a Microsoft press event in Manhattan while she was a worker for the company. They would go on to get married on New Years Day in 1994. 
• In 2002, Bill Gates was considered more idolized than Chinese Communist leader Mao Tse-tung in a poll of teenagers in Hong Kong and China. The survey was conducted by the City University of Hong Kong.
• In 2005, Gates was honored with the title Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth II of England.
• As of the March 2007 issue of Forbes magazine, Bill Gates has been listed as Number 1 on “Forbes’ Richest People” list for 13 years in a row. His current net worth is about $56 billion.
• Gates has recently announced that he will be reducing his involvement at Microsoft and will be devoting more time to his charity work.
• He is currently having a building named after him at Carnegie Mellon University, called the Gates Building of Computer Science.
• Gates is the current owner of the Codex Leicester — a 72-page collection of Leonardo da Vinci’s scientific writings. The writings are a mixture of observations on water properties, astronomy, and rocks and fossils. Gates puts the Codex on public display once a year in a different city around the world.
• Bill Gates earns $250 every SECOND; that’s about $20 million a DAY and $7.8 billion a YEAR!
• If he drops a thousand-dollar bill, he needn’t even bother to pick it up because in the four seconds it would take him to pick it up, he would’ve already earned it back.
• The US national debt is about 5.62 trillion. If Bill Gates were to pay the debt by himself, he could finish it in fewer then 10 years.  

 

Source: www.achievemax.com

Microsoft Unveils New Version Of IPTV Platform

Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) unveiled the latest version of its Internet television software platform, which it promises will offer features that will set the telecommunications companies apart from the cable providers. The Redmond, Wash., software titan is the key vendor to the highest- profile Internet protocol television, or IPTV, deployment in the nation: AT&T Inc.'s (T) U-verse service. But the rollout has met with frequent hiccups, and Microsoft has largely been blamed for the problems.

Microsoft is changing the name of the platform to Microsoft Mediaroom from Microsoft TV IPTV Edition. It's the third version of the software platform. With the latest edition, the company believes its problems are behind it. "It's all brand-new technology," said Microsoft spokesman Jim Brady. "All that fine-tuning is behind us. Now the platform will really start to flex its muscles and show its capabilities." Microsoft unveiled the new version of the platform Monday at the NXTcomm telecom industry trade show.

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