Microsoft contacted me yesterday about Windows Home Server (WHS) Power Pack 3 (PP3) but I was traveling so I had to just tweet a short version of the news: WHS PP3 will ship publicly November 24. Here's the full release: We are announcing that the Windows Home Server Power Pack 3 will be available in all shipping languages (Chinese, ...

Microsoft sends along some interesting information today about Windows 7: Top 7 Things to Do After Installing Windows 7 Personalize your PC: Make your Windows 7 PC your own by pinning your favorite programs to the enhanced Windows Taskbar, to easily preview and switch between Windows. Then, customize your desktop with one of the many new ...

4:37 pm. Recording Windows Weekly with Leo. Dinner at 7 and then the Underground@PDC party. 12:28 pm. Rafael and Stephen finally showed up to the press room. Bright and early ;) Not as busy today going forward: Meetings regarding Windows 7 for developers and IE coming up. I'm recording the podcast today off-schedule at 4:00 pm PST ...

6:00 pm: An afternoon of meetings are over. I think I'm finally starting to grasp how Windows Azure works (it only took a year) and how it really differs from classic, on-premise Windows Server. The big change since PDC 2009 is that Microsoft heard from developers that they weren't only interested in hosting new applications on Azure; they ...

Yes, you really can have fun with Windows Server. Especially Windows Server 2008 R2: Microsoft is launching a haiku contest, and the winner is getting a 52-inch TV. To win, you have to write a haiku about--you guessed it--Windows Server 2008 R2. Some examples include: Hyper V! PowerShell! IT just got easier. More time for gaming R2 runs ...

Microsoft today made Office 2010 Beta 2 available for download to MSDN and TechNet subscribers. (Thanks to Mary Jo Foley for the heads-up.) Here's a peek at the new Office 2010 logo. My overview of the beta--which will be made available publicly at some point--will be up later in the week according to the schedule I agreed to with ...

I'm at the Los Angeles Convention Center (LACC) today for the Professional Developers Conference (PDC) pre-show events, which involve some workshops--including the one I'm attending right now, Windows 7 Developer Boot Camp, which features Microsoft Fellow (and tech genius) Mark Russinovitch. On a related note, I interviewed Mark two weeks ...

While researching my most recent article, No OEM For You: Windows 7 OEM Packaging is Not For Individuals, I ran into an issue that I should have foreseen: Microsoft's licensing reads like the Dead Sea Scrolls and you need to be an expert in Aramaic to understand it. I don't speak this EULA language, but I know someone who does, Ed Bott. ...

Microsoft just confirmed to me that it has completed an investigation of allegations made by my Windows 7 Secrets co-author, Rafael Rivera, concerning the unauthorized and illegal use of open source code in its Windows 7 USB/DVD Download Tool. The software giant has found that it did, indeed, use the code in question. Here's their official ...

When Microsoft launched its new Windows Marketplace for Mobile alongside Windows Mobile 6.5 in early October, the online store was only available via a custom app on compatible Windows Mobile 6.5-based devices. But now, as promised, you can access the store on the web as well, from any PC-based web browser. It looks pretty good. (Queue tired ...