Fix released for SharePoint SP2 Trial License Conversion

As we  reported before, Service Pack 2 of Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 converts the license to a 180-day trial installation.

Microsoft has just released a fix for this problem; the fix resolves the problem that causes Office Server products to expire 180 days after Service Pack 2 is installed.

Update for 2007 Microsoft Office Servers (KB971620), 32-Bit Edition

Download the Download the Update for 2007 Microsoft Office Servers (KB971620), 32-Bit Edition package now.

Update for 2007 Microsoft Office Servers (KB971620), 64-Bit Edition

Download the Download the Update for 2007 Microsoft Office Servers (KB971620), 64-Bit Edition package now.

For information about how to deploy this update, please see the Microsoft TechNet article on deploying server updates: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc263467.aspx.

This update applies to the following products:

• Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007
• Microsoft Office Project Server 2007
• Microsoft Search Server 2008
• Microsoft Search Server 2008 Express
• Microsoft Office Forms Server 2007

Source: Microsoft Download Center

Microsoft Web Platform Installer 2.0 (Release Candidate) Released

The Microsoft Web Platform Installer 2.0 (Web PI) is a free tool that makes it simple to download, install and keep up-to-date with the latest components of the Microsoft Web Platform, including Internet Information Services (IIS), SQL Server Express, .NET Framework and Visual Web Developer. In addition, install popular open source ASP.NET and PHP web apps with the Web PI.

You can download it directly from here.

Source: Microsoft Downloads Center

Microsoft Hohm – Save energy and money with the new beta

Microsoft is launching a new free online application that helps people save energy and money through better understanding of home energy usage.

Microsoft Hohm will provide recommendations to users, in order to conserve energy.

Hohm is based on the Windows Azure cloud operating system.

For those wondering what Hohm means, it is pun of “Ohm” and “Home”; Ohm (Ω) is defined as “the resistance between two points of a conductor when a constant potential difference of 1 volt, applied to these points, produces in the conductor a current of 1 ampere, the conductor not being the seat of any electromotive force” (source: Wikipedia).

In order to use the application, you have to register for the beta at http://www.microsoft-hohm.com/.

Source: Microsoft Hohm

Download Microsoft Security Essentials Beta

Microsoft has just made available the awaited ‘Microsoft Security Essentials’ (Morro) beta.

Click the image above (it will take you to Microsoft Connect) to register and download the beta.

More information about the product can be found at the official Microsoft site.

Source: Microsoft Security Essentials Beta Home

Last-minute design changes to Windows 7 / Windows Server 2008 R2

Aiming at enhancing the quality and robustness of the round-the-corner final release of Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2, Microsoft has done some changes related to RDP7, the new version of the Remote Desktop protocol.

Remote Desktop will eventually use host resources for DirectX 10.1 / DXGI 1.1 and Direct 2D applications, taking into advantage the enhanced bitmap acceleration capabilities in R2. Pre-release versions of Window 7 used client resources to render these types of applications.

GDI applications, media with Windows Media Player, and Aero Glass will continue using the client-side rendering for remote scenarios.

Even though this design change may impact the utilization of CPU and GPU resources on the host side for certain use cases, it provides a consistent approach to remoting multiple types of rich (2D and 3D) content across a broad range of rich and thin client devices.

Source: Terminal Services Team Blog

Excel/OneNote 2010 will support simultaneous editing

As we are preparing for the Technical Preview of Office 2010, additional information has started emerging from various sources.

One of the most interesting scenarios of the new Office 2010 is the ability to simultaneously edit Excel 2010 or OneNote 2010 files along with your colleagues.

This feature is not actually new for OneNote, since OneNote 2003 / 2007 provides the “Shared Session” feature that lets teams of (as many as you like) people access a shared set of notes at the same time by automatically synchronizing everyone's changes to the notebook.

It is not yet clear if simultaneous editing in Office 201o will be implemented in the same way; sure is that Google Docs provides this feature for a long time, allowing up to ten people to work on the same document.

Word 2010 will not support simultaneous editing; even though we don’t know why, I am sure a lot of people will be disappointed to find out about this since such a collaborative scenario would be a killer feature for Office 2010.

Don’t forget that you can still apply for Office 2010 Beta. Find more information here.

(Image source: on10.net)

FCS update re-offering problem resolved

It seems like the WSUS team continues to face problems publishing updates.

This time, an update released for Forefront Client Security installed successfully without issues but afterwards another FCS update of previous version (1.0.1703.0) would be offered to the client. If the Client Update for Microsoft Forefront Client Security (1.0.1703.0) package attempted to install, it would fail as there would already be a later version of the FCS Antimalware engine on the system.

Consequently, the KB971026 update would be continually offered and continually fail to install.

Microsoft has re-released the (older) Client Update for Microsoft Forefront Client Security (1.0.1703.0) package. WSUS Administrators should sync their servers to get the updated metadata.

The issue did not affect home users running Forefront Client Security as part of an enterprise benefit, since Microsoft Update did not seem to face the problem (or was very quickly fixed).

Source: Forefront Client Security Support Blog