This is an absolutely amazing piece of music which was created using only the sounds from Windows. It just doesn’t need any further introduction. Enjoy!
101 Photos From Seattle, Washington
March 4, 2009 By 10 Comments
I’m in Washington State for the next few days in Bellevue, the home of Microsoft, for the Microsoft Hosting Summit. This is an invitation only event for executives in the hosting industry, so it’s pretty much a whose who from around the globe.
As usual, I’m pretty tied up at events like this, but I used my free time today to run to downtown Seattle and try and do a little sightseeing and photography. So, to be a little more clear, that pretty much means that I went to do photography.
For those of you who don’t know this about me, I really experience a place by photographing it. I find that when I’m looking for a photo, I tend to see a lot more detail in everything around me. This can drive other people around me insane sometimes because I’m perfectly happy staying in one spot a lot longer than they are. But when I’m all by myself, this doesn’t tend to be a problem.
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The SECOND Worst Microsoft Commercial Ever – A Tommy Boy Parody
July 22, 2008 By Leave a Comment
Wow. That was a long title for this post. Possibly my longest ever. But you know what? This one deserves it. Now, the emotional part of me that really loves Tommy Boy wanted to call this the worst Microsoft commercial ever. But clearly it isn’t worse than the current reigning gem. Still, it is a travesty of justice.
To make matters worse, this one doesn’t just star some terribly bad actors. It actually has Microsoft executives in it – including CEO Steve Balmer! So, go ahead and check it out. And may God have mercy on their souls.
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Live from the Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference
July 8, 2008 By 2 Comments
News flash! I’m in Houston at the Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference where I stick out like a sore thumb sitting here in the wireless lounge using my MacBook Pro. I’ve already been hounded by three people, and I think they are calling security!
Anyway, in this morning’s keynote address the Microsoft folks took a swing at Apple and announced that they are going to start an agressive campaign to promote Vista as the operating system of choice. And from what I’ve seen around the conference there is a serious emphasis on pimping the OS (hey, it’s a Microsoft convention! I’d expect no less!).
If there are any loyal readers out there attending the event feel free to hunt me down and chat. You’ll find me at the Microsoft Virtualization Solutions session from 4:30-5:30pm where I’ll be addressing the group in regards to Layered Tech’s recent announcement of being the first partner to roll out Hyper V.
For everyone else, if I discover anything totally new or exciting I’ll report back later with another post!
PS – VMware, Microsoft’s #1 competitor on Virtualization technology, announced that they missed their numbers, their CEO is “stepping down”, and their stock is down 25% this morning. That should make for a lively discussion this afternoon!
The Worst Microsoft Advertisement EVER (Hint: Windows 386)
June 12, 2008 By 11 Comments
Look, any time you’ve got a character in an advertisement named T-Bone it’s an indicator of things to come. But after the first 7 minutes of brutally bad acting and terrible story line the good news is that you are treated to a horrible rap song about Windows 386!
Seriously. If you can sit through this entire 12 minute promotional video without your head exploding I’ll be very impressed. It’s just sooo bad. I only finished it myself as an experiment to make sure I wouldn’t kill any of you by actually exposing you to this crap.
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Virtualization – VMs (Virtual Machines) are Really the Future
June 11, 2008 By 7 Comments
Have you ever had a computer for a long time and then wanted or needed to move all your data to a new one? Or, have you ever had to reinstall Windows just because you’ve loaded so many programs that it’s caused your computer to crash so often that you’re willing to start over? Well, what would you say if I told you it is possible to take a “snapshot” of your entire computer and move or copy the data to another machine in minutes so you can continue right where you left off.
Well you can, and it’s not something that is “coming soon”, it’s here today and has been here for at least a couple of years. The technology is called Virtualization, and there are several software vendors who provide the capability to allow you to do this on any operating system – Mac, Linux, or PC.
Before you ask me “why would I want to virtualize my computer”, let me share a few reasons:
- Portable workspaces – virtualization allows you to move your entire digital workspace from one physical machine to another. You can even use an iPod or USB memory sticks to host a virtual machine!
- Testing and training – rather than loading all kinds of unknown software into your normal computing environment, you can have a virtual machine just for testing. Heck, you could have one for games, one for personal computing, and one for work!
- Disaster recovery – if you always keep a recent backup of your virtual machine, say… on a portable USB hard drive, even if your computer dies you’ll be able to pick back up exactly where you left off without having to reinstall everything.
- Consolidation – Virtual machines are used to consolidate many physical servers into fewer servers, which in turn host virtual machines. Each physical server is reflected as a virtual machine “guest” residing on a virtual machine host system. This is also known as Physical-to-Virtual or ‘P2V’ transformation.
Photosynth Space Shuttle Demo
January 10, 2008 By 6 Comments
Almost a year ago I wrote about the new Microsoft Photosynth technology, calling it The coolest photo technology I’ve ever seen. I still think that. Dammit! How much longer do we have to wait for a public release? Seriously this is Microsoft’s main problem – they… take… too… long… to… do… anything. Let’s have it already!
Anyway, here is a neat demo of the technology as applied to the Space Shuttle. You need to follow this link to go and actually check out the image collection.
For Endeavour’s historic launch on August 7th, 2007, Live Labs joined forces with NASA to provide a Photosynth tour of the shuttle from vehicle assembly building to the launch pad. Thousands of photos intertwine to provide three dimensional, 360 degree perspectives of one of human kind’s greatest innovations.
Microsoft’s Greatest Hidden Options
December 4, 2007 By 13 Comments
Ok. You know how Microsoft seems like it always crashes at the most inopportune moments possible? Well frankly, it’s all your fault. What you need to do is type the following command: Hold ALT, CTRL, CAPS LOCK, and TAB while simultaneously pressing F8, HOME, ARROW DOWN, and ENTER.
This will bring up the following dialog box. Examine closely to adjust your systems preferences.
Microsoft’s New Surface PC
July 2, 2007 By Leave a Comment
Thanks to Johny for pointing out that I should share this new technology on the old blog here. Actually, I’ve seen this several times before but never posted about it because I have mixed feelings about how successful this product is going to be in the marketplace. Nonetheless it is a sign of things to come, so you should all know about it.
Microsoft has released a new type of PC called the Surface. It is unique in that it has no input devices other than a touchscreen. Rather than telling you all about it, just take a look at the videos below and they will explain everything.
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