Free Windows 7 Deployment eBook
Come October 22, 2009. Windows 7 will be released officially. Microsoft is giving away free Windows 7 Deployment ebook at this Microsoft location.
Some interesting facts to know about Windows 7 installation :
> Worried that you have slower hardware for Windows 7 upgrade ? Windows 7 is successfully installed on slower PCS.
Here is the proof
- P2 with 266MHz CPU 4Mb graphic card
128MB RAM, 96MB RAM
Failed on 64 MB RAM.
Source : Windows 7 on a Dinosaur
> If you use Windows 7 RC then starting on March 1, 2010, your PC will begin shutting down every two hours
Source: Installing Windows 7 RC
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Some interesting facts to know about Windows 7 installation :
> Worried that you have slower hardware for Windows 7 upgrade ? Windows 7 is successfully installed on slower PCS.
Here is the proof
- P2 with 266MHz CPU 4Mb graphic card
128MB RAM, 96MB RAM
Failed on 64 MB RAM.
Source : Windows 7 on a Dinosaur
> If you use Windows 7 RC then starting on March 1, 2010, your PC will begin shutting down every two hours
IMPORTANT: The RC will expire on June 1, 2010. Starting on March 1, 2010, your PC will begin shutting down every two hours. Windows will notify you two weeks before the bi-hourly shutdowns start. To avoid interruption, you'll need to rebuild your test machine using a valid version of Windows before the software expires. You'll need to rebuild your test PC to replace the OS and reinstall all your programs and data. (To learn more, see Frequently asked questions.)
Source: Installing Windows 7 RC
Labels: Deals, free, microsoft
written by Kalyan @ 10:06 PM,
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Download IE8, Microsoft Donates $$ to Poor
All you have to do is go to browserforthebetter.com and download IE8. Microsoft will then donate either 41.15 or $2.30 per user until the limit of $1 million dollars are reached.
Tip : I personally like IE8 lot better than IE7, Even if you don't plan to install you can just download to feed the hungry.
Here are the details from website -
Tip : I personally like IE8 lot better than IE7, Even if you don't plan to install you can just download to feed the hungry.
Here are the details from website -
Only complete downloads of Windows® Internet Explorer® 8 through browserforthebetter.com from June 8, 2009 through September 30, 2009 qualify for the charitable donation to Feeding America®. Microsoft® is donating at least $1.15 per download, with a maximum of $2.30 per download by users of Windows® Internet Explorer® 6 after August 24, 2009, to Feeding America® up to a maximum of $1,000,000. Meals are used for illustrative purposes only. Meal conversion is effective until June 30th, 2010.
written by Kalyan @ 11:01 PM,
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Bing Market Share Exceeds 10% With Cashbacks
Bing shopping with its double cash back promotions is slowly gaining market share against 12 other comparison shopping tools. Comparison shopping tools included in the Hitwise report by their market share are shopping.yahoo.com (23%), bizrate (16%), shopzilla(14%), bing (10.86%), nexttag(10.34%), best-price, pronto, become, shop and pricegrabber.
Detailed report and data is available here.
What is Bing cashback?
If you are new to Bing and the whole 10% to 25% discount process. Here is the cheat sheet. eBay partnered with Microsoft and whenever one searches some keywords like say "ipod" - the eBay links come up in search results showing different Bing cashback discounts.
Cashbackr.com is one such useful handy website to find the keywords and the availble % off discounts.
Here is currently available eBay Bing keywords and the discounts numbers from Cashbackr.
Detailed report and data is available here.
What is Bing cashback?
If you are new to Bing and the whole 10% to 25% discount process. Here is the cheat sheet. eBay partnered with Microsoft and whenever one searches some keywords like say "ipod" - the eBay links come up in search results showing different Bing cashback discounts.
Cashbackr.com is one such useful handy website to find the keywords and the availble % off discounts.
Here is currently available eBay Bing keywords and the discounts numbers from Cashbackr.
Labels: 10off, Deals, microsoft
written by Kalyan @ 7:42 PM,
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Build your own computer at less cost
If you want to build your own PC from assembled parts then this post is for you. Here is one place where you get information about processors, Motherboard, Graphics card, Power and OS. Here is the forum link -
If you want to see hands on then Maximum Pc has posted a detailed video of building a PC from scratch -
If you want to see hands on then Maximum Pc has posted a detailed video of building a PC from scratch -
How to Build a PC - Every Step Explained from Maximum PC on Vimeo.
written by Kalyan @ 1:27 PM,
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Microsoft's free MVP developer eBook for download
Microsoft put together 17 useful developer articles written by MVPs (Microsoft valued Professional) in this free download.
Here is the download link
Source : http://devshaped.com/book
Here is the download link
| Title | Author |
|---|---|
| Working with Brownfield Code | Donald Belcham (Microsoft MVP) |
| Beyond C# and VB | Ted Neward (Microsoft MVP) |
| Remaining Valuable to Employers | Barry Gervin Billy Hollis Bruce Johnson Scott Howlett Adam Coganand Jonathan Zuck |
| All I Wanted Was My Data | Barry Gervin (Microsoft Regional Director and MVP) |
| Efficiency Upgrade | Derek Hatchard (Microsoft Regional Director and MVP) |
| Getting Started with Continuous Integration | Sondre Bjellås (Microsoft Regional Director and MVP) |
| On Strike at the Software Factory | Daniel Crenna (Microsoft MVP) |
| C# Features You Should Be Using | Ted Neward (Microsoft MVP) |
| Accelerate Your Coding with Code Snippets | Brian Noyes(Microsoft Regional Director and MVP) |
| Is Silverlight 2 Ready for Business Applications? | Jonas Follesø (Microsoft Regional Director and MVP) |
| Innovate with Silverlight 2 | Daniel Crenna (Microsoft MVP) |
| Real World WPF: Rich UI + HD | Gill Cleeren (Microsoft Regional Director and MVP) |
| Hidden Talents | Peter Jones |
| Creating Useful Installers with Custom Actions | Christian Jacob |
| Banking with XML | Peter Jones |
| Sending Email | Derek Hatchard (Microsoft Regional Director and MVP) |
Source : http://devshaped.com/book
Labels: microsoft
written by Kalyan @ 3:38 PM,
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Inprivate IE8 browsing Saved $200 in Orbitz
Internet Explorer vesrion 8 has this neat feature of surfing anonymously by switching to Inprivate browsing. This allows the users to supress cookies and other user identifications. Very useful if you browse on your friends computer , school or at a library. With little effort we can clear off history from internt option dialog but Inprivate let you keep the old history and only current browsing is cached.
Surana blogger writes how Inprivate browsing helped him find $200 difference in flight tickets through Orbitz via Inprivate browsing. Here is the link. Its intersting to see why Orbitz is giving a deal price to non registerd users. Probably to attract non customers to its site and then burden them with different deals.
If you use IE8 then using Inprivate browsing help you not only in identity gaurding but also sweet deals like the one found above.
Surana blogger writes how Inprivate browsing helped him find $200 difference in flight tickets through Orbitz via Inprivate browsing. Here is the link. Its intersting to see why Orbitz is giving a deal price to non registerd users. Probably to attract non customers to its site and then burden them with different deals.
If you use IE8 then using Inprivate browsing help you not only in identity gaurding but also sweet deals like the one found above.
Labels: microsoft
written by Kalyan @ 2:59 PM,
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Free Microsoft Hyper-V Ten hours eLearning Access code
Virtualization is a very useful concept in computers that provides a complete simulation of the underlying hardware. Like one can simulate easily the Windows Vista or XP Operating system using this concept. In this virtual environment all software capable of execution on the raw hardware can be run in the virtual machine.
Hyper-V belongs to this cadre,
If you are into Microsoft Certification exams then 70-652 is the course for Windows Server Virtualization, Configuring .
Microsoft eLearning has this course for $160. Use 9350-Y2W6-3676 at eLearning access page to get this course for free.
The course is collection of five two-hour courses helps you develop the skills necessary for implementing and managing Hyper-V in an IT environment; as well as, creating and managing virtual machines and hosts in a virtual environment.
These are the free eLearning courses - Course 6320: Introducing the Hyper-V Technology, Course 6321: Configuring a Virtual Environment, Course 6322: Deploying Systems in a Virtual Environment, Course 6323: Optimizing a Virtual Environment and Course 6324: Managing a Virtual Environment by using SCVMM.
Related articles on Hyper-V :
> wiki/Hyper-V
> devx.com/Windows_Server
> blog.scottlowe
> Channelvirtualization/hyper-v
Hyper-V belongs to this cadre,
It is a thin layer of software between the hardware and the Operating System (OS) that allows multiple instances of an OS to run, unmodified, on a single physical server at the same time.Microsoft Hyper-V, codenamed Viridian,formerly known as Windows Server Virtualization, is a hypervisor-based virtualization system for x64 systems.Hyper-V, like Virtual Server 2005 and Virtual PC 2003/2007, saves each Guest OS to a single file with the extension.
If you are into Microsoft Certification exams then 70-652 is the course for Windows Server Virtualization, Configuring .
Microsoft eLearning has this course for $160. Use 9350-Y2W6-3676 at eLearning access page to get this course for free.
The course is collection of five two-hour courses helps you develop the skills necessary for implementing and managing Hyper-V in an IT environment; as well as, creating and managing virtual machines and hosts in a virtual environment.
These are the free eLearning courses - Course 6320: Introducing the Hyper-V Technology, Course 6321: Configuring a Virtual Environment, Course 6322: Deploying Systems in a Virtual Environment, Course 6323: Optimizing a Virtual Environment and Course 6324: Managing a Virtual Environment by using SCVMM.
Related articles on Hyper-V :
> wiki/Hyper-V
> devx.com/Windows_Server
> blog.scottlowe
> Channelvirtualization/hyper-v
Labels: Coupon, Deals, free, microsoft, online
written by Kalyan @ 9:45 AM,
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Free for students Windows Server 2008, Visual Studio, Sql Server from Microsoft's Dreamsparks
If you can prove you are student by just having your school email address then you can download tons of bytes of free Microsoft 2008 software from Microsoft's Dreamspark. This is the place MSFT gives free software for the students.
The current offering available at this location -
Here are all free student software downloads from Microsoft which would otherwise cost many many $$.
> Visual Studio 2008 Professional Edition
> Windows Server 2008 Standard Edition
> SQL Server 2008 Developers Edition
> Expression Studio 2
> XNA Game Studio
> XNA Game Studio
> Microsoft IT Academy Student Pass
> Visual Studio 2005 Professional Edition
Other free tools
> Visual C# 2008 Express Edition
> Visual C++ 2008 Express Edition
> Visual Basic 2008 Express Edition
> SQL Server 2008 Express Edition
> Visual Web Developer 2008 Express Edition
> Visual Studio 2005 Express Editions
> Virtual PC 2007
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The current offering available at this location -
Here are all free student software downloads from Microsoft which would otherwise cost many many $$.
> Visual Studio 2008 Professional Edition
> Windows Server 2008 Standard Edition
> SQL Server 2008 Developers Edition
> Expression Studio 2
> XNA Game Studio
> XNA Game Studio
> Microsoft IT Academy Student Pass
> Visual Studio 2005 Professional Edition
Other free tools
> Visual C# 2008 Express Edition
> Visual C++ 2008 Express Edition
> Visual Basic 2008 Express Edition
> SQL Server 2008 Express Edition
> Visual Web Developer 2008 Express Edition
> Visual Studio 2005 Express Editions
> Virtual PC 2007
Labels: Deals, Dreamspark, free, microsoft
written by Kalyan @ 1:08 AM,
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Free Web Based UNLIMITED Storage from Wixi expires October 1' 2008
Wixi is a web-based service that users will be able to access it from practically any device (iPhone version on http://iphone.wixi.com). Users can access any time, anywhere, and from any device the media content without installing any application. Good news is that service is available for free for life for users who registers on their site before October 1' 2008. This unlimited storage is as per writings on their website and may be differently interpreted.
Some of the not so good news --
-> Does not work in Chrome, Not compatible with Google Chrome, Safari and Opera. No opera then Wii users not be able to view these media files on their TVs through Wii Opera browser with wi-fi internet channel.
->If you were not the original uploader the you won’t be able to download a file.
-> Files greater than 100 MB are now restricted from public sharing - you’ll have to be someone’s friend if you want to stream a large file from their account, which makes movie sharing difficult.
-> Only media files and some users reporting problems storing zip and pdf files,
Alternative Free Unlimited Storage websites
1) Stixy - For To-dos, Notes, Reminders, photos and file sharing
2) Seetoo - Two friends can watch the media file.
3) Google Spreadsheets and Zoho Sheet -- Collaboration of files in real time.
Users can simultaneously work on the same spreadsheet and see the changes made by each other in real time. Check the browser compatibility.
4) Jooce - Virtual desktop like Cyber home away from home.
5) Dropbox - good for file storage and membership by invite only
6) Foldershare from Microsoft -- Sharing files and complaints of cheesy interface
7) ADrive - with PCLinuxOS & Firefox - 50GB free storage
Do you use any other file sharing/storage/collaboration sites ? Please share with others via comments.
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Web users who register within 1 month of the launch will enjoy the benefits of unlimited file storage for free. Beginning in October, new members will enjoy 3 GB of media storage on the network for free, or opt for Wixi's premium service, which will allow unlimited file storage for $4.99 per month and $50 per year.
Some of the not so good news --
-> Does not work in Chrome, Not compatible with Google Chrome, Safari and Opera. No opera then Wii users not be able to view these media files on their TVs through Wii Opera browser with wi-fi internet channel.
->If you were not the original uploader the you won’t be able to download a file.
-> Files greater than 100 MB are now restricted from public sharing - you’ll have to be someone’s friend if you want to stream a large file from their account, which makes movie sharing difficult.
-> Only media files and some users reporting problems storing zip and pdf files,
Alternative Free Unlimited Storage websites
1) Stixy - For To-dos, Notes, Reminders, photos and file sharing
To share a Stixyboard with friends, family, or your colleagues at work, is as easy as it gets. Sometimes it’s nice or in fact necessary to have an online space for common photos, reminders, files, and so forth. Each Stixyboard has a unique set of members. No one else can see or use your board unless you choose to open your board for public view.
2) Seetoo - Two friends can watch the media file.
3) Google Spreadsheets and Zoho Sheet -- Collaboration of files in real time.
Users can simultaneously work on the same spreadsheet and see the changes made by each other in real time. Check the browser compatibility.
4) Jooce - Virtual desktop like Cyber home away from home.
“Load up your browser-based Jooce desktop with files, music, videos, IM buddy lists, and anything else you might need and you can get to it just by logging in. And Jooce looks and feels like a real desktop, with a slick UI and good responsiveness.”
Currently, there is no limit to the number and size of files you can upload onto your jooce desktop. That’s right, it’s unlimited. So go forth and upload to your heart’s content.
5) Dropbox - good for file storage and membership by invite only
6) Foldershare from Microsoft -- Sharing files and complaints of cheesy interface
7) ADrive - with PCLinuxOS & Firefox - 50GB free storage
Do you use any other file sharing/storage/collaboration sites ? Please share with others via comments.
Labels: Deals, free, Google, Google Chrome, IPhone, microsoft, Safari, Web application, World Wide Web, Zoho
written by Kalyan @ 5:09 PM,
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Google "App"titude challenge for India's Engineering and MBA colleges ends September 15'2008
A new innovative challenge from Google to increase the user base for Google apps in engineering and MBA colleges.
From India's GoogleApp team :
Here is video of Kellogg ( Northwestern University, Chicago, US) director of technology talks about how they have benefited using Google Apps for their intranet IT solutions:
This in my opinion is good for colleges as Google will assign one Google employee to each team to help answer questions through out the challenge. Drawback is that they are targeting only Engineering and MBA colleges. Google is trying hard to push collaboration tools like its "Google Talk" , "Google Mail" to compete with "Microsoft Instant Messenger", "Outlook" as Microsoft dominates the corporate as well university accounts.
To learn more about GoogleApps watch this video from google - Googleapps Youtube video:
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From India's GoogleApp team :
1. Sign up for the challenge by September 15, 2008.
2. Get approval from your college's administration to implement Google Apps by October 15, 2008.
3. Work with your IT department to implement Google Apps by December 15, 2008.
4. Achieve the highest level of Google Apps usage amongst all participating colleges by January 31, 2009 to be declared the challenge winner!
Here is video of Kellogg ( Northwestern University, Chicago, US) director of technology talks about how they have benefited using Google Apps for their intranet IT solutions:
This in my opinion is good for colleges as Google will assign one Google employee to each team to help answer questions through out the challenge. Drawback is that they are targeting only Engineering and MBA colleges. Google is trying hard to push collaboration tools like its "Google Talk" , "Google Mail" to compete with "Microsoft Instant Messenger", "Outlook" as Microsoft dominates the corporate as well university accounts.
To learn more about GoogleApps watch this video from google - Googleapps Youtube video:
Labels: Gmail, Google, Google Apps, Google Talk, Googlemail, India, MBA, microsoft, Northwestern University
written by Kalyan @ 11:35 AM,
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More H1-Bs becoming illegal immigrants
Image by Getty Images via DaylifeSays who ? The report from John Miano titled -- The H1B Visa Sham -- discussed the mismatch between number of H1-B visas approved for the fiscal year and the number of jobs created in that industry (both computers and engineering).As opposed to popular belief John's argument is that there is no direct relationship between H1-Bs and their job creation. Is this measurable ? I doubt it as you cannot just count numbers from the same industry. It is possible that as a result of H1-Bs the jobs are created in related industries if not in the computer industry. This is difficult to quantify.
H1-Bs approvals are 16000 where as jobs lost is 76000 -- This to some extent may account for H1-Bs converting to permanent residents and the conversion is not accounted for. Probably H1-Bs are filling the jobs of once H1-bs but now legal residents.
large percentage of those who legally enter United States on H-1B visas go into the illegal alien pool -- No wonder we hear daily the companies scams and their arrests news. Recently Nilesh Dasondi of Cygate Software & Consulting Inc illegally sponsored visas for six people and they came to US and never worked on H1-Bs.
John's report may be very well true but statistics presented may tell us a different story that a person obtaining H1-B in California usually doesn't work in California but may go to some other city which I think was happening for the unaccounted numbers.
Overall the report puts the focus on numbers mismatch with the reality. correct measures (or system) are required to track this H1-B non-immigrants.
Labels: California, Employment, H-1B visa, Immigration, John Miano, microsoft, RAND, U.S. Department of Homeland Security, United States
written by Kalyan @ 8:04 AM,
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Microsoft gives cashback upto 22% from livesearch purchases
To compete with Google in ad space Microsoft unveiled its plan to give users who buy from livesearch links the advertised cashbacks. First thing is to set up your free cashback account using your email address. Buy the products from the stores listed through live search link. Microsoft pays you advertised % off to your cashback account.
I feel for deal mongers instead of coupon clippings and searching through deal sites for deals, Microsoft is making the job easier by combining the power of "Price Grabber" comparison with discounts shown right away. At least this is much better than Mail In Rebates (MIR) or online coupon codes. MIR is pain and needs discipline and patience to get back the checks. Online coupon codes gets expired from time to time and finding them is a challenge. The only doubt is that if all merchants will participate in this and can give good cashback percent to the consumers.
Also there are so many deal opportunities for instance find a good deal from sites like slickdeals or FatWallet or Deals2Buy and then use livesearch link to knock off few more dollars on your buy making the deal much more sweeter.
Here are listed top merchants and % of cashback you can get :
I've tried "Wii Fit" and market price for this item is $89.99, Any deal thats better than the listed price is deal worthy.
-> Go to this link
-> Search for item (say) WII FIT
Here is what search results and cash back is $1.70.
I feel for deal mongers instead of coupon clippings and searching through deal sites for deals, Microsoft is making the job easier by combining the power of "Price Grabber" comparison with discounts shown right away. At least this is much better than Mail In Rebates (MIR) or online coupon codes. MIR is pain and needs discipline and patience to get back the checks. Online coupon codes gets expired from time to time and finding them is a challenge. The only doubt is that if all merchants will participate in this and can give good cashback percent to the consumers.
Also there are so many deal opportunities for instance find a good deal from sites like slickdeals or FatWallet or Deals2Buy and then use livesearch link to knock off few more dollars on your buy making the deal much more sweeter.
Here are listed top merchants and % of cashback you can get :
I've tried "Wii Fit" and market price for this item is $89.99, Any deal thats better than the listed price is deal worthy.
-> Go to this link
-> Search for item (say) WII FIT
Here is what search results and cash back is $1.70.
Store offerings for Wii Fit with Wii Balance Board: Wii Fit with Wii Balance Board. Step onto the Wii Balance Board and into a fun way to get fit! Control on-screen action with your movements on the board as you work your way through a variety of chall... via kwout
written by Kalyan @ 4:52 PM,
,
Free for students - Microsoft Development software Visual Studio 2005/2008 professional, Windows Server 2003, Expression Studio, Game Studio 2.0 etc
If you are a student you can avail this opportunity to get free software from Microsoft.
Link 1 here
Link 2 here
DreamSpark has partnered with JourneyEd to verify U.S. students at schools throughout the country. JourneyEd will help you through a simple verification process – it will be just like an online purchase, but it will cost you nothing. At the end of the process you’ll get an email with your personal verification link back to DreamSpark. Click here to get started.
Link 1 here
Link 2 here
Labels: Deals, free, microsoft
written by Kalyan @ 11:35 AM,
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Hotmail is down users not able to login
----------------
Update : Morning - Feb'26'2008 Hotmail is not accessable
-----------------
This morning February 06 2008 when I tried logging on to my hotmail account it failed with the following error.
I hope this outage is not big as the one that was reported back in 2005 where a large chunk of hotmail users (165 million) who lost their new and saved messages. I pay yearly $19.99 as hotmail is my primary personal mail account which gives me some peace of mind as a paid user but last outage wiped out accounts of even paid users.
Here is embarrassing Microsoft outage that is worth reading
In 1999 -- Microsoft is rescued by a Linux programmer from an outage
Update : Morning - Feb'26'2008 Hotmail is not accessable
-----------------
This morning February 06 2008 when I tried logging on to my hotmail account it failed with the following error.
I hope this outage is not big as the one that was reported back in 2005 where a large chunk of hotmail users (165 million) who lost their new and saved messages. I pay yearly $19.99 as hotmail is my primary personal mail account which gives me some peace of mind as a paid user but last outage wiped out accounts of even paid users.
Here is embarrassing Microsoft outage that is worth reading
In 1999 -- Microsoft is rescued by a Linux programmer from an outage
Microsoft owes a small debt of gratitude to a lone Linux programmer.
The software giant confirmed today that its popular Hotmail email network was partially paralyzed over the Christmas holiday when it failed to pay a $35 registration fee for the domain name Passport.com.
As previously reported, the oversight was remedied by Linux programmer Michael Chaney, who covered the payment with his personal credit card. Within hours, Hotmail was back online.
Labels: microsoft
written by Kalyan @ 10:05 AM,
,
I'm Kalyan from Chicago, Illinois, United States. I write articles about Cricket matches and their reviews, Money saving Deals and tips, Immigration info related to Green Card or EAD or AP or H1-B, Road to MBA degree and afterwards. I'm writing in hope and passion that one person will be better because he or she benefits from these posts.
