faquick.org

... italiano?

Fri, 21 Sep 2007 17:15:00 +0100

Da oggi tutti gli interventi in italiano del mio blog sono stati rimossi e spostati nel nuovo blog, più "serio", che si trova all'indirizzo: http://fabrizio.castagnotto.it/ On the site above you will find only Italian entries. And starting from today, only English posts will be written on this blog.

Cheers, Michael Jackson!

Sat, 01 Sep 2007 21:10:00 +0100

Today I found out a sad piece of news: Michael Jackson died two days ago. Hey, I hear you scream, the singer is still alive. What are you telling us? I am not talking about him, but about another legend of our times, albeit probably not known by the masses.

I am writing about probably the most famous beer critic in the world. I read some of his works in the past, and thanks to his writings I discovered many things about this "nectar of gods" :-) beertown.org wrote a beautiful tribute page to him, so go and read something about this great man: http://www.beertown.org/michaeljackson/ Cheers, Michael! ;-)

Windows Vista Service Pack 1: first beta coming soon

Fri, 31 Aug 2007 17:05:00 +0100

Nick White, product manager in the Microsoft Vista team, officially announced two days ago that the beta process for the first Service Pack is about to begin.

A Beta release of Windows Vista SP1 is slated for availability in the next few weeks. A small group of testers has been putting a preview of the SP1 Beta through its paces to help prepare for broader release. We made the choice to start with a very small group of testers because we think it's better for both our customers and for Microsoft to keep the beta program small at the start.

And then yesterday Microsoft Windows Server 2008 beta tester begun to receive invitation emails to opt-in for the upcoming program. Full specifications about what to expect in this service release have been published on the Windows Vista Service Pack 1 Beta Whitepaper. Of course this will contain all the security updates and the fixes released so far, but also improvements in device drivers management and application compatibility, so there will a better hardware and software support. Also System Administrators will benefit from the addition of some new features, like the ability to encrypt all the system drives (and not only the one where the operating system itself resides) with BitLocker, and hopefully with fixes to some bugs and annoyances that affect the current version of Vista. Geek.com published an interview with Mr. White, where he explains something more behind this Service Pack. The final and public release of SP1 is scheduled for the first quarter of next year. So be sure that there will be much more to talk and write about it in the future :-)

Opera Mini 4 hits beta 2!

Thu, 30 Aug 2007 20:00:00 +0100

The Opera team has just released the newest beta release of their awesome mobile web browser. The full changelog is available on their website. But the most interesting and awaited feature surely is the new and very needed LANDSCAPE MODE. For those of you not very familiar with this great piece of software, there is also a webpage with the full feature list for this major release. So, go and grab your copy now while it's hot! :-) Download Opera Mini 4 Beta 2

Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 2 (KB914961)

Wed, 14 Mar 2007 17:00:00 +0100

Microsoft just released to the world the final and official build of Service Pack 2 (SP2) for Windows Server 2003. Here is the full story on Microsoft.com: http://www.microsoft.com/technet/windowsserver/sp2.mspx with all the download links. KB article 914961 describes the SP: http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=914961 At the same time, also Service Pack 2 for Windows XP Professional x64 Edition has been released. Today English and German language builds have been published. Other languages will come in the following weeks.

Native PDF support on Office 2007 : how to

Thu, 01 Mar 2007 00:00:00 +0100

This is something I almost forgot, until I had to install Office 2007 to another PC in the company I work for. And this is also something probably not many people will know (or remember, from the early beta stages of the new Office suite). Microsoft is providing, free of charge, a plug-in to natively "print" documents in PDF format. But you need to download it from their website. Why, you might ask. It is due to some legal issues, you can find more about them in the following two blog entries posted by a MS employee: Legal issues around PDF support and Follow-up on PDF legal issues So you can download it straight from the software house web site: 2007 Microsoft Office Add-in: Microsoft Save as PDF or XPS And then your "Save as" menu will be like this: Oh, and btw my friend and co-worker Simone "weppos" was faster than me to blog it when I told him. But I am cooler and I am doing it in English. :P

Microsoft official Windows Vista and Office 2007 launch... and free copies!

Thu, 30 Nov 2006 18:25:00 +0100

Today Microsoft is officially launching Windows Vista and Office 2007. Although Volume License copies are available for download since some time now* from Microsoft Licensing website, the official date for Business editions availability is today. To celebrate the launch, they are making some noise, everybody everywhere is talking about it. And... they launched two brand new sites. The first one is a blog, emphatically called ready for a new day, obviously they wish to hint us that Vista is bringing a new dawn in computer history. Maybe a bit excessive but... this is Microsoft marketing after all :P And then we come to a something more interesting website, at least for our friends living in the U.S. of A. Why, are you asking. First, the name of the site: The Power of Together. And here is the piece of news: Microsoft is promising to give away for free a copy of Windows Vista Business and Microsoft Office Professional! But you need to fulfill the following requirements: - "you must [...] participate in at least three (3) qualifying web casts and/or virtual lab sessions within 30 days of registration" - and (sigh) it "is open only to legal residents of the 50 United States (includes District of Columbia) 18 years of age or older" (excerpts taken from the official rules page) So, my dear American friends... Go and grab them while they're hot! ;-) The websites: Ready for a new day The Power of Together * UPDATE: I do not know what happened but the Licensing website is now urging "early adopters" (like me :P) to re-download the Business Edition. And they are no more linking from the site home page the Enterprise Edition telling instead that it will be available "soon after Vista Business launch", I hope that does not mean we will have to get that one again too.

Remote Desktop Connection 6.0 (Terminal Services Client 6.0, KB925876)

Wed, 29 Nov 2006 08:25:00 +0100

Remote Desktop Connection (Terminal Services Client 6.0) provides a way to use any new Terminal Services features introduced in Microsoft Windows Vista and Microsoft Windows Server Code Name “Longhorn” from a computer running Microsoft Windows XP with Service Pack 2 or Microsoft Windows Server 2003 with Service Pack 1. Remote Desktop Connection (Terminal Services Client 6.0) for Windows XP (KB925876) Remote Desktop Connection (Terminal Services Client 6.0) for Windows Server 2003 x64 Edition (KB925876) Remote Desktop Connection (Terminal Services Client 6.0) for Windows XP x64 Edition (KB925876) Remote Desktop Connection (Terminal Services Client 6.0) for Windows Server 2003 (KB925876) KB Article : http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=925876 Source: bink.nu

Microsoft Windows PowerShell released to web

Thu, 16 Nov 2006 11:34:00 +0100

Actually I'm not quite sure why I am just keeping posting about MS releases on my blog. Mainly because I have not much time to write about other interesting things and I want to keep you, my (2? 3? :P) readers up to date with these most anticipated releases. Today is the turn of POWERSHELL, previously code-named "Monad" shell. The shell that should have been part of Windows Vista but was later dropped and developed as stand-alone. Check it out here: http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserver2003/technologies/management/powershell/default.mspx

Windows Vista RTM ! :-)

Thu, 09 Nov 2006 09:30:00 +0100

Check this VIDEO! :-)

2007 Office RTM

Mon, 06 Nov 2006 09:42:00 +0100

2007 Microsoft Office System Is Golden 2007 Office system released to manufacturers; the company looks ahead to worldwide business availability. Press release: http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2006/nov06/11-062007OfficeRTMPR.mspx

Windows Media Player 11

Tue, 31 Oct 2006 10:01:00 +0100

ANOTHER Microsoft release... :-D so many that I forget to write about them :P http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/player/11/default.aspx

Windows Live Messenger 8.1 Public Beta :)

Tue, 31 Oct 2006 09:27:00 +0100

Looks like Microsoft is busy releasing almost a new thing each and every day :) Details here: http://messengersays.spaces.live.com/blog/cns!5B410F7FD930829E!23982.entry?_c11_blogpart_blogpart=blogview&_c=blogpart and here: http://ideas.live.com/ProgramPage.aspx?versionId=39014087-6c05-4de9-98ac-b37d7ccd5617&pageId=0 Download Link (English build) : http://g.live.com/1rebeta/Mess80_EN I really hope this one (build 8.1.0106.00) is better than the old (non-public beta) 8.1.0064/66/68 builds that kept crashing every couple of minutes on many PCs running Vista (including mine) If you are an official tester in the Managed Beta, the team is asking us to wait until we get, in the next couple of days, an automatic update. I am not sure I can wait that long with Messenger constantly crashing. Let's see if I can keep my nerves without updating :P

Windows Desktop Search 3.0

Tue, 24 Oct 2006 11:20:00 +0100

New day... new release... :P http://www.microsoft.com/windows/desktopsearch/default.mspx

Windows Defender 1.0

Tue, 24 Oct 2006 10:30:00 +0100

Another day ... another release !!! Microsoft RTW (Released To Web) Windows Defender !!! http://www.microsoft.com/athome/security/spyware/software/default.mspx