Web Development Improved in VS 2010

The .NET Framework 4 and Visual Studio (VS) 2010, now generally available, include numerous additions and improvements to the ASP.NET Web development framework. The primary enhancements are found in Microsoft's Model-View-Controller (MVC) 2 Library, which employs a development pattern that separates Web sites into logical components to ease team development and testing, and the ASP.NET Ajax Library, which helps create Web sites that pass more work on to the client to reduce traffic to the server. A new Web site deployment model is also provided. The new release could help development teams implement and deploy more capable and efficient Web sites, provided they invest time and effort for the upgrade.

 

What Is ASP.NET?

ASP.NET is the .NET Framework—based evolution of Microsoft's original unmanaged code-based Active Server Pages (ASP) technology. ASP.NET allows developers to create Web sites by combining HTML, scripts (usually JavaScript), server-side controls, and code written in .NET programming languages such as C# and Visual Basic (VB) .NET. When a browser requests a URL representing an ASP page, IIS passes the request to the ASP engine, which executes the developer's server-side code and controls to build an HTML and script response, which it then returns to the browser.

ASP.NET Web sites can be built using two primary patterns of development: Web Forms and MVC. The Web Forms pattern has been offered since the first version of ASP.NET and offers an event-driven component model for programming, similar to the company's original VB tools for PC programming. The MVC pattern is a recent addition that separates the code of a Web site into data access and business logic (model); rendering of the user interface into HTML and client-side script (view); and code for processing user input and other events (controller), a division that has been popularized by frameworks such as Ruby on Rails. Implementing model, view, and controller logic is facilitated by code classes in the MVC Library and tools in VS. ASP.NET MVC 2 was released in Mar. 2010 for VS 2008 and is included in VS 2010.

What's New in MVC 2

Improvements in ASP.NET MVC 2 include the following:

• Subdividable Web applications.
  A new logical container called an Area helps manage large-scale MVC-based Web application development by allowing a single project to be arranged and implemented by subsections of functionality. For example, the account management portion of a Web site might be a separate area from a product viewer area.
• Better client-side data validation.
  MVC 2 code classes provide automatic data validation on the client. For example, if a site user enters non-numeric characters in a phone number field or leaves a required field blank, automatic validation can catch the problem and prompt the user with an error explanation without requiring the developer to write specialized validation code.
• Asynchronous controller support.
  New support for asynchronous controllers reduces Web site error messages caused by heavy loads and lengthy operations. When a controller receives a client request, it must use a thread from an ASP.NET thread pool to execute the action, await the result, and potentially call upon a view. The ASP.NET thread pool is a finite set of threads which, once exhausted, cause the server to queue up additional incoming client requests until a thread becomes available. If the queue fills, the server returns a server busy error to subsequent client requests. Asynchronous controller support allows a controller to call an action and then free its thread. When the action is complete, the controller is notified and a new thread is used to process the result. This keeps ASP.NET threads unused while lengthy operations such as requests from external servers for large data blocks are performed. The actions won't be completed any sooner with asynchronous controllers, but the Web server will be able to process more incoming requests and be less likely to return a server-busy error to clients.
• HTML helper method improvements.
  MVC supplies HTML helper methods that can be used to generate user interface controls such as text boxes and radio buttons within view components. MVC 2 adds strongly typed versions of these helper methods, which allow developers to ensure that the appropriate type of data is passed to the methods. Benefits of strong typing include compile-time validation (code errors are caught while compiling rather than at runtime) and better IntelliSense support. Another addition, templated helpers, automatically select the best user interface element to use based on the data type supplied. For example, if a date value is supplied to a templated helper, a date-picker control will be displayed to the user.

AJAX Gets More Done on the Client

Asynchronous JavaScript and XML (AJAX) is a development pattern in which JavaScript in a Web page downloads small amounts of XML data in the background to eliminate refreshing the entire page when only part of it changes. For example, both Bing Maps and Google Maps use AJAX technologies to allow users to scroll a map in a Web page by clicking and dragging, without a full page refresh.

AJAX applications use a variety of standard browser features, such as XML, Cascading Style Sheets, and JavaScript, to provide highly interactive interfaces. Although AJAX applications are typically more user-friendly than traditional Web applications, they are difficult to develop because they require tedious manipulation of the HTML on a Web page. The ASP.NET Ajax Library makes it easier for developers to build applications that use AJAX using either ASP.NET Web Forms or MVC.

The ASP.NET Ajax Library consists of several components:

• AJAX extensions to ASP.NET (server-side controls) that hide some of the complexities of using AJAX within ASP.NET development—for example, by allowing developers to delimit what portion of a Web page should be refreshed from the server upon specific user inputs and ensuring that the correct AJAX script libraries are downloaded to the client
• A library of AJAX-based client-side script code that works across browsers and provides common client-side functions, such as data access
• A control toolkit that gives developers a library of about 40 AJAX controls (such as a calendar control and a star-based rating control) that can be used without writing JavaScript if used as-is, or modified using open source code.

Microsoft also fully supports the popular jQuery open source JavaScript library, which is included with VS 2010. JQuery can reduce the amount of code required in Web pages that use AJAX because it provides functions for manipulating HTML on a Web page.

Improvements when working with VS 2010 and the latest ASP.NET Ajax Library include the following:

Ability to specify client-side AJAX libraries to use. Previously, all of the client-side AJAX libraries had to be downloaded to the client when using ASP.NET AJAX. Now developers can request a specific subset of libraries to download, reducing unnecessary client downloads and server load and increasing client performance.

Ajax Content Delivery Network (CDN). Web sites that use the AJAX client-side script libraries or control toolkit can specify that clients download the files from a new CDN deployed by Microsoft on servers accessible from the Internet. The CDN offers the latest versions of these files so that they need not be constantly updated on the Web site's server and the files are cached on CDN servers for faster download. The CDN also offers the latest jQuery library files.

More emphasis on client-side rendering. A new client-side template engine and controls allow developers to keep HTML rendering logic on the client rather than the server to reduce server load and increase overall performance. A template is implemented on a page and a client-side control receives data from the server and uses that data to convert the template into HTML that can be rendered by the browser.

Control toolkit integrated with jQuery. All of the AJAX control toolkit controls are now exposed as jQuery plug-ins, allowing them to be accessed through jQuery without requiring ASP.NET on the server.

New Web Site Deployment Tools

VS 2010 supplies a new method and tools to simplify deploying Web applications to destination servers. Web applications consist of many elements in addition to files. Supplementary configuration to get an ASP.NET Web site running can include modifying settings in the target IIS Web server, altering the Web.config file (which contains values such as database connection strings and whether to run the site in debug mode) to adjust for the destination environment, creating and populating databases, installing certificates, adding assemblies to the Global Assembly Cache, and setting registry values, among other possibilities.

VS 2010 uses the IIS Web Deployment tool (also known as MSDeploy) to package all of these items into a single file that is unpacked and deployed on the target machine. At deployment time, changes to specific elements of the package that are required for the deployment (such as database connection strings for the target environment) can be specified.

A Web site can be directly deployed to a target server without creating a package file using a One-Click Publish feature. However, this feature only works in particular scenarios where items such as permissions and the correct software are in place, which may not be the case when installing to a third-party hosting service, for example.

The Web site deployment features can be used for both first-time deployments and updates to sites, and an extensible provider model allows custom deployment routines to run when publishing a site, such as configuring a content management system to work with the Web site being deployed.

The new Web site deployment tooling may simplify various deployment scenarios, such as moving Web sites to third-party hosting services or to testing, staging, or production servers, or even as a means for ISVs to deliver Web site products to customers. However, complex Web sites often require extensive, specialized configuration upon deployment or require deployment across several servers in a farm (in addition to different server types, such as IIS and SQL Server). Although the deployment tooling in VS 2010 is flexible and extensible, in some cases it may be less work for customers to write their own deployment scripts or perform manual deployments.

Resources

Information on Visual Studio 2010 and the .NET Framework 4 is at www.microsoft.com/visualstudio.

Information on ASP.NET for developers is at www.asp.net.

How to Choose a Virtualization Training Provider?

For IT professionals, virtualization provides technology and methods to improve network efficiency, quality standards and enable system integration in less time. Whether you are looking to improve your understanding of virtual desktops, data management in the cloud or how to scale a virtual computing solution, it’s important to work with experts when it comes to your training program. Before beginning to implement or accelerate your organization’s virtualization programs, make sure your training provider has the right expertise, technology and curriculum to help you navigate the process.

 

Getting proper certification for your virtualization solution can provide important skills that go beyond initial configuration of your IT environment. When training on VMware for example, you’ll gain insights into how to properly manage your entire IT infrastructure so you can scale the solution, lower your computing costs and improve performance on your servers. Importantly, virtualization training should provide both specific technical knowledge as well as a broader understanding of desktop virtualization, data handling over a cloud and end user training. This guide aims to help system administrators, engineers and IT support professionals understand the benefits, options and features of virtualization training with VMWare vSphere to earn certification as a virtual expert and practical knowledge for long run career goals.

An Overview of vSphere virtualization

To facilitate management of virtual computing infrastructure, vSphere offers a complete 64-bit operating system to effectively manage both hardware and software resources within a virtual data center. Training on the system can help IT professionals extend the capabilities of VMWare Infrastructure software by organizing your cloud computing resources to improve data transfer rates, effective manage a suite of business applications and reduce in-house data servers. VMWare’s vCompute, vStorage and vNetwork infrastructure offerings provide tools to help network administrators more effectively manage virtual environments.

vSphere training can help you more effectively allocate data resources, secure your mission critical business data as well as enable on-demand storage, computing power and network management to make IT infrastructure more resource efficient. Understanding the unique applications of the cloud computing suite can help you to reliably scale infrastructure with intelligent automation paired with high security standards.

What to look for in a vSphere Virtualization training provider

Effective vSphere training vendors offer effective courses with the right modules and methods for presenting of information. A consistent, professional provider will focus both on the specific skills required to get a recognized virtualization certification, as well as practical knowledge that can help in a professional work environment. In order to get the most out of the training program, you should look for training modules which offer:

• A Balance of Theory and Real World Applications
  The right training provider should combine a deeper theoretical understanding of cloud computing with actual working simulations of vSphere in an operational environment. Training for specific computing cases can help you to understand how the infrastructure management tools fit within your existing IT infrastructure. Additionally, you should have instructors who have real world experience in implementing vSphere in corporate IT environments. Gaining from these applied perspectives can give you insight into how the applications perform in a professional environment.
• Choose a student-focused environment with computing resources
  A proper VMWare training session should provide computing labs and resources tailored to meet the specific needs of each student. Independent of skill level, the courses should provide expert instructors who can help you navigate real world simulations. When leaving the courses you should have a more complete understanding of how to properly implement VMWare in a production environment, as well as the skills, resources and technology needed to procure in advance of the transition.
• Course modules which cover the necessary skills for a recognized certification exam
  In order to validate the knowledge gained from the course, a quality training provider should help provide specific guidance related to topics covered on the certification exam. Finding the right balance between the exam-specific skills and applied knowledge to manage vSphere in an operating environment can truly add value to your resume and skill set. Ultimately, the course should help you improve your productivity at work, while opening up potential for further professional development opportunities. Gaining the right skills can help you become a certified virtualization expert as well as give you the applied knowledge for implementing vSphere to improve IT efficiency. 
• A focused training environment with a track record of success
  Working with a professional training firm should provide dedicated, focused instruction so you can get the most out of each course module. Look for a training provider that has earned a reputation for quality and focused solutions which cumulatively build on the skills of the previous lesson. Whether you’re taking a sprint or multi-week course, each training session should build so you can master the skills to configure, deploy, analyze and develop IT infrastructure with vSphere as a management tool. Getting access to resources and information to help you further your understanding after the course ends can ensure you get more value from the course as you proceed to your certification exam and beyond.

Benefits of VMware vSphere training

When comparing multiple providers, ensure they have coursework that focuses on helping you realize the following goals:

• A broader understanding of how to deploy, measure and optimize virtual IT environments
  Quality vSphere training providers focus on applications of vSphere to help effectively deploy IT environments that can scale. You should leave the course with a deeper understanding of how to use a vCenter server to manage your vSphere computing environment. Having the right combination of hardware and software resources can make deployment a more effective, streamlined process in any IT environment.
• Configuration and management of a vSphere environment with VMWare tools
  Proper vSphere training should provide an understanding of  the network management tools that allows you to more effectively manage applications with vMotion, security with vShield (or VMSafe), computing power with vCompute, data storage with vStorage and distribution with vNetwork.

A professional virtualization training provider can help you master both the specifics of vSphere as well as a broader knowledge of IT virtualization. The right training provider can help you get up and running more effectively so you can improve virtual resource efficiency and utilization.

The 3 Most Popular Business Application Courses in Toronto

As organizations look to upgrade the skills of their employees the three most popular courses in Toronto are:

1. Microsoft Excel has earned its reputation as a solid business application, and rightly so, it is a powerful tool you can use to create and format spreadsheets, and analyze and share information to make more informed decisions. Excel training courses are delivered by Microsoft Qualified trainers for all versions of MS Excel. Each course is one day in duration and there are three levels of training - Introduction, Intermediate and Advanced.
   
   Introduction
   Introduction to Microsoft Excel training gives you an introduction to the basic functions of spreadsheet. It also provides you with a brief introduction to accounting principles, which form the basis of a spreadsheet. Topics covered also include, simple budgeting, creating charts and graphs, and producing basic financial reports.
   
   Intermediate
   Those who undertake Intermediate Microsoft Excel training are assumed to know how to work their way around a spreadsheet and have a firm understanding of the principles behind how a spreadsheet works. It is not recommended that anyone undertake an intermediate Microsoft Excel training course without having a basic knowledge of spreadsheets and how they work.
   
   Advanced
   Advanced Microsoft Excel training requires that the student have had already acquired a superior level of understanding of the complex calculations and advanced features of Microsoft Excel. In advanced Microsoft Excel training additional topics such as complex formulas, analysis of financial data, and working with multiple workbooks will be covered.
   
   
2. Still they industry standard for web and graphic design, Adobe Creative Suite 4, is as popular as ever, courses include:
   
   Adobe Flash CS4
   A website can be made to look more inviting with interactive graphics and animations. The tools present in Adobe® Flash® CS4 can be used to create and manipulate a wide variety of objects ranging from a simple graphic design to a complex animation sequence. In this course, you will familiarize yourself with the basic tools and features of Flash CS4, and gain the skills necessary for creating basic animations.
   
   Adobe Illustrator CS4
   Adobe® Illustrator® CS4 is a sophisticated graphics application that helps you create complex and attractive designs with type effects. You can create advertisements and other illustrations with ease using this software. However, creating complex designs can be overwhelming if you are not familiar with the tools and the features in Adobe Illustrator. In this course, you will use Adobe Illustrator CS4 by drawing and manipulating simple shapes to design a layout for your product.
   
   Adobe Photoshop CS4
   You know how to use the features in Adobe® Photoshop® CS4 to enhance and modify images to meet your requirements. Now, you would want to create and work with images to be used on the web pages. In this course, you will use Photoshop to create and optimize images for the web. You will also stage web page components, arrange them aesthetically, and add interactivity to them. Finally, you will export the web page consisting of interactive images so that you can view and test their functionality in Internet browsers
   
   Adobe® Dreamweaver® CS4
   You may want to make information available on the Internet. To achieve this, you need to create a website. In this course, you will design, build, and upload a website using Dreamweaver.
   
   
3. Crystal Reports is a business intelligence application used to design and generate reports from a wide range of data sources. Several other applications, such as Microsoft Visual Studio, bundle an OEM version of Crystal Reports as a general purpose reporting tool. Crystal Reports became the de facto standard report writer when Microsoft released it with Visual Studio. Courses include:
   
   Introduction
   In this course, students will build basic list and group reports that work with almost any database.
   
   Intermediate
   In this course, students learn how to create more sophisticated reports including sub-reports and cross-tabs, and how to increase the speed and efficiency of your reports by using SQL queries.
   
   

The 3 Most Popular IT Training Courses

With an increased interest in IT training within businesses, below is a list of the 3 most popular choices for IT training courses in Toronto.

1. VMware vSphere 4.0 Ultimate Bootcamp
   VMware virtual infrastructure simplifies IT so companies leverage their storage, network, and computing resources to control costs and respond faster. The VMware virtual infrastructure approach to IT management creates virtual services out of the physical IT infrastructure, enabling administrators to allocate these virtual resources quickly to the business units that need them most.
   
   Attending a VMware training course will enable you to gain in-depth skills and industry-recognised certification on VMware technology. The VMware vSphere 4.0 Ultimate Bootcamp is designed for any technical individual who want to demonstrate their expertise in virtual infrastructure and increase their potential for career advancement by becoming a Certified Virtualization Expert Professional (CVE).
   
   
2. ITIL FOUNDATION V3
   The IT Infrastructure Library® (ITIL) is the most widely accepted approach to IT service management in the world. ITIL is a best practice framework that has been drawn from both the public and private sectors internationally. It describes how IT resources should be organized to deliver business value, documenting the processes, functions and roles of IT Service Management (ITSM). ITIL (the IT Infrastructure Library) is essentially a series of documents that are used to aid the implementation of a framework for IT Service Management. This customizable framework defines how Service Management is applied within an organization.
   
   ITIL provides a systematic and professional approach to the management of IT service provision. Adopting its guidance can provide such benefits as:
        * reduced costs
        * improved IT services through the use of proven best
           practice processes
        * improved customer satisfaction through a more
           professional approach to service delivery
        * standards and guidance
        * improved productivity
        * improved use of skills and experience
        * improved delivery of third party services through the
          specification of ITIL or BS15000 as the standard for
          service delivery in services procurement
   
   The ethos behind the development of ITIL is the recognition that organisations are becoming increasingly dependent on IT in order to satisfy their corporate aims and meet their business needs. This leads to an increased requirement for high quality IT services. ITIL courses start with the ITIL Foundation and leads on to a full range of Service Management topics.
   
   
3. IMPLEMENTING AND MANAGING MICROSOFT WINDOWS SERVER 2008 HYPER-V
   Server virtualisation is a hot topic in the IT world because of the serious economic benefits that can be achieved. Microsoft Technical training courses are aimed at giving IT professionals; the training necessary to understand the technology, update their skills and obtain the appropriate Microsoft qualifications.
   
   This course teaches delegates how to implement and manage Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V. It also teaches delegates how to manage Hyper-V with Solution Centre Virtual Machine Manager (SCVMM) and with PowerShell. The primary audience for this course is Windows Server 2003/2008 System Administrators who manage and implement Server Virtualization technologies within their network. The secondary audience for this course is Enterprise System Architects.

Windows 7 Surpasses 10% Market Share

Recently Microsoft disclosed that it sold more than 60 million copies of Windows 7 by the end of 2009, and now we know this very quick growth has continued through the first quarter of 2010. According to Netmarketshare, (www.netmarketshare.com) last month, Windows 7 crossed into double-digit market share numbers.

While the numbers are positive for Windows 7, on the whole, between February and March 2010, Windows dropped a sizeable 0.54 percentage points (from 92.12 percent to 91.58 percent). More specifically, Windows XP dropped 1.03 percentage points (from 65.49 percent to 64.46 percent), Windows Vista dipped 0.50 percentage points (from 16.51 percent to 16.01 percent), and Windows 7 jumped 1.31 percentage points (from 8.92 percentage points to 10.23 percent).

Even if Windows is slowly losing share, Windows 7 is doing phenomenally well. Above, you can see how quickly the OS has been gaining share in its first few months compared to Windows Vista's first few months. In the two quarters after their respective releases, Windows 7 grabbed 10.23 percent while Windows Vista only managed only 4.54 percent of the market.

 Further reading

• Operating System Market Share (marketshare.hitslink.com)
• Operating System Version Market Share (marketshare.hitslink.com)
  

Visual Studio 2010 Release Candidate Ready

A release candidate (RC) of Visual Studio (VS) 2010 and the .NET Framework 4 is now available. The RC should be the last test release of the development toolset and application runtime before the expected final product release on Apr. 12, 2010. Microsoft claims the RC addresses performance issues reported by customers testing beta releases, such as slow response times and high memory usage. The issues prompted Microsoft to extend the beta program while improvements were made and to delay the final release into April. VS 2010 is a major update over the current VS 2008 product, and it adds many new development environment features, modeling utilities, and test tools, while the .NET Framework 4 gets new support for parallel code development and dynamic languages, a major update to the Windows Workflow Foundation, an improved Windows Communications Foundation, and other enhancements.

The RC can be downloaded at msdn.microsoft.com/vstudio/dd582936.aspx. Microsoft's VS product site is at www.microsoft.com/visualstudio.

Next SQL Server in May 2010

SQL Server 2008 R2 will go on sale May 1, 2010, in volume licensing, and media will be available in May. The version delivers important analytics and reporting enhancements as well as scalability and management improvements for the database engine. Beyond R2, Microsoft plans a new appliance platform for large data warehouses and a SQL Server version that delivers advanced database modeling tools.

The most important improvements in SQL Server 2008 R2 include the following:

• PowerPivot. PowerPivot is a set of tools that enables Excel 2010 users to analyze large data sets from disparate sources, create reports and charts, and publish the results to other users via SQL Server 2008 R2 Analysis Services and SharePoint Server 2010. Microsoft hopes that the technology will provide a faster, simpler front end to Analysis Services, particularly for users who already use the PivotTable and PivotChart analytics features in Excel.
• Master Data Services. SQL Server 2008 R2 will introduce a new master data management component (formerly code-named Bulldog) based on technology acquired with Stratature in June 2007. Master data management technology helps synchronize widely used data sets such as customer lists, product catalogs, and financial reporting hierarchies across multiple systems, making the data more consistent across applications and business units. By standardizing data sets, master data management can make financial reporting and analysis results more consistent across an organization.
• StreamInsight is a complex event processing system, similar to technology from vendors such as Aleri/Coral8, IBM, Progress Software, and Tibco. Complex event processing systems are used for analysis and monitoring tasks that require quick response times, such as behavioral targeting of Web ads and algorithmic securities trading.
• Database engine improvements. The SQL Server 2008 R2 database engine will exploit up to 256 processor cores on Windows Server 2008 R2, up from 64 on SQL Server 2008, enabling it to take advantage of the latest servers for data warehousing or other processor-intensive data management tasks. SQL Server 2008 R2 will also have improved tools for packaging, deploying, and monitoring server-side code, schema, and security settings, which could particularly benefit organizations that deploy multiple instances of the same database code for scale, redundancy, or to support multiple hosting customers.

Some features of SQL Server 2008 will also be eliminated in the R2 release. In particular, SQL Server 2008 R2 will ship without Data Transformation Services (DTS), a bulk data transfer and cleansing tool that was replaced by Integration Services in SQL Server 2005 and deprecated (marked for future removal) in SQL Server 2008. However, SQL Server 2008 R2 will support Integration Services-DTS coexistence: organizations will be able to install DTS from an earlier version of SQL Server on the same server as Integration Services, and Integration Services processes will be able to incorporate existing DTS packages when DTS has been installed.

After SQL Server 2008 R2, Microsoft plans a new platform to tackle large-scale data warehouses, and a major update to the core SQL Server product.

• Parallel Data Warehouse (formerly code-named Project Madison) is a data warehouse appliance platform. Although it will be called SQL Server 2008 R2 Parallel Data Warehouse, it is actually based on SQL Server 2008 and technology acquired with Datallegro in July 2008. Data warehouses are special-purpose databases designed and organized to store large volumes of historical data to aid decision making in organizations. The Parallel Data Warehouse platform is intended to support SQL Server data warehouses with sizes into the hundreds of terabytes that scale out over large numbers of servers, similar to offerings from other vendors such as Teradata. The platform will be sold on preintegrated server and storage configurations from partners to include Bull, Dell, EMC, Hewlett-Packard, and IBM. (Several of these vendors already offer Fast Track Data Warehouse configurations on the current version of SQL Server, for data warehouses of up to 32TB.) Offerings based on the platform will probably appear in 2010.
• SQL Server 2011 (not officially named), the next major version after SQL Server 2008 R2, will probably be the first to incorporate the technologies acquired with Zoomix in July 2008, which enable efficient matching of reference data (such as personal and company names) to aid data consistency checking and duplicate removal. This release will probably include more core database engine improvements and deliver SQL Server Modeling tools (formerly code-named Oslo) to help developers design database applications and schemas. Microsoft hopes to ship this version within 36 months of SQL Server 2008's Aug. 2008 release, most likely in 2011.

Resources

The Nov. 2009 SQL Server 2008 R2 technical preview is at www.microsoft.com/sqlserver/2008/en/us/R2Downloads.aspx.

SQL Server announcements often appear on Microsoft's Data Platform Insider blog at blogs.technet.com/dataplatforminsider/default.aspx.

Microsoft Office 2010 Beta - Available!

Public beta releases have appeared for versions of Office, SharePoint, Project, and Visio that are planned for the first half of 2010. The Nov. 2009 betas are feature-complete, meaning that they are close to what Microsoft plans for production versions. Consequently, these releases offer an early opportunity for organizations to evaluate the upcoming versions in depth and make decisions on their deployment.

Feature-complete previews of the following products are now available:

• Office 2010. The next version of the Office suite for word processing, spreadsheet, e-mail, database, and presentation applications will deliver many improvements to specific components. For example, Outlook will add features to reduce e-mail overload, such as the ability to opt out of specific e-mail conversations, Excel will improve charting and data filtering, and PowerPoint and Word will include tools for editing embedded video. The Office 2010 user interface will enable more customization by users and includes a new Backstage mode for tasks that affect an entire document, such as editing document properties, saving, and printing. Unlike previous versions that were 32-bit only, Office 2010 will be available in both 32-bit and 64-bit (x64) versions. It will run on Windows XP SP2 or later.
• Project and Project Server 2010. Planned features for Microsoft's project management product line include adoption of the Fluent client interface (including the Ribbon) first introduced in some Office 2007 applications; a timeline view that summarizes upcoming project deadlines and status; user-controlled task scheduling that allows users to define task parameters, such as start date and time, or duration, and lock them even if other tasks are modified; and improved scheduling and reporting support in the Web interface. Project Professional 2010 will include a new Team Planner that lets users flexibly allocate resources and identify and resolve potential problems, such as unscheduled or unassigned tasks, which are highlighted in color. Changing task assignments or schedules can be performed simply by dragging the task to a new owner or to a new start date and time. Project Server 2010 will incorporate functions of Project Portfolio Server, enabling managers to analyze sets of planned or in-process projects on a variety of business criteria. Project Server 2010 will depend on SharePoint Server 2010 and require 64-bit (x64) editions of Windows Server (2008 or later).
• Visio 2010. The next version of the Visio diagramming program will adopt Office Fluent UI features such as the Ribbon to help users locate commonly used commands and options, make further improvements in automatic layout, enable workflow authoring for SharePoint sites, and add new business process documentation templates (such as templates for Business Process Modeling Notation). Developers will be able to run Visio 2010 inside the Visual Studio 2010 programming environment to debug customizations, as they can now with other Office applications.
• SharePoint 2010. The SharePoint Web site management products include SharePoint Server and Windows SharePoint Services (which will be renamed SharePoint Foundation in the 2010 version). The 2010 versions will deliver many new capabilities for sharing Office documents, including the Office Web Apps server applications, which enable users to edit Office documents in a browser, and a coauthoring feature that enables multiple Office 2010 users to edit a document simultaneously. Other plans include social networking capabilities such as activity feeds (which enable workers to track the recent activities of their colleagues), substantially improved search, and enhanced enforcement of data retention policies. Backup, monitoring, and other administrative tools will receive many improvements, and new PowerShell interfaces will help automate and standardize administrative procedures. The many new developer APIs and tools include Business Connectivity Services for access to application databases, and services for hosting applications built with Visio 2010 and Access 2010. The SharePoint 2010 products require 64-bit (x64) editions of Windows Server (2008 or later) and will not support Internet Explorer 6.

Availability and Resources

Beta downloads and further information are available at www.microsoft.com/Office/2010 and www.microsoft.com/SharePoint/2010.

Outlook goes social!

The Outlook Social Connector (OSC), now in beta, aggregates content including photos, contact information, and status updates from external sources, such as social networking sites and corporate line-of-business applications, and displays it in a single pane in the Outlook e-mail client. The consolidated view could help users keep track of colleagues without leaving Outlook and visiting multiple Web sites. The OSC is implemented as an add-in for Outlook 2003 and later, which uses a provider model to communicate with data sources. Microsoft is developing providers for Windows Live and SharePoint, while partners Facebook, LinkedIn, and MySpace will offer providers for their networks using a publicly available SDK. (A LinkedIn provider beta is available now.) Office 2010, in beta now with final release expected mid-2010, includes an earlier beta of the OSC, which must be removed before installing the newest, separately available beta, which is 32-bit only and not compatible with 64-bit Office 2010. The latest OSC beta is available at www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=c87e257c-d76f-4785-a09b-af36babd6e32. The OSC LinkedIn provider beta is available at www.linkedin.com/outlook. OSC provider development documentation is at msdn.microsoft.com/library/ee829696(office.14).aspx.

XP and Windows 2000: Time running out on support

Some of Microsoft's older operating systems will soon take another step towards the end of their lifecycles.

Businesses using Windows XP will need to upgrade to Service Pack 3 (SP3) of the operating system by July in order to continue receiving support from Microsoft.

Although XP is currently in its extended support phase, which runs until April 2014, users will need to be using a supported service pack to be eligible for this. The cut off for XP SP2 support is 13 July 2010 while support for XP SP1 ended in October 2006.

XP users will need to install SP3 through the Windows Update online service. Those not using XP SP2 will need to install this before downloading SP3.

XP SP3 will be supported for 24 months after the release of any additional service pack or until the end of the extended support phase - available to Software Assurance subscribers - in April 2014.

Microsoft will inform users of the need to upgrade in a number of ways. As well as the Windows Blog, the company is revamping its windows.com website to inform customers about the end of support for XP SP2 and prompt them to take action.

When users visit a Microsoft website, the website will detect if they are using XP and direct them to the relevant section if they need to install service packs.

July 2010 will also herald the end of support for Windows 2000 which was first released a decade ago.

Meanwhile, support for the release to manufacture version of Vista, will end on 13 April 2010. Users running Vista without any service packs will need to install one by this date with Microsoft suggesting they upgrade to the latest version, SP2.