SWC Computer Services

As developers evolve, so do their applications. And, we are evolving with them. To-date, Windows 7 has sold a record-breaking 90 million licenses making it the fastest selling operating system in history. This creates an awesome opportunity for developers to create some stunning software applications for a vast audience. We’re recognizing that there is an ongoing trend today with developers creating applications that bring together the best of the Web with the best of the Windows. A great example of this is Seesmic for Windows. Seesmic has adopted the Windows Platform as its delivery mechanism today for bringing Twitter to your Windows PC. For geeks like me, Seesmic provides Seesmic for Windows. And for the more casual user, they have Seesmic Look.

We are excited about what we’re seeing from developers like Seesmic and others and are encouraged by the future development of applications on the Windows Platform. There are 3 million developers and the majority target Windows. To help them stay connected with us and the community; we are introducing a new website today called Develop for Windows. We heard feedback from developers that they would like to be able to easily discover important resources for developing for Windows. We are looking to provide just that on the new Develop for Windows website. The new site will allow us to hear from developers and to provide them a single place to find all the resources and tools they can use to build great applications for Windows.

The Develop for Windows website is our direct connection to the developer community, and vice versa. Developers who visit the site will be able to learn about developing for Windows by seeing what’s new with Windows 7, get sample code and special “kits” to jump-start developing a Windows application, and of course pointers to lots and lots of Windows developer content at the Windows Developer Center on MSDN. The Develop for Windows website will also provide special “learning tracks” for developers to experience the technology they are developing for.

We also encourage developers to remain active in the Windows developer community by visiting the Windows forums, learning about local events they should attend and looking at what other developers are building. Microsoft puts on several events each year specifically targeting the developer. This last fall we had PDC09, which allowed developers to attend the Windows Bootcamp and learn about building applications that take advantage of Windows Touch, Sensor and Location Platform and a few other Windows 7 Technologies. Next week, we have MIX10 which is a fantastic event for developers looking to create the types of applications for Windows, mentioned above that bring in the best of the Web with the best of the client experience on Windows.

If you’re developing applications for Windows or looking to begin developing applications for Windows, the new Develop for Windows website is perfect for you. This is just the beginning. We’ll be adding a dedicated social media hub for developers, a developer hero showcase, event content on demand, and fresh videos of developers building innovative applications. Add the site to your Favorites and keep checking back as we’re going to continue to provide updated content on the site based on the feedback we receive from developers. We’ll also have some tips and highlights after MIX10 on Silverlight and Visual Studio 2010 as well!

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Yesterday, Denon announced that much of their current line of audio and video (A/V) receivers have earned Compatible with Windows 7 logo.

The following models have received the logo:

• AVR-4310CI
• AVR-3310CI
• AVR-990
• AVR-4810CI (recently released and shown above)
• ASD-51W
• ASD-51N

Denon has also said that their new A/V receivers, scheduled to be announced in 2010, will also carry the Compatible with Windows 7 logo.

As you’re building your stereo system at home or looking to update an existing stereo system, you should definitely consider A/V receivers such as Denon’s models that carry the Compatible with Windows 7 logo. That means these receivers work great and can take advantage of Windows 7. For example if one of the Denon receiver models above powers your stereo system at home, you can use Windows 7’s Play To feature to streaming your music to your stereo system over your home network.

Denon’s A/V receivers with the Compatible with Windows 7 logo come with built-in Ethernet and wireless allowing the unit to connect right up to your wireless network.

Because Denon’s units are not just audio receivers but video receivers too, one of their devices connected through HDMI to a HDTV can receive HD video streamed from any one of your Windows 7 PCs in your home using Play To.

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Dell today, is introducing the Vostro 3000 series of Windows PCs targeting specifically at the Small Business customer.

The new thin, lightweight and durable laptop computers feature powerful processors, high-end graphics and built-in security, and are designed for small businesses; helping them stretch their budget and protect their data, and come with dedicated small business services and support to keep a small businesses moving.

Vostro 3000 series consists of a 17” model (Vostro 3700), a 15” model (Vostro 3500), a 14” model (Vostro 3400), and a 13” model (Vostro 3300). And they come packing quite a “punch”.

The Vostro 3000 series will come with the latest Intel Core processors, including, the optional the quad-core Intel Core i7 processor available on the Vostro 3700. The Vostro 3300 is one of the thinnest commercial 13” laptops with an integrated optical drive. And the Vostro 3400 can offer up to a full day of productivity while “out-and-about” with up to 8 hours (based on lab testing and could vary by configuration) of battery life with an optional 9-cell battery. The Vostro 3700, 3500, and 3400 can come with an optional high-definition WLED screen and the 3700 offers up to 1GB NVIDIA GeForce discrete graphics.

All of the Vostro 3000 series PCs ship with built-in microphones and webcams as well, a full range of wireless options including 802.11g/n, Bluetooth, and mobile broadband. Oh and Dell is also offering an optional fingerprint reader too!

For more information on the new Vostro 3000 Series Windows PCs, see this blog post on Direct2Dell by Alex Gruzen, Senior Vice President for Dell Consumer and SMB. More photos of the Vostro 3000 Series can be seen here on Dell’s Flickr page.

The Vostro 3000 Series of Windows PCs look to be a powerful family of business-class PCs perfect for the small business user.

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Last Friday I posted about the first of a series of hot deals that will happen at the end of every week this month. Last week it was a hot deal for Batman: Arkham Asylum. This week it’s Street Fighter IV. Starting today and running through to Monday March 8th 5:00pm Redmond time, Street Fighter IV will be available through Games on Demand at 50% off. That’s $19.99 (or 1600 Microsoft Points). Keep checking this page for hot deals for game titles available through Games on Demand. Remember, to take advantage of Games on Demand, you will need the Games for Windows – LIVE client installed. You can download it here.

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Back in August, I wrote a blog post about how Internet Explorer 8 offers the best protection against socially engineered malware threats. This week, NSS Labs released a new study that continues to show Internet Explorer 8 to be the #1 browser in blocking malware! When the first study was revealed, the Internet Explorer Team announced that Internet Explorer 8’s SmartScreen Filter had provided over 80 million blocks of malware. Almost a year after Internet Explorer 8 shipped, Internet Explorer 8’s SmartScreen Filter has provided over 560 million blocks of malware – averaging over 3 million blocks per day! Wow.

The SmartScreen Filter uses a special URL Reputation Service (URS) with data centers hosted around the world and has evaluated over 250 billion URLs to help keep Internet Explorer 8 users safe! Every day, the SmartScreen Filter URS processes about 4.1 billion URLs looking for malicious websites and files; and since it was first introduced in Internet Explorer 7, the URS has processed over 5.7 trillion requests!

Malware is the biggest and most common security threat facing people browsing the Internet today, and Microsoft is investing heavily in keeping people protected while using Internet Explorer with features like the SmartScreen Filter, Protected Mode, DEP, and more. Check out this post on the IEBlog for more info about the NSS Labs study and how to make sure the SmartScreen Filter is turned on. If you’re not already running Internet Explorer 8, or haven’t upgraded, this is a great reason!

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Today at the University of Washington’s Department of Computer Science and Engineering (CSE), Steve Ballmer spoke to students about Microsoft and cloud services. You can watch his speech on-demand below.

As Steve mentions, at Microsoft we’re “all in” for the cloud– including Windows. We have Windows Azure, a platform and environment for creating applications and services for the cloud. And we also have Windows Live ID as an identity and authentication system – which today represents 460 million users! Speaking of Windows Live, I suggest reading the posts on Inside Windows Live from members of the Windows Live engineering team. Their posts offer some great insight into the work being done in supporting the massive scale of many of the Windows Live products and services including Messenger and Hotmail.

For more information on cloud services from Microsoft, I suggest checking out our new Cloud website. This post from Daniel Read on the Official Microsoft Blog is also worth reading as well. Daniel is the Corporate Vice President for Technology Strategy and Policy and the Extreme Computing Group.

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Lately, folks have been talking a bit about HDMI. HDMI is a special type of connection designed to deliver digital content from one device to another audio or video device through a single connection. That content can be standard definition (SD) or high definition (HD) movies or something as simple as MP3 music. HDMI is a completely digital connection, as it transmits uncompressed digital data. It is a standard that is replacing the old-style analog connections such as S-Video and VGA. A common use for HDMI today is connecting devices like a PC or an Xbox 360 to a HDTV.

As I had been seeing a lot of talk about HDMI, I realized that HDMI is very common today in Windows PCs. In looking at the PCs I currently have in my office and at home, the majority of them have HDMI. Those PCs include my Dell Studio 1555, Dell Inspiron Zino HD, Acer Aspire Revo, Toshiba Satellite E205, Acer Aspire 1420P (the “PDC laptop”), ASUS G71Gx, HP TouchSmart 600, and HP Envy 13. These PCs span a variety of form factors from small “nettops” to full-blown all-in-one PCs. Even netbooks are now shipping with HDMI (it’s smaller than the VGA connection).

All the above mentioned PCs are running Windows 7 of course. What’s great about Windows 7 and HDMI is that when I plug any of these laptops into a HDTV via HDMI, it recognizes the display and sets the screen resolution correctly. And because HDMI does not just do video but audio too, it also brings in the audio. During the holidays while visiting my parents, I connected the HP Envy 13 I was using at the time to my dad’s 52” HDTV. We rented several movies from the Zune Marketplace and watched this in full HD on his HDTV.

Of the PCs I mentioned above – the Acer Aspire Revo and Dell Inspiron Zino HD are prefect little Home Theater PCs (HTPCs) with Windows 7 and Windows Media Center. And with HDMI – a single cable connected to an HDTV is all one needs to watch movies, play music, go through family photos, watch DVDs, or even watch live TV*.

*You’ll need a TV tuner to watch live TV in Windows Media Center. Some PCs are so small they don’t support any additional hardware inside the actual system. Not to worry! You can pick up a USB TV tuner which works just fine! I’ll talk about this in a later blog post.

You can also add HDMI to existing desktop PCs (for the folks out there that like building their own desktop PCs) fairly inexpensively. Many graphics cards today are shipping with HDMI built in. Earlier this month, I blogged about 2 new affordable DirectX 11 graphics cards from AMD: the Radeon HD 5570 and Radeon HD 5450.Both these graphics cards come with HDMI.

Many Windows PCs ship with Blu-ray playback capabilities. You can use your PC to play Blu-ray movies. With HDMI, you can connect a Windows PC to an HDTV and watch Blu-ray movies on your HDTV without having to go out and buy a standalone Blu-ray player. Most of Windows PCs that ship with Blu-ray also ship with software for Blu-ray playback. I also did a blog post about Corel WinDVD Pro 2010 last December which is Compatible with Windows 7. Corel WinDVD Pro 2010 is an excellent application for Blu-ray playback in Windows 7 as well.

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Today, HP has unveiled several new Windows  7 PCs targeted specifically at business customers ranging from small and medium businesses to the enterprise.

First up is their brand new multitouch enabled Tablet PC – the HP EliteBook 2740p Tablet PC.

The 2740p Tablet comes with a 12.1 LED display (at 1280×800 screen resolution) and weighs in at 3.8 pounds. It will ship with Intel Core i5 or i7 processors and support up to 8GB of total memory (DDR3). It will support standard hard drives as well as either an 80GB or 160GB SSD. Its keyboard is designed to be spill resistant with drains. The 2740p also ships with integrated HP Mobile Broadband supporting EV-DO and HSPA (a mobile carrier service will be needed of course) and also includes GPS. TPM 1.2 is also included – perfect for BitLocker user in keeping data safe and secure which is super important to businesses. HP went all out with this Tablet PC by supporting the MIL-STD 810G military standard for vibration, dust, humidity, altitude, and high temperatures. The HP EliteBook 2740p will start at $1,599 (USD) and is expected to be available next month in the U.S. For more on the specs for the 2740p, click here to read the Data Sheet (PDF) from HP.

Next up is the HP EliteBook 2540p.

The 2540p also comes with a 12.1 LED display (at 1280×800 screen resolution), Intel’s Core i5 and i7 processors, supports up to 8GB of memory (DDR3), and also supports the MIL-STD 810G military standard. It also comes with integrated HP Mobile Broadband (including GPS) just like the 2740p Tablet PC. The 2540p includes a fingerprint reader – perfect for the Windows Biometric Framework in Windows 7 – and TPM 1.2 for keeping data secure with BitLocker. In an effort to help protect natural resources – the 2540p has post-consumer recycled plastic resin in at least 12% of total plastic content on the PC. The HP EliteBook 2540p will start at $1,099 (USD) and is expected to also be available next month in the U.S. For more on the specs for the 2540p, click here to read the Data Sheet (PDF) from HP.

HP is also introducing brand new designs for their HP ProBook s-series PCs. The new design features a brushed-aluminum metal case and a matte surface which will be available in either available in “caviar” or “Bordeaux”.

The HP ProBook s-series will offer HD LED-backlit displays in the following screen sizes:

• 13.3 inch – HP ProBook 4320s | Click here for the Data Sheet
• 14 inch – HP ProBook 4420s | Click here for the Data Sheet
• 15.6 inch – HP ProBook 4520s | Click here for the Data Sheet
• 17.3 inch – HP ProBook 4720s | Click here for the Data Sheet

HP will ship their ProBook s-series PCs with Intel Core i3, i5 and i7 processors and include a choice of Intel HD Graphics or discrete graphics option featuring AMD’s ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4350. The HP ProBook s-series will start at $719 (USD) and also should be available in the U.S. next month.

For business customers always on the go – these new Windows 7 PCs are worth looking at.

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In a few previous blog posts I’ve done over the last couple months, I talked about or mentioned the awesome Games for Windows – LIVE game Batman: Arkham Asylum. In early December, we introduced Games on Demand for Games for Windows – LIVE with Batman: Arkham Asylum as one of the showcase titles. Today, Batman: Arkham Asylum officially kicks off a month of sales for game titles on Games on Demand! And these sales are going to be hot. How hot? Well, Batman: Arkham Asylum is on sale today at 75% off the regular price putting the game at only $12.49 (USD). This deal for Batman: Arkham Asylum goes to March 1st 10am PST.

To download Batman: Arkham Asylum, you need to have the latest Games for Windows – Live client installed on your PC. You can download the latest version here.

As I said above, this deal for Batman: Arkham Asylum officially kicks off a month of sweet deals on games offered through Games on Demand on Games for Windows – LIVE. At the end of each week throughout March, a new deal will hit – so keep your eyes peeled on www.gamesforwindows.com for those deals as they hit.

One more thing – the SideWinder Gaming folks will be giving away a new SideWinder X4 keyboard (or maybe 3) via their Twitter account. The SideWinder X4 isn’t out yet so this could be your change to get one before anyone else!

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Back in November, we officially announced a new Windows product called Windows MultiPoint Server 2010. Today we are launching Windows MultiPoint Server around the world. Windows MultiPoint Server is available for purchase through OEMs and Microsoft Academic Volume Licensing (VL) customers on March 1, for schools and educational institutions (mainly for use in classrooms, labs and libraries).

Windows MultiPoint Server, based off Windows Server 2008 R2, is designed to enable multiple people (students) to share access to a single host PC through a “station” simultaneously. A station is a device that connects to a host PC running Windows MultiPoint Server via USB and connects to a keyboard, mouse, and monitor. Windows MultiPoint Server shares out an “instance” of Windows to a specific station via Remote Desktop Services (formerly known as Terminal Services) technology built in to Windows Server 2008 R2. If you have 1 host PC with Windows MultiPoint Server, you can support up to 10 people connecting to it and using it at the same time (hardware permitting of course). Each person independently controls familiar Windows experience.

Non-technical professionals, such as teachers, will find the setup relatively easy with a “console” application designed to manage all of the stations connected to that PC, instead of relying on IT support.

As you have probably heard me mention before, our goal is to provide choice and flexibility with our products to meet the specific demands for different customer needs. In the case of Windows MultiPoint Server, we heard from around the world that teachers want to provide more students with access to computers and spend more time teaching. Also, many education institutions don’t have the funds to support offering up-to-date technology that can serve as a companion to the learning experience. We created Windows MultiPoint Server to address the needs of teachers and students in an affordable way to education institutions.

Windows MultiPoint Server is the lead product in a series of Shared Resource Computing technologies being released by Microsoft under the MultiPoint brand. We believe that specific scenarios such as school labs, classrooms and libraries can greatly benefit from Shared Resource Computing. Other MultiPoint technologies include the MultiPoint Mouse SDK and Mouse Mischief.

Now let me talk about a little more about the Windows experience for people using Windows MultiPoint Server. Windows MultiPoint Server is specifically designed to offer the features and functionality of Windows that are needed in a shared resource computing scenario. For instance, compared with Windows 7, not all of the features will be enabled through Windows MultiPoint Server. For example, users will not experience Aero (Glass), Windows Flip, Task Bar Previews, and will be unable to use Windows Media Center. Also, Windows MultiPoint Server is not designed for mobility, and it has other limitations. Again, Windows MultiPoint Server is specifically designed to bring more modern computing access to education institutions with constrained budgets.

For more information on today’s launch of Windows MultiPoint Server 2010, including what OEMs are making products available for Windows MultiPoint Server, see this press release on the Microsoft News Center.

It’s exciting to see us offering a product with familiar Windows experience that will enable schools to affordably use modern technology in education.

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