Windows Vista

Back in October I did a blog post on Security Compliance Manager 2. We are now excited to share that the latest version 2.5 is now available for beta download!

Today Microsoft and IDG hosted a webcast discussion where participants touched on a range of topics: from the flexible workstyles of today’s workforce to useful information on Windows 7 deployment. I found the conversation insightful so wanted to share a few key takeaways.

10 years ago this week, Bill Gates sent this Trustworthy Computing (TwC) memo to all employees. The memo called for the company to rethink its approach to products – putting security at the forefront. To capture the journey we’ve made in Trustworthy Computing over the last 10 years – the Trustworthy Computing (or TwC) Team has created this infographic on Microsoft News Center I recommend checking out.

The sales for Kinect for the Xbox 360 have been amazing with 18 million sold this last year. The end result has been countless hours of incredible fun with family and friends dancing and playing sports in the confines of their living rooms. Kinect has also opened the door for developers and businesses to create new and innovative experiences through natural user interface (NUI) on the PC. The explosion of imaginative ideas that can be done with Kinect is something we call the Kinect Effect.

Today at a Windows Store preview event in San Francisco, we announced the policies and business terms for the Windows Store. These details for the Windows Store are very important as it outlines the incredible economic opportunity for developers that Windows 8 represents as the Windows Store will be an integrated feature in Windows 8. For more details on what we’re announcing today, I suggest reading this blog post from Ted Dworkin.

For many people, going home for the holidays is a step back in time. Not just because you may be returning to your childhood home, but because you might see IE6 or IE7 on your parents’ home PC.

Today in the first blog post on the brand new Kinect for Windows Blog - Craig Eisler, who is the General Manager for Kinect for Windows, has announced the launch of the brand new Kinect for Windows website. Along with the awesome new website, they are also releasing Beta 2 of the Kinect for Windows SDK.

It’s underway!

This morning, at roughly 10 a.m. Pacific time, we began rolling out the Mango update to phones around the world. I’m sure you’re as excited as we are: Windows Phone 7.5 (aka Mango) is our largest and most feature-packed software refresh to date.

I do want to emphasize that today is just the start. Our plan, as I’ll explain in a moment, is to ramp up delivery gradually—but make the update available to most existing customers within 4 weeks.

We wanted to see what other members of the Windows team like most about Windows 8 so we asked some of our Windows engineers. Check out what they say in this video below.

Today, at the developer-focused BUILD conference in Anaheim, CA we’re are sharing a detailed preview of the next major release of Windows – “Windows 8”. You can watch our keynote live now at buildwindows.com where Steven Sinofsky and other members of the Windows Team will show an early preview Windows 8 in action. I also suggest taking a peek at our press release which highlights many of the features we’ll be talking about and showcasing today at BUILD.