Expression Suite to RTM before April 20

Published by Omkar Joshi | Filed under Microsoft, Expression Studio, Expression Media, Expression Design, Expression Web, Expression Blend, MIX07

It has recently come to my understanding that Expression Studio, the new suite of professional design tools from Microsoft, which includes Expression Blend, Expression Web, Expression Design and Expression Media are all expected to finalise and RTM (release to manufacturing) before April 20. This is the date of Microsoft’s design-oriented design conference MIX 2007 in Las Vegas.

Recently, Microsoft announced the every attendee of MIX07 will receive a free commemorative copy of Expression Studio. This could only mean one thing - the product must be finished, produced and packaged before the event begins. If this isn’t the case then there is a whole lot of explaining for Microsoft to do.

With only 20 days to go, it may seem like an overwhelming task to ship four products, of which two are still in beta. It was only two weeks ago that Expression Design was updated to Beta 2 status and Expression Blend as a Release Candidate. However, the bug count at their respective beta portals suggests both products are progressing extremely well with most new bugs fixed within hours if not days. This is something the Vista team should definitely learn from.

Vista Ultimate Team Shows Off New DreamScene Wallpaper

Published by Omkar Joshi | Filed under Microsoft, Windows, Vista, DreamScene

The group manager for Windows Vista Ultimate, Alex Kipman, has posted a new video of an upcoming DreamScene wallpaper. It features an animated version of the glowing back-lit orb wallpaper released two weeks ago.

The glowing back-lit Vista orb wallpaper was one of two Windows Vista Ultimate branded wallpapers released on the 8th of March. The popularity of these wallpapers was reflected through the download numbers, with nearly one hundred thousand downloads.

The main advantage of the new DreamScene wallpaper is that it features all the hallmarks of a great wallpaper: it looks good; isn’t intrusive; and isn’t branded. Hats off to Microsoft for doing such a great job.

It should also be noted that the increased transparency from the Ultimate team about their future plans is a very welcome change from the many years of complete secrecy, ever since the beta program. One can only hope that the future of Vista Ultimate Extras is not going to be countless years of DreamScene content packs.

Comparison - "Soar" and "Wow"

Published by Omkar Joshi | Filed under Microsoft, Windows, XP, Vista, Wow, Advertisements, Soar

Back in 2001 Microsoft launched the “Soar” campaign to market Windows XP. Six years on Microsoft has launched the “Wow” campaign to market Windows Vista. How do the television advertisements for the two operating systems differ?

The Windows XP “Soar” advertisement shows how Windows XP benefits the user in eight separate scenes. On the other hand the Windows Vista “Wow” advertisement doesn’t show the operating system in action at all. If you exclude the Flip3D sequence, it doesn’t show any useful features or even what it is. Although both advertisements are very good, it is interesting to see how times have changed.

Elusive Emoticons in Windows Live Messenger to Raise Money for Charity

Published by Omkar Joshi | Filed under Microsoft, Promotions, Windows Live Messenger, i'm

Microsoft has decided to help charity, with the help of users, through it’s Windows Live Messenger instant messaging client. i’m is the new initiative from Microsoft, embedded into WLM 8.1, which allows users to donate money to a charity of their choice without forking out a cent. The donation will be paid for by Microsoft, which has decided to share a portion of the program’s advertising revenue with some of the world’s most effective organisations. The charity the user wishes to support is determined by the i’m emoticon code the user places in their display name.

Whenever a user starts a conversion using an i’m emoticon in their display name, a portion of the advertising revenue from the ads displayed in the message window will be donated to the charity of your choice. Currently, there is no cap on the amount donated to each charitable organisation. According to Microsoft: “The sky’s the limit”. Unfortunately, the i’m initiative is only available in the United States at present, however it will commence in Australia in the next few months, although users elsewhere can still use the emoticons. The i’m emoticon codes for the various charities can be found below, along with instructions on how to use them.

New Windows Vista Boot Screens

Published by Omkar Joshi | Filed under Microsoft, Windows, Vista, Boot screen

Thanks to iemanduitnederland for creating these boot screens. Download the following boot screens individually or download all of them in one zip archive. There is also a boot screen generator included for you to create your own boot screens.

Please backup your “winload.exe.mui” file before you try this.

How to install:
1. Navigate to c:\windows\system32\en-US for English installations or the appropriate directory for your installation.

2. Open the properties of the file “winload.exe.mui” and edit the permissions so that you can take full control of the file and replace it in the following step.

3. Now copy the chosen boot screen from the package and replace it with the one in the system32\en-US folder.

4. Go to start > Run, and type “msconfig“.

5. Select the “Boot” tab and enable “No GUI Boot”.

6. Close msconfig and reboot your computer.

Windows Vista Boot Logo Generator

Single Archive Download

Aurora 3D (Grey Text)

Aurora 3D (White Text)

Black Aurora

Blue Whipe

Clear White

Clear Black

Logo Black

My White Vista