Tag Archive: public beta

Microsoft confirms IE9 public beta is arriving in September

Posted Jul.29, 2010 under Microsoft

Microsoft said on Thursday that it’s currently readying an Internet Explorer 9 public beta for September.

According to sources familiar with Microsoft’s plans the software giant was originally targeting late August for the public beta but this date slipped slightly. Although Microsoft officials didn’t confirm the exact date for the public beta, Neowin believes this will be September 2.

Microsoft’s Chief Operating Officer Kevin Turner announced the public beta date at the annual Microsoft Financial Analyst Meeting (FAM) on July 29. Screenshots of an early build of Internet Explorer 9 leaked to the web earlier this week. The screenshots revealed that Microsoft is planning a download manager and add-on manager for Internet Explorer 9.

Microsoft originally unveiled Internet Explorer 9 at PDC 2009. IE 9 will take advantage of the power of the GPU for all page rendering and developers can exploit this using CSS, DHTML andjavascript. A new JS engine (codenamed Chakra) will also be built into Internet Explorer 9 with greater interoperability and standards support all round. Features such as rounded corner CSS support will be built in. In January, we revealed that Microsoft is planning to enhance tabbed browsing in IE9. According to a software patent, the Quick Tabs feature in Internet Explorer is likely to be enhanced with better functionality and greater tab management options.

Microsoft is also planning broader support for HTML5 in Internet Explorer 9 through its new script engine. Microsoft recently performed W3C Web Standards tests on IE9, including HTML5, SVG 1.1 2nd edition, CSS3 media queries, CSS3 borders & backgrounds, CSS3 selectors, DOM level 3 core, DOM level 3 events and DOM level 2 style. Microsoft, with the help of W3C, performed a total of 192 tests on a variety of browsers. Internet Explorer 9 scored 100% in all eight tests, while every other browser, except Firefox in DOM level 2 style tests, didn’t score perfect in any of the test categories.

Microsoft originally began scouting for Internet Explorer 9 beta testers in March. In an email to testers, Justin Saint Clair - Program Manager of Internet Explorer invited testers to join a “select group of IE9 Tech Feedback participants.”

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Office 2010 scheduled for June release

Posted Nov.30, 2009 under Announcement, Microsoft, Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows XP

Microsoft is set to launch an entirely new updated wave of Office applications in June 2010. The Office suite will be updated for Windows, including ribbon support for all products, and will also be launching Office 2010 for Mac OS X sometime in 2010.

Office 2010 will be released in six different flavours, including a free version that includes Microsoft Word and Excel, but comes with limited functionality and includes advertisements. The editions of Office 2010 will come in Starter, Home and Student, Home and Business, Standard, Professional and Professional Plus.

Office 2010 Professional Plus, which is available for public beta, will offer all of the office products, excluding Visio 2010 and Project 2010. Microsoft will be releasing Office 2010 with a full version and upgrade version, for users that have Office 2007 installed. Office 2010 will be available for Windows XP, Vista and Windows 7 in both 32-bit and 64-bit, excluding Windows XP x64.

No official pricing for the full version or upgrade edition of Office 2010 has been announced yet. Although the retail store date is scheduled for June 2010, users should be able to get their hands on a download-able version through TechNet and MSDN earlier than the street date.

For the time being, users with the beta can check out the top new features for Office 2010.

A complete list of Office 2010 application include:

  • Microsoft Access 2010
  • Microsoft Excel 2010
  • Microsoft InfoPath Designer 2010
  • Microsoft InfoPath Filler 2010
  • Microsoft OneNote 2010
  • Microsoft Outlook 2010
  • Microsoft PowerPoint 2010
  • Microsoft Publisher 2010
  • Microsoft SharePoint Workspace 2010
  • Microsoft Word 2010
  • Office Communicator 2010

Other updated products include:

  • Microsoft Visio 2010 (not included in any Office 2010 Package)
  • Microsoft Project 2010 (not included in any Office 2010 Package)
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Office 2010 Public Beta to begin next week?

Posted Nov.10, 2009 under Microsoft, Windows

Today, Microsoft sent out an email to Click-To-Run Technical Preview participants that outlined the public beta which was announced by Microsoft last month; next week an email will be sent out to give further details.

According to the email, we might be seeing the public beta as early as next week – hopefully with some further new features and fixed bugs that were present in the early technical preview. Neowin will cover these developments as they happen.

Dear Technical Preview Participants,

Thank you so much for all your feedback on the Office 2010 Click-to-Run Technical Preview. Your feedback has been of great help to the product team.

We are starting to prepare the Microsoft Connect site for the next Office 2010 release that we will also be asking for you to provide feedback on to us. You will receive an email next week with more information about the new release.

Starting November 10, 2009, the Office 2010 Click-to-Run Technical Preview release will no longer have available for downloading. You can continue to use the product on any computer it is installed.

It is important that you plan for the next product release. This release will NOT be upgradeable. You will be required to completely uninstall the current version of your product on the machine. We strongly advise that you backup all of your data files, before you uninstall the Office 2010 Click-to-Run Technical Preview release.

Again, thank you for your participation and feedback in the Office 2010 Office 2010 Click-to-Run Technical Preview Program.

Office 2010 Click-to-Run Product Team

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Microsoft Hohm public beta is now live

Posted Jul.07, 2009 under Microsoft, Windows Live

Microsoft unveiled a new web service just two weeks ago, designed to help users manage and track power usage of their houses, named Hohm. Today the company has announced has announced that this product has moved into a public beta meaning anyone can sign up and create an account.

Michaeljon Miller, software architect for Microsoft Hohm, confirmed in a blog posting “the team’s been sitting in a conference room on campus since about 5:30 this morning watching things spin up. Considering this is the first major web application that most of the team has shipped, things went extremely well.”

Microsoft Hohm is aimed at every home owner to allow them to save energy and money. The idea is that you can better understand your home energy usage, get recommendations to conserve energy and start saving. Microsoft claims Hohm will provide increasingly more accurate and relevant suggestions for energy conservation as its users contribute home energy input and feedback.

Signing up myself was relatively easy, but as Hohm is designed for US households only, I was unable to enter a UK postcode.

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