MSDN Windows Vista and Microsoft Office Beta Experience Newsletter No. 7, Nov. 30, 2006

Editorial

Welcome to the 7th edition of the Beta Experience newsletter for Windows Vista and the 2007 Microsoft Office system.

With the advent of the Windows Vista Presentation Foundation and the new Extended Application Markup Language (XAML), stunning 3D visualisations of your applications and animations will be easy to implement. You will be able to create completely new user experiences.

The Panel is the place to collect showcases of these new user experiences and provide insights on how they were implemented. Each featured project provides the applications as well as the source code and explanation in order to help you leverage the new technologies and build better user experiences. The MSDN Flash newsletter will update you on the project status.
Register now and discover UniveRSS – a 3D Vista RSS reader! UniveRSS is a showcase on WPF features, 3D animation, data binding, RSS feed store and many more. Visualize your RSS feeds in a 3D environment!

Furthermore in this issue:

Richard Costall writes about his experiences with Windows Vista

Information about Virtual Folders and Search in Windows Vista

Discover what is new in Microsoft Office Access 2007 and Microsoft Office Groove 2007

And check out the latest resources (and events).

Current Events.....

Security on the Brain
MSDN SECURITY ON THE BRAIN SERIES continues throughout the year in a series of monthly online MSDN Security Briefings (webcasts), including live Q&A sessions.
DECEMBER 13: SharePoint® 2007—Keeping it secure for your business
JANUARY 17: Authentication and Authorization in Windows® Communication Foundation: Part One
FEBRUARY 14: Choosing the right Authentication and Authorization in Windows Communication Foundation: Part Two

Christian Beauclair
Senior Developer Advisor
Microsoft Canada

Windows Vista Virtual Folders and Search

With Windows Vista, you no longer have to remember where you store every file. Instead, to find a file, you need only remember something about it, such as a word contained within a document, the artist of a song, or the date a picture was taken.
Windows Vista also introduces Search Folders, a powerful new tool that makes it easy to find and organize your files—wherever they may be on your PC. A Search Folder is simply a search that you save. Opening a Search Folder instantly runs that saved search, displaying up-to-date results immediately.
Read more...

My Windows Vista Experience – a developer's story

Richard Costall - A developer's Windows Vista Experience

They say every cloud has a silver lining, but could installing Windows Vista Release Candidate 1 on my laptop be that ‘silver lining’ or a dark cloud which hangs over, or just hangs it?...

Richard Costall about his experiences with Windows Vista. Read his article!

Richard Costall has written articles for publications such as ASP.NET Pro and International Developer Magazines and also co-authered the Apress title Professional MSMQ. He speaks a local user groups, Microsoft Conferences/Product launches, TechED and the hugely successful DeveloperDeveloperDeveloper Events.

Microsoft Office Access 2007

David McMahon gives us an overview of the changes that Access 2007 introduces over previous versions and takes a look at the new layout and the way the contents of the Ribbon bar in Access changes depending on the context of our work.
Learn how to extend the data gathering reach of Access by including InfoPath email forms and how to extend the reach of the Access database by linking it into WSS. Exciting times ahead for the Access developers of the world!
Read his article!

Getting in the Groove

One of the most exciting additions to 2007 Microsoft Office System is the collaboration tool Microsoft Office Groove 2007.
For the developer, Groove is an exciting platform on which to build collaboration tools that can be shared in a flexible fashion both inside and outside the organisation. It also provides the tools you need to integrate these with both Office SharePoint and with core back-end applications without compromising security.

Read Matt Nicholson's article about Groove!
Matt Nicholson is publisher and editor of the DNJ Online web site which provides articles and information to software developers working with Microsoft tools and technologies.

Download the Groove 2007 Software Development Kit (SDK)

Resources

My Web Pages Starter Kit

The My Web Pages Starter Kit is a dynamic content management system (CMS). It is designed to meet the needs of computer enthusiasts who want to deploy and maintain their own website – and it is also easy to modify the look and feel or even change/extend the feature set.
1. Easy to get the My Web Pages Starter Kit
2. Easy to customize with the Microsoft Visual Web Developer Express Edition (This is optional - you may just use it out of the box)
3. Easy to deploy at an ASP.NET 2.0 hoster

Open XML Developer

If you're interested in learning more about Open XML Formats, you're in the right place at openxmldeveloper.org. This is your source for Open XML Formats news and information, a place to get your questions answered and share your insights as well. It's all free, and open to everyone.
Check it out!

Inspire, Engage, and Track: Innovate on Microsoft Office

Are you a Software Vendor?
Independent Software Vendors: get your solutions to market faster. The upcoming release of the 2007 Microsoft Office system offers out-of box functionality and capabilities to help you develop and deliver Office-compatible software more quickly and effectively.
“Innovate on 2007 Microsoft Office system” is the new portal that collects and links to all the content you may need, and provides you with guidance on how to plan your development more effectively or plug into the Microsoft marketing engine.

Events

Developer resources from the biggest Microsoft launch event ever

The biggest Microsoft launch event ever is taking place and from coast-to-coast Canadians will be witnessing the launch of Windows Vista™, the 2007 Microsoft® Office system and Microsoft® Exchange Server 2007. Great resources are available now including upcoming MSDN events and webcasts you don’t want to miss! Check it out!

Missed the previous issue?

Look for previous issues in our archive.

Next issue...
Don't miss the next issue! Among other things you will learn about Security and Business Intelligence.
Do you have any comments or feedback? Write us! thebeta@microsoft.com

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