Like Windows 7 its also possible to use the Aero theme including 3d flip or at least the Windows 7 Basic theme without transparency nor 3d flip on Windows Server 2008 R2. Note that following this tutorial and installing the “Desktop Experience” Feature also installs Windows Mail, Windows Media Player, Video for Windows (AVI support), Windows Photo Gallery, Windows SideShow, Windows Defender, Disk Cleanup, Sync Center, Sound Recorder and Character Map.
Twenty-five years ago, on Nov. 20, 1985, Microsoft introduced its first version of Windows to the world. Not many people outside the technical press or the tech industry took notice. Product launch events that cost hundreds of millions of dollars were still years away.
What’s changed in Windows in the last 25 years? Plenty. In this image gallery, we take a look at the various faces of Windows over the past couple of decades and clue you in to what happened at every stage of the operating system’s development.
Windows started in 1981 as a project called Interface Manager and experienced a series of delays getting out of the gate. When it was finally released in late 1985 as Windows 1.0, it made a ripple, not a splash. It had to be run on top of DOS, few applications were written for it, and application windows couldn’t be overlapped (they had to be tiled).
Still, the OS allowed for multitasking of Windows apps (not DOS ones) and, even though few knew it at the time, it would eventually become the foundation for the Microsoft empire.
Windows 1.0 shipped with a handful of apps, including the Notepad text editor, a rudimentary calendar and the long-lived graphics painting program Paint. The operating system required MS-DOS Version 2.0, 256KB of memory and a graphics adapter. It could be run either from a hard disk or on two floppy disks running simultaneously — in other words, you couldn’t swap the disks in and out of a single drive.
some Screenshots courtesy of Microsoft or GUIdebook!.
Lync™ Server 2010 let your users in a new connected experience transforming communication into an interaction that is more collaborative, engaging, and accessible from virtually any location with internet connectivity. A single interface unites voice, IM, audio-, video-, and web-conferencing into a richer, more contextual offering, and a single identity makes it easier and more efficient for users to find contacts, check their availability, and connect with them. Lync Server 2010 works consistently with Microsoft Office, enriching the experience of familiar applications like Microsoft Outlook, Microsoft Word, Microsoft SharePoint, and more.
Need more information? See the product details page.
Other Microsoft Lync Downloads;
Microsoft Lync Server 2010 Release Notes
Lync Server 2010 Monitoring Management Pack
Microsoft Lync 2010 Voice and Video Training
Microsoft Lync 2010 Training
Microsoft Lync 2010 Web App Training
Microsoft Lync Server 2010 Protocol Workloads Poster
Lync Adoption and Training Downloads
Lync 2010 Quick Start Guides
Lync 2010 Work Smart Guides
Microsoft Lync 2010 Delegate Training
Microsoft Lync 2010 RGS Training
Microsoft Lync 2010 IM and Presence Training
Microsoft Lync 2010 Conferencing and Collaboration Training
Microsoft Lync 2010 Attendant Training
Microsoft Lync 2010 Phone Edition for Polycom CX700 and LG-Nortel IP Phone 8540
Microsoft Lync Server 2010 Group Chat
Lync 2010 Group Chat
Microsoft Lync 2010 Phone Edition for Polycom CX500, Polycom CX600 and Polycom CX3000
Unified Communications Enhanced Presence Schemas for Microsoft Lync Server 2010
Microsoft Lync Server 2010 SDK
Leaked information about Windows 8 has been fairly sparse over the last few months, but some interesting PowerPoint slides reveal plans for the successor to Windows 7, codenamed Windows 8. It appears that Microsoft is looking to take Windows from a desktop application and expand it to “Desktop as a service” (DaaS). The slides reveal “Windows Next”, an internal saying for Microsoft employees who are referring to the next major operating system, and turning it into virtual / cloud based desktop.
It only makes sense that Microsoft includes Windows with other virtualization technologies like Virtual desktop (VDI), application virtualization (App-V, MED-V, remote apps and more), Remote desktop, data virtualization, hardware virtualization (Hyper-V), plus a number of other available virtual services.
Desktop as a Service isn’t an entirely new thing, but focusing an entire operating system on it is. With DaaS, Windows 8 could be easily deployed throughout an entire company with total hardware and application compatibility. This also opens the possibility of opening a Windows App Store in the next major version, where companies would host and run applications on ‘the cloud’, allowing for quicker security patch updates, greater compatibility and faster deployment through an entire infrastructure.
It will be interesting to see what “Windows Next” brings to both businesses and consumers with OS virtualization. Deploying and maintaining a single service would be cost effective for larger businesses, just the push Microsoft might be looking for to help companies finally make the switch from Windows XP and Vista.
Source; http://www.neowin.net/news/windows-8-slides-hint-of-desktop-as-a-service
Today, Microsoft has made available a Release Candidate (RC) for Service Pack 1 for Windows Server 2008 R2 and Windows 7. SP1 includes both a roll-up of operating system updates and several new capabilities for Windows Server.
Microsoft RemoteFX introduces a new set of remote user experience capabilities that enable a media-rich user environment for virtual and session-based desktops. RemoteFX can be deployed to a range of thick and thin client devices, enabling cost-effective, local-like access to graphics-intensive applications. RemoteFX also supports a broad array of USB peripherals to improve the productivity of users of virtual desktops.
SP1 also includes Dynamic Memory, which enables servers running Hyper-V for server virtualization, to be more efficient in the use of memory. Dynamic Memory pools and distributes memory among the virtual machines running on a physical host, enabling higher consolidation ratios, increasing server utilization rates, and providing more flexible workload management. Furthermore, memory is dynamically added based on the demands of the current workloads and without service interruption.
Expect to see Service Pack 1 released in its final form during first quarter 2011 and whether you’re virtualizing servers or desktops, take a few minutes to learn more about Service Pack 1 here. You needn’t wait for SP1, however – you can join those already enjoying the benefits of Windows Server 2008 R2 by deploying today.
Improve the efficiency and availability of IT resources and applications with the new virtualization innovations provided in Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 RC. Dynamic Memory and Microsoft RemoteFXTM, to help businesses further optimize their datacenter and desktops.
Businesses can take advantage of these innovations to help deliver new capabilities such as private cloud and VDI. To learn more about Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 RC and the benefits it provides, read the documents, feature overview and FAQs below.
Windows Server 2008 R2 Hyper-V introduces a new feature, called Dynamic Memory, in the Windows 7 SP1 and Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 RC releases. It allows customers to achieve increased density when they’re consolidating physical servers into a virtual realm, providing them with predictable performance and linear scalability.
With Dynamic Memory, IT administrators are able to pool available memory on a physical host and then dynamically dole that memory out to virtual machines running on the host, based on current workload needs.
RemoteFX, a key feature of Remote Desktop Services (RDS) lets IT administrators deliver a rich graphics experience to end-users through virtualized desktops. Using new protocol enhancements between Windows Server 2008 R2 and Windows 7, end users can now access virtual machines on a wide variety of target devices and still get a rich graphics experience with server-side graphics processing.
Sources;
http://blogs.technet.com/b/windowsserver/
http://bink.nu/news/windows-7-and-windows-server-2008-r2-service-pack-1-release-candidate.aspx
Citrix has releases Service Pack 1 for Provisioning Services 5.6.
New in this Release
Deprecated in this Release
Removed in this Release
XenConvert is no longer shipping as part of the PVS Target Device installer. It is available as a separate download
Active Directory
Installer
During installation of the TFTP server on a separate server the installation process returns failure.
Console/MAPI
Configuration Wizard
Configuration Wizard does not automatically set server’s properties to AD if the system is already in an AD.
Imaging Wizard
Support copying NTFS hardlinks properly. This substantially reduces imaging time and also improves imaging progress estimation.
Volume Licensing
Office 2010 activation-KMS license.
Wake-on-LAN (WOL)
A PVS server with 2 NICs in seperate subnets is not sending out WOL packets to both subnets.
Database Offline
DB Offline is putting too much stress on the SQL server and causing the PVS Console to crash.
Target Device – Windows
Target Device – Linux
To download click here ( may require a valid mycitrix.com account )
Of course everybody reads the e-books posted on E-Books.BassQ.nl !? Right?
Well ii found some new books in a post off the blog of steven bink witch i haven’t read yet,
Free ebook: Moving to Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 (10 chapters by by Patrice Pelland, Pascal Paré, and Ken Haines)
Free ebook: Introducing Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 (10 chapters by Ross Mistry and Stacia Misner)
Free ebook: Programming Windows Phone 7 Series (DRAFT Preview) (6 chapters by Charles Petzold)
Free ebook: Petzold’s Programming Windows Phone 7 (Special Excerpt 2) (newer than the ebook above; 11 chapters by Charles Petzold)
Free ebook: Own Your Future: Update Your Skills with Resources and Career Ideas from Microsoft (8 chapters by Katherine Murray)
Free ebook: Understanding Microsoft Virtualization Solutions (Second Edition) (6 chapters by Mitch Tulloch)
Free ebook: First Look Microsoft Office 2010 (14 chapters by Katherine Murray)
Free ebook: Windows 7 troubleshooting tips (short ebook by Mitch Tulloch)
Free ebook: Introducing Windows Server 2008 R2 (9 chapters by Charlie Russel and Craig Zacker)
Free ebook: Deploying Windows 7, Essential Guidance (10 chapters from the Windows 7 Resource Kit and 6 TechNet articles)
Source ; http://bink.nu/news/free-ebooks-from-microsoft-press.aspx
The Exchange Server 2010 Architecture Poster is now available for download in all its 36″ x 24″ goodness!
The poster helps you understand how the major components of Exchange 2010 work and serves as a quick reminder and a learning tool. The printed version also looks really impressive on your wall!
Aside from showing the high-level architecture, this poster highlights the feature set of Exchange Server 2010. Sections include:
Download here; Exchange Server 2010 Architecture Poster (PDF).
PS: For transport architecture diagrams, see Exchange 2010 Transport Architecture Diagrams Available for Download.
Here’s a preview:
