Microsoft

Microsoft Licenses RT Audio Codec and launches new QoS Monitoring Tool

August 20, 2007

I believe I was the first to break the story about Microsoft's RT codecs called RT Audio and RT Video. At the very least, I was the first to stress the importance of Microsoft offering two forward error correction codecs when I wrote "Microsoft's Secret Codec Weapon? One fact that hasn't gotten any attention from the mainstream media (& tech media) coverage of OCS 2007 is the VoIP and video codec Microsoft is using. During my conversation with Microsoft they kept talking about how Office Communicator's VoIP works well not only in broadband environments, but also in limited bandwidth narrowband environments, i.e. dial-up -- and even on Windows Mobile 5 devices."

In the article I explained how Microsoft stressed how their codec works well even with high packet loss due to Forward Error Correction (FEC) and other algorithms.

Posted in Microsoft, Polycom, TMCnet, VoIP

Exchange Server 2007 Spam Whitelist Rant

August 14, 2007

I just blogged this morning about Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 SP1 being released to the MSDN and Technet communities. Exchange Server 2007 is a major upgrade over Exchange Server 2003 with tight integration with Office Communications Server 2007 (OCS 2007), however I have a major complaint. That is - I have been waiting for Microsoft to offer centralized server-based whitelisting challenge-response support in Exchange Server for years and still they haven't added it. I've been on an anti-spam crusade for years.

Posted in Microsoft, TMCnet

Exchange Server 2007 SP1 launches

August 14, 2007

Microsoft today launched Exchange Server 2007 SP1 (beta 2) to those who are part of Microsoft's Developer Network or subscribe to the Microsoft's TechNet. According to Microsoft Service Pack 1 (SP1) is a community technology preview or CTP, ans is now feature complete with a final ship date of the last quarter this year. The latest release more closely ties Exchange Server closer to Microsoft's unified communications products, namely Office Communications Server 2007 (OCS 2007). OCS 2007 adds VoIP, voicemail, text-to-speech reading of email and more and is also scheduled for release sometime this year. I've actually been testing OCS 2007 beta with Exchange 2007 and OCS 2007 is probably the best product I've seen from Microsoft in years.

In any event, Exchange 2007 SP1 will support Windows Server 2008 and a single subnet is no longer required for HA (high availability).

Posted in Microsoft, Reviews

Best Internet Telephony Magazine Yet - Plus ITEXPO Thoughts

August 8, 2007

I just received my latest issue of TMC's Internet Telephony Magazine, which is hot off the presses. Check out the cover. (excuse the image quality, I used a webcam)

On the cover you'll notice a wide array of stories including: Microsoft's big communications plans - namely Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 (OCS 2007), fixed mobile convergence (FMC), power protection & management, fax over IP, and a comprehensive TMC Labs review of the Cantata IMG 1010 VoIP gateway. (Note: The Microsoft story is in the top-right corner, but not readable in the image)

This comprehensive coverage of all IP communications is why TMC's internet Telephony Magazine is still the #1 VoIP magazine!

Posted in ITEXPO, Microsoft, Reviews, TMCnet, VoIP

Download Windows Vista SP1 Pre-launch Updates

August 8, 2007

Microsoft today launched some major updates to Windows Vista, which appears to be a pre-launch update to the highly anticipated and uber-secretive Windows Vista Service Pack 1 (SP1). Rumors and leaks about Vista SP1 and where you can download it have been going on for several weeks now. Some Vista users are getting impatient over getting the new updates. Microsoft reportedly responded by saying "Hold your horses will ya?

Posted in Microsoft

Outlook 2007 Sucks

July 30, 2007

Microsoft Outlook 2007 sucks. Or at least it sucks in how it handles its Junk E-mail functionality. Microsoft's brilliant decision is to prevent users from Replying to any email that lands in your "special" Junk E-mail folder. Microsoft Outlook 2007, part of the Office 2007 suite, displays the following dialog box popup when I click Reply to an email in the Junk E-mail folder:

"To help protect your personal information, this message has been converted to plain text.

Posted in Microsoft

Rich Tehrani's take on Microsoft in Communications, VoIP, etc.

July 25, 2007

Posted in Microsoft

Search text in multiple files using Windows Grep

July 10, 2007

Windows Grep searches user-defined files and folders with for text or regular expressions, giving you powerful and fast search results. I use Linux all the time and the "grep" command is one of the most powerful Linux commands, so I was excited to hear about Windows Grep.

According to LifeHacker, "Windows Grep's search is quick and far more powerful than a simple Google Desktop or Windows Explorer folder search, with lightning fast results and an option for previewing the matching text and optionally the lines surrounding the text to give you an idea of context." Windows Grep search works on plain text files, binary files and can even search within zip archives. Windows Grep can also perform a find and replace on the text. Windows Grep is free to download (it asks for a registration after 30 days but never requires one). Get it here: WinGrep [via Mike Duncan]

Source: LifeHacker

Posted in Microsoft

iPhone syncs with Exchange Server

June 29, 2007

Apple has stated that the iPhone can sync with Exchange Server using IMAP4. According to eWeek, Microsoft released Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 Rollup 3 just in time for the Apple iPhone. Rollup 3 fixes several issues including issues that affect Apple Mac Mail when connecting to Exchange 2007. The issue supposedly fixes an incompatibility between IMAP version 4 and Exchange Server 2007 that affected Apple Mac Mail users and could affect iPhone users as well.

Posted in Gadgets, Microsoft, Mobile Phones, PDAs & Handhelds, Wireless

Microsoft RoundTable Review

June 22, 2007

Microsoft RoundTable is a very cool videoconferencing system featuring 360� panoramic views powered by its 5 built-in cameras. Microsoft sent me a RoundTable system for review. I figured I may as well install it in one of TMC's two conference rooms to have some "real world" testing scenarios. After plugging in the various cables, including a USB cable to the host PC, I then installed the Microsoft Office Live Meeting 2007 (LM 2007) beta software client, which was designed to handle the RoundTable's 360� panoramic cameras.

Posted in Microsoft, VoIP

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