Posts tagged microsoft
HowTo: Enable Aero mode in Windows server 2008 R2
Feb 17th
I recently was setting up a build server and chose Windows Server 2008 R2 to be the OS. Since I was also looking for something like a centralized deployment server for my development team to quickly reflash their testbeds, I was very h appy to see the 2008 R2 server’s “Deployment server” role…but, wait, this is a big saga and is for another post. This one is all about “Aero”!
After installation, I noticed my Windows server 2008 R2 booted in “Windows classic” mode. This was an eye sore, to say the least, after having used Windows 7’s themes. My machine has GeForce 9500GS along with the proper x64 driver. So I know it is capable of doing Aero. But, Windows “Personalization” option was not allowing me to select any Aero theme.
Quick googling showed me that I was not the first person trying to solve this – Here’s the link I used & found very helpful – http://software.intel.com/en-us/blogs/2009/01/09/windows-server-2008-r2-beta-aero-enabled-workstation/. Though I had “Desktop experience” feature installed, my “Themes” service was not enabled.
I set it to “Automatic” and started the service. But, still Windows was not allowing me to set the Aero theme. If you are facing the same issue, remember to reboot at this point — that is after enabling the “Themes” service, do reboot once. Once logged in again, you will be able to switch to Aero!
BTW, its been close to 2 years now since I posted here — was heads down on a project all the time 
. We did a Wireless Display solution that recently hit the market. Will post more on it soon.
2008 Top 20 Billionaires: What do they do with so much money?
Mar 8th
Warren Buffett overtook Bill Gates and that Mexican fellow to become the world’s richest person. His net worth is at $62 billion USD.
Pop quiz: Do you know how many zeroes are there in a billion??
Microsoft wants to buy Yahoo!
Feb 1st
Today Microsoft has made a proposal to buy Yahoo!. All the outstanding stocks sum up to a whooping amount of $4.4bn ($31/share). This is an amazing offer and if the deal goes through, Microsoft will get a good holding to take Google heads on. The news just popped up, I am sure before I hit the bed tonight (IST), the web will be abuzz with this. Couple of things I noted in the initial reports:
IndiaInfoline states:
Microsoft has developed a plan and process that will include the employees of both companies to focus on the integration of the combined business. Microsoft intends to offer significant retention packages to Yahoo! engineers, key leaders and employees across all disciplines.
Hmm…so the headcount reduction Yahoo announced some days back holds good or is it going to increase? Will Microsoft clean out Yahoo’s house…sac all the no ROI projects? Specifically, what is the impact going to be on Yahoo India where most of the work is of sustenance nature (Quote: one of my friends working there)??
Another thing to note is the amount Microsoft is offering – $31/share. Already the prices of Yahoo stocks have gone up by $9.82, after seeing the MS proposal. This brings the price to $29.1. Has Microsoft offered a low price / stock?? I am not sure (my knowledge of how money works is very limited). BTW, you can see the actual letter sent by Microsoft to Yahoo board of directors here.
Interesting things that may happen, if the deal goes through:
- Microsoft will become “Microsoft!“, trying to keep the “Yahoo!” tradition alive
- Finally, you will be able to send messages to Xbox Live from Yahoo!
- Yahoo mail and Hotmail will be merged. More potential users for Hotmail.
The potential beneficiaries will be the Yahoo shareholders – a massive payday for them today
How to use Windows Vista for more than 30 days?
May 14th
There is a nice method posted by Ed Bott of Zdnet on extending the Vista’s trial period to 120 days (~4 months). I stumbled on this only recently, while seriously contemplating installing Vista ultimate in a Core2 Duo + 965GF combo. Nice trick, if you need more time to become comfortable with Vista before taking the plunge.
Xbox 360 damages discs – Be very careful!
Apr 17th
If you own a Xbox 360 you surely would have come across the famous “Disc not readable” problem. Whenever it happens, you are forced to take out the disc, clean it, sometimes reboot Xbox 360 to get the disc to play again. I was so scared the first time my Gears of War refused to play, even after repeated cleaning/trying…cleaning/trying ritual. I thought I had lost my Rs.2500 spent on that game. Fortunately, a quick Google search assured me I was not alone and it was not a major problem. But, I stumbled upon another serious problem that can happen if you are not careful – Xbox 360 can damage your discs permanently. This was scary! There are some sound advice on what to do and what not to do with a disc inside Xbox360. Though the problem has been root caused, people are still seeing random scratches. I can only attribute this to Xbox360 loving your discs so much it can’t stop itself from caressing them a bit too harsh 
Finally Microsoft has owned up to this and has rolled out a replacement program (Note that MS has its own list of Terms and Conditions). Luckily GoW is covered there
Check out this video that shows Xbox360 scratching a disc.
Xbox 360 to support Windows Live Messenger
Apr 9th
Spring update to Xbox 360 is going to be rolled out starting May 7th. Some notable features are:
- H.264 video support: Up to 15 Mbps, Baseline, Main, and High (up to level 4.1) Profiles with 2 channel AAC LC and Main Profiles.
- Added MPEG-4 Part 2 video support: Up to 8 Mbps, Simple Profile with 2 channel AAC LC and Main Profiles.
- Show folder hierarchy for video and other content played from all devices.
- The screensaver is disabled when playing photos from any source
I am happy they chose to include the folder hierarchy display and disabling screensaver. Those I am sure people would agree, were sorely missed. Now, I can easily play a movie from my movie collection (named xyz part1.avi, xyz part2.avi…) with out searching for individual files. A single “Play” click on the folder containing all these individual files should do the trick!
Another interesting feature (and the topic of this post) is the “Chat with MSN contacts”. Wow! Now, I can chat with my relatives, who don’t own a Xbox, sitting in the living room, with my parents besides me! This is a killer feature, I’d say. I am not sure if this Xbox update supports video chatting with MSN, but if only they do, man…nothing like it! The above picture is the new accessory Microsoft is planning to release this summer. Kinda bulky looking for a controller, but would make chatting painless. We should be able to use the normal USB keyboard too.
I can now finally leave my wife chatting with my in-laws, to go work on that Wordpress Chess plugin with out any disturbance
Performance appraisals – Should they be so complex?
Mar 21st
We went through the performance appraisal phase in my company last quarter. As we had come to expect, it was one of the stressful periods, so much that we literally threw a party when 360degree feedbacks were prepared and sent (ok, am just kidding. But, you get the point!). We call this process FOCAL; when I joined 3 years back, I asked one of the managers why the perfomance appraisal was called FOCAL. My luck, that manager was forced to quit in our last round of “leaning”/”increasing efficiency” process, before he got a chance to reply me
FOCAL is more of a ritual for us; focal FAQs and training mails get sent to everyone by November of every year. The newbies are forced to take an half-a-day instructor-led course. Then one fine day, we start getting lots of requests for feedbacks on our peers and stakeholders, we spend 60-70% on filling up all these. Except a few, I have seen most of my colleagues just copy/pasting the content from one feedback to another person’s feedback. Bad, I know, but if you look from their perspective, who would want to be original in their 24th feedback form? After this the managers come in to the focus, they need to collate all the feedbacks on a person, along with that person’s own (check this out for some good points on writing one’s own strenghts/weaknesses) in to one report.The “ritual book” states that the managers need to present this to other peers, convincing everyone that the person under scrutiny deserves something better or gets screwed. Fair enough, right? Wrong! As far as I’veseen, people tend to take shortcuts everywhere, and as Kelvin claimed “there is always thins thing called POLITICS“. The main problem, at least the employess are stating is that nothing is transparent! Most of the times they don’t understand why they got what they got.
The period after focal report delivery is again a “fun” filled phase. Disgruntled employees leave, promoted / well-compensated ones put in more time/effort, new people are brought in and the cycle starts afresh! Does this process need to be replaced? I don’t think so. Does this need to be made fool proof? Oh yeah! Should intel get away with this complex process for something simple, like Microsoft? May be a good idea!!
I know there are couple of other pages like this and this, but at least I don’t believe things are so bad in India.
Windows Beginner Developer Learning Center – Gr8 idea!
Mar 2nd
Microsoft has come up with a website totally dedicated to getting the programming newbies up and running (Of course, using MS technologies! :p )
BDLC covers both web and desktop applications. The best part is, it doesn’t assume any prior programming knowledge. I am pretty sure this is a great resource and is gonna boost the Windows developer base exponentially!
Some interesting topics from BDLC
- Web as a platform. The absolute basics of browsers, HTTP et al
- Kids corner
- RSS reader project
- ASP.NET events and postbacks
I have bookmarked some for my wife to go through, this weekend. I am pretty sure I will be directing her to this site more often from now!!
My first gaming console!
Feb 24th
I bought my first gaming console, Xbox 360, two months back. Though I am not a big gamer, I always loved to design levels and develop simple games (no Unreal or Doom4 from me!). I bought the Xbox360 from Kempfort (now called Kempkids) in Airport road. I got the premium pack. There was a huge price difference between the core system and the premium system, but I preferred the premium as it comes with lots of accessories, which when put together with the core system’s price exceeded the price I paid for the premium. Not bad, eh? The Xbox 360 market price in US is around $400, which is roughly 18,000/- INR. Why then I was asked to pay another 7 – 8K for a premium system, is still a mystery to me.
The premium system doesn’t ship with any game. I was aware of this, even then I didn’t buy any games. First thing – it is pretty costly again – 2500/- per title is kind of expensive for a game. Next thing is, that day I wanted only to check out the interface and if possible connect my PC to the Xbox 360. So, I was not that keen on buying a game that day itself.
Windows Graphics Foundation
Sep 29th
Interesting tidbit from The Inquirer
Microsoft Readies DirectX Replacement
Microsoft is very close to releasing its newest iteration of DirectX. Dubbed the “Windows Graphics Foundation” (WGF), Microsoft will reunite DirectDraw and Direct3D into one package allowing the graphics subsystem of a PC to be completely integrated into the operating system.
Reports cite the latest versions of the WGF to be at version 0.99, just shy of an initial release. The initial release of WGF will allow hardware vendors like ATI and nVidia to begin work on hardware offerings compliant to the new graphics spec. The WGF will also allow graphics card creators the first opportunity to develop Shader Model 4 compliant hardware.
