Also this week meet Blessing Sibanyoni and Mikael Nystrom. Blessing discusses how he is working to deploy features like BranchCache and DirectAccess to reduce complexity and simplify his bank’s IT environment and listen in as Mikael with TrueSec talks about his customers' needs for a more secure, reliable OS.

Hear what they have to say and get heard. Join the conversation.

The Windows Home Server Team has announced today the beta of Windows Home Server Power Pack 3 (PP3). And if you’re running Windows 7, Windows Home Server PP3 comes with several new features designed to take advantage key Windows 7 features:

• Full Image-based Backups of Windows 7 PCs. After the Windows Home Server Connector is installed on your Windows 7 PCs, Action Center should no longer display that your files are not being backed up.
• Windows 7 Libraries Support. Music, Photos and Videos shared folders from your Windows Home Server will be added to Windows 7 Libraries. Content saved to these shared folders will be able to be quickly accessed through your Windows 7 Libraries. And any application, like Windows Media Player and Windows Media Center, will be able to access content saved on your Windows Home Server through Libraries as well.
• Windows Search 4 is now included. With Windows Search 4, PP3 offers improved query search times, indexing times and reliability. Easy search through a Library in Windows 7 with files stored in multiple locations.
• Windows Media Center Enhancements. Archive old recorded TV shows onto your Windows Home Server in a variety of formats. Use Console Quick View to see statistics about your Windows Home Server through Windows Media Center.

More in-depth information on these features – see their blog post on PP3.

The Windows Home Server Team does not yet have a final release date for PP3 however they are shooting to have PP3 available shortly before GA of Windows 7. If you’re running Windows Home Server and have several Windows 7 PCs – I encourage you to give PP3 a try and help the Windows Home Server Team make PP3 rock.

To beta test PP3, please sign up as a beta participant of the Windows Home Server program on Microsoft Connect. Once you’ve signed up, you’ll be able to download PP3.

Windows Home Server Power Pack 3 will be a free update to existing Windows Home Server users via Windows Update.

I’ll be installing PP3 on my HP MediaSmart Server EX470 either tonight or sometime over the weekend. I’m stoked about the Windows 7 integration!

Earlier this week, I was in New Orleans at Microsoft’s Worldwide Partner Conference (WPC). It was amazing to see the strength and scale of the Windows ecosystem at this event, particularly as we get closer to the launch of Windows 7.

As I return to Redmond, I’d like to give an update on our approach to partner outreach and enabling the Windows ecosystem.

Driving early engagement

Our partners have been clear from the outset that they needed access to stable Windows 7 builds as early as possible. So we started our ecosystem readiness journey by delivering an API complete pre-release developer build of Windows 7 in October at the PDC, a year before our scheduled General Availability (GA). We followed that with Windows 7 Beta at CES in January, and Windows 7 Release Candidate (RC) in May.

This access has enabled partners to be in a great position to complete final testing of their products and services when Windows 7 is released to manufacturing (RTM) later this month.

Focusing on application and device compatibility

When we designed Windows 7, we worked to minimize changes in the way applications and devices interact with Windows. As a result, the work done by 3rd party software and hardware developers to make their products work on Windows Vista generally carries forward for Windows 7. In most cases, the same software and hardware that works on Windows Vista will also work on Windows 7 today.

Some software that is written to very low levels of the operating system, like antivirus and disk imaging software, may require some updates. We have been able to engage closely with those partners and have addressed compatibility issues earlier in the process. As a result, today 10 antivirus companies offer beta versions of their flagship products that are compatible with Windows 7 RC.

New content and programs for partners

Millions of developers and partners have been able to get detailed technical guidance, white papers, tools and code samples from the Windows Developer Center, so they can plan, build and test on Windows 7 sooner. Moreover, thousands of partners are participating in the Windows Ecosystem Readiness Program, which has reached nearly 45,000 software and hardware developers. And over 6 million people have checked out the content at Ready. Set. 7 about how many of our partners are preparing for and innovating on Windows 7.

How customers can get ready for Windows 7

We’ve also been working to ensure customers can take advantage of all of this great work by the Windows ecosystem.

We have created the Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor, an end-user tool designed to help customers assess their ability to upgrade their Windows XP or Windows Vista-based PCs to Windows 7. A Beta version of the can be downloaded here.

We also have the Windows 7 Logo Program, to help customers know what is compatible with Windows 7. While many products will work with Windows 7, products that carry the “Compatible with Windows 7” logo have passed testing for compatibility with Windows 7 – and because 64-bit support is a logo requirement, logo’d devices will work with both 32 and 64 bit!

Business customers can also use the Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor, but they need more information on compatibility for enterprise applications. So we’ve also put together a comprehensive list of the most widely used enterprise applications, which we have continuously tested on Windows 7 throughout the product cycle. In addition, there is the Application Compatibility Toolkit (ACT) to help customers assess compatibility of software.

For internally developed line-of-business (LOB) applications, Windows 7 provides a number of in-box compatibility tools. For example, if an application fails to install because of a hard-coded version check (some software installers check the version of Windows you’re running), the Program Compatibility Troubleshooter can troubleshoot the problem by using a version number expected by the installer and running the installer again, with user consent.

How developers can get ready for Windows 7

If you’re a developer and you haven’t yet started testing for Windows 7, I recommend you do 5 key things:

1. Go download the Windows 7 Release Candidate and try it out.
2. Get compatible and test your products.  You can visit www.readyset7.com to learn more about getting ready for Windows 7.
3. Test for the Logo Requirements with our Windows Logo Kit for software and hardware.
4. Tell the world!  Make a statement of support on the Windows Compatibility Center.
5. Unlock your creativity and innovation with the new features in Windows 7. Get started by taking advantage of new opportunities in Windows 7 by evaluating the Windows 7 Developer Guide and Windows Hardware Developer Central.

Being at WPC is a good reminder of all the work it takes across tens of thousands of companies and millions of developers and IT professionals to get ready for a new Windows release. So let me conclude by saying THANK YOU to all of our partners from around the world for your engagement, testing, innovation and feedback – all which will help make Windows 7 a great release for our mutual customers.

--Mike

Well, if your answer to any of the above question is "Yes!" then say hello to the Code⁷ Contest. The Code⁷ contest is where your application design ingenuity gives you the opportunity to get millions of eyes on your work, plus a trip to LA for PDC09, and up to $17,777 in cash!

Code⁷ is a special coding contest for developers. It is a great opportunity to show the world your creativity and coding powers. It is a way for you to cash in on your knowledge and skills.

This is not just another standard code contest; this contest gives the finalists the opportunity to present their application at PDC 2009 in LA. The first prize is a real gem: $17,777 in cash, the opportunity to present the application to Microsoft executives at PDC 2009, plus worldwide interest in your application including a massive “marketing bump” for your application.

To enter, you must:

Build an original, consumer-oriented client application prototype that runs natively on Windows 7 (for example Win32, WPF, MFC or WinForms – not an Air application or just a gadget) and addresses one or more of the following topic categories:

• Simplify My Life
• More Media, More Places
• Gaming
• Work From Anywhere
• Safeguard Your Work
• Applications for a Better Tomorrow

The application must use at least one of the following Windows 7 technology features; however, judging will give more weight to entries that take advantage of more than one of these features:

• Libraries
• Windows Touch
• Shell Integration
• DX11 (DirectX 11)
• Sensor and Location Platform

So if you have being following my blog you have some advantage.

The contest has several stages and few rules you need to be aware of:

• To enter this contest you must create and submit a video in which you describe and demonstrate your application.
• The first qualifying round starts at 12:00 a.m. Pacific Time (PT) on July 13, 2009, and ends at 11:59 p.m. PT on October 10, 2009 (“Entry Period”). You will be able to able to submit your video until midnight October 10, 2009. Your entry will be included in a pool with all eligible entries based on your geographical region.
• Entries received by 11:59 p.m. PT on August 15, 2009, will be eligible to win an “Early Bird” prize described in the Winner Determination section below.
• Following the close of the first qualifications, a panel of judges will select two runner-up winners and one Finalist from each Region.
• Following judging, Microsoft will notify all winners and finalists and provide instructions for submitting their applications for evaluation.
• Finalists will be invited to present their applications to a panel of judges at the Microsoft Partner Developer Conference 2009 (PDC09) in Los Angeles, CA, USA.

For the complete contest rules and legal notice, please refer to the “RULES” section on the Code7 Contest Web site - https://www.code7contest.com/.

So, what are you waiting for? Get going and start working on your Windows 7 application!

We’re working hard to create a new experience for mobile users and developers alike; where users can easily discover and confidently purchase and download applications for work, life or play and developers feel good about the submission process and are able to reach a new market for their mobile applications. In fact, we’re announcing today that by the end of 2009 Windows Marketplace will also be available to Windows Mobile 6.0 and 6.1 devices. This means that developers will have an opportunity to reach more than 30 million Windows Mobile devices. 

To help those millions of business users find what they’re looking for, we’re also unveiling the Windows Marketplace Business Center; a category in Windows Marketplace that will contain mobile business applications across several common industries and line of business functions from leading companies that include Avanade UK, Formotus, Ilium Software, Pyxis Mobile and WebIS.  Business Center is another way for our partners to differentiate themselves and showcase their business applications, while making it easier for users to locate and purchase the latest mobile business tools.

 
(sample view of Windows Marketplace Business Center, subject to change )

To recap the Windows Marketplace for Mobile announcements at Worldwide Partner Conference:
1.       Application Submission Opens on July 27th: Windows Marketplace will open for application submissions from 29 supported countries July 27^th.
2.       Windows Mobile 6.0 and 6.1 Support: Windows Marketplace will be available for Windows Mobile 6.0 and 6.1 by the end of 2009 (in addition to Windows Mobile 6.5 at launch in the fall).
3.       Business Center: Windows Marketplace will feature a "Business Center" category for business applications.
4.       Developer Contest: Microsoft will be disclosing the details of a Windows Marketplace developer contest on July 27.

I’ll be on site at the Worldwide Partner Conference today talking to partners and presenting our Windows Marketplace strategy and even offering a brief demonstration on the main stage on Wednesday morning. Throughout the event, I’ll be gathering feedback and doing my best to drive registration and application submissions for July 27^th. My team and I are eager to get your feedback and will do our best to address your comments and questions in the days and weeks ahead.

You can also view my video post here on Channel 9.

Build. Submit. Profit!

Todd Brix.

* Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong SAR, India, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, Mexico, New Zealand, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, United Kingdom, and the United States.

SDK, DTK, DRK: WTF?! | MSDN

Windows Mobile RampUp Track Is Now Available On MSDN | MSDN

Carry Your Office in Your Pocket #1 | MSDN

Windows Mobile Facebook Application Update | MSDN

Microsoft Tag Update | MSDN

Resolving Common Crashes Seen in Windows Mobile Watson Data | MSDN

Samsung’s Web Site for Windows Mobile Developers | MSDN

developer.windowsmobile.com | MSDN

Windows® Marketplace for Mobile Developer Strategy Announced! | MSDN

DreamSpark for Students | MSDN

Introducing Windows® Marketplace for Mobile… | MSDN

Microsoft My Phone | MSDN

Mobile Manager for Netflix | MSDN

Microsoft Tag | MSDN

Developing Location Aware Applications for Windows Mobile | MSDN

New Version of Live Search Mobile | MSDN

Survey of Web Browsers for Windows Mobile | MSDN

Windows Mobile Development Forum | MSDN

Over the past week, there have been many rumors surrounding RTM.

We are close, but have not yet signed off on Windows 7. When we RTM you will most certainly hear it here. As we’ve said all along, we will RTM Windows 7 when it’s ready. As previously stated, we expect Windows 7 to RTM in the 2nd half of July.

Windows 7 will be available in many languages from around the world. For us to consider RTM “done”, it requires that all languages be completely finished. So there is a lot of work that needs to take place for us to finalize all languages of Windows 7. We also need to get to a point of “global readiness” with our partners. Our partners being ready for Windows 7 is extremely important to RTM. As Steven Sinofsky mentions in this blog post in May, RTM isn’t a single point in time. It’s the beginning of the next “process” for Windows 7. At RTM our partners begin their final preparations for Windows 7, including testing and building images for new PCs. RTM is essentially the final “stage” of engineering for Windows 7 before it hits the market at General Availability (GA). As Steven notes, engineering continues on Windows 7 from RTM until GA on October 22nd.

Another thing to keep in mind is that when we do a specific build internally of Windows 7 we have an extensive step-by-step validation process to ensure quality. This process takes time. Just because a single build may have “leaked” it does not signal the completion of a milestone such as RTM. As always, don’t believe everything that you read on the Internet - except this post ;-).

Everyone is super excited about this version of Windows. I continue to get a ton of questions about some of the things that happen after we RTM. I would like to answer some of those questions:

Once Windows 7 is complete, how do I get it?

The answer depends on who you are:

• MSDN & TechNet Subscribers: Subscribers will be able to download the final version of Windows 7 a few weeks after we announce RTM.
• Volume License (VL) Customers: As announced today by Bill Veghte during his WPC09 keynote, Windows 7 will be available to Volume License customers on September 1st.
• Consumers, Enthusiasts, & Beta Testers (Everyone else): The retail version of Windows 7 will be available in stores October 22nd. If you pre-ordered Windows 7, it should be delivered sometime around the October 22nd timeframe (depends on the retailer). You can pre-order Windows 7 today through many online retailers like the Microsoft Store.
• On New PCs: OEMs are expected to start shipping new PCs with Windows 7 pre-installed on them around October 22nd.

Can I continue to use the Windows 7 Release Candidate (RC) until I receive the RTM version?

Yes, you can continue to use the RC until it expires on June 1st, 2010 (expiration starts March 1, 2010 – this is when the reboots start – final expiration on June 1). Please note that “in-place” (or direct) upgrades from the Windows 7 RC to RTM will not be supported. You will be required to do a Custom installation (aka “clean install”).

I am a TechNet or MSDN subscriber. Will I get a product key?

MSDN and TechNet subscribers, as well as Volume License customers will have access to product keys (PIDs) when Windows 7 is made available to them. Product keys for Windows 7 RTM will be different than the product keys used for Windows 7 Beta and the release candidate. Windows 7 Beta or RC product keys *will not* work with Windows 7 RTM.

I am using one of the so-called “leaked” builds of Windows 7, how will I know if it is the real deal?

As always, beware of what you download. There are many bogus copies of Windows 7 floating around the Internet. More often than not, they contain a rather nice malware payload. And don’t believe everything you read on the Internet. When Windows 7 hits RTM, it will be announced here. Until that happens, any builds you are likely to see on the web are either not the final bits or are laced with malicious code.

How do I get a 64-bit copy of Windows 7?

The Upgrade and Full packaged retail product of Windows 7 Home Premium, Windows 7 Professional, and Windows 7 Ultimate will come with both 32-bit and 64-bit DVDs. With Windows Vista, the 64-bit version was only available with Windows Vista Ultimate. Due to the incredible adoption of 64-bit today and customer feedback, we decided to change this for Windows 7. Now all copies of Windows 7 in developed markets will ship with both 32-bit and 64-bit DVDs.

I want to emphasize that delivering Windows 7 at the highest quality possible is the biggest criteria we have for hitting RTM. Our top focus is a super high quality release of Windows first and foremost.

Thanks, and check back soon for more Windows 7 news.

Still have questions about Windows 7? Leave your questions below as I have several colleagues here in Redmond waiting to answer any question Windows 7 related you might have.

I asked by Giorgio Sardo, to write about the E editions for Windows 7 and the changes developers need to be aware of. Since the E edition for Windows 7 will ship without  Internet Explorer 8. Giorgio is the Technical Evangelist working on IE and other web technologies.

Yochay

In a previous post, we explained how Microsoft is working to fulfill our legal obligations in Europe for Windows 7. In the meantime, we received some questions about what the E editions of Windows 7 will mean for ISVs and developers.

I took the most common questions and posed them to Arik Cohen, a Program Manager who is working on the E editions of Windows 7. If you have other questions about how this could affect your applications, please add your comments to the post to let us know and we’ll work to get your questions answered.

Q: What are the differences between standard editions of Windows 7 and E editions of Windows 7?

A: The only functional difference is that the Internet Explorer 8 component is not available. This is the same component that your users can turn off in the “Turn Windows features on and off” control panel in the Windows 7 RC build. The Internet Web Platform components (for example, WebOC) are still installed and available on all editions of Windows 7, since they are part of the Windows core.

Q: How should I test my application to ensure that it will work without IE?

A: To get the same functional behavior as a clean install of the E editions of Windows 7, go to “Turn Windows features on and off” dialog and uncheck Internet Explorer 8. We recommend testing your application both without a browser installed and with a browser installed (remember to set the installed browser as the default).

Q: What happens if I try to open a link without a browser installed?

A: You will get an “Application not found” exception.

Q: What general impacts of Windows 7 E editions have you seen on applications – especially ones that rely on the WebOC?

A: During our application compatibility testing, we’ve found that the vast majority of applications work on Windows 7 E editions without any changes. This includes applications that use many of the Internet Web Platform embedding methods (including WebBrowser control, hosting Trident, and HTML Help).

For instance, the following screenshot shows a .NET application that embeds the WebBrowser control running correctly on the E edition of Windows 7.

Q: My Windows application (WPF, Win Forms, Java, etc.) uses the Web Browser control. Is there any compatibility issue?

A: Everything should work as expected. However, we’ve seen some issues when applications depend directly on a specific browser. In particular, if while using the Web Browser control, you allow the application to open new windows that do not respect the user’s default browser choice, you may see some issues.

Q: What are the most common issues that you have found in your testing of applications? And what do you recommend ISVs do about them?

A: I have seen applications encounter three classes of issues on E editions of Windows 7:

1. The application has hard coded dependencies to launch Internet Explorer when starting a browser to access the net. This is normally done by explicitly launching “iexplore.exe http://foobar.com” rather than running a ShellExecute on http://foobar.com. This generates an exception on a Windows 7 system without IE installed and enabled. There are times when this is intentional (for example, the Web site you are opening is only supported on IE), in which case you probably want to check for IE availability and provide a good error message to the user if it’s not available.
   
   We’ve seen this many times, especially in instances where the desired behavior is to open the application in the user’s default browser. You will need to switch to using the more generic case for these scenarios.
   
   
2. The application allows launching a new window from within the WebBrowser control (for example, user accesses “Open in New Window” via the content menu, the page does a window.open() call, etc.).

   These links would always have opened in IE (regardless of the default browser on the system). If you designed your application to open in the default browser, you will need to provide a function that allows that.

   The recommended way to implement custom behavior when opening a new window is to use the NewWindow3 event. Sample code to hook this up in a C# .NET application would look like the following examples.

   In the form initialization code:

   webBrowser1.Navigate("about:blank");
            SHDocVw.WebBrowser web1 = 
                   (SHDocVw.WebBrowser)webBrowser1.ActiveXInstance;
   
   web1.NewWindow3 += 
           new SHDocVw.DWebBrowserEvents2_NewWindow3EventHandler(web1_NewWindow3);

   And the handler:

   void web1_NewWindow3(
                   ref object ppDisp, 
                   ref bool Cancel, 
                   uint dwFlags, 
                   string bstrUrlContext, 
                   string bstrUrl )
   {
       Process.Start(bstrUrl);
       Cancel = true;
   }

    
3. Applications don’t handle cases where no browser is installed on the system. We have seen applications that don’t handle this failure case when executing a URL.

   These tend to occur when users don’t have a default browser on their systems and then try to click a “go online for more information” link. We think this is going to be an extremely narrow case – even so, applications should handle these failures gracefully.

Q: How do I identify the user’s default browser?

A: Use the IApplicationAssociationRegistration::QueryCurrentDefault API to determine the registered browser by checking QueryCurrentDefault(“http”, AT_URLPROTOCOL,  AL_EFFECTIVE, out progID).

Q: My app needs to open the browser. What are the best practices?

A: Run shellexecute() without hard-coding the name of the browser. Respect the user’s choice of default browser and gracefully handle cases where no browser is installed on the system.

Q: How can I check if I’m running in one of the E edition for Windows 7?

A: The GetProductInfo() API (introduced in Windows Vista) is how to tell exactly what edition of Windows you are running. The new constant values for the E editions of Windows 7 will be available in the Windows 7 SDK.

Example of code to determine if you are running on Home Premium vs. Ultimate:

[DllImport("Kernel32.dll")]
        internal static extern bool GetProductInfo(
            int osMajorVersion,
            int osMinorVersion,
            int spMajorVersion,
            int spMinorVersion,
            out uint edition);

        
        private void CheckEdition()
        {
            uint edition;
            GetProductInfo(6, 1, 0, 0, out edition);

            switch ((ProductEditions)(edition))
            {

                case ProductEditions.HOMEPREMIUM :
                case ProductEditions.HOMEPREMIUME:
                case ProductEditions.HOMEPREMIUMN:

                    MessageBox.Show("Running on a Home Premium edition");
                    break;

                case ProductEditions.ULTIMATE :
                case ProductEditions.ULTIMATEE:
                case ProductEditions.ULTIMATEN:
                    MessageBox.Show("Running on an Ultimate edition");
                    break;

            }
        }

Q: Are the E editions of Windows 7 going to be available on MSDN? If so, when?

A: Yes, both the E editions of Windows 7 and the standard editions will be available on MSDN at the same time.

Q: What about the Internet Explorer 8 Feature Pack for Windows 7 E? If and when will Microsoft release it to the public?

A: Yes, the Internet Explorer 8 Feature Pack for Windows 7 E will be available on the Microsoft Download Center soon after Windows 7 becomes generally available.

Giorgio Sardo

IE Technical Evangelist – Microsoft Corp

And it also brings another super cool feature: Screen Capture.

Today, screen-casting has become quite popular with bloggers. Screen-casting allows bloggers to share what they are looking at on their PC screen with readers of their blog. It’s a great way to show off really neat software experiences that people should see for themselves.

With Expression Encoder 3, they are introducing the Expression Encoder Screen Capture feature. This feature can be launched right from the Start Menu (I’ve pinned it to my Taskbar in Windows 7). People can choose a specific region of their screen they want to record (or the whole screen) and choose to record audio from their microphone and video from their webcam too. It records in a special light weight codec developed by Microsoft Research that when recording video, it doesn’t use up so much system resources during the capture process. That means the actual recording process doesn’t steal so much system resources on your PC that what you’re recording doesn’t look so hot. After recording, you can import the capture into Expression Encoder for final encoding and publishing (including some awesome new Silverlight templates).

I’ve been trying this feature out for the last couple days and it is fantastic. I am definitely planning to do a lot more screen-capture videos with Windows 7 features.

Speaking of Windows 7 features, Expression Encoder utilizes the new Windows Taskbar in Windows 7 with encoding progress being displayed. The first encoding pass appears in yellow, and the second pass appears as green. Pretty slick!

Encoding First Pass:

Encoding Second Pass:
 

(Screenshots from Expression Encoder Team Blog)

For availability of Expression Encoder 3, keep your eyes on the Silverlight Team Blog for the official Expression Studio 3 announcement. Oh, and you should also check out…

For more information on Expression Encoder 3 and the Expression Encoder Screen Capture feature, click here to read the Expression Encoder Team’s blog post.

We’ve come a long way since 2006 when we launched as the Windows Vista Team Blog. This last fall we re-launched the site as The Windows Blog. When we re-launched, the focus of the site was to be the ultimate resource for Windows through the use of blogging – and to grow.

In the site’s design, we put an emphasis of multiple blogs existing under The Windows Blog “umbrella” that would cater to different audiences. Our original blog, Windows Vista Team Blog, became one of several blogs under that “umbrella” and we also launched the Windows 7 Team Blog which is where you will find all the latest Windows 7 news and announcements. Also in the fall, we launched the Windows Security Blog featuring blog posts focusing on Windows security from Paul Cooke. Paul blogged live from RSA earlier this year.

And in the last few months, we’ve grown quite a bit to cover a broader array of audiences with several other new blogs joining our site:

Windows for your Business Blog: Launched in February by Gavriella Schuster, this blog focuses on our commercial customers for Windows. Most recently, Rich Reynolds who is a GM on the Windows Commercial Marketing Team posted a blog about how our business customers provided early feedback for Windows 7.

Windows 7 for Developers Blog: At the end of March, we launched the Windows 7 for Developers. This blog is run by Yochay Kiriaty from the Developer and Platform Evangelism (DPE) Team here at Microsoft. Yochay blogs about all the really cool things developers can do with their applications to take advantage of Windows 7 features like the new Windows Taskbar. If you’re a developer – this blog is a must read.

Springboard Series Blog: This blog launched in early June and is run by Senior Community Manager Stephen Rose. The Springboard Series is a TechNet portal and is the ultimate Windows resource for IT Professionals. The Springboard Series Blog focuses on calling out those resources for IT Pros. Just recently, a Virtual Roundtable (VRT) discussion was help with Mark Russinovich on Application Compatibility – check it out here!

Soon, my friends over on Windows Mobile will be blogging on The Windows Blog too! Their blog can be found here.

And of course I continue to focus on my Windows experiences on the Windows Experience Blog as well.

What’s great about growing the blogs under The Windows Blog “umbrella” is that we have blog posts talking about a variety of Windows topics relevant to a broad set of audiences.

However what if some of the content being blogged about isn’t relevant to me?

All blog posts from all blogs automatically appear in our main RSS feed. Some people want to see and read everything. This is likely how they are doing so or going to our frontpage. But if you only care about content from a specific blog, you can subscribe to the individual RSS feed for that blog. Here are the RSS feeds for each of the blogs here on The Windows Blog:

• Windows 7 Team Blog RSS feed
• Windows Vista Team Blog RSS feed
• Windows Experience Blog RSS feed
• Windows Security Blog RSS feed
• Windows for your Business RSS feed
• Windows 7 for Developers RSS feed
• Springboard Series Blog RSS feed
• Windows Mobile Blog RSS feed

Tags we use for blog posts also have their own RSS feeds. If all you care about is our announcements, you can subscribe to the RSS feed for the Announcements tag.

If RSS isn’t your thing, you can also follow The Windows Blog on Twitter and get all our latest blog posts too.

So what’s coming up for The Windows Blog? Well – lots more awesome Windows 7 blog posts of course. We’re also going to be introducing a new menu system in the coming weeks and introducing more new blogs – including some localized blogs in a variety of different languages.

I’m very proud of the community of Windows blogs we’ve built up here on The Windows Blog. Thank you to the millions of visitors who read our posts each month and continue to be excited for Windows!