Ahmed Mahdy

For An Optimistic 2011

Wed, 08 Dec 2010 20:20:37 +0100

2011...

Few days and we're on the gates of a new year 2011.

Visitors of the site used to get always up-to-date news related to Microsoft technologies and other recent news in IT since first release of this site at 2006.

The period from 2006 to 2009, I was spending my academic stage at university and we know that the academic life enjoys lots of free time to keep up with all details in the academic field which was Computers Engineering & IT for me. Also, this period allows you to have a compliance with one or more axis or alliance of technology manufactures.

As for late 2009 till end of 2010, I've got my first job. It was very critical and sensitive as I was a consultant engineer who was pronouncing, planning and make strategies for IT field in state's higher education. And as this position's nature was very sensitive, I had to slow down one by one adding posts exclusively for Microsoft -despite Microsoft is considered one of the largest partners with us and I was really glad to work with them in several projects- and gradually, I no more posting in the site since last January 2010.

As for 2011, I intend to resume my activity on posting on the website, but this time not only for Microsoft technologies, but also it will include news from Google, IBM and Oracle.

Why changing posting policy?

After being in the IT field for more than 8 years and working as consultant for 1 year, I realized that technology is not monopolized for any entity, but it's absolute for everyone, that's to fulfill needs of all customers with rich options of solutions. This also will give extra news for visitors with all solutions offered by IT giants which may attract more visitors for the site.

What’s New in 2011 on AHMED-MAHDY.COM?

Exclusively, the site will focus on Cloud computing including Windows Azure and Google AppEngine on action, Cloud Computing with Python, Programming in PHP, Scripting with PowerShell and related articles in OOP and Web 2.0.

Wishing you a Merry Xmas and HAPPY NEW YEAR 2011!

Stay tuned...

Ahmed Mahdy | AHMEDMAHDY.COM Founder

Bing enters URL shorten game with binged.it

Sat, 16 Jan 2010 13:20:00 +0100

Bing has entered the arena of URL shortening, turning long bits of URL into an easily manageable URL. Some Microsoft employees have already begun using the new service for posts on their blogs and tweets.

However, the new binged.it URL is actually longer than most shortening services out there, not to mention it’s longer than its own URL, bing.com. It may only be longer by one character, but with the domain like “bing.com”, Microsoft could have easily used bing.it, which is also owned by Microsoft.

Google recently came out with goo.gl (five characters), Facebook’s fb.me (four characters), bit.ly (five characters) and now Bing’s very own Binged.it (eight characters).

It appears this service is only open to Microsoft employees for blogs and tweets, as @ fareologist (Bing Travel) has been using the service for about a week now, while @bing still uses bit.ly for their shortening service.

Right now, both binged.it and bing.it redirect to bing.com, so we may possibly see a bing.it service in the future.

Microsoft admits IE vulnerability used in Google attack

Fri, 15 Jan 2010 10:37:00 +0100

Based on Microsoft's investigations the software giant has admitted Internet Explorer was one of the vectors used in targeted attacks against Google recently.

In a company blog posting Mike Reavey, Director of the Microsoft Security Response Center admits "based upon our investigations, we have determined that Internet Explorer was one of the vectors used in targeted and sophisticated attacks against Google and possibly other corporate networks."

Microsoft has issued further guidance to companies in order to mitigate a Remote Code Execution (RCE) vulnerability in Internet Explorer.

Google said, that in mid-December, they, along with a number of other large companies in the Internet, finance, technology, media and chemical sectors, were targeted in a sophisticated cyber-attack. This attack on their infrastructure originated in China, and resulted in the theft of intellectual property. Due to this attack, and the background behind it, Google is now taking a second look at their operations in China, particularly Google.cn, where they currently offer censored search results as part of an agreement with China's government. Google took the big step of informing the government of China that it is no longer willing to provide censored results, and will be entering into discussions regarding how it can do this without breaking Chinese law. Should Google find themselves unable to reach an agreement, they may shut down Google.cn, and close their offices in China.

Yahoo supported Google's announcements and said it would stand by the company. "We stand aligned that these kinds of attacks are deeply disturbing and strongly believe that the violation of user privacy is something that we as Internet pioneers must all oppose" said a Yahoo representative earlier this week.

China responded to Google's claims in a brief statement yesterday, stating "The Chinese government administers the Internet according to law and we have explicit stipulations over what content can be spread on the Internet." iDefense researchers at Verisign were able to trace the source of the control servers that distributed the malware which gained access to private customer and corporate Google data. Verisign's initial findings suggest the source of the servers consisted either of agents of the Chinese state or proxies thereof.

More Windows 7 SP1 Details Emerge

Thu, 14 Jan 2010 11:25:00 +0100

It's no secret that Microsoft has been hard at work to further improve Windows 7. According to many sources, the first service pack for Redmond's new OS is just around the corner. Today, all across the blogosphere, sites are reporting new details about the upcoming update to Microsoft's most user friendly OS to date. ITChuiko says that "according to sources at Microsoft, a preliminary version of SP1 will be in June 2010 and will be accessible only to testers, whereas the final version is expected by September 2010."

ZDNet is reporting that, as standard with all service packs, SP1 will include all the patches and bug fixes that have been released since Windows 7's October debut. In addition, users can expect tweaks and fixes made under the hood, based on user feedback. The only "big" changes that will come with SP1 are USB 3.0 support, and according to InfoWorld, "enhancements to the Bluetooth and Wi-Fi stacks." This is said to continue making Windows 7 "the most easily configured version [of an OS] ever." ITChuiko also suggests that there may be "some entirely new features that should raise the popularity of this operating system in the business sector."

ZDNet questions Microsoft's reasons for pushing SP1 so quickly. According to many analysts, it seems like the trend of businesses is to wait and see what happens after a new OS is introduced, before deploying it. Because of this, it's possible that Microsoft is aiming to get SP1 out the door as soon as possible. They want to send a message to businesses that, "hey, we're continuously supporting Windows 7, it's stable, and it's ready for the corporate world."

Microsoft's Kodu Game Creation Tool Now Available as PC Beta

Thu, 14 Jan 2010 07:22:00 +0100

Microsoft Research project Kodu (formerly Boku), an Xbox game designed to help children learn the basics of programming, has been released as a PC beta.

The game was created by Microsoft Research and debuted over a year ago at PDC 2008. It was released to Xbox LIVE community games in Spring 2009 and since then has been downloaded more than 200,000 times. According to Microsoft, Kodu is used in more than 60 educational institutions across the globe to introduce children to programming.

Matthew MacLaurin, director of the Redmond FUSE (Future Social Experiences) Lab and the game's creator, based the game off watching his daughter's experiences with computers. "Today, it seems like the simple magic of programming has been completely lost in the shuffle," MacLaurin said. "We need to show kids how exciting and creative it can be."

Microsoft claims anyone from seven to 70 can create a game in minutes. The Kodu team claims it will provide Kodu update releases on a roughly two-week cycle. According to Matthew MacLaurin, Principal Program Manager in the creative Systems Group at Microsoft Research: "It's our goal to be very transparent about what we're working on in the hopes that this next phase will be an active collaboration with energetic Kodu users around the world. These next few months will be filled with activity."

Download: Kodu PC Beta

HP and Microsoft announce three year IT deal

Wed, 13 Jan 2010 08:47:00 +0100

Microsoft and HP both announced a joint deal today that will see the software and hardware giants collaborate on future engineering road maps to eliminate the complexities of IT management.

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, HP chairman and CEO Mark Hurd, held a joint teleconference call this morning to announce the agreement. According to Ballmer the agreement, that spans both hardware, software and services, "will transform the way large enterprises deliver services to their customers, and help smaller organizations adopt IT to grow their businesses." Microsoft and HP believe a combined effort will offer a lower total cost of ownership for business customers.

Microsoft is using the tag line "simplify technology environments for businesses of all sizes" to describe the new deal. In short it appears Microsoft and HP will share ideas and technologies based on Microsoft's Cloud infrastructure and virtualization efforts. The deal isn't cheap and 250 million incremental dollars will be invested into the initiative. The two companies will also partner on some support solutions and marketing campaigns. During the joint teleconference call Ballmer stated "we're able to build on our incredible 25 year partnership of the two companies put together to drive things forward."

Windows Mobile 7 delayed till 2011? Umm NO

Tue, 12 Jan 2010 18:05:00 +0100

On Sunday a seemingly unknown site, named Bright Side Of News, came out stating that Windows Mobile 7 was "definitely delayed to 2011".

If the original headline made you jump then join the club. It's sad that we're even covering this but when big named sites like PC World begin reporting this belief as "news" and Twitter spreads it as news then it's time to put some facts straight. BSN doesn't name any sources or why it believes Windows Mobile 7 is "definitely delayed to 2011". Instead it claims "We spoke with representatives from Microsoft, Lenovo, Qualcomm, TI, Nokia, nVidia, HTC and many more". The main two out of that bunch that would know if Windows Mobile 7 was delayed would be Microsoft and HTC and both aren't speaking about Windows Mobile 7.

At the consumer electronics show last week Neowin spoke to representatives from LG who confirmed they would be shipping devices with Windows Mobile 7 "this year". Does that sound like 2011 to you? In December 2009 Microsoft UK head of mobility Phil Moore confirmed that we won't be seeing Windows Mobile 7 phones on the market until late 2010.

Microsoft officials refuse to comment on Windows Mobile 7 in most cases but Robbie Bach, Entertainment and Devices Division, held an analysts call at CES last week and confirmed that the company will share details of Windows Mobile 7 next month at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. "I've seen it and played with it," Bach said. He also believes that Windows Mobile 7 will "set the bar forward not in (just) an evolutionary way." From what we are hearing from insiders the company is ready to show off Windows Mobile 7 and will do so at Mobile World Congress. Microsoft's annual conference, Mix 2010 in March, will be the time for company officials to unveil developer features. We questioned Toshiba, Samsung and LG about their Windows Mobile 6.5.3 and 7 plans but all refused to answer the future of Windows Mobile in depth, presumably due to non-disclosure agreements with Microsoft. All of this evidence does not point to devices showing up until after February 2011.

Ban on Microsoft Word and Office sales begins today

Mon, 11 Jan 2010 16:48:00 +0100

Microsoft has been the center of a legal battle from a small patent owning company, i4i for many months for infringing on it's "Custom XML" patent which is included in Microsoft Word 2003 and 2007 and is part of Office 2007 suites. Recently, Microsoft lost the court battle against I4i, after stalling for a few months with an emergency motion and was ordered to take Word 2007 off the market by January 11th, 2010. In addition, Microsoft must also pay i4i damages of $290m.

Today, the 11th of January, marks the day that Word was to be off the market, but to the consumer nothing has changed. According to Microsoft, they have complied with the court's ruling and have released a 'revised version' of Microsoft Word and Office 2007 suites that does not have the 'Custom XML' technology.

The new version, which hits US stores today, has no visual differences and will not be discernable from the previous variant of Microsoft Office 2007. Microsoft has also removed Office 2003 from MSDN and Technet earlier last week.

According to the BBC, Microsoft filed another appeal against the injunction on January 8, even though they have already challenged the ruling once before. The latest appeal has been filed because Microsoft believed the decision conflicted with "established precedents governing trial procedure and the determination of damages" according to Kevin Kutz, director of public affairs at Microsoft.

Office 2010 build 4730 leaks to the web

Mon, 11 Jan 2010 13:15:00 +0100

An internal build of the upcoming Microsoft Office 2010 has leaked to the web according to Wzor. The build comes in at a staggering 3.51GB which is significantly larger than the public beta build which was at 749mb; the leaked build is tagged with the build number 14.0.4730.1007

There is no information as to why the build is so much larger but one speculation is that it may include debugging software. Another possibility is that the code may not be packed for media release which would make the build much larger than the compressed format released to the general public.

Microsoft: Google's Nexus One plan is "very, very difficult"

Sat, 09 Jan 2010 22:21:00 +0100

With the recent release of the Nexus One, some have been rather critical of Google. It's a company that licenses its mobile OS software to other companies, but has now introduced a competitor to those exact phones. Microsoft is one such criticizer, stating Google's scheme is very difficult.

In an interview posted on Business Week, Microsoft's head of mobile development, Robbie Bach, stated, "Google's announcement sends a signal where they're going to place their commitment. That will create some opportunities for us and we'll pursue them." He noted the fears that Google will prioritize its own phone over other vendors offering Android based devices, continuing with, "Doing both (selling the Nexus One whilst offering its software to others) in the way they are trying to do both is actually very, very difficult."

Bach isn't the only one with this frame of mind. An analyst at the research firm Interpret LLC, Michael Gartenberg, said, "No one has ever succeeded in selling their own device while trying to license to partners simultaneously. As much as Google can say it's not a Google phone, the phone says Google on it. They're going to have to convince their licensees they're not in competition with them." Whether or not you're a fan of Google, the pair make a rather good point; it's hard on partners when a company offers a product that directly competes with other products packing software developed by the very same company. Bach predicted that some companies may even give up using Android and switch to another operating system. Regardless, the coming months (and even years) will be very interesting and exciting ones for the mobile industry.