Tag Archives: beta

Windows Live Essentials 2009 Beta 2

Leave a Reply

Well Windows Live Essentials Beta 2 was released yesterday, at last. They’ve done a hell of a lot of work and so far it seems to have paid off.

Windows Live Messenger

They’ve changed the interface quite a lot. It’s a bit more user friendly now, and a few new visual effects make life easier. The pop-up alerts (eg for someone signing in) are now somewhat transparrent and look that little bit more classy. They’ve also made warnings such as “[contact] is Busy and may not reply” removable and the warnings only appear for a few seconds. That’s good thinking. On top of that it is generally a lot faster and it isn’t stamped with Beta everywhere anymore.

Windows Live Mail

Very much the same – upgraded, cleaner interface which is much easier to use. Few bug fixes and other niggly bits. They have replace ‘Send and Receive’ with ‘Sync’.

Other

The rest of the software suite has changed slightly. Overall, its cleaner and quicker making it much more user friendly and usable. 

If you’re using Beta 1 at the moment you should have already been alerted that beta 2 is out, but if not, grab it here: http://download.live.com/

Give it a go and post what you think in the now online comments section below.

Windows 7 beta 1 and Windows Vista SP2 coming next year

Leave a Reply

Microsoft announced yesterday that it will be releasing Windows 7 Beta 1 on DVD on their US tour next year. They have also announced that they are hoping to have Windows Vista Service Pack 2 finished and shipped by July next year.

They have now finished a test version of Windows Vista SP2 beta and this is publically available today. Information is at http://windowsteamblog.com/blogs/windowsvista/archive/2008/10/24/windows-vista-service-pack-2-beta.aspx and can be downloaded through a customer preview program (CPP) along with the Windows Server 2008 SP2 beta at http://technet.microsoft.com/en-gb/windows/dd262148.aspx. You must currently be a subscriber to either Technet or MSDN to download however a public version will be available in a few days.

I will take a look at Vista SP2 beta soon and report back.

Windows 7 ready for Christmas next year?

Leave a Reply

I was very shocked when I found that it has been reported that Windows 7, the operating system succeeding Windows Vista (see http://www.geekonthepc.co.uk/2008/10/30/windows-7-what-do-you-think/) may well be installing while we are eating our Christmas Lunch next year.

Yes, Microsoft has apparently told system and engineering partners that Windows 7 will indeed be ready for Christmas 2009. 

The last time that Microsoft actually managed to get Windows ready in time for the Christmas/Holiday season was Windows XP which was launched in October 2001.

Also, it has been rumoured that there will be a BETA on Windows 7 the week before Christmas 2008 and that we’ll have a release candidate by the second quarter of next year.

Do you think Windows 7 will be ready for Christmas 2009? Will you try the BETA this Christmas?

I’ve got my doubts… it’s not like Microsoft has always been perfect with timing!

WordPress 2.7 Beta 2 Out Now

Leave a Reply

The WordPress Developement have released beta 2 of WordPress 2.7 with a long list of updates and bug fixes.

I’m not going to test it on my server because I don’t think there’s a huge amount of updates from a visual perspective.

Anyhow, if you want to see what’s been done, head over to http://wordpress.org/development/2008/11/wordpress-27-beta-2/

You can also grab a copy there or from your Admin itself.

Don’t forget the final release is due on the 10th 🙂

Enjoy!

WordPress 2.7 Beta 1 Out – First test on GEEK!

Leave a Reply

I logged onto WordPress today to find they’ve launched a first beta of 2.7. So quick as I could, I prepped up a test install to see what its like.

So here is the first page, and it looks wonderful.

Well, first looks – I really like the new design. Looks much more organised and tells you a lot more than the previous version’s dashboards.