Recently in Microsoft Category

Microsoft is discontinuing Microsoft Reader effective August 30, 2012, which includes download access of the Microsoft Reader application from the Microsoft Reader website. However, customers may continue to use and access the Microsoft Reader application and any .lit materials on their PCs or devices after the discontinuation on August 30, 2012. New content for purchase from retailers in the .lit format will be discontinued on November 8, 2011. http://www.microsoft.com/reader/

Microsoft announced Microsoft Office 365 is now available in 40 markets. Office 365 offers a range of service plans for a monthly price from $2 to $27 per user per month. With Office 365 for small businesses, customers can be up and running with Office Web Apps, Microsoft Exchange Online, Microsoft SharePoint Online, Microsoft Lync Online and an external website quickly, for $6 (U.S.) per user, per month. These tools put enterprise-grade email, shared documents, instant messaging, video and Web conferencing, portals and more at everyone's fingertips. Office 365 for enterprises has an array of choices, from simple email to comprehensive suites to meet the needs of midsize and large businesses, as well as government organizations. Customers can now get Microsoft Office Professional Plus on a pay-as-you-go basis with cloud-based versions of the business communications and collaborations services. Office 365 for small businesses and Office 365 for enterprises are available now. http://www.office365.com

NewsGator announced Social Sites 2010 Version 2.0, which introduces new product developments for Microsoft SharePoint organizations. Now available, the new version adds a host of enhancements to the company's flagship social computing suite in these areas: Enhanced Microblogging; More Activity Stream Filters; Community Templates; Advanced Email Integration; and Enhanced Architecture for performance and scalability. http://www.newsgator.com

Microsoft Corp. and Skype Global announced that they have entered into a definitive agreement under which Microsoft will acquire Skype, the Internet communications company, for $8.5 billion in cash from the investor group led by Silver Lake. The agreement has been approved by the boards of directors of both Microsoft and Skype. The combination will extend Skype’s brand and the reach of its networked platform, while enhancing Microsoft’s existing portfolio of real-time communications products and services. Microsoft has a long-standing focus and investment in real-time communications across its various platforms, including Lync, Outlook, Messenger, Hotmail and Xbox LIVE. http://www.microsoft.com http://www.skype.com

Kentico Software, the Web content management system vendor, introduced the Kentico CMS Windows Azure Partner Competency and awards Bit Wizards the first recognition. This competency provides Kentico CMS customers the opportunity to recognize partners based on expertise in delivering Kentico CMS driven websites into the Microsoft’s cloud. Kentico currently has 1,200 partners who actively use Kentico CMS for their web development projects. 154 of these partners reached the Gold Certified Partner level. 32% Gold partners come from North America, 45% from Europe and 23% from the rest of the world. www.kentico.com

OpenText announced the immediate availability of OpenText Application Governance & Archiving for Microsoft SharePoint 2010, a new offering that provides integrated end-to-end management of SharePoint 2010 sites and documents. Using this solution, enterprises can take control over SharePoint sites to enforce broader compliance and archiving policies and help lower ongoing administration and storage costs. It also opens access to all enterprise content from within SharePoint. As detailed in a new online resource center at www.Better-Together-Central.com, Microsoft and OpenText have joined forces to help companies enable an ECM-driven compliance framework, aggregate content within business context, and more easily deploy SharePoint-based business applications with built-in compliance. Companies can also reduce the size of content repositories and eliminate silos, lowering storage and other maintenance costs. Application Governance & Archiving consolidates the functionality in Open Text CLM Services for Microsoft SharePoint and OpenText Case Management Framework for Microsoft SharePoint and adds new site management capabilities. From a web-based site management console, administrators can manage SharePoint success metrics, collect metadata about sites, control approval processes and manage new site deployments using simple scripts. Other capabilities in the solution include: Rule based archiving that requires no user interaction to archive content; The ability to archive and restore complete SharePoint sites; Support for new business application development on SharePoint using a DoD 5015.02-STD-certified records management infrastructure; Storage services for SharePoint that help to reduce the size of SharePoint databases and unload BLOBs from SQL Server; Support for managing physical records in SharePoint; Integration with OpenText Extended ECM for SAP; Integration with OpenText ECM Suite 2010 Shared Services. http://www.opentext.com http://www.microsoft.com>

Microsoft has released the Webmatrix development kit, which is aimed at web developers of all types, which documents easy access to presently available software and web hosting providers. Many open source software packages are featured within Webmatrix, including the Wordpress and Joomla content management systems. Around 40 open source applications make up Microsoft's renewed effort in producing web publishing software. There are search engine optimisation tools included and even help for those looking for a web hosting company. Microsoft has enticed 30 web hosting providers all over the world to promote their services through Webmatrix, though it is possible to upload content to any provider through the software. Furthermore, Microsoft also released version 1.0 of it's open source Web Content Management platform, the .ASP based Orchard Project. http://www.microsoft.com/web/webmatrix/ http://orchard.codeplex.com/

Simply DITA is a specialized implementation of Content Mapper, Simply XML’s Microsoft Word to XML authoring platform. With Simply DITA, both casual authors and technical writers can use Microsoft Word to adopt the DITA standard. The user interface is straight forward with a series of ribbon-based menus that are integrated with the Microsoft Word 2007 interface. Users can create DITA Topics, DITA Tasks, DITA Concepts, DITA References, and DITA Maps – key components of the DITA standard. The Simply DITA document structure uses a streamlined set of the DITA elements that remove complexities not needed by about 95% of potential DITA authors. Simply DITA complements more technical XML authoring tools like XMetal, Structured FrameMaker, and Arbortext Editor that may be required by authors writing very technical content. Documents created with Simply DITA can be opened and edited using these XML tools and passed seamlessly back to authors working in Microsoft Word. Saving content as valid DITA in XML permits the enterprise to take advantage of XML, but the Microsoft Word-based author never has to see or understand the XML. Simply DITA enables multi-channel publishing through full integration with the DITA Open Tool Kit. The tool includes a personal content repository and supports integration with SharePoint or other Content Management Systems (CMS) for advanced content storage and workflow management. Authors can easily add metadata to their content from within Microsoft Word and search for content through locally controlled metadata, or metadata standards adopted by the enterprise. Simply DITA also supports efficient direct or batch import of structured legacy documents. Simply DITA is supported by an optional instructor-led, Web-based learning program to teach authors how to construct high-performance content under the DITA standard. Unlike other DITA training programs, the Simply DITA training programdoesn’t need to teach authors the technical complexities of understanding and using XML markup code. Since the Simply DITA software takes care of the XML markup behind the scenes, the training can focus on bigger-picture concepts and how to write reusable content that enhances reader productivity and meets the DITA requirements. http://www.simplyxml.com/

Kentico Software, a Web content management system vendor, announced the release of Kentico CMS for ASP.NET version 5.5. The new version provides full support of Visual Studio 2010 and the Microsoft .NET Framework 4, support for mobile websites, Facebook Connect and OpenID authentication, and other improvements. The main change in Kentico CMS 5.5 is added support for Visual Studio 2010 and .NET Framework 4.0 which allows developers use the latest version of Microsoft .NET platform. Kentico CMS 5.5 also enables companies to create websites optimized for mobile devices while reusing their existing content. The new version comes with built-in Facebook Connect and OpenID authentication that extend the existing integration with Active Directory and Windows Live ID. Most of the website services require users to register, which makes it necessary to spend time filling numerous forms and remember different credentials. The newly added Facebook Connect and OpenID authentication provides users with an option on registering for a website using their existing account. Kentico CMS 5.5 comes with another two integrations. Integration with Microsoft Sharepoint Server allows users to manage content on their SharePoint site and publish it on their Kentico CMS website. The MetaWeblogAPI integration enables users to use editors like Windows Live Writer of MS Word to write and publish their blog posts. Other new features include enhanced reporting and performance, support of Bing and Yahoo! maps, creation of RSS feeds and improvements to the administration interface. http://www.kentico.com/

Microsoft has announced that the 2010 release of Office, SharePoint, Visio and Project are available to business customers worldwide. 2010 Releases are Available to Businesses after Record Beta Adoption: The beta programs for Office 2010 and SharePoint 2010 were the largest in the products’ history, reaching three times the size of prior Office beta programs. As a result, 8.6 million people are already using Office 2010 and related products. In addition, more than 1,000 partners are already building solutions for the 2010 set of products. Office, Project and Visio will be generally available online and in retail outlets in the U.S. on June 15th. Microsoft’s Office Web applications will be available to all Office volume licensing customers, offering productivity technologies in the cloud. In addition, customers will be able to purchase a subscription to Office Web Apps as part of Microsoft Online Services, Microsoft’s cloud-based applications. Office 2010 and SharePoint 2010 are available in 14 languages, and over the next few months, 80 more languages will be added. A live webcast further detailing this release can be viewed at 11 AM EST 5/12/10. www.the2010event.com