In this edition of The Midweek Download, we’ve got stories from Building Windows 8, the re-designed Windows logo, Windows Phone evangelists, Microsoft Dynamics CRM and more. Check ‘em out!
Three from Building Windows 8. If you can’t get enough news on Windows 8, check out these three new posts from Building Windows 8 – reliably measuring browser performance, SkyDrive and Windows 8 and using the language you want on Windows 8. Don’t miss ‘em!
The Windows logo redesigned. We have said that Windows 8 is a complete reimagination of the Windows operating system. Nothing has been left unexplored, including the Windows logo, to evaluate how it held up to modern PC sensibilities. The Windows logo is a strong and widely recognized mark, but when we stepped back and analyzed it, we realized an evolution of our logo would better reflect our Metro style design principles and we also felt there was an opportunity to reconnect with some of the powerful characteristics of previous incarnations. To get the rest of this story, read this Feb. 17 post on Blogging Windows. Below is a screenshot of the new logo:
Google bypassing user privacy settings. When the IE team heard that Google had bypassed user privacy settings on Safari, we asked ourselves a simple question: is Google circumventing the privacy preferences of Internet Explorer users too? We’ve discovered the answer is yes: Google is employing similar methods to get around the default privacy protections in IE and track IE users with cookies. Below we spell out in more detail what we’ve discovered, as well as recommendations to IE users on how to protect their privacy from Google with the use of IE9’s Tracking Protection feature. We’ve also contacted Google and asked them to commit to honoring P3P privacy settings for users of all browsers. For more on this story, read this Monday post on the IEBlog.
Finding Windows Phone Champs. Here at Microsoft we call our Windows Phone evangelists “Phone Champs”. Champs ensure our developers get exactly the help and support they need and are the voice of the developer community. They are all experts on our platform and serve as local resources to answer questions from current or prospective developers. Champs can help you troubleshoot a problem in your app and can help you get your hands on a phone for testing. For more on this story, read this Feb. 17 post on The Windows Phone Developer Blog.
Windows Azure Community News Roundup. The Windows Azure Blog has published the latest edition of its weekly roundup of the latest community-driven news, content and conversations about cloud computing and Windows Azure. Check it out.
From the IEBlog: Sub-pixel rendering and the CSS object model. With Windows 8, you have an unprecedented choice of devices for browsing the Web, from large desktop screens to small slates. In order to accommodate this range of devices, the browser must be able to scale and layout the Web at many different screen sizes and dimensions. We’ve previously blogged about some of the features in IE that support these scenarios. Sub-pixel positioning (of text and layout) is one of the core platform technologies which enable Web pages to look beautiful and consistent at any scale. In this post, we describe changes made in IE10 to better support sub-pixel positioning through the CSS-OM.
Burns & McDonnell chooses Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011. Microsoft announced on Monday that Burns & McDonnell, a full-service engineering, architecture, construction, environmental and consulting services firm, has chosen Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 over Salesforce.com and Oracle Fusion CRM for a 1,600-seat CRM deployment. The ease of use of Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 was the company’s deciding factor in choosing it over competitive CRM solutions. Burns & McDonnell expects implementation of the solution, which is slated to begin this spring, will help increase employee productivity and improve client sales and service. Want more detail, read this press release on the Microsoft News Center.
That’s a wrap for this edition of The Midweek Download! Thanks for reading!
Posted by Jeff Meisner
Editor, The Official Microsoft Blog