Office 2013 Now Available on TechNet and MSDN
October 24, 2012
Microsoft has completed Office 2013 and made it available to TechNet and MSDN subscribers.
If you have a subscription, go get it!
The Surface Movement
October 20, 2012
Posted from WordPress for Windows Phone
Goodbye Zune Music Pass, Hello Xbox Music
October 19, 2012
If your currently subscribe to the Zune Music Pass, this has now changed to Xbox Music. As depicted below, you should have got an email from Xbox with a gift of 1000 Microsoft Points to use on any of the music, video or game content on Xbox Live.
I look forward to using the new Xbox Music service and the new functionality it brings.
Microsoft Surface now available for pre-order
October 17, 2012
Yesterday Microsoft revealed pricing and availability for the Microsoft Surface RT tablet. http://www.microsoft.com/surface/en-us
Since the announcement, their cheapest Surface RT model without the touch case has sold out and there is now a minimum 3 week back order.
Canadian Pricing and Availability
It looks like your order will ship by October 26 and arrive by October 30. If you want to try to get it sooner, then try visiting a Microsoft "Popup Holiday” Store. I know I will to checkout the device first hand and probably buy one.
Further Reading: Everything you need to know
Checkout this amazing blog post on Neowin for more details on everything you need to know about Microsoft Surface RT.
iOS, iPhone and iPad Storyboarding
October 11, 2012
Three new sets of storyboarding shapes are now available for iOS, iPhone and iPad.
These shape libraries are available with the Storyboarding functionality that is included with Visual Studio 2012 Premium, Ultimate and Test Professional products.
Here are a sample of the icons included with these shape libraries…
Common iOS Icons
iPhone controls
iPad controls
You can read more about Storyboarding functionality in my blog post an introduction to PowerPoint storyboarding.
Downloading the Shapes
You can download these shape from the Visual Studio Gallery.
TypeScript – JavaScript for Modern Apps
October 11, 2012
Last week Microsoft announced a superset of JavaScript called TypeScript, which is aimed at solving a very specific problem…getting JavaScript to scale.
“Today, we’re introducing a new programming language that solves a very specific problem – getting JavaScript development to scale,” Microsoft corporate vice president Soma Somasegar writes on his blog. “That language is TypeScript. You can learn more about the TypeScript project, download an early preview, read and discuss the language specification, explore the online playground, and peruse the source of the compiler (on the TypeScript project site on CodePlex, with git).”
“TypeScript is a programming language that makes it easier to write cross-platform, application scale, JavaScript that runs in any browser or in any host. Microsoft Technical Fellow Anders Hejlsberg explains how TypeScript, which is a typed superset of JavaScript that compiles to idiomatic (normal) JavaScript, can dramatically improve your productivity by enabling rich tooling experiences, all while maintaining your existing code and continuing to use the same JavaScript libraries you already love.
TypeScript adds some great functionality like type checking, static analysis, explicit interfaces and best practices. TypeScript is also an open, standards-based and 100% compatible with JavaScript.
Here’s a good overview of and introduction to TypeScript by Anders Hejlsberg:
This all seems good and only time and adoption will tells us whether TypeScript can truly scale past the success of JavaScript.
