Alan's Space　伟伦的家: Betas

Microsoft Office 2007 System Beta 2

Thu, 25 May 2006 04:30:54 GMT

This is one of the most anticipated beta release by Microsoft and it was released with the beta 2 of Windows Vista and Windows Longhorn Server. (I call these 3 the big 3.) Anyway, I have downloaded and installed this build (12.0.4017.1003) of Office 2007 and so far so good. So what’s new compared to the previous beta builds? Outlook 2007 is more stable than previous beta builds (thank goodness), Word 2007 welcomes the new feature of blog publishing. (This post is posted by using Word 2007! Supports most blogs that use MetaWeblog/ATOM API.) VBA is also now in full swing with a developer tab in the ribbon UI. Besides that, Microsoft have also announced the Open XML format compatibility pack for previous versions of Office. (XP and 2003 versions only. Make sure they are on the latest service packs as well.) NICE!!!

The only major problem with this release of Office 2007 beta 2 is that the product activation is a pain in the a**. Why? Congratulations to Microsoft and the Office team for the overwhelming response for this beta release (It’s the 1^st public beta release for Office 2007. Beta 1 and Beta 1 TR were not released publicly.) and because of this overwhelming response , their activation servers were brought down. I wonder if they ever did their server load balancing and load testing. Just read on the Microsoft Office newsgroup that the activation now works. So go and try it for those who have not done so. Speaking of this. I wonder why Microsoft wants us to activate this beta release when everyone in the world is given a same CD-Key. Geez! Tell me about it!

IE7 Beta 2 officially released by Microsoft

Tue, 25 Apr 2006 06:15:24 GMT

Microsoft has just released the latest build of IE7 Beta 2.

The build no is: 7.0.5346.5

Get it from Microsoft at www.microsoft.com/ie

WLM 8.0 build 0683

Wed, 19 Apr 2006 12:10:04 GMT

I'm sure that by now, a lot of people have downloaded and played with the latest leaked build of Windows Live Messenger 8.0 beta. Build 0683. (I will not post links here...So u will have to find them urselves. But it is not so difficult to find!) Anyway, I'm very happy with this latest build. Been playing around with it.

Link to screenies

First thing I like about the new build is the new UI. It is nice and I like the status icons as well.

Next up is a feature that all developers will be crazy about-Self developed client side addins!!!!

Inky has posted a code snipplet in C#.net 2.0 that demostrate the usage of self developed client side addins. It is an auto reply addin that auto respond to ur contacts if u are bz/away etc. I downloaded the code and make some modifications to it to make it show the message I want. It's great and cool!! Thanks Inky!
News on the Plugin by Inky
News on the functions in the Plugin Library

Office 2007 Beta 1 Technical Refresh

Sat, 18 Mar 2006 03:43:37 GMT

Just got hold of the Office 2007 beta 1 refresh! (Build 12.0.3820.1002)

2 words-IT ROCKS!

Firstly, the main problem with beta 1 previously is Outlook! It was so damn buggy until I give up on it and went back to 2003. But now it is so much more stable and it rocks! RSS works, no more crashes!

When I start my outlook, it detected my RSS feeds that I subscribe in IE7 beta 2 and it imports them......DAMN NICE!!!! All my RSS subs got in and I can read them nicely in outlook....Even feeds with podcasts!

Secondly, I like the new UI.....It simply ROCKS! The nice office logo on the top left corner now acts as the file menu too....HAHA!!! Trust MS to think of that. Kudos to the Office team! BTW, Black color rocks! Besides that, I like the option that allow me to place the quick access toolbar below the Ribbon. (If u dun know what the Hell is a ribbon in Office 2007, go and read my old post...) But there is one gripe I have with it though. I need to customise my quick access bar for each app individualy...hey! can't u apply my settings to all apps in Office 2007?

Anyway, here's some screenshots from other web sites....go take a look!!!!

http://www.jcxp.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=5375

New version of Windows Live Messenger

Wed, 22 Feb 2006 16:29:49 GMT

From Messenger says:

The new version of Windows Live Messenger Beta is coming up. I'm now on build 0562. It's exactly how it looks like on the link I posted above. Looks great...Hope they will continue to imporve it...

IE7 beta 2 preview

Sat, 21 Jan 2006 05:30:06 GMT

Just got hold of the IE 7 beta 2 preview (7.0.5299)

It's freaking good.

There are so many new features that it has make IE 7 beta 1 looks useless. 1st, let's talk about tab browsing..

IE 7 beta 2 allows me to specify multiple pages as my startpage (Homepage) and once I start IE, it will open up all my start pages in tabs. NEAT Isn't it? The magic is in the new Internet options dialog.

Besides the startup tabs function, Another thing I like about IE7 beta 2 tab browsing is the introduction of quick tabs. Wanna have a bird eye view of all ur tabs? Check this out!

There are a lot of other improvements in IE7 as shown in the screenshots. Including new UI. (Buttons etc..) What I like are the seperation of refresh and stop button, (IE7 beta 1 combine the 2 together....I dun like that) new RSS button, (Microsoft standardise the use of the RSS button with mozilla...nice work!) Magnifier at the bottom right hand corner of the window and many others...So let me go into the other super good functions.

Introduce Favorites central! In IE7 beta 2, u will see this new thingy call favourites central. It allow direct management of favourites, RSS/ATOM feeds and history. Below is how it looks like!

Last but not least, below is a screenshot showing how RSS feed look like in IE7 beta 2.

Official beta tester of Windows Live Messenger(MSN Messenger 8)

Fri, 20 Jan 2006 12:07:13 GMT

Yippie!!!
I got my invite from Microsoft in my mailbox....so HAPPY!!!!!!

Office 12 Beta

Sat, 19 Nov 2005 17:30:23 GMT

I have just installed Microsoft Office 12 Beta 1. Office 12 is due to release in October 2006 and now it is time for beta 1. So I just installed it and take it for a run. I love it so far.

Screenshots: http://www.winsupersite.com/showcase/office12_pb_galleries.asp

Features:

a new, "results-oriented" user interface
pre-built layouts and slide libraries
rapid email and document searching capabilities
a single view for both calendar schedules and tasks
Turn text to graphics
telephony, Web conferencing, presence, and instant messaging integration
shared note-taking

and many more....

Windows Live Messenger Beta

Sun, 06 Nov 2005 03:54:10 GMT

Being crazy with beta softwares, I've just installed the Windows Live Messenger beta. (MSN Messenger 8 ppl!)

This is a closed beta now. That means u will be blocked by the server if u are not a beta tester on their database. (What the Live messenger team used to call butterflies) But there are thousand and 1 way to get pass it. So I tried it and it works! HAHAHA!!!

The Live messenger spot a complete makeover compared to MSN Messenger 7.5. I tested 7.5 and 7 when they were in beta too. But this live messenger is nice. I like the functions like the capability to select favorite color for the conversation window and contact window. Besides that, it will also automatically add in ur hotmail contacts into messenger and u can send them messages directly from Windows Live messenger. (Unified contacts) Besides that, at the sign in screen. Other than having functions to remember urr username and password, there is also a function to forget me. This is good if u are on a shared computer....

Another function is word wheel. Just type in the contact name and as u type 1 letter, the list will shorten to those contact whose nick name start with the alphabets..nice

Well, something to add to this is that although I'm excited by this Windows Live Messenger beta. (I'm sure u too.) I will have to caution u that u use it at ur own risk. Because some mod required to access the beta and of course the beta is not supported by Microsoft. So dun say I didn't warn u.

IE 7.0 Beta 1!

Sat, 30 Jul 2005 00:03:37 GMT

Back from camp and I was doing my usual surfing and I come across the IE 7.0 Beta 1 for windows XP that I've been waiting for. I've been using Mozilla Firefox for sometime and I've been waiting for the release of the much anticipated IE 7.0 beta to see what MS are doing to win back the browser war! After using it for 1 night, I'm impressed by this new browser.

What's new in IE 7.0:

IE 7 will be focused on security. Like the version of IE that Microsoft shipped in XP SP2, IE 7.0 will consist, mostly, of security-oriented features. One of these features will be an anti-phishing technology. IE 7 will also include an IP traffic encryption capability that will help prevent electronic eavesdroppers from modifying data before it reaches your machine or redirecting you silently to malicious servers. Microsoft is also overhauling the IE security zones in IE 7.
NEW! IE 7 will include tabbed browsing. Microsoft will include tabbed browsing, along with other new features, in IE 7. (This rocks!)
NEW! IE 7 will not include a new Outlook Express version. A few people have asked me whether IE 7 will include a new Outlook Express (OE) version (e.g. OE 7). No, it will not: The OE team is focusing on Longhorn.
New delete browsing history option under tools menu.
Search bar that will allow u to search immediately from search engines like google. (A la firefox!)
RSS feed support built in! (See RSS.jpg to see the rendering of RSSS in IE 7.0!)
IE 7.0 now can be executed without addons like activeX etc. (Thanks to IE No add on mode located in Start->All programs->accessories->System tools)

I've attached a screenshot of the new IE 7.0 beta 1 and u can see the phishing filter there as well as the tab browsing capabilities there. U can also see the New delete browsing history option under tools menu and the search bar is just located to the right of the address bar. (IE7.jpg) The build version is 7.0.5112.0CO. User Agent String is: Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 7.0b; Windows NT 5.1; .NET CLR 1.1.4322; .NET CLR 2.0.40607). So far, using the IE 7.0 beta 1 has been enjoyable. It is faster and better than previous versions of IE. The tabbed browsing capability is a big plus, the search bar is nice. (Can that be customised to add on other search engines?) I have yet to test it with VS.net 2003/2005. So I will update this once I have done more vigorous testing.

Alan's Space 伟伦的家: Betas