Microsoft have just release another video talking about the new features in Windows Messenger and in it they confirm that they will be supporting the iPhone.
Click on the picture below to see the video for yourself…
Archive for April, 2010
Microsoft have now released a video showcasing some of the new features in Windows Live Messenger.
Some of the new features include:
- Tabbed conversations
- Jump List support for Windows 7
- HD Video Chat support – Which explains all the new HD web cam’s form Microsoft recently.
Just some really awesome video of the Apollo XI Launch Video in glorious High Def….
Apollo 11 Saturn V Launch (HD) Camera E-8 from Mark Gray on Vimeo.
This clip is raw from Camera E-8 on the launch umbilical tower/mobile launch program of Apollo 11, July 16, 1969. This is an HD transfer from the 16mm original. Even more excellent footage is available on our DVDs at our website at http://www.spacecraftfilms.com
The camera is running at 500 fps, making the total clip of over 8 minutes represent just 30 seconds of actual time. Narration is provided by Mark Gray (me), Executive Producer for Spacecraft Films.
Microsoft have just release the beta of Windows Home Server “Vail” to the public which you can download now from https://connect.microsoft.com/WindowsHomeServer . Below is a step by step instruction on how to install Windows Home Server “Vail” the below instructions showing how to install both the server and connected of Windows Home Server “Vail”. If you want to know more information about “Vail” take a look my other blog post here.
How to install Windows Home Server “Vail” server OS
As previously mentioned the install process is much simple than the previous version as now you are only asked two question during initial process. After you boot from the DVD you are presented with the New Installation or Repair option… To start the install process your obviously click on “New installation”.
Unlike a standard version of Windows Server 2008 R2 you are give no options to select the drive you want to load the OS onto. The install wizard simply assumes that you want to remove all data on the computer and as such you need to confirm that you want to format the drive before proceeding. After ticking the check box simple click the “Install” button.
No messing around… You are now straight into the install process.
You can clearly see how the install process is the same as Windows 7/Server 2008 R2.
and about 30 minutes later the OS is installed however you still need to run through the Home Server install wizard…
Accept the terms…
In this beta version you do not need to enter a product key.
Enter your server name and the password you want to secure the server…
As always it is best to use the recommended security settings.
After the install is complete you will be given a URL that you need to use to install the connector on the client computer you want to use with the home server. Best to write this URL down as you are going to need to use it every time you want to connect a new computer.
As the warning says you should not have to use the console for anything except for advanced administrative tasks… So just log off and setup your first computer.
Windows Home Server “Vail” connector install
Now that you have installed the server you need to install a connector on all the computers you want to have managed by the home server. To do this simple open the URL http://SERVERNAME/connect (the one you wrote down above) and then click on “Connect this computer to the server” button.
The setup wizard will look for the home server on the network…
Follow the wizard..
The wizard will check to make sure you have .Net Framework 3.5 installed…
You now need to enter the password you specified during the server install…
Enter a description of the computer which will help you identify which computer in the dashboard.
The connector will now put the Dashboard, Launchpad and a short cut to the shared file share on your desktop.
Now you have install Home Server you can start to explore what you server can do by launching the Dashboard. You can see my other post on the new features of Home Server “Vail” at Windows Home Server “Vail” Overview.
Microsoft have just announced the launched the public beta of their next versions of Windows Home Server codename “Vail”. Home Server is a product aimed at people with 2 or more computers in their home who wish to securely store data centrally on the network and have a single console that can easily be used to manage the health of their PC’s.
In this version new version of Home Server Microsoft have focused on four main areas:
- Extending media streaming outside the home or office
- Improvements in multi-PC backup and restore
- Simplified setup and user experience
- Significantly expanded development and customization tools for partners
The feature the end users will notice most is that will be able to easily stream all their photos, music and video’s from their media library via the remote access web page. This is done by the server transcoding pretty much any type of media file on the server and streaming it using silverlight plug-in. This of course means that this remote access will work just as easily on Windows and OSX.
Vail is based on Windows Server 2008 R2 therefore one of the biggest changes is that it will only run on 64bit hardware. Therefore for people that are already running Windows Home server there is now way to perform an in place upgrade from their current home server to this new product. However as this is mainly sold as an OEM only option or it is used by people who are very IT savvy this is not really a major issues.
While the x64 is understandable it is disappointing as this means it will prevent anyone from re-using their existing Home Server hardware or most Intel Atom CPU based systems.
The system requirements for “Vail” are:
1.4 GHz x64 processor – Therefore the newer 64bit Intel Atom CPU’s are supported however Microsoft are recommending that you use a Dual core CPU as this will help with transcoding of media streams.
1 GB RAM – This is double the 512mb requirement of the original home server however which this is a significant bump of the previous version it is still very reasonable for system today. This bump in requirements will (hopefully) give owner the head room to run additional add-on on the server to augment its functionality. This was a problem with HP’s original home server (and other OEM’s) which only had 512mb which wherefore it was almost impossible to run any add-on’s without greatly slowing down the OS. As the OS is also 64bit this means that it will take advantage of +4gb ram configuration which are also quite common place today.
At least one 160 GB hard drive. – Again this is a very reasonable requirement and is the bare minimum specs for HDD on even the lowest end netbooks. A nice new feature of “Vail” is that you will be able to move the data stores off your system drive and thus improving system performance and preventing your from filling up your system drive.
Home Server v2 “Vail” supported client Operating System:
This time Microsoft are releasing native support for both 32bit and 64bit client operating systems out of the box, unlike home server v1 which did not originally support for 64bit clients until Power Pack 1 that was released much later.
The Windows 7 Operating System
- Windows 7 Home Basic (x86 and x64)
- Windows 7 Home Premium (x86 and x64)
- Windows 7 Professional (x86 and x64)
- Windows 7 Ultimate (x86 and x64)
- Windows 7 Enterprise (x86 and x64)
- Windows 7 Starter (x86)
The Windows Vista Operating System
- Windows Vista Home Basic with Service Pack 2 (SP2) (x86 x64)
- Windows Vista Home Premium with SP2 (x86 and x64)
- Windows Vista Business with SP2 (x86 and x64)
- Windows Vista Ultimate with SP2 (x86 and x64)
- Windows Vista Enterprise with SP2 (x86 and x64)
- Windows Vista Starter with SP2 (x86)
The Windows XP Operating System
- Windows XP Home with Service Pack 3 (SP3)
- Windows XP Professional with SP3
- Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 with SP3
Microsoft have also said that this time they will not be releasing “Power Packs” but instead they will be releasing “Roll-up packs” which is the same terminology used for Microsoft Exchange updates. They are also hoping that they will be releasing up to 4 rollup’s each year meaning newer features will be integrated with the server much more quickly.
Just like the previous version of home server you should not manage the server from the actual console and instead you should manage the server from the dashboard application.
To logon to the server via the dashboard simple enter the server password you entered during the install on the server. If you want to see the entire install process of the server and connector then check out my other post “ “. The dashboard like the previous version is a seamless remote desktop application that you run locally on your workstation which you can use to manage you home server.
The users tab is to manager the various users who have access to the server. This is especially useful if you have multiple people wanting to access the files on the computer.
Computer and Backup tab is used to manage all the computer in your home network.
Server Folders and Hard Drive is used to manage the shared folders on your server. Notice the “Exclude the hard drive from Server Storage” which is the option I talked about before which is used to move any data off you system drive to improve system performance.
Add-ins is used to manage the third-party extensions to the servers functionality.
A nice feature with setting up remote access to your server is that it now support various third-party domain providers for you buy a easy to remember domain to use for remote access to your server.
to After you have turned on the Remote Access feature you will be able to remotely access your home server from Internet using the URL you just configured. This page has been turned into a portal for the users where they can access all the files in the shared folder and remotely connect to you computer.
You can also stream any media files in your media library from the page by using the silverlight client. Here you can see a video that has started to screen with the on-screen controls. The controls will disappear when you move your mouse off the playing video much like Windows Media Player controls behave.
Seeing this is still beta software it is really impressive how well this software works. It has the feel of a finished products which can probably be attributed to the fact that it is built on the RTM version of Windows Server 2008 R2. Certainly this is a welcome upgrade to the original home server which is now starting to look a little dated due to its Windows Server 2003 heritage and having an improved extensibility will mean that any shortfall in the product can easily be made up with third party add-on’s. As per the previous version this is going to be an awesome addition to any home network and is certainly going to make anyone life who has to look after multiple computers a LOT easier…
You can also see my other post on how to install Home Server at How to install Windows Home Server “Vail
