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Office 365 Beta Public Release

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If you have been itching to try Microsoft’s new web based mail offering, itch no more. The beta is now open to the public.

In a nutshell, its Exchange server, Sharepoint server, Lync server and Office web apps all rolled into one.  Microsoft does the hosting for you so you don’t need to worry about it. According to their site, subscriptions start at about $7.00 per month but for the time of the beta, its all free. I created my account, my email is todd -at- rock.onmicrosoft.com

I am going to test it out for a while, redirecting email to this one and I’ll see how it works out.

 

Windows .Next Leaked – What’s new?

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I noticed over at www.Windows8Center.com that they picked up a leaked copy of Windows .Next. Definately some interesting stuff there.

They were showing new push notifications, an improved disk cleanup, new cloud features in there but for me the coolest thing in Windows .Next is the Windows Portable Workspace. From what I can tell, it is Windows on a USB Stick. This will allow you to have your  own customized copy of Windows which you can take anywhere with you.

As it stands now, you will need at least a 16GB USB stick and larger if you have stuff you want to have on the stick.

I am sure over the next few months we will see more stuff come out and Microsoft will start talking about Windows .Next as the ship date starts to approach.

iTunes Registry Settings

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At the library I have to install iTunes as part of the audiobooks we have available to patrons. There are two things I have to do to ensure it works correctly with the audiobooks. The first one is to disable the auto update so that patrons are not annoyed. The second option is to change the import settings to the minimal quality. Audiobooks only need minimal encoding  quality and it helps reduce the size of the audiobook file and the time it takes to convert from the audiobook loan system.

While searching on Apple’s site through the enterprise support section, I discovered iTunes registry settings. One of the features you can disable is the check for updates. I added that to my group policy preferences and we’ll see what happens. You can also run iTunesSetup.exe with the parameter NO_ASUW=1 which tells it no to install Apple Software Update for Windows.