Darren Straight’s Blog

As you may or may not know Bill Gates gave a speech yesterday in London at the British Library for the launch of Windows Vista and the 2007 Microsoft Office System, which was pretty cool. Though unfortunately I didn’t go as I didn’t know he was coming until the week before, I tried to get a press pass but Microsoft didn’t get back to me, probably because most if not all of the places were given out to the top news sites straight away, which is why there was no public registration page for this event.

However I’ve watched the video and it’s pretty interesting and very worth well watching.

There’s also some interesting blog posts out there about Bill Gates speech, the most notable ones from Katherine Hannaford ( post 1 | post 2 | post 3 | post 4 ) at Shiny Shiny.

So check out the link’s and wish you were there!

Check out this new Microsoft WOW Launch Site!

It’s got some pretty cool videos (1/2) of a human billboard in Manhattan (New York) made up of aerialists.

Video: Human Billboard Stunt

Video: Human Billboard Interview

January 29, 2007
1:45 p.m. PST / 4:45 p.m. EST / 9:45 p.m GMT

From Times Square in New York City, join Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates for a live webcast celebrating the worldwide launch of Windows Vista and the 2007 Microsoft Office System. The celebration pays tribute to the millions of Microsoft customers, partners and product testers around the world who provided input and feedback on these products — helping Microsoft transform the way people communicate, create and share content, and access information and entertainment in the new digital age.

View Webcast:

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Update:

Hope you’re all watching it!

The Coundown to Windows Vista and the 2007 Microsoft Office System is nearly over, so this week will sure to be one of the most important weeks in Microsoft’s history, as it finally releases Windows Vista and Office 2007 to the consumer market.

However is a new Windows and Office launch still a big deal? Is Windows Vista enough of a leap forward to repel the advances of OS X and Linux? Has Microsoft really cracked security?

Well I beileve so, but who know’s what will happen in the not so distance future, so I guess will just have to wait for and see what happens in the months to come.

And of course Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates will be in London tomorrow (Tuesday) for the Windows Vista consumer launch before flying up to the Microsoft Government Leaders’ Conference in Scotland, so hopefuly he can give some great words about Windows Vista and Office 2007.

Microsoft has now launched the new Windows Vista home page. And it’s looking prety good, much mor clean and professional. As well as the Windows Vista Homepage they also updated the Windows home page. So go ahead and check the pages out for yourself.

Windows Vista Home Page | Windows Home Page

Windows Vista is ready to launch a real transformation in the industry. Mike Sievert, Corporate Vice President, Windows Client Marketing, will unveil a moment of “Wow,” in New York, and kick start the celebration for local, national (USA) and international audiences. The event will take place between 10:00 and 10:30 a.m. EST.

And then at 11:30 am EST theres a Luncheon with Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer and Industry Partners, this will last until 1:45 pm EST.

And then finally at 4:45 p.m. EST from Times Square in New York City, you will be able to join Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates for a live webcast celebrating the worldwide launch of Windows Vista and the 2007 Microsoft Office System. This celebration is to pay tribute to the millions of Microsoft customers, partners and product testers around the world who provided input and feedback on these products — helping Microsoft transform the way people communicate, create and share content, and access information and entertainment in the new digital age.

View the Live Webcast: 1:45 pm PST/4:45 EST, Jan. 29, 2007

Virtual Pressroom for Worldwide Release Events
Schedule of Events: Jan. 29-30, New York City
Media Alert

Cool, it looks like I’m all confimed to go to Designertopia 2007 on Thursday the 1st and Friday the 2nd February at the Grosvenor Marriott Hotel in London:

Dear Darren Straight,

Thank you for registering to attend Microsoft designertopia 2007, taking place on Thursday 1st and Friday 2nd February at the Grosvenor Marriott Hotel, Grosvenor Square, London, W1.

Included in this email you will find further information about the event. Your badge will be waiting for you when you arrive at the Grosvenor Marriot Hotel in London. On arrival please proceed directly to the Registration Desk. Please arrive early to avoid queues.

The Registration Desk will be open on:

Thursday 1st February from 8.30 am until 12.00 noon
Friday 2nd February from 8.30 am until 9.30 am

So hey if you’re going to the Event or will be in London on either the 1st or the 2nd, feel free to let me know, as I’m trying to get as many people as possible together for drinks on the 1st and possible the 2nd though most people will probably have to go home on the last day, so it’s probably best if it’s on the 1st!

Well I’ve decided to test out WordPress 2.1 Ella out on this blog, but to be honest so far I’m unhappy!

Some of my problems are:

1. It’s not compatible with my current theme, because every time I go to create a new post it keeps putting back my blog to the default classic theme, with a non-functional WYSIWYG Editor, argh!
2. It has troubles with link categories!

So I may just be rolling back!

Update: Well I’ve now rolled back to WordPress 2.0.7, however it seems some of the tables didnt get exported when making my backup.

Update 2: Ok finally got it working all again, with all posts and my username restored, I’m glad to be back in WordPress 2.0.7.

Update 3: Hmmm seems like theres some problems within PhpMyAdmin now!

Update 4: Looks like it will be fixed soon: phpMyAdmin should be working again shortly. We are pushing out an update that will make it work normally.

Update 5: Ok all fixed, and I can definetly say that I won’t be upgrading to WordPress 2.1 Ella until I’ve fully tested it on a test server.

Anyhow sorry for any problems you might have experienced last night while trying to view my blog, I’ll have to do some more testing next time before deploying.

So Windows Live Mail M9 is rolling out, but what’s everyones thoughts about it so far?

http://by117w.bay117.mail.live.com/mail/

Just noticed this post by Ebrahim Ezzy in which he gives the results of a little test he did to check what’s faster – Google or Windows Live, and well what can I say the results are interesting.

But not surprising, as Windows Live was bound to win!