NeoSmart Live!

No, we haven’t lost our minds, nor have we decided to take on the now very much trite Microsoft naming scheme, but we are testing certain “Live!” features on this site, and we’re looking for some feedback.

AJAX certainly is cool, but only if it’s not overdone, and it’s used to make something better, not just for the hell of it – and especially if the JavaScript involved is kept down to a minimum (read more about our hatred for JS). A long time ago we had a couple of AJAX features on the blog, but we took them down when we realized it was too much and too incompatible. But now we’re back, and we want to know what you think.

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Microsoft Making a Better Wikipedia!?

If you’re reading this, you probably know what Wikipedia is, what Microsoft does, and what Digg is. If you also know what NewsVine is, you’ll appreciate this article a lot more, because it seems that the Wikipedia love/hate relationship might actually have a fix.
For those of you that don’t know, here’s the story in a nutshell:

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Ads on NeoSmart

A while back we let everyone know we needed some sort of cash flow to keep things going (after our account was suspended for high traffic on a shared server), and then we faced issues with PayPal and their stupid laws on international monetary exchange. However, we are happy to say that we have taken a first positive step in both directions, we are working on getting a PayPal account set up and working with international money transfers, and we have also added two ads to the blog.

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Word 2007: Blogging to WordPress

Microsoft has long led the fields of desktop innovation with Microsoft Office, and have done an amazing job with what they have. After developing the technology, Microsoft has proved time and time again that they are capable of protecting their position via sheer innovation and creativity – even if the Windows® line of products never matched the same bill.

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Windows Vista 5384 Released!

Windows Vista Build 5384 has been released to Tech Beta testers at Microsoft Connect.
Build 5384 is the real deal: Microsoft Windows Vista Beta 2 Milestone Build!

Contrary to public opinion and “leaked” information, Windows Vista Beta 2 is not a mere recompile of Vista 5381.1 and it isn’t 5381.4; Vista 5384 is Beta 2 and it’s official!
Microsoft has already launched the public download site for Vista Beta 2, but no more than that, only the site is live, but the build is not ready for download to non-techbeta testers yet.

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NeoSmart Technologies v2 Unveiled!

The new design for NeoSmart Technologies that has been under wraps for the past month or so has finally been unveiled, to coincide with the launch of WinHEC 2006.

The new design is content-centric, making it easy to reach all the resources on NeoSmart.net, without any of the hassle.

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Microsoft Office Public Beta 2 Available!

Microsoft has just made publicly available Microsoft Office 2007 Beta 2, the latest installment in the new Office 2007 Suite.

This is a public beta, meaning that anyone who wishes can download the software or request it mailed to their address.

NeoSmart Technologies will be conducting in-depth reviews of the entire Office 2007 suite now that it is no longer covered by the NDA, and our picture gallery will soon enough have more pictures than you’re probably interested in seeing.

Microsoft Office 2007 Professional Edition is 440.8 MB, and can be downloaded via Microsoft SmartSource (not to be confused with the now-extinct SourceSafe!).

Microsoft Office 2007 Beta 2

New NeoSmart Redesign

NeoSmart Technologies has decided to celebrate WinHEC in our own special way: the long awaited NeoSmart v2 will launch in phase 1 as WinHEC debuts!

“Phase 1” refers to the layout, with phase 1 we will have a new homepage, logo, theme, and design. Soon to follow will be a complete backend written in php (what else?) that will use databases to store, sort, and retrieve information from our ever-growing collection of whitepapers, guides, software, and reviews. At the moment phase 1 is still in alpha testing, but we hope if all goes well it will be uploaded and unveiled within 24 hours :)

Microsoft Expression Web Designer CTP 1

A new CTP for Microsoft Web Designer was recently released, and we finally got to take a look at it.

The first expression we felt was probably closest to anger, when we found out that Expression wouldn’t install on a machine that had Office 2007 Beta 1 TR 1 installed, but it seems that in using the Office 2007 installer (an excellent idea BTW, that installer is really easy to use, though a color other than grey would probably suite it better) it requires that no older versions of Office be installed. So we uninstalled Office 2007 and continued, the installation didn’t take long, and we were up and running 7 or 8 minutes later.

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phpBB, maybe IPB, 0-Day Vulnerability

Yep, it seems that there is another vulnerability in the most popular online forum script, phpBB. Not even news worthy, seeing as the script’s 15 minutes of fame have long passed, and this is but another bullet in a long-since bullet-riddled history, but nevertheless, here is another one.

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