born to learm

April 24th, 2009

Working on a Dream 6 – More about the Windows 7 Learning Portal

More on the Windows 7 Learning Portal from Tamir Bar-Haim.

If you’re interested in becoming a specialist on Windows 7, this portal is a ‘must add’ for your favorites!

April 24th, 2009

Missing FrontPage? New to Expression Web?

FrontPage MVP and author of Microsoft Expression Web Step by Step and most recently Microsoft Expression Web 2 Step by Step, Chris Leeds, maintains an active blog to help former FrontPage users find their way through Expression Web and, for some uses, Office Live. Check out some of his posts here

FrontPage Alternative in the Age of Expression Web

Font Shop from CoffeeCup

April 24th, 2009

Windows 7 – Learning Portal NOW LIVE

Yes, me again, back from a great holiday and ever more excited about Windows 7. I spoke to Jeff, a colleague in IT, this morning who installed the beta on a 5 year old PC. And it runs FINE!

So if you want to share my excitement, check this great new resource and please add it to your favorites as the content here will grow and grow as we get you ready for Windows 7. An operating system so cool and sexy that you will want to marry it :-).

As always, you get so much more out of the product if you take some time to learn more about it. You can learn about Windows 7 today, and in so many ways:

Take a Learning snack and learn online in just a few minutes. Get a Microsoft Press book, the portal below offers you free chapters today and the books will be out soon! We will soon have a range of e-learning courses. In my humble but honest opinion there is no beating classroom training and the First Look Clinics are available through our partners right now.

Later today I will speak with Tamir Bar-Haim and I you will soon see a video of that here as Tamir will talk to what further learning tools to expect. Stay tuned!

April 24th, 2009

Get on the Bus: T – 7 Days

Itinerary updates in blue 4/24. Join our Facebook page.

Getting close—the team assembles in Atlanta in just six days!

The Career Express tour, day by day:

Friday, May 1st: Atlanta, GA

• United States Army School of Information Technology, in Fort Gordon, GA, 8:30am – 11:00am
• Ask the Experts at New Horizons Atlanta 3:00pm – 6:00pm
• Book signing with Eric Griffin, author of the Microsoft Press book, “Microsoft Visual Web Developer 2008 Express Edition Step by Step” at Barnes & Noble (Buckhead store), 7:00pm – 8:00pm

Saturday, May 2nd: Atlanta, GA to Greensboro, NC

• Gwinnett Technical College, Lawrenceville, GA, 9:00am – 12:00pm

Sunday, May 3rd: Greensboro, NC to Philadelphia, PA

• Philly TechFest 2009 sponsored by Springhouse Education and Consulting Services, 12:00pm – 4:00pm (featuring live rounds of “Are You Certifiable?” Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 previews, and more)
• Microsoft Career Express at Cheyney University (Center City campus), 6:00pm – 8:00pm (register here)

Monday, May 4th: Philadelphia, PA to Cincinnati, OH

• Philly TechFest 2009 at Springhouse, 8:00am – 10:00am
• Antonia Pantoja Charter School, 7:30am – 9:00am (private event)
• Edward W. Bok Technical High School, 10:45am – 12:00pm (private event)
• MCP “Tweet-up” in Columbus (be sure to follow us on Twitter for details!)

Tuesday, May 5th: Cincinnati, OH to Indianapolis, IN

• MAX Learning Luau at MAX Technical Training in Cincinnati, 11:00am – 1:00pm (featuring Windows 7 previews, lunch, drawings and more!)
• “Bring a Friend” Night at “LANTech Training, Indianapolis, 5:00pm – 7:00pm (bring a friend interested in starting a career in IT, and you both might win a TechNet Plus subscription (and your friend might win a laptop, too!))

Wednesday, May 6th: Indianapolis, IN to Kansas City, MO

• Johnson County Community College, Overland Park, KS, 8:00am – 11:00am (featuring Windows 7 previews, IT Career guidance, and more—request info here)  (updated registration link)
• New Horizons Kansas City 12:00pm – 3:00pm (featuring Windows 7 previews, Windows Server 2008, .NET 3.5, SharePoint sessions and more—register here)
• Johnson County Community College, Overland Park, KS, 6:00pm – 8:00pm (repeat of morning event)

Thursday, May 7th: Kansas City, MO to Denver, CO

• MCP Study Break, Red Rocks Community College, Lakewood, CO, 8:00am – 10:00am (featuring live rounds of “Are You Certifiable?” and Windows Server 2008 exam prep sessions)
• Ask the Experts at Ameriteach, Greenwood Village, CO, 4:30pm – 8:00pm (featuring live rounds of “Are you Certifiable?” sessions on Windows 7, SQL Server, OCS and more—delivered by stellar MCTs!)

Friday, May 8th: Denver, CO to Santa Fe, NM

• Get Off the Bus! Free day for our intrepid but tired riders—come join us as we explore Santa Fe (follow us on Twitter to see where we’ll be!)

Saturday, May 9th: Santa Fe, NM to Phoenix, AZ

• Glendale Community College, 8:30am – 10:30am (details coming next week)
• Microsoft Technology Round-Up, Training to You, Phoenix, 12:00pm – 3:00pm (featuring Windows 7 previews and Windows Server 2008 certification sessions) (registration link updated)

Sunday, May 10th: Phoenix, AZ to Las Vegas, NV

• “How to Thrive in Your IT Career” at Netcom, 2:00 – 3:30pm (featuring Windows 7 preview)

Monday, May 11th: Las Vegas, NV to Los Angeles, CA

• Greet the Bus at TechEd 2009, 9am

April 23rd, 2009

Who’s on the Bus? Rider #8: Chris Rue (Atlanta to Los Angeles)

Presenting our first Round 2 contest winner…

Hometown: West Milton, OH (Home of the Bulldogs!)
Current Home: Northport, AL
Alma Mater: University of Alabama (Roll Tide Roll!) 
Microsoft Certifications: MCP, MCSE, MCSA: Messaging, MCTS: EBS/SBS/WM5, MCT
Favorite Road Food: Nacho Cheese Combos (pretzel) and a Coke
Most Likely to Get Kicked Off the Bus for: Being a constant stream of white noise

Chris Rue owns Black Warrior Technology, LLC, a consulting firm specializing in messaging, collaboration and mobility solutions. A Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer since 1997, Chris has spent his entire 14-year career working with mid-sized IT environments.

Chris received his first Microsoft MVP award in 2007, and was recently named one of the first five MVPs for Essential Business Server. Chris has spoken to numerous technology audiences, including Microsoft’s Worldwide Partner Conference, Microsoft’s Mobile Communications Partner Summit, the Internet Professionals Society of Alabama and a wide array of user groups. Chris blogs regularly at www.chrisrue.com

A 2007-2008 graduate of Leadership Tuscaloosa, Chris currently serves as co-chair of the West Alabama Chamber of Commerce Technology Advisory Council. Chris chaired the first two West Alabama E-Cycling Day events, which collected nearly 350,000 pounds of electronic waste for safe and responsible reclamation in 2008.

Congratulations, Chris! See you on the bus!

Come join us on the Career Express!

April 23rd, 2009

Born to Learn: Now in 14 Languages!

See that blue widget over there on the left? That’s Microsoft Translator, providing real-time, in-place translations to this site!

We hope this helps make this blog more useful to those of you who don’t read English natively. Give it a try and let us know how it works!

April 23rd, 2009

Asia Pacific MCPs: We want you back too!

(For MCPs in Asia Pacific Region, India, Greater China Region, and Japan only; North American MCPs, your offer is here)

If you are an MCP but haven’t attained any new credentials since July 1, 2007, you can now upgrade your Microsoft credentials with an exclusive exam voucher for only $25 (USD)!

This is a great opportunity for you to validate your skills on new technologies including Microsoft Windows Server 2008, SQL 2008, Visual Studio 2008 and Windows Vista.

Visit MCP Upgrade to validate your eligibility and get the special offer voucher. Offer ends June 30, 2009 and is valid for MCTS, MCITP, and MCPD exams only.

April 21st, 2009

Final Results! You decide who gets on the bus!

Wow… we didn’t expect this to happen, but you folks have officially made it “too close to call” in the contest between two of our three potential bus riders. To be honest we really didn’t know how this whole community-voting based contest would pan out, so we really didn’t know what to expect as our end result. Fortunately, flying by the seat of our pants is how this whole bus thing came to life in the first place, so we’ve gotten used to improvising.

You have let us know loud & clear that you really want to meet Elese & Liberty out on the road. Since we’re all about getting you what you want, this weighed heavily on our minds this morning… Do we stick to our guns and call a win a win? Or do we recognize the fact that you, our faithful subscribers, like them both equally and try to come up with a solution that makes you all happy?

Well guess what? Ken found room for a 2nd butt and since Liberty is *this close* to Elese’s point count we’ve decided to put BOTH OF THEM ON THE BUS! Oh, and you won’t miss J either – he won’t be on the bus but HE WILL be at TechEd. Keep an eye out for him!

Thanks to all who voted, thanks to everyone in MSL who helped out with this effort (you know who you are!) and most of all a BIG THANKS to J, Liberty & Elese for having the guts to participate in our fun & games!!

See you on the road to TechEd!

mcarrido

April 21st, 2009

We want you back!

Certified, but not lately? Here’s your chance to get back in the game:

Watch for e-mail today from Prometric, offering a $25 MCTS, MCPD, or MCITP exam to the first 4,000 MCPs (US and Canada only) who took their most recent exam prior to January 1, 2007.

Promo code is in the mail, and you must take your exam by June 30, 2009.

April 21st, 2009

Translation Right Within Office!

As I often receive stuff from friends in not only English, but Chinese, German, Greek, you name it, I sometimes get the feeling of “doh…” as I can’t understand a piece of the document very well.  Yeah Windows Live Translator is great, TBot is cute, but I am very happy to learn that Office can do it now as well!

Words and phrases work best, as any machine translation.  I was surprised to see whole document translation worked fairly well too.  (I translated a piece of news from Chinese to English.)

Installing it is easy – just download the installer here.  It works for both Office 2003 and Office 2007.  The current default in Office is WorldLingo – this installer will update your task pane to use Microsoft Translator as the default translator. 

Here are some details for both Office versions:

Office 2007: http://blogs.msdn.com/translation/archive/2008/08/06/office-document-translation.aspx

Office 2003: http://blogs.msdn.com/translation/archive/2008/08/11/office-2003-setup-instructions.aspx

And I need to get that cool widget for the translator widget for the blog too!

Next thing I want, is a device that let someone speak into it and translate to the language of choice…

Ah, imagine the barrier of language doesn’t exist anymore one day… although I have to say I totally enjoy learning 25 different ways of saying hi, so very different, yet so similar.