Right now, you can check out what your Xbox Live friends are up to from your phone, but you can't actually manage your friends list from any of the mobile Live apps (and Xbox Live Anywhere has gone MIA again). But the developer of one of the better ones, 1337pwn, says that Microsoft has made a change to the site that makes it possible to add friends remotely, and he thinks "that we can get it working," though he's not making any promises yet.

Before it landed Microsoft's $300 million account and hired Jerry Seinfeld as a spokesperson, the admen of agency Crispin Porter & Bogusky met with Fast Company's Danielle Sacks in April 2007. That's when Alex Bogusky explained exactly what kind of computers it uses, and why:

A day after someone noticed a “Windows 7 Client” category popping up on Windows Server Update Services, another curious enthusiast on the Neowin forums has also noticed a sudden prevalence of “Windows 7 Client” drivers on Microsoft’s Update Catalog - the online library of drivers which Windows uses to automatically install.

UrlScan version 3.0 is a security tool that restricts the types of HTTP requests that Internet Information Services (IIS) will process. By blocking specific HTTP requests, UrlScan helps prevent potentially harmful requests from being processed by web applications on the server.

The Visual Studio 2008 Software Development Kit (SDK) 1.1 includes tools, documentation, and samples for developers to design, build, test and deploy extensions for Visual Studio 2008 Service Pack 1. You can also use the Visual Studio 2008 SDK 1.1 to create custom tools environments based on the Visual Studio 2008 Service Pack 1 Shell.

Besides the 2,000 Microsoft developers apparently working on Windows 7, the operating system also has 500 program managers. A reader, Jordan Cohen, pointed out that PMs, contrary to what they sound like (and what I had written), "are on a level playing field right with the developers and testers." And he cites as proof the blog of someone who would irrefutably know: Windows development chief, Steven Sinofsky. In a blog from December 2005 when he was overseeing the development of Office 2007, Sinosky explains that he first learned about program managers when he was being recruited to Microsoft in the late 1980s.

Starting today, August 20, 2008 college students in the United States enrolled in at least .5 credit hours can purchase Microsoft Office 2007 Ultimate Edition for only $59.95. This is the version that sells at Office Depot and other office supply stores for over $600.

[Via MIS Laboratory]

Three years ago, I asked myself and several of my mentors within and outside of Microsoft - "What's the closest thing to entrepreneurship at Microsoft?" The unanimous answer was - "Become a Program Manager on a product that's about to grow/explode!!" I took the leap of faith and it worked. I've enjoyed every bit of it and would recommend it to anyone, who's passionate about technology, entrepreneurship and design.

Microsoft is a little like the General Motors of technology. The software giant is, of course, much more successful, financially and in market share, than the troubled auto maker. But, as at GM, Microsoft’s very size — over 90,000 employees — and its bureaucratic structure often make the company seem more stolid and less innovative than smaller, nimbler rivals like Google and Apple.

This contrast has appeared sharper in recent years, as Microsoft’s Windows Vista operating system received a tepid critical response compared with Apple’s Leopard platform and as the company’s Live Web search service has slipped further behind Google’s. In addition, Microsoft’s cellphone software, Windows Mobile, looks old and creaky compared with Apple’s sleek iPhone and Google’s forthcoming Android mobile operating system.

But innovation does exist at Microsoft’s sprawling Redmond, Wash., campus. For instance, last year’s daring and radical redesign of Microsoft Office has been a critical and commercial success.

Microsoft Corp., weary of being cast as a stodgy oldster by Apple Inc.'s advertising, is turning for help to Jerry Seinfeld.

The software giant's new $300 million advertising campaign, devised by a newly hired ad agency, has been closely guarded. But Mr. Seinfeld will be one of the key celebrity pitchmen, say people close to the situation. He will appear with Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates in ads and receive about $10 million for the work, they say.

According to our good, dear, beautiful friends at Joystiq (and Radio Shack, incidentally) the Xbox 360 family is going to be seeing those rumored price cuts in the very near future. Falling right in line with that chatter we heard at the beginning of the month, a leaked Radio Shack circular seems to indicate that there will be reductions across the board for the console, with the 60GB version clocking in at $299, the Elite running you a cool $399, and the Arcade setup dropping to a totally affordable $199 (we're looking at you, potential Xbox LIVE opponents).

Over the past couple of years, both the Windows client and Windows server teams have been structuring their releases to alternate between major and minor ones.

(On the server side, the Softies have been rolling out a major release followed by a minor update (known as Release 2, or R2) every two years. On the client side, the timing has been off, but the major/minor cadence has been pretty similar.)

Starting with Windows 7, however, that logic and naming structure that Microsoft has worked to establish for Windows seems to breaking down.

When we started planning the release, the first thing some might think we have to decide is if Windows 7 (client) would be a “major release” or not. I put that in quotes because it turns out this isn’t really something you decide nor is it something with a single answer. The magnitude of a release is as much about your perspective on the features as it is about the features themselves. One could even ask if being declared a major release is a compliment or not. As engineers planning a product we decide up front the percentage of our development team will that work on the release and the extent of our schedule—with the result in hand customers each decide for themselves if the release is “major”, though of course we like to have an opinion. On the server blog we talked about the schedule and we shared our opinion of the scale of the releases of Windows 7 client and server.

CDW provided me with some interesting information regarding adoption of Microsoft's latest operating systems:

The Vista Tracking poll indicates that since the previous tracking poll conducted in February of 2007, the number of organizations using and evaluating Windows Vista has increased from 29 percent to 48 percent. Additional findings include...

At WWDC, noted author and cross platform development expert Kevin Hoffman presented a comparison of Apple's iPhone development tools with those available for Microsoft's Windows Mobile. Until now, his comments remained unpublished, but an attendee's notes on the subject provide some interesting insider observations.

Microsoft believes that focusing on search intent will help it pull ahead in the race of the search engines, or at least give it a little boost. The company discussed some of its ideas for improving Live Search during a panel at the Search Engine Strategies conference in San Jose this week, and revealed that it has been looking at user behavior to see how it can better tune its search engine to people's individual needs.

On August 20, Intel rolled out new parallel-processing tools that support Microsoft’s concurrent runtime environment that is expected to become a central component of Redmond’s next-generation computing model.

Intel is kicking off an open beta for what it’s calling the Intel Parallel Studio products that it expects to last through mid-2009. The family will include code analysis, design, debugging and performance tools, all of which will integrate with Microsoft’s Visual Studio and are being optimized to support Microsoft’s Concurrency and Coordination Runtime (CCR).

This one isn't restricted to just Rock Band but I suspect that by now, a majority of the population has at least tried the game or something like it. We're inviting groups of friends to Microsoft next week to try out an entertainment product and tell us what you think about it.

Today, the Ecma International Technical Committee 39 (TC39), a standards body that influences implementations such as JavaScript, JScript and ActionScript, has announced it will focus work on the next ECMAScript standard, ES3.1 (ECMA-262 Edition 3.1), with full collaboration of all parties involved in the committee. Work on ES3.1 will unite the committee in its work to create the next Ecma JavaScript standard, targeting two interoperable implementations by early 2009 and to develop a roadmap to future editions of the standard (for more technical information, a white paper is available).

John Neumann, TC39 chair, worked with ES3.1 and ES4 principals including Dan Smith and Lars Hansen (Adobe), Brendan Eich (Mozilla), Mark Miller (Google) and Allen Wirfs-Brock (Microsoft), to unify the committee around shared values and a common roadmap (“Harmony”) for the specification. While some members of TC39 favoured the ongoing effort called ES4 (ECMAScript version 4), a major fourth edition to ECMA-262, and others advocated ES3.1 based on the existing ECMA-262 Edition 3 (ES3) specification. The two factions have resolved to collaborate on the new ES3.1 as well as pave the way for the successor edition (currently unnamed).

Most unboxings don't require a forklift and crowbar. Then again, most of us aren't unboxing Microsoft's 125-kg (275-pound) Surface computer -- so big that one recipient quipped, "That's a big-ass box." How apropos. The recipient is Australian marketing agency Amnesia, making this the first international shipment of Surface we've heard about. That's good news as the platform seems to finally be taking off.

In the past year, Microsoft has spent $1.2 billion to acquire enterprise search outfit Fast Search & Transfer. The company spent more than $100 million on Powerset and its natural language search. And it spent untold millions on R&D. Microsoft (MSFT) has even taken the rather extraordinary step of paying people to use its MSN/Windows Live search (”The Search That Pays You Back!”).

None of this has helped.

Remember when we thought the Xbox 360 was sold out at one Japanese store? That's not all. It's sold out across the whole damn country. Like, sold out sold out. It's so sold out that Microsoft Japan actually put out an official statement about the situation in The Land of the Rising Sun, apologizing for the lack of consoles.

How can microsoft complete with google, here are my crazy idea. Since Google to me is a one product marketing company, what we need to do a come out with something which is better then yellow page.

According to gamesindustry.biz, Microsoft is confirming a slight revision to its Xbox 360 controller design. Apparently, the new iteration of the gamepad includes enhancements to its d-pad, which admittedly has always been somewhat lacking. In Microsoft's words: "The new limited edition green wireless controller offers enhancements to d-pad functionality, which will add to the experience of playing games where the d-pad is the primary control mechanism."

Seems like all you have to do is mention “porn,” and the Internet Explorer (IE) 8 tipsters crawl out of the woodwork. (Just kidding… Sort of….) I noted yesterday that Microsoft only had 11 more days within which to deliver the more customer-focused IE 8 Beta 2 if it were to hit its August deadline. According to one well-placed tipster, who requested anonymity, the current plan is for Microsoft to make IE 8 Beta 2 available for download from its Web site by August 28. And the final version is tracking for a November release, the tipster added.

Visit the podcasts page to listen to six new podcasts from .NET Rocks!, Hanselminutes, Polymorphic Podcast, and ASP.NET Podcasts.

The countdown to Internet Explorer (IE) 8 Beta 2 is on. Microsoft said the consumer-focused IE 8 test release would be available in August. There are just 11 days left…. No doubt, Microsoft has been holding back some features that will be added to the new test build. Istartedsomething’s Long Zheng blogged on August 20 about one such possibility: Private browsing, a k a “porn mode.” Private browsing is a feature that the Mozilla team ended up pulling from Firefox 3 (and 3.1), but one that Safari has had since 2005. Private browsing allows those browsing the Web to erase their online tracks in history, cache and personal information entered and shared by a user on a Web page.

The actual Windows 7 client code was not distributed via WSUS. But the appearance of Windows 7 on the list of products that will be serviced over WSUS paves the way for Microsoft to start pushing something Windows-7-related to customers in the coming months.

Microsoft has released two new hardware products today, the SideWinder X5 Mouse and Sidewinder X6 keyboards. Click the title link for high res photos and full fact sheets, but here is a quick description:

Mouse: " This fast, durable, nine-button gaming mouse is designed for gamers with vertical side buttons, five customizable buttons, and a Quick-Launch button that offers one-touch access to the Windows Vista Games Explorer.1 The 2000 DPI laser tracking engine allows gamers to choose from six DPI settings and instantly switch between high, medium and low sensitivity with one click — in-game, any time."

Keyboard: "The SideWinder X6 Keyboard is the first gaming keyboard created by Microsoft Corp. from the ground up, and the only gaming keyboard on the market with a switchable key pad for powerful versatility. The X6 Keyboard’s key pad does double duty, with connectors on either side of the keyboard that allow gamers to attach it on the right or left side. Mode switching lets gamers manually toggle the keyboard from standard mode to either of two gaming modes, and the never-before-seen feature Cruise Control continues an action without having to hold down any keys. "

The Office protocol documentation provides detailed technical specifications for Microsoft proprietary protocols (including extensions to industry-standard or other published protocols) that are implemented and used in Microsoft Office client programs to interoperate or communicate with Microsoft products. The documentation includes a set of companion overview and reference documents that supplement the technical specifications with conceptual background, overviews of inter-protocol relationships and interactions, and technical reference information.

Install this update to resolve an issue that is caused by revised daylight saving time laws in many countries. This update enables your computer to automatically adjust the computer clock on the correct date in 2008. After you install this item, you may have to restart your computer.