Take a peak at Windows 8

Microsoft posted a video about the user experience in the coming version of Windows, Windows 8:

It is of course very early to draw conclusions out of this, but these are mine:

  • we need a design room like this for our team
  • it might be the end of “Windows” as we know it, because the only windows you see in the movie are the ones in the legacy applications
  • touch will become more and more important. Imagine this demo with a mouse and a keyboard…

The (near) future of Productivity according to Microsoft

On a regular basis, Microsoft produces nice videos about their view on Information Worker Productivity in the future. This video shows the very near future: all products shown in the video are available as far as I can see. We are only waiting until companies implement them all, and until information workers start acquiring the competences to work with these tools in an efficient way…

Keyboard shortcuts for Tabs in IE

This morning, I was looking for the keyboard shortcut that allows you to switch between different tabs in Internet Explorer. Like ALT+TAB allows you to switch between open windows, CTRL+TAB allows you to switch between open tabs. But there are even more interesting shortcuts I did not know about, like ALT+ENTER. Little things that can save you quite some time. See the list below, taken from the IE Help:

To Press
Open links in a new tab in the background Ctrl while clicking the link
Open links in a new tab in the foreground Ctrl+Shift while clicking the link
Open a new tab in the foreground Ctrl+T or double-click an empty space on the tab row
Open a copy of the current tab in a new tab Ctrl+K
Switch between tabs Ctrl+Tab to move forward or Ctrl+Shift+Tab to move backward
Close the current tab (or the current window when there are no open tabs) Ctrl+W or Alt+F4
Open a new tab in the foreground from the Address bar Alt+Enter
Switch to a specific tab number Ctrl+n (where n is a number between 1 and 8 )
Switch to the last tab Ctrl+9
Close all tabs except for the one you’re viewing Ctrl+Alt+F4
Open Quick Tabs (thumbnail view) Ctrl+Q

Microsoft LCDS 2.6

Microsoft released a new version of its Learning Content Development System.

These are the new features:

  • compatibility wit Internet Explorer 9
  • enhanced keyboard accessibility for all Silverlight interactive elements
  • new sequencing activity topic template – where you have to put elements in the correct order
  • new card flip game topic template

Click the image below for an screencast of the new sequencing activity.

You can download the new version on https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/learning/lcds-tool.aspx.

When you open an existing course, it is automatically upgraded to the new version.

Readings to prepare for the SharePoint 2010 IT Pro exams

A couple of weeks ago, I passed the beta version of the two SharePoint 2010 IT Pro exams:

  • Exam 70-668: PRO: Microsoft SharePoint 2010, Administrator
  • Exam 70-667: MCTS: Microsoft SharePoint 2010, Configuring

Of course, I can’t tell you much about the actual content of the exam (NDA, you know…) but as long as there are no official “exam preparation guides”, I would recommend you to prepare for the exam by reading the Planning, Upgrade and Deployment guides for SharePoint 2010. The Technet site has a good overview of the downloadable content for SharePoint 2010.