Nick here. I'm going to just have to go ahead and say that the Microsoft product launch I attended was great! I came home with a few new tips and tricks as well as some new and improved tools to create your websites with. I could go into detail on these, but It's really stuff that the geeks out there like to know (If you classify yourself as that, then by all means shoot me an e-mail!)

   Perhaps two topics that MS touched on will be relevant to you, the reader. These are probably not too unfamiliar to you either: Security & Reliability. Microsoft proudly spoke about their current security status in their products. I have to admit that they have quite an impressive track record for the last five years. They have had zero security threats in their database solution, SQL Server, since 2004. They have really outdone their competitors in this field. This means your website and eCommerce data is safe and secure on a Microsoft SQL Database.

 

   How about reliability of your website? With the new functionality Visual Studio 2008 (what I use to make your websites) has to offer, it makes it easier for me to double-check that I am coding your website correctly. Proper, reliable code ensures a few things. It speeds up your web site's performance, it ensures that the design is cross-browser compatible and it boosts your SEO potential. Needless to say, I'm very excited!

 

   In a nutshell, the event was awesome. I had a great time and took a lot of information home with me that I will be sure to apply.

   Famous Davis utilises these products heavily in our web development, video streaming and eCommerce websites. I personally have used the Visual Studio Suite for the last few versions now. It's solid and gets the job done effectively and efficiently which means a solid and compliant website for you. SQL Server is the database platform we use behind our websites. It is fast, safe and secure. From what I've read, to date, Windows Server 2008 is the most solid and secure Windows server platform yet, which gets me really excited to take it on a test run.

   Hi folks, Nick here. I am currently writing to you in the brand new Internet Explorer 8 beta web browser that Microsoft released last week. They have added all sorts of interesting features that will enhance your web browsing experience. A couple of their recent additions are Webslices and Activities. These will allow you to do actions like highlighting an address or a name of a business and then within a couple clicks, being able to pull up additional information about the subject. You can receive information such as a map of the businesses location, reviews of the business or perhaps search results from Google. From here, IE 8 gives you the options of sharing it with people around you, by e-mail, posting it directly to a blog, or sharing it on Facebook. Looking at reviews of a new digital camera? Highlight the camera's name and then check the eBay Webslice to view current prices. So far I've really been enjoying the extra functionality the new browser has to offer. However, would I reccomend for you to install it? Probably not as it is still in beta and definitely has a few bugs to be fixed. Once the official version released, however, I would say it will be a very powerful browser.

 

 

   While the new bells and whistles are really cool, perhaps the most important change is that Microsoft promises that Internet Explorer 8 will be more compliant with the existing web standards out there. What does this mean for you? It means (hopefully) less bugs and issues with the sites you visit every day and less issues with your current website. The sites we create for our clients already adhere to the web standards, which means they will work on the popular browsers out there and we are currently checking to make sure they will be compliant with Internet Explorer 8. If you have a website, make sure that your web site designer is up to date with these standards and is up to par with the upcoming web browsers and technology.

 

If you would like more information about Internet Explorer 8, please visit Microsoft's website.

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/winfamily/ie/ie8/default.mspx