United Airlines reduces web content administration from months to hours with enterprise solution

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Based in Chicago, Illinois, United is one of the largest airlines in the world. To improve enterprise content management (ECM), United wanted to build communities around the products and services it delivers to customers. The airline initially deployed Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 and subsequently migrated to SharePoint Server 2010, which United developed into an enterprise platform for ECM and e-discovery, co-locating approximately 1 terabyte of content for the enterprise. In 2012, the airline deployed SharePoint Server 2013 for a variety of projects-including a service catalog that 87,000 employees rely on to search for and order products from the IT department. By using SharePoint Server 2013, United has also simplified content management-the amount of time required to enter a new item into the catalog has plummeted from two months to a few hours.

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Windows 8 at 6 months: Q&A with Tami Reller

OK, I have complained on so many places about the Win8 interface and always felt like nobody was listening. I am hoping that Tami, or you Brandon would take my comments seriously.

First, before you think I am anti Windows here is some background about me, I think Windows 7 is by far the best desktop OS, I have built software on Windows that is in use by millions of people. I also use Android and iPad, so it is easy for me to get used to a new interface.

I do like many things on Windows 8, it is not a bad overall, it is amazingly fast compared to anything else I have seen, and it is great for power users, you can tinker with the settings as you could on previous OSes, plus it has the benefits of the Store, something didn't exist in previous Windows.

BUT it has many interface decisions that I find strange. I am going to list few pf them here:

1, Start Button:

I do understand the new paradigm with the Start Screen, in fact I don't mind it (except perhaps it needs the ability to make the icons smaller), but I don't understand the whole concept with removing the start button and making it virtual (hover)

Hover should never be part of a common UI, it is just horrible UX. Hover means you have to wait for the element to show up then you continue your task, waiting should never be part of common task (even if it was few 100 milliseconds). Also hover means I really have to concentrate on a hidden element, that is distraction, it reduces productivity.

Oh, wait it gets even worse, if you have multiple monitors, you actually have to hover on a specific pixel because if you overshoot the mouse by a couple of pixels it goes to the second monitor.

Of course I can use the windows key, but usually my hand is on the next key ready to type, you see experienced windows users are just very productive and you don't want to slow them with poor UI decisions. I might also be holding something else in my hand (A phone, or a child on my way out of the house) and just have one free hand to use the mouse.

Also, the current start button is very glitchy on RDP, sometimes I have to move the mouse many times over the virtual pixel before it shows up (I even have recorded a video about this)

BTW, the same issues with the virtual Start Button apply to the Charms Menu

2. Search:

 So imagine that you hover on the bottom left to get the start button, you click it to get the start screen and you start typing something like "services" or "programs and features" well nothing will show up, so you will have to move the mouse all the way to the top right and click "Settings" then it shows up on the top left, and you can click it (or hit enter).

How did this work before,

1. Click start bottom left (unhidden)

2. Type services, Enter

Search should be just search, it should never be segregated into apps, files and settings, it is just counter productive.

3. File search:

 In Win7 file search was as simple as clicking start button and typing whatever path you want, it auto completes for you, and allows you to navigate easily. Now, it is almost like going in a dark room, you start typing in the start screen and suggestions might show up, and they might not, and whey they do show up they are very limited. Worse off, the suggestions are not clearly visible, and it took me months before I realized they are there! The same applies to going to network locations.

 Navigation is just not as easy.

4. Backup, I like the new backup method, but I don't understand why there is no way to provide system images as well as incremental backups. I want to have the ability to keep a historical archive of my data + system images every month in case things go badly. Windows will always need to offer system image as long as legacy apps are supported, it is not an option.

I am very fast when I use Windows, if you look behind my shoulder you would probably get dizzy how fast I move around the OS, and I imagine that there are thousands, if not millions of people like me who are just so used to Windows being a productive OS, Windows 8 just pulled the rug from under our feet, it cannot be used in a productive way, it is not simply a learning curve problem, but a productivity one too. This is a HUGE problem, and is one of the main reasons why Windows is the dominant OS, it is very productive environment, and if you remove that, people will find other environments that are more productive, so please bring Win7 productivity back.

Thanks

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Outlook.com leaves preview as the world's fastest growing email service go from 0 to 60 million in just 6 months

Last summer, we have published a preview of the Outlook.com, a new modern e-Mail service from Microsoft.  Since then we have been humiliated by the fast pace of the adoption with more than 60 million people, who are already actively using Outlook.com.  During the same period, we have received lots of feedback and made many improvements.  Today, we are glad to announce the next step in this journey: Outlook.com comes from preview and people everywhere can get started and try it at Outlook.com.

Today is an important milestone in our mission to provide the world's best email experience, people everywhere.  See also, the starting point for a comprehensive marketing efforts around the world to show us that will Outlook.com you can get.  And because we are sure that we start Outlook.com that is available and ready for 1 billion people scaled, best email service for consumers to update soon hundreds of millions of Hotmail users on the new experience of Outlook.com.

When we launched the preview, languages about Outlook.com as fat progress from scratch to build a new e-Mail service from the data center on the usability and everything in between.  Now more than ever email plays a decisive role in how things to do it. Therefore, Outlook.com as focus developed removing barriers and people, the email service:

Deliver a beautiful, combined fresh and intuitive interface to modern browsers and DevicesKeeping she really a people to their friends and colleagues about the networks UseProviding intelligent and powerful to Inbox today's mail program must be to inform people, including SkyDrive for virtually everything in a single email putting in the control by their privacy to prioritize.

As part of the preview, we wanted to have also a call and make sure that we build the e-Mail service, what you really wanted the.  Our aim was to learn from feedback that scale Outlook.com according to experience to optimize and make sure that we could, to deliver on our vision of a new modern-e-mail for 1 billion inboxes.

It was slightly more than 6 months since he released Outlook.com preview and reception which has to date significantly exceeded our expectations; more than 60 million people, already actively using the Outlook.com.  This number stands for people, the in several times in the month via the Web to sign client or Smartphone to use our service.

The preview we have listened and learned a lot about your favorite features and how well Outlook.com on our vision for modern email deliver.  Millions of people are, for example, Outlook.com with Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn currently on their friends contact info, updates, photos and tweets link.  And quite a few people have expressed appreciation that Outlook.com replaces advertising with the latest updates from Facebook or Twitter if you read email from one of your contacts are.  In fact the average 60% saw people show less if you use Outlook.com, because they get much more relevant updates from their friends.

Outlook.com of tools for the treatment of newsletters and promotional E-mail sends less than 80% of the typical Inbox make out, are another set of features well preserved and busy. Outlook.com comes with swing, a simple but powerful function, people clean up their Inbox move, archive, or delete e-mail (and that this happens automatically in the future) will help when they want to.  It's a very satisfying feeling when you regain control, once you are hundreds or even thousands of messages from the Inbox to sweep.

Outlook.com is also supposed to hundreds of photos, videos, and everything people want in a single brh make it simple-to send all powered by SkyDrive.  SkyDrive have used almost half of the people with Outlook.com already more than half a billion photos and Office documents.

We're very excited by the adoption of the preview and how it delivers on our promise of a fresh, new e-Mail service since.  In the preview we see an enormous amount of, how people used the service.  "Early Adopters" have told us what they liked, what they want to see next, and what we do, so that more people had to change.  And we add the new features and optimize the services scale used.  Now that Outlook.com from Preview comes, we will be kicking off a tremendous boost in several countries the world, even greater awareness and adoption of Outlook.com.  Our goal is to make the new and compelling features of Outlook.com everywhere aware and make it easy for them to Outlook.com as a new e-Mail service to try.

When we say we are confident that Outlook.com is the best e-Mail option for consumers, we mean it.  Outlook.com comes out as a preview, we also announce that we soon all Hotmail users on Outlook.com upgrade. The upgrade is seamless and immediate for people who use Hotmail.  Everything from your @hotmail.com email address, password, messages, folders, contacts, rules, OOF, etc., without interruption in the service remains unchanged.   When upgraded, they get everything, what the benefits of the redesigned Outlook.com erfahren-- a fresh, intuitive user interface, many new features and better performance.  And we won't always make your e-Mail address in a @outlook.com-address switch, if you do not want.

We expect that all of the people that are updated with Hotmail this summer.  And for who the new advantages of the Outlook.com experience are encouraged, there is no need to wait. Today can be the application simply updated in the Outlook.com and we'll take care of the rest.

We want to thank the more than 60 million of you, the already Outlook.com active.  We sincerely appreciate the feedback you have sent to us and you have played the valuable role to make happen to today's news.  Of course, there is much more to come, but for those of you who have been waiting to try it, now is your chance. Outlook.com is from the preview, and it's a good time to update. We are looking forward to your opinion.

--David Law, head of product management, Outlook.com

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Windows 7 at 18 Months

18 months ago to this day was when we launched Windows 7 and with that we’ve hit another important milestone: we are pleased to announce that Windows 7 has sold more than 350 million licenses. The momentum we’ve seen and continue to see with Windows 7 is incredible. We are seeing good momentum with Internet Explorer 9 as well!  We designed Internet Explorer 9 to provide the best way to experience the Web on Windows and we are delighted to see partners like Groupon, Slacker, Hulu, and eBay already creating great experiences for their customers.

Number of licenses sold is one way of looking at market success. Customers having a positive and productive experience with Windows 7 is also an important measure. Analyst firms like IDC estimate that more than 90% of businesses are currently in progress with their Windows 7 migrations. And we’ve seen that companies who have deployed Windows 7 save an average of $140 per PC per year – showing a 131% return on investment in just more than 12 months. Of course, each Windows 7 customer story and experience is unique. Today, we are launching a special page off the Windows for your Business Blog that will showcase just a sampling of Windows customers and the business results they achieved with Windows 7. We hope you enjoy reading these stories and hope you will continue to visit this page as we highlight new customer stories on a regular basis.

I would like to take a moment and talk about a specific customer – Feeding America. Feeding America is the U.S.’s leading hunger-relief charity, providing meals to 37 million hungry Americans every year. Their deployment of Windows 7 is 100% complete. Every one of their employees at their national office is using Windows 7 and so are their users at supported food banks (over 200 in the U.S. and Puerto Rico). And as new food banks enter their support program, PCs in those food banks are quickly re-imaged with Windows 7. Patrick Whalen, Feeding America’s Director of Infrastructure Services, talks about Feeding America’s adoption of Windows 7 and the benefits they are seeing in the below video:

We’ve done a lot in the last 18 months that improves upon the experience people have on their PCs with Windows 7. We launched Windows Live Wave 4 (which included Windows Live Essentials 2011 and enhancements to Hotmail), released the first service pack for Windows 7, and recently launched Internet Explorer 9. And we’re hard at work on further innovation for Windows. At CES this year we announced the next version of Windows will support System on a Chip (SoC) and last week at MIX11 we released the first platform preview to developers for Internet Explorer 10.

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