Certification Prep – The 20 Minute Workout

As posted on the IT World Open Exchange website , IT professionals that are subscribers to MSDN and TechNet are going to be able to get their hands on the Office 2010 RTM (release to manufacturing) bits on Thursday April 22nd. Microsoft Developer Network and TechNet subscribers will be able to download the RTM bits of the different versions of Office 2010 five days before volume license customers with Software Assurance will be able to. End consumers will have to wait until June for retail copies to be available. This is just one of the many benefits of the Microsoft Developer Network and TechNet subscription programs. For the full details please see the MSDN, TechNet get Office 2010 this week posting at the IT World Open Exchange website For more information on the different TechNet Plus Subscription Offerings please see the Microsoft TechNet Plus Subscription Offerings website For more information on the different MSDN Subscriptions that are available please see the Compa

The Microsoft Store website has been updated to offer users the chance to pre-order Office 2010. Office Home and Student 2010 is showing as retailing on the site for $149.99 and will include Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote. Office 2010 is expected to be generally available in June of 2010. I have a post up over on my Toolbox for IT blog that outlines some of the system specifications and requirements for this upcoming release of Office 2010. Please see Microsoft Office Home and Student 2010 - System Requirements

The Microsoft Store website has been updated to offer users the chance to pre-order Office 2010. Stephen Elop, President of the Microsoft Business Division, is planned to announce the launch of Office 2010 and SharePoint 2010 on May 12, 2010 at 11 a.m. EST . Office Home and Student 2010 is showing as retailing on the site for $149.99 and will include Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote. Office Home and Business 2010 is showing as retailing on the site for $279.99 and will include Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote as well and  will also include Outlook. Office Professional 2010 is showing as retailing on the site for $499 and will include Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote and Outlook and will also include Publisher and Access. Office 2010 is expected to be generally available in June of 2010.

The Microsoft Software Inventory Analyzer is a free tool available for download from the Microsoft website at http://www.microsoft.com/sam/en/us/msia.aspx that can help you with your software inventory. The current release of MSIA (5.1) will allow an administrator to scan and inventory all of the Microsoft software that is installed on a single system or across multiple systems (up to 250 systems in total). The tool can then generate a report that will show the details of all installed Microsoft products, including the type and the number of licenses. The tool can be used to identify and report all installed Microsoft products listed under Add or Remove Programs and it can c onsolidate the MSIA report with the Microsoft Licensing Statement (MLS) report (in .xls format). Downloads for MSIA 5.1 are available as shown below: View the MSIA online User's Manual View the MSIA Frequently Asked Questions View the logon script View the read me file

Microsoft Security Essentials provides Microsoft consumer customers with a free option for real-time protection against viruses, spyware, and other malicious software for their home PCs . The Microsoft Security Essentials free download (available to all consumers that are running genuine Windows installations) is as simple to install as it is easy to use. New definitions are provided automatically so that you are always kept up to date and so your PC is protected against the latest threats.  Minimum system requirements for Microsoft Security Essentials are Operating System: Windows XP (Service Pack 2 or Service Pack 3) Windows Vista (Gold, Service Pack 1, or Service Pack 2) Windows 7 Your software must be able to be verified as genuine as per the http://www.microsoft.com/genuine/ site For Windows XP, a PC with a CPU clock speed of 500 MHz or higher, and 256 MB RAM or higher. For Windows Vista and Windows 7, a PC with a CPU clock speed of 1.0 GHz or hig

The Microsoft Assessment and Planning (MAP) Toolkit for Microsoft Office 2007 (version 4.0) is available online via http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/solutionaccelerators/dd632446.aspx If you’re looking to go to Office 2010 once it releases then you’ll want to check out the Microsoft Assessment and Planning (MAP) Toolkit for Microsoft Office 2010 (version 5.0 – BETA 1). You’ll need your Live ID in order to access the tool via the “ Download the MAP 5.0 Beta 1 for Office 2010 ” site as the BETA review program is now open but it is due to close in the next few days (mid-April). The Microsoft Assessment and Planning (MAP) Toolkit 5.0 is an agentless tool that streamlines the IT infrastructure planning process through network-wide automated discovery. This Solution Accelerator performs an inventory of your enterprise environment and provides usage information for servers in the Core CAL Suite, a data center infrastructure assessment survey, and a readiness assessment for the most wi

The Microsoft Rapid Economic Justification guide, created by the Microsoft Business Value Group, takes you through the project assessment process in simple steps and includes tools, templates, and how-to information to help you make a compelling business case for an IT project. The guide simplifies the process of researching, preparing, and presenting your project analysis into manageable, easy-to-follow steps. You can create the necessary reports and presentations on your own or work with a Microsoft partner to complete the work for you. You can get the details on the Microsoft Rapid Economic Justification guide on the Microsoft website at http://www.microsoft.com/business/enterprise/value.mspx Additionally, the full 150 page Rapid Economic Justification Guide in PDF format is available for review as well. The Rapid Economic Justification Data Collection Worksheet is also available. Technorati Tags: Rapid Economic Justification guide , Office , Office 2010 , Microsoft