As mention a week or so ago - Microsoft has today release the Microsoft Game Voice for free download:

Bring the power of voice to your games
For all the amazing advances in gaming hardware and software the past few decades, one vital element of the experience has remained out of reach for players: an easy way to talk. To talk strategy with teammates. To talk trash at opponents. To control the commands…and take performance to a much higher level than ever before.

That's all about to change. Introducing Microsoft® SideWinder® Game Voice.

Game Voice brings a new sensory experience to PC gaming. With online, multi-player games, effectively communicating with teammates or opponents has been difficult without a voice chat solution tailored to gaming.

Wouldn't you like:

• A high-quality chat system that won't negatively impact your game?
• An easy way to find and connect with other players online?
• A way to talk to teammates without the other guy hearing…and then to switch channels and tell your opponent exactly how you're going to beat him?

Game Voice gives you these things, and much more. SideWinder Game Voice is a complete hardware and software solution that brings voice to your games. Not only does Game Voice let you talk in the game, it also makes finding and connecting to your friends quick and easy!

The device uses MSN® Messenger Service technology to help you access your list of contacts and available chat sessions. Simply click on a name or a chat session to start talking. It's easy! You can also issue voice commands within the game-such as "Build house" or "Switch weapons."

Game Voice comes with an eight-button control pad that lights up to show you who you're talking with-or to indicate if you're in voice command mode. Plus, the Game Voice headset offers a high-quality noise-reducing microphone for a clear communications experience.

Game Voice is an incredible way to communicate with people while playing the games you love. Try it out yourself!

Users of Microsoft Windows 2000 who have installed Service Pack 1 may have found that the Service Pack interferes with industry standard firewalls like the award-winning ZoneAlarm Internet Security Utility.

Zone Labs is now offering a patch from its Web site (http://www.zonelabs.com) that corrects the problem caused by Microsoft's Service Pack. Microsoft has posted details of the firewall problems experienced by users of Service Pack 1 at http://www.wininfo.com. Microsoft is reportedly working on a solution.

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Microsoft Corp. today announced that Microsoft^® Reader for desktop PCs and laptop computers is available free for immediate download at http://www.microsoft.com/reader/, delivering the promise of eBooks to users of the Microsoft Windows^® 95 or later operating system.

Barnes & Noble.com and Microsoft also announced the opening of the Barnes & Noble.com eBookStore for Microsoft Reader, the first online retail bookstore to offer commercial content for Microsoft Reader.

After nearly a week of server hell we are finally back up and running again. Hopefully everything will be working fine from now on and we can get back to doing what we do best. We are behind with some news as can be expected after the problems we had, so expect some older pieces to be posted during the day.

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Microsoft Corp. today announced that following the release of Microsoft^® SQL Server™ 2000 to manufacturing, over 100 enterprise customers will be going live on SQL Server 2000 over the next three months as part of a Rapid Deployment Program supported by Microsoft. In addition, Microsoft revealed that a select group of customers has been in production on SQL Server 2000 for up to six months as part of an Early Adopter Program. These customer applications will be among the many featured in the Enterprise 2000 launch on Sept. 26, 2000, which will unveil the first customer successes built on the recently announced .NET Platform.

Microsoft Corp. and Wireless Knowledge Inc. today announced they are joining forces to provide customers of Microsoft with a complete solution for mobile access to Microsoft Exchange Server 5.5, and future Exchange upgrades, using Wireless Knowledge's Workstyle™ Server. Further, Wireless Knowledge will be designated as a primary service partner for enterprise mobility services including strategic consulting, application development and education.

With more and more families spread across the country and around world, monthly long-distance phone bills have become almost as inevitable as death and taxes. Not anymore. Since MSN Messenger Service 3.0 was released July 20, callers have made more than 3 million long-distance phone calls using the new service. And all of the calls – no matter how many miles separated the callers or how long they talked -- were free.

I got a chance to get up close and personal with Microsoft's Train Simulator at the NMRA (the National Model Railroad Association's National Convention and Train Show in San Jose on August 4-6, 2000).

This was the first time that Microsoft had publicly shown Train Simulator (they say it'll ship in "Spring 2001"). "I want a copy," six-year-old train buff Patrick Scoble says, "they need to finish it." That about sums up my response too. I can't wait. I'm not usually into games or simulators, but I +am+ a train nut and so is my son. The Train Simulator has me hooked and I suspect it'll have you hooked too.

Train Simulator will include six REAL trains and tracks. The simulation includes entire tracks over the Marias pass in Montana, for instance -- the other tracks are explained on Microsoft's "Features Page."

XBOX365, a site for the X-Box community, has published a document purporting to be the "official details on XDK," the Microsoft developers' toolkit for the new gaming platform.

Notable features include:

• Dashboard is to replace the Windows GUI on the X-Box
• The Xbox game image format is not compatible with other executable systems, such as Windows 2000 executable format
• There are no dynamic-link library (DLL) loads
• Microsoft Direct3D will be the primary graphics API for the Xbox game system. Direct3D for the Xbox game system will be based on DirectX 8.0, and implemented using a custom driver specific to the final NVIDIA chipset and video adapter

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We are currently having a large number of server problems across the site. We are working to get it fixed as soon as we possibly can. Thank-you all for your patience.

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Microsoft Corp. today announced the public availability of beta 2 of Microsoft^® Application Center 2000, the deployment and management tool for applications built on the Microsoft Windows^® 2000 operating system, and a key member of the .NET enterprise server family. Application Center makes the management of a cluster of Web servers as easy as managing a single machine. This public beta of Application Center 2000 will be the first opportunity for companies of all sizes to bring enterprise-level scalability and simplified management to their Web and COM+ applications. Application Center 2000 also enables mission-critical availability through software scaling (or scaling out), a fault-tolerant architecture that employs multiple off-the-shelf servers as a unified resource. Developers and IT professionals can now register for the Application Center 2000 beta 2, which is scheduled to be shipped within two to four weeks, at http://www.microsoft.com/applicationcenter/.

Microsoft Corp. today announced that over 3.4 million people worldwide have downloaded the new all-in-one Windows Media™ Player 7 in the first 10 days of its availability, at a rate of nearly four downloads every second. This strong customer demand for the player has driven the number of licensed copies of Microsoft^® Windows Media Player to more than 200 million licensed copies worldwide. By comparison, this unprecedented popularity for Windows Media Player 7 eclipses 'N Sync's March 2000 record-breaking album release in which they sold 2.4 million albums in the first week and more than doubles the previous record of 1.4 million albums by the Backstreet Boys. This widespread demand also more than triples the download rate of the nearest jukebox competitor in its first 10 days of public availability.

We are currently having a number of server problems across the site that may or may not be happening for everyone. We are working to get it fixed as soon as we possibly can.

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Microsoft Corp. today announced that it has launched the first wave of a new global campaign against Internet consumer fraud involving software products. Employing new technology and working with industry partners and law enforcement agencies, Microsoft has taken legal action against more than 7,500 Internet Web and auction site postings allegedly offering counterfeit and other illegal copies of software. The illegal content resided on Internet servers located in 33 countries on six continents.

Microsoft Corp. today announced a limited-time promotional price of $59.95 for the Windows^® Millennium Edition (Windows Me) operating system. The special price is available for Microsoft^® Windows 98 or Windows 98 Second Edition customers who wish to upgrade their system to the forthcoming Windows Me, the latest operating system designed specifically for the home user. The promotionally priced product, which will be available in retail stores from Sept. 14 through Jan. 15, 2001, will make it more affordable for Windows 98 and Windows 98 Second Edition users to update their systems with the most recent consumer operating system enhancements. Windows Me improves the home-computing experience by delivering enhancements in the areas of PC health, digital media, home networking and the online experience.

Microsoft Corp. today announced that it has shipped its first Xbox software developer kits (XDKs) to game designers worldwide, enabling them to create great games for the future-generation Xbox video game system that is scheduled to ship in fall 2001. The company estimates that by the end of this summer, more than 1,000 XDKs will be deployed to more than 100 companies developing Microsoft-approved Xbox games.

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