A lot of improvements have been made to how you work with Visual Studio as well. In 2010 a new code editor makes it easy to zoom in and out on specific parts of code, highlight method references, and overlay features. Tools are built in that will also help your applications run more efficiently on new advanced multi core processors. One of the biggest time saving features is the inline call hierarchy in Visual Studio 2010, which cuts down on time debugging. Pick up Visual Studio 2010 Professional right now, and stay tuned as more editions are released.

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Micro-Soft and BASIC Programming

To begin, we must go back to 1975 Harvard University where a young sophomore student named William Henry Gates III teamed up with childhood classmate Paul Allen to create a BASIC interpreter for the Altair 8800. Together the two formed a partnership and named it Micro-Soft. Quickly the program gained acclaim from computer hobbyists all over and the team officially registered the trade name “Microsoft”—this time without the hyphen—with the Office of the Secretary of the State of New Mexico on November 26, 1976.

Over the next ten years Microsoft continued to write programs for dozens of computer systems. Back at that time, each manufacturer used its own proprietary components and software needed to be designed for each individual machine. It would be like having to formulate a new type of gasoline for every car model released. Luckily, in the early 80s, Apple Inc. established its Macintosh and IBM its IBM PC as the two standards for consumer-level computers. This allowed Microsoft to focus more on the features of its software and not the hardware compatibility.

Welcome to Windows

On November 20, 1985 Microsoft launched its first retail version of Windows. It was with this program that Microsoft became a household name. From its conception in the 80s to its latest release of Windows 7, Windows has gone through countless updates, modifications, and improvements to better meet the needs of the user. This strict focus on anticipating and producing what the customer wants—better and cheaper than the competition, mind you—is largely the key to Microsoft’s success.

There Ain’t No Party Like an Office Party

Microsoft has never been satisfied with solely one project. Before Windows was flying off the shelves, Microsoft decided to jump on the office productivity software bandwagon with a program called Multi-Tool Word (later just Word) and compete with such rivals as WordPerfect and WordStar. Microsoft’s productivity programs later got bundled into the Microsoft Office suite and were, interestingly, launched first for Macintosh systems in 1989, with a release for Windows’ then latest version, 3.0, in October of 1990. This trend of Macintosh versions being released before the PC counterpart continued up until the release of Office 97 (PC) on November 19, 1996 followed by Office 98 for Mac over a year later. From then up until today, with the recent release of Microsoft Office 2010, the PC versions have been launched first.

Branching Out: Video Games and Hardware

The latter part of 2001 brought with it a whole new realm for Microsoft to conquer. Microsoft continued its reign as the software king through its entering the video game market by acquiring Ensemble Studios (creators of the Age of Empires series) and shortly thereafter introducing Microsoft Game Studios to represent the company’s video game publishing interests. But more than just mere software in the multi-billion dollar industry, Microsoft cut its teeth with its own video game console, the Xbox. It was a smash success and was followed up with the Xbox 360 in 2005.

Microsoft also dipped its hand in the music and mp3 player market with the Zune. Although not as successful in taking a large chunk of the market as the Xbox has, the Zune has earned a reputation for being a quality music player in an iPod dominated society.

Microsoft Made for TV Movie?

Believe it or not, there is actually a movie based on the birth of Microsoft and Apple, Pirates of Silicon Valley. What’s even more surprising: it’s actually a decent flick. Sure, it’s all nerd jokes and computers, but watching the story of these two tech giants is quite fascinating—that is if you’re into that kind of thing. I don’t know if I’d pop it in for a date night; unless, of course, the first half of the evening consisted of you and your significant other participating in a tag-team Slayer round. But, hey, who am I to judge?

I hope you’ve enjoyed this journey into Microsoft’s past and learned a couple things along the way. Check back here soon for the next installment of “A Brief History On.” And remember, if there’s a company you’d like to see showcased, just suggest it in the comments below.

enjoy.

Internet access is becoming widely available almost everywhere now, and so many different devices allow you to access it. The internet is now becoming an important player in how we stay organized. Cloud Computing is simplifying the way we access all our information. Services now allow you to store all your information on their servers “or in the cloud”, and let others have the ability to access them, and collaborate in real time. This is great for businesses that have multiple offices, sales reps, or frequent travelers. Now it’s easier than ever to be able to access your important documents, spreadsheets, presentations, and even large files. It’s like your own personal intranet without an expensive IT department.  The cloud is already saving tons of businesses extra expenses, and unneeded time searching for information.

Many services are available that can help your business start experiencing the benefits of Cloud Computing, quickly and efficiently. Today we will jump into some of the difference and benefits of some of the most popular options available.

Continue reading to find out how you can streamline the way your business communicates.

Whether your business is a Windows environment or is already experiencing the benefits of Microsoft’s Exchange Server, you will appreciate the Microsoft Business Productivity Online Suite or BPOS. With Outlook Web Access you can experience all the features you depend on in Outlook on your computer in any web browser. With SharePoint Server your business can share and collaborate on documents easier than ever before. Access documents in your cloud from your desktop or remotely from any computer with internet access. Right now we are encouraging businesses to try BPOS by offering you a $25 Gift Card to SoftwareMedia.com just for signing up for a free 30 Day Trial. Watch the video below for more details, and an in depth tutorial for using BPOS for your business.

If your business is a Macintosh environment or you’ve experienced the great features of Gmail, you may want to consider Google Apps for your business. Your business will experience the benefits of Google’s great services in Gmail, Docs, Calendar, Sites, Video, and Talk. Google creates an entirely web based environment for your business to communicate in. This makes it easy to stay organized with your email, calendar, and documents from any computer or Smartphone.  For iPhone users Google has created optimized sites that give you quick access to everything in your cloud. Android users will experience seamless integration, as Google’s tools are seamlessly integrated into the operating system. You can also try out Google’s services for your business free for 30 days.

Both of these options are affordable and easy to setup. You can explore pricing options for BPOS, and Google Apps, on SoftwareMedia.com If you have any more questions about bringing the cloud to your business you can contact our sales team at 1(800)474-1945.

Slicer in Excel

Slicer is a new feature in Excel that gives users a new way to control the way they view data. Slicer allows you to filter data from your sheet and view it in a pivot table. Once your data is in a pivot table it is possible to sort through your data to view only the info you need.

Better tools for Handling Video in PowerPoint

PowerPoint now offers new tools that let you add all sorts of videos to your slide shows. You can now add videos from your favorite video sharing websites, by copy and pasting the embed code from the site, and the video ends up in your presentation. You can also import videos to your presentation from your hard drive. Once a video is added to your presentation, PowerPoint provides you with a lot of features for editing your video. This saves a lot of time and hassle, and makes adding videos to your Slide Show a breeze.

Remove Background Tool in Word

Voila! No Background

You can start experiencing Office 2010 for yourself today. Check out your options for purchasing now, or explore more new features in our Hands on With Office 2010 Series.

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Hyper V is a great virtualization feature that IT professionals will find very useful when using Windows Server 2008 R2. Hyper V helps you optimize your servers by taking the load off multiple servers by acting as separate virtual machines on one single computer. With Hyper-V you are able to efficiently run multiple operating systems at the same time on one server while taking advantage of the full power of X64 computing included with Windows Server 2008 R2. The improvements to Hyper V in R2 include Increased Performance and Hardware Support for Virtual Machines, Improved Management of virtualized data centers, and simplified method for virtual machine deployment with “.vhd” files.

Windows Server 2008 R2 includes a lot more improvements in addition to those in Hyper-V. Find out more about how Windows Server 2008 R2 can help you streamline your servers, and how it can most importantly help you save time and money. If you like what you’re seeing order Windows Server 2008 R2 today, if you are purchasing R2 for a large organization check out open licensing options.

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Slicer

Slicer is a new feature in Excel that gives users a new way to control the way they view data. Slicer allows you to filter data from your sheet and view it in a pivot table. Once your data is in a pivot table it is possible to sort through your data to view only the info you need.

Paste Options

New options when using Copy and Paste in Excel will be sure to save you time, and frustration. After copying your data click the control key and new options are displayed that allow for better options when copying not only data but formatting as well.

Sparklines

Sparklines are a great tool for visualizing data. Created in a column just like your data Sparklines help you recognize trends in data without having to think in numbers. You can change how your Sparklines appear from line graphs, bar graphs and beyond.

Stay tuned for more Hands on With Office 2010 as well as more information about the Office 2010 release next week.

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