The Midweek Download: Feb. 16th Edition – Nokia, Windows Phone 7, IE9 on WP7, OneNote

Developers are at the core of just about everything that happens at Microsoft. Without them, we wouldn’t have much in the way of software products and services to sell to consumers and businesses.

Here in the second edition of the Midweek Download is some of the latest news coming out of Microsoft and what it means for developers and tech enthusiasts. Also included are one or two items that show how to get the most out of Windows 7 and OneNote.

Read on!

What the Microsoft-Nokia deal means for developers. By now, just about everyone has heard of the deal between Microsoft and Finnish mobile giant Nokia. In this Feb. 11th post on the Windows Phone Developer Blog, blogger Matt Bencke explains what the deal means for Microsoft developers. And in this Feb. 14th post on the Windows Phone Developer Blog, Terry Myerson, Microsoft’s corporate vice president of Windows Phone engineering, describes in detail the critical role developers will play in helping to build a new mobile ecosystem.

Exploring Internet Explorer 9. As you may know, the release candidate of Internet Explorer 9 is now available. What you may not know about is all the effort that goes into refining such an important milestone. In this Feb. 10th post on the Exploring IE Blog, Ryan Gavin, senior director of Internet Explorer business and marketing, blogs about the reaction amongst developers to IE9. Also, in this Feb. 10th post on the Springboard Series Blog, blogger Stephen L. Rose writes about a variety of resources and tools for IT professionals looking to integrate usage of IE9 into their businesses.

IE9 coming to Windows Phones. First, there was the beauty of the Web. Now, there’s the beauty of the mobile Web. That’s right, Internet Explorer 9 is coming to Windows Phone 7 phones, and that’s a boon for developers. As Dean Hachamovitch, corporate vice president of Internet Explorer, writes in this Feb. 14th post on the IEBlog, “Today’s announcement is good news for developers and consumers. Quality, hardware-accelerated HTML5 on mobile devices will make the mobile Web significantly better. Developers will be able to use the same markup to deliver great interoperable HTML5 experiences on mobile—a for example H.264 video on Windows, iOS, and Android devices, and great CSS3, SVG, Canvas, ECMAScript 5, and WOFF support.”

Going somewhere? Doesn’t mean you have to miss “Warehouse 13.” Going on vacation doesn’t mean you and your family have to miss out on your favorite television shows. In this Feb. 11th post on the Extreme Windows Blog, blogger Pete Brown walks readers through a simple step-by-step process by which they can use the Remote Media Streaming feature in Windows 7 to record their must-see TV programs.

Is OneNote your “virtual brain” too? In this Feb. 9th post on the Microsoft Office Blog, guest blogger Aaress Lawless tells readers, “Quite frankly, OneNote makes me more useful to this world.” Lawless goes on to discuss how her adoption and use of OneNote helped her build a new public relations business called DuoParadigms Public Relations & Design. In essence, OneNote enables her and her colleagues, all of whom work remotely a significant amount of time, to share their ideas so they no longer have to live “from sticky note to sticky note.”

That’s it for this week’s edition of the Midweek Download. Thanks for reading, and see you back here next Wednesday!

Posted by Jeff Meisner
Senior Manager, Corporate Blogs