Finally you can use the RTM version of Visual Studio 2010 (get it from DreamSpark) to try the XNA 4.0 CTP and make games and apps for Windows Phone 7, ready for when the devices like the Dell Lightning release later this year.

So if you’re interested, even if you just want to see what is coming in XNA 4.0 and don’t care about the mobile space, check out the refresh here.

The big focus of MIX10 is of course, Windows Phone 7. Now this is a developer & designer conference, so the focus is on how to use Silverlight and XNA to make apps and games (respectively) for what is turning out to be a pretty cool phone.

At the time of writing you can grab the latest Windows Phone 7 Developer Tools, which includes:

• Visual Studio 2010 Express RC
• Windows Phone 7 Add-in for VS2010
• XNA Game Studio 4.0 CTP (Which sits on top of VS2010 Express)
• Windows Phone 7 Emulator (DX10 capable card required for hardware emulation)

Those are all of the tools you will need to get started developing apps that you will be able to sell to WP7 users. There are some pretty cool things in there (*cough*XNA*cough*) already, but if you are thinking “Hey this is a designer conference, where are the designer tools?!” well fear not, MS has also released a preview of Blend 4, which has a ton of cool new features, and of course supports development for Windows Phone 7. You can read more about the Blend 4 preview at Christian Schormann’s blog.

IE9

The next version of Internet Explorer is coming fast, and the real focus this release isn’t on little social add-ons like WebSlices or Accelerators – instead this time they decided to focus on speed and standards. We all know IE has lagged quite a bit in the past when it comes to speed and standards (although they’ve really improved recently). IE9 is set to take this to a new level, with a focus on HTML5 support, and leveraging the resources in your computer to make the browser run faster.

For those who are technically minded, the browser now uses DirectWrite and Direct2D to make the GPU help out in rendering those webpages; and JavaScript is now compiled in the background on a separate core (where possible) to help accelerate those JavaScript intensive sites.

If you want to try this out for yourself, Microsoft has released an in-progress Platform Preview of IE9 to the public. Of course this is incomplete, and it is just the rendering engine, so you won’t find any address bar or your usual back/forward/refresh/home buttons – however you can use this to see how far IE9 has come since IE8.

Finally CSS3 rounded borders! (also animated)

So where can I get it all?

Everything you need for Windows Phone 7 can be found at http://developer.windowsphone.com/

You can find the IE9 preview at http://ie.microsoft.com/testdrive/

On February 15th, anyone still running the RC will be notified about upcoming bi-hourly shutdowns, that will begin on March 1st.

So to continue to enjoy an uninterrupted and up to date experience in Windows 7, be sure to move to a release version before March 1st.

For students, remember that you can get Windows 7 for $50 by going to www.itsnotcheating.com.au and following the links.

I am still working with Microsoft to get Windows 7 Professional available free for technical students through the MSDN:AA subscription the university has, and I will update here when more news is available regarding that.

Microsoft expects Office 2010 and related products to be generally available in June 2010.

In the meanwhile, remember that you can get free access to the beta, which you can use for free and unrestricted until October 2010.

http://officebeta.microsoft.com/en-us/

[via Ars Technica]

http://officebeta.microsoft.com/en-us/

Head to that website to download either the 32bit or 64bit version of the next version of Office, and experience the nice changes they have made for yourself.

Personally I have found Outlook to be much more responsive compared to 2007, and the conversation view allows you to easily keep track of what previously happened in an email. Both Excel and Word open up much faster than before, and I have found are much faster in general.

OneNote has also seen some major improvements, with much better Math input support, amongst other things. The integration with the upcoming Office Web Apps should also really improve the suite, with reportedly a way to collaborate on a OneNote notebook in realtime. Great for lectures!

All of the office programs take advantage of new Windows 7 features such as Jumplists. (and more)

If you are considering whether you may want to upgrade from 2007 to 2010 when this is released, there is no better chance to have an unrestricted look at the applications, and maybe even contribute to ensuring the final product you pay for, is bug free.

The download is around 700MB, and you can get your key from the same site,

For those interested, the Visio 2010 beta is available here: http://www.microsoft.com/office/2010/en/visio/download.aspx

and the Project 2010 beta here: http://www.microsoft.com/project/2010/en/us/default.aspx

The new features in Silverlight 3 include, but are not limited to:

• Support for MPEG4 H.264/AAC
• Full 720p+ support
• GPU accelerated HD playback
• Perspective 3D graphics
• Shaders (Pixel)
• Themed applications
• SEO
• Deep Linking
• Out of Browser capabilities (Install to desktop)

Be sure to update to Silverlight 3 and give Expression Blend 3 a try.

Expression Blend 3 adds the following: (and more)

• SketchFlow
• Photoshop/Illustrator import
• Sample Data generation built in
• Behaviours (interactivity without code)

Get Silverlight 3

Get Expression Blend 3 + SketchFlow RC

There is a nice list at the MSDN USA ISV blog that goes through the new features, and you can find some nice articles on the new Office Interop features, the Dynamic keyword, and ASP.Net 4.

Let us know what you like/dislike about the new IDE, and be sure to send feedback to Microsoft if you encounter any issues.

Happy coding!

Probably the best known feature coming is XP mode, where you get a fully integrated XP  virtual machine to run software with compatibility issues in Windows 7. The big feature is the seamless integration, you won’t even know that the program is actually running in Virtual XP. (Kind of like Unity mode in VMWare)

You can get the beta if you are running the Windows 7 RC here, once you click the big orange button there, you will get links to install Virtual PC, as well as XP Mode.

Just a note, ensure you read the BIOS setup information and everything else there, this needs Hardware Virtualization support on the CPU to work, the articles will tell you how to find out if you have that.