Web round up 4 March 2009

Got lots of things to share today.

Starting off with Windows 7:

Engineering Windows 7 have listed a bunch of changes made to Windows 7 since the Beta was released.
They have also written a very interesting article about how they built the Windows 7 Boot Animation.
The Windows Team Blog has a list of the new Windows Media Centres features in Windows 7.

Crossing to Windows Home Server we have these posts:

Susan the SBS Diva blogs about Backing up the desktops in a small network.
Windows Home Server Team link to an article about synching two Windows Home Servers using SyncToy. I use Synch Toy a lot to keep numerous folder pairs synchronised. Combined with Livemesh this makes keeping the data between my server and my clients servers synched a cinch!

Now over to Microsoft Office:

Canvas for OneNote is a Microsoft Labs initiative. It utilises DeepZoom technology and allows you to navigate and edit notebooks in a new way by providing a high-level canvas-view of all your content. The prototype lets you zoom and pan around; view and organize content in new ways; add new pages right where you want them; and even locate pages in a timeline view. They do provide this warning:

There are few things to note about how Canvas for OneNote works with your OneNote.

First, we don't work directly off the notebook you selected during setup. We make a copy of it into a new notebook we create called 'Canvas Notebook'.

There are a few reasons for this. Primarily, since this is a prototype we wanted to take extra care with people's data. Essentially this process allows us to create a backup in case something happens (FYI we've never seen this happen)

Keep in mind that while your original notebook still exists, changes that you make on the Canvas won't be reflected in the original notebook. Use the 'Canvas Notebook' if you ever go to OneNote and want to update that notebook!

Second, we only track data changes in the 'Canvas Notebook', and not physical location after import. This means that if you move pages around in OneNote or the Canvas, they won't map back to each other.

This is because the Canvas allows you to break the organization rules that OneNote provides. For example, you could drag a page directly to the canvas. In OneNote there is no such capability

Third, as you create new pages on the Canvas, they will be added to a new group in your 'Canvas Notebook' called 'Pages created on canvas'.

This is because we can't guarantee that where you create a page maps back to a valid OneNote location. To be safe, we simply put all pages in this new section.

Fourth, if you decide to stop using the Canvas and want to return to your old world, you should consider the following:

If you continued to use your notebook in OneNote, were you using the 'Canvas Notebook' version or the original? Check pages you've edited to make sure your edits are in one place

You will need to decide which notebook to make your primary. One common option is to treat your original notebook as the backup and use the 'Canvas Notebook' as your primary. You could rename the notebook if necessary.

If you created pages on the Canvas, you will probably want to move them from the 'Pages created on canvas' section and put them in the correct sections in your notebook

Close one of the notebooks. Since you don't need both, you can right click on the notebook you decide to stop using and choose Close Notebook (note: the data file will still be on your system, which you can optionally delete)

A cumulative patch for Outlook 2007 ID 968009 has been released. Read about it on MPECS Inc. Blog. There was also a hotfix released 24 February Article ID 961752.

Now moving to Australian Politics:

The Australian government may run into more trouble passing its controversial ISP filtering plan than anticipated, as key senator Nick Xenophon has withdrawn his support and now says he will oppose any legislation on the topic. Read the full article by Jacqui Cheng on ars technica.
The Institute of Public Affairs has written a quite in depth critique of Kevin Rudd’s essay released in February.
Clive Hamilton has written a piece for the ABC News website that is absolute drivel titled: Net Porn: Whose rights matter most? The article doesn’t even address the titles question. What is very interesting is reading the hundreds of comments that take apart his vague arguments and debate the core issues at stake here. (Not porn as it happens, but censorship in general). This commentary )from which Clive is suspiciously absent, is mostly well behaved, cogently argued and demonstrates the new political arena we are in. No longer can power brokers make decisions in a vacuum, with only yes men feedback from other civil servants. Now the general populace has a forum for its voice, anybody can partake in the debate. It is only a matter of time before the politicians wake up to this and embrace it. If they don’t they will be summarily dismissed at the next election. In this instance Stephen Conroy the ministerial bunny in charge of this “hot potato” has gone to ground and is in hiding – presumably wishing this whole thing would go away.

And now to Last.fm the music tracking social website. Here are some links to a whole bunch of related websites and tools that provide widgets and tools: