Forget everything you know about Windows Mobile. Seriously, throw the whole OS concept in a garbage bin or incinerator or something. Microsoft has done what would have been unthinkable for the company just a few years ago: started from scratch. At least, that’s how things look (and feel) with Windows Phone 7 Series. This really is a completely new OS — and not just Microsoft’s new OS, it’s a new smartphone OS, like webOS new, like iPhone OS new. You haven’t used an interface like this before (well, okay, if you’ve used a Zune HD then you’ve kind of used an interface like this). Still, 7 Series goes wider and deeper than the Zune by a longshot, and it’s got some pretty intense ideas about how you’re supposed to be interacting with a mobile device. We had a chance to go hands-on with the dev phone before today’s announcement, and hear from some of the people behind the devices, and here’s our takeaway. (And don’t worry, we’ve got loads of pictures and video coming, so keep checking this post for the freshest updates).

First the look and feel. The phones are really secondary here, and we want to focus on the interface. The design and layout of 7 Series’ UI (internally called Metro) is really quite original, utilizing what one of the designers (formerly of Nike) calls an “authentically digital” and “chromeless” experience. What does that mean? Well we can tell you what it doesn’t mean — no shaded icons, no faux 3D or drop shadows, no busy backgrounds (no backgrounds at all), and very little visual flair besides clean typography and transition animations. The whole look is strangely reminiscent of a terminal display (maybe Microsoft is recalling its DOS roots here) — almost Tron-like in its primary color simplicity. To us, it’s rather exciting. This OS looks nothing like anything else on the market, and we think that’s to its advantage. Admittedly, we could stand for a little more information available within single views, and we have yet to see how the phone will handle things like notifications, but the design of the interface is definitely in a class of its own. Here’s a few takeaways on what it’s like to use…

Start screen: the Start experience is completely revamped, now focusing on sets of tiles which represent links to applications or contacts. It’s a completely contextual experience which can be customized both by users and carriers, and allows people to “promote” items higher up in the list. To the right of this screen is a long, vertical list of all your apps for quick jumps. It will take some time getting used to this layout; one or two tiles per line, and that long list which goes up and down rather than left and right, but honestly — this does have some advantages. Things seems less out of reach in this configuration, and Microsoft swears that they’ll be working closely with developers to build widgets that make use of the concept.

General phone navigation: If you’ve used the Zune HD, you know what this is like. Lots of bold text on the device, lists with text cut off on the sides of the phone, and additional screens to the left and right driven by arrows pointing you in either direction. For the most part this works, though in instances like email, it feels like there’s a bit of wasted space. Everything else is super stripped down — the calendar app looks like vector line art, the browser seems to be using the bare minimum to show its content (which isn’t necessarily a bad thing), and the phone application is essentially monochromatic. On the other hand, you’ve got a beautiful and robust photo app (with pinch to zoom, as in the browser), and the Zune experience is perfectly integrated… but what did you expect?

The key to successfully building these types of applications is to achieve a decoupled or very loosely coupled design. Loosely coupled applications are more flexible and easier to maintain. They are also easier to test during development. You can mock up shims (lightweight mock implementations) of objects that have strong concrete dependencies, such as database connections, network connections, enterprise resource planning (ERP) connections, and rich user interface components.

Dependency injection is a prime technique for building loosely coupled applications. It provides ways to handle the dependencies between objects. For example, an object that processes customer information may depend on other objects that access the data store, validate the information, and check that the user is authorized to perform updates. Dependency injection techniques can ensure that the customer class correctly instantiates and populates all these objects, especially where the dependencies may be abstract.

Read More At MSDN

Windows 7 comes with a well hidden mechanism that lets you access the God Mode. Follow the steps:

a) Open any Folder and create a new folder in it. Rename the folder to:

GodMode.{ED7BA470-8E54-465E-825C-99712043E01C}

b) Now your God Mode folder is ready. Just enter it to see the amazing stuff. Handy shortcuts for almost every stuff you may need to do as an admin.!

My system shows that it contains 283 items!!

Well this is what I call “Kick Ass!!” !

Continue reading at technologizer.com >>

LOL!!!

It appears that Microsoft will try to recruit students with “established blogs” to write about a wide variety of Microsoft products.

This program is different than Microsoft’s Student Partners program, which is a program student evangelists of Microsoft products.

Official News:

Microsoft is seeking a knowledgeable, charismatic, and motivated student to become a Student Insider to blog about the new Expression Studio.

Microsoft is a multinational computer technology corporation specializing in the development and manufacturing of software for computing devices. Microsoft Expression Studio opens up a new world of creative possibility. Its professional design tools give you the freedom to make your vision real—whether you’re designing for standards-based Web sites, rich desktop experiences, or Silverlight.

The purpose of this position is to introduce the world to Microsoft’s Expression Studio by a person who is most likely to understand the full range of its capabilities: you. You will use your existing blog to discuss various tips, tricks and advantages with the Expression Studio. In addition to being trained on the software by the experts at Microsoft, you will get to attend high-profile technology conferences, such as MIX10: March 15-17th, 2010 at the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas.

Key responsibilities:
· Using your existing blog to blog about Microsoft Expression Studio
· Attending exclusive technology conferences as a representative of Microsoft, such as the MIX10 conference, March 15 – 17 at the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas
· Acting as a peer influencer to introduce people to the benefits of Microsoft’s products
Amazing benefits:
· Entrance into exclusive and high profile technology conferences with all expenses paid
· Training by industry experts
· Invaluable resume building experience
· The title of Student Insider, denoting knowledge and expertise in technology
· Additional products and incentives
What you need to know:
· There is only one Student Insider position for the Expression Studio campaign
· The campaign will kick-off as soon in just a few short weeks
· Student Insiders are expected to cover 15 events/topics a year (selected by Microsoft) with at least 500 engagements per event/topic

The joining link will be declared soon by the Tech-giant.

So… what are you waiting for???

using System.Linq;
class Program
{
  static void Main()
  { 
      int[] data = { 1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 1 };
      foreach (var m in from m in data orderby m select m)
            System.Console.Write(m);
  }
}

Now, the question is:

  Is this code valid or not??

  If valid, how?

  If not valid, why?

(Source: Eric Lippert’s Blog)