ExtremeTech reports that Microsoft is confirming that there is, indeed, a Microsoft Office Ultimate 2007 SKU in the works. A company spokeswoman provided us with the following statement when we asked about Office Ultimate: “Microsoft Office Ultimate 2007 will be a new package offered in retail and OEM channels at general availability. It will give people working at home access to the full line-up of 2007 Microsoft Office applications so they can create, find, manage and share information across boundaries using the toolset they’re familiar with at the office.”

Microsoft Office Ultimate 2007 SKU source

Microsoft Corp has a cool new services out for Map lovers…Windows Live Local, Virtual Earth map control and Windows Live Local Add-in for Microsoft Office Outlook… I tried a search on Cyberjaya in Malaysia but the search took too long.. I also did one for Las Vegas and it came up instantly. Looks like Malaysia maps are not ready yet..

Once you get a result on your city or address, you can then choose a Road, Aerial or Bird’s eye view. Its really nice.

Microsoft Corp today announced the third release of Windows Live(TM) Local, the company’s online local search and mapping service that gives people the ability to quickly find maps, directions and local search information that is layered on top of rich, immersive aerial photography. Added functionality includes real-time traffic flow and incident reporting, new
social networking tools that enable users to save and share their favorite local experiences, and productivity enhancements from extending the Windows Live Local experience into Microsoft(R) Office Outlook(R) and Windows Live Messenger. The service is also expanding its beta release to the U.K. and a limited version to Canada. Windows Live Local is available at http://local.live.com

Also being released today is Windows Live Local Add-in for Microsoft Office Outlook. This add-in introduces Windows Live Local mapping capabilities to the Outlook Calendar, enabling Outlook users to find and print maps and directions to meeting locations from within Outlook.

If you are a hardware engineer, system designer, driver developer, or business decision maker, you should be at WinHEC 2006 (Windows Hardware Engineering Conference) that offers the best opportunity to partner in driving the future directions for the Windows hardware platform. It will be at the Washington State Convention and Trade Center, Seattle, USA from 23-25 May 2006.

Samsung also said that it plans to demonstrate a prototype of the first commercially available hybrid hard drive (HHD) at the Windows Hardware Engineering Conference in Seattle. The drive integrates NAND flash memory with the standard magnetic storage in today’s hard drives. The benefits, especially in the mobile space, are numerous. HHDs will be able to boot or resume operation up to twice as fast as a traditional hard drive, and are five times as reliable. Additionally, the drives provide an extra 20-30 minutes of battery life over their predecessors.

Advanced Micro Devices Inc. will demonstrate Microsoft Virtual Server enabled with an AMD virtualization processor. AMDV (formerly called Pacifica) is AMD’s virtualization firmware technology that works by adding commands to extend the basic instruction set of the hardware so it can communicate with virtualization software more efficiently, said Margaret Lewis, commercial software strategist at AMD in Sunnyvale, Calif.

Check out the new Windows Live Mail Beta Sweepstakes…Great prizes galore. Looks like MS guys are dying for your to try out the new Windows Live Mail Beta and they are giving away prizes too. Sheesh. Game ends May 23, 2006

When you enter*, you’ll get a chance to upgrade from Hotmail to the Windows Live Mail Beta. You’ll also be qualified to win an African Safari and fantastic weekly prizes.