Downloads: Web | Print

REDMOND, Wash. — Oct. 21, 2013 — Microsoft Corp. on Tuesday announced that its newest Surface models — Surface 2 and Surface Pro 2 — as well as an expanded portfolio of new Surface accessories are now available for purchase at Microsoft retail stores, http://www.microsoftstore.com, select third-party retailers and authorized commercial resellers in 21 initial markets, including Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States. The new Surface products will be available in China in early November.

Surface 2 and Surface Pro 2 are the most productive tablets on the planet, and they each benefit from significant updates, including improvements to processing power and battery life, display and camera resolution, and the kickstand — now featuring a second, wider angle so it’s more comfortable to use Surface on your lap or at your desk. Enhancements in Windows 8.1 RT and Windows 8.1 Pro make Surface 2 and Surface Pro 2 even more powerful and customizable.

Knowledgeable staff are on hand at all Microsoft retail store locations to answer questions and help with Surface setup, so customers have a great out-of-box experience and walk out the door with a product that is personalized for them. Customers can visit http://www.microsoftstore.com to find a Microsoft retail store nearest them.

Each new Surface comes with built-in value

To help people get the most out of Surface 2 and Surface Pro 2, customers who purchase either device will receive free Skype calling to landlines in more than 60 countries for one year, unlimited Skype Wi-Fi on their Surface 2 or Surface Pro 2 at more than 2 million hotspots worldwide for one year, and 200 GB of free SkyDrive storage for two years.[1]

Surface 2

Surface 2 is the most productive tablet for personal use. It offers all the entertainment and gaming capabilities you expect from a tablet, along with the ability to get work done. Surface 2 is powered by an NVIDIA Tegra 4 processor, making apps run faster and smoother and increasing battery life to up to 10 hours for video playback. The 10.6-inch ClearType Full HD display now renders 1080p video for enjoying shows and movies, and its full-size USB port has been upgraded to USB 3.0 for up to four times faster file transfers. Camera resolution has also increased, with a 3.5-megapixel front camera and 5-megapixel rear camera, both capable of capturing 1080p video and featuring improved low-light performance, making face-to-face conversations with your favorite people crisp and clear. Even with these and other upgrades, Surface 2 is slightly thinner and lighter than its predecessor.

Surface 2 ships with Windows 8.1 RT, bringing improvements in key areas, such as personalization, search, multitasking, built-in apps, the Windows Store experience and cloud connectivity. The new Xbox Music allows you to stream millions of songs for free, and an updated Video app and great games from the Windows Store such as “Halo: Spartan Assault” will help ensure you never run out of ways to play. When it’s time to get serious, Surface 2 is preloaded with Microsoft Office Home and Student 2013 RT and Outlook 2013 RT; simply click in a Touch or Type Cover and get to work.

Surface 2 is available in 32GB and 64GB configurations2 and starts at $449.

Surface Pro 2

Surface Pro 2 is the successor to Surface Pro and, like its predecessor, is a true laptop replacement, capable of running virtually all your Windows software, including the full Microsoft Office suite[3] and apps from the Windows Store. Surface Pro 2 offers the portability and simplicity of a tablet when you want it and the power and flexibility of a laptop when you need it. It is powered by a fourth-generation Intel Core i5 processor that, combined with other improvements, delivers increased performance and up to 75 percent longer battery life than Surface Pro. Starting at $899, Surface Pro 2 is offered in 64GB and 128GB configurations with 4 GB of RAM and in 256GB and 512GB configurations with 8 GB of RAM.[2] Full specs are available at http://www.Surface.com.

New accessories

Microsoft also released seven new accessories that will make Surface even more flexible, more portable and more productive:

• Touch Cover 2. Thinner and lighter than the original Touch Cover and measuring just 2.75 millimeters thin, Touch Cover 2 features backlit keys for even better readability. Touch Cover 2 is more rigid, registers keystrokes with greater accuracy and features updated sensors that support a variety of gestures across the keyboard. Touch Cover 2 is available Tuesday for an estimated retail price of $119.99.

• Type Cover 2. Type Cover 2 features the same superthin, lightweight design of the original Type Cover, but it’s now backlit and available in Cyan, Magenta, Purple and Black. It’s also more rigid, providing a better lap-typing experience, and it was designed to be noticeably quieter when striking the keys. Type Cover 2 is available Tuesday for an estimated retail price of $129.99.

• Power Cover. Power Cover delivers the same great typing experience you get with Type Cover but adds up to 50 percent additional battery life to your Surface 2, Surface Pro and Surface Pro 2 to help you make it through that late-night meeting or an international day of travel. Power Cover will have an estimated retail price of $199.99 and has a projected release date of early 2014.

• Docking Station for Surface Pro. The Docking Station for Surface Pro lets you quickly connect Surface Pro and Surface Pro 2 to desktop PC peripherals in a single step, taking you from laptop to desktop in an instant. While Surface Pro or Surface Pro 2 is docked, it can connect with up to two 4K external monitors, Ethernet, speakers and power supply. PC peripherals connect via its one USB 3.0 port and three USB 2.0 ports. The Docking Station for Surface Pro will have an estimated retail price of $199.99 and has a projected release date of early 2014.

• Wireless Adapter for Typing Covers. The Wireless Adapter for Typing Covers connects magnetically to any Touch or Type Cover, letting you type from anywhere in the room using Bluetooth technology, so it is even easier to connect Surface to a TV or monitor[4] and type from another location, such as the couch. Wireless Adapter for Typing Covers is available Tuesday for an estimated retail price of $59.99.

• Car Charger with USB. Car Charger plugs into most cars’ power or lighter ports and charges Surface without the need for an additional adapter. It also features a USB port to allow simultaneous charging of a phone or other device. Car Charger will have an estimated retail price of $49.99 and has a projected release date of early 2014.

• Arc Touch Mouse Surface Edition. This special-edition Arc Touch Mouse has been updated to match the look of Surface. Like other Arc Touch mice, it is designed for comfort and flattens for portability. It connects via Bluetooth 3.0, freeing Surface’s USB port for use by other devices. Arc Touch Mouse Surface Edition is available in the U.S. and Canada Tuesday for an estimated retail price of $69.99. Distribution in additional markets is projected to begin in the coming months. More information on Surface and the new accessories is available at http://www.Surface.com.

Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT”) is the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential.

The information contained in this press release relates to pre-release software products that may be substantially modified before their first commercial release. Accordingly, the information may not accurately describe or reflect the software products when first commercially released. The press release is provided for informational purposes only, and Microsoft makes no warranties, express or implied, with respect to the press release or the information contained in it.

[1] Skype offer not available in China. Internet access fees may apply. Skype offer excludes calls to special, premium and non-geographic numbers. A fair usage policy and Skype’s Terms of Use apply; see http://www.skype.com/surface for details. For Skydrive offer terms and conditions, see http://www.skydrive.com/surface.

[2] System software uses significant storage space. Available storage is subject to change based on system software updates and apps usage. 1 GB = 1 billion bytes. See http://www.Surface.com/storage for more details. Initial quantities of Surface Pro 2 with 512 GB will be limited.

[3] Office sold separately.

[4] Adapter required and sold separately.

Note to editors: For more information, news and perspectives from Microsoft, please visit the Microsoft News Center at http://www.microsoft.com/news. Web links, telephone numbers and titles were correct at time of publication, but may have changed. For additional assistance, journalists and analysts may contact Microsoft’s Rapid Response Team or other appropriate contacts listed at http://www.microsoft.com/news/contactpr.mspx.

REDMOND, Wash. — Oct. 21, 2013 — With the new release of Microsoft Dynamics CRM now available worldwide, Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq “MSFT”) on Monday announced a strategic alliance with InsideView Inc. that brings new Social Insights to the cloud-based Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online service. Microsoft on Monday also announced the availability at the end of the month of a new set of industry-focused business process templates as part of the new Microsoft Dynamics CRM release, delivering customers step-by-step process guidelines designed to improve performance in specific industries.

The new solution, which is now available online in 42 global markets, will be available for on-premises and partner-hosted deployments on Oct. 31. It is designed to offer customers an enhanced user experience that promotes end-user productivity and demonstrates the better together value of Microsoft technologies. This includes interoperability with Yammer, Lync and Skype — delivering sales, service, marketing and industry professionals a seamless and customizable experience.

“CRM today should be an enabler that detects trends, facilitates decisions and suggests actions that lead to successful outcomes and relationships,” said Bob Stutz, corporate vice president of Microsoft Dynamics CRM. “This major new release delivers on this promise of customer centricity by bringing together Microsoft technologies in a way that helps businesses and organizations better engage and nurture their customers.”

New social insights

The first phase of the Microsoft Dynamics CRM alliance with InsideView, a leading social intelligence provider, is the introduction of Social Insights capabilities embedded into Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online. Social Insights puts real-time company and contact information from 30,000 sources into Microsoft Dynamics CRM, helping marketing, sales and account management professionals engage more effectively with prospects to win more deals as a result of less time spent researching and more time selling. Social Insights will be available at no additional cost to Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online customers in the United States with Professional licenses on Oct. 30, 2013, with broader global rollout coming later in 2014.

New industry templates

The new Microsoft Dynamics CRM release offers customers pre-defined and configurable processes where each stage of a process is clearly outlined, identifying the recommended steps to completion. Building on this design element, Microsoft is introducing new templates for a number of specific industries, such as professional services, manufacturing and financial services, as well as processes for event management and solution selling. These completely configurable business processes incorporate best practices from industry experts and give customers a starting point to build a solution to fulfill their specific industry requirements. In addition, these templates flow onto all mobile devices supported by Microsoft Dynamics CRM, meaning customers can get the benefits of these processes on their favorite supported mobile device. These templates will be available for customers to download at no charge by the end of October 2013.

Designed to help customers match, engage and nurture customer relationships

In addition, the new Microsoft Dynamics CRM features new capabilities to enable sales, marketing and customer care professionals to match customers and prospects to the products and services they want, engage customers at the right moment, and nurture customer relationships.

These personal experiences are delivered through the following:

• A beautiful, new people-first design that offers a simple and immersive layout where all customer information is on one screen, helping people easily see everything they need to know about their customer interactions in one place.

• A new outcome-driven user experience featuring guided processes that help customers reach their desired outcomes. These processes can be tailored to accommodate particular business requirements that enable people to deliver an experience that matches their customers’ expectations. The benefits to organizations include shorter sales cycles, increased win rates and less ramp-up time for new hires.

• The ability to stay pervasively connected to customers and resources by putting social tools in the context of what people are doing. With Yammer, customers can quickly comment on posts or start contextual conversations from within Microsoft Dynamics CRM on-premises and online. Yammer extends across an organization, bringing everyone into the conversation, including nonlicensed CRM customers from within Yammer.

With the new Microsoft Dynamics CRM release, customers get access to new mobile client applications on Windows 8 tablets and iPads, as well as touch-enabled experiences on Windows Phones, iPhones and Android phones coming within the next month, giving customers powerful functionality and analytics on the go, without a separate license fee. These new tablet experiences keep people connected to their data, their team members and, most important, their customers, allowing subject-matter experts to be a click away.*

Over the past few months, Microsoft partners from 48 countries participated in the most highly subscribed-to release preview program to date for Microsoft Dynamics CRM and provided feedback on the new release. Select participants and their stories will be featured in a Global Premiere Event scheduled for Nov. 4, which will stream live at http://aka.ms/dynamicsglobalpremiere. More about the new Microsoft Dynamics CRM release can be found at http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/dynamics/crm.aspx.

For more information on Microsoft Dynamics CRM Social Insights integration, a news release from InsideView is available at http://www.insideview.com/press/insideview-and-microsoft-raise-bar-crm-sign-strategic-oem-agreement-integrate-insideview-sales. Those interested can follow and engage with the Microsoft Dynamics CRM community on Twitter at @MSDynamicsCRM, hashtag #MSDynCRM and #CRM2013, and Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/msftdynamics.

About Microsoft Dynamics

At the heart of every successful business are the people who make things happen. Microsoft Dynamics designs modern business solutions that empower individuals with intuitive tools that allow them to do their best work. Our proactive, easy-to-use business applications adapt to the way people and systems work, enabling businesses to rapidly deploy and be forward-looking in an ever-changing world.

About Microsoft

Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT”) is the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential.

* Some functionality requires Wi-Fi, Internet connection or mobile data plan (fees may apply).

Note to editors: For more information, news and perspectives from Microsoft, please visit the Microsoft News Center at http://www.microsoft.com/news. Web links, telephone numbers and titles were correct at time of publication, but may have changed. For additional assistance, journalists and analysts may contact Microsoft’s Rapid Response Team or other appropriate contacts listed at http://www.microsoft.com/news/contactpr.mspx.

REDMOND, Wash. — Oct. 21, 2013 — MetLife Inc., a leading provider of insurance, annuities and employee benefit programs serving more than 90 million customers, has selected Microsoft Office 365 to offset the challenges that can accompany a rapidly expanding global workforce and the company’s global presence. MetLife has begun deployment to its 64,000 employees and expects to have Office 365 fully implemented by November.

“As we expand our global presence, we had to start thinking differently about how to get things done more quickly while still putting our customers first. This absolutely affected the way we evaluated our previous technology investments,” said Jim O’Donnell, senior vice president and chief technology officer, MetLife. “As a whole, the insurance industry can be challenging for consumers to navigate, so getting all of our global employees onto one standardized platform helps us collaborate more effectively and efficiently. In turn, we can ensure the customer experience is as smooth and consistent as possible.”

The move to Office 365 will allow MetLife to reinvest cost savings into mission-critical technologies, which will enable MetLife to further strengthen its focus on customer-centricity. In an increasingly competitive industry, the ability to strongly differentiate the brand as customer-centric will help MetLife face competition from other insurance companies head-on.

“The opportunity to take advantage of Outlook and the other tools included in the Office 365 suite will ultimately help us mitigate the time and distance factors that can be detrimental to customer service. Office 365 supports and enables our strategy of customer-centricity,” O’Donnell said.

More information about how organizations are turning to Microsoft technology is available on the Microsoft Customer Spotlight newsroom.

Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT”) is the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential.

Note to editors: For more information, news and perspectives from Microsoft, please visit the Microsoft News Center at http://www.microsoft.com/news. Web links, telephone numbers and titles were correct at time of publication, but may have changed. For additional assistance, journalists and analysts may contact Microsoft’s Rapid Response Team or other appropriate contacts listed at http://www.microsoft.com/news/contactpr.mspx.

Game Developers, Display Makers, System Builders Express Broad Support

MONTREAL, QC - Solving the decades-old problem of onscreen tearing, stuttering and lag, NVIDIA today unveiled NVIDIA G-SYNC™ technology which, for the first time, enables perfect synchronization between the GPU and the display.

DbWrench Database Design v3.0.1 Released

Version 3.0.1 is a major milestone in DbWrench development and the first release of version 3.

This release focused on significant enhancements to the diagram editor. These enhancements include:

- Diagram lines are now movable.

- A new right angle linking algorithm to reduce line collisions and overlap with glyphs.

- A new diagram glyph color fill algorithm to make diagram glyphs more readable.

- Improved memory management to further improve performance.

A free trial download of this latest version is available at www.dbwrench.com.

Screen shots can be viewed here.

More About DbWrench

DbWrench is designed to increase the productivity of database developers by making creating and modifying databases much easier.

It's features include:

- Graphic entity relation diagram (ERD) designer

    - Forward engineer database designs with automatic SQL DDL script generation

    - Reverse engineer and visualize existing databases

    - A built in syntax highlighting SQL query editor

    - Runs on Windows, Mac OSX and Linux all in a single license