Here's our latest episode... 

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http://www.facebook.com/pages/Microsoft-Talk/184573131553884

And so, how could we be not the object of your 'likes', if not affection? All our friends on our Facebook page till the end of the year (December 31, 2010) would be entered in a random draw, and several selected ones would be sent a cool pack of laptop stickies.

Ho ho ho! Happy Holidays!
- Abhishek / Manan

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Thanks Windows Live Team, for sending a stash of Hotmail goodies and laptop stickers.

For the upcoming Windows Live episodes, you know what you stand a chance to win. ;)

See the full gallery on Posterous

The awesome looking box contains a pedometer, wine opener, table clock, USB key, laptop stickers, and a book on Origami (strangely not branded ;))

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So, that’s how it looks like. After 26 respondents from our listeners. Thanks to each one of you. Really. 

We’re treading on Good, so that’s heartening to know, and gives us a lot of confidence.

However, it’s always work in progress. And with your following suggestions and feedback, we strive to be better. 

Clearly, everybody likes the awesome folks we invite as guests on the show, since nobody has asked us to Not invite guests!

Many suggestions here too, and also as extra comments on the survey – transcripts, supplementary blog posts, more links, listener questions, etc. - We’ll be working on them for sure and evaluate the feasibility of each.

I also have to respond to a one fine suggestion to name the audio file of each episode to be something like EP#GuestName.mp3 to allow search by guest’s name. However, if you search on Windows for the guest name, you’ll be pointed to the audio file since each file is tagged appropriately with the metadata. Try it, and let us know?

 

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Some of this is going to @prolificd on Twitter for the Episode 12 giveaway. Congratulations!

P.S. Please send us your shipping address at studio@mstalk.in.

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We are very traditional... well, maybe not in lifestyle and opinions, but when it comes to the culture at One Microsoft Way, yes we are.

Office 2010 has been given the version number 14.0, despite the fact that its immediate predecessor, Microsoft Office 2007, was designated by the version number 12.0. The skipping of version number 13.0 was due to superstition relating to the number thirteen - Triskaidekaphobia.

To keep up with the tradition, we've skipped Episode 13! We've pushed Episode 14 right after 12.

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Okay, so why don't you tell us how we've been doing in bringing to you more than 10 episodes with aweosme guests and much enthusiasm?

Take this small (really small, takes less than five minutes) survey, and share your feedback. We would really, really appreciate this.
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/VFS9VCR

As a thank you gesture, all respondents will be entered in a raffle to win some cool gifts and laptop stickers.
The survey maxes out at 100 respondents. And we have 20-odd hampers!

Thanks! Looking forward to improve things, always.

- A and M

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... others get swag too!

So, here we are announcing the Office 2010 special giveaway winners from Episode 11.

*drumrolls*

• Animesh Jain wins himself an Office 2007: Home and Student edition license, with a free upgrade to Office 2010.
• All other commentators at the time of writing this, on the post and on Twitter, get themselves a goodie hamper.

While the Episode 10 was live, our comments system had few issues. Sigh. Sorry folks!

• Hardik Shah, the only commentator incidentally, wins a Microsoft Press Powershell book.

All winners, please drop in a mail with your shipping address to studio@mstalk.in.

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Look what arrived via FedEx on my desk. Thanks @jasonberes for the stash.

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As we promised, the VS2010 launch giveaway should be a special one. Here's the dope on it.

• NetAdvantage for .NET – include ASP.NET, Windows Forms, WPF, Silverlight controls ($1195 value)
• NetAdvantage for Silverlight Data Visualization ($595 value)
• NetAdvantage for WPF Data Visualization ($995 value)
• NetAdvantage Icons Education pack ($199 value)
• NetAdvantage Icons Legal pack ($199 value)
• NetAdvantage Icons Web & Commerce pack ($199 value)
• NetAdvantage Icons Healthcare pack ($199 value)
• NetAdvantage Icons Office Basics pack ($199 value)
• NetAdvantage Icons Business & Finance pack ($199 value)
• NetAdvantage Icons Software & Computing pack ($199 value)

Winners have been contacted via email or on Twitter. You'll soon recieve the specifics over email from Infragistics folks.

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Okay, yes, we are very excited about Microsoft Office 2010 launching next month. And believe us, we are working on an overdrive to bring you an exciting Office 2010 launch special package.

As we start recording with our guests (yes, the plural is not a typo), we'll throw the floor open for questions you would want to ask. Drop in your questions about Office 2010 in general or on any of the five products - Word, Excel, Outlook, Powerpoint, and OneNote - as comments here or send us a tweet (@mstalkstudio) or an email (studio@mstalk.in).

The questions that get asked during the podcast get big props and small gifts :)

And ofcourse, the giveaways galore at the launch special - laptop stickers, goodies, and even a Microsoft Office license.

Stay tuned!

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See the full gallery on Posterous

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See the full gallery on Posterous

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Note from Infragistics:

All icons are provided as raster images in seven different sizes (16px, 24px, 32px, 48px, 64px, 128px and 256px square) as PNG files, plus an ICO file. Additionally, all icon packs (except Office Basics) are made available in 100% vectorized XAML file format. Vector graphics let you resize the icons without a loss in their clarity or crispness. Visual Studio® 2008 projects for WPF, Silverlight 2 and Silverlight 3 accompany the XAML icons to expedite your use of them in your WPF resource dictionaries, or WPF/Silverlight user controls and view box controls. For each icon, we also provide the icon in three interactive states: normal, hover (highlighted) and disabled (grayed-out) so you will always have icons in the right-size and style you need.

Details

 Each icon pack is priced USD 199.

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Coming soon to a post box near you!

All the winners (and that means, all the commentators on the Episode 7 post at the time of publishing this post) have been intimated via email/Twitter.

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Thanks Vic for the photo!

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Here we are!

So, if you are a member of our growing listener community at Microsoft Talk, this is where we go behind-the-scenes (Is there a similar phrase for audio-only podcast?).

If you aren't, wonder what you are waiting for? Head to http://mstalk.in and see the two of us (Abhishek Baxi and Manan) talk to awesome folks from the Microsoft ecosystem.

And why this blog/posterous/sidenotes?

We love our episodes. We so do. But there's much more that goes behind putting those together. Convincing (and sometimes begging) guests, arranging giveaways, technical distresses, and some great fun. So, this place becomes our enthusiasm outlet, and we'll share everything we do while we work out on Microsoft Talk.

Why not Twitter?

Yes, Twitter too! We are huge fans of Twiter, and so we are there at @mstalkstudio. Life, sometimes, is more than 140 characters, and so a Posterous compliments our Twitter channel. Follow us, and we promise loads of fun on the ride.

Talk to us?

Say hi. Send us pictures of fine women. Suggestions. Feedback. Cribs. Marketing/PR pitches. Donate us money. Advertising oppurtunities. All at studio@mstalk.in.

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