What's New in the .NET Framework 4.5?

This topic contains a summary of key new features and improvements in the following areas of the .NET Framework 4.5. This topic does not provide comprehensive information and is subject to change. For general information about the .NET Framework, see Getting Started with the .NET Framework. For supported platforms, see System Requirements. For download links and installation instructions, see Installing the .NET Framework 4.5.



.NET for Windows Store apps

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Windows Store apps are designed for specific form factors and leverage the power of the Windows operating system. A subset of the .NET Framework 4.5 is available for building Windows Store apps for Windows by using C# or Visual Basic. This subset is called .NET for Windows Store apps and is discussed in an overview in the Windows Dev Center.

Portable Class Libraries

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The Portable Class Library project in Visual Studio 2012 enables you to write and build managed assemblies that work on multiple .NET Framework platforms. Using a Portable Class Library project, you choose the platforms (such as Windows Phone and .NET for Windows Store apps) to target. The available types and members in your project are automatically restricted to the common types and members across these platforms.

Core New Features and Improvements

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The following features and improvements were added to the common language runtime and to .NET Framework classes:

• Ability to reduce system restarts by detecting and closing .NET Framework 4 applications during deployment. See Reducing System Restarts During .NET Framework 4.5 Installations.
  
• Support for arrays that are larger than 2 gigabytes (GB) on 64-bit platforms. This feature can be enabled in the application configuration file. See the gcAllowVeryLargeObjects element, which also lists other restrictions on object size and array size.
  
• Better performance through background garbage collection for servers. When you use server garbage collection in the .NET Framework 4.5, background garbage collection is automatically enabled. See the Background Server Garbage Collection section of the Fundamentals of Garbage Collection topic.
  
• Background just-in-time (JIT) compilation, which is optionally available on multi-core processors to improve application performance. See ProfileOptimization.
  
• Ability to limit how long the regular expression engine will attempt to resolve a regular expression before it times out. See the Regex.MatchTimeout property.
  
• Ability to define the default culture for an application domain. See the CultureInfo class.
  
• Console support for Unicode (UTF-16) encoding. See the Console class.
  
• Support for versioning of cultural string ordering and comparison data. See the SortVersion class.
  
• Better performance when retrieving resources. See Packaging and Deploying Resources in Desktop Apps.
  
• Zip compression improvements to reduce the size of a compressed file. See the System.IO.Compression namespace.
  
• Ability to customize a reflection context to override default reflection behavior through the CustomReflectionContext class.
  
• Support for the 2008 version of the Internationalized Domain Names in Applications (IDNA) standard when the System.Globalization.IdnMapping class is used on Windows 8.
  
• Delegation of string comparison to the operating system, which implements Unicode 6.0, when the .NET Framework is used on Windows 8. When running on other platforms, the .NET Framework includes its own string comparison data, which implements Unicode 5.x. See the String class and the Remarks section of the SortVersion class.
• Type reflection support split between Type and TypeInfo classes. See Reflection in the .NET Framework for Windows Store Apps.
  
  

Managed Extensibility Framework (MEF)

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The Managed Extensibility Framework (MEF) provides the following new features:

• Support for generic types.
  
• Convention-based programming model that enables you to create parts based on naming conventions rather than attributes.
  
• Multiple scopes.
  
• A subset of MEF that you can use when you create Windows Store apps. This subset is available as a downloadable package from the NuGet Gallery. To install the package, open your project in Visual Studio 2012, choose Manage NuGet Packages from the Project menu, and search online for the Microsoft.Composition package.
   

Asynchronous File Operations

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In the .NET Framework 4.5, new asynchronous features were added to the C# and Visual Basic languages. These features add a task-based model for performing asynchronous operations. To use this new model, use the asynchronous methods in the I/O classes. See Asynchronous File I/O.
 

Tools

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Resource File Generator (Resgen.exe) enables you to create a .resw file for use in Windows Store apps from a .resources file embedded in a .NET Framework assembly. For more information, see Resgen.exe (Resource File Generator).
Managed Profile Guided Optimization (Mpgo.exe) enables you to improve application startup time, memory utilization (working set size), and throughput by optimizing native image assemblies. The command-line tool generates profile data for native image application assemblies. See Mpgo.exe (Managed Profile Guided Optimization Tool).

Parallel Computing

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The .NET Framework 4.5 provides several new features and improvements for parallel computing. These include improved performance, increased control, improved support for asynchronous programming, a new dataflow library, and improved support for parallel debugging and performance analysis. See the entry What’s New for Parallelism in .NET 4.5 in the Parallel Programming with .NET blog.

Web

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ASP.NET 4.5 includes the following new features:

• Support for new HTML5 form types.
  
• Support for model binders in Web Forms. These let you bind data controls directly to data-access methods, and automatically convert user input to and from .NET Framework data types.
  
• Support for unobtrusive JavaScript in client-side validation scripts.
  
• Improved handling of client script through bundling and minification for improved page performance.
  
• Integrated encoding routines from the AntiXSS library (previously an external library) to protect from cross-site scripting attacks.
  
• Support for WebSockets protocol.
  
• Support for reading and writing HTTP requests and responses asynchronously.
  
• Support for asynchronous modules and handlers.
  
• Support for content distribution network (CDN) fallback in the ScriptManager control.
  

Networking

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The .NET Framework 4.5 provides a new programming interface for HTTP applications. For more information, see the new System.Net.Http and System.Net.Http.Headers namespaces.
Support is also included for a new programming interface for accepting and interacting with a WebSocket connection by using the existing HttpListener and related classes. For more information, see the new System.Net.WebSockets namespace and the HttpListener class.
In addition, the .NET Framework 4.5 includes the following networking improvements:

• RFC-compliant URI support. For more information, see Uri and related classes.
  
• Support for Internationalized Domain Name (IDN) parsing. For more information, see Uri and related classes.
  
• Support for Email Address Internationalization (EAI). For more information, see the System.Net.Mail namespace.
  
• Improved IPv6 support. For more information, see the System.Net.NetworkInformation namespace.
  
• Dual-mode socket support. For more information, see the Socket and TcpListener classes.
  

Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF)

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In the .NET Framework 4.5, Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF) contains changes and improvements in the following areas:

• The new Ribbon control, which enables you to implement a ribbon user interface that hosts a Quick Access Toolbar, Application Menu, and tabs.
  
• The new INotifyDataErrorInfo interface, which supports synchronous and asynchronous data validation.
  
• New features for the VirtualizingPanel and Dispatcher classes.
  
• Improved performance when displaying large sets of grouped data, and by accessing collections on non-UI threads.
  
• Data binding to static properties, data binding to custom types that implement the ICustomTypeProvider interface, and retrieval of data binding information from a binding expression.
  
• Repositioning of data as the values change (live shaping).
  
• Ability to check whether the data context for an item container is disconnected.
  
• Ability to set the amount of time that should elapse between property changes and data source updates.
  
• Improved support for implementing weak event patterns. Also, events can now accept markup extensions.
  

Windows Communication Foundation (WCF)

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In the .NET Framework 4.5, the following features have been added to make it simpler to write and maintain Windows Communication Foundation (WCF) applications:

• Simplification of generated configuration files.
  
• Support for contract-first development.
  
• Ability to configure ASP.NET compatibility mode more easily.
  
• Changes in default transport property values to reduce the likelihood that you will have to set them.
  
• Updates to the XmlDictionaryReaderQuotas class to reduce the likelihood that you will have to manually configure quotas for XML dictionary readers.
  
• Validation of WCF configuration files by Visual Studio as part of the build process, so you can detect configuration errors before you run your application.
  
• New asynchronous streaming support.
  
• New HTTPS protocol mapping to make it easier to expose an endpoint over HTTPS with Internet Information Services (IIS).
  
• Ability to generate metadata in a single WSDL document by appending ?singleWSDL to the service URL.
  
• Websockets support to enable true bidirectional communication over ports 80 and 443 with performance characteristics similar to the TCP transport.
  
• Support for configuring services in code.
  
• XML Editor tooltips.
  
• ChannelFactory caching support.
  
• Binary encoder compression support.
  
• Support for a UDP transport that enables developers to write services that use "fire and forget" messaging. A client sends a message to a service and expects no response from the service.
  
• Ability to support multiple authentication modes on a single WCF endpoint when using the HTTP transport and transport security.
  
• Support for WCF services that use internationalized domain names (IDNs).
  

 

Windows Workflow Foundation (WF)

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Several new features have been added to Windows Workflow Foundation (WF) in the .NET Framework 4.5. These new features include:

• State machine workflows, which were first introduced as part of the .NET Framework 4.0.1 (.NET Framework 4 Platform Update 1). This update included several new classes and activities that enabled developers to create state machine workflows. These classes and activities were updated for the .NET Framework 4.5 to include:
  
  • The ability to set breakpoints on states.
    
  • The ability to copy and paste transitions in the workflow designer.
    
  • Designer support for shared trigger transition creation.
    
  • Activities for creating state machine workflows, including: StateMachine, State, and Transition.
    
• Enhanced Workflow Designer features such as the following:
  
  • Enhanced workflow search capabilities in Visual Studio, including Quick Find and Find in Files.
    
  • Ability to automatically create a Sequence activity when a second child activity is added to a container activity, and to include both activities in the Sequence activity.
    
  • Panning support, which enables the visible portion of a workflow to be changed without using the scroll bars.
    
  • A new Document Outline view that shows the components of a workflow in a tree-style outline view and lets you select a component in the Document Outline view.
    
  • Ability to add annotations to activities.
    
  • Ability to define and consume activity delegates by using the workflow designer.
    
  • Auto-connect and auto-insert for activities and transitions in state machine and flowchart workflows.
    
• Storage of the view state information for a workflow in a single element in the XAML file, so you can easily locate and edit the view state information.
  
• A NoPersistScope container activity to prevent child activities from persisting.
  
• Support for C# expressions:
  
  • Workflow projects that use Visual Basic will use Visual Basic expressions, and C# workflow projects will use C# expressions.
    
  • C# workflow projects that were created in Visual Studio 2010 and that have Visual Basic expressions are compatible with C# workflow projects that use C# expressions.
    
• Versioning enhancements:
  
  • The new WorkflowIdentity class, which provides a mapping between a persisted workflow instance and its workflow definition.
    
  • Side-by-side execution of multiple workflow versions in the same host, including WorkflowServiceHost.
    
  • In Dynamic Update, the ability to modify the definition of a persisted workflow instance.
    
• Contract-first workflow service development, which provides support for automatically generating activities to match an existing service contract.
  

Building Apps for Windows Phone 8

It’s a very exciting time for developers! Last week, we launched Windows 8 and Surface. Microsoft launched Windows Phone 8 and introduced some awesome new smartphone devices. Today, we’re kicking off the Build conference, where we’ll join with thousands of developers in person, and with hundreds of thousands virtually, to explore the opportunities available with Microsoft platforms and tools. And now, in conjunction with yesterday’s Windows Phone 8 news and with our goal of having tools available on the same cadence as the platforms, I’m very excited to share that the Windows Phone SDK 8.0, including Visual Studio Express 2012 for Windows Phone, is now available for download.

With Windows 8, Windows Phone 8, and Windows Azure, developers using Visual Studio 2012 can build experiences that span the Windows ecosystem, from desktops to laptops to tablets to smartphones to the cloud. And with that in mind, today’s release of the Windows Phone SDK 8.0 enables some exciting new capabilities for developers, such as using C++ and DirectX to build stunning experiences, enabling in-app purchases to sell virtual and digital good within apps, helping developers to streamline their efforts with the advances we’ve made in Visual Studio 2012 and .NET, and more.

The Windows Phone SDK 8.0 works with the Visual Studio 2012 and enables you to get started today building great apps for both Windows Phone 8 and Windows Phone 7.x. It includes emulators for both environments, including the ability to validate for multiple chassis, and support for simulating various network conditions (e.g. ‘2G’, ‘3G’). It includes new templates for developing Windows Phone apps, such as for building apps with Direct3D, and it sports enhanced diagnostics for analyzing apps, such as power and network profiling and responsiveness monitoring. It enables building native apps as well as building managed apps that consume native libraries. It enables much easier portability between Windows 8 apps and Windows Phone 8 apps. It includes .NET portable library support, so you can write your libraries once and reuse them across all your apps. The list goes on.

As an avid user of Windows Phone, I’m looking forward to downloading and using the stellar apps you all create.

For a more in-depth tour through what’s new for developers in the Windows Phone SDK 8.0, see the Visual Studio team, .NET team, and Blend team blogs.

Improving the Modern Application Lifecycle

Microsoft recently hosted the 3rd annual ALM Summit, a gathering of Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) practitioners interested in learning more about the craft and sharing their own experiences with others.   Over the course of three packed days and across four tracks of discussions focused on DevOps, testing, agile development, and ALM leadership, attendees are discussing and collaborating with others in the field, all with the goal of improving how our industry delivers software and services.

A key set of themes during this summit focuses on real change happening in the industry.  In a world of devices and services, we’re seeing that feedback and iteration are the name of the game, with multi-year release trains replaced by faster and thoughtful build/measure/learn cycles, with a need for friction-free paths to production yielding advances in quality enablement and continuous deployment, with the blurring of development team roles, and with teams becoming more and more distributed.

All of this has led us to shift our approach in how we improve and release Visual Studio, while at the same time ensuring that new value includes capabilities to propel this “new normal.” In November, we shipped Visual Studio 2012 Update 1 (VS2012.1), an update to Visual Studio 2012 that provided not only fixes for bugs in the RTM release of Visual Studio 2012, but also a wealth of new features, spanning improved support for agile teams and continuous quality in addition to improved support for Windows and SharePoint development.  Today, I’m happy to share that we’ve released our first preview of Visual Studio 2012 Update 2 (VS2012.2).  This preview includes all of the improvements from VS2012.1 while also introducing web-based support for Test Case Management (TCM), improved support for work item tagging, unit testing features for Windows Phone 8, and more.  You can now download this preview, and you can expect subsequent previews and the eventual release of VS2012.2 to contain many more exciting capabilities.

However, while I’m excited by this VS2012.2 preview release, I’m even more excited by another of today’s announcements.  As Brian Harry just announced in his keynote this morning at the ALM Summit, we’ve added Git source code management to Team Foundation Service, with Git repositories hosted in Team Foundation Service available today for use seamlessly from any Git tool on any operating system.  Developers can now benefit from Microsoft’s fully-integrated ALM suite, while at the same time having a choice of using Git or TFVC (Team Foundation Version Control) for their source control repositories.  We’ll continue to invest in both Git and TFVC (Team Foundation Version Control) throughout future releases, as we see both centralized version control and distributed version control systems as being optimized for different types of projects and development workflows.

As part of this effort, today we’re also releasing a preview of an extension for VS2012.2 that enables connecting Visual Studio to Git repositories hosted in any Git host, including Team Foundation Service, CodePlex, GitHub, and any number of other 3rd-party services.  To create this extension, we utilized the open source library libgit2, and in the process, several of our full-time engineers worked as committers to the libgit2 project.  These capabilities will be built into a future release of Visual Studio, enabling it to serve as an incredibly robust Git client, one that provides seamless integration with the rest of the simplicity and power provided by Visual Studio.

Visual Studio 2013, ALM, and DevOps

Since launching Visual Studio 2012, we’ve been thrilled with the customer adoption and partner momentum we’ve seen.  Visual Studio 2012 has been downloaded more than 4 million times, the fastest adoption of any Visual Studio release in the past.  We’ve also delivered new value into Visual Studio 2012 through two VS Updates, VS2012.1 and VS2012.2, updates which are now being used on more than 60% of Visual Studio 2012 deployments. The functionality available in Visual Studio is further augmented by a robust ecosystem of extensions and integrated solutions, including almost 500 VSIP products in market, and more than 3900 products and extensions for Visual Studio in the Visual Studio Gallery.

Not only have we seen great adoption on the client, in the cloud we’ve continued to see terrific uptake of Team Foundation Service, which we released for general availability at Build 2012 and which we’ve been updating approximately every three weeks with new capabilities, including with Git support as announced in January at the ALM Summit.

Even with this progress, there are many great opportunities to advance the state of the art for developers and development teams building modern apps and managing the modern app lifecycle.  With multi-year release cycles vanishing and being replaced by shorter build/measure/learn cycles, development teams are more earnestly incorporating operations and other stakeholders into the development process.  Modern application lifecycle management practices enable teams to support a continuous delivery cadence that balances agility and quality, while removing the traditional silos separating developers from operations and business stakeholders, improving communication and collaboration within development teams, and driving connections between applications and business outcomes.  Microsoft is extending the ALM capabilities we’ve built into Visual Studio 2012 and its updates by further enabling such “DevOps” scenarios with our tools and services, yielding a more friction-free and higher quality path to production.

In this vein, today marks the start of TechEd North America 2013, and with it I’m excited to announce several key advances related to the modern application lifecycle.

Visual Studio 2013

I’m thrilled to share that our next major release, Visual Studio 2013, will be available later this year, with a preview build publicly available at Build 2013 in San Francisco at the end of the month.  In his keynote demo and follow-on foundational session today at TechEd, Brian Harry highlighted some of the new ALM capabilities coming in this release and in the cloud, including new features focused on business agility, quality enablement, and DevOps.  Here are a few of my favorites:

• Agile portfolio management, which enables you to plan your agile projects “at scale” by showing the hierarchical relationship between work being done in multiple teams across your organization.
• Cloud-based load testing, a new capability of Team Foundation Service that takes advantage of the elastic scalability of Windows Azure to generate traffic, simulating thousands of simultaneous virtual users so as to help you understand how your web applications and services operate under load.
• Code information indicators that provide information about unit tests, work items, code references, and more, all directly within the code editor in Visual Studio, increasing developer productivity by enabling project-related contextual information to be viewed and consumed without leaving the editor.
• A team room integrated into TFS, improving the collaboration amongst team members via a real-time and persistent chat room that integrates with data and interactions elsewhere in TFS.
• Identity integrated into Visual Studio, such that the IDE is connected to backend services that support, for example, roaming the developer’s settings as the developer moves from installation to installation.
• Support in TFS for integrated code comments that facilitate code reviews with increased transparency and traceability.
• A .NET memory dump analyzer, which enables developers to easily explore .NET objects in a memory dump and to compare two memory dumps in pursuit of finding and fixing memory leaks.
• Git support built into Visual Studio 2013, both on the client and on the server, including in the on-premises Team Foundation Server 2013.
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These are just a few of the new capabilities available with this release, which we’ll be talking much more about in the coming weeks and at Build.  Many of these features are available starting today on Team Foundation Service.

InRelease

DevOps is an increasingly important part of application lifecycle management and is a growing area of interest as businesses need to develop and deploy quality applications at a faster pace. We continue to invest in improving the modern application lifecycle, with a particular focus on DevOps.

As part of this increased focus, today I’m excited to announce Microsoft’s agreement to acquire InCycle’s InRelease Business Unit, a leading release management solution for .NET and Windows Server applications. InCycle’s InRelease product is a continuous delivery solution that automates the release process through all of your environments from TFS through to production, all in one solution, and all integrated with TFS.

This acquisition will extend Microsoft’s offerings in the ALM and DevOps space. We look forward to continuing to offer customers new tools and capabilities to help them develop and operate the high quality applications and services they need to run their businesses with increasing agility.

MSDN and Dev/Test on Windows Azure

The technical improvements we’re making to Visual Studio represent just one facet of the work we’re doing to improve the productivity and success of teams using Microsoft platforms. For example, we’ve improved the Windows Azure benefit available as part of eligible MSDN subscriptions; you now have a choice as to how you use your Windows Azure credits for development and test, whether you apply them for Virtual Machines, Web Sites, Cloud Services, Mobile Services, Media Services, HDInsight, or beyond.  The Windows Azure MSDN benefit includes access to virtual machine images preconfigured with MSDN subscription software, such as SQL Server and BizTalk Server, and alternatively supports uploading your own virtual machine with your MSDN software.

Further, one of our goals is to make it easy for every member of a development team, whether dev or test, to be empowered to provision without friction the environments they need when they need them.  With the new Windows Azure MSDN benefit for dev and test, we are taking an important step towards realizing that goal. As of June 1st, MSDN subscribers now have use rights to run in Windows Azure VMs selected software they get through MSDN (see the Visual Studio and MSDN licensing white paper for more details).

These improvements help to make development teams more agile by providing them with simple and scalable access to development and test cloud-based resources.

via - MSDN Blogs

Windows 8.1 Blue, a Deep Preview

Microsoft launched Windows 8 on last August, with a freshly designed user for the touch-based devices. Just after eight months, Microsoft is now keen to talk about some upcoming changes in Windows 8.1, entitled as Windows Blue, it sets the pace for changes to Microsoft's software that will continue in the future for both the x86 and RT versions of the OS.

Lets see some new and improved features of Windows 8.1 codenamed as Windows Blue.

Windows Start Button

The most important up-gradation in Windows Blue is the coming back of Windows Start Button in the left-hand corner of the Windows 8.1 to make it easier for non-touch screen users, Microsoft already got so many complaints and reports regarding the missing start button feature.

In addition to the start button, users will also be able to set and rename apps in “All Apps screen” (where Windows listed all installed applications on your system) as the default instead of the Start Screen. More details given below

All App screen (Default start screen)

As like Windows Phone Microsoft introduced small and larger live tiles in Windows Blue.

The size of tiles depend on the frequency of usage or the information you want to get from that app tile, if you are using an app so frequently size of the tile will become extra-large and for applications like weather app, it need to display more forecast data’s. Users also can redesign the size of the tiles

And new installed apps no longer automatically pin into default start screen, users have to manually pin it.

The best feature I liked in new tiles slide is, we can create four tiles (in the screenshot we can see video, game, music and photo) in a single tile space.

SkyDrive (cloud storage)

Microsoft’s cloud storage service, SkyDrive, is far more integrated than it was even in Windows 8, files can be saved directly to SkyDrive as like in windows office 2013. Users can access make SkyDrive files offline on PC.

Background image:

In default Start Screen, now we can set mirror image of Desktop Wallpaper, this feature will makes all app screen friendlier.

More color and texture:

Windows 8.1 offers a wider variety colors themes and textures, where Windows 8 had a limited number of colors and textures.

Freshly added features in Blue. 

Search:

"The boldest totally new feature that we've done in 8.1 is the Search feature," - Harris. As he said, MS improved build-in Search a lot more powerful in Windows Blue.

Microsoft pull result from a variety of sources, including the Web Results, Documents, Apps, SkyDrive and much more.


Customizable Snap views

Windows 8.1 brings variable, continuous size of snap views. You will have more ways to see multiple apps on the screen at the same time. You can resize apps to any size you want, share the screen between two Apps, or have up to four apps on screen.

If you have multiple displays connected, you can have different Windows Store Apps running on all the displays at the same time and the Start Screen can stay open on one monitor. This makes Multi-Tasking even easier. Also in Windows 8.1, you can have multiple windows of the same app snapped together – such as two Internet Explorer Windows.

Auto Updates: 

From Windows 8.1 there won't be any manual updates for apps, all installed apps will be automatically updates when new update releases for the app.

Better Multi-Monitor Support: 

A new Settings app, with moves several functions from the desktop to the modern user-interface, includes more options for Multi-Monitor setups and allowing users to set the resolution of secondary monitors manually if they wish.

IE Improvements:

Web browsing continues to be one of the most popular activities on any device. That’s why with Windows 8.1, you also get Internet Explorer 11 (IE11).

Internet explorer 11 builds on the advancements in IE10 and is the only browser that is built for touch. IE11 will offer even better touch performance, faster page load times and several other new features we think you will enjoy. For example, you can now adjust the appearance of modern internet explorer 11 to always show the address bar and you can have as many open tabs as you like. And you can access your open tabs in sync across your other Windows 8.1 devices.

Reading List: 

In any app with content (including IE), users will be able to save that content to a Reading List. It works with news apps like The New York Times and Microsoft's home-grown ones as well as web pages.

Active Lock Screen: 

The lock screen supports an intelligent slideshow that can do things like display photos from exactly a year ago. You'll also be able to take a Skype call without unlocking the device.

Photo Editing: 

The Photos app gets basic photo editing in Windows 8.1 Blue.

New Microsoft Apps:

Windows 8.1 introduces new Microsoft apps including a Calculator, and Alarm, Food & Drink (which has a nifty hands-free recipe mode that lets you wave your hand to advance to the next step) and Health & Fitness (with a WebMD-esque symptom tracker).

Users new to Windows 8 will probably get a lot of use out of Help & Tips, which will help walk them through the finer details of the modern user-interface.

App Syncing Across Devices: 

When you log into a second Windows 8.1 device, the same apps you have on your first one will automatically download and sync. Similar to iOS, you'll be able to opt individual apps and devices out of syncing.

Apps Enhancements: 

The Xbox-branded apps for Music, Video and Games all introduce new features that bring you to the content you interact with the most. News and Sports have similar enhancements, including customized sections and making stories and stats on your favorite teams more prominent.

When I get this update ?

The new Windows 8.1 will freely available from June 26 to all genuine Windows 8 users.

Are you satisfied with new Windows 8.1, please leave your valuable comments below

Real World - CSS3

If you’re reading this, the chances are you’ve seen some of the amazing things that have been done in CSS3. Unfortunately, most of them aren’t practical for you, or your clients.

No longer, I say!

Below is a carefully-curated list of real-world examples and snippets of CSS3 that can be safely used to enhance any piece of work you create.

To use any of the following snippets,

you’ll need to include a CSS file.

Please, feel free to ask me for the CSS file.

1. Recreating the <blink> tag

   This was, by far, the best tag in HTML. Unfortunately, it got dropped due to its lack of semantics. Well, it’s back.
   
   

   This is some blinking text.

   This is some <span class="blink">blinking</span> text.

2. Recreating the <marquee> tag

   You know when I said that <blink> was the best tag? Well, I lied. Presenting: a valid CSS3 marquee.
   
   

   You spin me right round, baby. Like a record, baby. You spin me right round, baby. Like a record, baby.

   <div class="marquee" style="width: 380px;"><p><span>You spin me right round, baby.

   Like a record, baby.</span><span>You spin me right round, baby. Like a record, baby. 

   </span></p></div>

3. Peekaboo!

   Is your client not listening to any of your opinions, is throwing a tantrum when it comes to the invoice, or is generally acting like a toddler? They might be a toddler. If so, this will help.
   
   

   I see you!

   <p class="peekaboo">I see you!</p>

4. Wibble-Wobble

   Got a fidgety client, who makes lots of stinging remarks? They’ll bee happy when their page wobbles, then.
   
   

   The 2^nd man to walk on the moon was Buzz Aldrin.

   The 2nd man to walk on the moon was <span class="wobble">Buzz</span> Aldrin.

5. The Third Degree

   It won’t take too much detective work to find this handy little snippet.
   
   

   Something’s not quite level here.

   <span class="third-degree">Something&rsquo;s not quite level here.</span>

6. WordArt

   Finally, a standards-compliant way to unleash the best type in the world!
   

   WordArt

   <h1 class="wordart" title="WordArt!">WordArt!</h1>

7. Nausea

   Remember spinning on roundabouts as a kid? I hated ‘em. After seeing this, hopefully you will too!
   Woah-oah-oah!

   <span class="nausea">Woah-oah-oah!</span>

8. The Perfect Typography

   Why bother choosing a font, when you know what you and your client wants?
   
   
   

   It’s perfect!

   <p class="perfect">It's perfect!</p> 

Microsoft Student Partners | J&K

Technology is King. Everyone uses it. But YOU embrace it, explain it, and share it. Now, go for it.

The Microsoft Student Partners (MSP) program offers technical training, incredible connections, and extraordinary opportunities. We designed this program to showcase students on the rise. The MSP program is for students who realize the best technology careers come to those chase their dreams.

Microsoft Student Partners are social, friendly and approachable students who like to meet new people. MSPs are the game changers of the future. Many go forth to create innovative solutions that address the world's toughest challenges. They think and act boldly.

Get Seen Get Known: As an MSP, you'll be informed about the latest Microsoft technologies. You will acquire the tools and training to lead technology discussions on your campus. You will demonstrate the newest technologies, host tech events, and connect with like-minded students and faculty. You will be the one everyone turns to for answers and insights.

Come build your skills, ignite your career. And become a Microsoft technology leader on your campus. 

This year #Kashmir will be witnessing a good number of New MSP's viz.,

Asim Danish, Sajid Khaki, Murfad Hussain, Uzair bhat, Khalid Majeed, Danish Mehraj & Abrar Khan.
It is very fortunate that our youth is also becoming part of various such activities. I wish them great luck ahead and it will be very fantastic to work with them. And we hope they will bring change in 2013.

Sharing a little chat with, which we had lately:

ASIM DANISH

A 21 year old guy, MSP, First and yet only Windows Ucrew member from J&K says he is very enthusastic about new technologies, especially networking. He want to create awareness among youth in R&D controls and Windows server families. He is pursuing his B.Tech in C.Sc. at Islamic University of Science and Technology.
You can read his Blog or reach him via Twitter or Facebook

UZAIR BHAT

Another 21 year old guy, MSP very much into networking stuff, wanna be developer has qualified for this year MSP program with his dedication and robust development skills. He is presently persuing majors in computer Sciences.
He says "What actually inspired me for this program: Microsoft on its own is a very big corporation and are providing opportunities, like this one, is very helpful and interactive for the students. So why not take an advantage by being part of such a program."
His goal for this season will be interacting with enthusiastic students and is already dived into Windows 8 development.
You can reach him via Twitter or Facebook

SAJID KHAKI

Another wanna be developer, C# freak and having hands on windows phone 8 development lately. Sajid marks it that, "I am very crazy about developing and I like everything related to developing and designing but i want to be the master of one."
In year 2012 i was the volunteer for Microsoft Dreamspark, and as a volunteer i learnt alot about new technologies through Microsoft Msp’s and from Microsoft's great personalities. so I decided to be the part of Microsoft as MSP, and I did it by cracking certain rounds of selection, I even took Help from the existing MSP's. I am very thankful to them as well. As a MSP i would spread New technologies and trends among people,by organising technical events,sessions.debates etc.
His focus for 2013 season will be Developing Windows 8 applications and publishing same to marketplace.
You can reach him via Facebook

MURFAD A KHAN

It doesn't matter what we study, but what matters is what inspires us.

Murfad Khan is a bussiness student, But his passion for technology has turned him to be next geek. His love for XAML and XNA has turned him to Kinect X-BOX developer. But the recent trend in technology has turned him to be Windows 8 Metro application developer and he says he is already into it. His core focus till next fall will be on WP8 and Win 8 Development.
You can reach him via Facebook

KHALID MAJEED 

Being associated with technology and making use of it are two different scenarios and i am with the later. Being recognized as MSP this year isn't achievement for me but is just first step towards my goal, that's what i think. I am obsessed with technology, I love the development flow of Windows 8 Metro Applications and i simply have crush on it. Metro style Apps. turned me a XAML programmer from a .net programmer. I love presenting my skills as i did last year in Microsoft DreamSpark Yatra, and i got chance to show my Hands on Windows Phone 7
You can reach him via Facebook

An Interview with Microsoft

Tell us who you are?

Hi, I am Ashraf Wani, a Microsoft Student Partner pursuing my B.C.A (Computer Applications) from CASET Engineering College located at Srinagar J&K. Having a keen interest in Software Engineering and Information Technology, I am enjoying being with Microsoft. I love public speaking and spreading the knowledge and the technologies to maximum people I can. I have organized various seminars with existing MSP's of Srinagar at various colleges in Srinagar and near by.

Tell us about your University?

My college is an affiliate institute of Kashmir University, Srinagar. The faculties are awesome, an expert in their departments. The management is a lot helpful for the students in need, be it any sort of need. Focusing on my college, there are a few technical communities in my college, so the few technical events are organized within my campus, but I always felt a need to attend seminars and technical sessions which are generally few in my campus.

Tell us about your MSP history, when were you awarded?

My journey towards Microsoft begins with the MSP's of Srinagar when one of them came to our college for a Tech Session. I first applied for the MSP program in the year 2011 and I made it to the prestigious list in the very first attempt. The best part is, after as well as before becoming a MSP I have got a lot of opportunities to learn from the professional and even on the recent topics like Cloud, WP7, Silverlight etc. Before being a MSP I have also organized renowned seminars like Dream Spark Yatra 2011 with MSP's of Srinagar, which has helped thousands of students to know technology better and get the Microsoft software for free.
And now I can proudly say that yes I am a Microsoftie.

What do you do in order to keep up with latest tools and technologies while focusing on your education?

Being very frank, attending the sessions of Kashmir User Group or the sessions from Professionals is sufficient to know about the latest tools and technologies. But if we talk about a broader part net surfing is the best thing you can do with. I have subscribed various personalities and pages at Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc which is really a great part of being aware to latest things. At recent I am reviewing about Windows 8 developers preview, VS2010 , windows phone 7 toolkit 7.1 etc. Being a student developer, it’s important for me to stay up to date with the changes so that one day I could bring some revolutionary product of my own.
What does being an MSP mean to you? and What makes you a great MSP?

I don’t feel there is any other reward equivalent to being an MSP for a Tech Student. I'm a only MSP from my college and Microsoft has only 5 MSP's from Srinagar and I'm one of them, that makes me proud. Being an MSP, I am also aware of my duties to the student community. I have to adapt quickly to the updates and then pass it on to my fellow students. The knowledge I get by attending the conferences, seminars, and UG meets, I share that with my fellows by organizing events in my college and also in the colleges that do not have MSPs. I do invite some professionals to deliver sessions in my institute, which would have not been possible without the MSP program. MSP, though it refers to being Microsoft Student Parter but really makes you feel most special person. Me as a MSP is really a helpful hand for students at my college, specially my juniors. I generally do organize seminars and sessions on any new technology I learn about. Basic aim is to share and being updated so I just have casual sessions with my college mates, whenever I get a free time. I have also helped and organized DreamSpark Yatra 2011 and tech sessions at various colleges.

Tell us about faculty support in promoting tools and technologies?

Generally faculties are associated to most famous technologies, it really makes me feel proud to introduce them the latest and new programs or products of Microsoft. They always show a keen interest.

If you could ask Steve Ballmer one question about Microsoft, what would it be?

How everyone is so DYNAMIC at Microsoft?

Had a chance to attend “MSP Summit”? When and how was your experience?

NO

Who are your top 5 MSP’s from your country? and why?

Junaid Masoodi, Shehla Rashid, Nawaz Dhandala, M V Priyank, Shashank Saxena and the few more. They are so because they are best at approaching to students and very quick to, that’s why they are having such great heights, various other factors like infrastructure and college support really do matters in making MSP the top one.

What you think about the MSP’s role in promoting technology at your campus?

MSP’s plays a prominent roles in promoting technology. As we all know that many a times labs includes pirated software etc. It’s the group of enthusiast people who really do efforts to get the best for the college and at very low economy. That’s where MSP’s create a difference by introducing programs like MSDN academic alliance , i-spark , etc. Promoting technology is the prime motive of the MSP program and I do feel the responsibility. The curriculum taught in our colleges is not enough for the students who will join the industry at some point of time.

If you get a chance to suggest one conference in your Region? What would it be and why?

Obviously at CASET Engineering College.

What is the best thing that has happened since you have become a MSP?

Nothing special yet.

Which was the last non-technical book you read?

Don't remember. Mostly involved with technical books.

If you could do so, how would you plan your academic studies differently?

Whatever I study or read, I always do Facebook updates and Tweets related to these implementations. I would always love to go for algorithmic or practical part more than the theoretical part.

If there was one place you could travel to, right now, where would it be and why?

Dubai City, UAE or Redmond City, Washington.
I have a dream to visit the Microsoft’s headquarter and I think it’s the sufficient reason to go to Redmond and Dubai being my Dream Land.

How can one be a part of MSP Club? Any suggestions for them?

Just be interactive, be technology lover and most important apply for the MSP program. Your dedication to the student community is more important for selection than your academics. Once you get into this club, you would learn the technologies very soon and would be able to promote it.

Who are your top 5 technical experts from your country?

Not anyone yet.

What are your future plans?

To work as a Software Engineer in Microsoft, add something really great to the technology.

What two or three accomplishments have given you the most satisfaction? Why?

First is the being a MSP, it really feels great to be attached with Microsoft, which is really a dream company for a Computer science student.
Second best thing joining the CASET College, which has supported at every step from seminars to sessions. This college has been a great help in my life and I enjoyed a lot in my college.

Any Message you want to give to the readers of MicrosoftFeed?

Always chase your dreams and never worry about the world.

Your contact information?

Blog / Website - http://ashrafwani.blogspot.com
University Website – http://www.casetcollege.in
Twitter – http://www.twitter.com/aashu_wani
Facebook - http://www.facebook.com/aashu2804a1
LinkedIn – http://in.linkedin.com/in/ashrafwani
Interview Link - http://shaikhjees.com/meet-ashraf-wani-msp-from-caset-engineering-college-jammu-and-kashmir/21672