‘Bout time! Business Desktop Deployment 2007 is ready to download–the real release version 1.0. If you have more than a handful of Windows Vista or Windows XP computers to deploy, you’ll want to download BDD and Windows Automated Installation Kit (WAIK), and follow the guidance in BDD. For more information, read this Vista Deployment Overview.
I was one of the documentation authors, writing the Security and Plan, Build, & Deploy guides.

Better late then never–Microsoft LifeCam software is now available for Windows Vista. Well, it says it’s available, but the Select your operating system list still only shows Windows XP, and it’s still version 1.2.1, so I guess they’re still in the process of posting it. I’m glad to see them showing something available because I bought a couple of these cameras in December specifically because they were made by Microsoft, and I was sure they’d be natively supported by Vista.

LifeChat folks, you’ll have to wait until February.

Update: Microsoft changed the page to say the drivers aren’t yet “availalbe” after all. Well, we’ve only got one week left in January…

Microsoft is offering this free download to allow you to use Office 2007 to save files as a PDF or XPS file. It works with any of the following Office apps:

• Microsoft Office Access 2007
• Microsoft Office Excel 2007
• Microsoft Office InfoPath 2007
• Microsoft Office OneNote 2007
• Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2007
• Microsoft Office Publisher 2007
• Microsoft Office Visio 2007
• Microsoft Office Word 2007

Thanks for the tip, Namoskar!

XPS files are formatted documents like PDF files, except open source. Windows Vista includes an XPS reader, so you should be able to view it just by double-clicking the file in Explorer.

Unless you have Firefox installed. Then, Windows Vista will try and open it in Firefox, which will prompt you repeatedly asking how to deal with the file.

To view the XPS file, follow these steps:

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Hate your computer to look like everyone else? Dan has released an updated version of the Vista Boot Logo Generator (v1.1). It’s 32-bit only (no 64-bit version available). He calls it a beta.

Look, it’s a holiday. You’re not supposed to be working today. So, rebel in your own quiet way by being unproductive.

Fire Spikey around to remove the vegetation, causing the jars to fall and break, releasing the butterflies. OK, it’s not the most macho game around.

My high score is 38,124. Post your score in the comments, you rebel, you.

I discovered Flash Element TD, a tower-based defense game that runs in your browser, over at Jay Is Games. Setup towers to shoot down attackers who have to work their way through your maze. You can upgrade your towers and such. Just mindless fun.

Use this tip to play it full-screen. My high score is 14021 (updated…proof after the break). Post your score in the comments.

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