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We thought we would follow up the previous post with an FAQ which is based on the comments and discussions, so Bernardo put this together so things are in one place. Some of these might be introductory for some but since the comments covered a lot of topics, it seemed reasonable to start at the beginning. --Steven. What are the codecs needed to play DVD and why are they not included in Windows 8?.

Today Spike TV announced that they’ll be carrying our 90-minute E3 Briefing ‘Xbox: Entertainment Evolved’ LIVE from LA next month.

Microsoft plans to use Dolby's sound technologies in Windows 8, with PC makers required to pay a license fee for each computer sold.

In this post we wanted to update you on Media Center and Windows 8, specifically how we will make sure Windows 8 fully supports the capabilities of Media Center as it is in Windows 7. We took the feedback about maintaining the functionality very seriously, and we clearly understood what we’ve heard many of you saying around the value of Media Center for movies, Internet TV, broadcast TV, optical media, music, photos, and all the other scenarios it covers today.

Today we’re releasing our advance notification for the May security bulletin release, which is scheduled for Tuesday, May 8. This month’s release includes 7 bulletins addressing 23 vulnerabilities in Microsoft Windows, Office, Silverlight, and .NET Framework. All 7 bulletins will be released on Tuesday, May 8 at approximately 10 a.m. PDT. Revisit this blog on Tuesday for our official risk and impact analysis, along with deployment guidance and a video overview of the release.

During our investigation into the disclosure of confidential data shared with our Microsoft Active Protections Program (MAPP) partners, we determined that a member of the MAPP program, Hangzhou DPTech Technologies Co., Ltd., had breached our non-disclosure agreement (NDA). Microsoft takes breaches of our NDAs very seriously and has removed this partner from the MAPP Program.

I’m happy to announce that nearly two dozen new online stores for Windows Phone apps and games went live around the world this afternoon. The new web Marketplaces are available in Bulgaria, Costa Rica, Croatia, Estonia, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Turkey, Ukraine, Venezuela, UAE, Bahrain, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kazakhstan, Israel, Thailand, and Vietnam. In case you haven’t tried it yet, browsing and buying apps on the web Marketplace is an easy and convenient alternative to your phone.

We have talked quite a bit about SkyDrive and using your Microsoft account for the sign-in and roaming capabilities of Windows 8. These are just two aspects of a broad service infrastructure that you can tap into when using Windows 8 (and Windows Phone, Xbox LIVE, and a host of other services and apps). We want to talk more about the capabilities and features of cloud services for Windows 8 and Windows Phone.