Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLC

Henry Chen

David W Flynt

Marc W Todd

Joseph K Ollis

Darron Jack Stepanich

Rahul Nigam

Nidhi Verma

A method of and system for implementing a safe deployment of a first feature in a computing environment is carried out by receiving registration information for the first feature, the registration information including a second feature on which the first feature depends or a feature type on which the first feature depends. Based on the second feature or the feature type, a target build version that meets dependency requirements of the second feature or the feature type is then identified before obtaining a list of build versions for a plurality of computing devices in the computing environment. From among the plurality of computing devices, one or more computing devices that have build versions that meet the target build version are then identified before marking the identified computing devices as being available for deployment of the feature and advancing deployment of the feature to those computing devices.

Method and system for implementing safe deployment of features

The present invention provides a method and system of displaying items that gives the user the ability to easily access recently accessed items. The recent items list includes both incoming and outgoing correspondences that are attempted to be matched to the corresponding contact stored in the device. The user can access the recent contact list and reply using any communication method available. For instance, the user could reply by phone, email, send an instant messenger message, send an SMS message, and the like. The recent items list may also include items such as communications, contacts, folder, files, messages, applications, and the like. A coalesced list of the recently used items is shown so that an item is only shown once in the recent list. Any matched item in the recent list may also be shown in the alphabetical list that appears below the recent list.

Recent contacts and items

The present invention provides a method and system of pinning and displaying pinned items. Pinned items are displayed such that they are visually distinguishable and prioritized higher than related non-pinned items. For example, pinned contacts are displayed at the top of the contact list and are visually distinguishable from the other contacts. A special icon is used to show an item that is 'pinned.' contact. A pinned item is a copy of a contact. The copy helps a user quickly access the items they most commonly communicate with and use and provides an importance to an item.

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Issaquah, WA, United States of America

Henry Chen