Microsoft
There are 315 entries for the tag
Microsoft
I was pleasantly surprised by my inbox yesterday to find that my session submission for VMWorld 2011 had been accepted! I had been trying for many years to break in to doing some sessions at Microsoft's TechEd - always to no avail. It always seemed like you had to know the secret handshake, be an MVP or work for Microsoft. I felt like I was destined to settle with speakling at user groups, no matter how badly I tried to get more experience in front of larger groups. So when my local VMWare account...
Came across a project from Microsoft Gold Partner MS Team called MobileNoter. This appears to be OneNote like application for the iPhone that uses a desktop sync piece to allow it to sync your OneNote sections to the app on the iPhone OTA. Interesting. The say it will go to beta soon and you can sign up for notifications at the site. As a lover of both OneNote and the iPhone I will keep an eye on this. I had been using Evernote to recently fill the gap as it works on all devices and platforms...
Microsoft announced at 1:40pm PST yesterday that Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 have officially been “Released to Manufacturing” which is to say all the bits have been finalized and signed off on. You can read announcements here, here and here. And, of course, all over the twittersphere. Bits hit TechNet +, volume licensing download sites and MSDN on August the 6th. I can now rebuild my laptop for the last time (until that Windows 8 beta is released). Congratulations Microsoft. Some critics...
I wanted to write a blog post to document how I do some day-to-day things. It helps me to keep track of my work habits, refine them and perhaps help some others who are looking for some solutions. My current rig is a Apple MacBook Pro 13” unibody. It has the 250Gb drive with 4Gb memory. I am running the latest version of OS X Leopard. I am really enjoying the 13” form factor. It is a little smaller and lighter than the previous 15” unibody which, to me, just felt heavy. I also don't notice the lost...
Microsoft is accepting submissions for the waitlist for the Office 2010 Technical Preview. This is an especially great opportunity if you are already running Exchange 2010 in the lab and want to see how using Outlook 2010 will enhance the experience with things like mail tips, conversation view and universal inbox. The preview is slated to kick off in July. If you attended TechEd 2009 this year, you get priority seeding in to the preview. Sign up in one click at the TechEd event site with your login...
I am sitting in the auditorium waiting for the keynote to start. I am curious to see if there are any surprise announcements or if it is just a re-hash of all the recent public announcements. Rumor has it they may announce VS2010 beta 1. I am sure they will highlight Office 2010 and Exchange 2010 – but to what degree I am not sure. My hotel was a big disappointment – but I picked it and was tricked by the flashy website so I have no one to blame but myself. I feel like I am staying at a Moroccan...
As I contemplate the design that was going to be an organizational upgrade to Exchange 2007 – I am now shifting gears towards skipping to an upgrade of Exchange 2010. Some things that are influencing my decision: The ability to use lower tier storage without compromising performance on the mailbox server. Thanks to all of the database optimizations like sequential writes, db schema re-design and table optimization, cache changes, etc. The database is now truly a portable and replicable object. Now...
Last week I was fortunate enough to attend the e14 Ignite training in Dallas on the latest version of Exchange server (Exchange 2010) about to get released to beta. As I rushed from the airport to the training, I was stopped to sign the NDA which prevented me from blogging about all the great things I was sure to learn. As expected the training was phenomenal and with the official release of the beta I can now blog about the public details of the enhancements. Here are some of the ones that I am...
Microsoft may finally have a winning ad format in its PR battle with Apple. Their latest ads, to air during the NCAA Basketball Tournament, focus on the price of a PC running Windows vs. the price of an Apple computer, the only thing you can legally run the Mac OS on. In these tough economic times, I think this is a solid strategy for Microsoft if you really don't have any druthers as to which OS you use, or are torn and are looking for a tipping point to help you make up your mind. However, I know...
The RSAT (Remote Server Administration Tools) have been released in beta form for the first beta of Windows 7. These tools allow for remote administration of your Windows Servers and services (think old adminpak.msi) from your Windows 7 workstation. I applaud the Windows 7 (or Windows Server) teams for getting these out quickly. We had to wait forever to get them for Windows Vista. Tip o’ the hat to Keith’s blog...
As soon as I got my mitts on the M3 build of Windows7 at the PDC last year, the first thing I tried was to run it in Fusion on my 15 inch MacBook Pro. It ran just fine sans one little thing – I could never get it to recognize the Marvell Ethernet adapter. Wireless worked fine, but for what I do at work wireless means a constant VPN connection and that was a pain. I did some searching, found one person that had it working on an older MacBook with a different Ethernet chipset. Once the new beta 1 build...
Service Pack 2 for Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 is now available to Microsoft TechNet subscribers through the download website. This is the Customer Preview Program (CPP) which will roll to general availability tomorrow. Technorati Tags: Vista SP2,Windows Vista SP2,Windows Server 2008 SP2,TechNet,Microsoft...
Pssst! Registration for TechEd 2009 opens on December 10th. The conference has also been pushed back about a month earlier to May 11-15th, so I think I can actually go this year! Is it too early to start tweeting #teched2009? Technorati Tags: TechEd,TechEd 2009,Tweets,#teched2009...
My apologies for being tardy with the follow up post on my Nokia E71 experiences. Its amazing how work tends to take over your life at points and keep you from the things you truly love – spending time with your family or writing blog posts. Thanks for the reminder emails some sent me that I promised to pen this. Before I get started, there has been some other follow-on Nokia news. First Nokia is rumored to be working on the E75, a slide-out QWERTY keyboard version of the E71. It offers a 2.4” screen...
Microsoft wants you! Below is a casting call for any MCP's and MCT's in the greater Seattle area for a Microsoft testimonial video. Casting call for video on the value of Microsoft Certification (Seattle area) We are looking for well-spoken Microsoft Certified Professionals or Microsoft Certified Trainers, aged 21 or older, to appear in Microsoft testimonials. The testimonial shoots will last between two to four hours and take place in the greater Seattle, Washington area during the first week of...
I just got a 30-day demo of the new Palm Treo Pro with Windows Mobile Professional 6.1 to test out. I will add this to my current pending reviews in the next couple of days. Any questions? Specs: Unlocked GSM device – not available from a carrier at the moment Platform Microsoft® Windows Mobile® 6.1 Professional Edition Processor Qualcomm® MSM7201 400MHz Display 320x320 transflective color TFT flush touchscreen Radio HSDPA/UMTS/EDGE/GPRS/GSM radio Tri-band UMTS – 850MHz, 1900MHz, 2100MHz Quad-band...
Having not ever been to the PDC before, only TechEd (x9), MEC (x2) and WWPC (x2), and I am curious to attend my first one. I have also never been to LA before so this should be a double mint of traveling pleasure. I hope I see some celebrities eating ice cream at a sidewalk cafe like in the magazines my wife always reads! :) Plus I love me some Mexican food and there has to be some good stuff in LA! I started up the TweetDeck filter for PDC and there is a lot of traffic and a good buzz going already....
I hate to rant, but what is the deal with no Outlook for Mac OS X? How hard is it to port this application over? My guess is not too hard, however, if *every* great Microsoft app was available for OS X then the reasons for running Windows would diminish quickly. I was running native OS X for awhile (no Windows BootCamp or virtual machines) but was killed by the lack of a few apps it became clear I relied quite a bit on: Microsoft Outlook 2007 Microsoft OneNote 2007 Microsoft Visio Professional 2007...
For the past three weeks I have been testing the new Nokia e71 and Apple’s iPhone 3g. Both phones are well built and deliver as promised in almost all areas. Below I will give a few tidbits about my experiences with each one. I am also at the same time working on deploying Microsoft’s System Center Mobile Device Manager (SCMDM). This will not come in to play with either of these devices though. Although they have licensed and support Exchange ActiveSync, SCMDM will only support devices running a...
I am writing this post using the ScribeFire Firefox plug-in. I am still on the lookout for a blog editor that come close to all the features and ease of use found in Microsoft's LiveWriter - but runs on Mac OS X. I have found some close ones -- MarsEdit and X -- but their big achilles heel is that they don't recognize SharePoint blogs running on MOSS 2007 (sp1 or otherwise). Natch Microsoft would build support in to its tool - no one else does though. And I will be damned if I can find a way to manually...
From the mobility space: Microsoft’s System Center Mobile Device Manager team has started blogging! Follow Dieter and his team as they share their large and collective wisdom on SCMDM and all its related goodness. Hey guys? Can we get iPhone support in the next version? I can dream …
Okay, I didnt know what to expect this being my first Apple WWDC. I am a vetran of ten Microsoft TechEd’s and a couple MECs. For the most part, Microsoft has cold the logistics of feeding, moving and running over ten thousand people around in an orderly fashion. People would joke about the strictness of the lunch ushers or the “soda and cookie nazis” that guarded the coolers and treats until just the right moment. We laughed at the guards that made us go a certain way and managed the ebb and flow...
Announced today were the new features for the next OS version release for the Mac OS X – 10.6 – code named Snow Leopard. Each of the previous seven released over the last eight years since OS X was introduced ushered in over 1000 new features. Number of new features being slated for introduction with Snow Leopard? Zero. None. Nada. Okay, wait, there is one. Native OS integration with Microsoft’s Exchange server. Apple publicly acknowledged the market share Exchange server holds and has built native...
Everyone is streaming in trying to find the optimal seat. After four hours of waiting in line, I don’t care where I sit just as long as I am sitting. There are large plasmas all over the place which is good – from my vantage point, Jobs is going to be a dot. Huge applause – Al Gore is here in the audience. From my seat: More cheesy pre-show music … 10:01 AM PST Still waiting, people still streaming in. Whomever was in charge of the herd\logistics should be shot. Microsoft owns them in this regard...
Waiting in line for the keynote. Kind of a “cattle call” experience. At least we get moved around every hour or so. People started lining up last night. I woke at 5am and headed over and ended up being about 1000 back, wrapped three thirds of the way around the block. It isn't easy standing amongst the faithful either. I heard about 100 Windows jokes in the span of an hour. Every story I heard told was always punctuated with ‘well you should see when I ran it on windows’ or ‘that would bring NT to...
The public TechNet SCMDM (System Center Mobile Device Manager) is now open. Here are some links to some good SCMDM blogs I have come across as well (link love): Marco Neilsen: http://myitforum.com/cs2/bl... Patrick Salmon: http://patricksalmon.blogsp... Enterprise Mobile (MS Partner): http://blog.enterprisemobil... Technorati Tags: Windows Mobile,SCMDM,System Center Mobile Device Manager...
Here are some helpful documents, guides and planning tools for those looking to evaluate or deploy System Center Mobile Device Manager. System Center Mobile Device Manager 2008 Resource Kit Tools System Center Mobile Device Manager 2008 Product Documentation Microsoft TechNet Center: System Center Mobile Device Manager Download the Windows Mobile 6.1 Device Emulator Kit (allows you to test SCMDM as phones pre-loaded with WM6.1 are not yet available, nor are upgrades.) TechNet Edge: Intro to System...
In a move sure to make many an ITPro squeal with delight, Apple announced today that the iPhone will soon be enterprise-ready by licensing ActiveSync from Microsoft and adding remote lock, remote wipe and other requested features. Sign up for the Enterprise Beta program here. The iPhone will offer full Exchange support, thanks to licenses from Microsoft. The iPhone will also get enterprise-friendly security features, including remote wipe, support for Cisco IPsec VPN, certificates, identities, and...
Released shortly after today's MIX '08 Keynote, a more standards-friendly IE8 beta 1 is now available for download. Features include: Activities - contextual services that provide quick access to external services from any web page. Webslices - take "slices" of a web site offline or bookmark. Choice of layout engine CSS 2.1 compliance HTML improvements Improved namespace support Platform performance improvements Developer tools Improved Phishing filters Domain highlighting Technorati Tags: Internet...
So with the release of Windows Server 2008 I was really looking forward to some post or announcement from Microsoft with regards to the availability of native Active Directory management tools that can be installed on Windows Vista SP1 without any mods, kludges or scripts. You know, they just work out of the box. Like the good ‘ol days when you copied adminpak.msi from Windows Server 2003 over to Windows XP. Now that I am running Windows Server 2008 as a workstation I don't necessarily have to worry...
Mary Jo Foley has an article on bringing back creating Windows Workstation 2008 (Part I) and proposing the idea that in the past there was a “server” version of NT4 and Windows 2000 and a “workstation” version that was the same product with limits on concurrent usage when running IIS, etc. She says that since Windows Server 2008 is the best version of Windows Server ever by a wide margin, why not capitalize on that an offer a “workstation” version. Some people, especially in the consulting field...
As I was looking over the main feed and wishing I could be a fly on the wall when D'Arcy takes back that PCMCIA card - I noticed there are a lot of Microsoft MVPs blogging on this web site. Now, I know the measure of the man is not MVP membership, but by and large these people are very bright and know their stuff. Out of the top 13 posters by volume, only five of them are not Microsoft MVPs. And there are a ton (technical unit of measurement) more on the list. Jeff, you have quite a community here....
One of the missing things from Windows Vista that most perplexed me (or frustrated the monkey cr*p out of me) was the lack of the RunAs shell extension. Following proper administrative best practices, I don't log in to my laptop with domain administrative privileges, I have a separate account for that. Running something like ADUC was never easy, and UAC in Vista often got in the way. If you turned it off, you could not get prompted to run an application under a different set of credentials. You could...
Some Microsofties are starting to offer TechNet Briefings in Second Life at the Microsoft Ampitheatre. Michael Murphy has the straight scoop at his blog. Personally, I would like to see more of this type of thing. It add an interesting twist to keep the community engaged over the typical mass-Live Meeting webinar. Those are only a step-up from reading a book. Now and again, you will get an exceptional presenter that engages you or a fantastic demo. I tried Second Life once and found it hard to pick...
Having trouble making that connection to the console session via RDP? If you have applied SP1 to your Windows Vista installation the switch has changed! Instead of "mstsc /console" it is now "mstsc /admin." Go figure. Personally, I would just add a "console" checkbox as one of the options in the expanded connect configuration on the client. Why do you have to go and be all mysterious Microsoft? Technorati Tags: RDP,Terminal Services,Console Session,/console,Windows Vista,Vista SP1...
I have been looking at a new software add-on package for Microsoft Outlook called Xobni (Inbox spelled backwards). I was directed to it by Viral's blog and it is quite interesting. It is in by-invitation beta right now, click on the badge in my sidebar to get more information and sign up (disclosure: clicks get you quicker beta product access). Some of the features the product provides are : "Lightning" fast email search (I put lightning fast in quotes as I have not had a chance to try the product....
There has been a lot of talk around the technical Microsoft blogs about the RTM of Windows Vista SP1. There has been even more chatter around the fact that even though the final, gold bits have been released, Microsoft wasn't going to give any public access to them until some time in March. I understand the reasons, but like many, railed at the logic. However much I disagree with a Microsoft decision, I like that they listen. So beginning immediately they are making it available to the technical...
I have recently been introduced to a company called PostPath. They are a new technology company that have created a Linux-based alternative to Microsoft's Exchange. Their proposition is that Microsoft Outlook is the killer application. As long as users can run Outlook and have all the features and functionality that they are used to, it shouldn't matter what is serving it up on the back end. And if that back end can run on cheaper hardware and storage with a highly-flexible open source OS, all the...
Ever wonder about the history of the Microsoft Exchange server? How did it progress and what were all of its various features and revisions? I remember first working with Microsoft Mail and then Exchange 5.0 that I implemented for a small college in northern Ohio. It was new and exciting to be working with this new messaging technology which at the time was going on to Windows NT Server 3.51 and 4.0. Those were the days. Barefoot in the snow, uphill, both ways! Read about the past at the always excellent...
Microsoft has released four new whitepapers detailing how Exchange 2007 is used internally. I am a big fan of these papers. I like to see how the maker designs, uses and maintains its own software. You always find some good tips and previously unknown tricks. Some of the best sessions I have ever been to at TechEd have been the "how we do this at Microsoft" ones. Exchange Server 2007 Design and Architecture at Microsoft Managing the Calendaring and Collaboration Process By Using Exchange Server 2007...
I hate to script. There I said it. I am a GUI-lover. That being said, I also know the power of scripting and automation can be a tremendous time-saver. That's why I try to script whenever I can. And here are some killer resources for the scripting IT Pro. Script Center All-in-One Script Center All-in-One features over 160 scripting-related articles collected in a single .CHM file. This collection features all of the Tales From the Script, Office Space, and Scripting Clinics columns, plus much, much...
I love these white papers from "How Microsoft Does IT." Obviously these guys are very skilled and knowledgeable when it comes to deploying their own technology. The insight you get is invaluable and really comes in to play when designing your own installations. From the web site: Ever wondered how a large enterprise plans and implements design and architecture of its next generation of messaging system? View this content to find out how engineers from the Microsoft IT messaging team will uncover...
For a few days now there have been some posts concerning the new Microsoft community site for IT Pros, TechNet Edge. I decided to give the URL a try today and saw some of the framework is in place. I was hoping for something more along the lines of Channels 8,9,10 and Mix - fresh, energetic and design forward. I will hold judgement until the release, this could be a comp, but apparently IT Pros are people that hang out in a graffiti ridden park ... we might be "on the edge" but are we "edgy"? Long,...
Microsoft TechNet Magazine has released another excellent architectural diagram for one of Microsoft's "back office" systems. This time Exchange 2007 is up to bat and this diagram has all the under the covers goods like Client Access, Edge, Transports and Clustering. Download this bad boy and head on over to your local large format printer (or Kinkos). Previous versions have also come enclosed in the latest issue of TechNet Magazine. As of the last issue this one hasnt shown yet, but perhaps it will...
Keith Combs of the Microsoft Across America team hinted at it and then Eileen Brown, Evangelism Manager from the UK confirmed it. TechNet Edge will soon be upon us. No official launch date or URL has been announced yet and even Eileen seems to be unworthy of a preview. I guess the team is keeping things close to the vest. The site is rumored to be the IT Pro version of Channels 8, 9 and 10 which are sites which build Developer community at Microsoft. I, for one, have been keen for this type of thing...
Microsoft's most awesome power toy for keeping many a file synchronized with your USB drive or laptop has been updated. SyncToy Beta 2 has been released and is full of all kinds of updated goodness. The UI remains largely the same, but it looks like a lot of our feedback has been incorporated in to the new edition. If you are upgrading be sure to read the warning during the install. Make sure you have freshly sync'd beforehand. Dynamic Drive Letter Assignment: Drive letter reassignment will now be...
Microsoft has posted the "RC0" build of Windows Server 2008 Enterprise Edition
Read all about it. Beta coming soon. Projected release Q1 08. update: Microsoft TechNet Vista SP1 Resources page. Technorati Tags: Windows Vista, Windows Vista SP1, Service Pack 1 Beta...
Microsoft's download site has released (or re-released\updated) a whole raft of Exchange Server related content. Enjoy at will. Exchange Load Generator (32 bit) Exchange Load Generator (64 bit) Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 Calendar Connector for Lotus Notes Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 Connector for Lotus Notes Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 Migration Wizard for Lotus Notes Microsoft Exchange Server ActiveSync Certificate-Based Authentication Tool Microsoft Exchange Server Jetstress Tool (32...
I love SnagIT and I love OneNote 2007. Like a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup (PS do all those peanut butter cups belong to Reese's?) now two great things taste better together. SnagIT releases an add-on that allows you to capture directly to OneNote 2007. You can also set it to send the capture to the cursor, a new page in a section, etc...
Trika over at MCP-land has released a link to the updated stats on how many people worldwide hold which Microsoft certifications. Now I feel a tiny bit more special! Microsoft credential Certification Worldwide achievers Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer (MCSE) Windows Server 2003 81,221 Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer (MCSE): Messaging Windows Server 2003 7,431 Microsoft Certified Systems Administrator (MCSA) Windows Server 2003 125,221...
I just found out that I passed the beta for 70-238 (Pro: Deploying Messaging Solutions with Microsoft Exchange Server 2007). I had previously passed the beta for 70-237 (Pro: Designing Messaging Solutions with Microsoft Exchange Server 2007). Unfortunately, as detailed here, I did not pass 70-236 (TS:Configuring Exchange Server 2007) and I did not get a chance to take it in beta due to some scheduling conflicts. I don't think there is any sub-designation for passing just the IT Pro tests but not...
I have started for some time now an Exchange working group on the Microsoft\Culminis community site Aggreg8. It now has a decent amount of traffic and conversation with lots of questions posted that many in the Exchange community may find helpful. You may also be able to share your experience with others. Please stop by and take a look. I can also give out some invitations if they are needed. Leave a comment. Update: Okay, so while traffic spiked I had been remiss in looking at post dates - nothing...
Microsoft published a white paper detailing the TCO on Windows Mobile 6 devices vs. RIM's Blackberry. Surprisingly they find a 28% savings in the Wm6 devices over Blackberries. And when studying the 160 enterprise customers they found 85% of them already had the incoming ports open needed for direct push since they are the same ones used for OWA. Nice...
I read with great interest another view on the iPhone from Michael Robertson who always has an interesting angle on any system or manufacturer that is "closed." I agree with a lot of his points. I am also very disappointed in the way that Apple and AT&T control this device, its usage and its extensibility and customization. In effect, they believe the only way it can be successful is to so totally control the experience that it will be utterly the same for everyone. It will also be rock-solid...
I don't think I am violating the multi-paged pre-exam NDA by offering this tip after sitting for 70-236 this morning: know they powershell syntax and commandlets. Easily 75%+ of my test involved trying to choose which syntax I should use to perform a configuration related task in Exchange 2007. I have heard there was some powershell on the exam. I even looked over the "skills being measured." This is the only item among 20 or so: "Implement bulk management of mail-enabled objects." Hmmm. I was not...
Microsoft has released rollup 3 for Exchange Server 2007. You can download it here. This rollup also contains all the fixes from rollups 1 and 2. It is also rumored to also contain a fix that allows for IMAP connectivity to the soon forthcoming Apple iPhone. Other fixes include: • 931328 (http://support.microsoft.c... An integer is added to the end of the legacyExchangeDN attribute of a newly created mailbox in Exchange 2007 • 930468 (http://support.microsoft.c... The attachment...
I am in a training class all this week in Toronto at the EMC office in Burlington, ON for EmailXtender. Usually I am a well prepared traveler having consulted for many years. For some reason though I forgot my power adapter for my laptop on this trip. I sought out the local Best Buy to see what a universal charger (like the model from Kennsington) would set me back - Yikes! $125.00 CAD. I have my Blackberry so I thought I could make it through still having email and internet access from the device....
I am sitting in a Microsoft TechNet event presented by IT Pro Evangelist Matt "All my mates are at TechEd" Hester. Matt is covering the Windows Vista Startup Recovery Tool. This tool is accessed by booting off of a Windows Vista installation DVD. Any version will work as all the versions contain the same bits. The install key determines which version gets installed. Once you boot up to the install screen there is a hyperlink at the bottom to launch the Startup Recovery Tool (SRT). You are then presented...
Microsoft has another great podcast up around the messaging design that went in to its Exchange 2007 environment. And please Microsoft, let me download the entire podcast so I can listen to it offline. IMO that is a requirement to be a podcast. Streaming sucks. From the download page: Ever wondered how a large enterprise plans and implements design and architecture of its next generation of messaging system? View this content to find out how engineers from the Microsoft IT messaging team will uncover...
Download the Windows Vista pre-configured virtual hard drive and get a head start on testing applications on Windows Vista
I have had this brought up by some co-workers and wondered if anyone from MS would like to officially comment? When Outlook 2003 was released there was the potential for un-patched Exchange 5.5 information stores to get corrupted or experience problems and dismount. Is Outlook 2007 officially (as in written somewhere - not just anecdotally) supported against a mailbox on an Exchange 2003 SP2 server? Comments welcomed. Update: I finally found, buried here, this: Connectivity to Microsoft Exchange...
Betalicious . . . mmmmmm Halo
Mary Jo Foley caught a good one over at the presspass website for WinHEC 2007. Originally, listed in the link bar is a link for "Windows Server 2008 reviewer guide" which linked to the Longhorn Server Beta 3 guide. She even took a screen shot of the link bar in case Microsoft changed it after realizing the blunder. The name has not been officially announced yet. And was she ever right. I have a shot here of the new link bar in which it reads "Windows Server Codename "Longhorn" Beta 3." Nice. Technorati...
As of SP2, Exchange 2003 was supported in production in a Microsoft virtual environment. Now that Exchange 2007 requires 64 bits to be supported in production and Microsoft does not have a virtualization platform that supports a 64 bit guest, Exchange 2007 is not supported in production in a virtual environment. From the Microsoft document Technical Architecture of Exchange 2007: Exchange 2007 and Virtualization Exchange 2007 is not supported in production in a virtual environment; however, as stated...
You know with all the web advances (is that the 2.0 web or the 3.0 web?) that the next version of OWA was going to rock. I am happy to say that it really rocks. A lot of people have blogged about the free Microsoft and Unisys Exchange 2007 demo account you can request. I got one quickly and fired it up. If anyone would like to email me my address is chris.haaker@exchange2007de... . This means you spammers! Let's see what this baby can do! One of the features I really love spending a fair portion...
From InformationWeek: “Tahiti places a small toolbar icon labeled "Work with Me" in the toolbars of Office applications that when clicked, launches Tahiti. In the current version, when a Word document is being worked on collaboratively, changes are tracked in real time and each change is marked with the name of the user who made the change. This update tracking capability doesn't appear to carry over to other apps like Excel and Powerpoint. However, the program also uses what Microsoft calls "personal...
I like Apple's computers, and if I had a few thousand lying around with nothing to do I might buy one. One thing I was never a fan of though, was Steve job's arrogance and open hostility towards Microsoft when on stage - and in advertising with regards to the delays surrounding Longhorn. Now it seems the shoe is on the other foot and I love these quotes from some of the Mac bloggers. From a ComputerWorld article: "I've gotta admit, this puts Apple is an awkward situation, given how much flak they...
When I first learned a lot about the Edge Server role in Microsoft Exchange 2007 last year at TechEd, I asked about the reporting that would be available. IT managers and directors love to request metrics on spam, discarded email and volume and the Edge server seemed to be the place where the raw data would best be obtained. Today I see a Message Statistics Sample Agent on Microsoft Downloads. From the official release: The Message Statistics sample agent examines and records aggregate information...
There has been a hack and an official KB on how to run ADUC under Vista. And while not perfect, it is functional. No one I know can understand Microsoft's logic for not having this solved prior to shipping Vista. If you also want to enable the Exchange extensions in ADUC there is one more step. After you do the things mentioned here, copy these three DLL's from a Windows 2003 Server (c:\%systemroot%\system32): netui0.dll netui1.dll netui2.dll Then re-register regsvr32 \windows\system32\maildsmx....
Download the Microsoft Office Communicator 2007 public beta here. Includes the Standard and Enterprise Editions as well as the Office Communicator 2007 client
Many of you that have been working with and paying attention to Exchange 2007 already know this - the new SMTP protocol has been re-written from the ground up as a separate component that is no longer dependent on IIS. Here is some more detail from DepLarge.doc - a guide on deploying Exchange 2007 in a large environment from Microsoft. New SMTP Transport Stack In Exchange 2007, the SMTP protocol is provided by the Microsoft Exchange Transport service (MSExchangeTransport.exe). In earlier versions...
Download it here. The list of included fixes is here. Technorati tags: Windows Server 2003 SP2, SP2...
As Eileen pointed out, registration is open for the public beta of Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007. I am looking forward to getting my paws on this beta as I think this new version is going to rock. I haven't seen a lot of information; and that should change soon as the beta goes public and the RTM date nears. Stay tuned. Technorati tags: OCS, Office Communication Server...
From Arlindo's blog I found an awesome Longhorn Hypervisor Virtual Server demo given at Microsoft. This is the new Longhorn server running the server core role with 8 cores! They show a few different things in the demo like hot adding a NIC to a running VM with PowerShell. Technorati tags: Longhorn, Virtualization, Server Core, Virtual Server, Hypervisor...
I saw this on the Microsoft Download website and had to take a look. It looks to be a virtual machine with all of the Exchange-based DST tools loaded on it. You then join it to the domain and you have a workstation pre-configured to run all the tools for DST adjustments. At least, I think that's what it is for. The description on the website is a little thin IMO and I don't want to download 1.5GB and then hope there is documentation in there! They should include it as a separate readme or be more...
Beta exam 71-237 ITPro: Designing Messaging Solutions with Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 has been released. With this exam you will earn credit towards the certification for Microsoft Certified IT Professional: Enterprise Messaging Administrator. The exam goes live on March 1st and the beta ends on March 27th. It should go live within 30-60 days of that date if previous beta tests have been any indication. You are allotted four hours for this test. Find exam preparation information: http://www.microsoft.com/le...
Please join the Southern Ohio Exchange Users Group on March 7, 2007 for a night of presentations highlighting Exchange 2007 and Windows Vista. We will be presenting several technical demonstrations on Exchange 2007 including deployment, operational efficiency and Unified Communications. We will also have some fun and informative Windows Vista technical demonstrations as well. Please register here so we have an accurate head count for food and drinks. The meeting will begin promptly at 6:30pm and...
I love Harold's webcasts on Exchange. He is a highly knowledgeable TechNet presenter. I recommend checking out his on-going 24 Hours of Exchange 2007 webcast series (I would list the link here but finding an event on the Microsoft website is about as frustrating as it gets IMO). I just completed hour 11 which focused on Policies and Compliance. Here are some highlights: Hub transport rules are not replicated to all the hub transport servers by any Exchange replication engine nor are they stored in...
Download here. Official website is here
My favorite note taking application has some new power toys! Technorati tags: OneNote, OneNote 2007, Power Toys...
Sign up for the Windows Home Server Beta 2 here. Ideal candidates will have two or more home PCs and a test box on which to install the beta. Technorati tags: Windows Home Server...
The "You Had Me at EHLO" blog is running a contest for the most excellent Exchange 2007 limerick. Grand prize is a Microsoft Zune engraved with the Exchange 2007 logo and catchphrase
Dear Southern Ohio Exchange Users Group - I am pleased to announce that Microsoft MVP and all around Exchange good-guy Paul Robichaux will be speaking at the February 1st meeting in Mason, Ohio at 6:30pm (Max Technical Training Center). Paul will be addressing Unified Messaging in Exchange 2007. Paul has been actively working with Exchange and a leader in the community for as long as I can remember. Paul is a partner with 3Sharp, author of truckload of books and magazine articles (Windows IT Pro...
For all of you Exchange engineers out there dying to know how the certification path for Exchange 2007 is shaping up, check out these informational webcasts talked about over on Trika Harms zum Spreckel's blog. One of the best titles for a blog I have seen lately. If you have ever been to TechEd, you can't help but smile...
You can download it from: https://connect.microsoft.c... Important changes from the previous version: PXE Boot Keyboard and performance issues on laptops fixed Virtual Networking on wireless adapters enabled Fixed to include installing Vista off of physical DVDs Technorati tags: Virtual PC 2007, virtualization...
I have been tagged as part of the "Five Things You Don't Know About Me" meme making its rounds in the blogosphere. You get "tagged" and then you tell five things about yourself others may not know. Once you are finished you "tag" five other bloggers and on it goes. My friend Kevin has tagged me so here goes: Like Kevin, computing was not my first career choice. I was a talented artist as a youth and not knowing much about how to make a living as an artist I decided I would become an Architect. Like...
There is now an official Microsoft KB article that details the steps for installing the Windows Server 2003 Admin Pak (adminpak.msi) on Windows Vista. del.icio.us tags: Windows Vista, Adminpak.msi, ADUC, Windows Server 2003, 930056...
A week out of the blogosphere feels good - and a refreshing way to recharge the batteries! Of course, now I have to wade through 700+ news items. I have not removed my laptop from its bag since December 22nd. It was hard at times, but I made it. I noticed a lot of people are getting their blogs in a knot over Microsoft giving out some review laptops loaded with Windows Vista Ultimate to select bloggers. I wasnt selected so it is hard for me to be anything but envious. On the other hand, I find it...
I love reading TechNet Magazine. They always have a host of timely and well-written articles in every issue. And as much as I try to go "paperless" having a printed magazine comes in handy when in an airport or when I have to spend extended amounts of time in "my office." On occasion they will have some bonus posters or materials included in each issue. My all time favorite is now available from Microsoft Downloads as a .pdf file. It loses some of its impact and grandeur not being in poster form,...
The Zune team has finally released a version of the software and marketplace that is officially compatible with Microsoft Windows Vista. I have not installed it yet so I cannot vouch for the performance but I will have it in place tonight and will let you know if any glitches turn up. Read more about it at the Zune blog here...
Microsoft is now offering free e-learning clinics for Office Communications Server 2007. The following clinics are offered in the bundle and the content is good for one year! Collection 5125: Introducing Microsoft® Office Communications Server 2007 Clinic 5126: Introducing Enterprise Instant Messaging Using Microsoft® Office Communications Server 2007 (Beta) Clinic 5127: Introducing On-Premise Conferencing Using Microsoft® Office Communications Server 2007 Clinic 5128: Introducing Enterprise Telephony...
I blogged a long time ago about VMWare's ability to convert a Microsoft vitual machine to VMware's virtual machine format. Finally, Microsoft has come out with a converter to do the same! Read on here
Now that you will soon be able to download that shiny new copy of Exchange 2007, you should begin in earnest designing the environment in which you want it to operate (and you know that means someone up the food chain will want a pretty picture of said design). So, without further ado, here are the Exchange 2007 Visio stencils. Just in the nick of time! I am a little disappointed that they arent done in the "new" style Microsoft has been using for all of its Visio icons, but rather the "old" flat...
From the Exchange Team blog "You Had Me at EHLO" (which IMO is one of the best blog titles ever): Exchange 2007 is RTM. Documentation Technorati tags: Exchange 2007, Exchange, RTM, Microsoft Exchange, You Had Me at EHLO...
From on10.net comes a link to some great XBox 360 themed wallpapers for your Zune. Now, if only I could sync my damn Zune with Windows Vista. Rumor has it that internally all the Microsofties have the patch that makes the Zune software Vista compliant, but the rest of us have to wait until, oh yeah, consumer availability of Windows Vista in anothe4 45 days. Come on, wrap it in the "beta" verbiage like everything else and let us download it already!! Zune wallpapers courtesy of 360style.net; a sweet...
I was hoping this would come sooner than later! Microsoft has started to release gadgets for the Windows Vista sidebar! I am happy about this for three reasons: They work well They interoperate well and They look good! Outlook was also a logical choice for some of the first gadgets. PIM information naturally lends itself to a "dashboard" interface for easy reference. Calendar info Task Info...
This new paper from Microsoft details the Forefront Security for Exchange beta. From the site: Forefront Security for Exchange protects organizations against the latest threats by managing multiple antivirus scan engines at multiple layers throughout the e-mail infrastructure. This approach allows Forefront for Exchange to minimize the average window of exposure for emerging e-mail threats by providing continual signature updates from multiple antivirus labs around the world. Forefront also protects...
Remote Desktop Connection (Terminal Services Client 6.0) for Windows XP (KB925876) Remote Desktop Connection (Terminal Services Client 6.0) provides a way to use any new Terminal Services features introduced in Microsoft Windows Vista and Microsoft Windows Server Code Name “Longhorn” from a computer running Microsoft Windows XP with Service Pack 2 or Microsoft Windows Server 2003 with Service Pack 1...
A big thank you to the presenters at the November Southern Ohio Exchange User's Group meeting! Matt Hester from Microsoft presented on Exchange 2007 and Windows Vista. It was great to get some more information on unified messaging which is possibly the most requested topic where Exchange 2007 is concerned. We also heard from Tim Brunner on Symantec's Enterprise Vault product and how it helps medium to large organizations with compliance and retention. Our next meeting will be in January and you can...
I have been running Windows Vista RTM since it was released to MSDN a little under a week ago. So far, it has been bliss. Nothing major, or even close to major has made me want to switch back to XP. I have had to make some adjustments, but most have been the fault of those who have not made their software compatible (cough Zune) or who have compatible version coming out shortly. But I digress . . . I filled up my 20 GB C: partition pretty quickly once I migrated all of my data over. And there sat...
Microsoft has finally released the RC (release candidate - read still beta and not for production) of service pack two for Windows Server 2003. From the website: Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 2 (SP2) delivers on Microsoft's Trustworthy Computing initiative and illustrates Microsoft's commitment to continually create software products with enhanced security, increased reliability, and simplified administration. Windows Server 2003 SP2 builds upon the impressive track record of the award-winning...
Now that I have made the switch to Windows Vista full time I have had to re-think my RSS reader. I originally switched to RSS Bandit after being a long time FeedDemon user one day when FeedDemon pushed me over the edge with its activation. I work as a consultant and systems engineer and I love to beta test software and generally experiment. As such, I rebuild my laptop often. One to many times as far as FeedDemon was concerned. The first time it happened their support team was quick to clean it up....
From Microsoft Downloads: How does a large enterprise plan and implement the migration of its existing 32-bit messaging system to the 64-bit platform? In this podcast, find out how Microsoft IT was able to take advantage of 64-bit architecture to fully deploy Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 in its production environment. Hear engineers from the Microsoft IT messaging team describe how they were able to overcome some of the toughest performance bottlenecks in the Microsoft messaging systems. Learn...
So a lot of us ran out to Circuit City, Target, CompUSA, etc. to get our hands on Microsoft’s latest portable media offering – the super-hyped Zune. Zune has been in production, publicly, for at least the past 8 months. Even longer behind the scenes I am sure. At the same time Microsoft has also been feverishly developing and testing in preparation for release the latest incarnation of its desktop operating system – Windows Vista. Common sense would tell you that somewhere in that time span someone...
Not too long ago there was only one blogging tool that I felt great about – BlogJet. I used it for a long time and was very happy. There wasn’t anything I was especially displeased with. Then some more blogging tools made their way on to my radar. From Microsoft. Generally, I will give any product from Microsoft a shot. I use a Microsoft OS. I am a (largely) Microsoft-centric systems engineer and technical manager. The first was during the beta testing of the Microsoft Office System 2007. My favorite...
Here is a list of the available editions and features, as well as CAL information for the next version of Exchange. To be released on November 30, 2007
Another virtual hard disk (.vhd) image from Microsoft which contains the following: A VPC hard disk image containing a pre-activated Windows XP SP2, IE6 and the IE7 Readiness Toolkit. Personally I love this new approach and hope Microsoft keeps on going! I had to do some research and testing on ADAM (Active Directory Application Mode) yesterday and the canned Windows Server 2003 R2 image was the perfect pre-made environment in which to do this! Zero prep time was needed since I had already downloaded...
From Paul Donnelly, part of the Microsoft Vista Product Team to Windows Vista beta testers: I'm excited to announce that we have completed final testing and this morning declared build 6000.16386 as Microsoft Windows Vista. The feedback and collective voice of this community has helped shaped this version of Windows like no other. We would like to extend our thanks to all of you for your help is building the highest quality, most secure, most reliable version of Windows yet! Update: http://windowsvistablog.com...
Microsoft Download has now posted a number of virtual hard drive (.VHD) images pre-installed with Windows Server products like Exchange 2007, SQL 2005, ISA Server 2006 and Windows Server 2003 R2. This is a brilliant move IMO as it removes one of the biggest barriers to testing software in a virtual environment: the time it takes to install and set up the environment. I am curious to see the licensing and expiry around these images, but again, IMO, this is clearly a move in the right direction and...
Office 2007 has gone golden. Read about it here
I didn't want to announce this previously as I wasn't sure if it was intended to be publicly unleashed yet. However, seeing as how it is advertised in the latest TechNet Flash email newsletter I am sure I can share now! Here is the blurb from the newsletter: Are you interested in knowing what your peers are saying about Microsoft Office 2007? Do you want to see the feedback on the new Windows Vista license changes? Or maybe you have a new script you'd like to share with a larger group of IT pros....
Exchange Server 2007: A Quick Hands-on Overview in an Online Virtual Lab Express In this 30-minute Virtual Lab Express, you will familiarize yourself with the Exchange Management Console and Microsoft Office Outlook Web Access, and work with compliance and records management rules
I love the original Microsoft free power toy called SyncToy. It had its limitations, but as a free tool for syncing and comparing data between two sources, it was quite a gem. The latest version, v1.4 has been released and it looks like they have listened to our feedback with some obvious improvements. Go out and give it a try, you wont be sorry! The ability to type in a UNC path; Support for longer folder pair names and ability to widen the left pane to see those longer names; The ability to support...
I took a spin through the TechNet Virtual labs for Exchange 2007 and I was very impressed! The experience was smooth and very well organized. I even learned a few interesting things. When running through the installation for a new server, one of the steps is to query you for the versions of Outlook you will be running in your environment. All Outlook 2007 or a mix of previous versions of Outlook? I wondered why you are prompted for this information. I had an inkling as Exchange 2003 is able to restrict...
I stumbled across this excellent utility enhancement in the latest issue of Microsoft's TechNet Magazine in an article by Joshua Hoffman. Robocopy, as I am sure many of you know, is a great utility for copying large amounts of data from one location to another. It is highly customizable and is especially adept at mirroring data from one place to another, including changes. However, the syntax is a beast. Enter a GUI interface that makes creating the proper command line arguments for Robocopy a snap....
From Eileen Brown's excellent Exchange-focused (usually) blog comes some links to TechNet Virtual Labs* for Exchange 2007: *For a limited time they are also giving away XBox 360's to lucky people who complete a lab and survey. Exchange Server 2007: Installing Exchange Server 2007 Exchange Server 2007: Using Management Console and Shell Exchange Server 2007: Administering Exchange Server 2007 Server Roles and Mailboxes Exchange Server 2007: Remote Client Access with Exchange Server 2007 Exchange Server...
Windows Defender is finally out of (what seemed like a perpetual Google-like) beta. You can download the relased version here. From the website: Windows Defender is a free program that helps protect your computer against pop-ups, slow performance, and security threats caused by spyware and other unwanted software. It features Real-Time Protection, a monitoring system that recommends actions against spyware when it's detected and minimizes interruptions and helps you stay productive. Now with 2 free...
I am formally announcing the November meeting for the Southern Ohio Exchange Users Group. Details and directions can be found here at the registration site. While not required, please register so we can properly gauge the right amount of food and drink. Speakers will include Microsoft's Matt Hester and Symantec's James Kelly. Join us for a fun and engaging couple of hours with your fellow Microsoft Exchange enthusiasts...
Eileen Brown, a Microsoft UK Technical Evangelist Manager, emailed me some comments on my last post. Apparently IE7 wasn't playing nice with the comments engine! Thanks for your persistence Eileen. BTW she has an awesome blog - especially for those with a bent towards Exchange! Below are her comments. It does much more than that... You can cancel all of your meetings, record a voice mail attachment and send that out too. You can get a reading of your email and calendar items too. From whatever phone...
Now this rocks! I am in an organization for the first time in a long while that does not routinely give mobile devices (Blackberries or Windows Mobile) out to all IT staff members (or even us important ones). I have had to get used to not having access to my calendar and upcoming appointments when away from my desk or laptop (on the upside I am not a slave to the crackberry). Being that my memory is terrible (just ask my wife) I was close to resorting to printing out my calendar each day and carrying...
Brian, who runs the excellent Blogcast Repository, recently shared with me how he could not use a host computer's wireless NIC with a guest OS when running Virtual PC when Windows Vista is the host OS. I even tried it on my laptop and sure enough, no luck. It just doesn't appear as an option under settings > network. After doing some digging in the readme that came with Virtual PC 2007 I stumbled upon: Virtual PC fails to open the network services driver after an upgrade of Windows Vista. It didn't...
Grab it here while you can! Read more about it here. Features include: Support for hardware virtualization (Intel and AMD) Support for Windows Vista as a host operating system Support for Windows Vista as a guest operating system Note: No support for Aero Glass though - just Aero Basic Support for 64-bit host operating systems Note: Virtual machines are 32-bit only Improved performance Technorati tags: Virtualization, VirtualPC, VirtualPC2007...
Everyone out there that has been using and beta testing both Windows Live One Care and Windows Vista rejoice! One Care is now Vista (build 5500 or later, RC1 recommended) compatible. Version 1.5 has all the goods and the details can be found here. Technorati tags: Windows Live, One Care, Vista, Windows Live One Care...
Microsoft's podcast page. Find links and RSS feeds for mp3 and wma versions of all podcasts as well as feeds for product specific podcasts like SQL, Exchange, Vista, Active Directory and Scripting. Link to Podcasts: Download Audio of Webcasts and Hear Them on the Go
Kevin Remde, Microsoft TechNet Presenter and uber blogger presents Q&A with the Microsoft Exchange 2007 team members. Earlier this year at TechReady he cornered the team and talked about deployment, unified messaging and disaster recovery. Introduction by the sultry-voiced Aurora Queen. tags: Exchange, Exchange2007, Kevin+Remde, unified+messaging, disaster+recovery, Aurora+Queen, TechNet...
The Infrastructure Architecture blog at the Microsoft sponsored SkyScrapr website has finally put up another post (<rant> the first since 6/9/06 - what is it with Microsoft blogs? One post per 90 days ... I thought the Tablet PC blog was on a roll and then nothing ... </rant>) this time highlighting a tool called the Windows Server System Reference Architecture. A prescriptive guide to knitting together all the bits and bobs that make up the plumbing of an infrastructure. The cool part...
I am honored to say that my mug has found its way to the front of the the Microsoft MCP* homepage for a little while. I was profiled in the latest MCP Flash newsletter as part of a series that started at this year's TechEd in Boston when they gathered a bunch of us MCP's up and took our pictures, asked us some questions and decided to profile us on the site. *Microsoft Certified Professional tags: MCP, Microsoft+Certified+Profess... TechEd...
Now taking submissions for topics for the November meeting. Currently slated for 6:30pm on November 16th at Max Technical Training in Dayton, Ohio. Tentative speakers so far include Microsoft TechNet's Matt Hester and Symantec. Please hit the email link or leave a comment with topics and I will endeavor to get an expert to speak. See you there. tags: Exchange, SOEUG, IT+Pros, Southern+Ohio+Exchange+User...
Microsoft is really starting to ramp up its production of pod and screencasts. And the TechNet team is also converting webcasts in to podcasts so you can listen to them as well (at least until you get that great Zune device with its luscious video screen in a month). If you drive a lot as a consultant or for other reasons (roadtrip??) these are great to have! Get the mp3 version or the wma version. Abstract: How Microsoft IT Defends Against Spam, Viruses, and E-Mail AttacksDetailed discussion on...
The You Had Me at EHLO Exchange blog has a great article on how with Exchange 2007 you no longer do recipient-based tasks from within ADUC (Active Directory Users and Computers) but from within the Exchange 2007 Management Console (or PowerShell). This is great news for a large enterprise where the AD and Exchange engineers may be on seperate teams and not so great for smaller shops where one or more engineers do both roles...
The new Microsoft Antigen Management Pack for MOM supports the 9.0 versions of Microsoft Antigen for Exchange, Microsoft Antigen for SMTP Gateways, and Microsoft Antigen Spam Manager. The MOM pack supplies critical events and alerts on virus, worm, and spam activity to MOM 2005, and also monitors the health and availability of these products. Download here...
The Windows Vista Team Blog has a post up detailing an email sent to testers by Paul Donnelly wherein he mapped beta tester locations in MapPoint. There are some really great views that show the concentrations of testers in typical places like North America and Europe. However, in drilling down you see some funny things: In the US, North and South Dakota are woefully under represented. Why is that always the case? Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan is not all that much better off. There are more testers in...
Microsoft has launched a new Windows Vista Tips and Tricks site. Aimed at the non-technical end user, this site will provide useful information as well as webcasts delivering information to prepare interested users for Windows Vista. Information is power
Get information on Microsoft's new anti-virus and anti-malware client for the enterprise. You can watch an informative demo and sign up for the public beta. This is, IMO, one area where a Microsoft produced product offering seems like a natural due to the tight operating system integration needed for optimal performance and effectiveness. Link to Microsoft Forefront Client Security: Home tags: antivirus, antimalware, forefront, forefrontclientsecurity...
Since the technical refresh to Beta 2 was released thousands have downloaded the new bits. I was a bit disappointed that the link the beta team posted brought me to the public site where Microsoft tried to charge me $4.50 to download the updates. I am also disappointed that the people who have been beta testing this for over a year and a half don't get some advanced lead on downloading the updates, but rather have to wait in quite the crowded queue with the general public. Thanks for the appreciation...
Office 2007 B2TR is now available for download from Microsoft downloads. Get it here: http://www.microsoft.com/do
Like a lot of people I eagerly awaited to hear the new announcements from Apple Showtime yesterday. I was busy preparing for a user group meeting so I couldn't catch it live. I have to tell you that no matter how much I love Microsoft software, I lust for Apple hardware. iTunes is okay. I haven't had a chance to test drive the new version 7 yet which is getting some good reviews. And I like that they are leading the charge to add the ability to download movies; even if it does lock you in to their...
Show your love of football and OneNote this season with the new football stationary\template for OneNote from Microsoft. Works with OneNote 2003 and OneNote 2007 B2. Download it here and enjoy. Now if only I could get them to do an Ohio State Buckeyes template
Windows Vista RC1 (RC1 v5600-16384) was released to technical beta testers yesterday. It will also be in wide public release soon through the Microsoft website and in the mail from various other testing programs. tags: WindowsVista, Vista, RC1 Update: More information here...
I was very glad to read a post today from James O'Neill's blog on Virtual PC 2007. Coincidentally enough, I had just loaded Virtual PC 2004 on Windows Vista build 5536 and was wondering to myself if a new version was ever going to see the light of day. Well fear not! While there is no news on the beta or a release date (other than the "2007" moniker) there is documentation. This gives me hope! Improvements are: · Optimized for Windows Vista. The virtualization architecture has been optimized for...
Technical beta testers have just been given access to Pre-RC1 build 5536.16385 Windows Vista on Microsoft Connect. Downloading from the Asian and European mirrors nets you the best performance
Microsoft has put up a website where you can pre-order copies of Vista RC1 for evaluation. There is a $9.95 charge for shipping and handling. Register for your copy of the Windows Vista Release Candidate 1 (RC1) Evaluation and Resource Kit With the Windows Vista RC1 Kit, you will not only get the refreshed versions of the same great experiences you had with the Windows Vista Beta 2 Evaluation and Resource Kit, you will also get some new features, tools and resources to evaluate including: Software...
From the IEBlog: This morning we released our first public release candidate, IE7 RC1, for Windows XP. You can download it at http://www.microsoft.com/ie. The RC1 build includes improvements in performance, stability, security, and application compatibility. You may not notice many visible changes from the Beta 3 release; all we did was listen to your feedback, fix bugs that you reported, and make final adjustments to our CSS support. I do want to call attention to two changes in particular...
TechNet virtual labs are now available for Antigen, Microsoft's latest security acquisition. The brand was recently released and updated to version 9.0 as part of the Microsoft ForeFront umbrella. There is also a beta version available for Exchange 2007 server. I found the lab to be well constructed, hitting all the needed areas for a good understanding of how Antigen can be configured in an Exchange environment. Highly recommended if you have a spare hour to learn more about this product. And if...
An update to the Windows Desktop Search has just been released and I am happy to say it has a lot of welcome fixes. Dubbed version 3.0 beta 2 it is available here. Since beta testing Office 2007, I was forced to install an interim update to Windows Desktop Search so it would work with Office and also index Outlook and OneNote 2007. One of the undesirable side-effects was that it removed the GUI interface from the desktop or task bar that allowed me to search for files. I could only do it from within...
As I start to ramp up the advertising and collaboration around the Southern Ohio Exchange User's Group I have been approached about an interesting idea. For those unaware of the Southern Ohio geography, Cincinnati anchors the southern border with Kentucky and then approximately 45 minutes north is the smaller city of Dayton. The space between Dayton and Cincinnati has almost been completely developed, and some suggest Dayton could just be a suburb of Cincinnati someday. The Microsoft offices were...
SUS 1.0 will no longer synchronize or provide new updates after December 6, 2006. Link to Software Update Services
I read with great interest today some specs on the new Microsoft Windows Storage Server 2003 R2. Anyone who administers an Exchange messaging system knows the value of something called "Single Instance Storage." Simply put, if I send an email to 50 people, there is not 50 copies of the email taking up space in the mail store. There is one copy with pointers to it from all the other mailboxes. Now imagine applying this principle to file servers. Those 50 people that got that email save the attachment...
I decided to give Windows Live Writer a try after hearing reading some good things about it. I have been using BlogJet for awhile and am very happy with it. In fact, Dmitry was a little upset that a bunch of Live Writer's features had seemed to have been pulled from BlogJet. And I can see why he is upset. I think his tool was just beginning to gain traction and take off and now Microsoft has released a free tool that is - for the most part - comparable to BlogJet. I would be upset if I was him as...
Rod Trent wrote today “Charles Cooper Shows He Simply Writes for Page Views.” He asked readers to read the latest CC post and provide their views. I did. And I agree. How easy is it to write an inflammatory article about Microsoft’s record with vulnerabilities and patch release schedule? I can only imagine the article he would right if no patch had been released. I love this quote especially: “Defenders will argue that it's unfair to demand perfection from Microsoft; that...
After you have created a *.wim image file using ImageX you may want to take advantage of the tools ability to mount the image file. Since the image file format is file-based (and not bit-based like Symantec’s Ghost) you can mount it as read-only or read-write. Files can easily be extracted from it or added to it. No more needing to image a workstation, modify it, and then re-image it back when you want to make a change. New driver? Add it. new DLL? Add it. Simple as that. However, before you...
I guess it was only a matter of time before the Apple clue-less train started to pound on Vista at the annual gathering of the faithful in San Francisco. The Moscone center will be the venue again for the annual gathering of Apple fanboys hanging on Steve Job’s every keynote word. I can only imagine what the nearby Apple Store will look like post keynote! Taken from Engadget, here are some of the banners from the conference – taking a swipe at Microsoft’s Vista. Apple is always...
From the Microsoft TechNet Flash: End of Support for Windows XP Service Pack 1 <http://go.microsoft.com... Effective October 10, 2006, assisted support for Windows XP Service Pack 1 (SP1) will end. After this date, Microsoft will no longer provide any incident support or security updates. To enhance the security of your computer and to continue receiving updates, we recommend upgrading to Windows XP Service Pack 2 (SP2). To learn more about upgrading to Windows XP SP2 and the...
So far it has been a solid week with build 5472 of Vista. All previous builds had not lasted this long – the previous record being held by beta two of two days before frustrations drove me to yank it out and replace it with XP SP2. There are still some minor inconveniences, but all in all it is running fabulously. There is quite an improvement in overall speed of responsiveness in the OS in general as well as in IE7. More programs work well with it, although my iPod cannot get its firmware...
This is a great page for finding the latest and greatest Microsoft blogs and posts
I took a dim view of one of Mary Jo’s blog posts a while back where she questioned the fact that there was no time line available for the successor to Vista – despite the fact that Vista hasn't even been released yet – or despite the fact that she and the press crucify Microsoft when they then announce any delay to that time line. Now its more of the same. MySpace.com recently suffered a service outage due to a power failure in the area where its data center is located. Enter today’s...
You can download it here. Beta 2 is feature complete and the Exchange Blog (You Had Me at EHLO) has more details. I recommend downloading it from a country mirror where everyone is asleep right now for faster download speeds
Antigen with a new name or something more? Check it out here. Based on the road map it looks like this is the re-vamped Antigen acquisition. Postscript - You can download the User guide from here...
Here is some more information from Mark Russinovich, one of the founders of Winternals\SysInternals
Some screen shots have been posted of tweaks made to the UI of Office 2007 as well as the addition of a “silver” theme to the current roster of “black” and “blue.” The changes are expected to be finalized over the next week. Read more about it here and here. Personally I like the changes. I like the move to the rounded borders originally – they were fresh and new – but once I saw the UI with the traditional squared off corners we know and love in a...
Much like it has for Vista, SQL and other technologies Microsoft TechNet has recently launched a community-style forum for Exchange Server 2007. However, at the moment it is short on volume and guidance. Every topic had more posts on Windows Vista issues than Exchange. I don't know what people are thinking, but hopefully a site admin will step up to clean out the discussion areas from off-topic posters and monitor how things progress. Please don't throw it out there and then abandon it. The power...
I am pleased to announce the first meeting of the Southern Ohio Exchange Users Group! This has been a long time in the making and I know it is something the area IT Pros will enjoy and get a lot out of. The inaugural meeting is set for September 12th and check-in and welcome is at 6:15 with the meeting kicking off at 6:30pm. It will run to 8:30pm. Food and drink will be graciously provided by Microsoft. The meeting will be held at the Cincinnati area Microsoft offices located in Mason. The registration...
From the Microsoft TechNet Security newsletter! For more detail on each item, read the full post here from an article by Sean Deuby. The enlightening tidbits below are my own two cents … 1. Document What You Have – you will forget it or leave the company!2. Control Your Administration – a solid foundation makes everything more secure.3. Limit the Number of Administrators – the fewer the chefs the better the dish.4. Test Group Policy Settings – it does what you wanted...
Microsoft has added Virtual PC to its list of freely available software! Download it from here
Another Request for the Microsoft RSS Team:I have been digging the improved RSS feed reading within the IE 7 beta 3. It is a big improvement and really adds to the usability of the feature(s). However, one thing I would love to see is synchronization of the feed read\unread states between IE 7 and Outlook 2007. I love how it syncs the subscription list, but I hate having to manage the “read state” of my posts between the two applications. Especially since I heavily depend on the Outlook...
I was reading a post at the SunBelt Blog about Agnitum’s review of Microsoft’s Windows OneCare. Other than to say that the Agnitum crew is highly respected, Alex was basically passing on their findings. It should be noted that both SunBelt and Agnitum make firewall products of their own. This obviously gives them expertise in the space, however, I cannot quite help but read into the comments knowing they sell a competing product. Does this mean that the competition shouldn’t review...
I noticed this little gem over at the IW Center; a Microsoft blog for the information worker focusing on Office 2007 information. If you work in OneNote 2007 a lot like I do, then you almost always have it in front of you. In a meeting and need to do a little on-the-fly calculation? You could pull up Windows Calculator or even Excel, but instead just type the math in to OneNote 2007 and let it spit out the answer for you! For example I simply typed in 24+59*78= and then hit ENTER and viola! The answer...
After this post, I continued to try to work with Vista for another week before I finally reloaded my XP SP2 image. I did find out that the reason for the slowness in browsing as mentioned in item #4 is most likely attributed to the web caching appliance the networking team uses. Let’s just say it isn't ISA Server 2004 (learn about ISA Server 2006 which rocks even more)! I just loaded the IE7 beta 3 build on the same XP SP2 image and it is running very well so far. The UI seems more streamlined...
Microsoft has released two free e-learning courses (much as they did for SQL 2005 – thanks Microsoft!) for Exchange Server 2007. They are with the beta 1 build but at a broad level are applicable and well worth looking in to if you are an Exchange administrator. Clinic 3053: What's New in Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 Administration Clinic 3054: Overview of Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 Architecture...
I would like to officially announce the formation of the Southern Ohio Exchange User's Group! I know SOEUG doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue but it was the best I could do! This group is for IT Professionals in the greater Cincinnati and Dayton, Ohio area with a concentration on messaging technologies; specifically Microsoft Exchange as well as mobility and messaging security. The first meeting will be held in the beginning of September - hopefully at the Cincinnati Microsoft offices if...
ISA Server 2006 Standard Edition RC has been posted to Microsoft Downloads. Improvements include: Making it easier to provide security for corporate applications accessed over the Internet by pre-authenticating users before they gain access to any published servers inspecting even encrypted traffic at the application layer in a stateful manner, and providing automated publishing tools. In addition, by providing HTTP compression, caching of content including software updates, and site-to-site VPN...
All I can say is … nice. Rechargeable, wireless, backlit – watch the demo for the full experience
The Exchange team has posted the first beta of the online documentation for Exchange Server 2007. Read the post here and find the documentation here. Listening to The Fray – Over My Head (Cable Car)
I am a big fan of screencasts – The Blogcast Repository, and other sites like it provide a rich learning experience for IT Professionals and the curious alike. And I have found that a demonstration is so much more powerful and aides dramatically in the retention of the subject matter. So as Microsoft has been embracing screencasting and adding more and more content, I have been very happy indeed! Here is an excellent series on Microsoft Office Development – a topic which IMO lends itself...
I have finally squeezed out a blogcast (done during my lunch break so it is rough – be kind please) and have it posted here. I plan on ramping up in the next one to two weeks, especially with some Exchange 2007 content. Below are some links to the content I reference in the blogcast. Enjoy. Ask the Experts: Windows Vista Disk Imaging with ImageX and Windows Imaging Format (WIM) Windows Vista deployment is based on disk imaging, and the operating system will come with a built-in disk-imaging...
Technical beta testers can now download Vista June CTP build 5456 from connect.Microsoft.com. Read more here. The next public beta is rumored to be in August and known as RC1
The Exchange Scripting Center is holding a contest for the best one line PowerShell script that addresses some form of Exchange 2007 administration. See the contest announcement here. The winner will get a trip to the Exchange Server 2007 launch – whenever and wherever that is! GOPWRSHL and unleash to capabilities of Exchange Server 2007
And the number one reason that Vista is so hard to love: No client-based VPN support - from ANY vendor. I have heard even Microsoft's VPN client does not work on the beta 2 build of Vista. I have personally tested Nortel and Cisco with no success. Does anyone know of a major VPN client to work with Vista? This is a major show-stopper for most people trying to dogfood the beta in production
Vista, you sure are hard to love. I am trying my best, to love you unconditionally - I know you are a beta baby - but you make it very difficult. I have loaded Beta 2 a couple of times already - but when the going got tough (which was usually pretty early on) I quickly bailed and re-installed XP SP2. This time, in my TechEd 2006, drinking the Kool Aide, hangover stupor, I decided to install it again and try my best to live through the tough times. Here is where I am at: Office 2007 Beta 2 works amazingly...
Message to Robert Scoble: Can you please do me a favor? As a fellow TabletPC fan, employee (for the moment) of Microsoft and all-around blogging pro – please go over to the TabletPC team, program manager, whomever and whack them in the head for me. When it was launched I was very happy to see the TabletPC team start blogging. The thought of news and views from the horse’s mouth really had me excited. Then – nothing. Three posts in six months? Wow. I know they are busy – so...
I am moving my blog to a new location! I have loved my time with Jeff and everyone at Geeks With Blogs, but I felt I needed to move to a community that is more infrastructure-centric as opposed to the developer-heavy focus of GWB. Please point your aggregators to:http://blogcastrepositor... It is also now titled: “Geeking Microsoft.” Thanks again Jeff and company and I wish you all the best in the future. Chris...
Microsoft® Office Live Communications Server 2005 - Implementing, Managing, and Troubleshooting Beta MCP exam is looking for a few more testers. Available at Vue and Prometric from today until may 10th. There are limited seats left. Use promotional code TS262. See James’ blog for more information
Here’s a great little ditty on how Microsoft manages the large quantities of unwanted e-mail (spam) and mailware-infected messages in its inbound internet e-mail traffic
Yes!! The Microsoft Security and Feature Pack firmware update is now available from the Palm web site for the Treo 700w. You need to enter you serial number to obtain it and there are extensive instructions for applying it. Be warned: your device will be formatted, so back up all your data! On the back end your provider will need Exchange Server 2003 running SP2. They will also need to enable your device for direct push server side. Awesome!! There are great directions from Palm here and a review...
From Microsoft Research comes PHLAT … a new interface for Windows Desktop Search. From the site:PHLAT is a new interface for Windows Desktop Search (enabling search through a user's own email, files, and viewed web pages). PHLAT lets you easily specify queries and filters, attempting to integrate search and browse in one intuitive interface. In addition, Phlat supports a unified tagging (labeling) scheme for organizing personal content across storage systems (files, email, etc.)...
Sourced here: Microsoft is working on a Virtual Server management console, code named Carmine. The console will alllow for easy management, movement (drag and drop) and patching with “little” downtime. It cannot get here soon enough! I know VMWare has a long lead on Microsoft, but I hope they throw a ton of resources at virtualization and catch up with VMWare in a speedy (and high quality) fashion. ...
SQL Server 2005 SP1 is officially live. Database mirroring is now natively supported without having to hack at the registry to enable it. In an unrelated note, some are starting to speculate that Oracle is looking to snap up Novell. Larry was apparently quoted as saying that all they are lacking is an OS. Is Novell the perfect target
Microsoft Certificate Lifecycle Manager Beta 1 Is Here Microsoft Certificate Lifecycle Manager (CLM) is a policy- and workflow-driven solution that helps organizations manage the lifecycle of digital certificates and smart cards. Join the Microsoft CLM Beta Program to participate in testing and read this technical white paper to learn how CLM can lower the costs associated with digital certificates and smart cards...
I have never had a soft spot in my heart for print journalists, or most conventional news outlets (When did you stop beating your wife Mr. Smith?). And even though I blog I would hardly consider myself such – even in the most liberal sense. So I had to just laugh when I saw this post from Mary Jo Foley. While she and every other professional tech watcher\writer crucify Microsoft for its latest announcement delaying the release of Vista to consumers, she asks “But what about a delivery...
Microsoft has launched Port 25 – the blog\website for its open source software development team
From MSN MoneyCentral: NEW YORK (Reuters) - Apple Computer Inc. on Wednesday rolled out a software patch that enables its Intel-based Macintosh computers to install and run Microsoft Corp.'s Windows XP operating system. Apple said that the new software, called "Boot Camp" is available as a download beginning today
Microsoft has released some information on its enterprise-level protection suite Microsoft Client Protection as well as started up the beta program. More will be released as NDA permits. You can get plenty of information from the website as it stands right now
NewsGator has released a new version of their product that allows you to read RSS from within Outlook. Called NewsGator InBox, Nick made an announcement in his blog. I am curious to see how this product fares and evolves now that Outlook 2007 will natively support RSS feeds. Given that so far the implementation has been pretty bare bones, I have a feeling there will still be plenty of room for products like this. It is interesting to see that these types of services and applications live for a short...
Microsoft announced today at LinuxWorld that it will not be charging for Virtual Server 2005 R2 Enterprise Edition and will also be supporting Linux virtual operating systems
From the Birds of a Feather team: “Rock the Birds of a Feather Vote – TechEd 2006 Reminder: your Birds of a Feather session proposal is available for public voting at:https://www.msteched.com... until Friday. Tell your friends, blog about it, shout it out to the world. And tell everyone you know to propose their own Birds of a Feather sessions at TechEd 2006 at:https://www.msteched.com... Proposals and voting open now until Friday, March 31 at 5:00...
Day one at Office Dev Con 2006 was full of information. On the non-technical side, the people are great, the wifi is pervasive, the food is decent and plentiful and the fabled Microsoft coolers full of pop, juice and other beverages are always magically full. Perhaps they employ gnomes or house elfs? If I had one complaint is was distributing the Office 2007 beta 1 refresh to us via BetaPlace. We are on day two and we still don’t have our welcome emails so we can access the builds. For me,...
Getting to the Microsoft campus for the first time last night was pretty exciting. Being dark, I couldn't see much outside of the conference center. Arriving back this morning, it was, as I expected: freaking awesome. Those of you who work here, live here or have been here ad nauseum, grant me my moment of geeky Microsoft joy. The buildings all rock and the “feel” of the campus is great. Everyone is very nice. Although not part of the conference I am going to see if I can scheme my way...
Microsoft and Cisco announce that around September they may have some tools to unify and integrate Microsoft’s LCS, Office Communicator and Live Meeting applications with Cisco’s Unified Communications. This seems like a natural match and I can only wonder why it took this long. Clearly, Microsoft has been making more inroads in to what have traditionally been telephony-only environments. With more and more communications moving to pure IP networks, both Cisco and Microsoft have an interest...
The Tech*Ed website is now accepting submissions for the Birds of a Feather discussion sessions. If you have not experienced these before, they are a great time! Once all the submissions are in, attendees are encouraged to vote for their favorite sessions. These are not presentations, but “moderated” discussions in front of a white board where you are free to discuss whatever the group would like to that is relevant to the topic of that session. I hosted two BoF talks at last year’s...
I recently blogged about how Windows Defender updates itself in a different manner from the previous beta (Windows AntiSpy). It seems to use the traditional Windows Update mechanism instead of updating itself through its own interface. And then it dawned on me that this is part of getting Windows Defender “ready for the enterprise.” For it to mature in to an enterprise-ready application it needs to update itself in a manner that can be leveraged by Microsoft’s stable of management...
I can see why Microsoft wont run this – I can hear the anti-gaming, anti-violence, anti-everything groups now. It just isn't the kind of press Microsoft needs another headache over. That being said, it is still the best damn commercial for a gaming system I have seen and absolutely and brilliantly visualizes the XBox 360 “Live” experience. Kudos to Matt Hester and his posse for uncovering this …...
I am beta testing Office Live and my site has gone active. I have done absolutely nothing to it yet, so you can check out the default package if you are curious. I signed up for the Live Essentials offering. You also get free domain name registration with the service as well. You can see my site at: http://chrishaaker.net
Available for download for 32–bit and 64–bit editions of Windows. From the website: Windows Defender (Beta 2) is a free program that helps you stay productive by protecting your computer against pop-ups, slow performance and security threats caused by spyware and other potentially unwanted software. A redesigned and simplified user interface – Incorporating feedback from our customers, the Windows Defender UI has been redesigned to make common tasks easier to accomplish with a warning...
Branch Office Chat - What Lies Ahead – Monday, February 13th at 10:00 am PST We will talk about technology that is coming in Longhorn and will expose some of the inner working of the development cycle, from requirements gathering and how you could influence it to the road that leads to the release of beta1. On the day of the chat enter here: www.microsoft.com/technet/c...
I was passed on this Microsoft announcement today of the release of WSSRA Virtual Environment for Development and Test. This set of documents and prescriptive guidelines shows you how to build an accurate emulation of a corporate enterprise data center. “By building with Microsoft Virtual Server and implementing only the IT services relevant for development and test, this instantiation is compact, requires far less hardware, and is easier to build and maintain.” The WSSRA-VE package contains...
From Kevin Remde’s blog: We’re releasing early select customer betas of both Microsoft Client Protection and Microsoft Antigen for Exchange. Microsoft Client Protection is business-class antispyware, anti virus, and attack protection, with an integrated management console that provides centralized management and reporting. The Antigen suite are the Sybari products we acquired when we purchased Sybari last year. Now we are coming out with updated, Microsoft-Branded versions of the Antigen...
Apparently the beta is now publicly available! Get it here. Standard edition is also available
As I start to get psyched for Tech*Ed 2006 (am I the only geek that gets excited this early?) I find myself wishing for certain things to happen. Certain expectations begin to form; partly from past Tech*Ed disappointments and partly from hope for the future. Here are some things I would love to see this year: A wireless network that really works! Thirteen thousand geeks on a sprawling wireless LAN shouldn't be impossible should it? And given this is Microsoft’s flagship conference, why isn't...
I had not stumbled across this previously, but I absolutely love it! Here is at least one support article where the different steps in the procedure are demonstrated through streaming video in-line in the article. Very nice and I hope to see it more and more future KB articles where warranted
The Tech*Ed website has a new tool this year called Tech*Ed Connect. Billed as a social networking and communication tool, it is a way for people to start “connecting” prior to and during the conference based on profiles and interests. One of the cool features is a “people map.” Based on your profile, your little “man” icon is grouped in relative proximity to others with like interests that you can then click on and schedule and introduction or meeting. You can...
I am soon to be switching over to the Tablet PC platform with a Toshiba M200. I am excited as this is another useful tool in my arsenal as I work to support and foster the Information Worker competency as a Microsoft Partner. I have an excellent foundation in Messaging and Collaboration but lack more in-depth experience with mobile tools and development. I am hoping to shore up this area day-in-day-out use of my Tablet PC and Treo 700w. It will also go a long way in helping me be more efficient in...
ISA Server 2004 SP2 has been released for both Standard and Enterprise editions. Internet Security and Acceleration (ISA) Server 2004 SP2 provides the latest updates to ISA Server 2004 Standard Edition and Enterprise Edition, with increased security, reliability and stability. Microsoft strongly encourages customers to install SP2 on all computers running ISA Server 2004. ISA Server 2004 SP2 can be installed directly on computers running ISA Server 2004 Standard Edition or Enterprise Edition, and...
Microsoft has finally shown some signs of life in the area of podcasting. Various departments within MS have already promoted the idea and individuals have been podcasting and blogcasting for awhile now. Perhaps we are ready for a unified push? A mantra? An edict that each product team needs to have a semi-regular podcast or some rich delivery method for getting the word out on the streets about their product and its capabilities (podcast, blogcast – not webcast – this needs to be something...
The Tech*Ed 2006 registration site is up and live, albeit a little rough. Some things are on the “information site” (like a map of all the hotels) but not on the actual page where you choose your hotel. There are only individual maps, which can be quite confusing if you have never been to Boston, like myself. And the links to the overall maps and PDF’s are broken. But, I figured it out and selected the Hilton Boston Logan due to its relatively reasonable price and adjacency to the...
Windows Desktop Search has been released in an “Enterprise” version that allows for increased management, deployment, configuration and customization in a large environment. Windows Desktop Search – enabled for the enterprise The latest version of Windows Desktop Search (WDS) is optimized with features that help the enterprise IT manager easily customize, deploy and manage the installation of desktop search across all users and computers in their organization. IT managers can expect...
I am installing a Windows Vista CTP build 5270 as we speak in a dual-boot configuration on my Thinkpad R52. This means I won’t get the nice Aero Glass effects (Damn you integrated Intel graphics chip!) but will be able to evaluate all the other aspects of Vista in the latest semi-public build. Cross your fingers. I loaded the ISO image via Alcohol and it is currently in what I assume is the “copying setup files to your hard drive” portion of the installation. I see a definite downside...
This document describes a simple configuration in which you use Microsoft Virtual Server 2005 R2 to configure one guest operating system, and configure a server cluster that has two servers (nodes), either of which can support the guest if the other server is down
USMT 2.61 has been Released to WebMicrosoft® Windows® User State Migration Tool (USMT) version 2.6.1 migrates user files and settings during large deployments of Windows 2000 or Microsoft Windows XP. USMT captures desktop, network and application settings as well as a user files, and then migrates them to a new Windows installation...
The enemy of my enemy is my friend . . . From Mary Jo Foley
Live Communication Server is a great instant messaging, presence and communication tool. In a small to medium business environment it is fairly simple to design and implement. When you scale out to an enterprise engagement (multiple thousands of users dispersed across multiple continents) the proper design and planning is critical to success. Putting in the proper “up-front” work is necessary as well as a proper accounting of all the factors that come in to play. Here is an excellent...
Hello all 100 faithful blog readers! I have some Microsoft Live Messenger invitations to give away. Leave a comment with your email address and I will dole them out first come, first served. Give me about 12 hours to get the emails out as I am in a training class for the rest of the day
Is anything you download from Google not labeled BETA? Well, I guess the search engine isn't! Anyhoo, they now have the Google Pack. A collection of various Google and other third party offerings designed to <marketing on> help your computer run better and provide much needed services such as photo editing and organization, search, directions, screensaver, anti virus, etc. They also include the Google Updater to automatically check for updates on all the included packages. Really, when is the...
MS06-001 Title: Vulnerability in Graphics Rendering Engine Could Allow Remote Code Execution (912919) Microsoft has released the patch to the WMF vulnerability. Please go to Microsoft Update to patch your systems. More information on this vulnerability is available at: http://www.Microsoft.com/te... From Microsoft: Microsoft announced that it would release a security update to help protect customers from exploitations of a vulnerability in the Windows Meta File (WMF)...
Follow the progress to launch in 2007 here
has been released. Read more about it here
There is an upcoming chat on Active Directory in a Branch Office configuration tomorrow. Title: Live Branch Chat: Administering and Maintaining the Branch Office Technologies Begin: 12/16/2005 10:00 AM End: 12/16/2005 11:00 AM Description: This chat will focus on the day to day operations that administrators will go through after the solution is deployed. We will discuss configuration, delegation, determining the state of replication, monitoring and best practices that will help administrators keep...
BetaNews.com reported (along with many others) that Microsoft released Beta 1 of Exchange “12” today to a group of about 1,400 testers. I was all ready to jump on getting a copy of this beta when I remembered it only runs on 64–bit systems. Hmmm, I don't seem to have a spare 64–bit server handy … but I do have Virtual Server R2 and VMWare Workstation 5.5 both of which emulate a 64–bit virtual machine...
Woo-hoo! It is finally here. Microsoft Office Communicator Web Access has been released. Download it here. Learn how Communicator Web Access can help you extend the reach of Live Communications Server 2005 to a broader range of information workers. Discover the benefits of its universal connection, familiar and easy-to-use interface, and simple, integrated deployment...
Here’s a great article from Jesper Johansson on assessing security risks with Small Business Server. It dispels the myth that many people have (including myself until I started actually using it and researching it) that SBS (along with the integrated ISA Server) is security-light. And of course, it breaks all of the long held best practices of not putting all of this on the same box … If you work with SBS or are interested in learning more here are some excellent blogs: E-Bitz - SBS...
Now this is fantastic. If you are using Symantec’s excellent Live State product to make recovery images of your mission critical servers and workstations, disaster recovery has gotten a whole lot easier. VMWare Workstation 5.5 now supports taking those images directly to a virtual machine. As well as any Microsoft virtual machine. And the original images stay untouched. Where is Microsoft with this kind of forward-looking feature set? I am going to fire this puppy up and see if it is as easy...
Registration is now open for MMS 2006, to be held in San Diego this year in April. Click here to access the registration site. This is the premier Microsoft conference for management applications like MOM and SMS but I expect there will also be a heavy focus on the new System Center, Data Protection Manager and Capacity Planner as well...
The latest version of the Lotus Notes Mail Migration Wizard has been released. This is part of a new wave of products from the Notes compete team at Microsoft to make Notes to Exchange migrations complete with more fidelity. Supports Notes R5 and R6 with Exchange Server 2003 SP2. Download the mail migration wizard here. Download the Connector for Lotus Notes here. Download the Calendar Connector here. More information can be found here as well. The Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 Migration Wizard...
Following in the footsteps of the Exchange Best Practices Analyzer Tool, Microsoft has released a tool for ISA Server 2004. I like this trend and would like to see the same tool rolled out for SQL, SMS, MOM and AD. This is a simple and fairly prescriptive way to do some basic analyzing of your platform architecture based on Microsoft Product Team’s best practices. ISA Server especially can get complex fast if you haven't well thought out your architecture, networks and rule sets. Download it...
I am pleased to say my photo from the Microsoft SQL 2005 launch event made it to print! In the December 2005 issue of Redmond Magazine, it is shown on page 10, with a credit and my blog address. My thanks to Scott Bekker for the assist
http://www.microsoft.com/wi... Come join the fun. Webcasts, demos and tons of information
It had been previously announced that the next version of Exchange Server (Exchange Server “12”) would be released only as a 64–bit application. You can now add the next version of Small Business Server to that list as well. Read about it here
Download this wonderful tool here. The Outlook Web Access (OWA) administration tool provides web-based UI for all administrator tunable OWA settings. It provides a list of all servers in the domain and allows administration of OWA settings on all Front-end and Back-end servers. The tool ensures that settings are correctly written to the server’s registry and provides inline documentation for all configurable features...
This is a great Office 2003 live demo utilizing Citrix’s Presentation Server. Even if you have\run Office 2003 it is a slick little piece of technology to check out. Why don't you give public access to the Office 12 beta in this fashion
A co-worker of mine recently asked me if I knew a way to simulate a certain speed link or network connection between two virtual machines in either Virtual PC or Virtual Server. I must say, off of the top of my head I could not think of a way to restrict all traffic, so as to say, simulate a 64 kbps WAN link. I could think of ways to restrict web traffic using IIS’ bandwidth throttling features … but not all network traffic. Anyone know of a way...
Some people at Microsoft have been blogging this and I all hyped up on it. The possibilities are unreal. Data can now flow from mobile device to PC through the same program. I am drooling … Here is a quote from one blog: But where OneNote Mobile really shines is when you combine it with our efforts to merge the Analog and Digital worlds. Now you can take pictures of business cards, printed PowerPoint handouts, whiteboards, receipts, name tags, product spec sheets, etc. and all these photos...
During the MS Heartland Region’s quarterly Tech Night Live, I saw some of the cool new Office 12 features demonstrated. There are some really great new things added and\or exposed in a way they never were before. As the person giving the demo explained, a lot of the things have always been in Office, we just made them easier to get to and use. More exposed. In the “ribbon” which is the current term for the new toolbar paradigm, you can hover over buttons or options and see them...
A new version has been released that extends the timeout of the software to July of 2006. Download it here. Automatic updates will be turned on next week. The AntiMalware team at Microsoft also has a blog here
This is nice. I am glad to finally see some SLA\Scorecard metrics for various Microsoft platform packages being rolled out with MOM as the foundation. Who better to report on the health of your Exchange or SQL server over time? Download here. Overview The Microsoft® Operations Manager (MOM) 2005 SLA Scorecard for Exchange provides you with an executive dashboard to measure and trend service availability and workloads across multiple server roles in an Exchange Server messaging environment. This...
For IT Professionals: TechNet Webcasts • A More Secure and Well-Managed Infrastructure (Part 9 of 18): Securing the Exchange Environment (Level 300) November 11, 9:30 AM-10:30 AM Pacific TimeKeith Combs, TechNet Presenter, Microsoft Corporation • A More Secure and Well-Managed Infrastructure (Part 10 of 18): Sybari Antigen Overview (Level 300) November 16, 9:30 AM-10:30 AM Pacific TimeKai Axford, Security Specialist, Microsoft Corporation • Exchange Server 2003 In Depth (Part 7 of...
This is the best roundup I have seen of the new features in Windows Vista that appeal to the IT Professional
Microsoft announced Monday at the SQL Server 2005 Launch Event that it is making available “Express” editions of Visual Studio 2005 and SQL Server 2005 for free. These editions are lightweight, easy-to-use, and easy-to-learn tools for the hobbyist, novice, and student developer. SQL Server 2005 Express is the new replacement for the MSDE\Personal SQL versions previously used for stand-alone lightweight SQL databases need by an application or individual user. Developers will get express...
This was too funny to pass up as I left the Moscone Center West yesterday during the SQL 2005 launch. Microsoft had a fleet of “London style” taxi cabs adorned top to bottom with SQL 2005 Launch graphics parked in front of the center and circling it for much of the day. Whether they actually gave rides or not, I don't know. Parked behind them, too coincidentally to be sure, were 10 taxi cabs with cheap little tents on top that read: #1 On Windows – Oracle Database 10g...
I arrived in San Francisco today courtesy of Microsoft for the SQL Server 2005 launch. I took an hour to wander around town and get my bearings again. It has been at least a year since I was last here. I was disappointed to see the Microsoft store was gone from the Metreon center. I was hoping to see if there was any cool new stuff out. I also found my favorite breakfast place from my last visit, Lori’s Diner. Tomorrow is going to be a long day, with the launch starting at 9am and going until...
Finally Microsoft has developed a “house call” type online security scanning service. As long as it is free, comprehensive and easy to use it will go a long way to help keep the consumer desktop more secure. And thats a good thing . . . of course, at this point I think I am developing an “overly secure” configuration as all of Microsoft’s various tools battle each other. To use the security center I have to add it to the exception list on my MSN toolbar pop-up blocker....
Windows Live was announced today by Microsoft along with Office Live and the new XBox Live. You can read more about it at Microsoft's Press Pass website. Windows Live™ is a set of personal Internet services and software designed to bring together in one place all of the relationships, information and interests people care about most, with more safety and security features across their PC, devices and the Web. Microsoft demonstrated early versions of several new Windows Live offerings, some...
Here is an interesting site from Microsoft (apparently from\geared to only its European sites) that showcases a bunch of recorded seminars on differing technologies. I highly recommend Project WSYP for a good laugh . .
VMWare just announced the VMWare Player which allows you to distribute virtual machines to users that aren't running VMWare. Similar in the way Office Application viewers work for people that don't run Word or Excel but need to view the data these files contain. While I am sure we could just make a PDF of a virtual machine — having a utility like this for Microsoft virtual machines would sure come in handy for demo and development purposes...
Microsoft has released an add-in for the MSN tool bar called the Microsoft® Phishing Filter Add-in for MSN® Search Tool bar (Beta). You need to have Windows XP SP2 and the latest version of the MSN Tool bar. You receive a visual notification when you browse to what is suspected of being a phishing website. Up next: watch out for Pharming! Scanning websites you visit and warning you if they are potentially suspicious. Dynamically checking the web sites you visit with up to the hour online...
Microsoft posted Exchange Server 2003 Service Pack 2 to the Web on Wednesday. http://www.microsoft.com/ex... PS Exchange 2003 SP2 requires Windows Server 2003 SP1 Besides all the excellent features around mobility, push email and Windows Mobile 2005, service pack 2 also introduces: · Disable all PF replication in the organization to curb replication storms by right-clicking at the org level. · Public folder deletion logging – event viewer reports...
From Eileen Brown’s excellent blog: Real Time Collaboration Webcasts for November TechNet Webcast: Enabling Microsoft Office Live Communications Server and Office Communicator for Telephony (Level 200)Tuesday, November 1, 2005 - 1:00 PM - 2:00 PM Pacific TimeTodd Eby, Director of Solutions Engineering, GenesysIs your company's implementation of Microsoft Office Live Communications Server and Microsoft Office Communicator 2005 integrated with your phone systems? Genesys Enterprise Telephony...
I will be in San Francisco for the SQL Server 2005 launch on November 7th. I would love to meet up with everyone and have a geek dinner either Sunday or Monday night. If anyone is interested shoot me an email or leave me a comment. See you all at the launch and rock on
Here is a cool little gem from the Microsoft website on the application layer protection that ISA Sever does so well. Download it here. From the document: Microsoft® Internet Security and Acceleration (ISA) Server 2004 provides many features for securely publishing resources to the Internet with the use of application layer filters. The purpose of this document is to detail how to more effectively use the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) and Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) filtering capabilities...
I am both honoured and humbled to announce (especially since I don't think it will be announced anywhere else) that I have been named the Microsoft Heartland District Demo Champion. The HLD (Heartland District) SMS&P team recently held a competition where partners were invited to do a technical demo on a Microsoft technology at that quarters “Tech Night Live.” Each city in the region could have up to three partners demo, for a total of 18 demos overall. Each city would have a local...
Office 2003 Service Pack 2 was released on Monday. The update, along with additional information, can be found here. Another feature to note is that when used in conjunction with the latest Outlook Junk Mail Filter update and new anti-phishing feature is turned on by default. Here is the text from the website: Microsoft Office Outlook® 2003 Phishing Protection and Junk E-mail FilterSP2 contains a new Phishing Protection feature to be used with the Outlook Junk Email Filter. Phishing is the luring...
From Steve Luper’s blog Microsoft Location Finder Microsoft Location Finder is a client-side application that turns a regular WiFi enabled laptop, Tablet or PC into a location determining device without the addition of any separate hardware. When launched by a user, Microsoft Location Finder uses WiFi access points - or reverse IP lookup when WiFi is not available - to center and display the person's location on an MSN Virtual Earth map, enabling the user to quickly and easily search in their...
Microsoft is just coming out with tons of cool and useful little applications . . . location finder, sync toy, time zone toy, usb drive manager, widgets, MAX, etc. It’s about time they started flexing their muscle as a software developer of things other than operating systems and applications. Take that Google
When it rains it pours! Microsoft has also made available its website dedicated to “gadgets” that will work in the Windows Vista sidebar as well as start.com and Windows SidesShow
This software is just awesome! Microsoft is really developing in the digital media space. Microsoft Max
This handy page from Microsoft has tons of downloadable documents on everything you need to know about Live Communications Server. Topics include planning, deployment, labs, upgrading from trial editions, upgrading from Server 2003, upgrading to service pack one and implementing the address book service to name a few
This concise document shows how OneNote can be used by a fictional consultant to streamline his job and make him more efficient. Written in a “day in the life of” style, it highlights some of the things people forget OneNote can do. There is also some good role-based ways to use OneNote here...
Download Exchange 2003 SP2 Community Preview. Microsoft Exchange Server Service Pack 2 (SP2) will offer a huge leap forward in mobility and security capabilities. Customers and partners can now download a pre-release evaluation for testing purposes. This is an unsupported release that should only be used in lab or testing environments...
Is your blog on Blogger? Now there is a plug-in that allows you to post from Microsoft Word. Read about it here
I just love Konfabulator. I love the widgets. It is rock solid and runs like a champ on my Windows XP SP2 laptop. Of course, it gets a bit slow when I have, like, 30 widgets running. But that is my own damn fault. I especially love the traffic widgets. I can have three little windows sitting on my desktops (okay, four if I get homesick and want to see the traffic in Miami, Florida.) showing me live cameras of the traffic flow in Cincinnati, Columbus and Cleveland, Ohio. Not to mention the weather,...
From the You Had Me At EHLO Exchange blog (who knew?): Why should you use Diskpar (Diskpart in W2003 SP1)? Exchange Server can benefit from having basic disk partitions track-aligned. Diskpar.exe is used for aligning a partition at the storage level, which, if used to create the partition, can have a significant positive performance impact on the storage and is highly recommended. Before I go into the details of how to do this, I’ll give some basic definitions. A partition is the container...
From Rod Trent’s Blog: Microsoft moves in on weather http://www.microsoft.com/do...
Microsoft’s MSN Spaces team yesterday released a slew of “power toys” that allows for the continued customisation of MSN Spaces for users as well as adding functionality like streaming audio and video from your “space.” See these links from Mike Torres blog: Mobile Spaces Beta Tweak UI Power Toy Windows Media Player Power Toy HTML Module (Power Toy)...
I have used Offline Files and Folders, Second Copy and others to keep my data syncronized between multiple machines. Especially since I use a laptop and am always moving from one location to another in my role as a consultant. I was glad to see Microsoft released a free “power toy” called SyncToy to keep my files in line. I have not used it yet, and will post more when I do, but Omar has a good overview of it here. And you can't beat the price. People have groused in the past about Microsoft...
I went and installed Windows Vista Beta 1 in a dual boot configuration with Windows XP Professional. The bootloader now shows: Microsoft Windows LonghornLegacy (Pre-Longhorn) Windows Operating System How quickly you go from current to legacy
Took me a while to figure this one out . . . but in the process of trying to upgrade an NT 4 domain to Windows Server 2003, the only CD available to me at the time was the Dell OEM CD that came with the new server. Every time I launched setup I was presented with the error: “Windows Setup does not support upgrading from Microsoft Windows NT Server to Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Standard Edition.” I read and read and read the release notes and sure enough it states that you can upgrade...
Download and read more about it here Microsoft Operations Manager (MOM) 2005 with Service Pack 1 (SP1) offers the latest security enhancements and features, including: • Broader OS and database support, including Windows Server 2003 SP1 and SQL 2000 SP4, which enables you to leverage the latest Windows Server System software. • Support for x64 platforms which allows MOM 2005 to run on and monitor the latest high performance hardware. • License usage alerting which enables you to receive...
.flickr-photo { border: solid 1px #000000; } .flickr-frame { float: left; text-align: center; margin-right: 15px; margin-bottom: 15px; } .flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px; } Install Longhorn B1 1, originally uploaded by chris.haaker. I have just started to test installing Windows Longhorn Beta 1 in a Virtual PC environment. You will need to have your VHD pre-formatted (I suggest using the Windows XP install CD) before beginning the Longhorn installation. Once the Windows XP setup...
I have been going back and forth between using XPlay and Windows Media Player or iTunes to manage my tunes and iPod. When I contemplated switching back to iTunes (XPlay was giving me numerous errors when syncing to the iPod) I was disappointed as I thought I would lose the “What I am Listening To” functionality in MSN Messenger. But lo and behold it integrates with iTunes as well to show what you are listening to. I like that. Microsoft could have left out that functionality out of spite...
And here is the official web page . .
This is a nice little screensaver from MSN. You can download it here. It will cycle through a folder full of images and also display RSS feeds, local weather and desktop search options as well as Messenger info and email status. Very nicely done. My family photos never looked so good
Here is the Microsoft Press Release announcement. Here is some more at John Howard’s blog
Found this article with the following graphic on this Microsoft Web Site. Somewhere Robert Scoble is smiling . .
I promised a couple of weeks ago I would blog a review of my new cell phone, the Samsung SCH-i730 from Verizon Wireless. So far, my experiences have been positive. The minor annoyances I have had have been more a result of using a RIM Blackberry for the past four years and making the transition to a new form factor and Windows Mobile 2003 2nd Edition. The highlights are a great data service, wifi (which I can enable and disable as needed – it is a battery drainer) and a slide-out qwerty-style...
I blogged about the beginning of the four-part series here. Get part two here
Free (for 90 days) e-learning courses from Microsoft to get you prepared for SQL Server 2005.
MBSA is an easy-to-use tool designed for the IT professional that helps small and medium businesses determine their security state in accordance with Microsoft security recommendations and offers specific remediation guidance. Improve your security management process by using MBSA to detect common security misconfigurations and missing security updates on your computer systems. Download here
Scripting MOM - Part 1 - The Basics This is a four-part series of articles on writing scripts in MOM (Microsoft Operations Manager) 2005. This series focuses on comparing WSH (Windows Scripting Host) scripts with those for MOM so the collection of already compiled WSH scripts can be leveraged for use in MOM
This is taken directly from an article at the Microsoft website about improving meeting efficiencies with the Tablet PC. You can also find lots of great Tablet PC testimonials and conversions talked about at Robert Scoble’s site, thetabletpcweblog and tabletpcbuzz. The article’s author has a book out on the subject too which might make for some interesting reading as I get more in to the IW perspective. Why not a laptop in a meeting? Here are the reasons I prefer my Tablet PC to a conventional...
Okay, so I need to write a post that will impress upon the fine folks at Channel 9, including Jeff, why I need to get a free trip to this year’s PDC. Well, I should start with the obvious, I cannot spring for the conference fee, airfare and hotel myself. And even though my new employer seems to be awesome, I am not in a development discipline, so I cannot see them footing the bill either. So I am left to throw myself at the mercy of Microsoft. Now, I am not a developer. Okay, you’re not...
I am excited to announce that I am embarking on a new journey! I have decided to change jobs! I am leaving my current employer, Kao Brands Company, where I worked for four years as the Global Technology Leader. Starting on July 5th I will be joining Berbee Information Networks. I am looking forward to the change of pace as I enter the professional services field again. Berbee is a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner in several disciplines including advanced infrastructure, information worker, security...
This gets you past the July expiry of the previous version. Contains updates as well. This is not Beta 2. Download Microsoft AntiSpyware Refresh Update (Build 1.0.613) Download MS AS Refresh
Here is another good post from John Howard’s blog (can you tell I like it?) discussing the upcoming filter for ISA Server 2004 that will cache patches downloaded from Windows Update so each user is not hitting your WAN connection for the request. This is especially useful in a shop that hasn't (or isn't going to) deployed WSUS yet...
Microsoft has a BOIS Link detailing their Branch Office Infrastructure Strategy (BOIS). This is a set of guides for architecting a remote office infrastructure. The guides include strategies and which Microsoft technologies best leverage those ideas. Like the branch office-friendly options built in to the new R2 version of Windows Server 2003 and ISA Server 2004. There is also a write up of it on John Howard’s excellent blog which I highly recommend subscribing to if you are an IT Pro...
I love it! From Mary Jo’s Microsoft Watch: On the same day that Microsoft announced it completed its purchase of anti-virus software vendor Sybari Software, the company also revealed that it plans to discontinue immediately new sales of Sybari's Antigen for Unix and Linux
Description of how Microsoft IT custom configures its SMTP servers to make its mail flow more securely and manageably. Download here
The best of the Tech-Ed breakout sessions are now available online as webcasts. Click this link: Tech·Ed 2005 Webcast Series: Learn, Solve, Grow. I highly recommend Steve Riley’s: Security Policies? Ugh, Just Give Me a Firewall and Scott Schnoll’s: Exchange 2003: Tips, Tricks and Shortcuts...
From the Bink.nu web site: At this time, participation in the Windows OneCare Live Beta is limited to invitation only. Throughout the next few months, however, we'll be expanding the beta to include more and more participants. If you are interested in becoming a beta participant, please visit the Microsoft Beta site and fill out the Windows OneCare beta nomination form. When prompted for a Guest ID, type in OneCare (case sensitive)...
This paper looks to be a sweet read for anyone with an Infrastructure background. Especially if you were able to attend TechEd. It is interesting to “pull back the Emerald Curtain” and see what was going on. Now all they have to do is triage the wireless situation and get it fixed and we will be golden next year
Microsoft meets the hackers | CNET News.com This is a great article talking about when Microsoft invited a bunch of Hackers to the Redmond campus for “BlueHat.”
http://download.microsoft.c
Even though it is only a 200 level webcast, watching Steve Riley talk on security is a true treat. This might even be worthwhile to have other ITS and business stake holders watch if you are trying to pound home the value of security in your enterprise
This is a great article by a security MVP on the Business Value of Security. It is written by Martin Kiaer, a principal consultant for WM-data in Denmark. It discusses the process involved in turning security from a cost to a business enabler. I wont rehash the whole article here, it is short and well-written
I am on vacation this week so there won’t be many posts. I decided to take advantage of being in Orlando for Microsoft’s Tech*Ed and bring my family in for a romp at Disney World. I am staying at the excellent (if you have kids) Nickelodeon Hotel
Sybari announces the release of a management pack for MOM 2005 targeted at its Antigen product. I hope more and more ISV’s will follow in this trend. I know Veritas has one too for its Backup Exec product. Microsoft keeps a list of all the available management packs here. ...
My second Bf was wonderful as well. Working with ISA Server 2004. We talked over some good things. There were two people there who work at an ISP in Trinidad. They said they get a lot of grief as everyone wants to put a “hardware” firewall in front of the ISA server . . . fine. As Bud remarked, “let it filter out all the noise.” The attendees from Trinidad note they leave it all open anyway! Heh. Bud is also working on an ISA Server Pocket Guide for MS Press. I am going to...
I just finished my BoF session on how IT Pros work in small and medium sized businesses. My intention was to cover shops with 0-500 desktops. It was amazing to see the range of IT staffs represented. We had 1 person, 2 person and 0 person (all outsourced to “on-call” consultants) staffs. The conversations flowed very nicely and it was again amazing to see the contrast between the needs of each staff go up and down in dollars and complexity depending on the size of the supported workforce....
And I almost completely overlooked the final bits for WSUS that was sitting on my seat prior to the start of the keynote. This is another item I am eager to get on my virtual servers and put through its paces. Microsoft also announced today that the latest version of Windows Update is also live. ...
Don’t get me wrong, I love Tech*Ed. I have been to eight of them now. It cannot be beat as a highly concentrated source of information for IT Pros working with Microsoft technologies. However, for four years running now, the wireless access provided at the show has been a joke. I understand it will be a challenge. I understand there are eleven thousand plus techies here. But seriously, do it right or don’t do it at all. Surely you know that with every passing year more and more wireless...
The vendor exhibition kicked off today at 6:00pm. I have always been curious why they have a “big to-do” at 6:00pm when the exhibit was already open from noon to 3:30pm? There isn’t any suspense or anticipation about what we are going to see, unless you count which appetizers they might server this time. The usual collection of suspects were there with the usual collection of swag to give away. Notable exceptions were Sybari (outdoor adventure equipment) and Sunbelt Software (tricked...
From the syllabus: Ever wondered how Microsoft IT manages and operates its AD infrastructure? Think Microsoft employees are any more accepting of downtime or performance issues? Microsoft has the oldest production Active Directory in the world (happily authenticating users since '99), so come listen as they share their best practices on everything from domain controller placement, performance monitoring, and change management, to disaster recovery, tools, and 64-bit DCs. This session rocked and I...
Download a really cool skin for WMP10 here. There is also a cool Middle Earth LOTR skin I hadn't seen as well . .
I caught my plane out of Cincinnati at 1PM today and arrived in Orlando greeted by a thunderstorm. There is nothing like coming in from above the clouds expecting palm trees and sunshine and instead getting dark thunderclouds and pounding rain … and here I thought I might work on my tan too. I made my way to the hotel (I am at the Wyndham) and checked in. I then went over and caught the bus to the OCCC. I haven't been here since the last Tech*Ed. I think the convention is in an entirely different...