Forrester Research wrote a very interesting piece that Computerworld commented on in an article at the end of April that I missed.
Vista 'inevitable' for enterprises, says Forrester analyst XP's being retired, Windows 7 is mostly rumor; Vista only viable choice
…"Vista is an inevitability, for a number of reasons," said Ben Gray, an analyst at Forrester Research Inc. He then ticked off several, including Windows XP's announced retirement and unsubstantiated talk about Vista's successor, Windows 7.…
…It will become more difficult to stick with Windows XP when top-tier computer makers pull it off their operating system lists on June 30, the date Microsoft has mandated that manufacturers stop offering it on new PCs. The company will also yank XP from retail sales then.
And companies considering skipping Vista altogether by migrating from XP straight to Windows 7, may be punished, Gray added.
"To be blunt, customers know very little about Windows 7," he said, noting that with the exception of a few facts -- the Vista successor will come in both consumer and business editions and versions for both 32- and 64-bit machines -- "everything else is pure rumor and speculation."
Microsoft's poor track record on making release dates and crafting operating systems without discarding major features should make corporate decision-makers take pause, Gray said. "Ironically, one of Microsoft's biggest weaknesses, the unpredictable release schedule of its desktop operating systems, will likely spur adoption of Windows Vista as a result of this lack of faith in Microsoft delivering Windows 7 on time," he said.…
Check this out: Ericom is offering a free add-on to Windows Server 2008 Terminal Services users.
Ericom's FREE offering – PowerTerm WebConnect for Windows Server 2008 extends the power of the Windows Server 2008 platform, streamlining deployments, management and the user experience.
Now ANY organization— regardless of their size or IT environment—can benefit from application publishing enhancements, simplified configurations, monitoring and control, full integration with Active Directory, centralized management, and more – at no additional cost.
Additional benefits include:
Simplicity in setting up and using the Windows Server 2008 environment
Optimized IT environments for numerous users and terminal servers
User-Friendly Application Zone and Application Portal
Streamlined application publishing and availability for users and groups of users
Centralized management and control of large groups of servers and users
Improved user experience
Enhanced security, monitoring and control, and more!
Terminal Services partner, Ericom Software is offering a no-cost software download with Windows Server 2008. Ericom’s PowerTerm WebConnect solution extends Windows Server 2008 Terminal Services with features including enhanced centralized administration, advanced load balancing, and two-factor authentication support. Watch this TechNet Webcast to learn more.
Register for the "Windows HPC Server 2008" beta program. You'll also want to grab the corresponding SDK. Please do provide usability feedback using the "Feedback Tool" on the beta program web-site.
For technical discussions, join and participate in the Windows HPC forums accessible via the "Forums" tab on http://windowshpc.net.
Best Practices SharePoint Conference Sept 15th-17th, Washington, DC
(NOTE: This is a 3rd party conference and not managed or organized by Microsoft.)
Microsoft SharePoint is one of the most useful tools in business. And the least understood in practice.
Widespread confusion about the best ways to design, deploy, organize and administer SharePoint hinders virtually every implementation.
The 2008 Best Practices Conference replaces confusion with Clarity, Direction and Confidence by establishing key principles to guide effective SharePoint decision-making in any situation.
Parallel sessions will define, explain and demonstrate real-world Best Practices for decision-makers at every level: CIOs, architects, designers, developers, administrators, taxonomists, librarians and project managers.
In this critical 3-day conference, you'll learn the Key Principles of SharePoint governance … how to make consistent, confident decisions at every level, across your enterprise … and finally break the cycle of “avoidance • disagreement • sub-par results • ignorance” that impedes almost every SharePoint application.
Key presenters include Microsoft MVPs, Microsoft Product Team Members and other industry experts.
For the first time, you have the opportunity to learn the most practical and productive SharePoint practices, in person, from the industry’s leading authorities. If you must achieve maximum return from your SharePoint investment, this is the must-attend event of 2008.
As part of its focus, the Microsoft U.S. National Security Team drives vertical security solutions for a wide range of industries and has produced a number of white papers that address the specific security needs of particular industries, such as the professional services and financial services industries.
Do you have a Windows Mobile phone with GPS support? Then you need FreeCaddie!
FreeCaddie is a completely free golf rangefinder. Our software runs on your phone and uses its GPS capabilities combined with our course file data to tell your distance to the front, center and back of the green.
FreeCaddie requires a Windows Mobile Smartphone or Pocket PC device with either:
Built-In GPS support
Support for Bluetooth and a separate Bluetooth GPS receiver.
Just download and install the CAB file on your phone, then download a course file and you're ready for the golf course. It's that easy.
FreeCaddie is new but is growing rapidly. Don't see your golf course? Create a course file for it! It's easy and only takes a few minutes. There's nothing to install on your computer; our Course Creator runs in your browser. Get involved!
The DPM 2007 Update Rollup is a feature pack that includes previously released hotfixes alongside several new features aimed to enhance overall applicability and usability of DPM. Added features include:
Windows Server 2008 support
Run DPM2007 Server on a Windows Server 2008 platform
Protect Windows Server 2008 – including Core systems
Protect Windows Server 2008 System State
While DPM2007 has actually been protecting “Longhorn” since Beta 3, this makes Windows Server 2008 a supported protected workload
Protect SQL Server 2008
Including the ability to restore SQL Server 2005 databases to a SQL Server 2008 server for test migrations and ensuring that after you have updated your environment to SQL Server 2008, you will still be able to recover older SQL 2005 databases, when needed.
While DPM has actually been protecting "Katmai" since customer technology preview 4 (July 2007), this makes SQL Server 2008 a supported protect-able workload
Protect clustered Virtual Server 2005 R2 hosts
DPM 2007 could already protect clustered-Exchange, clustered-SQL Server and clustered-File Services … but clustered virtualization hosts was not initially available in DPM 2007 RTM. Now for those environments that understand that as they rely on virtualization, the virtualization host needs to be highly available – those platforms are protected by DPM, as well.
New media capabilities – added based on feedback from some of our early DPM enterprise customers
Tape media sharing – so that multiple protection groups with similar tape retention periods can now share tapes
Tape library sharing – multiple DPM servers can now share your enterprise tape library silo’s. This one has been running in MSIT for a while.
Want to consolidate your Xbox Live game/license purchases onto a single console? Did you get the Red Ring of Death and swap your console out with a retailer?
The Xbox 360 Content License Transfer tool does just this and it's been released for use by Xbox Live Subscribers. Basically what it involves is telling Xbox Live to move their records of ownership of certain games from one Xbox 360 to another... then re-downloading those newly transferred games to the new Xbox. If the console already has a copy of the game downloaded onto the system, the only thing that will be downloaded is a new license to the box.
A few important things to know:
This can only be done ONCE every 12 months.
Rented movies & limited playback videos are NOT migrated.
You have 30 minutes to transfer licenses to the new console after stating you want to transfer them.
Have your Xbox 360 online and signed in. Once you've transferred the licenses on the web site, you can re-download the programs you want that you have a record of owning.
Folks that sent their consoles in for repair to Redmond will find the licenses have already been transferred.
In celebration of Bill’s psuedo-retirement today, here’s another item that is handed out to new managers here at Microsoft. It’s a follow up to the New York Times article that he wrote about “what makes a good employee”.
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What makes a good manager? Here are ten tips By Bill Gates October 8, 1997
Recently I wrote about 10 qualities of a good employee, which prompted quite a few people to ask about the attributes of a good manager.
There isn’t a magic formula for good management, of course, but if you’re a manager perhaps these tips will help you be more effective.
Choose a field thoughtfully. Make it one you enjoy. It’s hard to be productive without genuine enthusiasm. This is true whether you’re a manager or employee.
Hire carefully and be willing to fire. You need a strong team, because a mediocre team gives mediocre results, no matter how well managed it is.
One common mistake is holding onto somebody who doesn’t quite measure up. It’s easy to keep this person on the job because he’s not terrible at what he does. But a good manager will replace him or move him to a set of responsibilities where he can succeed unambiguously.
Create a productive environment. This is a particular challenge because it requires different approaches depending on the context.
Sometimes you maximize productivity by giving everybody his or her own office. Sometimes you achieve it by moving everybody into open space. Sometimes you use financial incentives to stimulate productivity. A combination of approaches is usually required.
One element that almost always increases productivity is providing an information system that empowers employees.
When I was building Microsoft, I set out to create an environment where software developers could thrive. I wanted a company where engineers liked to work. I wanted to create a culture that encouraged them to work together, share ideas and remain highly motivated. If I hadn’t been a software engineer myself, there’s no way I could have achieved my goal. As the company grew, we developed supportive cultures in our international operations and in sales and marketing, too.
Define success. Make it clear to your employees what constitutes success and how they should measure their achievements.
Goals must be realistic. Project schedules, for example, must be set by the people who do the work. People will accept a “bottoms-up” deadline they helped set but they’ll be cynical about a schedule imposed from the top that doesn’t map to reality. Unachievable goals undermine an organization.
At my company, in addition to regular team meetings and one-on-one sessions between managers and employees, we use mass gatherings periodically and e-mail routinely to communicate what we expect from employees.
If a reviewer or customer chooses another company’s product over ours, we analyze the situation carefully. We say to our people, “The next time around we’ve got to win. What will it take? What’s needed?” The answers to these questions help us define success.
To be a good manager, you have to like people and be good at communicating. This is hard to fake. If you don’t genuinely enjoy interacting with people, it’ll be hard to manage them well.
You must have a wide range of personal contacts within your organization. You need relationships—not necessarily personal friendships¾with a fair number of people, including your own employees. You must encourage these people to tell you what’s going on (good or bad) and give you feedback about what people are thinking about the company and your role in it.
Develop your people to do their jobs better than you can. Transfer your skills to them.
This is an exciting goal, but it can be threatening to a manager who worries that he’s training his replacement. If you’re concerned, ask your boss: “If I develop somebody who can do my job super well, does the company have some other challenge for me or not?”
Many smart managers like to see their employees increase their responsibilities because it frees the managers to tackle new or undone tasks. There’s no shortage of jobs for good managers. The world has an infinite amount of work to be done.
Build morale. Make it clear there’s plenty of good will to go around and that it’s not just you as some hotshot manager who’s going to look good if things go well.
Give people a sense of the importance of what they’re working on—its importance to the company, its importance to customers.
When you achieve great results, everybody involved should share in the credit and feel good about it.
Take on projects yourself. You need to do more than communicate. The last thing people want is a boss who just doles out stuff. From time to time prove you can be hands-on by taking on one of the less attractive tasks and using it as an example of how your employees should meet challenges.
Don’t make the same decision twice. Spend the time and thought to make a solid decision the first time so that you don’t revisit the issue unnecessarily. If you’re too willing to reopen issues, it interferes not only with your execution but also with your motivation to make a decision in the first place. After all, why bother deciding an issue if it isn’t really decided?
People hate indecisive leadership, so you have to make choices. However that doesn’t mean you have to decide everything the moment it comes to your attention. Nor that you can’t ever reconsider a decision.
Let people know whom to please. Maybe it’s you, maybe it’s your boss and maybe it’s somebody who works for you. You’re in trouble--and risking paralysis in your organization--when employees start saying to themselves: “Am I supposed to be making this person happy or this other person happy? They seem to have different priorities.”
I don’t pretend that these are the only 10 approaches a manager should keep in mind, or even that they’re the most important ones. There are lots of others. Just a month ago, for example, I encouraged leaders to demand bad news before good news from their employees.
But these 10 ideas may help you manage well, and I hope they do.
In celebration of Bill’s last day, I thought I’d post some old materials that Bill had written way back in my early days in the company. This is a staple within Microsoft that’s (last I checked) handed out to every employee when they get hired. It’s based on a column that he wrote in the New York Times back in 199
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Ten Attributes of a Good Employee By Bill Gates
I'm often asked how to be a good manager, a topic I've taken on in this column more than once. Less often does anybody ask an equally important question: What makes a good employee?
Here are 10 of the qualities I find in the "best and brightest" employees, the people companies should attract and retain.
If you have all of these attributes, you're probably a terrific employee.
First, it's important to have a fundamental curiosity about the product or products of your company or group. You have to use the products yourself.
This can't be stressed enough in the computer world. It also carries special weight in other knowledge-based fields where technology and practices are advancing so fast that it's very hard to keep up. If you don't have a fascination with the products, you can get out of date--and become ineffective--pretty quickly.
Second, you need a genuine interest in engaging customers in discussions about how they use products--what they like, what they don't like. You have to be a bit of an evangelist with customers, and yet be realistic about where your company's products are falling short and could be better.
Third, once you understand your customer's needs, you have to enjoy thinking through how a product can help. If you work in the software industry, for example, you might ask: "How can this product make work more interesting? How can it make learning more interesting? How can it be used in the home in more interesting ways?"
These first three points are related. Success comes from understanding and caring deeply about your products, your technology and your customers' needs.
Fourth, you as an individual employee should maintain the same type of long-term approach that a good company does. Employees need to focus on lifelong goals such as developing their own skills and those of the people they work with. This kind of self-motivation requires discipline, but it can be quite rewarding.
Management can also encourage motivation, of course. If you're in sales, quotas are important tools for measuring performance, and it's great when employees beat a quota. But if beating your sales quota or maximizing your next bonus or salary increase is all that motivates you, you're likely to miss out on the kind of teamwork and development that create success in the long term.
Fifth, you need to have specialized knowledge or skills while maintaining a broad perspective. Big companies, in particular, need employees who can learn specialties quickly. No one should assume that the expertise they have today will suffice tomorrow, so a willingness to learn is critical.
Sixth, you have to be flexible enough to take advantage of opportunities that can give you perspective. At Microsoft we try to offer a person lots of different jobs through the course of a career. Anyone interested in joining management is encouraged to work in different customer units, even if it means moving laterally within the organization or relocating to a different part of the world.
We try to move people from our product groups out into the field and move field people into the product groups. We have many people in our U.S. subsidiary from other countries, and we have many U.S. employees who work for subsidiaries in other nations. This helps us better understand world markets, and while we do a pretty good job of cross-pollination, there's still not quite as much of it as I would like.
Seventh, a good employee will want to learn the economics of the business. Why does a company do what it does? What are its business models? How does it make money?
I'm always surprised to learn of a company that doesn't educate its employees in the fundamental financial realities of its industry. Employees need to understand the "make or break" aspects of their industry so that they know what it is about their own job that really counts. Of course, employees have to be willing students who direct attention to the areas where it makes the biggest difference.
Eighth, you must focus on competitors. I like employees who think about what's going on in the marketplace. What are our competitors doing that's smart? What can we learn from them? How can we avoid their mistakes?
Ninth, you've got to use your head. Analyze problems but don't fall prey to "analysis paralysis." Understand the implications of potential tradeoffs of all kinds, including the tradeoff between acting sooner with less information and later with more.
Use your head in practical ways, too. Prioritize your time effectively. Think about how to give advice crisply to other groups.
Finally, don't overlook the obvious essentials such as being honest, ethical and hard working. These attributes are critical and go without saying.
We have a new look and feel for the Windows Mobile consumer web site, along with the new name. We're also working harder than ever on more fun offers, new software, great content, and useful technology to help you get the most from your Windows Mobile phone.
Thank you for your suggestions and feedback on how we can make Windows Mobile Total Access work even better for you. See for yourself how Windows Mobile Total Access makes it easier than ever to get more done on the go.
Windows Mobile Total Access is your guide to all your phone can do:
MSDN Magazine (*Magazine is free to currently enrolled MSDN subscribers)
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A NOTE ON TECHNET MAGAZINE My obvious favorite, as many of you know, is Technet Magazine, which among other things contains pertinent featured articles on various current topics.
Here’s a list of the back issues from 2008 and the topics from the featured articles:
Ah yes. Another one of my DVD training resources. This one is a 7.89GB DVD with a single .ZIP file on it. The file contains the following:
Lynda.com Expression Blend v1
Lynda.com Expression Design v1
Windows Presentation Foundation for Designers Core Training
Expression Sessions: WPF for Designers
Expression Sessions: Silverlight for Designers
Total Training Videos – Expression Studio
Additional Training Resources
Of course if you don’t have Expression Studio, a lot of this isn’t going to be very helpful, but nonetheless, if you’re a developer interested in learning Silverlight & the Expression suite of products, this is a great way to get started.
If you’re a customer of mine and interested in a copy, please contact me and I’ll put one in the mail. I only have a few of these so one-per-person, first-come-first-served.
For anyone that would like some hands-on work with a Sharepoint Server implementation, and would like a Virtual Machine to play with, this DVD contains a full Virtual Machine and walkthrough of Sharepoint Server 2007.
Additionally, it also contains:
Product & Technical documentation for
Office Sharepoint Server 2007
Windows Sharepoint Services 3.0
Office 2007 System
Office Project Server 2007
Training Resources & Technet Webcasts
Developer Resources, including starter kits, SDKs and sample code
Customer solution briefs
Powerpoint presentations from Microsoft Conferences like TechEd & the PDC
Upgrade & Migration Resources
Online resource index
If you’re a customer of mine and interested in a copy, please contact me and I’ll put one in the mail. I only have a few of these so one-per-person, first-come-first-served. Note that this disc is included in the Sharepoint Operational Jumpstart – Disc 2, IT Professional Resources section.
UPDATE – 6/25/08: I’ve gotten, not surprisingly, a very large number of requests for this kit being that it’s not something readily available on the open market.
Folks – I need to emphasize something: These kits are, to be blunt, EXPENSIVE. They aren’t like other items that I get for you folks. I can’t just order “5 copies” because you want one for each person in your department. I can’t even get a couple copies for you and your department lead. (For those wondering, this kit is the price of an average lunch for us. Get the picture? It’s cheaper for me to buy you a copy of the Sharepoint Server 2007 Resource Kit.)
The kit is pricey because it’s professionally produced and packed with 15 DVDs total:
The IT Professional section contains 5 DVDs as I mentioned below.
The End User section contains 3 DVDs including lots of on-disc video training.
The Marketing section contains 1 DVD full of production-ready content to advertise your new Sharepoint Server.
The Developer section contains 6 DVDs with tools & sample code up the yin-yang.
-------------- ORIGINAL MESSAGE Yeah, yeah – I know. The picture says it’s called the “Microsoft Office Sharepoint Server 2007 Resource Kit”, but that’s not what we call it here at Microsoft, okay?
Anyway, we have this kit that’s called the “Jumpstart” because it really does contain everything needed for a new Sharepoint implementation to be jumpstart-ed.
This is a MASSIVE collection of software tools, training, whitepapers, eBooks, evaluation software, and other assorted materials associated with Sharepoint Server 2007. The kit is actually a box containing 4 smaller envelopes, each addressed to a specific role:
IT Professional
End User
Marketing
Developer
Yes, the kit even comes with it’s own section on how to market your own Sharepoint site interally within your company. The “yellow” IT Professional envelope/folder contains 5 DVDs including:
DISC 1 Deployment Essentials Capacity Planning Tool Sharepoint on Technet Training Partners Office Sharepoint Server Deployment Plan Sharepoint Learning Resource Website Webcasts
Get the idea? And that’s just the first folder/envelope. It’s a massive library all in one box.
So if you’re a customer of mine that’s responsible for your organization’s Sharepoint implementation, and you’re interested in getting one of these kits, contact me and I’ll see if I can get one for you.
These are the files stored on the flash drive for the PowerShell Workshop/Briefing some of you attended. The file requires WinZip 9+ and is encrypted requiring the password.
(If WebSense is blocking you, click here for an alternative download location.)
The folks at Directions on Microsoft have published their semi-annual roadmap of our (Microsoft’s) Systems Management Product Roadmap.
Unlike most of their materials however, this roadmap is being made for free online. The article contains both a discussion of the different products and technologies as well as a printable visual roadmap of what to expect in terms of each product line:
Well, instead of making you download the whole thing, we put it on a DVD. It’s not huge being that it’s mostly whitepapers, a walkthrough documents but it’s certainly worth a look see.
If you’re a customer of mine and are interested in getting a copy of the disc, send me a note and I’ll put one in the mail for you. (You should already know how to contact me if you’re a customer of mine)
You can say I’m spinning this quote, but read it for yourself in the link below in it’s full context:
“…I have just completed a report advising business users to avoid OS X.
…In examining whole disk encryption solutions (in a fair level of depth), I have found that there is no viable solution that meets the requirements of my clients. Furthermore, there really isn't a viable whole disk solution, period…
…I've found myself concluding my report this morning by recommending that my business clients use {gulp} Windows. There, I've said it. Somewhere out there an angel just lost its wings…
…I have a dream, that one day Apple will wake up and smell the market. Business users need whole disk encryption and advanced security features. Until Apple improves in these areas, I'll be recommending the operating system that shall not be named.”
I never expected to see this in my RSS reader from Chad’s blog.
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