Keith Combs' Blahg

You don’t have the tools or talent, but you can watch this video in awe !!!

Keith Combs — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 04:37:26 GMT

Absolutely amazing video. Heck, the making of the video is interesting enough, but watch this case mod get created. Totally jealous of the tools and time.

Windows @ Work Contest goes live !!!

Keith Combs — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 04:40:27 GMT

Submit an entry about your Windows 7 experiences and thoughts to the community. What are you looking forward to in Windows 7? Share a business or personal success, or cool and innovative feature. Your fellow community members will vote, so may the best story win.

Contest Location: http://it.toolbox.com/communities/microsoft-windows-7/contests

Contest Period: 11/23/09 to 02/23/10

Prizes:

This is a pretty easy contest to enter. No screencast or anything fancy this time around. Instead, tell us about your experience with Windows 7 for a chance to win a great prize.

See the contest site for the full rules. Sure wish I could enter. Good luck!!!

Windows Home Server (WHS) Power Pack 3 – available on 11/24

Keith Combs — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 18:10:06 GMT

If you have multiple PCs with increasingly large amounts of digital photography, music, video, and documents, then protecting, organizing, and connecting this digital media can be a challenging task. Help with managing your digital dilemmas has arrived. Windows Home Server does more than Network Attached Storage (NAS) – take a look.

Media Server: Digi tal memories and media stored and organized in a central location
Backup Software: Home computers backed up daily, automatically
Data Recovery: Simple restore of lost files or even entire hard drive content.
Document Management: Complete access to files from both inside and outside the home
Remote Access: A secure and personalized website address for sharing photos and home videos
Add-ins: Easily add storage space and new software capabilities

Power Pack 3 adds the following new features:

Backup/Restore of computers running Windows 7 - Windows Home Server can automatically archive recorded TV by moving your recordings from a Windows Media Center computer to your home server in the format of your choice. This enables playback in the correct format for your home computers and/or portable devices. You can configure your computer running Windows 7 to wake up at a scheduled backup time and then go back to sleep after the backup finishes.
Windows 7 Libraries integration - When you install the Windows Home Server Connector and log on a computer running Windows 7, you can access the Windows Home Server shared folders from the Windows 7 libraries.
Enhancements for Windows Media Center - Windows Home Server can automatically archive recorded TV by moving your recordings from a Windows Media Center computer to your home server in the format of your choice. This enables playback in the correct format for your home computers and/or portable devices.
Better support for netbook computers – looking for details on this.

Power Pack 3 will enable the most optimal experience for Windows 7 users on a Windows Home Server network.

Got 2010? Go get it !!!

Keith Combs — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 06:00:00 GMT

Head on over to http://www.microsoft.com/2010/ and check out the 2010 wave and downloads.

Compose a Haiku and Win!

Keith Combs — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 07:09:30 GMT

Clear your mind. Think about the magnificent Windows Server 2008 R2 and compose a Haiku. Ready to get started? Head on over to http://www.r2haiku.com/ for a chance to win. Official rules at http://www.r2haiku.com/Home/Rules.

Azure Services Training Kit – now available for download

Keith Combs — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 04:36:08 GMT

The Azure Services Training Kit includes a comprehensive set of technical content including hands-on labs, presentations, and demos that are designed to help you learn how to use the Windows Azure platform including: Windows Azure, SQL Azure and .NET Services. The November release includes new and updated labs in addition to information about Microsoft Codename “Dallas”. This training kit contains the following content:

Presentations Presentations will be updated after PDC 2009 with all of the latest and greatest decks.

Demos Demos will be updated after PDC 2009 with all of the latest and greatest demos.

Hands On Labs

Introduction to Windows Azure
Exploring Windows Azure Storage
Deploying and Monitoring Applications in Windows Azure
Windows Azure: Worker Role Communication
Federated Authentication in a Windows Azure Web Role Application
Building ASP.NET Web Form Applications with Windows Azure
Introduction to SQL Azure
Migrating Databases to SQL Azure
SQL Azure: Tips and Tricks
Intro to Dallas
Introduction to the .NET Service Bus
Introduction to the .NET Access Control Service
Service Remoting with Service Bus
Eventing with the Service Bus

Get it @ http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?displaylang=en&FamilyID=413e88f8-5966-4a83-b309-53b7b77edf78.

BitLocker to Go Reader – now available for download

Keith Combs — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 04:29:38 GMT

BitLocker protection on removable drives is known as BitLocker To Go. When a BitLocker-protected removable drive is unlocked on a computer running Windows 7, the drive is automatically recognized and the user is either prompted for credentials to unlock the drive or the drive is unlocked automatically if configured to do so. Computers running Windows XP or Windows Vista do not automatically recognize that the removable drive is BitLocker-protected. With the BitLocker To Go Reader users can unlock the BitLocker-protected drives by using a password or a recovery password (also known as a recovery key) and gain read-only access to their data.

Go get it @ http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?displaylang=en&FamilyID=64851943-78c9-4cd4-8e8d-f551f06f6b3d

My new adventure starts tomorrow

Keith Combs — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 03:18:00 GMT

The Dallas Cowboys should certainly be thinking that after nearly getting skunked by the Green Bay Packers, but this isn’t about them, it’s about me. Monday, November 16 I start a new job. I am not leaving Microsoft. I still dig working here. I am joining the team that is responsible for technet.microsoft.com.

The Job

I’ll still be doing many of the things I’ve been doing for years. Staying immersed and deeply technical on a variety of Microsoft products will still be core, hard core. I’ll still blog, deliver webcasts, live events, and produce screencasts. This time around I’ll be taking advantage of technet.microsoft.com more fully. I consider it my new blog. Grin.

My real job is to build TechNet.com into a place where the community is more active. In order to do that I am going to need your help on what is needed. I have some ideas on stuff I’d like to try, and we have some pretty smart people already hard at work on some kewl ideas, but ultimately it needs to work for you.

The mission is really quite simple. Make technet.microsoft.com a place IT Pros can really use effectively for their jobs, and want to come back to over and over. This sure sounds simple, but the scope is global so I will get the opportunity to work with the subsidiaries in all parts of the globe to build a killer new environment.

The transformation has actually already started. We are making a lot of changes to the TechNet sites as well as the MSDN sites. In fact, what they get, we get and vice versa. You will see a lot of improvements coming. Some are geared directly at organizing the information more effectively. Other changes are geared for discovery. Then other changes are geared towards the community.

The Title

My new title is Senior Program Manager. My role is modeled after Scott Hanselman and the talent on his team. They focus on the various developer technologies, and I will focus on the products and technologies IT Pros care about. In order to make this successful, we plan to more directly engage the community worldwide at TechNet. My role really has two titles. Senior PM is one of them and Community PM is the other. The job really combines elements of both.

This job is a logical step for me. I have enjoyed working as an IT Pro Evangelist in the US but it was time to do something a little bolder. John Martin, my new manager, is giving my that opportunity. I can already tell it’s going to be great working for John. He is a much more articulate communicator and diplomat than I am. He has a great sense and vision for what needs to be done. I’m sure much of this comes from the people on his team. Good teams elevate good managers and vice versa.

As you can probably tell, this is going to be a fascinating new gig. I join an extremely talented group and have the opportunity to learn many new lessons. My adventure begins in the morning. I am headed to Seattle and will be meeting everyone on the TechNet online team, learning what their plans are, and figuring out what I’ve really gotten myself into. It should be a fun week as I chart my course, and the new course for the IT Pro Community at TechNet.com.

By the way, the avatar looks a lot like me when I let my hair grow. Long haired hippy.

Empowering Women’s Brilliance event on Tuesday 11/17

Keith Combs — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 20:11:02 GMT

Join Directions Training, Macy's and the Microsoft's DPE team as we launch Empowering Women’s Brilliance. This local initiative was designed to help promote and celebrate women in technology by helping them accelerate the success of their early stage startups, providing:

Software - Development tools and production licenses with NO upfront costs
Support - Resources and Community support from over 300 network and hosting partners and Professional technical support from Microsoft
Visibility - Profile and Promotion on the BizSpark Database

Where: Macy's
NARCISSUS 7th Floor
111 North State Street
Chicago, IL 60602
When: November 17, 2009; 4pm - 8pm (CST)
Cost: FREE!

More information on this event and registration at https://www.clicktoattend.com/invitation.aspx?code=142198.

Note to future parents: Plan your automobile purchases carefully

Keith Combs — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 07:29:00 GMT

I’m sure all of you have teenagers that are practically perfect. Straight A’s and they have never been in any trouble. Even if that were true, we are all faced with one issue that is exceedingly hard to forecast. The automobile inventory and lifespan.

My forecasting abilities were doing quite well until late this summer. We had managed to stay ahead of the mayhem that inexperienced drivers bring to the sublime family life. I have already written about some of those horrors. I won’t remind you and thankfully this tale is not yet another wreck with twisted metal and a call in the middle of the night.

Instead, it’s the unexpected stoppage that occurs when the inexperienced driver continues to drive a valuable automobile that shouldn’t be driven. The result? Premature death of a great and fully paid for car. The other ramification sets in.

My plan was always to time the “hand me downs” so that our children would get a trusted machine I bought new. This works out pretty well in small families with a couple of “starter” cars. But the Automobile Sudden Death Syndrome (ASDS) blows that little plan all to pieces, fast.

Now what?

I’m stuck between a rock and a hard place. Buy another used car from some nefarious creature in the Metroplex, or give my baby away and hope it makes it to 100,000 miles?

My baby in this case is the 2007 Honda Civic Coupe you see above. It’s coming up on three years old and I just turned 15,000 miles on it. Yea, you read that right. It is driven around the local community but generally it goes from my garage to the garage at DFW airport 10 miles away and back. That is it’s normal commute.

Shopping sucks

Yea, I already tweeted that. I’ve been on vacation this week. Some fucking vacation. Sorry for the f bomb but it’s well deserved. There are some seriously shady characters out there. I can spot them without ever even talking to them.

The best money you’ll ever spend shopping for a used car is the $40 membership to the carfax.com service. This service allows you to look at the history of a vehicle identification number (VIN). The history will tell you if the titled car was in a flood, or wreck, or had the odometer rolled back. You would be surprised at how many times this information comes in handy. I have had two people in the past week refuse to supply a VIN. That’s a big RED FLAG and probably means the auto was stolen or something very very bad.

Websites

Time to rant a little on craigslist.com. They clearly have everything going for them. I assume it’s due to low rates for running an ad. But their UI and data entry sucks.

Freeform text entry is good for some people. Freedom to control the formatting is also good for others. But for the masses that post on craigslist.com, it’s a curse. Many people neglect to supply key information about the product (automobile in this case). And it’s simple stuff like the model, color, etc.

I realize posting mileage might be something they actually want to leave off, but there are a lot of other things people might want to know and it might actually help SELL the freaking car. I realize there’s a language barrier issue at work here, but a better automobile data entry form would help immensely.

The most annoying feature, or lack of feature in this case, is the inability to put a freaking thumbnail on each posting. You actually have to click the posting first. Is this the BBS era of the 1980’s or what? It wouldn’t be so bad but the dealers and other n00bs tend to post their vehicles a million freaking times over the course of a few weeks. I guess they think it’s going to get someone’s attention and help sell the car. Wrong!!!

What to do?

I guess I’ll play the game a while longer. I am taking a break from my vacation (thank god) and going back to work next week. I’ll continue to monitor craigslist, autotrader.com, cars.com and a few others looking for the golden nugget. But let’s just say I am not holding my breath even though I look great in blue.

People, please go to http://kbb.com and read the descriptions for the quality ratings. Excellent doesn’t mean poor.

Good Karma

Keith Combs — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 00:28:16 GMT

See the new hybrid at http://karma.fiskerautomotive.com/.

Exchange Server 2010 is now available to TechNet subscribers

Keith Combs — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 17:34:12 GMT

For those of you that have TechNet Plus subscriptions, you’ll notice that Exchange Server 2010 is now in the subscriber download area. If you haven’t looked at some of the new capabilities, here’s an overview of some of the top features.

Reduced deployment cost - Exchange Server 2010 helps you reduce costs by addressing common infrastructure requirements such as backup, e-mail archiving, mobile e-mail access, and voice mail with no need for third-party tools.
Simplified high availability and disaster recovery - Exchange Server 2010 introduces a simplified approach to high availability and disaster recovery to help you achieve new levels of reliability and reduce the complexity of delivering business continuity.
Easier administration and decreased dependence on the help desk - Exchange Server 2010 provides new self-service capabilities to help users perform common tasks without calling the help desk.
Greater mobility and flexible access - Exchange Server 2010 offers an enhanced universal inbox experience, which provides your users with access to all of their business communications from a single location.
Decreased inbox overload and increased productivity - Exchange Server 2010 adds new productivity features which help your users organize and prioritize the communications in their inboxes efficiently.
Transformed voice mail - With Exchange Server 2010, users can receive their voice mail messages in their inbox with text preview.
Simplified compliance - Exchange Server 2010 delivers new integrated archiving functionality to help simplify compliance and discovery.
Safeguards for sensitive information - With centrally managed and enforced information protection and control capabilities, Exchange Server 2010 makes it easy to encrypt, control, and moderate your company's communications.
Reduced risk of malware and spam - Exchange Server 2010 actively helps protect your communications through built-in defenses against junk e-mail and support for an array of third party security products.

More information at http://www.microsoft.com/exchange/2010/en/us/default.aspx and http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/exchange/2010/default.aspx.

Windows 7 Digital Cable Advisor and CableCard Copy Freely released !!!

Keith Combs — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 06:19:10 GMT

Microsoft announced at CEDIA that customers will now be able to add digital cable tuners with a CableCARD™ to any Windows® 7-based PC with Windows® Media Center. The Digital Cable Advisor tool is being provided by Microsoft to analyze consumer PCs to ensure that they are capable of a quality digital cable viewing experience.

The Digital Cable Advisor measures system parameters such as CPU speed, RAM, graphics card support for hardware acceleration, and digital connection capabilities. If the PC meets the minimum requirements, the tool enables digital cable functionality on the PC. Then, users can add a digital cable tuner with a CableCARD™. With a digital cable subscription from a TV service provider, users can access cable pay-TV, including premium content.

In addition, the latest ATI 1.19 Firmware which enables Copy Freely for CableCARD™ recordings is now available via Windows Update.

See the full details on the Windows 7 Media Center Team blog at http://thegreenbutton.com/blogs/windows_media_center_team_blog/archive/2009/11/06/digital-cable-advisor-now-available.aspx.

This is by far my favorite feature of Windows 7 !!!

Windows 7, Exchange 2010 and Windows Server 2008 R2 Launch – slides now available

Keith Combs — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 18:48:02 GMT

All of the slides from the launch events are now posted and available for viewing. If you create a slideshare account, you can also download the PowerPoint file. Here are the relevant locations for the materials:

Windows 7 - http://www.slideshare.net/keithcombs

Windows Server 2008 R2 - http://www.slideshare.net/chenley

Exchange Server 2010 - http://www.slideshare.net/harold.wong

RDP 7 for Windows XP and Windows Vista - now available for download

Keith Combs — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 22:44:37 GMT

Now that we have released Windows 7 & Windows Server 2008 R2 to manufacturing, we wanted to share our plans to make the Remote Desktop Connection (RDC) 7.0 client available to Windows XP and Windows Vista. RDC 7 will ensure that when connecting to Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 from an XP or Vista machines you are able to take advantage of the rich, advanced RDP7 features such as Media Player Redirection, True Multi-monitor support, etc.

Get the new download @ http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/results.aspx?pocId=&freetext=969084&DisplayEnglishAlso=on&DisplayLang=en.

See the RDP team blog post on the subject with all the juicy details at http://blogs.msdn.com/rds/archive/2009/08/21/remote-desktop-connection-7-for-windows-7-windows-xp-windows-vista.aspx.