October, 2005

Last week we announced some significant licensing changes with regards to virtualization and Windows Server 2003. As with how we addressed mulit-core processers it seems we are taking another simular industry step. Starting with Windows Server 2003 R2 Enterprise Edition - customers can run up to 4 virtual instances of Windows Server 2003 (any edition) with no additional licensing costs. Zero...

I was talking to an IT manager for a large financial bank in Canada about the pending SQL 2005 product launch. He was looking forward to the product as it has been a while since we’ve updated the product version. Today he uses SQL 2000 in a departmental fashion and while he was excited to see the new product he asked the obvious question about whether SQL Server can handle heavy-duty requirements....

As i ndemnification and licensing is a concern to almost every IT manager I thought it worthwhile to share information on the availability of three new template Shared Source licenses. Taking this approach, all of Microsoft source code releases will be under consistent terms, and should be more easy to use and to understand. The licenses are each 1 page or shorter. They seem to be very straight forward...

Recognition is another way to highlight what your teams have done and help managers with IT Pro retention ! Not every organization is doing this and I've learned that recognition is a key way to keep people jazzed about their role and show them how they are appriciated. To help raise awareness we've created a National program to bring attention to what innovative solutions you are delivering. We feel...

If you've come to one of my team's events I'm sure that you've heard about our resource guide. This quick reference guide was created to help Canadian IT Pros evaluate, deploy and maintain Microsoft products and technologies. It may be of some benefit to you from an managerial perspective, yet from our feedback I think that it will be really helpful for your team and techies. Check it out and pass...

I've gotten a question regarding one of my previous posts on SQL in the enterprise. It seems that I really wasn't to the point. To ensure clarity, my comment "this is not your basic database and with great capability comes the need to ensure you properly architect a solution that fits your needs." was more about solution approach vs. product architecture. If you are looking to replace any mission...