Microsoft Education in Virginia

SharePoint Seminar Series With Briefings On SharePoint 2013

2012-09-04T01:19:07Z

Please consider attending a briefing on SharePoint 2013 by TCSC, an excellent Microsoft Partner with particular expertise in anything related to SharePoint. Details and dates listed below -- Kevin

SharePoint Today and Tomorrow Briefing

Enjoy breakfast and an opportunity to learn about solutions for today as well as looking forward to SharePoint 2013.

Recent Solution Showcase

You can accomplish a lot in a short amount of time with SharePoint if you have the right tools and experience. In this session we will review some of our recent solutions and explain the process and techniques applied. The solutions we will discuss include interactive master calendars, SalesForce.com integration and anonymous website data input forms.

SharePoint 2013 End-User Briefing

Curious as to what end-user enhancements are in store for SharePoint 2013? During this briefing we will review what we have learned about end-user functionality in the SharePoint 2013 Preview (aka beta) release. We will include demonstrations and our analysis of what should matter most to end-users.

SharePoint 2013 IT Pro Briefing

Want to know how tough upgrading will be? Curious as to what controls and functions you will need to administer in SharePoint 2013? This session will cover what we have tested and learned with regard to administration and upgrade operations for SharePoint 2013. We will discuss how you should prepare, along with our analysis of the critical components in the architecture and administration areas of SharePoint 2013.

SharePoint 2013 Development Briefing

How can I build solutions in SharePoint 2013? What is the new application model? What are the tools I will need to use and what kind of new solutions can I build? These are all great questions and in our development briefing we will give you a first look at what's new and what's changed when developing solutions in SharePoint 2013.

We look forward to seeing you there!

Newport News
September 18, 2012
Registration 8:15 AM
9:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Hilton Garden Inn
180 Regal Way
Newport News, VA 23602
Click To Register

Norfolk
September 19, 2012
Registration 8:15 AM
9:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Westin VA Beach Town Center
4535 Commerce Street
Virginia Beach, VA 23462
Click To Register

Richmond
September 20, 2012
Registration 8:15 AM
9:00 AM - 12:00 PM
The Westin Richmond
6631 West Broad Street
Richmond, VA 23230
Click To Register

Lynchburg
September 25, 2012
Registration 8:15 AM
9:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Hilton Garden Inn
4025 Wards Road
Lynchburg, VA 24502
Click To Register

Charlottesville
September 26, 2012
Registration 8:15 AM
9:00 AM - 12:00 PM
The Boar's Head Inn
200 Ednam Drive
Charlottesville, VA 22903
Click To Register

Microsoft Deployment Toolkit 2012 Update 1 Now Available

2012-08-17T17:47:45Z

The latest version of the Microsoft Deployment Toolkit—version 2012 Update 1— is now available for download.

Download MDT 2012 Update 1 now!

This release expands your deployment capabilities with support for the latest software releases, including Windows 8, Windows Server 2012, and System Center 2012 Configuration Manager SP1 Community Technology Preview. Other notable new features include:

Support for using the DaRT 8 Beta with the Windows 8 version of the Assessment and Deployment Kit (ADK).
New “Build Your Own Pages” support for User-Driven Installation (UDI), enabling IT pros to create new wizard panes using simple drag-and-drop operations – no coding required.
Integration with System Center Orchestrator, enabling task sequences to invoke Orchestrator runbooks at any point in the deployment process.
Completely reworked “Roles and Features” logic, supporting both installation and removal, as well as providing a new Lite Touch wizard pane for selecting roles and features to install at deploy time.
Support for PowerShell 3.0 to make it easier to run PowerShell scripts inside task sequences on Windows 8, Windows Server 2012, and Windows PE 4.0.
Simple monitoring functionality for Configuration Manager task sequences, leveraging the monitoring capabilities provided initially in MDT 2012 for Lite Touch deployments.
Improved “boot from VHD” deployment capabilities, supporting both bare metal and refresh deployments.

Extend the Reach of Video within Microsoft SharePoint

2012-08-14T17:05:12Z

Most of you use SharePoint for collaboration at your school. Check out this webinar by Polycom and Microsoft, to learn how you can provide “YouTube” functionality for your organization with Polycom RealPresence Media Manager and SharePoint.

Schools using Microsoft SharePoint solutions are increasingly facing requests to include video and rich media content within the portal user experience. However, the attributes of video capture, upload, publishing and network delivering are distinct from other forms of content, demanding a solution specifically designed to address these unique requirements.

Join Video Content Management Solutions experts for a complimentary webinar, and learn how to harmonize the way video assets are search for and previewed within the SharePoint search function.

Tuesday, August 21, 2012
1:00 p.m. ET
Duration: 1 Hour

Changing my stripes!

2012-08-14T16:32:47Z

I’m excited to announce that I’m changing roles at Microsoft. After nearly 7 years as the Technology Specialist for education customers in the Mid-Atlantic, I’m now the Microsoft Account Manager for education customers in Virginia.

It’s an exciting time in the technology industry and at Microsoft in particular. We have more new products and services being released in the next six months than ever before at Microsoft. Every product and service we offer will be updated during this school year. Wow!

My plan is to maintain this blog, perhaps with a less technical focus and a broader focus on education.

I look forward to connecting with most of you in my new role going forward! Feel free to reach out to me with your questions and comments. Let me know how I can be of assistance as we move to this exciting new era of technology.

Thanks,

Kevin

New Azure Services Debut on June 7

2012-06-06T23:41:21Z

See this blog post from the Azure team for some exciting news about new services and updates to our Azure services.

Tomorrow we will release previews of new Windows Azure services which simplify building applications that span cloud and on-premises servers. By combining infrastructure and platform services, these new capabilities of Windows Azure give you greater flexibility in how to build or bring your applications to the cloud. We will also add support for new operating systems, release new language libraries for .NET, Java, PHP, and Node.js, and will make Windows Azure available in new geographies. Tomorrow (June 7), Scott Guthrie will host “Meet Windows Azure” (streamed live at 1pm Pacific) to introduce these new services, but here are some of the highlights:

Windows Azure Virtual Machines— Virtual Machines give you application mobility, allowing you to move your virtual hard disks (VHDs) back and forth between on-premises and the cloud. Migrate existing workloads such as Microsoft SQL Server or Microsoft SharePoint to the cloud, bring your own customized Windows Server or Linux images, or select from a gallery. As a common virtualization file format, VHD has been adopted by hundreds of vendors and is a freely available specification covered under the Microsoft Open Specification Promise.
Windows Azure Virtual Network— Virtual Network lets you provision and manage virtual private networks (VPNs) in Windows Azure as well as securely extend on-premises networks into the cloud. It provides control over network topology, including configuration of IP addresses, routing tables and security policies and uses the industry-standard IPSEC protocol to provide a secure connection between your corporate VPN gateway and Windows Azure.
Windows Azure Web Sites —Build web sites and applications with this highly elastic solution supporting .NET, Node.js, and PHP while using common deployment techniques like Git and FTP. Windows Azure Web Sites will also allow easy deployment of open source applications like WordPress, Joomla!, DotNetNuke, Umbraco, and Drupal to the cloud with a few clicks.
New tools, language support, and SDK—Windows Azure SDK June 2012 includes new developer capabilities for writing code against the latest service improvements with updated support for Java, PHP, and .NET, and the addition of Python as a supported language on Windows Azure. Additionally, the SDK now provides 100% command line support for both Windows and Mac.
Availability in New Countries— Availability of Windows Azure is being expanded to customers in 48 new countries, including Russia, South Korea, Taiwan, Turkey, Egypt, South Africa, and Ukraine. Roll-out will be complete later this month, making Windows Azure one of the most widely available cloud platforms in the industry with offerings in 89 countries and in 19 local currencies.

Windows 8 Release Preview is available!

2012-06-04T20:38:45Z

Late last week, Microsoft Corp. announced the availability of the Windows 8 Release Preview, the next milestone of the highly anticipated Windows 8 operating system. Available for download now in 14 languages at http://preview.windows.com. Since the February release of Windows 8 Consumer Preview, which was downloaded more than a million times in the first 24 hours, Windows 8 has become the most tested Microsoft operating system of all time, and with today’s release, enters its final phase of development before it releases to manufacturing.

Primary Changes from Consumer Preview to Release Preview: Windows 8 Release Preview delivers new Windows 8 Bing Travel, News and Sports apps, as well as Gaming and Music Xbox apps that integrate with your Zune pass. The Release Preview also features notable improvements to the Mail, Photos, and People apps that initially debuted with the Consumer Preview. Please reference the Windows 8 Release Preview Product Guide to see all new features within Release Preview.

Here’s some additional resources for you to review :

Windows Blog

Windows 8 app developer blog

Windows Store blog

Windows for your Business blog

Using SharePoint for Project & Portfolio Management – webcast on 6/5

2012-06-01T18:13:54Z

Learn more

Many education organizations have already invested in SharePoint for general collaboration, but do not realize that it is also the perfect solution for collaborative project management. Out of the box, SharePoint 2010 has a feature set that can be used for a basic project management structure. Whether you are using SharePoint Sites and Workspaces for project organization or creating informative reports and dashboards to keep stakeholders and sponsors informed, you can utilize SharePoint to work more efficiently and increase project success. We will also show you how SharePoint can be easily enhanced and extended to manage work, individual projects and portfolios of projects.

Agenda
Often project management solutions are complex and expensive, targeted only for very structured projects. You have an alternative with SharePoint and BrightWork.
In just 45-minutes we’ll show you how to make SharePoint a practical project management solution to support project management needs across your organization.

Content:

Intro BrightWorks
Project Management Challenges in Education
Quick Customer Case Study
Product Demonstration
Benefits
How to get started

Click here to find out more!

Tuesday, June 5th

3:00 – 4:00 PM EST

New Translator app for Windows Phone released today

2012-04-17T14:43:00Z

Today Microsoft released an updated version of the Translator App for Windows Phone powered by the same world-class technology behind Bing Translator.

Download the Translator App on Windows Phone Marketplace: (http://aka.ms/xq2c41)

Microsoft Translator features include:

Easy snippet and web page translation on Bing Translator
Powerful yet simple API that allows translation functionality to be easily incorporated into any scenario
Support for over 37 languages
Instant in-place translation with the free translation widget for no-code addition of translation functionality
Collaborative Translation Framework offers social features so native speakers can improve in-context translations

Microsoft Translator provides a set of powerful but simple-to-use APIs that can help customers accomplish cross-language communication and language translation goals, and consumers experience high quality language translation. It is a state-of-the-art statistical machine translation system translating between any of the supported languages, and powering millions of translations every day across Microsoft products like Bing, Office, Internet Explorer and external products like Facebook, Trip Advisor, eBay etc. For more technical information about Microsoft Translator, please visit http://api.microsofttranslator.com.

If you would like to sign-up for the translator API for use in your own scenario – you can do so via the Windows Azure Marketplace.

Windows HiEd Conference

2012-03-11T21:08:08Z

You’re Invited to the Windows HiEd Conference!

Connect and collaborate with higher education IT professional peers on deep technical topics covering evaluation, deployment, and support of Microsoft technologies. The 8^th Windows HiEd Conference is coordinated and developed in conjunction with representatives of the Windows-HiEd listsrv.

Details

· Date: Main Event: April 30th – May 2^nd, 8 to 5:30 pm PST;

Welcome Reception: Sunday, April 29^th, 3rd from 6 – 8 pm PST

· Location: Microsoft Campus, One Microsoft Way, Redmond, WA

· Cost: US $175

Who should attend?

This event is for members of Windows-HiEd listsrv and IT professionals in education. Sessions and content focus on infrastructure technologies such as Windows Server and Windows Client, systems management, virtualization, and security, and also service provider technologies like messaging, collaboration and application platforms.

What you’ll learn

Microsoft product managers and specialists and higher education peers will present and host sessions on technical topics that help you better understand new and future Microsoft products and technologies for education as well as share best practices and insights for deploying and supporting them.

See Windows Higher Education Conference web site for full agenda details.

www.regonline.com/WinHiEd

Upcoming Education Webcasts

2012-03-11T18:21:57Z

Be sure to check these out and please pass on the info to others………

Title	Speaker	Date	Time	Invite
Microsoft Private Cloud: Introduction – 100 Level	Troy Sharpe	15-Mar	10am PT	Details
Unified Communications 2012, What’s Changed and Why You Should Know	Aamer Kaleem	15-Mar	10am PT	Details
Office 2010 Tips and Tricks for Educators	Ashanka Iddya	22-Mar	10am PT	Details
Microsoft Private Cloud: Infrastructure Management – 200/300 Level	Chris Urban	22-Mar	12pm PT	Details
Bring Learning to Life with Kinect (through Center for Digital Education)	Cameron Evans	28-Mar	11am PT	Details
Microsoft Private Cloud: Service Delivery and Automation – 200/300 Level	Chris Urban	29-Mar	10am PT	Details
What's New in SQL Server 2012 and How it Applies to Educators	Jason Morales	29-Mar	8am PT	Details
Microsoft Private Cloud: Application Management – 200/300 Level	Chris Urban	5-Apr	10am PT	Details
SQL Server 2012 BI for Education Analytics	Jason Morales	5-Apr	12pm PT	Details
Responding to the New K-12 Reality: High Impact ERP for Business Transformation	NA	17-Apr	11am PT	Details
Changing the Game with Kinect in Education	Allyson Knox	26-Apr	9am PT	Details
Changing the Game with Immersive Learning in Special Education	Allyson Knox	26-Apr	12pm PT	Details

Windows 8 Consumer Preview

2012-03-11T17:33:08Z

Microsoft announced the availability of the Windows 8 Consumer Preview — the next milestone of the Windows operating system. This latest preview is available for download starting today at http://preview.windows.com. The Windows 8 Consumer Preview offers a more robust experience for testing the world’s most popular operating system and is available to the widest range of people yet following the initial release of the Windows 8 Developer Preview late last year. The Developer Preview received more than 3 million downloads.

“With Windows 8, we reimagined the different ways people interact with their PC and how to make everything feel like a natural extension of the device, whether using a Windows 8 tablet, laptop or all-in-one,” said Steven Sinofsky, president of the Windows and Windows Live Division at Microsoft. “The Windows 8 Consumer Preview brings a no-compromises approach to using your PC.”

At a Windows 8 Consumer Preview event in Barcelona that was attended by partners from Europe and around the world, the company shared some key new updates in the Windows 8 Consumer Preview:

• Broad range of product changes and improvements. Since the Developer Preview in September, designed to preview the programming platform, Windows 8 has progressed across every dimension. From completing the user experience for touch, keyboard and mouse to refining the development platform, the Consumer Preview improves performance, quality and reliability across all subsystems. With the added features, it represents a more complete view of the capabilities of Windows 8.

• Windows Store with new apps. The Windows 8 Consumer Preview marks the beta opening of the Windows Store, which is filled with a variety of new Metro style apps from both third-party developers and Microsoft. During the Consumer Preview, these apps are available to try and experience at no cost to users. The Windows Store will offer personalized recommendations, and Windows 8 gives users the ability to take their apps and settings with them across multiple PCs, making it easy to discover and try new apps while offering developers the greatest opportunity of any platform.

• Connecting to the cloud across Windows-based PCs and Windows Phone. The Windows 8 Consumer Preview offers seamless integration with the content people care about across their devices. An optional additional sign-on with a Microsoft account provides access to a host of features, including the ability to roam all settings, use cloud storage, communicate with email, calendar and contacts, and connect to a broad range of services. Your connection to the cloud works across your Windows-based PCs and your Windows Phones.

• Internet Explorer 10 Platform Preview 5. The best way to experience the Web on Windows is with Internet Explorer 10. The browser has been re-imagined to create a new experience designed specifically for Windows 8 devices. It provides an edge-to-edge user interface that is all about less browser and more Web. Fast and fluid, Internet Explorer is hardware-accelerated to enable Web performance.

• Preview of new hardware capabilities. At the event, Microsoft also showcased Windows 8 running on a wide range of new x86- and ARM-based reference hardware. This hardware will be available to select developers for trial and testing as previously announced.

The Windows 8 Consumer Preview will be available worldwide for download in English, French, German, Japanese and simplified Chinese languages. More information about Windows 8 and how to download the Consumer Preview is available at http://preview.windows.com or http://windowsteamblog.com.

SkyDrive will be integrated with Windows 8

2012-02-21T00:55:45Z

Today, Microsoft provides personal cloud storage for 17 million SkyDrive customers. Check out this blog posting to see what is planned with the release of Windows 8. Wow!

SkyDrive and Windows 8

The Building Windows 8 blog site is one of the best ways to keep up with ongoing announcements and developments on Windows 8.

Kevin

Why I need to go to Tech Ed

2012-02-12T22:34:13Z

Dear [Your boss' name]

I'd like to submit a request to attend Microsoft's premier technology event, TechEd 2012, on June 11-14 in Orlando. TechEd 2012 will offer four days of more than 1,000 learning opportunities and hands-on training across the full range of Microsoft products and solutions.

TechEd is the forum to gain the expertise, connections, and insights that will help us get the most from our existing IT investments.

The registration fee is $2,195, but as an academic customer, I can save $1,000 if I register soon.

While in attendance, I'd like to focus on finding solutions or best practices that could benefit these projects:

[Project or initiative #1]
[Project or initiative #2]
[Project or initiative #3]

In addition to over 500 unique breakout sessions with Microsoft and industry speakers, the conference offers the chance to connect face-to-face with peers who share our challenges and to learn from Microsoft experts who know the most about the products we're working with.

TechEd features over 200 self-paced labs - all created by product experts, and is an ideal place to pick up new ideas and skills to increase productivity and build better solutions.

I also have the option of participating in the pre-conference seminar. These day-long sessions are led by industry experts and will enhance my learning experience through supplemental in-depth, comprehensive training. The registration fee for the pre-conference seminar is $400.

Thank you for considering my request to register for this event. And please remember, if I register soon, I can save our school $1,00 in discounts. I look forward to your reply.

Regards,

[Your name]

P.S. If you need more justification for Why You Should Attend Tech Ed, see this post.

Attachments Suck

2012-02-12T16:32:22Z

You’ve got better things to do than sending attachments all day!

Attachments in email are frequently a waste of time, particularly when sent to a group.

See this blog post for more on the ‘attachment problem’ and some great solutions.

SkyDrive is a free storage and collaboration solution that works on PC’s, Macs, smartphones, iPads – you name it.

Plus, Office Web Apps are included for free!

Internet Explorer Automatic Updates

2012-01-16T22:18:56Z

We recently announced via the Exploring IE Blog our intention to start automatically upgrading Internet Explorer (IE) to IE8 for XP and to IE9 for Vista and Windows 7 this month. You can block this from occurring, and by default it occurs only for users which have opted into automatic updates. See below for details and let me know if you have any questions.

Q. What’s happening?
A. In line with the broader industry shift to automatic updates, we are working to make sure that Windows customers have the safest, most up to date Web browsing experience possible. In January 2012, the company will begin automatically updating Internet Explorer (IE) users to the latest version of IE available for their version of Windows. This includes auto updating IE8 and IE7 users on Vista SP2 and Windows 7 RTM and SP1 to IE9 as well as auto updating IE6 and IE7 users on Windows XP SP3 to IE8. We are starting this in just two countries initially, Brazil and Australia, and then scaling gradually to worldwide. This does not apply to Windows Server operating systems.

Q. What will users need to do to receive the update
A. Nothing. Users will not receive a prompt nor need to take any action, if they have Automatic Updates enabled in Windows. After the upgrade the next time they use Internet Explorer it will show them they’ve been upgraded.

Q: What is the difference between this “auto-update” through WU and our past updates of IE through WU?
A: Internet Explorer has been offered through Windows Update previously, but unlike other “Important” updates, users needed to initiate the IE9 install. What we are announcing is an evolution of this approach. For the 90% of Windows users who have opted into automatic updates, this simplification removes repetitive steps and allows users to simply opt-in to automatic updates through Windows Update and have IE seamlessly upgraded on their PC with no additional user action. The upgrade is still delivered through the Windows Update system and only to users who have opted in for automatic updates.

Q. How will the Upgrade be delivered?
A. The update will ship as a high-priority update for XP and Important class update for Vista and Windows 7

Q: How are businesses supposed to deal with these updates pushed to them?
A: We give business control as we always have with updates to the browser. We look at what we are doing with auto updates as an evolution of our update model. Businesses who manage their PCs or have installed the Windows Update Blocker Tool will continue to have control over what updates their PCs receive. Additionally, and this is what really differentiates us from other browser vendors, we will continue support previous versions of IE along with the operating system. That means for business users they will continue to have the latest security and performance updates for IE as long as they are using a supported version of Windows. Businesses can continue to control when they upgrade Internet Explorer by either using management software in the form of WSUS (Windows Server Update Services) or using the IE Blocker Toolkits for IE8 and/or IE9.

Q: What options are available to people who need a specific version of IE that isn’t IE9? Maybe their bank doesn’t support IE9 or they need IE9 for a piece of software they use every day?
A: IE9 contains support for IE7 through IE9 browser modes as well as standards support for Quirks Mode, IE7, IE8 and IE9. Further, if individuals want to uninstall a specific Internet Explorer update they have the choice to do so. Detailed instructions for uninstalling IE9 are available at http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows7/how-do-i-install-or-uninstall-internet-explorer-9

Save the Date - Microsoft Academic Summit in DC

2012-01-16T17:14:42Z

You are invited to participate in the Microsoft Academic Summit being planned for April 19-20, 2012 at the Microsoft Washington D.C. offices on “K” street. This event will be co-sponsored by The International Association of University Presidents (IAUP), Microsoft and others. Please save these dates and watch for more information coming soon with registration details. Registration is required to attend this free event.

Today’s higher education landscape requires dynamic leadership, a well-aligned culture of evidence, and technology that is usable by and accessible to everyone. Now more than ever, institutions are challenged to meet a variety of academic, administrative, and strategic goals—despite increasing demands and access to fewer dedicated resources.

This exclusive workshop is designed for senior higher education leaders committed to fostering institutional effectiveness at their institution. This free event has been designed to afford a unique opportunity for leaders to gather and discuss their roles in fostering systemic and sustainable institutional change. By forging new relationships and using information technology (IT) to guide data-driven achievement, leaders can achieve collaboration and accountability among academic, business, and financial units of their institution. Presenters and participants will examine the growing opportunity for institutional leadership to work together to leverage IT to achieve institutional goals.

Among many featured speakers will be Dr. Jim Ptaszynski, who leads the higher education world-wide strategy at Microsoft. Join us to hear the perspective of a former educator, now at Microsoft, on how to unlock the benefits of technology that you already own to improve learning and achieve your institutional goals.

Get Organized for 2012

2012-01-06T18:36:34Z

Do you struggle with an overflowing inbox?

Do you use your inbox as a task list, responding to emails as they come in instead of your real priorities for the day?

I encourage you to adopt a new approach this year and gain control. Learn how to master large volumes of email and time management. Microsoft provides a free training series on Outlook Best Practices – How Harry got organized. It’s a series of short videos that take 30-40 minutes overall. You’ll find it here.

A more detailed offering (and a real favorite of mine) is the Take Back Your Life system to productivity and work/life balance, taught by McGhee Productivity Solutions.

It certainly takes effort but you’ll be much happier and more in control if you adopt either of these approaches. I’m happy to share more about this topic – let me know.

Happy New Year!

Kevin

Tech Ed 2012 Registration is open, with academic discounts

2011-11-15T19:57:04Z

Microsoft Tech Ed is the single best customer event that Microsoft holds each year!

All of our product groups are represented. You can attend general sessions to hear from our company execs on where we are going. You can spend unlimited time in our hands-on lab areas or talk to the product teams in a whiteboard/chalk-talk session; visit the expo area to speak to hundreds of our partners who extend our products and make them better. There is no better chance for you to engage the Microsoft product teams directly and this is absolutely the best use of your technology training budget. Learn about Windows 8, Windows 8 Server, Office 15 and more!

See the registration site, here, to take advantage of the academic discount for Tech Ed 2012.

There are many reasons why you can't miss TechEd 2012. If you are developing, deploying, managing, securing and mobilizing Microsoft solutions, TechEd is your best opportunity to focus on the key technology and business issues that will help you solve today's real-world IT challenges and prepare you for tomorrow's innovations.

Let me know if you have any questions about Tech Ed.

Kevin

Warning–the use of Microsoft OneNote can be highly addictive!

2011-11-14T15:43:02Z

If you have Microsoft Office 2010, you already have OneNote. Time to start using it.

Easy to use. Not so easy to stop using.

Once you start using OneNote to create digital notebooks of your notes and ideas, you’ll wonder how you ever lived without it. Before you know it, you’ll be looking for reasons to create more notebooks – work or school reports, home projects, and who knows what else.

SEE WHY

What will hook you on OneNote:

OneNote helps bring together your digital info (notes, photos, videos, web links, etc.) into easy-to-organize notebooks.
OneNote makes it easy to share your notebooks and collaborate in real time with other OneNote users.
The OneNote Web App and OneNote Mobile allow you to access and add to your notebooks from virtually anywhere.*

If you don’t have Office 2010, get a free trial of OneNote here.

System Center 2012 Configuration Manager Release Candidate is Here

2011-11-04T20:43:55Z

Great News! The SCCM 2012 product has hit the RC stage! As announced on the Server and Cloud Platform Blog we now have available several pre-release versions of the System Center 2012 family of products.

For private cloud, we will release betas of the 2012 versions of System Center Service Manager and System Center App Controller, as well as a Release Candidate (RC) of System Center Orchestrator.

These System Center products are essential to the Microsoft private cloud, which helps IT organizations meet the needs of their businesses with the better agility, focus and economics. The products available as pre-releases today deliver on a unique part of our approach to private cloud: Helping IT manage applications - not just infrastructure - across both private and public cloud environments. Key to making this happen is providing simple, self-service experiences that empower business owners across the organization to quickly and reliably deliver applications on their own. You also need process automation standing behind the self-service experiences, so the various technologies are connected and services “just happen.” To learn more about how these products give those capabilities to you for private cloud computing, see on the Server and Cloud Platform blog.

For client management, we will release the RC of System Center 2012 Configuration Manager and System Center 2012 Endpoint Protection, which help IT manage the “consumerization of IT” – the growing trend of modern, mobile workforces using an array of devices, including PCs, mobile phones and tablets. This version of Configuration Manager takes a “user-centric” approach, which lets IT empower people to be productive from anywhere on any device. At the same time, it makes life easier for IT professionals with unified management across physical, virtual and mobile work environments and by ensuring compliance and security. System Center 2012 Endpoint Protection (formerly known as Forefront Endpoint Protection 2012) is built on Configuration Manager to further simplify administration by integrating client security and management into a single experience. To learn more about these new offerings, see on the Server and Cloud Platform blog

System Center 2012 presents IT organizations with exciting opportunities to progress beyond traditional or virtualized systems to true private cloud services, and from device management to a more flexible work style for end users.

Experience Kinect

2011-10-31T18:48:40Z

If you think of Kinect as ‘only’ a gaming platform, then you really need to watch this short video on some of the many uses we’re seeing for Kinect!

We have many examples and case studies for Kinect being used in education settings, but we are just getting started….

Experience Kinect

Microsoft Education Webcasts–Live@edu Series

2011-09-20T16:36:12Z

Teaching and eLearning:

Prepare Your Students for the Future

Register now for this informative Webcast series:

Intro to Live@Edu and Microsoft Office 365
September 22nd: 1-2pm EST

Looking for innovative solutions for keeping your students connected? Learn about Live@edu, Microsoft’s platform for delivering email, calendaring and communication / collaboration services. And learn the bright future of Live@edu and the additional software as a service offerings that will be added as we introduce Office 365 for Education.

Existing Customers: Deploy and Use O365 and Live@edu

September 27th: 1-2pm EST

During this session, we will share best practices and case studies of deployments, plus you will have the opportunity to ask questions and have conversations with our specialists to help you successfully deploy and get the most out of your Office 365 and or Live@edu services.

Identity Management Webinars

2011-09-12T02:22:52Z

Many of the universities work with are wrestling with Identity Management, so I thought this series of webinars would be of interest. I encourage you to review these and share this information with others who might be interested.

Webinar - Journey to the Cloud with FIM 2010

Thursday, September 15, 2011 – 11 am PST

This webinar is for those new to using Forefront Identity Manager (FIM 2010) to manage identities for Private and Office 365 clouds. We will discuss synchronizing identity attributes to support typical business scenarios such as new employees joining and leaving the organization. We'll also discuss FIM’s capabilities for Self-Service Password Reset and Group Management, two popular features which both enhance security and reduce the burden on helpdesk staff.

Webinar – Tools4FIM

Thursday, September 22, 2011 – 11 am PST

This webinar will review Tools4FIM products and show you the benefits of using the FIMalyzer and the RCDC Editor, which are specifically designed to reduce implementation times and minimize the risks of a FIM 2010 deployment.

Webinar – Federated Identity with Microsoft AD FS 2.0 for Public, Private, and Hybrid Clouds

Thursday, October 20, 2011 – 11 am PST

This webinar will explore the need to provide and acquire access to systems and resources that span many of the traditional IT boundaries because of partnerships, collaborative working, and Cloud services becoming ever more important. The benefits of AD FS 2.0 will be discussed including enhanced security, reduced cost, greater agility, etc.

Webinar – Leveraging FIM for Compliance and Attestation

Thursday, December 15, 2011 – 11 am PST

This webinar will explore the subject of Access Governance and showcase BHOLD Suites. Knowing who really has access to what systems is vital for regulatory compliance and for safeguarding security. In many cases manual processes are leaving fundamental vulnerabilities unnoticed and making audit and reporting difficult. Please join us to find out how BHOLD Suites can help automate the process.

Webinar – Using Identity and Access Control to Protect Data and Cloud Applications

Thursday, January 19, 2012 – 11 am PST

This webinar will provide practical guidance on how to prepare for your Cloud projects including an overview of Microsoft Identity and Access solutions - including Forefront Identity Manager 2010, UAG, Active Directory Federation Services 2.0 (AD FS 2.0), advice on next steps, and critical issues addressed.

Webinar – Cloud Services Prep for Education Providers

Thursday, February 16, 2012 – 11 am PST

This webinar is intended for education providers who have been considering Cloud solutions, such as Microsoft Live@edu and Office 365 and will provide an overview of identity management using Microsoft Forefront Identity Manager 2010 to automate administrative tasks. Please join us to learn about how to reduce costs, prepare for the Cloud and much more.

To register, click here.

Xbox Live and College Football!

2011-08-26T15:04:36Z

Great news for college football fans - Microsoft shipped its latest ESPN Xbox LIVE update on Thursday!

ESPN on Xbox LIVE allows users to access over 400 college football games, 31 bowl games and more than 75 exclusive games from ESPN3. ESPN is free for Xbox LIVE gold subscribers in the United States. The update includes the following features:

§ My Sports – ESPN on Xbox LIVE now allows you to choose your favorite sports and teams and designate these channels as “My Sports,” so you can jump directly into the games and content you care most about. ESPN on Xbox LIVE will automatically provide you with a personalized daily feed of news and highlights based on “My Sports,” catching you up on only the teams and sports you care most about.

§ Mini Guide – The Mini Guide gives you a preview and quick access to all the sports content you care about right at the bottom of the screen. Saturday is all about college football, and now the best fans don’t have to miss anything. Is another game tied up late in the fourth? Instantly switch to that game. Halftime? Play the earlier highlights.

§ Split Screen – Because true sports fans want to watch more than one game at a time, ESPN on Xbox LIVE is adding Split Screen, allowing you to watch two events at once. Watch live events on both screens or a live event on one while you catch up on news and highlights on the other. You can even control both screens independently, pausing and rewinding each separately so you never miss a second of the action.

§ Voice Control with Kinect – Focus on your team instead of looking for the remote. Navigate through the Content Guide, skip to the next highlight, or play, pause, and rewind that big play…all with the sound of your voice and the magic of Kinect .

§ Scoreboard – ESPN on Xbox LIVE is also adding a live college football scoreboard that you can jump to any time. You can even use Split Screen to watch the big game on one side of your screen while the live scoreboard occupies the other, keeping you up on all the action from around college football.

§ Reminders – Too many big games to keep track of in your head? Not to worry – ESPN on Xbox LIVE now lets you tag games and set reminders so you never miss a moment.

§ Live Alerts – With new live alerts, ESPN on Xbox LIVE will keep you posted on score changes from around college football, even if you’re not keeping a close eye on the scoreboard.

§ ESPN BottomLine – The addition of the ESPN BottomLine to ESPN on Xbox LIVE keeps you in the know with breaking news and score updates from around the world of sports.

Free e-book on Office 365 from MS Press

2011-08-19T19:48:56Z

A 13-chapter, 337-page ebook titled Microsoft Office 365: Connect and Collaborate Virtually Anywhere, Anytime is now available via the MS Press blog.

See the details and get your copy here: Office 365 ebook

Microsoft Office 365: Connect and Collaborate Virtually Anywhere, Anytime is all about cloud solutions, focusing on the core software services (Microsoft Exchange Online, Microsoft SharePoint Online, Office Web Apps, and Microsoft Lync), and demonstrating ways you can create, manage, and lead teams effectively using the communications and collaborative online tools.

Microsoft Education in Virginia

SharePoint Seminar Series With Briefings On SharePoint 2013

SharePoint Today and Tomorrow Briefing

Microsoft Deployment Toolkit 2012 Update 1 Now Available

Extend the Reach of Video within Microsoft SharePoint

Changing my stripes!

New Azure Services Debut on June 7

Windows 8 Release Preview is available!

Using SharePoint for Project & Portfolio Management – webcast on 6/5

New Translator app for Windows Phone released today

Windows HiEd Conference

Upcoming Education Webcasts

Title

Speaker

Date

Time

Invite

Windows 8 Consumer Preview

SkyDrive will be integrated with Windows 8

Why I need to go to Tech Ed

Attachments Suck

Internet Explorer Automatic Updates

Save the Date - Microsoft Academic Summit in DC

Get Organized for 2012

Tech Ed 2012 Registration is open, with academic discounts

Warning–the use of Microsoft OneNote can be highly addictive!

SEE WHY

System Center 2012 Configuration Manager Release Candidate is Here

Experience Kinect

Microsoft Education Webcasts–Live@edu Series

Identity Management Webinars

Xbox Live and College Football!

Free e-book on Office 365 from MS Press