By now I'm sure you know Office 2007 and Windows Vista have been signed off and are being manufactured.  We're getting close for Exchange Server 2007 as well.  With that in mind, make sure to come see all of the products in action at the launch events we have planned.

Experience the next generation of Microsoft software at an upcoming launch event in your area. Join us to discuss your most complex challenges. Discover solutions. Bring your toughest questions (be nice to your presenter :) ).  Walk away with answers (I'll do my best).

All of the launch events should be a blast.  If the excitement last week in Las Vegas is any indication, make sure to register early for the events.  We'll have lots of good information, great speakers, snazzy demos, and other goodies I can't tell you about yet.

See http://www.microsoft.com/Business/launch2007/default.mspx for information on the products, partners and customer evidence. 

If you want to preview the newly redesigned user interface (UI) that makes it easier to get more out of the 2007 Microsoft Office system programs or experience the breakthrough Windows Vista UI—the most finely tuned and elegant Windows experience yet, see the 100K, 300K, or 750K streaming demos.

The really important link is just below... hint hint.  I signed up for the Dallas, Houston, San Antonio and Austin events to confirm registration is working.  See you soon!!!

http://www.microsoft.com/business/launch2007/signup/default.mspx

Last week, I flew out to Las Vegas Nevada for the Windows Connections Conference.  It was held in the massive Mandalay Bay Resort Conference Center.  Have you ever tried to walk around in a 1,000,000 square foot facility?  Bring your roller blades. 

The conference looked to be a great success.  Lots of people, lots of great information and of course, everything Las Vegas has to "offer".  Harold Wong and I were going to tag team all three sessions we did, but in the end, we are so busy, it didn't make sense for each of us to prep for all three sessions.  So I did the Security Tidbits session and the Everything You Need to Know about Deployment in 60 Minutes.  I wasn't in my groove for the Security session.  It might have had something to do with the original slide deck Jesper had prepared sometime earlier.  I tried to "fix" it but it just wasn't one of my better performances.  However, I was definitely in my "zone" for the deployment session later.  One of the attendees commented to Harold they learned more in my 60 minute session than they did in the pre-conference 3.5 hour session.  Those are the kind of comments that get you up in the morning.

Of course last week was also a big week for Microsoft.  We released Office 2007 and Windows Vista to manufacturing.  This generated a ton of excitement at the conference and lots of questions at the Windows Vista kiosks Harold and I were manning.  The questions fell into several categories. 

• Hardware - will my current machine run Vista?  What should I buy?  Should I wait?  What are you running Keith?
• Software - where can I get Windows Vista for testing?  When will the RTM bits be available?  Will my apps run?  What is it going to cost me or my company?

Getting people to come talk to me at the kiosk was soo easy.  I started about 10 applications and then fired up some videos of Halo 3 and Halo Wars.  Every time my kiosk emptied, I would just use Flip3d to flip through the applications and waa laa, instantly fill the area around the kiosk.  Aero eye candy sells baby.  People were nothing but amazed when I was doing Flip3d demos with all of the applications and count them, TWO different videos playing.

Harold and I pulled a sneaky.  I had downloaded the RTM build Sunday before we flew to Vegas.  In fact, we ran the RTM bits of Office 2007 and Vista during our sessions and exhibits on Tuesday and Wednesday.  I couldn't tell anyone until we officially announced it on Wednesday.

So let me get to a few of those answers...

Question: What are you running?

Answer: Lenovo T60p with the Intel Core Duo T2500, Windows Vista x86 RTM, 2GB RAM, ATI Mobility FireGL v5200 with 256MB discrete video memory, Hitachi 100GB 7200rpm SATA 2.5" drive, Verizon EVDO wireless, etc.

Question: Will my machine run Windows Vista? 

Answer: I generally tell people if they are running Windows XP well, then they should be able to run Windows Vista.  Running Aero Glass will be dependant on the video card and amount of memory they have so there is no canned answer I can offer.  I demonstrated the Windows Vista Basic color scheme a lot so they would know what the experience would be like if their video card doesn't have enough juice to drive Glass.  I also pointed a lot of people to the http://www.microsoft.com/windowsvista/getready/default.mspx page because it is the one stop shopping area for hardware and application compatibility.  See the Upgrade Advisor link for some tests you can run right now.

Question: Should I buy now or wait?

Answer: This answer depends on the individual and their tinker skills.  It also depends on if they are a HDTV enthusiast.  Our hardware OEM partners are already shipping Windows Vista capable machines.  If your machine is on its last legs and is preventing you from doing real work, or having fun, buy now.  If you can wait, your wait isn't going to be very long.  We should have shrink wrap product on retail store shelves on 1/30/2007 and the pc makers will be shipping by then as well.  If you are a HDTV enthusiast, then you might consider waiting until the PC makers have started delivering the OpenCable Unidirectional Receiver (OCUR) Windows Vista solutions.  Contact your favorite OEM hardware maker for their release details.  This will allow you to record premium HDTV content to your PC.  Is that kewl or what?

Question: Where can I get Windows Vista RTM bits?

Answer:  We'll make the RTM bits available to our volume licensing customers, MSDN Universal and TechNet Plus online subscribers before the end of this month.  In fact, our target is 11/17.  That's a big hint folks.  If you had a hard time justifying the cost of the subscription before, you should have no problem now.  See http://www.microsoft.com/technet/windowsvista/get_it.mspx for more information.

Question: Will my apps run?

Answer:  Absolutely.  :)  Ok, that was a bit sarcastic, but if you want to do some testing, see http://www.microsoft.com/technet/windowsvista/appcompat/default.mspx for all of the available tools.  The Application Compatibility Toolkit v5.0 is still in development, but will be released very soon.  Goto http://connect.microsoft.com/ to signup for the download.

Question:  What does Windows Vista cost?

Answer:  It's free of course.  Ok, more bad sarcasm.  Windows Vista is not free.  However, if you buy a qualifying PC or laptop today, the OEM hardware maker will ship you your Express Upgrade later.  See http://www.microsoft.com/windowsvista/getready/expressupgrade.mspx for the promotion details.  You also need to look carefully at what each pc maker is offering.  See http://www.microsoft.com/windowsvista/getready/editions/default.mspx for the different Windows Vista editions.  Volume license customers should contact their account teams and resellers for pricing.

Harold and I also did a lot of work outside the conference.  As you might suspect, we are just a tad busy getting ready for the Windows Vista, Office 2007 and Exchange Server 2007 launch events.  We are going to be running some intense demos that are going to require more than one powerful laptop.  I predicted this back in March, but we needed proof to justify the hardware purchase requisition.  Sound familiar?  Well, in the evening, in our spare time, we ran a bunch of the demos using a two machine configuration.  Now we need Santa to come through.

Everything else that happened in Vegas is NDA.  What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas...  right Damon?  :)

Microsoft® Exchange Server 2007 introduces a new management platform called the Exchange Management Shell, based on Microsoft Windows® PowerShell, formerly codenamed "Monad". This topic provides a list of many frequently used cmdlets, important conventions, and useful tips. The information is presented by feature area, such as recipient, transport, and database administration.

Go get it at http://go.microsoft.com/?linkid=5719336

Technical documentation focusing on planning, deployment and operational guidance. It includes the Volume Activation 2.0 Step-by-Step Guide, Volume Activation 2.0 FAQ, Volume Activation 2.0 Technical Attributes list and Standard User Product Activation zip file.

Go get it at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=75674

My team is in final launch content lockdown.  Part of that process involves functional as well as performance testing of the laptop platform we use.  On the performance side, we test the demos with a single laptop, multiple laptops, and other hardware.  Obviously one of the goals is to spot bottlenecks.  CPU, memory and disk testing is important.

I have a number of hard drives and just for fun, I connected a bunch to my Lenovo ThinkPad T60p.  In the disk management screenshot, you'll see I have 1.5 terabytes of connected storage and three DVD burners.  With the SIIG ExpressCard eSATA RAID card, I could actually connect a pretty impressive storage array.

Most likely I'll be doing my shows next January and beyond with the eSATA solution so if you are interested, let me know.  It's about six times faster that any of my other USB or Firewire connected drives.  Kewl stuff for sure.

Nerds rule!!!

Man, the parade of free stuff just keeps coming.  First it was Internet Explorer 7 which everyone and their dog blogged about.  That reminds me, I need to check my dogs blog to see if Elvis wrote about it.  Then, if that wasn't enough, out comes Windows Defender.  It's free as well.  Download it now.

Now, we're giving away Media Player 11.  Shouldn't we be selling this stuff?  Anyway, for those of you planning on using Windows XP for a little while longer, this is really good news.  A new world class browser, spyware security tool, and killer media player application.  Not bad for the past couple of weeks, eh?

Here's some of the features of WMP11:

Simplicity at http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/player/11/design.aspx.

More music at http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/player/11/music.aspx.

New device and sync features at http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/player/11/everywhere.aspx.

Some of the most amazing pictures of Saturn I've ever seen have been posted to the NASA Cassini mission imaging site at http://ciclops.org/index.php.  In fact this picture is my new Windows Vista desktop background.  It certainly grabs your eye balls and attention immediately.  Click the picture to see the full image.

All of the images are at the CICLOPS website.  Be sure to read up on how those images were taken at http://ciclops.org/view.php?id=2230.  Very very kewl stuff.

Me and my posse, that's who!!!  We're going to give away an Xbox 360 to some lucky person at each live TechNet Seminar.  I'm still checking on the exact information, but here's what I do know... Starting next week, we'll have one Xbox 360 to give away at each live seminar.  You can get a view of all of the seminars at http://www.technetevents.com. 

I am checking to confirm which Xbox 360 package we are giving away.  I'm hoping it's the Premium but probably won't know for sure until Monday around lunch.  I'm also checking to see how long this is going on.  I think we are doing this for the remainder of the quarter (close to Christmas).  I'll update this post when I have the details.

As with all of our seminars, you'll be treated to some great information.  This quarter, we discuss Exchange Server 2007, the power of Windows Server Active Directory, and some information on Windows Vista.  

I don't really know yet how the presenters intend to do their giveaway drawing.  Some presenters prefer to do it at the beginning of the event.  Others like to do it at the end.  Anyway, it should be fun!!!

[UPDATE for 11/3/2006] Ok, it took a little longer for the confirmation of dates, but here they are:

Attend a TechNet Event between October 31, 2006, and December 14, 2006, and submit a completed Evaluation Form to be entered into a drawing for a chance to win* an Xbox 360™ video game and entertainment system. To register for a TechNet Event, visit www.technetevents.com.

* NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. Open only to registered TechNet Event attendees. Must be present to win. For full rules, see TechNet Event Registration Desk.

This holiday season we have the “Enhanced for Windows ReadyBoost” program.  Devices that are ReadyBoost capable may be labeled as “Enhanced for Windows ReadyBoost” on their packaging and in their marketing.  These devices must meet these criteria:

• At least 500MB available for ReadyBoost™ cache
• 5 MB/sec throughput for random 4k reads across the entire device
• 3 MB/sec throughput for sequential 512k writes across the entire device

We’ve provided exact terms and self-testing tools for UFD makers on our partner website.  (https://microsoft.mrmpslc.com/WindowsVistaPartner/secure/NextSteps.aspx?pt=9)  FYI, if you have a PassPort Id, you can get to the link.

Beginning with the June 2007 logo program, being ReadyBoost capable will be a requirement for a flash drive to receive a premium logo.  Note that it’s not a ReadyBoost specific logo program, but rather part of the larger HW logo program.  (We’re trying to avoid a proliferation of logo programs…)

I was looking at my desk today and reminiscing about what it looked like when I had it made.  It was 1986 and I had been in my new home a little over a year.  I was poor but had finally saved enough money to create my study which included some custom shelves and the desk in this picture.  I have a friend that is a craftsman.  He's really a structural engineer and artist with wood.  You should see the shelves he made me. 

As I recall those days, I had a Viewsonic and a NEC 17" monitor sitting on the back corners of the desk.  However, those monitors were huge in comparison and took up probably one forth of the surface area of the desk, maybe more.

Today, 20 years later, the desk is still awesome and and the display technology is superb.  Click the picture on the right for a larger view.  Now I have a 19" analog LCD on the left, a 24" Widescreen digital LCD in the middle, and a 20" digital LCD on the right.  All three are less than a month old and made by Dell.

No I didn't go crazy and buy three LCD's in one night.  The 19" E197FP came with a machine I purchased for my mother-in-law.  She got my 17" Samsung LCD and a wicked fast Core Duo desktop. 

The 20" 2007FP on the right was a replacement for an ailing 2001FP I purchased two years ago, but was under warranty.  Make sure when you buy an expensive component like this, that you think through the usage.  When you get a monitor with a machine, the warranty for the monitor is the same as the package.

The 24" 2407WFP in the middle was a purchase I made last week and it is an utter pleasure.  It will spoil you because it is very bright and clear.  I set the brightness at 25 during the day, and 0 at night.  I've been wanting this monitor for a while.  I was hopeful to catch one of those 20% discounts but instead I jumped on the 15% promotion price.  I added a year to the three year warranty so it's covered for four years.

I routinely have five to six machines hooked to the monitors.  Multitasking to the max.  The 19" console is for my SBS server and corporate network download machine.  The big boy is for gaming, work, email, etc.  Windows Vista and Outlook 2007 at 1920x1200 is a joy on it.  The 20" is usually playing MCE stuff so if you look close, you'll see Ghost Whisperer starting.

Now you know what the bridge of my Starship looks like and where I get my stuff done.  Wow.  What a change 20 years has made.  The poor iPod crowd has no idea what they missed.  Hell, they probably don't even know what CRT means. 

What's next for the next 20 years?  Should be fun. 

The phone I use, the Motorola Q is now on promotion for $99 USD.  See http://estore.vzwshop.com/so/motoqbiz/ for the promotion details. 

It's a Windows Mobile 5 Smartphone so it's designed to be used with one hand.  If you want speed today, the Verizon and Sprint networks offer EVDO and you can use the new high tech cell phones as a connection to the Internet for your laptop.

Cingular and T-Mobile are still fighting a good battle.  Cingular purchased spectrum and is rolling out UTMS. 

T-Mobile is getting ready to start selling the T-Mobile Dash.  The Dash is pictured at left and is made by HTC.  Looks like a hot little unit for you GSM fanboys. It's supposed to be the Q killer but I have my doubts. 

Where's the Dash speed?  The Dash has WiFi so I guess they are counting on people using hotspot locations.  No thanks.  I'd rather have a connection wherever I happen to be.

Anyway, as you can see, things are certainly heating up for the holidays.

Here's an interesting story about GPS.  http://www.engadget.com/2006/10/20/when-growing-pot-dont-leave-the-crops-coordinates-in-your-gps/.  Obviously the crop was vintage.

Hopefully the trickery will be kept to a minimum, but with the All Hallows Eve rapidly approaching, you never know.  Anyway, the site just launched so head on over to http://www.windowsvistatnt.com/ when you get a moment and check it out.  Hopefully it will become one of those little jewels that is deserving of a spot in the favorites you keep.

Now what's with the .pdf format document?  I thought Microsoft Word was the intergalactic format these days.

One of my older laptops (Compaq Evo n620c) is still running Windows XP Pro.  It will get upgraded to some form of Windows Vista when we RTM that product.  In the meantime, like many of you, I installed IE7 on it and have enjoyed tabbage (not to be confused with cabbage) ever since. 

As you can see by the massive number of posts on this site, we shipped IE 7 and it is visible on the update.microsoft.com servers.  So I fired up the trusty old steed (first time in a couple of weeks) and headed directly to the update site.  I did my usual custom install to see what was available.  Holy smokes batman!!!  There were like 17 updates totally 54meg!!!  Ok, I lied, I wasn't at all excited about the size.  Remember the 56k modem days and how long that would take?  Fibre has made me a spoiled brat.

So I hit the install button and head to the shower expecting everything to be done when I get back.  No such luck.  What's with my karma these days?  Geez, I bought my mother-in-law a dual core computer for heavens sake.  Can a guy get a break?  Guess I need to go to our internal giving campaign site and cough it up.

In short, I hit every known issue it seems in the release notes at http://msdn.microsoft.com/ie/releasenotes/default.aspx.  Actually, every known issue is probably a stretch.  I did however have to do the registry key add for the DWORD InstalledByUser.  After I added the key, I was able to uninstall the old version and install the gold bits.

Back to tabbage...  :)

Want to generate enough dogfood data to feed the dog pound for the next decade?  See Larry's post on the subject at http://blogs.msdn.com/larryosterman/archive/2006/09/18/760981.aspx and a follow-up by KC at http://blogs.technet.com/kclemson/archive/2006/10/18/me-too.aspx.  And yes, I'd love to have a t-shirt.  I'll even pay for it.  :)

Ever wonder how some people seem to be in the upper ranks of players?  A good game and a lot of time on your hands can lead to some interesting results.  I never ever played any game this much, but some of my friends might challenge me on that.  Especially when it comes to my Halo and Halo 2 mad skillz. 

Read http://soulkerfuffle.blogspot.com/2006/10/view-from-top.html when you get a chance.  Scary...  The story is of course about the game World of WarCraft (WoW).  See http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/index.xml for the game site.

There is nothing new about addictive games.  There was a lot of press about Everquest long before WoW shipped.  See http://everquest.station.sony.com/ for information on that game.

I wonder how many people who used to play EverQuest are now playing World of WarCraft.  Hmmm...

As you might have noticed, I've been ignoring my blog just a hair the past couple of weeks.  Well, there's a good reason for it.  First and foremost, there's this thing called Windows Vista that we are getting ready to launch.  Many Microsoft employees are deeply involved in launch planning and my team is no exception.  We'll be heavily involved in the key launch city events as well as the "non-key" cities.

Trust me, nobody on my team considers a non-key city to be a lessor event and we are making sure the event experience is top notch.  We just use that type of nomenclature to separate tiers.  To go over this planning, my whole team met last week on the west coast.  The Microsoft Across America Event Services Group (MSAM ESG) has done a great job of thinking through the event experience from A to Z.  We have some kewl stuff we'll have at those events I cannot disclose. 

As a member of the TechNet team, my focus is to make sure the IT Pro information we deliver will be awesome.  Harold Wong is leading our content planning effort and he is assisted by Matt Hester, John Baker, Blain Barton and a number of other stakeholders.  As with most TechNet projects, I have my fingers in that effort as well.

Now that I am through the seven webcasts I've delivered in that past couple of weeks, I have some breathing room to do some more kewl screencasts.  They are coming soon.  I'll be doing some more Windows Vista stuff, Exchange Server 2007 and Office 2007.  You'll also see my focus shift over to our "Longhorn" server development effort.

I also have a bunch of question and answer sessions to comb through from those webcasts so I'll start researching the tougher questions that came up.

Oh, and IE7 is now gold.  As if you didn't know already.  :)

I need to purchase or lease some 64bit laptops very soon.  I'd love to hear your opinions on what to get.  They will be used initially for virtualization, high performance and compute cluster testing.  However, I'd like to leverage the knowledge around the machines for the next platform refresh for my team.  With that in mind, I'd like to know if you encountered driver and application issues running IE, Office, Virtual Server, etc.

So what would you buy and recommend?

As I’m sitting here moving data around, installing applications and getting ready for the all hands team meeting next week, the realization of where we’re at in the Windows Vista development cycle sinks in…  RC2 is likely to be my last installation of the Windows Vista product under development.  The next install will be the gold bits.

Now for those of you that have been through this before, you understand what it’s like.  Seeing the end of a project is fulfilling and sad.  Nervous anyone?

Many people have poured a ton of time, toil and effort into shaping the future of computing.  And I’m not just talking about Microsoft employees. 

Microsoft customers and partners have helped make Windows Vista a really cool product.  It’s been fascinating to watch the product morph over the years.  It’s really amazing to think back over the past 12 months.  I think I have installed literally 70+ versions of the product.

So there is sadness and joy as this comes to a screeching halt. 

Ok, the pause is over.  Time to start cranking on Longhorn Server and all of the other products in the development pipeline…  life in the TechNet evangelist hamster wheel.

Microsoft has these kewl time off days called floating holidays.  You get two each year to use as religious holidays, unwind, whatever.  I took mine the past couple of days to get caught up on sleep, do some honey dues, run errands, etc.  In short, it's a holiday from email.  You know, the ole electronic ball and chain?  

I haven't been paying real close attention to the daily build traffic on Windows Vista. But, after grilling up some brats, sauerkraut, and polishing off a couple of Leffe Blondes, I decided to peek into the Windows Vista folder I have.  I am on the busiest distribution group known to man and the Windows Vista DL averages over 500 email messages per day.  That's a lot of conversation topics dude.

However, it became pretty obvious really quick that we had released Windows Vista RC2 internally and that it would be available to the rest of the world very soon.

Sure enough, you can go to http://download.windowsvista.com/preview/rc2/en/download.htm and fire up the old fiber connection and get to downloading.  Now normally, I'd establish a VPN connection and pull it off the daily build server, but this time, I decided to compete with the rest of the world for .iso image.

Where the hell is everyone?  Everyone must be sleeping because I am getting almost 2meg per second download speeds. In fact, it looks like I'm going to set a new download speed record.  It appears I'll have pulled the entire 2.49GB .iso image using the Akamai download manager in about 27 minutes.  WOW!!!  FIOS ROCKS!!!

So I wanted to thank everyone for going to bed early tonight.  Got my RC2 worm in record time thank you very much.

[UPDATE]  I posted this at about 1:30am but some interesting time issues surfaced.  We are currently investigating those.

Have you had a chance to look at the most recent announcements we've made about the Microsoft Genuine Software Initiative (GSI)?  How about the Microsoft Software Protection Platform (SPP)?  Well, here's a heads up on some rather significant changes that are steaming your way and will be featured in Windows Vista.

First, check out the press release at http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/features/2006/oct06/10-04SoftwareProtection.mspx.  Make sure to download and read the Software Protection whitepaper.  It discusses some of the history and mechanics behind GSI and SPP.

Here's a couple of snippets from the presspass announcement:

"Today we are announcing the Software Protection Platform –a new set of technologies that will help Microsoft make software piracy harder, help protect consumers from the risks of counterfeit software, and better enable small to large businesses to manage their software assets. The Software Protection Platform has been under development for several years. It brings together new anti-piracy innovations, counterfeit detection and tamper-resistant features into a complete platform that provides better software protection to programs that leverage it. Initially, the upcoming releases of Windows Vista and Windows Server “Longhorn” will be the first two products to ship with this technology included, and eventually more Microsoft products will adopt this technology.

In addition, the Software Protection Platform enables the next generation of genuine validation programs such as Windows Genuine Advantage (product differentiation). In short, it introduces new ways for Windows Vista and Windows Server “Longhorn” to activate, validate as genuine, and behave when tampered with or hacked."

"One of the things the Software Protection Platform enables is enhancements to the genuine experience in Windows Vista, thereby differentiating it from the non-genuine experience. Customers that use genuine Windows Vista product should expect, and will get, an enhanced set of features that will not work on non-genuine or unlicensed versions of Windows Vista. Customers using genuine and licensed copies of Windows Vista will have access to Windows Aero and Windows ReadyBoost features, as well as full functionality of Windows Defender and extra optional updates from Windows Update. Computer systems that do not pass validation will not have access to these features, although they will still have access to critical security updates. Aero offers Microsoft’s best-designed, highest-performing desktop experience and is available in Windows Vista Home Premium, Windows Vista Business and Windows Vista Ultimate. ReadyBoost lets users use a removable flash memory device to improve system performance without opening the computer to install additional memory. Both are key features that a user of non-genuine software will quickly realize are not running. Windows Defender helps protect a user’s PC against pop-ups, and security threats caused by spyware and other malware.

In addition, users of non-genuine Windows Vista software will be notified if their copy of Windows Vista is determined to be non-genuine with the appearance of a persistent statement in the lower right hand corner of their desktop space that reads, “This copy of Windows is not genuine.” "

What does this mean?

Microsoft is developing and now releasing the first new technologies that form part of the Software Protection Platform (SP Platform). The platform will help fight piracy, protect consumers from the risks of counterfeit software, and better enable volume license customers to manage their software assets. The Software Protection Platform brings together new anti-piracy innovations, counterfeit detection practices and tamper resistance into a complete platform that provides better software protection to programs that use it.

So what do you think?

I'm guessing Cyrus at http://www.engadget.com/2006/10/04/microsoft-will-cripple-pcs-running-pirated-copies-of-vista/ doesn't like it too much.  The folks at http://blogs.zdnet.com/Ou/?p=339 seem to think it’s going to help promote open source adoption.  Hmmmm….

You may have noticed we made some changes to the blogs.technet.com site over the weekend.  My blog layout has changed a bit and you now see that the blog post categories are now called Tags.  The Tag cloud is interesting.  It lists all of the tags in an alphabetical word wrapping fashion.  The wrapping leads to some misleading interpretations of the text string. 

So to help make the visual appearance more intuitive, I altered the CSS so that there are three colors.  The blue color I use with my theme will be for the tag categories with the most posts, followed by the use of silver then gray.  Hopefully this will help navigate the cloud a bit.  Sorry, I don't have a magic carpet.

The problem with the tagging (to me) is that it seems to insinuate that the bigger bolder tags are more important.  Of course they aren't so it's a little misleading.  For instance, my Screencast tag is small and silver, but is has some important information and work behind it.

I could override the tag cloud completely and take you back to a flat list of the categories but I think I'll roll with it for a bit and see how it does.  Maybe I'll just override the sizes and level the playing field there.

Any other ideas?  Love it?  Hate it?

[UPDATE]:  I flattened the font size and it looked like crap so I put it back to the multiple font sizes.  However, I updated the hover color to match the rest of my site.  That was a big improvement because now when you hover, you can clearly see the entire string of the tag highlighted.

Experience teaches us a lot.  You tend to get a sixth sense about certain situations.  I started to feel the bad karma about ITPROADD-62.  It’s a massive SQL Server session where we show how to build a clustered SQL Server environment inside Virtual Server VM’s.

It all started when I realized the session never shipped to anyone… interesting.  I requested the disks, but of course I wouldn’t be able to look at the session until I get off the road last Friday.  You know how Friday’s are, you’re lucky to get anything accomplished.  I did however manage to unpack all of the images to an external drive.  22gig worth of VM’s. 

As usual, work is eating into another weekend.  I think that has happened far too often the past nine months.  Guess what?  I’m getting ready to go dark on the weekends.

During the Virtual Server R2 setup for the VM’s I notice we are using shared SCSI bus devices.  They are required but this also means you cannot use UNDO disks.  So I know I need to make another copy of the 22gig.  I copy to another external drive.  My test runs work fine but I offer some feedback about the session, length, speaking points, etc.  Mr. Baker disagrees with some of my assertions.  More karma.

So I go to copy my master Vm’s from the repository drive to the demo drive.  The repository drive fails after a couple of attempts.  This happens about 15 minutes before webcast number one today…  Karma

Fortunately, I have three machines running at the time, so while I am delivering a webcast on SMS troubleshooting, I am also feeding another machine the DVD set again, and unpacking the VM’s to a personal drive.  That goes well.  Good Karma?

During the 30 minute break between the two webcasts, I start the copy of the freshly minted VM’s from my personal drive to the demo drive and head to the bathroom for a quick shower.  I come back and observe the copy is progressing nicely and will finish in time for pre-webcast share testing.  More good Karma?

No way man…

So I start things off and am feeling pretty proud of myself for pulling the rabbit out of the hat.  I get through demo one and start into demo number 2.  At this point we’re configuring the first node of the cluster and I notice the wizard doesn’t create the quorum disk correctly.  I think this is odd because it has worked perfectly on the three practice runs I did. 

ALERT ALERT

My sixth sense is going wild.  The giant mushroom cloud forms over my house in Texas.

So I continue and start setting up node number 2.  I configure the wizard settings and click NEXT to start the real work.  Nothing.  Nada.  My machine locks tight.  So tight in fact, the only recovery is what I like to call the “disruptive OS failure”.  Or, more commonly referred to as a hard power off and back on.  

BAD KARMA.  EVIL KARMA.  SUCKY KARMA.  POOCHEE KARMA.

So I login real quick on another machine and start driving the slides while I make a feeble attempt to reboot, restart virtual server, start the VM’s and see if they are in a state that will allow is to move forward…  You can guess the rest.

So after four years of doing this job, and never having had to cancel or interrupt an event due to a software or hardware failure, the ITPRO Murphy’s Law Bad Karma Genie finally caught the kid.

<From the imortal words of Khan>

               No... You can't get away... From

               hell's heart I stab at thee...

                       (amid the pain)

               For hate's sake... I spit my last

               breath at thee!

Everyone loves the Windows Vista startup sound, right?  Well, if you are in the hate camp, the latest builds now allow you to turn off the startup sound that occured during boot but before login.  I'm still hopeful we'll make is slightly more configurable before we ship Windows Vista. 

For instance, in the current builds it's either on or off.  I would much prefer to set my own audio sound.  I think the idea of the sound has merit, especially if it indicates all services are up and running properly.

Initially I was TOTALLY against it, but as a diagnostic tool I like the idea.  Hit the power button and do something else.  If sound is good, do normal stuff.  If sound is bad, investigate event logs.  You get the idea.

More information at http://blogs.technet.com/windowsvista/archive/2006/09/22/458320.aspx

If you are living on the edge and are already done testing the RC1 5600 build, head on over to http://download.windowsvista.com/preview/rc1/en/download-5728.htm and see about the latest published 5728 build.

Please heed the following advice from the site:

"This build (5728) has a number of improvements and updates from RC1, but has not been put through the same internal testing process as RC1 and therefore may be unstable in certain installations. We are making this release available for a limited time only (and only by download) in order to get broad distribution and testing in a variety of PC configurations. Please note: This build may not have the same level of support or servicing via Windows Update, and you may not be able to upgrade to the final version of Windows Vista."

Cesar Menendez at http://www.zuneinsider.com/ has released some details on our upcoming holiday offering.  I am really happy that in addition to playing music, it plays video.  With a 30GB hard drive, I would imagine I'll be able to add some kewl movies to it for my frequent travels.

For the press releases, pictures, logos and all of the fun stuff, see http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/presskits/zune/default.mspx.

There are documents describing the Car Pack, Home A/V Pack, and Travel Pack.

Now that the details are out, I know what my teens are going to be wanting for Christmas from Santa Claus...  assuming Santa Claus can get three.  Otherwise, Santa Claus may get greedy.

UPDATE:  Check out the juicy details on the supported audio and video formats in the Engadget interview with Microsoft Corporate VP J Allard at http://www.engadget.com/2006/09/14/the-engadget-interview-j-allard-microsoft-corporate-vice-presi/.

This product is going to ROCK!!! 

#######

Name: Zune™ Home A/V Pack

Overview: Designed exclusively for use with Zune, the Home A/V Pack includes everything you need to amplify your Zune experience. This set of five products integrates Zune with your big-screen TV and the best speakers in your house. And the wireless remote puts you in control from virtually anywhere in the room. When you buy the Zune Home AV Pack, you’ll get the AC Adapter, AV Output Cable, Dock, Sync Cable and Wireless Remote. All items in the full line of Zune accessories are also available individually.

Kit Contents: Here are the five products in the Zune Home A/V Pack:

• Zune AC Adapter
• Zune A/V Output Cable
• Zune Dock
• Zune Sync Cable
• Zune Wireless Remote with Lithium Battery (CR2032)

######

Name: Zune™ Travel Pack

Overview: Designed exclusively for use with Zune, the Travel Pack includes everything you need to travel with your Zune device in style. This set of five products is designed to keep you and your friends and family entertained while you travel. When you buy the Zune Travel Pack, you’ll get the Dual Connect Remote, Premium Earphones, Gear Bag, Sync Cable and AC Adapter. All items in the full line of Zune accessories are also available individually.

Kit Contents: · Zune Gear Bag

• Zune Premium Earphones with storage case
• Zune Dual Connect Remote
• Zune Sync Cable
• Zune AC Adapter

#######

Name: Zune™ Car Pack

Overview: Designed exclusively for use with Zune, the Car Pack includes everything you need to hit the road with your Zune device. With AutoSeek, setup is easy, and you can enjoy your music on the go and charge your device at the same time. When you buy the Zune Car Pack, you’ll get the FM tuner with Autoseek and the Car Charger. All items in the full line of Zune accessories are also available individually.

Kit Contents:

• Zune FM tuner with AutoSeek
• Zune Car Charger

Today we make available to the world an update to the 2007 Microsoft Office System.  You can head right on over to http://www.microsoft.com/office/preview/beta/getthebeta.mspx?showIntro=n and signup to receive a mailing of the disks, or start downloading the bits right now.  There is a small fee associated with each.

If you want to look at all of the documents associated with this refresh, check out the search results from http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/results.aspx?pocId=4289AE77-4CBA-4A75-86F3-9FF96F68E491&freetext=2007officebeta2tr&displaylang=en

My experience with this release and Windows Vista RC1 has been very good.  I hope you find in your testing that this is the case as well.  As always, please report any issues so we can work on getting them fixed.

Enjoy!!!

Annually, the Microsoft South Central District hosts a multi-track event to show off our latest technology.  This year, the events are happening on October 3rd in Dallas and October 12th in Houston! This promises to be a great way to get the latest information and direction on our upcoming technologies. We've put together a full agenda, spanning a number of products and lined up some of your favorite presenters.  There will be a wide variety of breakout sessions along with our Forrester keynote discussing Enterprise Collaboration Strategies. 

Track topics include:

• Unified Communications & Collaboration: Simplify Working Together
• Customer Relationship Management
• Enterprise Search: Interacting with Structured Data using the Business Data Catalog
• Collaboration End-to-End
• Optimize and Secure your Core Infrastructure
• Secure Messaging
• Get Ready for Windows Vista
• End-to-End Business Intelligence Platform
• Foundations of Business Intelligence
• "Show me the Numbers" Business Intelligence
• Enterprise Development with Team Foundation Server
• Developing Next Generation Windows Applications

Registration:

Dallas, October 3rd - Hotel Intercontinental
http://msevents.microsoft.com/cui/eventdetail.aspx?culture=en-US&eventid=1032307257

Houston, October 12th - The Westin Oaks
https://msevents.microsoft.com/cui/eventdetail.aspx?culture=en-US&eventid=1032307259

You'll also notice the Dallas event is happening the same day I present in San Antonio so I'm going to miss that.  We are also having a mandatory team meeting on the Houston date so I'll miss it as well.  If you go, tell em KingCobra sent you.  Should freak them out.  :?)

My mother in-law has been getting hand me down machines for about five years.  When you are on a fixed income, the luxury of a new PC or laptop is a bit far removed.  This time however she wanted a new machine and kicked in a couple of hundred bucks.  So I kicked in a few myself and decided to take advantage of a Dell deal on a new Dimension.

She's getting a 5150, Dual Core 2.66GHz, 1GB RAM, 80GB hard drive, 19" flat panel monitor and 3 year warranty for $549.

Oh, and I ordered it Sunday afternoon while the Dallas Cowboys were getting beat.  It arrives today and that's with free shipping.  Ordered Sunday, shipped Monday and arrives Tuesday.

Not bad eh?

UPDATE: It just dropped another $50 to $499.  See http://www.dell.com/content/products/features.aspx/hot_offers_dt?c=us&cs=04&l=en&s=bsd for details.  Expires 9/13.

As you'll recall, a few months ago I posted instructions on how to use the Verizon PC5740 pcmcia EVDO modem.  At that time, there was an incompatibility with the VZAccess software and Windows Vista.

I'm happy to report VZAccess v5.8.2 for my PC5740 works very nicely with Windows Vista RC1.  If you need to download VZAccess, see http://www.vzam.net.  Keep in mind there are different versions of VZAccess associated with different cards or chipsets.

One of the questions that comes up frequently during and after the live events my team delivers is, "Where can I get the PowerPoint slides?"

Easy answer...  Go to http://www.technetevents.com/resources.  Enjoy!!!

For those of you buying the latest generation Intel or AMD chipset, you'll notice they now include virtual technologies. AMD Virtualization (AMD-V) and Intel Virtualization Technology (IVT) technologies are both supported in Windows Virtual Server R2 SP1 Beta 2 for both x86 and x64 Windows host operating systems.

Virtual Server Beta 2 allows you to turn on IVT or AMD-V on a per VM basis.  But, how do you tell if virtualization is actually being recognized and used by Virtual Server 2005 R2 SP1 Beta 2?  At the moment, there isn't any UI in the Virtual Server admin website that shows you the status of such things.  However, you can use perfmon to query the Virtual Processor object (when a VM is started) to check.  Here's how:

1. Make sure you've enabled hardware virtualization in the BIOS.  My Lenovo ThinkPad T60p setting is in the BIOS CPU area.  If is not turned on, turn it on, save the change and power down your machine.  Power it back up to pick up the change.
2. Install Virtual Server 2005 R2 SP1 Beta 2.  You can get it from http://connect.microsoft.com.
3. Add or create a virtual a machine using the admin website.  Don't forget if using Windows Vista RC1 (as I am) that you need to run an elevated instance of IE7 to access the admin website.  Elevation is easy.  Right click the IE7 icon and select the "Run as Administrator" from the menu items.
4. In the configuration settings for the VM, go to the General Properties.
5. Turn on the checkbox for "Enable hardware-assisted virtualization if available".
6. Save the changes to the VM and start it.
7. Now that the VM is running, start perfmon.
8. Click the add counters plus sign button.
9. Scroll down and look to see if you see the Virtual Processors object and select it.  One note on this, the counters don't always show up correctly the first time you launch perfmon so exit and launch it again if it is missing.  If you are using the Performance and Reliability Monitor in Windows Vista RC1, you'll want to click the down arrow to expand the available counters. 
10. Select and add the "HVM-VP is in HVM mode" object. 
11. Click ok and save the counter to the active monitoring.  If you see the value is 1 (true), the hardware assisted virtualization is active and working.  0 is bad news.

Hopefully we'll add some nice UI to the Virtual Server 2005 admin website before we complete the R2 SP1 development cycle.  I have already suggested it but it would also be helpful for you to provide that type of feedback as a beta tester.  We'll have to wait and see if the Virtual PC team decides to add IVT or AMD-V support to the next version.

Enjoy your hot new multi core server, desktop or laptop!!!

The Vista Security Guide will be released to Beta on September 6^th exclusively through Microsoft Connect. It will be available to anyone who signs in with a Windows Live ID (formerly Passport) account at this URL: https://connect.microsoft.com/InvitationUse.aspx?ProgramID=820&InvitationID=VSG-P74P-BFTH&SiteID=14.  The Beta period will extend for three weeks, during which we’ll be accepting and triaging bugs and comments.

UPDATE: It's now 9/6/2006 and the invitation link and guide above are active.  I just downloaded the guide.

Here's a direct quote from the product group:

"To support this Beta release, the development and program management teams will deliver a LiveMeeting on Wednesday September 6^th. Details are below. We want to welcome as many customers into the Beta as possible to gather the most feedback and ensure that we ship a customer-driven solution. With that in mind, feel free to forward this information to anyone you think might benefit from attending the session. We’ll be describing the guide, how we developed it, the best way to use it, and one really cool new tool that can save lots of time in the test and deployment phases. We will also take questions at the end of the presentation, so this is a great opportunity for customers to directly interact with the security guide team."

Here's the webcast information:

Topic: Windows Vista Security Guide

Abstract: The Vista Security Guide in now in Beta! This session reviews the structure of the guide, discusses some of the old and new approaches for deploying security configuration, and demonstrates how the guide leverages some of the new security technologies built into Windows Vista.

Presenter: Kelly Hengesteg, Mike Danseglio, Jose Maldonado

Date and Time: September 6, 2006, 8 am – 10 am PT

To join this Live Meeting up to a half hour before the session starts,  click https://www.livemeeting.com/cc/microsoft/join?id=5TNM3W&role=attend&pw=6379.

Installing Live Meeting

Install the Windows-based Meeting Console before your meeting:
http://r.office.microsoft.com/r/rlidLiveMeeting?p1=7&p2=en_US&p3=LMInfo&p4=DownloadWindowsConsole.  You can also use the browser web console if desired. 

Audio

Live Meetings are broadcast using Internet audio over your computer. Please ensure that you have Windows Media Player 9 or higher installed.

In case you haven’t noticed, the current rage is to have your Xbox360 automatically blog about your gaming “performance”.  Of course, if you don’t use your Xbox360, it will also blog about what a pathetic loser you are as well.  Either way, it’s a really entertaining idea.  See http://www.360voice.com/.

Windows Vista RC1 build 5600 is complete.  My download is in progress from Seattle and I’ll be flattening my laptop over the weekend to begin running this important milestone.  This will be available to TechNet Plus Direct subscribers next week BEFORE everyone else.  Warm up those fiber connections and DVD burners.

See http://blogs.technet.com/windowsvista/archive/2006/09/01/453491.aspx for a post and information from the Windows Vista team.

Have a wonderful holiday weekend everyone!!!

Ladies and Gentlemen, Windows Vista build 5536 is available for download, as promised.  It was about 24 hours later than I anticipated, but that isn’t too bad.  So what’s the catch?

Well, you must be a TechNet Plus Direct or MSDN subscriber.  However, this does demonstrate we listen.  It took way too long to get the TechNet download area, but it’s here now and it’s here to stay.  Not only that, you’ve got a whole team of people keeping an eye on the service and making sure the HOT downloads are being added.

In case you haven’t noticed, the TechNet Plus subscription is a killer deal.  Support incidents, copies of our products, subscriber download area, etc.  Check it out!!!

Surely by now you've heard of Windows Vista Complete PC backup and recovery.  No?  Well, if you've ever managed to lose a hard drive, then you know how much fun it is to reinstall operating systems and applications.  Not to mention potentially losing ALL of your pictures, music, documents, and other business and personal data.

Just yesterday, one of the managers in my group had the hard drive go belly up on her tablet pc.  If she was running Windows Vista, and if she had performed a Complete PC backup, she could have recovered from that catastrophic event in roughly 30-60 minutes (I'm guessing based on the average amount of data most people have).  This is only one isolated instance of bad stuff that can happen.  If you don't think it can happen to you, think again.

Many of you have likely used some form of backup and recovery.  If not, you are in for a surprise the first time you boot Windows Vista.  We'll politely ask you to create a backup.  I would heed that advice and do it.  Right then.  After you've installed your favorite applications and copied personal data, do another backup.  Right then.  In fact, use Complete PC to do the backup to DVD and you'll now have a personal image of your shiney new Windows Vista installation complete with your personal touch.

So how does Complete PC work?

If you look closely, you'll see Complete PC borrows some ideas from the virtual machine world.  We do a physical to virtual state and data capture then write the results to the backup target media or drive in the form of a virtual hard drive.  Huh?  Yes, we write a bunch of information directly into a virtual hard disk file.  It has the .vhd extension and everything. 

Can I mount the .vhd with Virtual PC or Virtual Server?

I'm told you can.  I haven't tried it yet but may mess around with it a bit this weekend or next week.  I owe the Complete PC feature team some testing results so I can add this to the stuff I have planned.  Why would we allow this?  The only reason I can think of is to allow access to the data through another tool in case you manage to delete part of the backup set, but don't delete the .vhd file.  For instance, if you look in the directory that is created by the backup, you'll see a number of catalogs and XML files.  What if you manage to screw one of those up so Complete PC can't restore?  Well, as a last measure you could mount the .vhd in a VM and gain access.  You cannot boot the .vhd with our virtual machine products.

So checkout the screencast demo below and see what you think.  If you are used to other imaging products, you'll be very happy with the simplicity of Windows Vista Complete PC.  For more information on this and some of the other backup technologies, see http://www.microsoft.com/windowsvista/features/foreveryone/backup.mspx and http://www.microsoft.com/windowsvista/experiences/backup.mspx.

Screencast Demo

You can watch my Windows Vista Complete PC screencast directly from our streaming media server or download and watch the video later on your laptop or podcatcher.  The attachment below is a RSS enclosure for you podsters.  If you want to keep the demos for offline viewing, right mouse click the attachment below and copy it local.  Subscribe to my screencast RSS feed at http://blogs.technet.com/keithcombs/rss.aspx?CategoryID=11416.

"See you" again soon.

Errata

I was just listening to the recorded media file and noticed the following silly things I said, and one thing that was technically not possible:

1. I said at the end of the backup that it was the end of a webcast.  Silly me.
2. I said the .vhd file was 5.8 meg instead of 5.8 gig.  Dork.
3. I said during the beginning of the restore discussion that hopefully you'll have the Windows Vista Recovery Environment (RE) on a partition so that you can run Complete PC.  Uh, hello?  If you lose the drive, you lose the RE partition.  This is where the Windows Vista DVD comes in handy.

Over the next few days, you'll start hearing more and more about the Windows Vista August EDW.  This build is going to be released through a variety of channels.  What a lot of people don't know, is that there's a new download area in town.  The TechNet folks launched TechNet Plus Direct a few weeks ago.

Windows Vista build 5536 will be on the TechNet Plus Direct download area very soon.  Now, instead of waiting for the DVD to show up in the snail mail, you can do your best to crater the internet.  So warm up that DVD burner and keep your eyes on that handy subscription.  More value is headed your way.

For more information on TechNet Subscription benefits, see http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/subscriptions/default.aspx.  The TechNet Windows Vista resource area is at http://www.microsoft.com/technet/windowsvista/default.mspx