I haven’t been on the EBS team for a while now but this news came as a huge shock.  If there’s some consolation I’m really glad to see Microsoft is making the existing EBS 2008 customers whole by getting them to the stand-alone server products for...

For those of you who want to only download the Outlook Connector you can go to http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=9A2279B1-DF0A-46E1-AA93-7D4870871ECF&displaylang=en . 

In addition to the product planning I do for Windows Live, I also work with the Microsoft Office Outlook team on the Outlook Connector.  What is the Outlook Connector you ask?  It is a grossly underutilized sync solution for people who are both...

Do you have existing non-Hotmail/Live email account that you’ve had for a number of years?  Are you intrigued by the some of the new features and functionality of Windows Live Hotmail?  Perhaps you’re running into the other provider’s email...

I am humbled by how much traffic my blog post yesterday generated.  It was apparently linked to/picked up by a couple of sites with quite a readership.  I/we got an amazing amount of email to the new account.   Wow.  However,...

Updated Post (posted on March 4, 2009): Several keen observers sent email to me about my newly established livewish email address gently reminding me of an already established communication vehicle to get feedback to the Windows Live team.  The official...

Gadgets seem to one of those things in computers that polarize people.  Gadgets , in the Windows world, are little pieces of code, jscript and/or XML (depending on the gadget) that sits primarily in the Sidebar in Vista and anywhere on the desktop...

The “gold” version of the Windows Live Essentials applications (e.g. Mail, Photo Gallery, Writer--which I’m using to write this blog, the Outlook Connector, etc.) are available now at http://download.live.com   This final version was in beta when...

After 3.5 years as the product planner for Windows Essential Business Server, today I began a new job in the Windows Live Experience team.   I will be one of the “desktop communications” product planners which basically means I’ll be contributing...

After 3.5 years of development, I am happy to announce that we have released Essential Business Server 2008 to manufacturing (aka RTMed)!  I have seen the product come along way in that time and am very proud of the work the team has put into EBS...

It was a big day for the product group.  We signed off on Windows Essential Business Server release candidate 1 today!  It will be available on Connect and the Public Preview will be refreshed very soon. I can’t wait until we RTM (release to...

I have been a huge fan of SysInternals long before Microsoft acquired the company a few year ago and rebadged its founders/super talents Mark Russinovich and Bryce Cogswell.  If you ever get a chance to see/hear Mark in person I highly recommend...

When I was an Enterprise Strategist and then Consultant in Microsoft's US Midwest sales district, one of the most frustrating situations I experienced were customers (mainly enterprise: 20K+ desktops, 1000+ servers) who didn't utilize technology to its...

This much? Oliver Sommer does.  It's his company car!

As I conduct research and go on customer visits with IT Administrators from midsize companies, one of the most interesting discoveries has been how little understanding their is around x64 processors.  For example, of the 82 customer visits we have...

The document describing how to virtualize EBS RC0 on Hyper-V has just posted.  I don't expect virtualization to be a mainstream case in most midsize businesses because we have loaded each EBS server already.  That said, virtualization is a great...

I know its not possible for everyone to run EBS RC0 through its paces but if you're like me and good at visualizing (not virtualizing <g>) the written word into near reality then you'll be glad to know that EBS' documentation is now online. ...

We revealed some new Windows Essential Business Server information today.   Take a look at: Licensing Pricing System Requirements Want to give EBS a spin?  Sign up for the Public Preview here (the red indicates its important <g>)...

I wanted to take a moment to thank the many IT Administrators the dev team and I met with in Paris and Germany during the last two weeks of April.  I find it comforting to know that their needs aren't much different from here in North America while...

The Essential Business Server Development Team and I were in Boston this past week (April 14 - 17).  I'd like to again thank Keith, Paul, Todd, Alan, Rob, Lee and Chris for taking time out of their busy schedules (they're IT Administrators in a midsize...

Today, we publicly announced the product family in which Essential Business Server is a part of-- Windows Essential Server Solutions --and the new family web site .  The Essential Server Solution family also includes Small Business Server and the...

One of my favorite features in Essential Business Server is one that simply lets the IT Administrator help his/her users without having to leave his/her desk.  You might be saying, "well duh, Remote Assistance has been a feature in Windows client...

As I've mentioned in previous blog posts, we had a session on Essential Business Server at the IT Forum in Barcelona, Spain during November 2007.   Recently, the TechNet team posted the video of that Essential Business Server session so you...

While you're waiting for you Windows Essential Business Servers to finish installing have a laugh by jumping on your client computer and browsing to the new HHH Comic Series .  The art and dialogue are very well done and the humor is funny and IT...