Kevin Remde's IT Pro Weblog
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UPDATE: This promotion ends on June 30, 2010 October 31, 2010.. and will still save you 25% on the newly named "TechNet Subscription Professional" (same price). Just substitute "TechNet Plus Direct" with "TechNet Subscription Professional" in all that you read below.
Whenever I present a live TechNet Event, I ask my audience to raise their hands if they are a TechNet subscriber. Usually about 1/2 to 2/3 of the audience raises their hand. Considering that this is typically a Microsoft-friendly audience, I'm a little shocked that there aren't more hands going up. The TechNet Subscription is such a great resource for IT Pros, for these reasons:
For all of those reasons (Heck, for any ONE of those reasons), a TechNet Plus subscription is worth the yearly investment.
"Cool, Kevin. But how do I save $$$s?"
For new subscriptions, from now until June 30, 2010, you can save 25% on the TechNet Plus Direct subscription. What would have cost you $349 will now only cost only $261.75.
"That's nearly $100!"
Bingo!
"Is this worldwide, or U.S. only, or what?"
This is for residents of the U.S. only.
“Why new subscriptions only? Why not a discount renewals?”
Renewals are already automatically discounted, even more than you get with this code. Besides.. we’re honestly trying to promote TechNet Subscriptions to those who haven’t yet benefited from it. We’re pretty confident that if you try it, you’ll see enough value in it to renew your subscription.
Write down or copy this promotion code to your clipboard: TNITQ404 (That's four-zero-four. Not the letter O.)
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“If you weren’t a Microsoft employee, Kevin, would you buy this for yourself?”
Without hesitation, YES. I use the software I download so much; for personal education as well as testing, $261.75 is a small price to pay for the value I receive. Absolutely.
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“Hey Kevin, didn’t you have some other codes we were using before?”
Yes. The “TMSAM08” and “TNITE04” codes are no longer valid. You need to use this new TNITQ404 code now.
(RTM = Released to Manufacturing)
It’s a big day for Microsoft, and for the world of people who work with information and documents on their computers. Or on a SharePoint page using a browser. Or on their phone. Today marks the “ship” day for Office 2010 and SharePoint 2010. It’s done. It’s ready. Kick it over to the manufacturing folks and start pressing those disks! Get it online soon for TechNet Subscribers and Volume License and Software Assurance customers to start downloading.
Here is the official announcement on the Office Blog.
“What are your favorite new features, Kevin?”
I have to say that I’m most excited about the new options and productivity that will come with the collaboration you can do now. Being able to work on the same document with other people, and collaborate with them in real-time. Doing simple editing using just your browser in an online document. And all the many ways that people are going to be able to slice-and-dice data every-which-way-from-Sunday in Excel 2010. These are all very exciting to me.
“Does this mean I’m going to have to upgrade so I’m not running into compatibility problems with other people who have the newer version?”
If you’re running or supporting Office 2007, then you have nothing to worry about (other than lacking a big boost in productivity, connectivity, collaboration, etc.). File formats have not changed from 2007 to 2010 in any way that would cause compatibility issues.
But if you or the people you support are still running Office 2003 or older, you will have the same problems with documents created in Office 2010 as you did with Office 2007. You definitely should install and distribute the Office Compatibility Pack.
“I have so many questions, Kevin! Where do I begin?”
You should definitely read the TOP 10 BENEFITS here.
The official Office 2010 + SharePoint 2010 world-wide Launch Event date is May 12 at 11:00am EST. It’s an online event featuring Stephen Elop. More details HERE.
And if you’re an IT Professional living in the U.S., you definitely should consider coming to one of our Office 2010 Technical Readiness / Launch events. We’re going to give you a good overview of what we envision a day-in-the-life of a person using the new functionality in Office 2010 and SharePoint 2010 will look like. And then we’ll drill down into how you will want to plan for your rollout, handle the deployment, and the tools and options for managing the new platform.
HERE is the link for the U.S. events. Register right away! As you know from previous product launches, these tend to fill up rather quickly.
“Which ones of those events are you delivering, Kevin?”
I’m glad you asked!
The only full-day event I’m delivering will be in Minneapolis on May 27, 2010.
And I’ll be doing the following half-day (8:00am-12:00pm) “Best Of” launch events (click them to register):
Will I see you there?
“Are you guys giving away full copies of the new products at these events like you did in launches past?”
No. We’re not. Everyone will be getting good information, additional resources, and an evaluation copy of the products**. But we aren’t able to give out free copies of the software to everyone. That should get you well on the way to doing your own testing and evaluating of the products.
“But what if I don’t want a time-out evaluation version of the product to test on?”
Hint: Get a TechNet Subscription. No time-outs.
**The exact form of this evaluation is still yet-to-be-determined. We hope to have disks to hand out, but if we’re not able to do that in time for the events, then we’ll have a special link for you to go and download your evaluation from.
Holy cow.. what an incredible few days it’s been. Office 2010 and SharePoint 2010 hit RTM just three days ago, and today we have two more products “shipped”: System Center Essentials 2010 and System Center Data Protection Manager 2010.
For SCE 2010 and SCDPM 2010 details, check out the Nexus SC: The System Center Team Blog post about these releases.
More details specifically about SCDPM 2010 can be found here on the Data Protection Manager Blog.
…and it’s only Monday! I wonder what the rest of week will bring!
“More RTMs?”
Um… Watch this blog. That’s all I’m sayin’. (wink wink)
This was such a big hit last year that they’re doing it again. Starting in Montreal on May 21, 2010, the bus rolls on down south and a little bit west, eventually ending up in New Orleans on June 5, just in time for TechEd North America. Stops along the way will give you an opportunity to get deeply familiar with Windows 7 and Office 2010, as well as other resources from Microsoft like Training and Certification, and MDOP.
(Hey.. my buddies Dan Stolts and Blain Barton may be there, too!)
“Cool! Where’s the bus going to be?”
Here’s the schedule:
Go to http://TheBusTour.com to register!
Oh.. and here’s a little promotional video embedding for you…
The Microsoft Desktop Player is now live and in Beta.
“What does it do?”
Using either your browser (It’s a Silverlight application) or an installed desktop application, you can easily and contextually find webcast recordings, podcast recordings, whitepapers, etc. So, let’s say you’re interested in SharePoint 2010..
“But I’m not.”
Let’s just say you are, okay? You do a search based on who you are (IT Pro (yay!) or Developer (also yay!)), what technology or product you’re interested in researching (like “Microsoft Office”), the kind of role you play (“Server Administrator”, “Enterprise Administrator”, “Support Technician”, etc.), what you’re focusing on.. and so on. You can be as specific or as general as you want. Do the search, and then the results are shown broken down into the types of resources found (Webcasts, Podcasts, Whitepapers, and Links).
You can also bookmark items you found for later viewing or retrieval; building up your own personal library of resources.
And you can find yours-truly in the “Local Resources” section – if you happen to live in the area of the United States that I cover. (North Central – MN, ND, SD, NE, IA, KS, MO, and sometimes Y.) Or discover who YOUR local Microsoft IT Pro or Developer Evangelist is. (Click on “Local Resources”, and then configure your local settings.) And not only will you find your local Evangelist, but local training centers, nearby Microsoft Offices, and additional resources.
“Sounds peachy! Where do I get it?”
You can use it from your browser (CLICK HERE).
Or you can download the installer HERE and run it from your desktop.
Enjoy!
Oh.. one more thing:
You can even embed it into your own blog or another web page…
Here’s another TLA for you all to learn: CEC. Microsoft’s Common Engineering Criteria.
The Microsoft Common Engineering Criteria is a set of engineering requirements and guidelines that govern all of Microsoft’s server products. The idea here is that we build products that work well together, and work to help you reduce your TCO (another TLA I’m sure you’re familiar with). So by creating a list of criteria for our products that define our “engineering and quality standards”, you and your companies benefit.
“How so?”
Okay… here’s an easy example. Have you noticed that PowerShell is now used as the foundation for configuration and management for all new server products coming from Microsoft?
“Yeah. I like that.”
There you go. If we had different scripting methods or sets of tools and utilities for every product, you’d have to learn or re-learn all of them, or have a bigger learning curve, or have more people trained in each different product. But having a common platform for management and configuration is going to reduce your TCO dramatically. PowerShell is one of the items required for server products in the CEC, and a good example of how we define and enforce requirements for products – to your benefit.
The three main areas and goals of the CEC are:
Publishing the CEC for the world to see means that you have another way to “get into Microsoft’s head”. It will help you understand the product and technology areas that Microsoft feels are important to manage and improve from a product development perspective. And in a way, it’s also like a fortune teller’s crystal ball.
“Huh?”
Sure. Now you can know that in the future, these are the things that the Microsoft server product teams are forced to implement when building the next new server products or the next versions of products.
Go to the CEC Program Page to learn more about the program. Drill down into your favorite product or technical area and see specifics about what has guided us to make it better for you.
What do you think Microsoft should include in their CEC?
So you’re running SCCM to its full potential. You’re doing operating system deployments, software rollouts, updates, inventory… and you want a simple web dashboard to have a quick and easy view of the status of all of these items.
“It’s like you read my mind!”
Yeah, I’m good like that. Anyway.. now you have a Solution Accelerator from Microsoft that will do just that. It’s the new System Center Configuration Manager Dashboard.
From the “About System Center Configuration Manager 2007 Dashboard” page…
The Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager 2007 Dashboard lets customers track application and operating system deployments, security updates, the health status of computers, and IT compliance with key regulations—with an easy to use, customizable Web interface. Because the Dashboard is built on Windows® SharePoint® Services, IT staff can access information without using the Configuration Manager console. The Dashboard is a free Solution Accelerator, and fully supported by Microsoft.
Key Benefits Benefits of the dashboard include: Actionable information out of the box. The dashboard comes with valuable, built-in datasets that IT managers can access without using the Configuration Manager console. Centralized, near-real-time access to key information. The graphical dashboard lets customers view any Configuration Manager data set in near-real time—without leaving their desk. Easy to build and configure. The dashboard’s wizard-based tools let customers easily create new dashboards in minutes. Easy to customize. The dashboard can easily be customized to meet the needs of different departments and other groups. Any data set in the Configuration Manager database can be presented on the dashboard, in chart, gauge, and table formats. Flexible & interactive. Users can easily filter data and create ad hoc, custom views. Filters allow users to quickly drill down from high-level to more specific data.
Benefits of the dashboard include:
“Sounds great, Kevin! …but what does it cost?”
How much would you pay?
“Nothing. It’s a Solution Accelerator from Microsoft. Those are free!”
Bingo.
Again, here’s the Information page.
And here’s the download page if you want to jump right in.
Today a new IDC White Paper (sponsored by Microsoft) was made available:
http://download.microsoft.com/download/5/B/D/5BD5C253-4259-428B-A3E4-1F9C3D803074/IDC_Business_Critical_Workloads.pdf
The purpose of the write-up is to document what’s happening in the world of x86-based Servers; why they are THE platform businesses choose for their business-critical workloads. This is not a Microsoft story…
“Oh really? You sponsored it!”
Yeah, you got me there. (smile) But, really, this is an objective look at how businesses are taking advantage of new advances in server hardware. The paper also goes into detail about the kinds of workloads being tackled with this kind of hardware married with Windows Server as the OS platform, and the benefits businesses are getting out of it.
And as a bonus: Al Gillen – Program Vice President – System Software at IDC, has recorded a webcast that goes through a “discussion of the findings” documented in the paper. You can view this webcast HERE: http://event.on24.com/r.htm?e=201258&s=1&k=6C98B819B986DC8179F71CF8D4F0324C
The Springboard Series from Microsoft has been hosting these online round table discussions featuring Microsoft Technical Fellow Mark Russinovich and a panel of subject-matter experts, primarily focused on different aspects of Windows 7 (performance, compatibility, etc.)
“Mark who?”
Mark Russinovich.
The guy who gave us Sysinternals. C’mon.. This guy even has a Wikipedia page.
Anyway, these roundtables have been very well received. They’re streamed live, and also recorded for later viewing. And there’s another one coming up on April 29, 2010 entitled “The Last Mile: Pilot and Deploy Windows 7”. 9:00am PDT. Here are some the details from the event page:
“Mark will be joined by a panel of IT professionals who are currently in the piloting and deployment process, along with Microsoft subject matter experts who can speak in depth about the technologies. The discussion will be open and candid, with the panel sharing insights, dispelling myths and getting down to the real story around technical adoption of Windows technologies.”
Click HERE for more details (and the handy ability to add it to your calendar).
And here is the page where the previously recorded round table sessions are available for viewing.
Today, April 21, 2010, at 9:30am CDT, Microsoft announces the release-to-manufacturing of SQL Server 2008 R2.
Watch the SQL Server Virtual Press Room for the official announcement.
“What are the big benefits, Kevin?”
Your end users and consumers of “the right information, right now” will love the big improvements in “self-service” BI; taking advantage of tools they already know like Excel and the new PowerPivot pivot table capabilities in Excel 2010. Developers will appreciate new options for application deployment and management. And IT (you folks) will see new options for massive scale, data security, and resiliency.
The official press release summarizes the main benefits as:
Here are a few of the videos from the R2 Digital Tour website…
Introduction:
The “BI for the masses” story:
The Developer Story:
The IT (you folks) Story:
Take the complete “Digital Tour” here: http://www.microsoft.com/sqlserver/tour, complete with more videos, testimonials, test drives, and trial downloads.
And as always, you lucky TechNet Subscribers should watch the TechNet site for the RTM code to be available for you to download within the next few weeks.
“Gee Kevin.. you were right. In less than a week we’ve seen some amazing releases. It must be one big long party in Redmond.”
Yes indeed. These are exciting times.
Just the other day, the Hyper-V Best Practices Analyzer was quietly released as an update for Windows Server 2008 R2.
Like the other BPAs that are built-in to Server 2008 R2, this one is available from within the Server Manager. It allows you to launch and review an analysis of how you have Hyper-V configured, so you can see where your configuration meets (or does NOT meet) known best practices; and giving you hints on how to resolve those configuration practices that may be “less-than-best”.
“Sweet! How do I get it?”
You can read about it here: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/977238 and download it from here: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=89d80c15-0082-4fef-a4fc-fefa463bed08.
Big thanks to Ben “Virtual PC Guy"' Armstrong and his post about this. I saw it there first.