Working at Microsoft, I often have friends ask if I can pick them up a copy of this or that Microsoft application. Why? Not because they are running a business, but because they want to be able to play with the software to learn it. If you are an up-and-coming IT Pro, how can you learn Exchange Server or Windows Server or Small Business Server or SQL Server if you don't have the software to play with it? The expense for these programs is justifiable to businesses that run the application in their environment, but aspiring Server Admins are left with the proverbial chicken-and-the egg problem. No money to buy the software, but can't get a job if you don't know the app. Good Times!
Fortunately, Microsoft loves ya :) While developers have MSDN, IT Pros have TechNet Plus. For $349, you get:
That is a KILLER deal. I could not come close to buying all of that software, even at the Microsoft Store, for that price. And... if you've made it to the bottom of this post, my buddy Keith (that's him in the picture) has a deal for you. $100 off the subscription price. What are you waiting for? The professional incidents ALONE cost $249 apiece, you get access to betas, full licenses to our enterprise apps, and a subscription to the best Tech Magazine out there.
As I have mentioned several times before, I am a big fan of free training. I am also a big fan of SharePoint. So... let's combine the two!
The Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 Training Standalone Edition is designed to help you learn how to use the features of Microsoft Office SharePoint Server. The Training topics lead you step-by-step through beginning to advanced features, including Collaboration, Business Processes and Forms, Portals and Personalization, Search, Business Intelligence and Enterprise Content Management.
The Training includes videos, interactive tutorials, and articles. The Standalone Edition is accessed through your browser after you install the application on your personal computer.
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=7bb3a2a3-6a9f-49f4-84e8-ff3fb71046df&displaylang=en
The Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 Training Portal Edition, built on the Microsoft SharePoint Learning Kit, is designed for server administrators who want to help their end-users learn how to use the features of Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007. The Training topics lead the learner step-by-step through beginning to advanced features, including Collaboration, Business Processes and Forms, Portals and Personalization, Search, Business Intelligence and Enterprise Content Management.
The Training includes videos, interactive tutorials, and articles. In addition, the material is SCORM compliant. You can easily add or remove training topics to fit your business needs. The Training also includes a reporting function that allows an administrator/trainer to track learners’ completed training topics. You can customize the Training to fit the look and feel of your own Office SharePoint Server site.
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=673dc932-626a-4e59-9dca-16d685600a51&displaylang=en
Well… I have set a goal to learn Microsoft Project by the end of the year, which gives me through… <checks calendar>… Monday.
Crap.
I run a decent number of projects simultaneously, and want to be able to publicly report on progress to stakeholders through SharePoint.
Project has lists, SharePoint has lists.Project has Gantt Charts, SharePoint has Gantt Charts.Project has Calendars, SharePoint has Calendars.
Should be a perfect fit, but as far as I can tell (and I am likely missing something stupidly obvious), I cannot sync Project and SharePoint without Project Server. <sigh…> Looks like I have a weekend in front of me to ramp up on a server product as well as Project itself. Nice!
So, my weekend will be spent with my good friends Carl Chatfield (I took a class from him once) and Teresa Stover, authors of the two following books.
I also see that we have a series of free eBooks on setting up Project Server. They are all in Times New Roman (which I am not a big fan of), but if you open them up in Word 2007, click on "Change Styles" on the main toolbar, and then select "Style Set" and "Word 2007". That will change the fonts to Cambria for the headings, and Calibri for the body text. They will look MUCH better J
Title
Description
Size (MB)
Planning and architecture for Office Project Server (Download )
Designed to lead a team through the steps of planning a new solution based on Office Project Server 2007.
1.5
Deployment for Office Project Server (Download )
Covers installing and configuring Office Project Server in a new deployment.
1
Migration for Office Project Server (Download )
Covers migrating data from previous versions to Office Project Server 2007.
Planning and architecture for Office Project Server 2007 (Download )
The content in this planning guide is designed to lead a team through the steps of planning and deploying a new solution based on Office Project Server 2007.
1.6
What's new in Office Project 2007 (Download )
This article examines what is new in Microsoft Office Project Server 2007, Project Web Access 2007, and Microsoft Office Project Professional 2007.
0.5
Technical Reference for Office Project Server 2007 (Download )
Covers technical reference information for Office Project Server 2007.
Cube Building Service in Office Project Server 2007 (Download )
Covers instructions for configuring, managing, and troubleshooting the Cube Building Service in Office Project Server 2007.
Understanding and Using the Queuing system in Office Project Server 2007 (Download )
Covers instructions for understanding and using the Queuing system in Office Project Server 2007.
Managing timesheets in Microsoft Office Project Server 2007 (Download )
Provides instructions for managing the Timesheet functionality features in Microsoft Office Project Server 2007
(or my Quicktime Control Panel, or my Java control panel...) This has been bugging me for a while. I don't know if there is a KB article or not, but I thought I would share the solution.
Ever since I have been using Windows Vista, I have not had a Mail Control Panel.
The Mail Control Panel is installed along with Outlook, and allows you to setup multiple profiles, add an Exchange Server account after initial setup, etc. As you can see in the screenshot below, I simply do not have this control panel, and no amount of Reinstalling Office 2007 has resolved the problem!
The workaround has been to open my Start Menu, right click on the Outlook icon, and choose "Properties". That allowed me to get into the properties and make the necessary changes.
It turns out, however, that I have been looking in the wrong place all this time. I am using 64-bit Vista, and Office 2007 is still a 32-bit application (with a 32-bit Control Panel). If you switch to "Classic View" and scroll down, there is an option called "View 32-bit Control P..." (they must have run out of space ;)
Open up that option, and guess what we get?
The missing Mail Control Panel! Until the Office team (and Sun and Apple for that matter) get around to releasing native 64-bit applications with control panels, they will live in 32-bit control panels land. Good times!
My new HP MediaSmart EX470 Windows Home Server just arrived, and it is SWEET! As Paul Thurrott mentions in his review, this box is TINY. Ridiculously so. And completely silent. I didn't spring for the EX475 (with 1TB of space), as it is $150 more, and hard drives are incredibly cheap these days. As it is, I have no shortage of drives sitting around in my office.
The server has room for 4 internal SATA drives, 4 external USB2 drives, and 1 external eSATA drive. With today's 1TB drives, that means a current theoretical capacity of 9TB. That should be enough to backup your files for a while!
The reason I dropped a couple hundred bucks on this HP (as opposed to continuing to run my frankenstein Dell in the corner with drives hanging off the side) was the amount of power that old box used. This new computer is very power efficient and quiet, which means I won't have to shut down my server when taking a conference call from home.
The unique feature that specifically comes with the HP is a built-in iTunes server. To this day, I cannot find ANYTHING out about this feature, other than the fact that the feature exists. Theoretically, this feature will scan computers connected to Windows Home Server, notice that they have iTunes Playlists/Songs, and then copy them up to the Server. The only problem with this in my environment is that my music collections exist on the two types of computer without client software for WHS:
<sigh...> So how can I manually enable this feature? There are very few options. One enable/disable the feature, one to name the server as it will show up in the iTunes playlist, and one to specify how often it scans for new music.
It turns out that you can simply copy your music files to the \\server\music share, and the iTunes Server component will pick them up and broadcast them. The streaming is flawless, and I can pickup the music from any computer (Mac or PC) with iTunes in the house. If Santa is nice this Christmas, I will report on how well streaming to an XBox 360 works through the Media Center Extender capabilities :)
Without the connector installed, I still don't know how to get my playlists onto the server... Doing a little detective work, can we figure out how this is working behind the scenes? I can't imaging that Apple licensed this ability to HP. <off topic> If Apple is ever in the licensing mood, I would like them to license their FairPlay DRM so that I can listen to AudioBooks from the library on my iPod, or iTunes purchased songs on a Zune. I won't hold my breath.</off topic>
Looking at Task Manager, I see a couple programs running that I did not have on my Dellinstein Server:
It looks like it must be using FireFly, the open source Media Server: http://fireflymediaserver.org/ I would assume the PostgreSQL instances serve as a backend of some sort, although I have no idea why it needs so many of them. Things that make you go hmmm....
In any case, this really is an awesome server. It looks like I may have purchased the last one in existence, as they are sold out at every reseller I checked. If you do see one in stock, pick it up as a stocking stuffer (okay, maybe it's not THAT small).
*Update: It looks like Brandon just got his MediaSmart server as well: Rolling out Windows Home Server with a HP MediaSmart Server
Great list of resources below from Mitch, an Information Worker Architect for Microsoft in New York:
On 12/08/07 we released SP1 for the Office System. This includes updates to both Office 2007 and MOSS 2007. We also released the IFilter Pack yesterday (12/18/07). I have included links to these service packs and other past service packs that are of interest to anyone using MOSS. I have not included links to prior hotfixes for MOSS and Office are included because, they are included in SP1. In many cases there are separate downloads for x86,64bit, and Itanium releases. In the list below, I didn’t include the links for all platforms for all of the updates. All of the updates listed below and for the other platforms are available on http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/.
On 12/08/07 we released SP1 for the Office System. This includes updates to both Office 2007 and MOSS 2007.
We also released the IFilter Pack yesterday (12/18/07).
I have included links to these service packs and other past service packs that are of interest to anyone using MOSS.
I have not included links to prior hotfixes for MOSS and Office are included because, they are included in SP1.
In many cases there are separate downloads for x86,64bit, and Itanium releases. In the list below, I didn’t include the links for all platforms for all of the updates. All of the updates listed below and for the other platforms are available on http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/.
IFilters
Microsoft Filter Pack
This download will install and register IFilters with the Microsoft Windows Indexing Service. These IFilters are used by Microsoft Search products to index the contents of specific document formats.
This download will install and register IFilters with the Windows Indexing Service. These IFilters are used by Microsoft Search products to index the contents of specific document formats. This Filter Pack includes IFilters for the following formats: .docx, .docm, .pptx, .pptm, .xlsx, .xlsm, .xlsb, .zip, .one, .vdx, .vsd, .vss, .vst, .vdx, .vsx, and .vtx. Because Windows Desktop Search (WDS) consumes IFilters from Windows Indexing Service, the IFilters will be automatically registered and available for use by WDS. To register these IFilters with a specific Search product, please see the associated KB article below:
The Filter pack provides a new ZIP IFilter and includes the OneNote IFilter. The other IFilters are already included in the MOSS installation. If you are using WSS v3 (or any of the other products listed here), you can now install this Filter pack to get the IFilters without having to install the applications that create these files.
The IFilter the XPS file format is available in the XPS Essentials Pack.
XPS Essentials Pack Version 1.0
The Microsoft XML Paper Specification Essentials Pack, Version 1.0 (XPS Essentials Pack) contains components that enable you to view, generate and index XPS Documents.
MOSS
You can get a more complete description of SP1, including a list of issues that were fixed, in the Microsoft Knowledge Base article 936984: Description of the 2007 Microsoft Office Servers Service Pack 1. This KB article has links to other KB articles that describe bugs that were fixed. I don’t believe that this list of bugs is complete. There are many issues that I know that were fixed in prior hotfixes that were not described in public KB articles.
It is strongly recommended that you read the Microsoft Knowledge Base article 945013 on how to deploy server updates before attempting to upgrade to SP1.
Before SharePoint Server 2007 Service Pack 1 can be installed, Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 Service Pack 1 must be installed.
The 2007 Microsoft Office Servers Service Pack 1 (SP1)
Service Pack 1 provides the latest updates to all of the 2007 Microsoft Office System servers.
The 2007 Microsoft Office Servers Language Pack Service Pack 1 (SP1)
Service Pack 1 provides the latest updates to all of the 2007 Microsoft Office server Language Pack releases.
The 2007 Microsoft Office Servers Language Pack Service Pack 1 (SP1), 64-Bit Edition
Service Pack 1 provides the latest updates to all of the 64-bit editions of the 2007 Microsoft Office server Language Pack releases.
MOSS Security Patch
Security Update for Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 (KB937832)
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/info.aspx?na=22&p=3&SrcDisplayLang=en&SrcCategoryId=&SrcFamilyId=&u=%2fdownloads%2fdetails.aspx%3fFamilyID%3daaea9695-f541-4c4c-9107-81ead5cfc8c9%26DisplayLang%3den
This is included in MOSS SP1.
Windows SharePoint Services
You can get a more complete description of SP1, including a list of issues that were fixed, in the Microsoft Knowledge Base article 936988: Description of the Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 Service Pack 1.
Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 Service Pack 1 (SP1)
Service Pack 1 provides the latest updates to Windows SharePoint Services 3.0.
Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 Language Pack Service Pack 1 (SP1)
Service Pack 1 provides the latest updates to the Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 Language Pack.
Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 Language Pack Service Pack 1 (SP1), 64-Bit Edition
Service Pack 1 provides the latest updates to the Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 Language Pack, 64-bit edition.
SharePoint Designer
Microsoft Office SharePoint Designer 2007 Service Pack 1 (SP1)
Service Pack 1 provides the latest updates to Microsoft Office SharePoint Designer 2007.
Microsoft Office SharePoint Designer Language Pack 2007 Service Pack 1 (SP1)
Service Pack 1 provides the latest updates to Microsoft Office SharePoint Designer Language Pack 2007.
Rights Management Server
RMS Server with SP2
Windows Rights Management Services (RMS) 1.0 Service Pack 2 (SP2) provides the platform for an organizational rights policy management system.
Deploying RMS SP2 with Office SharePoint Server 2007
Deploying Windows Rights Management Services with Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 Step-By-Step Guide provides instructions for deploying Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 in a Microsoft Windows Rights Management Services (RMS) with Service Pack 2 environment.
System Center Ops Manager 2007
SharePoint Monitoring Toolkit
This Solution Accelerator provides a set of System Center Ops Manager 2007 Management Packs for Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 and Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 (including SP1). The Toolkit also includes user documentation for each of the Management Packs.
Forefront
Microsoft Forefront Security for SharePoint
Forefront Security for SharePoint with Service Pack 1 helps business protect their Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 and Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 collaboration environments by eliminating documents containing malicious code, confidential information, and inappropriate content.
Microsoft Forefront Security For SharePoint Readme
Office 2007 SP1
The 2007 Microsoft Office Suite Service Pack 1 (SP1)
Service Pack 1 provides the latest updates to the 2007 Microsoft Office suite.
Microsoft Office Visio 2007 Service Pack 1 (SP1)
Service Pack 1 provides the latest updates to Microsoft Office Visio 2007.
Microsoft Office Project 2007 Service Pack 1 (SP1)
Service Pack 1 provides the latest updates to Microsoft Office Project 2007.
Microsoft Office Language Pack 2007 Service Pack 1 (SP1)
Service Pack 1 provides the latest updates to Microsoft Office Language Pack 2007.
Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack Service Pack 1 (SP1)
Service Pack 1 provides the latest updates to the Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack.
Microsoft Office Proofing Tools 2007 Service Pack 1 (SP1)
Service Pack 1 provides the latest updates to Microsoft Office Proofing Tools 2007.
Microsoft Office Visio Language Pack 2007 Service Pack 1 (SP1)
Service Pack 1 provides the latest updates to Microsoft Office Visio Language Pack 2007.
Calendar Printing Assistant for Microsoft Office Outlook 2007 Service Pack 1 (SP1)
Service Pack 1 provides the latest updates to the Calendar Printing Assistant for Microsoft Office Outlook 2007.
Microsoft Office PowerPoint Viewer 2007 Service Pack 1 (SP1)
Service Pack 1 provides the latest updates to Microsoft Office PowerPoint Viewer 2007.
Microsoft Office Visio Viewer 2007 Service Pack 1 (SP1)
Service Pack 1 provides the latest updates to Microsoft Office Visio Viewer 2007.
Microsoft Office Project Language Pack 2007 Service Pack 1 (SP1)
Service Pack 1 provides the latest updates to Microsoft Office Project Language Pack 2007.
SQL Server 2005
SQL Server 2005 SP2
Download Service Pack 2 for Microsoft SQL Server 2005.
SQL Server Reporting Services Add-in for SharePoint Technologies
The Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Reporting Services Add-in for Microsoft SharePoint Technologies is a Web download that provides features for running a report server within a larger deployment of Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 or Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007.
.Net Framework
.NET Framework 3.5
Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5 contains many new features building incrementally upon .NET Framework 2.0 and 3.0, and includes .NET Framework 2.0 service pack 1 and .NET Framework 3.0 service pack 1.
.NET Framework 3.0 SP1
Service Pack 1 for .NET Framework 3.0
Microsoft Search Server 2008
MSS isn’t a service pack. It replaces the standalone SKU formally known as MOSS for Search. Below is a link to a release candidate for MSS. We will also be including an “indexing connector” (formally known as a protocol handler) for Documentum and FileNet with MSS. These connectors aren’t currently available in this RC. There’s no way to “upgrade” your MOSS installation with MSS. Shortly after the MSS release, we will release an update to MOSS that will include any new capabilities available in MSS. More information about MSS can be found at http://www.microsoft.com/enterprisesearch/.
Search Server 2008 Sample: Federated Search Connector Sample
This code sample shows you how to create a connector to a Microsoft SQL Server 2005 database for federated search in Microsoft Search Server 2008.
There are other search connectors available on the http://www.microsoft.com/enterprisesearch/connectors/.
Search Server 2008 Express (x86) - RC
Microsoft Search Server 2008 Express helps you bring search to your organization quickly, easily, and for free.
Search Server 2008 Express VHD
This download comes as a pre-configured VHD. This download enables you evaluate Microsoft Search Server 2008 Express.
This VHD is a Windows Server 2003 machine with the MSS RC setup files on the disk. The setup of MSS has not been done in order to allow you to see the new setup wizard.
SDKs
Windows SharePoint Services 3.0: Software Development Kit (SDK)
The Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 software development kit (SDK) contains conceptual overviews, programming tasks, samples, and references to guide you in developing solutions based on Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services 3.0.
This includes the “Workflow Developer Starter Kit for Windows SharePoint Services 3.0”.
SharePoint Server 2007 SDK: Software Development Kit
The Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 SDK contains conceptual overviews, “How Do I…?” programming tasks, developer tools, code samples, references, and an Enterprise Content Management (ECM) starter kit to guide you in developing solutions based on Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007. This includes the ECM toolkit.
Visual Studio
Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 Tools: Visual Studio 2005 Extensions for Windows SharePoint Services 3.0
Tools for developing custom SharePoint applications: Visual Studio project templates for Web Parts, site definitions, and list definitions; and a stand-alone utility program, the SharePoint Solution Generator. This CTP is not recommended for use in production systems.
Visual Studio 2005 extensions for .NET Framework 3.0 (Windows Workflow Foundation)
Provides developers with support for building workflow-enabled applications using Windows Workflow Foundation.
Windows Server 2003
This is a partial list. I have only included the major updates. There have been several updates to these. Running Windows update will provide you with the rest of the list of post SP2 updates, updates to IE7.
The IE7 downloads for Windows Server 2003 are different from the versions for the client installs. There are separate installs for x86, x64, and Itanium.
Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 2 (32-bit x86)
Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 2 (SP2) is a cumulative service pack that includes the latest updates and provides enhancements to security and stability.
Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 2 for Itanium-based Systems
Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 2 for x64 Editions
Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 2 32-bit Support Tools
The Windows Support Tools for Microsoft Windows 2003 are intended for use by Microsoft support personnel and experienced users to assist in diagnosing and resolving computer problems.
Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 2 (32-bit x86) - ISO-9660 CD Image File
The ISO image is nice to use when updating Virtual Machines because, you can mount the ISO image directly using Virtual Server’s CD drive.
Windows Internet Explorer 7 for Windows Server 2003 SP1 or Windows Server 2003 SP2
Download the latest version of the world's most popular Web browser.
Cumulative Update for Internet Explorer 7 for Windows Server 2003 (KB931768)
This update addresses the vulnerability discussed in Microsoft Security Bulletin MS07-027. To find out if other security updates are available for you, see the Overview section of this page.
Cumulative Security Update for Internet Explorer 7 for Windows Server 2003 (KB942615)
This update addresses the vulnerability discussed in Microsoft Security Bulletin MS07-069. To find out if other security updates are available for you, see the Overview section of this page.
Hotfix Scan Tool for Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 2 Deployment
Administrators intending to deploy Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 2 may want to use this tool to detect hotfixes that will require uninstall and reinstall.
Hotfix Scan Tool for Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 2 Deployment (x64)
Hotfix Scan Tool for Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 2 Deployment (Itanium)
You are invited to take the following beta exams.
If you pass the beta exam, the exam credit will be added to your transcript and you will not need to take the exam in its released form. By participating in beta exams, you have the opportunity to provide the Microsoft Certification program with feedback about exam content, which is integral to development of exams in their released version. We depend on the contributions of experienced IT professionals and developers as we continually improve exam content and maintain the value of Microsoft certifications. Please remember that participation in the beta process is completely voluntary and Microsoft makes no promises or guarantees regarding the beta exam process. You can expect to receive your score on the beta exam within 12 weeks of taking the exam, although in some instances, beta exams may take longer to score and your results may be delayed.
Availability
Registration begins: December 21, 2007
Beta exam period runs: December 21, 2007–January 18, 2008
Receiving this invitation does not guarantee you a seat in the beta; we recommend that you register immediately. Beta exams have limited availability and are operated under a first-come-first-served basis. Once all beta slots are filled, no additional seats will be offered.
Testing is held at Prometric testing centers worldwide, although this exam may not be available in all countries (see Regional Restrictions). All testing centers will have the capability to offer this exam in its live version.
Regional Restrictions: India, Pakistan, China
Registration Information
You must register at least 24 hours prior to taking the exam.
Please use the following promotional codes when you register for your exam.
71-647: use Promo code 647Q at registration
71-646: use Promo code Q646 at registration
Look for the prefix "71" at registration
Receiving this invitation does not guarantee you a seat in the beta; we recommend that you register immediately.
To register in North America, please call: Prometric: (800) 755-EXAM (800-755-3926)
Outside the U.S./Canada, please contact: http://www.register.prometric.com/ClientInformation.asp
Test Information and Support
You are invited to take this beta exam at no charge
You will be given four hours to complete the beta exam. Please plan accordingly.
Find exam preparation information:
http://www.microsoft.com/learning/exams/70-646.mspx
http://www.microsoft.com/learning/exams/70-647.mspx
-------------------------------------------
More information, including the skills covered by both exams over on Trika's Blog.
Visual Studio Team System 2008 Team Foundation Server is an integrated collaboration server for Visual Studio Team System. It combines team portal, version control, work item tracking, build management, process guidance, and business intelligence into a unified server. It allows everyone on the team to collaborate more effectively and deliver better quality software.
Microsoft ® Visual Studio® Team System an integrated Application Life-cycle Management (ALM) solution comprising tools, processes, and guidance to help everyone on the team improve their skills and work together more effectively.
To learn more about this release, please visit the Visual Studio Team System 2008 home page and the Team Foundation Server Developer Center.
This virtual machine is running Windows Server 2003 Enterprise Edition, SP2. It contains a full installation of Team Foundation Server 2008, Team Build 2008, Team Explorer 2008, Visual Studio Team System 2008 Team Suite and all necessary prerequisites. Team Foundation Server is installed in workgroup authentication mode and thus does not require a domain controller.
We are interested in your feedback! Here are instructions on how you can provide it.
When people with too much time on their hands dissect a fake language...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lolcat
These images usually consist of a photo of a cat with a large caption characteristically formatted in an uppercase sans serif font such as Impact or Arial Black.[8] The image is, on occasion, digitally edited for effect. The caption generally acts as a speech balloon encompassing a comment from the cat, or as a description of the depicted scene. The caption is intentionally written with deviations from standard English spelling and syntax,[8] featuring "strangely-conjugated verbs, but [a tendency] to converge to a new set of rules in spelling and grammar."[9] These altered rules of English have been referred to as a type of pidgin[8] or baby talk.[1] The text parodies the grammar-poor patois stereotypically attributed to Internet slang. Frequently, lolcat captions take the form of snowclones in which nouns and verbs are replaced in a phrase.[1] Some phrases have a known source[10] while others seem to be specific to the lolcat form. Common themes include jokes of the form "Im in ur noun, verb-ing ur related noun."[11] "I has a noun" pictures show a cat in possession of an object while "Invisible noun" show pictures of cats apparently interacting with said invisible object.[11] "My noun, let me show you it/them" pictures are accompanied by cats apparently presenting or offering an object. Another common lolcat displays a cat with a specific look, which is described by adjective, and the text, "[adjective] cat is not [adjective]"[citation needed] or "Your offering pleases [adjective] cat." A version of this is also stated as "adjective cat is not amused", or "[adjective] cat has run out of [adjective]" (when the cat in related picture seems to be feeling the opposite of the adjective used to describe it.)
Douglas Adams, "Last Chance to See"
I know, I know... Safari and Opera did it a while ago, but the IE team is making progress on web standards. Last week, we achieved an important milestone that should interest web developers. IE8 now renders the “Acid2 Face” correctly in IE8 standards mode.
More from the IE team after the jump: http://blogs.msdn.com/ie/archive/2007/12/19/internet-explorer-8-and-acid2-a-milestone.aspx
*update: Channel 9 also has an interview with IE GM Dean Hachamovitch and Architect Chris Wilson about the changes in IE8 here: http://channel9.msdn.com/showpost.aspx?postid=367207
If you have not played with the Microsoft Assessment and Planning Solution Accelerator, you really need to. It was awesome as the Windows Vista Hardware Assessment tool, and it is even better now that it adds support for Windows Server 2008, Virtualization, and Server Consolidation. If you read this post all the way to the bottom, you will also find an offer to get a free copy of Windows Vista Ultimate and 2007 Microsoft Office Ultimate to the people that file the 10 best bugs... Enjoy!
Microsoft Assessment and Planning Solution AcceleratorBeta 1 Now Available!Are your existing servers and desktops capable of running Windows Server 2008 or Windows Vista? Do you wish that there is a tool that can help you quickly determine if your infrastructure is ready for Microsoft's virtualization technologies such as Hyper-V, Microsoft Application Virtualization (SoftGrid) and Terminal Services? Look no further. The new Microsoft Assessment and Planning Solution Accelerator will help you solve many of your assessment and planning problems by providing you with a multi-technology network-wide inventory and assessment tool.
The Microsoft Assessment and Planning Solution Accelerator (or MAP) is the expanded version of the Windows Vista Hardware Assessment (WVHA) released in February this year. In this new version, MAP is expanding into new areas of server side assessments, virtualization recommendations while retaining the WVHA functionalities. In addition, the graphics user interface is brand new as well to accommodate more features and functionalities for 1.0 release and the future releases. Key Assessment Proposals and ReportsWVHA is known for its powerful assessments and report-generation capabilities and MAP is no different. Here's a short list of documents that MAP can generate for a specific network environment:· Server Migration Reports and Proposals (Windows Server 2008)· Server Consolidation Reports and Proposals (Virtualization: Hyper-V or Virtual Server 2005 R2)· Application Virtualization Assessment Reports (SoftGrid)· Windows Vista and 2007 Microsoft Office Hardware Assessment Reports and Proposals· Server Roles and Non-Windows Machines Inventory and moreIn addition, this tool can generate localized desktop readiness reports in N. American English, German, French, Japanese, Korean, Spanish, and Portuguese.Microsoft Assessment and Planning is based on agent-less infrastructure scanning technology developed by the Microsoft Solution Accelerators team. It makes it easier to set up the network-wide inventory remotely and securely without installing any software agents on each machine being inventoried. First, by connecting a computer with the MAP application, the user with the correct network and local PC credentials can then inventory and assess the readiness of the servers, clients, devices and applications for various migration and virtualization scenarios. Since no agents are used, set up of MAP is very easy.Upon successful inventory and/or performance gathering, MAP will generate the user-specified assessment reports and proposals in the form of Microsoft Excel and Microsoft Word documents. The proposals are typically targeted for Business Decision Makers and Technical Decision Makers in an organization; while the detailed reports are tailored for IT implementers including desktop and infrastructure administrators and IT consultants.Underlying TechnologiesMAP leverages Microsoft technologies including:· Active Directory Domain Services· Win32 Networking Protocols· Internet Protocol (IP) Range Scanning· Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI)· Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP)· Download MAP Beta now from the Microsoft Connect site (Live ID sign-in is required)· File a bug or submit feature requests at Microsoft Connect site (Live ID sign-in is required)· Learn more about Microsoft Assessment and Planning on TechNet"Bug Bash" ContestFinally, to thank you for your beta program participation, we will offer 10 sets of free gifts to the Top 10 bug filers. Criteria is simple. At the end of the Beta Program, the development team will select the 10 most impactful code-specific bugs for the RTM release. The filers of the Top 10 bugs will each receive a set of Windows Vista Ultimate and 2007 Microsoft Office Ultimate software packages. Please note that it is the quality of the bug on our software code that counts and not the number of bugs that you file. We welcome you to file bugs on typos and grammatical errors; however, these bugs will not be accepted for this contest.Thank you for your interest in MAP and we look forward to your feedback.Microsoft Assessment and Planning Development Team (mapsbeta@microsoft.com )
Troubleshooting networks (as with any computer/system/car/generic problem troubleshooting) is often a case study in logic and common sense. Ned Pyle on the Directory Services team has put together a great post on troubleshooting networks using the built-in Windows Tools.
http://blogs.technet.com/askds/archive/2007/12/18/troubleshooting-networks-without-netmon.aspx
Hi, Ned here. You may already be asking yourself why I’m writing about network troubleshooting. Isn’t this the Directory Services blog? Don’t we just care about Kerberos and group policies and the like? Shouldn’t the Networking team do all this heavy TCP/IP lifting? Well, without the network, Active Directory and all its little pieces don’t really amount to much. We are a customer of networking ourselves and that means to be effective DS engineers we have to understand the infrastructure that moves all our data around. Otherwise when this important component fails we can’t really determine if DS is having issues or the underlying structure it relies on is in trouble. To be frank, we work a lot of cases here in 3rd tier support that came in as Directory Services symptoms and left resolved as network issues. At one point, 80% of all our DS cases could be tracked back to DNS configuration problems! We can’t all be network trace gurus though – it takes a lot of time and experience to get to the point where you can look at a capture in NetMon3.1 (or Wireshark, Ethereal, Packetyzer, etc.) and make meaningful sense of all the details. So what are your options if you suspect a networking problem and you don’t feel that NetMon is in your league? You can call us in Microsoft support, or you can use other tools that are simpler and often just as effective to figure out your issue. That’s what we’ll do today
Hi, Ned here. You may already be asking yourself why I’m writing about network troubleshooting. Isn’t this the Directory Services blog? Don’t we just care about Kerberos and group policies and the like? Shouldn’t the Networking team do all this heavy TCP/IP lifting?
Well, without the network, Active Directory and all its little pieces don’t really amount to much. We are a customer of networking ourselves and that means to be effective DS engineers we have to understand the infrastructure that moves all our data around. Otherwise when this important component fails we can’t really determine if DS is having issues or the underlying structure it relies on is in trouble. To be frank, we work a lot of cases here in 3rd tier support that came in as Directory Services symptoms and left resolved as network issues. At one point, 80% of all our DS cases could be tracked back to DNS configuration problems!
We can’t all be network trace gurus though – it takes a lot of time and experience to get to the point where you can look at a capture in NetMon3.1 (or Wireshark, Ethereal, Packetyzer, etc.) and make meaningful sense of all the details. So what are your options if you suspect a networking problem and you don’t feel that NetMon is in your league? You can call us in Microsoft support, or you can use other tools that are simpler and often just as effective to figure out your issue. That’s what we’ll do today
Hilarious! (the title frame below does not do the video justice)
Photographers get to call their lenses "glass", so server engineers can get away with calling their servers "iron" :). Quite often on the internal discussion lists, I see questions along the lines of "my customer is going to implement Exchange 2007 in their environment. How many servers do they need?"
The answer, of course, is "It Depends". It depends on the number of users, the number of locations, how heavily the users utilize email, the size of the average attachment, the mail quotas, the number of MAPI users, the number of Outlook Anywhere (formerly RPC/HTTP) users, the number of mobile users, the guaranteed SLA level, etc. There is no substitute for setting up a proof of concept environment that mirrors production, and allowing for future growth.
That having been said, there are two great resources that will allow you to guesstimate your hardware needs.
The first is System Center Capacity Planner. SCCP helps size and plan deployments of Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 (as well as Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services 3.0, Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007, and Microsoft System Center Operations Manager 2007 coming soon). It provides you with the tools and guidance to deploy efficiently, while planning for the future by allowing for "what-if" analyses.
Formerly, SCCP was only available for TechNet Plus and MSDN Premium subscribers. According to the MOM Team blog, it is now freely available for everyone. As of the time I am writing this, the download links off of the SCCP page above do not work, although I was able to snag it from https://connect.microsoft.com/SystemCenter.
The System Center Capacity Planner has the nice "Key Concepts & How-to Videos" originally pioneered in (I believe) System Center Operations Manager). This is perfect for getting up to speed when you are they only Sysadmin in the IT shop.
You have a TON of knobs to tweak when setting up your model. With Exchange, for example, you define your mailbox sites, client-only sites, networks, hardware, usage profiles, client profiles, quotas...
When you are done, you end up with a nice diagram that can be exported to Excel or Visio
You can also run simulations (after changing the proposed hardware, client profile, adding locations, etc) to determine bottlenecks, utilization numbers, etc.
Models are also available for Operations Manager, Remote Operations Manager, and SharePoint/WSS 3.0. The price (free) is right, so download it and check it out!
The other cool resource is a 3rd Party website Sizing Lounge (so I cannot vouch for the accuracy of the numbers) that will help you size SQL, IIS, and Exchange deployments. You do not have nearly as many parameters to set (which will affect the estimates), but the nice thing about this website is that it will break down costs to include the actual cost of the server, as well as the cost of energy and labor over its lifetime. Guess what the largest cost is?
Before I forget, I covered SCCP at the beginning of the year, and linked to some other great resources for sizing Exchange in my post here.
The following information is courtesy of Trika... Make sure to visit her blog to learn how you can get your Windows Server 2008 certifications for free (I've signed myself up!)
Upcoming Meetings (details and registration links below)
§ December 5: Windows Server 2008 Certification
§ December 12: SQL Server 2008 Certification
§ January 23: Visual Studio 2008 certification
§ January 30: Getting Started as a Technical Author
Recent Live Meetings (recordings)
New Benefits for MCPs: Program Update (October 2007)
System Center Certifications (October 2007)
Microsoft Office Project Certifications (August 2007)
One Year In: An Update on Microsoft Certified Architect (June 2007)
Windows Server 2008 Certifications (June 2007)
Protecting The Integrity of Microsoft Certification (May 2007)
Windows Vista and Microsoft Exchange 2007: Certification Review (May 2007)
2007 Office System Certifications for IT Professionals and Developers (April 2007)
Transition to Windows Server 2008 Certifications (WW)
Target audience: customers interested in Windows Server certification; customers who will be early adopters of WS2008; MCSA and MCSE 2003.
In this meeting we will review plans for upcoming Windows Server 2008 certifications; hear about the transition paths specific to MCSA and MCSE 2003; provide links to the live exams and study resources; and participate in a Q&A with the certification and exam team.
· December 5 at 7:30 A.M. Pacific Time (What time is this in my region?)
· December 5 at 5:00 P.M. Pacific Time (What time is this in my region?)
SQL Server 2008 and Your Microsoft Certifications
Target audience: Customers considering SQL2008 or currently on SQL2005; MCDBAs.
Join the Microsoft Certification team for guidance on your certification path for SQL Server. In this meeting, we will introduce our plans for SQL Server 2008 training and certification, review the SQL Server 2005 certifications, and answer your individual questions about the path that is right for you, in Business Intelligence, Database Development, or Database Administration. Click to register for:
· December 12, 2007, at 7:30 A.M. Pacific Time:
· December 12, 2007, at 5:00 P.M. Pacific Time:
Microsoft Certification for Developers
Target audience: Developers with or without a certification today (MCAD, MCSD, MCTS/MCPD on VS2005; or new to certification)
Join the Microsoft Certification team to find out what is new, and what you need to know, for your next step in developer certification. In this meeting, we will introduce our plans for Visual Studio 2008 training and certification, review the Visual Studio 2005 certifications, and have plenty of time to answer questions about your individual path or scenario. Click to register for:
Microsoft Press Presents: Getting Started as a Technical Author
Target audience: IT pros and developers, internal and external
Are you interested in sharing your technical knowledge with others? Ever wonder what it takes to become a published technical author? Please join the Microsoft Press and Microsoft Certified Professional team for tips and recommendations on how to begin or further a career as a technical author. We will discuss tactics for getting started and answer your individual questions.
This meeting will be offered twice to accommodate worldwide calendars:
Free training... how can you go wrong? (I first saw this on Arlindo's blog)
http://www.microsoft.com/business/performancepoint/resources/training.aspx
The fastest way to learn the basics of PerformancePoint Server 2007 is through these self-directed learning courses, which have been designed to give a quick start on building your performance management solution:
The product groups have been going buck-wild releasing preconfigured Virtual PC/Virtual Server images for you to play around with! I mentioned a bunch of them in this post, and the master TechNet page is here.
Keith, however, noticed a few more:
And... in the most amazing use of compression that I've ever seen, Ronald Beekelaar (Virtualization MVP) has managed to fit 5 complete VPC images representing a working domain into... 255.6 MB. Wow.
From Dugie:
The walk-through is a 22 page paper, supplied with VMs, scripts and a very sleek HTA interface. You get to choose between two different demonstration scenarios, Basic and Advanced. The Basic demo shows just Domain Isolation and Server Isolation — and the Advanced demo includes No Fallback Group Isolation, Boundary Group Isolation and Encryption Group Isolation. Anyway download the Server and Domain Isolation Demo and check it out.
The walk-through is a 22 page paper, supplied with VMs, scripts and a very sleek HTA interface. You get to choose between two different demonstration scenarios, Basic and Advanced.
The Basic demo shows just Domain Isolation and Server Isolation — and the Advanced demo includes No Fallback Group Isolation, Boundary Group Isolation and Encryption Group Isolation.
Anyway download the Server and Domain Isolation Demo and check it out.
Learned a neat trick today that I thought I would share with you all.
If you are ever working on a PowerPoint presentation, and want to copy slides from one presentation to the other, you might think it nice to be able to open up one PowerPoint Deck on one monitor, and the other deck in a different window on your other monitor. Well... you can't. PowerPoint (even 2007) does not allow for multiple windows or instances. VERY frustrating in a world where dual-monitor setups are becoming the norm.
Al Gore uses 3 monitors...
As does our esteemed founder Bill Gates:
On my desk I have three screens, synchronized to form a single desktop. I can drag items from one screen to the next. Once you have that large display area, you'll never go back, because it has a direct impact on productivity.
Jeff Atwood over at Coding Horror also notices the impact to productivity of having multiple monitors. The Office team is very aware of this feature request, so I'll keep my fingers crossed for PowerPoint V.next. :)
But back to the trick... (which still doesn't take advantage of your multiple monitors. So if you are using a single monitor, this may be useful for you as well).
Open the PPT deck you are working on in Office 2007. On the Home tab, in the Slides Group, click the "New Slide" dropdown, and choose "Reuse Slides". Browse to the second deck you want to copy slides from. You will end up with the source slides on the right, and your current presentation on the left. Very useful!
When you right click on a USB Hard drive to remove it in Vista, you are presented with the option of "Safely Remove" or "Format". Who thought it was a good idea to stick these particular options 1/8 of an inch apart? ;)
Just saw this over on Bink.nu. It turns out (and I have verified), that there is a pretty cool easter egg included with the HP EX470/EX475 MediaSmart Home Servers. The HP servers have a series of LEDs on the front of the unit that turn different colors to indicate status at a glance. With the easter egg, you can set the lights a'blinkin with different patterns.
You can now select from the following options:
-Default System Lights-Holiday Lights (perfect for this time of year)-Descending Chasers (in blue, red or purple)-Ascending Chasers (in blue, red or purple)-Pulsing (in all colors)-Night Rider (in all colors)-Morse Code Credits
Video of the LEDs in action over at Youtube.
2007 Office System Demo and HOL Images
This virtual machine demonstration environment contains almost 50 Hands-On-Labs, ~25 demos, and more than 10 software packages. A mere 50GB is needed on your hard drive to install this (large) image! Once you have walked through all of the Hands-On-Labs and demos, you will know more about SharePoint than you ever thought possible.
What are all those little icons of people? You can actually log in as different entities into SharePoint to see the effect of targeted sites, make changes as users with different privileges, etc. Very cool!
Visual Studio 2008 Rhythm Training Virtual PC
The Visual Studio 2008 Rhythm Training VPC contains a pre-configured installation of Windows Server 2003, Visual Studio 2008 Team Suite, and the Visual Studio 2008 Training Kit. The training kit includes 20 hands-on-labs, 28 presentations, and 20 scripted demos for technologies such as LINQ, C# 3.0, Visual Basic 9, WCF, WF, WPF, ASP.NET Ajax, VSTO, the .NET Compact Framework, and more.
Microsoft BI VPC 5.1 [Part 1] [Part 2]
All the BI stuff in one image... SQL Server with the BI Studio, Proclarity, OfficeWriter, PerformancePoint Server, Sharepoint... Not to mention a bunch of sample data for you to play with.
From the official description:
Microsoft Business Intelligence (BI), a complete suite of server, client, and developer products, supports decision makers in developing deeper knowledge and insight that helps them make better business decisions, faster. Microsoft BI is delivered through three layers or workloads: data warehousing, reporting and analysis, and performance management and R5 has demos across these three workloads.
I would normally put up a great post with examples, pictures, personal stories, wit, and humor... but I am in class today and they are making us shut our laptops. Darn. In any case, AWESOME NEWS!!! The Virtualization team just released a version of Windows Server 2008 WITH the beta bits of Hyper-V (formerly Windows Server Virtualization). I will DEFINITELY be loading it up tomorrow! Get it here:
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserver2008/virtualization/default.mspx
For now, I'll copy from that page. :)
Key Hyper-V features include:
One of the greatest parts of working at Microsoft is being able to learn of all the cool things we have to offer (many of which are available externally). Some of them, however, I learn about from external sources (such as other Microsoft Blogs). I consider myself to be fairly well-versed in all of the training opportunities available, but after working for here for two years, I had no idea that someone had taken the time to write up learning plans for many of our technologies/products. Very cool! From Trika:
Last year Microsoft started offering "learning plans," basically a tool to help you easily find technology tips/study materials in one place. Not necessarily tied to certification, but that too. For example, there is a learning plan for implementing high availability w/server 2008 and one on troubleshooting Exchange 2007 servers and on and on for very specific things. Then there are learning plans for most exams, like for 70-648 or 70-649. Learning plans aren't just the training we (Microsoft Learning) make and sell, they also include articles, TechNet/MSDN webcasts, related blogs, free training from other sources across MIcorosft, etc. So kind of nice that you pick out the topic you're looking for, and someone else has already found the things that will help you learn that. A plan, if you will, for learning. To save your plan you can log-in with your Live ID and keep track of your progress. Since these originally came out, we have made a lot of updates to the tool and added content on the new technologies, check it. Vista Windows Server 2008 Office Exchange Server 2007 or go to the whole catalog (look at left nav to navigate around)
Last year Microsoft started offering "learning plans," basically a tool to help you easily find technology tips/study materials in one place. Not necessarily tied to certification, but that too.
For example, there is a learning plan for implementing high availability w/server 2008 and one on troubleshooting Exchange 2007 servers and on and on for very specific things. Then there are learning plans for most exams, like for 70-648 or 70-649.
Learning plans aren't just the training we (Microsoft Learning) make and sell, they also include articles, TechNet/MSDN webcasts, related blogs, free training from other sources across MIcorosft, etc. So kind of nice that you pick out the topic you're looking for, and someone else has already found the things that will help you learn that.
A plan, if you will, for learning.
To save your plan you can log-in with your Live ID and keep track of your progress. Since these originally came out, we have made a lot of updates to the tool and added content on the new technologies, check it.
Now that you downloaded the Release Candidate of Windows Server 2008 here: http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserver2008/audsel.mspx
Make sure to download and run through the step-by-step guides available here:
Here's a tip... they are an EXCELLENT resource for any certification exam you may be taking on Windows Server 2008: http://www.microsoft.com/learning/mcp/windowsserver2008/default.mspx