This CNNMoney article has a focus on what Vista might do to Microsoft stock price. But this quote at the end makes the battleplan for Microsoft IT Pro marketing super-clear <emphasis added>:

"However, public demonstrations have been full of cool graphics effects and consumer features that probably turn off more IT staff than they attract, and sales of Windows upgrade rights to corporations have been disappointing."

Helm believes that to sell Vista to corporations, Microsoft has to include features within Vista that appeals to corporate enterprises, explain clearly what those features are, and outline what hardware and other infrastructure companies need to reap the benefits of Vista."

Update: This article puts it this way <still my emphasis added>:

"The company has been emphasizing how stellar Vista operates in the multimedia home, and the push toward promoting Vista as a consumer gem has left some companies cold.

"With Microsoft, there's always a question of whether it's a home release or a business release," said Gartner's Silver. "There's a feeling by some that because home and business share a lot of the same components, Microsoft just makes the market target bigger by talking about those common features. But that makes businesses feel uncertain, and there's some merit to that feeling."

What Microsoft will need to do in the next few months is highlight the differences in the enterprise version, Silver said. Once the company begins doing that, enterprises could step up their migration plans and potentially even implement Vista sooner rather than later, he said.

"Microsoft is seeing the light on some of what it needs to do to promote Vista to enterprises," Silver said. "But they're not all the way there yet."

A new paper from the MSSC to help you LUA:  Applying the Principle of Least Privilege to User Accounts on Windows XP.

Blurbage: A defense-in-depth strategy, with overlapping layers of security, is the best way to counter malicious software threats, and the least-privileged user account (LUA) approach is an important part of that defensive strategy. The LUA approach ensures that users follow the principle of least privilege and always log on with limited user accounts. In addition, this strategy aims to limit the use of administrative credentials to administrators, and then only for administrative tasks.

Get the newly posted Remote Access Quarantine Tool for Internet Security and Acceleration (ISA) Server 2004.

Quarantine control holds remote access client computers in quarantine, after authentication, until their configuration settings are validated.

You already know about the script center's user- submitted scripts, right? Every Monday is new script day - wouldn't an RSS feed on that page be tasty? (hint, hint).

Put your users on a crash diet with this script that deletes files older than 90 days.

When they call you to find out where their old stuff went, or for other issues, you may need this script that returns a List of Basic Hardware and Software Information.

Cool NOVA site on "the Ghost Particle". Check out the producer's 7 rules for making a good science movie. Good advice for blogging I think, especially tech blogging. Pretty much just replace "movie" in your head with "blogging" as you read.

The Antigen TN site is live, althought the download link takes you to Sybari and requires registration information. Antigen is a server-level antivirus, anti-spam and content filtering solutions that helps businesses protect their e-mail and collaboration environments against viruses, worms, spam, and inappropriate content. See also the FAQ, and the nifty, FREE, extended trial of Antigen for SharePoint (also requires reg).

You remember those Rorsach ink blot tests?

Ever heard those "brush with fame" stories?

I'm coining the term "Brushach" for a brush with someone who looks like someone famous. You know, where you turn around and go "Hey, isn't that <someone famous> over there?"

I don't know what it says about my unconscious, but I swear I saw British actor Sir Derek Jacobi at Home Depot this weekend.

Any "brusachs" you want to share? Leave comments.

First, you have seen the new User-Submitted Scripts section of the TN Script Center, right? Mark your calendars - every Monday is new script day.

Next: Check out this nifty script that returns the following information for a computer: operating system version; available memory; uptime; total physical memory; maximum clock speed; user name; operating system installation date; IP address; free disk space; disk size.

I really like this one as well, that randomly sets the marquee screen saver text using lines taken from a companion file (Slogans.txt). Like most scripts, it may not be all that useful for one machine, but I used ot use a script like this to put instructions and FAQs on screen in a school's computer lab. The students loved it.

Last: How great are these scripting guys for doing this? Want more like this? Leave comments.

The new TechNet Interop & Migration Center is live. Check it out. Why? It's new, it looks like the Desktop Deployment Center and the Security Center, and it will help folks interested in the new Government Interoperability initiative with implementation.

We think IT Pros want more cross-product focus - this is the first step. Leave feedback for us to guide our next steps.

FEMA has a brochure and webpage to help kids prepare for and cope with disasters.

It includes advice such as:

You can create a Family Disaster Plan by taking four simple steps. First, learn what hazards exist in your community and how to prepare for each. Then meet with your family to discuss what you would do, as a group, in each situation. Next, take steps to prepare your family for disaster such as: posting emergency phone numbers, selecting an out-of-state family contact, assembling disaster supplies kits for each member of your household and installing smoke detectors on each level of your home. Finally, practice your Family Disaster Plan so that everyone will remember what to do when a disaster does occur.

• Develop and practice a Family Disaster Plan. Contact your local emergency management or civil defense office, or your local Red Cross chapter for materials that describe how your family can create a disaster plan. Everyone in the household, including children, should play a part in the family's response and recovery efforts.

• Teach your child how to recognize danger signals. Make sure your child knows what smoke detectors, fire alarms and local community warning systems (horns, sirens) sound like.

• Explain how to call for help. Teach your child how and when to call for help. Check the telephone directory for local emergency phone numbers and post these phone numbers by all telephones. If you live in a 9-1-1-service area, tell your child to call 9-1-1.

• Help your child memorize important family information. Children should memorize their family name, address and phone number. They should also know where to meet in case of an emergency. Some children may not be old enough to memorize the information. They could carry a small index card that lists emergency information to give to an adult or babysitter.

Funny how everything comes back to that counter-intuitive instruction: "Place mask over your own mouth and nose before helping your children with theirs"...