Here are some links for you to get started deploying Windows 8 and/or Windows Server 2012 compiled for you by a support lead colleague

 Server Posterpedia (free app): http://www.serverposterpedia.com/

Deployment

• Installing the .NET Framework 3.5 on Windows 8:  http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh506443.aspx
• How to Customize the Start Screen:  http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/jj134269.aspx
• Removing Built-in Applications from Windows 8:  http://blogs.technet.com/b/deploymentguys/archive/2012/10/26/removing-built-in-applications-from-windows-8.aspx
• Windows 8 Start Screen Customization with MDT:  http://blogs.technet.com/b/deploymentguys/archive/2012/10/26/start-screen-customization-with-mdt.aspx
• Removing or Updating Windows 8 built-in Windows Store apps causes Sysprep to fail:  http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2769827
• Install, Deploy, and Migrate to Windows 8:  http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh832022
• Deploy Windows To Go in Your Organization:  http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/jj721578.aspx
• Customizing the default Lock screen:  http://blogs.technet.com/b/deploymentguys/archive/2012/12/11/windows-8-customizing-the-default-lock-screen.aspx

Activation

• Introduction to VAMT 3.0:  http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh825141
• Active Directory-Based Activation Overview:  http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh852637.aspx
• KMS Client Setup Keys:  http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/jj612867.aspx
• How to setup Active Directory-Based Activation Host for Microsoft Office
  2013:  http://blogs.technet.com/b/odsupport/archive/2012/11/07/how-to-setup-active-directory-based-activation-host-for-microsoft-office-2013.aspx
• How to install the Office 2010 KMS Host License Pack on Windows 8 or Windows Server 2012:  http://blogs.technet.com/b/odsupport/archive/2012/10/29/how-to-install-the-office-2010-kms-host-license-pack-on-windows-8-or-windows-server-2012.aspx 
• Windows 8 or Windows Server 2012 installation may fail with error message: The product key entered does not match any of the Windows images available for installation. Enter a different product key:  http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2796988/EN-US
• Office Deployment Support Team Blog:  http://blogs.technet.com/b/odsupport/
• Ask the Core Team Blog:  http://blogs.technet.com/b/askcore/

 Downloads

• Microsoft Deployment Toolkit (MDT) 2012 Update 1:  http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=25175
• Windows Assessment and Deployment Kit (ADK) for Windows® 8:  http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=30652
• Windows 8 Enterprise Evaluation download:  http://technet.microsoft.com/en-US/evalcenter/hh699156.aspx?ocid=wc-tn-wctc
• Windows Server 2012 Evaluation download:  http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/jj574204(v=ws.11).aspx

 Apps/Store

• Deploying Metro style apps to businesses:  http://blogs.msdn.com/b/windowsstore/archive/2012/04/25/deploying-metro-style-apps-to-businesses.aspx
• How to Add and Remove Apps:  http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh852635.aspx
• Windows Intune Company Portal:  http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/windowsintune/explore/byod.aspx
• Deploying Windows 8 apps using Windows Intune (new DevRadio Episode):  http://blogs.technet.com/b/windowsintune/archive/2012/10/31/deploying-windows-8-apps-using-windows-intune.aspx
• Planning to Deploy Windows 8 Apps in Configuration Manager(2012 SP1):  http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/jj822984.aspx

 SideLoading Notes

• The Windows Store is usable even for users that don’t have admin rights – they can still install apps (an operation that is always per-user).
• Enterprises can create their own private “enterprise app store” using:
  • Windows Intune, which provides a modern app self-service portal for users to select what apps they want to install.
  • System Center 2012 Configuration Manager SP1, which provides a self-service portal web page  for users to select what apps they want to install.
  • Customers not using Windows Intune or System Center 2012 Configuration Manager can use PowerShell cmdlets (e.g. Add-AppxPackage) or DISM command lines
    to install apps in the same way that ConfigMgr and Intune do.
  • Note that installing apps from a source other than the Windows Store requires that the computer be enabled for sideloading.  That’s automatic for Windows 8 Enterprise domain-joined computers, but requires a separate sideload product key for Windows 8 Enterprise workgroup, Windows 8 Pro, or Windows RT computers. 
  • Additional information on SideLoading product key
    • MicrosoftProductList: 
      http://www.microsoftvolumelicensing.com/DocumentSearch.aspx?Mode=3&DocumentTypeId=3
    • Windows_8_Licensing_Guide: 
      http://download.microsoft.com/download/9/4/3/9439A928-A0D1-44C2-A099-26A59AE0543B/Windows_8_Licensing_Guide.pdf

Over on the Windows Server Blog, a blog of blogs, Microsoft Community Lead Kevin Beares introduces Server Posterpedia V2. Now with extra goodness, still free-as-in-beer, no charge, gratis.

You can watch a short video demo on YT: http://aka.ms/sposterpediavid

Server Posterpedia is a Windows Store app designed for Windows 8 and Windows RT that brings graphical content together with content from TechNet and MSDN. It enables you to learn about Microsoft technologies by providing deep links to Microsoft content from within a Windows Store app. Today we’re pleased to announce that Server Posterpedia v2 is available in the Windows Store. The following features are available in version 2:

• Image hotspots that allow you to get content specific to a part of the poster (new).
• Semantic zoom that enables easy navigation of the different groups (new).
• A full-screen viewing mode without the chrome and hotspots (new).
• The ability to share a link to a poster through email (new).
• App bar buttons specific to each poster.
• Technical content for Hyper-V, Active Directory, Remote Desktop Services, Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows Server 2008, Exchange Server 2010, Exchange Server 2007, SharePoint Server 2010, Windows Azure, SQL Server, Lync Server 2010, and Office 2013.

Say what now? There is a new way of interacting with computers, and I have to RTFM?

Well, not really. I know that you IT Pros already know all this, but, since you are the TechSupport/IT Department for friends/family neighbors who might be unfamiliar with touch computing as implemented in Windows 8, this tutorial will help you with visual diagrams matching text descriptions of "gestures" in Windows 8, like "swipe".

http://www.microsoft.com/Surface/en-US/support/surface-with-windows-rt/getting-started/using-touch-gestures-tap-swipe-and-beyond

One who is gone. Native American, actor, activist, my grandpa look-alike, icon, man I respected and looked up to all my life. He died this week and his ashes were spread on the Rez. 

This image (spitting one for grandpa Leo) is from NNN.

My confolences to his family, friends, and worldwide fans.

If you read this blog, you know about the TechNet Wiki I helped start a while ago. The wiki represents many kinds of awesome. The best of which is the people who care enough about technology, and the wiki, to contribute content. The wiki has been nominated for an internal Microsoft Engineering Excellence Award.

More than 3,000 of you have contributed around 12,000 pages of technical content that get about a million page views per month.

Congrats!

You may also be aware of new apps that are built on top of Microsoft content, such as server posterpedia and server news. Well, now the community has built a Windows 8 app on top of the wiki.

BREAKING NEWS: Technet Wiki Widget launched on Windows 8 Store!

+1, check it out. Save your own custom wiki tag searches in the app.

This year is our 30th Employee Giving Campaign at Microsoft and today we announced that our U.S. employees have raised $1 billion in cash for more than 31,000 nonprofit and community organizations since the start of the campaign.

http://blogs.technet.com/b/microsoft_blog/archive/2012/10/18/a-billion-ways-to-make-a-difference.aspx

Many of you saw this app at TechEd NA and TechEd Europe and asked "When can I get it?"

It's heeeere: http://apps.microsoft.com/webpdp/en-US/app/server-posterpedia/f988071c-66dc-4281-8028-637ac0f09061

Free-as-in-beer.

This YT vid shows how it works http://youtu.be/o5tWAPWJ720. Seeing it in action explains all. You want to see it in action. Download it from the store now. Did I mention it was free as in no charge costs nothing?

Think, poster-as-table-of-contents-for-technology-information. Think "Minority Report". Think "the presentation IS the information." Think  "infographics".

Try it, you'll like it. Especially on a touch-screen.

Tell your friends, leave feedback

In his book Three Uses of the Knife: On the Nature and Purpose of Drama, David Mamet writes:

..."It is our nature to elaborate perception into hypotheses and then reduce those hypotheses to information upon
which we can act. It is our special adaptive device....The excess of ability/energy/skill/strength/love is expressed in species-specific ways. In goats it is leaping, in humans it is making art."

Now, judging the quality of technical writing is a tricky thing. Few folks would go so far as to call even the highest quality technical writing "art." Yet, the skills of the artist and the "technical writer" are isomorphic. Identical.  The same.

Many folks, even at Microsoft, have widely disparate ideas on the subject of measuring quality in technical writing. The subject is even more tricky. It is much trickier. The trickiness of it is greatly increased.

See?

In my career at Microsoft, I have shared many means of measuring quality in technical writing. But they have always started, and ended, with "meets or exceeds customer expectation." 

They have never involved page count, word count, or page views *as sole measures of quality writing*.

Of course, I thought I was a talented technical writer. It is what I do. The fact that I happen to get paid for it was a bonus. I did it, and worked at continuous improvement, because it mattered to the reader.

Now, it seems, not so much. For the first time in the dozen or so years I have worked at Microsoft I was given a review rating of <number I am not supposed to say, but which was well below my expectation>. One way to view this is as an opportunity for self-examination.

Have I lost my skill and ability? Gentle readers, do tell. Leave comments. Let me know how I can improve.

Many thanks in advance.  

Folks, Microsoft Script Explorer for Windows PowerShell RC has released. Script Explorer helps scripters find Windows PowerShell scripts, snippets, modules, and how-to guidance in online repositories such as the TechNet Script Center Repository, PoshCode, local or network file systems and Bing Search Repository.

With RC you get:

• Community and Microsoft resources integrated in search to help you unlock the power of Windows PowerShell.
• Seamless searching across online repositories to locate script samples.
• Easy search of local, network, and corporate script repository.

And it Is Free-as-in-beer. No cost. Gratis.

Check it out: http://aka.ms/SE_RC
Feedback: http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/scriptexplorer/

I had the pleasure and honor of working for a short time in my LBM (life before Microsoft) with Andy Griffith. May he rest in peace.

He was one helluvanactor, and an inspiration to me and many he worked with.

Something really big for the IT Pro just happened. Jeffrey Snover introduces it this way

"Many years ago, Microsoft joined with other companies to define the Hardware Abstraction Layer (HAL), a set of standards to abstract the devices on a PC (and later, a server) for the OS. The HAL is the unsung hero of the
computing industry, allowing an amazing level of choice and interoperability in the x86 ecosystem. It is one of the critical hidden technologies behind why all this stuff “just works.”
With Windows Server 2012, Windows has shifted its focus to become a Cloud OS, so a new abstraction layer is required – a Datacenter Abstraction Layer or DAL. Microsoft is, once again, joining with other companies to define the DAL. Instead of starting from scratch or advancing proprietary standards, we are embracing standards-based management to accelerate the process so we can get the ecosystem and our customers to the cloud as quickly as possible. "

Read about OMI and understand why your future is dependent on it at http://blogs.technet.com/b/windowsserver/archive/2012/06/28/open-management-infrastructure.aspx

If you are in IT, and you haven't yet defined exactly what "social" means in your IT environment, best of luck to you catching up. See what they had to say at the CIO Summit: http://aka.ms/CIOSOC

The information on the TechNet wiki is written by IT Pro/Devs for IT Pro/Devs. Why is this important? In the words of a satisfied user:

"Over 70% of the articles in TNWiki are real-world scenarios. That's exactly what I need in my job."

read the complete interview at Interview with a Wiki Ninja - Patris: MCC, Persian Wiki writer, and expert in Active Directory, Group Policy Objects, and Windows Server 2008 R2

check out the new blog of blogs for Microsoft Server and Tools http://blogs.technet.com/b/serverandtools/

“The good news is that all of the security development practices, principles, and techniques you already know still apply when developing cloud applications.”
For the drill down, read this newly-published Windows Azure Security Guidance.

Use your phone camera to translate printed text, voice recognition to translate spoken text, or the keyboard to enter text that you want to translate.

Use your phone's camera to make translating signs, menus, newspapers, or any printed text a snap. Just aim the camera at the text and see the translation in seconds.

Download languages and phrase books so you can translate text and images when your phone isn't connected to a network.

Speak a word or phrase that you want translated and hear the translations spoken in a native speaker's accent. Voice translations require a network connection.

Improve your vocabulary with the Word of the Day on the Start screen.

When you're traveling, need to overcome a language barrier, or trying to learn a foreign language, Translator is your go-to app.

http://aka.ms/trans

Wouldn't it be great if there was an App that you could run on your Win8CP or Windows Phone 7 that "pushed" you important Windows Server news?

Do you read blogs like Ben Armstrong, Virtualization Team, Mark Russinovich?

Well colleagues Martin McClean (Poster Guy) and Brian Lich (Awesome Guy) have made an app for you. Server News "... makes it easy to get the latest information and annoucements from program managers, product managers, writers, developers, and, testers within Microsoft. You can browse blogs and Twitter feeds from people that work within the Windows Server Division at Microsoft."

Nice Guys, eh? Enjoy.

http://aka.ms/snews

Free-as-in-beer Hyper-V Poster

http://aka.ms/HVPstr

• Windows Server 2008 Hyper-v Component Architecture with Service Pack 1
• Hyper-v Component Architecture
• Windows Server 2008 R2 component posters 
• Windows Server 2008 Component Posters 

Increasingly, you don’t need a GUI to get your IT Pro job done. Everything you can do in the GUI, you can do in PowerShell.

This is even more true in Windows Server “8” Beta. Not just because there are >2300 cmdlets. Now, you don’t even need mstsc.exe (Remote Desktop Connection) anymore. You can make “<that server over there><do this thing>” from your console without having to remote in to the box.

How cool is that?

This 21 minute demo video (Hyper-V Cmdlets in Windows Server 8) shows how using the new Windows PowerShell cmdlets for Hyper-V in Windows Server 8 Beta.

This short (4 minute) video (How to Update PowerShell 3.0 Help) shows how to keep the help files for PowerShell updated with new content during the Beta.

This TechNet Wiki topic (PowerShell Survival Guide) gathers all-things-PowerShell-all-the-time into one place, with an RSS feed to notify you of updates.

This blog generates new content you need to know on PowerShell on an ongoing basis: http://blogs.msdn.com/b/powershell/

This TechNet Gallery contains hundreds of Free-as-in-beer PowerShell scripts.

The Microsoft Script Explorer for Windows PowerShell helps scripters find Windows PowerShell scripts, snippets, modules, and how-to guidance in online repositories such as the TechNet Script Center Repository, PoshCode, local or network file systems and Bing Search Repository.

Hyper-V PM Eric Bahna recently recorded a video demo of the new Hyper-V Windows PowerShell cmdlets in Windows Server "8* Beta.  The complete demo is about 21 minutes long.

• Windows Server 8 Hyper-V PowerShell Demo Uncut

For convenience, I also made three shorter versions currently available on YouTube

• Windows Server 8 Hyper-V PowerShell Demo P.1
• a 7 minute version showing the Hyper-V cmdlets
• Windows Server 8 Hyper-V PowerShell Demo P.2
• a 5 minute version showing bulk operations using cmdlets
• Windows Server 8 Hyper-V PowerShell Demo P.3
• a 9 minute version showing advanced uses

The wiki article Hyper-V Cmdlets In Windows Server 8 links to all four versions.  If you would like to run the demo yourself, the script is available for free at: http://aka.ms/sd4fra the script to configure the environment for the demo is at: http://aka.ms/bzxqkr

You can read more about Windows PowerShell in Windows Server 8 on TechNet. The Hyper-V goodness is here: Hyper-V Cmdlets in Windows PowerShell.

See also Matthijs's blog: Using native PowerShell cmdlets with Hyper-V in Windows Server “8”

In Brain Rules for Meetings John Medina tells us: "you've got 30 seconds before they start asking the question, "Am I going to pay attention to you or not?""

This advice holds true for new UIs as well. If you have installed the Windows Server "8" Beta, and you come upon the new Metro UI in the course of completing some task, you are not in the leisurely "let's explore this new environment" mode. You gotta get stuff done. 

You need the Metro UI Survival Guide for It Pros. It is on the TechNet Wiki. Why? Because as you find new ways of using the UI to get stuff done, new tips, you can share them. It is the Wiki way. F'rinstance, DYK the Windows Key + X in Windows 8 gets you this handy menu?

This online PPT explains about why you should wiki - Building a Community Based Content with TechNet Wiki

Bill Laing's blog post today announces Windows Server 8 Beta availability. Some other tidbits to add to your IT Pro reading list include:

• Download Windows Server "8" Beta http://aka.ms/wdjd5y
• Win8 Keyboard Shortcuts http://aka.ms/hlagp4
• Free-as-in-beer version of Hyper-V Server 8 Beta http://aka.ms/nei5z0
• Remote Server Administration Tools for Windows 8 Consumer Preview http://aka.ms/fqmjcp
• Metro Survival Guide for IT Pros http://aka.ms/hrsdo3 
• Hyper-V Cmdlets in Windows Server 8 Beta http://aka.ms/rwfx5m
• What's new in Hyper-V in Windows Server 8 Beta http://aka.ms/f4vbyq 
• Windows PowerShell Support for Windows Server "8" Beta http://aka.ms/jhgbvq
• Blog: Hands on with Windows Server "8" beta: a new look, with virtualization center stage
• Client Hyper-V Survival Guide http://aka.ms/xlhhnc
• Understand and Troubleshoot Storage Spaces in Windows Server "8" Beta
• List of SLAT-Capable CPUs for Hosts
• Windows 8 videos

The business case for changes to the TechNet Wiki is complex. On the "fit for purpose" side of the equation, I try to explain the numbers thusly:

1. There are orders of magnitude more readers than contributors

2. There are orders of magnitude more contribute-once users than there are contribute-many-more-than-once contributors

3. Page views of articles written by a contribute-once-only user *on average* have fewer page views than articles written by either: a) users who contribute much more than once, or b) articles that contain contributions from many - which may include both once-only users and "proflics"

4. Page views are not a good metric of worth or quality, except to advertisers (of which we have none on TechNet Wiki). Look at only the page views to triage is like "putting the cart before the horse."

5. It is about the content, stupid. The top N% of most-viewed pages are disproportionately likely to have been written by one of the relatively small number of users, who are highly likely to have contributed more than once. 

Therefore, when prioritizing new features and functionality changes to the wiki: preference should be given to enabling the "influencers". They are the engines that help power the virtuous circle, both for content, and for community. I nifty side benefit is that *all* users are likewise enabled, and any work in this area encourages once-only contributors to contribute more. 

One of these frequently contributing folks recently asked for help. She wanted to find the "list of stuff I wrote."

Here's how:

1. Sign in



2. Scroll down the page if necessary (on some browsers the link is "below the fold") and click More featured articles



3. Click My Pages


For instructions on how to use the RSS feed for your pages, and Outlook rules, see http://social.technet.microsoft.com/wiki/contents/articles/how-to-find-stuff-on-the-technet-wiki.aspx

Some wiki authors also use the tag system. They will add a specific tag to each article they author, and perhaps a different one to each article they edit. That way, clicking on the tag in the tag cloud, or on any article that has the tag, returns a page with all articles that contain that tag. 

  http://technet.com/wiki/got a facelift, near Valentites Day. Coincidence? You decide.

But seriously folks, here is the new look. How do you like it? leave comments.