Curious George on TechNet and more...

How to trial SBS 2008 without Virtual PC

Andy contacted us about this as Virtual PC SP1 doesn't support x64 guest OS's.

Steve gives all the answers here:

http://blogs.technet.com/steve_lamb/archive/2008/07/08/how-to-run-small-business-server-sbs-2008-on-a-machine-that-s-already-running-vista-xp.aspx

http://blogs.technet.com/steve_lamb/archive/2008/07/08/how-to-re-partition-a-hard-disk-under-vista-or-server-2008-without-having-to-re-install.aspx

New Windows Server versions for small and medium businesses to launch 12 November

Windows Small Business Server 2008
- an all-in-one server solution designed to help you keep your data more secure and your company more productive.

Join the Public Preview
Join the Public Preview today and enjoy an all-in-one server solution designed to help keep your data more secure and your company more productive.

Review the Small Business Server 2008 Tech Library
Find documentation to prepare for deployment, steps for installation, administration and maintenance, and more.

Read the Reviewer's Guide
The Guide describes the key capabilities and features of Windows Small Business Server 2008 and how these features benefit small businesses.

Windows Essential Business Server 2008
- an all-in-one integrated multi-server solution designed and priced specifically for midsize businesses.

Join the Public Preview
Join the Public Preview today and enjoy an integrated and predictable platform designed to help save time and money and significantly increase productivity.

Review the Essential Business Server Tech Library
Find documentation to prepare for deployment, steps for installation, administration and maintenance, and more.

Read the Reviewer's Guide
The Guide describes the key capabilities and features of Windows Essential Business Server 2008 and how these features benefit midsize businesses and their IT Pros.

Vista Chick Magnet

I thoroughly enjoyed this blog post by Andrew and having sat with a new group of work experiencers yesterday afternoon, I absolutely agree with Andrew's point about the imagination and common sense that these students brought with them. It put some of us in this office to shame!!

Andrew Fryer's Blog : Vista Chick Magnet

MCS Talks Infrastructure Architecture

You would not believe how long this has taken to get off the ground due to time resource issues, budget cuts, holidays, quota requirements but we are there now and I am very sure that they will be worth the wait!!

All the chaps that are delivering these work in Microsoft Consulting (MCS) and work with customers to effectively architect, deploy and manage environments:

A new Microsoft TechNet UK webcast series titled ‘MCS Talks Infrastructure Architecture’ that will run from August 2008 to December 2008. It will consist of a series of 10 webcasts, each detailing a different aspect of Enterprise or Infrastructure architecture.

The webcast series aims to address some of the basic questions customers ask by sharing field experience of designing and architecting solutions with Microsoft products. They will provide real world experience of designing and architecting core Microsoft technologies in a business environment. Throughout the series, a fictional environment will be used as a basis and as the starting point for each of the presentations allowing a common theme to be carried through the series. The intention is to provide a high level discussion of the different architectural and design options for each product. Each presentation will look to provide information and guidance on key architectural inputs including  selecting the correct solution for the environment, whether this be consolidation of services or the expansion into a branch environment, scaling of the solution to fit the target environment, server and service placement to meet both technical and systems management requirements, and considerations for network bandwidth and options for low bandwidth locations.

This first session will introduce the “MCS Talks Infrastructure Architecture” webcast series, giving an overview of the series and what’s to come. We will then move in to an overview session looking at the general architecture strategies of specific technology areas, such as adopting Microsoft Windows Server 2008 and Microsoft Windows Vista SP1 and show some real benefits from their deployment. Datacentre consolidation is also a serious consideration for many so we’ll be looking how Microsoft Hyper-V and the System Center suite of tools can be used to accelerate this and ensure long term reliability from this approach. Finally we’ll cover some of the other virtualization strategies we’re seeing, such as when and why we would look to virtualize particular workloads, how virtualization can support branch office models and remote working and finally Microsoft overall virtualization storey, including Presentation and Application virtualization.

Register for the first session now

IT Pro Latest Licensing FAQs

Q) What are my licences converted to when I buy the Microsoft Windows Small Business Server 2003 Transition Pack?
A) The transition pack converts your Windows Small Business Server licences into standard licences for the server components in the edition of Windows Small Business Server that you have (standard or premium). For example, if you already have Windows Small Business Server 2003 Standard Edition with one pack of 20 extra Client Access Licences (CALs), the transition pack SKUs would convert your licences to 1 Windows Server 2003 Standard Edition licence and 1 Exchange Server 2003 Standard Edition licence, with 20 Windows Server 2003 CALs and 20 Exchange Server 2003 CALs, respectively.

Note CAL packs only include Windows Server 2003 CALs and Exchange Server 2003 CALs, regardless of whether you buy the premium or standard editions. The Premium Transition Pack, however, includes standalone licences for SQL Server.

Q) What is the difference between Dynamic CRM 4.0 Limited Use CALs, Additive Use CALs and Full Use CALs?
A) Limited Client Access Licences (CALs) are for users that need read-only functionality. Full Use CALs are for users that need complete functionality. Users that have the limited CAL can step up by buying the additive CAL if they need full use functionality.

Q) How do I downgrade?
A) As an end user you have the right to downgrade as set out in your Software Licence Terms. Downgrade rights allow you to buy the most recent version of a Microsoft program, but continue to run a previous version until you are ready to upgrade.

Example: You’re buying a new computer system and it needs to run the same operating system as your existing 10 systems — Windows XP Professional. Pre-installed Windows Vista Business and Windows Vista Ultimate both include downgrade rights to Windows XP Professional.

You need to source your own media which should be a legally licensed version (bought as either boxed or pre-installed software, or through a Volume Licensing agreement). If you decide to downgrade, you can use one legal version of the downgrade media for multiple installations. You don’t need to have one set of Windows XP Professional media for each PC you are downgrading because you have legitimate full operating system licences for Windows Vista Business/Ultimate, which gave you the right to downgrade. You can then run Windows XP Professional until you are ready to upgrade the system to Windows Vista Business/Ultimate—when you would already be licensed.

When you downgrade Windows Vista Business and Ultimate as set out in your Software Licence Terms and you use both Windows XP media and the associated product key that was previously activated, you will fail activation because of the hardware configuration change when installing on the Vista system. When this happens, you will be prompted to call the Activation Support Line and explain your circumstances to a Customer Service Representative. Once we have confirmed that you have a valid Vista Business or Ultimate licence, the Customer Service Representative will help you activate your software.

Q) Do I need a product key for all Volume Licensing products?
A) No. Not all products need a product key. Click here for a guide to Volume Licence Keys.

Q) What version of Microsoft Visual Studio 2008 gives downgrade rights to Microsoft Visual Studio 6.0 Enterprise Edition under Volume Licensing?
A) If you buy a licence for the following Visual Studio Team System products you can use any version of Visual Studio Enterprise in place of your licensed software.

· Visual Studio® Team System 2008 Architecture Edition

· Visual Studio® Team System 2008 Development Edition

· Visual Studio® Team System 2008 Test Edition

· Visual Studio® Team System 2008 Database Edition

· Visual Studio® Team System 2008 Team Suite

Windows Server 2008 Power Management White Paper

In Windows Server 2008, Microsoft introduced new features and technologies, some of which were not available in Windows Server 2003, that will help to reduce the power consumption of server and client operating systems, minimise environmental by products, and increase server efficiency.

The WS08 Power Management White Paper describes the benefits of some of these features and technologies, including:

 Out-of-the-Box (OOB) Power Savings: Windows Server 2008 OOB achieved power savings of up to 10 percent over Windows Server 2003.

Picking up on ‘Green IT’, our group manager has started a second blog focusing on ‘Dynamic Work’ which has a green theme. It looks at how IT can make a company greener rather than how a company can make IT greener: http://blogs.technet.com/brucelynn/default.aspx.

When technology enhances customer service

It's the little things that count and today a small thing really made my day

You may remember from the TechNet newsletter a while ago that I had a humorous situation involving myself, a convertible car and voice-command voicemail with Exchange Server 2007. Well today I had an absolutely fantastic experience with voice enabled customer service....

I needed to change a hotel with Premier Inn (other reputable hotels available) for next week. I found my reservation confirmation and easily found the phone number I needed. I had an immediate response from a lovely polite, automatic lady (whose name I cant remember but she did tell me). She asked me my reservation number, date I was staying and my surname. Within seconds she had found my booking and then asked if I wanted to cancel, change or save it. I said "cancel" and this is where the great stuff happened. She said she was transferring me and .....this is the really clever bit.......again within seconds I was now talking to a real person. Not only was she real and polite, she knew my booking immediately and exactly what I wanted to do.

The change was done and I had my cancellation email for the old hotel and confirmation for the new hotel within seconds.

......perfick

Bye Bye Bill

....although as the New York Times online sums up "sort of"

Hopefully you all know that I am a bit of a fan of the chap...ok, well a lot of a fan as I have a framed picture on my desk of him (see above) and it even sits above my Reading FC t-shirt from the season we got promoted......well the latter saw a bit of a decline of late (don't get me wrong, I have already paid for my season ticket this for this coming season), but just for now I can focus on Bill

Today is his last day as a full time employee (or FTE is our shop talk). How good must it feel to be on your way to retiring at 52!

Only 38 years to go for me! groan

Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V released today

Judging by the number of people we had at a Virtualisation event this week and the interest, this is going to be a big one!

Microsoft reached a pivotal milestone today with the release of  Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V, the hypervisor-based virtualization technology that is a feature of select versions of Windows Server 2008

Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V is now available to download at http://www.microsoft.com/Hyper-V.

In addition, Microsoft will make updates for Hyper-V available via Windows Update on July 8th

We are re-running the event I mentioned in the first paragraph on the 13th August in our London offices.

Windows XP end of sales date is 30th June 2008 - so what does that actually mean?

Recently a communication was sent to Windows XP customers informing them of the end of sales date and what this meant.

Phil, Alex & I, the UK IT Professional team, got our hands on the letter and spent some time trying to understand what they were saying, as well as trying to get the 5 pages down to a few sentences.

So in essence, this is what the "end of sales" means for XP users:

What does this mean for support?

1) Mainstream support continues until April 2009

2) We will continue to provide extended support i.e. security updates and other critical fixes for Windows XP until April, 2014

For full details go to http://support.microsoft.com/lifecycle/

Will I be able to buy PCs with Windows XP after June 30?

We will stop selling Windows XP as a retail packaged product and licensing it directly through major PC manufacturers. Therefore you will still be able to purchase through partners but only until the stock diminishes. System Builders can actually still purchase XP until January 2009. So in essence the larger partners and smaller guys should run out around the same time period
What if I have Windows Vista but want to exercise downgrade rights?

1. If you are a larger business customer buying Windows Vista Business, Windows Vista Enterprise or Windows Vista Ultimate, you have the right to use Windows XP Professional through a customer benefit known as “downgrade rights.” These downgrade rights are also available to all our business customers that license Windows through volume licensing. However if you choose to downgrade, you will need to have access to a copy of Windows XP media with its product key (does not matter if this has already been installed on any other machine) in order to be able to do this. This is great value because it lets you use Windows XP today if you need it and then make the move to take advantage of the additional capabilities of Windows Vista when you are ready without having to pay for an upgrade.

2. If you are a home or small business customer, you can also purchase Windows Vista Business or Windows Vista Ultimate and then use downgrade rights (as above) until you are ready to upgrade to Windows Vista. When you are ready, you are “future proofed” since you already have a license for Windows Vista.

3. If you are a customer looking to buy a low-end system (often refered to as a “NetBook” or “Ultra-Low Cost PC”) that uses very low-end hardware that won’t run Windows Vista, then we are making Windows XP available for some time on these systems. In addition, we have programs to make Windows XP available in low volumes from local PC manufactures—and of course major OEMs have the option of offering these “low volume” offers as well.

Beyond Windows Vista
There are also some questions about what comes next for Windows. Our plan is to deliver Windows 7 approximately 3 years after the January 2007 general availability launch date of Windows Vista.

Our approach is to build off the same core architecture as Windows Vista, so that the investments that Microsoft, our partners and our customers have made in Windows Vista, will continue to pay off with Windows 7. The result is that the migration process from Windows Vista to Windows 7 should be much more straightforward.

Computer Weekly has done a very accurate write up here: http://www.computerweekly.com/Articles/2008/06/17/231094/windows-xp-availability-to-be-extended-microsoft-says.htm

Calling all technology enthusiasts: World Wide Telescope on Channel 10

The US team have set up a series to showcase the latest and greatest cool stuff coming ot of Microsoft.

The first in the series covered World Wide Telescope. You can view the full session here:  http://on10.net/blogs/nic/Back-Channel-Event-World-Wide-Telescope-PM-Session/

New website: Microsoft Environment - Innovating to Improve Our Planet

I was really pleased when this was brought to my attention. What with the rising oil prices and fears that we will run out of electricity in the UK within my lifetime, it really brings home that we all have a responsibility at home as well as at work to do what we can

A few highlights for me:

Microsoft Environment : Innovating to Improve Our Planet

Powershell tips and tricks from the field with Ben Pearce on TechNet Edge

Big thanks to Jonathan for pointing this TechNet Edge video out, who only comes in second behind James and Richard as the most enthusiastic person about Powershell that I have ever met

Watch the full video here

Must see viewing tonight: Bill Gates - How a Geek Changed the World

Sorry to only give you 2 hours notice, but this one is worth pushing the red button on Sky +

An overview of the programme from the Radio Times:

Full marks to The Money Programme for landing an exclusive interview with Gates. He even lets the cameras in on meetings, where we get a glimpse of his famously tetchy business manner. The trouble is, Gates is also a guarded interviewee and despite hopeful prodding from Fiona Bruce (see above), he plays a straight bat to every question. The best contributions, at least in the part available for preview, come from friends and colleagues. "He has taken over the world, end of story. Live with it," says Sir Alan Sugar, pleasingly frank about how he himself misunderstood the importance of software from the word go. There are flashes of revelation, like the way Gates fires off "suggestions" about the Outlook email programme to underlings. And what comes through loud and clear is that under the nerdy surface - 30 billion pounds and the label still sticks out the back of his v-neck - he's terrifyingly clever and, of course, quite ruthless.

Friday 20 June, 7:00pm - 8:00pm
BBC2

50 office-speak phrases you love to hate

 BBC NEWS | Magazine | 50 office-speak phrases you love to hate

This has been doing the rounds this week in the office

A few of my favourites:

let's touch base about that offline.
not enough bandwidth
leverage

Some other classics we hear in our office:

here are your go dos
deep dive
super excited

Any in your offices?