Keith Combs' Blahg

Dell XPS 420 six month report

I've had my Dell XPS 420 six months now so I thought I'd give you an update on my impressions of the machine and changes I'm made to it since the initial purchase.  In reality, it just now does everything I want correctly.  Windows Vista SP1 fixed the last issue I had with the machine.  So once again for all of you that want to stick with Windows XP, this machine is a really good reason to go with Windows Vista.

My XPS has been running Windows Vista Ultimate x64 since nearly day one.  All of the applications I use work really well on the 64 bit platform, even though most of them aren't native 64 bit compiled apps.  I am using two main video editing tools.  Sony Movie Studio Vegas Platinum Edition and Expression Studio 2.  Vegas is my workhorse and I am getting ready to create my first high definition DVD on Blu-ray.  I don't yet have a Blu-ray disk burner, so if someone has a good recommendation, let me know.

A few weeks ago I pulled the two 512MB RAM sticks and replaced them with two 2GB sticks.  I have a total of 6GB of memory now in the machine.  I don't really need all of that memory but the memory at dell.com went on sale and I had a $200 gift card waiting to be burned.  So I got some memory, a Zune charger for my wife, and some other stuff.

The one thing that hasn't worked correctly until recently is the machines ability to wake up from sleep and record a program.  If you are buying one of these to be a DVR, then that would be a key feature that needs to work.  Mine didn't.  It would sleep correctly.  It would wake up on time and attempt to record.  But the machine wouldn't record.  It had something to do with how long the tuners need to wake up before they were ready.  I guess they need strong coffee like I do.

A few days ago I upgraded the firmware on my ATI TV Wonder Digital cable tuners.  Here are the links to the new updates:

32 bit: http://ati.amd.com/support/drivers/vista32/ocur-vista32.html

64 bit: http://ati.amd.com/support/drivers/vista64/ocur-vista64.html

After I upgraded the tuners, I installed Windows Vista SP1.  I was told after applying SP1, I should re-apply the NVIDIA video drivers for my 8600 GTS so I did that as well.  Magically everything works now.  For the past three or four days it has woken from it's slumber, recorded whatever I had scheduled, then gone back to sleep ten minutes after doing the recording.  Yaaay !!!  It has never done that correctly until this week.  I don't know exactly what fixed the issue.  It was probably the combination of the firmware upgrade, and SP1.

Now keep in mind my XPS 420 is a pretty lowly model by XPS standards.  It has the Intel Q6600 quad core processor.  The video card is a good video card, but it is by no means a top of the line card.  But my machine is very quiet and does exactly what I want it to do, and I have high confidence it will continue to do so for the next three to four years. 

If you are considering one of these, buy with confidence.  Rock solid.  Nice looking.  Good price.

My image shack is going down

The service I use for images on my blog is going down tomorrow night.  I'll probably spend some time tomorrow updating some links so it isn't coyote ugly.  But in the event something else interrupts my day that is more important, I thought you should know.  A lot of the other blogs on technet.com will be in the same boat. Apparently they are doing major power maintenance on the building that houses the "servers" I use.  Trust me, I am moving my data.  This was really the last straw for the provider.

[UPDATE] I have copied all of my data off the old service provider and now have a copy on our new home with Limelight Networks.  I have updated all of the image links for the posts currently making up my homepage at http://blogs.technet.com/keithcombs.  Actually, I left one image alone so I can easily see when the old provider goes down.  I'm going to be updating other parts of my blog over time.

Anyone can write an article these days…

Everyone has a blog, including my dog.  For the past few years the debate on whether blogs are journalism has been discussed.  Are they?  What’s the difference in writing for a magazine or online publication and a blog?  Someone checks the facts?  There’s an editor to uphold the reputation of the publisher?  Well it seems times are a changin.

Normally I don’t care to think about it much until someone forwards me a link to an article that seems out of place.  The latest round of journalism I received a link to is the article, “Windows XP SP3: The Perfect Reason to Avoid Upgrading to Windows Vista” by Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols.  Now keep in mind this is on the CIO.com website.  I don’t know if they printed the article.  I certainly hope not.  But after reading the article I wondered what the agenda is for the site.

There are certain aspects of the article I’m cool with.  I certainly have no problem having someone say, “Windows XP SP3 is the best Windows PC operating system I've ever used”.  Sounds good, right?  But is it accurate?  Maybe it is the best Steven has used, I don’t know.  I can say without a doubt, that is not the case for me.

For me, it’s Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2003, Windows Vista, then Windows XP.  I mean really.  Windows Server rocks.  2003 is as solid as they come, and 2008 is looking really good as well.  But I’m a server guy so I naturally show more love for the server stuff.  But it’s early for Windows Server 2008 and I don’t like to declare success for an OS until it has some history.  Let’s not forget a lot of code is shared between Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008.  But I’m confusing the issue.  I digress.

The article is about desktop operating systems.  It’s interesting to me that the conclusion of the article is that Windows Vista is a pig.  But the author states, “My personal minimum configuration for Vista is 3GB of RAM, a dedicated graphics processor with 512MBs of RAM to call its own and a 2007 or newer dual-core processor (like, say, a 2.33GHz Intel Core2 Duo E6550)”.

What?

Now I’m confused.  Steven basically says Windows XP is great.  Then he says Windows Vista is a pig.  Then he advises what you should run to get outstanding Windows Vista performance.  He didn’t actually say that, so I will.  You can get outstanding performance, and it doesn’t have to cost an arm and a leg.

Let’s rewind to December 29, 2006.  On that date, I wrote a blog post on Installing Windows Vista on a Compaq Evo n620c.  When I did that article, I was actually surprised at how well Windows Vista ran on the machine.  Now don’t get me wrong, that machine doesn’t hold a candle to my Lenovo ThinkPad T61p running the 64 bit version of Windows Vista Ultimate.  But it isn’t supposed to.  And that’s the point.  But it did run Windows Vista and with that comes security, management, and networking improvements.  Windows Vista isn’t just a new theme.

Machines evolve with user wants and needs.  The software that runs on those machines also evolves.  If you look at the Windows Vista ecosystem, it has improved dramatically since we launched the product.  My blog post and install of Windows Vista on December 29, 2006 was using the real RTM bits of Windows Vista.  Doesn’t 12/29/2006 already seem ancient to you?  Well it isn’t, but Microsoft and it’s hardware and software partners have made a huge amount of progress since that time.

If you have machines that still have value and run Windows XP well, kewl!!!  However, the machine I did the install on above is no more.  It died.  I took it to PC Recycle.  It’s been replaced.  That’s ok because it was almost five years old and had been properly beaten up by a group of presenters during it’s life.  In short, we got a lot of value from that machine.  For the record, I have another one.  I have a Compaq Evo n620c sitting right next to me that is nearly identical to the previous machine.  It currently has Windows XP SP3 on it.  But it only has 1GB of RAM so it really isn’t designed for Windows Vista. 

So do yourself a favor.  When it comes time to replace a machine, get a machine with a good CPU, plenty of RAM, and a great GPU.  Users want eye candy.  They want Flash and Silverlight websites.  They want high definition video.  They want a snappy operating system.  Windows Vista is very snappy with the right mix of components.  Don’t bother trying to run Windows Vista with a NVIDIA 6200 graphics card like Steven did.  At least not if you are trying to run Aero Glass.  For heavens sake, turn off Aero in that case. 

There are many reasons I totally disagree with many of the commercials and articles I’ve seen lately.  In fact, I’ll be exploring a lot of that over the next few months.  There’s a lot of FUD out there and I hope to dispel a lot of the bad information I see.  I certainly don’t expect everyone to agree with me, but like I told a Windows Marketing Manager on the phone today, it’s time to start stating some facts.  You hear enough FUD and you start to believe it.  Trust me, I fell into the same trap until I started testing things on my own.

Over the next few months we’ll revisit application compatibility, driver support, updates on deployment techniques, hot machines you should consider, etc.  I think you’ll find the information I have coming very useful and will help you make informed choices.

“See” you again soon!

Class Reunion GPS Mashup

I have often wondered why it is that I live in a popular part of Texas, yet I never see anyone I know from high school or college.  It makes you wonder if we are really like two ships passing in the night.  Sure we see a radar blip on the screen and know not to come too close, but we never really look people in the eye anymore, so you wouldn't really know if you just walked past an old best friend.  Maybe we just look too different from when we were sixteen.

Or maybe you're at a concert or sports event and there are like 10-100 people you know, but you just never happen to go to the concession stand at the right time and spill a chili dog on their white shirt on the way back.  Ever get the feeling you've missed someone by just a hair?  You know, just like Nicholas Cage in "Next".  Well it's highly doubtful they have the two minute power and are avoiding you, so how would you improve the situation?

Maybe we should have embedded RFID or GPS chips.  It would be interesting.  Think of the mashup.  What if you could look back over the past decade and see where your paths intersected with your old friends?  I mean seriously, wouldn't it just piss you off to know that on the same week you were in Maui, or St. Thomas, or Tahiti that a long lost dear friend was there, too?

You would think the current generation of youngsters would never have this problem.  I mean lets get real.  This is the high tech everyone has a cell phone, ipod, iphone, uses instant messaging and twitter generation.  I still crack up remembering my teens snotty remark a few months ago.  "Email is for old people".

Well, we'll see if they keep track of their friends over the next 20 years any better than we did.  My teens still don't know GPS is built into their phones.  Whipper snappers.

Rob Westover – rest in peace my friend

Last Monday and Tuesday I had the pleasure of working alongside Jamie Westover at the Microsoft Management Summit in Las Vegas.  Jamie is wife to Rob Westover.  It seemed odd to me that Rob wasn’t there having some fun with us because he was a lover of fun places, and particularly loved Las Vegas.  Rob passed away Tuesday night in Seattle and it came as a big shock to us all.

For those of you that don’t know Rob, he was one of the nicest people I’ve ever met.  Kind, funny, smart, fun loving, hard worker and loving husband and father.  He was one of the original members of the team I’m on, and his legacy on this team and others will be felt for a long time coming.

The picture above was taken for the “Microsoft Across America” campaign we did a couple of years back.  Rob was our model as you can see.  Rob was a great sport about the whole thing and the picture captures part of his essence. 

Rob would not want us to cry in our beer.  Instead Rob would want us to mix up a batch of something yummy and toast to the fun and adventures we’ve shared together.  Rob will be missed greatly by all that knew him.

A real world Linux experiment?

There's a pretty interesting blog post at http://contentconsumer.wordpress.com/2008/04/27/is-ubuntu-useable-enough-for-my-girlfriend/.  I have not read through all of the comments yet (510 and counting).  After a brief scan of the main article, it occurs to me that the test would be interesting to run on a machine with Microsoft Windows Vista and on Mac with Apple OS X.  Of course each time you would have to find someone that isn't particularly educated on the operating system they are being tested on. 

Might be fun.  What do you think?  Maybe I should test my wife on my MacBook Pro to see what happens.  Maybe not.

Messenger for Mac 7 released - now available for download

Messenger for Mac 7 is an integrated communications client that enables you to communicate with contacts within and outside your organization. Messenger for Mac 7 is a Universal application that is built to run on both PowerPC-based and Intel-based Macs and makes it easy to take advantage of the full power of real-time communications.

I have been part of the beta program for this with my MacBook Pro and it works very nicely with my Communicator contacts.  I haven't tried the webcam with it in a while, so I'll need to run some tests next week.  Maybe I can get Matt Hester to fire up the babycam at his house. 

Get it @ http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=20726B11-2AE8-4828-8B66-2964E277166D&displaylang=en.

[UPDATE]  I had to use a Windows machine to download the file.  Safari crashed.  FireFox didn't like it either.  Go figure.  Safari is a safari all right.  :?)

Microsoft Environmental Technologist – Mark Aggar interview

This years Imagine Cup has an environmental sustainability theme.  The projects all focused on the environment and our impact on it.    Busloads of High School kids for around the greater  LA area came in to look at the projects.  It was so nice and refreshing to see their take on the future of software and our technologies. 

Microsoft is focused on environmental sustainability and Chris Henley was able to corner Mark Aggar (one of Microsoft's Environmental technologists) for a short interview about his participation at Imagine Cup and some of his thoughts around how software might impact the environment. 

Imagine Cup US Finals - Photography

Chris Henley  spent some time in Los Angeles California this last week working with college and university students from around the United States.  They were competing in the Imagine Cup Finals in the categories of photography, software design, and game design.  He was so impressed with the work that they had done.    Chris shot some video footage while at the event and wanted to share some of it with you so you could get an idea of what the competition is like.

System Center Virtual Machine Manager (SCVMM) 2008 Beta now available for download

This morning at the Microsoft Management Summit we demonstrated a number of new technologies we’ve had under wraps for a while. See the press release for more information on Bob Muglia’s keynote. One of the products I really dig is System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2008.  No, that wasn’t a typo.  SCVMM 2008 was demonstrated on stage and is now available for download through http://connect.microsoft.com.  Once there, go to the Connection Directory then the Business Solutions area. Of course you could just try clicking the screenshot below.  That might work as well.  Hint hint.

Here’s a screenshot of the connect site and the beta download of SCVMM 2008.  As you can see, you can go sign up and start downloading the bits right now.  The sign up process is fast and painless.  I know, highly unusual.  Grin.

I’ll be doing some screencasts soon on the product.  It looks like the product group is going to let me use their demo system so I’ll likely do a multi-part screencast series to show all the in and outs to managing Hyper-V and ESX.  Should be fun.

Why do you care about this product?

There are lots of reasons, but there are a couple of key reasons.  First, SCVMM 2008 will allow you to manage virtualization workloads running on Windows Server 2008 with the Hyper-V role.  And of course the most requested feature is the ability to manage VMWare ESX server virtual machines. 

Here are the Top 10 Features :

1. Designed for virtual machines running on Windows Server® 2008 and Microsoft Hyper-V™ Server
   Hyper-V is the next-generation hypervisor-based virtualization platform from Microsoft which is designed to offer high performance, enhanced security, high availability, scalability and many other improvements. VMM is designed to take full advantage of these foundational benefits through a powerful yet easy-to-use console which streamlines many of the tasks necessary to manage virtualized infrastructure. Even better, administrators can manage their traditional physical servers right alongside their virtual resources through one unified console.
2. Support for Microsoft Virtual Server and VMware ESX
   With this release, VMM now manages VMware ESX virtualized infrastructure in conjunction with the Virtual Center product. Now administrators running multiple virtualization platforms can rely on one tool to manage virtually everything. With its compatibility with VMware VI3 (through Virtual Center), VMM now supports features such as VMotion and can also provide VMM-specific features like Intelligent Placement to VMware servers.
3. Performance and Resource Optimization (PRO)
   Performance and Resource Optimization (PRO) enables the dynamic management of virtual resources though Management Packs that are PRO enabled. Utilizing the deep monitoring capabilities of System Center Operations Manager 2007, PRO enables administrators to establish remedial actions for VMM to execute if poor performance or pending hardware failures are identified in hardware, operating systems or applications. As an open and extensible platform, PRO encourages partners to design custom management packs that promote compatibility of their products and solutions with PRO’s powerful management capabilities.
4. Maximize datacenter resources through consolidation
   A typical physical server in the datacenter operates at only 5 to 15 percent CPU capacity. VMM can assess and then consolidate suitable server workloads onto virtual machine host infrastructure thus freeing up physical resources for repurposing or hardware retirement. Through physical server consolidation, continued datacenter growth is less constrained by space, electrical and cooling requirements.
5. Machine conversions are a snap!
   Converting a physical machine to a virtual one can be a daunting undertaking – slow, problematic and typically requiring you to halt the physical server. But thanks to the enhanced P2V conversion in VMM, P2V conversions will become routine. Similarly, VMM also provides a straightforward wizard that can convert VMware virtual machines to VHDs through an easy and speedy Virtual-to-Virtual (V2V) transfer process.
6. Quick provisioning of new machines
   In response for new server requests, a truly agile IT Department delivers new servers to its business clients anywhere in the network infrastructure with a very quick turnaround. VMM enables this agility by providing IT administrators with the ability to deploy virtual machines in a fraction of the time it would take to deploy a physical server. Through one console, VMM allows administrators to manage and monitor virtual machines and hosts to ensure they are meeting the needs of the corresponding business groups.
7. Intelligent Placement minimizes virtual machine guesswork in deployment
   VMM does extensive data analysis of a number of factors before recommending which physical server should host a given virtual workload. This is especially critical when administrators are determining how to place several virtual workloads on the same host machine. With access to historical data -- provided by Operations Manager 2007 – the Intelligent Placement process is able to factor in past performance characteristics to ensure the best possible match between the virtual machine and its host hardware.
8. Delegated virtual machine management for Development and Test
   Virtual infrastructures are commonly used in Test and Development environments, where there is constant provisioning and tear down of virtual machines for testing purposes. This latest version of VMM features a thoroughly reworked and improved self-service web portal, through which administrators can delegate this provisioning role to authorized users while maintaining precise control over the management of virtual machines.
9. The library helps keep virtual machine components organized
   To keep a data center’s virtual house in order, VMM provides a centralized library to store various virtual machine “building blocks”-- off-line machines and other virtualization components. With the library’s easy-to-use, structured format, IT administrators can quickly find and reuse specific components thus remaining highly productive and responsive to new server requests and modifications.
10. Windows PowerShell™ provides rich management and scripting environment
    The entire VMM application is built on the command line and scripting environment, Windows PowerShell. This version of VMM adds additional PowerShell commandlets and “view script” controls which allow administrators to exploit customizing or automating operations at an unprecedented level.

Other links and references

http://connect.microsoft.com for the SCVMM 2008 Beta.

http://forums.microsoft.com/TechNet/ShowForum.aspx?siteid=17&ForumID=1825&SiteID=17 for the TechNet forum area.

http://www.microsoft.com/systemcenter/scvmm/default.mspx for the product website.

http://www.microsoft.com/virtualization/default.mspx for the Microsoft Virtualization website.

http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/events/mgmtsummit/default.mspx for the MMS 2008 “Virtual” press room.

Microsoft Management Summit 2008 - Day 1

The Microsoft Management Summit 2008 is off to a stellar start.  I think this is the biggest MMS I’ve ever seen.  The location (Las Vegas) has a lot to do with it.  There are people from all over the world here.  I did notice one thing that was consistent… excitement and enthusiasm.  That is really refreshing. 

My day started bright and early Monday as the first Hands On Lab proctor for the System Center Virtual Machine Manager (SCVMM) product labs.  Being the first on the job this morning, I naturally sat down immediately and started cruising through the demos.  I fixed two errors in the instructions, updated all the guides, then sat back and answered customer questions through the lunch break at about 2pm.

Most of the customer questions were similar.  How do I manage ESX?  How do I manage Hyper-V?  How does SCVMM fit into the rest of the Microsoft management family of products?  Where can I get the next version of SCVMM?  A lot of those questions I can’t answer publicly, yet.  In due time my friends.

After a lunch break, we had an all hands staff meeting then prepped for the Expo.  At the MMS 2008 Expo, I worked the SCVMM booth and talked to literally thousands of people.  How do I know?  Because I gave away a couple thousand copies of Windows Server 2008.  I personally gave away close to 1000 copies.  Everyone I spoke with was in a really good mood and seemed to be having a great time.  It helps to be Santa Claus.  Food and beer help, too. Ha!

Tomorrow is one of the big keynote events for the summit with Bob Muglia.  His keynote session and the demos are going to blow away the attendees.  We also have a few surprises up our sleeves so keep your eyes focused on the news coming out of the show.  Lots of action coming.  Stay tuned...

Get Ready to Rumble

Hot Wheels is having it’s 40th anniversary and to commemorate, some of the automobile companies has created some fun scale model vehicles.  Here’s a pic of the Honda Racer.  Wired did a great article on the event at http://blog.wired.com/cars/2008/04/honda-goes-a-li.html so check it out with all of the other cool pictures.  Sure would be fun to take this machine out for a spin.  I’m not sure about gas mileage though.

Thanks to Marty for the tip on the article.  Bet this thing whips the crap out of my Civic Coupe.

Matt Makes the Homepage of Edge

Matt Hester is one of the subject matter experts on my team in the Search and Sharepoint product mix.  Recently Matt recorded a screencast on installing Microsoft Office Sharepoint Server (MOSS) 2007 on Windows Server 2008.  Specifically, he talks about how to slipstream the service packs into the install, in order to avoid Program Compatibility Assistant errors. 

Ready to watch?

Head on over to http://edge.technet.com/Media/Installing-MOSS-2007-on-Windows-Server-2008/ and check it out!!!

I Spy the Windows XP SP3 download

I noticed this morning that Windows XP SP3 is now on the TechNet subscriber download area. See my download from Akamai above.  To the best of my knowledge, the bits are being provided to TechNet and MSDN subscribers ahead of just about everyone else this time around.  This is a direct result of your feedback during the Windows Vista SP1 rollout or lack thereof. 

This is also a direct result of Viral Tarpara and myself raising the red flag, and Christine Betts for helping get this accomplished.  For the moment it's the patch for existing systems.  I'll see if I can find out when the fully integrated Windows XP disks might be posted.  Here's a snip of the download description.  Enjoy.

[UPDATE]  If you weren’t already familiar, see the TechNet Windows XP SP3 forum for more information.  And of course there’s the TechNet Windows XP TechCenter.

HTC is coming to the USA – see the new 30 second spot

Interesting commercial.  What company does it remind you of?