Check out more videos from Asia on my new I Love Windows 7 blog
On Monday and Thursday next week, my colleague from Australia, Jeff Alexander, will do two Live Meetings covering Windows 7’s core platform security improvements, securing anywhere access, data protection, and protecting desktop users. He describes it like this: “We will be discussing User Account Control improvements, enhanced auditing, Network Access Protection (NAP), Firewall improvements, Applocker, Bitlocker and Bitlocker to go enhancements, Direct Access, Internet Explorer 8 security improvements, and EFS enhancements.”
The first one is on Monday, November 23rd at 11 am Singapore time (GMT+8), register for it here
The second one is on Thursday, November 26th at 1 pm Singapore time (GMT+8), register for it here
The Beta of Office 2010 and Sharepoint 2010 will become publicly available tomorrow but if you have a TechNet Plus Subscription you can download it now!
Yesterday at TechEd Berlin we announced that Exchange Server 2010 has reached RTM status! Learn more about Exchange 2010 at the Exchange website, here you can also download a Trial version, watch a Web Cast or do a Virtual Lab. Exchange Server is also a part of our New Efficiency Virtual Launch
To read what others has to say, check of our News and Reviews
Now you can finally get your hand on your own copy of Windows 7. There has been Launch activities going on around the world and soon they will come to you.
Until then, you can download a 90-Day Trial version, attend the Virtual Launch Events or check out all the Windows 7 content on TechNet EDGE
Are you keen on learning more about the Security Enhancements in IE8? My colleague, Ed Quek, will do a live web cast tomorrow (October 21st) 12 pm Singapore time, talking about what we have done to make our latest browser more secure.
To attend you can register here and you will receive an email with the link for the Live Meeting.
See you all virtually tomorrow!
Here’s a very good story from one of the highly active community members in Philippines, John Delizo. John just recently did a Windows Server 2008 R2 pilot project at a company to help the in-house IT group understand how an upgrade would affect their infrastructure. Today they have a single domain with 8 servers (a mix of Windows 2000, 2003 and Linux) and around 100 clients running a mix of Windows operating system from 2000, XP and Vista.
The reason to try out Windows Server 2008 R2 was for the IT administrators to gather the required knowledge and experience they need but also to evaluate the performance of R2. And the result was good:
“We were surprised that our test machine actually runs smoothly with R2 with a machine just having 4GB of RAM and Intel 2.93Ghz processor. We tried to install SQL 2008 Express and MOSS 2007 and it still run smoothly. The response time of IIS and the SharePoint site collections are very fast, even being accessed by a number of testers.”
The IT group was also pleased to see that one single console could be used to administer roles and that it was more user friendly. Since adding roles and features is done through a wizard no mistakes were done and with everything already included you don’t need to download any extra software for your initial configuration. They liked the Server Manager and the fact that it is immediately available upon logging on and you do not have to search for which MMC to use.
John also mentions the built in tools:
“The diagnostic tools also helped in our installation and evaluation, giving us real time data and other event information needed to troubleshoot some installation issues. Performance and reliability monitor also helped us determine our workload and the Resource Monitor gave us information on how to plan the next machine to be purchased for this kind of workload. The Audit tool could be a bit overwhelming but was very helpful in detecting problems on our configuration and security logs.”
Their conclusion after testing Windows Server 2008 R2 is that it performance is very good, even with less powerful hardware. For this company it was also important that it can coexist with Linux or earlier versions of Windows Server. I asked him why he would recommend other IT Pros to go for Windows Server 2008 R2, he replied:
“Windows Server 2008 R2 is very mature in terms of eventing, tracing and logging. Its diagnostics tool can help you detect bottlenecks, configuration errors and security events. It’s giving you a very high overview of the current state of your system so you can pinpoint errors and what to focus on to resolve the pressing issue. With diagnostics snap-in on server manager we can also drill down even to a specific event. For resources there’s a lot available at http://technet.microsoft.com and in the built in help of the Server 2008 R2.”
John also had the opportunity to test Windows 7 together with R2 and the next step for him will be to upgrade the Vista clients when Windows 7 is available to them as well as upgrade the servers to R2.
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Microsoft Security Essentials is now available after being in Beta stage for some time. This product is targeting home users and can run on Windows XP, Windows Vista and of course Windows 7. Read more about it and download here
A few hours ago we kicked of the Virtual Launch event for “The New Efficiency” with a keynote session from Steve Ballmer. I was sleeping so didn’t catch it live but of course it was recorded for you to watch whenever it suites you. Except for the keynote, there are tons of other sessions divided in themes such as Discover The Optimized Desktop, Learn More About The Optimized Server, Considers Unified Communications and Explore Business Ready Security. Each theme has several sessions with a recorded presentation, possibility to download slides or transcript and also links to more content.
There is also a partner section where you can watch presentations, find information and connect with them.
I really like this format of learning and with all the available content you can keep busy for several days!
If you're an IT Pro in Australia, New Zealand, Korea, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand or Philippines, we want to hear from you. Look out for the Global Relationship Survey invitation; it could land in your inbox any day.
In Microsoft, we look at this survey very seriously and your feedback on how we are doing is very valuable. We plan and deliver our activities, content and resources based on what you tell us. You may not see immediate reaction or receive a personal reply from us, but we are reading every single comment and we are working on improvements.
To help us deliver value to you, please fill up this survey. It will be sent from the domain "@satisfaction.ipsos.com". Be sure to whitelist this email domain and watch out for the Global Relationship Survey (GRS), last day to give feedback will be October 16th.
Last week, we announced a program for Web Professionals called WebsiteSpark. This is targeted to Web development and design companies with up to 10 employees and will give you a lot of good stuff:
· Microsoft Web design and development tools , including three licenses of Microsoft Visual Studio 2008 Professional Edition, two licenses of Microsoft Expression Web 3, and one license of Microsoft Expression Studio 3.
· Four processor licenses for production usage of Microsoft Windows Web Server 2008 or R2 (when available) and four processor licenses for production usage of Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Web Edition.
· A third-party premium Website control panel (DotNetPanel).
Participating companies will also receive the following professional support and training:
· Two technical support incidents per company.
· Access to community support through connections with Network Partners, Hosting Partners and peers with complementary services and technologies.
· Unlimited access to technical managed newsgroups on MSDN.
· Unlimited program support for non-technical issues.
Find more information at the WebsiteSpark web or follow the conversation on Twitter
As for some of our recent product launches we will have a Virtual Launch for Windows 7, Windows Server 2008 R2 and Exchange Server 2010. On September 29th US time, this will kick off with a keynote session by Steve Ballmer. The session will of course be available on demand afterwards and followed by lots of technical sessions around the products. The focus for the event is “New Efficiency” and they will discuss how cost savings, productivity and innovation can drive business growth in these hard economic times.
You can also submit a question in advance for Steve Ballmer, so take that opportunity :-)
From today until December 31st 2009 you will get up to 25% discount on Microsoft Certifications exams. This is a perfect opportunity for you if you want to move into a new career in IT or just strengthen your skills and specialize within your current area. Depending on what exam you want to take you get 15%, 20% or 25% discount. You can for example get a 15% discount on Exam 70-680: TS: Windows 7 Configuring or 25% discount on Exam 70-646: PRO: Windows Server 2008, Server Administrator. You find all the details around discounts and how to sign up here
Keen to try out Windows 7 now when it’s ready? Now you can download a 90 day trial of Windows 7 to play around with so you’re fully prepared and ready by the end of October when it will be available for everyone to buy. For those of you with a TechNet Subscription, I hope you know you can already get the full version without any time limit.
The full announcement of the Trial availability can be found on the Springboard Blog, together with a lot of resources. Don’t forget to check the Windows 7 Forums for questions and answers.
You can now download the August CTP (Community Technology Preview) of SQL Server 2008 R2. Read more about our next version of SQL Server on the SQL Web site and find detailed technical information being updated regularly on Books Online.
