On Wednesday May 6th, we’ll be broadcasting the Interop Road Show .  Actually it’s going to be a bit of a simulcast.  Matt Hester will be in Downers Grove, IL doing a live delivery of the sessions, and we’ll pick up the audio and demonstrations via the magic of Microsoft LiveMeeting. In addition to having Matt present the sessions, we’ll also have Kevin Remde and Shawn Travers onsite helping to manage the questions and get Matt’s attention.  And that’s not all.  I’ll also be helping

Some of you have attended the Interop Road Show events we are currently delivering across the USA.  At those events you have seen us install Apache, MySQL, PHP, Drupal and Wordpress on Windows Server 2008.  Astute observation will reveal some of the installs and tweaks aren’t particularly easy, and especially prone to error in front of a live audience. Want to do it the easy way? Introducing the Web Platform Installer ( Web PI ).  There are a couple of versions available.  The

Spring brings not only rain and flowers (you know, April shows and May flowers), it also brings our spring technical events. And this time our technical events are taking on a slightly different form. Okay, to be completely honest, we are still calling the sessions ArcReady (our event for architects and those who want to become architects), MSDN Events Unleashed (for the developer), and the new TechNet Events Unleashed (for the IT Professional). But we are also doing something different for the spring

Session 1 : Windows Server 2008 R2 – Optimize your Time Get a jump start on your peers with Windows Server 2008 R2 by joining us for this no nonsense technical session, where we will discuss the critical improvements in the next version of Windows Server. Some have argued that, given the impressive scope of new functionality in Windows Server 2008 R2, it should not be an “R2” release, but rather should be given a completely new name. They point to features such as Direct Access, Branch Caching, Live

Don’t forget we just started the Microsoft Interop Road Show and there are events in Dallas and Houston this week. The event in Dallas is actually at our office in Las Colinas, Texas (also known as Irving). Confused? Don’t be. See all of the information at http://www.technetevents.com/interop/index.htm . Irving Registration Link http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?culture=en-US&EventID=1032406100 Houston Registration Link http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?Culture=en-US&EventID=103240610

Is your IT Infrastructure fully dedicated to just one technology solution? Chances are you work in a heterogeneous environment that includes a variety of technologies from Microsoft®, Linux, MySQL and Apple. Integration becomes vital in order for your core business applications to maintain business flow and efficiency. How do you achieve identity integration? Run Open Source Software (OSS) on Windows Server® 2008? Ever wanted to leverage the power of SQL with your PHP applications? Session 1: Windows

There is an event next Saturday you might consider watching and listening to.  It’s the first of many Springboard Technology Expert Panel (STEP) events to come.  The STEP program is made up of Microsoft employees, MVPs and MCTs.  This particular event is being delivered live in our west coast offices, but we will simulcast the event via LiveMeeting.  So you’ll be able to listen to the presenters, see the demos, etc.  Attend remotely via Live Meeting . Here is the registration

I’ve been listening to our customers a lot lately.  I get a lot of good feedback here, but it’s no substitute for the direct frank conversations we’ve had at the live events, launch events and conferences like MMS or TechEd. One of the complaints I’ve been hearing more and more is centered around our content.  The crux of the complaint is that we aren’t real world in the demos we do on webcasts, screencasts, live events, hands on labs, etc. As much as I’d like a raised floor data center

One of the benefits of working for a software company is watching a product release develop then ship. Of course sometimes dogfooding software has pitfalls so some would debate the "benefit" statement. It's pretty rare for our internal MSIT folks to mandate dogfooding a product before we release but it happens on occasion. We're getting really close to RTM for Windows Vista SP1 so I dropped one of the RTM release candidates to my Lenovo Thinkpad T61p. The experience has been very good so far. I really

When you get a moment, checkout the webcasts I'll be doing starting next Wednesday. This is all part of the Windows Server Compare series of screencasts and webcasts coming out. TechNet Webcast: Windows Compare (Part 1 of 6): Reliability in Windows and Linux (Level 200) Wednesday, January 23, 2008 11:30 A.M.–1:00 P.M. Pacific Time TechNet Webcast: Windows Compare (Part 2 of 6): Supporting Linux Users in a Windows Environment (Level 200) Friday, January 25, 2008 11:30 A.M.–1:00 P.M. Pacific Time TechNet

Sound off at http://edge.technet.com/Forums/Perimeter/350-Which-is-more-important-to-you-WinXP-SP3-or-Vista-SP1/ . Let us know what you think!!!

Windows Vista SP1 Release Candidate 1 is now available for download. If you are a TechNet or MSDN subscriber, the bits to get the process started are now on the subscriber download center. Those of you that are subscribers get to go to the head of the line and install right now. Everyone else will have to wait a few more days. Enjoy! Want a subscription? See http://blogs.technet.com/keithcombs/archive/2007/12/06/technet-plus-direct-100-discount.aspx for more information. [Note] I highly recommend

As you can see at http://edge.technet.com , we are launching a new online portal for IT Pros. Expect to see lots of content in the form of podcasts, screencasts and videos. I have some interesting stuff coming. My EDGE id is KingCobra. Head on over and register if you want a cool name, before all of the cool names are taken. I used my Live ID for the registration process and recommend you do the same. The official launch is next week so be patient while some of the features are enabled this weekend.

Matt Hester beat me to it. Well, not really. We'll just let him think he did. Matt posted some information about the Windows Vista Hardware Assessment v2.0 release so check out his blog post. I was going to post some information this weekend but backed off because I hit some issues I reported to the development team. Oh well, since the cat is out of the bag, here's a couple of things to keep in mind about the tool: Read The Fabulous Manual (RTFM) - you pretty much have to. There are a number of service

As you might suspect by now, we signed off the Beta 3 milestone of Windows Server Code Named "Longhorn" today. I downloaded the build a few days ago and am building a new Longhorn Beta 3 virtual machine while I write this. How would you like to do the same? There's only one place you really need to remember. http://www.microsoft.com/longhorn . That link will redirect nicely to http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserver/longhorn/default.mspx but it's easier to type. Once there, you'll notice the download

Thanks to all of you for coming to the sessions I delivered today in Orlando, Florida. Go Gators. As promised, I have posted the following slide decks: Windows Server code name "Longhorn" Tech Overview Part 1 Windows Server code name "Longhorn" Tech Overview Part 2 Windows Server code name "Longhorn" Network Access Protection (NAP) Windows Deployment Services I had fun today and I hope you found the sessions and demos valuable. For those of you unable to attend, no worries, I'll be capturing a slew

The February CTP of Windows " Longhorn " Server is now available at a couple of locations. For those of you that signed up for the technical beta program at connect.microsoft.com, you'll see the download there. Not to be outdone, this release is also available to TechNet Online subscribers download area. For more information on this build, see http://blogs.technet.com/windowsserver/archive/2007/02/21/february-2007-ctp-of-windows-server-longhorn-released.aspx . If you haven't subscribed to the TechNet

Virtual PC 2007 is a great virtual machine execution environment. John Howard, Virtual Machine PM blogs that we have released it to the web and it's currently propagating across the microsoft.com cluster complex. This is the core tool I use for my job and I think you'll find we have added some great new features to this release. What is Virtual PC 2007? Use Microsoft Virtual PC 2007 to run multiple operating systems at the same time on the same physical computer. Switch between virtual machines with

As you might guess, we're doing a lot of air, land and sea cover on Windows Vista right now. But what's next? Here's a hint... Windows " Longhorn " Server, that's what!!! With that in mind, what do you want to see in Q4FY07 ??? Q4 is April, May and June 2007. For our live seminars, I'm planning on pulling some demos from the following TechNet sessions: Windows Server "Longhorn" Technical Overview Part 1 Windows Server "Longhorn" Technical Overview Part 2 Windows Server "Longhorn" Network Access Protection

One of the most common questions that comes up after our live events is, " Where do I get the slide decks? " Well, the slides and a bunch of other relevant materials are organized at http://www.launchtour2007.com/popup_ITPro.html . The slides I am using for the IT Pro Track are listed in the Microsoft Across America Events section.