Hey everyone!!

A few things jumped out at me this week that I wanted to share...

Office for iPad -  This week the Office team announced that iPad users can now download Word, Excel and PowerPoint form the App Store. These Office apps have the same look and feel that Office users are used to, complimented by a great touch experience build from the ground up for iPad. Along with this, the Office team also announced Apps for iPhone and Android devices. These apps will allow iPad and Android users to view/edit Word, Excel and PowerPoint on the go. Visit the Office Blog to read the full announcement.

MSDN Platforms - Don't let the name scare you... with an MSDN platforms subscription you can access a wide range of Microsoft products and other resources without the cost of Visual Studio. For a full list of benefits and what you can access (along with compared subscription models), visit the website.

Keep an eye out for an update on event, training and technical resources very soon.

Happy Friday!

P@

Hi everyone,

Breaking the weekly rhythm here - just wanted to let you know about the upcoming TechNet Live Series we have dubbed 'Transforming the Datacentre'. Jeff Alexander and Andrew McMurray will be presenting weekly as of 11th April. For the most part they are Friday @ 11am, however we do have a few Thursdays in there due to Good Friday and Anzac Day public holidays.

In a nutshell, the series will run as follows;

1. Friday 11th April - Introduction to Transform the Datacentre
2. Thursday 17th April - Windows Server 2012 R2, Server Virtualisation
3. Thursday 24th April - Windows Server 2012 RS, Storage Overview
4. Friday 2nd May - Windows Server 2012 R2, Rethink Networking
5. Friday 9th May - Windows Server 2012 R2, Access and Information Protection Overview
6. Friday 16th May - Windows Server 2012 R2, Server Manageability and Automation
7. Friday 23rd May - Windows Server 2012 R2, Enable Modern Work styles with Microsoft VDI
8. Friday 30th May - System Center 2012 R2, Infrastructure Provisioning and Management
9. Friday 6th June - System Center 2012 R2, Infrastructure Monitoring
10. Friday 13th June - System Center 2012 R2, Automation and Self Service
11. Friday 20th June - System Center 2012 R2, Application Performance Monitoring
12. Friday 27th June - Windows Azure Pack Overview

Get involved!!

P@

Happy Friday everyone!!

It has been a big week of releases and updates!

On March 19, SQL Server 2014 was released to manufacturing. SQL Server 2014 is the foundation to the Microsoft cloud-first data platform and introduces a wealth of new features and capabilities to the SQL stack. Quentin Clark (Corporate Vice President, Data Platform Group), discusses the following on The Official Microsoft Blog;

• Built-in in-memory technology for faster application performance
• Hybrid cloud capabilities offer greater flexibility

SQL Server 2014 will be generally available on April 1.

For years now OneNote has been one of my favourite Office products. I consider myself somewhat of a power user and I was very excited to hear the updates from the OneNote Team this week. On March 17 they announced three key OneNote developments;

• OneNote for Mac is now available, plus its FREE!! This means that OneNote is now available on all platforms.
• OneNote is now FREE everywhere!! This includes the Windows PC desktop version and the above Mac version. Of course, premium features will be available to paying customers, however this announcement enables all users to get their hands on OneNote for free.
• The OneNote service now provides a cloud API -  enabling connections to blogs/news websites, scanners, mobile document scanning and more. 

You can read the full announcement on the Office Blog.  

As always, feel free to comment any questions.

Have a great weekend!

P@

Hi all,

This week I have been gathering info on some great events and training opportunities for everyone to jump in and get involved.

• Windows Azure Architect Summit (Sydney 10th-11th April) - This is a two-day training workshop covering 8 CORE modules conducted by our worldwide team of Azure specialists. In this workshop you will learn how to implement large scale Azure solutions, with specific focus on technical and business benefits offered by the Microsoft cloud platform.
• Office 365 Summit - The Sydney Summit will feature content across Office 365, Developer, Exchange, Lync, Project, SharePoint, Visio/Visio Services, and Yammer tracks. During the summit, you will also have the opportunity to interact and learn from your industry peers and representatives from Microsoft at several evening events and scheduled networking time.
• Windows Accelerate IT Pro Boot Camp (MELBOURNE, 25th March) - This Boot Camp is lead by Microsoft Partner, Dilignet. It will cover the fundamentals of Windows 8.1 and the new Office deployment through a series of interactive presentations, demonstrations and hands-on labs. Attendees will also have the opportunity to seek face-to-face advice and guidance from subject matter experts.
  

In addition to the above - if you download a qualifying evaluation from the TechNet Evaluation Center before April 18th, you can go into the draw to win an Xbox One and Nokia Lumia 1520. 

Goodluck!!

P@ 

Hi everyone!

Very new to this....a good chance to say hi and share the details of the upcoming MVP Community Camp.

The MVP Community Camp is a 6 day series of live webcasts and in-person events across the Asia Pacific region. These events are organised and run by Microsoft Most Valuable Professionals (MVP's) and other technical community leaders.

For more information on the overall MVP Community Camp you can visit the website.

In Australia, the in-person events will be held on Saturday 22nd March in Adelaide, Brisbane, Melbourne, Perth and Sydney. Click on the relevant link to check out the agenda and register for your city.

Cheers,

P@.