The Vacuum Tube

TechNet Emails: Zooming Utility, Exchange 32-bit, TechNet Laptop Specs

So I received a lot of emails congratulating me on a well received presentation, but of course after reading the comment sheets I saw a good many of you were put off by the sound quality.  Rest assured future events will address this issue.  I'll be answering many questions as I get more time this weekend, as well as do a recap, but in the mean time, I thought I would answer a few emails.

Oscar of Gmail writes

Hi.

I was one of the many in your presentation in the SD convention center.

First of all let me say you did an awesome job, i dunno what other thought about it, but i think it had a little bit of everything and all well explained. I wanted to ask a question at the end of the presentation but a bunch of people just gathered like crazy .

My question was... what are your laptop specs, i mean you had like a bunch of windows and virtual machines running and i didn't see any lag or anything. Well i dunno if it was your laptop running all that cause i saw you had like 3 machines set-up.

Offtopic...

And yeah haha, i saw that WoW icon on one of those desktops, so i guess thats the MMO you talked about. Well then, thanx for the awesome presentation. I'll be reading your blog frequently now.

Thanks Oscar, I appreciate your words.  My laptops are awesome aren't they :)  At present I am using the IBM (Lenovo) T60P with a Core Duo & 3GB of RAM, though it ran great with 2GB.  The only reason Technet guys went up to 3GB was for the large number of server VMs we had to run.  Memory is the biggest limitation for us when doing demos since it must be statically allocated when using Virtual PC 2007 RTM (IT'S FREE) LIKE BEER!!!  The laptop has an ATI FireGL V5200 card, runs most of my DX9 and DX8 games at 1600x1200 and it has a built-in EVDO card from Verizon.  Using the drive bay, I have two 100GB 7200rpm drives.  Running flawless VPCs is all about managing CPU usage as well as memory.  If you have 5 VPCs running but are only at 40% CPU on average load, pile more on and you won't notice a thing as long as you have enough memory.  Just make sure you factor in CPU usage spikes per VM 'cause a dual processor will overload quickly as you increase the number of VMs.  Read about Microsoft IT and their experience with virtualization in house.  I also had a Dell Latitude D820 with 2GB RAM running on a Core 2 Duo.  It also had two 100GB drives and 1080P resolution.  The only thing two things i hate about the Dell are the video card drivers from Nvidia and the crappy trackpad.

Steve of BK Electric

Hey,

 

I was at your presentation yesterday morning. I learned alot, thanks! So I'm sold on exhange 2007 but I only have 32 bit hardware and no budget for new hardware.  So I have 2.5 questions.

1. will micrsoft be releasing a deployable 32 bit version?

    1.5. If so, when?

2. If I purchase a 64 bit license will it cover the 32 bit version when it is realeased?

 

Thanks!

Steve

Good questions Steve, and unfortunately I don't have an answer of you since I can't comment on vaporware *found it* fortunately I have an official answer if you read this FAQ.  For you lazy people, SBS "Cougar" will release after Longhorn and will be 64-bit ONLY.  I can tell you that our server products will all be supporting 64-bit here on out as it is much more efficient, stable, and secure platform compared to x86.  I wouldn't count on being able upgrade to 32-bit products in the near future.  For those of you making hardware decisions, buy x64 even if you plan on deploying 32-bit now.

Junianto of Hotmail

Hi Viral,

 

I attended your presentation at "Microsoft Launch" in San Diego, CA. I like it. It has a lot of good features with the new platform. My question is that where could I get a copy of the "zoom in" software that you have used during your presentation?

 

Thank you.

Regards,

Junianto