When we discuss the continuous update model of Windows as a Service, one of the first questions that pops out is what would be the impact of not keeping up with Windows-as-a-Services updates. Although it has been stated by Microsoft a number of time, we now have a clear written statement from them on the impact. …
Now it becomes real! When Discussing the continuous update model of Windows as a Service, one of the first questions that comes out is: What would be the impact of not keeping up with Windows-as-a-Services updates? Although it has been stated by Microsoft a number of time, we now have a clear written statement from…
Now it becomes real! When Discussing the continuous update model of Windows as a Service, one of the first questions that comes out is: What would be the impact of not keeping up with Windows-as-a-Services updates? Although it has been stated by Microsoft a number of time, we now have a clear written statement from…
What a great presentation by Josh Evans I just found on YouTube. He talks about the chaotic and vibrant world of microservices at Netflix. Although it was recorded in June 2016 it has a lot of excellent insights very current today. Great insight into the future (today) Microservice architecture is the future of development. No…
Disclaimer: I work for Dell EMC – #Iwork4Dell This presentation by Kevin Kelly on Dell EMC World is excellent – Glad they brought him in. Lots of great food for thinking. He covered 4 of the 12 questions he asks in his book: “The Inevitable, Understanding the 12 Technological Forces That Will Shape Our Future.”…
For a while now I have been following the major accomplishments and progress in the fields of Artificial Intelligence, Robotics and general computing power. From a pure technology point of view, we live in absolutely amazing times, but on the other side, the social implications and changes just around the corner are truly mind-blowing….
This past week I ran across an article in the news that made my mind melt (I thought it was a April fool’s joke – but it was not!!) — my tweet follows: I have always been in the business of implementing technology to help automate / improve processes within businesses, and have written a number…
I’ve been using these for a while, but posting here for as I am constantly updating them. Hope these help! The Windows 10 from video sessions I mentioned would be useful are (all from Microsoft Ignite 2016): – Key Note by Brad Anderson: The session name was: “Protect & Manage Your Digital Transformation” (It is…
Summary: Microsoft’s Windows 10 new delivery and update cycles will drive significant change in the current enterprise application compatibility testing and verification operational processes. These processes will need to be done on an ongoing basis as opposed to being done prior to large OS migration projects. Enterprises will need to quickly adjust to this new…
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If you have not seen the latest (January 27, 2017) Microsoft Tech Summit video from Michael Niehaus you are missing a lot ! Enhance Windows 10 deployment: What’s new with Windows 10 deployment? It is a wealth of information on current releases but also lots of insights on best practices as well! One particular item…
If you have not seen the latest Microsoft Tech Summit video from Michael Niehaus you are missing a lot ! Enhance Windows 10 deployment: What’s new with Windows 10 deployment? It is a wealth of information on current releases but also lots of insights as well! Aside from answering audience calls, he talked about a…
Many people ping me on a weekly basis wanting to know what Microsoft’s Windows AutoPilot is and understand what it means or if they can use it right away.. Microsoft and other vendors are marketing as the new zero-touch deployment experience. This is what I tell them:
Socrates and more recently Einstein were very right… “The more I learn, the more I realize how much I don’t know.” It is incredible how true this little 13 word phrase has shaped my life.
Summary: Microsoft’s Windows 10 new delivery and update cycles will drive significant change in the current enterprise application compatibility testing and verification operational processes. These processes will need to be done on an ongoing basis as opposed to being done prior to large OS migration projects. Enterprises will need to quickly adjust to this new…
I am constantly asked by customers about the Microsoft Telemetry and what it collects – Privacy is a big topic everywhere, and data-driven design (think Tesla!) can be difficult to explain… This short segment video interview with Ed Bott explains the 4 types / layers of Telemetry: Video: Telemetry explained: Interview with Ed Bott Additional…
Looks like the next version of Windows 10, dubbed Creator Update – will include a Legacy BIOS to UEIF in-place migration tool. This is very good news for enterprises out there, as it is a difficult hurdle to overcome when doing in-place updates. The Creators Update will also include a feature to help organizations that…
Looks like the next version of Windows 10, dubbed Creator Update – will include a Legacy BIOS to UEIF in-place migration tool. This is very good news for enterprises out there, as it was a difficult hurdle to overcome. The Creators Update will also include a feature to help organizations that are replacing Windows…
In my work I have a lot of conversations on the topic of Workspace Transformation, Modern Provisioning. Modern Device Management Unified Endpoint Management, Modern Application Delivery and Modern Desktop. There is so much change in this field right now [ with many more to come ] that it is challenging for most enterprises to keep…
I have extracted a list of the Windows 10 / EMS and related sessions with links to the respective videos online. Once again – THANK YOU Microsoft for publishing these to the folks that could not make t it the Microsoft Ignite 2016 (Atlanta) conference. If you have one that I may have missed, please…
[ Update 20161004: I encourage you to watch Brad Anderson’s keynote session at Microsoft Ignite 2016 – Simply IMPRESSIVE! ] As I have written before, technology management has made an incredible shift over the past few years (maybe the last 3-5 years). Infrastructure as a Service, Platform as a Service are now the common conversations in most…
From time to time I come across technologies and products that impress me… Last week at BriForum 2016 ( the last one – see: The End of an Era by Jo Harder ) I saw a couple of of vendors that I want to check further… One of them, and the one this post is about…
Great news for the App-V community… This week, Microsoft finally announced that they will be releasing App-V into the core of the Windows 10 operating system, and will be available to Windows 10 enterprise license holders. The announcement was made by Microsoft’s Steve Thomas, speaking in a webinar with Flexera, As one of the early…
This is really good news… Microsoft Live Writer is a tool I use daily, and for several years no one knew what the future of it was going to be.. So many of us went on to find alternatives, but nothing simple and good is available on the marketplace (remember FrontPage – Anything comparable?) It…
This is a shout-out to Karthik Rangarajan Daniel Tobin for bringing the topic of InfraOps in their Derbycon 2015 presentation: How I Stopped Worrying and Learned To Love InfraOps Excellent job – loved the presentation! Their position: In the last two years, the ideal organization of security amongst other teams has been hotly debated….
I just ran into a great summary of the History of DevOps by Damon Edwards. Very nice explanation he published back in Sep 17, 2012 (Very glad it is still available) It is cool he mentions Andrew Shaffer, and his 2008 presentation called “Agile Infrastructure” — His talk can be seen in YouTube here With all of…
It is the middle of 2015 and by now I always thought I would have my photo library on the cloud. I have tried most, if not all, of the sites out there: Flickr, Shutterfly, SmugMug, Google Photos, Amazon Photos, and many of the cloud file-sync services (DropBox, OneDrive). But they just do not cut…
Interesting article on how Microsoft's $15 billion cloud bet ended up at the center of the company http:/ /bit.ly/1Nq7bIZ
Good quick summary chart from Microsoft on the Windows 10 features by version.. Windows 10 Enterprise will come with key features for enterprises, including Direct Access, AppLocker, BranchCache, and Start Screen Control with Group Policy. However, Windows 10 Pro also comes business-ready features, like Domain Join, Bitlocker, Enterprise Mode Intenret Explorer, Assigned Access 8.1, and…
Much has been said about hybrid-cloud infrastructures in the past few months. Hybrid cloud is a cloud computing environment which uses a mix of on-premises, private cloud and public cloud services with orchestration between the two platforms. Hybrid Cloud is a hot topic where the discussion focuses on data security, costs and flexibility to market. …
AS a follow-up to my Windows 7 End of Mainstream Support posting, several questions came in regarding the Windows 10 availability dates… ( This is based on multiple publicly available news stories and sources.. ) Regarding Windows 10 availability: September 2014 — Windows Technical Preview (WTP) for laptops and desktops Microsoft’s Windows Insider Program opened…
I have been asked a couple of times about end of Mainstream support for Windows 7 Regarding Windows 7: January 12, 2015 – Microsoft will stop mainstream support for Windows 7 January 14, 2020 – Windows 7 extended support ends http://support.microsoft.com/lifecycle/search/default.aspx?alpha=windows+7 What does end of mainstream support mean? You still get the monthly updates and…
I am not surprised: Google+ officially splits into Photos and Streams. Hangouts separates as well. http://www.theverge.com/2015/3/2/8131639/google-officially-splits-into-photos-and-streams 2015-03-03T10:25:49-06:00
Have you noticed everything in called a Service these days? To mentioned a few, there is: Software as a Service, Platform as a Service, Infrastructure as a Service, Desktop as Service, Security as Service, Hardware as a Service and the one I just heard last week: Game as a Service! “Everything as a Service” is…
A quick reference guide to show the differences between the two editions of Windows 8 follows. Hope it helps! Windows 8 Professional Windows 8 Enterprise Bitlocker and Bitlocker to Go Yes Yes Boot to VHD Yes Yes Client Hyper-V Yes Yes Domain Join Yes Yes Group Policy Yes Yes Encrypted File System…
This is good news! Having used Google Fiber, it is a game changer… We continue to be hopefull that other carrie Current Cities: Kansas City, Austin, Texas and Provo, Utah. Cities: to be announced, according to the report: Atlanta,GA Charlotte, N.C. Raleigh-Durham, N.C. Nashville, Tenn. Other cities under consideration: Salt Lake City, San Antonio, Phoenix,…
My professional live has revolved, in great percentage, around Microsoft and Microsoft technologies. It has been a good life, but over the few years it has felt it like swiming against the current because of the major trends out there.. With so much of the market going cloud-services, device independent application delivery, bring-your-own-device,…
I have been involved in Technology Management for much of my professional life. I have helped people in many type of organizations (small, medium, large and global) manage their technology improvements, migrations and transformations including PCs, Internet, virtualization, and as of late, cloud-based infrastructures… I have seen what it takes organizations adopt, transform and shift…
For several years now, I have been a customer of Amazon Web Services (AWS) using S3 (Storage) and a couple development / test servers. Because of this, I thought I knew what it was all about. A few weeks back I attended a training session on the AWS platform, and I must say: The more I saw, the…
This weekend I upgraded several of my Windows 8 machines to Windows 8.1 which I got from my MSDN subscription… Here are a few notes on the experience… First, you will need new Keys for the Windows 8.1 installation. The old ones will not work, and the installation ask for it early in the process,…
Directly from The Next Web (TNW) the latest market share data based on — July 2013 Net Applications data (which uses data captured from 160 million unique visitors each month by monitoring some 40,000 websites for its clients). A couple of highlights: Microsoft Windows and Microsoft IE are clearly “in control” Windows 8 now up…
Wow! – It has been about a year since I’ve written about this… It was in my article back in April 2012, Google Drive: Have Cloud Drives Lost Their Way? I stated what I thought was needed and the challenges with the existing services (back then) were… Well – a lot of the issues have…
The trend for Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) has been the cause of a range of issues for companies and employees alike. A recent survey uncovered some startling facts about BYOD and the approaches people are using with regards to managing, or not managing, personal devices in the workplace. Although more than 70% of people…
Thought this might be of interest… An Microsoft Surface review was published by http://anandtech.com in early February… Anand was interviewed in a recent Tekzilla Episode (forward to timestamp 15:40) to talk about the pros and cons of the device… Check it out… Comparison of versions against the iPad follow: See also their: Microsoft Surface Pro…
Back in December Microsoft released System Center 2012 SP1 (Service Pack 1) to manufacturing. Much has been written about it since… The good news is that it was officially released (general availability) yesterday. With System Center 2012 SP1, you get the most cost effective and flexible platform for managing your traditional datacenters, private and…
I was skeptical at first, but I must say – I am very impressed. My house is 40+ years old and has not been retrofitted to allow for the modern Internet wiring. Like most folks out there, I have ran wires thru the ceiling, drilled new holes in the walls and still have one or…
If you are in this business, you are well aware of the great work Brian Madden and his team have done in producing fantastic content and guidelines on the topic of Virtualization… A recent blog article, Brian Madden makes some excellent points regarding the current state of Mobility Management, IT Consumerization and Desktop Virtualization. Mobility Device…
In a July 2012 published report by Osterman Research (available via InfoWorld), where they survey of 760 individuals with regard to the BYOD issues they face in their organizations. The research found widespread use of third party, cloud-based storage and file synchronization, which are not often supported by the IT organizations… Their report includes benefits…
BYOD also known as Bring Your Own Device has been a latest buzzword in the IT landscape. However, prior to implementing it is essential to understand the reason behind supporting it. Most common BYOD business objectives revolve around minimizing mobile expenses or enhance the overall organization productivity or perhaps both. In the recent times, many…
Just received note that a new course was published to get tech-folks ready for enterprise-level deployments of Windows 8, specifically on how to go about Windows 8 upgrades. The course, now available at the Microsoft Virtual Academy (MVA), is under the heading Planning and Preparing for Windows 8 and consist of the following modules: Assessing Compatibility of…
From a development point of view it is interesting to see the difference between the Android and iOS versions needed to be supported… While researching, I ran into an October 2012 article on dazeinfo.coma which mentions that while iOS 6 Adoption Rate is about 60% iPhones Updated To iOS 6 vs. about 2% of Android…
In one of my previous postings, I talked about the amazing growth of digital content fueled, as of late, by tablet devices. One industry that is being forced to change leaps and bounds is the publishing industry. Just last week, it was leaked that two major player in this space, Random House and Penguin, were…
“The dream of going paperless has been a pervasive part of our discourse for years but has yet to materialize.” I bet there are at least 50 articles, right now that you can search for in your browser that start that same way. I bet also that each of these articles offers some revolutionary approach,…
I really like the concept of Chrome OS – with so many places now where WiFi is enabled and mobile phones becoming wifi routers it is beginning to make sense… I have been considering a Chrome OS based machine for a while, but frankly, I think the prices have been a bit too high… I…
The influx of new communication devices and solutions in the corporate environment resulted in the workforce becoming increasingly mobile. Take for instance, remote desktop access and SSL VPNs, which has made it possible for the workforce to make the choice with respect to location and time. Similarly, very many technological innovations have made the concept…
For those working in business IT there is one term that is sure to be cropping up on your radar more and more frequently; for those who work outside of IT departments you’ll be familiar with the ideas behind it – in fact you may be responsible for its prominence – even though you may…
On Monday, I was trying to place a presentation on a USB drive on my Windows 8 machine, and after a several attempts (different ports and drives) I discover that the USB drivers in Device Manager all had issues. I had no idea what had happened, as no matter what I did, they would not…
I have been using Windows 8 RTM (and Office 2013 Preview) on my primary laptop for about 30 days now, and have been very pleased with the experience. I am a semi-typical knowledge worker / technology consultant who travels a lot. My office is wherever I can find a small desk area and an internet…
Cloud computing (or cloud services) is the new buzz in the world of IT services. The term, which is still pretty nebulous for many users, refers to a model in which computing resources are hosted and delivered via the Internet than can dynamically grow and shrink depending on its demand and you pay only for…
I have spent so much time trying to figure out my new theme… I was fine with the theme I had at WordPress.com but when I moved to my own hosted instance, found out that the theme was not longer available for download.
I have been using Windows 8 on my primary laptop for about 30 days now, and have been very pleased with the experience. I am a semi-typical knowledge worker / technology consultant who travels a lot. My office is wherever I can find a small desk area and an internet connection. My laptop is configure…
When an office starts to consider going paperless – going paperless at the office – one of the first benefits sited is that they will be able to reduce the cost of purchasing paper to supply their office. What many businesses may not realize is that the true benefits of going paperless in an office…
Whether you run a business in your home or you’re a home maker trying to get rid of all those stacks of bills and papers, going to a paperless at home can not only help you keep better track of your personal files better but can increase the security of your private information and documents….
Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) has been a latest buzzword in the IT landscape. BYOD has been the cause of a range of issues for companies and employees alike. A recent survey uncovered some startling facts about BYOD and the approaches people are using with regards to managing, or not managing, personal devices in the…
In the article, “Going Paperless” we sited the definition of Paperless, and the fact that with today’s available technology and tools the goal of going paperless has never been more achievable by so many. Let’s discuss now what it may mean to you to you go paperless, and consider considering the two major areas in…
There are many benefits to going paperless. Bottom line it will save you time and money.
Since the creation of the computer and data storage, people have been making every attempt to transition from their cluttered offices full of paper and rooms (or attics) full of file cabinets into a paperless, streamlined and easy to search environment. As technology has evolved, so has our ability to make the transition into paperless.Whether…
Microsoft teams have been doing a fantastic job keeping the webcast events on System Center available for playback if you were not able to make it when live. I think this series is a must for all of us working with System Center TechNet Webcast: How Microsoft Does IT: Deploying Windows 7 Using System Center…
Microsoft is doing a great job at letting folks that could not attend TechEd 2012 access the great content that was presented. There is a ton that is changing… exciting times for sure!! They have made most sessions available on their MSDN Channel9 site which you can browse, search, download the video and the…
Blog post: Post install steps Ubuntu 12.04
Kudos to DebianHelp team for a fantastic post on what to do after installation of Ubuntu 12.04…
Wow! So much information — Most definitely worth the read…
As mentioned in an earlier post, Microsoft is doing a great job at letting folks that could not attend TechEd 2012, access the great content that was presented.. There is a ton that is changing… exciting times for sure!! Now they have made most session available on their MSDN Channel9 site which you can…
Article Written by: Rob West If you are a Lync system administrator or IT Pro, you’ve probably heard about Lync Mobility clients being released. Such a cool thing. One-click conference joining, mobile presence, etc. Why wouldn’t you just roll it out, organization wide to everyone with a mobile phone or tablet? Well, just slow down…
Article written by Rob West If you’ve got Lync, or another Voice over IP and collaboration solution in your organization, you’ve likely also got another video conferencing solution. Or, let’s say that you only have one, but your clients and partners have another one or two or three. What happens when you want to bridge…
Could not attend MMS2012 in Vegas this year? Not to worry! Microsoft has posted all of the PowerPoint and videos for free at http://www.mms-2012.com/digitalmms regardless if you attended or not. You can register and browse through the sessions… Thank you Microsoft!! For those of you that want to download the content for offline viewing: Videos:…
Not to worry! Microsoft has posted all of the PowerPoint and videos at http://www.mms-2012.com/digitalmms regardless if you attended or not, you can register and browse through the sessions… Thank you Microsoft!! For those of you that want to download the content for offline viewing: Videos: Stefan Roth has created a PowerShell script that will…
I am asked often to about this topic, having written a number of individual posts in the past, I thought, why not put it all together? So here it is… Let me know if you find it useful or have any comments! – Cheers. Cloud computing (or cloud services) is the new buzz in the…
The Infrastructure Planning and Design (IPD) guides series have been updated to reflect the version upgrades and changes to the Microsoft product line in the past few months. Definitely worth the review: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc196387.aspx As a reminder: The series is a collection of documents that leads the reader through a sequence of core decision points to…
With just the right amount of hype, Microsoft releases Windows 8 Consumer Preview. It is far better than the developer’s release back in September 11, 2011 and you can tell they have been working fast and furious, keeping to a tight schedule. Definitely good stuff. I installed it on one of my virtual machines,…
When considering VMware to address the Server Virtualization environment, take a moment to consider another more cost effective alternative: Microsoft Virtual Server. Although Virtual Server does not currently offer VMware features such as VMotion, Site Recovery, Converter, etc. Microsoft is spending a lot of development dollars making sure that the Virtual Server environment is in…
This is a common topic of conversation and it comes up every time I start a project… Best advice I have found follows: As the Project Manager you need to know what to, who should do what, when it should be done, why it should be done, the cost for it and a variety…
Cloud computing (or cloud services) is the new buzz in the world of IT services. The term, which is still pretty nebulous for many users, refers to a model in which computing resources are hosted and delivered via the Internet than can dynamically grow and shrink depending on its demand and you pay only for…
Just in case you missed it, Microsoft released the Microsoft Office 2010 Deployment Kit for App-V which will is required for sequencing and deploying Office 2010 client products with Microsoft Application Virtualization (App-V). The toolkit must be installed on the App-V sequencing station prior to monitoring the Office 2010 client installation, and on the…
Originally published for Averro.com blog. One of the major technical dilemmas that many small or medium sized companies face, is to have enough storage space for all the data its employees work with every day. Storage space can be pretty expensive; servers, hosting fees and support costs, can eat up a significant portion of the…
Originally published for Averro.com blog. In Cloud Services 101- Video 1 presentation we covered the basics (Definition, types, and deployment models) of what is refered to as cloud services. In this part-2 presentation we cover the key advantages that small and medium businesses can benefit from the use of these technologies. We have a few…
Originally published for Averro.com blog. Cloud computing is quickly altering the way small businesses work. Hardware procurement, setup and software licensing in order to support the applications for all users in the organization is a significant effort and constant concern for the management team in any small business. With the development of cloud based services,…
Originally published for Averro.com blog. As we discussed in our initial article of the series, Cloud Services 101: The Basics, the cloud services can be categorized into three areas, Infrastructure, Platform or Application related. In part 2 of the series (Cloud Services 101: Big Players in the Field) we touched up on some of the…
I have long been talking to clients (especially small businesses) about the fact that they do not need to keep servers on-premise to do their work. In a press release dated 1/13/10 where Gartner lists its key predictions for IT in 2010 and beyond (read here), the first highlight is a prediction that by 2012,…
Originally published for Averro.com blog. Thanks to the convergence of multiple technology trends, including virtualization, data center consolidation, web-services, browser and commercialization of hardware advancements, there is simply no way of ignoring or denying the impact that cloud services are having within the industry. Placing files, email and applications on the cloud has its significant…
Originally created for Averro.com blog and posted on their blog. Following our April 17th posting, we have posted webcast — first of a series — explaining how can cloud services can help the Small Business. Each video is small and to the point, and intended for a business audience, and not a technical one. This…
The beta version of Windows Intune, formerly known as System Center Online Desktop Management, it is now officially part of the Microsoft Online Services. is now in full beta. Windows Intune simplifies how businesses manage and secure PCs using Windows cloud services and Windows 7—so your computers and users can operate at peak performance. Windows…
If you have been using the Beta versions of the Office 2010 WebApps as of yesterday – you are in the company of 400 million friends! Yes – in a very unexpected announcement, Microsoft and Facebook made available http://docs.com – which allows Facebook users to collaborate using Office 2010 Web Apps. Now you can discover,…
The beta version of Windows Intune is now in full beta. Windows Intune simplifies how businesses manage and secure PCs using Windows cloud services and Windows 7—so your computers and users can operate at peak performance. Windows Intune delivers cloud-based management and security capabilities that can be administered through a single Web-based console, enabling your…
Originally published for Averro.com blog and posted on their blog. Cloud computing (or cloud services) is the new buzz in the world of IT services. The term, which is still pretty nebulous for many users, refers to a model in which computing resources are hosted and delivered via the Internet than can dynamically grow and…
We are often asked what is Windows Azure, and how does it help the business. Explaining what an application hosting platform is, and how it can help it is not as simple as it sounds… Microsoft Azure is an application hosting environment rather than a server-based like Amazon’s AWS environment. Azure is a service that…
There seems to be a lot of market noise about this and it is an interesting topic. What does VDI stand for? VDI = Virtual Desktop Infrastructure Is VDI new? The virtual machine on the desktop is not new. Microsoft’s Remote Desktop, Citrix, VMware Workstation, Parallel, Virtual PC and several others have been around for…
Two years after being acquired, the Calista team and product set are finally coming out for air! The upcoming version of Windows Server 2008 R2 Service Pack 1 will incorporate the RemoteFX – a set of RDP technologies which will vastly improve the user experience when accessing remote sessions – most prominently graphics virtualization. The…
Traditionally, companies have deployed desktop or laptop computers to their end users. The operating system, applications have been individually installed on every desktop or laptop via imaging software or remote installation, and application configuration settings and most user data is stored locally on the computer. While this may have worked when the company started small,…
One of the most common questions I get asked is what tool to I use to manage projects while working with virtual teams. The answer I give, is typically, “it depends a lot on the size of the project, and what you want to manage” Collaboration, Project Management, Project Portfolio Management (PPM), Online Project Management,…
According to a CNN report today, “More than 100 people, many of them dressed in black, were expected to gather around a coffin Thursday night to say goodbye to an old friend. The deceased? Internet Explorer 6.” March 1st marks the official death of the IE6 browser – http://ie6funeral.com/ Internet Explorer Six, resident of the…
