Microsoft Launches Security Experts
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Microsoft Launches Security Experts

In early May 2022, Microsoft announced the launch of their Microsoft Security Experts Services  Security Experts is a new managed service category that combines expert-trained technology and product innovation with human-led services. Right now Microsoft is doing a lot of the work directly, but soon they will have multiple certified security expert partners  Video  introducing the…

Windows Autopatch
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Windows Autopatch

A a few weeks ago Microsoft announced a new service called Windows Autopatch for business customers that provides the ability to keep Windows, Office, Teams and Microsoft Edge software on devices enrolled and managed by Microsoft Intune up to date automatically. The service is now on public beta and scheduled to be GA sometime at…

Microsoft Modern Work Webinars
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Microsoft Modern Work Webinars

The Microsoft Cloud Acquisitions Team of Technical Specialists have has a new YouTube channel around the Modern Work stack and their first set of webinars is a  high-level overview of the Security Features available with M365. I particularly liked the Advanced Identity Concepts AD Premium Plan 2 one — very well presented and good content! Loved this Worth…

Microsoft Endpoint Manager
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Microsoft Endpoint Manager

Microsoft Endpoint Manager was announced last week at Microsoft Ignite 2019. Microsoft is working on bringing together System Center Configuration Manager (SCCM) and the Microsoft Intune mobile management service into a new brand called “Microsoft Endpoint Manager,” Microsoft is consolidating most (all) of their client management tools (SCCM, Intune,  Desktop Analytics, etc. )   into one  now…

Azure Active Directory
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Azure Active Directory

Microsoft released Active Directory in Windows 2000 server, and it became a standard for enterprise identity management. Active Directory lives on-premises in servers called Domain Controllers (DC). Active Directory lives on-premise in servers called Domain Controllers (DC). Windows Active Directory or commonly referenced as Active Directory (AD) is Microsoft’s predecessor to Azure Active Directory, Azure Active Directory…

Windows Autopilot White Glove Details Announced..
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Windows Autopilot White Glove Details Announced..

What is Windows Autopilot white glove? The new Windows Autopilot white glove process, which lets IT technicians, partners, and even OEMs pre-provision devices before they are delivered to the user. Using this process, all device configuration tasks, including apps (machine-targeted or user-targeted), certificates, and policies, can be completed in advance, making it so that when…

Microsoft Office Support Lifecycle Explained
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Microsoft Office Support Lifecycle Explained

Microsoft Office is a widely used product suite which includes tools like Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Project, Publisher, Access, and OneNote. It has been around since 1988 and has gone through many versions, each of which has a specific support cycle with defined dates.    All versions of Microsoft Office products before Microsoft Office 2019…

Windows 7 Extended Support Update Packages Pricing
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Windows 7 Extended Support Update Packages Pricing

Just a few of days ago (Sep 6, 2018)  Microsoft announced Windows 7 Extended Support Upgrade (ESU) where businesses can now pay to extend Windows 7 Security Updates Beyond January 14, 2020.  (See summary of announcement here ) Although pricing was not revealed,    the blog post announcement,  authored by Jared Spataro, Corporate Vice President for…

Microsoft 365 Versions Comparison
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Microsoft 365 Versions Comparison

I wanted to write something  about a question I get often asked: What is the pricing and the differences between the different versions of Microsoft 365.   Microsoft has a variety of productivity and security management offerings that small to medium-sized and large enterprise customers may consider when upgrading their desktop and device infrastructure, each bringing…

Tech Summit 2017:Latest Windows 10 Deployment Video
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Tech Summit 2017:Latest Windows 10 Deployment Video

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…

The Value Proposition of a Platform: Microsoft Win10/Office365/EM+S
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The Value Proposition of a Platform: Microsoft Win10/Office365/EM+S

[ 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…

Windows 7 End of Mainstream Support Implications

Windows 7 End of Mainstream Support Implications

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…

Microsoft: A Platform Agnostic Company  – Yeah!
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Microsoft: A Platform Agnostic Company – Yeah!

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,…

Updated IPD from Microsoft

Updated IPD from Microsoft

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…

Microsoft Online – $4B startup and counting
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Microsoft Online – $4B startup and counting

It is simply amazing to see how much is Microsot investing into its online division. Based on the the latest Microsoft quarterly result published last week, the operating loss for the online services division was  $726M  in the 3rd quarter alone, and a loss  $1.8B for the current year. If we look back to when the…

Cloud Computing – Basics
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Cloud Computing – Basics

Microsoft’ Ron Markezich, Corporate Vice President of Microsoft Online,  made available  a basic but interesting video  on his views on cloud computing adoption which he expressed at the MIT Sloan CIO Symposium in Boston, MA For one thing, chief information officers are uncertain how to fashion a roadmap that brings “cloud services” into their IT architecture….

Microsoft’s BPOS Offering / Cloud Computing…

Microsoft’s BPOS Offering / Cloud Computing…

Microsoft’s Business productivity Online Services (BPOS) is getting ready to officially launch within a few weeks… They have moved all beta users in to release candidate code and are in high gear recruiting partners, as their strategy is 100% partner attachment for these services…  ( We are hoping this to be the case for many years…

Microsoft will spend $8B to catch up in cloud computing

Microsoft will spend $8B to catch up in cloud computing

A stunning piece of news that I would have been incredulous to hear if I hadn’t been there when they said it. I think Microsoft is taking some great steps in a thought-leadership position. Sure, they’re buying their way into markets, but that’s what they excel at, and if you’re watching closely, and ignoring the…

MDOP 2008 R2 RTM

MDOP 2008 R2 RTM

Huzzah! MDOP has been updated! The App-V Blog : MDOP 2008 R2 Releases to Manufacturing! MDOP 2008 R2 Releases to Manufacturing! In case you missed all the fireworks and champagne corks yesterday it was in celebration of Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack 2008 R2 being released to manufacturing. Of course you already know that this version…