Kurt Shintaku's Blog

If you don’t believe you’ll be able to upgrade your infrastructure off of Windows 7 Professional or Enterprise by January 14th, 2020 – the day Windows 7’s end-of-service – there is the *last resort* possibility of purchasing “extended security updates” on an annual basis for your remaining computers.

Be forewarned that “extended support” contracts:

1. Require an existing Premier Services agreement
2. Are paid annually & increase substantially in cost every year after
3. Are only available for Windows 7 Enterprise & Professional
4. Are available until January 2023
5. Have a substantial price tag

Our End of Support page for Windows 7 is located here:

• Support is Ending for Windows 7
  https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/windows/end-of-windows-7-support

There is an abbreviated FAQ at the bottom of the page that highlights the availability of “extended security updates” for Windows 7 and points to a downloadable comprehensive FAQ document with more details:

• Are there alternatives that give me extra time to complete my migration while keeping my users safe?
  For users of Windows 7 Professional and Windows 7 Enterprise, you can purchase extended security updates through January 2023. For an in-depth FAQ about Windows 7 Extended Security Updates, please download the Microsoft end of support FAQ.
• https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/p/?linkid=2086115

Register now to join Microsoft for a live, virtual event featuring cutting-edge security insights. Hear from Microsoft senior IT and security leaders on how to help implement strong privacy principles, fight cybercrime, and utilize advanced analytics to identify threats in real time. Gain knowledge from security experts on the lifecycle of an attack and develop techniques for how to defend your organization through innovations in cybersecurity.

• Get the answers to all your burning questions about emerging trends in the industry from Microsoft IT security leaders.
• Learn how Microsoft cybersecurity teams can help you gain a competitive advantage against hackers through groundbreaking skill development programs.
• Walk away with a blueprint for Enterprise Security and actionable insights like understanding Microsoft’s Cybersecurity Reference Architecture.

Review the agenda here, and register for the on-demand event below:

• DOWNLOAD: Virtual Security Summit- Agenda
  https://info.microsoft.com/rs/157-GQE-382/images/4.15%20VSS_Agenda_FINAL.pdf
• VIDEO: Virtual Security Summit 2019 – On-Demand
  https://info.microsoft.com/US-SCRTY-WBNR-FY19-04Apr-16-01MasterTheVirtualSecuritySummit-MCW0012180_02OnDemandRegistration-ForminBody.html
  

Form Recognizer, part of Azure AI, now handles receipts!

With no required training, receipt API extracts key information including date & time of the transaction, taxes, merchant info & more.

Learn more:

• Enable receipt understanding with Form Recognizer’s new capability
  https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/enable-receipt-understanding-with-form-recognizer-s-new-capability/
• Azure AI “Form Recognizer”
  The AI-powered document extraction service that understands your forms
  http://aka.ms/form-recognizer

Modern CISOs must manage their organization’s risk in the face of rising challenges, including staffing shortages and the ever-expanding scale and sophistication of today’s cyber threats. Balancing these challenges with business needs to collaborate, innovate, and grow requires an always-on, multifaceted approach to security.

Read this e-book to learn why organizations must:

• Adopt an “assume breach” approach
• Complement preventive security measures with detection and response
• Embed modern security technologies into enduring processes and training programs

Read 7 steps to a holistic security strategy to learn the strategies and best practices of CISOs that have made security the cornerstone of business success.

• DOWNLOAD: eBook, “7 steps to a holistic security strategy” (22pgs, 18MB)
  https://info.microsoft.com/7StepstoaHolisticSecurityStrategy-Registration.html

Kick off or expand your artificial intelligence (AI) development with this comprehensive guide to integrating and combining intelligent APIs available through Azure Cognitive Services.

Over the course of three sections covering computer vision, speech recognition and language processing, and knowledge and search, you’ll gain a deeper understanding of what’s possible and learn how to:

• Identify a person through visual inspection and audio. 
• Reduce user effort by building AI-like capabilities. 
• Understand how to analyze images and text in different manners. 
• Find out how to analyze images using Vision APIs. 
• Use Search APIs to find anything you want.

Get the book here:

• DOWNLOAD: eBook, “Learning Azure Cognitive Services”
  https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/resources/learning-azure-cognitive-services/
  

Visualize what your digital transformation journey can look like on Azure. Get new perspectives from Microsoft IT managers who share their real-world experiences moving SAP to the cloud. Get started today and read this e-book to:

• Learn how IT professionals like you worked through change management and developed their SAP cloud migration strategies.
• Get actionable advice on how to keep your organization informed as your team starts moving to the cloud.
• Discover benefits gained from migrating SAP to Azure, including cost savings and future-proofing your SAP investment.

Download the eBook here:

• 15 Lessons Learned: Migrating SAP to the Cloud
  https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/resources/lessons-learned-migrating-sap-to-the-cloud/

We’ve recently been publishing a lot of information from Microsoft IT around our move to SAP on Azure. 

Microsoft runs SAP for:

• ERP (ECC 6.0, EhP6)
• Global Trade Services
• Supply Chain Management
• Master Data Governance
• Concur
• Success Factors
• Integrated Business Planning
• eRecruiting
• Ariba Business Network and Direct Sourcing, etc.

If you’re interested in hearing about the experiences of 100,000 employee company’s move to SAP-on-Azure and the benefits that have come from it:

• Cost management (sizing system to accommodate for capacity needs during holidays, snoozing systems)
• Agility (Creation, size up or size down, prototyping, development systems)
• Tooling for Security & Telemetry for managing compliance & security
• Classification of support tickets using Machine Learning to minimize turn around times & increase success rates
• etc.

…you may want to watch this short 5-minute video.

Like many companies, Microsoft uses SAP for mission-critical business functions for finance, human resources, and global trade. When it came time to move our SAP estate to the cloud we went through a process of planning and assessment prior to migration. We then focused on optimization along with management after the migration. In this video, Hans Reutter provides a first-hand account of moving SAP workloads to the cloud with Azure, and offers tips based on what we learned along the way.

• Lessons learned when migrating SAP to the cloud
  https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/itshowcase/lessons-learned-when-migrating-sap-to-the-cloud

Microsoft & ServiceNow will accelerate digital transformation for enterprise and government customers. 

ServiceNow moves workloads to Microsoft Azure for highly regulated industries

Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT) and ServiceNow (NYSE: NOW) today announced a broader strategic partnership intended to significantly enhance the integration and optimization of the companies’ products, platform and cloud capabilities. Through this expanded partnership, the companies will enable enterprise customers in certain highly regulated industries, as well as government customers, to accelerate their digital transformation and drive new levels of insights and innovation. And, for the first time, ServiceNow will house its full SaaS experience on Azure in addition to its own private cloud. The expanded partnership will elevate ServiceNow to one of Microsoft’s strategic partners in its Global ISV Strategic Alliance Portfolio.

Read the following for more information:

• SERVICENOW: Microsoft and ServiceNow Announce Strategic Partnership
  https://www.servicenow.com/company/media/press-room/microsoft-and-servicenow-announce-strategic-partnership.html
• MICROSOFT: Microsoft and ServiceNow announce strategic partnership
  https://news.microsoft.com/2019/07/09/microsoft-and-servicenow-announce-strategic-partnership/

External news:

• BLOOMBERG: Microsoft Signs Broad Pact With ServiceNow, Extending Cloud Influence
  https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-07-09/microsoft-signs-broad-pact-with-servicenow-extending-cloud-influence?_lrsc=082a71e8-ebc0-4789-aa82-5fd72ea91f16
• YAHOO FINANCE: Microsoft, ServiceNow Partner to Boost Digital Transformation
  https://finance.yahoo.com/news/microsoft-servicenow-partner-boost-digital-140302680.html

Get the free "Windows 1.11" Experience Simulator is now available in the Windows App Store for Windows 10.  Hint: It’s actually more than meets the eye… 🙂

Experience 1985 nostalgia with a special edition Windows 10 PC app inspired by Windows 1.0—but one that’s been taken over by the Upside Down from Stranger Things. Explore the mysteries and secrets plaguing Hawkins, unlock unique show content and easter eggs, and play retro games and puzzles—all building off Stranger Things 3. Join Eleven, Steve, Dustin and gang as they seek to save Hawkins and the world. Embrace the 80s and grab your hairspray, because it’s basically the raddest show companion experience ever. But fair warning: beware the Mind Flayer. Download the Windows 1.11 app today. Best of luck!

Get it here:

• DOWNLOAD: Windows 1.11 Experience Simulator – FREE
  https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/p/windows-111/9pghpx7zmjrc?rtc=1&activetab=pivot:overviewtab

(Ironically, the app is much larger than Windows 1.11 actually was. )

Some Microsoft UC old timers may recall Microsoft Lync used to have a ‘lurker’ feature hidden that enabled the end user to “appear offline”.  The same feature currently exists for Microsoft Teams.

ACCESSING THE TEAMS CLIENT EXTENDED DIAGNOSTICS MENU
Setting a Teams client to “appear offline” requires going to the Microsoft Teams client for Windows and opening a hidden diagnostic menu.

The systray icon for Teams usually has a pretty spartan menu however if you do the following, a much larger menu is revealed:

1. 1. Click on the Teams icon in the client Systray 5 times.
   2. Right click on the Teams icon. This should reveal the hidden “Extended Diagnostics” menu for the Teams client.  There’s a couple interesting items that should show up including “Open chrome://page”, “Update rollback” and one called “Status Indicator”
   3. Click on “Status Indicator”. This enables you to access a secondary menu that has a number entries in it.
      

• Click on “statusIndicatorState:offline”.  You’ll notice that the status indicator icon on the Teams systray icon is an “empty circle” indicating you’re now presenting yourself as “offline”

To be clear, despite looking to the outside world like you’re not logged in, you are still very much logged into Microsoft Teams.  You can see chats/IMs & access Teams resources.  You can also see who is currently online while appearing to be offline.  (Hence the term, “Lurker” mode is often used for this)