Kurt Shintaku's Blog

Windows 7 Professional “end of sales” is on October 31, 2016.

You hopefully know by now that Windows 7’s “end of support” date is Jan 14, 2020. (Having lost mainstream support back in Jan 13, 2015) However, it’s also important to know that Windows 7 Professional also has an “end of sales” date which is October 31, 2016.

End of sales refers to the date when a particular version of Windows is no longer shipped to retailers or Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs). Examples of OEMs are Dell and Toshiba—PC manufacturers who often preinstall Windows software.

This means that Windows 7 Professional will not be preinstalled on machines from the OEM as of October 31, 2016 (or possibly earlier depending on the OEM), and instead a more current version of Windows can be installed/shipped.  Downgrade rights will be available from qualifying editions/versions of Windows however for individuals that wish to do so.

• SUPPORT: End of Sales & End of Support
  https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/13853/windows-lifecycle-fact-sheet#section_2
• LICENSING: Downgrade Rights
  https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/licensing/learn-more/brief-downgrade-rights.aspx

Two major promotions for folks that are students are available at the Microsoft Store for a limited time.

• XBOX ONE/SURFACE
  Save $300 when students purchase an Xbox One and Surface at Microsoft Stores
• DELL PC
  Get a free 32” Samsung Flatscreen TV when you purchase a Dell PC over $699*. (TV valued at $320)

Read more about these promos here:

• DEALS: Study & Play Promotions for Students
  https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/back-to-school

If you’re into Containers & interested in the content Microsoft delivered at DockerCon, here’s where you can download the PowerPoint decks:

• POWERPOINT: Windows Server & Docker:  The Internals Behinds Bringing Docker & Containers to Windows
  https://onedrive.live.com/view.aspx?resid=7DF0E65867EC4C8F!609979&ithint=file%2cpptx&app=PowerPoint&authkey=!AAVWX4E2t-Av5Fc
• POWERPOINT: Dockerizing Windows Server Applications
  https://onedrive.live.com/view.aspx?resid=7DF0E65867EC4C8F!609975&ithint=file%2cpptx&app=PowerPoint&authkey=!AKWxLfcnZoCnCZA

Skype for Business User Tips & Tricks Step by Step for Anyone is over 100 pages of tips, tricks and hacks by Skype for Business MVP Matt Landis. This book will make any novice or expert user of Skype for Business (Lync) even more productive than they were before.

What some people are saying:
"My organization migrated to Office 365 last year. We’ve had a slow adoption to the full toolset, but the book "Skype for Business User Tips & Tricks Step by Step for Anyone" has certainly been helpful. It’s nice to have a document with a table of contents…much better than the help file within Skype!" –Rick Grams II, Operations & Technology Leadership

"[Skype for Business User Tips & Tricks] has a plethora of tips and tricks around utilizing Skype for Business! …this grouping of tips can you great workflows that you can share with your customers!" –Todd Sweetser, Microsoft TS2 Team more

You can also read a subset of the tips online here:
http://windowspbx.blogspot.com/search/label/LyncUserTip

Grab the eBook here:

• DOWNLOAD: Free eBook, “Skype for Business User Tips & Tricks for Anyone” (PDF, 200pgs, 3.88MB)
  https://gallery.technet.microsoft.com/Skype-for-Business-User-600b52ba

Installing & Upgrading Skype for Business Server Step by Step for Anyone is a free eBook by Skype for Business MVP matt Landis that takes a generalist IT person step by step through the process of installing and/or upgrading Skype for Business.

This book is in progress which means more chapters are in the works and coming soon!

Current Chapters

• Installing Skype for Business Server Standard Edition Step by Step
• Lync 2013 to Skype for Business Server 2015 Front End In-Place Upgrade  Step by Step
• Edge In-Place Upgrade Step by Step
• Enabling Enterprise Voice Features

Grab the eBook here:

• DOWNLOAD: Free eBook, “Installing & Upgrading Skype for Business Server Step by Step for Anyone” (PDF, 59pg, 2.83MB)
  https://gallery.technet.microsoft.com/Skype-for-Business-Server-f4dac647/view/Reviews

At Build 2016, we announced a limited preview of Azure Service Fabric on Linux, which you can use to build, deploy, and manage cloud applications by using the same core technology that Microsoft has used to build massively scalable solutions on Windows.

With this preview, you can create  Reliable Actors and stateless Reliable Services in Java on top of our runtime. Developers can build apps by using the tools with which they’re familiar, including Yeoman scaffolding, Gradle builds, and Vagrant-based setup.

The SDK and runtime also provide support for containers and guest executables, as well as the ability to create and deploy apps to a cluster on Azure or your development computer.

Read more here:

• BLOG: Service Fabric Preview on Linux
  https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/azureservicefabric/2016/06/16/service-fabric-preview-on-linux/

Sign up for our preview here:

• BETA: Azure Service Fabric for Linux
  http://aka.ms/servicefabriclinuxpreview

“Administrating Skype for Business Server 2015 Step by Step for Anyone” is written by Fabrizio Volpe and Matt Landis (Skype for Business MVPs).

It covers the following:

• Working with the Control Panel
• Adding Users
• Setting up Voice Policies
• Configuring a Dial Plan
• Managing Response Groups
• And much more.

Download the eBook here:

• Administrating Skype for Business Server 2015 Step by Step for Anyone (PDF, 87 pgs, 4.14MB)
  https://gallery.technet.microsoft.com/Administrating-Skype-for-ec6e4c62

Microsoft Azure has over 75 services available within it and “Azure Compute” is just one of those. 

This a diagram that lays out Azure Compute & related services that are involved with the execution, management, and automation of Virtual Machines in the Azure cloud.

• DOWNLOAD: Azure Compute Services visual diagram (.PDF)
  https://1drv.ms/b/s!Ao0Dfn8MQdoAoPc4amHdAlRW-onVlw

In case you hadn’t heard, the licensing for Windows Server & System Center are moving from a per-processor license to a per-core license.

The details of the licensing change are documented in the following downloadable datasheets and FAQs below, but the big point to know is:

For Windows Server:

Customers with processor licenses with Software Assurance (SA) can upgrade to Windows Server 2016 at no additional cost. At end of the SA term, processor licenses will be exchanged for core licenses and customers can renew their SA on core licenses.

Windows Server Datacenter and Standard Edition 2proc licenses with SA will be exchanged for a minimum of 8 two-core pack licenses (16 core licenses) or the actual number of physical cores in use.

For System Center:

Customers with processor licenses with Software Assurance (SA) can upgrade to System Center 2016 at no additional cost. At end of the SA term, processor licenses will be exchanged for core licenses and customers can renew their SA on core licenses.

System Center 2-proc licenses with SA will be exchanged for a minimum of 8 two-core pack licenses (16 core licenses) or the actual number of physical cores in use on the server under management.

Read more below:

• Windows Server 2016 Datasheet
  http://download.microsoft.com/download/7/2/9/7290EA05-DC56-4BED-9400-138C5701F174/WS2016LicensingDatasheet.pdf
• System Center 2016 Licensing Datasheet
  http://download.microsoft.com/download/7/2/9/7290EA05-DC56-4BED-9400-138C5701F174/SC%202016%20SE_DC_Licensing_Datasheet.pdf
• Windows Server 2016 and System Center 2016 Pricing & Licensing FAQ
  http://download.microsoft.com/download/7/2/9/7290EA05-DC56-4BED-9400-138C5701F174/WS2016Datasheet.pdf

Skype for Business brings the power of professional meeting and collaboration technology together with an experience that is familiar and intuitive. Add in seamless integration with Office, and a single unified experience whether on your PC, Mac, iOS, Android, or Windows Mobile, and Skype for Business offers the industry’s most complete and user-friendly set of messaging, voice, video, and conferencing capabilities.

This is a downloadable document that provides a high-level comparison between Skype for Business & Slack, Cisco (Jabber, WebEx, Spark) & Google Hangouts as of May 2016.

• INFO: Comparing Skype for Business versus Slack, Cisco, and Google Hangouts
  https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=52979