Kurt Shintaku's Blog

Come and join Xamarin and Microsoft after the WWDC 2016 State of the Union. We’ll be providing food and drinks and chatting about iOS.

WHO
All iOS & OS X devs are welcome!
(even if you’re not attending WWDC)

WHEN
Monday, June 13
Starting immediately after the “State of the Union” (estimated 5:00)

WHERE
Market St. & 9th St.
1355 Market Street, 3FL
San Francisco, CA 94103
(behind the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium) 
  
For more information, visit:

• EVENT: Xamarin & Microsoft WWDC 2016 Party – June 13, 5PM-8:30PM (PDT)
  https://wwdcparty.ms/

Are you looking for a quick & simple way to get your team together, create plans, assign & collaborate on tasks, set due days, update statuses, share files ,etc.?

Check out the new Microsoft Planner for Office 365!

Today marks the general availability of Microsoft Planner. Over the next several weeks, Planner will roll out to all eligible Office 365 customers worldwide. This includes Office 365 Enterprise E1–E5, Business Essentials, Premium and Education subscription plans.

All users with eligible subscription plans will automatically see the Planner tile appear in the Office 365 app launcher when it is available for them to use. No specific action by Office 365 admins is needed.

The addition of Planner to the Office 365 lineup introduces a new and improved way for businesses, schools and organizations to structure teamwork easily and get more done. With Planner, teams can create new plans; organize, assign and collaborate on tasks; set due dates; update statuses and share files, while visual dashboards and email notifications keep everyone informed on progress.

…

Planner is rolling out starting today to Office 365 tenants.  All tenants should be updated in the next few weeks.

• ANNOUNCEMENT: Microsoft Planner ready for showtime
  https://blogs.office.com/2016/06/06/microsoft-planner-ready-for-showtime/
• FEEDBACK: UserVoice page for Microsoft Planner for Office 365
  https://planner.uservoice.com/forums/330525

You’ve likely used OneNote before. But perhaps you’ve wondered if there’s more you can do, or if there’s a faster way to do something.

That’s why we created this eBook — so you can learn about our favorite hidden features, techniques, and timesavers in OneNote 2016 for Windows.

• DOWNLOAD: eBook–“OneNote 2016 Tips & Tricks”: https://support.office.com/en-us/article/eBook-OneNote-2016-Tips-Tricks-4e08cf8b-dc37-4229-bdef-1f580220b6f5

More OneNote training is available here:
https://support.office.com/en-us/article/OneNote-2016-training-51d1d95b-bdf4-48df-acad-a3331dec8f97

Today we announced the general availability of SQL Server 2016, the world’s fastest and most price-performant database for HTAP (Hybrid Transactional and Analytical Processing) with updateable, in-memory columnstores and advanced analytics through deep integration with R Services.

Software applications can now deploy sophisticated analytics and machine learning models in the database resulting in 100x or more speedup in time to insight, compared to deployments of such models outside of the database.

“Both industry analysts and customers recognize the breadth and depth of Microsoft’s capabilities in data, intelligence and the cloud. Microsoft is the only company recognized as a leader across data platforms and cloud by Gartner in both vision and execution in database, business intelligence, advanced analytics, data warehouse, cloud infrastructure and cloud application platforms, and the furthest in vision and ability to execute within the Leaders Quadrant  in the Gartner Magic Quadrant for Operational DBMS.”

Read the announcement & details of the product on the SQL Server blog:

• SQL SERVER BLOG: “SQL Server 2016 is generally available today
  ”https://blogs.technet.microsoft.com/dataplatforminsider/2016/06/01/sql-server-2016-is-generally-available-today/
• SQL SERVER SITE:
  https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/server-cloud/products/sql-server/

Our next group of Azure Active Directory Premium webinars will start June 7th.  Please note, we are running these on Tuesday/ Wednesday/ Thursday this month.

These webinars are free of cost and are currently held monthly with new sessions being added.  They are 1 hour which includes an anonymous Q&A session with our Engineering Team.

To stay apprised of these and other events, visit:

• Azure Active Directory Premium Customer Training Webinars
  https://info.microsoft.com/AADP-Webinar-CLE_AADP-Main-Landing-Page.html

Yesterday at Citrix Synergy in Las Vegas, Citrix chief executive Kirill Tatarinov said the following:

“We will see some really incredible introduction of technologies as a result of this renewed partnership,” he said.

“Probably most exciting, we’ve been working together to enable XenDesktop VDI to help you deliver Windows 10 desktop as a service from Azure cloud.”

Strangely, most of the media didn’t pick up on that.  Perhaps they aren’t aware that Windows client OS has never been available in cloud-based virtual desktops… until now.

This means for the first time, via the partnership between Citrix & Microsoft, it will be soon possible to license, provision & deliver a full & complete Windows 10 virtual desktop experience to any Citrix receiver through Microsoft Azure & XenDesktop VDI.

(Note: Amazon Workspaces does not serve Windows client desktops. They serve Windows Server-based desktops with numerous caveats.)

Here’s more on this from Microsoft CVP Brad Anderson himself:

Also, here’s Brad Anderson via the Microsoft In The Cloud blog:

“Building out (and then maintaining) the infrastructure or farms for centralized apps and desktops can be really daunting.  Why not let Microsoft and Citrix do this for you?  This request has come up from a lot of our customers.  In fact, one of the most common requests has been for Citrix to offer managed services that Citrix maintains and operates.  Moving forward, Citrix will deliver “as-a-service solutions” hosted in Azure for all of their customers.

Also, later this year, Citrix will offer customers who have purchased Windows Software Assurance on a per-user basis the option to host their Windows 10 Enterprise Current Branch for Business images on Azure through its XenDesktop VDI solution. This will be an industry first!  This means you can deploy virtual apps or desktops and accelerate Windows 10 adoption for those customers who are using Microsoft Cloud solutions.“

• Microsoft and Citrix Partner to Help Customers Move to the Cloud
  https://blogs.technet.microsoft.com/in_the_cloud/2016/05/24/microsoft-and-citrix-partner-to-help-customers-move-to-the-cloud/
• Video Recap: Big Announcements at Citrix Synergy 2016
  https://blogs.technet.microsoft.com/in_the_cloud/2016/05/26/video-recap-big-announcements-at-citrix-synergy-2016/

Azure DevTest Labs provides developers and testers a self-service sandbox environment to quickly create Dev/Test environments while minimizing waste and controlling costs. Check out this video to see all the benefits you can get from Azure DevTest Labs. More information can be found at http://aka.ms/dtl. 

Here’s part of the GA announcement:

Today, we are very excited to announce the general availability of Azure DevTest Labs: your self-service sandbox environment in Azure to quickly create Dev/Test environments while minimizing waste and controlling costs.

We’ve been hearing from a lot of customers about all kinds of challenges they’ve been facing in their Dev/Test environments. With the power of cloud, some problems have started being solved such as the hardware maintenance cost. On the other hand, there are still a few problems many customers have to deal with day to day, especially:

• The delays in delivering environments to developers/testers that are introduced by the traditional environments request model;
• Time-consuming environment configuration;
• Production fidelity issues;
• And the high cost of the cloud resource management in order to optimize the resource usage.

Here’s a brief video intro to Azure DevTest Labs:

Read more at the announcement here:

• DEVTESTLABS BLOG: Announcing General Availability of Azure DevTest Labs
  https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/devtestlab/2016/05/25/announcing-general-availability-of-azure-devtest-labs/

Here’s where to get started:

• SITE: Azure DevTest Labs
  https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/services/devtest-lab/

Amgen’s Tour of California, a cycling tour, is using Microsoft Band 2 on 10 of their riders and tracking each rider’s measurables for analysis, with the goal of ultimately having a better understanding what it takes health-wise to complete an event like the Amgen Tour.

Welcome to our new Microsoft Band blog! Each day we will analyze rider data recorded from the previous day’s stage. We provided wearable wrist units to 10 of the 144 riders in the race to track metrics such as speed/distance (via GPS), heart rate, calories, UV exposure, and sleep patterns. During the course of the week we hope to provide insight on physical requirements it takes to complete a challenging 8-day stage race such as the 782-mile Amgen Tour of California.”

• AMGEN TOUR OF CALIFORNIA: Microsoft Band Blog
  http://www.amgentourofcalifornia.com/competition/microsoftband/
• GEEKWIRE: “How professional cyclists are using the Microsoft Band to give fans new performance insights”
  http://www.geekwire.com/2016/professional-cyclists-using-microsoft-band-give-fans-new-performance-insights/

Cloud computing is uniquely susceptible to the perils of myths. In this research, Gartner writes, “From a consumer perspective, ‘in the cloud’ means where the magic happens, where the implementation details are supposed to be hidden.”

To address this and other misperceptions that surround cloud, Gartner offers a top 10 list of cloud myths—covering important workloads like dev-test as well as issues such as security, scalability, and hybrid capability—to clarify how the cloud actually works for the enterprise.**

Get the report here:

• WHITEPAPER: Gartner Research -The Top 10 Cloud Myths
  https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/resources/gartner-top-10-cloud-myths-2015/

The Azure Cost Estimator is a locally installable tool (.MSI) which will scan your environment and tell you what can be moved to the cloud and the anticipated cost.  

The Azure Cost Estimator has been designed keeping in mind the need to provide the IT manager of next generation organizations the ability to quickly assess running cost of the existing on-premises workload on Azure.

About the tool

1. The tool provides real world machine hardware usage
2. It recommends appropriate Azure instance to match the scanned workload
3. It also generates 31-day cost estimates of running such an Azure instance

Features

1. The tool supports
   1. Microsoft technologies (Hyper-V, SCVMM)
   2. VMware technologies (vCenter, ESXi)
   3. Physical environments (Windows, Linux)
2. Support to A series, D-series and G-series Virtual Machines
3. Support to all regions apart from US
4. Price conversion in 24 currencies with the latest prices.
5. It is able to export to Excel/.csv that can be used for discussions with Systems Integration partner or a Microsoft representative
6. Create Cost Estimates and My Scenarios from the available Services
7. Cost Estimates can be generated using Scan tool results
8. Support for IP Range Feature in the Scan Your Environment Functionality
9. Import and Export functionality in "Scenarios"
10. Updated Sample Scenarios
11. New services added in tool – Unlimited Data Plan, Metered Data Plan, Data Catalog, Data Lake Store, Data Lake Analytics, SQL Data Warehouse, IoT Hub, Application Gateways, Active Directory B2C, Active Directory Domain Services, Dev Test Lab, Service Fabric, Security Center
12. No data is sent to Microsoft at any time. All report and profile information resides on the machine where the tool is installed

Value Proposition

1. Can be Installed and a profile scan completed within 15 minutes (can be deployed on a Windows client)
2. Enables a comparison with on-premises running costs (e.g. hardware, power, cooling, building, security, and systems management among others)

This should make comparisons between different scenarios much easier for individuals calculating total costs.  (Note: No information is captured by Microsoft.)

• DOWNLOAD: Microsoft Azure Cost Estimator Tool (12.1MB)
  https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=43376