There’s stuff like this all over the place in Redmond if you look close enough. This one is just a little obvious. Our corporate HQ is sorta like a giant ‘Where’s Waldo’ of geekiness that interestingly no one talks much about… most cuz everyone’s too busy doing geeky work stuff. 
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UPDATE 3/9/15: DON’T FORGET THE AZURE CREDIT
I forgot to mention a really epic benefit of MSDN Platforms subscription. Once you’ve got access to all this software… where are you going to install and test it?
Turns out that that the “MSDN Platforms” subscription also provides the subscriber with a whopping $100/month credit to use Microsoft Azure. This allows you to not only stand up server VMs in Microsoft’s cloud, you can also install any server product you require on them through your MSDN Platforms sub.
Read the following for more information:
http://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/pricing/member-offers/msdn-benefits-details/
ORIGINAL POST 2/19/15:
As a tech, I realize that for many like myself, TechNet was an invaluable resource for having the flexibility to use in a lab – including for the purposes of security testing. The alternative, MSDN subscriptions, has often been too expensive for the traditional Technet subscriber, in that the subscription editions that included “comparable” evaluation/testing software were simply too expensive. (http://www.visualstudio.com/
products/how-to-buy-vs) For example: The lowest edition with Operating Systems, Server products, etc. is Visual Studio Premium, priced at a $6,100 MSRP.
ENTER “MSDN PLATFORMS”
One solution may be a “MSDN Platforms subscription”. (http://www.visualstudio.com/products/msdn-platforms-vs) We released a subscription a little more than a year ago, called MSDN Platforms – exclusively for Volume License customers – that you may wish to look at as it contains most of the operating systems & server products that were in TechNet, including:
It does not however contain Office, nor does it include Visual Studio development tools itself. (http://www.visualstudio.com/en-us/products/msdn-subscriptions-vs)
Generally, I believe it costs roughly ~$1000/year which puts it in the ballpark of the higher end TechNet Plus subscriptions which was ~$700/year. You will notice in the snapshot below however that as I mentioned before, we do not allow general consumers to purchase the MSDN Platforms subscription: It is purchasable only by Volume Licensing customers, and thus requires a volume licensing agreement & a volume license reseller to enroll an organization.
(Taken from http://www.visualstudio.com/en-us/products/msdn-subscriptions-vs )
For more information on this option, read the following links:
(Note: Volume licensing is only for individuals that commit to purchasing Microsoft-licensed products in quantity. For more information on how volume licensing works, click here. Click here to see what volume licensing program your organization may qualify for. Click here to find a volume license reseller.)
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As a follow up to the launch of Outlook for iOS and Android, the team and we wanted to give everyone a deeper look into Outlook from an IT point of view. We know people are interested in hearing more about the app’s architecture, security, and administrative controls, so I’ve provided more detail in the document link below.
Note: To download the document below or review the YamJam “transciption”, you will need to be a member of the Office IT Pro network on Yammer. Read about how to join the network here: https://kurtsh.com/2014/07/08/news-join-the-office-365-technical-network-free/
As it states, there was also a YamJam (a mass text-based social discussion on the Yammer social service) that took place on February 4, 2015 in the Exchange IT Pro Yammer group. If you’re interested in reviewing the threads of the YamJam about Outlook for iOS, please see the following URLs:
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Happy dance!
The visionary designer behind Adobe just joined Microsoft to lead the design of our most important products, including Office 365.
This couldn’t have been cheap. This is the kind of of hire we get when we target expertise for R&D, but now it’s product centric. I like the commitment to great design. Read about it after the jump.
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Well, that was sudden.
Julia White just announced SharePoint Server 2016 and it’s focus is on several key areas:
Julia on where to get more information:
“You can expect to hear a lot more from us come May 4-8, 2015 at Microsoft Ignite in Chicago, IL. We’ll have the best and brightest minds in one place to share all things SharePoint and Office 365. Have a look at the SharePoint and related sessions list with more to come, and know that we’ll soon release our list of hands-on-labs, all breakout speakers and pre-day trainings. Excited to see you there.”
For more, check out the post at:
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Most parents have discovered the wonderful, creative effect that Minecraft has on their children, and found that it just as importantly provides an opportunity to play with their children in a safe & collaborative way that other technologies simply don’t provide. And most kids that discover Minecraft immerse themselves fully in its world and apply their creative juices to its toolset.
It’s generally agreed upon by both educators & child psychologists that this sort of creative playground & parent/child collaborative endeavor is very positive.
But what effect does it have on kids? What skills do they acquire & what lessons do they learn?
It turns out there’s a lot that’s been published from research studies that point to the benefit of Minecraft for kids:
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For those of you that live in the Windows desktop environment, you know that thanks mostly to Twitter itself, the number of desktop Twitter clients is few & far between.
After having to drop MetroTwit (pretty much the undisputed best Twitter client the Windows desktop) due to the authors discontinuing availability of the install, I’ve been searching for an alternative. I’ve used most of them and resigned myself to using the web version of Tweetdeck. (Because the Windows client is just a view of the web app, and doesn’t provide manageability or offline use)
Robert McLaws, tech enthusiast & CTO of Advanced REI, however pointed me to the actual installer for MetroTwit, something that is not otherwise available off the http://metrotwit.com web site any more. I suspect that this only usable if you were a PREVIOUS MetroTwit user (since Twitter only allows a certain number of users per Twitter application & MetroTwit I think ran out of allocations) however it’s a great way to get MetroTwit BACK on systems that you no longer have it on, if you were a previous user – especially if you were a paid-for MetroTwit PLUS user.
So, if you like scrolling column layouts, are tired of dealing with the instability of Tweetdeck & you want to return to MetroTwit like myself, here’s your ticket to freedom:
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Today, Raspberry Pi 2 & Microsoft announced that:
Eben Upton, CEO of the Raspberry Pi Foundation, said:
"We’ve had people queuing up and saying they want Windows, the whole time."
"I think there’s a sense that ‘you’re a real PC’ if you run Windows."
Kevin Dallas, GM of the Windows IoT Group, said:
“We see the Maker community as an amazing source of innovation for smart, connected devices that represent the very foundation of the next wave of computing, and we’re excited to be a part of this community. Last year we took an important step in embracing the Maker movement by creating the Windows Developer Program for IoT and delivering Windows for the Intel Galileo board. We are taking the next step by bringing Microsoft’s leading development tools, services, and ecosystem to the Raspberry Pi community for free through our Windows Developer Program for IoT.”
For more on the Microsoft & Raspberry Pi Foundation announcement:
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Our little ad. Watch for it in the 3rd quarter:
"Microsoft Super Bowl Commercial 2015: Estella’s Brilliant Bus"
Estella Pyfrom brings technology access to kids, literally. Her Brilliant Bus is a mobile learning station that gives under served communities access to the technology that will help them reach their potential.
Join us as we celebrate empowering stories of people who achieve their goals, helped in part by Microsoft technology. What can you do?
Watch more empowering videos here:
http://awe.sm/gLwvC
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Those of you who’ve updated your Microsoft/Nokia Lumia Windows Phone to the generic build of the Developer’s Preview of Windows Phone 8.1 may want to return to Windows Phone 8.
VERIZON WIRELESS CUSTOMERS:
This will be the case, for instance, when your wireless carrier publishes an official release of Windows Phone 8.1 for your device – like the Lumia Icon. You’ll need to start with WP8 to get to the official release.
To begin, you’ll need to download the “Nokia Lumia Software Recovery Tool”. This is available here:
It’s pretty self explanatory once the tool is downloaded and installed however if needed, the remaining instructions on how to accomplish this once downloaded are documented here:
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