Kurt Shintaku's Blog

Windows Server 2003 is going completely out of support in less than a year – specifically July 14, 2015.  Are you prepared?  Or will this be another “Windows XP fire drill” all over again? 

Get ready for Windows Server 2003’s EoS with this FREE training session on how to migrate to Windows Server 2013 R2 or Microsoft Azure Virtual Machines.

Out with the old! IT Pros, you’re probably aware that July 2014 marks the one-year countdown to end of support for Windows Server 2003. If you’re gearing up to migrate from Windows Server 2003/2008 to Windows Server 2012 R2 (on-premises and in Microsoft Azure), this Jump Start has a ton of helpful information for you.

Windows Server 2012 R2 provides many options to help ensure seamless transition to the new server platform. This course explores these tools and shows you how Windows Server 2012 R2 can ease your transition, not merely to upgrade earlier versions but also to migrate your key services efficiently, safely, and cost effectively. In these demo-rich sessions, industry experts also examine how to migrate your on-premises workloads to Microsoft Azure virtual machines (VMs) to create a truly hybrid cloud environment.

Course Outline:

• Introduction to Windows Server On-Premises Migration Tools​
• Active Directory Migration
• Migrating Windows Server 2003 Workloads to Windows Server 2012 R2
• Migrating WSUS to Windows Server 2012 R2
• Migrating Clustering to Windows Server 2012 R2
• Migrating Hyper-V VMs to Microsoft Azure

DATE/TIME:
July 24, 2014 9:00am–1:00pm PDT

REGISTRATION:
http://www.microsoftvirtualacademy.com/liveevents/migrate-legacy-windows-server-to-2012-r2-and-microsoft-azure

One of my favorite presenters is a gentleman named David Chappell, an independent industry speaker & technology advisor around current trends that are of importance to Enterprise companies.

He is especially well-versed on Cloud technologies and has done thorough analysis of all the major players including Amazon, Microsoft, Google, etc.

He recently did a Microsoft Azure presentation at the Cloud Expo and graciously published his slides for public consumption.  This provides folks with an independent 3rd party view on Microsoft’s offering in the PaaS & IaaS space… but presented without the gratuitous “marketing” and in a manner that is easily digestible.

I highly encourage folks to take advantage of the opportunity to download David’s slides.  They’re really good.

• POWERPOINT: David Chappell – “Microsoft Azure for Enterprises – What & Why?” (3.6MB, 38pgs, .PDF)
  http://res.sys-con.com/session/2212/David_Chappel.pdf

For those of you into “home automation”, controlling your home’s lights, locks, appliance, air conditioning, security, and other elements wirelessly and over the Internet, you’ll want to read this latest announcement:

• Microsoft joins key industry groups to deliver on promise of the Internet of Things
  http://blogs.technet.com/b/microsoft_blog/archive/2014/07/02/microsoft-joins-key-industry-groups-to-deliver-on-promise-of-the-internet-of-things.aspx

The AllSeen Alliance is located here:  https://allseenalliance.org/

You may notice that the AllSeen Alliance is distinctly open source & in particular, Linux-charged.  The post above explains where Microsoft’s role in this is:  Among our contributions to the AllSeen Alliance is our massive cloud infrastructure one of the only worldwide networks that provide Internet scale, flexibility & programmability that can aggregate & analyze the incredible amount of information that the Internet of Things targets.

CES 2015 – THE COMING BATTLEGROUND
One thing’s for certain:  The Consumer Electronics Expo in Jan 2015 sure is gonna be interesting.  South Hall 1,2 – which, in this blogger’s opinion – is usually the rag tag, rather hodge podge, disorganized battleground for home automation at CES, is gonna be really interesting with AllSeen suddenly backing the effort.  Usually dominated by the division of Z-Wave vs Zigbee, I think we’re gonna see a sudden & very loud shake up of the industry with the backing of big players in this market such as Qualcomm, Panasonic, Sharp, LG, & Microsoft.

• PRESS RELEASE: AllSeen Alliance “Microsoft Joins The AllSeen Alliance”
  https://allseenalliance.org/announcement/microsoft-joins-allseen-alliance
• REUTERS: “Microsoft sides with Qualcomm in showdown over connected home”
  http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/07/02/us-qualcomm-microsoft-idUSKBN0F709120140702
• Microsoft joins Qualcomm-backed AllSeen Alliance to standardize connected home tech
  http://m.wpcentral.com/microsoft-joins-qualcomm-backed-allseen-alliance-standardize-connected-home-tech

This is big news for Visual Studio developers.

Unity is a cross-platform game engine that is very widely adopted by game developers and allows for targeting desktops, consoles, mobile devices, and the web – including Windows Store (Win8) and Windows Phone.

From Microsoft CVP Developer Division, Soma Somasegar:

Today, I’m pleased to announce that we are acquiring SyntaxTree, the developers of the UnityVS plugin for Visual Studio.

UnityVS enables Unity developers to take advantage of the productivity of Visual Studio to author, browse and debug the code for their Unity applications. Already today, dozens of the biggest names in game development rely on Visual Studio and the UnityVS plugin.

With this acquisition, we have the opportunity to integrate this support for Unity even more deeply into Visual Studio, and to continue to push forward Visual Studio’s support for game developers.  Microsoft will also make the existing UnityVS plugin available for free on our download site shortly.

• Read more about the acquisition here:
  http://blogs.msdn.com/b/somasegar/archive/2014/06/30/microsoft-acquires-syntaxtree-creator-of-unityvs-plugin-for-visual-studio.aspx

If you’re in the market for MS Press eBooks or bound books, now’s the time to order:

Now through July 12, 2014, save 40% by applying discount code TECHED during checkout. And if that’s not enough, the Microsoft Press Store offers FREE shipping to US addresses, all the time. And if you’ve ever purchased one of these books, you’ll know just how heavy these can get – and heavy typically equals expensive shipping!

Want to take it with you wherever you go? The Microsoft Press Store has the flexibility to make that happen. This 40% discount also applies to your purchase of an eBook… and you’ll get three formats for use on your devices.

Ready to save? We thought so. Get your discount HERE and enjoy your new book!

• Read full post here:
  http://borntolearn.mslearn.net/btl/b/weblog/archive/2014/07/02/get-40-discount-in-the-microsoft-press-store-through-july-12.aspx

If you’re responsible for documenting architecture, you may want to take a look at some of these Visio Stencils for System Center products.

I have created some "Modern" style Visio stencil for the following System Center products:

• Virtual Machine Manager
• Data Protection Manager
• Configuration Manager
• Orchestrator

They are based on the modern style stencils from Microsoft available here.

They were based on stencils from Kevin Greene MVP (http://kevingreeneitblog.blogspot.co.uk/)

Please note they are for Visio 2013.

• DOWNLOAD: “Modern Visio Stencils” for System Center
  http://gallery.technet.microsoft.com/Modern-Style-Visio-da5a7470#content

UPDATE 7/14/14
Yup.  This stylus works like a charm.  There’s no Bluetooth pairing since there’s no button on the back end to “click” to turn on the Surface Pro 3 and initiate OneNote however the pen works immediately once you put the included AAAA battery in and it has two buttons, one for “erasing ink”, and one for “selecting ink”. 

The pen’s pressure sensitivity is every bit as good as the original OEM stylus/pen but it’s shorter and more compact.  One interesting thing is that the nib or the “writing tip” is made of a harder material that doesn’t wear down as easily as the OEM stylus/pen but still glides smoothly across the glass without scratching.

It is also not magnetic like the original stylus but I don’t know if that’s a problem for me.  The only other difference is that the OEM Surface Pro 3 stylus/pen is $49.99.  This is $9.25.

——————

ORIGINAL POST 7/5/14
For those of you looking for a backup stylus for your Surface Pro 3, check this out:  “HTC Stylus Scribe Digital Pen” 

I’ve ordered a few.  At $9.25, it’s not much of a risk at all and several folks on Reddit, in the Amazon comments, and other places have reported that it works perfectly on the Surface Pro 3.

I’ll post results once mine arrive but it looks really promising… and very inexpensive!

• HTC Stylus Scribe Digital Pen for Flyer, EVO View 4G, Jetstream Tablets (90H02900-00M Rev. A)
  http://www.amazon.com/dp/B008LEKI0O/
  ref=cm_sw_r_udp_awd_TQPTtb14JGGR37QA

Several major announcements were made in support of Microsoft’s commitment to encryption & transparency:

1. Outlook.com is now protected by Transport Layer Security, or TLS, encryption for both outbound and inbound email.
2. Outlook.com has also enabled Perfect Forward Secrecy (PFS) encryption support for sending and receiving mail between email providers.
3. OneDrive has now enabled PFS encryption support.
4. Microsoft opened the first “Microsoft Transparency Center”, on its Redmond, Wash. campus to provide participating governments with the ability to review source code for our key products, assure themselves of their software integrity, and confirm there are no “back doors.”

For more details, read the original blog post here:
http://blogs.technet.com/b/microsoft_on_the_issues/archive/2014/07/01/advancing-our-encryption-and-transparency-efforts.aspx

Surface Pro Artist’s very talented Rick Rodriguez was the first to report the availability of new Wintab drivers for artists that leverage the Surface Pro for use with various drawing & sketching tools.

For those not familiar with Wintab, these drivers make it possible for graphics applications to function correctly with the tablet/stylus/multitouch environment presented to the app by Surface Pro 3’s hardware.

Anyway, in case you missed it, here are two posts Rick’s written and taken great pains to document, to highlight how Surface Pro 3 has improved since announcement & release.  Kudos to Rick:

• N-trig’s Wintab Driver update now available for download
  http://surfaceproartist.com/blog/2014/6/20/n-trigs-wintab-driver-update-now-available-for-download
• Surface Pr o3: What runs, What Doesn’t
  http://surfaceproartist.com/blog/2014/5/29/surface-pro-3-what-runs-what-doesnt

This is a partial list of my online vacation reading.  If you’re a geek like me, my bet is you’ll appreciate some of this stuff too:

• Partnering with Amazon? Why fashion retailers should think twice – Fortune
  http://fortune.com/2014/06/26/
  partnering-with-amazon-fashion-retailers-should-think-twice/
• Superconducting secrets solved after 30 years – University of Cambridge
  http://www.cam.ac.uk/research/news/superconducting-secrets-solved-after-30-years
• The Surface Pro 3 is fueling my move from Evernote to OneNote | ZDNet
  “You can use Google Now to speak a note that gets added directly into the OneNote app installed on your Android”
  http://www.zdnet.com/the-surface-pro-3-is-fueling-my-move-from-evernote-to-onenote-7000030929/
• Shaw: When to punch back like Walmart, and when to step away from the keyboard | PR Week
  http://www.prweek.com/article/1301007/shaw-when-punch-back-walmart-when-step-away-keyboard
• New, high-energy rechargeable batteries – US National Science Foundation (NSF)
  http://www.nsf.gov/discoveries/disc_summ.jsp?cntn_id=131828&WT.mc_id=USNSF_51&WT.mc_ev=click
• BlackBerry: We’re still “a leader in mobile”, despite what everyone else says – Neowin
  http://www.neowin.net/news/blackberry-were-still-a-leader-in-mobile-whatever-everyone-else-says
• Most and Least Ticketed Types, Makes and Colors of Cars | Ford Mustang Parts Blog
  https://blog.cjponyparts.com/2014/07/most-and-least-ticketed-types-makes-and-colors-cars/
• Amazon sues former employee after he leaves for Google – CNET
  http://www.cnet.com/news/amazon-sues-former-employee-after-he-leaves-for-google/#ftag=CAD590a51e
• ‘Pacific Rim 2′ Set for 2017 – SlashFilm
  http://www.slashfilm.com/pacific-rim-2/
• Microsoft Highlights The Advantages Of Using Xbox Live Gold In Xbox One
  http://microsoft-news.com/microsoft-highlights-the-advantages-of-using-xbox-live-gold-in-xbox-one/
• Two hilarious, contrasting articles:
• FEB 2014: Behavior-tracking Nest Won’t Share Your Info with Google: CEO – NBC News
  http://www.nbcnews.com/tech/security/behavior-tracking-nest-wont-share-your-info-google-ceo-n13226
• JUL 2014: Nest to Share User Information With Google for the First Time – Digits – WSJ
  http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2014/06/24/nest-to-share-user-information-with-google-for-first-time/?mod=rss_Technology
• It’s Time to Opt Out of Impulse Buying – NYTimes.com
  http://mobile.nytimes.com/2014/06/23/your-money/household-budgeting/its-time-to-opt-out-of-impulse-buying.html?referrer
• Ouch! Verizon pulls free LTE for Chromebook Pixel one year early — GigaOm Tech News and Analysis
  http://gigaom.com/2014/06/23/ouch-verizon-pulls-free-lte-for-chromebook-pixel-one-year-early/
• Red Cross Says How It Spent Sandy Money Is ‘Trade Secret’
  http://www.psmag.com/navigation/business-economics/red-cross-says-spent-hurricane-sandy-donations-trade-secret-84574/