Kurt Shintaku's Blog

The Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack (MDOP) is a suite of technologies available as a subscription for Software Assurance customers.

MDOP virtualization technologies help personalize the user experience, simplify application deployment, and improve application compatibility with the Windows operating system (UE-V/App-V/MED-V).

Additionally, MDOP helps manage, monitor, and deploy key Windows features (MBAM/AGPM). Using MDOP shifts desktop repair from reactive to proactive, saving time and removing challenges associated with troubleshooting and repairing system failures (DaRT).

• Microsoft Application Virtualization (App-V)
• Microsoft User Experience Virtualization (UE-V)
• Microsoft Enterprise Desktop Virtualization (MED-V)
• Microsoft Advanced Group Policy Management (AGPM)
• Microsoft Diagnostics and Recovery Toolset (DaRT)
• Microsoft BitLocker Administration and Monitoring (MBAM)

NEWS: MDOP 2012 Now Available
http://blogs.windows.com/windows/b/business/archive/2012/11/01/mdop-2012-now-available.aspx 

DOWNLOAD:

• TECHNET: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/subscriptions/downloads/default.aspx?PV=42:178
• MSDN: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/subscriptions/downloads/default.aspx?PV=42:178
• MVLS: https://www.microsoft.com/licensing/servicecenter/

UPDATE 11/11/12:
Citrix Receiver (RELEASE) hit the Windows Store on Friday.  This replaces the "Preview" that Citrix originally posted 2 weeks ago. (4.53MB)  http://apps.microsoft.com/webpdp/en-us/app/citrix-receiver/dcbba44a-a3fd-41f4-951d-1117998c583d 

Support for Citrix Receiver for Windows RT is available here: http://forums.citrix.com/category.jspa?categoryID=335 

————————–

ORIGINAL POST:
There’s been a lot of discussion about the Citrix Receiver Preview that was posted to the Windows Store for Windows 8/RT-based devices recently. 

I got to talk with my counterpart at Citrix to ask him to help me understand what sort of requirements the Citrix Receiver Preview has & here’s a quick summary of my Q&A with him:

1. Will older versions of XenApp or XenDesktop work with the Citrix Receiver Preview posted to the Windows Store?
   — No.  Only newer versions will work.  Minimum of XenApp 6 & XenDesktop 5.5.  This is unfortunately not documented.
2. Is there additional infrastructure required to use the Citrix Receiver Preview?
   — Yes.  Customers must have a Citrix StoreFront to connect to their backend.  There are also explicit setup procedures & system requirements to use the Windows 8/RT version of the Receiver.  This documented in the blog post below.
3. Is there a place where one can read more information about the Citrix Receiver?
   — Yes.  Interested users should go to the following blog which is the personal blog of the Product Manager responsible for the Preview.
   http://blogs.citrix.com/2012/10/25/microsoft-launches-windows-8/
4. Is there a Support forum for users interested in using the Citrix Receiver for Windows 8/RT?
   — Yes.  http://forums.citrix.com/category.jspa?categoryID=335
5. Will my Citrix Secure Gateway work with Citrix Receiver for Windows 8 / RT?
   — No.  If external access is a requirement, a Citrix Netscalar solution must replace the Citrix Secure Gateway.  The Netscalar solution incidentally may be virtualized in Hyper-V for convenience.

Cloud-based Software Development?  Yeah, we got that!

Introducing ‘Team Foundation SERVICE’ – the Windows Azure-based RCS & collaboration platform for developers.

Team Foundation Server is a mainstay of Microsoft’s collaboration platform for software development teams. It provides modern application lifecycle support for modern app development, including agile project planning and management tools, version control, build automation, and the continuous deployment automation needed to effectively and efficiently manage software development projects.

In addition to the value TFS provides to development teams targeting Windows, more and more we’re seeing it used in heterogeneous environments as well, whether developers are using Visual Studio or Eclipse or Xcode; whether developers are building apps with .NET or Java or C++ or JavaScript or any number of other languages; and whether developers are building apps for Windows, Windows Phone, Windows Azure, Android, iOS, MacOS, or Linux.  We’re also seeing the cloud become a key enabler across the lifecycle of applications.

Last year at the Build conference, we announced Team Foundation Service, a version of Team Foundation Server hosted on Windows Azure, accessible from anywhere using existing and familiar tools, and welcoming all languages and platforms.  Over the last year, we’ve run the service as a preview, and during this time we’ve continued to build out the breadth and depth of functionality included. Today, I’m very excited to share that Team Foundation Service is now released, out of preview and available for full production use.  Check it out for yourself at https://tfs.visualstudio.com.

…

And what’s even cooler, is that it’s TOTALLY FREE for development groups up to 5 users!  And MSDN subscribers will get the service absolutely no charge!

Free Plan
A plan for up to 5 users is now available!

What it includes

• Up to 5 users
• Unlimited number of projects
• Version control
• Work item tracking
• Agile planning tools
• Feedback management
• Build (still in preview)

Read more at:

• http://blogs.msdn.com/b/somasegar/archive/2012/10/31/team-foundation-service-is-released.aspx
• https://tfs.visualstudio.com/en-us/pricing/information/

For the next 8 days, you’ll be able to register to get a Windows Phone 8 developer account for $8 instead of the regular $99 price.

Yes.  $8.  That’s not a typo.  You can “unlock” your phone for homebrew apps & sideload whatever the heck you want… all for just $8.

Join
The new Windows Phone Dev Center has everything you need to create great apps and add them to the Windows Phone Store for the world to see, try, and buy. You can start creating apps anytime. When you’re ready to offer them in the Store, you’ll need a subscription to the Dev Center where you can start the process of adding them to the Store catalog. Your subscription includes some useful tools and your own personal dashboard to track your apps and your earnings.

How do I join?
You need a valid credit card, a PayPal account, or a promo code.

Your annual subscription is $99 USD. It’s free if you’re a DreamSpark student.

$8 for 8
Register between 10/30/12 and 11/7/12 and save $91(U.S.) on your Windows Phone Dev Center Individual account registration. Click here for more details.

What do I get?
Your subscription connects you to tools, information, tips, code samples, and a broad community of developers. You can:

• Get free development tools, including a phone emulator to test your app
• Explore code samples and all the information in our developer library
• Read tips about selling your app
• Review our policy guidelines and certification requirements
• See tips and guidelines for creating apps that reflect the beauty of our design concepts
• Create apps with trial options
• Enable in-app purchasing, so customers can buy things within your app
• Test your app with a real phone
• Submit free and paid apps to the Store
• Distribute your app around the world and set country/region-specific price tiers
• Watch your progress and manage your apps in a personalized dashboard
• Ask questions, share advice, or talk with other Windows Phone developer

To sign up & get more details, visit:

• LINK: Windows Phone Dev Center
  https://dev.windowsphone.com/en-us/join

Here’s a summary of many of the comments made by the media around their first look at Windows Phone 8:
(http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/news/Press/2012/Oct12/10-29WindowsPhone8PR.aspx)

• “Windows Phone 8 is a delight to use… Its combined good looks, functional features and sexy new hardware make it a winning smartphone.” – Wall Street Journal
• “Microsoft unveils Windows Phone 8 breakthrough features” – USA Today
• “Windows Phone’s live tiles are far enough removed from the static icons of iOS and the confusing widget farm that Android has become to put clear blue water between Microsoft and its competitors.” – UK Telegraph
• “Nice though the 8X hardware is, this phone, like all smartphones, is defined by its operating system. While 2010′s Windows Phone 7 was good; last year’s Windows Phone 7.5 was really good. And Windows Phone 8, from my brief time with it, seems to be really, really good” – Time Magazine
• “Windows Phone 8 makes big changes while remaining true to its core. It’s sharp, colorful, clean, and simple, but also hip and a bit exuberant.” – CNET
• “There’s a lot to love about Windows Phone… Windows Phone 8 shines on the 8X and the phone is a pleasure to both hold and carry around.” – Mashable
• “Windows Phone 8 is elegant, personable, and different… If iOS bores you and Android intimidates you, Windows Phone will likely dazzle you.” – PC Mag
• “The live tiles and the distinctive user interface remain Microsoft’s biggest selling points for Windows Phone.” – Associated Press
• “Who would have thought that in 2012 Microsoft would be the company with the boldest phone and software design?” – The Verge’s Josh Topolsky
• “Redmond is presenting one of the most compelling ecosystem stories in the business right now, and the 8X and Lumia 920 are both lining up to be formidable flagship phones over the next several months” – The Verge
• “With each new generation of Windows Phone, Microsoft not only closes the gap with iOS and Android in important ways, but it also differentiates in important ways — and that might be more true in version 8 than ever before.” – The Verge
• “I am indeed composing a love letter to stock software today, only to my eternal surprise I am doing so in Microsoft’s OneNote. My review time with the HTC Windows Phone 8X extinguished the built-up anticipation for the incrementally improved Nexus and replaced it with a burning curiosity to explore the new Windows Phone OS. The more I used the 8X, the more I enjoyed using it.” – The Verge

UPDATE 11/1/12:
This post has gotten quite a bit of attention.  Please do not assume that what I’ve written is the end-all-be-all of Windows RT’s support for VPN technologies.  This post narrowly discusses “Cisco VPN connectivity for Windows RT”… that’s it.  I am not addressing anything else other than that because I don’t know the details of anything about other solutions like SSL VPNs or Citrix Access Gateway, Netscalar, etc.  The fact that Juniper is mentioned is a consequence of the response I got alone.

—————–

ORIGINAL POST:
The TechEd 2012 session “Windows 8: Windows RT Devices for Business”  (http://channel9.msdn.com/
Events/TechEd/NorthAmerica/2012/WCL202) stated at the 26 min mark that Microsoft incorporate the Cisco VPN client into Windows RT out of the box.

This of course had me intrigued given the number of people that are interested in Cisco VPN connectivity for Surface for Windows RT.  So I asked, and the short answer is that we provide a VPN client out of the box that is capable of connecting to Cisco or Juniper VPN solutions however specific conditions/configurations must be met & you may not have a configuration or version of these VPN vendors solutions that will fit the bill.

This is the response I got:

There is a standard VPN client included in Windows RT that is capable of connecting to the Cisco VPN server.  From http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/jj613765, you can see this table that describes the capabilities of this client in regards to connections to Cisco and Juniper VPN devices:

3rd party VPN Server solution	OS version	Tunnels supported	Authentication methods supported	Crypto Suits supported
CISCO (2951 VPN Server)	IOS 15.1.4	PPTP L2TP / IPSec with PSK L2TP / IPSec with Cert IPSec (IKEv2)	CHAP PSK (over v4 and v6) Machine Certificate EAP1	IPSec: AH auth: HMAC_SHA_1_96, HMAC_MD5_96 ESP Encryption: AES_128, CBC_3DES, CBC_DES, None
Juniper (SSG series)	6.2.0r5.0	L2TP / IPSec with PSK L2TP / IPSec with Cert IPSec (IKEv2)	CHAP PSK (over v4 and v6) Machine Certificate EAP1	IKEv2: Encryption: 3DES, AES_128, AES_192, AES_256 Integrity:SHA1, SHA_256, SHA_384 DH Group: DH2

You can then configure the in-box VPN client using PowerShell:
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/jj613766.aspx

For organizations with different versions than above, different authentication methods, or different VPN configurations, we don’t have additional guidance to offer at this point in time.

Every aspect of Surface’s design was considered carefully throughout its 3 years development cycle.  And it was all done under the veil of secrecy.

Yup.  Already, these kids have more talent than you & I do.  Combined.  Now just let it go… and walk away.

<stolen from the MSPress web site>

Hello, Kraig Brockschmidt here. To help celebrate //build/, I’m delighted to announce the completion of Programming Windows 8 Apps with HTML, CSS, and JavaScript!

• You  can download the ebook in PDF format here: http://go.microsoft.com/FWLink/?Linkid=270056 (17.9 MB)
  (Note: We will be providing EPUB and MOBI formats in the near future. We’ll add links here when those formats are ready.)
• The ebook’s companion content is here: http://go.microsoft.com/FWLink/?Linkid=270057 (60.0 MB)

This free ebook provides comprehensive coverage of the platform for Windows Store apps. Since its second preview in August, we’ve added the remaining chapters on live tiles, notifications, background tasks, background transfers, networking, devices, printing, WinRT components, accessibility, localization, and the Windows Store itself. The final ebook contains 17 chapters. And of course all of the earlier chapters have also been reviewed and refined—over 800 pages in total, along with new and updated companion content!

• DOWNLOAD: Programming Windows 8 Apps with HTML, CSS, and JavaScript
  http://go.microsoft.com/FWLink/?Linkid=270056 (17.9 MB)

I’ve had this brought up by several people now (Brian, Dan) so I thought I’d write it up since many will likely find it useful.

SO YOU BOUGHT THE 32GB SURFACE
You booted it up and if you’re a tech you noticed that after all is said and done, the device has 20GB remaining on it after Office 2013 & all the other updatable apps are in storage & the system is updated.

What if you run out of storage?  Fortunately you have Skydrive but that doesn’t do you any good for installable apps or extending the VIDEO library, which lets face it, should point to the microSD flash card you installed.  (You DID buy a micro SD flash card, didn’t you?)

BRIDGING INTERNAL STORAGE & MICRO SD CARD WITH “SYMBOLIC LINKS”
It is possible to set up something called a ‘symbolic link’ between your internal Surface storage and the microSD card. 

This creates a directory that APPEARS to be on your internal storage but really routes to the microSD flash card allowing you to seamlessly use your microSD flash card as if it was an extension of your internal storage.

1. Create a folder on your C drive – for example: “SD_CARD”
2. Add that folder to your video library and set as the default save location
3. Close out library management window
4. Delete the folder (SD_CARD)
5. Open command prompt w/admin rights
6. Run the following command:

        mklink /D c:\SD_CARD d:\
   
   (Replace “SD_CARD” with the name of your directory and “d:\” with your card drive and folder)

7. Download a movie/tv show and it will download and playback off your card!

[Thanks to my coworker Brian Larson for documenting the process of establishing a symbolic link on Windows RT]

———————-

UPDATE 10/29/12 10:31PM:
DIRECTORY JUNCTIONS ARE PREFERRED
My friend Dan, one of the guys that had originally brought this to my attention, notified me that Directory Junctions appear to work better as some programs seem to prefer it.  This is particularly true for services that work in the background & write to the SD flash card while you’re doing other things, like movie downloads and such.  For an explanation of the differences between Symbolic Links & Directory Junctions read Mark Russinovich’s article on the topic here:
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/magazine/2007.02.vistakernel.aspx

To use Directory Junctions, substitute the following command line below:

        mklink /J c:\SD_CARD d:\

———————-

UPDATE 11/4/12 9:40AM: 
SPACE IS CALCULATED BASED ON INTERNAL STORAGE ONLY
It would appear that there is a flaw to this technique – not a huge one if you’re a 64GB Surface owner like myself but it’s worth noting. 

If you try to download a movie that is larger than the free space available on internal storage alone, the movie will fail to download because the free space estimate that is done is based on internal storage alone, and does not microSD card capacity.

Takeaway:  Make sure you have a large amount of free space in your internal storage to ensure you can write any size file/download you’d like to the microSD flash.