Kurt Shintaku's Blog

We know we’ve got a lot of stuff comin’ out for Windows 7.  That’s why we’ve created the Windows 7 Resource Guide – a downloadable guide that allows people to think about what stage of interest they’re at with Windows 7 and download the appropriate documents and videos.

It’s pretty simple:  You look across at the various phases of evaluation – Discover, Explore, Pilor, Deploy, Manage – and you select one.  Then look at the items in the column of your choice and note the 3 digit code to the right.  For example, “How to Start a Windows 7 Pilot Deployment” = 174.

Take the 3 digit code and append it to the end of this URL:
http://go.microsoft.com/?linkid=9660_ _ _

So in the example, given, the link for 174, would be http://go.microsoft.com/?linkid=9660174.

DOWNLOAD:
http://cid-00da410c7f7e038d.skydrive.live.com/embedrowdetail.aspx/ProductMaterial/Windows7/Windows7ResourceGuide.pdf

The Springboard Series of articles released a Technet post called “Ten Things IT Professionals Should Know About Windows 7” which I think is a worthwhile read.

Here’s an excerpt:

Ten Things IT Professionals Should Know About Windows 7

Every year, we get hit with a long drumbeat of “top 10 lists”—whether it’s the 10 worst-dressed celebrities at the Academy Awards, the 10 best ways to get in shape before spring, the 10 best ways to annoy the person in the office next to you.

At the Springboard Series, we pretty much have a one-track mind—what is in store for IT professionals responsible for desktop administration. While we might be tempted to share a couple of those weight-loss tips, it’s probably best we stick to what we know best—the top 10 things you need to know about the Windows 7 operating system.

With the Release Candidate of Windows 7 now available, we encourage you to download a version to your lab machine and begin testing your applications and devices to get to know what’s in it for you. As you begin testing, we offer this guide to the key features and capabilities in this new desktop operating system.

Here are the top 10 things to know about Windows 7:

1 – Application compatibility

The Windows Vista operating system introduced architectural changes down to the kernel level that made the OS inherently more secure than Windows XP. However, this came at a cost; many applications needed modification to function properly in a Windows Vista environment. While at this point in the lifecycle of Windows Vista (post Service Pack 1) most applications are now compatible, deploying Windows Vista into the desktop environment early on required some “heavy lifting” and creative shimming—not to mention a few late nights.

Windows 7 is built on the same basic architecture as Windows Vista, so most applications will retain their compatibility between these operating systems. This alone will make adopting Windows 7 much less challenging than migrating from Windows XP to Windows Vista. If your organization is like many that are still standardized on Windows XP, you will need to transition to updated versions of your key applications, but the availability of Windows Vista–compatible versions and well-proven shims will make this task more manageable.

…

LINK:  Ten Things IT Professionals Should Know About Windows 7
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd350196.aspx

Over the past few months we’ve released a series of videos to help customers prepare for Windows 7.  Here are the ones posted thus far off of http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/dd320282.aspx.

Enterprise Application Compatibility
Microsoft is committed to maximizing compatibility for applications that work with Windows Vista running on Windows 7. Much of the work done to remediate applications in Windows Vista will carry over to Windows 7 due to the underlying similarity of the two operating systems. This demonstration shows how creating compatibility fixes for an incompatible application running in Windows Vista can be used on a Windows 7-based computer.
Friday, January 9, 2009

Problem Steps Recorder
The Problem Steps Recorder in the Windows 7 operating system is a feature that enables users to record their interactions with an application and provide a detailed screen-by-screen view with accompanying information. Learn how the recording can be used to quickly identify problems and help reduce time spent with the help desk.
Friday, January 9, 2009

BitLocker and BitLocker to Go
In Windows 7, core BitLocker Drive Encryption functionality is enhanced to deliver an improved experience for IT professionals and end users—from simple enhancements such as the ability to right-click on a drive to enable BitLocker protection to the automatic creation of the required hidden boot partition. Learn about these enhancements and the new BitLocker To Go, which gives system administrators control over how removable storage devices can be used and the strength of protection required.
Friday, January 9, 2009

Windows PowerShell 2.0
Explore how Windows PowerShell 2.0 can help increase the productivity of IT professionals by providing a powerful, complete scripting language to automate repetitive tasks and conduct remote troubleshooting. It delivers a growing set of cmdlets that can be used to manage Windows–based PCs and servers, and it can be easily extended.
Friday, January 9, 2009

What’s New in Windows 7 Release Candidate
This screencast and document covers the key new features and improvements in the Windows 7 Release Candidate. This includes areas like performance, networking, security, PC management as well as everyday tasks.
Friday, May 1

Windows 7 VHD Boot Demonstration
This command line demonstration explains how to build a bootable Windows 7 VHD image from a Windows 7 "install.wim" file using diskpart.exe and imagex.exe. The demonstration continues with an explanation of how to configure the boot entry using bcdedit.exe and explains the limitations of VHD Boot. See the Windows 7 VHD Overview page for more information about this technology.
Friday, May 1

Migrating from Windows XP to Windows 7
Learn how to use the User State Migration Tool (USMT) to migrate user files and settings from Windows XP to Windows 7 using a default installation.
Friday, Apr 10

User State Migration Tool
The User State Migration Tool (USMT) for Windows 7 is now part of the Windows Automated Installation Kit (AIK) and provides fast and flexible options to migrate user profiles and data from one operating system to another. Explore how the new Hard-Link Migration feature highlighted in his demonstration can dramatically reduce migration time for in-place operating system migration or computer refresh scenarios.
Tuesday, Mar 17

BranchCache
The introduction of BranchCache in Windows 7 is the next step to improving end user productivity in branch offices. BranchCache caches content from remote file and Web servers in the branch location so that users can more quickly access this information. The cache can be hosted centrally on a server in the branch location, or can be distributed across user PCs.
Tuesday, Mar 17

DirectAccess
DirectAccess enables remote users to access the corporate network anytime they have an Internet connection, without the extra step of initiating a virtual private networking (VPN) connection. Find out how to use DirectAccess to provide a more secure and flexible corporate network infrastructure in which computers on and off the network can remain healthy, managed, and updated.
Tuesday, Mar 17

User Account Control
User Account Control (UAC) was introduced in Windows Vista to help increase security and improve total cost of ownership by enabling the operating system to be deployed without administrative privileges. See how Windows 7 continues the investment in UAC with changes that enhance the user experience and put users in greater control of their prompting experience. For example, the number of operating system applications and tasks that require elevation is reduced, so standard users can do more than before and will see fewer elevation prompts.  Tuesday, Mar 17

Windows Troubleshooting Platform
The Windows Troubleshooting Platform can reduce calls to the help desk by diagnosing and resolving common issues, and by providing built-in troubleshooters for several different types of problems including audio, video, and networking. Learn how to develop custom Windows Troubleshooting Packs using Windows PowerShell to help resolve issues commonly encountered in your environment.
Tuesday, Mar 17

AppLocker
AppLocker is a flexible, easily administered mechanism that enables IT professionals to specify exactly what is allowed to run on user desktops. It provides the flexibility to allow users to run the applications, installation programs, and scripts they need to be productive. Learn how you can realize the security, operational, and compliance benefits of application standardization by using AppLocker.
Friday, Jan 9

Deployment Image Servicing and Management
Explore Deployment Image Servicing and Management (DISM), a new command-line tool for Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2. DISM consolidates the core image management functions of multiple tools found in the Windows Automated Installation Kit (AIK) and enables IT professionals to view components of an applied or mounted operating system image and add or remove packages, software updates, and drivers.
Friday, Jan 9

TechNet Events presents:

“Integrate Your IT Environment”
The Microsoft Roadshow for integrated Linux, Open Source, PGP, MySQL, & other Open Source technologies

Thursday, June 25, 2009 8:30 AM – Thursday, June 25, 2009 12:30 PM Pacific Time (US & Canada)
Welcome Time: 8:00 AM

Location:
Microsoft Los Angeles
333 South Grand Avenue
Suite 3300 Los Angeles California 90071

Event Overview
Is your IT Infrastructure fully dedicated to just one technology solution? Chances are you work in a heterogeneous environment that includes a variety of technologies from Microsoft®, Linux, MySQL and Apple. Integration becomes vital in order for your core business applications to maintain business flow and efficiency. How do you achieve identity integration? Run Open Source Software (OSS) on Windows Server® 2008? Ever wanted to leverage the power of SQL with your PHP applications? This innovative roadshow will answer these questions and many others to get your integrated environment up and running smoothly.

Session 1: Windows Server 2008 Active Directory Interop with Linux and OS X
Do you have existing Linux workstations and servers? Are you buying Apple notebooks for your personnel? If so, then you’re probably wondering how to secure and share information across your organization. Join us for a session that demonstrates how to authenticate and manage non-Windows operating systems. We’ll explore Active Directory (AD) extensions, management tools, security, file sharing, desktop management and a number of other key challenges we all face on a daily basis. Get set for some great demonstrations and plenty of time for questions and answers.

By attending this session, you’ll learn:

• How to authenticate Active Directory users that are using a Linux workstation. Windows Server 2008 and Novell SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop (SLED) 10 will be demonstrated.
• How to manage SLED desktops using Active Directory Group Policie Objects (GPO).
• Information on non Microsoft management tools for Linux and Apple OS X.

Session 2: Running Open Source Software (OSS) on Window Server 2008
Are you afraid to run open source software on Windows Server 2008? Fear no more; it’s easier than you think. Come discuss running LAMP (Linux, Apache, MySQL and PHP) on Windows Server 2008. Not interested in Linux? No problem. You’ll also learn how to run open source applications with IIS7, MySQL and PHP. Along the way, we’ll compare and contrast the optimum maintenance, operation and monitoring of these diverse systems and applications. This session will include several informative demonstrations and you’ll get plenty of time to ask questions.

By attending this session, you’ll learn:

• How to install and configure Apache on Windows Server 2008
• How to install and configure PHP on Windows Server 2008
• How to install and configure MySQL on Windows Server 2008
• How to install and configure an application that uses PHP and MySQL
• Discuss how to run solutions using the Microsoft virtualization technologies

Session 3: SQL Server 2008 and PHP Web Application Infrastructure

Do you want to take advantage of SQL Server’s great new features for your PHP sites? Join us for this session and learn how to make it happen. We’ll show you how to leverage your existing development resources and PHP knowledge by simply changing the backend to Microsoft SQL Server 2008. We’ll walk through the necessary steps to get PHP and SQL Server working together and you’ll see how to enjoy a successful deployment and post-deployment experience. You’ll also learn where to find the information you need when you deploy and scale PHP on SQL Server, including details about security, performance, backup, managing and monitoring. After the step-by-step deployment instructions and some helpful working demos, we’ll be happy to entertain your questions.

By attending this session, you’ll learn:

• How to configure SQL Server 2008 on a Windows 2008 Server for use with PHP
• How to configure PHP to run on IIS 7 against an SQL 2008 database server
• Where to go for additional resources you may need to manage your new SQL Server 2008/IIS7/Windows2008 environment

For even more information, please visit www.technetevents.com/interop

Looks like the dudes over at Home Server Hacks have seriously stepped up their game to advertise both Home Server as well as their http://www.homeserverhacks.com web site.

THE FREE STICKER DEAL
If you go to their web site at:

• http://www.homeserverhacks.com/2009/02/whs-oval-stickers-free-or-1-your-choice.html

They will give you a free WHS bumper sticker for the cost of a self-addressed stamped envelope.  They optionally ask for $1 donation but it’s voluntary.

MICROSOFT JOINS THE DEAL
Not to be out done, our WHS product group donated a stack of internal WHS stickers for him to give away as well.  So along with his original WHS sticker, he’ll send you the Microsoft one as well if you send TWO SASEs.

And apparently, at the Microsoft MVP summit, the sticker got quite a bit of publicity, finding it’s way to Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer’s head.

• http://mswhs.files.wordpress.com/2009/03/stevebalmer.jpg

IDV’s Visual Fusion 4.0 launched today.  IDV is a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner that, among other things, produces solutions that integrate with Sharepoint-stored data & Virtual Earth.

Visual Fusion allows users to construct advanced visualizations of that data in concert with geographical mapping in minutes and with ‘no coding’.  The front end is now completely Silverlight and integrates seamlessly with Sharepoint.

WAY FRACKIN’ COOL
Seriously Sharepoint-heads:  You need to check this solution out.  They have a variety of “visualizations” that you can see through this tool.  For example, wouldn’t it be interesting to see the regional statistics Swine Flu cases visually across a map?

You can through the demo.  Take a look.

• http://vf4demo.idvsolutions.com/

For more information on the product, go to:
http://www.idvsolutions.com/products_overview.aspx

Bill Hartnett, insurance director of Microsoft Financial Services, discusses the health of the insurance sector.

http://foxnews1.a.mms.mavenapps.net/mms/rt/1/site/foxnews1-foxbusiness-pub01-live/current/videolandingpage/fullPlayer/client/embedded/embedded.swf

A customer asked for some of the limitations of iPhone Activesync, and I found this list that someone wrote up that I thought might be useful to others. 

Calendar

• New invites show up as tentative (grey box with dashed line boundary) in the calendar. Sometimes you can see the details but you cannot accept or decline the invite. Other times it lets you take the action. In both cases it is shown as tentative so it should allow action to be taken.
• When declining/accepting/deleting meetings – no option to specify whether to –  send email/ send edited email/not send email/ etc.
• Going to a another date other than today is a major pain as you have to scroll.
• When alerts for upcoming meetings pop up you cannot do anything with it – like ask to be reminded again etc.
• You effectively cannot create meetings on the phone. This is because you cannot add attendees to meetings or forward a meeting to anyone. So you can only meet with yourself.
• Cannot Reply/ReplyAll to meeting attendees
• Cannot dial a number from a meeting entry. WM will detect phone numbers and hypertext them so that dialing is a one (well, actually two) step process. This major if you do a lot of conference calls.
• Some folks reported that changing meeting properties on the server never finds a way into the iphone copy specially for recurring meetings. e.g. if you change the reminder from 15 mins to not remind, this never reflects in the iphone and it keeps reminding you anyway.

Email

• Meeting invites look just like any other email. This coupled with the fact that after accepting/declinign the meeting invite still hangs around, it maks it very difficult to work with meeting invites. They should have used the first column and put a different icon for Meeting invites.
• In the Email App when declining/accepting meeting requests – no feedback given. Additionally invite email sticks around to cause confusion – you don’t know whether the system took any action or not. If you come back later, you don’t know whether you have already accepted or still need to take action. The workaround is you have to deal with invites via a separate button in the Calendar App.
• Figuring out which emails are unread is hard. You have to look for that little blue dot. With iphone having such efficient UI design paradigms otherwise I am perplexed why they wasted a whole column for that? Why not do what WM did and outlook does – show the unread ones in bold. Use the saved space for more email to view.
• Can’t empty out a folder. Try cleaning you deleted (Trash) folder that has 200 deleted emails.
• Mailboxes other than Inbox are not synced by Push. You have to actually open them to force the one time sync to find out whether you have mail there.
• You cannot select which mailboxes to show in the email app. All of them show up (Happy scrolling if you have a ton like me). You should be able to choose which mailboxes to sync and only those should show up. Then those mailboxes should sync on the same schedule like Inbox.
• No way to sort emails.
• No way to search in email folder/s for a specific one. Should allow me to just type chars and it should auto filter on subject.
• No way to search on the server for a specific email.

General

• Can’t change exchange options like – can’t set OOF on/off
• ActiveSync Push does not allow to configure peak times. This is critical as push is a battery hog. If we were able to configure Peak and Off Peak hours I would switch to “Manual” in the off peak hours and leave Push on for the 8 or so Peak hours when I really need it.

Please take a look at the following webcasts that describe how to take advantage of Microsoft’s protection capabilities to securely deploy and operate Exchange + MOSS and protect the intellectual property that lives inside of these repositories.

————————-

May 5, 1-2:30 PM PST
Secure Collaboration using AD RMS, MOSS and AD FS
Learn all about the different Trust Relationships provided by Active Directory Rights Management Services to securely collaborate with external parties. In this session we will drill down on how to provide extranet access to Information Rights Management (IRM) protected documents stored on Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 using Active Directory Federation Services (AD FS), providing external people Single Sign-On(SSO), and delegating the account management to the external parties.

May 6, 1-2 PM PST
Security for Exchange and SharePoint – what’s not in the box?! (Level 200)
Done implementing SharePoint or Exchange? There’s more you can do! Spend an hour with us walking through the Identity and Security products and solutions that help make deployments more secure. We’ll spend time discussing Forefront Security, The Intelligent Application Gateway, Internet Security and Acceleration Server, Rights Management Services and Identity Lifecycle Manager.

May 7, 1-2:30 PM PST
SharePoint Server 2007 and Exchange Server 2007 Integration with Active Directory Rights Management Services (Level 400)
Microsoft Active Directory Rights Management Services provides the capability to users to protect documents by providing granular permissions to them. This presentation provides an overview of Forefront Security for Exchange and Forefront Security for SharePoint technologies. Learn how Microsoft SharePoint 2007 can be configured and used to implement automatic document protection at the MOSS Document Library level and how Microsoft Exchange 2007 SP1 Pre-licensing Fetching provides more flexibility to roaming users using AD RMS.

Microsoft Corp. today announced the availability of Microsoft BizTalk Server 2009, the company’s enterprise integration and connectivity server solution. In its sixth release, BizTalk Server is already being used by 90 percent of Global 100 customers to integrate systems and automate processes. BizTalk Server 2009 delivers new capabilities to help customers more effectively integrate disparate systems, enhance end-to-end enterprise connectivity and more quickly exchange data across multiple platforms, resulting in increased efficiency and lower costs.

Expanded Platform Support Enables More Flexible and Cost-Effective Systems
BizTalk Server 2009 expands support for the latest Microsoft application platform technologies, including Windows Server 2008, Microsoft Visual Studio 2008 and Microsoft SQL Server 2008. With BizTalk Server 2009, customers can now utilize the improvements available within these Microsoft products to boost their integration initiatives through enhanced developer productivity, improved system performance and better manageability. With Microsoft BizTalk Server 2009 Enterprise Edition, customers can further reduce the cost of infrastructure using Microsoft Hyper-V virtualization technology to run unlimited virtualized instances on virtual machines.

With upfront costs that are often less than offers from other vendors, BizTalk Server 2009 empowers customers to use industry standards and line-of-business adapters to more efficiently link partner as well as internal information systems across various domains. The adapters available for BizTalk Server 2009 enable organizations to quickly and easily access and use data from mainframes, databases, third-party applications and radio frequency identification (RFID) devices using familiar, simple-to-use management and development tools with less complexity and lower costs.

Industry-leading companies around the globe are relying on BizTalk Server as their mission-critical business process management solution. Customers including American Apparel Inc., Continental Automotive, Florida Community College, Gulf Coast Seal Ltd. and Sempra Energy Solutions have been using BizTalk Server, and many have plans to upgrade to BizTalk Server 2009 to take advantage of the benefits provided with this latest release.

New Capabilities Ease Connectivity to Systems and Data
The BizTalk Server 2009 release delivers the following:

• Simple, cost-effective service-oriented architecture (SOA) connectivity. With new and updated connectors, BizTalk Server 2009 advances interoperability by providing more than 25 industry adapters that make it easier for customers to connect critical business applications such as SAP, PeopleSoft, JD Edwards, Siebel and Oracle E-Business Suite.
• Increased developer productivity. BizTalk Server enhances the first-class developer experience provided within Visual Studio 2008 by offering new integrated capabilities including visual debugging, unit testing and access to code artifacts. As a result, BizTalk Server helps democratize and simplify sophisticated integration projects, enabling a broader set of developers to rapidly deliver more standards-based and scalable business applications.
• Better visibility into data and activities. Enhanced Business Activity Monitoring (BAM) capabilities reduce the complexity associated with trusted data collection and simplify access to data.
• Take advantage of the benefits of virtualization. With BizTalk Server 2009 running on Windows Server 2008 with Hyper-V technology, businesses can take advantage of the benefits that virtualization provides, including cost savings, production server consolidation and business continuity management.
• Simple RFID solutions. RFID capabilities reduce the need for complicated custom coding for disparate device types. Now, businesses can easily extend RFID capabilities to mobile environments and experience the benefits from updated standards such as Tag Data Translation (TDT), EPC Information Services Standard (EPCIS) and Low Level Reader Protocol (LLRP).
• Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) made easier. BizTalk Server can now participate in the full application development life cycle by including new project management, testing and deployment capabilities that extend ALM capabilities already delivered through Microsoft Visual Studio Team System 2008. As a result, customers experience faster time to solution with improved quality.

BizTalk Server is a key component of the Microsoft Application Platform, a suite of products and technologies designed to help customers build, run and manage dynamic business applications. More information on the Microsoft Application Platform can be found at http://www.microsoft.com/applicationplatform.

Availability
BizTalk Server 2009 is available today to Microsoft Developer Network (MSDN) customers and will be made available broadly in nine languages — Chinese simplified, Chinese traditional, English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean and Spanish — on May 1.

BizTalk Server 2009 is offered in four editions: Enterprise, Standard, Branch and Developer. Microsoft is providing customers with the added features and improvements in BizTalk Server 2009 with no price increase over previous versions, and is introducing the latest version of BizTalk Server with one of the lowest purchasing costs in the industry.

Customers interested in upgrading to BizTalk Server 2009 can access complete pricing and licensing information on May 1 for all versions of BizTalk Server 2009 at http://www.microsoft.com/biztalk/en/us/default.aspx.