Kurt Shintaku's Blog

Simple Life… spoof… rules.

"Whoa. Two of the most accomplished guys in their respective fields on Earth.  $39.75 dudes."  "I got nothing."  "Here’s a greek coin."

On Monday, the Microsoft Virtualization Launch Wave kicked off in Bellevue to a packed house of customers, partners, and press.

Bob Muglia, Microsoft Senior Vice President, Server & Tools Business, demonstrated the role virtualization will play in the next stage of IT innovation. In addition, Scott Woodgate, Director, Windows Enterprise Product Management and Edwin Yuen, Technical Product Manager, Virtualization, demonstrated Microsoft’s latest virtualization technologies – from the datacenter to the desktop – including the first live demo of Live Migration, a feature in WS2008 R2.

At the end of his talk, surrounded by a holographic cloud, Bob Muglia talked about the role virtualization will play in the future where customers will employ a mix of on-premises and cloud services.

(For a good article outlining this section of the talk, read:
http://www.microsoft-watch.com/content/web_services_browser/
microsofts_services_platform_takes_shape.html)

Customers had the option of attending 3 breakout sessions throughout the day. With 9 total sessions designed for both IT professionals and IT decision makers, customers were encouraged to choose the sessions that applied to their role within their organizations.

1. Centralized Desktop: Virtual Desktop Infrastructure and Terminal Services
2. Hyper-V Deployment and Best Practices
3. Security and Virtualization
4. Virtualization and Green IT
5. High-Availability and Disaster Recovery
6. Next Generation Rich Client with Application and User State Virtualization
7. Infrastructure Optimization with Virtualization
8. Client-Hosted Virtualization with Microsoft Enterprise Desktop Virtualization
9. Physical and Virtual Server Management

There are some notable quotes from the press after the event, particularly the article Existing Customers Gravitate to Microsoft Hyper-V from IDG, Hyper-V is positioned to do well with both existing Microsoft customers and even some current VMware customers. As Eric Lai states in his Computerworld article, “even customers who embraced VMware have gone back to Microsoft for desktop application virtualization.”

LINKS:

• The web site for Microsoft’s Virtualization technologies has been updated to reflect our most recent announcements at:
  http://www.microsoft.com/virtualization
• The keynote addresses from the launch event can be viewed on demand at: http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/events/virtualization/default.mspx

I don’t think this needs much explaining other than it’s a logo for a t-shirt available from Split Reason.

Big surprise:  It’s the #1 best selling t-shirt.  And they have “other gamer” wear that might be entertaining for those of you with an Xbox 360.

LINK:  http://www.splitreason.com/product/622

Okay, so it’s not entirely the Microsoft Hardware division… some of it is the Zune & Entertainment division but nonetheless, anytime you start seeing a lot of stuff get released from Microsoft about HARDWARE, y’know it’s time to wake up and pay attention.  For those of you scoffing at that, bear in mind that it wouldn’t be a stretch to claim that most innovations in keyboards, mice, joysticks, multimedia I/O, and other PC peripherals in the human interface genre, came from Microsoft Hardware:

• Camera-based optical mice?  Check.
• Laser mice?  Check.
• Natural keyboards?  Check.
• USB audio?  Check.
• Wireless joysticks?  Check.
• Mouse scroll wheel?  Check.
• etc.

So anyway, what’d we announce?

1. Microsoft Unveils World’s Most Advanced Tracking Technology
   Microsoft’s proprietary BlueTrack Technology sets new industry standard, surpasses optical and laser to track on virtually any surface.
   a) http://www.microsoft.com/
   hardware/mouseandkeyboard/tracklanding.mspx
   b) http://www.microsoft.com/
   presspass/press/2008/sep08/09-09BlueTrackPR.mspx 
   
2. Microsoft’s Latest LifeCams Bring Life to Video Calls With Versatile New Designs
   LifeCam Show and LifeCam VX-5500 debut fun new video effects and Video Messages.
   a) http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/
   press/2008/sep08/09-09VideoMessagesPR.mspx 
   b) http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/
   press/2008/sep08/09-09VideoMessagesPR.mspx
   
3. Microsoft Arc Mouse: Where Fashion and Technology Collide
   New Wireless Mobile Mouse 3000 offers fun design and colorful hues.
   http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/
   press/2008/sep08/09-09ArcWMMPR.mspx
   
4. Zune Takes Music Discovery to the Next Level With New Ways to Find and Access Digital Music
   Software update will enable Zune users to tag songs and buy music directly from FM radio and download and stream music on the go beginning Sept. 16.
   http://www.microsoft.com/Presspass/
   press/2008/sep08/09-08ZuneFallUpdatePR.mspx
   
5. Hardware Group Extends Comfort Design, Sleek Finishes and Top Productivity Features Down Desktop Line
   Two new mouse-and-keyboard combinations provide more options for consumers to personalize and experience comfort at their workspace.
   http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2008/sep08/09-09WLDWMDPR.mspx

Put virtualization in your hands, and your plans.
Attend the event that lets you touch, talk about, and experience Microsoft® virtualization solutions in a setting that’s focused on you.

Find out all about server virtualization.
For $149, you’ll get a day of intensive experience with a well-designed virtualization strategy—one that can help you control costs, improve service levels, and drive agility. You’ll see solutions built on the Windows Server® 2008 operating system with Hyper-V™ technology, Microsoft System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2007, and Microsoft Desktop and Application Virtualization. And you’ll learn how you can run multiple operating systems on a single machine for benefits from the data center to the desktop.
Start with Microsoft virtualization experts.
Begin your day with 300-level technical seminars:

Session I: Server Virtualization and Management
Session II: How Microsoft Builds Dynamic Data Centers
Session III: Understanding Virtualization at the Desktop Level

Then dive into hands-on labs and learning opportunities.
Spend the afternoon with experts and technology partners in our Solutions Pavilion. See an end-to-end virtualization solution built from start to finish. And take virtualization home with a free* one-year evaluation software copy of System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2008, a free* copy of Understand Microsoft Virtualization from the Desktop to the Data Center, by Mitch Tulloch, vouchers for certification courses and exams, and a free* T-shirt!

For information on other hands-on virtualization events around the United States, visit www.getvirtualnow.com/usevents.

Date/Location:
Oct 10, 2008
Hyatt Regency Anaheim, CA
11999 Harbor Blvd.
Garden Grove, California, USA 92840
Tel: +1 714 750 1234    Fax: +1 714 740 0465
Maps & Directions
http://orangecounty.hyatt.com/hyatt/hotels/index.jsp

• Doors open at 8:00 A.M.
• Seminars start at 9:00 A.M.
• Solutions Pavilion open until 3:45 P.M.

Palm has released an upgrade to WM6 (not 6.1) for the Treo 700wx for Verizon Wireless users.

DOWNLOAD:  http://www.palm.com/us/support/downloads/treo700wxupdate6/verizon.html

Windows Mobile® 6 Professional

• Calendar functionality – See the big picture at a glance. A Topline bar in the agenda view shows when you’re free or busy, and when you have scheduling conflicts. Drill down to view meeting attendees, contact information, acceptance status, and reply-to or forward meeting requests.
• Email support- Send and receive HTML emails with tables, bullets, and colored text intact1,2,The "smart filter" for contact search is available so you can search for emails stored on your company’s Exchange Server2. Send an automated "out-of-office" message from your device2.
• Office 2007 support – Open and edit Microsoft Office Word and Microsoft Office Excel® documents, and view Microsoft Office PowerPoint® documents. Backward compatible with Office 2003.
• Windows Vista® compatibility – Easily sync your smartphone to your Windows Vista PC, via the Windows Mobile Device Centre (WMDC).
• Powerful security and IT policies2 – Remotely wipe devices and SD cards clean in case of loss or theft. Plus, IT can create and enforce tougher security policies, such as password protection to better manage the entire device fleet.
• Email hot keys – Work in the fast lane with single-key access to your most frequently used email functions. Press "r" to reply, "a" to reply all, or "m" to move to one of your folders.
• Email Inbox search – Find that important document or email. Automatically search for attachments, senders, or keywords by simply typing a few letters while you’re in your email inbox.
• Access Sharepoint – Get what you need then get going. Access documents stored on your company’s SharePoint servers via links in HTML emails1,2.
• Voice Command via Bluetooth® wireless technology – Get more done while you stay hands-free3, Dial by voice, or hear your upcoming appointments with your Bluetooth headset.

Here’s a cool use of Microsoft Surface to illustrate the political landscape as the US approaches the presidential election:

In the video, they show shifts of voters moving from undecided to one party or another as a result of recent campaigning and the choices made for Vice President.

VIDEO:  http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/
vp/26610613#26610613

I was reading the comments in a Gizmodo article about the Xbox 360 price drop and I thought I’d take this opportunity to answer some of the… uh… questions from the comments crowd.

COST
Q:  Why is the Elite is worth twice as much as the arcade?
A:  To be clear, the Arcade is $199 and the Elite is $399.  The reason the Elite is more expensive is because it comes with:
– 120GB Hard Drive ($189)
– HDMI Cable ($49)
– Headset/Communictor headset ($29)
There is additive value to purchasing the Elite as a package however if a customer decides that they don’t need the accessories that the Elite has, they can always purchase just what they need ala carte.

Q:  Why is the 120GB hard drive $189 when I can get a 1TB drive at Costco for the same cost?
A:  As with most hardware associated with Xbox 360, the 120GB hard drive is not priced for the sake of making money.  The cost of the drive is squarely the result of the “security-specific electronics” engineered into our storage.  The bottom line is that any given 2.5” drive is generally going to cost X and after that, the drive manufacturer (Seagate, or whomever) has to commit to manufacturing it for the life of the console and such a committal generally implies a slightly higher price.  Once done, the drive often has several customizations – not the least of which is security oriented I/O filtering, all of which raise the cost of the unit.  This I/O filtering prevents anything except an Xbox 360 from putting content on to the drive for execution to prevent viruses and malicious content from spreading to games and Xbox Live. This incidentally, is the reason traditional USB hard drives don’t work for storing anything but media content.  When asked about the PS3’s ability to use external hard drives for storage, the Xbox Dev team basically said that they supposed that Sony isn’t as interested in consumer security as Microsoft is.

PERFORMANCE
Q:  Is Sony Playstation 3 hardware “more advanced”?
A:  The Xbox 360 provides better performance, greater flexibility, and ultimately a better gaming experience than Playstation 3 in most every scenario.  It’s well known that the Xbox 360 has been a much better environment for game developers to write to allowing faster game releases and the ability to release titles for Xbox vs other platforms however disregarding that fact, there are several critical metrics to the gaming experience that Xbox 360 & any other consoles should be measured by:
1) General Purpose CPU Performance
2) Floating Point CPU Performance
3) GPU Shader Performance
4) Memory System Bandwidth
Xbox 360 provably outperforms Sony Playstation 3 in all of these except Floating Point CPU performance which was a deliberate design choice.  Contrary to some erroneous reports CPU-based floating point instruction work is not a very significant element gaming.

Q:  Why doesn’t Xbox 360’s CPU emphasize floating point CPU computation?
A:  Because, put simply, geometric calculations which are what floating point calculations are traditionally used for in games, are handed off to the GPU – not the general CPU.  There is a perception that the 7 DSP processors of the Cell processor makes for superior graphics capabilities because “it has more” and that’s not the case. 
To quote some of the Advanced Technology Gaming gurus we have, “Sony’s CPU is ideal for an environment where 12.5% of the work is general-purpose computing and 87.5% of the work is DSP calculations. That sort of mix makes sense for video playback or networked waveform analysis, but not for games. In fact, when analyzing real games one finds almost the opposite distribution of general purpose computing and DSP calculation requirements. A relatively small percentage of instructions are actually floating point. Of those instructions which are floating-point, very few involve processing continuous streams of numbers. Instead they are used in tasks like AI and path-finding, which require random access to memory and frequent branches, which the DSPs are ill-suited to.”

This is a document that does a great job in comparing the two hardware platforms.

http://cid-00da410c7f7e038d.skydrive.live.com/embedrowdetail.aspx/ProductMaterial/Xbox360vsPS3.xps

We design Windows operating systems to perform well out of the box. However, many factors affect actual performance: firmware design, applications that load at system startup, memory and I/O components, and the built-in capabilities of system components such as graphics, storage, and networking devices.

To help system designers and manufacturers, we provide tools and information for the design and tuning of systems for best performance.

Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 System Performance

• Interrupt-Affinity Policy Tool
• Windows Performance Tools Kit, v.4.1.1 (QFE)
•  Measuring Performance in Windows Vista
•  Measuring System Resume Performance on Windows Vista
•  On/Off Transition Performance Analyzer
•  Performance Tuning Guidelines for Windows Server 2008
•  Windows PC Accelerators: Performance Technology for Windows Vista
•  Windows Server Performance Team Blog

Performance and Assessment – WinHEC 2006

•  Hybrid Hard Disk & ReadyDrive™ Technology: Improving Performance and Power for Windows Vista Mobile PCs [WinHEC 2006; 968 KB]
•  Windows Vista Performance Technologies [WinHEC 2006; 439 KB]
•  Windows Vista System Requirements and WinSAT [WinHEC 2006; 460 KB]

LINK:  http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/system/sysperf/default.mspx

Project managers now have a new Quick Reference Guide to help them use Project Server 2007 

This quick reference guide is designed to assist project managers with using Microsoft Office Project Web Access to view, analyze, and report on information, create proposals and activity plans, and to manage project resources.

This Word template can be downloaded and printed out for easy assistance while you work.

DOWNLOAD: http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/templates/TC102865051033.aspx?pid=CT101441451033