Kurt Shintaku's Blog

Just announced: BizTalk Server 2009. 
(See Biztalk Server roadmap here:  http://www.microsoft.com/biztalk/en/
us/roadmap.aspx)

The release schedule appears to remain unchanged from the 2006 R3 version, with an expected release date in H1 CY09.  There should also be a CTP release in Q4 CY08.

• http://blogs.msdn.com/chrisromp/archive/2008/09/05/biztalk-server-2009.aspx
• http://www.microsoft.com/biztalk/en/us/roadmap.aspx#WhereWereGoing
• http://blogs.msdn.com/stevemar/archive/2008/09/05/biztalk-server-2009.aspx
• http://seroter.wordpress.com/2008/09/05/goodbye-biztalk-2006-r3-hello-biztalk-2009/

Summary of Changes, Additions
(See Chris Romp’s blog for more details)

Updated Platform Support

• New Application Platform Support

• New Hyper-V Virtualization Support

• Improved Failover Clustering

Service Oriented Architecture and Web Services

• New Web Services Registry

• New Line of Business Adapters

• Enhanced Host Systems Integration

• Enhanced Business Activity Monitoring

• Enhanced Enterprise Service Bus (ESB) Guidance 

Business to Business Integration

• Enhanced Support for EDI and AS2 Protocols

• Updated SWIFT Support

• Device Connectivity

• New Mobile RFID Platform and device management

• New RFID industry standards support

Developer and Team Productivity

• New Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) support

• Enhanced Developer Productivity

Other Enhancements

• Messaging

• Administration

This is so cool, it ‘goes to 11’. 

MSNBC is using our ultra-high definition photography to give you the opportunity to view a multi-gigapixel photo of the floor of the Republican National Convention.

You can ‘pan’ and ‘zoom’ into the photo to a ridiculous degree.  The ‘zoom’ is so good, you can look at the expressions on individuals facts very clearly.  It’s kind of like an adult “Where’s Waldo?”

First of all, you need to install the HD View plug in from Microsoft Research:

• INSTALL: 
  http://research.microsoft.com/ivm/HDView/HDInstall.htm

Here’s the photo used on MSNBC:
Republican presidential candidate John McCain makes his acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention on Thursday at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minn. (John Brecher / msnbc.com)

• MSNBC Photo:
  http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/
  26552359/

There are better photos available – like the one used in the TEDTalk a few years ago of Seattle.

• OTHER HD VIEW DEMOS:
  http://research.microsoft.com/ivm/HDView/HDGigapixel.htm

Three words:  Big… Top… Points.

“The Future.

Delicious.”

Looking to transform the way you manage your desktops? Using Microsoft Application Virtualization will enable applications to run without the need to visit a desktop, laptop, or terminal server. Since applications are no longer installed on the client there is minimal impact on the host operating system or other applications.

Join us for a half day as you’ll learn how to improve PC manageability, accelerate and simplify desktop deployments and migrations, and enhance change management.

Lab seats are limited! Register today!

Workshop topics include:

• Overview of the Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack for Software Assurance
• System requirements for Microsoft Application Virtualization
• Microsoft Application Virtualization client overview
• Microsoft Application Virtualization management console overview
• License tracking and enforcement with Microsoft Application Virtualization
• Packaging and deploying applications with Microsoft Application Virtualization               
• Questions & Answers

Audience:
This hands-on lab is for IT Professionals in job roles such as infrastructure specialists, network administrators, directory administrators, management specialists, and client support. This hands-on workshop is limited to 15 attendees.

Date/Time:
November 13, 2008
9:00 AM – 11:30 AM
Registration begins at 8:30 AM
(breakfast and parking included)

Registration:
This workshop is invite only and requires a registration code to attend.  If you are a customer of mine, please contact me if interested and I will provide the appropriate information to you.

And the other shoe just dropped.  Xbox 360 Arcade Edition is now officially $199 per unit.

For the casual gamer, this is huge news.  For just $199, they can get a console that can:

1. Play Rock Band 2 or Guitar Hero 3, the two largest rhythm games on the market
2. Watch TV shows & High Definition movies from the world’s largest existing on-demand High Definition video library
3. Rent movies from NetFlix’s on-demand library
4. Play or compete against others over Xbox Live in Madden 2009, Halo 3, and Grand Theft Auto 4 – the top 3 games in console gaming
5. Look forward to major releases this Holiday Season such as Gears of War 2 & Guitar Hero World Tour

LINK:  http://www.microsoft.com/Presspass/press/2008/sep08/09-03Xbox360PriceDropPR.mspx

For those of you who have the vaunted Blackjack II (Sweet, sweet device) you’re in luck.  Looks like they released the Windows Mobile 6.1 ROM for it a couple days ago.

Here’s a list of items updated in the… uh… Update:

• Microsoft Windows Mobile 6.1 (AKU1.0.1)
• Pocket Internet Explorer, 7.11
• Microsoft Voice Command v1.6.19
• Microsoft Office Mobile (including One Note,)
• TeleNav & MobiTV capable
• Modified UI with updated text & icons in several areas
• Enhancements to improve call quality (Qualcomm patches)
• Fixed, Several Bluetooth improvements for BTCK ‘including Peiker, Nokia, Audi, BMW, and others
• Fixed, Several Bluetooth issues relating to BTHS Jabra, Motorola, Samsung, and others
• Fixed, BT audio routing
• Fixed, Audio playback issue /w certain applications
• Fixed, Video Calling problems
• Added, Track Wheel speed values
• Added, Sliding Media Pane
• Added, Phonebook Access Profile (PBAP) for Bluetooth
• Added, Leap year calendar patch for wallpaper
• Added, Integrated BMW iDrive Patch
• Removed, Good Messaging Application

DOWNLOAD:

• WinXP – http://ars.samsung.com/customer/usa/jsp/faqs/faqs_view.jsp?SITE_ID=22&PG_ID=557&PROD_SUB_ID=558&PROD_ID=957&AT_ID=132706
• WinVista – http://ars.samsung.com/customer/usa/jsp/faqs/faqs_view.jsp?SITE_ID=22&PG_ID=557&PROD_SUB_ID=558&PROD_ID=957&AT_ID=132707

Have you ever had to managed non-domain joined agents?  If you have you know you need to obtain certificates en-masse to deploy to new machines.  Before today, this was a big headache for large numbers of machines that were non-domain joined.

Now there’s the CertGenWizard.exe.

CertGenWizard.exe is a wizard tool which will take your CA information as input (it isn’t required if you are running the wizard on the box with the CA), take in the computer names (has to be FQDNs), and send out a request for the certificates you need.  Now, you no longer have to fill out the Certificate Request form or enter parameters or connect to the web enrollment service.  Once the certificates are approved, there is a Retrieve button in the CertGenWizard which will allow you to retrieve the certificates that you have requested.  On top of the personal certificates, the wizard will retrieve the root CA certificate.

The biggest benefit to this tool is the added ability to request multiple certificates at once.  If you have 100 non-domain joined agents that you need to set up cert auth for, you can simply request all 100 machine certificates at once, retrieve them all, and manually bring them over to your other machines. 

Once you have brought them to your other machines, CertInstaller.exe is a second tool that will install the certificates into the local machine store of your computer and run MOMCertImport.exe for you.  Note: Install OpsMgr Agent FIRST and then run the tool!

DOWNLOAD:  http://blogs.technet.com/momteam/attachment/3110628.ashx

LINK:  http://blogs.technet.com/momteam/archive/2008/08/22/obtaining-certificates-for-non-domain-joined-agents-made-easy.aspx

The Edge Planning Tool asks questions about your proposed or current edge server deployment. The tool uses your answers and Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 best practices to generate the following reports:

• Settings that you can use to configure your certificates, DNS services, and firewalls
• Custom documentation for configuring your edge servers, reverse proxy, and next hop server
• A comparison of your answers to Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 best practices

LINK:  http://communicationsserverteam.com/archive/2008/08/29/248.aspx

The Sharepoint Best Practice Series are consumable and actionable guidelines based on real-world experience from Microsoft Consulting Services (MCS) and the product team.

They are aimed to help our SharePoint customers and partners avoid some of the common SharePoint deployment pitfalls and keep their SharePoint environments available and performing well. The SharePoint Customer Team, part of the core product team dedicated to providing real-world feedback inwardly and outwardly, has put this guidance together working with a number of teams within Microsoft.

The SharePoint Best Practices Resource Center on TechNet highlights the different best practices for IT Professionals and Developers and helps you navigate through the resources. IT Professional topics include Operational Excellence, Team Collaboration Sites, Publishing Portals, Search and My Sites. Developer topics include Common Coding Issues, Using Disposable Objects, Search SQL Syntax Queries and Customization Best Practices. We will continue updating and publishing new Best Practices based on real-world experience.

LINK:  http://blogs.msdn.com/sharepoint/archive/2008/08/29/announcing-the-sharepoint-best-practices-series.aspx

That was quick.  Looks like a beta of PowerShell Plus v2.0 is out. 

In case you didn’t catch on to PowerShell v1.0:

PowerShellPlus Professional is a powerful interactive scripting environment designed to help administrators and developers learn and master Windows PowerShell. Unlike most of the basic script editors on the market today, PowerShellPlus features a powerful interactive console, an advanced script editor and a comprehensive learning center. PowerShellPlus Professional Edition is built on the backbone of PowerShellIDE, the first PowerShell application to offer a very rich graphical user interface.

• Interactive PowerShell Console
  The PowerShellPlus Console allows you to work interactively with PowerShell from a feature rich Windows UI. This integration makes working with PowerShell faster and easier to use than ever before.
• Advanced Script Editor
  The advanced debugger and script editor lets you build and test complex PowerShell scripts, try one line PowerShell commands from an embedded console window, and sign your script with a security certificate … all from a single workspace.
• Comprehensive Learning Center
  The Comprehensive Learning Center helps you experience PowerShell by example. Short tutorials guide you through basic concepts at your own pace. The Comprehensive Learning Center also includes dynamically created help topics from currently installed PowerShell CmdLets, Snap-Ins and WMI objects.

LINK:  http://www.idera.com/Products/PowerShell/

(taken from the Powershell blog at http://blogs.msdn.com/powershell/archive/2008/08/25/powershellplus-v2-0.aspx)