Kurt Shintaku's Blog

For those that like to coupon clip, we have this little known web page that provides 30% discounts on certain Microsoft Press titles – most of them are Windows Vista or Windows Server 2008… otherwise Infrastructure or IT Pro centric. 

Some are better than Amazon, others not.  Might be worth keeping an eye on over time.  For example:

Microsoft® Windows PowerShell™ Step By Step
Learn Microsoft Windows PowerShell—one step at a time—with practical, hands-on instruction from Microsoft’s leading scripting trainer, Ed Wilson. Work at your own pace and build practical system administration skills as you learn how to use Windows PowerShell to administer Microsoft Windows®, Microsoft Exchange, and other Microsoft technologies.

Windows PowerShell Scripting Guide
Discover how to use Windows PowerShell to manage your Windows® environment. This practical, task-based reference includes expert insights and example scripts from a leading scripting trainer. Features a CD with eBook, scripts, and other resources.

Windows Server® 2008 Networking and Network Access Protection (NAP)
The definitive resource for deploying, administering, and troubleshooting Windows Server 2008 networking and NAP technologies. Direct from the experts who know the technology best, you get in-depth technical guidance, plus a DVD with eBooks and more.

VISIT: http://www.microsoft.com/products/info/editorial/22/CRPeRef/default.mspx

We are giving away a free Windows Server 2008 e-book to folks signing up to the Microsoft Press newsletter.  This e-book includes excerpts from two recent Microsoft Press publications:

• Introducing Windows Server 2008 by Mitch Tulloch with the Microsoft Windows Server Team (ISBN: 9780735624214): This e-book covers Windows Server virtualization, managing Windows Server 2008, Active Directory, Terminal Services, and failover clustering.
  
• Microsoft Windows PowerShell Step by Step by Ed Wilson (ISBN: 9780735623958): This e-book includes an overview of Windows PowerShell, how to use Windows PowerShell cmdlets, and how to take advantage of PowerShell providers.

Additional chapters from Introducing Windows Server 2008 will be added periodically, so be sure to check back often.  Register to get the free e-book offer, and sign up for the Microsoft Press Book Connection newsletter.  Go to:

• http://switch.atdmt.com/action/mrtpro_FY08WS2008ReadinesseBookOffers2Final_1?href=https://profile.microsoft.com/RegSysProfileCenter/wizard.aspx?wizid=46b7fae8-f374-4ecb-92b5-dd6f308652c6&lcid=1033

The following limited time offers are available to folks interested in getting a jumpstart on learning Windows Server 2008, SQL Server 2005, or .NET Development.

• Save 20 percent off Collection 6041: Upgrade your Windows Sever 2003 MCSE Technical Skills to Windows Server 2008 (beta)
  Upgrade your existing Windows Server 2003 Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer (MCSE) skills to Windows Server 2008 with this 10-course, e-learning collection. Receive a free upgrade to the Windows 2008 version of this collection when Windows Server 2008 is released.
  –> Learn more and register
  Note Enter discount code WS2008LNCH at checkout.
• Save 20 percent off Collection 5160: Core Development with Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0 Foundation
  Advance your Microsoft Visual Studio skills with this 7-course, e-learning collection. Receive a free upgrade to the 10-course, .NET Framework 3.5 version of this collection when Visual Studio 2008 is released.
  –> Learn more and register
  Note Enter discount code VS2008LNCH at checkout.
• Save 40 percent off Collection 2778: Enhance your SQL Server Technical Skills Today with SQL Server 2005
  Advance your Microsoft SQL Server skills with this 9-course, e-learning collection. Receive a free upgrade to the SQL Server 2008 version of this collection when SQL Server 2008 is released.
  –> Learn more and register
  Note Enter discount code SQL2008LNCH at checkout.

Those of you who’ve used Technet know that it’s essentially the IT Professional’s version of MSDN.  It focuses more on infrastructure tools, technologies, and has access to discussions that are focused on deployment, architecture, and support instead of development & design. 

We’re running a major discount of 40% off on Technet PLUS right now.  Technet Plus is the ‘uber’ version of Technet that not only comes with basically most of the server & client infrastructure products we produce but also every BETA product that we have available, eliminating the need to “subscribe” and download the bits for our pre-release software products.

Go to http://www.microsoft.com/technetplus and use the following promo code – this code will work until June 30th.  The resulting cost after the 40% discount is $349 and includes serial activation codes for all the products we provide, a massive binder with DVD’s of all our products, all our patches, all our service packs, the entire Technet library online and our support database.

Promotional code:  TLNW08

(I think this is US only.)

The Live Writer team has released a beta of Windows Live Writer (14.0.3913.522)which includes a few interesting new enhancements including:

• SOAPBOX VIDEO UPLOAD
  The ability to upload videos from the Writer interface directly to MSN Soapbox without having to shell out to a browser to execute the upload.
• IMAGE EDITING & CONTROL
  The ability to do more than resize & set margins for inserted graphics:  Now you can center images, crop the image, add a border style, & tilt them in the Writer interface.
• LIGHTBOX SUPPORT
  Support for Lightbox scripting, a technology that allows viewers to enlarge thumbnail photos in your posts and expand them to hover over your text content.

I can think of a few new features I’d like to see (like seamless Windows Live Skydrive support!) but so far this looks to be a good start.

MORE INFO:  http://windowslivewriter.spaces.live.com/blog/cns!D85741BB5E0BE8AA!1508.entry

If you’re familiar with the Stratature acquisition, you know we’ve gotten ourselves some really great folks and technology to provide Master Data Management (MDM) on the Microsoft platform.

Microsoft is releasing a technology preview (TP) of our MDM solution, code named “Bulldog,” to a select group of customers and partners for testing and evaluation. As with Microsoft’s other technology previews, this is an early visibility release only. Microsoft is currently busy improving the MDM product and developing additional capabilities. We look forward to your feedback and incorporating your suggestions into the full release. MS Connect provides a forum for giving feedback about the product. We invite and encourage you to use that forum for all TP related feedback and questions.

Please understand that admission into the technology preview does not guarantee admission into the Technology Adoption Program (TAP). Also, as with other Microsoft technology previews, this release is for evaluation purposes only, and Microsoft will not support production deployments of this release.

The attached program guide provides step by step instructions for producing an Idea Exchange Agreement (IEA) and an MS Connect ID that are required for you to download the TP. 

http://cid-00da410c7f7e038d.skydrive.live.com/embedrowdetail.aspx/ProductMaterial/Miscellaneous/MDMTPGuide.docx

You may also be interested in the following resources which provide additional information on Microsoft’s MDM strategy:

• Microsoft’s public MDM roadmap: http://www.microsoft.com/sharepoint/mdm/default.mspx
• Microsoft’s MDM Web site: http://www.microsoft.com/mdm
• MSDN Forum: http://forums.microsoft.com/MSDN/default.aspx?ForumGroupID=519&SiteID=1
• My Master Data Management blog:  http://sqlblog.com/blogs/knightreign/default.aspx
• MDM blog by Roger Wolter, Program Manager and Architect: http://blogs.msdn.com/rogerwolterblog/default.aspx

PC World wrote an article about 3 college students who claimed to have ‘hacked’ Microsoft Cardspace, the secure personal information management system for Windows users,  (And technically other platforms)  and published the article, "Researchers Breach Microsoft’s CardSpace ID technology".

Kim Cameron, Chief Architect of Identity at Microsoft, and the Father of Metadirectory Technology as we know it today, reviewed the purported "breach" and found that the claim didn’t hold water.  And it would appear that PC World took them for their word and never really thoroughly investigated/verified the students claims.  Taken from Kim’s blog:

I’ve spent a fair amount of time reproducing and analyzing the attack.  The students were not actually able to compromise my safety except by asking me to go through elaborate measures to poison my own computer (I show how complicated this is in a video I will post next).  For the attack to succeed, the user has to bring full administrative power to bear against her own system.  It seems obvious that if people go to the trouble to manually circumvent all their defenses they become vulnerable to the attacks those defenses were intended to resist.  In my view, the students did not compromise CardSpace.

The bottom line is that the ‘breach’ is effectively an "inside job".  Kim published his response to the PC World/German student’s claim here (http://www.identityblog.com/?p=987) And then he follows it up with another post on "How to set your computer up so that people can attack it".
(http://www.identityblog.com/?p=988)

(I’m sorry – normally I don’t comment on this blog but you really have to see the video (http://www.identityblog.com/wp-content/images/2008/05/Students/Students.html) that Kim created at this link – I found it hilarious.  Kim goes through great lengths to demonstrate how ridiculous the ‘breach’ claim ultimately was and tacitly how little verification must have been done before going to press with the article.  He could have called his blog entry, "How to undermine your own computer’s security so that other’s can claim to have hacked it and you can get famous in a nationally known publication.")

Today marks the release of 2 new Microsoft Enterprise Search Indexing Connector (formally known as Protocol Handlers) for EMC Documentum 5.3 (Service Pack 4) .

The Enterprise Search Indexing Connector 2008 for EMC Documentum enables Microsoft enterprise search systems to index the contents of an EMC Documentum repository. Once indexed, this connector also allows EMC Documentum search results to be displayed for users from within the Microsoft enterprise search system. These capabilities are based on the connector’s ability to natively access the appropriate file formats, data structures and security implementation of the EMC Documentum document management system.

The connector are compatible with the 32bit English Language versions of SharePoint Server 2007 (Service Pack 1), Search Server 2008 and Search Server 2008 Express, and are available as FREE downloads from: Enterprise Search Indexing Connector 2008 for EMC Documentum

• DOWNLOAD:  http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=2BE66504-21FB-4130-844C-0F89DA54515F&displaylang=en

Installation and configuration documentation is included in the download and the release notes are available here:  Release Notes for Indexing Connector 2008 for EMC Documentum

A couple of overview videos to get you up and running with the connectors quickly are available through the links below:  Overview Video – Installing and configuring the EMC Documentum Connector

Both of these connectors are fully supported through your existing service contract with Product Support Services or through the regular pay per incident channel.

This is a 559 page, 4.6MB eBook in Adobe Acrobat PDF format and a completely free download rich in information.

This online book is a structured, introductory approach to the basic concepts and principles of the Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) protocol suite, how the most important protocols function, and their basic configuration in the Microsoft Windows Vista, Windows Server 2008, Windows XP, and Windows Server 2003 families of operating systems. This book is primarily a discussion of concepts and principles to lay a conceptual foundation for the TCP/IP protocol suite and provides an integrated discussion of both Internet Protocol version 4 (IPv4) and Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6).

There’s nothing ‘fundamental’ about this book; there’s lots of very in-depth information on the new networking stack capabilities in Vista/WS08 and a great resource to have available.

DOWNLOAD:  http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=c76296fd-61c9-4079-a0bb-582bca4a846f&DisplayLang=en

UPDATE 12/4/08:
I’ve recently learned of a drop in the price of VECD.  Here are the numbers, but to put it into English – customers looking to purchase "VECD for devices with Windows licenses and Software Assurance", will have pricing around ~$2/month/device.  Customers with devices like thin clients that don’t have Windows licenses and Software Assurance will have pricing around ~$10/month/device.  The pricing waterfall depends on the contract size that your organization has with Microsoft.

—————-

ORIGINAL POST:
Customers looking to deploy Desktop OS’s on virtual hosted servers like VMware ESX Server or Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V in "VDI" configurations, need to look at very specific  licenses/subscriptions in order to remain in compliance.

IMPORTANT:
Customers do NOT natively have the right to run Windows 2000/XP/Vista on servers in VDI configurations.

—————————————

In order to properly license your company for Windows 2000/XP/Vista desktop operating systems to run on virtual machine servers, you have one of the following options:

OPTION 1:
Option 1 requires three licenses:

1. Windows Client OS Licensing per Virtual Machine
   This is the standard Windows license purchased from a typical Volume License agreement with Microsoft.  Most people forget this however this Windows OS license is actually an ‘upgrade’ license.  It ‘upgrades’ a Windows OEM license typically purchased with a desktop PC to the Enterprise deployable version found on Volume Licensing media.
2. Windows Software Assurance subscription
   This is an annual subscription license applied to each virtual desktop and is usually something around 10% of the license cost.  It provides a dozen or so benefits to customers including the ability to upgrade to any new releases of Windows released during the period of the subscription, as well as the right to downgrade to any supported release of Windows.  Companies with Enterprise Agreements usually have Windows Client Software Assurance subscriptions for their desktop OS licensing.

   In most agreements, the licensing for both the Client OS & Software Assurance are put together in a single-priced package called "Windows Vista Business English Upg/SA Pack MVL w/VisEnterprise".

3. Windows Vista Enterprise Centralized Desktop (VECD) Subscription for customers with Software Assurance
   (Win VisEnt CentralDsktpSA English Monthly Subscription MVL Per Device)
   This is a monthly subscription that is applied per access device for a virtualized desktop environment.  The access device is typically a ‘thin client’ but may include home PCs and other workstations that will access the virtualized desktops hosted on a server.

The license usually costs around $4-$7/per access device/month.  Just a reminder:  The name of this subscription is a misnomer; it applies to ANY Windows version and not just Windows Vista.

OPTION 2:
Option 2 requires just 1 license:

1. Windows Vista Enterprise Centralized Desktop (VECD) Subscription for customers without Software Assurance
   (Win VisEnt CentralDsktp English Monthly Subscription MVL Per Device)
   This is again a monthly subscription that is applied per access device for a virtualized desktop environment.  Again, the access device is typically a ‘thin client’ but may include home PCs and other workstations that will access the virtualized desktops hosted on a server.

   Recall that with this option, once the subscription lapses, the customer does not own any licenses of any Client OS.  Usage rights to Windows expires as soon as the subscription agreements ceases.  The license is more expensive than VECD for SA customers, and usually costs around $10-$20/per access device/month.

For more information, visit the following resources:

• Windows Vista Enterprise Centralized Desktop
  http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/windowsvista/enterprise/benefits/licensing.mspx