stuart test blog

UDATE: Longhorn Beta 3 has now been released to web.

• Ian McDonald first broke the news.
• Longhorn Beta 3 evaluation page on Microsoft.com
• Download search on Microsoft Download Center
• Windows Server Team blog post

For those of you who are eager to finally get your hands on Longhorn server, the wait is almost over… Rumour has it that Beta 3 will be released in the next couple of days TODAY. You’ll also be able to participate in some free eLearning courses provided by Microsoft:

Each of these clinics provides two hours of self-paced, interactive, multimedia-based training that give you an introduction to the new and enhanced features of Windows Server “Longhorn”. And best of all, they’re free!

Clinic 5936: Introducing Security and Policy Management in Microsoft Windows Server Code Name “Longhorn” (Beta 3)

In this online clinic, you are introduced to security and policy management in Windows Server “Longhorn”. You learn about how to secure and manage your en…

Clinic 5937: Introducing Branch Office Management in Microsoft Windows Server Code Name “Longhorn” (Beta 3)

In this online clinic, you are introduced to the improvements to security, management, and communications in Branch Office Server for Windows Server “Long…

Clinic 5938: Introducing Centralized Application Access in Microsoft Windows Server Code Name “Longhorn” (Beta 3)

In this online clinic, you learn the benefits of centralized applications and the Terminal Server features of Windows Server “Longhorn”.

Clinic 5939: Introducing Server Management in Microsoft Windows Server Code Name “Longhorn” (Beta 3)

In this online clinic, you learn the new tools and improved features for server management and adminstration of Windows Server “Longhorn”. This includes P…

Collection 5934: Introducing Microsoft Windows Server Code Name “Longhorn” (Beta 3)

Quote from: Windows Server Technology

Pulitzer prize winning photos in the Feature Photography section:

Awarded to Renée C. Byer of The Sacramento Bee for her intimate portrayal of a single mother and her young son as he loses his battle with cancer.

I try to stay out of politics in general for two main reasons – the first is that there is so much material out there to cover, that I wouldn’t be able to do it justice; and the second reason is that it just gets too depressing at times.

However when you see idiots like John McCain singing “Bomb Iran” to the tune of the catchy, old Beach Boys song, “Barbara Ann” then it’s time to call them out and just remind ourselves of how afraid we should be that people like this are trying to run the most powerful country on earth.

Unplugged McCain sings ‘bomb bomb bomb, bomb bomb Iran’

There was an interesting download posted on the Microsoft Download Center last week, but I still haven’t been able to access it… This wouldn’t normally bother me but it intrigued me as it looked similar to the announcement that Citrix made about their Citrix Desktop Server product. I wonder if Microsoft pulled the download because of the Citrix announcement?

Windows Vista™ Centralized Desktop and Virtual Server

Also, this download is not available which is probably related:Windows Vista Enterprise Software Assurance New Version Rights Guide

Ben Hunter, a consultant with Microsoft Services in NZ, has recently started a blog focused on BDD 2007. There’s already heaps of great content on there and it’s worth following if you’re involved/interested in Microsoft’s latest BDD framework.

Link: Ben Hunter

OK, so my understanding of this product is that it provides Citrix ICA sessions to virtual machines running in the data centre. This model provides access to three types of desktops:

• Virtual machines running on Microsoft or VMware virtualisation products.
• Terminal services desktops running on Windows Server.
• Dedicated blade computers for the more demanding user.

Sounds interesting… I can see the value in providing ICA sessions to virtual machines, but this isn’t anything new or ground breaking – they’ve just bundled it up nicely in a $75 (USD) per user package.

When configuring a Windows SBS 2003 box – remember one golden rule: Always stick with the wizards. Even if you’re a server/AD/ISA/Exchange guru, you should still stick to the wizards. SBS 2003 is a complex beast and a lot of under-the-cover configuration takes place when running each of the wizards.

For example, did you know that when you run the Backup Wizard, circular logging is turned off in Exchange? Seems unconnected but the reason is that if you’re not backing up your SBS 2003 box, then the Exchange logs won’t be getting flushed – hence the reason for circular logging being enabled by default (so the disks don’t fill up with logs.) But as soon as you’ve configured your backups to run, then the system knows that the Exchange logs will get flushed successfully.

As soon as you start making manual configurations to the system, the setup wizards start producing unpredictable results. Have faith in the product, and stick with the wizards…

This has just been released but I haven’t had a chance to look at it properly yet. Will write more once I have a better understanding of it.

Citrix Desktop Server

New Citrix Desktop Server revolutionizes desktop delivery and management

Managing and securing the Windows Desktop OS is a significant and growing challenge for most companies’ Desktop IT organizations. Up to 80% of their time is spent installing new or updated desktops, loading antivirus software, installing security patches, and providing telephone or onsite support, leaving only 20% available for strategic projects. (Source: Forrester). As enterprises grow, this complexity intensifies with multiple types of users, PCs, and the difficulties associated with providing IT services to branch offices, remote employees, and international locations, requiring hundreds of different images to be supported.

Customers looking for an alternative to this traditional approach now have a better way, where desktops can be delivered as a service rather than deployed. Delivering the desktops as a service from the datacenter enables IT to more easily install, manage, and secure these desktops – all at a lower cost than traditional methods. Patches, upgrades, and new applications can be applied centrally, eliminating the enormous complexity and effort required to keep desktops secure and up-to-date while providing the availability, performance, and flexibility that end-users require.

Desktop Server is a strategic enabler for desktop computing allowing organizations to proactively support and drive business objectives by reducing the total time, effort, and cost of delivering desktops by as much as 40%.

I’m back blogging again after a hectic month in the Maxwell family…

First I resigned from my position at Datacom with the intention of getting into the contracting market. In typical fashion, nothing came up until the last week when I suddenly had two contracts to choose between. So I’m now contracting through a consultancy firm called Resultex and am posted at BNZ on a large-scale desktop rollout project.

Secondly, we had to move out of our rental house in Brooklyn as the landlords were returning from their stay overseas. We wanted to stay in Brooklyn, but nothing came up that we either liked or could afford. So we ended up moving out to Ngaio to a nice house a couple of doors down from Simon and Kate (Deb’s cousin.)

Thirdly [sic], we realised that it was about time we did some shopping for Baby Maxwell, who is now less than 2 months away from showing his/her face. So we set up the nursery with the cot and change table, bought a nifty Mountain Buggy (Urban Elite), and started working our way through ‘The List’ at Baby Star.

Things are a lot more settled down now, so I’ll be focusing a lot more on posting quality content to this site, and especially infrastructure related posts. I’ve narrowed down the list of categories to just four and will be making better use of tags to classify the posts. And for those that are not reading this post through a feed reader, you’ll notice the new site theme which is based on Freshy 1.0.

It took a major announcement by Apple and EMI for me to break my blogging silence. Yesterday in London, EMI Group CEO Eric Nicoli and Apple CEO Steve Jobs announced that EMI will be allowing DRM-free downloads of their entire music catalogue through Apple’s iTunes Music Store. Not only that, but the DRM-free tracks will be encoded at 256kbps AAC format which is twice as high as the current downloads. And if that wasn’t enough, the cost of a full album of DRM-free tracks will be the same price as they are now – $9.99 (USD). (Individual tracks will be more expensive though at an additional 30c USD)

I have one burning question though – when we will see these tracks available at the NZ iTunes Store? The current price of an album on the NZ iTunes store is $17.99 which is too much, in my opinion, when you can shop around and buy the album at CD quality (and DRM-free) for an extra five or six dollars. But if Apple keep the $17.99 pricing for 256kbps, DRM-free album downloads then I’ll be downloading as soon as they become available.

By the way… the blogging silence was brought about by a hectic month of changing jobs, moving house, and preparing for the new addition to the family – but more on that soon, I promise.

UPDATE: I remembered that I posted a while back about how annoyed I was at the DRM that was on a Coldplay CD that I had purchased – that CD was published by EMI. Interesting how the times have changed…