TechEd Europe 2013 Day 3 and Day 4: Windows 8.1 & Office365 with PowerShell

Due to a tight schedule I have not been able to post a Blog last night… I’ll do it now. Although the Windows 8.1 Preview is already out there I still think I should mention a few things. And of course I had to see my co-chairman of the Dutch Office365 User Group do his session on managing Office365 with Powershell. The rest of my time at TechEd I was proctoring the Hands On Labs and I was assisting in the Instructor Led Labs, making a difference for the delegates of the Event.

So, now we have Windows 8.1 with the return of something like a Start button (imho it could be left out anyway, remember how laughed at the Start button back in ’95?). But if it makes you happy, I’m happy. The real good news is that the switching between “Metro” (oeps, Modern UI) and the classic desktop is much less. For desktop users, they can choose to stay in the classic desktop and yes, boot to the classic desktop, while touch/tablet users can stay in the Modern UI. That’s neat!

In my previous Blog I already mentioned “Workspaces”, a safe online/offline way of connecting to corporate fileshares over https for mobile devices. You need to implement this on a Server 2012 R2. Windows 8.1 defaults to Skydrive for saving files but gives the user the opportunity to keep a locally cached copy of those files.

 

Danny Burlage did a nice job in delivering his session Powershell. I know as a MCT and speaker that Powershell is not “sexy” and it’s hard to deliver an interesting hour! It took him only 1 hour to provision a newly created Office365 Tenant with User, Contact, DistributionGroups, Rooms, Archives and so on with just a few amazingly simple PowerShell scripts.

CU at the next Teched?

 

TechEd Europe 2013 SCVMM R2 Session

After joining a session on ConfigMgr and Intune, which brought me nothing new, I joined a session on System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2012 R2 (http://channel9.msdn.com/Events/TechEd/Europe/2013/MDC-B357#fbid=hBjzVKd6xg9 ).

There is some interesting new stuff in SCVMM2012R2:

  • Apart from SC AppController for Self-Service there is the Windows Azure Pack. WAP gives the look and feel of Azure but is targeted at your Private Cloud.
  • Cisco now provides a Virtual Nexus 1000 Switch (http://www.cisco.com/en/US/solutions/collateral/ns340/ns517/ns224/ns955/ns963/solution_overview_c22-687087.html ) for Virtual Networks based on Hyper-V.
  • VMM R2 will provide a Gateway out-of-the-box with the Border Gateway Protocol.
  • There will be Service Templates for all System Center Components (sounds like a deeper development of the Powershell Deployment Toolkit)
  • Guest Cluster can now use a VHDX as shared storage (as long as the VHDX resides on a CSV Cluster).
  • VMM R2 can manage Physical Switches.
  • I already mentioned in yesterdays’ Blogpost the Azure Hyper-V Replica Manager for orchestrating a failover to a DR Site.

Pretty neat features for a R2 release!

I’ll be back tomorrow.

TechEd Europe 2013 My Keynote Highlights from Madrid

Although TechEd North America finished some three weeks ago I would like to mention a couple things from the, mostly the same Keynote as 3 weeks yonder. They have not become less worthwhile in that short period of time.

And, there was a great announcement! The bits of a lot of upcoming stuff are available as of today as Preview:

  • Server 2012 R2
  • System Center 2012 R2
  • SQL 2014
  • Visual Studio

Here comes the summer J.

As an IT Pro I focus on what was said concerning this line of IT Business. A quote I really liked: “BYO is not a privilege, it is a right.” Such is the perception of users. Out of that Identity Management is a major thing and Microsoft proposes to leverage Azure Active Directory with the Onprem Active Directory (no-brainer for Office365 en Intune admins). The same goes for leveraging Windows Intune with SCCM! SQL 2014 Management Studio can connect to SQL Azure

Extending stuff to Azure with the Windows Azure Pack, gives the look and feel of the Azure Portal to both your Private Cloud and the Azure Public Cloud. The MSDN accounts on Azure are now calculated per minute (as per hour in the “old” days), making it easier for Devs to test their Apps.

A super Server 2012 R2 feature is “auto-tiering” of storage where you can mix SSD with JOBD and the OS will find out what to store where, now that is cool!

Azure now has a Hyper-V Recovery Service with which you van Orchestrate Data Center failovers….. pffff.

A demo of Windows 8.1 showed us “workplace connect” en “worker folders”. I like the Wrker Folders (on Server 2012 R2 that is); it syncs and secures ordinary fileshares over hhtps to any user-device…. Very very neat!

The rest of my 1st day was filled with assisting as Microsoft Certified Trainer so no details from me on the breakout sessions which you can see on http://channel9.msdn.com/Events/TechEd/Europe/2013?wt.mc_id=homepagetop#fbid=CJ-2jXdm1ag

Enjoy, I’ll be back with more!

Attending Microsoft Management Summit 2013

On April 6 I will fly to Las Vegas where MMS2013 will start.

I just finished building my Schedule and I will append my notes from each session into this Blog post.

Here’s my schedule:

  • The Benefits and Reasons for Upgrading to Windows Server 2012 Active Directory
  • Getting Started with Orchestrator and Service Manager
  • System Center 2012 Configuration Manager SP1 Overview
  • System Center 2012 SP1 Operations Manager Overview
  • Getting Started with Windows Azure Virtual Machines and Virtual Networks
  • How to Design and Configure Networking in VMM and Hyper-V
  • Designing a Virtual Desktop Infrastructure Architecture for Scale and Performance
  • Orchestrating Hyper-V Replica Planned Failover with System Center 2012 SP1
  • Implementing Common Scenarios in Virtual Machine Manager: Services and Service Templates
  • Cisco Virtual Networking Solutions for Microsoft Hyper-V Environments
  • Develop a Successful Flexible Desktop Strategy in Today’s Digital Era
  • Monitoring and the Network and Storage Infrastructure with Operations Manager 2012
  • Manage and Monitor Your Windows Azure Usage From System Center 2012 SP1
  • How to Manage and Deploy Microsoft User Experience Virtualization Across an Enterprise
  • Software Defined Networking with Windows Server 2012, System Center 2012 SP1
  • Microsoft Application Virtualization 5.0: Migration and Coexistence
  • Building the Perfect Windows 8 Image

Now that I see it in all its glory it’s an impressive list, a lot of great work to do! Long days and short nights.

So, it’s Friday night and I’m all set to go, my flight is tomorrow morning at 10 AM from Amsterdam. A 4 hour stopover in Philadelphia so I’ll be in Las Vegas around 9 PM Pacific Time.

That was a long trip, some 25 hours… Sunday morning I went of to Wallmart to buy me a bicycle for taking up up and down to the MMS2013 Venue; Manadalay Bay, which is some 5 miles from my hotel. For $ 95 I’m done, no cab fares for me (that’s what I thought).
Going to Manadalay Bay I had a flat tire within 3 miles… bummer. A thorn is the backtire. I left my bicycle and continued walking. Got my MMS2013 Badge after walking The Strip up and down. And then I took a cab (poor excuse… blisters on my feet) back to the hotel and arranged to pick up my bike.
Ok, Monday I’ll start posting teh Technical Stuff.

MMS2013 KeyNote

I attended quit a few keynotes over past 5 years at various Microsoft Conferences. In this MMS2013 Keynote one thing was really different: IT IS ALL HERE!

No promises of upcoming releases or beta demos. It’s all about what is available right now. Server 2012 with all its features in the middle, surrounded by System Center 2012 SP1, SQL 2012, Azure, Intune, Advisor, Office 365. So now is the time to automate all that stuff, leveraging all the features to enable businesses to do their business.
I think of it as a very smart keynote: we have work to do NOW! Whether it is on premises or in a public cloud, probably a lot of bits of both for most enterprises. But with one and only one toolset and underlying technology: Microsoft.

MMS2013 The Benefits and Reasons for Upgrading to Windows Server 2012 Active Directory

This breakout sessions showed how easy it is to upgrade current domains to Server 2012, there is no reason not to. Domain Controllers become clonable on Hyper-V. Dynamic Access Control keeps data safe bases on multiple policies. Remote execution out of the box. Software controlled networking and Storage Spaces. Let’s go for it.

MMS2013 System Center 2012 Configuration Manager SP1 Overview

SCCM2012 has at least 2 highlights for me:
1. User-centric approach enables to give users the same experience on whatever device.
2. Integration with Intune meaning that we can manage devices without them connecting to the corporate network. Devices such as Windows RT, Windows Phone, iOS and Android!

MMS2013 Private Cloud Reference Architectures

This session was about all the work Microsoft and its Vendors have put into making things work. The biggest takeaway is that most of the things have already been done and are tested and documented. The trial and error method, as a lot of IT Pros use, is not going to do it when building Private Clouds. S you’d better use those Reference Architecture documents!

MMS2013 Getting Started with Windows Azure Virtual Machines and Virtual Networks

David Aiken turned out to be a very funny speaker and his session was great. He pretended to be a newbie and went through all the steps with all the questions while creating some VMs and connecting them. He concluded with: you do it once or twice like this and from then on you use Powershell!

MMS2013 How to Design and Configure Networking in VMM and HyperV (Part 1 and 2)

Wow, tough technical stuff at the end of the day: network virtualization or software based networking. You really need to switch some buttons in your brain to figure this out. Mainly it’s about 2 things:
1. Network Convergence: we can now put all network communications through just one NIC (teamed) instead of having separate NICs for different kind of communications. Less hardware, less cables!
2. Isolation: although we can use convergence we still can isolate VM Networks from each other. We can use the same (virtual) IP Ranges multiple times, tenants/customers can bring their own IP Ranges.
A couple of advantages are that we can manipulate IP settings without configuring that on individual hosts or guests and that we can do Live Migrations across (physical) subnets.
Don’t start with VMM and Clusters before you ingrained this stuff!

MMS2013 Orchestrating Hyper-V Replica Planned Failover with System Center 2012 SP1

Okay, you can initiate a planned replica failover from Hyper-V Manager manually. The @OrchestratorGuy took a different approach. From heavy touch, through lite touch, to zero touch. The principles of Orchestrator are simple; it does nothing but it can do everything. So he assembled a couple of tiered runbooks to do the trick. Run the runbook and the failover occurs. Alsways nice to see such demo’s.
Then he introduced System Center Service Manager into the game; initiate the failover through a Service Request in the Self Service Portal. Worked like a charm, with the CMDB being being updated, tickets opened and closed, properties of the VMs adjusted etc. etc. Great demo!
The key point out of this session: before you can automate something, get your procedures straight!

MMS2013 Implementing Common Scenarios in Virtual Machine Manager: Services and Service Templates

The VM is not important, the Service is. So you should even use Service templates if the Service consists of only one V. It gives you more repeatability, consistency and ease of management. At first glance it looks somewhat overdone but when you think it through it’s quite logical if you are getting into automation.

MMS2013 Develop a Successful Flexible Desktop Strategy in Today’s Digital Era

I am a BIG fan of Eduardo Kassner. He was once again brilliant in his confronting sarcasm, I really like that. I am NOT saying anymore, here is the abstract, the video should be available tomorrow on Channel9.
New desktop technologies such as BYOD, VDI, Slates, Consumerization, among other pressures are causing many IT environments to consider re-architecting their desktop infrastructure. In this session you will see predictions, market trends, and then proceed to separate myths from facts by proposing a mobile workspace strategy that focuses on meeting your users’ desktop requirements based on roles / personas, and enabling technologies rather than implying that one technology solution would fit all.

MMS2013 How to Manage and Deploy Microsoft User Experience Virtualization Across an Enterprise

UE-V is part of MDOP and it eases the pains of roaming profiles and combining profiles for desktops, laptops, remote desktops and VDI.
UE-V does this in a smart way by using an agent on the client(s). The Agent captures the changes on either OS or Application level and stores them locally and on a Network Share when the reconfigures app is being closed or the OS being locked/logged off. Now the smart thing is that only the changes are uploaded and downloaded instead of the complete profile.
There are no servers involved (except for the network share, which can be the AD-homedirectory), it also works offline, it is manageable through GPO and SCCM ant it comes with a bunch of out-of-the-box templates.
It makes no sense not using this if you have MDOP!

MMS2013 Automating System Center Deployment with the Powershell Deployment Toolkit

Well, this was a really COOL session. The demo, started at beginning of the session, completed in 55 minutes and the System Center Suite was completely installed, including SQL, prerequisites, integration and Management consoles. Pffffff.
They took a bit off effort to build this but then you have something. You only have to fill in some parameters such as server names, service accounts and stuff and the Powershell scripts do the rest, including the download of all necessary components!
Awesome!

MMS2013 Microsoft Application Virtualization 5.0: Migration and Coexistence

I’m supposed to be an App-V specialist so this was a very interesting session. I’ve been doing stuff with App-V 5.0 but I did no go in yet to coexistence and upgrading. Now that I have seen the things mentioned in the abstract below, I see great opportunities at our customers!
This session focuses on the process of migrating from App–V 4.6 to App–V 5.0, including coexistence of the App–V 4.6 Client and the App–V 5.0 Client.
The process of migrating App–V 4.6 packages to App–V 5.0 will include using the App–V 5.0 Package Converter tool and the process of customizing converted packages to leverage App–V 5.0’s new features.
We will also discuss some of the new features of the App–V 5.0 Sequencer that may make customers consider re–sequencing their applications instead of converting their App–V 4.6 packages

MMS2013 Building the Perfect Windows 8 Image

This session was almost a Hands On Instruction Lab, so I actually did the HOL after the session. An excellent session/HOL leveraging MDT and Windows8 for either Desktop Deployment or VDI Deployment.
That concluded my MMS2013 participation.

General insights are mostly about automation and the roadmap towards that automation. I have a lot of stuff to share, why we should do those things and where to start.

Redefine Backup for Online Services

I see a lot of questions in all sort of forums on backups. And I think it might be worth an effort to redefine what we mean and want to accomplish wit backups.

In the old days my definition of backup was that it’s only the preparation for a restore. Some file or system gets lost or corrupted, you look in your backups for a moment in time that the file or system was still working and you restore the file or system back to that point in time. That approach might lead to data loss of recent modifications to the file or system. When was the backup created and what happened to the file or system since that moment in time. We call that Recovery Point Objective (RPO), the data loss window. Next to RPO we haven RTO, Recovery Time Objective; how much time does it take to have systems or files available for use after a disruption. And last but not least, how far back in time do we want to go for recovery of files or systems

A lot of people tend to confuse a backup with an Archive. The purpose of an archive however is not to restore things to a certain point back in time, it’s about the ability to look up things from the past. So let’s have those two clearly distinct from each other: backup is no archive!

Looking at Online Services, like Exchange Online, are backups available in that environment? Well, they are not available to users. Microsoft only uses backup technologies for continuity of service and data integrity. That means there is no way of getting back a deleted mail item once all retention periods have been expired. Not one way. The same goes for SharePoint Online. Exchange also has a feature called Litigation Hold, from a mailbox placed under that policy, items can never be deleted. Not accidentally and not on purpose. Running Exchange on premises with DAGs is also about continuity, when setup across multiple datacenters, there’s also no need for backups.

Is that bad? I don’t think so. If Microsoft guarantees continuity of service and data integrity then it’s up to users to deal with that data. The retention policies allow for enough time to recover accidentally deleted items and for the rest I don’t see any reason at all for having backups, considering that a backup is NOT an archive.

I am not suggesting we stop making backups but we can be more aware of the why, when, where and how. Could save a bit money J.

Move Forward; Carving out the Future

I ran into two articles this week on which I would like to comment. Why do things not move faster in Enterprise IT is the common denominator in the two articles.

Sorry for my non-Dutch readers, the first article was posted in “IT-Executive” with the title “Automating IT is better than Outsourcing”. The second article is from “Business Insider” and carries the title “Our Obsession with Efficiency is Killing Innovation”. Let me put down a quote from each of them:

  • Companies spend millions trying to integrate legacy systems and they keep running slow and unimaginable inefficient systems. On top of that, those systems do not reflect business processes and put a big strain on IT putting out fires.
  • We are focused on the wrong metrics. Our universities are training entrepreneurs—and investors — to focus on fast and efficient return on capital investment. Efficiency innovations provide return on investment in 12-18 months. Empowering innovations take 5-10 years to yield a return.

That looks an awful lot like an ever spinning wheel with only two ways to stop it:

  1. Break out of it
  2. Don’t break out of it and die

Simple but true, in my opinion. I’m stuck in there as well, being both economist and IT Professional. But the second quote gives me a direction in which I was already heading. Establish long term relationships with customers, doing roadmap sessions and stop thinking in “quick wins” only. How I hate Quick Wins! But it’s a magic word…… and, it’s only a conversation. And conversations can be created.

Can we have both Quick Wins AND long term Wins! Of course we can! But in order for that happen we should start focusing on the latter and make sure we come up with significant spin-offs regarding the former. I call it future-driven projects and that is quite the opposite of how we normally run IT Projects, those are mostly passed based; we have an issue and it needs to be resolved, we have to get rid of that legacy system. Passed Based.

A major value of future-driven projects is that the likelihood of success is bigger. Let me explain that. Passed Based projects need agreement of all stakeholders and technical possibilities, and if there is one thing hard to get among IT people and decision makers it is agreement.

Projects then follow a very thin line to keep agreement (lengthy, inflexible Project Plans) in place, the agreement gets more important than the results, meaning al lot of paperwork full of agreement, meetings to re agree on the agreement, planning and re-planning. Actually, agreement is scope, and we tend to not manage scope (agreement) but only time and money. The only agreement left is time and money. And then that thin line breaks. IT projects do not have high success rates.

Future driven projects, however, only need alignment on a vision (or whatever word you would like to use here), of no more than two pages. The important word here is “Alignment” which is very distinct from “Agreement”. The next step is to plan backwards from that future to the present, getting things in place to fulfill that future. And the funny thing is, we all know how to do that, we all do it when we plan and book our holiday. We make sure everything is in place to be able to leave on the date set. Holiday planning has a very high success rate.

So, in the drawing we have a time line and the thinner blue lines indicate the uncertainty of the conditions but we are still heading in the right direction. We might end up somewhere between the two blue arrows. In the course of time we can adjust to the conditions whereas in passed based projects the conditions are always just constraints. If we know what has to be in place in 2016, we also know what has to be in place in 2015 to fulfill that. If we know what has to be in place in 2015 we also know what has to be in place in 2014, and so on. Planning back from the future to now, we know exactly what to do and what to start with. There is plenty of space to squeeze in some quick wins as well! No deadlines but milestones, which sounds much better from a motivational point of view.

Looking back at the first quote, the spending of millions, in this model we completely abandon the path of legacy compatibility because we only look at the future. Also, looking at the second quote, we create a future in which there is room for the so called empowering innovations. Sounds like a win-win situation to me!

 

 

 

Taking (Microsoft) Exams: Pitfalls

It’s exam time with all the new Microsoft releases and new Certification Tracks. In my previous post I gave some reasons to get certified. In this post I will look at some pitfalls I see happening while people take their exams. Apart from a good preparation of course….. that’s obvious enough.

In 1998 I brought my first class to a Testing Center and I guess that I took about a thousand people to their exams since. A lot of things happen while making an exam which could lead to unnecessary failing. Here are a couple of points I use for coaching my students to become successful exam passers.

Take your time. I have never heard candidates complaining about too little time. And yet, when I look at scores in test exams, about 60% of the result is reached in the first 40% of the exam. On average, candidates are focused for about 20 minutes. So, take a break every 20 minutes. In the old days, I sometimes even took a smoke. Anyway, take the breaks every 20 minutes or so, it will enable you to also score well on the last items.

Don’t look at the answers. I do a lot of exam training and I catch people starting eliminating answers right away, that’s really a waste of energy. You’ll end up doing each and every question 4 times; check answer “A”, read the question again…. No, check answer “B”, read the question again…. No, and so on. An exam of 60 questions will end up in an exam of 240 questions. Try to formulate the best answer and then look if it’s there. The elimination process is only your last resort.

Every question is the first question. I really know a lot of people who get mad or angry about certain, in their opinion stupid or wrong questions. That is setting yourself up for failure for the next questions. Don’t be righteous! Your final score is NOT about your opinion on the topics and questions covered. Get over it BEFORE you click “Next”!

Get yourself Clear(ed). On entering the exam room leave all that’s in the back of your mind at the door, especially your opinions of yourself and the exam you’re about to take. I always call my wife, and if she’s not picking up the phone, I’ll just speak into her voicemail for a minute or two. While you’re making an exam there’s nothing you can do about a situation at work, at home, or whatever. You came to pass for an exam, don’t let anything stand between you and a passing score while making the exam.

Know your personal pitfall. My personal pitfall is “Arrogance”. Man, I’m doing good! I can afford to just gamble this (stupid) question and still be on track for a passing score. Bummer! Failed with 690 point out of 700. So I write down in big capitals on the scrap sheet “ARROGANT???”. And I manage myself. When I catch myself on being just that I click “Previous” and do the question. You have to be honest with yourself, or a better way to say that, honor yourself and distinguish your personal pitfall. You know what it is, you only need to acknowledge that it’s there. That gives you a choice instead of being the victim.

Time and location. Get agreement for picking time and place, when and where will you be taking your exam? Where I work we also have a Testing facility, I do not take my exams there. I want to be anonymous, especially during all the breaks I take. I do not want to walk to the toilets and have to have a chat with one of my co-workers. As for the time slot, some prefer taking exams early in the morning and some prefer late afternoon. Choose whatever works best for YOU. That’s what I mean with “get agreement”. Reschedule is a better option than setting yourself up for failure.

Be proud. It takes courage to take it on, acknowledge yourself for that and get acknowledgement from the people around you. Celebrate whatever the outcome may be. You really learn a lot form failing.

Finally, all begins with a real good preparation. As far as Microsoft Exams are concerned, they raised the bars. Certainly in the MCSE Tracks.

Happy studying and ENJOY taking exams!

Why Certification Does Matter

There seems to a lot skepticism on IT Certification and there’s probably a good reason for that. But that is not what I’ll be blogging about in this post. I’m looking for empowering reasons to DO get certified.

For individuals it’s always good to stretch yourself; life begins at the end of your comfort zone. The harder you need to strech the more satisfaction you get out of the result. Maybe that’s even better than a higher salary or bonus, although I do not underestimate those benefits. Certification makes it easier to search for new jobs, you can show that you’re up to date in your field of expertise. Passing an exam is also an acknowledgement for yourself of which you should be proud.

I also think it’s normal to stay up to date, looking at my closest relatives (neither of them are into IT), they all keep on developping their skills and knowledge about their respective jobs. Even my 82 year old mother as a biologist…. She blogs and is active on LinkedIn. But especially in IT, you’re out if you’re not up to date, it goes with the job. About nine months ago I blogged that the “serverhuggers” will be the first to lose their jobs. Last week I heard a CIO/CEO say: “What’s the difference between Elvis and a Systems Administrator? The Systems Administrator is really dead!”

For employers it seems logical that they only want to hire qualified employees to manage their expensive hard and software systems. I’m always very unpleasantly surprised to hear that they just “trust” their people but have actually no idea what they are doing for their money. It’s ridiculous to have untrained and unskilled people manage very expensive systems on which the company relies for it’s primary business processes. As employers invest in new technologies, training is hardly ever on the budget. It’s time now to take that business serious, IT has evolved enough to get rid of the sociologist who happens to know something about Windows. Windows is not manageable through therapy (most of the time… J). Employers investing in people have a more loyal workforce, no, they won’t run after they took their classes and passed their exams.

For outsourcers, headhunters, employer agencies and companies like that, you charge your customers big bucks so you’d better deliver. I do not only want to see an impressive resume with projects, responsibilities and accomplishments. I want to see a steady list of Certifications matching the position, otherwise we have no deal. So you should demand of your candidates a proper set of certifications, moreover, it should be the first thing to look for in any resume.

I take pride in being an IT Professional with an outstanding track record of certification and through that achieving great results in projects and training. And that leads to being reckoned as expert and guru in my fields of expertise.

Surface experiences, absolutely fabulous!

My Surface was late, USPS Express Mail took 8 days from Seattle to Amsterdam….. But that’s all forgotten now, I’ve been playing (and working) with it for 3 days now. And I’m HOOKED!

Although I have had Windows 8 running on my Laptop for a couple of months now, Surface is surprisingly “new” because of the touch experience. I only attach the Touch Cover when I really need to type, like right now. I can manage Tweets and mail very well with the on screen keyboard. When you are already used to Windows 8, the first thing you notice is that Surface is Windows! Mostly because of Office and with that SharePoint.

I try to do everything on Surface, my full blown Laptop (2x SSD, 16 GB) just sits there as RDP endpoint. This week I will do a MCSA Server 2012 Training, the VMs run on the laptop and I will presenting on my Surface…. Cool! There is just one drawback on that; the VGA-adapter sits way to loose for walking around and gesturing, I will have to use some duck tape to keep the adapter in place. So far I do not miss a thing on Surface, and, it’s NOT a PC. For a lot of work I will use the laptop but mostly I will leave it at work or at home. No more carrying around my “portable datacenter” when I visit customers or do events. Light travelling J.

There is one thing really bugging me and that is the Lync App; it works at home, it does not work in the office. Both on the Office365 Community site and the Lync site, I found people struggling with this issue as well. So far none of the suggestions worked for me, it seems to be in the App, as the Office Lync client works perfectly and according to the Forums it happens with both Office365 and Lync Server onprem. Just have to wait for a fix I guess.

So, what else can I say. Not much although I realize I hold the Future in my hands. As I said many times before, who needs an OS, who needs a Desktop. We just want an interface in which our apps are accessible. Surface is just that.

Keep you posted!

Opinions on Windows 8 RT, where are we going?

Just five more days and Windows 8 reaches General Availability. And Windows 8 RT devices are for sale next weekend. There’s a lot of opinions going round now, a lot of them angry-like or even negative. I also have an opinion, I happily run Windows 8 and I was in time to pre-order Microsoft’s Surface RT, so my opinion is clear J.

I want to be in front, ahead of things, I’m already done with Server 2012, looking for what’s next. So I’ll be one of the first in The Netherlands to own a Surface RT, without a Start Button and without a Desktop. And I think that’s where we are going, who needs an OS, who needs a Desktop with a Start Button. It’s all about the apps.

And that is exactly what Microsoft is aiming at: deliver consistent apps-experience (apperience) on whatever device, there’s even tiles on Server 2012! Very nice that we can run our VMs on Azure but running VMs is so out of date. Microsoft is the first – and as largest OS producer they should – to recognize the end of the OS era. It will take some time, sure. But look at how fast we abandoned wired phones, both at work and at home. It must be a year ago since I last held a wired telephone device in my hands (or actually DIALED a number). On our mobile phones we talk just a little on the brand and flavor, we talk more about the apps. And if the app will run on a particular device.

That is the next step when there is no more need to run apps on the devices, here is HTML5, so the apps runs in a browser and browsers are found on all devices. Delivering apps is becoming a nightmare because of all those platforms, I think it’s really stupid to want to run a Windows Desktop running in a Datacenter on an iPad through a Citrix Receiver. Only because there are some “legacy” apps on that Desktop that cannot be run on the iPad? In my opinion it’s a transition phase, the Desktop is dying and with that so is VDI, SBC, XP, Windows 7 and even Windows 8.

In a couple of years we will all have pretty simple devices running nothing but a browser and some supporting OS for connectivity and Interface purposes; not for running apps though. Microsoft’s Surface RT is a pretty dumb device, kind of portal for apps. I will use Office2013 WebApps on Office365, save my files on SkyDrive and SkyDrive Pro, tether through my Windows Phone when there’s no Wifi available (hardly imaginable in The Netherlands), and yes, connect to my full blown Windows 8 Enterprise machine if I must (hey, this is a transition phase for me also). Some people are waiting for the Windows 8 Pro tablets, the Intel based machines which can run legacy Windows application. Those people clearly missed something in the conversation. Huh? You wait to by the newest of the newest of the hottest because you want to be able to run LEGACY apps? Yeah, smart. Will cost you something also.

So, I can hardly wait to start working with my Surface RT!