David Overton's Blog : Windows SharePoint Services, System Builder Information

Channel Expo Show presentations - Windows Vista, Office 2007 and Windows Server (SBS, Naked, Home Server and Longhorn) sales slides

David Overton — Fri, 06 Apr 2007 13:39:00 GMT

If you visited the Channel Expo show this year then you probably saw one or two Microsoft presentations on desktop and server solutions. James Akrigg and Matt McSpirit provided the desktop entertainment while I covered off what servers we have out there and what is coming in the near future.

We promised the slides and here they are:

Desktop (Windows Vista and Office 2007)- Office 2007 PowerPoint

Desktop (Windows Vista and Office 2007)- PDF

Server (SBS, Windows Server 2003 R2, Longhorn and Home Server) - Office 2007 PowerPoint

Server (SBS, Windows Server 2003 R2, Longhorn and Home Server) - PDF

James has an amazing blog (Out of Office) at http://blogs.technet.com/outofoffice

Matt touches many aspects of desktop technology including that for small business at http://blogs.technet.com/mattmcspirit

Have a look at the blogs and enjoy the presentations.

ttfn

David

Technorati tags: Channel Expo, Vista, Office 2007, SBS 2003, Nakes Servers, Home Server, Longhorn

I'm sorry - I am not perfect and nor is Microsoft. Sometimes it is our fault

David Overton — Mon, 19 Feb 2007 23:26:51 GMT

I can be abrasive sometimes and whether it "is my fault" or not, I don't always understand others' point of views. To this I would like to say "It is my fault".

Now, if you have got up off the floor, let me give you a few examples.

I say "contact our customer support" and you say "I don't have time". Before I rant - OK, I understand this, if you could share the bug at some time, we will try to fix it. We haven't been able to identify it yet, so need your help
I say "There is no OEM media, get over it" and you say "I need OEM media to do my installs". OK, I can't fix this one. I do understand where you are coming from. If I were to share the fact that in the UK, which is a low piracy country, our tests so far have shown between 10-15% of all copies of Windows are pirated and many come from Action Packs and other OEM keys, does that help understand why this is such an issue? I do wish I could give you back OEM media, but I've been told it is just not possible. While Microsoft did publish the changes coming, I now get the impression that many did not realise that this was linked to the change in qualifying an upgrade, making the process different to Windows XP

The list goes on, however why did I even start this? Well a man I respect lots is Joel. I started reading his latest filing:

"Now I was fuming. Squiggly lines were coming up out of my head. I was a half hour late to work and had to go to the locksmith for a third time. I was tempted just to give up on him. But I decided to give this loser one more chance."

"Seven steps to remarkable customer service
http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/customerservice.html

It then carries on:

I stomped into the store, ready to unleash my fury.
“It still doesn’t work?” he asked. “Let me see.”
He looked at it.
I was sputtering, trying to figure out how best to express my rage at being forced to spend the morning going back and forth.
“Ah. It’s my fault,” he said.
And suddenly, I wasn’t mad at all.
Mysteriously, the words “it’s my fault” completely defused me. That was all it took.

Potentially wise words from the sage. I mean what I say

have a great day

David

David Overton moving to a solution / revenue based role (it means I need to help partners sell)

David Overton — Fri, 21 Jul 2006 17:06:00 GMT

Many people ask me what I do and sometimes they are amazed with the answer "I help Microsoft Partners build solutions that deliver value to their small business partners – for free". This is a great job and part of it is to engage with as many partners as possible to improve the quality and knowledge around the solutions that can be built upon Microsoft technology. This year my role has a slightly different focus, but the way I achieve it will have many similarities. It has becoming important for me to ensure that partners are not just technically capable, but also selling solutions, sometimes even offering their customers alternative licensing options to suit their business needs. Some may see this as me selling out in some way, but while I love technology, if it is not applied correctly and you and I can't make money out of it, then there is a limit to the business value of the technology. I will still be blogging, posting on both business and technical ideas, but also be discussing how to sell solutions, what the licensing options truly mean, what extras you can add to a sale to add value for you and the customer. I'll even be discussing how online services are an opportunity for you, but more on this later. On this note, is there more I should do to help you sell more, have more customers and make more money? If so, let me know what is needed, whether it is something from Microsoft or David. Comments are open on this one, so fire a comment onto the blog. Expect to see a post on the work we are doing with the Technet team to get you even more technical resources and the process for access to all those nice betas, hosted services and where they fit as part of a solution and the options on licensing to make it easier for your customer to understand the value of technology and even buy earlier. Ttfn David...(read more)

Off to Partner Conference in Boston - see you blogging from there

David Overton — Sun, 09 Jul 2006 06:01:00 GMT

Hello, just a quick note to say that I am due to fly today @ 11am to Boston for the Partner Conference - if you are going then I will see you there, if not, you can read about it here. ttfn David...(read more)

UK Managing Director Leaves the UK bound for Microsoft Corp - welcome to Gordon Frazer from South Africa

David Overton — Fri, 07 Jul 2006 21:00:00 GMT

Today we had a bit of a kick of for FY07 (Financial Year 07 in Microsoft) and a review of FY 06. We had a healthy year with excellent growth (this is no way a prediction of the MS Company results) and we also did a bit of sweeping a few things out. It has been speculated for a little while that Alistair Baker would be moving on and today we had it confirmed. As of 31st July, the new MD of MS UK will be Gordon Frazer from the South African Sub. He did seem like a very positive and fired up person, so I think this will be nothing but goodness, as will having another Brit in the power halls at MS in the States. For the press release, have a look at http://www.microsoft.com/uk/press/content/presscentre/releases/2006/07/PR03662.mspx ttfn David...(read more)

Livemeeting today @4:30pm for SBSC members on Vista and Office - by Jo Carpenter and David Overton - ask us the hard questions

David Overton — Wed, 05 Jul 2006 10:19:00 GMT

Howdy folks, I thought I would remind all those SBSC members about the Office and Vista webcast happening today - as it is a livemeeting it will be mainly demos, plus some nuggets on positioning the technology. This is one of my monthly technology webcasts that you are welcom to join. To register (you need to do this a little in advance to get the final link via e-mail), go to http://msevents-eu.microsoft.com/cui/eventdetail.aspx?EventID=118771191&Culture=en-GB and sign up. This is one of the perks of being an SBSC member. ttfn David...(read more)

70-282 Exam - what has changed, what has not and how it stands now after all the feedback

David Overton — Wed, 05 Jul 2006 04:32:00 GMT

Howdy. There has been a lot of discussion recently about the huge changes to the 70-282 exam, especially following people helping us with the 71-282 beta exam work. Having worked many hours as an investagtive reporter (at least 2) and searched many a rubbish bin, I now have a pretty good answer to what happened. I managed to get this statement from the "right people" inside Microsoft. In short - 71-282 was a beta which had some things in it that did not make it into the final revised 70-282 exam. "70-282 Clarification around the introduction of a new version of the exam In Early 2006 Microsoft felt that exam "70-282 Designing, Deploying and Managing Network Solutions for Small and Medium-Sized Businesses" had not been performing at the Microsoft standard. Microsoft constantly reviews customer feedback and exam statistics, and determines if exam item changes or additions are required. To keep this exam current and valued by our customers and partners, Microsoft revised the questions and carried out testing of the new exam with a cross-section of Microsoft Partners and internal staff. This group was made up of people who had sat the previous 70-282 exam and of people who had not yet sat the exam all coming from the Small Business Specialist Community or SBS MVPs. The beta exam was coded 71-282. Candidates who sat and passed 71-282 will be given credit for the 70-282 exam. In March 2006, once testing was complete, the revised 70-282 exam was launched. The exam format has changed slightly, but the content continues to reflect the required knowledge for designing, deploying and managing network solutions for the small and mid-sized business. To be successful, you will need adequate knowledge of Microsoft Small Business Server, Microsoft Windows Server and Active Directory. All existing training and prep materials contain information to prepare candidates for the current exam questions. There are several preparation options available depending on your experience and current knowledge levels. Details of training courses...(read more)

Bad links now fixed

David Overton — Tue, 04 Jul 2006 20:53:00 GMT

Sooo many of you clicked the links in the posts from the last two days, but got an OWA screen that I had to go back and edit about 16 posts. All fixed now - thanks to Rob for pointing it out. ttfn David...(read more)

Draft release of my web log analyser tool (using IIS Log files)

David Overton — Tue, 04 Jul 2006 08:07:00 GMT

People have asked for my tools I use to produce my site statistics, so I have released a draft cut. It should all work. To get the best out of it you need a $20 subscription to http://www.maxmind.com/app/web_services_guide#city and MapPoint , but otherwise it works - without both these it is fully functional, but no maps. The source can be found at http://uksbsguy.com/files/11/files/entry735.aspx and the exes at http://uksbsguy.com/files/11/files/entry736.aspx . ttfn David...(read more)

IE 7 beta 3 download- an update

David Overton — Fri, 30 Jun 2006 07:13:00 GMT

Having told everyone that Beta 3 is available for download , I was a little short on details. The IE team have blogged several things on beta 3 - 1st - It is available in multiple languages and also now for XP and Windows Server - so you could run this on your server - I would not do that just yet on a production machine. Of course, the thing you notice very quickly on IE7 is when accessing RWW if the certificate is not set up correctly for the machine (most often the interface name) then you get a huge shiny error! Also, as a direct quote ' I’m looking forward to reading the feedback - positive and negative - as it comes in. I also want to encourage developers, web developers, designers, and IT Pros to use Readiness Toolkit to help you deliver the best possible experience to your sites’ IE7 visitors. ' 2nd, the UI has change a little - the details are in the blog, but things to look out for include: new icons following feedback You can drag the tabs around to re-order them others such as ftp and image zoon features enjoy the product - I am already running it :-) ttfn David...(read more)

OFF TOPIC - Feel the force - See Star Wars Lego II - The Original Trilogy Game - AWESOME

David Overton — Thu, 29 Jun 2006 07:05:00 GMT

As some of you may know, I am a true Star Wars Geek. I love all 6 films - yes, even Jar Jar. I had heard about the 2nd game - me & Molly are loving the 1st game and then I saw this on MSN Video - amazing! Cool features - all the characters, the ability to go off piste with any vehicle and the ability to take characters apart and create new ones - just like you would with Lego Pieces :-) ttfn David...(read more)

Giving money to good causes - Warren Buffet follows Bill and Melinda

David Overton — Sun, 25 Jun 2006 22:48:00 GMT

One of the reasons I picked Microsoft to work for was that I felt the company had a goal stronger than "to make money for the shareholders", but also to actually do some good in the world. Bill Gates has announced that he is planning to slowly transisition to a part time role in Microsoft over the next two years to dedicate his time to the Bill and Melinda Foundation who have already given away billions to help those in need. (See http://www.gatesfoundation.com/AboutUs/Announcements/Announce-060615.htm for Bill's transition. For some astounding stats, look at http://www.gatesfoundation.com/MediaCenter/FactSheet/ - snipped from it: Number of employees: 241 Endowment: $29.2 billion Total grant commitments since inception: $10.5 billion Total 2005 grant payments: $1.36 billion Illustrative Grant Commitments United Negro College Fund , Gates Millennium Scholars Program - $1 billion The GAVI Alliance - $1.5 billion Malaria Vaccine Initiative - $258 million Save the Children , Saving Newborn Lives - $110 million United Way of King County , Seattle, WA, - $55 million Knowledgeworks Foundation - $20 million National Council of Culture & Arts , Mexico Library Project - $11.7 million Public Access Computing Hardware Upgrade Program , Multiple library systems - $5.3 million Now I read that Warren Buffet is to give away 85% of his 40B$ wealth to charity, with 5/6 going to the above fund. For more info, see http://www.gatesfoundation.com/AboutUs/Announcements/Announce-060625.htm This is what I want to help others do, while Microsoft makes lots of donations, by making MS successful, I enable these people to continue to do this. I think Microsoft donates something like 7% of its cash each year to good causes - not many other companies can say they do that. When working recently with the SBS product team in the UK I discovered that we give away 4+ copies of SBS plus associated software to UK needy causes a month. That is just SBS, we also give away many other products too. I know that the nay sayers could say "why not give away...(read more)

Site look and feel updated

David Overton — Thu, 22 Jun 2006 23:28:00 GMT

I found some amazing site themes at http://japan.communityserver.info/ and have updated the default site with this. If you wish to change it back, click http://uksbsguy.com/user/EditProfile.aspx and select the site theme of "default for CS2.0". You might also notice the Posts on this site Zoom Cloud showing you a cloud of the keywords mentioned on the site. See the site in it's full glory at http://uksbsguy.com ttfn David...(read more)

Off Topic - How not to retain customers - Someone wants to cancel their AOL subscription

David Overton — Thu, 22 Jun 2006 11:00:00 GMT

I just had tto post this. Microsoft sometimes gets a bit of a kicking about support, but things like the Official SBS podcast , changes to search on our http://support.microsoft.com site, people like me and even the huge SBS community have changed most peoples experience with our support. When I say this, you just have to laugh in amazement as to what was going through this guys mind? http://video.msn.com/v/us/v.htm?g=5ff445af-bf5c-4c3c-9424-ff467ea97a87&f=rssimbot_us_default ttfn David...(read more)

OFF TOPIC - Raise money for NSPCC (UK Childrens charity) while searching the internet using clickscount.co.uk

David Overton — Wed, 21 Jun 2006 09:00:00 GMT

I know this is s a small one, but if you go to http://www.clickscount.co.uk to try your internet web searches, you will rasie money for the NSPCC each time you click. Underneath is the MSN Search engine, which has improved hand over fist over the last few months, but it has got to be worth a try, even if it is just for MS related information. ttfn David...(read more)

OFF TOPIC - Overton Family has another child - Lizzy May

David Overton — Wed, 14 Jun 2006 14:41:00 GMT

Hello everyone, just a quick note to say that today Lizzy May was born into this world at 2:24am GMT. She is happy and health, as is her mum and the rest of us. She weighs 6lbs 15 1/2 ounces and was 54cms long. If you want to see some lovely pictures, go to http://uksbsguy.com/photos/doverton/category1018.aspx obviously this will slow down some of the posts over the next few days or weeks. ttfn David...(read more)