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June 2006 - David Overton's Blog
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  • If you want Vista - go get it today or mis out

    I have just read at Ian Moulster's blog that Vista beta code is on a time limit to sign up - and that time is soon to expire. If you want Vista, go to http://www.microsoft.com/betaexperience/engb and start the process now, like today. You have been warned! ttfn David

  • Want to see Windows Mobile 5 working ala the SB Ignite Tour in your own demo environment

    The Funboy ala Chris has published this step by step guide to using the Windows Mobile 5 emulator with SBS to learn the WM5 funky functionality. Perhaps the most annoying thing is that the reason I fly to Boston for the World Wide Partner Conference is to demostrate part of the new People Ready Business Demo DVD mobility demos, including the stuff Chris has painstakingly documented . There is a huge amount of learning in Chris's page, so don't be thinking you can skip it. One further piece of software I would load onto this demo is to load Mobile Admin toolkit. When loading this on SBS, it will create a 2nd default web site which you will basically not be able to access. I then went to IIS admin, gave it a host header of MobileAdmin and made it available on the internal network. To access the admin tools I then access http://mobileadmin/mobileadmin . There might have been a security issue with the folder - can't remember, but I am sure you are all capable of ensuring the folders have the right permissions for...

  • Do you want to run through a series of self paced scenarios for Windows Vista and then send us feedback?

    I have just found this site - it is really quite good and will only get better. Simple go to http://windowsbeta.microsoft.com/vista/setup.aspx , tell it which version of Vista you are running (most likely 5384 - Beta 2) and then home button. On the left hand side a list of categories will pop up, but there is a HUGE amount to choose from. As an example, when I clicked security, this is the list: Security Internet Options Determine the privacy level you are using within the current security zone User Account Control When prompted, give permission for a program to continue Windows Defender Scan your computer using Windows Defender View items quarantined by Windows Defender Run Software Explorer to view all software running on your computer Windows Firewall Confirm that Windows Firewall is active and running Check to see if Wireless Portable Devices are unblocked by Windows Firewall the list of categories is long: (Recently Added) Application Compatibility Communications & Networking Ease of Access Entertainment...

  • Logging bugs in Vista and why we need them logged

    Tim, one of the community leads has a blog that I recommend people to subscribe too. He has said he has had to give up on Vista as it just fails to work . Susan Bradley then asks of Tim if he has logged a bug , but I also remember a long post by Tim on how hard it was to log bugs and being a beta tester. I then did a search of the internet and a few people have asked how to log a Vista bug and the answer appears to be to download a tool and then fill in the details. One thing to say is that things like 3rd party power management tools often break things, so try NOT loading them. Also, if your machine BSODs, let it upload the file to MS so we get the dump. If it BSODs on every boot, try doing a safeboot for it to upload the bugs. There is a great tool in Vista to upload BSODs and other info and it will auto fire when an admin logs in. that is it for tonight ttfn David

  • I Need you to comment on a blog - should the Technet guys run a seperate Small Business track?

    Hi folks, it is not often I put out an ask like this, but on Eileen Browns excellent blog she has the following around Exchange 2007 ( http://blogs.technet.com/eileen_brown/archive/2006/06/16/technet_events.aspx ): Exchange - going small or large? A lot of the questions I get when I'm out at the roadshow are about Exchange and what Exchange 2007 can do for organisations. <lots snipped> When I decided on the content this year, I went for topics that I thought would appeal to people wanting to know about up and coming technologies. An overview of the new features in 2007 Office System, Exchange 2007 and Vista, with the new features of Windows Server R2, and ISA Server too. But I reckon that 75% of the questions that I've had this week concern Small Business Server and various aspects of SBS architecture. So my question is...Should we include an SBS track in future events? and if so, what do you want us to cover on this potential SBS track? Should we deliver this event in conjunction with Partners at their...

  • Internet Explorer 7 Beta 3 is now available for download

    Short, simple, sweet, IE 7 beta 3 is available to download at http://www.microsoft.com/ie ttfn David

  • Steve Marsh talks about Office 2007 and why you should care on PTS-TV

    PTS-TV has been very, very busy with several videos released over the last few days. I have just noticed that Steve Marsh has finally spoken about Office 2007. I have previously blogged about Office, and also added several blog sites to watch on my links page . Steve can be found on the normal PTS-TV page . You can also keep up to date with PTS-TV via the RSS feed . Having said that, watch Steve Marsh tell it how it is about Office 2007 and also see other posts on this site here . To watch Steve directly, either stream it or download it (46mb). Also, even though Steve has come through the Microsoft Graduate Scheme (as is post Uni, worked for me for a year and now is a fully fledged team member alongside myself) he has managed to catch my disease of saying "So" too many times. Finally, he called me a "Big person", something I need to have a chat to him about, although while on paternity leave I have been eating chocolate at all hours recently, so he might be very right. ttfn David

  • Why Small Business Server 2003 is right for small businesses

    I have my 1 st Technet Article published in the news flash today. The article is below and it talks about why SBS is right for small businesses – for the “IT Pros” in the world – i.e. those who are technical by nature. To add a bit more to the article, I have included several links in this to pictures of the reports. Hello, My name is David Overton and I am the Head of Technology for Small Business in Microsoft UK. I spend a good deal of my time explaining the benefit of Microsoft Technology focused on the small business market. Windows Small Business Server 2003 (SBS) is a product that is perfect for those organisations who are looking for a single server that does everything in one box and meet the requirements of 75 users or less. In the one box you get Windows Server 2003 standard, Exchange 2003 standard and a host of SBS specific wizards and tools that ensure it is simple to install. What is more the price is less than that of Windows Server 2003. (Further wizard pictures for To Do List , Adding a User 1...
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  • New Microsoft Code sharing site (CodePlex) and Forums for WSS

    I see over at CNET that Microsoft has launched a new code sharing, shared sources initiative where people can work on joint code. This is called CodePlex . While browsing there, I saw a great looking Forum for WSS. To get to the forum, go to http://www.codeplex.com/Wiki/View.aspx?ProjectName=SPFORUMS . Picture below ttfn David

  • Is Linux making a move into Small Business

    I read this CRN article that Jo sent me earlier today and it makes me wonder about why people choose SBS. I love it because it is an action packed package in the size of a matchbox and a price to match. Others love it because it has a bunch of cool features and plays to their Windows experience. One thing the article said, which I think applies not just to those Linux folks, but also to us SBS folks is: Another partner said Linux rivals should worry less about the 800-lb. gorilla they are competing with and focus on making customers aware of their products and their benefits . "The smallest companies with one to 20 employees often don't understand the benefits of server technology or don't trust the ROI projections," Fogg said. "Those companies often elect to stay with peer-to-peer networks I think we can all learn more on how to do this. ttfn David
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  • More on how to debug a crash (BSOD) from the dump file, or want some amazing Windows diagnostic and support tools

    I was not at Tech-Ed this year, but people like Susan Bradley and Vlad Mazek were. While they blogged on lots of interesting subjects, one that I thought I would bring up would be the how to examine a crash dump file. This was presented by Mark Russinovich who runs the amazing www.sysinternals.com site. To see the Tech-Ed presentation, go to http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/WebCastEventDetails.aspx?EventID=1032298075&EventCategory=4&culture=en-US&CountryCode=US ttfn David

  • Do You want to learn about developing using the latest MS Technology in small chunks (Windows WorkFlow / Presentation / Communication Foundation, ASP.Net, SQL 2005, WSE, Winforms, XML etc)

    I got sent this internally and thought I should share. 10 min 'how-to's' for developers to download on the hot topics. Check out the new 'easy to find' Nugget download page on the MSDN website. The 10-15 minute mini webcasts have proven themselves extremely popular with developers pushed for time. With the new Nugget page, developers can search on technology, content level and preferred presenter to get the Nugget they want, saving even more time. ttfn David

  • Longhorn review - calls it a Slam Dunk

    Working for Microsoft makes you a little used to seeing people slate your products whether they know what they are talking about or are just trying to make press. Someone associated with the press once told me that news rooms get a buzz when a negative Microsoft story comes in - oh joys! So, for all this, while all the noise has been about Office 2007 and Windows Vista recently, Windows codename Longhorn Beta 2 has quietly popped out. This is the server product, which will shop in 32-bit and 64-bit form, but only the x64 version will be used as the foundation for SBS Longhorn codename Cougar. While I can't tell you anything about Cougar - after all, we have not got SBS 2003 R2 out the door yet - you can start to see what the foundations will be. Longhorn Server, with more functionality, IPv6 based networking, huge security leaps and much more. To see the product, go to http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserver/longhorn . Today, Longhorn is only available via TechNet or MSDN , but as I have mentioned before, buy Technet...
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  • Using Windows SharePoint Services(WSS) to Answer - How do my staff improve information sharing?

    File Shares are a starter We are used to people using file shares – eg \\csa-srv-01\team documents , however finding files can get difficult using this form, so Microsoft suggest people use the intranet web site. Try going to your http://companyweb site and notice that you have a number if document stores. If you go to a store, you can upload a document to the store. This can now be searched if you are running SBS Premium edition, version control can be implemented as well as a limited flow control and check-in and check-out. Some say file shares are very easy, but you can use the companyweb a bit like a file share in 2 ways. One, when you get a file save box, try typing in http://companyweb in the filename box. You wll see your companyweb site, but through the file dialog. You can even make it that to save a file in these locations the users have to fill in special meta data (information about the file) before they can save, to make it easier to categorise or find files later. For some people, this is still...

  • Longhorn Forums

    For those of you who are interested in Windows Server Longhorn , we have 13 forums available for discussion with eachother and Microsoft at http://forums.microsoft.com/TechNet/default.aspx?ForumGroupID=161&SiteID=17 General General discussion on Windows Server “Longhorn” Directory Services Discussion on Windows Server “Longhorn” Active Directory services File Services and Storage Discussion on file systems and storage functionality within Windows Server "Longhorn" Migration Discussion on migrating to Windows Server “Longhorn” Management Discussion on managing Windows Server “Longhorn”, including management tools Network Access Protection Discuss on Network Access Protection Platform Networking Discussion on networking with Windows Server “Longhorn”, including networking technologies and solutions Print/Fax Discussion on printing and faxing with Windows Server “Longhorn" Setup & Deployment Discussion on setting up and deploying Windows Server “Longhorn” Terminal Services Discussion on all things Windows...
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  • WinFS - moving to SQL (Katmai) and then available to everyone - honest

    So there I was, reading about WinFS and the fact that it was going to be in Katmai - the next release of SQL and I was very happy with this when I read the blog and all the comments and discovered that the world and their dog was not happy with this. I was so concerned that I pinged Quentin who wrote the blog and got the right response from him - "when inclusion of part of WinFS into Katmai is completed, the technology will be in ALL versions of SQL, including the Express versions". Now before I go into more detail, what was WinFS always going to be? A way to store data alongside the filesystem (no, not to replace NTFS) and access it using all those nice database functions. How did people think the data was stored or where the database functions were going to be provided from? SQL of course, so having to load a cut down version of SQL Server onto the system was always what a WinFS install does - and will do, just you now load it via SQL Express rather than WinFS setup. I am sure some of the technical detail is...

  • Were you at Office DevCon - the UK's 2nd Office Developer Dev conference - want to know more?

    OK, so DevCon has been and gone, but hopefully some of you got to see the event. There is a quick little video with people talking about the highlights on a small video . This all links from Darren's blog . One thing that it highlights is that people really enjoy playing with the product after seeing things. Jo is on the video and are many others, but again, some blogs to follow are: Office Rocker! Office 12 Watch (Office 12 is Office 2007) UK Office Pioneer Jo Carpenter's Blog Adventure Girl ttfn David
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  • Real servers versus a DUD aka "Dressed up Desktop" for SBS use

    While I was at AMD yesterday I heard a term that is very useful to describe a really bad piece of hardware used to build a server - DUD - dressed up desktops. You know what they are - PCs that are desktops without any of that key server tech - do you know of one - let me know. As a minimum I would want to see the following in a decent SBS server: x64 CPU to enable migration to SBS Longhorn edition RAID disks to survive a disk failure - I'm not going to ret religious if they are SCSI or not, but remember that Domain Controllers turn off disk caching unless you have a SCSI like controller, so can have a big impact on performance 2GB of memory min - this is just me, but why skimp at the outset - if you are not going to start at 2GB, then please make sure there are free slots for an upgrade Descent power and cooling Backup capability of some form 2 NICs (even if you only use one - the option is there) Quality brands - don't save £5 and spend the next 3 years regretting it AMD do a great line in quality parts and have...

  • Videos about Vista or adverts for it

    There I was thinking I knew lots about Vista and then I started finding the Videos Product Demos http://geekindisguise.com/Documents/myVistaMC.wmv http://news.com.com/1606-2_3-6018907.html http://news.com.com/1606-2_3-6019862.html http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5j-LwPM3L5Q http://msdn.microsoft.com/windowsvista/learning/training/conceptvid/default.aspx Adverts http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h4ku2UbRyXg http://wms.meslchost.com/windowsvistapartner/seethedifference.wmv Other Devlopers - http://channel9.msdn.com/tags/Windows+Vista as always, http://uksbsguy.com/vista or http://ukvistaguy.com will get you my Vista related content. ttfn David

  • See what Vista can do in a short minute or spend longer looking at features

    Ok, so Vista is a HUGE thing to start to learn about, but where do you start. Well, to see the product I would start with http://microsoft.mrmpslc.com/WindowsVistaPartner/Secure/vistafeatures_demo.html . It has a great quick vista demo. If you want to see more of the product, go have a look at http://www.seewindowsvista.com/ where you can quite literally see the product in action along with a number of videos and scenarios. ttfn David

  • Windows Live Messenger (was MSN Messenger) is now released, final and ready

    Do you IM people? Do you want to share files with them, have voice and video conversations, even call from your PC to a real phone at the end? Then Windows Live Messenger is for you. Get it at http://messenger.live.com . From the website: Call their phones. Call their PCs. Call your friends' mobile or landline phones. It's great value within the UK or internationally. And calling someone's PC is always free. See them on the screen Show and tell: get a webcam and start a video conversation within minutes. Share stuff Set up a Sharing Folder with a friend. Drop in photos and other stuff, as much as your computer can handle. See it even when one of you is offline. A network of millions Tap into the world's largest IM network, with hundreds of millions of users worldwide. Soon: talk to your Yahoo! friends, too Soon you'll be able to use Windows Live Messenger to talk to your friends who use Yahoo! Messenger with Voice. The world's largest IM network is getting even bigger. ttfn David

  • Off-Topic - get the football results results live on your desktop

    Yes! The Soccer World Cup started yesterday! The Windows Client team contributes to this awesome event with the super cool Football Scoreboard. T his gadget enables you to track the teams and results in real-time. Don’t miss out on any important goal! The useful applet is part of the Value of Genuine initiative driving up compliance. It only runs if the user has a genuine Windows installed. Spread the word, let friends and family know about this great tool! Have a great World Cup experience with Windows Genuine Advantage! The applets can be found on: German download French download English download
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  • Did you know that your small business customers want Windows Vista

    I know this has been discussed before and while I am on Paternity I am not authoring much in the way of content (not enough time), so simply adding things I am finding elsewhere, but this little gem was interesting. A recent web survey that I think, but am not 100% sure about, was NOT commissioned by Microsoft found the following: http://www.itbusinessedge.com/item/?ci=11414 Small shops (with fewer than 100 employees) who identified themselves as aggressive when it comes to platform upgrades were among the most avid projected Vista adopters, with 76 percent saying they would roll out within the first year of Vista release. Of respondents who said they plan on delaying a Vista rollout, 69 percent said they would rely on their PC refresh cycle to drive the transition . Overall, 46 percent of respondents said that new security features would be a factor in causing them to undertake a Vista rollout; the next most popular response was end of support for legacy Windows systems, at 28 percent. Only three survey respondents...

  • The key to Vista's success is a great product and some amazing ISV applications

    I have been having a chat with Vlad ( http://www.vladville.com/2006/06/vista-advertising-machine-starts-its-engine.html ) and he has made a really good point that Vista looks good, that it is beta, so should not be deployed in a live environment and that he needs some compelling apps. I happen to agree with him - it is beta, and therefore more sluggish and buggy than a final product, but on the apps front, there is soooo much to come. The view of public apps can be seen on http://www.seewindowsvista.com , but Mary Jane Foley has raised the question in http://www.microsoft-watch.com/article2/0,2180,1972444,00.asp and also points out that a different bread of ISV is coming to town and they are bringing Vista only or enabled apps that will help. Obviously the Vista benefits for Security, reliablility, ease of use and user safety will all be a major factor for many customers. I can't wait for the information on ISVs to continue to materialize over the coming weeks. ttfn David

  • How to put your copyright information and usage into Office Documents with the Creative Commons add-in

    Just a quick note to say that Microsoft have been working with Creative Commons to enable the use of their Copyright licenses and tools within Office. More info at Creative Commons can be found at http://creativecommons.org/ and the plug-in for Office can be found at http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=113B53DD-1CC0-4FBE-9E1D-B91D07C76504&displaylang=en ttfn David
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(c)David Overton 2006-23