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Windows Server 8: The Microsoft Server Fork

There's an argument to say that Windows Server is now Microsoft Server with Optional Windows. If it's what Microsoft has described, it's a hard left turn for Microsoft
Submitted by Tom Henderson on Wed, 09/14/11 - 12:00pm.

Windows Server 8 is categorically different than its predecessor versions. There’s an argument to say that it’s not actually Windows. It's pre-beta, and it's an enormous statement covering many positions on the chess board. Windows 8 Server editions are preferred to be run, according to Microsoft spokesperson last week, in Server Core format, although Windows GUI will be available if desired. Headless operation can also be used.

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What HP's Changes Mean for Microsoft Enterprise Architects

HP just killed WebOS devices, and put their Personal Systems Group up for grabs, then purchased Autonomy for US$10Billion. Microsoft is probably smiling.
Submitted by Tom Henderson on Thu, 08/18/11 - 10:54pm.

Microsoft has had a long-term relationship with HP, and a bit of that changes and perhaps actually strengthens. HP announced on August 18th, 2011, that it was putting its Personal Systems Group on the block. The PSG represents about 18% of retail personal computer sales, and is considered “top tier” along with machines from Dell, and Lenovo. The PSG hardware sold across the planet represents an enormous sales channel, itself a combination of Compaq (with its acquisition, DEC), and HP’s own gear—but not its printers or allied services or enterprise servers.

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Windows Mobile and Smartphones: Resignation, but Opportunity

Microsoft's Charlie Kindel left for ostensibly greener pastures. This might be an opportunity for Microsoft to take advantage of security chaos among iOS and Android.
Submitted by Tom Henderson on Mon, 08/08/11 - 8:33pm.

Microsoft mobile has a chance. Microsoft might be able to chase the competition with Windows Mobile if they can get one thing right: security. This hasn’t been a Microsoft strength. Don’t drop your coffee cup, we all know what kind of architectural security problems Microsoft’s gone thru. Tomorrow, Patch Tuesday Extraordinaire, is ongoing proof that they’re trying to do something about it.

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Thinking about RISC with Windows 8

The addition of ARM family processors will introduce admin challenges, as well as confusion. Microsoft has a chance to get it right, and avoid soap operas.
Submitted by Tom Henderson on Thu, 07/28/11 - 10:37am.

As Microsoft expands the CPU platform support from x86/x64 families into ARM territory with the addition of ARM CPU chips, there are many questions that will be raised for enterprise systems planners and designers. Some of the arguments will go back two decades in terms of the theoretical design differences between CPUs, but in more practical views, the actual impact of two CPU device families supported by Windows needs to be thought through. In the short term, nothing needs to be done; in the long term, deeper questions arise.

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The PDC on Geritol: The BUILD in Anaheim

The No Agenda Conference: Will They Come?
Submitted by Tom Henderson on Tue, 07/19/11 - 8:08pm.

The Professional Developers Conference has been an interesting exercise in how many logo’d polo shirts can convene and speak Dot-Net until the room snores. Then you get beer. In a fit of getting out of your deep ugly groove, Microsoft has renamed their dev con, to something more befitting of other dev cons—something unique. That unique is BUILD, taking place in less than a couple of months in the Anaheim Convention Center—September 13-16.

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Microsoft NAC and MDM: Your Future in Control

Mobile device proliferation means joining NAC with MDM-- you need to control the proliferation of smart devices. It's not going to be easy.
Submitted by Tom Henderson on Sun, 07/10/11 - 10:37pm.

The number of break-ins to high profile networks is at an all time high. Media announcements of a seeming record number of ripped off user information, credit card links, and other sensitive information appears seemingly daily. Somehow, someone broke in. Admittance control doesn’t necessarily make the fortress bullet proof, but conceptually, it allows a lot of control over credentials of users running on internal network circuits.

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Envisioning a More Perfect Windows 2012

Microsoft has everyone distracted with what Windows 8 might be, but behind the scenes, a new version of Windows Server editions might be arriving. This is my fanciful, non-fact-based look
Submitted by Tom Henderson on Tue, 06/28/11 - 6:17pm.

Microsoft is all about keeping us busily working with fresh versions of Windows, and up to now, we've heard precious little about Windows Server changes.

Indeed Windows 8 has been a huge distraction, after Microsoft pulled a rabbit out of its hat with the success of Windows 7. Various pundits insert the travails and misery of WIndows Vista at this point, and point various fingers at prior Windows failures like Windows Millennium Edition.

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Azure review: Looks juicy but not yet fully cooked

We researched and tested Azure. We've been ready to do this for a long time. It's still not really ready.
Submitted by Tom Henderson on Mon, 06/20/11 - 10:02pm.

Our review of Windows Azure was an intense experience. We'd waited and waited, and waited to review Azure after it was announced. Then more stuff was announced. We were trying to pin what Azure was. We eventually decided that cloud and Azure were really different things. While Microsoft was waiting and busily roadmapping the product, the industry shaped what Azure has become, which is a hybrid model of PaaS, developer platform, and dashes of IaaS.

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Microsoft's Zen Lesson: Windows 8 Hardware Squeezes

Microsoft may have learned some thing from Apple regarding Windows 8 tablet platforms, but will the message spread to Windows 8 notebooks and desktops?
Submitted by Tom Henderson on Tue, 06/14/11 - 10:54pm.

Occasionally, Microsoft learns lessons deeply-- and more deeply than they’ll let on. I think you’ll see proof of this in Windows 8, as Microsoft starts to slim down its hardware compatibility list to enjoy some of the benefits caused by simplicity, cited as a benefit that Apple now enjoys. Simplicity is bliss, and Zen is all about simplicity (and a predictable consumer experience).

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Microsoft and Nokia: A win-win for enterprise smartphone use

Now that the dust has settled around this industry shaking partnership, there's more for enteprises to like than dislike.
Submitted by Tom Henderson on Mon, 06/06/11 - 5:23pm.

Microsoft’s latest mobile offerings were greeted with a comparative yawn. Nokia, once the unstoppable ruler of mobile had similar problems: outdated product line and a platform that needed several leapfrog moves to become competitive in the burgeoning smartphone race. Add an ex-Microsoft employee turned Nokia CEO, and Microsoft’s CEO Steve Ballmer with lots of spare cash to buy a renown mobiles maker’s attack surface, and it seems like kismet.

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