Managing Microsoft
Kerrie Meyler, MVP, MCSE, MCTS, MCT, is an independent consultant and trainer with over 15 years of experience in IT. While at Microsoft in Field Technical Sales for four years she focused on infrastructure and mangement, presenting at numerous product launches. Kerrie has presented Operations Manager 2007 at TechEd 2007, MMS 2009, MMS 2011, and internal Microsoft conferences, receiving company recognition and awards including a SPAR MGS award.
How About that Surface?
On June 18, 2012, Microsoft announced their Surface tablet, to be available in Windows RT and Windows 8 Pro flavors. The Surface is a bit of a departure from traditional Microsoft announcements, as it uses Microsoft rather than OEM...
What's up with Google Drive?
Now that Google has rolled out their competitor to Dropbox and Microsoft's SkyDrive, and both the Dropbox folks and Microsoft have made adjustments in their products to respond to what Google offers, let's take a step back to see...
NOW@MMS 2012 - the world of connected devices
The second day keynote at MMS traditionally discusses Configuration Manager. That was extended a bit this year to include Microsoft's cloud-based service for device management, InTune.The world has changed from the one-user-one...
NOW@MMS 2012 - the cloud is here
Several years ago, the theme at the Microsoft Management Summit was the Journey to the cloud. Today, its NOW.Are you ready? - NOW. Are you building for the future? - NOWThis year, for the 10 year anniversary of MMS (previously known...
is BYOD a good idea?
For years, companies have debated whether to let employees expense their personal cell phones rather than issuing a separate phone for business use, and if so, how much control to have over them in terms of vendors and carriers. It...
Diversity and Jobs in IT
Earlier this week, Network World published an article (http://www.networkworld.com/news/2012/030612-women-it-257009.html) quoting an Anita Borg Institute report saying "at least 1 woman should be interviewed for every IT job...
Google in the News
Google, rightly or wrongly, has had its share of bumps in the news over the past week. It started Feb 17, when the Wall Street Journal broke the news that Google had bypassed Apple's Safari browser settings for guarding privacy. (For...
Is SOPA really that bad?
Friday, January 27, Mark Gibbs published an article discussing "the real reasons why SOPA and PIPA are real bad" (http://www.networkworld.com/columnists/2012/012712-backspin.html).Mark points out what he sees as two major issues:The...
This week in System Center 2012
As you may have heard by now, Microsoft released the release candidate of System Center 2012 on Tuesday, announced during their "Transforming IT with Microsoft Private Cloud Virtual Event" on Tuesday. Just two days later, I see at...
System Center 2012
Today Microsoft announced availability of the release candidate for System Center 2012. While there previously has been a System Center "suite," with this version, Microsoft is getting serious about making the suite the product, and...
Microsoft System Center Evolution
System Center was first introduced as a concept in 2003, consisting of MOM and SMS, with an envisioned reporting product unifying information between the two. Since then System Center has gone through several product releases, but...
Microsoft's $99 hour PC support service
Microsoft's Answer Desk debuted Dec. 7, touted as a premium service to give you the most convenient, friendly, and easy way to get the most out of your PC (per a TechNet blog article by Blake Morrison Dec. 9 that was pulled shortly...
A blast from the past - Microsoft accused of monopolistic practices
On November 21, Bill Gates testified in a lawsuit charging Microsoft of monopolistic behavior against WordPerfect. Microsoft is accused of altering Windows 95 to make it more difficult for WordPerfect to produce a product that...
Copying Software
A study commissioned by Microsoft found pirated software saves its users in developing countries more than $2.9 billion annually. In other words, pirated software is costing Microsoft more than $2.9 billion per year in sales. This...
The Value of IT Certifications
The original concept of a certification was an official acknowledgement that the individual was a master in that field. I remember when I certified as a Microsoft Certified System Engineer – being a MCSE was the Holy Grail, I...
Introducing the System Center 2012 lineup
Initially envisioned in 2003 as an umbrella over Microsoft Operations Manager and Systems Management Server with consolidated reporting, System Center has grown through several waves of staggered releases. Now with the 2012 version,...
Microsoft announces availability of Intune 2
Just this spring, Microsoft shipped the first version of Intune. Now version 2 is available.Version 2 includes new features such as software distribution, remote tasks, license management, enhanced reporting, customizing alerts,...
The Service Manager 2010 Data Warehouse
In Service Manager 2010, the data warehouse is implemented a bit differently than in Operations Manager 2007. Let's take a look at some of the differences and potential implications.Service Manager 2010 uses the data warehouse for...
Service Manager Management Packs
What are management packs? They are collections of logic used to tell System Center components such as Service Manager and Operations Manager what to do. They are the brain used by these products and serve two primary...
Announcing System Center 2012 Operations Manager Unleashed
Its official, an Unleashed book on the next version of Operations Manager is being born!Updating the information in System Center Operations Manager 2007 Unleashed and the System Center Operations Manager 2007 R2 Unleashed...
