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New blog location

Ron mailed me about this ages and ages ago.  I read his blog, as I used to drive a Camaro  and currently drive a 2000 Pointiac Trans Am (Yup - in the UK)  I'd been getting redirects, and RSS bounces from my RSS reader - and it's finally butgged me enough to change all of my MyIT forum blog links to pick up the correct URL's..

Here's the new URL for you to change all your links.  Sorry it took so long but I've been maxed out owning all of the content for the roadshow - so MANY slides to review!..

 

New names for Exchange 12 and Management products too.

I just knew I should have gone to MMS this year.  The new name for Exchange 12 has been announced.  Microsoft Exchange 2007.  KC unveiled the new (unofficial) logo for exchange, which looks  very James Bond - ish and is really funky  - as does the new logo for 2007 Office system.  Kiril announced other new names too:

Windows PowerShell, formerly known as MONAD. Available to download in the second half of this year. Download RC1 here  and documentation..

Exchange 12 will officially be named Microsoft Exchange Server 2007. In addition,  The Exchange Management Shell in Exchange Server 2007 is based on PowerShell and will save IT administrators valuable hours by allowing routine and repetitive tasks to be automated through a scriptable command line shell.

“MOM V3” will become Microsoft System Center Operations Manager 2007.  System Center Operations Manager 2007 is building a solution based on PowerShell.
“SMS V4” will become Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager 2007.
There's  a new product for the service-desk market, to be delivered toward the end of 2007 and  codenamed “Service Desk”  This consists of:
1) A workflow engine that will provide the basis for how we automate IT processes
2) the implementation of the SDM-based Configuration Management Database (CMDB), which will be the foundation of our asset and change management capability.

Yup - I should have definately gone to MMS.  Grrr.....

Geeking out with the girls...

Sarah did an amazing job with last nights Girly geek dinner in London - over 180 people registered for the event.  There are some truly awesome women who want to be with other technically focused women.  The show of hands showed that there were several really techy women there.  I met a fascinating SMS geek who was really pleased to be able to talk SMS infrastructure with another girl.  Of course Steve was there schmoozing the ladies - he's such a flirt...

So thanks to Lloyd, Barry and Ian for taking the time to come over and chat.  It's nice to see so many men there who just want to network with us.  And hello to all the women who made the evening such a success... 

 

posted by Eileen_Brown | 2 Comments
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Do things really happen in threes?

... I wonder

Last week, the video that I'd done for channel 9 was published, and this week the video that we all did for the Exchange Unplugged tour back in November has gone live on the IT's ShOwtime site.  There are little clips of all of us, presenting different parts of the day.  I get to talk technically on several segments this time.  The guitar session at the start of each video segment is our very own Ewan playing.  He had a little strum during the breaks which we captured on film.  You can see Jason and Brett  in all their glory too.  It's also nice that through releasing these videos I've managed to change someones perception a little bit too...

So me appearing on film for the third time? I really hope that the next one isn't a video of me speeding... 

:-P

 

posted by Eileen_Brown | 0 Comments
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Virtual Server management Pack released

Well with all the hoo-ha about Virtual Server recently I didn't think I'd have anything else to add to the conversation.  But I do now.  The MOM team have released a management pack (also free) that you can download to manage your free Virtual Server 2005.   Here's what it does..

This Management Pack provides monitoring and reporting for the following scenarios:
Virtual Server
• Monitors Virtual Server service availability
• Detects configuration errors
• Detects critical error conditions
• Provides a graphical mapping of virtual machines to their virtual machine hosts
Virtual Machines
• Monitors virtual machines’ health state based on status in Virtual Server, percentage of expected heartbeats, and unresolved errors
• Detects start and restoration failures
• Detects save failures
• Detects critical error conditions
• Monitors processor, memory, and disk utilization
Reports
• Identify good candidates for conversion to virtual machines based on specified memory and CPU requirements
• View performance history for a computer over a specified time period
• View a summary of virtual machine hosts and virtual machines
• View details for a virtual machine
• View CPU, memory, or disk usage for a virtual machine

You do need to buy MOM though... 

 

TechNet searches change AND's to OR's

Phil got a mail from someone who was having trouble with his TechNet subscription.  If he entered two search terms in to the TechNet viewer application, then the search engine ORs the search terms rather than ANDs them.  It was driving him crazy.

We had absolutely no idea why the search function would suddenly change the way that it searched.  Search is not a sentient being  - although now that Betsy is now on the team, that may change :-).  Anyway - we asked those in the know, and got this response:

The customer most likely installed Visual Studio 2005 which upgraded the search engine -- a shared component between Visual Studio, MSDN, and TechNet. TechNet actually does not have its own viewer application, but uses Visual Studio's viewer application instead (called Document Explorer or DExplore).  The new search engine does not do Boolean searches by default.  To do a Boolean search, you must enter the Boolean terms in all caps, for example "OR" or "AND".  There is also no longer an implicit Boolean AND operator between words; you must enter it explicitly. With the older Boolean search engine, if you entered two terms, an implicit "AND" operation was performed.

Visual Studio changed the search engine from Boolean to Okapi , which is more of a natural language search engine.  The team have been doing research into improving the search engine and they feel that the new algorithm returns better search results.  The all-CAPS Boolean operators were added back in to allow users better control of the search results.
 
 So now you know...

 

posted by Eileen_Brown | 0 Comments
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Channel 9 lets me talk to them....

I didn't even notice this, but Kintan mailed me overnight to say that he liked my video on Channel 9.  I was over in Redmond earlier this year, and talked to Charles and Jennifer about all sorts of things including ladies and girl geeks (and Sarah)

I can't watch it though.  It was bad enough being filmed for IT's showtime. It's awful hearing my own voice when I do the Exchange 12 Unified messaging demos - but to actually see myself on a video makes me want to crawl under my desk and hide.

 My 26 minutes of fame........ Yikes.

 

 

posted by Eileen_Brown | 9 Comments
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RTC Webcasts for May

Microsoft Office System Webcast: Tips and Tricks for Microsoft Office Communicator 2005 (Level 100)
Tuesday, May 23, 2006 - 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM Pacific Time
Evan Archilla, Consultant, Projectline Services
Microsoft Office Communicator 2005 is an integrated communications client that enables information workers to communicate in real time. As the recommended client for Microsoft Office Live Communications Server 2005, Communicator 2005 integrates with Microsoft Office System applications and enterprise telephony infrastructure. Join us for this informative webcast to learn how you can communicate easily and efficiently in real time with Communicator 2005.
http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032290725&Culture=en-US

Microsoft Office System Webcast: Supercharge Your Live Meetings with Insider Tips and Tricks (Level 100)
Wednesday, May 24, 2006 - 9:00 AM - 10:00 AM Pacific Time
Evan Archilla, Consultant, Projectline Services
You and your employees can participate in interactive meetings from locations around the world with remote teams, prospects, customers, partners, colleagues, and global audiences—in real time and at a moments notice—thanks to the Microsoft Office Live Meeting Web conferencing service. With everyone participating from their desktops, teams can swap ideas, share information, mark up files, collaborate with whiteboards, or negotiate deals, all at a fraction of the cost of travel. Join us for this informative webcast and learn how you can help shorten sales cycles, increase productivity and improve the bottom line with Live Meeting.
http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032278905&Culture=en-US

 

Portals werbcasts for May

Microsoft Office System Webcast: Top 10 Tips to Save Time in SharePoint (Level 100)
Thursday, May 11, 2006 - 9:00 AM - 10:00 AM Pacific Time
Andy Reed, Senior Training Specialist, Pacific Technical Consulting (PTC)
When Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services technology in Microsoft Windows Server 2003 is combined with Microsoft Office 2003, the result is a productive, connected computing environment. With Microsoft Office 2003, users can take advantage of Windows SharePoint Services to create documents, organize team activities, and access and analyze data from SharePoint sites. Join us to learn some of our favorite tips and tricks for working with Windows SharePoint Services and Office 2003 together.
http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032293866&Culture=en-US

 

MOM & SMS Webcasts for May

TechNet Webcast: Troubleshooting Systems Management Server 2003 (Level 200)
Friday, May 26, 2006 - 11:30 AM - 1:00 PM Pacific Time
John Baker, TechNet Presenter, Microsoft Corporation
Troubleshooting Microsoft Systems Management Server (SMS) 2003 Installations can be a difficult task unless you know where to look and what to look for. This webcast describes some of the common challenges in SMS 2003 environments and provides straightforward solutions together with practical demonstrations. Topics include common issues encountered with management points and Advanced Clients, troubleshooting steps to identify management point or Advanced Client issues, and how to resolve the issues you previously identified.
http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032295123&Culture=en-US

 

Office Webcasts for May

TechNet Webcast: How Microsoft Corporate IT Plans to Migrate an Internal Decision Support Application from Excel 2003 to Office Excel 2007 (Level 300)
Tuesday, May 16, 2006 - 8:00 AM - 9:00 AM Pacific Time
Sergei Gundorov,  Senior Applications Developer, Microsoft Corporation
Clark Hamilton, Software Development Engineer, Microsoft Corporation
The Rhythm of the Business (RoB) project is a feature-rich Microsoft IT decision support application based on Microsoft Office Excel 2003, with more than 280 Microsoft Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) subroutines and functions. The RoB project is in the process of being migrated to the 2007 version of the Microsoft Office System. This webcast examines important aspects of the migration, including use of the new ribbon UI, custom task panes, ideas for VBA code reuse, application deployment using a managed COM add-in, and dynamic event handling.
http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=64675

MSDN Webcast: Visual Studio 2005 Tools for Microsoft Office in Outlook 2003 (Level 100)
Thursday, May 18, 2006 - 12:30 PM - 1:30 PM Pacific Time
John Durant, Program Manager, Microsoft Corporation
Gary Devendorf, Technical Evangelist, Microsoft Corporation
Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 Tools for the Microsoft Office System now makes it possible for Microsoft Office Outlook 2003 to do many of the things that the IBM Lotus Notes client can do. Functionality such as replications to an offline store, powerful forms execution, and a first-rate development environment make it all possible. We start this webcast with a “Hello World” example and then demonstrate what you can do with this solution. Be prepared to see some code written in Microsoft Visual Basic .NET. You might be surprised how easy it is to use Visual Studio Tools for Microsoft Office with Outlook.
http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032294678&Culture=en-US

Microsoft Office System Webcast: Top 10 Tips to Save Time in Office Outlook 2003 (Level 100)
Tuesday, May 02, 2006 - 9:00 AM - 10:00 AM Pacific Time
Andy Reed, Senior Training Specialist, Pacific Technical Consulting (PTC)
Microsoft Office Outlook 2003 provides an integrated solution for managing and organizing e-mail messages, schedules, tasks, and contacts. Now see what else Outlook 2003 and Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 can do to help you work more efficiently. Send faxes from your desktop, protect information, and access your e-mail from remote locations using a familiar, easy-to-use interface. Join this webcast to learn our favorite tips and tricks for getting the most out of Outlook 2003.
http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032293862&Culture=en-US

Microsoft Office System Webcast: Tips and Tricks for More Secure Communication with Outlook 2003 (Level 100)
Thursday, May 04, 2006 - 9:00 AM - 10:00 AM Pacific Time
Andy Reed, Senior Training Specialist, Pacific Technical Consulting (PTC)
Learn the fundamentals of security, auditing, privacy, and protection in Microsoft Office Outlook 2003. Find out how to choose secure passwords, create profiles, limit exposure to viruses and junk e-mail, create more secure attachments, and incorporate encryption and digital signatures into your e-mail. This webcast on connected productivity shows how you can reduce vulnerabilities and enhance reliable communication inside and outside your organization by implementing Outlook 2003 with Microsoft Exchange Server 2003. This webcast illustrates these techniques through demonstrations that represent typical interactions between team members.
http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032293864&Culture=en-US

Microsoft Office System Webcast: Transform Your PowerPoint Presentations Beyond Bullet Points with Help from Work Essentials (Level 100)
Wednesday, May 10, 2006 - 9:00 AM - 10:00 AM Pacific Time
Cliff Atkinson, President, Sociable Media
Are your audiences getting tired of the same old bullet point approach? Ready to try something new? Then join author Cliff Atkinson and Work Essentials for an interactive webcast that will teach you how to unlock the power of stories in your PowerPoint presentations. Whether you give your own presentations or create them for others, you’ll learn how to engage an audience and boil down complicated ideas to top-level points. Then you’ll learn how to design a powerful storyboard that illustrates your story and focuses attention on the speaker instead of the slides. This webcast is presented in association with the International Association of Administrative Professionals (IAAP), the world’s largest association for administrative support staff. IAAP provides research, publications, seminars, conferences and other resources to 40,000 members and affiliates worldwide.
http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032289958&Culture=en-US

Microsoft Office System Webcast: My How You've Changed: Side-by-Side Tips for Excel 2000 and Excel 2003 (Level 100)
Tuesday, May 16, 2006 - 9:00 AM - 10:00 AM Pacific Time
Andy Reed, Senior Training Specialist, Pacific Technical Consulting (PTC)
If you are like some users of Microsoft Office, the year 2000 is alive and well in your favorite productivity applications. Let go of the past, and step into a whole new era of workplace computing with tips and tricks for the Microsoft Office System. In this informative webcast, see how the capabilities of Microsoft Office Excel 2003 have evolved beyond those of Microsoft Office Excel 2000. Learn how to turn data into practical information using powerful tools that enable you to analyze, communicate, and share results.
http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032293868&Culture=en-US

Microsoft Office System Webcast: What’s Next in Microsoft Office OneNote (Level 100)
Wednesday, May 17, 2006 - 10:00 AM - 11:00 AM Pacific Time
Alex Robinson, Product Manager, Microsoft Corporation
Microsoft Office OneNote is new again and better than ever. Thanks to your enthusiastic feedback, we have incorporated many feature and functionality requests into the next version of OneNote. This webcast takes you on a tour of some of these new enhancements, including better integration with Microsoft Office, improved real-time collaboration functionality, and optical character recognition (OCR) capabilities that enable you to import a picture, screen clipping, or .pdf and search or reuse the text. We also demonstrate the new integration with the SmartPhone. You won’t want to miss this opportunity to learn about what’s next in managing unstructured information with Microsoft Office OneNote.
http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032291801&Culture=en-US

Microsoft Office System Webcast: My How You've Changed: Side-by-Side Tips for Outlook 2000 and Outlook 2003 (Level 100)
Thursday, May 18, 2006 - 9:00 AM - 10:00 AM Pacific Time
Andy Reed, Senior Training Specialist, Pacific Technical Consulting (PTC)
If you are like many users of Microsoft Office, the year 2000 is alive and well in your favorite productivity applications. Let go of the past, and step into a new era of workplace computing by learning tips and tricks for the Microsoft Office System. Join us to learn about innovations in Microsoft Office Outlook 2003 that offer capabilities beyond those of Microsoft Office Outlook 2000. Now you can organize your work, manage your communications, and work better with others, all from one place.
http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032293870&Culture=en-US

Small Business Webcast: Migrating Your Data to Microsoft Office Small Business Accounting 2006 (Level 100)
Wednesday, May 10, 2006 - 9:00 AM - 10:00 AM Pacific Time
Larry Garcia, Technology Presenter, Microsoft Corporation
Many new users of Microsoft Office Small Business Accounting 2006 have experience with other financial management solutions for small companies. Small Business Accounting 2006 is designed to incorporate financial information from these solutions.  Join this webcast to find out how easy it is to quickly migrate your data from Intuit QuickBooks and Peachtree by Sage to Small Business Accounting.
http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032294618&Culture=en-US

Small Business Webcast: Check Out Office Live for New and Exciting Ways to Access Your Applications (Level 100)
Wednesday, May 17, 2006 - 11:00 AM - 11:30 AM Pacific Time
Jeff Lin, Business Development Manager, Microsoft Corporation
An Internet presence has become increasingly indispensable for small businesses. Without a professional Web site, a small business may miss a variety of opportunities. Unfortunately, many small companies have lacked the technical expertise—and the budgets—to take advantage of these critical online business tools. This webcast explains how Microsoft Office Live can help you create a fully featured online presence for your business, without the expense of buying a server, setting up a complicated infrastructure, and hiring IT staff to maintain it. Join us to learn more about this product and its three core offerings: Live Basics, Live Collaboration, and Live Essentials. Join us to learn how Office Live can help your small company increase its productivity and save money.
http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032295127&Culture=en-US

Small Business Webcast: Save Money by Creating Your Sales Materials with Microsoft Office Publisher 2003 (Level 100)
Wednesday, May 17, 2006 - 1:00 PM - 1:30 PM Pacific Time
Elisa Johnson, Business Development Manager, Microsoft Corporation
Join us for this free, 30-minute webcast to learn how easy-to-use marketing templates in Microsoft Office Publisher 2003 can help you create great marketing materials and save you money.
http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032295130&Culture=en-US

Momentum Webcast: Five Ways to Get Top Value from Microsoft Office by Upgrading Now (Level 100)
Tuesday, May 09, 2006 - 1:00 PM - 2:00 PM Pacific Time
Sonal Jain, IW Solution Specialist, Microsoft Corporation
This webcast counts down five ways to get maximum value from Microsoft Office, and explains why now is the time to upgrade your edition of Microsoft Office. Join us to hear about the advantages to choosing Microsoft Office Professional Enterprise Edition 2003, including better tools for information management, more effective methods for spam control, and an incentive for purchasing or upgrading now.
http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032293684&Culture=en-US

 

Messaging Webcasts for May

TechNet Webcast: Recipient Management and Permissions in Exchange "12" (Level 300)
Tuesday, May 02, 2006 - 11:30 AM - 12:30 PM Pacific Time
Brad Clark, Program Manager Lead, Microsoft Corporation
Learn how to create and manage most types of recipients using the management console and management shell in the next version of Microsoft Exchange Server, code-named Exchange “12,” without Recipient Update Service (RUS) running in the background. See how a lower-level administrator can easily become a Recipient Manager without changing the access control list (ACL). This webcast also provides an overview of the Exchange “12” permissions model along with a primer on provisioning address lists.
http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032293009&Culture=en-US

TechNet Webcast: Policy Enforcement and Regulatory Compliance with Exchange "12" (Level 300)
Thursday, May 04, 2006 - 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM Pacific Time
Shawn M Thomas, Program Manager Lead, Microsoft Corporation
Many companies struggle to meet the changing interpretations of "compliance," while others have created new business opportunities by implementing tighter controls and increasing the transparency of their business processes. This webcast explains how the new features in the next version of Microsoft Exchange Server, code-named Exchange “12”, can help your company to enforce policies and comply with regulations. We also describe how the Exchange Server partner community can play an important, ongoing role in the dialog on compliance.
http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032294625&Culture=en-US

TechNet Webcast: Exchange “12” Management Shell and Scripting (Level 300)
Tuesday, May 09, 2006 - 1:00 PM - 2:00 PM Pacific Time
Vivek Sharma, Program Manager, Microsoft Corporation
This webcast focuses on the command-line and scripting interface (based on Microsoft Windows "Monad") in the next version of Microsoft Exchange Server, code-named Exchange “12.” See how to convert your multiple-page Microsoft Visual Basic and component object model (COM) scripts to a single line in Exchange “12.” We cover the basics of the management shell along with the underlying design and key concepts. Learn tips and tricks for building larger scripts that you can use to automate small, medium, and enterprise business scenarios. The session includes demonstrations of several single-line scripts that you can use immediately, with little or no tweaking.
http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032293396&Culture=en-US

TechNet Webcast: Secure Collaboration with Antigen (Level 200)
Friday, May 12, 2006 - 9:00 AM - 10:30 AM Pacific Time
Matt Hester, TechNet Presenter, Microsoft Corporation
Find out how you can help protect your messaging and collaboration servers from viruses, worms, spam, and inappropriate content with Antigen. This webcast explains what Antigen is and describes how it is tightly integrated with Microsoft Exchange Server, SharePoint Products and Technologies, and Live Communications Server to help ensure strong protection and centralized control without taxing server or network infrastructure performance. Learn how the content and file filtering technologies in Antigen can help ensure that your organization complies with corporate content policies, while eliminating inappropriate language and dangerous attachments from internal and external communications.
http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032295074&Culture=en-US

TechNet Webcast: Protecting Your Exchange “12” Network from Viruses and Spam (Level 300)
Monday, May 15, 2006 - 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM Pacific Time
Mihai Costea, Program Manager, Microsoft Corporation
Join this webcast to learn about the agent-based messaging hygiene features in the next version of Microsoft Exchange Server, code-named Exchange “12”. Out of the box, Exchange “12” provides you with a competitive antispam solution that is composed of multiple filters with frequent updates and a built-in IP reputation system. Of interest to independent software vendors (ISVs) is antivirus technology such as store scanning and mechanisms for reliable and efficient transport scanning.
http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032294728&Culture=en-US

TechNet Webcast: Scripting Secrets of Exchange Server 2003 (Level 300)
Wednesday, May 17, 2006 - 11:30 AM - 12:30 PM Pacific Time
Paul Robichaux, , 3Sharp
You have probably heard about the Windows “Monad” Shell, the next-generation command-line and scripting environment coming in the next version of Microsoft Exchange Server, code-named Exchange “12.” But were you aware that Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 already includes a robust set of scripting capabilities? You can script many common, tedious operations in Exchange Server 2003, and you can easily write scripts to inspect or change many key configuration settings of your Exchange organization and servers. Join this webcast to learn how to create and manipulate Exchange objects, how to unlock the full power of unattended setup in Exchange, and how to optimize your backup processes using scripts.
http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032294725&Culture=en-US

TechNet Webcast: Introduction to the Exchange Server Best Practice Analyzer Tool (ExBPA) (Level 300)
Wednesday, May 31, 2006 - 11:30 AM - 1:00 PM Pacific Time
Harold Wong, TechNet Presenter, Microsoft Corporation
The Microsoft Exchange Server Best Practices Analyzer Tool (ExBPA) is an automated health check and troubleshooting tool. It collects configuration settings and performs network and protocol tests in an Exchange topology, and then sends the results to an XML output file. This webcast describes the benefits of this tool, and covers topics related to its implementation such as scheduling and baseline support. We also discuss how to use the tool with Microsoft Operations Manager (MOM) 2005.
http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032294708&Culture=en-US

Microsoft Office System Webcast: Tips and Tricks for More Secure Communication with Outlook 2003 (Level 100)
Thursday, May 04, 2006 - 9:00 AM - 10:00 AM Pacific Time
Andy Reed, Senior Training Specialist, Pacific Technical Consulting (PTC)
Learn the fundamentals of security, auditing, privacy, and protection in Microsoft Office Outlook 2003. Find out how to choose secure passwords, create profiles, limit exposure to viruses and junk e-mail, create more secure attachments, and incorporate encryption and digital signatures into your e-mail. This webcast on connected productivity shows how you can reduce vulnerabilities and enhance reliable communication inside and outside your organization by implementing Outlook 2003 with Microsoft Exchange Server 2003. This webcast illustrates these techniques through demonstrations that represent typical interactions between team members.
http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032293864&Culture=en-US

 

Mobility Webcasts for May

Microsoft Executive Circle Webcast: Using Windows Mobile Solutions to Enhance Business Performance
Wednesday, May 10, 2006 - 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM Pacific Time
Ellen Daley, Vice President, Research Director, Forrester Research
Are you looking to improve the performance of your business? This webcast describes how mobile solutions are effectively being used to help workers stay connected while they are away from their desks. Find out how Windows Mobile solutions can enable your employees to be more productive and more responsive to your customers’ needs. Learn how to maximize your business investments and what options you should consider to get the most out of a mobile solution.
http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032294131&Culture=en-US

TechNet Webcast: Mobility Features in Exchange Server 2003 SP2 (Level 300)
Wednesday, May 10, 2006 - 11:30 AM - 12:30 PM Pacific Time
Harold Wong, Senior TS, Microsoft Corporation
Is your organization’s mobile access solution secure, flexible, and affordable? This webcast demonstrates the advanced security features in Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 with Service Pack 2 (SP2) and discusses how the product provides affordable access to e-mail and personal information across a range of mobile devices. Join us as we explore the new mobility enhancements in Exchange Server 2003 SP2, including the new Always-up-to-date Notification feature. We also cover configuring personal identification number (PIN) lock settings, remotely wiping a device, configuring soft certificates to access Exchange Server 2003, and more.
http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032294723&Culture=en-US

TechNet Webcast: How Microsoft IT Does Mobile Messaging (Level 300)
Tuesday, May 30, 2006 - 9:00 AM - 10:00 AM Pacific Time
David Wilson, Microsoft IT Service Manager, Microsoft Corporation
This webcast describes how Microsoft IT used Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 with Service Pack 2 and Windows Mobile 5.0 with the Messaging and Security Feature Pack to enhance its mobile messaging infrastructure. By implementing these new technologies, Microsoft IT was able to manage mobile devices more easily, better secure mobile devices, and enable end users to take advantage of a richer mobile messaging experience.
http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=64090

MSDN Webcast: Windows Mobile as a Gaming Platform (Level 200)
Wednesday, May 03, 2006 - 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM Pacific Time
Jim Wilson, MVP, S&T Consulting
The extreme portability of Windows Mobile powered devices makes Windows Mobile a great platform for game play. Windows Mobile also serves as an excellent platform for game development due to the rich graphics capabilities of Windows Mobile powered devices and the availability of native gaming application programming interfaces (APIs). In this webcast, we highlight the features of Windows Mobile that are useful in game development, and we discuss the DirectDraw, DirectShow, and Direct3D Mobile APIs. We also provide guidelines on how to develop a game that takes full advantage of the Windows Mobile platform. Both native code and managed code game development are covered in this session.
http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032293930&Culture=en-US

Momentum Webcast: HP ProtectTools Security Solutions for Windows Mobile (Level 100)
Thursday, May 25, 2006 - 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM Pacific Time
Ed Tittel, Writer/Trainer, NA
The HP ProtectTools Security Solutions add to the built-in security functionality in standard Microsoft products in this informative webcast. Developed jointly with Microsoft for seamless integration into Windows platforms and services, HP ProtectTools Windows Mobile extends native Windows Mobile security with enhanced password generation services, secure memory erase, event logging, advanced device locking, and data synchronization checks and controls. Join author and security expert Ed Tittel for this 45-minute presentation, followed by a 15-minute session devoted to answering your questions. Find out how HP ProtectTools Windows Mobile can be used to keep confidential data secure even if a mobile device falls into the wrong hands.
http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032294615&Culture=en-US

posted by Eileen_Brown | 0 Comments
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What is RPC/HTTP?

We talk about using RPC over HTTP and HTTPS a lot.  I've blogged about troubleshooting RPC/HTTP, I talk about how fantastic it is to be able to access my email without the need to VPN, but I was stopped in my tracks today when someone actually asked me what RPC/HTTP meant. I mean why is RPC "over" HTTP.

Well, I started talking about the OSI model, and how the different layers interacted.  Then I had to stop as I realised that this person really had no idea what I was talking about, and couldn't picture this protocol stack (I was initially taught to think about it as a high rise building with 7 floors (and the end user sitting on top of the building on the 8th floor ready to add the unknown variable "user error").  Thank goodness for Wikipedia... and its excellent descriptions.

So for all of you who want to know.  RPC (Remote procedure call)  is a protocol that sits above ("over") HTTP in the Application layer (7).  Messaging protocols like IMAP4, SMTP POP3 and NNTP are all up there at the top of the stack in the application layer.  If you then wanted to secure your transmission, you'll need to use SSL which sits in the Presentation layer (6).  Which sits above TCP in the Transport layer (4), which sits above IP in the Network layer (3). And so on till all of the 1's and zero's zoom out of the building layer 1 on their way to wherever... 

Yikes.  I must be getting old.  I assumed that all IT guys knew about the OSI model.  I am old....  

 

posted by Eileen_Brown | 9 Comments
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Exchange 12 - who's saying what...

So my roving reporter, Mark is over at the Windows Connections 2006 event in Disney World (don't ask).  I've asked him to report on some of the cool sessions that he's been attending there.  So he dutifully went along to an Exchange 12 session for me to report on what he heard...  Tony presented some interesting stuff that I can't talk about yet, as we're not at Beta 2, but you get the gist of what I'd like to say...  Nick, who says more than me anyway, talks about Exchange and UM a bit too, whilst Larry, Mark and Brett watch out for all the bits that I usually miss and blogs about them instead....

I really need to finish building my Exchange 12 VM's for the roadshow - just to make sure the demos actually work and I've got something to blog about!

 

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