Eileen Brown's WebLog

Moving on to Exchange 2007 Beta 2

I received a mail last night telling me that all of the product documentation for Exchange Beta 1 was closing down and would no longer be available.  Yikes.  All of my current demos are on Beta 1 code...

The good news is, that I registered for the Beta 2 bits a few weeks ago using the Microsoft Connect and blogged about the documentation for Beta 2 the other week.  So I've just got a little bit of work to do with the new builds (out soon) so that all my demos look as slick as my Beta 1 demos... But as I've just upgraded my main machine to Vista Beta 2 this morning and I'm at the bemused stage, I'm not sure that anything is going to be all slick for some time yet.  Watch this space...

Sharepoint Webcasts for August

MSDN Webcast: Building Collaborative Applications Without Code Using Office SharePoint Designer 2007 (Level 300)
Tuesday, August 22, 2006 - 10:00 AM - 11:00 AM Pacific Time
Rob Mauceri, Principal Group Program Manager, Microsoft Corporation
Learn how to use Microsoft Office SharePoint Designer 2007 to build productive and efficient solutions on Microsoft SharePoint Products and Technologies. In this webcast, we explain how you can use SharePoint Designer 2007 to create and deploy interactive Web solutions on the SharePoint platform—without writing any code. We also describe how to build reporting and tracking applications and collaborative workflows, and show you how to customize Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services application templates.
http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032303794&Culture=en-US

Office Webcasts for August

MSDN Webcast: Introduction to Visual Studio Tools for the 2007 Microsoft Office System (Level 200)
Tuesday, August 08, 2006 - 10:00 AM - 11:00 AM Pacific Time
Eric Carter, Development Manager, Microsoft Corporation
In this webcast, we introduce the Community Technology Preview (CTP) of Microsoft Visual Studio Tools for Office code name “v3” for users of the Beta 2 release of the 2007 Microsoft Office system. This CTP includes large parts of the core infrastructure and feature set for Visual Studio Tools for Microsoft Office. Learn how to create application-level customizations (add-ins) for many of the applications in the 2007 Office system, how to customize the look and feel of an application created with Visual Studio Tools for Microsoft Office by extending the Ribbon feature of the UI, and how to create a custom task pane with only a few lines of code.
http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032303790&Culture=en-US

MSDN Webcast: Integrating Your Solutions with the 2007 Microsoft Office System User Interface (Level 300)
Wednesday, August 09, 2006 - 10:00 AM - 11:00 AM Pacific Time
Savraj Dhanjal, Program Manager, Microsoft Corporation
In the UI of the 2007 Microsoft Office system, the Ribbon is a region at the top of the screen that presents an easy-to-browse main set of commands for a particular program. This webcast describes and demonstrates how to work with Ribbon Extensibility, or RibbonX, to integrate your solutions into the Ribbon. Learn about the new feature set and control types that enable you to present rich entry points to your 2007 Office solutions. We also explain what happens to all of your existing UI customizations, and offer best practices for integrating your solutions into the 2007 Office UI.
http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032303792&Culture=en-US

Microsoft Office System Webcast: Experience the 2007 Microsoft Office System (Part 1 of 3): Deliver Better Results Faster (Level 100)
Thursday, August 03, 2006 - 9:00 AM - 10:00 AM Pacific Time
Evan Archilla, Senior Training Specialist, Projectline Services
The 2007 Microsoft Office system includes programs, servers, services, and solutions that are designed to work together to help you succeed. The newly redesigned user interface makes it easier to get more out of the programs you use every day, and the new graphics capabilities make creating great looking, high-impact documents a snap. Join us for this informative "First Look" webcast to learn how the 2007 Office system can help you deliver better results faster.
http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032303755&Culture=en-US

Microsoft Office System Webcast: Experience the 2007 Microsoft Office System (Part 2 of 3): Work Together More Effectively (Level 100)
Tuesday, August 08, 2006 - 9:00 AM - 10:00 AM Pacific Time
Evan Archilla, Senior Training Specialist, Projectline Services
The 2007 Microsoft Office system includes programs, servers, services, and solutions that are designed to work together to help you succeed. The 2007 Office system tightly integrates with Microsoft collaboration and IT infrastructure technologies, making sharing information and working together easier and more productive. Join us for this informative "First Look" webcast to learn how the 2007 Office system can help you work together more effectively.
http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032303758&Culture=en-US

Microsoft Office System Webcast: Experience the 2007 Microsoft Office System (Part 3 of 3): Control Content and Streamline Processes (Level 100)
Thursday, August 17, 2006 - 9:00 AM - 10:00 AM Pacific Time
Evan Archilla, Senior Training Specialist, Projectline Services
The 2007 Microsoft Office system includes programs, servers, services, and solutions that are designed to work together to help you succeed. The 2007 Office system simplifies efforts to satisfy regulatory compliance requirements, and helps to keep business information secure through a comprehensive set of tools for managing and controlling electronic content. You can also initiate, track, and participate in ready-made electronic forms and workflows through familiar Office applications, e-mail, or browsers. Join us for this informative "First Look" webcast to learn how the 2007 Office system can help you control content and streamline your everyday business processes.
http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032303760&Culture=en-US

Microsoft Office System Webcast: Survive Information Overload with Tips from Work Essentials (Level 100)
Wednesday, August 23, 2006 - 9:00 AM - 9:30 AM Pacific Time
Laura Stack, President & CEO, The Productivity Pro
As a busy administrative professional, it is likely that you are constantly bombarded by information. Take control of your e-mail and documents, and learn to optimize your time on the job. Join Microsoft Office Online Work Essentials and Laura Stack, The Productivity Pro, to discover how to efficiently sort, process, and organize key information using Microsoft Office system products. This webcast is presented in association with the International Association of Administrative Professionals (IAAP), one of the world’s largest associations for administrative support staff. IAAP provides research, publications, seminars, conferences, and other resources to more than 40,000 members and affiliates worldwide.
http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032301462&Culture=en-US

Microsoft Office System Webcast: A "First Look" at Five New E-mail and Collaboration Features in the 2007 Microsoft Office System (Level 100)
Thursday, August 24, 2006 - 9:00 AM - 10:00 AM Pacific Time
Evan Archilla, Senior Training Specialist, Projectline Services
The 2007 Microsoft Office system helps users better manage their time and information, connect across system boundaries, and take advantage of a broad set of new capabilities for sharing information more effectively. Join us for this informative webcast to learn five important ways the 2007 Microsoft Office system helps users increase productivity and improve collaboration.
http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032303762&Culture=en-US

Microsoft Office System Webcast: A "First Look" at Five Important Features in Microsoft Office Word 2007, Excel 2007, and PowerPoint 2007 (Level 100)
Tuesday, August 29, 2006 - 9:00 AM - 10:00 AM Pacific Time
Evan Archilla, Senior Training Specialist, Projectline Services
The 2007 Microsoft Office system can help you and your organization work more efficiently and effectively with a new set of powerful tools for creating, managing, analyzing, and sharing information. Join us for this informative webcast to learn five important ways the 2007 Microsoft Office release of Word, Excel, and PowerPoint can help you deliver better results faster.
http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032303764&Culture=en-US

Momentum Webcast: Improving Productivity with the 2007 Office System, Exchange Server 2007, and Windows Vista (Level 100)
Tuesday, August 22, 2006 - 9:00 AM - 10:00 AM Pacific Time
Technology Specialist, Microsoft Corporation
Tune in to this webcast to discover how the 2007 Office system, Microsoft Exchange Server 2007, and Windows Vista provide the essential technologies and features to deliver significant productivity improvements to businesses of any size. New product suites, servers, and services in the 2007 Office system offer enhanced functionality and new solutions to increase business productivity. Learn how the updated packaging options give you more flexibility to adopt the specific technologies and solutions that best meet your needs. We also explain how new features in Windows Vista can help you achieve cost and operational efficiencies in desktop image deployment, management, and security.
http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032303527&Culture=en-US

MOM & SMS Webcasts for August

TechNet Webcast: How Microsoft IT Manages Labs Efficiently Through Consolidation (Level 300)
Tuesday, August 22, 2006 - 9:30 AM - 10:30 AM Pacific Time
Erik Dybwad, Microsoft IT Group Manager, Microsoft Corporation
Attend this webcast to discover how Microsoft IT centralizes its labs and efficiently manages them using Microsoft Virtual Server 2005, Systems Management Server (SMS) 2003, Microsoft Operations Manager (MOM) 2005, and Office Business Scorecard Manager 2005.
http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=69915

TechNet Webcast: How Microsoft IT Centrally Manages its Infrastructure Using System Center and MOF (Level 300)
Tuesday, August 29, 2006 - 9:30 AM - 10:30 AM Pacific Time
David Meachum, Microsoft IT Director, Microsoft Corporation
This webcast provides an overview of how Microsoft's own IT department centralized the management of its infrastructure using Microsoft Operations Manager (MOM) 2005, Systems Management Server (SMS) 2003, and the Microsoft Operations Framework (MOF). Learn how this implementation has helped to lower the cost of operations, reduce headcount, improve disaster recovery plans, and further develop and foster partner relationships. Join us to find out how these products can provide similar benefits for your IT department.
http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=69917

Messaging Webcasts for August

Microsoft Webcast: Optimize Your Exchange Server Availability Through Service Level Management (SLM) for Messaging (Level 200)
Wednesday, August 02, 2006 - 11:00 AM - 12:30 PM Pacific Time
Tom Bondi, Engagement Manager, Microsoft Corporation
Maintaining high availability for Microsoft Exchange Server-based messaging systems is vital to business survival and growth. Any e-mail downtime, even short periods of outages, can bring work to a stop, leading to lost opportunities and increased IT support costs. Service Level Management (SLM) for Messaging is a solution from Microsoft Services that can help prevent this scenario from happening. In this webcast, we explain how SLM can help you achieve significant, measurable, and sustained improvements in your organization’s messaging environment and deliver the productivity, efficiency, and return on investment required by your business.
http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032303400&Culture=en-US

TechNet Webcast: How Microsoft IT Monitors and Manages the Exchange Messaging Infrastructure as a Service (Level 300)
Tuesday, August 15, 2006 - 9:30 AM - 10:30 AM Pacific Time
Grant Hogan, Microsoft IT Service Manager, Microsoft Corporation
In this webcast, learn how Microsoft IT improved its messaging service using targeted metrics and great processes. Hear about the service level agreements (SLAs) and reports the company uses to focus on operational and service improvements. We describe IT service reviews and explain why they are an important component of a successful service. We also show examples of experience-based scorecards and the metrics that go beyond server uptime to enhance the messaging experience for end users.
http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=69898

Microsoft Office System Webcast: A "First Look" at Five New E-mail and Collaboration Features in the 2007 Microsoft Office System (Level 100)
Thursday, August 24, 2006 - 9:00 AM - 10:00 AM Pacific Time
Evan Archilla, Senior Training Specialist, Projectline Services
The 2007 Microsoft Office system helps users better manage their time and information, connect across system boundaries, and take advantage of a broad set of new capabilities for sharing information more effectively. Join us for this informative webcast to learn five important ways the 2007 Microsoft Office system helps users increase productivity and improve collaboration.
http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032303762&Culture=en-US

Momentum Webcast: Compelling Reasons to Upgrade to Exchange Server 2003 (Level 100)
Tuesday, August 01, 2006 - 9:00 AM - 10:00 AM Pacific Time
msam, Technology Presenter, Microsoft Corporation
If your organization is currently running Microsoft Exchange Server 5.5 or Exchange Server 2000, Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 can offer significant cost savings by operating on fewer servers. With new resources and tools, the upgrade and migration to Exchange Server 2003 is smooth, fast, and cost-effective. Organizations with more advanced communication and collaboration requirements can couple Exchange Server 2003 with other products like Microsoft Office Live Communications Server 2005 for instant messaging and presence awareness, Microsoft Office Live Meeting for Web conferencing, and Microsoft Office SharePoint Portal Server 2003 for data and document management. Attend this webcast to discover how Exchange Server 2003 enables your mid-sized business to gain access to critical communications whenever and wherever you need it, while delivering greater security, availability, and reliability.
http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032303555&Culture=en-US

Momentum Webcast: Improving Productivity with the 2007 Office System, Exchange Server 2007, and Windows Vista (Level 100)
Tuesday, August 22, 2006 - 9:00 AM - 10:00 AM Pacific Time
Technology Specialist, Microsoft Corporation
Tune in to this webcast to discover how the 2007 Office system, Microsoft Exchange Server 2007, and Windows Vista provide the essential technologies and features to deliver significant productivity improvements to businesses of any size. New product suites, servers, and services in the 2007 Office system offer enhanced functionality and new solutions to increase business productivity. Learn how the updated packaging options give you more flexibility to adopt the specific technologies and solutions that best meet your needs. We also explain how new features in Windows Vista can help you achieve cost and operational efficiencies in desktop image deployment, management, and security.
http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032303527&Culture=en-US

Software virtualisation - your road to a 'very' easy life

Sometimes I just can't see the wood for the trees...

We announced our intention to buy Softricity a couple of months ago, but I didn't take much notice.  I'm one of those people who needs to actually get my hands on a product, or see a compelling demo of a product so that I can visualise just what it can do.  Press releases just don't cut it for me at all.  I'm a blogger - I like reading information that has been delivered to me in a much more real and human way than just reading the PR document or press release.  So I thought I would wait for a while until I could have a play with the SoftGrid features after the acqusition was complete.  Well I was chatting to Mike the other day and he persuaded me to get my act together about SaaS and to have another look.

Mike has been banging on about Software as a Service (SaaS) for some time now, but this is the first application that I've seen that actually gave me the WOW! moment.  The demo showing how application virtualisation works turns on the lightbulb of possibility for me.  This will give you the opportunity to save yourself a lot of aggravation and so much time.  And I bet that your helpdesk calls will go down too. 

Sharon explains the concept of virtualisation really well in her blog, but the thing that really makes me see the value of virtualisation on a practical level is the reclaiming of physical space. I did some work on Server consolidation for a customer in London Docklands who were running out of floor space.  They had already maxed out all of the power supply in the whole building, and now physically couldn't get any more servers into the building, or the floor would collapse.  (Thank goodness virtual servers don't weigh anything).  And with the recent announcement about Windows Datacenter having unlimited virtualisation rights (see John and Clive's blog for more information) you can start to reclaim even more floor space and virtualise whatever you want.

But the best thing for me is that the configuration of the application is all virtualised.  You don't need to install anything.  Nothing gets loaded in the registry, nothing is held on the operating system.  Your rollouts will be simple, managing your environment will be simple.  All of your applications will be held in a centrally managed service on a server.  Fabulous news.

Hold on - didn't we have this when the mainframe was king?  Ah yes, but that was a long long time ago in the land of the green screens.  Perhaps that's why I'm so excited about this. I can see the potential of virtually anything delivered as a service...

And no more registry tweaks either...

MSN Messenger and Yahoo talk to each other.

We've had this a while in our Live Communications Server product.  The ability for corporate users to have contacts that are external to their company.  We call it PIC (Public Internet Connectivity), and here's some information on it if you'd like to try it out within your organisation, and some issues you may run into..

But now, we've announced that we've entered into an agreement with Yahoo, so that if you're using Yahoo messenger, you can talk to your buddies who use MSN Messenger, or Windows Live messenger as it's now called.  Pete, my favourite Web 2.0 blogger, gives you some more information on other products in the queue, and Kiltak's blog gives you the download links...

I just need to find some Yahoo buddies to talk to now...

Setting up Windows mobile 5.0 devices with policies

I noticed this on one of our internal aliases the other day - it's a question that seems to come up quite regularly so it's something worth repeating to get the word out a bit.  The question was around personalisation. well specifically preventing users doing too much to their devices, whilst maintaining a level of control over them.    

How can you personalize a device by writing custom code in order to:
Prevent installation of additional software on device (no SD Card, no active sync,…)
Prevent user overriding or adding new settings (GPRS, Exchange server, …)
No frills or games

Well we have quite a bit of documentation on provisioning a mobile device here.  You can provision settings like GPRS, Exchange settings, and even customise the Home screen with over 40 CSPs (Configuration Service Providers) you have extensive control over settings. The device can receive XML using a variety of methods including tethered, SD card, and over the air. The Messaging and Securiy Feature Pack (MSFP) and Exchange also give you additional capabilities to push out policies and control access to a device. The security model of Windows Mobile 5.0 uses a 2 tier system which basically gives you a user account which can be restricted and an admin account to administer the device.

We've implemented a policy internally at Microsoft, nothing too draconian, just a security implementation that makes sure that the device is locked after a certain lennght of time.  Simple but secure.. Still gives me the flexibility to install all of the new cool and funky stuff on my device when I find a new must have application...

***Errors and link corrected***

Gordon Frazer: The new boss at Microsoft UK

Well the new boss at Microsoft UK has finally been announced.  Gordon Frazer will be taking over the helm on 31st July.  He seems like a really great regular guy.  He's climbed Mount Kilimanjaro, which I've always wanted to do but never got around to, he's had a bash for his 40th birthday, has some lovely kids and is a true family man.  What has amazed me about the announcement about the appointment is how little coverage this has received, both throughout the blogosphere in general.  As far as I've discovered when I've been searching, no one has blogged any opinions, no one has commented on anything outside of the normal news posts from the UK press site.  This is really strange. There's hardly anything written anywhere.  So why was this announcement such a non-event news wise?

The UK subsidiary is the largest sub outside of main campus in Redmond.  Most of the employees here work "in the field" and have considerable influence across corp.  A lot of our work is implemented as "best practice" at corp., and we in the UK have the largest amount of "ex-pats" working over there.   The topline director of my virtual (Evangelist) team is from the UK, and our departing General Manager is leaving the UK to move to Redmond too.

At the company meeting on Friday when the announcement was made, James asked whether Gordons appointment would make any difference to the way we work in Microsoft UK:

(This was based on his blog entry about Kuhn's idea that revolutions in thinking come from outsiders - people inside a community cling on to old assumptions").

So do we change an already sucessful model and way of working over here?  or do we look for amazing new ways to innovate and come up with more new practices for corp.  I'll be really interested to watch this evolve... But meanwhile I need to book that trip to Kilimanjaro...

Unified Communications. Come to a User group meeting

The Unified Communications User group is having 2 meetings in the UK in July.  Register for the event in Reading on the 18th July here and the event in London on 20th July here..The pub (after the Meeting  - not during!) will probably be the Sun and 18 Cantons on the corner of the street.  I'm fairly well acquainted with the local pubs round our London office as you can tell :-).

The agenda seems to be all set for this months meeting, but what do you want the group to cover in future meetings?  Let us know so we can rustle up the speakers.  Here's the information about the group:

The Microsoft Unified Communications User Group, is here to support the adoption and use of Microsoft Unified Communications and RTC solutions, principally Live Communications Server, Live Meeting and Exchange Unified Messaging. As Microsoft roll-out their full UC offering we'll be at the forefront of it's adoption. We are a forum considering these solutions to come and chat with existing users whilst providing a peer-level group of expertise for those people already working with these technologies. In addition to the Microsoft products we also act as a hub of knowledge and expertise for third-parties which extend the functionality of the Microsoft products.

SYstem Center Essentials

Gordon has been badgering me to take a look at System Center Essentials for some time now, and especially since we announced that we're releasing a public beta the other week at TechEd in Boston.  I'd ignored it, not really understanding where it fits into the main part of the System Center suite and where in the market it was offered. So I watched the demo which made a lot os sense.  I particularly like the fact that you can get this up and running in under an hour which isn't the case with some of our other products.  That'll be a real benefit to administering the system. 

The product is aimed at mid sized businesses, and will also be built into Small Business Server and Centro too.  So if you're running SBS and are a little bit overwhelmed with whats going on with your system, then this could be just what you're looking for.  Download the white paper and think about getting the beta bist to test in your system...

Outlook Web Access - right from the Start..

Steve asked a question at our last Technet roadshow concerning OWA, and whilst looking around for the answer, I realised that we don't have all of the documentation for OWA in one place (Exchange team take note!).  Steve wanted a step by step guide in getting OWA up and running sucessfully and securely on Exchange 2003.  Nothing complicated, but where to start?  Well, you don't start looking in the Exchange section of the web.  You start in the ISA section...

Installing and Publishing Outlook Web access: 
Customising OWA logon 
Configuring OWA to use S/MIME 
To Administer OWA: 
Changing the theme of OWA:

Anything I've missed?  Put the link in a comment and help me get this list more comprehensive...

EXchange 2003 and 2007 Documentation

Well I know that this is shamlessly pinched from Blake (who has done all of the hard work on this), but here's a collection of all of the new resource guides that we've released recently for Exchange 2003. 

And if you're wondering... All of the technical documentation we have on Exchange 2007 is here.

I think that it's about time I did some Exchange 2007 blogcasts to demo some of the features I covered in the roadshow.  What would you like to see?  Let me guess.  The Unified Messaging demo?  The new UI? OWA? Give me some suggestions and I'll record something for you...

Antigen for Sharepoint

Now this is interesting... Antigen for Sharepoint available for download here....So you can now identify potential threats and secure your sharepoint environment.  We're building up quite a few datasheets for Antigen - certainly worth a browse around the site. Volkan has the roadmap all laid out on his blog too...

Checking for compliance

We talk a lot about compliance at Microsoft,  We throw acronyms at you like SOX, and HIPAA and expect you to nod knowledgeably about how your company is complying with the compliance regulations.  But you may not be.  You may not be all that up to speed on what you need to do to comply with all of these compliance rules.  Well, here's a collection of documents to get you started on the road to compliance and what you need to do.  Its not as fierce or scary as you may think it is...
IT Audit Process 
By Bill Canning, Program Manager, Microsoft Corporation Audits are a critical component of the regulatory compliance process. Understanding how the audit process works and how auditors operate is important because it informs IT managers how to establish an environment that is compliant and easy to audit. This tip focuses on how auditors conduct the IT audit process.

Regulatory Compliance Planning Guide 
The Regulatory Compliance Planning Guide is designed to help IT managers and Microsoft customers meet specific IT compliance obligations that directly relate to major regulations and standards. The guide introduces a framework-based approach that you can use as part of your efforts to comply with these regulations and standards. The guide also describes Microsoft products and technology solutions that you can use to implement a series of IT controls to help meet your regulatory obligations.

Regulatory Compliance Demystified: An Introduction to Compliance for Developers 
For a developer, understanding the issues around regulatory compliance can be a difficult and frustrating endeavour. This article makes sense of regulatory compliance from a developer's point of view. It examines Sarbanes-Oxley, HIPAA, and other regulations, and covers the most important best practices that are common across multiple pieces of legislation.

Regulatory Compliance and Security Updates 
Learn why organisations can and should bring their security and management teams into the process of building policies and procedures to support their regulatory compliance and provide system administrators with the flexibility necessary to meet threats as they arise.

Creating a Systemized Approach to Regulatory Compliance at Microsoft 
The purpose of this white paper is to share some of the processes and tools that the Microsoft IT group currently uses to systematize the approach of supporting regulatory compliance activities at Microsoft.

A great start - all in one place...