Today Colin and I arrived bright and early for registration at 8am, as did a couple of other thousand people. I have to say they did a good job of getting people queued and processed quickly. I'm sure an English person must have been involved to make the queue just right ;-)
For the morning, there are no lecture type sessions planned, so I did some self paced labs, I have spent some time in the next version of System Center Configuration Manager, currently branded v.Next. It has a completely new interface which reminds me of Outlook/MoM consoles in its layout but is no longer based on the MMC, which has been the MS admin console basis for a number of years.
A couple of interesting notes I made during the lab was that there seems to be a lot more around asset management and compliance - this seems to allow you to configure your own rules. Furthermore it has the ability to import software licenses(XML or CSV format) so I'll try to find out a bit more about that during the week. Currently we partner with a vendor called Concorde to help us with our compliance, it may be the next version of SCCM can provide more in house.
Second thing I found whilst browsing around the admin console is that they have formally introduced pre-staged media as a build option. This would allow us to provide HP/Dell with a pre-built image of a desktop/laptop/server which they can install and ship. Once on the network it would receive any changes in the meantime. This would be a pretty rapid way to deploy servers and clients and again I'll listen out for more details in the lectures.
Unfortunately due to the Icelandic Volcano many EU based attendees, vendors and speakers have not made it here, so sessions are being juggled. Today I'll be attending - Virtualisation scenarios for business critical apps, Win7 deployment with MDT and Configuration Manager Dashboard.
The Vendor Expo opens at 17.30 so I'll take a first look around and see if I can meet some of the new vendors we will be introducing to our environment with the Connex project. (Intrinsic and SCCM Expert).
Showing posts with label Microsoft. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Microsoft. Show all posts
Monday, April 19, 2010
Friday, April 9, 2010
Mat's Agenda Sessions
These will be the sessions I am attending at MMS:
So it should be a full on information overload ;-)
- Deploying Windows 7 with MDT 2010
- Configuration Manager: State of the Union
- Cloud Computing in the Enterprise: Enabling the foundation with the Dynamic Infrastructure Toolkit for System Center
- Configuration Manager v.Next: Overview
- Configuration Manager v.Next: Hierarchy Design
- Birds of a Feather session (Similar to a Tif event in UK)
- Online services for PC management
- Configuration Manager x.Next Software Distribution Parts 1 and 2
- Protecting Windows Clients with Data Protection Manager 2010 (Potential SDS Backup replacement)
- Configuration Manager v.Next: Device Management
- Troubleshooting Windows 7 Deployments
- Leveraging System Center to manage your Citrix environment from desktop to data center
- Best Practice's From Microsoft IT's use of SCCM SP2/R3
- Centralising and managing User Data
- Desktop Error Monitoring
- Keeping Windows running efficiently with the Diagnostics and recovery toolset.
- Plus 2 Keynotes - User Centric Client Management and Managing Systems from the Data Center to the Cloud
If you are interested in the key themes, you can see more here: www.mms-2010.com/public/contentoverview.aspx
There is also the vendor exhibition hall and some labs, both instructor led and self paced.So it should be a full on information overload ;-)
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
ILM "2" by the Oxford Computer Group at Microsoft, London.
There are many notable players in the Identity Management Arena notably Sun, IBM, Novell, Oracle (now Sun) and.. well.. not really Microsoft. So I relished the opportunity to spend a day, at Microsoft's Customer Centre in London to hear and see everything there is about IDM.
Shame about the blunt and somewhat impolite staff running their venue but these people need jobs and Microsoft's "Customer" centre , 10 mins from the Houses of Parliament is as good a place to work as anywhere, I guess. Needless to say the coffee wasn't flowing (no mid morning break) and the slightly dry sandwiches were at best unimpressive which kind of set the tone although I didn't realise it at the time.
Anyway, enough of all that, it was the product and it's capabilities I went to see.
So imagine, to make a written point more graphic, a model preparing to hit the catwalk and show off a 'nearly ready' new outfit. The clothes designers have done their bit, they've designed, styled, restyled and redesigned the outfit. The model is ready, the catwalk awaits but neither the make-up artist nor the hair stylist have turned up and to make things even worse, the wrong model is wearing the outfit. The lights are wrong, the set design is wrong and the audience is... wrong. That's how I see Microsoft's latest and greatest Identity Management solution... it's VERY unfinished.
Several years ago MS acknowledged the need to connect directories, provision stuff, do ID management stuff and so on and acquired a product Zoomit VIA which became known as MMS 2.x which then became MIIS 2003 which then became ILM 2007, the abbreviations are irrelevant because ILM "2" isn't ILM! ILM stands for Identity Lifecycle Manager and (unfortunately in my view) the Marketing department has decided to include this future release with their security product set and therefore call it Forefront Identity Manager 2010. So FIM 2010 (two thousand and ten) it will be. Unofficial though the leaked name is [update: click here], like its predecessors it is largely irrelevant - but confusing all the same.
Microsoft's approach in this space has been slow and reminds me of the age when it took them 18 months to support their own new Client Operating Systems in SMS, (now SCCM). The difference here is that I know more and they appear cautious, very cautious... So what goodies do we get in the new product and why the slow delivery?
Forgotten Password - at last I cry, but my tears of joy soon fade and the cold, deflated drops of enthusiasm dry as my mind wonders to patchy, sceptical and meandering thoughts. I saw the first RC (Release Candidate) today and whilst I appreciate the extension of the much expected final product release from Q1 2009 to Q1 2010 at the earliest if I were a product manager owning this thing I'd be thinking long and hard about whether or not it's the right way to go.
So a good strategist needs to read between the lines, to see the outfit without the hair or the make-up or the model. So what is it that MS are offering in a new product that drives forward identity management in a way that others will follow, what ground breaking concepts are being introduced that CTO's will fight for and businesses will invest in? What functions and features will users love and enjoy, what processes and automation will reduce incidents whilst maximising user effectiveness? What one nugget of WOW! can I tell my team and peers about when I return, and what would I tell my industry colleagues with whom I mutually share best practice, insights and learning's.
Well, in this case, absolutely nothing.
It's a sad fact that FIM2010 is narrow in functional capability, does far less than the competition and in an enterprise, will require constant and consistent investment to maintain. YES, they do offer "codeless" policies where a web gui lets you do the basics (although its very laborious), yes, you can do forgotten password albeit with a complex process to manage languages and no option of user defined questions and yes, it will talk to SAP and - at least - some of your connected systems. The very basic foundations are there but without a dark room, lots of sandals and some hairy coders it's never going to do what I want for Mars. (no offence meant to the developer community!)
It is a simple tool, for simple organisations - that is organisations with simple needs - and for those, if it's cheap (read cheap as "Free" or "Almost Free") yeah, it'll do 80% OK. For Universities and public sector organisations functional breadth or depth is not key and where living with the knowledge that we could do more if we had the money this product will be good enough I'm sure, but given the widely accepted view that identity lies at the heart of every system nowadays I expected more from Microsoft.
Oxford Computer Group were good hosts, Microsoft were silent during the briefing but the material - and the (3 or so) other customers that were there had some interesting points, but nothing for me that couldn't be done in an hour, on webex. There was way too much technical detail and for a technologist that's hard for me to say, but if you have to start messing around in SQL databases and digging deep into batch processes to show off ILM I was either at the wrong "Introduction" to ILM"2" or there is something seriously amiss.
If you'd like the hardcore details of what I learned, let me know and I'll gladly bore you with my endless notes and scribbles. Take away from this the fact that Microsoft are great at some things - I'm the worlds biggest advocate of MS Office - but at others they just arn't even close. Next step for us is to get a view of the FIM roadmap, from Microsoft and in detail. We'll stay up to date with the product and confirm that we are NOT (as my Vision presumes) a 'simple' organisation, because if we are, this might just about do (as long as someone else implements it!), but it's a very long way down the catwalk before we show off our new identity if it's to have a Microsoft badge on it.
ILM"2" Workshop by the Oxford Computer Group in conjunction with Microsoft and Gemalto
21st April 2009 at Cardinal Place, London.
Presentor Good - I think he did what he was there to do
Content Poor - Too technical for me, or even you - unless you are an SQL Programmer
Relavance Good - Based on the agenda, Poor - based on what actually happened
Materials Poor - Poor handouts, narrow customer mix, presenter used someone else's slides
Venue Poor - Unhelpful and moody staff, no coffee.
Overall Good - Why? Because I saw what I think (hope) is the worst of the product, not the best.
Doug.
Shame about the blunt and somewhat impolite staff running their venue but these people need jobs and Microsoft's "Customer" centre , 10 mins from the Houses of Parliament is as good a place to work as anywhere, I guess. Needless to say the coffee wasn't flowing (no mid morning break) and the slightly dry sandwiches were at best unimpressive which kind of set the tone although I didn't realise it at the time.
Anyway, enough of all that, it was the product and it's capabilities I went to see.
So imagine, to make a written point more graphic, a model preparing to hit the catwalk and show off a 'nearly ready' new outfit. The clothes designers have done their bit, they've designed, styled, restyled and redesigned the outfit. The model is ready, the catwalk awaits but neither the make-up artist nor the hair stylist have turned up and to make things even worse, the wrong model is wearing the outfit. The lights are wrong, the set design is wrong and the audience is... wrong. That's how I see Microsoft's latest and greatest Identity Management solution... it's VERY unfinished.
Several years ago MS acknowledged the need to connect directories, provision stuff, do ID management stuff and so on and acquired a product Zoomit VIA which became known as MMS 2.x which then became MIIS 2003 which then became ILM 2007, the abbreviations are irrelevant because ILM "2" isn't ILM! ILM stands for Identity Lifecycle Manager and (unfortunately in my view) the Marketing department has decided to include this future release with their security product set and therefore call it Forefront Identity Manager 2010. So FIM 2010 (two thousand and ten) it will be. Unofficial though the leaked name is [update: click here], like its predecessors it is largely irrelevant - but confusing all the same.
Microsoft's approach in this space has been slow and reminds me of the age when it took them 18 months to support their own new Client Operating Systems in SMS, (now SCCM). The difference here is that I know more and they appear cautious, very cautious... So what goodies do we get in the new product and why the slow delivery?
Forgotten Password - at last I cry, but my tears of joy soon fade and the cold, deflated drops of enthusiasm dry as my mind wonders to patchy, sceptical and meandering thoughts. I saw the first RC (Release Candidate) today and whilst I appreciate the extension of the much expected final product release from Q1 2009 to Q1 2010 at the earliest if I were a product manager owning this thing I'd be thinking long and hard about whether or not it's the right way to go.
So a good strategist needs to read between the lines, to see the outfit without the hair or the make-up or the model. So what is it that MS are offering in a new product that drives forward identity management in a way that others will follow, what ground breaking concepts are being introduced that CTO's will fight for and businesses will invest in? What functions and features will users love and enjoy, what processes and automation will reduce incidents whilst maximising user effectiveness? What one nugget of WOW! can I tell my team and peers about when I return, and what would I tell my industry colleagues with whom I mutually share best practice, insights and learning's.
Well, in this case, absolutely nothing.
It's a sad fact that FIM2010 is narrow in functional capability, does far less than the competition and in an enterprise, will require constant and consistent investment to maintain. YES, they do offer "codeless" policies where a web gui lets you do the basics (although its very laborious), yes, you can do forgotten password albeit with a complex process to manage languages and no option of user defined questions and yes, it will talk to SAP and - at least - some of your connected systems. The very basic foundations are there but without a dark room, lots of sandals and some hairy coders it's never going to do what I want for Mars. (no offence meant to the developer community!)
It is a simple tool, for simple organisations - that is organisations with simple needs - and for those, if it's cheap (read cheap as "Free" or "Almost Free") yeah, it'll do 80% OK. For Universities and public sector organisations functional breadth or depth is not key and where living with the knowledge that we could do more if we had the money this product will be good enough I'm sure, but given the widely accepted view that identity lies at the heart of every system nowadays I expected more from Microsoft.
Oxford Computer Group were good hosts, Microsoft were silent during the briefing but the material - and the (3 or so) other customers that were there had some interesting points, but nothing for me that couldn't be done in an hour, on webex. There was way too much technical detail and for a technologist that's hard for me to say, but if you have to start messing around in SQL databases and digging deep into batch processes to show off ILM I was either at the wrong "Introduction" to ILM"2" or there is something seriously amiss.
If you'd like the hardcore details of what I learned, let me know and I'll gladly bore you with my endless notes and scribbles. Take away from this the fact that Microsoft are great at some things - I'm the worlds biggest advocate of MS Office - but at others they just arn't even close. Next step for us is to get a view of the FIM roadmap, from Microsoft and in detail. We'll stay up to date with the product and confirm that we are NOT (as my Vision presumes) a 'simple' organisation, because if we are, this might just about do (as long as someone else implements it!), but it's a very long way down the catwalk before we show off our new identity if it's to have a Microsoft badge on it.
ILM"2" Workshop by the Oxford Computer Group in conjunction with Microsoft and Gemalto
21st April 2009 at Cardinal Place, London.
Presentor Good - I think he did what he was there to do
Content Poor - Too technical for me, or even you - unless you are an SQL Programmer
Relavance Good - Based on the agenda, Poor - based on what actually happened
Materials Poor - Poor handouts, narrow customer mix, presenter used someone else's slides
Venue Poor - Unhelpful and moody staff, no coffee.
Overall Good - Why? Because I saw what I think (hope) is the worst of the product, not the best.
Doug.
More Reading:
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Web-based Email ... and IM, Calendar and everything else!
First it was iNotes, then DWA, and now iNotes again. The web front end to Lotus Notes, iNotes has come a long long way from the version we know and ... tolerate.iNotes 8.5 is very very slick. There are 3 'modes' - Full, Lite and Ultralite.
The full web client is almost indistinguishable from the standard Notes 8 client - integrated Sametime, Widgets, SideShelf and all. It's fast (or 'snappy' as the devs prefer to call it) and totally useable. It has the integrated Quickr connector that Karoona talked about in the previous post, so the user experience (and the behaviour changes that this drives) are consistent. Give me this web client and I'll uninstall Notes from my machine!
Lite mode looks the same as full mode, but removes the integrated sametime, widgets and sideshelf to optimise bandwidth. Still very usable, but I might still need my Notes client...Ultralite mode does what it says on the tin. The interface is reminiscent of an iPhone, mostly because it is designed to work on an iPhone! You can also use this mode for very low bandwidth connections on traditional PC browsers which works well if you just need email and calendar.
Of course, to actually remove the Notes client we still have some 7000 notes applications to address. Now I'm sure Greg was wittering on about some Xpage thing that might be handy here...
Not only does the current iNotes product offer a superior user experience than Microsoft's OWA (which I should confess I use at home), it is equally at home on IE, Firefox AND Safari (James, you may now rejoice). The devs wanted to know if we'd also like it on Chrome or Opera...
Friday, May 2, 2008
Mat's thoughts on the 3rd keynote
I know Brian has already covered some of it, I just had some additional notes that I thought were interesting.
- Microsoft are beginning to use Data Centres in a container. They have their first one installed in Boulder, Colorado which provides Virtual Earth. It is entirely powered by wind power.
- They have found System Centre a great help with acquisitions because it can now monitor and manager diverse environments and is massively scalable.
- Average is 1 engineer to manager 5000 servers!
- Internal Microsoft IT are basically the beta testers for all the System Centre products.
- They deal with 1 million events per day!
I think it would be very interesting to spend time with their team to see how they do things. Same for the desktop area who are more advanced in terms of the newer products and their use. I'll blog that in another post.
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