ronaldg's ramblings

Office Mobile 6.1 update released for compatibility with Windows Mobile 6 and Office 2007 docs

Microsoft has released an upgrade for Windows Mobile that solves an issue which prevented users of Windows Mobile 6.0 devices from reading documents created by users of Office 2007.  This upgrade will let WM6 users view and edit Word documents and Excel workbooks and view Powerpoint slideshows in Office 2007, which are based on the Open XML format. The upgrade also lets Windows Mobile users view and extract files from compressed .zip folders.

Go to this link to get the free download for existing Windows Mobile users who have Office Mobile.  

While you're there you may to download the Microsoft Windows Mobile Device Center 6.1 for Windows Vista which is an updated version of WMDC to provide compatibility for Vista and WM6.
Microsoft Windows Mobile Device Center 6.1 for Windows Vista (32-bit)

And there's a flash demo for WM6 available as well:
Windows Mobile 6 Demo

btw, check this out so you don't confuse the Office Mobile 6.1 update with the possible next version of the Windows Mobile OS: http://www.windowsfordevices.com/news/NS8508056769.html

SBSC program update

For those of you haven't yet joined the SBSC program, here's some updated links to jump start you into this great opportunity to enhance your small business or practice with additional resources from Microsoft, including premium content on the partner portal as well as exclusive new content in the Action Pack as well as many other benefits.

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Join the Microsoft Small Business Specialist Community
If small business is your business, then become a Microsoft Small Business Specialist by visiting  https://partner.microsoft.com/US/40021525 and get special training to help you sell more in this important market.  Go to www.smbizspecialist.com to engage with Microsoft about joining this community or call a Small Business Specialist expert at (888) 298-6303.

Here's a new article on Centro with screen shots

http://www.appscout.com/2007/11/the_skinny_on_centro.php

this AppScout.com is part of the PCMag.com network, if you're not already familiar with it, then you might enjoy all the other stuff on the site too.   Cheers.

Managed Services partnercast on TS2seminars.com

Hey everyone, check out the latest partnercast from TS2 which includes interviews with Erick Simpson from Intelligent Enterprise and Matt Mackowicz from Ambition Mission. In this partnercast they discuss how and why partners should move towards a Managed Service business model and do it from the partner perspective. 

It's in the “Buzz section” on TS2seminars.com (use link below)

Now featuring the latest Partnercast:

Click the link to play now, or right-click and save to your desktop to listen at your convenience.

NEW! TS2 sponsored Managed Services webcast series with Erick Simpson

I'm betting some of you remember or possibly attended the great webcast series I did with Erick in our last fiscal last year.  Erick has consented to do an update to that series (he has also published an update to his book), which is scheduled for the early December time frame.  It will be a 5-part series, like the last one, and will include new insights from the updated edition of his book.  The overall series title will be "Delivering Managed Services". Check the Partner Learning Center at www.msreadiness.com to register to attend one (or all of these).

Here's rundown on the dates/times (all times in PST)/topics:
Dec 3^rd (Mon) @ 9am: Part 1 – Overview
Dec 5^th (Tue) @ 9am: Part 2 – Pricing Managed Services for Profit
Dec 7^th (Wed) @ 9am: Part 3 – Creating Your Managed Service Agreements
Dec 10^th (Mon) @ 9am: Part 4 – Effective Marketing of Managed Services
Dec 10^th (Mon) @ 11am: Part 5 – Leveraging Managed Services to Sell Solutions as a Trusted Advisor

As most of you know, Erick authored the book: "The Guide to a Successful Managed Services Practice" and has also written the book: "The Best I.T. Sales & Marketing BOOK EVER!". (follow the links for more info on the books).  He is also the one of the founders of MSPU (Managed Services Provider University), a great resource for those who are MSPs and those who are looking to get into the MSP business.  And a great friend of TS2.

Among other things, our live webcast attendees will have the opportunity to interact with Erick online and take advantage of his great expertise in the managed services area.  Hopefully, we'll see you online in DEC.

Also, just FYI, Erick and I are in discussions to put together a continuing series for the first half of CY08 to drill down in even more depth in some of the component areas of managed services, stay tuned for more on that in the next month or so.

and btw, here's Erick's blog: www.mspu.us/Blog.htm

Bea Mulzer has published an update to her famous SBSC "red" book

Beatrice's new book, a 750+ page whooper, is a revision to the popular "red book" which many people enjoyed along the way to becoming a Small Business Specialist.

This book UPDATES all of the content for the 70-282 exam and INTRODUCES the 70-631 Configuring Windows SharePoint Services exam. Ergo - the large size of the book.

Currently, you may pre-order the book for $59.95 at www.smbnation.com and kindly note the pre-order status allows free shipping! The book will be mailed out on approximately December 15, 2007.

Great new article on Windows Home Server

Since I just did a post around WHS hitting the marketplace, I thought you might be interested in this article in ComputerWorld.  It's a great look at WHS, complete with screen shots, for those of you who haven't even seen it) and even some tech tips that might be worthwhile if you then decide to check it out.  Here's the link (and a synopsis) below:

http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9041381

Review: Windows Home Server is a powerful networking tool (November 08 2007)

Preston Gralla is impressed by the backup-and-restore, media streaming, and remote access capabilities of this software, which for once hasn't been "dumbed down" by Microsoft.

Enjoy...

Great whitepaper on Malware and more resources on Forefront

I put up a post a while back with resources for more info on Forefront, but here’s another resource that I didn’t include before. The first link is to a whitepaper I refer to in my events, it’s called “Understanding Malware Technologies”; I think this is a great read (not overly long, <20 pages), you can not only learn about malware but it’s also got some good blurbs about the advanced technologies in Forefront Client Security. The second link is to the Microsoft Forefront Whitepapers page on Microsoft.com and it includes not only the link to the malware whitepaper, but also links to key resources around Forefront Server Security and Edge Security.   Since you now have FCS in your Action Pack (OCT update), hopefully the malware whitepaper will give some information on why you might want to consider evaluating it.  I had a chance to attend a tech conference around FCS in Redmond last summer and what I found out about our global malware research organization that I believe most folks are unaware of.  With this and the Microsoft Security Response Center, we have a world-class operation in place to support our security solution.  I believe with the technologies and supporting infrastructure we have put in place, you'll see Forefront among the leaders in this space in the next 1-2 years.  Also, as far as I know, there's no other vendor out there who can provide the end-to-end solution that we bring to the table, much less one that integrates so deeply with the Windows-based infrastructure most of you have implemented for yourselves and your customers.

Direct link to whitepaper: http://download.microsoft.com/download/a/b/e/abefdf1c-96bd-40d6-a138-e320b6b25bd3/understandingantimalwaretechnologies.pdf

Link to Forefront whitepapers page: http://www.microsoft.com/forefront/whitepapers/default.mspx

Microsoft announces Windows Essential Business Server Previously known as Windows Server Code Name “Centro”

This is the one many of you have been waiting for, all the cool integration and automation of SBS but with the ability to spread the components out over multiple servers. 

Windows Essential Business Server (EBS) is an integrated multi-server infrastructure solution designed especially for midsized organizations, which I believe is up to around 250 clients.  Like the SBS product integration, EBS will combine the technologies of Windows Server 2008, Exchange Server 2007, Forefront Security for Exchange, System Center Essentials, the next version of ISA Server and SQL Server 2008 into an “all-in-one” solution, but one that will not need to be installed on a single box.  In addition to the integration, it will provide a unified console for management of key IT workloads, and will come pre-configured out-of-the-box (OOB) with a tremendous amount of built-in best practices.  Also, like SBS, it will come in 2 Editions, Standard or Premium.

Some of the initial announcements indicate that this should be a popular offering to leverage blade (or modular) servers.   There will also be hardware management "add-ins" as well as other 3rd- party software available to enhance the system.

View partner facing content on Microsoft Partner Portal (MSPP) and OEM Partner Center (OPC). 

And here's some additional sources for information on EBS as well:

The SBS, Centro, and Home Server Community Lead Blog
The SBS, Centro and Windows Home Server Community Lead Blog

Windows Essential Business Server Overview (great read and incl screen shots) http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/presskits/ServerSolutions/businessserver.mspx

The Midsize Business Center on Microsoft.com
http://www.microsoft.com/midsizebusiness/default.mspx?Wt_svl=msbclnav

Microsoft Windows Home Server finally hits marketplace

The first hardware boxes with Microsoft's Windows Home Server pre-installed are now becoming available.  I know that's good news for many of you, although I know there's also a lot of you who still prefer to "roll your own" <grin>.

According to a recent InfoWorld article, Hewlett-Packard's MediaSmart Server is supposed to be available for pre-order on Amazon.com, Bestbuy.com, Buy.com, Circuitcity.com, and CompUSA.com.  HP is selling the product in two versions -- a 500GB version for $599 and a 1TB version for $749.  The article also related that other online and standard retailers should have products available for customers within the next few weeks (late Nov 2007).

There are more than a dozen other hardware partners that have also signed on to develop offerings with Windows Home Server preinstalled in the coming months.

You can get more information on Home Server at: http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/winfamily/windowshomeserver/default.mspx

Microsoft announces Microsoft Search Server 2008 (MSS) and Microsoft Search Server 2008 Express (MSS Express)

This is just the announcement, the products themselves should be released in H1 of CY08

Office SharePoint Server (MOSS) has provided a comprehensive search solution for customers in the context of an overall portal and collaboration strategy, but until now, we have not had a competitive standalone search product. 

The new MSS and MSS  Express products will be our offerings for the standalone search solution market, and were developed for customers looking only for search functionality.   The MSS Express is a free, downloadable, standalone search server while MSS, which can scale to multiple boxes, will be sold via Volume License.

· Go to the http://www.microsoft.com/enterprisesearch/ to learn about the products.

· Partners can go to https://www.quickstartmicrosoftsearch.com/ to register and find out more!

New TS2 "Power Series" events, check for one near you.

TS2 is launching a new seminar offering called the Microsoft TS2 Power Series Event. What makes these events more "powerful" is that they are all-day events.  These events are broken into separate morning and afternoon sessions, with the morning session being essentially a regular TS2 event, but the afternoon session will be completely different and is a deeper dive into how the Microsoft Partner Program can help grow your business, we are calling this part of the day "Microsoft Partner (MSP) 101".  We are getting great (positive) feedback on these MSP 101 events, so I encourage you to stay for both sessions if you can.

If you attend either one of these, you will automatically be entered for a chance to WIN a free copy of Windows Vista™ Ultimate, Microsoft® Office Professional 2007, Windows® Small Business Server 2003 R2, and more (your completed evaluation form will be used as your entry form and this will be in addition to the giveaways we do at the live event). 

Right now, I'm scheduled to help with the Columbus (OH) event on 12/11, here's the direct link to that (you can find all the other Power Series events at TS2seminars.com

http://www.ts2seminars.com/columbus.aspx

Microsoft Unified Communications Launches

Microsoft has announced the worldwide availability of Microsoft’s unified communications software, taking the first step toward streamlining workplace communications and helping reduce the cost of the average corporate voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) system by half.

Microsoft Unified Communications includes the following:

• Microsoft® Office Communications Server 2007. Software that delivers VoIP, video, instant messaging, conferencing and presence within the applications people already know and use such as Microsoft Office system applications and upcoming versions of Microsoft Dynamics™ ERP products and the Microsoft CRM release due later this year

• Microsoft Office Communicator 2007. Client software for phone, instant messaging and video communications that works across the PC, mobile phone and Web browser

• Microsoft Office Live Meeting. The next version of Microsoft’s advanced conferencing service that enables workers to conduct meetings, share documents, utilize video and record discussions from virtually any computer

• Microsoft RoundTable™. A conferencing phone with a 360-degree camera that captures a panoramic view of meeting participants, tracks the speaker and can record meetings

• Service pack update of Microsoft Exchange Server 2007. The industry’s leading e-mail, voice mail, calendaring and unified messaging platform

Here's a soundbyte from the launch; “Unified communications software will transform business communications as fundamentally as e-mail did in the 1990s,” Raikes said. “Today, Microsoft is in the VoIP game, and our customers and partners are already winning with better economics and new business opportunities.”

Check out Unified Communications on the Microsoft web site at: www.microsoft.com/uc

or on the UC Launch stuff on the Partner Portal at: https://partner.microsoft.com/global/40029082?PS=95000124 (under IW Solutions tab on Program Membership)