ronaldg's ramblings

Vista news – this is huge

Most of you probably don’t get USA Today (or WSJ) delivered to your door daily so I wanted to make sure you knew about the new Small Business Assurance program that just launched (with full-page ads in both publications on Monday).  The tagline is “Move to Windows Vista with Confidence”.  The program has 3 main pillars: free phone support (thru October 2008), second, a self-serve web site (with tips/tricks, tools, guidance, demos, and other ways to help you get the most out of Vista), and third, specific tools and guidance for dealing with app and peripheral compatibility issues. Here’s the link to an Information Week article that has some more details: Microsoft Offers Free Windows Vista Support to Small Businesses

Also, here’s the link to more information about it on the Microsoft Partner Program portal: Windows Vista Small Business Assurance Program

And, lastly, here’s the link to the main site on the Microsoft.com site:  Move to Windows Vista with Confidence

Quite contrary to the pervasive negativeness I see in the press, the vast majority of the partners I talk to appreciate the Vista technology and are very happy with it.  Hopefully, some of these SBA resources can help many of you jump start the upgrade or migration conversation with your customers and get them going on the more secure and future ready platform that is Vista. 

SBS and EBS 2008 Launch dates confirmed

In case you might have missed this in other news venues, Microsoft has announced that November 12th will be the official launch date (RTM) for SBS 2008 as well as Essential Business Server 2008.  It was also noted that OEMs Dell and Wortmann AG in Europe will be among the first companies to offer hardware for both OSes when they are available, the company also said.

Great article on Hyper-V

Paul Thurrott, a long-time writer/commentator for Windows IT Pro Magazine, has put out a great article on Hyper-V on his “Supersite for Windows”.  You might also find other things of interest there, but I would definitely recommend this article.  It’s a reasonably short article (approx 4 pages), but it covers an overview of the key features, what’s new in the RTM release, a great look into how Microsoft is already using this technology, some performance metrics, and a comprehensive list of supported guest OS’es.   If you’re interested in this technology at all, I would put this on my “must read” list.  http://www.winsupersite.com/showcase/win2008_hyperv.asp