November 17th, 2009

What's next for Microsoft's Azure cloud platform?

Posted by Mary Jo Foley @ 3:47 pm

Categories: Azure, Code names, Corporate strategy, Database, Google, Management tools, PDC 2009, Red Dog, SQL Server, System Center, Utility/cloud computing, Virtualization, Web 2.0

Tags: Microsoft Azure, Data Center, Microsoft Corp., Data Centers, Microsoft Windows, Storage, Operating Systems, Hardware, Data Management, Software

In the past year, customers and developers testing Windows Azure have been running primarily brand-new (and largely Web 2.0 style) apps on Microsoft’s cloud operating system. But when will Azure be tuned to handle host legacy enterprise apps? And when and how will users be able to take advantage of some of the Azure technologies inside of their own “private clouds”?

Microsoft officials didn’t share dates for its next phases of the Windows Azure platform. But they did talk about some of their plans for their next steps with Microsoft’s cloud platform during meetings and sessions at the company’s Professional Developers Conference (PDC) on November 17.

Microsoft said the Windows Azure platform — which is the Windows Azure operating system and the SQL Azure database — is feature-complete as of today. (Officials said a few weeks ago that Microsoft wouldn’t begin charging customers to use the platform until February 1, 2010.)

“Our initial focus on the platform was on enabling Web 2.0 customers to develop and run their apps on it,” said Amitabh Srivastava, Senior Vice President in charge of Windows Azure. These kinds of applications are Xcopy-deployable, while older, legacy apps typically are not, Srivastava said.

Microsoft’s next Azure steps — which it will be executing largely in parallel — will be to get existing, and typically more complex, line-of-business apps to run on the platform and to make it possible for customers to implement Azure technologies in their own data centers (a k a, to be able to create private clouds).

To enable existing apps to run on Azure, Microsoft is planning to make virtual machines (VMs) available to developers, which they will be able to customize and run their legacy apps inside them. Srivastava wouldn’t provide a timetable or more details as to how or when Microsoft will do this. Apps running in VMs won’t be able to take full advantage of the elasticity, multitenancy, and other cloud functionality, but they still will derive some benefits, such as automatic cloud backup for apps running on the Azure platform. (The name of this VM capability will be “Windows Server Virtual Machine Roles on Windows Azure,” Microsoft execs later told me.)

On the private cloud front, Microsoft didn’t have much new to say at the PDC. Microsoft officials have said in the past that Microsoft won’t allow customers to run the Azure operating system in their own datacenters. Microsoft’s main focus here continues to be to provide customers with software like Windows Server, SQL Server, Exchange Server, etc., for them to run in their own datacenters. That said, Microsoft isn’t simply leaving the delivery of a private cloud solution to Amazon and other cloud competitors.

“Lots of the technologies we have in the cloud are things people want to run in their datacenters,” Srivastava
acknowledged.(He cited as an example the ability to run a scalable cloud-storage appliance on premises.)

Microsoft is working on a longer-term solution that would allow the company to offer datacenter containers that can be dedicated to individual customers, Srivastava said. That way, clouds can be customized for individual users and users will be able to manage these containers themselves. Again, Srivastava wasn’t ready to talk about deployment specifics or timetables for this. That said, “Project Sydney” (Microsoft’s newly announced connectivity offering for private datacenters and public clouds) shows the general direction where we are going,” Srivastava said.

Microsoft officials made a vague reference in this morning’s keynote to System Center in the cloud. I asked Srivastava if this meant Microsoft was looking to offer System Center as a Microsoft-hosted service, the way that it is offering Exchange and Office Communications Server as Microsoft-hosted offerings. That isn’t the case, he said; instead, Microsoft has opened up the Windows Azure management programming interfaces so that System Center — as well as third-party management products like HP OpenView — can manage Azure-hosted applications.

Not everything about what’s next for Azure is a longer-term direction. In sessions on November 17, Microsoft officials outlined some of the nearer term deliverables for Microsoft’s cloud platform. The recently introduced content-delivery-network (CDN) support for blobs in Windows Azure’s storage system is one of those deliverables. Another is a capability MIcrosoft is calling “Windows Azure Drive” (also known as Xdrive) which allows Azure developers to create a drive inside their virtual machines, providing them with an automatic back up capability. Microsoft plans to officially “turn on” Xdrive support in January, officials said.

November 9th, 2009

Which should a small business choose: Windows Home Server or Windows Server Foundation?

Posted by Mary Jo Foley @ 1:36 pm

Categories: Channel, Corporate strategy, Database, Exchange Server, Management tools, OEMs, Resellers, SQL Server, System Center, System builders, Virtualization, Windows Essential Business Server (Centro), Windows Home Server, Windows Server 2008 R2 /("Windows 7 Server"), Windows Small Business Server (Cougar), Windows server

Tags: Microsoft Windows Server, Microsoft Windows Home Server, Small Business, Microsoft Windows, Servers, Operating Systems, Software, Hardware, Mary Jo Foley

Until quite recently, Microsoft officials emphasized the “home” in Windows Home Server (WHS) when explaining how that product fit into its server line-up.

Last week, however, something changed. Microsoft officials added small office/home office (SOHO) users to its list of potential customers for WHS. On November 5, the WHS team posted a new blog entry entitled “Top 10 reasons to use Windows Home Server in your SOHO.” From that post:

“Don’t let the name Windows Home Server fool you into thinking that this product was created for home use only. A lot of the reasons that you would use Windows Home Server in your home are just as applicable to a small or home office. Windows Home Server provides a dependable and affordable way to organize and safeguard your work on up to 10 computers.”

Up until this point, Microsoft’s business-focused Windows Server family looked like this (with entry-level servers listed first):

• Windows Server Foundation
• Windows Server Standard
• Windows Server Enterprise
• Windows Server Datacenter

Other “specialty” versions include the Web Edition, Windows Small Business Server and Windows Essential Business Server. (The latter two bundle together various Microsoft applications, like Exchange Server and SQL Server, with Windows Server.)

Microsoft delivered the first release of Foundation Server in April 2009. The R2 version of Windows Server Foundation is globally available (covering all countries in Western Europe, Central Eastern Europe, France, German and Korea and Middle East/Africa) as of this week. Like WHS, Foundation is primarily an OEM product. The first release of Foundation was available preloaded on servers from Dell, HP, NEC and Fujitsu. The R2 version will be sold by these same server vendors, plus IBM, Lenovo, Acer and local OEMs such as Wortmann (in Germany) Datateknik (Turkey) Lanix (Mexico), Positivo (Brazil) and NTT (Japan), among others, according to the company.

So which should a small business user choose: Foundation or WHS? The biggest difference seems to be in the number of users that are supported. Foundation scales up to 15, while Home Server only supports up to 10, company officials said. In addition, Home Server is also designed specifically as a media server, with storage and file backup features for movies, music and photos,” a spokesperson added when I asked for more information.

“Windows Home Server is for people who work and play at home,” said Eugene Saburi, General Manager in the Windows Server & Solutions Division. “And it’s still based on Windows Server 2003,” at this point, he said. “Windows Foundation is more of a general-purpose platform,” Saburi added. “You can install a line-of-business app on it.”

(There’s no official word on when Microsoft plans to upgrade WHS so that it is based on Windows Server 2008 or 2008 R2. Maybe that’s “Vail” — which could be out next year if the latest rumors are right.)

Meanwhile, if you’re wondering when will the R2-inclusive versions of Windows Small Business Server and Windows Essential Business Server will be out, Microsoft officials aren’t saying. They are not talking about a month, a quarter or even a year (!) in terms of shipping commitments for these two products. Sigh.

One would think it wouldn’t take the Softies long to update the existing SBS and EBS products to include the “minor” Windows Server 2008 R2 update… but if they also include the new Exchange Server 2010 bits, it could take a bit longer. And if they wait for the SharePoint 2010 ones, the next releases might not be out until after mid-2010….

November 9th, 2009

Windows Server 2008 R2 finally gets its day in the sun

Posted by Mary Jo Foley @ 8:30 am

Categories: Advertising, Corporate strategy, Exchange Server, Management tools, PDC 2009, Security, System Center, Utility/cloud computing, Windows Server 2008 R2 /("Windows 7 Server"), Windows server

Tags: Microsoft Windows Server, Microsoft Exchange Server, Microsoft Corp., WS2008R2, Exchange Server 2010, Microsoft Windows 7, Microsoft Windows, Microsoft Windows Server 2008, E-mail Servers, Groupware

Microsoft officials highlighted the company’s wave of enterprise server products during the kick-off keynotes at the company’s TechEd Europe conference on November 9.

While the majority of the Microsoft’s marketing and advertising muscle has been behind Windows 7 for the past couple of months, this week, the focus is on the server side of house. Windows Server 2008 R2 (WS2008R2) — the server complement to Windows 7 has a lot of unsung features that could be of interest to IT pros, if only they knew about them, company officials said.

Microsoft officials have been touting the same handful of new WS2008R2 features as being key to IT pros, such as Hyper-V live migration; and better branch caching support and VPN-less networking (BranchCache and  Direct Access) when Windows 7 is used in conjunction with WS2008R2. But there are more than 100 features that are part of the WS2008R2 release. I asked Microsoft recently for a list of what it considered the top ten unsung features in the product. I compiled the list in the form of a slideshow.

Check out the slideshow: Ten unsung Windows Server 2008 R2 Features

As Microsoft officials have said for the past month, customers can begin to take delivery of Exchange Server 2010 starting today. (Microsoft released Exchange 2010 to manufacturing in October.) Microsoft also announced on November 9 that it has released to customers Forefront Protection 2010 for Exchange Server. That on-premise offering will be complemented by a new, Microsoft-hosted Forefront service that will protect on-premise inboxes from spam and malware.

Exchange Server 2010 is a 64-bit-only release. The product includes new, integrated e-mail archive functionality; the ability to see text previews of voice mail; a new “Conversation View” feature; customizable call-routing menus; and a “MailTips” feature designed to help stamp out e-mail “faux pas.” It also includes a newly renamed version of Outlook Web Access (now known as Outlook Web App) that works with a variety of browsers

Microsoft originally was on tap to unveil Office Mobile 2010 at this week’s TechEd show in Berlin but took that topic off its agenda late last week. (I’m betting Office Mobile 2010 will get its day in the sun at the Professional Developers Conference in Los Angeles, which starts on November 16.)

Microsoft officials emphasized during the TechEd Europe keynotes and Q&A that customers shouldn’t wait to deploy Windows 7, WS2008R2, Exchange Server 2010 and Microsoft’s other new wares. Microsoft has been going public with names of corporations that already have begun deploying these products to reinforce this message.

IT pros: Are there any Windows Server 2008 R2 and/or Exchange Server 2010 features you’re especially interested in?  Any features that didn’t make it into the final versions of these products that you’re hoping will be incorporated in the next round?

Update: Directions on Microsoft’s Rob Helm tweeted today that Exchange Online users won’t get Exchange Server 2010 functionality “for at least a couple of months.” I asked Microsoft for clarification and received a confirmation:

“Exchange Online is updated quarterly with new features and capabilities. With the launch of Exchange 2010 next week, we will begin the process of updating Exchange Online. We expect those to be available to Microsoft Online Services customers next year, and customers will determine when their users are upgraded to the new capabilities, without the traditional investment of time and energy required for an on-premises upgrade.”

October 20th, 2009

Microsoft releases Windows-7-friendly version of Desktop Optimization Pack

Posted by Mary Jo Foley @ 9:07 am

Categories: Corporate strategy, Management tools, Service Pack, Windows 7, Windows client

Tags: Desktop, Optimization, Microsoft Corp., Tool, Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack, Productivity, Asset Management, Operational Planning, Business Operations, Mary Jo Foley

Microsoft officials last month said they had revised their Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack (MDOP) plans so as to get a Windows-7-friendly version of its tools out to businesses around the time of the Windows 7 launch.

On October 20, the MDOP team announced that the newest version of MDOP isready for download. Software Assurance licensees who’ve purchased MDOP can get the final MDOP 2009 R2, as the revised version of the pack is known. And those who aren’t already customers but who have MSDN/TechNet subscriptions can try it out today, as well.

MDOP is a collection of deployment-focused tools. Originally, Microsoft was planning to hold up the new MDOP release until early 2010 in order to include updated versions of all six tools in the pack. But the team decided instead to get a Windows-7-focused version of MDOP out now and provide the updated MED-V virtualization tool to business users via a service pack once it is available in early 2010. (MED-V is the application-virtualization software based on the Kidaro technology Microsoft acquired in 2008.)

MDOP 2009 R2 will be available today to existing MDOP customers for download via the Microsoft Volume Licensing Site (MVLS). For others who want to evaluate MDOP but who aren’t current customers, Microsoft is making it available via MSDN and TechNet

According to a new post on the  MDOP Team Blog, Microsoft is planning to make a beta version of MED-V version 1.0 SP1 by the end of calendar 2009. The final release is still on track for the first quarter of 2010, officials said.

An updated version of another MDOP tool, Asset Inventory Service (AIS) 2.0 — which will get new hardware inventory functionality, a Silverlight-based interface, better scalability, and the ability to track virtual apps — is now available to beta testers. Registration for the AIS 2.0 beta closes on October 24. The final version of that service is slated for the first half of 2010.

October 8th, 2009

Microsoft delays Forefront business security client six months

Posted by Mary Jo Foley @ 11:35 am

Categories: Code names, Corporate strategy, Management tools, Security, System Center

Tags: Microsoft Corp., Business Security, Forefront Official, Microsoft Windows 7, Team Management, Microsoft Windows, Servers, Management, Operating Systems, Software

Microsoft’s Forefront team is again delaying a piece of its next-generation “Stirling” suite of products.

The next version of Microsoft’s Forefront Client Security (FCS) product, Forefront Endpoint Protection 2010, won’t be shipping in the first half of 2010, as the team had been planning, according to an October 8 post on the Forefront Team Blog. Instead, the team is delaying the release until the second half of 2010 in order to change the underlying management technology.

Forefront officials are attributing the decision to delay to both tester feedback and industry trends. From the post:

“Based on customer feedback and market trends, we have made the strategic decision to build Forefront Endpoint Protection (FEP) on System Center Configuration Manager, Microsoft’s solution to comprehensively assess, deploy, and update servers, clients, and devices.  This approach better aligns our customers’ client management and security infrastructure, helping simplify deployment and reduce costs.”

Another result of the decision to align Forefront Endpoint with System Center is that the ForeFront Protection Manager — a unified console designed to provide administrators with a single view of all the next-gen Forefront client and server releases — will only manage the server-based Forefront products.

Microsoft officials said no other pieces of the Forefront Stirling release will be affected by the change announced today and will ship in either late 2009 or the first half as 2010, as Microsoft previously indicated. Here’s Microsoft’s full Forefront roadmap, which for now, doesn’t include the new, later date for Forefront Endpoint 2010.

Microsoft is advising corporate customers who need a client for securing Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 to use the V1 Forefront Client Security product. Microsoft added support for the Windows 7 client and WS2008 R2 releases to this product in August.

In April, Microsoft officials acknowledged plans to delay the Stirling release of the Forefront products by a number of months as a result of customers’ interoperability requests and the decision to incorporate a Dynamic Signature Service. Because of that delay, Microsoft is now planning a phased launch of the various pieces of the suite. Some of the components of Forefront Stirling still are on track to ship before the end of 2009; many other pieces are now going to be shipping throughout 2010.

One of my readers who is a Forefront tester said he was surprised how late in the development cycle the Forefront team decided to make this change. He said he also worried that the decision to align with Configuration Manager could alienate some businesses that already are focusing their management strategies (and purchases) around System Center Operations Manager.

Any other Forefront testers or users have anything to say on these latest Forefront moves?

October 2nd, 2009

Microsoft System Center team primes the beta pump

Posted by Mary Jo Foley @ 7:49 am

Categories: Azure, Code names, Corporate strategy, Database, Exchange Server, Management tools, Office 2010/Office 14, SQL Server, SharePoint Server, System Center, Utility/cloud computing, Virtualization, Windows 7, Windows Server 2008 R2 /("Windows 7 Server")

Tags: Team, Microsoft Corp., Beta, DPM Version 3, Microsoft Windows, Team Management, Microsoft Windows 7, Servers, Enterprise Software, Operating Systems

When Microsoft held its business soft-launch for Windows 7 and related enterprise products earlier this week, System Center got next-to-no love.

But that doesn’t mean nothing’s happening on Microsoft’s system-management front. In fact, in the past couple of weeks, the team has delivered relatively quietly more than a few new test builds of a variety of new wares in the works.

Even though Microsoft’s “The New Efficiency” launch focused primarily on Windows 7, Windows Server 2008 R2 and Exchange Server 2010, Microsoft officials increasingly are playing up the manageability of Microsoft and third-party software and services as one of the biggest differentiators between Microsoft and competitors in the PC, phone and Web-centric productivity arenas.

Over the past couple of weeks, the System Center team has pushed out and/or mentioned a number of new test builds. Among them:

System Center Essentials 2010: Microsoft made available for download a beta of its small/mid-size-business-focused suite of server management products. Essentials provides monitoring and diagnostics for Windows clients, servers, apps and network devices; deploys Microsoft Installer and EXE-installed software from Microsoft and third parties; conducts hardware and software inventories, handles health-status reports and updates deployment. Microsoft officials try to avoid calling Essentials a bundle of products, even though the suite uses technologies from Operations Manager, Windows Server Update Services, SQL Server and Microsoft Update. Final ship date target: Not sure.

Configuration Manager 2007 R3: Microsoft is lining up Technology Adoption Program (TAP) partners who will be testing Release 3. The focus of the R3 update is on power management. The beta for R3 is slatd for late October 2009. Final version due in first half of calendar 2010.

Data Protection Manager 2010: Also known as DPM Version 3 or “Zinger,” the next release of DPM hit beta at the end of September. DPM provides continuous data protection for Windows Server, SQL Server, Exchange Server, SharePoint Server, Dynamics AX and more by backing them up to disk, tape and the cloud. The new release will add protection and recovery for live migration in Hyper-V, SharePoint 2010, Exchange 2010 and more. Final ship date target: Not sure (but I’d guess sometime after mid-2010, since SharePoint 2010 support is included).

System Center Online Desktop Manager: This is one of the System Center team’s first real forays into the Microsoft-hosted services space. In late August, the team said to expect a public beta of SCODM “soon.” There already is a fact sheet and a feature list (antimalware, Microsoft updates, desktop monmitoring, desktop configuration, IT asset management and remote assistance). Final version delivery target: I’d bet some time in 2010, but so far haven’t seen a firm date.

Service Manager 2010: Formerly known as “Service Desk,” Service Manager 2010 is in private beta now (with Beta 2 due imminently). Update: Service Manager 2010 Beta 2 is now available. This new tool is aimed at helping IT managers deal with trouble tickets, help requests and compliance auditing. Final version delivery target: Early 2010.

September 30th, 2009

Microsoft opens Chicago and Dublin datacenters; preps for more hosted offerings

Posted by Mary Jo Foley @ 1:32 pm

Categories: Azure, Corporate strategy, Google, Management tools, System Center, Systems integrators, Utility/cloud computing, Virtualization, Windows Live

Tags: Data Center, Microsoft Corp., Chicago, Data Center Knowledge, Data Centers, Storage, Hardware, Data Management, Mary Jo Foley

Just a week after celebrating the opening its “chiller-free” Dublin datacenter, Microsoft is turning on its $500 million, 700,000-square-foot Chicago one.

Phase one of the Chicago datacenter opened on September 30. Microsoft is turning on power in phases there so “customers today will enjoy top-notch performance and availability while we control costs for Microsoft and its shareholders,” according to a September 28 post on the Microsoft datacenters blog.

The Chicago datacenter is one of the largest datacenters in the world to make use of shipping containers, according to the company. Each of these containers holds 1,800 to 2,500 servers, which Microsoft officials have said enables the company to better conserve energy and take advantages of new power-effiency mechanisms.

“(T)he isolated nature of containers enables Microsoft and its vendors to research new approaches around power and cooling alternatives to reduce energy consumption even more in the future,” according to the blog post from Arne Josefsberg, General Manager of Infrastructure Services for Microsoft’s Global Foundation Services unit.

The Chicago center Chicago also is focused on “water-side economization, which enables us to cool the facility without requiring the high levels of electricity typically needed to power large chillers,” according to Josefsberg.

Dublin, which is aimed primarily at fulfilling the cloud-service needs of Microsoft customers in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, officially began operations on July 1. According to Microsoft, it covers 303,000 square feet, and currently is providing 5.4 mega watts of critical power. It can expand to a total of 22.2 mega watts of critical power. Data Center Knowledge has photos of the Dublin datacenter here.

Speaking of Microsoft and its hosting plans, here is an interesting Azure roadmap slide from a September 2009 PowerPoint deck from Microsoft Application Architect David Gristwood. (Click on slide below to enlarge.)

This slide shows some of the features Microsoft is planning to offer as part of its Azure cloud platform this November, when it moves from beta to its first official release. It also includes information on what’s on the team’s plate for inclusion in Azure in the future, including System Center integration, enterprise ID federation, Common Language Runtime (CLR) support and analytics and reporting functionality.

September 29th, 2009

Microsoft's message to IT pros: Meet us half way with Windows 7

Posted by Mary Jo Foley @ 12:57 pm

Categories: Corporate strategy, Exchange Server, Management tools, Security, System Center, Windows 7, Windows Server 2008 R2 /("Windows 7 Server"), Windows client, Windows server

Tags: Information Technology, Steve Ballmer, Web Application, Microsoft Corp., Outlook Web App, Microsoft Windows 7, Microsoft Windows, Cloud Computing, Operating Systems, Software

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer is confident about Windows 7. But he’s nowhere near as outwardly cocky about the business prospects for the operating system as he and other Microsoft execs were with previous Windows releases.

In fact, Ballmer told IT pros during a low-key September 29 business-launch kick-off event “thanks for your consideration of Windows 7.”

Ballmer and a handful of invited corporate Microsoft customers took to the stage for Microsoft’s “The New Efficiency” event today. The overall theme of the hour-and-a-half event — which was live in San Francisco and Webcast, as well — was how IT pros can, with less, do more.

The products that Microsoft touted during the event included Windows 7, Windows Server 2008 R2, the Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack, Exchange Server 2010, and, to a lesser extent, the Forefront enterprise security suite and System Center management line.

Ballmer said it was Microsoft’s job to help IT pros get corporate buy-in for Windows 7. He said Microsoft was responsible for half that effort (actually, he pegged the number at 60 percent). But the other 40 percent of the job was up to enterprise users. They’re the ones who need to convince their purse-string-controlling bosses that it’s worth upgrading to Windows 7, in spite of tight budgets and cost-cutting pressures.

“We have to help you make the business case,” Ballmer said.

Ballmer’s push for Microsoft’s soon-to-be-introduced products boiled down to a few key messages.

• Windows 7: It makes everyday tasks easier to achieve anywhere
• Windows Server 2008 R2: It provides next-generation and control (and Hyper-V offers users more options for consolidating servers)
• MDOP: It helps streamline PC management
• Exchange 2010: Its new back-end storage management are a boon

Because I write so often about Microsoft’s enterprise products and strategy, none of what Ballmer said today was a surprise. It’s the Microsoft “better together” messaging in new bottles.

The only thing that surprised me was I noticed during the demo that Microsoft has renamed its Outlook Web Access (OWA) feature in Exchange 2010 to “Outlook Web App.” I discovered that the company had done this in August of this year. Given Microsoft’s recent acknowledgment that it is going to keep the “Office Web Apps” name for its forthcoming suite of Webified Office products, I find the new OWA name rather confusing. Word Web App, PowerPoint Web App, OneNote Web App and Excel Web App are all part of Office Web Apps. Outlook Web App is not.

Microsoft is making case study information and trial versions of its Windows 7 and final and/or beta releases of its related enterprise products available on its New Efficiency Web site.

September 23rd, 2009

Windows 8: More early clues start to emerge

Posted by Mary Jo Foley @ 9:34 am

Categories: Azure, Code names, Corporate strategy, Management tools, Microsoft Big Brains, Red Dog, System Center, Utility/cloud computing, Windows 8, Windows 8 Server, Windows client, Windows server

Tags: Microsoft Windows Server, Microsoft Corp., Chapman Co., Windows 8, Microsoft Windows, Operating Systems, Servers, Software, Hardware, Mary Jo Foley

As soon as Microsoft releases the final bits of a new Windows release to manufacturing — and often before — many users’ thoughts turn to what’s next.

Windows 7 and its server complement, Windows Server 2008 R2, were released to manufacturing in late July. By late August, Microsoft’s Windows client unit already was turning the crank on Windows 8 client and server.

Anders Vindberg, a Microsoft Technical Fellow in Microsoft’s Management and Services division — a “Big Brains” interview with whom I’ll be posting soon — acknowledged that planning sessions were well underway for Windows 8. And of the 12 working groups created, “eight or nine revolve around management.” (Back in April of this year, Microsoft was seeking developers interested in working on some of these management features and enhancements to Distributed File System Replication for Windows 8.)

Stephen Chapman, a tech enthusiast who runs the UX Evangelist site, has been beating the bushes for a few months now for Windows 8 information. He recently unearthed a number of job profiles of folks who have worked on and are working on various elements which may or may not make it into the final Windows 8 release.

Chapman found listings regarding tweaks being made to the Hibernate/Resume/Integration programming interface “that can integrate and utilize the new TLZ file compression engine.” (I’m not really sure what TLZ means here. I found a reference to TLZ as a file extension for Tar (.TAR) file compressed with LZMA (.LZMA) file compression “most commonly used on Unix systems.”)

He also found a reference to more tweaks that Microsoft is making around kernel patch protection, via PatchGuard. Chapman blogged that, based on what he unearthed, “PatchGuard is apparently going to make life even a little more difficult for hackers (and anti-virus companies as well, perhaps).”

Things are happening on the Windows 8 Server front, too. It seems that the Dublin application server that Microsoft has been readying might find its way into Windows 8 Server, based on another online resume Chapman found. (Microsoft officials said last year that the grand plan for Dublin was to integrate it into Windows Server, but never said when.)

I’ve seen a few Windows 8 references out there focused around the server version that mention new functionality Microsoft is working on to make Windows 8 Server an even stronger datacenter operating system. That dovetails with Microsoft’s slow but steady push toward offering customers not just a public-cloud hosting capability, but also a private one. For Microsoft, a private cloud will revolve around Windows Server. Some of the features/functionality developed by the Windows Azure operating system (Red Dog) team will undoubtedly find their way back into future iterations of Windows Server.

It’s still early. Windows 8 is unlikely to debut until 2011, at the earliest, given the way Microsoft is delivering Windows releases these days. I’ll be interested as to how Microsoft execs characterize Windows 8, given they decided to deem Windows 7 a “major” release and Windows Server 2008 R2 a “minor” one.

Anyone else hearing any scuttlebutt yet on Windows 8? What are you hoping gets included in the next Windows client and server releases?

September 21st, 2009

Microsoft trims MVP benefits, allows shareholders say on executives' pay

Posted by Mary Jo Foley @ 11:10 am

Categories: Azure, Corporate strategy, Management tools, Red Dog, Utility/cloud computing, Windows client

Tags: Shareholder, Microsoft Corp., Microsoft Windows, Benefits, Financial Accounting, Operating Systems, Software, Human Resources, Finance, Mary Jo Foley

Instead of trying (and failing) to do full blog posts on the many different Microsoft news bits I’ve read recently, I decided to do a quick link list. Here are a few new items that might be of interest:

Microsoft is trimming some of the benefits it is offering to participants in its Most Valuable Professional (MVP) program, no doubt due to cost-cutting measures affecting the company overall. In a note to MVPs (posted on the ActiveWin.com site), Microsoft claims to be “expanding our investment in the MVP Award Program” with a new online MVP portal coming next year. But in the same note, officials acknowledge that they are cutting a number of the “less significant” benefits, as of October 1, including Company Store (MVP Bucks), E-Academy, E-Reference Library and MS Press Book Reviews. The worldwide MVP conference is not cancelled; it’s on for mid-February 2010 (but in Redmond/Bellevue, not in Seattle).

Microsoft is allowing shareholders to have a formal say about its executives’ compensation. In Microsoft’s case, the “say on pay” input will be collected once every three years. Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer just got a 4 percent raise for fiscal 2009, by the way (not counting bonuses). Microsoft is one of a growing list of public companies adopting the say-for-pay provision. The first nonbinding vote on executive compensation happens in conjunction with this year’s shareholders’ meeting on November 19.

Microsoft Windows President Steven Sinofsky is slated to release a book later this year, co-authored with Harvard management professor Marco Iansiti that will offer insights into how to make a large organization not just survive, but thrive. The book will be published by John Wiley & Sons. Think of it a detailed analysis of Microsoft’s Windows client unit — which Sinofsky reorganized and pruned in order to get Windows 7 done in a timely way and to create the groundwork for future Windows releases. (TechFlash’s Todd Bishop found a Barnes & Noble listing for the forthcoming title,  — tentatively named “One Strategy!” and due November 28.

Microsoft has made available another piece of its Azure cloud platform puzzle: The Azure management API. The API is meant for developers who need to deploy and manage the compute and storage components of the Windows Azure operating system. The Azure management API is REST-based and will allow developers to code against in their toolset of choice to manage their services.