Citrix continues to innovate in the desktop virtualization space and build on the on the market leading trajectory established with first with XenDesktop 4.0 — the industry’s first VDI offering to provide integrated app and desktop delivery in a single product – and extended with XenDesktop 5.0 —  focused on simplification and scalability for the administrator to deploy and manage virtual desktops.   With the release of XenDesktop 5.5, Citrix  takes it up a notch yet again and sets the new standard for desktop virtualization — including the ability to deliver personal VDI desktops, provide an unparalleled user experience with more than 150 new HDX features and enhancements, deliver “headquarters-like” experience across the  WAN to  remote workers and branch offices and new Citrix Receivers for Windows and MacOS.  Whew!  That was a long sentence

You can read about all of the news here.

Personal VDI desktops and reducing cost

The Citrix focus on end user experience and reducing costs of virtual desktop deployments was the driving force behind the RingCube acquisition and today’s announcement of the availability of the personal vDisk technology as a feature of XenDesktop 5.5.

If you haven’t heard about it, the new personal vDisk technology enables IT to realize the cost saving and management of pooled virtual desktops, while providing  personalization capabilities for profiles, data and applications that is typically found in a dedicated VDI deployment model.   Since we announced the acquisition of RingCube two weeks ago, my inbox has exploded with requests for more information regarding pricing,  packaging and availability.  I am pleased to confirm today that the personal vDisk technology will be included in all editions of XenDesktop at no additional charge.  The personal vDisk technology is available today as an “Early Access” feature for customers with Software Assurance to use in their labs and proof of concepts to get familiar with the technology.  In less then two weeks since the closing of this acquisition, we have delivered on the first release that is integrated with XenDesktop.  Using XenDesktop Studio, administrators can quickly create and deploy virtual desktops that take advantage of the personal vDisk technology.  The combination of the user acceptance of the personal VDI desktop and the IT cost savings allow organizations to deploy virtual desktops to a wider based of end users – truly creating a win-win situation.

You get additional technical information on the personal vDisk here.

System Center Virtual Machine Manager Self-Service Portal 2.0 SP1 is a free, partner-extensible solution that allows you to dynamically pool, allocate, and manage datacenter resources. Using the Self-Service Portal, you can reduce IT costs, while increasing agility for your organization. The Self-Service Portal works with products and technologies you know and trust, like Windows Server and the System Center product suite. This solution delivers:

Citrix Integration Pack for Self-Service Portal

The integration pack integrates Essentials for Hyper-V with System Center by automatically provisioning the storage whenever a virtual machine is commissioned though the Self-Service Portal.
Learn more >

Compellent Solution Pack for Self-Service Portal

Utilizing Windows PowerShell® with the Compellent Storage Center SAN, Compellent’s Solution Pack enables the integration and support for self-service provisioning of data storage resources with Virtual Machine Manager and Windows Server Hyper-V™ through the Self-Service Portal.
Learn more >

F5 Solution for Self-Service Portal

The F5 solution for Virtual Machine Manager Self-Service Portal adds the option for traffic management by the BIG-IP application delivery controller (ADC) within the service role section of a user request. Executing this option automatically configures the BIG-IP for the request of VMs as they come online.
Learn more >

HP Services Using the Self-Service Portal

Accelerate your journey to the private cloud with HP’s Converged Infrastructure and HP Technology Consulting services. Begin with a short assessment, then continue to implementation based on HP’s deep experience in the datacenter. HP uses pre-developed scripts, portals, and cmdlets to integrate into your environment and build a self-service infrastructure.
Learn more >

Intel Cloud Builder Guide: Cloud Design and Deployment on Intel Platforms

The Intel reference architecture will assist organizations that require their cloud data and assets to reside on premises and those that need to support a new business domain with a separate IT infrastructure that is scalable and flexible.
Learn more >

NetApp ApplianceWatch PRO 2.1.1

Accelerate virtual machine provisioning, and increase storage efficiencies in private cloud implementations managed by the Self-Service Portal with the integration scripts and PowerShell cmdlets included in ApplianceWatch PRO 2.1.1 that enable rapid provisioning of space-efficient VMs using NetApp FlexClone technology.
Learn more >

VKernel Chargeback with Hyper-V

VKernel Chargeback with Hyper-V enables private clouds to automatically map virtualization costs to applications and customers by reporting on allocated costs and by measuring and expensing the actual consumption of server and storage resources by cloud customers.
Learn more >

To start experiencing a more beautiful web with IE9 and to visit a small set of the top 250 web-sites globally that have created a more beautiful experiences for all of us with IE9, go to http://beautyoftheweb.com/experience.

Internet Explorer 9 has now been downloaded 2.35 million times in the first 24 hours since its Monday night release. That is over 27 downloads every second, or over 240 downloads every 9 seconds. Wow!.

They want to thank everyone around the world for downloading IE9 and the enthusiastic reception. 2.3 million downloads in 24 hours is over double the 1 million downloads we saw of the IE9 Beta and four times that of the IE9 RC over the same time period.

In case you missed it, check out the collection of videos from the SxSW launch event. Ze Frank’s demo of Star.ME is one not to be missed!

You can see all of the demos and the complete launch event by clicking play below. And to download Internet Explorer 9 for yourself, visit http://www.beautyoftheweb.com.

Ze Frank’s demo of Star.ME is one not to be missed!

You can see all of the demos and the complete launch event by clicking play below. And to download Internet Explorer 9 for yourself, visit http://www.beautyoftheweb.com.

Consumer end-users can find general information about Windows 7 SP1 at the following Microsoft website:

http://windows.microsoft.com/windows7sp1

Public downloads will be here

Windows 7 Service Pack 1

To obtain Windows 7 SP1, visit the following Microsoft website:

http://windows.microsoft.com/installwindows7sp1 (http://windows.microsoft.com/installwindows7sp1)

Windows 2008 R2 Service Pack 1

To obtain Windows 2008 R2 SP1, visit the following Microsoft website:

http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=199583

The following documentation for Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 Service Pack 1 is provided here.

Deployment Guide for Windows Server 2008 R2 with SP1 and Windows 7 with SP1.doc 213KB Download

Hotfixes and Security Updates included in Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 Service Pack 1.xls 465KB Download

Installing Windows Server 2008 R2 with SP1.doc 94KB Download

Release Notes for Windows 7 with Service Pack 1.doc 87KB Download

Release Notes for Windows Server 2008 R2 with Service Pack 1.doc 87KB Download

MS KB Information about Service Pack 1 for Windows 7 and for Windows Server 2008 R2

Like Windows 7 its also possible to use the Aero theme including 3d flip or at least the Windows 7 Basic theme without transparency nor 3d flip on Windows Server 2008 R2. Note that following this tutorial and installing the “Desktop Experience” Feature also installs Windows Mail, Windows Media Player, Video for Windows (AVI support), Windows Photo Gallery, Windows SideShow, Windows Defender, Disk Cleanup, Sync Center, Sound Recorder and Character Map.

1. Start the Server Manager and click below the category Features Summary at Add Features.

2. In the Add Features Wizard window check Desktop Experience and also accept to install the Ink and Handwriting Services when asked. Then click Next.

3. Review the Installation Selections and click Install to start the installation of the selected Features.

4. After the installation has finished, click the Close button and click Yes when asked if you want to restart your computer

5. After the computer has restarted, review and close the Installation Results window and go to Administrative Tools in the Start menu and click Services.

6. Double click on the service named Themes, set Startup type to Automatic and click Apply. After the Startup type is set to Automatic click Start to start the Themes service whereafter you can close the Services Manager.

7. Download themes.zip (38,5MB) from Rapidshare, Megaupload or 4Shared, extract it and run install(.cmd) to install the Windows 7 Default Themes. This step is optional as you can also download the themes you want from http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=109286

8. Right click at an empty spot of your desktop and choose Personalize. In the Personalization window click a theme or get a nice theme via the Get more themes online link. If you have installed drivers for your videocard you will now have transparent windows and you are able to use 3D Flip (Windowskey + Tab)!

Use Windows 7 Bootscreen on Windows Server 2008 R2;

In stead of the default Windows Server 2008 R2 boot screen you can also use the one of Windows 7. This is done by just extracting the bootres.dll and bootres.dll.mui from the Windows 7 x64 Retail MSDN dvd and placing them in respectively the System32 and System32\en-US folder.

1. Download bootres.zip (2.10MB) from Rapidshare, Megaupload or 4Shared.

2. Extract the .zip to a folder and run install(.cmd)

3. Enjoy your Windows 7 boot screen!

And use the Windows 7 Bootscreen on Windows Server 2008 R2;

If you don’t like the default gray Windows Server 2008 R2 logon screen, it is also possible to use the colorful Windows 7 one.

1. Download logonscreen.7z (11,7MB) from Rapidshare, Megaupload or 4Shared or logonscreen.zip (29,9MB) from Rapidshare, Megaupload or 4Shared.

2. Extract the .zip or the .7z using 7-Zip to a folder and run install(.cmd).

3. Enjoy your new logon screen!

Manually you do it like this;

The files in this patch are the original ones from Windows Server 2008 R2 which are edited. You can edit them by opening the imageres.dll file with a Resource Editor like Restorator 2007, expanding the IMAGE resource and replacing all gray logon screens with the Windows 7 equivalent. Do this as follows (read as: copy … to …): 5031 -> 5044, 5032 -> 5045, 5033 -> 5046, 5034 -> 5047, 5035 -> 5048, 5036 -> 5049, 5037 -> 5050, 5038 -> 5051, 5039 -> 5052, 5040 -> 5053, 5041 -> 5054, 5042 -> 5055, 5043 -> 5056.

What’s changed in Windows in the last 25 years? Plenty. In this image gallery, we take a look at the various faces of Windows over the past couple of decades and clue you in to what happened at every stage of the operating system’s development.

1985: Windows 1.0

Windows started in 1981 as a project called Interface Manager and experienced a series of delays getting out of the gate. When it was finally released in late 1985 as Windows 1.0, it made a ripple, not a splash. It had to be run on top of DOS, few applications were written for it, and application windows couldn’t be overlapped (they had to be tiled).

Still, the OS allowed for multitasking of Windows apps (not DOS ones) and, even though few knew it at the time, it would eventually become the foundation for the Microsoft empire.

Windows 1.0 shipped with a handful of apps, including the Notepad text editor, a rudimentary calendar and the long-lived graphics painting program Paint. The operating system required MS-DOS Version 2.0, 256KB of memory and a graphics adapter. It could be run either from a hard disk or on two floppy disks running simultaneously — in other words, you couldn’t swap the disks in and out of a single drive.

from: http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9196998/Visual_tour_25_years_of_Windows?taxonomyId=125&pageNumber=1

some Screenshots courtesy of Microsoft or  GUIdebook!.

1987: Windows 2.0

Screenshot courtesy of Microsoft.

Windows 2.0 was released in the late fall of 1987, two years after the debut of Windows 1.0. New features in Version 2.0 included the ability to overlap application windows and improved memory use. Also new: Dynamic Data Exchange (DDE), which allowed Windows applications to automatically share and update data. For example, DDE allowed information in an Excel spreadsheet to be automatically updated when data in another Excel spreadsheet was changed.

Windows 2.0 also included expanded system requirements: It needed 512KB or more of memory and required DOS 3.0. A later version, Windows 2.11, would require the use of a hard disk for Windows for the first time.

With Version 2.0, more applications written for Windows began to appear, including Microsoft Excel and Word. Aldus’ PageMaker, originally written for the Mac, was also ported to Windows.

Windows 2.0 was notable for another reason as well — on March 17, 1988, Apple Computer sued Microsoft, claiming that the look and feel of the Macintosh operating system was covered by copyright, and that Windows 2.0 violated that copyright. (Several years later, the case was resolved in Microsoft’s favor.)

1990: Windows 3.0

Windows 3.0, released in 1990 — and its successor, Windows 3.1, released in 1992 — offered the first evidence that Windows might become the world’s dominant desktop operating system. The interface was revamped, and although it looks awkward and kludgy today, at the time it was widely considered clean and sleek.

Icons were redesigned to use the VGA graphics standard with 16 colors. Memory handling was improved, and enhanced mode was added, which sped up memory access and allowed DOS programs to run in individual virtual machines. Windows 3.0 also allowed Windows applications to use more memory than was available in RAM by swapping RAM temporarily to the hard disk.

Thanks to enhanced mode, DOS programs could be multitasked and run in their own resizable windows for the first time (previously, they had to run full-screen). Windows 3.0 required 640KB of what was called conventional memory and 256KB of extended memory. Version 3.00a of Windows was built to support multimedia, and it supported CD-ROMs for the first time.

Windows 3.0 also included what may be one of the greatest productivity-sappers in the history of computers — the game of Solitaire.

Windows 3.1 introduced TrueType fonts, for better on-screen reading and higher-quality print output, as well as Object Linking and Embedding, which improved upon DDE for exchanging data between applications. Version 3.11 added support for networking using the dominant networking standard of the time, NetWare.

1993: Windows NT 3.1

Windows NT 3.1, released in July 1993, was built for businesses rather than consumers and was designed to be more secure and stable. It used a 32-bit rather than a 16-bit architecture. Version 3.1 was the first release of the NT operating system; earlier version numbers were skipped so that the numbering for this business OS would match that of the consumer OS, Windows 3.1. NT required an 80386 CPU, 12MB of RAM (16MB was recommended) and 90MB of free hard disk space.

The enterprise-oriented operating system went through three more releases — Windows NT 3.5 in 1994, Windows NT 3.51 in 1995 and Windows NT 4.0 in 1996 — before moving to Microsoft’s year-based version numbering convention with Windows 2000.

1995: Windows 95

Windows 95, released in August 1995, combined DOS with Windows for the first time: Rather than installing Windows on top of DOS, you installed only Windows 95, which included both DOS and Windows. It was also the first consumer version of Windows that began moving away from a 16-bit architecture and toward a 32-bit one; in other words, it was a mix of 32-bit code and 16-bit code.

The operating system introduced many interface improvements, including several that live to this day, such as the taskbar and the Start menu. Support for file names longer than eight characters was added as well. It was far more stable than previous versions of Windows and was the first to support Intel’s Plug and Play standard, which was designed to make it easier to add hardware and peripherals to your PC; the idea was that Windows would automatically recognize and configure attached hardware. It was a step forward, but it didn’t always work — some people referred to it as “plug and pray.”

At a minimum, Windows 95 required an 80386 DX CPU, 4MB of system RAM and 120MB of hard drive space — although it was sluggish on a computer that just met those requirements. An 80486-based PC and 8MB of RAM made for a much better experience.

Windows 95 was notable for another reason as well — the massive marketing campaign that accompanied its launch was said to have cost $300 million and included purchasing the rights to the Rolling Stones song “Start Me Up” as the Windows 95 theme song; draping a 300-foot Windows 95 banner over Toronto’s CN Tower; lighting the Empire State Building with Microsoft’s corporate colors of yellow, red and green; and creating a promotional instructional video that featured Jennifer Aniston and Matthew Perry from the hit TV show Friends.

1998: Windows 98

Windows 98, released in June 1998, was as not as big a step forward over Windows 95 as Windows 95 had been over Windows 3.1. Rather, it made incremental changes to Windows, although there were a few significant additions.

The most notable had to do with Internet support. For the first time, the Winsock specification — which provides TCP/IP support for Windows — was built directly into the operating system, rather than having to be installed as an add-on. Also for the first time, Internet Explorer was included as part of the operating system, which eventually led to the U.S. Justice Department’s prosecution of Microsoft for antitrust violations.

Windows 98 offered considerably better USB support than Windows 95 did. A feature called Active Desktop was supposed to deliver live Internet content to the desktop, but it proved to be buggy and was dropped from subsequent versions of Windows.

Windows 98 required at least a 66-MHz 486DX2 processor, 16MB of RAM (24MB was recommended) and 500MB of hard disk space.

2000: Windows 2000

Windows 2000, the successor to Windows NT 4.0, released in February 2000, was intended for business rather than home use, and it was available in several editions, including multiple server versions. It brought many features of Windows 98 into the NT line, including Internet Explorer and Plug and Play. Windows File Protection, which protected important system files, was introduced along with the Encrypting File System, which improved security by encrypting files automatically, and Active Directory, the enterprise technology used to provide network and domain services.

System requirements for Windows 2000 varied depending on whether the server or desktop version, called Windows 2000 Professional, was being installed. Windows 2000 Professional required at least a 133-MHz Pentium microprocessor (or the equivalent), 32MB of RAM (64MB was recommended) and a 2GB hard disk with 650MB of free space.

2000: Windows Me

Windows Me (also called Windows Millennium Edition) was released in September 2000 and quickly became one of Microsoft’s most criticized operating systems because of installation problems, bugs and hardware and software incompatibilities. It introduced Windows Movie Maker. Critics maintain that it was introduced only for marketing purposes, to give Microsoft something to sell for the 2000 holiday season.

Windows Me was the last version of Windows that included the DOS architecture. It lasted little more than a year, until Windows XP was introduced. Windows Me required a 150-MHz Pentium processor or the equivalent (a 300-MHz model was recommended), 32MB of RAM (64MB was recommended) and 320MB of free hard drive space (2GB was recommended).

2001: Windows XP

Windows XP, released in August 2001, was a breakthrough in several respects. It was the first version of Windows that did not use DOS as part of its underlying architecture, and the first to be offered in both 64-bit and 32-bit editions. XP combined the desktop version of the secure and stable enterprise-oriented Windows NT/2000 line with the consumer-focused Windows line. (The Windows Server OS line has continued separately from the desktop line.)

It was far more stable than previous versions of Windows and featured a significantly revamped interface that was brighter, more colorful and more contemporary-looking. Drop shadows were added to icon labels, windows were given a more rounded look and visual effects such as fading and sliding menus were added. Windows XP introduced a slew of new features, including background themes and remote desktop, which allows a PC to be controlled remotely via the Internet or a network.

Windows XP shipped in multiple versions, most notably Windows XP Home Edition and Windows XP Professional. Even though it was introduced nine years ago, XP remains the most-used version of Windows, and it’s still available as a downgrade option on new PCs that run the Windows 7 Professional or Ultimate editions. Windows XP requires a Pentium 233-MHz processor or the equivalent (a 300-MHz model is recommended), at least 64MB of RAM (128MB is recommended) and at least 1.5GB of available space on the hard disk.

2006: Windows Vista

Windows Vista, released at end of 2006, may well be the most criticized and disliked version of Windows of all time. Released more than five years after Windows XP, Vista faced widespread hardware incompatibilities upon launch and wouldn’t run on older hardware.

Vista’s interface was significantly different from XP’s interface. Most notably, it had a new feature called Windows Aero, a set of visual enhancements that included transparent windows and animations. There were also a variety of other new features, including the Windows Sidebar, Desktop Gadgets, the Windows Photo Gallery and improved search. Some people disliked Vista’s resource-hungry user interface, and those who did like it couldn’t always get it: Many PCs that were sold as “Vista-capable” couldn’t run the full version of Vista, leading to a class-action lawsuit against Microsoft.

Windows Vista was available in six different versions. Most PCs were sold with Windows Vista Home Premium. It required a 1-GHz processor (either 32- or 64-bit), 1GB of system memory, 15GB of free hard disk space and a graphics card that was able to support Windows Aero.

2009: Windows 7

Windows 7, released in October 2009, is Microsoft’s current desktop operating system. Many people feel it’s the OS that Windows Vista should have been. It retains the Aero interface and other enhancements from Vista, but rather than adding a slew of new features in Windows 7, Microsoft focused more on fixing the shortcomings of Vista. Windows 7 is generally considered more stable than Vista, and most users upgrading from Vista to Windows 7 did not experience the kinds of hardware problems that they encountered when they upgraded from XP to Vista.

Windows 7 did introduce a few new features — notably an enhanced taskbar, a slightly redesigned Start menu and a trio of nifty navigation shortcuts known as Aero Peek, Aero Snap and Aero Shake. Some features of Windows Vista were taken away, including the Windows Photo Gallery and Windows Mail.

Windows 7 comes in multiple versions, including Windows 7 Home Premium, Windows 7 Professional and Windows 7 Ultimate. It requires a 1-GHz processor (either 32- or 64-bit), 1GB of system memory, 16GB of free hard disk space (20GB for the 64-bit version) and a graphics card that’s able to support Windows Aero.

What’s next?

No one, including Microsoft, knows the shape that Windows will take in the next 25 years, because there’s simply no way to peer that deeply into the technology future. It’s a good bet, though, that the Windows of 25 years from now will be radically different from today’s version.

In fact, it’s reasonable to expect that there will be greater changes to Windows in the next 25 years than in its first 25 years. That’s the case because, despite all the changes in technology, for the past several decades the personal computer, whether desktop or laptop, has been people’s main computing device. It’s not clear that that will be true in the next 25 years, given the prevalence of smartphones and the increasing popularity of tablets.

Several questions spring to mind: How will Windows accommodate the increasing role of cloud-based software and services in computing? Will operating systems even matter in the future? Will Windows move to a modular model, with pick-and-choose components?

For now, Microsoft isn’t saying. In the meantime, we’ll have our first peek at the future of Windows when the first Windows 8 beta is released sometime next year.

Microsoft RemoteFX introduces a new set of remote user experience capabilities that enable a media-rich user environment for virtual and session-based desktops. RemoteFX can be deployed to a range of thick and thin client devices, enabling cost-effective, local-like access to graphics-intensive applications. RemoteFX also supports a broad array of USB peripherals to improve the productivity of users of virtual desktops.

SP1 also includes Dynamic Memory, which enables servers running Hyper-V for server virtualization, to be more efficient in the use of memory.  Dynamic Memory pools and distributes memory among the virtual machines running on a physical host, enabling higher consolidation ratios, increasing server utilization rates, and providing more flexible workload management. Furthermore, memory is dynamically added based on the demands of the current workloads and without service interruption.

Expect to see Service Pack 1 released in its final form during first quarter 2011 and whether you’re virtualizing servers or desktops, take a few minutes to learn more about Service Pack 1 here. You needn’t wait for SP1, however – you can join those already enjoying the benefits of Windows Server 2008 R2 by deploying today.

Improve the efficiency and availability of IT resources and applications with the new virtualization innovations provided in Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 RC. Dynamic Memory and Microsoft RemoteFX^TM, to help businesses further optimize their datacenter and desktops.

• Dynamic Memory lets Hyper-V administrators pool available memory on a physical host and dynamically distribute it to any virtual machine(s) running on that host.
• RemoteFX lets Windows Server 2008 R2 administrators provide a rich end user desktop virtualization experience by delivering vivid content, independent of any graphics stack, to server-hosted virtual and session-based desktops.

Businesses can take advantage of these innovations to help deliver new capabilities such as private cloud and VDI. To learn more about Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 RC and the benefits it provides, read the documents, feature overview and FAQs below.

• Read the Windows Server 2008 R2 Technical Whitepaper for a technical overview of Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 RC release features and benefits.
• Download the Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 RC Reviewer’s Guide to evaluate the core features of Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 RC release in your environment.

Dynamic Memory Overview

Windows Server 2008 R2 Hyper-V introduces a new feature, called Dynamic Memory, in the Windows 7 SP1 and Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 RC releases.  It allows customers to achieve increased density when they’re consolidating physical servers into a virtual realm, providing them with predictable performance and linear scalability.

With Dynamic Memory, IT administrators are able to pool available memory on a physical host and then dynamically dole that memory out to virtual machines running on the host, based on current workload needs.

• For a technical overview of the new Dynamic Memory feature, download the Dynamic Memory Technical Overview whitepaper.
• View the Dynamic Memory video

RemoteFX Overview

RemoteFX, a key feature of Remote Desktop Services (RDS) lets IT administrators deliver a rich graphics experience to end-users through virtualized desktops.  Using new protocol enhancements between Windows Server 2008 R2 and Windows 7, end users can now access virtual machines on a wide variety of target devices and still get a rich graphics experience with server-side graphics processing.

• Learn more about Remote Desktop Services and RemoteFX and download the Remote Desktop Services Business White Paper. 
• View the RemoteFX video

Download SP1 here; http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?familyId=C3202CE6-4056-4059-8A1B-3A9B77CDFDDA&hash=wrw75DeobQ1hLeOrOvthYUYCv7PJpk89RMXhKQ3RVng1XsUOVWqxDvThIkaoGa34DtzYCHZTKY4Evdlqyp7X4Q%3d%3d

Sources;
http://blogs.technet.com/b/windowsserver/ 
http://bink.nu/news/windows-7-and-windows-server-2008-r2-service-pack-1-release-candidate.aspx

Free ebook: Moving to Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 (10 chapters by by Patrice Pelland, Pascal Paré, and Ken Haines)
Free ebook: Introducing Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 (10 chapters by Ross Mistry and Stacia Misner)
Free ebook: Programming Windows Phone 7 Series (DRAFT Preview) (6 chapters by Charles Petzold)
Free ebook: Petzold’s Programming Windows Phone 7 (Special Excerpt 2) (newer than the ebook above; 11 chapters by Charles Petzold)
Free ebook: Own Your Future: Update Your Skills with Resources and Career Ideas from Microsoft (8 chapters by Katherine Murray)
Free ebook: Understanding Microsoft Virtualization Solutions (Second Edition) (6 chapters by Mitch Tulloch)
Free ebook: First Look Microsoft Office 2010 (14 chapters by Katherine Murray)
Free ebook: Windows 7 troubleshooting tips (short ebook by Mitch Tulloch)
Free ebook: Introducing Windows Server 2008 R2 (9 chapters by Charlie Russel and Craig Zacker)
Free ebook: Deploying Windows 7, Essential Guidance (10 chapters from the Windows 7 Resource Kit and 6 TechNet articles)

Source ; http://bink.nu/news/free-ebooks-from-microsoft-press.aspx

• New website. Have a look at the new RESsoftware.com, which is live now.
• New logo. Gone is the old blue-white-black. You can view the new shaded logo in all it’s glory by clicking on the miniature in the upper left corner of this article.
• New product suite: As of today, all the current products are considered part of ONE  suite, called the RES Dynamic Desktop Studio. See the illustration on the right.
• The product now formerly known as RES PowerFuse will from today be known as the RES Workspace Manager, part of the Dynamic Desktop Stuido.
• RES Wisdom will from today be known as the RES Automation Manager. also part of the suite
• Orchestra aka Orchestraton Pack for Wisdom is now known as the Service Orchestration Module in the Automation Manager.
• The Workspace Extender aka Subscriber will from today be known as the Virtual Desktop Extender, or VDX.
• VDX will be available as a stand-alone product from January 2011.

All this information and more is available in the New RES FAQ, available here.

As mentioned there will be made more, important announcements during this week, so keep an eye out for them here at the ‘Guru. In the meantime, you can see what the  new names and logo’s for the components of the Dynamic Desktop Studio will look like. Click on the individual components to jump to the corresponding product page.

Source ; http://resguru.com/

There are a variety of ways to experience the power of RES Software solutions – check out the evaluation and free product downloads below.

RES Workspace Manager 2010 SR2 – Free 60 day trial version (formerly RES PowerFuse 2010 SR2)
Download a 60-day trial version of RES Workspace Manager 2010 and see how user workspace management software will work for your business. The trial version allows you to evaluate the Enterprise-, Standard- or MyWorkspace Edition of RES Workspace Manager 2010.

RES Workspace Manager 2010 SR2 Express Edition – Free Download (formerly RES PowerFuse 2010 SR2 Express Edition )
Download a copy of the free, production-ready Express Edition for delivering a personalized, secure and reliable user workspace to your end users. Supports up to 100 concurrent users.

RES Automation Manager 2011 RC – Free 60 day trial version (formerly RES Wisdom)
Download a free 60-day trial version of RES Automation Manager 2011 Release Candidate and see how run book automation for Windows will work for your business.

Under MSDN Microsoft has launched a new site called http://gps.cloudapp.net this site is awesome! The site will allow you to search for group policy settings, filter by Internet Explorer version, office version and others and browse by registry or by policy.

But this tool makes it much easier to find the right settings and apply them either with registry hacks or policy objects.

This is a quick example of a search on hide drives which is pretty commonly used but still..

source : http://www.renevester.com/2010/09/online-group-policy-search-tool-from-microsoft/

The move makes Microsoft the first major browser developer to drop support for XP, the world’s most popular operating system, in a future release.

Although Microsoft excluded Windows XP from the list for the IE9 developer preview, it sidestepped the question about which versions of Windows the final browser would support. In an IE9 FAQ, for example, Microsoft responded, “It’s too early to talk about features of the Internet Explorer 9 Beta” to the query, “Will Internet Explorer 9 run on Windows XP?”

This dialog box pops up during attempts to install IE9 Platform Preview on Windows XP.

That caused some users to demand a straight answer. “Please tell whether the final version will run on Windows XP SP3 or not,” said someone identified as “eXPerience” in a comment to a blog post by Dean Hachamovich, Microsoft’s general manager for the IE team. “If not, please be clear about it. Really, enough is enough of keeping users in the lurch about Windows XP support.”

Others bashed Microsoft on the assumption that IE9 would never run on XP. “Dropping Windows XP support is one of the worst decisions ever taken by [the] IE team, probably even worse than disbanding the IE team back in the IE6 days,” claimed an anonymous commenter.

Microsoft had offered up broad hints that IE9 was not in Windows XP’s future, however. Tuesday, a company spokeswoman said the new browser needs a “modern operating system,” a phrase that hasn’t been paired with Window XP for years. “Internet Explorer 9 requires the modern graphics and security underpinnings that have come since 2001,” she added, clearly referring to XP, which appeared that year.

Windows XP’s inability to run the Platform Preview or the final browser stems from, IE9′s graphics hardware acceleration, which relies on the Direct2D and DirectWrite DirectX APIs (applications programming interfaces). Support for those APIs is built into Windows 7, and was added to Vista and Windows Server 2008 last October, but cannot be extended to Windows XP.

Some users worried that by halting browser development for Windows XP, Microsoft would repeat a current problem, getting customers to ditch IE6 for a newer version. “Those who choose to stay with XP will be forced to [then] stay forever on IE8, which will become the new IE6,” said a user named Danny Gibbons in a comment on Hachamovich’s blog.

Tough, said Sheri McLeish, Forrester Research’s browser analyst. “This is the stick to get off XP,” she said. Windows XP users will solve the browser problem themselves when they upgrade, as most eventually will, to Windows 7. “What are they going to do, go to Linux or run XP forever?” she asked.

Still, IE9′s inability to run on Windows XP will prevent it from becoming widespread until the nearly-nine-year-old OS loses significant share to Windows 7. According to Web metrics company NetApplications’ most recent data, if IE9 was released today, it would be able to run on just over a quarter — 27% — of all Windows machines.

No other major browser maker has announced plans to stop supporting Windows XP, but several have dropped other operating systems or platforms. Last month, for instance, Mozilla said it would not support Apple’s Mac OS X 10.4, known as “Tiger,” in future upgrades to Firefox. Google‘s Chrome for the Mac, meanwhile, only runs on Intel-based Macs, not on the older PowerPC-based machines that were discontinued in 2006.

The IE9 Platform Preview can be downloaded from Microsoft’s site. It requires Windows 7, Vista SP2, Windows Server 2008 or Windows 2008 R2.

Microsoft announced on Monday that the first Windows 7  Service Pack 1 public beta is now available.

Speaking at Microsoft’s Worldwide Partner Conference in Washington, Corporate Vice President of Windows & Windows Live – Tami Reller announced the public beta. Microsoft revealed its plans for Windows 7 SP1 and Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 last month at its annual Tech-Ed conference. Windows 7 SP1 will include the usual hotfix patches and new virtualization tools in SP1 will help Windows Server 2008 R2 users prepare for cloud computing. SP1 will include RemoteFX which provides rich 3-D graphical experience for remote users. The service pack also will include a series of incremental updates, previously released on Windows Update for both Windows 7 SP1 and Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1.

RemoteFX is a new enhancement to RDP’s graphical remoting capabilities. The idea behind RemoteFX is to allow for a full remote experiences including multiple displays, Aero and multimedia streaming to all types of client devices including low cost thin clients. RemoteFX achieves this by using a technique known as host-based rendering. This technique allows for the final screen image to be rendered locally on the remote PC after being compressed and sent down to that remote host. The enhancements are expected to greatly improve video streaming across remote sessions which is currently one of the major drawbacks of virtualized computing.

In April this year an early copy of Windows 7 SP1 surfaced on the Internet. The build leaked to file sharing sites. SP1 is also rumoured to include USB 3.0 support and enhanced Bluetooth/Wi-Fi stacks but Microsoft has not yet confirmed this.

Microsoft released a beta build of Windows 7 to testers earlier this month. Weighing in at 1.22GB the build was compiled on June 3 with the number 7601.16562.100603-1800. Microsoft released the public beta on its TechNet Evaluation Center page.

Because you probebly don’t hevae the time to see and find them all i made a great collection! Have fun!

Windows Server 2008 R2: Remote Desktop Services – The Series (P1)
Windows Server 2008 R2: Remote Desktop Services – The Series (P2)
Windows Server 2008 R2- Remote Desktop Services – The Series (P3)
Windows Server 2008 R2- Remote Desktop Services – The Series (P4)
Windows Server 2008 R2- Remote Desktop Services – The Series (P5)

Part 1 Master Your Environment with System Center Configuration Manager 2007
Part 2 Master Your Environment with System Center Configuration Manager 2007
Part 3 Master Your Environment with System Center Configuration Manager 2007
Part 4 Master Your Environment with System Center Configuration Manager 2007

Hyper-V R2- Failover & Live Migration
Hyper-V R2- Making Highly Available VMs
Hyper-V R2- Making Highly Available VMs
Hyper-V R2- Dynamic Storage
Hyper-V R2- USB over Network with Fabulatech
Hyper-V R2- Introducing Cluster Shared Volumes
Hyper-V R2- Building a Hyper-V R2 Cluster
Hyper-V R2- Initial Installation & Configuration

Demo 1 – Hyper-V Live Migration
Demo 2 – Boot From VHD
Demo 3 – Windows PowerShell 2.0 Remoting
Demo 4 – Active Directory Enhancements

Microsoft Deployment Toolkit – building install media for Windows 7
Windows XP Migration to Windows 7 RC using MDT Beta 1 – Part 1- The OS Install
Windows XP Migration to Windows 7 RC using MDT 2010 Beta 1 – Part 2- How To Build It…

Open Source Software (OSS) on Windows Server 2008

Exchange 2010 Demo: Read and Reply State
Exchange 2010 Demo: Conversation View
Exchange 2010 Demo: Move Conversation
Exchange 2010 Demo: Nickname Cache
Exchange 2010 Demo: UM Card

Interview with Kristian Andaker on Transitions to Exchange Server 2010
Interview with Kristian Andaker on Exchange 2010 OWA
Interview with Matt Gossage on Exchange Server 2010 and Storage
Interview with Scott Schnoll on Exchange 2010 High Availability
Interview with Scott Schnoll on Backup Strategy in Exchange 2010
Interview with Becky Benfield on Exchange 2010 Site Resiliency at Tech Ed 2009

First of all, we are excited to announce the availability of App-V 4.6 RC! In August we announced the App-V 4.6 Beta. Since then we have taken in lots of customer feedback and continue to refine the App-V 4.6 release so that we can deliver a great product!  We invite you to check out the RC release by registering and downloading the App-V 4.6 RC release via Microsoft Connect, where you can also submit feedback directly to the team.

We’re not done though, in addition we’d like to share some great news and also announce our integration with Office 2010 Beta:

Microsoft Office 2010 Beta, Ready to be Sequenced With the Microsoft Office 2010 Beta Deployment Kit for App-V

As you know the Office team just completed a major milestone Microsoft Office 2010 Beta, congrats to the team!  Throughout the process of building Office 2010 the App-V and Office teams have been working very closely to make sequencing Office 2010 Beta possible with App-V 4.6 RC!  We have taken the feedback and requests from post-Office 2007 and App-V 4.5 releases, and have been hard at work implementing a solid integration experience for Office when App-V 4.6 releases in H1 2010.

So what’s Different when using Microsoft Office 2010 Beta and App-V 4.6 RC together?

Office 2010 has introduced a new piracy protection initiative, the Software Protection Platform (SPP) service.  This service uses a machine’s hardware characteristics and product key to activate the installation, which is performed during the first Office application launch.

Since the Office 2010 product activation is linked to the hardware on which Office is originally installed, customers who wish to deploy Office 2010 using App-V must physically install the SPP service on the sequencer machine before beginning the sequencing process – and on any client machines that will stream and run Office 2010.

Our engineering teams have collaborated to address the top customer issues that people were running into when virtualizing past versions of Office.   As a result, Office 2010 has a much more integrated user experience.  The Office 2010 integration delivers key productivity enhancements and a seamless user experience by enabling the following::

· Microsoft SharePoint Integration – You can open, edit, and save Microsoft Office documents using Microsoft SharePoint.

· Microsoft Outlook Fast Search – You can use Microsoft Windows Desktop Search to find specific messages in your inbox.

· MAPI Proxy – You can connect to your inbox using Microsoft Outlook Send To functionality.

· Microsoft Office Document Indexing – You can index your documents so that you can use Microsoft Windows Search to locate files.

· Virtual Mail Control Panel icon – You can use the Email icon in Control Panel to perform advance mail configuration.

· URL protocol handler – You can configure links in the browser and specify the appropriate associated Microsoft Office application.

· Send to Microsoft OneNote Printer driver – You can print documents to Microsoft OneNote.

To help customers facilitate this process, we have created the Microsoft Office 2010 Deployment Kit for App-V (Beta). The Deployment Kit contains both the required SPP licensing component and Office 2010 integration features.

And what’s even more exciting, you can get your hands on it now.

How Do I Sequence Microsoft Office 2010 Beta for App-V 4.6 RC?

1. Download Office 2010 Beta here

2. Download the Microsoft Office 2010 Deployment Kit for App-V (Beta)

3. Download App-V 4.6 RC on Microsoft Connect

4. Read the App-V recipe for sequencing Office 2010 Beta on Microsoft Connect.

For detailed information on whether your environment meets the requirements of Office 2010 and App-V 4.6 RC, please refer to the App-V recipe.

Please note: We are providing a recipe to support the sequencing and testing of these pre-release products on Microsoft Connect.  Please provide feedback via Microsoft Connect, by choosing FEEDBACK once logged into the App-V 4.6 Program.

We look forward to hearing about your App-V 4.6 RC and Office 2010 experience!

Virtualization affects how we plan, build, deploy, operate, and service workloads. Customers are creating large libraries of virtual machines containing various configurations. The patch-state of these virtual machines are not always known. Ensuring that offline virtual machines are properly patched and won’t become vulnerable the instant they come online is critical.

I am therefore very pleased to state that the Offline Virtual Machine Servicing Tool v2.1 has now been released!

Congratulations to the Solution Accelerator team for this release!

The Offline Virtual Machine Servicing Tool 2.1 has free, tested guidance and automated tools to help customers keep their virtualized machines updated, without introducing vulnerabilities into their IT infrastructure.

The tool combines the Windows Workflow programming model with the Windows PowerShell interface to automatically bring groups of virtual machines online, service them with the latest security updates, and return them to an offline state.

What’s New?

Release 2.1 is a direct response to customer and Microsoft field requests to support the R2 wave. Offline Virtual Machine Servicing Tool 2.1 now supports the following products:
· Hyper-V-R2
· VMM 2008 R2
· SCCM 2007 SP2
· WSUS 3.0 SP2
· OVMST 2.1 also supports updates to Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 virtual machines.

Download here; Offline Virtual Machine Servicing Tool  2.1
More info; http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc501231.aspx