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TECH·ED 2008
NEWS, INTERVIEWS, VIDEOS, AND MORE FROM THE TECH·ED 2008 FLOOR

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Tech Ed 2008

SEPTEMBER 2008

[6/13/2008]
Tech Ed 2008--Microsoft IT Eats Its Own Dogfood
- Posted by: Sheila Molnar
Had a great conversation at Tech Ed with Barry Briggs, the Director of IT at Microsoft, about a classic Microsoft topic—eating your own dogfood. Basically, Briggs’s internal IT group runs prerelease versions of Microsoft products and files bug reports and provides other feedback. Microsoft has a history of putting prerelease software into production use at the company to work through tough problems at the enterprise level. Briggs says that the politically correct way to describe this internal testing is “the first and best” program. But everyone just calls it “eating your own dogfood” or... READ THE ENTIRE POST HERE. MAKE A COMMENT

FEARLESS SECURITY
LIFE IN THE INFOSEC INDUSTRY: TALES FROM OUTSIDE THE FIREWALL
No-holds-barred discussion and commentary on security and other IT matters.

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Fearless Security

SEPTEMBER 2008

[8/13/2008]
Defcon Buzzword Bingo Defcon Buzzword Bingo
- Posted by: Tony Howlett Glenn Kramer
I’m finally filing this report from the Defcon show in Las Vegas last weekend. It took me several days just to recover and get back to earth. But all accounts it was a successful Defcon show with over 8000 in attendance. It was a little less raucous than previous shows though it still managed to generate sufficient controversy with accompanying news stories, including the MIT students who were barred by a Federal injunction from making their presentation on how to hack Boston’s mass transit payment system. Ironically, the information was disseminated world wide anyways after it was published as part of the lawsuit. It’s good to see... READ THE ENTIRE POST HERE.

LAST COMMENT
Are they still playing "Spot the Fed" at DEFCON?...
tjerickson -August 13, 2008 (Article Rating:

)

IT 911
EXPERTS AND RESOURCES ON CRITICAL ISSUES AS THEY HAPPEN
When Microsoft security fires flare up, when a crucial patch will affect your networks ability to function, when you need a single place to get all the information on a situation that could affect your network, make IT 911 your first and last stop. Windows IT Pro authors and editors will have all the information and provide expert insights and experiences to help you.

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IT 911

SEPTEMBER 2008

[8/12/2008]
Serious VMware Bug Serious VMware Bug
- Posted by: Gayle Rodcay Alan Sugano
There is a serious bug that causes the licenses to expire in Service Pack 2 of VMware ESX 3.5. This makes it impossible to restart any virtual server guest on the host. The workaround is to set the host date prior to 8/12/08, but if you're synching your virtual server guests with the host, this can cause serious problems with Active Directory (AD) because the time will be off. If you do change back the date on the host, make sure that all of the virtual server guests that run on ESX do not synch their time with the ESX host. This is an option in the VMware tools that run on the virtual server guest. This should be resolved by... READ THE ENTIRE POST HERE. MAKE A COMMENT

HEY MICROSOFT!
TAKE A MESSAGE FROM IT

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Hey Microsoft! Blog

SEPTEMBER 2008

[9/5/2008]
Microsoft Responds to PolicyMaker Questions
- Posted by: Karen Forster
Reader Comment: The PM console was broken by IE7, shortly after Microsoft purchased PM. Microsoft never released a fix. They finally documented a registry hack to disable the IE7 functionality:http://support.microsoft.com/kb/938611. . This was really aggravating at the time, but turned out to be a... READ THE ENTIRE POST HERE. MAKE A COMMENT

INDUSTRY BYTES
NEWS AND VIEWS FROM THE WINDOWS IT PRO EDITORS

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Industry Bytes

SEPTEMBER 2008

[9/5/2008]
Microsoft Fights Back: Vista Ad Campaign Unveiled
- Posted by: Jeff James
After getting mercilessly pummeled by those ubiquitous, annoying, often misleading, yet devastatingly effective "I'm a Mac" ad spots, Microsoft finally took the wraps off its long-awaited advertising campaign in defense of Windows Vista last night, with the first ad spot playing on many TV networks. While obviously the precursor to more ad spots to come, it may have left many viewers scratching their heads. While many people got the fact that this clip was the first in a series, some didn't. In an email exchange I had... READ THE ENTIRE POST HERE.

LAST COMMENT
Oh dear - the Microsoft dogma machine is running again. WHen will they just realise that Vista is a ...
ashers2008 -September 05, 2008 (Article Rating:

)

YOUR SAVVY ASSISTANT
THE MISSING LINK TO IT RESOURCES

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Your Savvy Assistant

SEPTEMBER 2008

[7/29/2008]
A New Era of Information Delivery
- Posted by: Christan Humphries
When I first started working for Windows IT Pro, I had never heard of “e-newsletters”—or “UPDATEs” as we refer to them. It didn’t take me long to put the “e” and the “newsletter” parts together. Putting the e-newsletter content together, however, was a whole different story. Back then, our company had a sideways excuse for a tool that was more for launching than creating e-newsletters and didn’t even really send out the final project all that well. I dreaded the day every month when I had to build a new issue. Those days I’d leave the office cross-eyed from... READ THE ENTIRE POST HERE. MAKE A COMMENT

SECURITY MATTERS
A BLOG BY SECURITY EXPERT MARK JOSEPH EDWARDS

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Security Matters

SEPTEMBER 2008

[9/5/2008]
Four Security Patches From Microsoft In September
- Posted by: Mark Joseph Edwards
Microsoft is slated to release 4 security bulletin for Windows Media Player, Windows, and Office. All four bulletins are rated critical. The Windows bulletin includes Microsoft Windows, Internet Explorer, .NET Framework, Office, SQL Server, Visual Studio. Microsoft Forefront Client Security 1.0 is also affected when installed on Microsoft Windows 2000 with Service Pack 4. You can get a broader overview at the company's advance notice page for September... READ THE ENTIRE POST HERE. MAKE A COMMENT

HYPERBOLE, EMBELLISHMENT, AND SYSTEMS ADMINISTRATION BLOG
TRUE TALES, SNAFUS, AND URBAN LEGENDS ORIN THOMAS

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Hyperbole, Embellishment, and Sys Admins

SEPTEMBER 2008

[8/20/2008]
Systematic Paranoia
- Posted by: Orin Thomas
As a security administrator you do have to assume that “they are all out to get you”. Not you specifically, but the resources it is your responsibility to manage. They aren’t doing this because you are guarding the crown jewels of Denmark. Attackers are trying every doorknob on the street hoping to find one unlocked, not just trying the ones where they suspect there is a brand new LCD TV. As a good security administrator you need to be systematic with your paranoia. Not only do you have to catalog the threats you face, you need to analyze and prioritize those threats. You need to do this in terms of the likelihood that the threat... READ THE ENTIRE POST HERE. MAKE A COMMENT

YOUR CAREER
GETTING STARTED, GETTING AHEAD, GETTING BETTER IN YOUR JOB ORIN THOMAS

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Your Career

SEPTEMBER 2008

[6/4/2007]
Self Paced or Instructor Led Training
- Posted by: Orin Thomas
There are two basic ways of studying for certification. You do it all yourself or you go to a class. Before I go any further I’ll point out that I write Self Paced Training Kits for Microsoft, so there is a bit of an incentive for me to push one method over the other. On the other hand, I’ve also run instructor led courses. Anyway, now that that is out there, on with the post… Each type of study suits a particular person. If you simply can never find the time to study out of hours, or you need someone to give you a bit of a push when it comes to motivation, going to a class can be your best option. Some people simply need the routine... READ THE ENTIRE POST HERE.

LAST COMMENT
Good observations. It differs for many now though since a quick look around the folks attending the ...
SCG -December 29, 2007 (Article Rating:

)

WE'RE IN IT
REAL-WORLD TECH STORIES FROM IT PROS
Penton Media's IT team is in the trenches and ready to share their war stories about OS migration, desktop deployment, systems management, messaging, networking, architecture, and infrastructure.

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We're in IT

SEPTEMBER 2008

[8/28/2008]
Don’t Shoot the Application Don’t Shoot the Application
- Posted by: Curt Spanburgh Penton Media IT Team
Most of us have heard the expression, “Don’t shoot the messenger” or “Don’t shoot, I’m only the piano player.” That’s still a good admonition when it comes to modern applications that we deal with. Often those ugly errors that we see from application are like a “damsel in distress” calling for help as the freight train speeds toward her.Let’s take a case of an application that’s used by the A/P and A/R folks at a certain company in the desert southwest, where things get pretty thirsty if the local saloon is shut down. They use Microsoft Dynamics Great Plains,... READ THE ENTIRE POST HERE.

LAST COMMENT
Hello Curt, as usual a well written article but it has left me confused. Why did the application wo...
chamezzzz -August 28, 2008 (Article Rating:

)

RUMOR MILL
RUMORS AND SPECULATION ON COMPUTER INDUSTRY HAPPENINGS MICHAEL DRAGONE
IT pro Michael Dragone puts his ear to the ground and reports on the latest industry buzz.

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Rumor Mill

SEPTEMBER 2008

[9/3/2007]
Microsoft Contemplating a Purchase of RIM?
- Posted by: Michael Dragone
Rumors surfaced this past Friday that Microsoft is contemplating a purchase of BlackBerry-maker Research in Motion (RIM). I first saw this juicy tidbit mentioned in Paul Thurrott's WinInfo Short Takes: Week of Septembmer 3 (InstantDoc ID: 96953). Soon after I read Paul's piece, I noticed that Computerworld had entered the fray with an article detailing the rumor, including comments from industry analysts. This particular rumor... READ THE ENTIRE POST HERE.

LAST COMMENT
microsoft is a good and big company.it is the inventor of windowsand now he introduce the above one ...
jim2008 -May 27, 2008 (Article Rating:

)

WINDOWS IT PRO'S Next Tech
TECH TRENDS TO WATCH JEFF JAMES
Senior Editor Jeff James scopes out new-technology finds of interest to IT pros.

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Next Tech

SEPTEMBER 2008

[7/24/2008]
Is the Computer Mouse an Endangered Species?
- Posted by: Jeff James
The computer mouse has been with us for decades, helping us point and click our way from the first Apple Macintosh and Windows 1.0 to more complex OSes--some may say overly so--like Windows Vista, Mac OS X, and 'Hardy Heron' (aka Ubuntu 8.04). Despite adding and removing buttons along the way, dropping a cord or two, and becoming available for both left and right-handed users, the mouse really hasn't changed much over these last few decades: you roll it about on a flat surface, use your index finger to click a button or two, and a mouse pointer does your bidding on the display unit of your choice. Now Simtrix, a New... READ THE ENTIRE POST HERE. MAKE A COMMENT