Article up on The Register about VMWare

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/07/23/vmware_q2_2008_earnings/

Cut through all the fancy figures, and diatribe and you get to what I think is the tucked away jewel in this story (for VMWare) ... ESXi (the light-weight version) will be free at the next release. And, what's the odds that the ESXi light-weight version will compare feature for feature with Hyper-V? Be interesting to see.

Is the Microsofts hype machine going to loose it's edge now? Not sure, but I'm sure going forward, if there is anything unique in Hyper-V per say, it will be lifted and placed in to VMWare's products. And rightly so I say, as Microsoft have blatantly done this with their offerings (SCVVM, Hyper-V).

It's funny how aggresively Microsoft are trying to take market share from VMWare, nothing subtle about it at all. Isn't it interesting times, now that (it would seem?) Microsofts only gambit and USP for Hyper-V has just gone flying out the window?

Right now, in my mind the only value-add from Hyper-V is:

• Microsoft Support
• Operations Manager 2007 to monitor the Hyper-V host\infrastructure

Those two points alone are enough for a lot of Microsoft shops to start winding down their VMWare usage, and begin implementing Hyper-V.

Of course, i'm not the most informed VMWare\Hyper-V guy around, but, unlike a lot of people shouting the value of Hyper-V i've actually tinkered with ESX and Virtual Center first-hand. And, I was taken aback by the performance and functionality of these two products all that time ago. Even now ESX cannot be touched functionality\performance-wise, no matter how many reports come out of Gartner or Microsoft saying otherwise. So, I guess i'm less receptive to the woooo-factor Hyper-V is bringing on amongst those that haven't had a chance to toy around with the competitors product range. Perhaps i'm jaded slightly, by something that isn't really new, that's been done in the mainframe world way before most of you reading this article were born, and was only really properlly propelled along by VMWare in to non-Unix\VMS\AS400 environments.

So, ESXi for free ... maybe that's going to dent the impact Hyper-V will make in the target market. Guess we have to wait and see!

Now saying all of this ... i'm using Hyper-V now at work on a tricked out server, and it's running like the clappers (old english term!). At home I'm planning on specc'ing up a server to host Hyper-V, so that I can do away with that nightmare, Virtual Server 2005 R2 and get off VMWare so that my VM's are compatible with the stuff I do in the Microsoft world (demo's, presentations et al).

Anyone with a a heady track history in Virtual technologies would have a far better take on all the pie throwing taking place between VMWare and Microsoft right now. Be good to read an unbiased apples for apples kind of review of ESX\Virtual Center and Hyper-V. Anyone find one, comment in here as I'd love to read it.

Feel free to comment, flame me, troll me over and spit me out, point out my lack of knowledge, off-center observations, stupidity, fact that i'm blonde, anything, be interesting to hear what others think about this!

Guys,

Looking to share knowledge with anyone that has implemented IBCM for Configuration Manager 2007. Get in touch if you want to bounce ideas around and learn from each other (yes you guessed, initially i'm looking for someone that has been through the pain barrier so I can glean some tips, as well as share what I find that's not documented). I'll post links to sutff I find on the subject in the ConfigMgr IBCM group.

I'll create a group on the WMUG website, the threaded chat, blog and Media available using a group shoudl help us share :>

Isn't it funny, as that saying goes, you wait around for a bus and three come along at once. Well I've not been waiting for a bus, instead I've been waiting around for some exceptional ConfigMgr projects to get stuck in too. I'm taken care of now, but wonder if there are any UK ConfigMgr consultants\contractors out there that are twiddling their thumbs (out of work).

If you or anyone that you may know is a good UK based (south if possible, otherwise you've got a lot of commuting to do!) SMS2003\ConfigMgr2007 engineer, and is available for contract work, then get in touch with me as I'm looking for a good guy to soak up some ConfigMgr work.

If you're interested, you can reach me via the Contact form on my Blog or via:

ROB [AT] WMUG DOT CO DOT UK

I just cannot believe it was only last Tuesday that we had the WMUG meeting take place. The days since just seem to have slide by, with hardly a chance to come up for air and jump on to the WMUG site.

A big thank you to all that attended. A good time was had by all it seems, with great feedback on what you want to do at these events. We had (for us) an amazing turn out of over 14 people, mostly OpMgr folk i'm afraid, so my OSD demo fell on the wrong crowd :<

We're all looking forward to the next meeting, and we're listening to you all and will try to get a vendor in, as well as organise one of you to attend and speak at the event. Soon we'll be hosting some polls to divine what technologies within the System Center product family you want to see, and we'll try to manage it so that we highlight and make available features of a specific product (OSD, IBCM, DCM et al) for you all to vote on. So essentially your votes will decide what we'll be doing at the next event!

Another thank you to Ed Alrdich, who was in the UK for a week, for dropping in and mingling.

Thanks again! And looking forward to seeing you at the next event.

Rob

Doh, had to correct a URL in my previous post

The Configuration Manager 2007 SDK link on http://www.microsoft.com/smserver/default.mspx is still pointing at an invalid address ... pinged customer services to let them know, but doubt i'm the first ;-)

I noticed that the Configuration Manager SDK link that is shown on www.microsoft.com/smserver is turning up a page not found, it points to http://mscompub/dmt/dialogs/preview/preview.aspx?d=preview&user=deniselr&familyid=064a995f-ef13-4200-81ad-e3af6218edcc&languageid=f49e8428-7071-4979-8a67-3cffcb0c2524 .... which is obviously an invalid URL for us net users

Must be a publishing burp, so here's a working link: System Center Configuration Manager 2007 Software Development Kit (SDK) v4.0 (http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=064a995f-ef13-4200-81ad-e3af6218edcc&displaylang=en&tm)

And if you're interested in the SDK, and like to use forums, here's a link to the Configuration Manager 2007 SDK Technet Forum, plus here's a link to the Configuration Manager 2007 documentation library

Also, the Configuration Manager 2007 SP1 and R2 Beta is available on Microsoft Connect

Classic, check out Bill Gates and his homies back in the 70's, contrasted with a picture of them now (2008)

With Bill taking the Microsoft off-ramp, and heading off in to the sunset over a 2 year period, Microsoft will definately become a different animal, no doubt about that. Isn't this a major cornerstone in Microsoft history?

As far as I know, Bill's going to retire as a pig farmer, with a hefty chunk of shares in Microsft. Ok, maybe the pig farmer bit's not exactly true, instead he's going to pour more of his time in to his Philanthropic endeavour's. I'd be philanthropic, but i'm held back by my bank manager and the threat of not covering my bills ontime each month. I guess I'll have to work (smarter not) harder at making millions, so I can give a lot of it away!

You can read more about Bill @ MS here

I passed the 70-401 - Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager 2007 exam yesterday (13th June 2008). Wasn't as easy as the SMS2003 exam I have to admit. But, I passed with a score high enough to make me buzz all day. I found some of the questions to be really challenging, a lot of NAP and Software Udpates questions, a spread of what I'm calling generic question (applicable to SMS2003 and SCCM). Overall, I'd advise any SMS2003 administrator to book this exam and go take it.

I've got to admit, SCCM has grown on me and now, like with Win95 to Win2000, Win2000 to WinXP, and now WinXP to Win Vista i've getting to like it (I only go as far back as Win 95 to maintain our sanity!). SCCM OSD has a massive WOW factor, i'm truely amazed at the power of Image deployment, very slick Microsoft. Software Updates still seems hugely complicated, with loads of steps required, and reports needed to figure out where you are, but it does go a lot further than ITMU. Overal, the product has had a good tweaking and repaint. Looking forward to finding clients that will actually use it this side of 2008! I also wonder how many people will run in Native mode? Most if not all of the people I speak to will only go for Mixed mode for now. (check out the WMUG Native v Mixed mode poll!) I'd tend to agree with a mixed mode implementation to start with, then grow in to Native mode.

Anyone upgrading from SMS2003 to SCCM2007 and implementing in Native mode is hardcore

Anyways, here's the preparation guide from Microsoft for exam 70-401 get studying!

I recently posted about Jeff Hawkins, and I got a comment back from Ginger Campbell from the Brain science podcast website, pointing me at a recent interview he did with Jeff. Thanks for showing me this Ginger.

Episode 38 of the Brain Science Podcast is an interview with Jeff Hawkins, author of On Intelligence. Hawkins is well-known for founding Palm Computing and Handspring. He invented the Grafitti handwriting recognition system and helped develop the Palm Trio SmartPhone. Since he published his bestseller On Intelligence, he has devoted his work to his passion for neuroscience. His current company Numenta is developing software that models the hierarchal structure of the neocortex. In this interview we talk about the ideas in Hawkins book and how he is applying them to develop a computer model of cortical function. This is a follow-up to Episode 2, which first aired in December of 2006.

Click here to check the interview out.

I've just put up a poll on the WMUG website, i'm trying to gauge how many people will go for a Native mode implementation of SCCM.

WMUG SCCM Mixed or Native mode Poll

Apologies but the site is not setup for anonymous posting (spambots and trolls abound), so you'll need to sign in to participate.

Now that the iPhone 2.0 (3G) has been announced, the UK o2 network are texting their iPhone customers about the arrival of the iPhone 2.0 and the packages they are offering.

Good news for existing higher-tariff iPhone customers, the upgrade is free, but lower tarrif customers will have to fork out £99 to upgrade.

All tariffs include unlimited browsing on your iPhone, unlimited Wi-Fi access, visual voicemail and reduced roaming rates with our International Traveller Service and are subject to a minimum term contract of 18 months.

Sounds good, assume the unlimited Wi-Fi access is their cloud in London (and thereabouts), have free access to it already, visual voicemail and reduced roaming rates sounds good. My iPhone monthly bill trebbled when I visited Czech Republic for 10 days, so any reduced pricing for europe is a good deal ... so just sign a new 18 month contract and away you go, but wait here's more details from the site:

Existing iPhone customers upgrade to iPhone for free*

To thank you for being an iPhone fan, we're offering you an early upgrade to the brand new version when it launches on 11th July 2008. You won't have to wait until the end of your existing contract either, all you'll need to do is agree to a new 18-month minimum term contract.

*Best of all, the new 8GB iPhone won't cost you a penny on our £45 and £75 tariffs. And it's just £99 on our £35 tariff and new £30 tariff. This special early upgrade offer is only available online at o2.co.uk anytime from 11th July until 11th October 2008.

Take a look at our new Pay Monthly tariffs for iPhone

Then just register your interest opposite and we'll drop you a line in early July to tell you what you need to do to be one of the first to get your hands on the new 3G iPhone.

I don't have the 8GB model, i've got the 16GB edition, which I paid "that little bit extra for". So i'm going to have to cough up a few more coins to get my hands on the 16GB model, oh dear, milked I feel I am being

The Baltimore Sun's David Zeiler points out that a lot of iPhone fans are not so impressed with iPhone 2.0, with the product missing some vital functionality that would have only gone in to iPhone 2.0 if Apple had actually been paying attention to it's existing fan\customer base. I'm a little suprised Copy\Paste wasn't introduced. This kind of thing is VITAL, at the moment the iPhone is just a sandbox, with no real way for the user to "manage" textual content from within the phone itself. A good example of when the iPhone stops enabling me to do my tasks is when someone emails me, and I need to forward on a section of their email. It's a shame, but forget it. To sum up how I see the iPhone, it's still on it's knees and is only just starting to learn to walk. It has it's eyes on the corporate market at Version 2.0, which seems to be the only real driver for it's evolution right now. If you think about it, the release of the iPhone was very tactical, it was targetted at the average John to get market penetration, and now it's targetted at business for it's next steps. Perhaps it should be focused on business, just as long as the phone doesn't get cluttered, difficult to use or costly, any progress is welcome on a platform that seems to have fallen short of most peoples expectations.

iPhone 3G (and GPS!) confirmed by Jobs at WWDC 2008

The sold out Worldwide Developer Conference kicks off today, with a key note presentation from the CEO Steve Jobs.

Rumour has it that Jobs will be announcing the next generation iPhone. I'm interested but not driven by this to be honest. The iPhone I have does the job, but it has some issues which limit it's functionality, which are mostly due to DRM paranoia and with the Shell implementation (which isn't as thought out as some might imagine, in fact if you use the iPhone for a few days you realise how disjointed the components are, and for example how limited the browser is, there are lots more quirks!).

It's reported that Jobs wanted to sell 10 million units, he's cleared 5 million, and now that a new phone is out, does he expect 5 million to renew and the other 5 million to buy-in? I can imagine those that are waiting will pick up the new iPhone quickly, but for those of us that have to literally bin a working and expensive phone for it's successor, well that's no small thing.

From what I read, the key features are 3G, corporate connectivity software, iPhone OS 2.0 (Ed: GPS) and a larger battery. Is this worth the complete upgrade cost? When you consider in the UK o2 has us locked in to a 1.5 year contract, and if you are renewing an existing o2 contract and had the "free phone" option then the iPhone still costs £300+. They did that for Generation 1 iPhone, I wouldn't be suprised to see them doing the same for Generation 2, and retailing it at the maximum price with no discounts or upgrade paths included.

Can't wait to hear them obsolete the Generation 1 iPhone (which I own), and to hear them say it's out of support. Blending time!

Jeff Hawkins covers a lot in this 20 minute video, defining a brain theory that's easy to understand and, in my opinion, the most interesting rendition of how the brain functions that i've ever heard. He defines us as Prediction Machines, check out the video to understand what he means.

Step in the right direction for A.I me thinks

Yesterday evening, the latest WMUG event took place at the Microsoft Reading Campus.

Keep an eye peeled, we'll announce our next event very soon and begin polling to shape the content!