This particular discussion was the least valuable of the three topics. This is a shame, since I was looking forward to the virtualization discussion most of all. We had the privilege of seeing the defensive side of Microsoft when questions that were critical of Microsoft were asked. The panelists in this discussion were Bob Muglia: Senior VP, Server and Tools Business, Microsoft Corporation, Ron Markezich: VP of Managed Solutions, Microsoft Corporation, Dan Holme: Windows and Office Technologies Consultant, Intelliem, and Mark Minasi: Technology Author and Directory Services MVP. Continue reading ‘Microsoft IT Pro Townhall Event: Virtualization and Managed Services’
Archive for April, 2007
This 2nd panel discussion of the day (April 18th) was the most open and positive. However, as always, there is some room for improvement on the part of large corporations like Microsoft when it comes to meeting the needs of the IT Pro Community. This discussion was led by Dave Sanders: CEO, Culminis Inc., Elizabeth Quinlan: Trainer/Consultant, BQ, Kevin Kline: President, Professional Association for SQL Server, and Lee Benjamin: Advisor, Exchange Guy Consulting. What each of these individuals is doing for the IT Pro Community as educators and facilitators is appreciated.
The main points taken from this discussion were not earth-shattering, but some good ideas and suggestions came out of the discussion.
- The IT Pro Community is large and complex. Of course it is. The diversity of the people involved and the varying technologies involved are what make this field so great.
- Better tools and processes are needed in order to communicate effectively with vendors. We are still having trouble reaching some large vendors in order to voice opinions, receive training, and instantiate change.
- It was suggested that there needs to be a curriculum for IT Professionals on new technologies that prepare them to deploy, support, and use the new technology. This curriculum should focus on a pre-determined education path with prerequisites.
- Don’t forget personal communication. It was discussed that while vendors often provide technology to IT Professionals to learn with, the vendors often forget what a remarkable experience it is to actually interact with people face to face as part of the learning process. This event is a good example of the learning experience that can occur with face to face conversations.
Since there was nobody from Microsoft in this panel discussion, I cannot really criticize them for any of the conversation that took place. However, one of the overriding themes of this panel discussion was inconsistent community support from Microsoft. Some of its divisions were going above and beyond for the IT Pro Community and some divisions were hardly responding at all to the community. It was discussed that this could be caused by those responsible for making and sustaining community relationships within the divisions being promoted or leaving the division. When the replacement employee comes in, they may not have the level of enthusiasm that the previous person did. So, building relationships with the IT Pro Community is in a constant state of flux. Steve Ballmer did recognize in his Q&A session later that if inconsistency of the response to the IT Pro Community from the different technology divisions was found to be a problem then Microsoft would work to fix the problem. Hopefully, things will continue to improve and become more consistent.
Like all good IT Professionals, we are a paranoid group who is skeptical of any new technology that opens up the doors for corporate data sharing, authorized or otherwise. I found it interesting that this conversation went into a direction of mistrust on web collaboration technologies. Instead of exploring new ways that end-users would be able to collaborate on data and create information from it, the conversation was led by an overall feeling that new web technologies will be disruptive and a hassle from a security perspective. I understand the security implications that are involved with this level of collaboration that may be out of corporate control. I share the security concerns as an IT professional myself. However, there are security concerns with any new technology. We should be focusing on providing the best compromise between security and usability (I know its an age old struggle), so that our end-users (customers) can use these web technologies for significant competitive advantage for their corporations. Two main points were abstracted from this particular panel discussion:
- There is some concern about the security ramifications when moving forward with Web 2.0 (whatever that means) collaboration technologies.
- It would be very useful to come up with some way to verify the reputation of an individual source of information by cross-referencing the reputation of the author or speaker with the particular topic of interest.
It seems to me then, based on the discussion about this topic, a rock-solid community (peer) based reputation system should be a top priority for those companies developing Web 2.0 collaboration technologies. After all collaboration technology sites like Wikipedia have been controversial because of the lack of credibility and authority some of the authors may have. Also, these companies should do all that they can to educate an already skeptical IT Pro audience to adopt these technologies for use. After all, like it or not, our job as IT Professionals is to provide technology services and advice to end-users who really don’t care about deployment details of particular technology. The end-users are going to demand this technology in the future as a younger crowd enters the workforce and we will have to make it work while keeping our data secure. The company that creates a secure, scalable, community-verified, web-based collaboration solution will be way ahead of the curve.
Overall, this was an interesting topic. The Microsoft representatives on the panel (Bill Veghte: VP- Windows Business Group and Chris Jones: VP- Windows Live Experience Program Management) seemed to be open to suggestions and Craig Barnes: CEO- Attensa Inc. provided some insight of his own.
My only criticism of this first panel discussion was that the definition of Web 2.0 was still not defined. When asked of Chris Jones, “What does Web 2.0 mean?” it would have been interesting to hear at least what Web 2.0 meant to Microsoft. Instead, we got an honest, but ultimately useless answer: “I don’t know.”
While not really a criticism, I would have liked the discussion to turn into excitement and suggestions for the rich collaboration that is possible with Web 2.0. Paranoia is absolutely necessary in small doses, but the IT Community needs to get excited about the possibilities of new technology again. Isn’t that why we do what we do anyway?
Well, the Microsoft IT Pro Townhall discussions are over and the only thing left is dinner tonight. Overall, I think that the topics that were brought up in the three panel sessions were valid and interesting. However, in some of the discussions, the responses from the Microsoft folks were a bit defensive instead of opportunistic. This could have been a great opportunity for Microsoft to get some poignant feedback from the IT Pro Community on new technology trends and in some cases, I believe they did. However, in the cases where Microsoft gave defensive answers, I believe that they missed an opportunity to ask “Ok, we see that you have a concern or suggestion, what do you (as an IT Professional) think we should do to improve our products or move toward a solution.” Getting an outside perspective on any product or service is, in my opinion, one of the best things that a company can do to foster product growth and acceptance. In the next few posts I will briefly discuss some of the topics that came up during the panel discussions and what Microsoft did right and what they could have done to improve the event. I will post the details as I gather my notes.
FYI- I am outlining these posts before the dinner provided by Microsoft, so that I am completely free of any kool-aid influenced statements 
.
Technorati Tags: Microsoft, Web 2.0, Information Technology
So, I got invited by Microsoft to attend an IT Pro Townhall Event. This is a panel discussion with many Microsoft Executives, including Steve Ballmer. I was one of the approximately 50 IT Professionals invited to Redmond, WA for the event. I arrived at 11PM Pacific and was too tired to post last night. My original flight with an arrive time of 2:20 PM got cancelled as we were heading out to the runway (long story 
) Anyway, I am here now and I am looking forward to the event tomorrow. Topics of discussion will include upcoming virtualization and web technologies (two of my favorites). Dinner at a local winery is also being provided by Microsoft. I will probably post more about the meeting tomorrow (barring any NDA requirements ). For now, I am going to check out Bellevue. It’s actually not raining outside and my hotel has a great view of the hills in Bellevue, WA.
Technorati Tags: Virtualization, Microsoft, Information Technology, Harley Stagner
Well, my first screencast has been posted over at SearchEnterpriseLinux.com. This screencast complements my article about “Running Windows as a VM on Linux with VMware Server.” The blog post about this article can be found here.
I know I sound a little like Ben Stein in Ferris Bueller’s Day off in the screencast, but I never claimed to be a professional voiceover artist . Anyway, happy listening!
My latest article is up at SearchSystemsChannel.com. This article covers some items to consider when a VAR is helping a client implement a virtualization pilot. It covers virtualization target choice, storage considerations, and server capacity considerations. If you are a VAR looking to help a client with a virtualization pilot, or a client looking to do this yourself, this article provides some good advice. Happy Reading!
So after I discovered the Opera-enabled Wii Browser, I found a site called Wiiminder.com. All I can say is WOW! This is what talented 3rd party developers can do for existing hardware. They took a great idea and made it awesome. Tabbed browsing+video, blog, and music searches = Wii browsing bliss. Too many simple to use features to write about. All you have to do is point your Wii browser to wiiminder.com. See for yourself below. BTW- they have much better video skills than I ;).
Ok, so it doesn’t have the flashiest graphics or the most extensive game library yet. Who cares? As far as I know the Wii is the only console that allows you to surf couch potato style! Hmm, let’s see… Wii+Opera+Flash Media+TV = YouTube on My Tube! Excellent. Below is a quick demo for those who don’t mind horrible production value and earthquake-like camera movement. What can I say? I am an IT pro, not a videographer .
Technorati Tags: Wii Opera
