Getting Your Hands on Windows Vista Beta 1

So you want to test drive the new Windows Vista Beta 1, right? But, you don’t have a MSDN Subscription. Well, you’re in luck!

Now you can get Windows Vista Beta 1 in the Microsoft TechNet Plus subscription in September! And you can get a 30% discount on a TechNet Plus subscription when you use the code TNQ405. You save $240! (Offer expires December 31, 2005).

TechNet Plus also gives you two free support calls (a $490 value) and a 20% discount on additional support calls. AND you get unlimited managed newsgroup support. AND you get access to other betas. AND evaluation software without time limits. Plus you get all the goodies in the regular TechNet Subscription. Starting to get the picture? 😉

Just keep in mind that TechNet software is for evaluation purposes, not for production networks like the Microsoft Action Pack.

Webcast – Making Money with SBS 2003 – 09/20/2005

Microsoft Partner Readiness Webcast
Title: Making Money with Small Business Server 2003: Successful Business Models and Practices of SBS 2003 Partners
Date: 9/20/2005
Time: 1:00 PM Eastern, USA & Canada
Presenter: Lewis Lin
Duration: 60 minutes

Description: This webcast will discuss the business practices and business models of successful SBS 2003 partners. Learn how you can leverage one of the fastest growing markets to increase your revenue and profits. Find out how you can achieve up to 68% margins selling services on Small Business Server.
Register: http://www.msreadiness.com/wscart.asp?eid=2865

News About SBS “Cougar” and R2

According to an article on CRN.com today, it looks like the next version of SBS, code-named “Cougar“, will ship after Windows Vista and Longhorn server in 2007. In addition to support for Vista and Office 12, the ‘killer app’ in Cougar will be support for extranets.

Also, the Microsoft Small Business Advisory Council will meet on September 12, the day after the SMB Nation conference, to discuss Cougar and the 2006 release of Windows Small Business Server 2003 R2. R2 will include SQL Server 2005 Workgroup Edition, Windows Server Update Services (WSUS), 75GB Exchange store limit, and automatic RPC over HTTP setup.

Full article:
http://www.crn.com/sections/breakingnews/breakingnews.jhtml?articleId=170100822

SQL Server Meets OCC

You know, for the first time in my life I wish I was running Oracle, just so I could enter this contest. Ah well. 😉

My Geek Prayers Have Been Answered

What’s better than a blog about SBS? How about listening to cool SBS stuff while driving? While eating lunch? While exercising? (OK, I don’t really exercise all that much…)

Anyway, on the heels of the launch of the Official SBS Support Blog comes the announcement of the SBS Support Podcast!

Life is good!! 🙂

Windows 95 Turns 10 Years Old Today

Windows 95 turns 10 today!

Wow, where did the time go? Did we really use a 486SX 33MHz with 4MB of RAM back in the day??

By comparison, Task Manager on this XP Pro machine is using 2.6MB of RAM right now. And don’t even get me started on Outlook 2003 w/ LookOut & NewsGator installed – 80.6MB!

If you look at today’s machines, my notebook PC is a 3GHz AMD64 and has 1.5GB of RAM. That’s about 100 times the speed and 384 times the RAM of a decade ago .

If Moore’s law holds true, in another 10 years I’ll be running a 3 Terahertz machine with over 500GB of RAM! Zoinks!! Pretty amazing.

I wonder if the Rolling Stones will still be around then 😉

Bringing Some TS2-Style To The Web

What’s neat, blue, helpful, and comes from Microsoft? Give up??

Why, it’s our pal Ron Grattopp’s new blog from the Microsoft TS2 team, of course! Woo-hoo! 🙂

You probably remember Ron from his numerous TS2 Seminar appearances, his Wednesday’s on the Web with TS2 (WOW) webcasts, and the SBS Partner Tour the Spring of 2005. Now you’ll be seeing Ron again at SMB Nation 2005.

So head on over to “Ron’s TS2 Topics” and check out what’s new with TS2! OR, if you’re one of those ‘advanced‘ blogger types, you can snag his RSS blog feed and read his blog in Outlook 2003 using NewsGator. (NewsGator is awesome if you’re like me and are too lazy to browse to a website to read a blog 😉

Or, if you’re really connected, you can read his blog on a Windows Media Center Edition or on a PDA!

Or, if you’re really, REALLY connected and are on the Windows Vista Beta, you can even read his blog with the new RSS features in Internet Exporer 7.

So, whatever you use, check out Ron’s post about the FREE SBSC 70-282 Exam Prep Webcast Series, September 12 – 16th!

Then subscribe to the RSS feed to keep up-to-date on what Microsoft, Ron and his Blog are up to.

Blog Ron, Blog! 😉

SBS 2003 Unleashed Book Hits Amazon.com

Great news! The new Microsoft Small Business Server 2003 Unleashed book is now available for pre-order on Amazon.com!

Here are the details:

Microsoft Small Business Server 2003 Unleashed
Author: Eriq Neale
List Price: $59.99
Amazon Price: $37.79
Paperback: 1024 pages
Publisher: Sams (November 22, 2005)
Language: English
ISBN: 0672328054
Amazon.com Sales Rank: #641,149 in Books

Book Description
If you are new to the world of Microsoft Small Business Server 2003, Microsoft Small Business Server 2003 Unleashed can provide you with real-world support experience as you get started or explore your upgraded server. Written and reviewed by Small Business Server MVPs, this book provides valuable coverage of Mac and Linux platform integration, as well as the integration of ISA 2004, SharePoint, FrontPage, Exchange, and SQL Server. You will develop a number of new skills, including:

• Planning SBS installations.
• Troubleshooting SBS installation problems.
• Adding additional servers to the SBS network.
• Troubleshooting common Exchange problems.
• Working with ISA 2004 in the SBS environment.
• Troubleshooting common IIS problems in SBS.
• Working with SharePoint Team Services and the Companyweb interface.
• Configuring SBS and Macintosh clients for integrating the two platforms.
• Make complex networking accessible with Microsoft Small Business Server 2003 Unleashed.

And I would venture a guess that there is some information on Exchange Clients in that book too 😉

Microsoft SBS Partner Tour 2.0

Good news! The dates and locations for the SBS 2003 Partner Tour (2.0) have finally been announced!

Registration link: http://www.msreadiness.com/IL_abstract.asp?eid=5007218

The 2.0 Tour will be visiting 14 cities that got missed on the first tour. The dates, locations and SBS group leaders are listed below. So if you are traveling on those dates, maybe you can fit the SBS Tour into your schedule (Florida in October sounds nice 😉

• Mon Oct 10, Downers Grove, IL (Chicago) – Bob Hood & Cynthia Slade
• Tue Oct 11, Madison, WI – Kurt Sippel
• Wed Oct 12, Eureka, MO (St. Louis) – Thomas Tarabelli
• Thu Oct 13, Indianapolis, IN – Jay Cutler
• Mon Oct 17, New York, NY – Robert Patterson & Edwin Woo
• Tue Oct 18, Waltham, MA – Eliot Sennett & Anne Stanton [CRM-MVP]
• Wed Oct 19, Washington, DC – Levent Owen & Javier Gomez [SBS-MVP]
• Thu Oct 20, Greensboro, NC – Andy Goodman [SBS-MVP]
• Mon Oct 24, Alpharetta, GA (Atlanta) – Frank Clark & Mike Gonsalves
• Tue Oct 25, Orlando, FL – Vlad Mazek & Paul Marble
• Wed Oct 26, Tampa, FL – Rayanne Buchianico
• Thu Oct 27, Fort Lauderdale, FL – Scott Cayouette

I’ll be at the events in Madison, Wisconsin and Indianapolis, Indiana so maybe I’ll see you there! 🙂

Man Dies After 50 Hours of Computer Games

A 28-year-old South Korean man died of exhaustion in an Internet cafe after playing computer games non-stop for 49 hours, South Korean police said Wednesday.

Gaming is massive in South Korea. Professional gamers are treated like national heroes, in the same way our sports stars are. More than 15 million people are registered to play online games there, and there are lots of reports of people playing them for 10-15 hours a day.

…and I thought I had it bad!