The Windows 7 build delivered to developers at PDC 2008 has generated quite a few questions about what exactly is contained in the Enterprise edition that are not in the other editions.   I'd like to point out that the final lineup of editions has yet to be finalized, but we know for a fact that there will be an Enterprise edition that is a benefit of customers that purchase Software Assurance for their Windows machines.  This edition has some very nifty features, indeed, listed here:  http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/windowsvista/enterprise/windows7.mspx

Note that each of these features are very popular discussions at all of the large companies I help:

• DirectAccess keeps mobile users connected on the go

• BranchCache makes file access faster

• Search information on the PC, mail or SharePoint

• BitLocker protects data on a PC and portable drives

• AppLocker lets you control what user's can run

• Virtual Desktop Infrastructure made better

• Management tools to improve IT productivity

• Compatibility with Windows Vista and ease of deployment

Well, maybe you should be using standby.  But often people just don't want to use standby, whether it is a laptop with a small battery, or maybe a desktop that you want to eliminate all power being fed to the device.  Check this paper from the Windows Fundamentals perf team to figure out exactly what happens in Windows during these state changes.  Learn how to trace the boot, resume and shutdown processes from hardware, software and user session perspectives.  A gread read:

http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/system/sysperf/On-Off_Transition.mspx

This Codeplex project is SO cool.  Imagine being able to use your webcam to direct your computer.  Just make gestures in the air with known object. Kind of like Surface for the rest of us, I guess?

Here's a video of it in use:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hJuJJOK7MMc&fmt=18

 If you are ready to start, get it here:  www.codeplex.com/touchless

Some IT Pros are under pressure to consider skipping Windows Vista altogether and making the next company-wide upgrade Windows 7.  Those that are under this pressure should take a deep breath and understand that this is crazy talk that doesn't have much reasoning behind it. 

Usually these suggestions are borne out of reading FUD on the internet, rather than fully grasping the issues at hand.  Many analysts have chimed in that skipping altogether is not a good idea.  Read the many reports here: http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/itanalyst/default.mspx 

Also well-accepted is the theory that being able to maintain two operating systems in your environment is a good idea.  This is demonstrated by the fact that rarely will any company spend the significant money it takes to 'forklift' and entire organization all at once.  There are considerable risks in a forklift approach, including the increase of surface area for failure, limitations of scale and increasing and focusing the amount of user impact to a narrow window.

An update to the Gartner report recommending against skipping Vista has been written, and in it Gartner points out that if your company uses the forklift approach, then, sure, skipping Vista may make sense.  But it will cost you a lot more money.  And if your company has the agility and maturity to maintain a diverse environment, then you have no reason to skip Vista, and at the same time you have great risk in attempting to skip Vista.

Read the Gartner report here: http://mediaproducts.gartner.com/reprints/microsoft/vol4/article4/article4.html

A true sign of a company's ability to survive in struggling economic times is it's agility.  And a strong signal of agility is the flexibility to use a wider range of software solutions, rather than a narrow one.

In the Windows Automated Installation Kit, you have all the tools you need to create customized maintenance operating systems.  Many people have asked how to optimize the boot time and size of these mainenance OSs.  I thought I would point out a few of these OS options with some tips:

Use the Diagnostics and Recovery Toolset bootable CD from MDOP
Usually, you'll want to use the Diagnostics and Recovery Toolset boot disk that is prebuilt and ready to go with enterprise tools such as a system sweeper that even work offline with Bitlocker.  One great part about using the pre-built recovery environment in DaRT is that you can create custom boot CDs that only include your drivers, allowing the boot time to be quicker.  You can just download and go with this option, and

Use Windows PE on a bootable disk
But if you don't own the DaRT, then you can create your own Windows PE and include your own tools that you want.  You can even create an HTA shell for a user inteface to your tools and/or scripts. All you need to do is simply create an HTA application like this sample app:

<HTML>
<HEAD>
<TITLE>HTA support is functioning</TITLE>
<HTA:APPLICATION
WINDOWSTATE="maximize"
BORDER="none"
INNERBORDER="no"
SHOWINTASKBAR="no"
SCROLL="no"
APPLICATIONNAME="HTA Verification"
NAVIGABLE="yes">
</HEAD>
<BODY BGCOLOR="FFFFFF">
<DIV STYLE="position:relative;left:90;top:140;width:80%;">
<FONT COLOR="Gray" FACE="Tahoma">
<H2>Welcome to Windows PE.</H2>
HTA support is functioning.
</FONT>
<BR><BR>
<BUTTON ACCESSKEY="C" STYLE="font-face:Tahoma;font-size:13px;"
onclick="self.close()"><U>C</U>lose</BUTTON>
</DIV>
</BODY>
</HTML>

Then copy that HTA to the windows\system32 folder of you Windows PE image and edit the winpeshl.ini file to include the following sections:

[LaunchApps]
%systemroot%\system32\mshta.exe, %systemroot%\system32\testhta.hta

Much of this is documented in the Windows Automated Installation Toolkit on MSDN in the Windows PE Walkthroughs, a few important ones are linked here:

• Creating Windows PE boot media (CD): http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc749311.aspx
• Creating Windows PE boot media (UFD): http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc766092.aspx

Use Microsoft Deployment Toolkit lite-touch boot disk
When you use the Microsoft Deployment Toolkit, you are essentially customizing a version of Windows PE, adding the task sequencing engine and the user interface for all of the migration processes, such as backing up the user data and selecting an image to download over the network.  Although you could modify the built in Windows PE to have your recovery environment tools available, usually you are keeping this copy of Windows PE separate from your recovery environment.  The tools are different for each task, and you might end up with a significantly large image, which can seriously extend your boot times.

Use Windows PE as a local partition
The same techniques of creating a custom Windows PE image with your tools can be used to create a locally installed OS that is on the local hard drive of the PC, usually as a recovery environment.  Once you have your customized Windows PE image, edit the bootloader to put this option on the boot menu.  Steps three and four on this link shows you how to do this:  http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc722114.aspx.

Over and over, people trying out the virtualized desktop infrastructure (VDI) approach to enterprise computing (Xen Desktop and such) notice a distinctly poor user experience compared to the traditional rich Windows client desktop.  It seems that taking the desktop away from the endpoint and putting it in the datacenter only punishes the user with an often unusable system.  See this sometimes 'uncomfortable' video from a team working with XenDeskop as they try to log in on a few devices: http://www.brightcove.tv/title.jsp?title=1644064993

And for most businesses keeping the end users' productive is a requirement.  Slow response on the user's PC is too much of an expense for the line of business, not to mention a poor level of customer service, risking your IT department's reputation internally.  

Over time, this may change.  As network scale increases, so can the user's experience, and 10 Gigabit NICs seem to be the next wave of client hardware.  However, the current cost of giving your clients this fast of a network connection is very high.  Check out some of the latest prices for 10GBe that supports Vista:

$641.79 - SMC10GPCIE-XFP http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833129168

$1099.99 - SMC10GPCIE-10BT  http://www.cdw.com/shop/products/default.aspx?EDC=1387933

This points out a very common refrain you'll hear from me:  "One does not virtualize the desktop OS to save money.  Security is the primary driver."  And yes, bringing the OS into the datacenter avoids having a hard drive outside one ring of your security perimeter, but right now it will cost you plenty to attain that level of security and maintain a high level of user productivity at the same time.

The easiest Software+Service product to use right now is the Asset Inventory Service (AIS) in the Microsoft Deskop Optimization Pack (MDOP video here). 

In fact, a thorough step-by-step guide (http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb964349.aspx) takes you through setting this up in your environment quickly, so you can start viewing reports right away without worrying about an infrastructure deployment. 

The next milestone version of this online service (AIS 1.5) is coming soon, and people are already talking about what new features are expected: http://forums.microsoft.com/TechNet/ShowPost.aspx?PostID=2224230&SiteID=17

Many in the technology industry now agree that Microsoft's Software+Services approach will gain many followers as the killer rich client software applications use the services in the cloud to make the complete experience more valuable and pleasurable.  Even our competitors understand this and are making their service-based applications take advantage of the software on the rich client.  But what about my private data...is it really 'for my eyes only'?

Our Asset Inventory Service product, for example stores your asset and license information.  In the documentation we make several claims about privacy, stating that your "inventory data is not linked to customer names and not shared with anyone within or outside of Microsoft".  That's a strong statement, but how can we believe Microsoft?

Here's a privacy report published by privacy auditor Jefferson Wells that verifies that these claims and others made by Microsoft are absolutely true:  http://www.jeffersonwells.com/client_audit_reports/main.htm

Starting today, Steven Sinofsky (leading the Windows group), Jon DeVaan (leading Windows engineering) and the Windows Engineers are co-authors of a new blog that is specifically focusing on the coming wave of client technology in Windows 7. 

It is a treasure to get direct, "from the horses mouth" information about what is reality and what is vapor when discussing Windows 7.  Be sure to subscribe, there will surely be some great tidbits and feisty discussion to be had!

http://blogs.msdn.com/e7/default.aspx

Hello readers, welcome to Joel's new blog!

After years of publishing technical content in an offline newsletter where distribution was more controlled, I have moved to blogging this content to disperse this information more quickly and in a wider scale. 

Based on the feedback I received, my "Desktop Insiders" newsletter was incredibly popular, likely due to the useful content and unique perspective.  In this transition to blogging I have two primary goals:

• I want the content to remain new, exciting and offer information you can't find elsewhere.
• I want to maintain the perspective for so called 'IT Pros' in the world of technology.

In writing about the wave of technology on the horizon I will do my best to keep the 'edge', while not violating non-disclosure agreements and/or Microsoft company policies.  Especially since my job depends on it, I will absolutely do my best, wish me luck!