Scott Woodgate's OutBursts

Happy New Year - Virtual PC 2007 Release Candidate ready for download

scottwoo — Tue, 02 Jan 2007 20:34:00 GMT

Version 6.0.142 is now on the connect site. Go get it.

The Release candidate includes one new feature, PXE boot. In addition it address a number of issues including installation on Windows 2003 as a host; Audio in Vista; DVD support for Vista installation; binding to wireless network cards etc.

Cheers,

Scott.

Virtual PC 2007 Beta is available - Get going with Windows Vista Today

scottwoo — Wed, 11 Oct 2006 17:29:00 GMT

We have released Virtual PC 2007 Beta. It has support for Windows Vista as a guest and as a host, including 64-bit host support and provides an excellent application compatibility solution. It also has support for hardware virtualization technology from both AMD and Intel and to round things out it has improved performance. All of that for a very attractive price.

Go get it from www.microsoft.com/virtualpc or from here directly and for extra points go deploy Vista on your physical or virtual machine.

P.S. I'm in hiring mode again. If you want to make an impact in the industry in the virtualization space then I have a great job for you. Please contact me for details. Qualifications include prior virtualization and marketing experience and a desire to change the world :0).

VPC free download; Vista EE 4 VM rights; Interested in a Virtual Role?

scottwoo — Wed, 12 Jul 2006 18:17:00 GMT

The last 6 months have been a lot of fun. On the downside I've attended exactly zero conferences - ok my wife doesn't think that's a downside. On the upside I've been working in areas I haven't had the opportunity to over the past 5 years. Specifically I've been thinking about hardware virtualization and application virtualization. Some of that thinking is becoming real :).

For example, today we announced that Virtual PC 2004 SP1 is a free product. Go ahead and use it for any scenario you want. The download is available already from www.microsoft.com/virtualpc

We also announced the first of our licensing changes to internalize virtualization into Windows Vista. Specifically customers who buy first software assurance and then deploy either Vista Enterprise or Ultimate can install 4 copies of the OS in a VM in addition to the copy on the physical machine for the cost of one license. This is similar to an existing right we have on Windows Server Enterprise. This right is for one user on one device and is good for application compatibility scenarios. Download VPC, create up to 4 VMs for various previously incompatible applications and get going.

Additionally we announced Virtual PC 2007 which will support Windows Vista and be available shortly thereafter.

We are starting to think about future virtualization scenarios for Windows so if you have something you want us to do drop me a line.

Finally, I'm hiring up a small team within Windows to help us think more deeply about virtualization and drive innovation in the space from a business model, marketing, and product planning perspective. If you are interested and skilled then drop me a line. The job descriptions are here.

New BizTalk Server Blog

scottwoo — Tue, 25 Apr 2006 16:50:00 GMT

If you enjoyed my blog please go here for more :).

I'm having fun working in Windows Planning. More on that when I have something interesting to say.

My New Years Resolution And Thanks

scottwoo — Sun, 01 Jan 2006 18:53:00 GMT

Well over 5 years ago I joined the nascent BizTalk Server team. One of the reasons I came to Microsoft was because of the wide range of job roles available and yet I was just having too much fun with BizTalk Server to consider moving. Nevertheless, with the SQL/BTS/VS launch complete and WF launched at PDC now is as good a time as any to move and after some extensive research into new roles during December starting Tuesday I'm changing jobs.

My new job will be on the Windows Client Product Planning team. Initially I'll be thinking about the impact of virtualization and thin-client on various aspects of Windows licensing and product strategy post Vista. This role is primarily inbound so I expect I'll disappear off the net for a while but we will see.

Many of you know Michael Woods, who has been on my team for several years, and some of you have met Kris Horrocks. Michael and Kris will continue to carry the flame forward for BizTalk Server. Paul Andrew will continue to carry the flame forward for Workflow.

I've met so many great people and made some fabulous friends during my travels in the last 5 years. I have a ton of very special memories and I'd like to thank you for passion, hospitality and feedback which helped us all do better with each subsequent release of BizTalk Server.

When I get back to work on Tuesday morning I know nothing, I'm in a new space and I have a lot to learn - it should be fun!

Cheers,Scott.

Cooler than XBOX 360 - BizTalk Server 2006 Beta 2

scottwoo — Tue, 22 Nov 2005 01:43:00 GMT

Whatsmore you don't need to wait until midnight to pick it up either :). As of now BizTalk Server 2006 Beta 2 is available at betaplace. We haven't updated ms.com yet (its coming) but the instructions are the same as the CTP. This time around there is the main product CD and a separate Adapters CD. Beta 2 had a strong quality bar (production beta for early adopters) so I think you are going to like it.

This week is Thanksgiving week. I never really understood why American's have their longest holiday of the year in the darkest time of the year - but then again coming from a country that celebrates X-mas on the beach with a cricket game what do you expect.

Did the ABs rock and roll on the weekend or what? 30 minutes of 14 men (ok 13 for like 30 secs) versus 15 english AND the referee and we still win :). Btw I absolutely love www.mediazone.com its the best way to get the rugby.

On to the next milestone for BizTalk Server. See you at the Vancouver (opps I mean Montreal) launch event on the 29th where I'll be doing the keynote.

Launch, Launch, Launch

scottwoo — Mon, 07 Nov 2005 22:42:00 GMT

In my 5 years in the business, today is the today I'm most proud of. Not because we are finished with BizTalk Server 2006 - we are not - but we are making lots of progress having released our second CTP build that works on the RTM versions of SQL and VS.NET. Incidentally the quality of this build is pretty good, and beta 2 is currently in release candidate mode so we aren't too far away from another release which is a true beta. With beta 2 our early adopter customers will have the option to go into production - so we are at a more scalable, more stable, more feature complete point than we ever has been at this time in the cycle.

No - today it is all about visibility. As a BizTalk guy I've longed for BizTalk Server to be part of the Microsoft Application Platform so that all those developers who really need BizTalk Server but weren't aware of it could finally take advantage of it. Well the time is right, the product is right, the need is right and we are going out super loud. You can bet that with BizTalk Server 2006 your skills will be in demand more than ever before.

Having said that we thought we could accelerate things from a pricing and licensing perspective - which we also announced today. When I started in this business 5 years ago we introduced a price-point that while high from a Microsoft software perspective was dramatically lower than our competitors. Today, we do it again. As part of the pricing for BizTalk Server 2006 we have bundled ALL of the adapters your need to connect systems together. Yep, one price, one SKU, for all the adapters you need. No other competititor does this - each charging between 10-30k per adapter. I love this because it means I don't have to remember 16 different SKU names - I'm sure you'll love this from a price perspective. After a bunch of research we discontinued Partner edition - look for us to reinvent that as a much more targetted Express Edition in the next product cycle. Another thing I like about our new licensing is that for standard edition the connection limit is gone and we support 2 CPUs; the key differentiator has always been failover in Enterprise edition so let's keep it simple and just use that. All those folks who have provided me with suggestions on pricing and licensing on my travels - I hope you are happy because this matches a lot of what you have been asking for!

If like me, you have been installing lots of different builds of SQL and VS.NET on your machine over the last year or two today is a great day. Those products are done. With BizTalk Server we are marching to Beta 2, RC, and RTM. BizTalk Server 2006 will be the strongest quality release in our history and both SQL and VS.NET are better because of the joint work we did in terms of perf and stress testing the products.

P.S. If you attend a launch event (like the one I'm keynoting here in Detroit tommorrow) you get a free copy of BizTalk Server Developer Edition.

Southern Africa, Surveys, and the Single Person Flight

scottwoo — Wed, 02 Nov 2005 07:51:00 GMT

In no particular order of course but let's start with Surveys. If you are NOT residing in the United States or Canada (aka you are from the rest of the world) then we want to hear from you and you might win a cool MP3 player as a result. Read below for more information:

Survey: How did you initially learn to use BizTalk? What are your preferences for learning new topics? What can we do to make BizTalk easier to learn and use? Send e-mail to wssinfo@microsoft.com to obtain a secure code and link to the survey. Complete the survey for a chance to win a portable MP3 player!

Southern Africa: I'm currently in Heathrow Airport. A while back (about 20 hours or so) I was rafting on the Zambesi River under Victoria Falls before I jumped in a plane to South Africa. In another 15 hours or so I'll be home. I enjoyed talking to folks at TechEd South Africa on Workflow, Integration and BizTalk Server. I've also really enjoyed the holiday part of my trip including seeing the animals in Kruger, which was fun, but on reflection the Kruger trip is better suited to folks who don't like quite as much exercise as I do as there is a lot of sitting and staring involved. Riding an elephant, hanging out on a raft and generally chilling at Victoria Falls were all good for my well being as was the sunshine and the heat.

Single Person Flight - British Airways 6289: I flew from South Africa to Livingstone in Zambia with British Airways on a Boeing 737-300 series. Ok I know what you are thinking, Scott that's super interesting but why are you telling me this? Well - this particular flight was scheduled to leave at 7am all to maximize my time in the day at Victoria Falls (I'm not really into the hang around on a beach type of holiday I had things to see!). Anyways I get to the check-in counter around 5:30am and the flight is listed on the board but with no check-in counter and all the other flights had check-in counters listed. Oh, oh - here we go - I guess the flight was cancelled and "there goes my holiday" were my first thoughts. I wandered the pretty much empty airport and eventually a kind lady in a British Airways suit came by. I asked about the flight with no check-in desk and she asked for my name (which I thought was odd). Once I told her my name she responded with "Oh, you are the passenger on that flight". Yes, apparently my last minute scheduling had landed me a plane all to myself! Much to my surprise they didn't cancel the flight (because the plane was supposed to pick-up a large group of Italian tourists on the return leg). So there I was - the only passenger on a Boeing 737-300 - definitely a once in a life-time experience. I got to the boarding gate with plenty of time to avoid the queues<g> and the ground-staff were joking with me (actually I'm not sure it was joking because they started with "so you are the guy we had to wake up at 5am for after a hard weekend of weddings and parties") but anyways let's just say that the electronic boarding sign at the gate read "BA 6289 - Livingstone" as you would expect, with an additional line added just for prosperity - "Especially for Mr Woodgate" by the time I boarded. The fun continued on the plane as I selected my seat. I started in economy class on row 6 in a window seat, but got bored with that and moved to row 10 which had a better view and then I thought what the heck I need an upgrade so I meandered into business class and tested out a few seats before settling in row 4A. The crew completely spoiled me - indeed all 4 of the super friendly cabin crew came and served various parts of the meal, shared pictures of experiences at Victoria Falls, and the captain introduced the flight for me personally. But it got better - as we got close to the falls the crew called me up into the cockpit (like what used to happen in a different world 30 years ago for little kids) and as he banked to the right I got a perfect view of Victoria Falls directly from the cockpit of a 737 (no need to do the helicopter tour after that).

I want to extend a big huge thanks to the team @ British Airways for maximizing my enjoyment and making me feel like a billionaire for an hour or three :).

P.S. I think (if I can read my email right) the BizTalk Server CTP build for Launch will be Build 1388.

Of CTP bits and South Africa

scottwoo — Tue, 25 Oct 2005 14:59:00 GMT

Several people have asked me whether there will be a build of BizTalk Server that works on the RTM bits of SQL Server and Visual Studio .NET for the Launch. That's the plan. It won't be beta 2 because we are still working on our quality metrics versus beta 2 however it will be pretty solid and if you are really lucky we will release it on November 7th. Indeed, we are hopeful that you might get both the BizTalk CTP and another CTP all on November 7th. More on that later.

I'm currently in Sun City, South Africa. Every year I have a goal to visit a particular place and this year I really wanted to visit South Africa. With my current role I'm very lucky to be able to combine work and pleasure. I've just presented a couple of sessions on BizTalk and Workflow at TechEd South Africa and in a day or so I'll put the computer to aside and go exploring in Kruger and up in Zambia (Victoria Falls) which I'm super looking forward to.

I really need to recharge because the rest of the month is going to be crazy fun with the BTS/SQL/VS launches. I'll be keynoting the BTS/SQL/VS Launch event in Detroit on November 8th and a similar event on November 29th in Montreal so if you live in either of those areas come along and say hi.

Btw it seems a few people are confused about WinFX. WinFX is the managed programming API for Windows (version independent) just like Win32 is unmanaged programming API for Windows.

Then there is the WinFX Runtime Components 3.0 which is the runtime redistributable package is versioned and available for platforms that require it to be installed. WinFX Runtime Components 3.0 includes the stuff that used to be called the .NET Framework, Windows Presentation Foundation, Windows Communication Foundation, and of course Windows Workflow Foundation.

Unofficial Abbreviation for Windows Workflow Foundation is now simply WF

scottwoo — Thu, 13 Oct 2005 17:18:00 GMT

Is it KFC or Kentucky Fried Chicken? Well in that case legally it doesn't matter because the same company owns both the name and the abbreviation. Of course for marketing reasons they have swapped from the full-name to the abbreviation and back but that's another story.

In the case of Windows Workflow Foundation we own the name Windows Workflow Foundation. However, we didn't trademark an abbreviation so there is no official abbreviation. Indeed we tried, albeit with a phenomenal lack of success, to launch the technology referring to its name and its name only. It was an interesting study in Microsoft and press culture to see people abbreviating to WWF with a few notable exceptions here and here. Given people’s natural desire to abbreviate the technology name to three letters and potential, untested, issues with the WWF acronym we feel compelled to strongly suggest you use the acronym “WF” for the technology only.

Remember its Kentucky Fried Chicken (Windows Workflow Foundation) not KFC (WF) so use WF when you are severely space constrained.

What about BizTalk Indeed?

scottwoo — Mon, 10 Oct 2005 21:03:00 GMT

Oliver Rist wrote a column in his blog titled "What about BizTalk?" Historically I haven't responded to these types of articles, but that's what blogging is supposed to be for - expressing your opinions and this seemed like a good article to respond to so here we are. Starting at the beginning - I never really like the Michael Vaughan character on Alias. He kind of reminded of a secret agent for a certain European country and a Greenpeace incident in NZ a while back so I was happy to see him being written out of the script (assuming he doesn't reincarnate).

Oliver asserts that for the vast majority of its implementations BizTalk will require plenty of time and money. When I started in this business 5 years ago integration products were sold by sales folks who owned boats, fancy cars and the type of houses with those cute Victorian layouts and views of large lakes. Why? The software was super duper expensive. Microsoft has been singularly responsible for reducing the price-point of integration software by over 100 times. Indeed we are still the price-leader in the space and in several deals that come to mind our competitors have dropped their catalog prices by 40% just to be within the realm of our pricing when they hear that the competitor is BizTalk Server. On the other hand, Oliver does have a point hooking up existing systems across multiple platforms is inherently a tricky proposition and for that reason BizTalk developers get paid more than Web developers and the projects tend to be more strategic to the very existence of enterprises.

Oliver talks about BizTalk Server being revved back - I'm not sure why. BizTalk Server is not being revved back in the slightest way - that won't make sense as the business is doing very well. Indeed we have shipped more innovation more frequently than any other server product from Microsoft in the last 5 years, with 4 new versions, and that will continue. We now have 5000 customers making us the #1 in our space in terms of customers and we are growing strongly as a business due to the value that our customers find in our product. We are currently planning BizTalk Server vNext which will include Windows Communication Foundation, Windows Workflow Foundation and lots of specific BizTalk innovations.

According to Oliver BizTalk is a proprietary platform which costs money. I guess I could argue this both ways. One way would be to define the term proprietary. If he means that it isn't open-source and it is a for cost product then that's absolutely true and is equally applicable to IBM Web Sphere, SAP, Oracle and all the players in the integration and business process space. Another might be that it is somehow closed in the sense that it only supports "Microsoft stuff". BizTalk Server provides the largest level of interop of any Microsoft product to numerous platforms and recently we acquired 9 adapters to help our customers broaden that through connectivity to Oracle, Siebel, TIBCO and so on..

So what about BizTalk and Windows Workflow Foundation? Did you bet on the wrong horse by choosing BizTalk Server? No you didn't. BizTalk Server is, was, and will be the right architecture for business process and integration on Windows. To properly serve the needs of business process and integration you need a "man in the middle" server that adapts, routes, tracks, manages, scales and has all the appropriate BPM capabilities such as BAM. Windows Workflow Foundation gives you none of that. On the other hand there are many scenarios that Windows Workflow Foundation is useful outside of business process and integration such include page-flow in ASP.NET web applications, workflow within line of business applications that ISVs build, workflow within Office. By targeting ISVs primarily the Windows Workflow Foundation technology can be embedded within these applications.

Put simply:

A. Workflow within applications = Windows Workflow Foundation

B. Workflow across applications = BizTalk Server

I love working with the press, but on one or two occasions some "selective editing" has provided some out of context quotes. Let me reverse the situation and end on my favorite part of Oliver's article "In fact, the synergy of [Windows Workflow Foundation] and BizTalk will probably make you look like a visionary". You bet we are working hard to make that 100% a reality.

Week of Workflow Webcasts Ongoing

scottwoo — Tue, 27 Sep 2005 22:43:00 GMT

Paul has a week of workflow web-casts on going for those of you who missed PDC or missed our sessions at PDC. The full detail and links to recordings are here: http://blogs.msdn.com/pandrew/articles/460630.aspx

They are at 10am PST every day this week.

Here's the remaining ones:

Wednesday: Workflow + Messaging + Services: Developing Distributed Applications with Workflows

Thursday: Developing Event Driven State Machine Workflows

Friday: Extending Workflow Capabilities with Custom Activities

Community Sample: SSB Adapter

scottwoo — Mon, 26 Sep 2005 17:28:00 GMT

Jesus Rodriguez has created a super cool adapter for BizTalk Server 2006 that talks to SQL Service Broker in SQL Server 2005 so that you can use SSB as a transport for SQL to SQL communications within a broader BizTalk Server ecosystem. His adapter is available on gotdotnet and you can read more about it on his blog,

http://weblogs.asp.net/gsusx/archive/2005/09/26/425989.aspx

Thanks, Jesus!

Super cool jobs available: Senior Workflow Technical Product Manager & Adapter Product Manager

scottwoo — Wed, 21 Sep 2005 21:06:00 GMT

Now the cat is out of the bag on a couple of areas (Workflow and Adapters) where we need some more incredibly motivated, clever, articulate folks to help us make a real impact on the business in the following two roles:

1) Senior Workflow Technical Product Manager

At PDC 2005 we announced Windows Workflow Foundation. Windows Workflow Foundation redefines workflow making it available as part of WinFX with support for both human and system workflow. Windows Workflow Foundation provides a consistent and
familiar experience for Visual Studio .NET developers. This is your chance to play a major role in a first version technology that will be distributed to millions of developers and users of Windows. We are looking for a senior product marketing specialist to join our strong team. In this role you will work cross-group with Platform, Developer and Office to ensure maximum visibility of workflow. In addition you will be actively involved driving press, analyst interactions and driving market strategy. The ideal candidate is technically strong, has prior evangelism experience and a history of making a business impact.

2) Adapter Technical Product Manager

Are you passionate about integration? A key component of any integration project is connecting to existing systems. Microsoft has just acquired 8 key adapters to major line of business applications and technologies including: Oracle Apps and Database, TIBCO, Siebel, Peoplesoft, Clarify and others. If you have the skills to take these adapters to market as part of the overall BizTalk Server offering we need you. You will be responsible for product management and launch of these adapters primarily focused on collateral generation (whitepapers, demos, datasheets) and integrating the key adapter positioning into the broader BizTalk Server positioning so our field can successfully sell and implement these adapters.
If you are good at multi-tasking, have strong prioritization skills, a passion for technology and want to make a real difference this is the perfect technical marketing role for you on a technical marketing team packed with strong team members.
Qualifications include strong technical skills and the ability to present, write and review clearly and credibly on deep technical topics to developers and architects. The ideal candidate has evangelized developer technologies in the past, has a strong grasp on server technology and prior experience with integration technologies and line of business applications including adapters. Strategic technical marketing expertise; strong organizational and project management skills, and ability to work well under deadlines are all requirements. Four years or equivalent in technical undergraduate degree and six years in industry-related experience a plus.

To apply: Contact me through my blog :).

My Hotel Room at PDC - perfect spot for a Windows Workflow Foundation video shoot.

scottwoo — Tue, 20 Sep 2005 22:15:00 GMT

It was pretty noisy, because the blue elevator was right outside. Sound like a page out of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory? See for yourself in the latest video on theserverside.net where Paul Andrew (Technical Product Manager for Windows Workflow Foundation) and I talk with Paul Ballard from theserverside.net on windows workflow foundation