Early this morning, Dominic and I jumped into our respective cars to head to Cambridgeshire, to present a keynote for the third Cambridge and Oxford College IT Conference, held at the Imperial War Museum in Duxford. It’s quite an unusual conference venue, set inside the AirSpace hangar – overlooking a display of planes from the last century. My Dad and brother are both ex-Air Force Armourers, so seeing the Vulcan and Lancaster took me back to my childhood in Scampton, Lincolnshire.
In this historical setting, I was talking about the future, and the opportunities and challenges which exist as IT moves forward.
I used our ‘Productivity Vision’ video, which looks at the workplace of 2019, and then continued by deconstructing the technology behind the video – to look at what exists now – either in research labs or in real life - and how the components might build to get to the vision described for the future.
Unfortunately, I can’t share the whole presentation, but I can share the short video that I used as the introduction, which is the starting point for the story I told.
Productivity Future Vision You can view the video on our Officlabs Envisioning website, and you can also watch a video as Ian Sands, Director of Envisioning, steps through the video scene by scene and describes in greater depth the story behind the people and technology on display.
A number of people asked me afterwards about the interactive tool I’d used for the presentation. And the secret is pptPlex, which is an add-in for PowerPoint 2007. It allows you to build amazingly interactive presentations, and also allows you to move around a storyboard in a completely non-linear way.
I keep an eye on the Information Commissioner’s Office press releases on their website (in the hope that we’re not going to see schools appearing too often), where I suspect they have a busy Press Officer producing a constant stream of news (last 2 weeks : Recruitment firms fined; mobile phone customers record sold illegally; Primary Care Trusts break the law; One third of data security breaches result from burglary and theft).
On Thursday I saw that the ICO announced that it’s latest publication “demystifies data protection”.
It even quoted Stephen Alambritis, Head of Public Affairs at the Federation of Small Businesses:
Small businesses do not have time for pages and pages of jargon and gobbledegook, but getting data protection right makes good business sense. Data protection lapses cost reputations and can affect the bottom line. But, many organisations tell us that data protection law is difficult to understand. This new
no-nonsense guide will help the business community to understand and comply with the law
It even promised to demystify plainly wrong stories, such as “It is illegal to take photographs of your children in their nativity play at school.” (It points out “The Data Protection Act does not prevent parents taking photographs of their children and friends participating in school events.”)
Well, after all the mystery that has surrounded information security in the public sector, I jumped straight over to the new guide, and downloaded the PDF version, with high hopes.
As a positive, it’s definitely written in plain English. Which is a relief after so many migraine-inducing data protection documents.
And there are many specific examples which are really useful to help understand it all. So if your job gets close to protecting data, then this is a must read.
But it runs to 92 pages. 92 pages for an easy-to-understand guide? One to pass to the Head I think!
Also a great source of facts to shout at the telly/newspaper with next time you see one of those idiotic data protection stories…
The Microsoft UK Education team has a dozen people in it (surprised?) who are focused full-time on education – across schools, colleges and universities. Which means that we’re awfully busy and spread across many, many things all the time. But fortunately we have the help of other similar teams around the world, and a much bigger team in our offices in America. Sometimes we produce work for the rest of the world (like the Innovative Schools case studies, focusing on journeys of innovation and the lessons that innovative schools have learnt on their way), and sometimes the work flows the other way – towards us.
One of the things that has been done as part of the worldwide Partners in Learning programme is The Scaling Framework – an interactive tool that helps analyse how you move an innovation from being something done by 1 or 2 people, to making it widespread.
It made me think of two specific cases where today there is a challenge of scaling innovation. The first is Virtual Learning Environments, where it is proving to be difficult to take good practice from one lecturer/department/university to the whole system. And the other is taking an innovative ICT teaching initiative and spreading it to other departments.
The Scaling Framework is a simple interactive tool that explains the five dimensions of scale, and then digs down into areas such as “Traps to Avoid” and “Next Steps to Explore”.
You can either us this as an individual, or pop it up on your whiteboard next time you’re holding a leadership team meeting, and explore interactively.
Take a look at the interactive Scaling Framework, and see if it can help you
I was interested in the “Spread” dimension – and the trap to avoid: “Developers should realise a somewhat less powerful innovation that reaches much greater numbers of use is a step forward”. We were talking about this at lunchtime today, discussing a new piece of software for teachers which may only appeal to innovators, meaning that the majority of users won’t be affected by it. So is it better to try and promote something a little less innovative, but likely to be used by more people?
Office 2010, SharePoint 2010, Project 2010 and Visio 2010 have all reached the Beta milestone and are now available for download.
Remember how sometimes you felt smug when you were running Windows 7 Beta at least 6 months before your colleagues and friends? Well, you can feel it once again!
What’s new in the Office system?
On Monday 9 November, Microsoft Exchange 2010 became the first product launch in wave of innovation across the Office system. The first half of 2010 will see this wave continue with the release of Office 2010, SharePoint 2010, Project 2010 and Visio 2010 .
- Microsoft Office 2010 provides rich and powerful new ways to deliver work. New features include enhanced tools, customisable templates, photo editing and the ability to work with multiple people from different locations at the exact same time using new co-authoring capabilities. By offering more ways to access files from virtually anywhere, Office 2010 gives users greater control. Learn More
- Microsoft SharePoint 2010 enables organisations to connect and empower people through an integrated set of rich features. SharePoint 2010 facilitates business collaboration in its broadest sense and helps colleagues, partners and customers to work together in new and effective ways. Learn More
- Microsoft Project 2010 provides teams and organisations of all sizes with the right project collaboration tools, and a pathway to step up to more advanced Project and Portfolio Management capabilities as their needs evolve. Learn More
- The advanced diagramming tools of Microsoft Visio 2010 help you simplify complexity with intuitive and professional-looking diagrams, dynamic and data-driven visuals and new ways to share these on the Web in real-time. Learn More
In addition, with this beta we are unveiling several new features and products:
- Office Web Apps for business customers, available through SharePoint Server, allows SharePoint sites to host browser-based Web Apps accessible from virtually anywhere.
To me, this is one of the most significant developments of SharePoint 2010 – you can provide Office applications, from your SharePoint server, to your students whether they are on campus or off. Which means they can start a piece of work on campus using Office on a library computer, and then continue it at home using their laptop – either using Office if they have it, or Office Web Apps in a browser.
- Outlook Social Connector, a new feature that brings communications history and social networking feeds into the Outlook experience.
Happy downloading
Bookings are now open for our Higher Education Briefing day, which this year falls on 10th December in London.
Microsoft will be holding our annual Higher Education Briefing on 10th December 2009 at our London offices in Victoria. The agenda for the event runs from 10:00 to 4:45 with breaks to catch up with colleagues from other universities.
As well as getting the latest news on Microsoft’s product roadmap, there will be the opportunity to hear from other universities and to hear how they are responding to the economic pressures that all universities are feeling. Of course, this current academic year is full of launches of new Microsoft products, and we’ll be able to use the day to bring all of this into context – explaining the value and relative importance of some of the key new product launches still to come.
9:30 - Registration and coffee
10:00 - Welcome and introduction
10:15 - Challenges faced by Higher Education
10:45 - Contoso University
11:30 – Break
11:45 – University case study
12:15 - Live@edu
13:00 – Lunch
13:45 - Sharepoint in Higher Education
15:00 – Break
15:15 – Virtualisation
15:45 – Office 2010
16:30 – Final Q&A
16:45 - Close
Dominic Watts, the Higher Education Business Manager, will lead the day, introducing experts from Microsoft and our partners and bringing case studies from our customers.
We’ll be holding the briefing at our offices in Victoria, and there will be plenty of Microsoft colleagues available for discussions.
You can book your place online now
Jonathan Noble (MVP) at Newcastle has told me of an event with Microsoft Premier engineer Richard Diver on 25 November aimed at helping IT Pros aiming to get better performance out of Windows systems and software. Details of the event are on his blog:
http://www.jonoble.com/blog/2009/11/11/25th-november-newcastle-sysinternals-tools-presentation.html
The TechNet site has a growing series of Infrastructure Planning and Design Guides for all kinds of areas – virtualisation, Windows Server 2008, SQL Server, Online Services and the Optimised Desktop.
The one that jumped out as me was the IPD Guide for DirectAccess in Windows 7. This is especially useful in colleges, where you have staff who are as likely to need access to your network from home as they are in university (especially if you have a large number of part time staff).
With DirectAccess, your users can have access to your university network without having to use a VPN or Remote Access setup – whenever they have access to the internet from their university laptop, they have access to your network. To get this level of convenience without compromising security means that you need to setup your network carefully, and the IPD guide is designed to help with that.
The Infrastructure Planning and Design series guide for DirectAccess provides actionable guidance for designing a DirectAccess infrastructure. The guide’s easy-to-follow, four-step process gives a straightforward explanation of the infrastructure required for clients to be connected from the Internet to resources on the corporate network, whether or not the organization has begun deploying IPv6.
You can download the Direct Access Guide here
On the same subject, you may find the IPD Guide for Network Access Protection useful too, as it talks you through the ways that you can allow students and staff to connect their own laptops to your network without compromising security. In an environment where students all arrive with their own laptop, it allows you to save money and improve capabilities.
Situated in the North East of London as well as Dubai, Middlesex University provides outstanding service to its 33,000 students. It recently adopted live@edu to help enhance the student experience as well as contain costs by providing seamless services across staff and students.
“Using Live@edu has transformed the relationship between our staff and our students….it’s definitely part of their academic experience here at Middlesex”
Prof. Margaret House, Deputy Vice Chancellor
For more information please watch Paula Vickers (Pro-VC and CIO), her colleagues and students explain why Microsoft’s Software + Services vision is the right fit for an ambitious and successful university.
http://www.microsoft.com/casestudies/resources/Files/4000005155/Middlesex_2500K.wvx
I’m posting this on behalf of the Northumbria University and hope you can help:
IT Directors and Project Managers of many customers have taken part in a survey for this Eduserv/Northumbria University project. The final phase is a wider online community consultation (www.northumbria.ac.uk/sharepoint_study). The aim is to capture the reactions of other HE stakeholders - managers, students, researchers, learning technologists, lecturers, administrators and vendors - to SharePoint to build on the survey. Responses are being sought to three questions about the IMPACT and potential FUTURE USE of SharePoint in HEIs.
The questions and how to contribute are at: http://www.northumbria.ac.uk/sd/academic/ceis/re/isrc/themes/rmarea/eduservsp/SP_HE_cons/ It will only take a few minutes to make your voice heard. The consultation closes on 9 November 2009.
Many customers have been invovled in the process so far and this project is moving towards its final phase. Please come along and participate in this event.
FREE EVENT
Time: 11-3.30pm, 25 November 2009
Place: Aeonian Training Centre, Shropshire House, London http://www.aeonian.co.uk/shropshire/findus-sh.htm
· Do you want to learn about how and why HEIs are using SharePoint?
· Do you want to hear from some HEIs about their experience of implementing SharePoint?
· Do you want the opportunity to network and benchmark?
This event provides an opportunity to do so. It is open to all HEI staff – IT/Information Managers, SharePoint project managers, academics, administrators, learning technologists. As well as a summary of the project’s findings there will be four case studies of the use of SharePoint for different purposes in UK HEIs. Speakers include Peter Gilbert (UWE), independent expert Peter Yeadon, Colin Farrow and Diane Montgomery (Glasgow University) and Dr Les Walczowski (University of Kent).
Places are limited; booking is on a first-come basis. To see the programme and register go to http://www.eduserv.org.uk/events/sharepoint-for-he.aspx
This is principally aimed at students to explore how cloud computing can help clear the fog out of cloud computing. However it is open to other audiences too.
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You’re invited to take a Dip into the Windows Azure Platform!
Microsoft invites you to discover more about Cloud computing and how to take advantage of this new approach through our free trial.
We're offering UK students an exclusive FREE trial of Windows Azure to evaluate the Platform and take the first step to Cloud computing. Sign up and be amongst the first to experience the ease with which you can build, deploy and manage applications in the Cloud - see details below The Dip into Windows Azure Trial has been developed by Microsoft UK and ICS Solutions, a Microsoft Gold partner that helps organisations move from the Fog to the Cloud™. Together we have created a unique offering that provides an online tutorial and sample application to help you get started, plus access to resources that will deepen your Azure knowledge. Through the free trial you'll gain: - An early adopter experience of Azure prior to its commercial launch
- Hassle free registration and streamlined account access
- Your own private and secure area of the cloud
- Access to a suite of readiness resources to deepen your Azure knowledge, including a unique application tutorial
- Ability to build your own sample applications and deploy them to Azure
- Information about future events to gain a deeper understanding of Azure
The trial has been developed to allow you to take a skinny dip or a deeper dive into the Azure Platform based on your level of interest and expertise, meaning you don't have to be an experienced developer to participate. If you are keen to start testing the Azure Platform for free before it becomes commercially available, take advantage of this limited trial offer and sign up today. Sign-up Details:
When you sign up as a Student, please use the following referral code: ADEUK01 Further information:
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One of the most successful student engagement events Microsoft runs is the Imagine Cup. In fact, I don’t believe that there is a student technology competition larger than this and it attracts the smartest students from across the globe to solve some of the biggest challenges facing society. The competition gives students an opportunity to translate learning from the classroom to solving real world problems and develop necessary employability/entrepreneurship skills as they progress.
My colleagues Ed and Andy write far more eloquently and comprehensively than me so please take a look at their posts and I look forward to learning about your university’s successes in this year’s competition and as they progress to the global competition in Warsaw in July 2010.
Ed Dunhill
Andy Sithers
We’ve all witnessed performing a search and getting something like 1,034,461 results back in 0.16 seconds with lots of blue and green lines on the screen. However, no matter how many and how quick, can we really say we’re getting the right answer back with the minimum time spent? Take this concept into a University and who could disagree that the search requirements of a Professor of Bio Informatics are different to those of a first year under grad? Yet how many universities provide the same context-free service to all users? I heard someone say at the ALT conference this year, “One size does not fit all – one size fits none”. Each university has a great deal of information about its citizens so why not use this to provide more context to search for learners. educators, researchers and administrators.
As more universities deploy SharePoint, and in particular with the Enterprise CAL, there is a service already sitting in their data centre that can deliver much more. We’ll see more of this in the coming months in the UK but initially there is this webcast being held on Tuesday 27 October:
You are invited to a briefing on Microsoft’s Enterprise Search Roadmap. Taking place on Tuesday, 27th October, this webcast briefing will provide valuable insight into Microsoft’s next release of Enterprise Search software. The session will address key topics including:
Why Enterprise Search matters
Microsoft’s vision for Enterprise Search
The impact on the business manager and technologist
The Enterprise Search product roadmap
The Internet Business product roadmap will be outlined and a summary given of the Business Productivity product announcements made at the SharePoint Conference. The briefing will include details on forthcoming products, answering crucial questions such as:
What is the future of FAST ESP?
Which solutions will Microsoft offer for Internet Business?
How are they different from FAST ESP?
What are the upgrade options?
What platforms will be supported in the future?
The Microsoft Enterprise Search Roadmap briefing is offered live at two separate times to accommodate various time zones and busy schedules. The presenters will cover the same topics at each session, so please attend the one that best fits your schedule. Attendance will be limited, so do register as soon as possible. To reserve your place, click the appropriate time:
(by my calculation this is 4:00 PM in the UK - [Dominic Watts]) - Click here to calculate your local time
Microsoft is broadcasting a number of webcasts over the next month with information to help the public sector increase efficiencies, get more from organisational performance management and identity and access management. For details and how to register see below:
Enable the mobile organisation with Microsoft Unified Communications
Friday October 16 12:00-12:45 - Invitation Code: B9AE93
Event Overview
All public sector organisations are seeking to reduce costs of travel and communication and improve collaboration between departments and agencies.
Microsoft Unified Communications brings together email, calendars, voicemail, presence, VoIP, audio, video and web conferencing into one integrated communication solution. Customers are already realising reductions in travel costs of up to 40% and communications savings of between 10-40%.
This session provides an overview and demonstration of Microsoft Unified Communications and information on public sector customers who are already enjoying the productivity and cost-saving benefits of unified communications with Microsoft.
Improving performance management using Microsoft Business Intelligence
Friday October 30 12:00-12:45 - Invitation Code: D9E021
Event Overview
Accountability and business insight are vital for any public sector organisation to operate efficiently and improve the effectiveness of delivering public services.
Microsoft Business Intelligence and Performance Management solutions provide a range of tools for gathering, analysing and reporting on key performance indicators (KPIs). Better intelligence can deliver business insight and more effective decision-making for public sector organisations.
This session provides an overview and demonstration of Microsoft solutions for Business Intelligence and Performance Management and examines solutions being implemented by public sector customers to improve their strategic insight and public service delivery effectiveness.
Identity and Access Management solutions for the Public Sector
Friday November 13 12:00-12:45 - Invitation Code: 62B6E3
Event Overview
The National Information Assurance Strategy (NIAS) aims to improve the overall ability of the Public Sector to manage data and access to Government systems more securely. Technology is only one part of an effective information assurance strategy - employee awareness and security processes are essential to comprehensive information security.
Microsoft Identity and Access Management solutions enhance an organisation’s current security infrastructure to enable secure access by remote and mobile employees and trusted third-parties to sensitive data and applications.
This session provides an overview and demonstration of Microsoft solutions for Identity and Access Management and examines solutions for remote access to corporate systems by remotely based workers.
I’m sure this list is out on the web somewhere, but just in case you’ve not seen it in this easy-to-read format before, below is my list of the features of each version of Windows 7. I think this will help you to work out which one is right for your school:
- Windows 7 Home Premium is the retail version. It doesn’t allow network login (called Domain Join), so it’s unsuitable for university-based computers, and unlikely to be useful for student laptops owned by you, unless you don’t plan to manage them or connect them up to your network except via the web. It is also unable to run XP Mode, which might be useful for some of your older software.
And it’s probably the one on laptops your staff/students buy themselves.
- Windows 7 Professional is the minimum version you’ll need in university as it has network domain join and XP Mode.
- Windows 7 Enterprise is the right version if you believe that you should be encrypting any laptops used by staff, because it comes with BitLocker and BitLocker To Go. And in addition it also adds AppLocker – which you may want on all of your devices too.
- Windows 7 Ultimate is in the table below for completeness, but you are only likely to get this version if you buy it in a retail store with it pre-installed (which is an expensive way to get the functionality in Enterprise or Professional edition)
See below the table for my “How to Buy Windows 7” guide
What features are in which version of Windows 7?
|
Features |
Home Premium |
Professional |
Enterprise |
Ultimate |
|
32-Bit and 64-Bit Versions |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
|
Create and Join a Home Group |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
|
Tablet PC Functionality |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
|
Multiple Monitor Support |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
|
Document Libraries |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
|
Fast User Switching |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
|
Windows Search |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
|
Windows Mobility Center |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
|
Windows Aero, Taskbar, & Jump Lists |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
|
Live Thumbnail Previews |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
|
Multi-Touch |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
|
Premium Games Included |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
|
Windows Media Center |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
|
Create & Play DVDs |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
|
Device Stage |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
|
Action Center |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
|
Encrypting File System |
No |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
|
Location Aware Printing |
No |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
|
Remote Desktop Host |
No |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
|
Domain Join & Group Policy Controls |
No |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
|
Windows XP Mode |
No |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
|
AppLocker |
No |
No |
Yes |
Yes |
|
BitLocker & BitLocker to Go |
No |
No |
Yes |
Yes |
|
BranchCache |
No |
No |
Yes |
Yes |
|
DirectAccess |
No |
No |
Yes |
Yes |
|
Subsystem for UNIX-based Applications (SUA) |
No |
No |
Yes |
Yes |
|
Enterprise Search Scopes |
No |
No |
Yes |
Yes |
|
Multilingual User Interface Language Packs (MUI) |
No |
No |
Yes |
Yes |
|
Licence Rights for 4 Windows Virtual Machines |
No |
No |
Yes |
Yes |
|
Virtual Hard Disk Booting |
No |
No |
Yes |
Yes |
|
Volume Activation |
No |
No |
Yes |
No |
|
Licence Rights for Network Booting of Windows |
No |
No |
Yes |
No |
How to buy Windows 7 for your university
So now you’ve worked out which version you want, you may want to know the best way to buy the right version!
Existing computers
- For any existing computers running any version of Windows XP or Windows Vista, you are probably already covered for the upgrades to Windows 7 Enterprise on your Campus Agreement. If you don’t have a Campus Agreement, or you need to buy some extras for staff laptops, you can buy a Windows 7 upgrade on a Select licence. If it’s basic Select, the upgrade is to Windows 7 Professional, with the Software Assurance option, you’ll get Windows 7 Enterprise.
New computers
- For Professional edition, you can either buy a new PC with it pre-installed, or buy a PC with Windows 7 Home Premium, and then add an upgrade (again, if you have a Campus Agreement this upgrade will already be included in it for you).
- For Enterprise edition, the best way is to buy a new PC with Windows 7 Home Premium, and then upgrade via your Campus Agreement , or with the Select licence plus Software Assurance (which gives you the right to keep upgrading, and adds the Enterprise features)
Here’s some links to find out more about Campus Agreement, Select Licences and Software Assurance.
Your existing Microsoft partner will be able to give you a quote. I’ve just checked on the Pugh site*, and they quote £43 for a Select Windows 7 Professional upgrade.
* Pugh is one of our partners, but there are plenty of others. You can find them all on our website
