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November 2008 - Posts
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I met Misha a few years ago while I was an MVP still living in Winnipeg and Misha was visiting Winnipeg as planned his move to Canada. We’d share postings between thelazyadmin.com and his site admininfo.ca and I was glad to hear he got his MVP award! ----------------------------  Misha Hanin has served as an IT Infrastructure Consultant and IT Systems Administrator for over 15 years. He has a number of certifications including MCITP EA, MCP+I, MCSE, CNE & CCA. Additionally, Misha can offer a strong multifaceted background in Network Administrating with management experience in Design, Installation, Implementation and Support of LANs and WANs, including the Installation and Maintenance of VPNs, Backup Systems, Virtualization and Security systems (Firewalls, Antivirus, Anti-Spam).
View full Michael's profile on LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelkhanin Michael publishes Network Administrating articles at his website – AdminInfo.ca. What does being an MVP mean to you?
It’s very nice and a great honour to be recognized, especially by a company like Microsoft, but it hasn’t made a lot of difference in the real world. I started posting IT Tips and Tricks, answer questions that I get from other IT experts (believe me, I spend a lot of time on answering email J), run blogs ...Years ago and at that time I didn’t know about MVP program. But, as I said, it’s a great honour to be recognized. If you could ask Steve Ballmer one question about Microsoft, what would it be?
Why Microsoft waited so much time before it jumped into Virtualization? What do you think the best software ever written was?
WINDOWS!!! I’ve been working with Windows since version 1.x J and believe I’ll continue to work with it. I really love Exchange Server. Lately I’ve been dealing a lot with Virtualization infrastructure (Hyper-V, App-V,…), but I think Windows is the best J. If you were the manager of Admin Frameworks, what would you change?
It’s a really interesting question. Today Admin Framework totally became a ‘PowerShell” group. Looking back, the first time I heard about PowerShell, I remember a reaction of many IT Pros, It was a real WOW : ), but….Today, when I’m talking with my colleges and other IT Systems Administrators, I hear that Microsoft just developed an additional programming language. Looking like PowerShell managers forget, that Network Administrators are NOT programmers. If I have been the manager of Admin Frameworks, I would have discussed more with people who should work with this product. PowerShell is an amazing product and pity that a lot of IT professionals still keep away from using it. What are the best features/improvements of Admin Frameworks?
Be more in touch with people who should use PowerShell and not just with developers. What was the last book you read?
I read a lot, but mostly all what I read is technical books. I really need to find time to read more, non technical books :).
What music CD do you recommend?
mmm, I don’t do this J. My wife takes care of “music” that I listen to. Sometimes I even do not know the name of group / a song, I just enjoy listening. What makes you a great MVP?
Really, I’m a great MVP? :) I just can think about one thing, I am always ready to share my knowledge, and I am ready to help. What is in your computer bag?
IBM Laptop, 2 USB Cables, Console cable, Headphones, 2 DiskOnKey, USB Floppy drive, screwdriver, last 2 editions of TechNet magazine, a ton of business cards, Network cable, X-cross cable, GPS, few CDs, external Wireless Card, MS Optical mouse , mobile phone and a ton of other things. What is the best thing that has happened since you have become an MVP?
Be a part of “Heroes Happen {here}”. Going to the MVP summits and meeting people. It’s great to see a lot of so famous geniuses face to face. What is your motto?
You live as You think, think positively! Who is your hero?
I have a lot of heroes. I think if I can learn anything from a person, why not to call him a HERO? What does success mean to you?
Enjoy what I love to do. Be on top of the latest technologies and work with them. And of course, seeing my wife and son live a happy life. 
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This was the first time we had a shorter version of the TechDays experience and it had it's trial in Ottawa earlier today. For all intents and purposes - it was a great success from the in person feed back I got from hosting the breakfast and lunchtime activities and talking with people in the hallways between sessions. How did we handle it? Well - we has as many registrations as Montreal - which was a two day event. It posed some challenges, but we worked around them. 
We shortened the sessions to 75 minutes and changed from a "4 a day" schedule over two days to a single "6 a day" format. It worked, no one seemed to mind, but there was a lot of content to absorb. Are we going to continue with a one day format going forward if TechDays happens again next year? I don't know at this point, all the data isn't in as of yet - got a comment about it? Leave us a note here in the comments section or drop us a line with the email link at the top of the page. If you are looking for some more pictures from TechDays as we go through the remaining cities- you can follow our progress on our Flickr group. We're about to start the packing up process and calling this edition a wrap. I should go lend the track leads a hand with striking the rooms. Catch ya later! 
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My Shared Bookmarks
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 Hello folks,
I am currently sitting in the train on my way to Montréal where tonight I will participate in a User Group meeting for MITPro (Montreal IT Professionals Community). For this user group it marks a new way of conducting their meeting, a new meeting format. - 1 topic
- 3-5 panelists.
- an open floor
- no holds barred!
Each member of the panel comes with a unique point of view on the topic. Each panel member presents a short 3-5 slide presentation on the challenges and advantages they gained by leveraging the technology of the topic. They explain how it
impacts their business, and how they justified it to their management. this is different for MITPro. In the past meeting have been more traditional. One or more presenters doing their thing and a brief Q&A session at the end. Now, when the presentations are over the attendees will be able to ask questions directly to the panel, in fact the audience will become part of the panel, debate, challenge, and ask questions, explore scenarios…. I’m very pumped about it for a few reasons. First, I am looking forward to participate in the new format for MITPro I really love interacting with IT pros and having lively discussions. I find the new format allows so much more flexibility and it also allows the attendees to feel more part of the discussion. Also, MITPro will provide a LiveMeeting access to this event that will allow you to participate remotely for the first time ever. This will give members who can't make it out a chance to participate! WOW we’re cooking with butter now…. Second, I am a firm believer that the topic for tonight has the potential to drastically change the way we work and the way we manage our environment. The first Panel event will focused on Windows Virtualization the panel will consist of: - Myself, Pierre Roman (IT Pro Advisor for Microsoft Canada)
- Bill Bacoyiannis (Senior Windows Analyst with a focus on Virtualization in large enterprise)
- Mitch Garvis (Senior Consultant/Trainers: with a focus on Virtualization in small and medium enterprise
I’ll let you know how it goes. Better yet, why don’t you join in! https://www.livemeeting.com/cc/mvp/join?id=2BJPB8&role=attend Cheers! 
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As you may have read I recently jumped on the netbook bandwagon and have been playing about with the Asus Eee PC 901 for a while now. For the past few weeks I’ve been using it as I travel for TechDays as an email and web surfing machine but decided I should put some music and videos on there to watch on the road. That was were the fun began. I had installed Ubuntu Eee as I like to have one Linux based machine accessible in case I want to try something out or I am bored. It is a nice little OS for the little notebook netbook and for email and web surfing it did a suitable job. The fun began when I tried to do more. I had already given up on a good Twitter client or blog editor and have gotten used to the lack of features in Pidgen IM and was pretty happy with how things were working. Then came that multimedia idea. The Eee PC 901 has two storage devices, a 4GB flash drive and a 16GB flash drive. The OS is installed on the 4GB drive leaving 16GB for music and movies (or other data), more than enough for a few days on the road, so I connected to a network share and attempted to download a few gigs of data. Where is the 16GB secondary drive? It shows up in GPart, the partition manager, so physically the drive is working and recognized so thinking something else was wrong I deleted the partition, recreated it and formatted it. Still not available. Hmmmm… After about 20 minutes of searching online I had the answer, I needed to mount the drive, and as simple as that sounds it really couldn’t be more convoluted. Open Terminal and… sudo mkdir /media/HDD2 chmod 777 /media/HDD2 (I am sure I gave too many permissions) Logout and then log back in and then sudo mount /dev/sdb1 /media/HDD2 With the drive mounted I was able to copy data over to it and I was ready to go on my way. So a few days later after a successful TechDays Montreal I am in the hotel unwinding before an early flight the next day and decide to watch a TV show I had recorded on my Media Center and re-encoded to AVI format using the DivX codec. The same problem shows up again with the 16GB drive missing. Hmmm so I run the last command from the set posted above and the drive mounts but I am thinking shouldn’t it auto mount? Well it can you just have to edit the /etc/fstab file, of course, silly me for having to look that up online as well. Another 20 minutes of searching and I am back in Terminal and… sudo nano /etc/fstab Then add the following line, save, ext and reboot! /dev/sdb1 /media/HDD2 auto user,auto,exec,rw 0 Now when I reboot the drive is automatically mounted! Great now I can watch my TV show! While enjoying some time with my feet up, watching Crusoe I got to thinking. Yeah the fit and finish has come along way, but it still has a long way to go before it hits mainstream. You should not have to jump into a command prompt, elevate privileges, create mount points and edit obscure files just to access a drive and have it auto mount. If the drive is there during install, shouldn’t the install take care of that? Am I missing something? Just for fun I threw a typo into the fstab file and well that is a story for another day… As I thought about it more I wondered if your everyday PC user like your mom, dad, brother, sister, etc… could figure this out and why this isn’t just automatic? Maybe we have become lazy, there was a time when you had to start your car with a crank and now some cars you just get in and press a button and go :) 
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Over the last couple of weeks I received a number of emails from individuals who attended the Heroes Happen Here (HHH) Launch events in the spring of 2008. These emails all asked the same question: I got my HHH kit and went online to request my copy of SQL Server 2008 Standard Edition but have not received it yet nor heard from anyone on when it will be coming? Can you help? I replied to each of those folks and went looking for an answer on what happened and when the software would be shipped. During this process, I was forwarded this email from an individual who was also wondering what happened to his copy of SQL Server 2008 Standard Edition. Since it answered the question people were asking, I thought it important to share with all of you. Here is what was in the email: Subject: Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Order Update | 
| | | Dear Hero,
Thanks again for attending the Heroes Happen Here launch event, and registering for your complimentary evaluation copy of Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Standard Edition software.
Unfortunately, the production and fulfillment of your complimentary software was delayed. However, production is now underway and your kit is scheduled to ship in approximately four to six weeks. (Please allow additional time for delivery.)
In the meantime, we have set up a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) site that provides additional information regarding the Heroes Happen Here - SQL Server 2008 voucher redemption campaign. This FAQ site may be accessed by visiting http://www.sqlserverheroes.com/faq/.
We thank you for your understanding.
Sincerely,
Microsoft SQL Server Team | | So, for those of you who registered to receive and are still waiting for your copy of SQL Server 2008, sit tight - we're getting there. My apologies for the time it has taken to get this to you. Damir 
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Paul Laberge is back with the final instalment of this series. Please shoot us an email via the link in the top left of the page and let us know what you think of this information and share experiences and ideas you have to survive the tough times.
Rodney
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Without a doubt, most of us are experiencing the most serious economic recession in our lifetimes. There's an awful lot of uncertainty that goes with that; everything from our retirement savings, disposable income and job security.
IT as an industry is certainly not immune to these worries and as professionals in this space, I'm sure the concerns I have are similar to those that you are facing. So, in stressful times like these, what are some of the things you can do to be successful and how can Microsoft help you achieve that success?
Well, to answer that question, let's take a look at it from a few different angles. First, there's the personal angle (i.e.: how do you make yourself more marketable and valuable in recession economy?). Second there's established business angle (i.e.: how can I make the business more efficient with IT?). Third, there's the start-up angle (i.e.: how can I launch a new business and make it successful?). Let's take a look at each of these angles separately through 3 separate yet connected blog posts. In this third and final post in the series, I will focus on Launching a Start-Up Business in a Recession.
Launching a Start-Up Business in a Recession
Yesterday a conference for Start-Ups called Startup Empire was held in Toronto. Microsoft was one of the sponsors of the event and my colleague David Crow, a bit of a rockstar in the Canadian startup community, was one of the organizers.
The tone of this conference was a bit different than your typical startup event, mainly because of the shape our global economy is in. That being said, it's interesting to note that the speakers at this conference see great opportunities for startups to thrive in a situation like this, but you need to be ready to fail, too..
My boss, Mark Relph, also notes some wise learnings for startups that are especially relevant in tough times like this. Things like:
I'd also add that finding the right industry vertical is important. For example, while anything is possible, I'd argue as of today that a startup focusing on the retail industry is gambling in dangerous territory. Launching a start-up in a more recession-resistant industry like healthcare or education (regardless of the economy, people will always need medical services and schools will always be open) may make more sense. Something to keep in mind.
From a Microsoft perspective, there's some exciting things that we provide to start-ups to help them build their dream solution. The first is BizSpark.
BizSpark is Microsoft's premier initiatives to help get start-ups off the ground. The details about BizSpark can be found in this document, but in a nutshell, it provides Microsoft software to build the solution, gives start-ups access to partners and other global support resources and visibility on Microsoft sites like StartupZone and the BizSparkDB which potential customers can use to view solutions that might fit their needs (i.e.: it will help you drum up customers).
Another resource, one that is not strictly for start-ups is the Microsoft Partner Programme (MSPP). The partner programme offers a great deal of support to companies building solutions on the Microsoft platform, including deeply discounted software in order to build your solution, free training only for partners, co-marketing opportunities and the ability to profile your solutions in the Partner Solution Profiler which customers can search to find solutions that fit their needs, among other things.
-Paul
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- Do you work in a small IT shop or are you the only IT resource that your company has?
- Are you the "go to" guy/gal for anything to do with technology?
- Do you (or others) consider yourself a "jack of all trades"?
- Do you work in a small company with less than 250 PCs?
- do you spend most of your day reactively fixing and addressing issues that come up and feel like you can't proactively plan to get ahead?
If you answered yes to any of these questions this blog post and series is for you. This is the third post in a series of blog articles aimed at sharing solutions to issues facing IT Professionals working in this type of environment. We’re taking articles from YOU on how you’ve overcome issues in the past with innovative solutions to get the job done. Maybe it’s using Microsoft technology – maybe it is not – what matters is that it addresses a problem, allowing you to get on with your day. I had a technical glitch - either a PEBKAC or ID10T issue ;-) This post was set to go live on the 18th as scheduled, but it was either in limbo or my dyslexia kicked in and I had the date format wrong. My apologies, I've resolved the issue for now and we're 24 hrs late for this post in the series. It look like people are enjoying these posts and the general topics we're coving so far - I encourage you to comment directly on the post or email the team with suggestions or stories you'd like to share. This one came in as a "what was the worst task you've been asked to complete while working in the "IT Industry"...". As IT Staff, we generally get called in to do all sorts of jobs - some go above and beyond the call. Kevin J. sent in this post and asks you a question... Leave your war stories in the comments section - try to keep it "work safe" if you please. My personal story was a nightmare'ish evening of cable schlepping in a very dusty dropped ceiling that had not been cleaned in years. I had to take cable runs tied to the end of brooms that we chucked as far as we could to run the length of the building with minimal effort. It wasn't pretty or ISO standard approved, but it got the job done and is still running today.
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My Shared Bookmarks p.s: Are YOU up for the challenge of contributing your thoughts, ideas and solutions to “The IT Guy / IT Gal” series? Contact me directly or use the email link at the top of the blog with draft stories AND/OR suggested topics. Let's ramp up the noise and start giving back!!! -+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+- Rick, Should THE IT guy/gal have to play in p**p? I'm the IT/IS Manager for a small community's governing body. In a day, I have to deal with an exchange server not sending e-mail, software development in VB.NET, failing power supplies on 10 different PC's, government issued software and my personal favourite, water and sewage treatment plants. I've been on 3 water main breaks and a RBC reconstruction. In my realm of IT, I have 210 computers and 6 servers spanning 12 buildings. Anywhere there is something that needs electricity, I get called in. One year the sewage plant was short staffed. Sewage plants rely on a device called a comminutor to grind up solids before entering primary treatment. No one was around so I had to disassemble and resemble. None of my college or university course dealt with sewage plants. I'm just rambling of course, but I think a good topic would be what was the worst task you've been asked to complete while working in the "IT Industry" Cheers! Kevin J. 
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 Hi Everyone,
In the sprit of being transparent and building connections, I thought I would share my teams mandate and goals with you. My team is responsible for one key goal in Canada and that is to build your trust and support you in a manner in which to earn your satisfaction with Microsoft. We don’t focus on revenue and we don’t have any utilization targets...twice a year there are two surveys that go out to measure our impact. They are sent out in an online manner usually in the fall and early spring. One survey focuses on developers and the other on IT pros. Success to us is earning your trust and for you to feel comfortable to express that you are very satisfied with your relationship with Microsoft. Now, this isn’t an easy goal and there’s a lot that inputs into the results, some of which we can control in Canada and some that we in which we need be your ambassador within Microsoft. We just got the latest results back and it seems we have some work to do. To make sure we are doing the right things we need your help in understanding how we can better serve you and support your success. The IT pro satisfaction numbers are flat and the developer numbers have shown a decline. These are trailing indicators and while we’ve adjusted our current plan based upon your previous feedback, we want to make sure what we are doing is reaching you in a positive manner. It’s very important to me and my team to earn your trust and understand how to help. The recent broad postive feedback on TechDays, AlignIT and other programs give me comfort that we are on the right track…yet when it comes to your satisfaction we don’t want to take anything for granted.  So, to better gauge and understand where and how you as a Technical Professional (IT Professional, Developer, Architect or IT Manager for example) find what you need to support you in your role we’d like to invite you to share with us where you find I.T. ? Microsoft Canada is conducting a brief 10-15 minute online survey to gain these learnings. We want to ensure that we are driving and delivering information that is of the highest value to you to the right location. With your participation, we’ll also be able to better understand how Technical Professionals like yourself consume various types of technical information so we can make certain resources you need are readily available. Please if you have some time give us some feedback and then sign up up for the MSDN/Technet newsletter as I want to make sure that we also share this information out broadly back to you. 
Please feel free to contact me directly as my email door is always open ..... john.oxley@microsoft.com See you across Canada! John 
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This is part 2 of a 3 part series written by our collegue Paul Laberge on surving tough economical times.
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Without a doubt, most of us are experiencing the most serious economic recession in our lifetimes. There's an awful lot of uncertainty that goes with that; everything from our retirement savings, disposable income and job security.
IT as an industry is certainly not immune to these worries and as professionals in this space, I'm sure the concerns I have are similar to those that you are facing. So, in stressful times like these, what are some of the things you can do to be successful and how can Microsoft help you achieve that success?
Well, to answer that question, let's take a look at it from a few different angles. First, there's the personal angle (i.e.: how do you make yourself more marketable and valuable in recession economy?). Second there's established business angle (i.e.: how can I make the business more efficient with IT?). Third, there's the start-up angle (i.e.: how can I launch a new business and make it successful?). Let's take a look at each of these angles separately through 3 separate yet connected blog posts. This post, the second in the series, will focus on Retaining Momentum for Established Business in a Recession.
Retaining Momentum for an Established Business in a Recession
Staying ahead of the curve as a business in this economy is really tough. Cost cutting is a common theme and finding ways of doing more with less is becoming more and more a way of life.
Development Tools
Microsoft's tools and platform are built to streamline the process of building great solutions. Visual Studio 2008, for example, allows development teams (including application developers, architects, testers and DBAs) to collaborate on projects as well as deliver the solution more quickly.
Collaboration and Line of Business
Our server software allows you to potentially save costs that are traditionally associated with day-to-day business. A great example of this would be our Unified Communications platform. Business travel is something that will never go away, but our Unified Communications solution with technologies such as LiveMeeting and Office Communicator, can reduce the need for employees to travel. You can also manage your telephony infrastructure with Unified Communications as it is VoIP-enabled.
Another platform that may surprise you with respect to increasing the productivity of employees is the Office 2007 platform. There are two aspects of this - desktop and server.
The server components include Microsoft Office Sharepoint Server (with the unfortunate acronym of MOSS) and Microsoft Exchange. Sharepoint provides an enterprise-ready content management and collaboration platform that allows your employees to access the most up-to-date information and share ideas with others. Microsoft Exchange gives employees access to email literally anywhere and anytime. Regardless of location, employees have access to email on their desktop (using a mail client such as Outlook 2007), securely over the internet (through Outlook Web Access or OWA) and through mobile devices such as smartphones. The agility that these two server products offer allows employees to be agile and respond to business opportunities quickly.
The desktop component includes Microsoft Office 2007. Microsoft offers a number of versions of the Office 2007 suite to fit your business needs. That way you are not required to pay for functionality you don't necessarily require. It also is extremely customizable. With the introduction of Office Business Applications (OBA for short), you can now seamlessly integrate backoffice data into Microsoft Office. This is extremely valuable as it allows employees to access and manipulate data using familiar tools (such as Excel), reducing training requirements and potentially reducing complexity in data transfer processes by eliminating some third party applications for things like reporting.
Manageability
Virtualization is a concept that is continuing to pick up steam. Microsoft's virtualization strategy focuses on five areas: server/hardware virtualization, application virtualization, storage virtualization, desktop virtualization and presentation virtualization. Microsoft's solutions in each of these areas is focused on allowing businesses to reduce bottom-line costs through a number of ways, including:
- rationalizing the amount of hardware required to run line of business applications
- lowering the number of installed software products on desktops
- increasing the manageability of servers and desktops from a central location
Microsoft System Center is another administrative tool that can help manage adminstrative costs associated to IT. While associated to our virtualization strategy, it offers a number of benefits to IT departments including:
- Configuration Management: Allows IT departments to centrally manage the configuration and provisioning of software to the company in a controlled manner
- Compliance: Central management of all servers with respect to ensuring compliance to policies driven by the business (such as security policies) as well as other compliance pressures such as regulatory compliance (e.g.: SOX, HIPAA, FISMA, etc.)
- Monitoring: Ability to monitor the health of servers from a centralized location and alert administrators when an issue arises
- Data Protection: manage the backup and recovery processes for multiple servers in a systematic fashion, both for physical and virtualized environments
Windows Vista
I'll admit it - Windows Vista has been getting hit hard with FUD around its value as a desktop operating system. The interesting thing is that there is much evidence to the contrary that states that businesses that use Windows Vista actually have a lower TCO than those that use other desktop operating systems (including Windows XP). For example, a whitepaper published by Wipro and GCR Custom Research titled Reducing the TCO with Windows Vista states that the average cost savings vs. Windows XP for mobile notebooks deployed within an organization is $251 per notebook.
It's also the most secure operating system Microsoft has produced. Loss of data through theft, subversion or even accidental data loss is expensive and also poses potential costs associated with it including fines (in the case of privacy breaches) as well as loss of reputation. The Windows Vista One-Year Vulnerability Report shows "that researchers found and disclosed significantly fewer vulnerabilities in Windows Vista than either it predecessor product, Windows XP, or other operating systems such as Red Hat Enterprise Linux, Ubuntu, and Apple Mac OS X 10.4" (page 19 of the report).
Finally, with increasing costs associated to energy (and even if energy prices may be relaxing somewhat from all-time highs), technologies that reduce their energy footprint are certainly useful in reducing costs associated with IT. To that end, many people don't realize that Windows Vista's enhanced sleep mode features and smart use of power can save a surprising amount of money in the form of energy savings. A white paper from Microsoft outlines some of the potential savings and on page 6 of the report states that a typical Pentium IV running Windows Vista with a 17" LCD monitor can save $55.63 per year compared to the same PC running Windows XP.
-Paul 
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Paul Laberge, aka The Burger, is a member of our team that focuses on web development agencies and wrote a series of posts on surviving the turmoil in the current economy. I asked him if I could post it here as it is some great information and added a follow-up with some IT Pro focused resources as well. This is part 1 and we’ll have part two and three next week.
Rodney
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Without a doubt, most of us are experiencing the most serious economic recession in our lifetimes. There's an awful lot of uncertainty that goes with that; everything from our retirement savings, disposable income and job security.
IT as an industry is certainly not immune to these worries and as professionals in this space, I'm sure the concerns I have are similar to those that you are facing. So, in stressful times like these, what are some of the things you can do to be successful and how can Microsoft help you achieve that success?
Well, to answer that question, let's take a look at it from a few different angles. First, there's the personal angle (i.e.: how do you make yourself more marketable and valuable in recession economy?). Second there's established business angle (i.e.: how can I make the business more efficient with IT?). Third, there's the start-up angle (i.e.: how can I launch a new business and make it successful?). Let's take a look at each of these angles separately through 3 separate yet connected blog post. This post, the first in the series, will focus on Personal Success in a Recession.
Personal Success in a Recession
Everyone in IT knows that it's tough to keep up to speed with all the new technologies that are being released. Once you've learned one technology, another always seems to hit the market and gain buzz.
The trick is to really embrace the idea that learning is a lifelong activity. The reason why this is so important (especially in times such as these) is because with these new skills you are more marketable. When there is momentum behind a new technology, you may be better positioned to hit the ground running with the new technology. A great example of this from the Microsoft perspective is Silverlight. We are seeing a lot of excitement in the marketplace for it and businesses are really seeing value in it for building interactive visualizations. This presents great opportunities to you if you are a developer or a designer to expand your skillset and have knowledge of a new, in-demand technology in your toolbox.
Microsoft provides a number of resources to help you get up to speed more quickly on our platform. Some are local to Canada and some are worldwide. Below are some of these resources:
- TechDays: TechDays is a Microsoft training conference that is held in cities across Canada. It focuses on providing in-depth sessions on Microsoft technologies that you can use today. While the Toronto and Montreal stops of the conference have already past, you can still register for the other cities (Ottawa, Calgary, Winnipeg and Vancouver).
- Developer Training: Through MSDN (Microsoft's primary portal for all things developer on the Microsoft Platform), Microsoft offers a number of Hands-On Labs, webcasts and tutorials for various technologies.
- Technology Portals: There are a number of specific portals for various Web and Software + Services technologies that are part of the Microsoft development platform. Good examples of this include the ASP.NET Portal, the Silverlight Portal and the Windows Client and WPF Portal.
- Open Source: Microsoft is often perceived as anti-open source, which is actually completely wrong. We have a fundamental interoperability strategy that is core to our work. This also includes CodePlex, which is our open source repository where developers can grab applications and code that exist under open source license.
- Designers: Historically, designers were not part of our ecosystem because Microsoft did not have tools that could legitimately support their work. With the advent of Silverlight and WPF, we introduced Expression Studio 2 years ago to give designers the ability to create truly interactive applications on the web and on Windows. Accompanying this is our Expression portal which provides great information on the Expression suite of tools as well as tutorials, forums and online training.
- Free Tools: In addition to training materials and information, we also offer some great free tools that are good to help you learn our platform as well as the ability to create software solutions that are royalty-free from a Microsoft perspective. These tools, known as the Express set of tools include Visual Web Developer 2008 Express (for building ASP.NET websites and Silverlight applications), Visual C# 2008 Express (for building desktop applications with C# as well as C# class libraries), Visual Basic 2008 Express (for building desktop applications in VB as well as VB class libraries), Visual C++ 2008 Express (for building managed and non-managed desktop applications as well as C++ class libraries) and SQL Server 2008 Express (our free version of the SQL Server 2008 database system)
- IT Pros: In addition to TechDays and the developer focused training mentioned above there are some great IT Pro focused resources as well. The first has to be TechNet.com which is the primary resource for technical content. The TechNet Library is filled with resources, technical guidance, and how to videos and documentation for almost every infrastructure related technology from Microsoft. The TechNet Plus subscription (of which a 6 month subscription is part of your TechDays learning kit) is also great not only for access to non-time bombed software for use in your lab but e-learning as well. And don’t forget the VHD downloads, virtual labs, eval centre and beta downloads as well!
-Paul 
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After a weekend recovering from TechDays Montreal, most of the teams gets a couple of weeks rest before the Ottawa stop of TechDays on November 27, and then on to Winnipeg and Calgary, and finally Vancouver in January. If you have not yet registered for these events, they are filling up really fast so register sooner rather than later at www.techdays.ca. As many of you that attended TechDays know, I acted as host for the Data Platform track, considering my long-term passion for SQL Server and Microsoft's data platform. At TechDays in Montreal, as well as in Toronto, many folks that attended the Data Platform track asked where they can continue their learning in areas we may not have covered at TechDays or more info on some of the things we did talk about such as Policy-Based Management, Reporting Services, Resource Governor and Security. I'm glad that many of you asked as I have an answer for you - SQLTeach! SQLTeach will be held Dec. 1-5 in conjunction with DevTeach in Montreal. It will offer the elements of an intimate community event while bringing together SQL Server and .NET gurus from around the world for three days of networking and hands-on training. One of the event’s organizers is Jean-René Roy, who is also a SQL Server MVP as well as a user group leader in Montreal. His conference has all the standards of an international event but it’s done by developers and IT Pros for Developers and IT Pros. Don’t be surprised if you have lunch with Scott Stauffer, Itzik Ben-Gan, Brad McGehee or many other renowned SQL or .NET speakers on site. That’s all part of the concept. The goal of this event is not only to provide continuing training but also to put you in a environment that favors the networking with renown speakers. SQLteach has a great conference schedule so check it out at http://www.sqlteach.com/Schedule.aspx. If you attended TechDays you have a coupon code good for $350 off in your Techie Crunch box. If you did not attend TechDays, you are can get a $100 discount by using the following promo code when you register - TO000METROTOUG. On to TechDays in Ottawa on November 27, but first Christian Beauclair, Rick Claus, John Bristowe and I have the Winnipeg and Ottawa stops of the AlignIT Tour to take care of it. More on that later.... Damir 
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Bonjour Montréal ! C'est Philippe Reil, Directeur des communications stratégiques, marchés francophones. 
 L’équipe de Microsoft est en ville cette semaine pour la conférence TechDays, tenue au Palais des Congrès.
C’est l’événement de l’année pour la communauté des développeurs québécois et tous les professionnels des TI de la province. Au programme, d’excellents ateliers animés par nos cracks de la technologie comme Christian Beauclair, Pierre Romain, Georges Maheu, Éric Renaud, François Tanguay, Joël Quimper et Laurent Duveau, entre autres, qui partagent leurs connaissances techniques sur 5 sujets principaux : Développement Windows, Développement Web, Virtualisation, Plateforme Microsoft/Veille stratégique et Infrastructure. Les participants ont reçu une trousse de logiciels d’une valeur de plus de 1 000 $, comprenant entre autre les versions complètes de Expressions Web, Visual Studio 2008 et l’inscription pour 6 mois à TechNet Plus, le tout bien empaqueté dans une boîte de Techie Crunch ! 
Pour ma part, je suis fier de constater les progrès réalisés par la compagnie au cours des dernières années au point de vue des communications françaises : une large partie des ateliers et des présentations sont effectuées en français et toutes sont produites avec traduction simultanée pour les auditeurs. C’est un grand pas pour nous :-) De plus, les présentations seront éventuellement postées sur techdays.ca, pour ceux qui n’auront pas eu l’occasion d’assister aux TechDays en personne. Voici la première vague qui se conclut à l’instant et mon ami Joël s’apprête à aller charmer la foule avec sa propre présentation – je vous quitte donc là-dessus. 
À bientôt ! 
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