Well Microsoft announced by way of it's Longhorn blog that Server 2008 would be delayed, again. Set to RTM, Release to Manufacturing, by the end of the year they have now said it will not RTM until 1Q 2008. Pushing back Server 2008 RTM without a doubt has to push back the next release of Small Business Server, code name Cougar. Granted no date had been set for Cougar it was expected in the second half of 08 so does that push it into the last few months of 08 now?

This should make for an interesting "Launch Event" when you don't have a shipping product but then again Microsoft is pretty use to this. I would say this also tells us Vista SP1 is also pushed back which I mentioned the other day so March is looking more and more like the release month for SP1.

Microsoft made some post yesterday which pretty clearly outline where and what Vista SP1 will be which just so happens to be exactly what I said would be the delivery date for Vista SP1 way back in mid-July. From the Microsoft Vista Blog let's review what was said and where that puts things on the roadmap.

So we have Nick White, Product Manager, at Microsoft putting on the Vista Blog the following:

A Beta release of Windows Vista SP1 is slated for availability in the next few weeks.  A small group of testers has been putting a preview of the SP1 Beta through its paces to help prepare for broader release.  We made the choice to start with a very small group of testers because we think it’s better for both our customers and for Microsoft to keep the beta program small at the start.

A later pre-release of SP1 will be available to a larger group of testers  via MSDN and TechNet subscribers.

We're targeting releasing SP1 to manufacturing in the first quarter of 2008, but as always, we’re first and foremost focused on delivering a high-quality release, so we'll determine the exact release date of SP1 after we have reached that quality bar.

Now just to pat myself on the back let's look at what I said months ago on this same subject.

So if Vista SP1 Beta won't make it out till December then you're looking at end of February to March for RTM if we don't go through multiple Beta1, Beta2, etc and I don't think we will or at least if we do they will be very short lived versions. With a February Launch set for Longhorn it would only make sense that Vista SP1 would be released on or after that date from a marketing stand point as well as a technical one.

I may not have spelled it out as nicely as Nick did but I clearly say I expect Vista SP1 to be released in the late February to March time frame, that's "first quarter of 2008" if your comparing. So lot's of pats on the back for me huh, well not really as anyone that's worked with Microsoft products for any length of time should have seen that one but here's where I think I do hit the proverbial nail on the head. Nick goes on to say:

(FYI, in case you didn’t already know:  the Windows Vista SP1 and Windows Server 2008 engineering efforts are aligned, so the Server team also said on their blog today that they are targeting the first quarter of 2008 for their release to manufacturing.)

Now check out what I said back in July:

With a February Launch set for Longhorn it would only make sense that Vista SP1 would be released on or after that date from a marketing stand point as well as a technical one.

I'm sorry but I think that one deserves a bit of applause. Sure maybe it was common sense but did you see any of the industry mags pick up on that or be willing to put it in print? Did any of the so called bloggers and podcasters that like to show how much they know about what's going on at Microsoft post on this months ago? The tie in between Longhorn and Vista SP1 is further discussed here.

I would add that discussions around XP SP3 continue and again my past comments seem to be right on the mark as to timing and if we will actually see a "Service Pack 3". This rather old roadmap shows XP SP3 is aimed at 1st half of 2008 but if you'll note there is nothing listed for Windows 2003 Server, a strange absences one might be able to take the next step with. Microsoft today announced a "pre-beta" would go out to Technet and MSDN folks within two weeks. This still puts XP SP3 into next year and I still stand by my comments than Microsoft will never release XP SP3 anytime around the release of it's key products Longhorn and Vista SP1 in February/March so that leaves releasing SP3 after Vista SP1, I just see that as something Microsoft marketing will not allow. So will XP SP3 be released or will we see some sort of "Technical Refresh", I mean to the latter.

It appears the servers at Microsoft which verify if users are using pirated copies of XP or Vista went belly up Friday night around 8PM. This server side outage has caused many systems and very likely all systems "phoning home" to report themselves as illegal copies.

If your not familiar with WGA this is Microsoft's attempt to stop piracy by incorporating in XP and then Vista a service check against Microsoft servers to determine if your software is legal or not. In Vista many users may be surprised to find it calls home constantly and at any time can flag the system and when it does you have a time bomb to become legit before the system goes dark.

Microsoft's WGA blog has stated the problem has been fixed as of Saturday night. According to Alex Kochis, Senior Product Manager, WGA, users who have been flagged can now "fix their system by revalidating on our site, (http://www.microsoft.com/genuine).

Sorry but I have to go after Microsoft on this one as they picked a fight then forgot to show up.

Microsoft has a new site comparing Linux and Windows with the typical TCO, Total Cost of Ownership, uptime reports, and other FUD but if you spend any time on the site one of the things you will find is broken links. Now to me if your going to try and compare your product against another the last thing you should be doing is showing off how badly your web designers are at creating hyperlinks.

So if you will go to this web site you will see the various reasons you should be deploying Windows over Unix or Linux.

Now if you look at the top right of that page you will see a "windows\compare" which is a hyperlink to another site: http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserver/compare/linux/

If you click that link however here's the result and I screen captured the link and page just in case Microsoft fixes it:

Appears several sites got access to some info and published it then immediately pulled it probably by request of HP but who cares because Google Cached Pages RULE!

So the HP Line up for Windows Home Server looks like this:

HP MediaSmart EX470 GG795AA#ABA     $596     (500GB Model)

HP MediaSmart EX475 GG796AA#ABA     $745     (1TB Model)

Both are basically the same unit with larger HD's and are spec'd out as an AMD Sempron 64Bit CPU and will be bundled with HP's Photo Webshare but I see little else so far:

If you would like to see the cached pages try these:

http://64.233.169.104/search?q=cache:P3g5demDTFQJ:www.pcmall.com/pcmall/shop/detail~dpno~7288503.asp+GG796AA%23ABA&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=1&gl=us

http://64.233.169.104/search?q=cache:H8tb5e9KLPgJ:www.onsale.com/search/search~%26search~hp~prid~7~mfr~hp~vsp~1~srid~4.aspx+GG796AA%23ABA&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=4&gl=us

Well the wait appears to be nearly over with several online sites showing product pricing for Windows Home Server. So far they are all outside of the US but for reference I think we can get a pretty good idea of what overall pricing will be:

So if my math is right the product below:

Will run you around $211 US Dollars. The site below appears to have product for as little as $185:

Granted this is just pricing out the OEM CD's and no hardware with HP and the others still not saying when they will release their boxes. I've posted before when I expect HP to release and that date is getting pretty close.

Why is this news? Well there are a number of people looking at Windows Home Server as being the perfect small office server in locations where the office needs a central storage point but no central email management (Exchange). The feature list for WHS is perfect for this:

Features

1PK MSOEM HOME SERVER + 10 CALS
MS OEM HOME SERVER, COMES WITH 10 CALS
Please Note:
This is an OEM product.
This is not a stocked item, general lead time is 10 Days
PRODUCT:
MS Win Home Svr
LIC TYPE:
Client Access License
LIC QTY:
10
PKG QTY:
Single Pk
• Win Home Svr helps users pull together & protect all family's files in a
single, central location that makes sharing easy
• Features include automatic daily backups & full system restore
• Share photos, music, movies & other files from a single, central location
• Win Home Svr cuts down on clutter & brings order to digital chaos
• Restore files, folders, and entire computers easily
• Helps to monitor the health of home PC's
• Win Home Svr is a smart hub that serves as a central media library that
everyone can view & add to
• Create shared folders to organise photos, music & movies & access them
through any PC, Xbox 360 or digital music receiver on the home Ntwk

I know this has nothing to do with Small Business but it's somewhat interesting from a technology standpoint.

Anyway I was checking driving directions with Google Maps and as I was headed down the road I came across a strip of writing on the map showing the edge marks of where a new image was placed over the old maps.

Here's a handy little tool to Merge your OneNote Pages together. This is very handy when doing screen captures which create page after page.

Once you install the plugin you will see a new icon in your menu bar to merge the pages together.

Just select the pages by holding the CTRL key down and then click the icon, Bingo...

By the way if your not using OneNote then start. Even without a Tablet or Pen the uses for OneNote make it one very handy application. I will show another handy tool to publish OneNote directly to a website and another on how to share OneNote workbooks in the coming weeks.

Online data storage for both private and public. How would you like 500MB of online storage you can use as a private storage area, a semi-private area you can share with friends or Public one you can share with everyone?

  SkyDrive on live.com

  Got pictures you want to share with family, need to have an online site for blog images, need a space for customers to upload files without needing to setup an FTP site? Here ya go. I know it's not much space, that will change surely but hey it's free so what do you expect?

Get them while their HOT, Vista Pre-SP1 Patches are out!!!

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=ae2f819d-c33d-48db-a7e3-62eef7c1f7c2&DisplayLang=en

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=3fb80bb9-d832-425b-b42c-d3eb2071bbec&DisplayLang=en

So who do you call when a security vendor has a security lapse?

At VeriSign, we help you maximize the value of your information and network security investment and minimize your security risk exposure. VeriSign® Managed Security Services (MSS) apply our people, processes, technology, and intelligence to help enterprises prevent, detect, and respond to vulnerabilities and threats in real time.

http://www.verisign.com/managed-security-services/index.html

Now I started this post with that quote because I am going to follow it up with this news item:

Laptop of VeriSign employee stolen

Company investigates theft of notebook PC containing files with employees' personal information, undertakes security measures to guard data…"The company has a policy on how to manage laptops that contain sensitive information and company data -- which in this case was not followed,"

http://www.infoworld.com/article/07/08/07/VeriSign-employee-laptop-stolen_1.html

So I ask just how good is a vendor that provides "Managed Security Services" when they cannot Manage their own laptops. They freely admit they did not secure the laptop or follow their own procedures so are they following them when they manage your network, your secure data, your Firewall or any of the other services they offer to you?

I am not picking on Verisign alone as the constant news of provider and provider that is not do the very basics to protect their corporate information is out of hand. I have customers and I have data related to their networks but is it on a laptop in an unencrypted form? NO! Most of the data I keep on a flash drive using a hidden volume that is encrypted with AES256 and that's just the bare amount I need in case our secure server is down and I can't access it for needed info (admin passwords and such). Do I leave that laptop in the car while I go shopping, NO! Hey it's not rocket science guys, just basic common sense.

So the next time a vendor comes on site and does anything in your network ask them how they store your information, is it secure, do they have a security policy, do they have a notification policy. Given today's ease of access to remote servers there is little or no reason for portable devices to be carry around tons of corporate data and certainly not if it's not being encrypted, oh and a Windows password doesn't cut it!

8 timesaving tips for Windows Vista and the 2007 Microsoft Office release

Source: http://www.microsoft.com/atwork/getworkdone/computingtips.mspx by Stephanie Krieger

No matter what your computer experience, when you start using new versions of the software you most depend on, it can take some time to discover favorite new features and timesavers. So, think of this article as a shortcut to some great new shortcuts.

While no single article could possibly include them all, each of the tips that follow either does more than I expected at first glance or simplifies something I need to do regularly.

Find whatever you need, when you need it

You need to find information in a document you recently reviewed, but don't recall the document name or location. Or, perhaps that information was actually in an e-mail message or on a Web site you recently visited. Windows Vista Instant Search doesn't care where your information is. Like a loyal bloodhound, Instant Search will find almost anything you seek.

Just type one or more keywords in the search box at the bottom of the Start menu and then click the magnifying glass icon that appears beside the box. Within seconds, the closest matches for your search appear right in the Start menu, categorized by type of content. For example, in the image that follows, notice that the results for my keyword webcasts include Web sites I've recently visited, some documents, and several e-mail messages. If you don't see what you need in those immediate results, click See All Results to see all relevant files, Web pages, e-mail messages, and e-mail attachments. Or, to search the Internet for your keywords, click Search the Internet and Windows Vista takes you directly to Web search results for your keywords on Live.com (Windows Live Search, formerly MSN Search).

View and copy document content without opening the document

Need to check some figures on one of several sheets in a Microsoft Office Excel 2007 workbook or copy some content from a Microsoft Office Word 2007 document? Don't spend extra time opening the program and then opening your document. Windows Explorer in Windows Vista offers a new Preview pane that enables you to view all parts of your document, and even copy content, directly from Windows Explorer. Notice, for example, the data selected in the preview of a sample Excel workbook in the image that follows.

To open the Preview pane, on the Start menu click Computer to open a Windows Explorer window, or press Windows+E. On the Windows Explorer toolbar, click Organize, point to Layout, and then click Preview. Note that once the Preview pane is open, you can drag the left edge of the pane to reduce or increase its size.

Restore previous file versions

You're revising an important document and realize that the content you deleted an hour ago is information you still need. Are you out of luck? Do you have to recreate it? If you're running Windows Vista Ultimate or Business editions, you could be in luck. These editions of Windows Vista include a shadow copy feature that enables you to access or restore previously saved versions of a document.

To see if a shadow copy exists for your document, do the following in Windows Explorer:

Find files more easily with new sort and filter options

If you're like most computer users, including myself, you may often save documents and other files to the same folders, so that you have a tremendous amount of files in a single location. Windows Vista has a number of new tools to help you organize and locate folder content more easily, but my favorite is the set of new sort and filter options you get for any folder.

When you open a folder in a Windows Explorer, point to any column heading (such as Name or Date Modified) and you'll see a dropdown arrow. Click that arrow for a pop-up menu of options including the ability to sort, filter, group, and stack the files. For example, take a look at the options available for the Date Modified fields shown in the following image.

Browse folders quickly and easily

In addition to pop-up menu options for Windows Explorer column headings, Windows Explorer in Windows Vista categorizes the file path for you in the Address Bar, so that you can easily find your way to or from any folder on your system.

As you see in the image that follows, just click the dropdown arrow beside any folder name in the file path to access a list of available subfolders.

To access or copy the full path name in traditional format, just click the empty space in the address bar to the right of the last folder in the path. When you click, the full path name will appear, selected, as you see in the next image.

  img border="0" src="http://www.microsoft.com/library/media/1033/atwork/images/getworkdone/Address-Bar---2.gif" alt="Address Bar in Windows Vista" width="303" height="38">

See your formatting before it happens

If you're already using the 2007 Office release, you know that Windows Vista does not have an exclusive on cool, new features. One of my favorite new timesaving tools in the 2007 Office release is Live Preview.

Just point to an entry in most formatting galleries across Word, Excel, and PowerPoint to automatically see what that selection will look like applied to your document. For example, point to a document theme in the Themes gallery (available on the Page Layout tab in Word or Excel, or the Design tab in PowerPoint) to see how applicable theme colors, fonts, and effects will look applied to your active document. Or, select a SmartArt diagram and then point to an entry in the SmartArt Styles gallery to see how that style will look applied to your diagram.

With Live Preview, you no longer have to apply formatting to see how it will look in your document. Just point to entries until you see the one you like, and then click once and you're done.

Mix and match your formatting across Office 2007 programs

In previous versions of Microsoft Office, you could copy Word styles from one document to another, copy colors from one Excel workbook to another, or copy masters from one PowerPoint presentation to another. But, what if you wanted to use the same formatting that's in your Word document in a related PowerPoint presentation or Excel workbook? You'd need to recreate that formatting, of course.

The 2007 Office release introduces Document Themes, which enable you to apply coordinated sets of colors, fonts, and graphic effects to an entire Word, Excel, or PowerPoint document with just a click. The same themes (including custom themes you create) are available in all three programs, so that you can easily coordinate all of your documents. What's more, you can apply a theme from any existing 2007 release Word, Excel, or PowerPoint document to any other document in any of the three programs.

To do this, on the Page Layout tab in Word or Excel, or the Design tab in PowerPoint, click Themes and then click Browse for Themes as you see here.

The Choose Theme or Themed Document dialog box will open, where you can select any Word, Excel, or PowerPoint file, as well as any theme file, to apply its theme to your active document.

Stephanie Krieger
Stephanie Krieger is a Microsoft Office System MVP as well as author of the books Advanced Microsoft Office Documents 2007 Edition Inside Out (February 2007) and Microsoft Office Document Designer. As a professional document consultant, she has helped many global companies develop enterprise solutions for Microsoft Office and taught numerous professionals to build great documents by understanding how the Office programs "think." Stephanie writes regularly for several Microsoft Web pages and frequently delivers Microsoft webcasts. Visit her blog, arouet.net, for Microsoft Office tips as well as information about new and upcoming publications and webcasts.

Microsoft 2008 and Beyond, Notice Anything Missing?

I'll give you a hint, I blogged about it just a few weeks ago. Give? Windows XP SP3! Now yes they could have left it off as they wanted to focus on "New" products however not they clearly list Vista SP1 and that they are going to release Longhorn and Longhorn SP1 so why not list XP SP3? I think this is further confirmation that XP SP3 will not be released as a "SP" but probably a "Security Roll Up" or similar title.

The last thing Microsoft wants to do is give customers and OEMS and reason to continue deploying XP and doing a SP release now would just extend XP Support by years. So release XP SP3 and extend XP support by as much as 5 years or release XP SP3 as a security rollup or other such named product and Mainstream support for XP is ending '09. Which path do you think Microsoft will take?