BBC News - 2010 gears up for explosion of 3D

If 2009 was dominated by touch technology then 2010 looks set to be the year of 3D.

3D has been one of the biggest hits of the cinemas this year and it is likely to continue its stride into other mediums during 2010, experts agree.

TV manufacturer LG wants to sell nearly half a million 3D-ready TV sets next year as the World Cup kicks off in the format.

Meanwhile laptops and games consoles are also getting a 3D makeover.

Acer has already released what it is claiming is the world's first 3D-capable laptop, and most agree it will be the first of many.

One critic likened the screen of the Acer Inspire 5738DZG to that of a 1960's cinema "but in laptop form". Others have dismissed the 3D capability as a gimmick, but most agree that it will be the start of a glut of similar machines.

Acer has created its 3D effect by putting a polarising filter over the screen which splits images into separate streams.

When combined with a pair of polarising glasses (and the laptop comes with a free pair) it allows users to view content in 3D.

Some movie trailers come preloaded on the laptop, while software called TriDef 3D can add a third dimension to PC games, DVDs and video footage with varying degrees of success.

Microsoft is watching developments in the field with interest. Julie Larson-Green, Microsoft's vice president of user experience believes the technology will play a major role over the next decade.

"A 3D spatial camera inside a computer will offer a new way to interact with content. It will allow people to spatially organise things with older things farther away," she said.

BBC News - 2010 gears up for explosion of 3D

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Kirk Evans Blog : Using the Virtual Earth Control in SharePoint

Kirk Evans Blog : Using the Virtual Earth Control in SharePoint


Well with nothing much to do on the holiday I am learning Virtual Earth, and I came across this interesting blog post on getting Virtual Earth connected to SharePoint.

Kirk Evans Blog : Using the Virtual Earth Control in SharePoint

Kirk Evans Blog : Using the Virtual Earth Control in SharePoint


Well with nothing much to do on the holiday I am learning Virtual Earth, and I came across this interesting blog post on getting Virtual Earth connected to SharePoint/

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The '00s, the Good, the Bad and the Ugly

Major IT technology events of the past decade that will change the future

In no particular order


iPod
Blackberry
Virtual Machines
Multi-Core
PHP
.NET
HTMLX
RSS
micro-Blogging (blogging starting in the 1990s)
Second Life
Google Ad Sense
Google Search
YouTube
Twitter
Facebook
Amazon Web Services
SalesForce.com
Windows XP
Windows 2003 Server
Netbook
iPhone
SharePoint
Google Calendar

And some flops from the last decade

Winodws Vista
Google Docs
Google Wave (I am coming out early on this one)
Office 2007
Yahoo
PopFly
Friendster
UDDI (ever use it)
Semantic Web (I just don't see it taking off)

And major social events which have impacted (for good or bad) IT technology

Soccer Moms (no matter how much damage they are doing to their kids, their need to stay in control 24/7 has been a major boon to technology)
George W. Bush (history will some day right how having a President who did not understand, trust, or care for high technology hurt the US economy and promoted China and India)
The break down of society (well growing isolation has driven more and more people to the web)
Global Warming (need to produce less carbon? have people work from home and communicate via the Internet)
Trade Liberalization (Now you could have all your staff in India you want to be able to have your information workers there connected by the Internet)
Lack of political reform (people are going to YouTube and Twitter almost out of desperation)
Stress (In the end high tech gadgets are really ways of taking you mind off other things)

Windows Mobile

Putting my a*s out for once, predictions for 2010

For years I have been making predictions of the coming year in IT, only to remember when I was right (SharePoint would boom in 2008) and forget some of the wrong ones (Second Life would explode 2007), so here I am going to put my back side down and make some predictions.

1. Uptake of SharePoint 2010 will be slow: reason, few new features at cost of requiring 64 bit conversion.
2. SharePoint 2010 though will be taken up more as a Cloud. With cuts made recently in staff and IT how many firms really have the ability to migrate to 64 bit server farms. And who really can use the new technologies to reduce carbon footprint. SharePoint 2010 I believe will mark the point at which SharePoint becomes a Cloud product.
3. Virtual World market will become highly profitable, via the sale of virtual goods.
4. More and more small devices like iPods, iSlates, Droids, eReaders and other will put pressure on the netbook market, but the netbooks will survive by becoming as rich as current laptops. That is the line between netbook and laptop will blur as laptops get smaller. This prediction comes from my back having lugged a laptop around too long.
5. Azure will not do well. From people I have spoken too its just not a competitive Cloud offering.
6. Jobs in IT will start to rebound and boom. After doing some recent work with OSGrid I am struct by the massive amounts of manual work that will need to be done in VR, augment reality, and Semantic Web, and India and Brazil won't be able to consume it all. The next 5 years will be about both booming IT in the developed and developing world.
7. Windows 7 takes wind out of sale of Linux. Just saying, not celebrating or cheering, but I could not find even an Eee PC with Linux for sale anywhere in London high streets this Christmas. And that is despite Linux having a far better offering right now.
8. Augment Reality. This thing is going to be the biggest money maker yet on the web. There I said it. Not all next year but over the coming 10 the ability to reduce lines, facilitate interactions, find goods and services in your language, provide translations, spot threats, and keep social networks will make this huge.
9. Bling vs. Google will be a windfall for content producers, including bloggers. Google presently has a monopoly of surfacing the web and placing ads in content, and they act like it. The rise of Bling will produce real competition in this space.
10. 3D web will save the desk top. 2008-2009 was about the web you could see with one eye shut, 2010 will see the massive display and rich 3D web getting people back on their desktops.

Microsoft confirms IIS hole - The H Security: News and Features

Microsoft has confirmed the security hole in its IIS web server, but hasn't disclosed which versions of the product are affected. According to the finder of the "semi-colon bug", versions up to and including version 6 are vulnerable. The hole allows attackers, for instance, to camouflage executable ASP files as harmless JPEG files and upload malicious code to a server.

Microsoft confirms IIS hole - The H Security: News and Features

Well thanks. Something is wrong with one of the IIS, but we can't know which one yet.

Luck for us we can get better information

Secunia has confirmed the vulnerability “on a fully patched Windows Server 2003 R2 SP2 running Microsoft IIS version 6. Other versions may also be affected”.

Secunia has confirmed the vulnerability

Looks like a serious bug with he standard configuration of Windows Server.  Probably good reason to move to Window 2008 Server with IIS 7, but I have not been able to confirm that this is NOT impacted as well.

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SharePoint Taxonomy and Metadata 11-19-09

Check out this SlideShare Presentation:

SharePoint Taxonomy and Metadata 11-19-09

View more presentations from slemieux.

2010 the year of cloud-computing...M&A | The Open Road - CNET News

Cloud computing is still more attractive to venture capitalists than it is to enterprise IT buyers, and that's unlikely to change in 2010. As IT buyers warm to the idea and implementation of cloud computing, 2010 is going to prove to be a very big year for cloud-computing M&A as big-fish vendors like VMWare, Microsoft, IBM, and Oracle round out their cloud product portfolios with little-fish innovators.

2010 the year of cloud-computing...M&A | The Open Road - CNET News

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BBC NEWS | Technology | Social media challenges social rules

One of the most trenchant criticisms of this "social reporting" came from Paul Carr on the technology blog Techcrunch UK, where he argues that "her behaviour had nothing to do with getting the word out; it wasn't about preventing harm to others, but rather a simple case of "look at me looking at this'".

BBC NEWS | Technology | Social media challenges social rules

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BBC News - Mobiles offer new view of reality

Virtual Reality has been a mainstay of sci-fi for decades but 2010 could see a pared-down version become mainstream.

Augmented reality (AR) has had a quiet launch on mobile handsets but it set to explode next year, experts say.

AR is a technology that allows data from the web to be overlaid on a view of the physical world.

Although a relatively small sector at the moment, analyst firm Juniper Research predicts that AR will generate incomes of $732m (£653m) by 2014.

AR allows mobile operators to combine the increasing functionality of smartphones, such as GPS, video and accelerometers, with the increasingly available number of location-based apps.

Already mobile phones use location technology to help people find their way around, such as an iPhone app developed by UK firm Acrossair to help people find their nearest tube station.

BBC News - Mobiles offer new view of reality

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top ten sexy geeks 2010 | violet blue ® :: open source sex

top ten sexy geeks 2010 | violet blue ® :: open source sex

Surprisingly I was overlooked for another year.

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BBC News - Technology changes 'outstrip' netbooks

Rising prices and better alternatives may mean curtains for netbooks.

The small portable computers were popular in 2009, but some industry watchers are convinced that their popularity is already waning.

"The days of the netbook are over," said Stuart Miles, founder and editor of technology blog Pocket Lint.

As prices edge upwards, net-using habits change and other gadgets take on their functions, netbooks will become far less popular, he thinks.

"Technology has advanced so much that it's outmanoeuvred itself," he said. "You wouldn't go for something so basic anymore."

His prediction stems from his belief that the netbooks of 2009 are losing touch with what made them so appealing.

BBC News - Technology changes 'outstrip' netbooks


By the way my opinion is that "Laptops" will continue to get smaller so they will become netbooks.

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Technology Predictions Are Mostly Bunk

Technology Predictions Are Mostly Bunk

Arthur C. Clarke, the science fiction writer, identified what he called the "three laws of prediction," reflecting an optimistic view of ingenuity: 1. When a distinguished but elderly scientist states that something is possible, he is almost certainly right. When he states that something is impossible, he is very probably wrong; 2. The only way of discovering the limits of the possible is to venture past them into the impossible; and 3. Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.

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How to install virtualbox on Ubuntu 9.04 and run WindowsXP as virtual OS

How to install virtualbox on Ubuntu 9.04 and run WindowsXP as virtual OS

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Social Media News and Web Tips – Mashable – The Social Media Guide

Social media is growing fast, but how fast? Using Tweepsearch to search bios on Twitter profiles, blogger B. L. Ochman found there were 4,487 social media experts in May 2009. Today there are 15,740.

Social Media News and Web Tips – Mashable – The Social Media Guide

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Extensible Application Markup Language - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Extensible Application Markup Language (XAML, pronounced /ˈzæməl/) is a declarative XML-based language created by Microsoft which is used to initialize structured values and objects. It is available under Microsoft's Open Specification Promise.[1] The acronym originally stood for Extensible Avalon Markup Language - Avalon being the code-name for Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF).[2]

Extensible Application Markup Language - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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Eight Technology Pioneers Who Will Change Your Life

Typically, CEOs can't stop talking about the coolest things their products do. Mark Palmer, president of StreamBase, a pioneer in complex event processing (CEP) that's based in Lexington, Mass., can't even start — because the most cutting-edge applications of his product are highly classified.

CEP allows users to analyze information as it streams in, a huge step up from relational databases, in which data first need to be stored before being processed. Whereas most databases can handle hundreds of bits of data per second, StreamBase's platform can process hundreds of thousands of pieces of info, or "events," per second: e-mails, Facebook posts, signals intelligence, audio and video streams — or a combination.

Pair brute processing power with real-time analysis, and you get a sense of how CEP can be useful to an intelligence agency. The platform can search for specific combinations of words or numbers, so if an al-Qaeda suspect whose e-mail address is known started getting messages that included, say, bomb and Washington and martyrdom, an alert would go off. "Terrorism is run by communications through the Internet," Palmer says. "The ability to tap into that stream of data and make real-time decisions is one of the uses of this technology."

It's the commercial applications that will most likely make Palmer's fortune. But it's the things he can't talk about that will help him sleep better.

—Bobby Ghosh

Read more: http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1948486_1948485_1948478,00.html#ixzz0azLauxSV

Eight Technology Pioneers Who Will Change Your Life

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Augmented Reality with Silverlight

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One Laptop per Child Official Blog

One Laptop per Child Official Blog

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Kindle Ebooks Outsell Real Books on Christmas

Last month, Amazon’s Kindle broke sales records as it was once again a hot item to give this holiday season. When countless people turned on their new Christmas Kindles for the first time yesterday, what do you think was the first thing that they did? That’s right: they bought ebooks to fill up their Kindle hard drives. A lot of them.

Kindle Ebooks Outsell Real Books on Christmas

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Apple stock soars to all-time high -- latimes.com

Santa arrived early for Apple Inc. shareholders: The stock surged $6.94, or 3.4%, on Thursday to close at a record high of $209.04. That topped the previous closing high of $207 on Nov. 17.

The buzz continues to build about the company's widely anticipated -- albeit unconfirmed -- tablet computer. The Financial Times reported that Apple has rented a stage at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco in late January, most likely for a product announcement.

An Apple tablet, which some speculate might be called the "iPad," is expected to be a cross between the iPhone, with its touch-sensitive screen and numerous useful applications, and the Amazon Kindle reading device, with its much larger screen.

But as the Financial Times notes, "Apple has explored making tablet style devices for years, only to back off. The company also has a history of scrapping products very close to their scheduled launch dates."

Apple stock soars to all-time high -- latimes.com

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BBC News - Augmented reality apps for mobile phones

Augmented reality apps for mobile phones are reporter Dan Simmons's tech pick of 2009.

BBC News - Augmented reality apps for mobile phones

Good introduction to augmented reality.

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BBC News - Augmented reality apps for mobile phones

Augmented reality apps for mobile phones.

BBC News - Augmented reality apps for mobile phones

I wish BBC would let me impede these things but what are you going to do?

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Web 3.0

I am going to be changing this blog a bit in the new year. This is not that I have lost interest in SharePoint or the entire question of collaboration. It is because SharePoint and Enterprise Collaboration have won. Four years ago there was kind of a point to make, that point is turning in to a bandwagon.

Also my reviews of SharePoint 2010 and Wave make me believe that a technical blog about implementing SharePoint will be of less and less value, as I can see that this is all going to the Cloud very quickly. I started this blog thinking about the ecosystem of Gold Partners with less than 400 staff who implement SharePoint. I now see that the SharePoint ecosystem is going to change a great deal over the coming years.

So where do I plan to go? Well I will still follow SharePoint 2010 and other trends in collaboration. But right now what is catching my eye more and more is the 3D web. I keep thinking of Marvin Minksy in Society of the Mind that a vision system would need to have all the Semantic knowledge to be a language system. That is that we are not going to get meaning out of the web via Semantics, because text as a final product can only be so understood by programs Google and Bling. We are going to get more meaning out of the web by making it 3D.

Right now SharePoint is not even in this space. Google and Microsoft are fighting it out with SkethUp and 3Dvia but it really is Second Life which is the ground breaker in this field. And this field is still out there enough to be interesting and risky enough to be fun.

I will continue to blog about SharePoint but hell what do I have to prove, SharePoint won. If you are not using it at work you probably will be in 2 years time. SharePoint is almost at the point of becoming dull. I mean who would want to write a blog only about Exchange Server?

I want to keep things moving in the general direction of computers and meaning. Right now installing a SharePoint server farm is on the point of becoming a commodity. But how to make a computer structure that reduces search time and improves collaboration beyond what search enginges can do it where its at.

Trends in intranet usage

This sounds like a check list of SharePoint features.

The Second Life Great Expedition: Christmas and Open Source

My annual who owns Christmas blog 2009

I don't really "do" Christmas at all. Memorable Christmases the the past 10 years include being snowed in at Kent during Boxing Day, drinking a can of beer out of a brown paper bag and eating Chinese food.

When you don't really do Christmas you see what a lousy time of year it is, a time really needing a mass bribe of gifts and food to get most people through. Its hard to imagine that this, the coldest shortest days of the year where the streets are full of traffic and litter, is to most people living in places like America and Europe the "best" time of the year.

For me Christmas has long ago become an economic activity, the time in which consumers push the economy for one more year despite the best efforts of bankers to ruin it.

Don't get me wrong, Christmas makes a lot of people a lot of money, including small shops. So I don't want to get in to the entire "is Christmas consumerism good or bad thing" and jump to a more academic issues of Christmas and Open Source.

The thing about Christmas, unlike say interviews with Tiger Wood's lovers or Beatles songs, is that no one owns it and after almost 1,000 years of use no one can own it. I mean maybe after the Second Coming the Lord Jesus Christ might move to have his birth registered as a trademark and despite anything we might say about fair use or lack of appropriate IP laws covering Roman Empire administration of the Middle East he probably would get his way. Then again if anyone could beat Jesus in a straight up fight it would be a bunch of lawyers, but I digress.

NOTHING creates wealth like Christmas. Still, it is easy to forget 2 concepts. First, that Christmas is an established pattern of dates and items that could be trademarked and IP protected in another circumstance. For example the estate of Santa could establish that only they can make red hats with white fur to be worn today, or the Catholic Church could demand payment for each nativity set put under of tree. Second, that if someone could do this they could command un-dreamed of wealth. Imagine that every store that had a Santa had to pay you $10 a day for its use? Imagine if every family that told its children that Santa had brought gifts owed you just $1 each year. I mean you would be Microsoft doing business just one day a year.

So Christmas is really not that much different than say Windows, Star Wars, or Harry Potter. Its a myth that could, in some distant virtual universe, be a protected trademark.

If Christmas was a protected trade mark it would generate a lot less money for everyone. I mean a lot less. If parents had to pay someone to claim Santa had left gifts under a tree tonight a whole lot of kids would learn that there was no Santa Claus a whole lot earlier. People would quickly come up with other reasons for getting drunk and eating too much during the cold time of year.

And the amount of shopping (for good or bad) that happens in December would collapse. If some MBA in Wall Street and his team of Yale Lawyers could figure out some way to claim exclusive IP rights on Christmas they would make themselves millions at an overall cost to the economy of billions.

And that is the point, "Open Source" can create more wealth. Even with an exclusive product like Windows it is the open uses of the product that make the REAL money. Office makes Microsoft a lot of money, but nothing compared to the money being made by everyone else with Excel files and PowerPoint presentations. Imagine Microsft tried to get a piece of each transaction that went on using its tool, oh then it would be Google.

So this Christmas just think how you and yours can make Christmas from uncompiled source code you had been downloading all your life, and how much collective economic activity and to some extent collective joy this Open Source item creates.


The Second Life Great Expedition: Christmas and Open Source

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BBC News - OLPC unveils slimline tablet PC

The group behind the $100 laptop has revealed the design for its latest computer aimed at connecting children in the developing world.

The XO-3, as it is known, is a slim-line touchscreen tablet PC.

One Laptop per Child (OLPC) said it would be "available in 2012" and would cost "well below $100".

BBC News - OLPC unveils slimline tablet PC

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Indian IT workers losing 12.5% productivity, courtesy social media - Latest IT News, Computer vendors in India, IT Blogs, IT industry in India : Latest IT News

It is estimated that Indian IT employees are losing productivity due to their time spend on social networks. The survey further indicated that each employee is barging its long one working hour on the social media that includes sites like Facebook, Twitter and Google’s Orkut.

Indian IT workers losing 12.5% productivity, courtesy social media - Latest IT News, Computer vendors in India, IT Blogs, IT industry in India : Latest IT News

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The benefits of using collaboration tools in your organization

Do collaboration tools really increase employee productivity? According to some reports, definitely. IDC research shows that the cost of not finding information is $3,300 per employee, per year -- the result of ineffective searches, poor access tools, reformats, revisions and overall inconsistencies in the data.

The benefits of using collaboration tools in your organization

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BBC News - Microsoft Word patent infringement verdict upheld

A US court has upheld a $290m (£182m) verdict against Microsoft in a patent dispute with Canadian company i4i.

The federal appeals court also upheld an injunction banning the company from selling Word software that includes the patented technology in the US.

The injunction is set to go into effect on 11 January.

Microsoft said the ban would prohibit the sale of all available versions of Microsoft Word and Microsoft Office software.

Microsoft was accused by i4i of infringing on a 1998 XML patent in its Word 2003 and Word 2007 programs.

Word uses XML, or Extensible Markup Language, to open .XML, .DOCX, and .DOCM files.

Microsoft said it might file further appeals, but that it was "moving quickly" to comply with the injunction.

"We have been preparing for this possibility since the District Court issued its injunction in August 2009 and have put the wheels in motion to remove this little-used feature from these products," Microsoft said.

"Therefore, we expect to have copies of Microsoft Word 2007 and Office 2007, with this feature removed, available for US sale and distribution by the injunction date.

"While we are moving quickly to address the injunction issue, we are also considering our legal options."

BBC News - Microsoft Word patent infringement verdict upheld

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Collaboration and Content Strategies Blog

Blogger: Larry Cannell

1. SharePoint 2010 is required to run the Office 2010 Web Apps on an intranet - unless you are willing to run the ad-supported free version.
2. Office 2010 can find files to open or insert on SharePoint as easily as files stored on the C: drive – A user’s “SharePoint Sites” is a list available under the Office client application “Favorites” dialog, alongside of “Documents”. This list can be managed by either the user or an administrator.
3. Office 2010 can save documents to SharePoint as quickly as C: (even with SharePoint Online) – The Office 2010 client applications have a new feature that caches documents in local storage and communicates to SharePoint 2010 through the MS-FSSHTTP protocol. In short, the Office client application only communicates changes made to the file (not the whole file) to SharePoint. This will make the save operate very fast.
4. For some Office/SharePoint 2010 scenarios, using a web browser will be optional – An Office client application can fetch document templates directly from SharePoint (these are associated with SharePoint Content Types), manage SharePoint-stored metadata (terms and/or tags) assigned to a document, and can even fulfill workflow steps for SharePoint-based processes associated with a document. None of these functions requires the use of a web browser.
5. SharePoint 2010 facilitates multi-authoring of Office 2010 documents – Multiple people can be simultaneously working on (for example) a Word document or an Excel spreadsheet. To do this, the file must originate on SharePoint, which becomes the real-time hub for this interaction (using the MS-FSSHTTP protocol).
6. Taking SharePoint content offline requires SharePoint Workspace – This is the role Outlook 2007 played with SharePoint 2007. For 2010, SharePoint Workspace synchronizes lists (e.g., document libraries, calendars, announcements, custom lists) with SharePoint. SharePoint Workspace will be available with Office Professional Pro.

Collaboration and Content Strategies Blog

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HP Touch, Touch finally coming of age?

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BBC - Newsbeat - Pupils 'bypassing school internet security'

Many young people are using 'proxy servers' to get round their schools' internet security systems. The free services offer instant access to banned websites, including online games and social networking. Figures suggest the use of proxies has risen sharply in recent years. Security experts are warning that pupils who log on put themselves at risk of cyber crime.

BBC - Newsbeat - Pupils 'bypassing school internet security'

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Content-Search Deals Make Twitter Profitable - BusinessWeek

Twitter is ending 2009 on a high note. The microblogging site has reached profitability after inking $25 million of deals that make its content searchable by Google (GOOG) and Microsoft (MSFT), Bloomberg BusinessWeek has learned.

Content-Search Deals Make Twitter Profitable - BusinessWeek

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Windows Server 2008 R2: Why Upgrade to Windows Server 2008 R2?

Why Upgrade to Windows Server 2008 R2?

Overview the Top 10 Reasons to Upgrade

1. Powerful Hardware and Scaling Features

Windows Server 2008 R2 was designed to perform as well or better for the same hardware base as Windows Server 2008. In addition, R2 is the first Windows Server operating system to move solely to a 64-bit architecture.

Windows Server 2008 R2 also has several CPU-specific enhancements. First, this version expands CPU support to enable customers to run with up to 256 logical processors. R2 also supports Second Level Translation (SLAT), which enables R2 to take advantage of the Enhanced Page Tables feature found in the latest AMD CPUs as well as the similar Nested Page Tables feature found in Intel’s latest processors. The combination enables R2 servers to run with much improved memory management.

Components of Windows Server 2008 R2 have received hardware boosts as well. Hyper-V in Windows Server 2008 R2 can now access up to 64 logical CPUs on host computers—twice Hyper-V’s initial number of supported CPUs. This capability not only takes advantage of new multicore systems, it also means greater virtual machine consolidation ratios per physical host.

2. Reduced Power Consumption

Windows Server 2008 introduced a 'balanced' power policy, which monitors the utilization level of the processors on the server and dynamically adjusts the processor performance states to limit power to the needs of the workload. Windows Server 2008 R2 enhances this power saving feature by adding Core Parking and expanding on power-oriented Group Policy settings.

Active Directory® Domain Services Group Policy in Windows Server 2008 already gave administrators a certain amount of control over power management on client PCs. These capabilities are enhanced in Windows Server 2008 R2 and Windows® 7 to provide even more precise control in more deployment scenarios for even greater potential savings.

3. Hyper-V in Windows Server 2008 R2

Windows Server 2008 R2 also holds the much-anticipated update to Microsoft’s virtualization technology, Hyper-V™. The new Hyper-V™ was designed to augment both existing virtual machine management as well as to address specific IT challenges, especially around server migration.

Hyper-V™ is an enabling technology for one of Windows Server 2008 R2’s marquee features, Live Migration. With Hyper-V version 1.0, Windows Server 2008 was capable of Quick Migration, which could move VMs between physical hosts with only a few seconds of down-time. Still, those few seconds were enough to cause difficulties in certain scenarios, especially those including client connections to VM-hosted servers. With Live Migration, moves between physical targets happen in milliseconds, which means migration operations become invisible to connected users.

Customers employing System Center Virtual Machine Manager for Hyper-V will also enjoy additional management and orchestration scenarios, including a new VM-oriented Performance and Resource Optimization feature and updated support for managing failover clusters.

The new Hyper-V™ also has core performance enhancements, including the previously mentioned ability to take advantage of up to 64 logical processors and to beef up that CPU performance with host support for Second Level Translation (SLAT). Finally, VMs can also add and remove storage without requiring a reboot and also boot from VHD as well.

4. Reduced Desktop Costs with VDI

Much of the interest in virtualization solutions is in the server world. However, equally exciting advances are being made in presentation virtualization, where processing happens on a server optimized for capacity and availability while graphics, keyboard, mouse, and other user I/O functions are handled at the user’s desktop.

Windows Server 2008 R2 contains enhanced Virtual Desktop Integration (VDI) technology, which extends the functionality of Terminal Services to deliver certain business programs to their employee’s remote desktops. With VDI,  programs that Remote Desktop Services sends to a computer are now available on the Start menu right alongside programs that are locally installed. This approach provides improved desktop virtualization and better application virtualization.

Desktop virtualization will benefit from features including improved personalization management, a near-invisible integration of virtualized desktops and applications in Windows 7, better audio and graphics performance, a seriously cool Web access update and more. VDI provides more efficient use of virtualized resources and better integration with local peripheral hardware as well as powerful new virtual management features.

5. Easier and More Efficient Server Management

Although increasing the capabilities of your server operating system is always a good thing, the perceived downside has always been additional complexity and workload for day-to-day server managers. Windows Server 2008 R2 specifically addresses this problem with lots of work evident across all of its management-oriented consoles. Features in these tools include:

• Improved data center power consumption and management, as evidenced earlier

• Improved remote administration, including a remotely-installable Server Manager

• Improved identity management features via the updated and simplified Active Directory Domain Services and Active Directory Federated Services

Windows Server 2008 R2 also improves on the popular PowerShell feature introduced in Windows Server 2008. PowerShell 2.0 significantly enhances the earlier version with the inclusion of more than 240 new pre-built cmdlets as well as a new graphical user interface (GUI) that adds professional-level development features for creating new cmdlets. The new GUI includes colored syntaxing, new production script debugging capabilities, and new testing tools.

6. Managing Data Not just Managing Storage

Managing storage isn’t just about managing disks. Storage volume is increasing at a 51% compounded annual growth rate between 2008 and 2012 according to IDC. To keep pace and stay competitive, organizations must begin managing data, not just disks. Windows Server 2008 R2 gives IT administrators the tools for precisely this kind of initiative with the new File Classification Infrastructure (FCI). This new features builds an extensible and automated classification mechanism on top of existing shared file architectures; this enables IT administrators to direct specific actions for specific files based on entirely customizable classification. FCI is also extensible to partners, which means Windows Server 2008 R2 users can expect to see additional capabilities around FCI being delivered by ISVs in the near future.

7. Ubiquitous Remote Access

Today’s mobile workforce is increasing the demand on IT to provide remote access to corporate resources. However, managing remote computers is an ongoing challenge, with low wide are network (WAN) bandwidth and sporadic connection and re-connection processes interfering with lengthier desktop management tasks such as Group Policy changes and up-to-date patching.

Windows Server 2008 R2 introduces a new type of connectivity called DirectAccess—a powerful way for remote users to seamlessly access corporate resources without requiring a traditional VPN connection and client software. Using technologies that shipped in Windows Server 2008, Microsoft has added simple management wizards that enable administrators to configure SSTP and IPv6 across both R2 and Windows 7 clients to enable the basic DirectAccess connection, and then augment that connection with additional R2 management and security tools, including management policies and NAP.

With DirectAccess, every user is considered remote all of the time. Users are no longer required to distinguish between local and remote connections. DirectAccess handles all of these distinctions in the background. IT professionals retain precise access control and full perimeter security, helping to ease both desktop security and management headaches on both sides of the connection.

8. Improved Branch Office Performance and Management

Many branch office IT architectures have relatively low bandwidth. Slow WAN links impact the productivity of branch office employees waiting to access content from the main office, and costs for branch office bandwidth allocation can amount to as much as 33 % of overall corporate IT spending. To address this challenge, Windows Server 2008 R2 introduces a feature called BranchCache™, which reduces WAN utilization and improves the responsiveness of network applications.

With BranchCache™, clients who request access to data on the organization's network are sent directions to the file on the local (branch office) network if the file has ever been requested there before. If the file is stored locally, those clients get immediate high-speed access. Such files can be stored either on a local BranchCache™ server for larger branch offices or simply on local Windows 7 PCs.

9. Simplified Management for SMBs

With Windows Server 2008 R2, Microsoft is focusing more attention at the SMB and mid-market customer. This new focus provides these customers with a rich landscape of Microsoft product offerings, from Small Business Server up to Windows Essential Business Server and now Windows Server 2008 Standard. All SKUs are being outfitted with new management tools to make SMB IT Pro life easier.

Active Directory’s new Active Directory Administration Center is one example—all those disparate management GUIs now hosted in a single interface and all based on PowerShell. Additionally, there are the Best Practice Analyzers, which Microsoft has extended to every server role to keep all your server configs in sync with the latest know-how.

And last but not least, there’s the new Windows Server Backup utility. Long a second-class citizen, this updated, in-the-box backup app has been significantly upgraded to include more granular support for designing backup jobs, including support for system state operations; and, it’s been optimized to run both faster and to use less disk space.

10. The Strongest Web and Application Server To Date

Windows Server 2008 R2: Why Upgrade to Windows Server 2008 R2?

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Web 2.0 Technology Terms

I can't remember where I got this, but an excellent list of Web 2.0 technology terms.

Ajax	b-blog
blog	Blog and Ping
blogger	blogosphere
blogroll	blogsnob
chicklet	computer ontology
Direct Web Remoting (DWR)	dooce
feed	feed aggregator
form	Internet desktop
JavaScript	JSON
JVoiceXML	klog
mashboard	mash-up
microformat	Ontology Web Language
Ontology Web Language for Services	OWL
OWL-S	PHP Voice
plug-in	podcasting
REST	RIA
Rich Internet Application	RSS
SaaS	Semantic Web
Service-Oriented Architecture	SNA
SOAP	social network
social network analysis	social software
Splog	Struts Framework
tag	tag cloud
tagging	Technorati
TrackBack	vlog
vlogosphere	Voice 2.0
walled garden	Web 2.0
Web portal	Web services
webafied	wiki
World Wide Web	WSDL
XML	XMLHttpRequest

Young people negotiate Copenhagen deal using Google Wave: A cool use for Google Wave is FOUND!!!!

Among the millions of people scrutinising the final week of Copenhagen, more than a thousand of them will be analysing events using an particularly innovative online approach. The Global Youth Panel is a team of more than 1,000 young people from 140 countries who are using Google's much-hyped communication tool Wave to virtually collaborate on a climate change debate.

Young people negotiate Copenhagen deal using Google Wave | Adam Vaughan | Environment | guardian.co.uk

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BBC News - Looking to the future of Le Web

The venue may be a former morgue, but Le Web, one of the largest conferences looking at net-based businesses and technologies, proves the web is very much alive and kicking.

Hosted by Geraldine and Loic Le Meur, the 2,300 attendees spent two days in Paris looking at how the internet has developed and what technologies are likely to shape its evolution.

BBC News - Looking to the future of Le Web

For example I knew it was in a Morgue and I new most of the talks because of contacts on Facebook.

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Wave judgement

I tried, oh how I tried to do something with this tool.

One of the thing all good software needs is the ability to give you something if no one else is out there. Well maybe not email, but in Second Life you can go to an empty SIM and still explore, and SharePoint is useful even beyond collaboration.

But with Wave it like you have a chat group with no one on it. I can't really see how it is more than a rich chat group, but you have to go find the members and talk them in to paticipating.

Using host headers with your head

Okay, I think most of us SharePoint "people" already know that a web application can be given a host header. A host header is a FQDN or Fully qualified domain name. If we are on good talking terms with our DNS experts we can get FQDN URLs like https://portal.company.intranet.com.

Okay, so what can we do with this?

One of the problems with developing Enterprise solutions is that you have clusters of experts who maybe speak to each other for an hour and pass paper work around. For a SharePoint person a FQDN is just something they need to make host headers work.

But to a DNS expert FQDN open the ability to strucutre a intranet space. The FQDN provides an "exact location in the tree hierarchy" of the DNS, which means that a large tree or cluster of names that will help the user understand the Intranet.

Let us say our company intranet has a domain name ourcompany.com. Using DNS FQDN we can define, in DNS, names like portal.ourcompany.com, hr.ourcompany.com, collaboration.ourcompany.com.

By planning this tree out with our DNS team as part of the Information Architecture of SharePoint we can make the structure of the intranet more logical and easier to use.

Americans Consume 100,000 Words, 34 Gigabytes Of Content A Day (STUDY)

Americans Consume 100,000 Words, 34 Gigabytes Of Content A Day (STUDY)

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BBC News - Science goes back to basics on AI

The Mind Machine Project will return to the basics of AI research to re-examine what lies behind human intelligence.

Spanning five years and funded by a $5m (£3.1m) grant, it will bring together scientists who have had success in distinct fields of AI.

By uniting researchers, MIT hopes to produce robotic companions smart enough to aid those suffering from dementia.

"Essentially, we want to rewind to 30 years ago and revisit some ideas that had gotten frozen," said Neil Gershenfeld, one of the scientists leading the MMP and director of the MIT Center for Bits and Atoms.

BBC News - Science goes back to basics on AI

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Talks Pranav Mistry: The thrilling potential of SixthSense technology

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BBC News - Online retailers predict record sales on busiest day

Online, the signs look good. Sales were up 17% last month compared to the same month the year before, the British Retail Consortium said.

BBC News - Online retailers predict record sales on busiest day

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JUNE

The official published word from Microsoft regarding the release date of SharePoint 2010 remains (as it's been since at least the SharePoint Conference) no more specific than, "first half of the year."  Having said that, however, unnamed though reportedly reputable sources began saying recently to expect the official release to occur in June, and Ars Technica has followed up on the mounting anecdotal information with a Microsoft spokesperson, who responded on the record that, "We expect Office 2010 and related products to be generally available in June 2010."

From Bamboo Nation

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Billion pound NHS computer project could be scrapped, Chancellor says - Times Online

After the withdrawal of Accenture and Fujitsu from the project due to spiralling costs in 2006 and 2007, hospital trusts in the South of England have recently been encouraged to buy systems “off the shelf” from a list of other suppliers.

....

The Conservatives have called for a moratorium on Government IT projects, should they win the next election.

Andrew Lansley, the Shadow Health Secretary, said today: “After seven years Labour have finally acknowledged what we’ve said for years, that the procurement for NHS IT was costing billions and not delivering. The opportunity cost to the NHS also measures billions of pounds.

Billion pound NHS computer project could be scrapped, Chancellor says - Times Online

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Uphill Waving

I just had an interesting MSN IM chat with an former co-worker and fellow geek about augmented reality, virtual reality, geo-position, and various other things. In the middle of it I asked "why are we not waving this?". The stuff was pretty good, I could imagine we would both want to develop it and work the ideas later, and yet we just IMed it, which is pretty close to letting it just die there.

So Google Waving has to work against established patterns of real time communication (IM) and non-real time (email, Facebook, Twitter). These other patterns are very established and Wave might just be too late to have an impact.

We did promise we would try to Wave rather than IM, but so far not much of anything.

Team Sites 2010 Review

http://www.wssdemo.com/

A team site looks pretty much like a team site from 2007 and even 2003. Probably no point messing with success. Everything is where you think it should be.




A big change is the ribbons, which mean you load documents up using the ribbon. In 2010 you can't escape use of the Ribbon, its central to collaboration tasks. Therefore it does not make sense to migrate Pre-Office 2007 users to SharePoint 2010.




Silverlight offers some great opportunity, but it is my experience that SharePoint is not tightly integrated with Silverlight in 2010. Make 2014?

Wave vs SharePoint, the battle is on or over before it starts?

Frankly I am not sure where the meme that Wave would confront SharePoint came from. Google already has an alternative to SharePoint function in Google Docs, an alternative which has flopped so far. Looking above you see Wave, which is a very interesting mixture of email, chat and IM. It could be a very powerful collaborative tool, but its rather unstructured. I imagine we will see people creating all kinds of interesting things out of Waves just like we have seen new uses of Twitter emerging from what seemed like a silly tool.




SharePoint 2010 remians a more structured conventional tool. Generally I find SharePoint comes in an replaces something already in place. Companies could be sharing documents via a EDRMS system or on files and will move to Document Shares to reduce cost or make easier. Blogs will be moved to SharePoint. Sometimes even WCM.



SharePoint collaboration is by its nature slower than Wave. SharePoint is not a real time tool, it is a collaborative tool like a library can be a collaborative tool. You check out your document, make your changes, check back in. An old established process just made faster and more automated and extended to the entire Enterprise. There is nothing really new in Web 2.0. My mother essentially had the job that SharePoint does for years.

It is possible that if people start using Wave they may find they need less of the total SharePoint stack. And don't get me wrong Wave is really cool, but at present I am having a hard time finding a better use for it then MSN. In fact so far my Waves have moved to MSN.