Aidan Finn

Alex probably sent me a link ages ago but this past 6 months has been a blur of speaking, writing and email.  Anyway, here’s a link I just found to me talking about what was new in Windows Server 2008 R2 Hyper-V  and VMM 2008 R2.  It’ll be a little out of date compared to the session I gave last week but it’s all still valid – including some of the brain farts about where things could go in the future.  And damn – these PubForum folks sure can ask questions and make the session fun.

I’ve written a guide or quick start document for people wanting to learn about using the Virtual Machine Manager 2008 R2 library to deploy template virtual machines.  The document shows you how to go from your “golden” VM to storing the template and VHD in a library and then to deploy running VM’s from those 2 files.

I’ll probably produce more quick help guides like this as I continue to work with my laptop lab machine.

Last night I made some progress in preparing my demo/lab Windows Server 2008 R2 laptop.  I got VMM 2008 R2 installed.  I was thinking of running it in a VM but I figured that would be a waste of RAM.

I also figured out my RRAS approach to connecting VM’s to the parent partition wifi would not work.  Yes, it could work if the router on the physical network had a route to my virtual network’s IP range but that would only work at home – not at hotels or offices where I might be speaking.  Instead I disabled RRAS and bridged the wifi NIC with the NIC representing my internal virtual network.

The internal virtual network connects the parent partition to all VM’s.  The parent gets a new NIC representing the virtual network.  This has no physical connection to the Ethernet or wifi networks.  I then bridged this network with my wifi NIC.  Problem solved.

For the wired NIC I can create another external virtual network.

As a result I can disable DHCP on my parent partition.  The VM’s on my two virtual networks are able to get IP address configurations from the physical network.

My parent partition is a DC for itself so I need to be wary of DNS.  The DC is a DNS.  I made sure to set DNS on the NIC’s to 127.0.0.1.  DNS is configured to forward to OpenDNS.

I got my first template VM set up.  Documentation on the process is to follow later today/tonight.

There’s a story on TechCentral that reports that Ireland is still awash in infected USB sticks, e.g. by Conficker.  There was a reporter/photographer on site when we were doing the Belfast launch events for Exchange 2010, Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2.  Dave Northey of Microsoft Ireland asked if he could get some of the photos.  The photographer hander over a USB stick and Dave joked about “hoping there aren’t any viruses on there”.

Dave plugged in the stick and that’s when Microsoft Security Essentials popped up an alert.  The free antivirus package for homes and SOHO’s found Conficker which was then automatically cleaned up.  Yeap, those infected sticks are still running wild!

Microsoft released the System Center Configuration Analyzer a little ago.  I’m setting VMM 2008 R2 up on my new demo laptop so I decided to do a little blogging.  You’ll find that the VMM 2008 R2 installer splash screen also has a link for this tool.  I use the order of the hyperlinks in that splash screen as my working order to install VMM 2008 R2.

There’s a simple requirement: Install Microsoft Baseline Configuration Analyser.  Once you have that installed then kick off the MSI for the VMMCA:

The setup is the usual next-next fare which isn’t worth wasting the kilobits over :-)

The tool is really pretty simple.  Specify the name of the machine(s) that will run each of the VMM roles.  The tool then goes off and scans them.

It then generates a report as “C:\Program Files\Virtual Machine Manager Configuration Analyzer\report.html” which is automatically opened in your browser.  As you can see, I had no issues – this is a new install of Windows Server 2008 R2 with IIS installed.

I can also run this tool if I’m having problems with VMM 2008 R2 to see if it can detect issues.  It’s small and it’s handy.

Today I received my additional 4GB RAM and an eSATA hard drive caddy.  The Dell Latitude 6500 takes 2 memory boards.  The original in mine had 4GB RAM.  I added an additional 4GB board this morning.  I’m running Windows 7 x64 on my smaller hard disk so I’ll be able to use all that memory when booted up in the desktop OS.

There’s an eSATA socket which gives me great performance for external storage.  I had installed Windows Server 2008 R2 on the Dell supplied 250GB SATA disk.  I don’t want to be “opening” up the laptop and using a screwdriver every time I want to change OS.  Plus I didn’t want to do native VHD because it would eat up disk space on a single laptop disk.

I put the Server disk into the caddy.  Plugging in it’s two cables into the laptop (USB power and eSATA) gives me that disk.  When I hit F12 to see my boot options the disk caddy appears – as the next boot device after the internal disk.  I can select it and go into my Hyper-V demo environment.  How sweet is that?  The caddy was around €25 including courier delivery, is not much bigger than a 2.5” SATA drive and comes with a little wallet to protect it.  This is a seriously cool and flexible demo lab now.

This is the session I did with the UK and Ireland (me only) Microsoft MVP’s at the open day in the MS Reading office last week.  I’ve updated the slide deck.  There’s no NDA content in there.

Microsoft has published a free Virtual Machine Migration Test Wizard.  This allows you to test different VM migration scenarios.  The main issue is processor compatibility, e.g. you cannot migrate between Intel/AMD.  You also (without pre-configuration) cannot migrate between different generations of processor e.g. from an old Intel to a new Intel processor.  There’s a tickbox to disable advanced processor functionality and allow smooth migration.

This tool with work on domain joined, Windows Server 2008 R2 (or higher) hosts where you have local admin rights and .NET 3.5 or later is installed.

I ordered an external eSATA disk caddy today.  I’m going to try run the W2008 R2 Hyper-V image from that instead of swapping internal drives in my new laptop.  I’ve no idea if it’ll work or not.  Even if it doesn’t I can buy a drive to put in the caddy to store VM’s.  Why eSATA?  Because it runs a lot faster than USB 2.0.

I got a new laptop yesterday.  It’s primary role will be to run Hyper-V and VMM so I can use it for user group events, various speaking engagements, writing work, etc.  It’s a pretty powerful machine:

• Dell Latitude 6500
• Intel Centrino dual core 2.8GHz
• 1 * 4GB RAM
• 7.6K 250GB SATA drive
• Long life battery

The first thing I did last night was order an additional 4GB of RAM to max it out at 8GB.  That’ll allow me to run lots of VM’s.  I had a few options on how I would build the OS on this machine.  It will be running Windows Server 2008 R2 but I also want to use it for normal stuff, i.e. Windows 7.

I considered setting up a boot-from-VHD option:

• Windows 7 native with Server in a VHD.  The problem here is that I’d like to run demo machines on the internal disk where possible in smaller demos.
• Server native with Windows 7 in a VHD.  The problem here is that the VHD would really have to be quite big and eat up disk.

That’s when I remembered I had another 160GB 7.6K SATA drive.  I’ve installed Windows 7 on the 160GB drive and Windows Server 2008 R2 on the 250GB drive.  That gives me two isolated environments.

First thing I did was check the BIOS was up to date (A16).  Then I enabled CPU assisted virtualisation and DEP in the BIOS.  Windows 7, Live Essentials, Microsoft Security Essentials, Office, Visio, Adobe Reader, Faststone Image Viewer all went onto the Windows 7 x64 build.  I went x64 so the machine could use all 8GB RAM instead of 3.4 GB.  Dell had the Windows 7 x64 drivers which I installed. 

Next went Windows Server 2008 R2.  Again, I used the Windows 7 x64 drivers.  I set up the machine as a DC with DNS (not to be done on Hyper-V in production).  I enabled the Windows Desktop Experience.  I then enabled Hyper-V.  Perfect – no issues.  I set up an internal virtual network.  I’ve given it a static IP that is not used anywhere else.  That’ll be the IP of that LAN.  I set up the Wifi NIC on the laptop and then installed RRAS and configured it to be a router.  The three “NIC’s” the wifi , wired and the internal network all route to each other.  In theory this means my VM’s can now talk over wifi (not natively possible in Hyper-V).

Why do this?  When doing user group events at the MS offices I plug my laptop into the wired guest network so I can run LiveMeeting for webcasts.  My laptop will get a DHCP address on the wired (or wifi elsewhere) NIC.  My VM’s can always run on the same IP range with RRAS will then route to the DHCP network.  I’ve not tested it yet – that’s tonight.

Next up I want to set up VMM on the parent partition and then get some stuff into the library, e.g. some ISO’s and some VHD’s.  That means building some Windows Server 2008 R2 VM’s.  My primary focus is on the deployment side: WAIK, WDS and MDT 2010 for our next user group event.  Odds are I will set up a small Windows 7 boot-from-VHD image for those emergency scenarios.  I also need to install office on the server for running things like PowerPoint and LiveMeeting for the webcasts.  So far, the parent is only using just about 1.1 – 1.2GB of RAM.  Not bad.

I stopped at about 1am this morning.  To be honest, I think I could have gone all night with it but I have a day long meeting today – oh the joy!

Here’s the details of the latest Irish Windows User Group event:

IT Pro's the world over were asked what they wanted to learn about first when it came to Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2. The overwhelming majority of respondents wanted to learn more about planning, application compatibility and OS deployment. This session will focus on the tools to deploy the newest generation of Windows using tools like the Windows Automated Installation Kit, Windows Deployment Services and the Microsoft Deployment Toolkit.

There will be a small bit of PowerPoint to explain the concepts but much like the recent community launch events, the focus of this session will be on demonstrations. You will see and learn how to do everything from scratch. The launch events allowed us time to show the results - we want to show you how to get there by yourself.

The speaker will be Aidan Finn, Systems and Infrastructure Manager at C Infinity, leader of the Irish Windows User Group, Microsoft Springboard STEP member and virtualisation MVP.

The topics covered by this session are:

• Planning a deployment
• Using the Microsoft Assessment and Planning Toolkits
• Application Compatibility: Application Compatibility Toolkit, MED-V and XP Mode
• Using Windows Automated Installation Kit (WAIK) to create an unattended installation
• Setting up and using Windows Deployment Services to capture and deploy an image
• Installing and configuring Microsoft Deployment Toolkit to capture and deploy an image

Where and When?

The event will be on December 4th at Microsoft Building 1 (EDC) in Leopardstown. Zoom out on the map and browse a bit to the south east.

Registration is at 09:00 GMT. The event will start at 09:30 and will end at 12:00.

In Person Registration

To attend in person you must register for this event to attend due to the security requirements at the Microsoft buildings.

PLEASE DO NOT REGISTER IF YOU ARE NOT PHYSICALLY ATTENDING THE EVENT.

Webcast

PLEASE DO NOT REGISTER IF YOU ARE NOT PHYSICALLY ATTENDING THE EVENT.

We will be performing a simultaneous live webcast of the event. Please download and install the LiveMeeting Client in advance. The web client will not support audio. The event will be available at this link when registration starts.

About The Speaker

Aidan Finn has been working in IT since 1996. He has worked as a consultant and administrator for the likes of Amdahl DMR, Fujitsu, Barclays and Hypo Real Estate Bank International where he dealt with large and complex IT infrastructures. More recently Aidan has been working in the server hosting and outsourcing industry in Ireland where he has focused on server management, including a large VMware VI3 deployment. Currently he is working for C Infinity, an outsourcing services company in Ireland, where he is the Systems and Infrastructure Manager. Here he has been working with Hyper-V and Microsoft System Center as part of an advanced server deployment and management infrastructure. Aidan is the leader of the Windows User Group in Ireland. Aidan is also a Microsoft Most Valuable Professional (MVP) on virtualisation and is an active blogger. Recently, Aidan was selected to be a member of the Microsoft Springboard STEP program to help promote Windows 7 and Windows Server 20008 R2 in the community. This will include working at the Springboard stand at TechEd EMEA in Berlin in November 2009. When Aidan isn't at work he's out and about with camera in hand trying to be a photographer.

Microsoft recently had 17 film teams produce videos from 30 seconds to 3 minutes length in a competition.  They had 3 pre-requisites:

1. There must be a character called “CIO Wiggins”
2. There had to be a line of dialog with “The guys in IT are going to like this”
3. They must have mentioned Windows 7

The results are here.

Microsoft has announced the release of updates for Windows Vista  and Windows Server 2008 to bring some features of it up to date to take advantage of Windows Server 2008 R2 technologies.

• Windows Ribbon and Animation Manager Library: contains the Windows Ribbon API, a command framework that enables developers to quickly and easily create rich ribbon experiences in their applications, and the Windows Animation Manager API, an animation framework for managing the scheduling and execution of user interface element animations.
• Windows Graphics, Imaging, and XPS Library: components for developers to leverage the latest advancements in modern graphics technologies for gaming, multimedia, imaging and printing applications. It includes updates to DirectX to support hardware acceleration for 2D, 3D and text based scenarios; DirectCompute for hardware accelerated parallel computing scenarios; and XPS Library for document printing scenarios.
• Windows Automation API: allows accessibility tools and test automations to access Windows user interface in a consistent way across operating system versions.
• Windows Portable Devices Platform: supplies the infrastructure to standardize data transfers between an application and a portable device, such as a mobile phone, digital camera, or portable media player

These updates will be available through Windows Update.

Want to run SQL, SharePoint or Exchange on Hyper-V?  If so, make sure you tune into some webcasts on how to do this best.

Microsoft Virtualization Best Practices for SQL Server

Thursday, October 29, 2009 10:00 AM Pacific Time (US & Canada)

Virtualising business critical applications will deliver significant customer benefits including cost savings, enhanced business continuity and an agile and efficient management solution.  This session will focus on virtualising SQL Server using Microsoft solutions, the benefits over key competitors such as VMware, and guidance for virtualising SQL server for Production and Test/Dev scenarios focusing on consolidation, scale, load balancing, dynamic provisioning and high availability. We will go into technical details with best practices. Customer evidence and results from lab deployment tests will also be discussed.

Microsoft Virtualization Best Practices for Exchange

Wednesday, November 04, 2009 10:00 AM Pacific Time (US & Canada)

Virtualising business critical applications will deliver significant customer benefits including cost savings, enhanced business continuity and an agile and efficient management solution.  This session will focus on virtualising Exchange using Microsoft solutions, the benefits over key competitors such as VMware, and guidance for virtualising Exchange for various Production scenarios. We will go into technical details with best practices. Customer evidence and results from lab deployment tests will also be discussed.

Microsoft Virtualization Best Practices for SharePoint

(Date/Time TBA) Check here for the original announcement

Virtualising business critical applications will deliver significant customer benefits including cost savings, enhanced business continuity and an agile and efficient management solution.  This session will focus on virtualising SharePoint using Microsoft solutions, the benefits over key competitors such as VMware, and guidance for virtualising SharePoint for Production and Test/Dev scenarios focusing on scale, load balancing, dynamic provisioning and high availability. We will go into technical details with best practices. Customer evidence and results from lab deployment tests will also be discussed.

I hate phones and everything phone related.  I hate phone people who have to talk about their iPhone or Shineyokia all night long.  They make a hardcore trekkie conference look like an appealing vacation option.  I have a phone only because it’s a required item.  I had to take of the back panel to find out it was a Nokia 6300.  What can it do?  There’s a green button for answering phone calls and a red one for not answering them.  There’s a socket where the power goes and and a power button when I want the world to go away.

I recently bought a 2 year old Ford Focus “Connect”.  It features Bluetooth connectivity for the phone.  It’s a legal requirement here to use a hands free kit while driving.  Get caught and it’s 2 points on your license and your car insurance goes up.  I had tried over the last 5 weeks to make the Bluetooth work.  I read the manual and it only told me what to do with the phone.  There were no car instructions other than turn on the radio.  No matter what I did I got “Bonding Failed” on the radio.

I was about to go buy a €30 headset when I decided to do a search.  A little while into the search I got two contenders:

1. Make sure Bluetooth is enabled in the car.  Mine was.  Press <Phone> and <Menu>.  The option is in there.
2. The car can only store 6 phone configurations.  Previous owners may have consumed all of the slots.  That was the case for me.

I pressed <Phone> and <Menu> and <Menu>.  From here I could delete the phone bindings.  Now I could follow the car manual instructions.  I enabled Bluetooth on the phone and searched for nearby devices.  I selected the found “Ford Audio” and entered “0000” as the code.  The bonding worked.

I tested it out.  The car microphone worked nicely and the car radio volume allowed me to adjust the speaker volume of the call.  The sound was clear.  Now the phone picks up the car Bluetooth hands free kit once I get in and turn on the radio.  Perfect.

Ask an IT Pro what’s the most important thing at work.  Servers?  SAN?  Exchange?  Active Directory?  Not even close.  It’s the coffee pot.  And no one likes and empty one.

Wilbour Craddock just sent me a link to an article with a demo video.  In the video one of the authors of the Operations Manager 2007 management pack created a solution to visually monitor a coffee pot using a digital camera.  It alarms on empty, below warning threshold and below error threshold.  It automatically changes to a healthy state using a monitor.  Superb!

I noticed I hadn’t done a good job blogging about 2 patches that MS has released since the RTM of Windows Server 2008 R2 Hyper-V.  Both are pretty important and I was peeved I couldn’t find them on my own blog (my virtual notebook).  This blog post should rectify that.

KB974598 - You receive a "Stop 0x0000007E" error on the first restart after you enable Hyper-V on a Windows Server 2008 R2-based computer

Assume that you enable the Hyper-V role on a computer that is running Windows Server 2008 R2. You restart the computer after you enable the Hyper-V role. However, you receive the following Stop error message during the restart operation:

Stop 0x0000007E (ffffffffc0000096, parameter2, parameter3, parameter4) SYSTEM_THREAD_EXCEPTION_NOT_HANDLED

This problem occurs because the system uses a C-state that is supported by the processor. However, the C-state is not supported by Hyper-V.

Fix: To resolve this problem, follow these steps:

1. Disable Processor Virtualization in the BIOS.
2. Start the computer normally.
3. Apply this hotfix and then restart the computer.

My note: I suspect MS forgot to mention re-enabling Processor Virtualisation in the BIOS.  Otherwise the Hyper-V role will fail to start during boot up.

Workaround: This section, method, or task contains steps that tell you how to modify the registry. However, serious problems might occur if you modify the registry incorrectly. Therefore, make sure that you follow these steps carefully. For added protection, back up the registry before you modify it. Then, you can restore the registry if a problem occurs. For more information about how to back up and restore the registry, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base.

To work around this problem, follow these steps:

1. Disable Processor Virtualization in the BIOS.
2. Start the computer normally.
3. Open an elevated command prompt, and then run the following command: reg add HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\Processor /v Capabilities /t REG_DWORD /d 0x0007E06
4. Restart the computer.

This workaround adds a registry entry that disables the C2 state and the C3 state.

KB975530 - Stop error message on an Intel Xeon 5500 series processor-based computer that is running Windows Server 2008 R2 and that has the Hyper-V role installed: "0x00000101 - CLOCK_WATCHDOG_TIMEOUT"

Consider the following scenario:

A computer is running Windows Server 2008 R2 and has the Hyper-V role installed.   This computer has one or more Intel Xeon processors (code-named Nehalem) of the 5500 series installed.

In this scenario, you receive the following Stop error message:

0x00000101 (parameter1, 0000000000000000, parameter3, 000000000000000c) CLOCK_WATCHDOG_TIMEOUT

This problem occurs because spurious interrupts are generated on the computer that uses Intel Xeon 5500 series processors. These interrupts are caused by a known erratum that is described in the Intel document number 321324. To view this Intel document, click the following link.

Microsoft provides third-party contact information to help you find technical support. This contact information may change without notice. Microsoft does not guarantee the accuracy of this third-party contact information.

This hotfix pertains only to computers that have Intel processors installed.

Hotfix information

A supported hotfix is available from Microsoft. However, this hotfix is intended to correct only the problem that is described in this article. Apply this hotfix only to systems that are experiencing the problem described in this article. This hotfix might receive additional testing. Therefore, if you are not severely affected by this problem, we recommend that you wait for the next software update that contains this hotfix.

If the hotfix is available for download, there is a "Hotfix download available" section at the top of this Knowledge Base article. If this section does not appear, contact Microsoft Customer Service and Support to obtain the hotfix.

Note: If additional issues occur or if any troubleshooting is required, you might have to create a separate service request. The usual support costs will apply to additional support questions and issues that do not qualify for this specific hotfix. For a complete list of Microsoft Customer Service and Support telephone numbers or to create a separate service request, visit the Microsoft Web site.

Note: The "Hotfix download available" form displays the languages for which the hotfix is available. If you do not see your language, it is because a hotfix is not available for that language.

For more information about how to install the Windows Server 2008 service pack, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base.

Restart requirement

You have to restart the computer after you apply this hotfix.

Hotfix replacement information

This hotfix does not replace any other hotfix.

File information

The English version of this hotfix has the file attributes (or later file attributes) that are listed in the following table. The dates and times for these files are listed in Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). When you view the file information, it is converted to

local time. To find the difference between UTC and local time, use the Time Zone tab in the Date and Time item in Control Panel.

Windows Server 2008 R2 file information note

The MANIFEST files (.manifest) and the MUM files (.mum) that are installed for each environment are listed separately. MUM

and MANIFEST files, and the associated security catalog (.cat) files, are critical to maintaining the state of the updated component. The security catalog files (attributes not listed) are signed with a Microsoft digital signature.

For all supported x64-based versions of Windows Server 2008 R2

I completed all the paperwork last night to confirm my place at TechEd EMEA in Berlin next month.  I’m really looking forward to it.  I’ve spent a good bit of time working in Germany but I’ve never been to Berlin.  I’ll be working half days at the Springboard stand, mainly in the afternoons.  Drop by to say “hi” if you’re around.

The RTM version of the IPD for DirectAccess has been released, according to Stephen L Rose in Microsoft (Springboard).

Microsoft has released a updated MP for OpsMgr 2007 Service Pack 1. 

“The Operations Manager 2007 SP1 Management Pack alerts you to problems with components such as agents, management servers, the Operations Manager database, agents, modules used by workflows and services so that you can continue to monitor the servers and clients that your business depends on.
The management pack includes tasks that you can automate to get easy access to common diagnostic tools, such as restarting a health service or reloading an agent configuration.

The Operations Manager 2007 SP1 Management Packs includes the following features:

Local and Remote Monitoring of an Agent’s Health

• Operations Manager agents monitor themselves for events and performance indicators that signal an issue with the agent’s health.
• Management servers also maintain an external perspective of an agent’s health via the Health Service Watcher.
• The ‘Agent Health State’ view provides a side-by-side dashboard of both perspectives on the agent.

Optional, Automatic Agent Remediation Capabilities

• If the Health Service Watcher determines that an agent is unhealthy, a series of diagnostics and recoveries can be enabled to further diagnose the problem and event take actions to attempt to fix the problem (e.g. Ping the server to see if it is completely offline, start a stopped agent, trigger a reinstall, etc.). Refer to the management pack guide for more details.
• Agents are monitoring their own process to ensure that memory utilization is not sustained at unacceptable levels. If this condition is detected then the agent will automatically restart itself to force the freeing up of memory.

Detection of Problems and Misconfigurations with Run As Accounts and Profiles

• Checks are run on a regular basis to detect if any of the management group’s “Windows” type Run As Accounts have credentials which are about to expire. Alerts will be raised, and where possible this will be done in advance of the credentials expiring to avoid outages.
• Alerts will be raised if any errors are encountered during the distribution of Run As Accounts.

Monitoring of problems with Running Workflows in Management Packs

• Numerous rules are provided to detect if workflows within management packs are failing. Examples of workflows include discoveries, rules, monitors, etc. Failures can range from bad configurations on the workflows themselves, script failures, permissions problems, etc.”

There’s a great blog post by Mai-lan which details the reasons for IT Pro’s and Developers to start using IIS7.5 as included in Windows Server 2008 R2.  Well done!  It’s the best post I’ve seen on the subject.

I’ve got to say that the IIS teams might be the best bloggers/web contributors in MS corporate.  Admittedly, they should be :-)

Microsoft has released a free ebook called “Introducing Windows Server 2008 R2”.  Apparently it will “get you up to speed on how R2's new features and capabilities work, including Hyper-V and RDS virtualization, management, IIS and the new Web application platform and, of course, all the synergistic goodness between Windows Server and Windows 7”.

The WSUS team announced that System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2008 R2 will be added as a new product in WSUS.  This was announced a few days ago.  I haven’t checked yet but it has either happened or will happen soon.  They did say “near future”.  Make sure you add it and do all the usual tested before deploying updates.

I know I missed a fix for VMM 2008 when I didn’t add it as a selected product in our WSUS installation.  And that was a fix I wanted too.

I was at one of the local Harvey Norman’s on Windows 7 launch day.  MS Ireland had staff at many of their outlets to help with the launch.  I was chatting with one of the guys and looked at the pricing.  The RRP of Windows 7 Ultimate off the shelf is only 10-20 Euros (is that around $1,000 now? ;-) ) more than Windows 7 Professional.  Hmm, small and medium businesses who normally use OEM licensing for the desktop might want to spend that extra few Euros to get the “better together” features such as BranchCache, DirectAccess, and Federated Search, not to mention BitLocker and BitLocker to Go.

Amazon has announced that a beta for “Kindle for PC” will start in November. It will have support for touch on Windows 7.  For example, if your laptop or PC has a touch screen you can do things like “turn” the page with your finger.  How cool is that?

I can see myself signing up so I can get books cheaper.  I certainly advise anyone doing this to sort out their desktop/laptop backups.