IE8 is available for download.  Apparently, it's better.  The site is aimed at developers and is full of web-slinger-speak which I non comprendes or something like that.  Use at your own risk; it's a beta!

Bink has reported the launch of the public beta program for System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2008.  You can use VMM 2008 to provide advanced management of your Hyper-V virtual machines, Virtual Server and even VMware!!!

And it's another reason for you to learn PowerShell.  Everything it does is PowerShell.  Dagnammit! ... more books to read!

I've been working on a very special third event for the Windows Server 2008 User Group (Ireland).

We'll be having a very rare appearance of Mark Minasi on this side of the pond.  This event is being hosted by Microsoft in cooperation with the Windows Server 2008 User Group Ireland.  You lucky folks are the first to hear about this so register now while you still can!

The seminar event will take place on 30th May at Microsoft, Auditorium – Atrium B, Sandyford Ind. Estate, Dublin 18.

The agenda is as follows:

10.00 – 10.30        Registration/Coffee

10:30 – 11.45        Windows Server 2008 Overview - Hear from an independent and respected commentator, journalist, consultant and author what is new with Windows Server 2008 and what it will do for your organisation to improve management and your business.

11.45 – 12.45        Lunch

12.45 – 14.00        IPv6 - Just what is IPv6 and why would you care?  Why is it natively included in Windows Server 2008 and Windows Vista?  Learn why you should care if you want to remain competitive and have an easier to manage infrastructure. 

14:00 - 14:15        Coffee

14:15 - 15:30    Server Core Step by Step - One of the most talked about things with Windows Server 2008 is the Core installation.  Mark will cover what is so unique about it, when you would consider it instead of the full installation and how you would manage it. 

15.30            Close

Register Now for this event!!!

Mark Minasi is an author, a technology columnist, a commentator, a keynote speaker, and an all-around alpha geek. What separates him from many of the other alpha geeks is that he knows how to explain things to normal humans and often make them laugh while doing it. He's probably best known for his books, Mastering Windows NT Server (Sybex), Mastering Windows 2000 Server, and The Complete PC Upgrade and Maintenance Guide and his columns in Windows IT Pro. Mark has also authored 17 other technology books, spoken on technical topics in 20 countries, and written and appeared in a dozen technical education videos.  Mark is currently completing 3 books on Windows Server 2008.

I'm totally excited about this event because it is rare to find Mark on this side of the Atlantic, let alone Ireland.  He's only been here once before so let's make sure we give him a huge welcome.  Registrations for that event are being handled by Microsoft.

By the way, we also have a special appearance on May 8th by Alex Yuschenko.  Alex will be talking about Windows Server 2008 Terminal Services.  Sign up to the user group and we'll get an invite out to you.  It will be excellent: Alex is an internationally recognised guru when it comes to Terminal Services and similar technologies.

Wow!  Thanks for the feedback on the whitepapers I wrote on SCCM 2007 last year.  They were written for the beta versions of the product and things did chance during the release candidate phase before the release.  I've had lots of requests for updates and they are increasing in frequency.

About a month ago I decided to write a book on SCCM 2007.  It's going to covery everything and do it in the same style as these whitepapers.  I've a colleage joining me and we're going to do it 50/50.  Can't say who it is yet ... trust me; this person is good.

I've just started the introductory chapters.  Hopefully you'll have something by the end of the year.

- Aidan.

IMTC was good.  There was still a majority of developers there ( Boo!  ) but the organisers are keen to change that with the help of the Irish IT pro communities.  It is very much a cooperative and cost driven event so I'll be keen to help with the communications next year.

• Nick Whittome gave an exclusive look at SBS 2008 and stressed how startup MS partners should be adopting SBS - mainly because it's included in the ultra-affordable Microsoft Partner Action Pack (€18,000 of software for less than €400).
• Mark Mulvany gave an interesting presentation on Windows Mobile.  I'm allergic to phones so most of what he spoke about was new to me.
• Duncan McAlynn spoke about  vNext; the next version of Microsoft System Center Virtual Machine Manager which is capable of managing Hyper-V and VMware ESX.
• And Dave Northey gave a practical demo of building a Hyper-V cluster on Server Core and demonstrated failover.

The sessions were video recorded so I expect they'll be made available onlone at some point in the "near" future.  In the meantime, you can download a PDF of my session.

The linked PDF is the property of Aidan Finn and is not to be reused, edited, presented or redistributed without my express permission.