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KYSBSUG 5-Year Anniversary

Kentucky Small Business Server User Group (KYSBSUG)This week, Thursday March 19, 2009 marks the 5-Year Anniversary of the Kentucky Small Business Server User Group (KYSBSUG). Where did the time go?

It’s pretty amazing to look back at all the events and topics we’ve covered in the last 60+ months. Some of the highlights we’ve met on include:

  • Backup & Disaster Recovery
  • Linux for SBSers
  • Vista Loadfest
  • FolderShare for Remote Workers
  • SBS Hacks
  • SQL 2005 Launch Event
  • Windows Mobile Boot Camp
  • DD-WRT
  • Office 2007 / Vista Road Show
  • Windows 7
  • SBS 2008
  • Essential Business Server (EBS) 2008
  • Windows Home Server (WHS)
  • Windows SharePoint Services (WSS)
  • Response Point
  • And vendor presentations like ConnectWise, Level Platforms, eFolder, New Horizons, etc., just to name a few.

Over the years we’ve had numerous well-known speakers, including: Amy Luby, Ronald Grattopp (Microsoft), Brian Von Axleson (Microsoft), Chris Rue [MVP], Kevin Royalty [MVP], Allen Miller, and many more. We’ve had study groups, round table meetings, and Live Meetings with visitors from all around the USA, Canada, and even as far away as Belgium.

In short, we’ve really done a lot in the last 5 years, and we’d like to invite you to celebrate with us! There will be food, door prizes, and lots of networking opportunities. Please register today!

Evening – KYSBSUG 5-Year Anniversary
Date: Thursday March 19, 2009
Time: 5:30 PM Eastern (GMT –5)
Venue: Fifth Quarter Steakhouse
Address: 1241 Durrett Lane, Louisville, KY 40213
Phone: (502) 361-2363
Map: http://tinyurl.com/bhrmqb
Registration Link: http://www.clicktoattend.com/?id=136756

IMPORTANT: This venue was chosen because it’s only a few blocks away from the Microsoft events that are happening earlier that day (which you should also attend):

Morning – Microsoft TS2 – 03/19/2009, 8:00 AM – 12:00 PM Eastern
Topics: Business Productivity Online Suite (BPOS), EBS 2008 & SBS 2008
Venue: Crowne Plaza Louisville Airport (formerly Executive West Hotel)
Register: http://msevents.microsoft.com/cui/EventDetail.aspx?culture=en-US&EventID=1032402683

Afternoon – Microsoft SB2 – 03/19/2009, 1:00 PM – 4:30 PM Eastern
Topics: Solution selling w/ Vista, EBS 2008 & SBS 2008
Venue: Crowne Plaza Louisville Airport (formerly Executive West Hotel)
Presenter: Ronald Grattopp
Register: http://msevents.microsoft.com/cui/EventDetail.aspx?culture=en-US&EventID=1032402690

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Invitation – KYSBSUG 2009 Feb Live Meeting

KYSBSUG SBS 2008 and EBS 2008 have been out for several months, but are you using it yet? Are your customers?

Join us for this presentation and learn what’s new in SBS 2008, where the pricing sweet spots are, and gotchas to watch out for. We’ll talk about the training that’s available to get you up to speed, books, and a little bit about Hyper-V and SBS. Time has been allotted at the end of this presentation for extensive Q&A.

The good news is that you don’t even need to get in your car – we’re bringing this meeting to you via Microsoft Live Meeting so as many people that want to can attend!

Date: Wednesday 02/18/2009
Start time: 6:30 PM Eastern (GMT -5)
End time: 8:00 PM Eastern (or whenever there are no more questions)
Presenter: Tim Barrett
Topic: SBS 2008 / EBS 2008
Seating in the Live Meeting is limited to the first 50 people, so sign up ASAP!

Registration URL: http://www.clicktoattend.com/?id=135942

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Hacks – Hacker Chip Clip

This idea came to me today while having lunch at my desk (don’t know why I didn’t think of it before).

After putting the smack down on some tasty potato chips, I couldn’t find a chip clip to close the bag to keep it from going stale. However, I did have an ample supply of hard drive magnets lying around. I put one on each side of the bag, and viola! Life hack!

hacker_chip_clip

The only trick is not smashing your fingers while placing the magnets near each other. These magnets are so strong that I can hang the bag from a file cabinet or the side of the fridge.

image

Sometimes I crack myself up. 🙂

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Webcast – Changes to the Microsoft Partner Program

Microsoft Small Business Specialist logoEvent Title: 5W/50 Series – New Generation Certifications: Program Overview & Certification Resources Available for the SBSC Community
Date: Monday April 20, 2009
Time: 12:00 PM Eastern (GMT –5)
Duration: 1 hour
Presenters: Deborah Vosler (Microsoft) & Mark Crall (Tech Care Team, Inc.)
Cost: Free
Registration: Click here (Microsoft Partners Only)

Description:
Learn why Microsoft developed the New Generation of Certification, as well as what certification exams and resources are currently available for Microsoft partners, including the SBSC community. Find out more about the value of certification, including how it can benefit your business.

(Personal Note: I’m interested to hear the fate of the 70-282 and the SBSC program.)

Source: Mark Crall’s blog

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Windows 7 vs Ice Storm

This picture was taken in front of my house the morning of 01/28/2009 Tonight the Kentucky Small Business Server User Group (KYSBSUG) is scheduled to have our 59th consecutive monthly meeting. The topic is “Windows 7 – First Look”. Unfortunately, we’re in the midst of an ice storm in Louisville, which makes driving (and even getting electricity) rather difficult. I checked in on Kevin Royalty up in Cincinnati and apparently they’ve got even worse conditions than we do (they’ve got 10” of snow and ice so far).

Here are some pictures of the conditions near my house in Louisville:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/timbarrett/sets/72157613043239653/

The show must go on though, if possible. And to be on the safe side, instead of risking life and limb on the icy roads tonight, we’re switching to a Microsoft Live Meeting format. Here’s the registration link:
http://www.clicktoattend.com/?id=135145

The Live Meeting seats are limited and will be made available on a first-come first-served basis. The actual Live Meeting URL will be emailed out to all registered attendees at 6:00 PM Eastern (GMT –5). If you don’t get an email at 6:00, we don’t have power. 🙂 We hope to see you there!

02/02/2009 UPDATE: You can now download a ZIP file with the entire Windows 7 presentation. Instructions:

  1. Simply right-click and save this file (40.5 MB) to your hard drive.
  2. Unzip the file.
  3. Double-click the ReplayMeeting.htm file to replay the meeting.
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Free Microsoft Virtualization E-Book

Microsoft Press is celebrating their 25th anniversary with “Free E-Book of the Month” offers. The current offer is:

E-Book Understanding Microsoft Virtualization Solutions Title: Understanding Microsoft Virtualization Solutions
Author: Mitch Tulloch with the MS Virtualization Team
ISBN: 9780735693371
File size: 14.4 MB
Pages: 452
Download URL: Click here

Description: This guide will teach you about the benefits of the latest virtualization technologies and how to plan, implement, and manage virtual infrastructure solutions. The technologies covered include: Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V, System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2009, Microsoft Application Virtualization 4.5, Microsoft Enterprise Desktop Virtualization, and Microsoft Virtual Desktop Infrastructure.

Source: Microsoft Learning and Keith Combs blog

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SBS 2008 Unleashed Book

SBS 2008 box shot standard edition Back in 2005 I was privileged to be one of the co-authors of “Microsoft Small Business Server 2003 Unleashed”. As I’m sure most authors can attest, working on a book is a very unique and eye-opening experience.  It takes a lot of time, work, testing, research and commitment to crank out a book, but in the end you have something tangible to show for all the effort. You make some great friends and learn something about yourself along the way too.

Then we skip forward several years and Eriq Neale invited me to be one the co-authors once again. This time the book was titled “Windows Small Business Server 2008 Unleashed.” I looked at the calendar and figured, “Wow, this is really awesome. We’ve got *tons* of time – the operating system isn’t even baked yet!” So I signed on. Interestingly, time moves quickly. Very, VERY quickly. And as SBS 2008 got closer to being finished and as work on the book continued, it seemed like every movie on TV was about an author with looming publishing deadlines or writer’s block like Duplex or Stranger Than Fiction. No pressure. 😉

At any rate, as the book project moved along, you could really see it transform slowly from an idea, into an outline, to a rough draft, through revisions, technical and grammatical editing, screen shots, page layouts, and eventually all the way into a finished book. And while you’re writing and doing testing and research, the software itself (code named “Cougar”) changes. It goes through various builds, into private and public betas, Release Candidates and eventually it becomes the final RTM code for SBS 2008. Believe me, it’s a pretty long trip!

So, the writing has been done for a while, and now comes the waiting part. The book is being printed and shipped, but I haven’t held a hard copy in my hands yet. And today it was cool to get an email from Amazon.com that really hit home:

Windows Small Business Server 2008 Unleashed

All of the sudden the book seems much more real. 🙂

Getting to this stage was a group effort, and I was just one person in a large team of folks that made this project happen. The whole team worked really hard through deadlines, daily responsibilities, lots of writing and zillions of emails.

The writers of this book include:

And here’s what’s in the book:

Table of Contents:

  1. Welcome to Small Business Server 2008
  2. Planning for the SBS 2008 Deployment
  3. Installing and Configuring SBS 2008
  4. DNS, DHCP, and Active Directory Integration
  5. Internet Information Services 7.0
  6. Remote Web Workplace and Other Remote Access Solutions
  7. SharePoint and Companyweb
  8. Exchange Management
  9. Exchange 2007 Client Connectivity
  10. Exchange Disaster Recovery
  11. Group Policy in SBS 2008
  12. User and Computer Management
  13. Macintosh Integration
  14. Additional Servers
  15. Managing Workstations Through Group Policy
  16. Monitoring and Reporting
  17. Managing Server and Workstation Security
  18. Backup and Disaster Recovery
  19. IPv6 Overview
  20. PowerShell
  21. Advanced Installation Options

Windows Small Business Server 2008 UnleashedI’m sure I speak for everyone on the writing, editing and publishing teams when I say that we’re really proud of this book! And I’d like to send a special “thank you” to Eriq Neale and Acquisitions Editor Loretta Yates for letting me be on the team again,
and for not killing me when they wanted to. 😉

We look forward to seeing the book hit the shelves and we’re certain that it will help people understand and support this amazing new operating system.

I hope you enjoy it!

Title: Windows Small Business Server 2008 Unleashed
Publisher: Sams Publishing; 1 edition (December 6, 2008)
ISBN-10: 0672329573
Paperback: 816 pages
Language: English
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Buy.com | InformIT / Sams

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Webcast – Vista Objections and Solution Selling

It seems like everybody has an opinion about Vista these days, and more often than not, it’s a negative opinion based on press / advertising / word of mouth / and perception rather than hands-on experience (think ‘Mojave Experiment’).

If you’re a Microsoft Partner and you’d like to know how to handle these objections and get the most out of Windows Vista, be sure to sign up for the following two webcasts and join Ron Grattopp as he presents:

“Windows Vista: What you need to know about selling it and how to combat the negative perceptions and objections”

In addition to discussing Vista objections, Ron will also show how to implement a “solution” approach to selling Windows Vista. And there’s an added bonus if you attend both seminars.

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Training – Free Microsoft Hyper-V eLearning

Windows Server 2008 Robot Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ve heard (and may be sick about hearing) of Microsoft Hyper-V. I know that Flavor Flav said “Don’t believe the hype” but this is one of those instances where you should listen.

If you *are* listening and would like to get some free training on Hyper-V, here’s the perfect opportunity. Microsoft is giving away 4 free online eLearning classes, and if you haven’t tried the updated eLearning stuff lately, it’s pretty good.

You can click on the individual clinics below or snag all 4 courses in
Collection 6333: Exploring Microsoft Virtualization Technologies.

Individual clinic links:

Note: This training is designed to be done at your own pace, whether that’s all in one shot, or 30-45 minutes per day. It’s totally up to you. And one of the really nice things about the Microsoft eLearning classes is that they have an E-Learning Offline Player, so you can view all of the content (except for the virtual labs) on your laptop anywhere. Very handy!

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Greetings from Issaquah

sbs_2008_logo_small For five days this week I’m in Issaquah, Washington (southeast of Seattle) at the Microsoft Sammamish campus for the special SBS 2008 training that Microsoft arranged for the SBS-MVPs. So far the training has been absolutely fantastic. This is, by far, the most in-depth and valuable software training I’ve ever received, and I am tremendously thankful for the opportunity to be here! I just can’t thank Kevin Beares and his team enough for putting this event together, and our instructor, John Bay, knows this product with a depth I’ve never seen first-hand before. I’ve been using SBS since version 4.0, and it’s awesome to be able to turn the new 2008 version inside out and see what makes it tick.

In addition to the phenomenal training, another huge benefit of being here in person is the opportunity to network with the Microsoft SBS product team and other SBS-MVPs from around the world. It’s impossible to articulate just how much experience and passion these folks have for the SBS product and the community that uses and supports it. At every opportunity you’ll see folks sharing information, discussing best practices, giving feedback, and debating (sometimes fervently) the issues in the community and the product itself.

On Tuesday night Kevin Beares took the MVPs and some Microsoft folks out to dinner at Pogacha (a restaurant I *highly* recommend). As always, I feel like the least qualified person to be in the same room, but I’m thrilled at the opportunity to be there and share ideas and experiences.  Unfortunately, not everyone could make it to the training event, for various reasons. But for those of you have had a question answered in the SBS newsgroups, this picture of the dinner attendees should help you put a name with the face.

mvp_training_2008

(Click for a larger picture)

  1. Drew Spencer – Microsoft Dev Manager
  2. Mitch Garvis – MVP – Montreal, Canada
  3. Ryan “Fuzzy” Spillane – Sydney, Australia
  4. Kevin Weilbacher – MVP – Florida, USA
  5. Cal McLennan – MVP – Ontario, Canada
  6. Kerry Brown – MVP – Squamish, BC, Canada
  7. Stuart Applegate – MVP – Australia
  8. Tim Barrett – MVP – Louisville, Kentucky, USA
  9. Marina – Germany
  10. Jeff Middleton – MVP – New Orleans, Louisiana, USA
  11. Dave Nickason – MVP – New York, USA
  12. Mark Claggett – Microsoft MVP Lead
  13. Abhinay Kampasi – SBS Developer (backup)
  14. Mehmet Demir – SBS Developer (system health, anti-malware)
  15. Kevin Royalty – MVP – Cincinnati, Ohio, USA
  16. Marina Roos – MVP – Rotterdam, Netherlands
  17. Eriq “Q” Neale – MVP – Denton, Texas, USA
  18. Dean Calvert – MVP – Adelaide, Australia
  19. Wayne Small – MVP – Sydney, Australia
  20. Susan “Bitzie” Bradley – MVP – Fresno, California, USA
  21. Charlie Russel – MVP – Canada
  22. David Belanger – SBS Developer (setup)
  23. Oliver “Ollie” Sommer – MVP – Germany
  24. Jeff Loucks – MVP – Ontario, Canada
  25. Henry Craven – MVP – Melbourne, Australia
  26. Steven Banks – MVP – Seattle, Washington USA
  27. Kevin Beares – Microsoft Community Lead – WSSG
  28. Jon Bay – Microsoft Product Support (our trainer)
  29. Marie “Mom” McFadden – Microsoft Community Program Manager

    Also here, but not pictured…

  30. Dana Epp – MVP – Canada
  31. Frank McCallister – MVP – Helena, Alabama, USA
  32. Larry Struckmeyer – MVP – Florida, USA
  33. Tobias Redelberger – MVP – Germany
  34. Steven Lai – MVP – San Jose, California, USA
  35. Les Connor – MVP – Canada
  36. Vlad Mazek – MVP – Orlando, Florida, USA
  37. David “ShackDaddy” Shackelford – MVP – Seattle, Washington, USA

To all those with missing info, I’ll fill it in as soon as I can confirm info – I’m horrible with remembering names 🙂 If you know any of the missing info above, please feel free to post it in the comments. And if I missed anyone who’s here, please comment that too.

Thanks Microsoft for a truly awesome and valuable event!

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