Please see my current blog  -  https://blogs.technet.com/kdean

Thanks,

Kevin

Please contact me oryour respective Account Technology Specialist if you are attendingTechEd IT Pro week.  We are hosting our 5th annual higher educationcustomer networking event (code for a party). 

TechEd is the premier annual customerconference from Microsoft. For two weeks in June, customers get technicaltraining, information, and resources to help build, deploy, secure, mobilize,and manage solutions based on the full range of existing and upcoming Microsoftproducts.   Attendees experience a sense of community and excitementunparalleled the rest of the year.   Higher Education EnterpriseSales fosters that sense of community with a customer gathering each year.

KMS version 1.1 for Windows Server 2003 provides thefollowing key features:

·        A single KMS host which supports volume licenseeditions of both Windows Vista RTM/SP1 and Windows Server 2008

·        Running KMS version 1.1 in a Windows Server 2003virtual machine.

KMS v1.1 for Windows Server 2003 is now available on theMicrosoft Download Center at:

X86 (EN-US) - https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=82964

X64 (EN-US) - https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=83041

Other languages will be available by March 31, 2008

For more information on Volume Activation 2.0, please visit https://www.microsoft.com/technet/volumeactivation/

SystemCenter Operations Manager 2007 Service Pack 1 is now available:

https://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=ede38d83-32d1-46fb-8b6d-78fa1dcb3e85&DisplayLang=en

Operations Manager 2007 SP1 addresses critical customer-initiatedissues, including improved deployment, performance, reporting, and enhanced support. 

Highlighting some of the key new features and enhancements:

• New capability to export Operations Manager 2007 diagrams to Microsoft Visio VDX file format.
• New ability to publish reports to multiple locations, such as Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services Web sites.
• Improved performance and reliability across the product, such as when working with alerts, overrides, and searches.
• Enhanced “advanced search” by improved the ability to search across monitors and rules by their overrides.
• Simplifying the creation of new management packs by allowing users to copy views from existing management packs to an unsealed management pack.
• New ability view performance data through the Operations Manager Web console, and setup filters for desired performance counters to ease searching and navigation.
• New discoveries and views added to the Audit Collection Services (ACS), along with new monitors and alerts to track the health of ACS collectors.
• Enhanced backup and recovery with the introduction of an easier-to-use Secure Storage Backup Wizard.
• … and much, much more!! 

I’m excited to announce that we have officially launched Windows Server 2008, SQL Server 2008 and Visual Studio 2008.  This launch represents a major milestone on the road to Dynamic IT,Microsoft’s initiative to help customers optimize their people,processes, and technology and in turn, position IT as a strategic asset for the business.

There will be several “regional” launch events over the next couple months.  The following link provides more information about these upcoming events in your area:

https://www.microsoft.com/heroeshappenhere/events/default.mspx

Press Release:  As Windows Server 2008 RTMs, Customers and Partners Adopting with Help of New Tools, Training

https://www.microsoft.com/presspass/features/2008/feb08/02-04WS2008.mspx

Windows Server 2008 Links References and Resources.doc

On February 12, 2008 Microsoftwill release the Windows Internet Explorer 7 Installation and Availabilityupdate to Windows Server Update Services (WSUS) marked as an Update Rolluppackage. Windows Internet Explorer 7 Installation and Availability Update is acomplete installation package that will upgrade machines running InternetExplorer 6 to Windows Internet Explorer 7. Microsoft Knowledge Base article 940767 contains moreinformation on the Windows Internet Explorer 7 Installation and AvailabilityUpdate.

Description of the WindowsInternet Explorer 7 Installation and Availability Update

https://support.microsoft.com/kb/940767/

Customers who have configuredWSUS to "auto-approve" Update Rollup packages – which is notthe default configuration – will automatically upgrade machines runningInternet Explorer 6 to Windows Internet Explorer 7 after February 12, 2008 andconsequently, may want to read KB 946202 to manage how and when this update is installed.

Windows Internet Explorer 7 tobe distributed via WSUS February 12, 2008; May require administrator action tomanage the rollout

https://support.microsoft.com/kb/946202/en-us

Customers will need to take actionif:

·        They use WSUS to manage updates in their organization.

·        They have Windows XP Service Pack 2 (SP2)-based computers orWindows Server 2003 Service Pack 1 (SP1)-based computers that have InternetExplorer 6 installed.

·        They do not want to upgrade Internet Explorer 6 machines toWindows Internet Explorer 7 at this time.

·        They have configured WSUS to auto-approve Update Rollups forinstallation.

This information onlyapplies to distribution via WSUS.  Most territories already receiveInternet Explorer 7 through automatic update.  Also, the InternetExplorer 7 Blocker Toolkit only applies to distribution via automaticupdate so customers who use WSUS and have previously deployed the blockertoolkit will want to read KB 946202.

“Postponingthe Windows Internet Explorer 7 Deployment

If you have configured WSUS toautomatically approve Update Rollups, but you do not want to automaticallyinstall Windows Internet Explorer 7 via WSUS when it is released on February12, 2008, you will need to disable this auto-approval rule before February 12,2008. Once the rule is disabled, you can synchronize the Windows InternetExplorer 7 package to your WSUS server by using the steps outlined below. Oncethe Windows Internet Explorer 7 package has been synchronized to the server, itwill not be automatically approved when you switch your auto-approval rule backon.”

Note This does not apply to Windows Vista because WindowsInternet Explorer 7 is a component of Windows Vista

This Solution Accelerator provides IT Pro customers with best practices and automated tools to help strengthen the security of computers running the 2007 Office release on Windows Vista^TM and Windows® XP SP2.

Based on extensive, real-world experience from customers, government agencies, and Microsoft security experts, the 2007 Microsoft Office Security Guide lets you choose from two thoroughly tested, baseline security configurations.

You can easily tailor the configuration you choose, modifying security settings to accommodate your unique needs. And the included GPOAccelerator is a powerful tool that will help you automatically deploy Group Policy security settings across your organization-in minutes, instead of hours or days.

Benefits:
Comprehensive. The guide includes information on hundreds of security settings in the 2007 Office release, with recommendations for configuring each setting.

Saves time. Customers using Microsoft Security Guides and tools have reported up to an 80% reduction in their time to deployment.

More reliable. The GPOAccelerator eliminates most manual steps in the deployment process-so you get more reliable results.

Easy to deploy. The guide makes it easy to deploy 2007 Office security settings across domain-based environments.

Thoroughly tested. All recommendations are tested in our labs, and verified by customers and partners under real-world conditions.

Integrated Solution. The 2007 Office Security Guide is designed to work with other Windows Vista Solution Accelerators such as the Windows Vista Hardware Assessment tool, Business Desktop Deployment, Windows Vista Security Guide, and Windows Vista Service Lifecycle Management.

The 2007 Microsoft Office Security Guide is now available! To learn more about the guide, click here.  

Microsoft hit an important milestone for SQL Server 2008 with the announcement of the upcoming November Community Technology Preview (CTP). And this CTP is packed with new features, including compatibility with Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 and new capabilities such as Resource Governor, Backup Compression and Transparent Data Encryption. This CTP also has new business intelligence enhancements including Design Alerts, block computation, and Enhanced Report Designer including new visualizations. In addition, this is the first CTP to help customers store and consume any type of data including new Filestream data types for unstructured data, and to provide support for spatial data for location intelligence. Register with the CTP program to take part in the preview.