Microsoft Learning said that it has updated the Logo Builder tool, and is looking for feedback on it. You can access it via the MCP member site. Also, new wallet cards are being made available to MCPs next month. Question: Who still keeps your MCP card in your wallet or purse?
And here's something of a reminder: If you're an MCP and you work for a company that's a member of the Microsoft Partner Network, be sure to sync up your MCP ID with your company's MPN number. You should be getting the recognition you deserve and this is one way to ensure it.
Posted by Michael Domingo on 09/15/2011 at 11:59 AM0 comments
Let's hope someone as busy as the head of the Windows 8 team, Steven Sinofky, will remain diligent and continue to blog about his team's efforts to create, test and launch the next great Microsoft OS. For even someone like me, who's admittedly a Windows layperson, I find the detail and the amount of information to be incredibly interesting, and just right, not too dizzying.
Already, there's info on USB 3.0 support and new ways to manage files, mundane topics on the surface, but dig deeper and there's some real thought and collaboration that needs to take place before those can be fully realized in the OS and be simple enough for end users to figure out without the manual. In just three blog posts, Sinofsky already sounds like Bill Gates version 2.0.
Posted by Michael Domingo on 08/25/2011 at 11:59 AM0 comments
The suddenness of Apple CEO Steve Jobs' announcement (and it was one heck of blockbuster announcement, with a resignation letter as sparse in details and design as the company's products) that he has resigned his CEO role immediately has many wondering, including me, if it has anything to do with his health. A Bloomberg TV report said that Jobs has been home-bound due to his health for several months. Apple's stock also dropped in after-hours trading, soon after Jobs' announcement. Twitter was exploding with comments and speculation (and still is as of this posting).
Will Steve Jobs' resignation have bigger impact on Apple than Bill Gates' resignation has had with Microsoft? Post your thoughts here.
Posted by Michael Domingo on 08/24/2011 at 11:59 AM0 comments
When IBM abandoned the PC business, we wondered if it was the end of the PC era, let alone the end of IBM as we knew it then. Yet, even today Big Blue is still running strong on services and consulting, with PCs a footnote in its history much like the IBM Selectric before it.
Hewlett-Packard Company looks to replicate the IBM story somewhat. At least for now, it's contemplating selling its PC business. What's left, then? The speculation is that the company has enough of a reputation in services and consulting that it can make its mark there. But HP no longer in the PC business has got to be a scary prospect for Microsoft, since it means one powerhouse OEM who won't be licensing Windows 8 onto millions of boxes at once.
Does HP have what it takes to make it in services/consulting? Are you a customer of HP's services, and what can you tell us about how they're pitching the survival of the company into the future? Post your comments here.
Posted by Michael Domingo on 08/24/2011 at 11:59 AM1 comments
Andrew Fryer blogs at the UK version of Technet on the tops skills that people seeking an IT career might find worth acquiring. Particularly important seems to be any job having to do with authentication and identity, what with the proliferation of non-Windows-based devices becoming serious work machines. Anything database-related jibes with an observation I made earlier about our very own Redmond and MCPmag salary surveys. Cloud-related skills also figure prominently on this list.
Posted by Michael Domingo on 08/18/2011 at 11:59 AM0 comments
Windows 7 migrations continue to churn at enterprises worldwide at a steady pace, so that OS is starting to sound like old news now. So, does that mean we're all ready to move on and talk about Windows 8? You might not be, but Microsoft is. Steve Sinofsky, who's heading up the effort this time out, provides some details on the teams forming around coding single features of the OS.
Posted by Michael Domingo on 08/18/2011 at 11:59 AM0 comments
Google buying Motorola Mobility at a 60 percent premium ($12.5B was the final figure) makes me wonder if that's Google making an expensive but necessary move to protect Android's future or Google getting punked by Microsoft.
Posted by Michael Domingo on 08/18/2011 at 11:59 AM0 comments
Clint Huffman is a recent addition to our writing stable here at MCPmag. He's a Microsoft Senior Premier Field Engineer, so you know his stuff is going to be helpful to the core. If you haven't read his in-depth look at sizing Windows page files or his other one on getting great SAN performance, do it now (yes, these columns were borne from problems with which his customers came to him). Then return here and tell us what else you'd like Clint to explore/reveal.
Clint is all ears, but send your problems to my e-mail at [email protected] with "Windows Performance" on the subject line, so I can vet all the questions.
Posted by Michael Domingo on 08/12/2011 at 11:59 AM0 comments
Gartner has released its latest OS report and guess what? Predictably, Microsoft has the PC market locked up. The research firm forecasts Windows 7 will be on 94 percent of all PCs shipped in 2011. PC sales might be down a few points, but let's not call the Wintel platform dead just yet.
Posted by Michael Domingo on 08/12/2011 at 11:59 AM0 comments
Microsoft understands that the patching process is basically a necessary time suck, especially when a month like August comes along with 22 flaws that need to be addressed. The thing is, not all flaws afflict all companies in the same way, and so sorting through the ones that need to be fixed vs. ones that should be fixed later remains the time suck that it is. It's a good thing Patch Tuesdays come only once a month -- the distraction for admins is then kept to a minimum.
In any event, Microsoft is trying to get back some of your precious time, so to speak, with best practice guidance on deploying patches. And guess what? It make a bit of sense. Check out the expert analysis here by Redmond news writer Kurt Mackie.
Posted by Michael Domingo on 08/11/2011 at 11:59 AM0 comments
The
report that claimed that IE users had the lowest IQ of those using browsers? Yes, it is
a hoax.
Posted by Michael Domingo on 08/04/2011 at 11:59 AM1 comments
I was just about to write about something I've observed in the last few salary surveys that I've compiled for Redmond Magazine and MCPmag.com, but
David Ramel beat me to it: the fact that database developers are perhaps the most consistently well paid IT pros out there. There's always a need for people who are highly capable at smashing data together and unsmashing data into a report that makes sense.
Posted by Michael Domingo on 08/04/2011 at 11:59 AM0 comments