Microsoft

Windows 7 at 50% off?

Hello again folks, as you know the Windows 7 launch is getting closer and closer to us. Well as of late I just saw this new offer from Microsoft.

Microsoft is offering Windows 7 at 50% off for a pre-order deal. You can go to Amazon and pre-order it now. You can also check out the offer here at Microsoft. So what’s going on you might ask?

In my opinion, Microsoft has decided to take advantage of all the buzz surrounding Windows 7 and take a much needed break from all the crap they’ve been getting about Vista. By selling Windows 7 for 50% off, they will instantly generate good will towards themselves after the Vista boondoggle. This is a smart move on their part and it should be interesting to see how this plays out.

So if you were on the fence about upgrading from Vista, let me tell you now, do it! Windows 7 is way better than Vista and the early releases I have tried have been great!

-RP

EnergizeIT 2009

So Microsoft has a bunch of events running across Canada soon. These are the EnergizeIT 2009 events. Durings these events they will be discussing Windows 7 and Windows 2008 amongst other things.

This will be a good opportunity for you guys in the IT community to get out there and see what’s new on the horizon. After the whole Vista debacle, it’s nice to see a product like Windows 7 on the horizon. From my experiences using it (as I’ve blogged about before), I can’t wait for it to be released. As a matter of fact, it’s so popular there are petitions circling the Internet for Microsoft to release it even sooner. I think this wouldn’t be a good idea because even though we hate Vista, we don’t want Microsoft to rush Windows 7, we want them to get it right instead.

The nice thing about this EnergizeIT event is that the day before the event you can go to a local user group forum regarding the event, and then the day after the event you can go to what they’re calling an “Installfest” for Windows 7. Basically you get to install and play around with Windows 7 with techs on site to help you out and answer any questions you might have. Sounds like a great idea to me!

-RP

Rumours regarding Windows 7 upgrade from Vista

So unless your head has been under the sand lately, you’ve probably heard the latest rumours. The rumours are that Microsoft is considering providing a Windows 7 upgrade to recent Windows Vista buyers for free or for a substantially low upgrade price.

There is a post out there on a site called Tech ARP that lists a timeline for rollout of Windows 7. The question is if this is legitimate or not?

Regardless if it is, I think it’s a great idea for Microsoft to offer Windows 7 as a free upgrade or at least as a low cost upgrade to it’s current Windows Vista user base. This would go a long way to gaining trust and support from a user base that feels that Microsoft has largely given them the shaft.

-RP

Massive layoffs sweeping the IT industry

Well it looks like we’re getting even more bad news this year….

Microsoft, IBM and Intel have announced massive layoffs. The buzz about the Net is that Microsoft is going to layoff 5000 people, Intel is going to cut about the same and IBM is going to be laying off people with no specific number announced yet….although according to rumours it could be 3 times as much as the other guys.

So what’s going on here? It’s quite simple really, it doesn’t matter how big you are, you can’t dodge the economic crisis that has gripped the nation. Even the big boys are going to have to tighten their belts.

What I find interesting is that IBM has beat all of Wall Street’s expectations despite the economic crunch and they’re still laying people off. What does a company have to do to not have to lay people off during these times?

-RP

RIM takeover rumour by Microsoft

So I don’t know if you guys heard yet but the rumour mill is starting to crank out some interesting tidbits about RIM! The rumour is that Microsoft wants to takeover RIM. RIM is the company that makes the famous BlackBerry devices.

Now this would be a great move for Microsoft in the mobile market and could help launch Microsoft to the top of the mobile device heap to make them King of the Hill. Don’t get me wrong, Windows Mobile is popular, but my personal opinion is that it doesn’t hold a candle to BlackBerries or the iPhone. This could be Microsoft also positioning to be prepared for Google Android.

If Microsoft were to buy them, it makes you wonder what would happen to our beloved BlackBerries. Would Microsoft merge the technologies of BlackBerry OS and Windows Mobile, or dump one in favour of the other, or keep everything status quo? Some interesting questions for sure. Whatever happens it’s gonna be a fun ride!

-RP

The virtualization wars are slowly starting to yield some benefits!

So this just in. Just in case if you were still wondering if there was anything to the virtualization mantra that is being constantly recited through the IT community, Symantec has announced that you no longer need to purchase individual Symantec Backup Exec agents for each guest OS that exists on one physical box. Instead you only need to license once per Hypervisor with Symantec Backup Exec 12.5.

That’s right, you heard me, one agent, multiple virtual servers, one physical box. Can I get a booyah!?!?! I told you this competition would be great for consumers! Microsoft breaking into Hyper-V to compete with VMWare has been great for the market. First VMWare’s ESXi becomes free, then Microsoft relaxes their licensing restrictions in relation to VMWare, and now Symantec makes it cheaper for businesses to use Symantec’s backup software if they virtualize.

Now that’s what I’m talking about! It’s about time companies stopped penalizing people for virtualizing and instead start encouraging it! This is a great move and I commend Symantec for taking this step. Symantec Backup Exec is probably one of the most popular pieces of backup software out there and this announcement will definitely help push business in what I believe is the right direction towards virtualization.

 I hope this war doesn’t end for a long time, because the longer it plays out, the more benefits to the consumer it will bring! You can read more about the announcement here.

 -RP

Paul Chan is leaving VMWare

Hi folks, this just in from the VMWare world. Paul Chan, Vice President of Product Development at VMWare is hitting the road!

This guy has been working for VMWare for 7 years and is now finally leaving the company. Considering the recent shakeup at VMWare with Diane Greene, former CEO, what does this mean? Obviously VMWare is already feeling the weight of the Microsoft giant bearing down on them and these changes could well be effects of that. This is of course speculation on my part but it does make one wonder.

Up until now VMWare has had the luxury of being able to claim that at least they are a level 1 hypervisor over Microsoft’s level 2 hypervisor. But now Microsoft has announced the pending release of their own level 1 hypervisor product with Hyper-V Server 2008. With this announcement VMWare has got to be feeling the crunch.

You can read more about Paul Chan’s departure here and read more about standalone Hyper-V here.

-RP

Bare Metal Hypervisors

With Hyper-V out now, the virtualization marketing machine from all the different virtualization companies is in full swing. The battle is on and it looks like it’s going to be an ugly one. With virtualization pros on either side spouting the virtues of their product and claiming why one is better than the other.

Within the past few days I have read about a ton of cost comparisons between all the different offerings out there between Hyper-V, XenServer, and VMWare. I think at the end of the day, you need to delve a little deeper and look at the differences between the technologies that make up these products and what they mean to you and your business.

 One of the core differences that is important to me (and might not be important to you, depending on your needs) is the level/classification of hypervisor that is employed by the various companies. VMWare and Citrix both offer what are called level 1 or type 1 classification hypervisors. These are hypervisors that install on bare metal without an underlying OS. Whereas Microsoft offers Hyper-V only installed as a role on Windows 2008. This is what is called a level 2 hypervisor or type 2 classification hypervisor.

This is important because anytime you have a virtual product using a level 2 hypervisor, the hosting OS gives a larger footprint to attack and can compromise the security or stability of the box more than a level 1 hypervisor would. Now for non mission critical servers this wouldn’t be much of an issue, but for mission critical virtual machines this could be the difference between choosing which virtualization product is right for you.

However, it is said that Microsoft will be developing a level 1 hypervisor. We will have to wait and see how this progresses, because once this comes out, the lines will be even further blurred between the different competitors.

-RP