Yea that’s right! Project Natal is hiring! (Sadly, when I first planned on publishing this to when I am doing it now, the number of positions has dwindled, meaning they were filled ;))

But I know what a lot of you are saying.. Who is Project Natal?!

Why, it’s only the coolest thing to hit interactive gaming… since, interactive gaming?!

But seriously! It takes all the effort things like the Wii and dance pads have done, and stepped it up a serious level.  Check out this Video for further insight into why you want to go rock it out with Project Natal!

Project Natal takes gaming to a new level, leaving the remote on the table and your experience in your hands!

There are some exciting changes in store for the Chicago Windows User Group.  Here are the cliff notes.  

1.  We have a new way to collaborate http://cwug.groups.live.com sign up today. 

2.  We are changing the meeting formats. 

3.  Introducing Birds of a Feather sessions. 

Read the rest for all the juicy details.

Starting this July, we’re going to go all in by connecting participants based upon Windows Live IDs.  This enables a lot more collaboration and networking even outside of our in person meetings.  To sign up for the new Windows Live Group site please visit http://cwug.groups.live.com  This is a continuation of our facebook, portal, web presence, live mesh and twitter sites.  Think of this new site, and the main repository of CWUG information.  24X7 collaboration opportunities.  Those who collab more will be rewarded ;)

http://twitter.com/cwug

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=4397556247

http://portal.cwug.net

CWUG Live Mesh with boot from VHD instructions:  email drey@microsoft.com

The other big change is with our meetings.  We are changing our format based on feedback from our members, sponsors and board.  Starting this month we will have 2 types of meetings.  The first is a consumer broad interest meeting which will be focused Windows in the home or hobbyist.  The second is a meeting focused on enterprise customers.  This meeting will be focused on business customers who run Windows as their desktop and server OS.  Our schedule will be as follows :

Consumer Space meetings will be held on odd months in Downers Grove. 

Our Enterprise meetings will be held on even months at the Chicago Microsoft Technology Center. 

We would like to be clear, anyone is welcome to attend any meeting based on interests.  In fact, we feel that we will be able to offer something for everyone no matter what your role or purpose with Windows is.  We will also be branching off and eventually holding/hosting consumer meetings downtown and enterprise meetings in Downers Grove.  Let us work out the kinks in this new system before we do that.

We will also offer 2 birds of a feather meeting slots at each meeting.  What is a birds of a feather (BOF) session? BOF is where a member or partner will host a side meeting during our regular meetings.  You can sign up for these on first come first serve basis.  You want to geek out and talk about clusters, PKI, Home Automation or what ever else you want to collaborate with some of the brightest minds around?  Well that is what a birds of a feather session is.  You own it, you drive attendance, you do everything but we set up the location for you.  Birds of a feather session can be presentation, discussion, meditation; we do not care, just make it cool and try to drive value for your self and the rest of the community.  Email Robert Nottoli (robnotto@microsoft.com) to sign up or additional information.  These will be rated and published!

Here are our next 2 meetings and third quarter volunteer/non profit/fund raising opportunity:

July 16th
Consumer Focused:  3025 Highland Ave, Suite 300, Downers Grove Il
http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032420958&Culture=en-US
5:00 to 6:00 Food Networking
6::00 to 7:15 Home Automation using Windows technologies. 
7:30 to 8:45 Windows Live portfolio of Software as Service
8:45 to 9:00 Wrap Up
We will also have a Ford Sync on hand to demonstrate this cool Windows technology.
CWUG will also be raffling away a Starter Home Automation Kit.
Birds of a Feather meeting #1:  Open
Birds of a Feather meeting #2: Open

August 20th
Enterprise Focused:  200 West Randolph Suite 200, Chicago
http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032420966&Culture=en-US
12:30 to 1:30 Lunch – bring your own.  We will supply beverages and cookies
1:30 to 2:45 Power Shell 2.0 for technology users
3:00 to 4:15 Windows 7 deep dive for technology professionals-How to get ready and deploy Windows 7 for business users
4:15 to 4:30 wrap up

Saturday August 1st

We are inviting CWUG members, family and friends for the 2^nd annual Team Microsoft CowaLUNGa Bike Tour

http://my.imisfriendraising.com/TeamPage.aspx?teamID=32552&LangPref=en-CA

In closing it is an exciting time to come out and become a part of the Chicago Windows User Group again, Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 are shipping and we are stepping up our community effort to better serve our members and community.  There are also a ton of opportunities to help the user group and community out, contact Robert Nottoli (robnotto@microsoft.com) if you have any ideas or you would like to get involved.

Thanks to Mike Mulcare for announcing this on born to learn!

So, what exactly is SnackBox?

Welcome to SnackBox

Learning Snacks are short, interactive learning presentations about Microsoft technologies and include various media, such as animations and recorded demos. Are you an expert? Be part of this growing and vibrant community – create your own Learning Snack and share it with the world here!

Well, that’s a verbatim explanation taken from the site, but what does that really mean?

SnackBox Highlights

• Provides an easy way to browse and find Microsoft Learning and community- created snacks. 
• Enables the Microsoft Learning Community to easily create snacks using the LCDS and Snack Converter tool.
• Distinguishes between community produced and Microsoft produced Snacks
• Allows users to rate snacks
• Allows us to highlight top community contributors

Alright, enough copy and paste.  Are you seriously telling me that Microsoft has created a simple way to not only create content using LCDS to share with the Learning and Education community, but respectively they have also created a venue for sharing this information with the world, including featured content? If that is the case, woohoo! :)

Though seriously, I highly encourage you to check this out, whether you’re a creator, learner or looking to be a creator/learner/educator/trainer and beyond :)

Wow that’s a lot of V’s! But seriously! Chargebacks?! Are you serious?! But I wanted to create complicated scripts which really didn’t work and force me to do so much more work than I should! How daaaaaaare you make my life and job easier!

But yes, seriously, allow me to introduce “Business View” from Veeam!

While there is so much you can possibly do! and I’ll show screen shots, you can go click on the links to find out more than just the chargebacks which is all I’ll talk about.. :)

Define your chargeback model

Together with Veeam Monitor and Veeam Reporter Enterprise that provide comprehensive resource utilization and allocation information, Business View gives you the flexibility to define a chargeback model the way you want. In addition, you can easily export the VM groups’ information to a Microsoft Excel document for reporting or integration with other chargeback, inventory, or billing systems.

So I encourage you to check out Business View by Veeam, especially if managing your VMware investment is part of your job, and further trying to make it understandable to upper management :)

Disclaimer: I am in no way affiliated with Veeam, infact I think I’m a competitor? :)

Are you one of those people who want to play with Exchange 2010 but you’re running out of excuses as to why you can’t or won’t?  Well, here’s one more reason to not come up with yet –another- excuse!

Welcome Exchange 2010 to the Microsoft online Virtual Labs!

It’s literally as simple as clicking “this link” or even the image above and you’ll be ready to start playing around with, and installing Exchange 2010!

And ofcourse as always, there is a comprehensive Lab Guide (PDF) which will walk you through the journey, so whether you’re intimately familiar or have absolutely no knowledge of Exchange at all, you’re in the right place!

So, get in there, and start playing with Exchange 2010, instead of watching videos of it, of waiting until 2013 before you even consider playing with it (grin)