Category Informational

Don’t miss the bus! You have to enter by 9:00 am Pacific time on April 6th!

Get on the Bus is an 11-day learning odyssey across the United States aboard the Career Express bus. The Career Express will travel from Tampa to Los Angeles, ending at Tech·Ed 2009!

What exactly is this Bus?   It’s a contest of sorts, and yet it’s also an adventure all rolled up into one!    The Bus will be taking a tour of various locations, stopping to meet with individuals, organizations, user groups, authors and various meet-ups along the way before ending at TechEd 2009 (North America)

Get on the Bus winners join the Career Express in their city and accompany the Microsoft Learning crew as we stop to visit with the Microsoft Learning community along the way. We will blog, Twitter, video blog, and have a great time!

How to enter the contest

Step 1: Play the “Are You Certifiable?” online game and get a screen name. You’ll include this screen name in your entry. After you submit your entry, you can keep playing to try to get the highest score possible. You can play as many times as you’d like before 9 a.m. Pacific Time on April 6.

Play the online game: Are You Certifiable?

Step 2: Get creative and write an essay that strongly justifies why you should be selected to compete in Get on the Bus. Have a camera? In addition to your essay, you can submit a video to tell your story.

Step 3: Complete the entry form

Be sure to include your “Are You Certifiable?” screen name and the URL where we can review your essay (and video, if you have one). Remember, creativity counts! The deadline for entering is 9 a.m. Pacific Time, April 6, 2009.

Step 4: Get ready to pack your bags because you might Get On The Bus!

Enter today!

Learn more about Get on the Bus: Read the contest official rules

Here are the links you need to know in order to get everything you need from this!

In each Challenge, a panel of judges will review all eligible entries received and select up to five (5) finalists—based upon the following criteria:

35% Technical and certification knowledge as attested to by your “Are You Certifiable?” high score;

65% Passion and creativity as demonstrated in your essay

The judges, in their sole discretion, may award each entrant who submits an optional video up to ten (10) additional bonus points toward his or her overall score.

The decisions of these judges are final and binding. If we do not receive a sufficient number of entries meeting the entry requirements, we may, at our discretion, select fewer than five (5) finalists in each Challenge. In the event of a tie between any eligible entries, we will have an additional judge review each entrant’s Round 1 video, and break the tie based on the judging criteria set forth above.

Get On The Bus learning offer

THE MICROSOFT “GET ON THE BUS” CONTEST OFFICIAL RULES

How to Get on the Bus!

Get on the Bus!

Get on the Bus – YOU really can win!

Welcome to the Future! Strangely the future hasn’t ever felt so much like “Now” than ever before.    If you haven’t been following all of the chatter leading up to these major announcements we’re on the threshhold of these major breaking points like never before.

The Data center has spoken and it’s answer is True unification.

Cisco has had this same story with their Switch line and with the purely unified solution with the Nexus line and the future of FCoE.   This is not just another story of “Let’s produce another server” which is akin to the type of “battles” you tend to see occur between Dell, HP and IBM.  No this is something much more and much bigger.   So, while this definitely is an introduction of Blade Servers, this is more than just “another blade”.   This is an entirely new way to think about, to manage and to interoperate within your datacenter.

If you haven’t seen some of the snippets of the new blades coming, here are a few pictures.

This is more than just pretty pictures.  Never before have we had such a consolidated solution to a Network Fabric akin to the consolidated SAN solutions which NetApp has Pioneered and still stands unopposed in delivering.   Add to that the pure play with VMware and other virtualization and what we have here is a marriage of Servers with the Networks and the Storage; what you end up with an end-to-end virtualization and delivery solution which will comprehensively change the way the datacenter operates.

So, what does this mean for the future?   The landscape has gotten a bit wider and narrower at the same time.    Everyone will have their toe dipped in this pool, or wanting to be a part of it, but those who will stand strong are the ones who speak to this same story of Unity.   Doing more with less (Less Operating Systems, Less Platforms, Less Management required)

Even with the Cloud looming over our heads, the Datacenter isn’t getting any smaller, it is simply getting better at doing what it’s supposed to do.  Either you become better with it, or start working on that resume.

Thanks to our friends at Windows 7 Center for this post

I’ll break it down for you!

Windows 7 RC2 scheduled for May 2009 release.

Windows 7 “scheduled” RTM/Release looks like November of 2009 (Whoa!?!)

Office 14 RTM is looking like March 2010 (Which means Exchange should be in alignment with that)

Here’s a consolidated list of a number of the resources I regularly put up here, so you can find them easier!

Free Training

5 Free Virtualization Training Courses for the Holidays! (HyperV)

I’m not sure how long this is going to last, so I highly encourage you to sign up, get your class registered in and taken!

This course is highly recommended and valuable!

How much does Free Microsoft Learning Cost? (Hint: Free!)

A whole series of Free E-Learning which used to cost a substantial amount of monies, but is Freeeee! Thanks Microsoft! :)

Free Books!

Sign up for the Microsoft Press Book Connection Newsletter now

Just go there, sign up and monthly you’ll receive an email which has the latest free E-books from the MS Press Team! Caveat: the books are typically only available for 5-7 days at a time – so you should act as soon as you get the emails!

More Free Training?!

Microsoft Elevates America with Social Responsibility

More Free Training at the High and Low level, in addition to some kinds of assistance for furthering education!

Microsoft Virtual Labs

Every wanted to try out a product you’ve never installed, or even downloaded.  Or you want to learn a new application, or even Programming language.  The Microsoft Virtual Labs are the perfect solution there.   They include not only immediately available applications for you to test in a real lab environment, but they also have ‘training labs’ so you can go through an educational process in order to learn the material.   The best part is, you’re not bound by the material either – So if you want to think outside the box of training you can, but if you’re not sure what to learn they provide guidance there!

We’re still waiting for the launch of more Beta Certification exams and other/more free stuff, but definitely take advantage of the resources above as they’re infinitely useful!

What do you get when you bring a bunch of technical people together in a community setting to learn about technology and ask them to bring food for charity? Well, I hope to see more food than we can carry!

In an effort of community interest, good will, and what I rightly see as a good Experiment at this point, this month (March 19th) CWUG will involve not only a brown bag lunch, but also a request to bring unopened items to donate to the Northern Illinois Food Bank.

Honestly, it sounds like an amazing idea, one of which I think every user group, or even “Meet Up” and “Tweet Up” in Chicagoland and beyond should start doing on a regular basis – What better way to bring community together than by helping build out a part of community which is in need.

The agenda for next week’s CWUG is as follows:

Bring an item for the Pot Luck Dinner:

Last name A – F: Loaf of Bread + 1 bag Chips
Last name G – L: 6 pack Bottled Water
Last name M – R: Peanut butter
Last name S – Z: Jelly

5:00 – 5:30 Brown Bag Potluck and Networking
5:30 – 6:00 Room Introductions
6:00 – 6:15 Welcome/Meeting Kickoff
6:15 – 7:30 Microsoft Virtualization Technologies (App-V, MED-V, Hyper-V and Boot to VHD)
7:30 – 7:45 Break
7:45 – 9:00 Hands on labs – Windows 7 boot to VHD

Event URL : http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032407001&Culture=en-US
Event Title : CWUG: March Meeting – Chicago Loop
Event Date: Thursday, March 19th
Event Address : 200 E. Randolph, Suite 200, Chicago, IL 60601

Event URL : http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032407003&Culture=en-US

Event Title : CWUG: March Meeting – Downers Grove
Event Date: Thursday, March 19th
Event Address : 3025 Highland Pkwy. Suite 300, Downers Grove, IL 60515

Also, check out the group online, on Facebook and on Twitter!

If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to let me know via email, @cxi on twitter, etc!