“iPhone Software Roadmap” Event March 6th

Date Apple has set March 6th for the “iPhone Software Roadmap” event. Along with a peek at the iPhone SDK, Apple promises “new enterprise features”.

I hope they announce full Microsoft Exchange support. Many attorneys I talk to say they would dump their Blackberrys for iPhones, if the iPhone has email push and would sync with their Exchange calendars and contacts.

Windows Server 2008

Windows Server 2008 was officially launched today.

Whether IT admins follow along with Microsoft's reasoning is, of course, another matter. But Server 2008 certainly contains desirable features in its own right. Server Core is a new installation option that enables Windows Server 2008 to be deployed in a cut-down mode to serve one of eight specific server roles: file, print, DNS, DHCP, Active Directory, LDAP, virtualization, and web (IIS); there is also a ninth streaming media server role that is an optional download.

Server Core mode omits much of the GUI and interactive parts of the OS, as well as those services not essential to the chosen role. Management of Server Core systems will be remote, typically through MMC. In this first version of the functionality, some of those roles may be a little too cut-down; the web server mode lacks .NET (and hence ASP.NET), and since ASP.NET is one of IIS's major features, its omission may prove a little hard to stomach. The other options are more appealing, and they should be very welcome for administrators looking to streamline resource usage and cut down attack surface area.

Hyper-V, the new virtualization platform, isn't actually finished yet; it's still in beta, with a final release expected within 180 days. It's also an optional feature; you can save about $28 from the license fee by opting to eschew it, and it'll be available to purchase—for about $28—if you wish to add it to a non-Hyper-V version later on. Hyper-V uses the virtualization features on Intel and AMD processors (64-bit only) to, in principle, provide high-performance reliable virtualization.

The version of Windows 2008 server I played with looks very promising.

What's the deal RIM?

While the Great Blackberry Outage of 2008^TM is over, most people are left to wonder what the problem is at RIM. Bloomberg reports:

"Research In Motion Ltd. said that a disruption in its Blackberry e-mail service in North America was ``fully and quickly'' restored and no messages were lost.

``It was pretty focused and isolated and we recovered well,'' Co-Chief Executive Officer James Balsillie said in an interview at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona today. ``We apologize for any inconvenience.''

My first question is where are these emails that news outlet keep taking about. I've never gotten one, and my firm is a BES customer.

My second question is how much can we trust RIM to provide key services when we have seen outages time after time. I just glad that my iPhone can do IMAP to my firm's Exchange server.

Microsoft is set to push IE 7 out via WSUS on Tuesday

From a technet update email

Volume 10, Issue 3: February 6, 2008

"On February 12, 2008 Microsoft will release the Windows Internet Explorer 7 Installation and Availability update to Windows Server Update Services (WSUS). Windows Internet Explorer 7 Installation and Availability Update is a complete installation package that will upgrade machines running Internet Explorer 6 to Windows Internet Explorer 7. Customers who have configured WSUS to "auto-approve" Update Rollup packages will automatically upgrade machines running Internet Explorer 6 to Windows Internet Explorer 7 after February 12, 2008 and consequently, may want to read Knowledge Base article 946202 to manage how and when this update is installed. For more on the Windows Internet Explorer 7 Installation and Availability Update, read Knowledge Base article 940767."

Microsoft Security Bulletin Advance Notification for February 2008

Microsoft Security Bulletin Advance Notification for February 2008

Microsoft has listed seven critical updates, and five important updates that will be released next Tuesday.