Blog:: Craig Pringle

Australia takes out the 2008 Imagine Cup Software Design competition

Craig Pringle — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 22:14:06 GMT

Nick Randolph has posted that the Australians have won the Imagine Cup for 2008.

Australia took out the2008 Imagine Cup Software Design competition. Team SOAK took on a fierce competition and came out successful - well done guys!

Well done team SOAK. A huge effort.

Check out Nick's post for a raft of phone from the final day.

Sydney Windows Infrastructure Group Meeting Next Week

Craig Pringle — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 22:33:15 GMT

I've just had a reminder of the next meeting of SWIG from my friend Derrick, who runs it.

See you all at SWIG on Tuesday for great talks, prizes and free food and drink.....

We have a great talk on preparing for your Windows 2008 MCITP exam with Ken Schaefer

Ken’s Bio - Ken Schaefer is a systems engineer consultant for global systems integrator Avanade. Avanade is a joint partnership between Microsoft and Accenture and focuses on enterprise projects across the Microsoft product stack.

Ken has worked with IIS for around 10 years, and been a Microsoft MVP for IIS since 2003. He has presented at numerous Microsoft Tech.Ed events across the US, Australia and Asia, written articles for Microsoft TechNet and spent countless hours talking about IIS at other events, user group meetings and roadshows. He was lead author for Professional IIS 7 (Wrox/Wiley) and co-author of Securing IIS 6.0 (Syngress Press)

He is currently an MCITP (Win2k8 EA), MCSE+Security, MCDBA, MCTS and holds a Masters in Business and Technology from UNSW. Ken blogs about IIS at http://adopenstatic.com/blog

I have yet to finalise the second talk but am hoping for a confirmation on a Hyper V talk!

We also have a Demo from Chris Mohan on File Server Resource Manager for Windows 2008. Have a look at Chris’s blog - http://www.chris-mohan.com/

I will send an update soon

See you on Tuesday
Derrick Buckley

Should be good. Details are:

When: Tue 15/07/2008

Where: Healey Room, AMP, 50 Bridge Street, Sydney

See you there!

Automating Tablet Builds - The Infrastructure

Craig Pringle — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 11:36:45 GMT

As I previously mentioned I am putting together a Microsoft Deployment Toolkit (MDT) environment to enable me to rebuild my Vista machines at will.

I now have a Windows 2008 Server machine running inside of Virtual PC that is a self contained MDT environment.

To do this I had to configure the Server with the following services.

Active Directory - I promoted it to a domain controller in its own domain.
DNS - required by AD
DHCP - to give out addresses, required by WDS.
Windows Deployment Services (WDS) - this is an optional Windows Component you can add on Windows Server. WDS responds to network boot PXE requests from clients and sends them a Windows Pre-installation Environment (PE) boot image.
MDT.

There are a number of other components that MDT needs to be able to deploy anything, but it is ridiculously easy to add these in. The main management console of MDT is the Deployment Workbench, which contains a node in the navigation pane called components. Clicking on that shows the current install status of the various things you need and you can download and install them inside the Deployment Workbench. Click the image below to see what this looks like.

Once all the required software is in place it is a matter of creating a distribution share, adding the OS images (which you can do by right clicking Operating Systems and selecting New.. You then just pop in the CD and follow the prompts in the wizard.) and creating a build.

Another cool thing with MDT is you can import drivers in much the same way as operating systems. These can be added to the build so that they are inject into the image before the hardware detection takes place, so if you have more recent drivers than those included with Vista you can insert them and it will never load the older driver. Much cleaner.

To do this you right click on the Out-of-Box drivers node in the Deployment Workbench and select New... This will launch a driver import wizard.

You fill in a path and optionally assign one or more groups that the drivers will belong to and then click Finish. MDT will search the directory and any sub directories and import any drivers it finds. Also by default, when you build your boot image it will include all Network and Storage drivers so that you should have the bare requirements to perform a network install once the Windows PE image boots.

I've got my build going on the Acer laptop I've been testing against to the base OS level with no input required from me beyond pressing F12 to initiate the network boot. Now it is time to start working on the applications.

The MDT Team has a blog - so if you want to find out more that might be a good place to start.

Congratulations to some new MVPs

Craig Pringle — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 11:54:48 GMT

It is time for another round of MVP awards and some great people have been recognised by Microsoft for their tireless contributions to the technical communities.

Sierra Modro and Matt Faulkner- both from GottaBeMobile.com have both been awarded a Tablet PC MVPs. Welcome to the team guys - it is well deserved for both of you!

Also awarded was my good friend and colleague here in Sydney - Derrick Buckley. Derrick runs the Sydney Windows Infrastructure User Group and was awarded as a Communications Server MVP. If you are in Sydney, head along to SWIUG some time as there is always great content there.

Great stuff from all of you - keep up the good work!

Going to build my tablets automatically

Craig Pringle — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 12:29:58 GMT

Two of my machines are in desperate need of a rebuild. Because it has been on my to-do list for a while I am going to look at Microsoft's updated desktop deployment solution accelerator - the Microsoft Deployment Toolkit (MDT).

I have used the previous solution (BDD 2007) to automate Vista builds in the past. The constraint with BDD was that it could only do the desktop OS.

MDT is an updated version of BDD that can deploy desktop and server operating systems. There was a wealth of information in BDD, so I am looking forward to getting hands on with MDT to see what is there. From the overview blurb:

Microsoft Deployment provides proven tools and practices with which IT professionals can:

Create a software and hardware inventory to assist in deployment planning.

Test applications for compatibility with Windows operating systems and mitigate compatibility issues discovered during the process.

Set up an initial lab environment with imaging and deployment servers.

Customize, package, and deploy applications.

Automate image creation and deployment.

Manage processes and technologies to produce comprehensive and integrated Lite Touch Installation (LTI) and Zero Touch Installation (ZTI) deployments.

During deployment, migrate users’ documents and settings to their new computer configurations.

During deployment, Microsoft Deployment supports the installation of all Roles such as Active Directory® Domain Services (AD DS), Domain Name System (DNS) server, Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) server, Microsoft Internet Information Services (IIS), Windows Deployment Services, Windows SharePoint® Services, Windows Internet Naming Service (WINS) server, and Windows Server® 2003 Terminal Services. Additionally, Microsoft Deployment supports the configuration of the AD DS role.

Ensure that computers are hardened to improve security within the environment.

Microsoft Deployment brings together time-honored and proven practices in addition to the following Microsoft technologies:

Application Compatibility Toolkit (ACT) 5.0 for gathering application inventory and for testing and mitigating application-compatibility issues

Windows User State Migration Tool (USMT) for migrating user settings and data

Windows Automated Installation Kit (Windows AIK) for configuring unattended Setup answer files (Unattend.xml) and capturing images

Windows Deployment Services for starting Windows Preinstallation Environment (Windows PE) on target computers across the network

Windows PE 2.0 for starting computers

As I write this I have a new Windows Server 2008 Standard virtual machine installing in Virtual PC that I plan to use as the deployment server. After that is installed I'll be installing MDT. Stay tuned.

Run an app as admin, no prompts

Craig Pringle — Sun, 15 Jun 2008 21:58:47 GMT

For my money UAC is a good thing Or rather it is a painful and annoying intrusion, but there is a good reason it is there. It helps to address a very real threat. But, I've often thought that it should have a way to mark an app as trusted, so it always runs as admin without prompting. Thankfully the how-to geek has a way.

Create Administrator Mode Shortcuts Without UAC Prompts in Windows Vista
One of the most talked about annoyances in Windows Vista are the UAC prompts that constantly pop up when you are trying to make system changes. It's especially irritating when you often need to run a particular tool that requires administrator mode in order to run. Thankfully there's a simple hack that you can do to create an administrator mode shortcut that doesn't prompt for UAC.

Read More...

Great tip!

Oh - you can unsubscribe a podcast on the Zune as well!

Craig Pringle — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 22:23:30 GMT

One of the things that has annoyed me about the podcast functionality on the Zune is that I could not find an easy way to unsubscribe from a podcast from the device.

The post from Kevin @ jkOnTheRun about sharing and subscribing to podcasts (which I just posted about) from the device gave me an idea.

Sure enough if you press and hold the centre button on the Zune while listening to a podcast one of the options presented is unsubscribe. Excellent. The Gong Show for podcasts. That is exactly what I needed.

Share and subscribe to video podcasts over WiFi with Zune 2.5

Craig Pringle — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 22:15:59 GMT

Kevin over at jkontherun points out that you can send a video (and presumably audio) podcasts from one Zune to another and recipient can even subscribe on the device.

Rob Greenlee figured out that video podcasts can be sent over WiFi from Zune to Zune using the sharing functionality built into the Zune 2.5 firmware. Here's the more important function in my mind: not only can you share that video 'cast with a Zune-mate, but he or she can then initiate a subscription to the podcast directly on their Zune. They just need to hold down the middle Zune button while the video podcast is playing and they'll see the "Subscribe" option appear. Next time they sync their Zune with a host PC running the Zune software, the new subscription will be added to their podcasts. Nice feature!

Very cool feature. No if only I can find another person in Australia with a Zune I can try this out :)

An interesting chat with Scott Eckert of Motion Computing

Craig Pringle — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 13:21:47 GMT

This morning I was fortunate enough to have a one-on-one chat with Motion Computing's President and CEO, Scott Eckert. Thanks for all those who posted comments and questions on my blog and on GottaBeMobile. Rather than pose every question directly (as there were quite a few) I looked for the common themes in the comments and constructed questions from those.

I met Scott in the foyer lounge of a Sydney Hotel. We chatted for a couple of minutes about Sydney, the appalling weather and work, then got down to business. He was pleased that I was taking notes on my LS800 at the meeting and allowed that he used one himself for two years. This led nicely into my first question. What follows is summary of my discussion with Scott. This is not a verbatim transcript as I did not record the conversation.

Of the 12 comments posted on the two blogs (excluding the one about taking Scott hostage until he included ice cube makers - which we both took as a joke) fully 4 of them mentioned the LS800 directly and two others mentioned a desire for a smaller tablet. When the LS range was dropped there were a lot of people who were very disappointed, myself included. In my view Motion created and owned the Ultra Mobile category before the UMPC label even existed. Given that there is an apparent market for these devices and that they were, and still are, a device that really turned heads and got people interested in Tablets - why was it dropped?

In response Scott was pleased that I was crediting them with creating a category. Their goal was to create a truly enterprise class UMPC and he felt that they had done well with that. He also indicated that while the LS800 did enjoy some success in certain areas that it did not achieve the volumes needed to sustain it as an additional range. That said the market for this type of device is still there and Motion is keeping an eye on it, there is ongoing R&D and as pen, touch and other technologies mature it is an area that they may re-enter.

Next I said that to me it seemed that sometimes Motion was focusing more on winning new customers than looking after their existing customer base. Two examples I held up to support this. The first was the inability to migrate accessories between ranges - such as the M-series range and the LE-series range. The second was the relatively poor upgrade experience that Motion users had going to Vista.

On the first point Scott pointed out that their ranges are expected to exist for about 3 years before being replaced by a new range. They try to ensure consistency in the range, but in order to take advantage of rapidly advancing technology they won't necessarily have compatibility of peripherals between ranges.

I suppose that this helps Motion evolve their products more quickly as they are not constraining a new range with the limitations of the old.

Scott also pointed out that while accessories for previous ranges are not necessarily compatible, they are supported and spares are available long after the range stops shipping, which also helps to mitigate the issue for their enterprise customers.

On the second point Scott acknowledged that the Vista upgrade experience had not been all that smooth for end users. They have learned from the feedback and hope to do it better next time. He also pointed out that many of their enterprise accounts are still deploying XP based images on their Motion tablets.

There seems to be an increasing focus on verticals with the specialized range expanding and what I consider to be the general use/corporate range shrinking. Is this going to be a trend that continues?

Motion are really highly focused on the verticals. In fact when I was chatting to Scott this was very apparent long before I asked this question. Scott told me that the way Motion look at it is that they have two primary verticals and three product ranges. The vertical markets they are focused on are healthcare and field automation and the three product ranges can be applied to both of those.

This is not to say that there are not other niches and verticals that don't suit the Motion tablets. Indeed some of the successful markets have come as something of a surprise to Motion. The LS800 enjoyed quite a bit of success in the aviation market, and this was largely driven by a software partner who married up his software, the LS800 and a mounting solution and sold this as a bundle.

What other verticals interest you?

Motion's primary focus has always been people who need to use a computer while standing and walking.

One of the questions that came up was around a slate for artists - any plans to enter that market?

Scott thought that the artist market was pretty well served today by the likes of the Wacom Cintiq which is not mobile, but it provides a much higher resolution and a better digitizer than what is available today in mobile devices. There may not be too many mobile artists, but many of the ones that are out there are using the LE range devices today with success.

There were a couple of questions around multi-touch. Motion was leading the market there - what happened?

The technology was very new and Motion just struggled to get it commercialized. Touch, and the combination of touch and an active digitizer, is and will continue to be an important technology for future ranges.

(reading between the lines I take it there won't be one in the LE range, though I could be wrong.)

Motion also feels that for touch to really succeed it is critical that the applications are designed for and work well with touch. This led nicely to my next question.

Again - from the questions posted is there any thought of entering the software market to help bring that about?

The short answer is that Motion is not looking to become a software house. However Motion are already active in that space and they currently work with about 150 software partners in the vertical markets to help them write better applications. It is better for Motion to have more partners and to work with them rather than compete against them.

This is where Scott talked about the aviation example and how a partner created a market for the LS800 and did really well in it. Naturally Motion would like to find more partners like that, so for those of you reading this that write software - keep that in mind!

There are some general issues that most mobile users face, such as battery life and heat. There are also some technologies that seem to be taking a long time to come to market, such as hybrid drives or that still carry a significant premium like solid state drives. What do you see as the most important technologies coming.

Battery technology is really a chemical process, which means that adding capacity to batteries is not easy. Motion have found it more fruitful to reduce the power consumption of the device and this is where they are investing. This means both engineering better, more efficient hardware, adding technologies such as LED backlit displays and working with application developers to make the applications more efficient.

Some closing thoughts from me. Scott is a genuinely nice guy and I really enjoyed my chat with him. He is astute, passionate about his products and focused on the vertical markets and the Motion vision. Motion are not merely aware of the bloggers, readers and commentors that make up the blogosphere. They are not just listening to the conversations. They are actively reaching out and engaging and I think that is a really good thing. Thanks to Scott for taking the time to talk to me.

Kudos to Motion for Listening

Craig Pringle — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 11:26:43 GMT

As I just posted Motion have reached out through me to one of their customers who posted a comment here about a poor experience he had with their support.

I think it is great that Motion are paying attention. And not just to the bloggers, but to the comments as well. This is a very good thing.

Often we as customers feel like we are nothing more than nameless, faceless numbers to the companies we buy products from. When they show that they are listening and want to help it is truly gratifying. I don't know why more companies don't keep their finger on the pulse. Good work guys.

"Scott" get in touch, please

Craig Pringle — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 11:12:43 GMT

When I posted the other day that I was meeting with Motion's CEO, Scott Eckert, I called for questions. One comment came from another Scott who has been less than satisfied, shall we say, with the battery life of his LE1700. Worse, when he tried to raise the issue with Motion support he found them "terse--and unhelpful".

Good news Scott - I've been contacted by someone at Motion that wants to help you get a resolution to your issue. They asked me to forward their details on to you so that you can contact a person who will own the issue and get it resolved. Here's the rub - I don't have your email address as your real address was not provided with the comment.

I don't mind that at all. I respect people's privacy. But it does mean I can't reply to you directly. If you email me using the link at the bottom of the left hand column of my blog pages, or leave a comment and specify your email address in the appropriate field I'll forward you the details of someone who wants to help.

Just to clarify for everyone out there - anyone who comments on my blog is asked to provide an email address. There is no checking that it is a real address and if you choose not to provide your actual address that is fine. However, just so you all know, if you do provide an address it will never be used by me for any purpose other than replying directly to you comment if I think that is appropriate. I will never provide your address to any third party without your express consent. I will never sell any email addresses (I hate spam).

Work has been busy

Craig Pringle — Sat, 31 May 2008 11:54:00 GMT

The last couple of weeks have been pretty full on. I never made it bat to CeBit after my previous post as a project I am working on ran into some issues and that demanded my full attention.

However, while I was there I talked with the guys from Motion Computing (who had a great stand at CeBit, BTW) and on Friday I got a call from the country manager here in Australia. He tells me that Scott Eckert, the CEO of Motion Computing, is going to be in Sydney next week and asked if I would be keen to meet and talk to him. Heck yeah!

Now it is no secret that I have long been a slate fan and that I've had a couple of Motion slates in my time. My Motion LS800 is still one of my favourite devices and I've always wondered why there was never another in the LS line... I've got plenty to things to talk to Scott about. But then I'm sure some of you do as well. So if you do have any questions, leave a comment here and I'll see what I can do. I'm meeting Scott on Wednesday - Sydney time.