Windows 8.1 Update Video’s

All about you!

Meet the new Windows.

The Desktop.

April 8th : Windows XP : End of Life : Hello, Farewell, Goodbye!

The end of an era; may the force be with you!!

Windows Server 2012 R2 Update 1

Changes included in the update

After the update is installed, the following features are present:
Internet Explorer 11 now includes an “Enterprise Mode.” This mode is available if you disable Enhanced Security Configuration and provides better compatibility for sites designed for Internet Explorer 8, along with tools to manage which web apps use it. You can specify a list of web apps to render dynamically in Enterprise Mode, avoiding compatibility problems with web apps written for older versions of Internet Explorer. For more information, see the Internet Explorer 11 FAQ for IT Pros or TechNet documentation.

The user interface includes buttons for Search and Power on the Start page. If you install the Desktop Experience feature, other changes introduced with Windows 8.1 Update will also be visible. For details, see What's new in Windows 8.1 Update and Windows RT 8.1 Update. The specific Windows 8.1 features installed when you install Desktop Experience have not changed from those in Windows Server 2012 R2 (see Desktop Experience Overview).

Active Directory Federation Services (AD FS) has added the capability for an administrator to enable signing in with an alternate login ID that is an attribute of the user object in Active Directory Domain Services (AD DS). This enables customers to adopt Azure Active Directory without modifying on-premises User Principal Names (UPNs). It also allows users to log in to the computer using an Office 365 email address instead of a UPN. This change does not affect the Active Directory schema. For more information, see Configuring Alternate Login ID.

The update includes all other updates released since Windows Server 2012 R2 was released.

SQL Server 2014 Versions (MSDN)

Windows 8.1 Update 1 & Windows 2012 R2 Update 1

Windows 8.1 with Update (multiple editions) (x64) - DVD (English)
ISO English Release Date: 4/2/2014 Details
Download 3924 MB
File Name: en_windows_8.1_with_update_x64_dvd_4065090.iso
Languages: English
SHA1: 4652DC6EBFEBE02C6A63E167C36E3FAEDFB93999

Windows Server 2012 R2 VL with Update (x64) - DVD (English)
ISO English Release Date: 4/2/2014 Details
Download 4338 MB
File Name: en_windows_server_2012_r2_vl_with_update_x64_dvd_4065221.iso
Languages: English
SHA1: D4B28F350981A7C3306DD409B172AEA10D8599AC

Windows 8.1, Windows Server 2012 R2, Windows Embedded 8.1 Industry Update (x64) - (Multiple Languages)
Download 770 MB
File Name: mu_windows_8.1_windows_server_2012r2_windows_embedded_8.1industry_update_x64_4046913.zip
SHA1: 6A5CBC6FD6C1366F1041E03820FD8508FC95A4AC

Office for iPad

Microsoft Word download
Microsoft Excel download
Microsoft PowerPoint download

Q: How much does Office for iPad cost?
A: You can download the Office apps for free and read, view and present documents, spreadsheets and presentations.  To get the full editing and creation experience, you need an Office 365 subscription. Office 365 gives you always-up-to-date versions of Office across your PC, Mac and iPad, and much more.

Q: Can I try Office for iPad?
A: Yes, you can read, view and present documents, spreadsheets and presentations for free.  To get the full editing and creation experience, you can sign up for a free 30 day Office 365 trial at www.office.com/try. Then download the Office for iPad apps in the App Store.  During your trial period, you can use Office across your PC, Mac and iPad.

Q: What Office 365 subscription plans include Office for iPad?
A: Office 365 Home, Office 365 Small Business Premium, Office 365 Midsize Business, Office 365 E3 and E4 (Enterprise and Government), Office 365 Education A3 and A4, Office 365 ProPlus, and Office 365 University. The new Office 365 Personal will also qualify when it becomes available later this spring.

Q: What are the system requirements for Office for iPad?
A: You need an iPad running iOS 7.0 or later.

Anyone for DOS? Word 1.1a?

Microsoft has dusted off the source code for early versions of MS-DOS and Word for Windows and with the help of the Computer History Museum are making this source code available to the public for the first time.

The museum has done an excellent job of curating some of the most significant historical software programs in computing history. As part of this on-going project, the museum will make available two of the most widely used software programs of the 1980’s, MS DOS 1.1 and 2.0 and Microsoft Word for Windows 1.1a, to help future generations of technologists better understand the roots of personal computing.

http://www.computerhistory.org/atchm/microsoft-ms-dos-early-source-code
http://www.computerhistory.org/atchm/microsoft-word-for-windows-1-1a-source-code

SQL Server 2014 releases April 1st

Well they could have picked a better day;
In-Memory OLTP
Windows Azure Integrated Backups
Azure Integrated AlwaysOn Availability Groups
Full matrix is here of features verses editions;

Migrating Windows SQL Cluster to another SAN?

10 easy steps .. and a few nervous twitches

(1) Make sure all cluster services are running off the same server; in my case node01 has all the luns and services etc.  On Windows 2012+ you can use drain nodes.

(2) Shutdown the Cluster.

(3) Remove old iSCSI connections and shutdown the node with no services; then shutdown the primary node.

(4) Copy the Luns to the new SAN using the migration tools provided by the SAN supplier e.g. SANCopy making sure you copy the Lun id’s and serial numbers.

(5) Disconnect the old Luns via the San Manager from node01 and node02 so that the servers cannot see the old SAN Luns.

(6) Start node01 and configure the iSCSI connections and paths to the new SAN.

(7) From the new SAN allocate the migrated Luns to node01.

(8) In node01 check disk manager for the Luns; they should say reserved?

(9) Start the Cluster and check that the services have come back online?

(10) Repeat steps (6) and (7) on node02 and verify that both nodes are now showing in Failover Cluster Manager.

MSDN SharePoint Server 2013 with SP1 & Project Server 2013 with SP1

SharePoint Server 2013 with SP1 (x64) - DVD (English)
ISO English Release Date: 2/28/2014
Download 2692 MB
File Name: en_sharepoint_server_2013_with_sp1_x64_dvd_3823428.iso
Languages: English
SHA1: 9C29CF62E151D362FB02FBF07AEB0440C52DF555

Project Server 2013 with SP1 (x64) - DVD (English)
ISO English Release Date: 2/28/2014
Download 128 MB
File Name: en_project_server_2013_with_sp1_x64_dvd_3833124.iso
Languages: English
SHA1: 3F760EC428045F02BE50C9E372DF51CE14765F7B