I was researching a problem tonight and I noticed that MSDN has a new look.  There’s also a new “Switch View” button at the bottom allowing you to change the look/feel of the interface.  Scott Hanselman posted about this earlier but I believe it’s now out into the open.  Here’s a few shots…

Classic View

Lightweight Beta…

ScriptFree…

I like the easy control to switch between the different views…

Time for some more exploration…  Enjoy!

If you using the new Windows 7 and having fun with the new native VHD mounting and booting and the new Virtual PC, it wont be long before you’ll be looking for some utilities to make things easier for you.  I’ve found a couple of tools to help me create and manage all the the VHD’s I’ve been experimenting with over the past few weeks. 

Make a VHD image from an existing hard drive image.

Sysinternals has introduced a tool (Disk2Vhd) to convert you existing pc image to a VHD.

Expand the size of a VHD

vmToolkit has a great tool VhdResizer for increasing the size of a fixed VHD.  It requires creating a second VHD (so save some space) and then it copies the files over sector by sector.  I just used it on a Vista VPC image and it worked great.  Don’t forget to expand your partition after using this tool.  This tool only expands the VHD and not the partition found within the VHD.  Once expanded I used the Vista’s Disk Management (via the Computer Management control panel) to expand it to the fill size of the VHD.

Convert from VMWare Disks for use with Virtual PC

vmToolkit also has another great tool, VMDK2VHD, to allow you to convert from VMWare's VMDK format to the Virtual PC’s VHD format.  I haven’t tried this yet but looks like a promising tool.

Several of these tools have been around a while, but I’ve not found a consolidated list of these so hopefully this post will help you as it has me.  As I discover more of these tools I’ll try and keep this post updated.

Enjoy!

Microsoft is doing some pretty amazing things with their new data centers.  I’m most impressed with these “Container Bays” that can hold 1800-2400 servers and are essentially large cargo containers (like the kind used on ocean going ships bring goods to the US) full of servers.  They are self contained data centers within themselves.  They appear to be designed to never have to be opened.  Could they be placed anywhere with the right power available and internet connections?  Is that their design?

This video show their data center concept and how the containers will be built, transported and plugged in.

 
Microsoft Generation 4 Data Centers

This video shows the arrival of some of the Container Bays into the Chicago Data Center.

Microsoft Chicago Data Center Container Bay

Amazing!

More information on these Next Generation Data Centers can be found on the Green Data Center Blog  and the ms datacenter blog.

Thanks to Steve Clayton for the blog post that pointed me to the second video and other blogs.

Could Microsoft Tag…

be as useful as the :CueCat?

You be the judge.

As of this morning the EDS.com web site has changed, and the internal emails are flying through my inbox.   The big announcement is that the EDS brand is being retired and being replaced with “HP Enterprise Services”.  It’s been a little more than a year since HP bought EDS and they have done an amazing job of integrating the two very large companies in a relatively short period.  It’s been a bit rough at times, to say the least, especially with the staff cuts and salary reductions.  Throughout the process however, there seems to have been this undercurrent that the EDS brand was fading.  Oh sure, no one was going to admit it out loud, but something in the back of your head said it was going to happen.  Many have speculated that way for months.  You could see it in many of the decisions being made.

I’m not sure my position on the movement, change, retirement.  Something in me still has pride for working at EDS, Electronic Data Systems, but there is some excitement in working for a new company especially one that people recognize.  HP has products in a lot of my friends and families homes.  EDS has long faded from the company that Ross Perot founded over 47+ years ago and built into one of the premier IT Outsourcing companies in the world.  A lot has changed even in my 17 or so years with the company.  It’s been a great ride working at EDS.  I’ve enjoyed it a lot.  Now I look forward to next ride aboard an even bigger ship.  Let’s just steer clear of those icebergs.

Hang in there, We’ll make it out the other side!

Update:  An article in the New York Times

Thanks to Scott Hanselman for this post on programming tips from Microsoft for the beginning programmer.  Go ahead take a look.  You might like programming.   You should also download one of the Visual Studio Express Editions and get started writing your own “Hello World” app.  If your a programmer and want to get your kids interested there are other alternatives like Phrogram.  Are there others?  Add your comment with ones that you know of.

Let’s excite the next generation of programmers!

Enjoy!

As I posted earlier, I’ve just received a new laptop an HP EliteBook 8530w Mobile Workstation.  My next effort is to begin preparing it install the Windows 7 Enterprise (64 bit) operating system.  First I’ll start with getting new system component software and drivers.  Soon, after getting any new PC I always check the manufactures support site for any BIOS or driver updates.  A lot of times a PC is built and the “images” used during the build could are several months out of date, or quite possibly your “new” PC has been spending several months in a box somewhere out there.  As a result the system software is most likely out of date. 

Well, with some help from my co-worker Scott Rudy who has some great notes to help me along, here’s what I’ve done so far.

Step 1 – Check the bios level.  The PC was reporting version F.09 from 3/10/2009.  According to HP’s support site there is a newer one (version F.0E).  Time to download and update the newer one.  

Step 2 – Download other system hardware drivers.  While I’m there I’ll also make sure I know what hardware is on my laptop and get the latest drivers and place them on a cd or flash drive for use during OS install.

Step 2 – Partition the drive and install Windows 7.  I’m using two partitions to allow one to be encrypted and the other to hold unencrypted VPC images that I can boot from.  This partitioning can be done right in the “install” screens by selecting the Restore option when prompted to “Install Now”.

Step 3 – Immediately perform a Windows Update check.  This will add any hardware drivers and software not found during the initial setup.  It also downloads any missing patches that you might need.

Step 4 – Install required software for VPN connectivity.  Since I’m connecting to a corporate network I need to get my pc to be a member of a domain.  To join the domain I need to be connected to the corporate network first and the VPN gets me there since I work remotely.

Step 5 – Transfer all my stuff.  (Today’s task)

Enjoy!

It’s arrived!  I’ve been waiting for a week or so (and expecting it to take longer) for it to get here.  I was very surprised when the Fed Ex truck pulled in today.   HP-EDS is moving away from the Dell Laptop’s we had and issuing new HP Laptops.  I was fortunate enough to get one of the high end models, an HP EliteBook 8530w Mobile Workstation with 4GB of ram and 250GB hard drive.  It has the T9400 processor running at 2.53 GHz.  It comes in a sleek brushed aluminum case with black keyboard and accents.  It’s also built fairly tough with a stronger case and keyboard and more durable hard drive.  I’m impressed with the overall design and like the “touch” bar that allows control of the volume, WiFi, presentation switch. 

It comes with Vista pre-installed, but I’m about to change that.  It’s definitely time to load Windows 7 (64-bit).  Oh yea, today is going to be busy.  The only question now is, do I perform an in-place upgrade or do a clean install?  Hmm, something to ponder for a bit. Right now I’ve just booted it up and it’s going through a ton of patch installations.  I would’ve thought that the COE department would update their Vista image more often so this initial setup wouldn’t take so long.  Oh well, for now it’s back to work, but I’ll be updating you soon on my experiences with this new laptop.

This is the life……

How I’d wish I’d known this before.  Thanks for sharing the tip Srinath!  Visual Studio stores up to 20 items in the clipboard and you can cycle through them using CTRL-Shift-V, then paste the one you want with CRTL-V.  There are so many of these little tricks that it’s hard to remember them all.   I guess I need to get Sara Ford's book to keep close by when I’m coding.

Enjoy!

Several years ago I switched our home network over to OpenDNS.  I think that was one of the best decisions I’ve made.  They offer a great free product and one that I can customize and use to protect my whole network with a simple change to my router.    Don’t take my word for it take a look at the awards they’ve received and no I don’t receive any kickback for saying all this.  I’m just a very satisfied customer.

So click on over to OpenDNS and make the change. They’ve made it extremely easy and even give you instructions for how to do it regardless of how your network is configured.  I just went through the steps again (so I could blog about it) and it took me 45 seconds to set it up.  Yea… That’s how easy it is!  No matter what your level of computer knowledge is you can do it..  They’ve taken the time to research most major router manufactures and have instructions that will make it that easy for you setup their service.   Some router manufactures are even partnering with OpenDNS to make the ‘Net much safer. The biggest reason I have found to use this product is that it protects my network and family from a lot of different attacks that can come from the internet.  It’s not the only protection I use but it’s an important one. 

Now, the links I provided above will allow you to do two things.  The first is to just change the “DNS” settings on your router.  If you just want the basics then that’s it, change them and move on to surfing safely.  But if you want to move up a notch and begin to monitor and manage your network more like the pro’s then you have to Create the Free Open DNS Account and start using their Dashboard.  Something important to note if your network uses a Dynamic IP address (the majority of the home networks do) then I would also suggest you download and install one of the many Dynamic DNS Clients so you can keep their your account in sync with your ever changing IP address.  With that all setup you can really manage your network.

That’s it for now.  I’ll revisit this topic in the future to give you some more pointers on using this great service.

Enjoy!