In a few days I'll be packing my bags, racing to the airport, scurrying through the terminal, and shouldering my way through all the other IT pros, journalists, analysts, marketing people, and other virtualization-focused folks heading to VMworld in Las Vegas this year.
VMware and their partners will undoubtedly have lots of product briefings, demos, interviews and other things to keep we attendees busy at the show. But before I sign off for my weekend of travel preparation -- something that I find as enjoyable as watching paint dry on another coat of drying paint -- I wanted to point the spotlight on Microsoft's Hyper-V community, since most of my blogging from next week will be related to VMworld.
More IT pros that ever are using Twitter to find product news, get help with technical questions, and connect with other people in their industry. Microsoft's Hyper-V community is no exception, and there are several Twitter accounts that anyone interested in Hyper-V should follow. (Remember to keep tabs on the #hyperv hashtag on Twitter as well, and take a look at our guide to Twitter hashtags for IT professionals. )
Before I get to the list, I should point out the criteria I used to put this list together. There many very smart people who know Hyper-V inside and out, but if they don't have a Twitter account that deals primarily with Hyper-V, they're not on this list. I'm also open to suggestions and additions: If you've found someone on Twitter that is an excellent source for Hyper-V news, help, and information that I’ve omitted, please let me know by dropping me an email or giving me a shout-out (@jeffjames3) on Twitter.
@virtualization - Official Twitter account of the Microsoft virtualization team. A good resource for the latest Hyper-V news and announcements direct from Microsoft.
@HyperVKing – Operated by a self-described “Microsoft enthusiast and author of Hyper-V technology papers,” this twitter account provides a near-continuous stream of links to Hyper-V-related forum posts and web pages.
@VirtualPCGuy (Ben Armstrong) – Ben is a Senior Program Manager on the core virtualization team at Microsoft. He’s a prolific blogger, and posts cool, quirky tips about using Hyper-V and other virtualization products. Recent post: Running the DOS version of “Where in the World is Carmen San Diego” using Virtual PC.
@hypervserver – (Carsten Rachfahl) – Carsten is a Microsoft MVP and tweets often about Microsoft virtualization technologies. Carsten is based in Germany and often provides a unique outlook and/or perspectives on virtualization in Europe.
@edwinyuen (Edwin Yuen) – Edwin is the Director for Cloud and Virtualization at Microsoft. He’s also a genuinely nice person who I’ve met at least once in real life. If you attended the keynote at Microsoft TechEd 2011, you most likely saw Edwin giving an animated, Kinect-enabled demo of Microsoft Worldwide Telescope.
@WSV_GUY (Jeff Woolsey) – Jeff is the Principal Group Program Manager for Windows Server Virtualization. He’s a frequent speaker at many tech conferences, and has always been one of the most vocal Microsoft employees when it comes to countering VMware marketing claims. Recent tweet: “My inbox has been overflowing w/questions about the updated VMware vTax.”
@hvredevoort (Hans Vredevoort) – Hans is a Microsoft MVP and consultant based in the Netherlands. Hans has one of the more active Twitter users in the Hyper-V community, and frequently tweets throughout the day.
@concentratdgreg (Greg Shields) – Greg is a contributor to many IT publications (including @windowsitpro) and has spoken at just about every tech conference available. Trivia: He’s also a senior partner at Concentrated Technology, an IT consulting firm that he co-founded with PowerShell guru Don Jones ( @concentrateddon).
@joe_elway (Aidan Finn) – Based in Ireland, Aidan is a Microsoft Hyper-V MVP and the author of Mastering Hyper-V Deployment. Recent tweet: “I'll be speaking at build ... you will find me Hyper-V-bible thumping on the roadside outside until security chase me off :-)"
@pnoorderijk (Peter Noorderijk) - Peter is an infrastructure consultant who specializes in SCOM, SCVMM, SCE, Microsoft Exchange, and Microsoft Hyper-V. He's also an active blogger on Hyper-V topics at Hyper-V.nu.
@TechGuyAT - A #sysadmin and Hyper-V professional, the person behind the TechGuyAT Twitter handle tweets early and often about a variety of IT issues, including Microsoft Hyper-V.
@hypervnu - Hyper-V.nu is a very active IT community based in the Netherlands, and focuses on helping IT professionals get the most out of Hyper-V.
@michelluescher (Michel Lüscher) - Michel is a self-described "virtualization junkie" working at Microsoft in Europe. He's also behind ServerTalk, a website devoted to Microsoft server technologies in Europe.
- Follow Jeff James on Twitter at @jeffjames3 – Google+ add Jeff to your circles
- Follow Windows IT Pro on Twitter at @windowsitpro