5:35 pm - Hm. So they made Avatar posters of the workshop attendees today. Embarrassing, but ...
Thanks to Ed for holding it up. And hiding. :)
4:35 pm - So I can't actually talk about a lot that's happening today, sorry. But there will be much news tomorrow. Tonight: Dinner with Ed, Long, Mary Jo, Steven, and co. Hopefully something representative of New Orleans. :)
2:00 pm - Yes, it really does taste better.
12:15 pm - Microsoft is pushing the notion that Windows Server 2008 R2 supports "mission critical" workloads, which isn't all that surprising, but this is the first I've heard about tie-ins between this OS and a specific Intel platform, the "Nehalem EX" Xeon 7500 Series, which provides, among other things, support for 256 logical processors. This system was first released in March, and new servers began appearing shortly thereafter. A Microsoft presentation about this utilized a photo that looked awfully familiar. And it is, because the original photo was taken by Steven Bink back in November 2008 at WinHEC.
Someday, Task Manager will look like this on all our PCs. :)
12:00 pm - Just a small update about Windows 7 Service Pack 1 (SP1). Microsoft is reiterating that SP1 will not be a major update for Windows 7, though it will be for Windows Server 2008 R2. The RDP client is getting updated, but beyond that, it's a traditional service pack that rolls up previously-released hotfixes and includes a few newer hot-fixes as well. The message is, "Windows 7 is great, rock solid, as-is." Obviously, the company is interested in seeing businesses deploy now and not wait for SP1. Unlike with previous releases, however, this actually does make sense for Windows 7.
Also, just to be clear, this Service Pack 1 release will service both Windows 7 and Server 2008 R2 (as was the case with SP2 for Windows Vista and Server 2008). So there will be a single 32-bit version of the service pack for both OSes just Windows 7 x86 and a single 64-bit version for both OSes (Windows Server 2008 R2 is 64-bit only). When applied to Windows 7, SP1 provides very minor changes. When applied to Server 2008 R2, the updates are major. More on the Server updates tomorrow.
11:40 am - I flew to New Orleans on Saturday for Microsoft's annual TechEd tradeshow. This is a big deal in IT circles, but perhaps not so interesting in the face of Apple's event marketing this week around WWDC and the new iPhone. Sorry. :)
I came out a day early for a reviewers workshop on Sunday. I can't say anything else about that quite yet, but suffice to say I'll be busy all day today as a result. Most of what's being discussed will of course be announced this week, so let's just move long from that. :)
Yesterday, I did have a chance to check out New Orleans for the first time since Katrina. It's been a long time, but the parts of the city I've seen so far look the same, for which I'm glad, though I realize there are still major parts of the city that are still devastated. I had dinner at Mother's with Long Zheng and Steven Bink last night, and we walked through Jackson Square and the Bourbon Street area. Nothing dramatic, but here are few pictures...
Café du Monde - Beignets
Silly shots on Bourbon Street
Today, I've seen a number of other people, including Ed Bott, and I know Mary Jo Foley will be here soon, if she's not already.