It's Nearly August... Don't Ask Me How That Happened

I don't know where the summer has gone!  With vacations, keeping busy at work and all those things we love about managing our lives and families... I just can't believe August is approaching!

Of course, Windows 10 is coming!  I've got a couple devices just waiting for July 29th, including my parents machines... so I'll be enjoying some time helping them get their computers upgraded.  

However, once August rolls around, there are other things to do, so it's time to get out from behind the computers and check out some upcoming events.

First off, for you Seattle folks, SITPUG will be having their August 5th meeting from 6:00 to 8:00pm in Bellevue.  Visit www.SITPUG.com for more information.

If you are in Boston, Portland and Denver, be sure to check out the upcoming Angelbeat events in those areas.  My Tech Evangelist colleagues and I have been presenting at those events as we can and they are a great way to get a quick update on tech topics.  The Boston and Denver events will even be having special extended sessions on Azure.

Config Manager and IPv6 (...not together!)

I got word of a couple new things floating around the web that you might want to catch...

First off, my good friend and all-around tech nerd, Ed Horley, just released his first Pluralsight course on... you guessed it... IPv6!  Read more about it on his blog and if IPv6 is on your radar, I can't think of a better person to get you started.

Second, the fine folks at LearnIT! are teaming up with Wally Mead for a webinar on Wally's Favorite Configuration Manager Features.  It's on July 23rd at 9am Pacific Time, the full blurb is below!

You have a Configuration Manager 2012 environment installed and running. All is going good as things are working OK. However, have you really been able to gain the best you can from it? Do you just get by using the handful of features you need to use?

In this session, we'll discuss the features that I love in Configuration Manager 2012 R2, and why. Hopefully this will give you some insight to some features that you may not be using, and why you should look into them further.

Register here - http://www.learnit.com/learning-options/events-and-webinars

Instructor Bio: Wally Mead

Wally is a Principal Program Manager at Cireson. He currently focuses on the improvement and development of products, and drives further innovation between Configuration Manager and Cireson apps. He also consults on Configuration Manager as a key part of the Cireson team.

In addition, Wally continues to provide education for the community through presenting webinars, speaking at conferences (such as TechEd, System Center Universe, Midwest Management Summit), and conducting training courses, as well as assisting the community on the Microsoft TechNet forums.

Goodbye Windows Server 2003!

Time flies and today marks end of support for Windows Server 2003.  In case, you missed some of the available information to help you migrate onto a more modern copy of Windows Server, here are some links!

Listen to @RicksterCDN's letter to Windows Server - The End of a Affair... 

On-Demand Events

• Windows Server 2003 Migration: Hardware Modernization: http://aka.ms/WS03blog
• Windows Server 2003: Most Common Application Migration Concerns: http://aka.ms/commonblog
• Windows Server 2003: Security Risk and Remediation: http://aka.ms/remeblog
• Windows Server 2003 End of Support Migration Overview
• How to Assess Your Windows Server 2003 Enviroment
• Modernizing Your Datacenter Jump Start

Ready for Windows as a Service?

If you are still trying to get your head around how managing and updating Windows 10 will be different than how it's been done in the past, mark your calendar for July 16th.  Simon May will be presenting "Preparing Your Enterprise for Windows 10 as a Service" live, from 9am to 1pm.

Go on and register... you know you want to!