As I’ve been studying for the 70-410 Microsoft exam, I’ve come to the realization that I’m not ready, and I might not ever be.

Technology is a wondrous thing. It can take care of mundane, repetitive tasks, but only if you set it up and use it properly. It can also take over your world and control you, not quite Matrix style, but its getting there. Those of us that work in the IT field, be they developers, Network Admins, Penetration Testers, or any other number of fields, we do our best to keep up with the constant change of technology, not just for our own sake, but for societies. Someone has to know how to tame the technological beast. Certifications are a way of showing we understand the technologies out there, and have some degree of mastery over them.

Recently, there has been a challenge put forth called 90 Days to MCSA, through Microsoft learning. the goal is to get your MCSA be it in SQL, Server 2010, or Azure, in a 90 day period. I love learning (why else get into the IT field), and I love a good challenge, so I have embarked on the Server 2012 track. Over the last 10 days I have been studying for the Installation and Configuration exam (70-410) with a book from Microsoft press geared toward it. I also have a lab set up at my house for testing and doing the exercises. this should be simple you would think. Study the book, do the exercises, pass the exam. Theoretically, that is how it is supposed to go.

The problem with theories, is just that. They are theories, and real world can be indifferent to them. As I have almost finished the book (all 1600 pages of it) and done the exercises, I honestly do not feel much more ready to take the exam than I did before I started. Some of that could be because of the time frame from start to finish, which I will supplement with some other resources available to me. Some of it is that I don’t have access to any practice exams to gauge how I do on the various parts, and where my weaknesses are. Another portion is due to the face that while Server 2012 is new, and so are the exams, the books to study for it were released back in October, which means they were written while the software was still in Beta, and I have found issues with some of the exercises due to that fact (I won’t get into how many typos were in the book itself). This also leads me to a lack of confidence in taking the exam. When the official material is problematic, one has to wonder what they are actually in for.

The final issue I run into is that I like to know that I can pass the exam itself before I take it. I know others out there are like this also. We don’t want to go into that testing room and come out with a fail, especially with how much the exams cost. So we tend to push it off, time and time again, until there is new technology and new exams to take. In the mean time we get really good with the technology, but have no way of showing that little piece of paper to our employers, even though in the end it shouldn’t matter.

The question is though, when do you jump into the exam itself?

The nice thing about training in a test environment is you can blow things up and not have to worry about it. Its more fun when the training exercise you are doing blows up in your face and you have to go from just learning mode to troubleshooting mode just to complete the exercise.

I do love learning, and I do love a challenge. I decided to take the 90 Days to MCSA challenge on figuring it would be good motivation for me to upgrade my Microsoft Certifications. I also figured that going with books from Microsoft Press, that recently came out, I would be even better off, since they would have the proper information. With all of this in mind I started off going through chapter 1 and doing the migration exercise at the end of the chapter. Piece of cake, everything went exactly as it said it would in the book. Each step worked beautifully. Coming off this success I went into chapter 2 ready for what it had to throw at me.

After reading through everything I started the first exercise which consists of  installing Server 2012 Core and then Converting to the GUI. The Core install had no issue, no problems. I get to the steps to do the conversion, and the problems started. Following step by step I went to the powershell and typed:

Install-WindowsFeature Server-Gui-Mgmt-Infra –Restart –Source c:\mountdir\windows\winsxs

To convert to a minimal GUI system, and wound up stalling out at 68% and then failing with the following information:

Install-WindowsFeature : The request to add or remove features on the specified server failed.

Installation of one or more roles, role services, or features failed.

The source files could not be downloaded.

Use the “source” option to specify the location of the files that are required to restore the feature. For more information on specifying a source location,

seehttp://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=243077. Error: 0x800f0906

At line:1 char:1

+ Install-WindowsFeature Server-Gui-Mgmt-Infra,Server-Gui-Shell -Source:wim:z:\ins …

+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    + CategoryInfo          : InvalidOperation: (@{Vhd=; Credent…Name=localhost}:PSObject) [Install-WindowsFeature], Exception

    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : DISMAPI_Error__Cbs_Download_Failure,Microsoft.Windows.ServerManager.Commands.AddWindowsFeatureCommand

Success Restart Needed Exit Code      Feature Result

——- ————– ———      ————–

False   No             Failed         {}

Being the IT guy that I am, I start Googling, and find not a lot of information, or at least solutions for this problem. I figure, OK it is something with the mount directory, so lets just try and get what we need from the online source. This time I get a Could not Download from source error on the fail, again at 68%. Now we are at a point that doesn’t make sense. I can understand that after some updates, there might be an issue doing the switch from the DVD (and yes I even used the DVD itself as the source directly with the same problems), but not able to do it from the online repositories, like ti should, this has me baffled. I decide to try and delete the mountdir directory I had created in case it was looking at that at all, and of course, a bunch of files cannot be deleted due to access issues. Yeah, I know that at this point I should just reinstall server core from the start and try again, but I now have a huge challenge on my hand, and can’t let it go so easily, even though it does push back my studying schedule.

I then decide to run another round of updates on the system to see if that is why the online repositories are not able to update the system as they should be able to. I also go against what the book says, and do all updates and not just the recommended ones. Well, that of course fails also, which brings me to the point of making the decision to wipe and start from scratch or continue finding an answer to the problem. I decide to try one more thing and from a recommended link in a post on the Microsoft forums I type in:

Dism /online /enable-feature /featurename:ServerCore-FullServer /featurename:Server-Gui-Shell /featurename:Server-Gui-Mgmt

This comes back with an error 0x800f0906 which says the source file cannot be downloaded. A quick Google search for that error comes up with it relating to the .NET framework 3.5.1. I figure, enough is enough for now and decide to reload Server Core from scratch and try to do the switching without doing any updates from Microsoft. That’s the lucky thing about it being a single test machine that I have nothing to worry about on. Start again from the beginning. I am sure Microsoft never intended for this process to take over 3 hours to get running properly, but again, that is the joy of new technology, you never know what can happen.

While starting form scratch, I did a bit more research to find that this is a known problem. After the reload, and before setting any server information or doing any updates, I was able to go through the steps for switching to the Minimal Gui without the error. The big question I have is why would Microsoft make it so difficult to do the switching the first time between Core and Gui when it is one of the great new features they have touted?

One of the major reasons I love the IT world is that its always changing, and changing relatively quickly. That means there is always something to learn.

I love learning. Anyone in IT seems to have this same love, since solving problems is learning in its purest form. then there is the learning for Certifications, which are supposed to show our IT chops. Microsoft recently released the new MCSA Server 2012 exams, and in short order Michael Bender (MVP) has issued the 90 Days to MCSA challenge. So I have decided to throw my hat into this challenge and see if I can pull this off.

There is a sign up area for this, which allows you to then participate in a community area (as compared to just read) so that everyone can help each other along the way. They give a wiki for each exam with not only what Microsoft Press books are recommended for each exam (some of the books are not even available yet), but also links to Technet articles that will help you study. The Technet links are broken down by exam objectives, making it easier to know what you are learning, and how it relates to everything.

The first exam is the 410 which is installing and configuring Server 2012. The nice thing is that there are books for this exam already. I am using the Microsoft Press book “Installing and Configuring Windows Server 2012 Training Guide” instead of the Exam Prep, mostly because the Training guide seems to go more in depth. Of course one of the things recommended is to have a lab to get hands on experience, and for the first time I have a machine I can do that with. For those that can’t, there are ways with the Virtual Academy from Microsoft to get hands on experience now also. For me though, I looked at the system requirements and found that my 5 year old machine I just decommissioned, which is an Athalon 4200 x64 dual core with 4GB ram, is powerful enough to run Server 2012. The fact that Server 2012 has low machine requirements is a definite plus for a lab setting. I still wouldn’t use the machine for production purposes.

Over the course of this challenge I will blog some progress reports, and interesting tidbits that I learn along the way, so stay tuned my friends!

I have in my possession a Surface, an iPad, and an ASUS T300 Android Tablet. After having spent time with all three, I look at the pluses and minuses of them, from my perspective, which means that there are opinions in here that are just that, opinions.

Tablets are the new big thing. Everyone wants one, and plenty of companies are making them. Some tend to be designed for specific things (Nook, Kindle) while others make what seem like empty promises to me. I started out with a Nook Color e-reader not long after it came out. I had figured that it would be the tablet of choice for me. Problem was, the 7″ screen and lack of apps, especially free (Ad Supported) apps made me think of getting something else.

That something else came from my work. As we were getting iPads and starting to support them at client sites, they gave me one. this was for me to play with, learn about and use so I could support them. I enjoy the iPad experience. It is quick, and solid. I don’t like Apple, their holier than god and we know what is right for you attitude, and the lack of decent tech apps. Video playback on it has been nice on trips, but I am limited to the Apple formats, as usual.

The Surface is the newest of the Tablets I have. I really had high hopes for this machine, and maybe in the future it will reach those aspirations, but not at the moment. Right now, I deal with the frustration of not finding either the apps I use or an equivalent. Flip Toast is ok, but has bugs (They have told me they are working on fixing them). I can’t find decent Network tools, most apps that I can get free with Ads on other platforms, cost money, or are more expensive than they are on other platforms. Then there is also my Nook issue. I have the Nook app, or my Nook Color on everything else. My Library is there on all my other devices. Microsoft, which bought an 18% stake (IIRC) in Nook has no Nook App for Windows 8. In Fact if you search for Nook in the App Store, you get 2 choices as of writing this article, Kobo or Kindle. So much for partnerships. Don’t get me wrong, there is good about the Surface. Office works nicely, the hardware is responsive and the tile system looks nice. Plus there is the keyboard cover, which is pretty sweet.

Both the Surface and the iPad I got through my office for testing and learning purposes. We want to make decisions on what our sales and service techs are going to use going forward. Honestly, I would lean to the Surface, because of Office, and because of the ease at which it integrates into a Microsoft environment. I can access network shares easily (even though I cannot join an RT device to the domain), and it will do everything that our sales and service teams need. The iPad integration we were trying with a Mac server and we just could not get it to do what we wanted.

The ASUS Transformer T300 is a personal item. It was a birthday gift back in Sept. To tell the truth, I love it. Outside of Flipboard not being available for it, I have everything I want or need on it right now. Yes, I am using Pulse on it, but the lack of new sources I like, and the lack of aggregation from the social media world, makes Pulse a bit annoying, especially in regards to World/U.S. news. Still, I have everything else, including a free Office Suite (which is amazingly useful in its own right). The only drawback to the T300 as compared to the Prime, is the plastic back. I also got a 3rd party case/bluetooth keyboard for it which works as nicely as the Surface’s keyboard cover.

My recommendation right now to people would be the Android Tablet. The T300 does it all, and while a bit sluggish at times, is still is plenty responsive. There are more free apps available for it, and you are not tied into iTunes or Apple’s network. The Surface might be the thing in the future, bight right now, it doesn’t have enough to make it worthwhile, especially on price point. The T300 costs under $400 for a 32GB model. The iPad and Surface (with Type touch cover) are both at $600 for 32GB (Without the Cover the Surface is $499 for 32GB).

This summer, when Microsoft announced it was going to make its own tablet, I was pretty excited. I had a chance to play with Windows 8 at TechEd the week before the announcement, and felt it would do well as a tablet OS. When pre-orders opened, I got my boss to get me one so I can test it for deployment in our company. After having it almost a week, I can tell you, this is a product that definitely has the 1st generation problems.

I felt like a kid in a candy store that had free samples all over the place. Opening the boxes that contained my Microsoft Surface and starting it up for the first time, that sense of anticipation for something you just can’t wait for was bursting. Then the testing began. Simple enough at first, connect to a wireless network, and go through all the setup routines. Simple enough, and easy enough, but then it hit me. The Surface came with 2 small books. The warranty book in 20 different languages, and a pamphlet book that had some crappy diagrams in it. No instruction manual, no real quick start guide, nothing. this over faith in the simplicity and easy of use is the first problem I have.

No information on how to close apps on the unit. No information about swipe gestures at all, let alone things such as how to switch between apps, how to bring up a settings menu, the things one should know. The tiles are nice, and pretty, but the constant (and I mean constant) update speed on them gets annoying. When I finally found the setting (swipe in from the right side) area to adjust it, I was disappointed that the slowest refresh rate was 90 seconds.I personally believe this helps shorten the battery life of the Surface itself. As I played with opening apps, and setting up a connection to my office’s Exchange server, I found I could not pinch and zoom. I also had to do a search on the web to find how to close apps, and then the motion (swipe down) had to be performed very specifically with regards to speed, otherwise the app would stay open. Not very intuitive in my estimation, and the slower speed of swipe to close items, will drive some people crazy.

The office apps were next for me to dig into, along with switching to the desktop mode and going to a share on a server to grab some Docs. This worked fantastically. Going into explorer, pulling up a server, logging in with my domain credentials, and then opening and working in office was nice and easy. Office itself was pretty decent to work with, especially with the tablet mode turned on so items were spaced a bit apart. I also tried to find the built in Cisco VPN system that I had been told about at training in Chicago’s Microsoft Tech Center the day before, but as of this writing, I still cannot find it.

Speaking of Apps, and the App store, I have found it to be frustrating. Not because of the lack of Apps, but because of the problems I have getting the store to open up and recognize that I am online. In fact the whole, am I online issue happens in most of the Metro, oops sorry, Modern Style Apps, including mail. Yet when any one of these shows that I am offline, I can open up IE in desktop mode and show that I am online. Heck I can go to a command prompt through the desktop and ping the internet at large. This to me was very surprising, as it is not a factor of the hardware, but of the Modern UI and Apps that have the issues.

Hardware wise, everything seems pretty solid. The disappointments to me is more with responsiveness (which could be an OS thing) and with the Touch Type Keyboard cover. I have found that the responsiveness to be sluggish half the time. Switching from portrait to landscape modes is slow. Response to touch even gets slow and sluggish. The Touch Type Keyboard Cover, is a different creature. When used as a keyboard (provided the tablet sees it which occasionally it doesn’t) it is great. Where I find it lacks is when you close it. It does not have a magnet to keep it closed, nor does it put the unit into a sleep or standby mode. It makes me feel like I should have another cover that will be more protective to the Surface itself. The next issue I have is that there is no way to keep the wireless on that I have found (I have this same issue with my Asus T300 Android tablet). This means no new mails when it shuts off. The iPad seems to be the only tablet not to have this problem so I can keep it nearby and know when I get new mail as long as I am in a place where I have wireless. This also affects the Windows Automatic Updates, which are supposed to happen at 3am (when the wireless is offline). I also have found that if I store my Surface in my bag next to my iPad, the Surface turns on.

I will not go into the Apps so much except on one surprise front. Microsoft bought int Barns and Noble’s Nook spinoff. Yet the only App is Amazon’s Kindle app, which I don’t use (I own a Nook Color). the lack of a Nook app at launch is extremely surprising, and I have yet to hear when a Nook app will come out. The rest of the App story all depends on what one is looking for. There are fewer Apps than Android or iOS, right now, but that should change, and is not a worry point for me as I don’t use 500,00 to a million apps. My Android tablet has the most downloaded apps on it and that is maybe 30, out of which I use many 10-15 apps regularly. The Nook app though is a big one for me, as I have all my tech manuals in my Nook system, and do not wish to repurchase them.

All of the problems and issues I have found can be fixed. It just make sit obvious that this is a first generation device, and a first serious attempt. From the screw up with the word Metro, to the issues outlined above, everything is fixable. The question is, will Microsoft fix these problems quickly and let the platform live up to the potential it has?

The DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act) is a powerful tool for copyright holders. Take down notices get served to many websites daily to remove infringing items, yet many are false positives. Will the DMCA harm cloud computing? I think its a good possibility.

I recently read an interesting article on SC Magazine about a security researcher who had her MediaFire account suspended for 36 hours because of a DCMA notification. The infringing files she had on the account for years, and were malware files that had been or were being researched by her and others. There is also the case of speeches from the recent political conventions been taken down off You Tube because of automated filters to prevent DMCA take down notices. The amount of false positives reported to the news outlets it a small portion of what actually is out there, but they tend to make big news.

So what does this all have to do with killing the cloud? The answer is quite a lot. If the filters and DMCA searches are conducted in a way that can breed a lot of false positives, such as just going by file names and sizes, then what is to prevent a DMCA notice and fight over a companies private files that have the same name as some other companies files? Better yet, what if something is named too similar to something from the entertainment industry? a presentation that uses music, hey there can be a DMCA takedown notice right there if a file scanner digs into it, or if you leave the name of the song in the filename.

The idea being that all these notices can help make people gun shy about moving or even using the cloud. Copyright is needed, yet has been blown way out of proportion in its longevity. Life of the artist plus 75 years is way to long, considering that copyrights were meant to foster innovation, not to allow someone to sit back on their laurels. Now we see that it can affect researchers which are reaching to the cloud to help analyze items in a file. This can affect not only the infosec area but other areas such as medicinal or other science research. All this because one is guilty until proven innocent. This can and will affect the future in more ways than we can see at this time.

A couple of weeks ago, Verizon pushed ICS down to my Razr. I had been look forward to the upgrade for a while, but was it everything one wants?

The biggest problem with the Android OS is Google puts out a new version right about the time the Upgrades to the prior version come out. That being said, I finally got the ICS upgrade on my Droid Razr. With all the talk and positive things I had heard about ICS, I was excited.

The upgrade process was mostly painless, except for the notification coming at 4am on a work day. Once completed, I started looking for changes. First thing though was letting a number of my applications update. One of the biggest changes there was the Google+ app. The widget for it now showed actual posts, which makes my life easier, especially since I tend to forget about Google+ for days at a time (a post for another day).

The first bad thing about ICS I ran into was with my home button right after seeing the Google+ change. On Gingerbread, if you hit the home button once, it brought you to your home screen, and this hasn’t changed. Hitting the home button from your home screen on ICS does nothing, compared to Gingerbread which zoomed out and shows you all 5 screens so you could jump to a specific screen and not have to scroll to the far ones. This feature removal is a definite down side, although understandable since ICS is designed for devices without the  4 buttons below the actual screen.

The new set of customizable on screen quick start buttons is decent. the have put a nice App button there to bring you to the full application listing also. To add items to a home screen was completely different. You actually have to go into your main app list and hold touch on the itme. Apps that have widgets should show a widget app in the App screens also.

There are 2 big annoyances with ICS though. First is battery life, which already was limited on the Razr, has dropped even more. The second was after the upgrade, all the personalization I had done for ringtones, notifications etc, were gone. I wondered for a couple days why I was not vibrating when I got a new text message, until I figure this out.

Overall ICS has some good and bad. At this point in time, Android really reminds me of Microsoft and Windows. So many different configurations and hardware, the main company can’t keep up with it all, and the OEMs don’t care about keeping things current for their users. Instead they want you to buy new all the time.

I made a comment on Twitter today after watching some of the announcements from today’s WPC Keynote. It got a nice conversation going and also got me thinking, an IT consultant’s role goes overlooked by the Tech Companies.

Being unable to attend Microsoft’s WPC in Toronto, I turned to Twitter to keep up with it, as I go out to clients on a regular basis and can’t always stream the keynotes. The announcement today of a complete refresh of all Microsoft products in the next 12 months was the icing on the cake. Microsoft was promoting through those at WPC, and forgetting about getting the refresh items in the hands of IT people.

the point comes really into play in the vast SMB marketplace. I have great influence over my clients and what they decide to purchase, due to a level of trust that I have built with them over the years. One the other hand I have limited resources of my own, and have to convince my bosses to get me new technology that I can test in our environments. Being a consultant is not easy.

Where Microsoft dropped the ball, is with TechEd. All the refreshes should have been on display and easily accessible to all the attendees. We are the ones who can drive adoption, and even give higher marks to a product compared to main tech site reviews. Now figure in that you need to set up budgeting for the following year, and Microsoft really dropped the ball. The Surface Tablet, if announced 2 weeks earlier and put on display/testing for the thousands at TechEd would have gotten even more press, more word of mouth and been ready to burst, if it is as good as they say. Office 2013 has been talked about, and I think has been shown a little at WPC, but still no build up for something that is coming out late this year or early next year.

TechEd pushed Server 2012 and Windows 8, but even then, unless one had time to do labs and not go to seminars, there wasn’t a lot to work with. the idea of having given or at least loaning a Windows 8 Tablet to all TechEd attendees would have been a boon. A chance to use it in a real world situation. the majority of us don’t have a way to test it on a tablet unfortunately.

TechEd also pushed cloud services, which for SMBs is still cost prohibitive. You have the cost of the services plus the cost of extra bandwith needed to be able to function at a smooth rate. The barrier to entry is too great. Add on that we are still seeing cloud service crashes every 4-6 months. the lack of the SBS edition of Server might drive more to the cloud, but could leave SMBs with older software, lack of funds to upgrade, and eventually create security issues.

As Scott Ladewig said in response to one of my tweets in our conversation, “ I love the deep dives into technology and educational opportunities, but TechEd keynotes should be more like WPC,” and about TechEd, “Great event, can be even better!” He is right, and hopefully Microsoft will learn. The SMB consultants are the true movers and shakers for a large majority of technology. Get us on board because we are not going to recommend something we haven’t tested.

The world of Technology is a fickle one. You can be a darling one minute and a hated evil empire the next.

There is a lot of talk going around on the technology websites. With all the announcements made recently there has to be. You have Microsoft’s Surface, Google’s Nexus 7, Apple’s new MacBook, and that is just the tip of the iceberg. As always there is much debate about what these things mean, not only to the world at large, but in terms of what a company is or is not. These opinions help shape the future of tech, and what company’s bottom lines will be. The problem is that those writing opinions are just that, opinions, but people take them as facts.

For instance, lets look at Microsoft and its reputation as an “Evil” empire. This thought, which started back in the 90′s, when Apple was on life support and when Microsoft was trying to outflank any competitor, mostly by using integration with less superior products. There was an Anti-Trust suit, Microsoft had to capitulate to oversight and allowing use of its APIs fairly. The tech world wanted Microsoft broken into multiple companies, like AT&T had been many years ago(and that turned out so well). Here we are now in an age where the world of technology is well more than just PCs. A world where overall, Microsoft is not that big of a player. Yes it still is the dominant PC operating system. The world of mobility though belongs to Apple and Google. The world of the internet belongs to Google and Facebook. Microsoft’s name and slips seem to measure bigger, get sounded louder, and last longer than any slip from any of these other companies.

Take a look at security and privacy. Microsoft has been working for years, and getting much better, at security. Third party applications, such as Flash and Java, have been the big holes into Microsoft systems recently. Yes there are still vulnerabilities found in Microsoft’s software, but the have gotten pretty responsive about patching those holes. Apple recently had the Flashback malware, which came through a Java exploit. A Java exploit which had a patch out from Oracle for 60 days before Apple decided to push it to the OSX machines out there. Apple has control over the updates that get pushed down to its devices. It doesn’t like playing with others. As a result, it has now changed its marketing about Macs and Malware, removing the idea that Mac’s do not get viruses from its marketing. There was a lot of talk about Apple’s problems with security, but overall it did not hurt Apple as a company. The average person didn’t even know about the whole deal. If it was Microsoft the whole world would have been down their throats and never forgotten.

For a second example of the hypocrisy in the world of technology, we can look at Tablets. Microsoft has announced it is making its own tablet called Surface. Most tech writers are pleased with this idea, but the OEMs are pissed. How dare Microsoft produce a tablet of its own. Yet when Google announced its own Tablet, the Nexus 7, these same OEMs had no issue with it. Apple produces the iPad, with utter control over it, and OEMs don’t complain. So why be up in arms over Microsoft? The issue at hand is that Microsoft has been burned by its partners on non-PC’s as of late (I won’t get into the whole HP PC stupidity). Think about it, Microsoft created a tablet type computer almost 10 years ago, besed on specific types of hardware, and the OEMs screwed it up, and overpriced it. Apple comes along with the iPad and its a revolution. Microsoft had the Windows CE phones (I had one and loved it back in the early 2000′s). The OS eventually got a bad rep as it became bloated, but when Microsoft fixed things with Windows 7 Phone were the OEMs ready to get back to producing items with it? No. For that matter, OEMs which have done the same thing with their support of Linux, claim to be supportive, and claim to be coming out with new products based on Microsoft technology, yet either come out with one item that is not pushed in the marketplace, or don’t ever come to market with the item. Now add on that Microsoft has its own store (like Apple), and you can understand why Microsoft would get into making a Tablet of its own.

The reality of it all is that people are letting certain things from the past cloud their judgement. They are not basing everything on the current facts only. Truth be told, Apple is a more controlling and “evil” empire because of its control than Microsoft is. Google has been shown to have a ton of privacy issues, as much if not more than Microsoft. Microsoft gets held to a higher standard because of their past and the Anti-Trust suit more than they should at this point. For technology to really grow right, we need to hold everyone to the same standards.

The Big announcement was yesterday. Microsoft is jumping into the tablet game. Everyone has a take on this move, but there are too many unanswered questions to really be concise on an opinion.

Microsoft decided to pull an Apple or Google and do a special, red carpet, invite only reveal yesterday. The item, which was speculated on for over a week, was the new Surface Tablet offerings. The announcement itself is and is not a big deal. Anyone who looks closely at the way the tablet/smartphone ecosystem is could have seen this coming. Microsoft has had an issue with getting Windows Phone out there, even though it is a good OS. They have certain pledges from their normal PC distribution chain, but will any of those actually come out, and if so when? Microsoft had to make this move, they had to pull an Apple or Google and put out their own device.They made some mistakes with the reveal though. Then there are all the questions about how much success will it have?

Microsoft’s special announcement system, while generating buzz, had some really poor timing. First off, there was WWDC last week where Apple made its announcements and Buzz. Last Monday everything was Apple, especially the new MacBook. Yes, pushing the announcement to this week avoided that, but there was other news going on. The coverage of the Surface has not matched the frenzy generate by any Apple announcement. Microsoft could have done this announcement last week on Tuesday and stolen the show. Last week was Microsoft’s TechEd, and that could have been a huge place to reveal the Surface. First you have all the IT pros and Developers there, plus you can invite in all the press. Having the IT Pros and Devs there, along with having the Surface on display to be played with could have generated a much larger amount of publicity than just having the press there. The IT folks and Devs are usually your first adopters, and the ones who will be trusted to make knowledgeable recommendations that are followed.

Issue number two has been touched on by a number of well known tech writers. They had nothing as far as apps and the app store. Not completely true as Office will come preloaded and activated on the Windows RT Surface. The lack of other apps initially for the RT version could hurt it. The real interesting item is the full Windows 8 version on an Ivy Bridge core i5 processor.

The biggest reason the x64 version of the Surface is so interesting is the Application possibilities. Think about it, most machines out there are x64 or amd64 processors in the PC world. As long as the x64 Surface can run PC software, and I see no technical reason it should not be able to, you are talking a true laptop replacement. Think of it, being able to play WoW, Diablo, Civilization or any other PC game on a lightweight tablet. Then there are all the productivity, media and other software out there. The only limit is your resources and storage, and that only should affect the amount of items one can install.

If Microsoft can put a price point not at an Ultrabook price for the x64 Surface, but below the iPad pricing, Microsoft could do the job that Android has not been able to, and kill the iPad. Windows 8 I did get to see on tablets, and it is slick and very friendly for the tablet environment. What Microsoft needs to make sure not to do is price its own device out of the running, which on an ARM processor is not possible. the ARM environment is pretty locked down, unless something revolutionary comes along that is a must have. The x64 tablets are where Microsoft can make that must have. The ball is in their court, and time will tell if this was a revolutionary announcement or the announcement of the beginning of the end of Microsoft.