That End-of-Year To-Do List While 2009 may go down as a year best forgotten from your own financial or business perspective, it was also a great year for moving our technologies forward in a big way. There was a lot to digest, and 2010 promises more of the same with more launch waves. We realize that your deployments lag our launches, so before you get to those 2010 plans and resolutions, finish up those 2009 tasks. Here are a couple of suggestions that don't come at great cost and could greatly improve your users' online experience.
If you haven't done it yet, the first thing to consider is upgrading your organization's PCs to Internet Explorer 8. Here are the
top 5 reasons for IT pros to deploy IE8. Then download the
IE8 Deployment Guide and the
Internet Explorer Administration Kit 8 for help in configuring the experience for your users. Also sign up for
Deployment of Internet Explorer 8 , Kevin Remde's IT Manager Community Talk on January 7, 2010, to get all your questions answered and learn about the productivity, security, management, and ease-of-migration aspects of IE8.
The next thing to consider is the media experience, and we're learning more every day about the benefits of Silverlight for providing rich, interactive applications. Check out the
Silverlight Deployment Guide v2 for best practices on a corporate deployment of Silverlight, as well as techniques for maintaining and supporting Silverlight after deployment. Another useful resource for corporate Silverlight deployment is
Silverlight configuration options via Group Policy settings.
Speaking of the 2009 to-do list, do you still need to test your applications for compatibility with Windows 7? If so, get on over to the
Windows 7 Application Compatibility List for IT Professionals. If your application isn't on the list, or you run into application compatibility issues, check out the Springboard Series
Application Compatibility Zone and
roundtables for tools and other help.
If 2009 left you in a tenuous job situation, or without a job altogether, listen to the podcast
What to Look for in a Job Posting and How to Search for Jobs for insight on how to look past the basic information provided in the job postings and how to search for your ideal job opportunity.
TechNet Magazine Moves to Online Only The December issue of
TechNet Magazine marks the first online-only edition. While the publication is no longer available in print, the move to online-only opens up other opportunities to deliver the type of in-depth technical content that readers have enjoyed. For more on that, check out
TechNet Magazine editor-in-chief Jeff James' editor's note
The Times Are a Changin'.
TechNet Magazine print subscribers are also entitled to a free digital subscription to
Redmond Magazine. You can find more details of this offer at
Redmondmag.com/technet .
Haiku WS 2008 R2 and Win a Home Theatre We all know that technology and spiritual enlightenment are often at odds. But with
R2 Haiku, we pull it all together. Windows Server 2008 R2 enthusiasts everywhere have come together to express their inner Zen, and forever blur the notion that karmic balance and a strong back-end virtualization structure were mutually exclusive.
OK, that may be a bit much, so I'll appeal to your materialistic nature. Just write a haiku about your favorite Windows Server 2008 R2 features and enter to win a home theater system worth over US$3,500! Get your creative juices flowing at and follow @r2haiku on
Twitter.
Home for the Holidays The holiday season tends to create more reasons to work from home, and that can be a challenge. But features in Windows 7 can actually make it easier. See the
IT Pro at Home series of videos to learn more. Then
download this white paper to learn how the features in Windows Home Server are just as applicable and helpful in a small or home office.
Finally, a word about the newsletter templates we've been testing. This will be the final edition testing two different templates. We've heard your feedback on the new design and we are making changes. But please continue to
let us know. See you in 2010.
Happy holidays to you and yours and have a great New Year. Thanks for reading,
Mitch Irsfeld Editor,
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