Service Pack 2 for Windows 2003/2003 R2/XP x64

I’ve just written a whitepaper on the features and deployment of Serivce Pack 2 for Windows 2003, Windows 2003 R2 and Windows XP x64.

This document will discuss the features of Windows 2003 Service Pack 2. On the face of it, there
are few changes made to the feature set of Windows 2003 by this service pack. It does appear to
hold to the promise made by Microsoft about making radical changes to the operating system in
service pack releases. There are some changes behind the scenes. But one big change that users
of RIS will notice is that their Remote Installation Services (RIS) deployment will be replaced by
something new called Windows Deployment Services. WDS has been introduced to facilitate the
deployment of Windows Vista. And something else is different too … this Service Pack 2 for
Windows Server 2003 is also intended to be the first service pack for Windows XP x64.

I’ll go over the deploying the service pack and the changes made by it at a high level. I was
hoping to go into greater detail on WDS but the document just got bigger and bigger before I got
there. I’ll save WDS for another document.

Note: This document is based on the beta release of Service Pack 2 that is available from
http://connect.microsoft.com. I in no way condone the use of beta releases on production or valued
network resources. All of my testing has been done using VMware’s virtualisation products.

The document continues …

Microsoft – Novell Partnership

This is one of those times where if you’d told me this 5 years ago, I’d have laughed until my ribs broke.

In case you missed it, Microsoft and Novell have announced a strategic partnership to promote and support each others products. 

How it all came about, we may never know.  But I do have a suspicion.  A while back, Microsoft announced that they had found Linux distributions had infringed on Microsoft’s Intellectual Property (IP) rights.  This didn’t surprise me, especially after hearing Mark Russinovich’s presentation on how Linux compares with Windows.  Mark goes on to describe how the Linux developers constantly added new features to compare with advantages that Mark was point out that Windows had.  Microsoft said they were investigating on how to reconcile this.  Options included nailing the authors of the code (usually someone living in their parent’s basement – just kidding!) or suing enterprises who were using the offending products.

A major part of the announcement from this partnership is that Microsoft will not pursue anyone who is using Novell’s SUSE Linux product range.  Out of this, Microsoft will receive royalties from Novell on license sales.  Novell don’t make too much from licensing so this won’t be an issue for them.  They aim to make money from support and services contracts.  This agreement also appears to include Novell subsidiaries such as a product called Mono, a Linux clone of .NET.  It was also stated that Microsoft will not pursue authors of open source code that infringes on their IP rights.  If you read between the lines this would mean that CIO’s better start adding some $’s to their budget.

On a side note, Microsoft is extremely unlikely to send lawyers in to their "big 500" clients, i.e. the people who drive the design and sales of Microsoft’s products.  It would be even less unlikely they would pursue the smaller fish.  However, this is just a gut feeling and not a legal opinion.

So that’s the IP stuff out of the way.  What does the rest of the agreement include?

  • Both companies will work on web services interoperability.  This sounds like Microsoft will work with Novell on their Mono product, the aforementioned .NET clone.
  • They will work together on server management.  This could include Operations Manager 2007 management packs for SUSE, WS mangement, or maybe some ZENworks interoperability.
  • Mangement of Virtual Machines.  Maybe these are VM additions for SUSE on Virtual Server, the "Longhorn" hypervisor or Virtual PC 2007.  It could include the Microsoft/Xen partnership.  It may even include Virtual Machine Manager that is currently in beta.
  • OpenOffice file format (OpenXML) compatibility with Office 2007.  This was already something that some governments were trying to get in Office 2007.  Microsoft will aim to have seamless compatibility between Office 2007 and OpenOffice.
  • Microsoft will issue 70,000 * 1 year maintenance agreeements for SUSE Linux.

What’s the big picture?  Microsoft had already been working on Linux interoperability.  OM 2007 was already going to have WS support and 3rd parties already provide Linux agents and management packs.  Companies like Quest already provide SMS clients for Linux.  Microsoft already had a relationship with XEN for a virtualisation solution for both Linux and Windows.  However, Microsoft is now openly supporting SUSE Linux. 

This alliance a visible acceptance that however good Microsoft thinks Windows is (and I think it is the best network server product out there) Linux has a justified place on an enterprise network.  Microsoft will expand it’s management to include SUSE.  But don’t think this is a generosity thing.  Microsoft will get paid for the usage of their IP if you deploy SUSE.  So even if you think you’re screwing Bill out of yet another ivory back scratcher when you go open source with SUSE, you’ll be wrong.

What’s there for the CIO signing the checks?  They still have the choice of going open source.  They will get support and interoperability.  They will be dealing with a mature and well accepted company in Novell.  And they will also feel like they are on a safer legal ground if they purchase SUSE products instead of some other Linux product.

Operations Manager 2007 RC1

Microsoft OM 2007 (the successor to MOM 2005) RC1 is now available on the Connect website. Improvements over the beta include:

  • Improved install process
  • Major usability improvements made to the UI
  • Updated Management Packs and new Active Directory MP
  • Ability to Gateway
  • Certificate manage non-trusted devices
  • Support for more deployment topologies including multiple management servers
  • Improved stability

You will need to uninstall the beta release to install RC1.  As promised, RC1 can be upgraded to RC2 and then to RTM.

SA Expiration and Office 2007

Bink is reporting that Gartner is saying Microsoft is making allowances for clients whose Software Assurance agreements are expiring this month.  Office 2007 was originally expected to be released this month but it will not hit the shleves for a while yet.  Microsoft is granting upgrade rights to Office 2007 for anyone anyone who has an SA agreement that includes Office and that expires this month.  This includes anyone not intending to renegotiate.

Windows Media Player 11 Released

OK, it’s not really much of an infrastructure story, but things have been slow in the MS world over the last few days.  Windows Media Player 11 was released late last night.  There’s a 32 and a 64bit edition.  For someone like me who just listens to the odd MP3, CD or ESPN broadcast, there’s not much of interest other than a nice new slate grey skin.  I’m told that media junkies will appreciate it, especially some new library functions.

I’m preparing to finally sit the 70-296 exam to upgrade my MCSE (about time).  I’ve done my brushing up and all I need now is an opening to actually sit the exam … come on Prometric!  I’m starting to work on Windows 2003 SP2 beta and Windows Deployment Services.  I hope to get a good bit done on that this weekend.  It’s looking much bigger than I originally anticipated.  Some documentation will appear on here when I’m done.  I’ve also started reading Mark Minasi’s (and co) new "Mastering … " book on Windows 2003 SP1 and R2.  It’s excellent.  The list of contributors is a real who’s-who in the Microsoft Windows world.

Office Genuine Advantage

Betanews is reporting that starting from today, any downloads for Microsoft Office will require you to go through a validation process, regardless of your licensing.  Today it appears that only downloading templates is affected.  Starting in January, it appears all downloads will be affected.

If your copy is installed with a known stolen license key then you can expect some very bad things to start happening after going through this process.