Better Paid As A Certified Systems Engineer

Better Paid As A Certified Systems Engineer
MCSE is a widely known certification provided by Microsoft Corporation and stands for Microsoft Certified Systems Engineers. This certification provides a qualitative impetus to your resume in the Information Technology field. Microsoft MCTS Training MCSE engineers are known to get good offers financially compared to other engineers of equivalent education.

The certification qualifies a person to analyze the business requirements and find solutions in information systems, and the individual is able to design and implement the infrastructure required. MCSE is available in two streams Windows 2000 and Windows Server 2003. Both the streams have different sets of examinations. The certification is suitable for most engineers and analysts and is especially suitable for systems engineers & analysts and Network engineers & analysts.

The objective of MCSE is to provide the individual with knowledge such as:
Pin pointing the tasks involved in supporting Windows 2000/2003 networks.
Knowing the network concepts and how to implement it in Windows 2000/2003.
Gaining the knowledge of how to configure Microsoft Windows 2000/2003 Professional on stand-alone computers and on client computers, and to install configure windows 2000/2003 Server.
Gain the knowledge and skills in designing a Microsoft Windows 2000/2003 directory service and infrastructure.

MCSE Windows 2000

For MCSE 2000 certification the candidate has to pass seven exams.
The exams include four operating exams, one design exam and two electives. The subjects span syllabus such as installing, configuring and administering Windows 2000, implementing & administering Windows 2000 Network and Windows 2000 infrastructure.

MCSE Windows Server 2003

For MCSE Windows Server 2003 certification, the candidate must qualify seven exams. The exams include four networking exams, one client operating system, one design exam and one elective exam. The syllabus includes network infrastructure & security, SQL server, active directory, Microsoft products etc.

TRAINING

MCSE training is very intensive, time consuming and requires a lot of hard work. Many aspirants are not able to appear exams in the stipulated time. There are many ways to prepare for the examinations such as MSCE classes, boot camps, online study guides and practice exams. Many candidates prefer to approach local MCSE training centers. These training centers help the candidates in course work and practical sessions professionally and help the candidates in exam and career oriented study.

The candidates must be aware of the practical applications, Microsoft products and services since the aspirants face multi-level testing on design implementation and administration skills in Microsoft Windows platform.

BENEFITS OF MCSE

MCSE is the most specialized certifications available today. It provides industry recognition and expertise in Microsoft products and technologies. As per Fairfield Research survey on MCSE, the certification provides a 12.6% rise in salary on an average. MCITP Certification holders can also directly access technical and product information from Microsoft through the MCP Member site. There are spinoff benefits such as invitation to Microsoft conferences, technical training sessions and special events etc.

Ready For A Career Change? Travel The Microsoft Certification Route

Ready For A Career Change? Travel The Microsoft Certification Route
Are you dissatisfied with your job? Do you want to find a new one or at least make a move to another department within your company? Do you need certifications in MCSE, MCP and any of those other abbreviations? You need to sit down and decide what career path you wish to take if you want to go the Microsoft MCITP Certification route.

First of all, do you have any prior experience in the business world? If so, no matter what you decide to do, whether it is MCSE training or MCP training or anything else, you will be ahead of others with no prior professional expertise. However, if you choose to make a career change that is a complete 180 degrees from what you are doing now, you will have some trouble finding gainful employment without some concrete experience.

For instance, if you are an Administrative Assistant and decide to go for a Microsoft Certified System Engineer, better known as an MCSE, you need to have some practical experience (the basic requirement is about a year of previous experience) under your belt before even starting your MCSE training. How could you go about doing that? You have several options. Find a mentor. Maybe another person within your company who has an MCSE could give you pointers and some on-site knowledge into his job. Volunteering through a nonprofit or some other community organization could net you some valuable experience. Serving as an intern, whether paid or unpaid, is another option.

volunteer position or an internship also is beneficial for those people with a fresh Microsoft certification but no practical, hands-on experience. Practically every nonprofit organization or community group has computers. Some of them are small groups and others have computer labs (perhaps state-run job placement places) with no budget to hire full-time staff. You have got to think outside the box for ways to gain that practical experience.

Networking mixers or social time is another great idea. You can mingle with professionals in the field you are trying to break into and find out about their internship opportunities. It is the perfect venue in which to sell or market yourself. Check out your local Chamber of Commerce for any local trade organizations in the prospective field as a starting point in this networking endeavor. Many times, you can find out some priceless information about the ins and outs of your potential area of certification. Learning from the experts could be an eye opening experience for you. Heck, you could even change your mind from braving those MCSE boot camps and the seven tests for MCSE exams. Isn’t it better to gain that insight before you spend the time and money?

Once you have completed your certification, whether it is navigating through MCP courses or any other Microsoft certification, be prepared to start from scratch in your new endeavor. Just remember, anything having to do with technology will change again in a year or two, so you have to keep up with new trends and that means continued instruction. As long as you travel the Microsoft MCTS Training route, you’ll be successful.

Microsoft-Yahoo search alliance taking shape

Microsoft-Yahoo search alliance taking shape
Packing boxes are being filled by Yahoo employees preparing to move to Microsoft offices in time for the fall launch of the search alliance between the two companies.

The San Jose Mercury News reported Thursday that about 400 Yahoo engineers are moving from Sunnyvale, Calif.-based Yahoo, just a few miles up U.S. Highway 101 to Microsoft’s campus in Mountain View, while others are transferring to Microsoft MCTS Training outposts in Bangalore, India, Burbank, Calif., and the Microsoft mother ship in Redmond, Wash.

The two-companies have a mid-October deadline to get systems and people in place for Microsoft’s Bing search engine to power search results for Yahoo in an effort for the two search players to take on search revenue leader Google. Google holds a commanding 62.6 percent of the U.S. search market, based on figures released July 13 by comScore, compared to Yahoo’s 18.9 percent and Microsoft’s 12.7 percent. While those shares are based on number of searches, not revenue, it’s not hard to see where the money is going.

Globally, Google’s market share is 85 percent, according to Netmarketshare, while Bing and Yahoo are in the single-digits. However, a Microsoft official told me at a Bing search event last month that Bing is only available in a handful of countries outside the U.S.

The transition is going “as well as could be expected,” the Merc reports, adding that Yahoo says that all of its search traffic, apart from paid search, could be powered by Bing as soon as the end of August. However, if all other aspects of the transition aren’t in place by mid-October, the switchover might not be complete until 2011, which would deprive the alliance of the opportunity to maximize search revenue during the lucrative holiday season, the paper noted.

The alliance between Microsoft and Yahoo was struck in late 2009 after Microsoft’s failed acquisition of all of Yahoo. Under the terms, Microsoft MCITP Certification will maintain the infrastructure to handle search queries on both Bing and Yahoo. Yahoo will handle premium search ad sales for both sites while Microsoft will continue its own self-serve advertising and display advertising operations, according to a story posted on Network World when the deal won regulatory approval back in February.

Also, Bing will not have to add a ! to its name.

It will be interesting to see how Bing and Yahoo influence each other’s sites. While Bing — the extreme makeover of the MSN.com search engine that preceded it — still pales in comparison to Google in terms of traffic, it has generated buzz with innovation.

Microsoft executives, at the Bing first birthday party I attended in San Francisco, demonstrated how Big is “history aware,” in the words of Harry Shrum, part of the Bing team, in that it tries to anticipate what the user is searching for based on what it previously searched. The team also explained Bing Mobile innovations they’re designing for Windows Phone 7, and other features of Bing Maps.

As a way of illustrating that Bing — and Bing with Yahoo — could force Google to look over its shoulder at what’s gaining on them, there is some evidence that new Google features seem to mimic Bing’s. Better yet, Google also appears to have tried to mimic Bing’s practice of placing large, vivid photographs on its landing page, but then decided against it.

IE 9 under pressure to rebuild Microsoft browser share

IE 9 under pressure to rebuild Microsoft browser share
Earlier this week, I reported on the operating system share gains for Microsoft MCTS Training Windows 7 as reported by Janco Associates. But the other half of the Janco report measured Web browser share, which I want to address in this post not just for what it says about Internet Explorer, but how it also handicaps rival browsers.

Janco pegged IE’s market share at 66.07 percent in August, down 4.54 percentage points from 70.61 percent in August 2009. That’s actually more generous than share numbers from the often-cited Netmarketshare, which put IE’s share at 60.74 percent in July, its most recent report. IE recovered in June from a dip below the 60 percent percent mark in April and May, according to Netmartketshare.

But while that uptick might offer Microsoft some temporary relief, Janco’s historical view is that “Microsoft’s browser market has continued to decay.” To be sure, IE has seen better days such in early 2005 when it had 90.61 percent share. Free and open source Mozilla Firefox was just a puppy in 2005 with a 4.44 percent share and Google Chrome was two years away from being launched.

This month, Firefox is at 18.6 percent and Chrome at 6.24 percent but they each have their own sets of issues in Janco’s view.

Firefox grew only slightly from 16.23 percent in August 2009 and had been as high as 21.23 percent in January of that year. Janco notes: “The novelty and uniqueness of its features have worn off and have been duplicated by IE … and Google Chrome.” The Mozilla Foundation released a beta of Firefox 4.0 in July.

Google Chrome has got the strongest momentum, doubling its market share this year from 3.19 percent last year. But Janco says one factor limiting Chrome is that it doesn’t work on all sites. Janco didn’t provide further details on that in the limited free version of it’s white paper; more information is likely in the paid version. Google released a beta of Chrome 6 Aug. 12.

All of this brings us to IE 9, a beta version of which Microsoft will unveil at an event Sept. 15 in San Francisco. Janco lauded IE 8 as being “feature rich and a step ahead of the other browsers,” but withheld judgment on IE 9, which is only available today in preview mode.

The fact of the matter is that the browser market has changed permanently since IE’s days of 90 percent plus market share, when Netscape was beaten by Microsoft’s competitive practices — practices ruled an illegal monopoly by the United States. Today, Firefox and Chrome are entrenched competitors, despite their own issues, along with Opera, Apple’s Safari and others.

Initial reports are positive about IE 9’s potential as a faster browser than IE 8. But it’s going to be under a lot of pressure to get Microsoft MCITP Certification browser market share numbers headed in the right direction.

Microsoft Dynamics Gp Integration Methods: Im, Econnect, Dexterity

Microsoft Dynamics Gp Integration Methods: Im, Econnect, Dexterity
Formerly this mid-market Corporate ERP application was known as Great Plains Dynamics and eEnterprise. In this small publication we would like to review advanced integration options, available in Dynamics GP Integration Manager, eConnect, as well as custom integration programming in Great Plains Dexterity. Plus, we will try to address options for older versions of Great Plains Dynamics on Pervasive SQL 2000/Btrieve and Ctree. Please, note that Great Plains Accounting for DOS, Windows and Mac is technically predecessor of Great Plains Dynamics for Windows and Macintosh, however GPA business logic and interface are different from Dynamics core functionality: GL, PM, RM, SOP, POP, Inventory Management. GPA is out of scope for this article (where we would like to make several observations)

1.Integration Manager. We understand that most of Great Plains Technical Consultants know how to setup simple integration, where the source are text tab or comma delimited files, including building document header by grouping text lines (by document date for example: General Ledger Transaction, Sales Order Processing Invoice, etc.). However, we saw pretty tough situations, where Dynamics GP integration consultants had hard time in complex data conversions, where transactions and master records are in SQL tables or ODBC compliant databases: Oracle, MS Access, Pervasive SQL/Btrieve, Ctree, MySQL, or when they are exported into very complex text files (where you have to weed out formatting lines, as reports are exported in human readable format, which is not something that text integration accepts without data massage). Good advice in our opinion in such scenarios is to import these text files into MS Excel, weed out formatting lines and then import the data into staging MS SQL Server tables. Then you create SQL View to pull data from staging tables and use it as a base for Advanced ODBC Data Source. We had cases, where we were able to import up to the whole year of mid-size company GL transactions via that method. We would like also to share IM ongoing and close to real time integration methodic via Integration Manager. If you have in-house programmed ecommerce website application, which requires close to real time or batch mode integration to Sales Order Processing (customer orders, invoices and returns) and new customers creation (where transactions are coming from Linux/PHP/MySQL based ecommerce application) – consider either exporting transactions in text file or even establishing ODBC connection from Dynamics GP hosting MS SQL Server to MySQL via Linked Server mechanism, and schedule IM Integration to run every 20 min or few hours via Windows Macro third party add-ons. We know that for some of you these complex technical passages might be too deep, but our mission here is to let you (as struggling ecommerce programmer) know what is possible with Dynamics GP ecommerce integration. And finally, the last observation, before we move on to eConnect technology, please know that IM for GP version 10.0 is available in two connection blends – traditional OLE Server and eConnect connectors. eConnect connectors are faster by their technology architecture and technically you may be achieving the same results as if you are programming eConnect directly from your ecommerce web application, where the advantage of Integration Manager is apparent – it is user friendly in integration design and doesn’t require programming (except simple VBA scripts, or data translation tables, which could be composed in MS Excel)

2.eConnect Integration Programming. eConnect was introduced for Dynamics GP version 7.5 and 8.0 as the Software Development Kit, initially dedicated to eCommerce software developers. eConnect was under certain evolution for Dynamics GP versions 9.0 and 10.0, where it was adopted as integration technical platform strategy (and it was announced by Microsoft MCTS Training Business Solutions that eConnect should replace earlier integration platforms: Integration Manager, Dexterity – as middle tier). And now as we are writing these lines (October 2009), eConnect is triumphing among Dynamics GP integration low level technologies and connectors. eConnect technology is in fact simple – it is the collection of SQL Server encrypted stored procedures, replicating Great Plains Dexterity Dynamics GP business logic (often in Object Oriented Programming style, and this is good improvement to Dex, which is not technically Object Oriented Programming compliant with some exceptions). In our opinion eConnect came to its maturity as reliable Dynamics GP ecommerce and generic integration Software Development Kit with Great Plains Dynamics GP version 10.0 and probably 9.0. If you got certifications and experience as Microsoft .Net VB or C# programmer, you should find very useful code samples and prototype Microsoft Visual Studio eConnect projects: Dynamics GP Sales Order import, Customer import and update (including addresses) to give you start up ideas

3.Dexterity integrations. Dex is capable to do the ultimate and the most complex programming surgery in Dynamics GP system environment. If Integration Manager and even eConnect don’t do the job or incapable to do the job (and this is possible as these tools have natural limitations). However, please recognize the challenges of Dexterity. In Dynamics GP realm there are no limits to Microsoft Dexterity customizations, and if you contact with Great Plains Dexterity programmers (who have access to Dexterity Source Code and have experience in Dex source code programming), please go ahead to evaluate these channels. The only advise we would like to feature here is fact that Dexterity requires too long learning curve for newcomers, and it is not recommended for small or mid-size companies IT department to do Dexterity custom programming inhouse

4.Direct SQL Data Feeding. If you are experienced Microsoft SQL DBA, please review Dynamics GP Tables Structure Tools->Resource Description->Tables (or install Dynamics GP SDK from DC#2, where tables structure is formally documented). We would like to make comments and recommendations, before you try direct SQL data feed via SQL Stored Procedures. Please, consider the fact that eConnect is already doing this job via its methods and Stored Procedures. Also take into consideration the fact that Dynamics GP business logic and data flow is quite complex and it is unlikely that you can do imitate this logic in couple of day, couple of week or even in couple of months. If you have unlimited IT budget, then please disregard and go all the way through until you consider yourself experienced eConnect programmer with comfort to send records directly to Dynamics GP tables: GL10000, GL10001, SOP10100, SOP10200, SOP30200, SOP30300,etc.

5.Great Plains Integration options for Old GP versions: 8.0, 7.5, 7.0, 6.0, 5.5, 5.0, 4.0 and Great Plains Dynamics on Pervasive SQL Server 2000/Btrieve and Ctree. If you are on archaic version, it is unlikely that you can get support directly from Microsoft MCITP Certification Business Solutions Dynamics GP subdivision (as you are likely not current in MBS annual enhancement program)

6.Great Plains Accounting for DOS, Windows or Mac integration options. GPA has its own integration module, and if this is your Corporate ERP, please contact us separately, we have access to GPA knowledge base, inherited from Great Plains Software – if your case is known and documented (plus if you can recognize your problem in GPA after 10+ years of GPA and Dynamics GP Consulting), we are uniquely positioned to support Great Plains Accounting for DOS, Windows and Mac: 9.5, 9.2, 9.1 or earlier versions USA and Canada nationwide and internationally most likely Central, South America, Mexico, Caribbean, Pacific, Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Pakistan, Casablanca, Agadir, India, Bangladesh)

7.Unicode characters integration notes. Great Plains Dexterity doesn’t support hieroglyphs: Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Mongolian, Thai. All we can do for you is enable hieroglyphs in Crystal Reports or Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services (often abbreviated as SSRS)

8.Dynamics GP Great Plains in Russian Federation, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan, Poland, Czech republic, Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia, Georgia, Armenia. Great Plains Software tried to market and localize Great Plains (version 4.0 and 5.0) in Common Wealth of Independent States (most of the former Soviet Union territory, except East Baltic States) . When Great Plains Software was in its order acquired by Microsoft Business Solutions, MS recommended Navision as the Corporate ERP of choice back in earlier 2000th, and later on MBS localized Axapta Microsoft Dynamics AX for most of Western, Central and Eastern European Corporate ERP markets. To avoid further complexities, we recommend you to chose SAP Business One in former CIS, Baltic States and in Arabic World as good local branch Corporate ERP, which has simple integration tools and options to your Dynamics GP ERP in the headquarters

9.How to get help? Please, feel free to call us: 1-866-528-0577, outside of USA: 1-630-961-5918 or email us help@albaspectrum.com We are very technical and real Dynamics GP Dexterity, SAP Business One SDK and Microsoft CRM programming gurus. We have Great Plains Software Development Factory and could support unlimited Dynamics GP Customization and Programming needs. Plus we speak English, Chinese, Spanish, Portuguese, Arabic, Russian, and not only as native speaking sales folks, but as real technical consultants. If you prefer skype: albaspectrum

Dynamics Gp And Sap Business One Tandem As Corporate Erp For Multinational Firm

Dynamics Gp And Sap Business One Tandem As Corporate Erp For Multinational Firm

This small publication is intended to current Microsoft MCTS Training Dynamics GP Great Plains customers, who are expanding internationally and would like to choose ERP system for relatively small foreign subsidiary. As you know Dynamics GP is localized in English speaking countries (including South East Asia, where English is the used in business), plus in Quebec (in French Canadian), to some extent in Spanish speaking Latin America and Caribbean states, Oceania. There is good support for Arabic in GP (with some options for Dari and Persian as alphabet is the same). If your subsidiary is located outside of the area, especially if you need hieroglyph characters support (China, Japan, Korea), or support in Russian, we recommend you to consider SAP Business One. You can host both Dynamics GP and SAP B1 on the same SQL Server with SB1 version 8.0 (2005 and 2007 versions had A and B releases and you normally would install them on two separate SQL Servers):

1.Corporate ERP localization. It has two aspects: local language adoption (screens are translated, plus you can enter documents in local language) and compliance to local legislation (tax reporting, invoice required fields, etc.). Localization is especially complex and important in lager countries, such as Brazil, Russia, China, India, Japan, France, Germany. It would be too complex to localize in house such application as Microsoft Dynamics GP for your Branch in Brazil (where Microsoft Business Solutions doesn’t have localized GP version, instead you can get Brazilian Dynamics AX Axapta, or NAV Navision)

2.Dynamics GP and Unicode language support (Chinese, Japanese, Korean). Dynamics GP Dexterity string resources do not support hieroglyphs (however Arabic alphabet is supported, even if looks complex to you – it is formalized in 2 bits ASCII codes table). This is why you cannot translate GP screens to Chinese (with some exception – if you place graphical pictures on the screens to represent translation)

3.SAP Business One Internationally. This small business Corporate ERP and MRP application supports Unicode and is available in China, Korea, Japan, Russia, most of Latin America, most of Europe (except some of East European countries, such as Latvia, Lithuania, etc). Historically SAP Business One is not available in Arabic speaking countries

4.How Dynamics GP and SAP Business One can communicate to each other? Well, both are available for Microsoft Windows Server and MS SQL Server 2005, 2000. In SAP B1 you can export virtually everything to Excel (or extract new documents via SQL Select statement directly in the company database for those who is more SQL savvy). In Dynamics GP you can import virtually everything via Great Plains Integration Manager (or program integration in eConnect SDK). Also, you can organize GL transactions level consolidation from SB1 foreign branch GL to mirroring Dynamics GP company (scheduled IM jobs)

5.IT support for GP and SB1 in Headquarters. Both Dynamics GP and SAP Business One could be enabled for remote users via Terminal Server or Citrix. This method allows you to serve both applications centrally in Headquarters (DB Backup and Recovery, Service packs and patches, Customization management, version upgrades). Let’s say, if you are VP IT, and your company has facilities in China, Germany, France, South Korea, Brazil – you do not want each office to have its own IT infrastructure to support their own SAP Business One Servers (or maybe you instead prefer the challenge to fly out internationally on regular base?). Plus, if all Accounting databases are located in Headquarters – you have tighter control over consolidated financial reporting (Balance Sheet, Profit and Loss, Cash Flow Position, GL Trial Balances)

6.Other options for corporate ERP in foreign countries. In Brazil, consider also such applications as Microsiga, or in Russia 1C Bukhgalteria. These locally developed and supported accounting platforms are often preferred by local CFO and Controllers. The drawbacks might be complication to audit these systems from US and host them in US Headquarters, but we certainly recognize these and similar Corporate ERP applications pluses, and if you need help in implementing them, feel free to check with us

7.If you would like to stay on Microsoft Dynamics platform. Microsoft markets Microsoft Dynamics AX or formerly known as Axapta internationally. AX is very flexible and powerful. It might be geared toward larger companies, but this might be just our opinion. We support AX in Brazil, check with us for options and prices. We definitely recommend Microsoft CRM for all the countries as very elegant CRM solution. Microsoft Dynamics CRM has web based interface and could be accessed from any part of the Globe, assuming that remote user has internet connection. In many European countries you can also consider Dynamics NAV or formerly known as Navision

8.Last fling on multinational firm Corporate ERP. There are countries, where Corporate ERP brand names, such as Microsoft MCITP Certification or SAP are not currently present with localized version (Afghanistan, Republic of Georgia, Uzbekistan, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Azerbajan for example). If you have funded project for Corporate ERP implementation, you should consider some elements of in-house localization (especially considering the fact that these countries are trying to be reasonably compliant to international GAAP)

9.How to get help? Please, feel free to call us: 1-866-528-0577, outside of USA: 1-630-961-5918 or email us help@albaspectrum.com We are very technical and real Dynamics GP Dexterity, SAP Business One SDK programming gurus. We have Great Plains Software Development Factory and could support unlimited Dynamics GP Customization and Programming needs. Plus we speak English, Chinese, Spanish, Portuguese, Russian, and not only as native speaking sales folks, but as real technical consultants. If you prefer skype: albaspectrum

Microsoft patches dangerous Windows flaw

Microsoft patches dangerous Windows flaw
As expected, Microsoft MCTS Training on Monday issued an out-of-band patch for a dangerous flaw affecting all supported versions of Windows, and recommended that customers patch their computers immediately.

The USB rootkit hole is a vulnerability in Windows Shell, allowing attackers to infect systems through hidden files on USB drives or shared network files.

“An attacker who successfully exploited this vulnerability could gain the same user rights as the local user,” Microsoft said in its patch notice. “The security update addresses the vulnerability by correcting validation of shortcut icon references.”

Microsoft to issue patch for dangerous USB rootkit hole

Most customers have automatic updating enabling and thus will receive the update without taking any manual action.

“For administrators and enterprise installations, or end users who want to install this security update manually, Microsoft recommends that customers apply the update immediately using update management software, or by checking for updates using the Microsoft Update service,” the company said.

The patch can be applied to 14 versions of Windows, including various versions of Windows 7, Vista, XP and Windows Server. Microsoft did not promise that the patch would work with older releases and took the opportunity to remind customers that they should “migrate to supported releases to prevent potential exposure to vulnerabilities.”

The vulnerability surfaced a couple of weeks ago, shortly after the most recent Patch Tuesday. Microsoft at first offered only a workaround that was deemed “highly impractical” by one security researcher, but felt the vulnerability was critical enough to issue a patch before its next regularly scheduled Patch Tuesday, which occurs next week.

The vulnerability has already been exploited in the wild, with “an uptick in infections in the past few days,” says Jason Miller, data and security team leader at Shavlik Technologies.

“If you have applied the workarounds suggested by Microsoft MCITP Certification, you should remove them as soon as your systems are patched,” Miller says. “The most surprising aspect of this release is how close we are to the regularly scheduled patch Tuesday. With a release this close to Patch Tuesday, it is safe to assume you should patch this security bulletin immediately.”

VMware aims to displace Windows with cloud-based desktop apps

VMware aims to displace Windows with cloud-based desktop apps
VMware is developing a new hosted service with the code name “Project Horizon” that will allow delivery of cloud-based desktop applications to any sort of user device, and perhaps further its goal of diminishing the importance of Microsoft’s Windows operating system.

The subscription service, previewed at VMworld this week, will help deliver the right applications and data to users, whether they have an iPad, Android phone, Windows machine or a Mac, according to VMware. Partners will be involved in Project Horizon, presumably to deliver the end-user applications.
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Details on Project Horizon are scarce, but the key seems to be a security model that extends on-premise directory services to public cloud networks, giving each user a “cloud identity,” as VMware puts it.

Project Horizon may also play a role in VMware’s long-term project to diminish the importance of the operating system, particularly the Windows operating system sold by Microsoft, its greatest rival. (See also: VMware says Windows still matters … sort of)

Project Horizon — to be available as a hosted, subscription service sometime in 2011 — will create a “permissions and control structure that worries less about the operating system” than current technologies do, says Noah Wasmer, a director of product management for VMware.

“The role of the operating system is getting diminished every day on the server side,” and a similar shift is beginning to happen on the desktop, claims Vittorio Viarengo, vice president of desktop marketing for VMware. For users, “Windows is becoming the offline mode” as they increasingly use applications hosted entirely over the Web, he says.

Microsoft MCTS Training, of course, presents a different argument. Virtualization, particularly on the server side, is just a feature of the operating system, rather than a replacement of the OS, in Microsoft’s view. Even on the PC, Microsoft MCITP Certification provides virtual desktop technology within the Windows desktop operating system.

To state the obvious, operating systems and virtualization technologies have co-existed for decades, for example on IBM’s mainframe, and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future.

But VMware’s attempts to move from being a company that simply virtualizes operating systems to one that provides the broader operating frameworks for data centers and desktops is interesting, nonetheless.

Horizon “securely extends enterprise identities into the cloud and provides new methods for provisioning and managing applications and data based on the user, not the device or underlying operating system,” VMware says.

Project Horizon aims to provide access to various types of applications including software-as-a-service, legacy applications and mobile apps. One example mentioned by Wasmer is a calendar and contacts application. But VMware is trying to build up interest in the project without getting too specific about it. Wasmer mentioned the phrase “cloud-based desktop,” but whether Project Horizon will be robust enough to replace existing desktops remains to be seen.

“We’ll deliver whatever applications users need to be productive, on whatever operating system they happen to be using,” Wasmer says.
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A more immediate example of VMware’s attempts to displace the operating system, at least the server operating system, is “vCloud Director,” a private cloud building tool that was formerly known as Project Redwood. VMware has announced that vCloud Director will become available Sept. 1, and will essentially extend the resource pooling capabilities in the vendor’s vSphere virtualization platform.

VMware says this allows IT to create “logical pools of compute, networking and storage resources with defined management policies, SLAs and pricing,” and offer computing services to users in a fully automated self-service system.

VCloud Director takes the basic unit of consumption — the virtual machine — and turns it into a “virtual data center,” while giving users a catalog of services that can be deployed within a virtual data center, says Bogomil Balkansky, VMware’s vice president of product marketing.

VCloud Director will be available in packs of 25 virtual machines for prices starting at $3,750.