Sektormedia: Aaron's Brain

BI Overload @ TechEd

I've spent some time discovering how to bring all of our BI initiatives together this week at TechEd. I'm here to tell you that there are a lot of options for you to choose from. I'm also here to tell you that you're going to be very confused. MOSS, Reporting Services, SQL, Excel, Excel Services, Scorecard, Performance Server, Reports Builder. Blaahhh, brain explosion. You start looking at it and realize how cool it is and what you can do with it, you them begin to realize how much is involved and how confusing the field really is. I think that we'll be able to put something together, although I'm not sure how we'll ever train our users. If you work in a power user shop then you're already ahead, but if you're anywhere else it's going to be a lot of work.

MORE MOUNTAIN DEW AT THE OCCC!!!

Could we please have some more mountain dew here at the OCCC?! I'm trying to sit in class ALL freaking day. I need some caffeine. I need to stay awake. Please, please, please?! Oh, and perhaps some sugar of some kind would be nice.

OFC200R Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 Overview

A very good overview of MOSS, a definite 200 session with some effective presentations. As the speaker said, there's 8 hours worth of material to fit into 1.5 hours. The most awesome portion I hadn't seen was the Excel web services options for BI. You can take your Excel charts and data and pop it into EWS and use it in Sharepoint. Very awesome to create your own BI Portal or KPI Page without a lot of other third party software.

CLI408 Deep Dive into Windows Vista Group Policy Changes and Troubleshooting

Jeremy Moskowitz is one of my don't miss speakers. He's always insightful and has plenty of information. He's the first to admit when he doesn't know the answer but can help you find out who does, though rarely does he not know a GP related item. I rated him more highly than I have any speaker yet this year. He had a great discussion about troubleshooting GP and discussed new items as they relate to Vista. He recommended Central Store Creator utility, the ADMX Migrator, Sysprosoft's Policy Reporter, and GPLOGVIEW. I'm very glad I went and will give our org a great jump into some new Vista troubleshooting options. GP in Vista and 2008 definitely looks MUCH better.

The Annoying Red Shirt Squad

The people in red shirts were driving me crazy. Quit getting in the way during sessions, just let us be. We're adults, we can find a seat. Quit interrupting the speaker by standing up front and waving your hands in the air, because it turns out I actually do care. Stand at the back and quit stalking up and down the aisles monitoring us like we're in kindergarten. I am here to learn and pay attention, not to let you get in the way and find something to do. If they've been asked to do this then they need to be un-asked.

Cabanas, kiosks, or TLCs, or whatever you call them

They're the best idea that MS can't seem to get right. Always plagued by problems. Over crowding, too much noise, not enough AV support, whatever. I wish, wish, wish they could get them to work. When they work they're awesome, when they don't they're horrible. PLEASE fix them, they could be so much better.

SVR201 Windows Server 2008 Terminal Services: Overview

This was the best vendor led session that I've ever attended. Perhaps because he was a consultant and really knew the product. I got another great view at the awesome tools and features that will be coming out in 2008. The TS Gateway server is going to be awesome. It's going to offer the option of remote desktop via the gateway, much like SBS does now. It will also offer NAP which will be very nice. You will also be able to revoke up to 20% your CALs to clean up your users, have session broker in standard edtion, have large and multi monitor options, and have per user license tracking. TS will be leading the way in our adoption of 2008.

DAT307 Things You Need to Know for a Painless Upgrade to Microsoft SQL Server 2005

This session was excellent. Digging into some great ideas and things to do. Covering both the basics and the advanced. It was a wealth of knowledge. The SQL 2005 Upgrade Advisor will be your friend. Go by the SQL booth and ask for a resource CD, it's full of useful items.

OFC221 Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 Overview

The speaker knew his stuff, although I thought the content was a little limited to a small portion of WSS. Digging deap into some areas and then skimming over others, though it was only a 200 so I guess I shouldn't expect much. I tend to rate all sessions as if they are 300's. He did attempt to demo Popfly, which is AWESOME. It's MS's first REAL <shudder>Web2.0</shudder> app with real cred. Check it out! My take away was to make sure and plan, plan, plan before rolling out the rest of our Sharepoint installation.

TechEd Monday - Keynote

Blech. Really? Muglia? No offense Bob, but you've got about as much Charisma as Chris Lloyd had understanding of what he was talking about. Will Chris be able to see a Dr. with the money he earned here? I hope he knew how to get home because I'm not sure he knew where he was. I'm not sure that MS knew where they were either as that skit was about 20 years too late. Good content but the delivery was not the way to get the week started.