Fresh from MMS 2009, Microsoft has a couple interesting webcasts coming up. I just signed up for the following:
TechNet Webcast: How Microsoft does IT: System Center Configuration Manager 2007 Client Health Strategies (Level 300)
TechNet Webcast: How Microsoft does IT: Using Local Policies to Solve Complex System Center Configuration Manager 2007 Client Challenges (Level 300)
If you're not familiar with Paul Thomsen, who is running these webcasts, he has been working with the SMS/SCCM product for over 12 years and knows his stuff. I always get a few useful takeaways when I attend his sessions.
This Wired article discusses how Microsoft and the Air Force worked together to develop a specially configured version of Windows XP in order to minimize administration and security vulnerability:
"The Air Force, on the verge of renegotiating its desktop-software contract with Microsoft, met with Ballmer and asked the company to deliver a secure configuration of Windows XP out of the box. That way, Air Force administrators wouldn’t have to spend time re-configuring, and the department would have uniform software across the board, making it easier to control and maintain patches."
Not bad, if you can swing that type of negotiation with Microsoft. But what does this mean for businesses and consumers? As stated in the artice, security experts are waiting for the "trickle down" effect from partnerships such as these, but there are no signs of it yet