TenBrink Tech Technology | Life

Monday Photo Summary

Check out some of the pictures from Tech-Ed in my growing gallery.

Tech-Ed Tuesday begins.

Not a hit on breakfast this morning. Some sort of bread with egg and cheese and something. Thank goodness for muffins and orange juice.

One forgets just how large Tech-Ed is and what a logistical team it must take to put all of this together. I just walked from one end of the convention center to the other to get to a ballroom. Do that a couple times and you'll get your workout for the day.

Schedule for today is heavily weighted towards Exchange, but we get some Office and SharePoint in there as well:

• 8:30 - MSG313
• 10:15 - MSG316
• 1:00 - MSG417
• 2:45 - OFC312
• 4:30 - OFC213

World Cup Picks (I was 1-2 yesterday): KOR, SWI, BRA.

CLI301: Windows Enterprise Search

Some notes from the morning CLI301 presentation.

Problem: 15-30 percent of information workers time is spent trying to find and organize information.

Solution: Search everywhere - Windows Desktop Search (engine).

• Instant results for deskbar, Vista start menu, XP/Vista Start|Search menu.
• Rich preview pane.
• Integration into shell pieces (replaces XP search pane for example) to create a seamless experience for users.
• Integration with Outlook for searching (replaces old outlook find command)
• Lessen importance and reliance on broken folder hierarchies.
• Reduce time spent organizing mailbox.

Deployment & Security

• Attachments are indexed in a sandbox (more restrictive in Vista than XP)
• Does not index Office password protected files.
• EFS can be used to secure index file.
• No rights management integration (next version)

Performance

• No indexing while on battery.
• No scheduled indexing; runs when idle and in background.
• Impacts on Exchange:
• Cached mode clients: no server impact.
• Non-cached mode - bypasses server message conversion step to reduce load on server.
• Exchange 2007 can distinguish between Outlook connections and Indexer connections and will de-prioritize the Indexers to not impact users using Outlook.
• Add search engine executables to Anti-Virus exclusion lists to improve performance.

Next wave - WDS 3.0

• XP & Vista (Built-in)
• Single engine platform used across Vista, Office (MOSS), and WDS
• IFilters work cross-platform
• Windows Update for updates

GPO Support

• Install/Setup
• 15 GPOs to manage Indexer Operations
• Outlook, PST, Attachment scanning
• Public folders, MOSS, UNCs
• Performance settings, Ifilters
• Search related, UI controls
• Web search location (Internet & Intranet)
• Include/Exclude paths
• Disable rebuild index.

Roadmap

• WDS 3.0 Beta: summer, release: fall.

Breakfast Time!

And day one begins at Tech-Ed 2006. Words do not begin to describe the sheer size of both the Boston Convention Center (larger than Orlando suprisingly), and the volume of people, exhibits, and space to travel when coming to one of these events.

But first, we eat.

One of the most endearing things about Tech-Ed is because you have sessions, exhibitors, and presentations running sun-up to sun-down, they keep you well fed and hydrated. All of it free, and all of it plentiful.

This mornings breakfast highlights: Bluberries wrapped in a pancake. Excellent. Plenty of meat available as well - not repeating the mistake of last year's day one.

Off to todays sessions, here is the tenative schedule (I really wish I could be in three places at once on some of these, but there's always the DVD):

• 9:00 - CLI301
• 10:45 - BFR004
• 1:30 - MSG205
• 3:15 - SEC304
• 5:00 - SVR205

World Cup picks of the day: JPN, USA, ITA.

Arrived in Boston

What a town. Got lost looking for the hotel. I think there isn't a single exit downtown since the Big Dig.

At any rate, here's a nice 2-second exposure of the Boston skyline from my hotel window.

Tech-Ed 2006, tomorrow bright and early.