Windows 8 for the IT Pro: The New Plumbing

Hi folks, Ned coming to you from the secret underground redoubt, where the cable is out, the wife is at grad school, and the dogs are napping as autumn finally reaches North Carolina. image

I’m not a fan of blog posts that only aggregate links and don’t offer original thought. Today I make an exception, as the first official bits of Windows 8 have hit the street. Like all Windows pre-releases, you notice two immediate problems:

  1. The consumer content overwhelms the IT Professional content.
  2. The Internet is a public toilet of misunderstanding, opinions masquerading as facts, and general ignorance.

Nothing wrong with the first point; we’re outnumbered at least a thousand to one, so it’s natural for advertising to target the majority. The second point I can’t abide by; I despise misinformation.

Nothing has changed with my NDA - I cannot discuss Windows 8 in detail, speak of the future, or otherwise get myself fired. Nevertheless, I can point you to accurate content that’s useful to an IT Professional craving more than just the new touchscreen shell for tablets. My links talk a little Windows Server and show features that Mom won’t be using.

So, in vague order and with no regard to the features being Directory Services or not, here are the goods. Some are movies and PowerPoint slides, some are text. Some are Microsoft and some are not. Many are buried in the //Build site. I added some exposition to each link so I don’t feel so dirty.

Enjoy, it’s going to be a busy decade.

Intro (good for basic familiarity)

Security & Active Directory

Interestingly, no mainstream websites have discovered many of the AD changes visible in the server preview build, or at least, not written about them. Aha! Here they come, thanks for the tip Sean:

Virtualization, Networking, & High Availability

Deployment & Performance

Remember, everything is subject to change and refers only to the Developer Preview release from the //Build conference; Windows 8 isn’t even in beta yet. Grab the client or server and see for yourself.

And no matter what link you click, I don’t recommend reading the comments. See point 2.

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Where do you want me to put this Internet?

Ned “bowl o’ links” Pyle