In the latest edition of the Microsoft Security Newsletter there was a link to a series of articles on CIO magazine that discuss a series of claims from FireFox that it is the safest browser and the analysis of that by Jeff Jones who is a director of security strategy at Microsoft. I went back and read the first 2 articles and some of the surrounding discussions. While I don’t consider myself qualified to make a critique of the bug reporting methodologies or how to know which browser is more secure. Overall I think that security should not be a marketing feature but something that every company is trying their best to provide to us as consumers. It is hard and I know I have made stupid mistakes in the past so I am in no position to throw stones at anyone else.

One thing that caught my attention was the comments on the articles. There was definitely a lot of passion from supporters of both browsers. Some of it might be attributable to “fan boys” but I think it goes deeper. With so much of our lives moving online the browser becomes the platform we use to interact with the world. As long as 10 years ago I can remember having discussions about whether Microsoft would be selling an operating system in 2 years. Certainly if everything moves into a browser the OS will become irrelevant to a large extent. I don’t see that happening any time soon since there are still many user experience reasons (like shortcut keys and the ability to keep client state) where “fat client” applications are easier to use. These problems are not easy to solve so I don’t expect to see a fix soon. However, I can certainly see where people are passionate about their computing platform because it influences so much of what they can and can’t do easily and to a large extent their thinking of how to write programs and interact with the online world.

I have been looking into Windows Azure lately getting ready for the technology and for the talks I am planning on giving in the near future. When I was telling one of my friends (who loves everything Apple and loves to bash Microsoft) about Azure he was laughing about how the “cloud” sounds very abstract and hard to understand. In the end he was equating the “cloud” to vaporware. I hope I set him straight about how the cloud is more like the Internet where he has data on content delivery networks.

Today I read this article about someone who’s credentials were stolen through a phishing scam and his information and community on Orkut were changed by the phishers. He tried to contact Google about the issue but couldn’t find anyone to help him fix the problem. That has had me thinking about what happens when data or applications have problems in the Azure.

Microsoft has been very clear that the current implementation is pre-release and before it becomes a “real product” they will have a SLA in place. I don’t know what that SLA will entail but I suspect it might be something like Hotmail. Right now I am paying a small yearly fee for Hotmail so I can send and receive larger files and I don’t have to worry about my account being disabled due to inactivity. At one time I had a real need for these services and the price is so low that I keep paying it. What really got me hooked on paying was that I could use Outlook to retrieve my e-mail. This is so much faster and more convenient than the web interface since I have Outlook open anyway. I also found that it got me some enhanced support options (which is really more relevant to the purpose of this post). When I was having problems there was a dedicated support alias that I could use and I got a reasonable response from a live person. I haven’t tried the support on a free account but I would suspect that it would be more automated and point me to the FAQ. I can live with this since I really shouldn’t expect Microsoft to pay for bandwidth, storage, and tech support for a free account. I see trading good tech support for free e-mail. It is a risk/reward equation where I either feel I can fix it myself, ask the community for support, or just drop the e-mail account and start a new one.

If the Azure SLA follows the Hotmail model (and I hope it does) there will be different levels of support depending on how much you are willing to pay. As your applications and data in the cloud become more important you will be willing to pay more and expect more from Microsoft like better response times, a knowledgeable human being to help answer questions, and higher levels of redundancy and safety on your applications to avoid problems in the first place. I don’t know if there will be a free service but I hope there is for things like small applications that hardly use any resources. At that level I don’t expect Microsoft to do anything if I tell them I lost data from blob or table storage. If I am paying a modest fee I would expect them to look at the problem and help me recover to some state in time. If I am paying a lot then I would expect “up to the minute” data recovery. I could live with a model where I pay for the protection I want.

There is a really good post at http://blogs.msdn.com/e7/archive/2009/01/30/our-next-engineering-milestone.aspx on the progress and roadmap for the next steps of Windows 7. Quoting from the end of the article:

So to summarize briefly:

• Pre-Beta – This release at the PDC introduced the developer community to Windows 7 and represents the platform complete release and disclosure of the features.
• Beta – This release provided a couple of million folks the opportunity to use feature complete Windows 7 while also providing the telemetry and feedback necessary for us to validate the quality, reliability, compatibility, and experience of Windows 7. As we said, we are working with our partners across the ecosystem to make sure that testing and validation and development of Windows 7-based products begins to enter final phases as we move through the Beta.
• Release Candidate (RC) – This release will be Windows 7 as we intend to ship it. We will continue to listen to feedback and telemetry with the focus on addressing only the most critical issues that arise. We will be very clear in communicating any changes that have a visible impact on the product. This release allows the whole ecosystem to reach a known state together and make sure that we are all ready together for the Release to Manufacturing. Once we get to RC, the whole ecosystem is in “dress rehearsal” mode for the next steps.
• Release to Manufacturing (RTM) – This release is the final Windows 7 as we intend to make available to PC makers and for retail and volume license products.
• General Availability (GA) – This is a business milestone and represents when you can buy Windows 7 pre-installed on PCs or as full packaged product.

The obvious question is that we know the Pre-Beta was October 28, 2008, and the Beta was January 7th, so when is the Release Candidate and RTM? The answer is forthcoming.

Of course there are no dates associated with any of the information in the blog post and I wouldn’t expect there to be any. Doing a little more reading on Windows 7 I came across an article on the Department of Justice (DoJ) review of the new APIs in Windows 7. In that article there are a few key dates for testing of the APIs to be reviewed.

Microsoft plans to complete testing on existing submitted Windows protocol documentation by March 31, 2009. It plans to complete all of its system documents by June 30 of this year, according to the court document.

So from that I would gather that nothing will be officially released before July. Of course there is also the question of what the European Union will require of Microsoft before they can release Windows 7 with IE 8. The EU is complaining about Microsoft bundling IE8 with Windows 7. I have read various opinions that range from this is very serious and could stop the release of Windows 7 to this being a way for the EU to make more money off of Microsoft.

I don’t know all the technical details with removing IE from the operating system and if it will cause problems with Windows 7. If I were Microsoft and taking a long range view of the fines and the hassles associated with having IE be part of the OS I think I would figure out a way to separate the components/controls used for web browsing and the UI of IE. That way you could leave the browser functionality in the OS as part of the documented APIs and all developers could count on them being available and you could appease the EU by not bundling a web browser. You could then include the IE UI as a separate download. Of course the question has come up on how would users get a web browser if there were not a web browser on the machine to start with. I think Microsoft and all other browser vendors could provide instructions on how to use a command window and FTP to download the browser. It wouldn’t be convenient for the end user but it would satisfy the politicians.

I was reading Steve Martin’s latest blog post about Microsoft being named in the leaders quadrant of three different Gartner reports. Microsoft was certainly in the business of providing the building blocks of SOA at the start with ASP.NET web services and we have seen that evolve to support different standards and eventually to become WCF and all the continually evolving standards like REST. I think this is great for Microsoft and validates their approach to SOA. I feel it is a good, practical approach to implementing SOA and gaining business value. I guess I should back up and explain what I mean by the Microsoft approach to SOA.

I see many organizations trying to implement a SOA solution and the solutions tend to fall somewhere along a continuum. At one end is the side that emphasizes the architecture and operational purity. They want to design the entire architecture with the interfaces and the interactions and business processes. At the other end of the spectrum is the group that just starts creating web services and calls that SOA. Of course there are a lot of different shades in between.

The Microsoft approach as I call it has always been to lay plans for grandiose implementations but to make sure that you are getting value out of those plans. The catch phrase that I hear often is “plan, but don’t boil the ocean”. I certainly can relate to this as one of the projects early on in my career was to help a large company standardize a bunch of different databases into a single consolidated database to reduce redundancy and help with reporting. The project spent almost 2 months trying to get everyone to agree on how to create the customer table and where the data would come from in the different systems. In the end the project was cancelled because it was going nowhere fast and eating up a lot of time and money. We ended up creating a reporting database to give them the value they wanted without all the arguing and planning. (This was before data warehouses were mainstream.) The Microsoft approach has also tried to avoid long cycles of analysis followed by implementation but has instead concentrated on creating a SOA implementation for new projects and adding a SOA interface to existing systems. By tackling the architecture a piece at a time you can run into problems where your implementations or standards evolve and become incompatible. (This is where the ESB comes in but that is a different post.) For some reason Microsoft didn’t do a really good job of explaining their value proposition so the lack of an ESB and other “required” pieces of SOA would leave them ranking low in the various analyst reports.

It is nice to see that a pragmatic approach to SOA is being recognized as being a viable approach and just one of many on the continuum.

I got this in my e-mail because I am still technically running a MSN group for the UCNUG leadership. I don't recall any messages on the group for the last 2 years so for me this is a non-event but there may be others who have changed e-mail addresses and would like to know that their groups (and the history) might be going away

Dear MSN Groups Customer,

As a valued MSN Groups or MSN Communities Web Folders customer, we want to notify you that the MSN Groups service will close on February 21, 2009 and you will have the opportunity to move your group to our new partner service, Multiply. We understand the importance of keeping your group together, so we partnered with Multiply to create a migration process that moves your group to their service to preserve your online community and its history. Read on to find out about how to kick off the automatic migration of your group to Multiply.

We realise this may be unexpected, so before presenting your options we want to briefly share why we've made this decision.

Why?
Because we are dedicated to providing our customers with the most current and user friendly technology available today we made the difficult decision to close the MSN Groups service. This decision is part of an overall investment to update and re-align our online services with Windows Live. In the long term we believe that closing the service is the best way to continue to offer innovative and effective services that help you stay in touch with the people you care about. We plan to launch a new Groups service in the coming weeks, but unlike MSN Groups, Windows Live Groups will focus on offering a place for small groups to collaborate. Multiply is available now, making it your best option today for continuing to share and communicate together online.

Options for moving your group to a new service
We've listed some options and resources below to help you decide what to do with your group.

• Option 1: Automatically move your group and its data. We have established a partnership with Multiply, an online group and media sharing service so our users can choose to migrate their group to Multiply's service. Choosing this option is free and easy to use: Multiply will move the Group's content on your behalf and invite members to re-join your group in its new location. To begin the migration click here.
• Option 2: Start again on another service. You can start from scratch and create your group on a different service but we recommend having your Group moved automatically by Multiply. This will enable your Group to transition easily and continue to enjoy the community you have created.
• Option 3: Start again on Windows Live Groups. To further expand our mix of communications and sharing services, Windows Live will launch a new service this autumn, Windows Live Groups. We plan to launch Windows Live Groups to the public in the coming weeks as a service that helps small groups or clubs collaborate online.

Options for MSN Communities Web Folders users
If you use save files to the MSN Communities web folders (also known as "My Web Sites on MSN" or the web folder "My Groups"), these services are part of MSN Groups and will therefore will also be closed on February 21, 2009. We recommend that if you store files online using MSN Communities web folders that you back up these files locally, then upload them to another online storage service such as Windows Live SkyDrive. For more details on how to find and move files saved to your web folders, visit the MSN Groups Resource Center.

Your Next Steps
We have sent this letter to each MSN Groups user, whether member or manager. If you are:

• A member or user of MSN Groups: Check with your group manager to determine whether they plan to migrate the group.
• A manager: Visit the MSN Groups Resource Center to learn more about your options and consider soliciting feedback from your group members about what they would prefer to do, when and how. The Resource Center also provides a sample splash page you can use to notify your members that the group will move. If you're ready to move the group now, click here.

What to Expect between now and the closing date
Between today and February 21, 2009 the MSN Groups service will remain the same as it is now. We will remove the option to add more storage to your group but other features will remain until the service is shut down and you can use it the same way you do today until the date of closure.

Where can I learn more?
You probably have more questions, and that's why we created a website to address them. Please visit the MSN Groups Resource Center at any time for the most up to date answers to common questions, information about migrating your group to Multiply, contact information for our support staff, and important dates.

Our support staff are equipped to answer your questions and guide you through issues that may arise as you decide what to do with your group. They are ready to help so don't hesitate to contact them at MSN Groups Customer Support with your questions.

We thank you for using our services and regret any inconvenience this may cause.

MSN Groups, Microsoft Corporation

Join us on Wednesday, January 21 for our meeting. As always we will be meeting at the NuSkin NOC at 1175 S 350 E Provo.

We will be hearing from TekSystems on how you can remain relevant in today's economy. We will be talking about the skills that will help you to keep your current job or to move onto a new job if you want to.

Please invite your friends and join us.

I had a good time at the “Best of PDC” event in Salt Lake City today. Rob Bagby is a good speaker and he brought out some features of the REST Starter Kit that I hadn’t picked up on.

On one of the breaks I was talking with Rob and Craig Berntson and Craig mentioned a new release of the Azure SDK. I hadn’t heard anything about it. When I got home I had the following message in my e-mail.

Greetings from the Azure Services Platform Team!
We are excited to announce that we have released an update to the Windows® Azure™ SDK and Visual Studio Tools. These latest releases are available here:

• Windows Azure SDK: http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=130232
• Windows Azure Tools for Visual Studio: http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=128752

These newly released SDK and Tools include:

• Bug and performance fixes
• Improved integration with Visual Studio
• Performance improvements with execution and debugging scenarios
• Improvements to Storage Client and ASP.Net provider samples
• Added support to debug Silverlight in a web role

We will continue to release updates to Windows Azure and its tools based on your feedback. Please visit http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=130231 to share your Windows Azure experiences.
Thank you for your continued interest.
Sincerely,
Azure Services Platform Team

The really nice thing is that even if you don’t have a key to run the Azure developer fabric on your own machine so you can still play with it even if you can’t release your creation on the world.

Salt Lake City January 2009 Windows Azure Cloud Computing User Group

Join the community...

Don't miss the opportunity to be at the first local meeting of the Windows Azure Cloud Computing User Group in Salt Lake City. Windows Azure is Microsoft's cloud computing platform. At this meeting, you'll hear about Microsoft's vision of Software + Services and what it can mean for you. As part of this presentation, you’ll see a demo of how a cloud application is developed and deployed.

Who Should Attend?

Cloud computing has huge implications for both developers and business people. This is your chance to get in on the ground floor and be part of the community that helps pioneer this exciting new area.

When: Tuesday, 1/20/09, 6:00 - 8:00 pm
Where: Microsoft, 123 Wright Brothers Drive, Ste. 100, Salt Lake City, Utah 84116
Registration link:

Please take a moment to register so we can plan properly. Registration is necessary for building access. Pizza will be served before the presentation starts.

Does cloud computing offer anything compelling for you, your business or your customers?

• Cloud computing with Windows Azure provides technologists with new options for where applications reside, how applications behave, and the business models that drive them.
• Cloud computing eliminates the need to predict traffic levels, purchase hardware or hosting capacity in advance, and keep os’s patched. Applications are given the capacity they need on demand. You only pay for computing and storage you use.
• Some of the most difficult and costly things to achieve in I.T. such as high availability and ensuring scalability are no longer headaches the enterprise has to deal with. Scalability, reliability, and high availability come with the platform automatically.

Developers no longer have to make a choice between the benefits of what can be delivered to users via the web versus traditional on-premises software. Microsoft offers the opportunity for developers to offer both with a software-plus-services approach. It is an industry shift that combines services on the Web with client and server software to deliver the best of both worlds.

Please contact Mike Erickson at mike.erickson@neudesic.com or phone at 303-248-8321 with any questions about this community user group event.