I really like the Storage Spaces feature of Server 2012 (click to read more and a small overview of the technology), currently still in beta. It is one of the major reasons that I will be upgrading from Server 2008R2. I originally have Home Server and loved it, but the loss of the drive pool feature in the newer version of the Home Server software dropped it. There are several third party options, but I went to the larger version of the server software. Now, it looks like they are bringing that functionality to the full server installs.

Storage Spaces is a feature that takes standard JBODs (Just a Bunch of Disks) connected to a Windows 8 Server and allows them to be used to create pools of storage.  The pools can then be used to create volumes on the server.  The benefit of using Storage Spaces is that it enables advanced features such as resiliency and space optimisation.  It also forms a basis for using directly connected disks with the Windows hypervisor, Hyper-V.  The concept of Storage Spaces is not new.  Many operating systems have logical volume managers (LVMs) and in fact, Windows already offers some volume management features.  Disks can be partitioned and recombined to create mirrored and parity protected RAID volumes.  However storage spaces does things differently using disk pools, which provides significant advances over the disk management functions available today.

Gunman loaded a van with full canisters of gasoline and rammed the Greek Microsoft headquarters. No one has claimed responsibility as of yet, but rumors are saying it is about the recession and economic woes in the area. No one was hurt, but there was ~ $75,000 USD of damage. No reports of injuries.

Arson attacks against banks, foreign firms and local politicians have become more frequent in Greece in recent years as the country battles soaring unemployment and struggles through a recession deepened by austerity policies imposed by foreign lenders.

Microsoft has confirmed that the Windows Phone has just surpassed 100,000 applications. Not bad at all considering that a year ago they had just hit 10,000. Well done Microsoft and all the WP developers. In my eyes, this shows a commitment to the platform from Microsoft and from the developer community.

Apple dominates project starts, and Android is a strong second, but Microsoft is emerging from the noise level. Peter Farago, vice president of marketing for Flurry, blogged that Windows Phone project starts went from 1 percent last year to about 6 percent in June. BlackBerry project starts, for comparison, have stayed around 1 percent for the duration.

I am going to a default look for the site until I can get my other theme working correctly with the newest version of WordPress. Unfortunately, when I updated to 3.4, it broke many things with my current theme and a few plugins that I used and needed for the functionality of the site.

On top of that, I am also looking at moving to a new webhost. Although I didn’t think my site traffic was too high, apparently it was too much for my current host. I have a few options I may go with, but the costs are a bit more than what I am currently paying (which isn’t much, really).

Thanks for sticking around, thanks for your support, and thanks for all the great words that have been coming in! I’ve got a few things that I hope turn out for the best (although, in the past I’ve gotten bad news – this time it looks pretty swell!). I feel that the good news would really help out in bringing more great news, more hands on information, many updated KB articles, and increase my network of colleagues in the Microsoft realm. More on that in a few weeks, hopefully.

If there are any suggestions, recommendations, requests for the new site update, please let me know at dharper@mstechpages.com. I build and maintain this site to be great for the readers and make it as informative and easy to use as possible.

In a short notice announcement, Microsoft let loose of a secret they’ve hidden very well. They are releasing a Microsoft branded Windows 8 powered tablet with the Surface name. The cover has a built in keyboard, and a built in kickstand. Powered by either an ARM processor or a x86 processor, it allows WindowsRT or Windows 8 Professional to be installed, respectively.

It appears to be very fast and responsive, and comes in a variety of colors. The one downside, which I believe will hinder a lot of sales for the tablet is that is it only available in Microsoft Stores and Microsoft’s online store. I’m very interested, but according to Microsoft pricing is to be announced closer to availability and is to be competitive with similar products from other vendors. Cost is the #1 factor in this one for me.

If you want Windows Phone 8, you have to buy it pre-installed on a new handset. No current devices will be upgradable to the new mobile OS. Bad news for many of us that bought into the Windows Phone platform. It looks like a nice upgrade to the OS, but like Android, this is what got me to leave: the fragmentation. Now, if I want any apps that are WP8, I have to upgrade my device. I’m going to be left behind.

Windows Phone 7.8, however, will be available on existing handsets and looks to be very nice. It fixes a lot of issues people are complaining about (too few icons on front screen, too much wasted real estate, etc.).

Windows Phone 8 introduces support for multi-core processors, amongst other things, so the "Lumia 900 getting support for using dual-core or NFC doesn’t mean a lot," says Sullivan, "because it doesn’t have the hardware to take advantage of that." Microsoft decided to focus its efforts on Windows Phone 8 to make it as good as it possibly could. "To do the work to bring all of those elements to a platform that can’t exploit them wasn’t necessarily the most efficient use of resource," explains Sullivan.

Microsoft is getting a lot of criticism from people over their Norwegian Developers Conference over a dance routine and their music lyrics. Personally, I don’t see the big deal. It depends on your audience. For me, I’d enjoy a conference like that. It’d really get the audience ready and excited. I’ve been to many conferences where the opening was very, very dry and it reflected on the whole experience and the product. Get the audience excited and engaged and they will be excited about the product. Give them something to talk about. Doesn’t have to be extreme or sexual. People are still talking about Steve Ballmers intro years ago when he was VERY excited.

Count me in as one of the very few supporters of conferences and openings like this.

This author thinks that in 50 years, Bill Gates will be remembered throughout the world but Steve Jobs will not. I like Bill Gates (not until recently, though), but I really don’t see his statue being raised in his image. Sure, he’s doing some amazing humanity things around the world, but nothing to be idolized about.

"Gates is the most ruthless capitalist, and then he wakes up one morning and he says, ‘enough.’ And he steps down, he takes his money, he takes it off the table.

"I firmly believe that 50 years from now, he will be remembered for his charitable work, no one will even remember what Microsoft is.

"And of the great entrepreneurs of this era people will have forgotten Steve Jobs. Who’s Steve Jobs again? There will be statues of Gates across the third world."

Not sure if the author of this piece is an Apple fanboy or is just looking for site views and trolling on purpose. Either way, I don’t really agree with much at all in this article. Personally, I hear a lot of praise with Windows. Sure, there are times when people get frustrated and dislike whatever they are working on. But, overall they’ve been very satisfied with Windows.

It’s been a long time since I’ve heard anybody, except the very occasional programmer, praise Windows. In fact, it seems like every time a new version of Windows is released, the main selling point seems to be that "this time Microsoft got it right." Which is a message that gets kinda old after you’ve heard it five or six times.

With the release of the Release Preview of Windows 8, there have been a lot of consumer complaints. There has been a little talk on the enterprise side, but not a lot. This guy has some valid points on Windows 8 in the enterprise, and why it may or may not be quite ready for your office desk. He thinks it may be, but many others have their doubts.

Where Microsoft has been lacking is in focusing on the enterprise story. The need to do a better job conveying what organizations can expect. How does Active Directory play with Windows 8? Can I use my infrastructure to host roaming profiles instead of SkyDrive? And many other questions. I believe that there is a wealth of potential it is just going to take some work to get there but in the end I believe that we will be in a better place because of the change. The possibilities are endless so go out and reimagine your enterprise to take advantage of the last technologies out there.