Preparing your enterprise for Windows 10 as a service Jump Start

There's really not much to say about this Jump Start other than the fact that I already have MDT 2013 Update 1 for deploying Windows 10 like I'm already doing right now after having sufficient solutions. I had already anticipated the newest deployment tools like the Windows 10 ADK which should have Windows 10 PE as well as the final version of MDT 2013 Update 1 which at that time, it still had yet to be finalized while Windows 10 ADK was already finalized. New to Windows 10 ADK is the Windows Imaging and Configuration Designer and somehow, it is like Windows System Image Manager or something where you can customize the answer file component by component which can be useful for automatic specification of the information during Windows Setup. Also, the existing versions of today's System Center Configuration Manager are already supporting Windows 10 deployment via some updates provided that you have the latest service packs and cumulative updates needed for that.
Unfortunately, at that time, other things still had yet to be finalized as well such as RSAT for Windows 10, Windows 10 IOT or something and of course, Windows Server 10 which is now at Technical Preview 3. That server variant may be based on Windows 10 but at a later build and especially when it has all the latest features of Windows 10 RTM like the new login screen, new wallpapers, new event sounds, etc. However, there are still older stuffs intact when I checked out the Windows event sounds from default sound scheme in Sounds properties. I could have called that tab, Event Sound tab because when a message box occurs, there should be an event sound for instance. From there, not all event sounds are new in Windows 10 as if even at the RTM stage, they still have yet to work on in adding and improving features in Windows 10 as if they're milking it for years and especially that there's a post-RTM build for insiders.
Other stuffs I saw included the migration of the user settings between Windows 8.1 and 10 and it was why the prototype Windows 10 wallpaper was migrated along when I installed Windows 8.1 trial the last time probably due to the fact that one of the Insider Preview builds was unbootable on various physical machines unless some options in the BIOS were turned off. However, its later build solved those reboot-loop problems as tested on booting up from that build's setup DVD in which I was able to see the setup screen.

Deployment Progress

The Enterprise edition of Windows 10 has full security opt-out options unlike the other editions of Windows 10 in which some of the features cannot be disabled. Also, the Pro and Home editions downloaded from Microsoft via Media Creation Tool or whatever cannot be imported straight to MDT or SCCM for deployment. Regardless of prototype or final stage, it's not going to work that way. I already have the reference image of the Enterprise Edition evaluation in the MDT with various things configured with the help of the external sources found on the net. The next phase will be to do the same thing for the server variant as well as Windows 8.1 with Update.
The recent problem I have is regarding the domain user account policy that should be applied to the clients in the domain. How do I apply the Windows 8.1 and 10 policies to those accounts including the new ones?

Networking Rant

I still have some networking rants in my head against various Microsoft sub-domains and websites including Microsoft Virtual Academy as their networks are unspeakably sensitive compared to other websites which are working quite well. Maybe those networks running those sites are to blame for technical stupidity acts and I don't know what the hell are those setting up and maintaining those networks are doing. Scold them, or maybe those US ISPs! They don't know what the hell are they doing that affects the Microsoft networks in the US a lot that made me freak out over networking misbehavior. And why are some of the video players on MVA still using Adobe Flash. Are they lazy or something? Why isn't the MVA site using HTML5-only media players on all courses and Jump Starts? Maybe my feedback two years ago wasn't quite enough? I don't even know if the whole MVA website works well in Microsoft Edge. Lastly, if this is the way those networks I mentioned continued to work like that like a bunch of robotic idiots bought or designed by idiots from some idiotic companies, that will cause another major layoff to happen one day.

Windows 8.1 Deployment Jump Start

OK, I did have the prerequisites for this Jump Start like I already had the knowledge and experience of Windows Deployment all along through the MVA courses I took. The tools demonstrated so far were System Center Configuration Manager and MDT but it might seem that System Center Configuration Manager was starting to get more complicated to use and especially when you need to correct the task sequences for the sake of Replacement, Refresh and Bare Metal.
Also, the difference between MDT and System Center Configuration Manager was that when the computer boots up to Windows PE through the network, the drivers and other stuffs were loaded into RAM for MDT as if you needed more RAM for that compared to System Center Configuration Manager. The cool thing about SCCM was that you can use the Remote Desktop feature inside it to remotely gain access to the machine you're monitoring as well as to check the report of how many MDT-like tasks have been completed so far. Not to mention that you can make custom UDI Wizard for SCCM but then, that will not be called Zero Touch Install all along.
Lastly, there were way too many people attending this Jump Start including me that certain users were ignored when they asked the questions. Perhaps it was better for me to continue tweeting things about the Jump starts and I got some reply as a result.

Microsoft Insights Jump Start

What a great Jump Start but it took place at the different broadcasting location with the guests coming from other companies. It is basically about how you will advance your IT life to the career by how you will take the Microsoft certified courses so that you can take an IT job based on those courses you have taken. Then, there was some global situation, people dropping out of the universities as if they were not able to make it that they were left jobless. Well, there was obviously no need to worry about being jobless like forever if that was the case. You can still can take a job to the IT related company such as Microsoft, Cisco, etc. based on the certified courses you have taken. You can also include in the certified courses in your resume as well as questioned by someone in the Q&A section.
The presentation was short and the first phase lasted an hour but after that was the interview time that lasted for two hours. I heard that the certified exams will be more difficult than before as if the exam layout will not be the same anymore and the requirements are likely to be spread out even more. You will need sufficient skills and experience for those exams. I do have skills and experience in networking, virtualization, cloud, Windows administration, etc but then, I do need to have more of the skills and experience if I want to get prepared for the certified exams in the future. Also, the technology is changing that I may need to KNOW the new features of it. Like, I don't even know what those new things are from Windows Server 8 onwards for instance, and I don't know much of other tools like System Center, Windows Server, other VMWare technology and other virtualization tools.
Virtualization-wise, even System Center will be involved as well due to the fact that you can use that tool to deploy, patch and manage virtual machines there. For cloud, things may be difficult when it comes to forming your OWN private cloud. Yes, the course about forming your own private cloud is more difficult and especially when it comes to using Windows Azure which is business related IT technology that it is not suited for personal use.
Lastly, the Jump Start even had the 60FPS Microsoft Insights commercials that were played during the break and the media player for playing those Jump Starts is revamped.

MS Tools for VMware Integration and Migration Jump Start

That was a better and smoother Jump Start but it is not the first time I attended online though. The event started yesterday from 11PM to 3AM today in which it lasted five hours. It focused on the four chapters/modules such as Monitoring the entire environment with System Center tools, Migration from VMWare to Hyper-V, VM Management stuff or whatever and the Automated Deployment with Orchestrator.
Now, before I start explaining about what I did yesterday, I may have to tell you my experience in virtualization. The first virtualization program would probably be Virtual PC from Microsoft and it was quite new back then until there were competitors trying to take Microsoft down or something like VMWare, VirtualBox, Parallels, etc in which I then started to use VirtualBox. For Virtual PC 2007 SP1, you get the higher resolution, custom resolution, widescreen support for guest OSes and other stuffs to make it on par with its competitors but for now, it seemed that Microsoft was apparently working on something even more superior to Virtual PC such as Windows Virtual PC for Windows 7, Hyper-V for Windows Server series including Windows 8. Can Hyper-V be the most superior one from Microsoft? Sure, you can close the virtual machine window to pause or directly shut it down or something but I don't know if you can keep the virtual machine running in the background in Hyper-V. It may be a great deal for Hyper-V to keep the VMs running in the background as Hyper-V is probably stored on the servers and people may want to access those VMs remotely. Then, for Parallels, VirtualBox and VMWare, you can bring the virtual machine desktop environment to the host desktop environment like you can get two taskbars at the same time for example and you can have the windows from two OSes at the same time as well. It may be cool but you have to know which OS desktop environment are you using. This may be useful for all computer users regardless of the competitive OSes.
Using the latest System Center tools from Microsoft, you're able to save cost that way and it may be why this course and Jump Start existed in the first place. You can manage the whole environment of physical and virtual machines with System Center and you can manage the VMs that are running Hyper-V or VMWare. However, you have to be careful when trying to migrate to Hyper-V. First of all, the virtual machine configuration may not be part of the migration process and especially if you're migrating the VMs to the newer physical machines for like better performance. Second, you have to plan carefully and get ready the clusters in case the process may fail. And in case you don't like to do any tedious scripting to do the automated deployment, you can use System Center Orchestrator tool to do the thing. You drag and drop the stuffs provided that you have the Integration Packs installed and ready and then establish the paths on where you want the instructions to be followed step by step but be careful on what you're doing as you have to TEST before you RUN FOR REAL! Each set of instructions is known as a RunBook and when you start it, it will do all the instructions you've specified for you. Other factors involve the parameters you're going to specify like the computer name, the location on where you want to store VM stuffs to and other stuffs you want them to be in the VMs. For example, if you want to install the OS on multiple VMs simultaneously, you can use this Orchestrator to make a RunBook of making a VM with the specific OS and then commence the deployment. Lastly, there may be free tools to convert from VMWare to Hyper-V but keep in mind that there's no other way round.
During the event, I contributed in the correct way and I got the response in the good way. Also, there is even the IT Camp where you can go to Microsoft to attend various events there. Jeez, how is that the public event anyway and how is this a real camp? So far, there are three of them in Singapore but one of them is already full as I already checked during the event. We'll be looking forward to more IT events like this.