Windows Azure for Gaming Demo

The Xbox One was already out last year and Windows Azure is part of the console gaming service in addition to being part of the business service. Perhaps, there can be MMORPG games for Xbox One that make use of Windows Azure as certain Xbox One games that use it like Titanfall don't seem to make proper sense to us unless the online synchronization of your Microsoft account surely counts. What else makes sense for those games is probably the Online Multiplayer and Online Campaigns but I don't know which games make use of the Online Campaigns regardless of whichever genre. Also, I don't know if those online gaming features are powered by Windows Azure.
Now, at this year's BUILD conference, they're showing off the Gaming Demo through Windows Azure on how the high-end PC can tolerate tons of on-screen tiny objects at once through the cloud. We don't know on how this cloud service will be deployed to the gamers as if they have to connect inside the game to that service in order to gain access to whatever is on the game servers powering Windows Azure and other online gaming stuffs but even then, not all games can be compatible through some Microsoft related platforms perhaps due to the specs or the way the game is being played. This conference is all about having cloud-gaming features on PC through Windows Azure as if you can get the same experience as you do with Xbox One if you have that console.
The better thing to make use of Windows Azure for gaming will be to play Xbox games on Xbox One due to the similar kind of CPU but then, if done incorrectly, it can be a technical disaster that people may avoid it. Hopefully, the cloud-gaming performance through Windows Azure and Playstation Now should be MMORPG-ish kind of performance like everything ranging from the simple internet connection to gaming performance should be smooth enough without any single lag no matter how many stuffs are there on-screen at once.
With online features for whatever games, it doesn't seem to matter which gaming system you play on but with cloud service for graphical enhancement with no lag? It's pretty much an un-neccessary idea like trying to make games more powerful graphically than on any other system. They should have used Windows Azure for online features in the game, Xbox Live service as well as the backwards compatibility, not the in-company hardware enhancement and then allowing gamers to access those super-gaming servers remotely there just to tolerate the lagless super graphics.

Better encryption from Microsoft will be completed by the end of next year

Well, this is taking a long time for this super encryption to be completed and deployed against the evil cyber-spying agencies we already know of and news of such spying scandal has been everywhere around the globe and everyone already knows it. In fact, we already saw a recent news on what they have been up to against the internet users. The services that will be encrypted are, Outlook.com, Office 365, Skydrive and Windows Azure.

Using the highest key length so far which is 2KBit and we’re not joking about that, this is by far the best-in-class industry cryptography Microsoft has planned. Another encryption standard called Perfect Forward Secrecy will also be implemented as well.

Under Legal Protection Reinforcement, it seems that Microsoft had already taken lawful actions against the bad things the governments had attempted to do against the customers. We don’t know when did Microsoft do this to protect us but they said that they will continue to protect us in the future to preserve their ability to alert us when some idiots DARE to force them to hand over the customer data. Of course, the consequences for such refusal are complete BULLSHIT! If Microsoft can continue to protect us, then there may be a reason to use their products again. But until the day of super-encryption, our computers and servers running Apple or Microsoft OSes are nothing but malware-infected junks. Even our tablets and phones are the similar victims as well.

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.

Windows Server 8 Essentials available three days ago

Finally, the small business and home users are able to purchase this OS after the release. It was several days after Windows 8’s release but it may seem that to some other companies, the whole operating system was already a disaster for desktop users. Your best bet will be to get rid of the freaking Metro tiles and stick back to the desktop usage just like using Windows 7 but that bet is for laptop and desktop users.

• Built-in Disaster Recovery: Because Windows Home Server and SBS Server look kind of identical to each other, Windows Server 8 Essentials is a combination of two. This tool is useful for both business and homes where even home users can protect their home stuffs and work stuffs from disasters like fire, theft or flood. Using the cloud technology from Microsoft, its backup service helps keep data safe and secure even if one hardware should fail. In non-technical terms, you can prepare a series of paper-written documents just for disaster recovery preparation as if you’re preparing the data survival kits. For business, the redundancy is huge but for home users, will you make backups to, like other families or something?
• Consistent productivity: The connection should be easier around the network at home or at work in a small business company but by using the third-party start menu tool, you can save your ass even more like trying to use the powerful and centralized data storage and sharing features in the traditional desktop way.
• Cloud Solutions: Office 365 is one of the examples for home and business use for cloud technology but there are other solutions for your needs, with seamless integration and centralized administration.

In addition to the news about this release, there are other news about Windows Azure powering one of the games from Microsoft Games Studios as well as the reimagation of the other Windows and the expansion of Windows Server 8 to China. You can check out there at http://blogs.technet.com/b/stbnewsbytes/archive/2012/11/01/november-1-2012-news-thursday-windows-server-2012-essentials-generally-available-today-windows-azure-powers-halo-4-and-more-server-and-tools-news.aspx as this blog post is focused on the release of Windows Server 8 Essentials.

Windows 8 Mascots

Oh man, will you backport those themes back to Windows 7 or something besides using them in Windows 8? I guess so there’s no reason for the technical problem to occur. However, there are some exclusive event occurrences for Windows 8 such as the notifications on the top right of the screen with exclusive sounds. That’s right, the RTM version may different sound schemes now for Windows 8. Just like Windows 7, there will also be the DSP 64-bit edition with the newer mascots.

In addition to the newer themes, there will also be a Microsoft Wedge touch mouse with the Windows 8 logo. I don’t know if this can work with Windows 7 and below and for touch mouse, I still have yet to take some time to grab some opportunity to buy like newer mice. You know, every few or several months, the mice are starting to dis-behave on me that I may have to get another one. Each pack will cost about 19980 yen each. The limited Akihabara editions will be offered in Tokyo’s Akihabara shopping district with additional exclusive voice samples. The bundled mouse in each Limited Akihabara edition will have an illustration of the respective characters.

There’s something I didn’t even notice of for Windows 7 mascot. In addition to the freaking commercial and the image song as I had already known of, there are also the mini-games as well as Cloud Girl manga which is to explain the Windows Azure cloud services system. Some mini game called Heart Crisis was launched by Microsoft Smart Business Center as a business card battle game. In this game, you use cards containing different attack moves for the mascot to defeat computer-related monster cards.

Windows Server 8 Essentials reached RTM

Just like Windows Server 8 in other editions, the Essentials edition is a significant milestone in the developers’ efforts to cloud-enable small businesses and home offices. It is  designed to protect business data to allow highly secure access to information you need from virtually anywhere by using almost any device and to offer the flexibility to choose which applications and services you want to run on-premises and in the cloud and besides, it is made even easier before to run itself in a hosted environment. However, since the Essentials is likely to be a combination of Small Business and Home Server editions, I may believe that the target audience for this may be different. Mostly, the small business users may seem to be using it but for Home Server users, you can still take the opportunity to try provided that the add-ons and apps are for both types of users commonly and especially for the features.

The release date will be in November 1st after it had just reached RTM yesterday so in the meantime, you can try out the trial copy from the Evaluation Center and if you’re an MSDN or Technet Subscriber, you can download the Essentials edition from those sites as well. Now, here are the quick product highlights the developers may want to share:

• Enable a dynamic, modern work style with access from devices by using Remote Web Access and take advantage of Windows Phone 8 and Windows 8 devices for a superior experience with rich modern “My Server” apps. Oh come on, how much factors do you need for Remote Web Access? I already have an external router that has the UPnP support which is good for media viewing but even then, there were still technical problems when trying out the prototype version of Windows Home Server 7 and Small Business Server 7. I don’t even know if this technical problem will occur in this as well.
• On-site backups with Windows Azure Online Backup for peace of mind enjoyment? Now this is where things are quite uncommon and small business users will have to learn about Windows Azure technology before using this online backup feature as I believe that Windows Azure is likely to be for business users and not home users. Your best bet will be to establish your home office somewhere in your home and then start working on whatever work you have from the company you work at. That’s how you can use this technology for personal backup as a business user. You can also utilize integrated support for the new Windows 8 File History feature and I don’t know if this is like Volume Shadow Copies or some sort.
• Oh, hosted service provider for email and collaboration option? This one again is for small business users but for users of both types, you can probably choose Office 365.
• Storage Spaces may be useful for both types of users and THIS is one common feature and it is also in Windows 8 as well as other editions of Windows Server 8. In case you need multiple storages for storing data, this one is for you.
• Line-of-business applications can be run that you depend on by leveraging the greatly improved application compatibility, with the logo certification for all Windows Server 8 editions. Man, this one is gonna be confusing unless there are like multiple logo certifications for all Windows Server 8 editions. Also, this product highlight may seem to be for small business users.
• If the needs of your small business grow, you can upgrade to Windows Server 8 Standard edition which gives you the standard features of Windows Server 8 in case you may want to use Windows Server 8 Standard edition for whatever purpose. You can also use the Standard edition for home use but I don’t know if you can install that on your home servers.

Windows Azure Services Beta for Windows Server

System Center series for the servers running Windows Server OSes may be useful for certain technical purposes such as clustering, websites, storages and other stuffs. Last week, there was some launch event in Southeast Asia for Windows Server 8 where people were quite interested in many of the new individual technologies. While this was so, there was a real sense that they also find the broader vision Microsoft has laid out highly compelling. In the future, the datacenter with servers will be in the cloud with Windows Azure and Windows Server 8.

Three months ago, the developers said that there will be over 200 cloud applications with some of the largest online services for the datacenters. Normally, you can use the Office 365, Hotmail and Bing if that’s the case for standard business. For gaming business, Xbox Live service may be included provided that the company has certain Xbox Live powered games. You can straight away install the new Windows Azure technology to the Windows Server OS which is currently in beta to provide high density Web Sites as well as Virtual Machine provisioning and management. They may be designed for easy incorporation into hosting service providers’ offerings for deployment to their broad customer base.

The first thing is the web sites in which hosting service providers can now deliver scalable, high density web site hosting solutions on Windows Server to help them lower costs and increase revenue and profitability. Delegated administration and features such as Reserved Instances allow tenant self-service and scaling while providing a smooth ramp from low cost offerings to premium services. Using the Web App Gallery, it can allow customers to quickly provision popular Microsoft and 3rd party web applications without the need to code everything. Can Web App Gallery save the asses from having to code the stuffs all over the place?

Virtual Machines on the other hand may require even higher system requirements so think twice if you may want to try the shit out of Windows Azure beta for Windows Server as we believe that this is for business and not personal use. Virtual Machine provisioning and management is a core part of the value proposition of the Microsoft Private Cloud offering for Enterprises, built on Windows Server 8 for example. Hosting service providers can now also use this technology to offer a high quality self-service experience for their customers to provision and manage virtual machines. With the use of the new Service Management API for integration of their customer portal, they can control System Center and Windows Server to make, operate and update virtual machines. I don’t know if certain companies will offer you the virtual machine to use but I guess that certain companies like Amazon may give you the opportunity to try out the similar technology stuffs but they are actually powered with Linux technology so it may be more complicated back then.

As part of the new two service offerings in Windows Azure, there is a new portal that has received rave reviews and has dramatically eased the manageability of the cloud services. The technology preview as of three months ago, there would be the same great experience for the developers’ own hosting service providers. The portal had been designed by them from the ground up with cloud services in mind and in bringing this portal technology to Windows Server that was updated to allow their partners to adapt it to various business needs. Some partner like GoDaddy.com demonstrated how easily they were able to rebrand the Service Management Portal and how quickly a customer could deploy and then scale a new WordPress blog site using the Web Sites capability. Man, I wish I can be one of such customers in any case as I already have my own WordPress Blog.

Other partners may include Parallels in which they showed how they replaced the Service Management Portal with their Parallels Automation System by integrating directly with the Service Management API and it seemed like they’re the third party company for this portal for sure.

Lastly, for enterprise customers, the right solution for a dynamic datacenter and private cloud environment is the combination of Windows Server and System Center. With this combination, you’ll find the capabilities needed to aggregate resources and delegate them with the organization to allow for self-service provisioning and management of your VMs and applications, whether in your datacenter if you will or through the Windows Azure subscription. Careful, I believe that Windows Azure subscription is costly so you may want System Center alone for the servers running Windows Server OSes in your datacenter if that’s the case while still trying out the new technology. Next year, there will be the Service Pack 1 release of the new System Center that will enable the customers to see and utilize capacity they’ve provisioned from service providers in the same way as they consume their own resources or those in Windows Azure.

In the beta version, the release is now feature complete but be reminded that these technologies are not something incremental that needs to be purchased by hosters. This is simply part of the broad solution you tap into when you deploy Windows Server 8 and the new System Center. Here are the following features you’ll find in the beta version of the bits:

• Service Management Portal and API
• Distributed Installation of the Service Management Portal and API as well as Web Sites controller separate from them
• Users are now able to sign up for multiple plans
• Web Sites
• HTTPS/SSL support for tenants that are now able to upload custom certificates and use them for programmatic access
• Distributed installation with High Availability and Live Upgrade
• Generic FastCGI and custom stack support
• Virtual Machines
• Customized way in creating VMs from VM Template with rich wizard experience
• Hardware profile for making VMs from the VHDs
• Tenants are now VMM Tenant Admins and utilize the new VMM on-behalf of features

So before you start, you need to have at least four virtual machines running Windows Server 2k8 R2 and above in addition to the new System Center on the VHD. Install .NET Framework 3.5 and 4 and all updates on these virtual machines. It may seem to be complicated but you can read the quick start guide or detailed step-by-step installation guide and like I have predicted, this is for business use.