10 Questions: with Chad Post

Chad Post

Introduction

(Dave here) Back in the Fall of 2007, I left a company after nearly eight years, as they were being sold-off and split apart in somewhat of a messy process.  I was then briefly employed by a small consulting firm in Norfolk, Virginia.  Our team consisted of myself: a Windows Server support engineer, Bill: a Cisco Network Engineer, Rob: an AD/Exchange Engineer, Jamie: our Project/Sales Manager, and a Desktop Support Technician named Chad Post.

The five of us were trying to grow business for our tiny office, and worked hard to satisfy our customers.  Each of us, for the most part, worked independently of the other, so we didn't really stay in touch as much as one might expect for a small office.  This was also when the U.S. economy began to contract, so everyone felt the stress and concerns equally.

In March of 2008, we were all called up to the home office, in Richmond (Virginia), to be fed, watered and spoken to about how "great" things were going.  The CEO walked up to each of us from the Norfolk office, offered words of encouragement and support, and promised to support our fledgling office "no matter what".  Within three weeks of that event, our office was shut-down and most of us were laid-off.  Only one of the engineers remained with the home office in Richmond, while the rest of us scattered to the four winds.

Four of us remained in our relative "comfort" zones of geography, but Chad chose a path most of the rest of us didn't anticipate: overseas IT contracting.  In the years since, I have tried to stay in touch with Chad and the others, because, as you get older, you also get somewhat more sentimental about staying in touch with people.

I felt it was a fantastic opportunity to interview Chad since he's probably doing the most unusual and relatively "extreme" type of work of anyone I've personally known.  I recently asked him if he would be willing to share his experiences and thoughts gained from his work abroad.


The Questions

Dave: How would you describe what you are currently doing for a living?

Chad: Right now, I’m basically an Active Directory paramedic. I’m out here in Afghanistan in case things go wrong, more or less. Should something break or fail, then I jump into action. Otherwise, it is a whole lot of checking on servers and reading tech articles.

Dave: You've been to some interesting places since leaving Virginia: Afghanistan, Kuwait, Cuba.  What other work locations have you been to, and what other places would you to go?  Any that you'd like to go back to?

Chad: I don’t tend to revisit places once I've worked there, unless the position offers a new spin on things. The few times I've revisited places, I've found that the novelty of being back wears thin quickly. Having said that, I would not mind revisiting Cuba… as a tourist on Guantanamo!

Dave: What's the most interesting or surprising thing (or event) you've experienced, either personally or professionally, while working abroad (OCONUS)?

Chad: I mean, you can’t go wrong with the surprise of your first insurgent attack. ;-)

Dave: If a young American IT worker approached you about working overseas, and asked you what they should pack in their luggage for a year-long opportunity in some remote place, such as Afghanistan or Guantanamo Bay, what top (5) items would you recommend?

Chad: The secret of working with the military is that you can get most things delivered via USPS in 2-3 weeks. Having said that, I tend not to travel without a laptop, universal outlet converters, electronic copies of my documents, a spare set of clothing, and enough local currency to escape my intermediate stops should something go wrong.

Dave: What aspect of American culture do you feel is most misunderstood by other cultures?  What aspect of other cultures (those that you've experienced, at least), do you feel is most misunderstood by Americans?

Chad: Many citizens of Middle Eastern nations assume that American policy reflects the opinion of all Americans. Because they’re used to their governments controlling the dialogue, they assume the same is true of us. That’s why you have people protesting America over films instead of directing their ire at the producers of those films, for example.

On the flip side, Americans tend to view the Middle East as a land of burkas and angry men. That’s definitely true of some places, but when you’re in Bahrain or the UAE, you’re just as likely to see a hip Middle Eastern woman in skinny jeans and Prada sunglasses.

Dave: What types of IT-related skills seem to be in most demand (outside of America) these days?  Are they more in-common among various locations or are they more specific to industry or culture for each location?

Chad: On the contracting side, your big names certs are what will sell you. Microsoft, Cisco, the CISSP, and CompTIA are the most requested certifications. It bears noting that most jobs will require Security+, though.   Additionally, SharePoint, SCCM, and anything security will get you in the door.  More important is getting that security clearance, though!

Dave: Is it as "dangerous" as most Americans believe to do IT contracting work in places like Afghanistan, Qatar, UAE, or Kuwait?

Chad: See, those places are all different. You can’t compare a Kuwait or a Qatar with an Afghanistan. Afghanistan is clearly more dangerous, but the actual level of danger varies based on your location. Arguably, I am statistically safer here than I would be wandering around Norfolk at night. Bahrain and Kuwait are almost ridiculously safe at night. I was never worried walking around alone at one in the morning.

Dave: You've mentioned that there can often be enough "down-time" in remote locations to focus on education pursuits and obtaining certifications.  Since you've been working overseas, what goals have you achieved in that regard?  Which goals are still in your cross-hairs right now?

Chad: It can be indeed. In Iraq, I completed my MCSA, MCSE, MCITP: SA, EA (and both desktop certs,) ITILv3, and CCENT. I also managed to finish up a semester of college. In Bahrain, I had less time… that was more of a real job… but I still found time enough to finish my undergraduate degree. In addition to being on watch 10 hours a day, 7 days a week in Afghanistan, I've been attending Arizona State full time.
As far as what’s next? Well, law school is pending for 2014. I shall be leaving an IT expatriate spot open for the taking, come mid-2014.

Dave: Have you read any books that impressed you lately? What titles or authors?

Chad: I've read something like 87 books this year… but I recommend Sam Kean's Disappearing Spoon & Violinist’s Thumb.

Dave: What would make your "perfect" breakfast, as far as food and drink items are concerned?

Chad: I’m partial to savory crepes and a hot chocolate… that’s my Washington DC breakfast of choice.

Conclusion

There's not much I could add to what's been said above. That said, Chad exists on the internet in quite a few places. Facebook, Google Plus, LinkedIn.

Namaste.

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Horizontal or Vertical

Question:

Which of the following two directions provides the most beneficial results to a thriving business: integrating isolated systems and service "stacks" vertically, or horizontally?

Let's define this mumbo-jumbo first...

Vertical, in this process or technological context, usually refers to things which share some functional aspect.  Maybe they're related by business function (finance, hiring, manufacturing, etc.), or by ownership (division, department, etc.).

Horizontal, in this same context, usually refers to things which normally do not rub against each other during any "normal" operational context. For example, an HR employee database, and maybe the warehouse temperature monitoring and control system.

But what happens when you need to know how many things have passed in and out of the warehouse, which were in some way, any way, influenced by a particular division, department, group, budget code, or individual employee?  What about tapping the facilities systems to identify the impact of storing and shipping X items of product Y for employee Z?

What about identifying how much money was moved around related to a specific purchase order?  Sounds easy enough.  Let's say you find a particular P.O. and it ordered a truckload of XYZ100 contraptions.  The items had to be stored in special facilities with strict temperature and humidity controls.  They required special trucks to move them, and the people that handle them had to be certified to a very specific policy, usually resulting in higher hourly rates for their time.  So, now, I ask again: how much TOTAL money was moved around by this P.O.?

If you said "vertical", you might want to reconsider.

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Grocery Shopping and IT Projects?

Someone asked me recently what I thought about the subject of "why IT projects fail", or maybe it was "how can you tell if an IT project is going to fail" or something like that.  I paused for about 0.0000001 seconds and replied: "buying eggs before knowing what to cook."  I got the usual "what a dumbass" look, which I expected.

Let me explain.

Whenever you sit in on a IT project planning (or project status) meeting, and someone asks a question like "What are we doing?", that's when you should finish swallowing your gulp of cold shitty coffee and perk up.  This is the moment when you can tell if the PM (and probably the entire PMO organization in most cases), has a clue of what they're doing.

Response 1: "We are trying to make this widget do this function in accordance with the requirement."

Response 2: "We are trying to find a way to make X do Y, without exceeding Z costs or time."

Response 3: "Are you asking about the entire project goal, or just this one task?"

If the response is not #3, get up, walk (or wheel) to your desk, pack your shit and find another place of employment.  If that's not feasible, find the nearest bar and drink up.

Of all the IT projects I've rubbed-up against in the past 30 years (yes, I'm *that* old), those that failed, or ended up being much less than they promised, EVERY single one of them fell into the mindset of responses 1 or 2.  In other words, they become fixated on the trees, while the forest is being cut down and hauled away.  They remain oblivious and charge onward, to the next pay check.

I was trying to think of some concrete examples, without risking the embarrassment or anger of anyone implicated along the way, so I decided on this one, which happens to have been a real-world situation (in other words: it really happened):

Business Manager: "I want a kick-ass storage system to support our growing kick-ass company!"
IT Manager: "OK!  What's the budget for this?"
Business Manager: "Spec it out and I'll tell you if we can afford it."
IT Manager: (gives weird smirk, as if smelling someone's fart. Then leaves)

A week later:

IT Manager: "Here you go.  100,000 Petabytes and dedicated T-1 lines between every single SSD in the multiple-redundant cube interconnect fabric!"
Business Manager: "How much?"
IT Manager: "$40 bazillion dollars."
Business Manager: "Too much.  Make it work within $10,000."

Another week later:

IT Manager: "Here you go.  $9,999 solution which will do 100,000 Petabytes, but it will be slow and unreliable."
Business Manager: "Too crappy, make it quicker, but come down on the capacity if you need to."

Can you see where this is going? (or went?).

The problem here is that the "PROBLEM" itself was not clearly defined, so the "SOLUTION" cannot be clearly defined either.  You can't cut a key without knowing what lock it's made for.

Buying eggs before you know what you're going to cook for dinner.  Maybe you don't even need eggs.

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10 Questions: with Jerry Milana

Jerry Milana

Introduction

(Note: I apologize for the unusually long introduction, but it's not fluff, trust me)

If you have been among the lucky ones able to attend any of the annual Autodesk University conferences, over the past two decades, you're probably well aware of some names of people that speak on topics such as customizing AutoCAD, Civil 3D, Map 3D, or who push the envelope of products like 3DS Max or Mudbox.  You may have attended sessions on programming, or using advanced features, anything to help you get to a higher level of productivity at your job or hobby.

The presenters, like Autodesk's products, cover a wide range of industries.  From architectural and civil engineering (AEC), to scientific research, to car and motorcycle racing teams, to Hollywood studios, and everything in between.  Some of the names have been legendary, like Lynn Allen, Shaan Hurley, Dave Espinoza-Aguilar, Robert Green, Scott McFarlane, Owen Wengerd, Kean Walmsley, and many others.  In many sessions, you could find one legendary Autodesk employee, quietly sitting near the front, soaking up what the speaker was saying or demonstrating: Jerry Milana.  He would never consider himself legendary, however.

I thought it was kind of funny how later in the day, when he would be conducting his own session on Packaging and Deployment, or License Services and License Management, so many attendees would point and nod, making a comment about how they saw him sitting in the crowd at other sessions.

Between 1989 and 2004, I was often supporting anywhere from 500 to 2,000 computers which were primarily used for AutoCAD design work.  I really depended on either (A) what the vendor provided, or (B) custom scripting and packaging tools, in order to automate the chore of installing that many copies of a product, and the updates and patches, and the next version upgrades.

Of all those products, no vendor put as much work into making their products easy to prepare and deploy to large numbers of computers than Autodesk.  With each successive release, they have continued to improve the features and reliability of their deployment utilities, setting a standard for others to emulate.  Indeed, I have seen quite a few imitations from other vendors, inside and outside of the CAD-related world.  This is a good thing.  And we owe a lot of this to the vision, persistence and efforts of Jerry and his team.

If you think Jerry's insights are only "CAD-related", think again.  The issue of licensing, and license management, will impact nearly every software product in one way or another.

Jerry Milana - System Integration and Software Asset Management Consultant

The Questions

Dave:  Most people outside (and probably inside) of Autodesk know your name as it pertains to the world of deploying and administering Autodesk products on a network. Things like FLEXlm licensing, deployment packages, and so on. When did you first step foot into "that world" if you will and how did it come about?

Jerry:  I worked for a reseller. My specialty was mid-range and PC connectivity and cross platform networking. One day the owner handed me a box of AutoCAD 2.1 and asked me to take a look at it since I had a design background. I said it looked pretty good and soon found that I could use AutoCAD to get in the door of customers to then sell them integration services.

Dave:  What do you feel is the most misunderstood aspect, from the customer side of things, about "network licensing" of software products?

Jerry:  It’s so easy to get things just running customers often miss the finer and much more complex aspects of a licensing implementation. This results in underutilization of assets, exposure to compliance violation and reliability issues.

Dave:  Where do you see world of software licensing in five or ten years? Drastically different, or just incremental changes?

Jerry:  For cloud customers things are already drastically different and the software industry is driving more and more in that direction. As some offerings become exclusively cloud offerings we will see more changes. 

As much as the software industry would like it, I doubt everything will move to the cloud. Even here I think we will continue to see a move from perpetual to term based licensing which will drive changes in licensing. I think (and hope) that we will see hybrid solutions where applications and data are not in the cloud but licensing and associated software asset management is cloud based. 

Of course, there will be private cloud implementations which will drive changes in licensing business models and supporting technologies.

Dave:  I know that one of your passions is skiing and being in and around snow, particularly in beautiful places like Northern California and Colorado. Could you ever see a scenario where your two worlds could cross (software and skiing)?

Jerry:  Who knows, it wouldn't be the first time in my life that hobby and work merged. As it stands now I am a volunteer ski patroller doing both downhill (Alpine) and cross country (Nordic) patrol. It would not surprise me if I end up doing some consulting work for some of the larger resorts and their holding companies.

Dave:  According to your public profile, it would appear that you are either partially or fully retired from the world of software engineering and support services. Are you still involved with technology-related strategic initiatives at Autodesk or elsewhere?

Jerry:  Humm, I better work on my profile. I have been doing independent software asset management and assessment consulting since the beginning of the year. I do some work for Autodesk and for other customers. My business has grown by word of mouth. I am an ADN member and will be speaking at Autodesk University again this year.

Dave:  Do you still travel much? Are there places besides NorCal and Colorado you like to visit?

Jerry:  Yes I still travel a lot for business and pleasure. I enjoy returning to old favorites such as New York, Detroit, Rome, London, Perth, Auckland and Seoul where I have friends and always look forward to visiting new places. I really enjoyed skiing Whakapapa on the north island of New Zealand; it was all about being there on that volcanic hill.

Dave:  If a teenager approached you about choosing a future career path, either in the IT-related world, or something else entirely, what would you recommend to them?

Jerry:  I would tell them to pursue what they are good at and like to do. I have enjoyed my career in the software/IT industry but I see so many people forcing themselves to do this work and are bad at it. I feel we should all strive to be happy and add value to the world; our jobs and hobbies should support this goal.

Dave:  If you were somehow put in charge of Autodesk back in, say, 2005-2010 time frame, and given "absolute control" over all strategic decisions, would Autodesk look (a) about the same as it does today, (b) a little different, but not radically different, or (c) radically different than it looks today?

Jerry:  This one I respectfully decline to comment on.

Dave:  What would make your "perfect breakfast" selection as far as food and drink?

Jerry:  Fresh squeezed OJ and a few espressos.

Dave:  If you could recall anyone from history who has long-since passed on, and have five minutes of time to talk with them, who would it be and what would you ask them?

Jerry:  No brainer, it would be Professor Einstein. If we are talking 5 minutes relative to us at rest on a fixed point on the planet earth; I doubt we would be able to scratch the surface on the things I’d like to discuss. I would start with the validity of our understanding of the propagation of light.

Conclusion

Thank you for reading this interview! I hope you enjoyed it as much as I have.  For more information and resources related to Jerry, please explore the links below.  Thank you!

LinkedIn Profile - Jerry Milana
AU 2004 Photo Album

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10 Questions: with Jeffery Hicks

Jeffery Hicks

Introduction

There are no doubt a lot of computer-related "scripting" languages in the world today, which is only a subset of the "programming" languages that exist.  Among the standouts today are the venerable Windows-platform related names like Batch, KiXtart, VBscript, JavaScript, as well as cross-platform names like Perl, Python, and one the came onto the IT scene relatively late:  PowerShell.

Microsoft may take a few lumps along their way from one success to another, but they've so far managed to earn the trust and respect of the majority of developers, administrators and engineers with PowerShell.  Now in its third version of existence, it has gained quite a lot with regards to both functionality and maturity.

Among the short list of people renown for pushing ahead in this newer realm are names like Jeffrey Snover, Don Jones, and one that I've come to know better in recent years: Jeffery Hicks.

Author, speaker, and an all-around nice guy, Jeff is another example that we don't have to shed our personality in order to master a new technology.  He remains very active on multiple web sites and forums; offering advice and help to both the experienced and the noobs.  One thing I will say is that if you get any PowerShell-related advice from Jeff, you should consider it.

Jeff's Profile (from his web site)

Jeffery Hicks is a Microsoft MVP in Windows PowerShell, Microsoft Certified Trainer and an IT veteran with 20 years of experience, much of it spent as an IT consultant specializing in Microsoft server technologies. He works today as an independent author, trainer and consultant. Jeff writes the popular Prof. PowerShell column for MPCMag.com and is a regular contributor to SMB IT Simplified and the Petri IT Knowledgebase.

Jeff is a regular speaker at conferences such as TechMentor, TechEd and WinConnections, often speaking about PowerShell, Active Directory, Group Policy and anything else than can make IT Pros more efficient and productive.

Jeff's Books include:

• Windows PowerShell 2.0: TFM (SAPIEN Press 2010)
• Advanced VBScript for Windows Administrators  (Microsoft Press 2006)
• WSH and VBScript Core: TFM (SAPIEN Press  2007)
• Managing Active Directory with Windows PowerShell 2.0: TFM 2nd Ed. (SAPIEN Press 2011) 

If he isn't writing books then he's most likely recording training videos for companies like TrainSignal .

You can keep up with Jeff  at his blog, on Twitter and on Google Plus


The Questions

Dave: Your name is very well known in the circles of PowerShell programming. What other programming languages do you like to work with (if any)?

Jeff:  I started with automation way back in the dark days of DOS 3.3 and batch files. From there it was to VBScript and eventually PowerShell. Back in the day I was a master of WordPerfect 5.1 macros!

Dave:  PowerShell seems to be mix of both powerful features and enough complexity to give some IT folks a bit of pause. What do you feel is the most misunderstood aspect of that language?

Jeff:  People think it is a scripting language like VBScript, or they think the blue console that they see is PowerShell. PowerShell is a management engine that is hosted by applications like CMD.EXE or the PowerShell ISE. It can be experienced interactively or the language can be scripted.

Dave:  If you were put in charge of the architecture and development of PowerShell, both as a language, and the associated tools and services, back in the "early days", would it be: (a) pretty much the same as it looks now, (b) a little bit different, but not radically different, or (c) radically different? If (c): how so?

Jeff:  Jeffrey Snover is famous for saying "to ship is to choose" so I'm not sure what else could have been done differently. Sure, remoting would have been nicer to have early on. The only other thing I might have done differently is not allow cryptic aliases like % and ?. But that's a personal taste issue more than anything. I know people see PowerShell examples using all sorts of cryptic aliases and think that they can never learn it.

Dave:  In the course of your travels, are there any particular places that rank as your "favorite" or those that you'd rather not return to?

Jeff:  Most of my favorite places probably come down to a great food scene like Las Vegas, Seattle and San Francisco. I also like places with great public transport, especially from the airport like Portland, OR. Also a good foodie city. And certainly training in places like Australia have to rank up there as a favorite destination.

Dave:  Where do you see PowerShell in five or ten years from now? Bigger and Fatter (with respect to features and capabilities, not bloat), or more Modular? Are you aware of any "huge" changes or improvements coming in the near future? (you don't have to give details)

Jeff:  I have no personal knowledge of anything that isn't already publicly available in PowerShell 4.0, but one area that I think we'll see a change is the ability to use PowerShell everywhere in the enterprise with the ability to manage more than just Windows servers. We want to be able to manage switches, routers, *nix boxes and more from our Windows 10 desktop using PowerShell vX. This doesn't take into account some new disruptive technology that barely exists now. The "cloud" as we know it today barely existed when PowerShell 1.0 was released.

Dave:  Are you the kind of geek that prefers to write code with music or TV in the background, absolute quiet, or something else?

Jeff:  I can't do TV or anything visual because I'm too easily distracted. But sometimes I'll put music on. I work at home so there are times I need music to mask what else is happening in the rest of the house.

Dave:  If you could merge any other programming or scripting language, or parts of it, into PowerShell, what would it be?

Jeff:  I don't think I have enough developer background to really answer this. PowerShell works just great for managing Windows systems because it is based on technologies, like the .NET Framework, that make Windows work in the first place.

Dave:  If you had never stepped into the world of computers and software, what do you think you would likely be doing for a living today?

Jeff:  Theater directing. Seriously. I have a MFA from Syracuse University but as they say, "Life is what happens while you're busy making other plans."

Dave:  How do you feel the rising interest in "cloud" services will affect or impact the scripting world?

Jeff:  I think there will be more of a demand. If your compute environment is in Azure or your users are locked into Office 365 and you want to manage everything efficiently, you'll need an automation engine like PowerShell. The days of going into the datacenter to logon to a server, or even using a remote desktop connection should be behind us. If they are not, you are most likely working harder than you need to.

Dave:  What do you feel the open source world could learn from the Microsoft world as it pertains to purely technological aspects? What about the reverse??

Jeff:  Again, not having much a developer background I'm not sure what I can add here. I don't think it is a matter of saying that one is better than the other or that one produces superior code. My take on open source is that if there is a problem, or someone wants to innovate, that it can happen much faster.

It also seems to me that many open source projects don't try to be everything to all people and accomodate all situations. Microsoft is often forced, in my opinion, to develop products and code that are backwards compatible. What could Microsoft create if they said, here's the new server and operating systems invented anew with noties to anything that came before.

Conclusion

I hope you enjoyed this second installment of "10 Questions" as much as I did.  If you are interested in learning more about Jeff's offerings, I encourage you to explore the links below.  Thank you!

JDH IT Solutions

Book: PowerShell Deep Dives (Manning Press, 2013)
Book: Windows PowerShell 2.0: TFM (SAPIEN Press 2010)
Book: Advanced VBScript for Windows Administrators  (Microsoft Press 2006)
Book: WSH and VBScript Core: TFM (SAPIEN Press  2007)
Book: Managing Active Directory with Windows PowerShell 2.0: TFM 2nd Ed. (SAPIEN Press 2011)
TrainSignal

Jeff's Blog
Twitter
Google Plus

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10 Questions: With Johan Arwidmark

Note:  This is (hopefully) the kick-off segment to an ongoing series I want to do on interviewing some of the most influential geeks I've had the honor and luck of meeting or conversing with.  I hope you find these both entertaining and informative.  Thank you!

Introduction

If you work in a place where there are a lot of Windows-based computers, chances are you have an Systems Support Team, or maybe an IT Department, that supports them.  If that team is focused on efficiency, chances are they try to automate as many of the computer and software installations as possible.  If they are *really* focused, chances are they are using Microsoft Deployment Toolkit (MDT), or System Center Configuration Manager "OSD" (operating system deployment) to handle the heavy-lifting. And, if they even know what those tools are, they know the name: Johan Arwidmark.

Johan Arwidmark is the Chief Technical Architect at Knowledge Factory, a consulting firm based in Sweden.  You can find his articles on Microsoft's Channel9, MyITForum, Deployment Research, TrueSec, and probably a dozen other sites. You can also find his daily happenings on Twitter, Facebook, Google Plus, and several other social networking sites.  With his crazy schedule, it makes it hard for anyone else to claim "too busy" as a reason to not post a status once in a while.

While Johan was born and raised in Sweden, his name is known around the world as a trusted, valuable source of useful information for IT professionals.  A renown speaker, author and winner of nine (yes 9) Microsoft MVP awards, it is indeed difficult to search for information on things like MDT, OSD, USMT, WinPE, Config Mgr, or even "Windows Deployment", without seeing his name pop up in the results.  Often seen with his colleague, Mikael Nystrom, these two are great reasons enough to attend Microsoft's TechEd and MMS conferences every year, where they consistently pack the room.

I asked Johan if would be willing to do a ten-question "interview", and he agreed.  This alone is amazing for two main reasons: (1) I'm obviously *not* a famous magazine interviewer, and (2) Johan's schedule is insanely busy.  In any case, I am honored and happy to present this short interview for you to enjoy...


The Questions

Dave: When did you first try to customize or modify a computer? Can you recall what you tried to accomplish?

Johan:  I don't know if it really counts as customization, by I recall adjusting the 1530 tape drive head alignment  Next stop was probably soldering midi-contacts for my Amiga 500.

Dave: What does MDT mean to you from a personal aspect? How has it changed your life?

Johan: MDT drastically changed how I worked with windows deployment, before BDD/MDT I used to develop my own deployment solutions, and after BDD/MDT I have focused in customization rather than building from scratch.

Dave: Where do see MDT in five years?

Johan: Pretty much the same (I fear)…  In a dream scenario, MDT functions would replace OSD in WDS, and be part of core Windows.

Dave: In the course of your world travels, what trends do you see that might surprise most of us who only see our immediate surroundings? In other words: do you feel that IT professionals in the Middle East, or Spain, favor certain products or features than those living and working in Australia, Sweden, Canada, Japan or the US?

Johan: IT Pro’s work pretty much the same all over the world… I don’t see that much difference.

Dave: If you were given absolute control over Microsoft for one year, what changes would you like to insist upon?

Johan: Haha, first I would make MDT and Windows Setup into one single deployment solution, add some serious resources to the team, and remove all other setup solutions except OSD in ConfigMgr.

Dave: You mentioned that Phoenix is one of your favorite places to visit.  What things do you like most about that city and the surrounding area?

Johan: Phoenix? I don’t recall saying that...  My favorite spot right now is New York, for being a place where it appears the entire world has gathered.

(Dave's note: I must have missed my coffee on the question above.  I think I got crossed-up with someone else.  My apologies)

Dave: What's your favorite, or most critical, "freeware", or open-source software utility?

Johan: MDT, no doubt

Dave: Have you read any good books, or seen any particularly good movies this year? If so, which ones?

Johan: Plenty, I’m both a book and movie nerd. My latest favorites are the Game of Throne books and the “Now you see me” movie.

Dave: Which airport is the most pleasant to get through, and which one do you dread thinking about?

Johan: Copenhagen airport is like a second home to me, and always give me a warm and fuzzy feeling. Charles De Gaulle is the probably worst airport, ever….

Dave: If you hadn't gone into the IT world at all, what do you think you would be doing for a living today?


Johan: Yee, that’s a hard one, I have been an IT guy since I was ten year old... I would probably have been a musician (I used to play electric guitar) or a writer of fantasy books.

Conclusion

If you enjoyed this brief interview, or you didn't, I still encourage you to visit the links below to explore more of the things Johan has influenced for the better.  Thank you!

Channel9
Deployment Research
MyITForum
TrueSec
Amazon Books
Vimeo Videos

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The Windows XP Dilemma - Part 1

I apologize for not having posted anything of significance in quite a while.  My life has been a roller coaster lately and I haven't had time to focus on writing as much as I used to.  But here goes...

Rod Trent got my attention today when he posted a link to a humorous article about "Top 10 Reasons to Keep Windows XP", over on Windows IT Pro Magazine's web site.  It is pretty funny, and I encourage you to take a break from any serious crap going on around you and read it.  However, I have more to say on this subject, so I also encourage you to continue reading below.  Keep in mind that I'm walking a fine line between end-user and IT professional, as it pertains to my wording.  I may put some of the IT pros to sleep here, but don't worry, I'm going to pour more sauce into it to keep things alive.  Read on....

That said (or written), I had some other thoughts on this Windows XP issue.  Some of which may have been mentioned by others before me, but I will layer my thoughts with my own sauce to make it more tasty.

Why are ANY companies still on Windows XP?  Never mind that there are still more of them are still using (and relying upon) Windows XP than you, or I (or Microsoft) would want to believe.  From my own personal standpoint: If I couldn't afford to purchase a new version of Windows, I would replace it with some flavor of Linux.  Drastic?  Sure.  A bit hyped?  Maybe.  But let me slather some Dave sauce on it here a bit...

I'm sure you've heard enough about how Windows Vista, Windows 7, and Windows 8, all provide better security, reliability, performance and more exciting features, than Windows XP.  I'm sure you've seen the "deals" offered at every retail shop from BestBuy to whomever.  I'm sure you've seen the ads on every web site, from Acer, Asus, Dell, HP, Lenovo, Samsung, and every manufacturer ever imagined.

But, think about this for a moment, as you read this from your Windows XP computer sitting at home, in the office, or some fast food place, or coffee shop:

A Real World Test

In 2007, when I had the luxury of a "testing lab" network at the place I was working at, I decided to see if my suspicions were valid about how vulnerable a "stock/generic" Windows XP Professional installation would be if it were connected "directly" to the Internet.  No firewalls of any kind.  No anti-virus or anti-malware protection of any kind.  Just regular, vanilla, reseller-agnostic version of Windows XP Professional, with Service Pack 2 "slipstreamed" into the base installation.

I repeated this test six (6) times over the course of two (2) weeks.  The same installation process was used on two different pieces of hardware: A Dell OptiPlex GX260 and a Dell OptiPlex GX270.  Those were the standard-issue platforms for all of our corporate employees at that time.  Three (3) installs on each of the two (2) machines (like I said: six tests overall).

The average time it took for someone outside to port scan, probe, identify a hole, exploit it, and install something malicious was 2.5 minutes.  Some took longer.  One was "owned" by an outsider in less than one minute. And this is on relatively slow hardware, by today's standards anyway.

Four (4) of those involved a variant of the most-popular root kit of that time.

The short end of this was that none of the installations could be reliably recovered.  All of them required a completely new re-install, in an isolated or firewalled environment, in order to provide any reasonable assurance of "security".

When Windows Vista was released, I tried the same test, but only on one piece of hardware, repeated twice (2 times).  I couldn't use more hardware, nor could I repeat the test more times, because we were in the midst of being acquired by another company.  The new owners ordered an immediate shutdown, disconnect, and dismantling of the "test lab". NO questions were to be asked.  Just "do it" and do it "now!", I was told.

(Side note: It's a little bit ironic that a week later I was chided for not being able to test a patch before it was to be pushed out in to production.  When they asked me why I hadn't tested it, I said because I no longer had a "test lab".  They asked me "Why" and I said, "Because YOU told me to get rid of it.  Would you like me to print and show you your own e-mail?".  Good times).

Longer story made short:  The tests with Windows Vista went much better, mainly as a result of having (a) a better firewall feature in place, and (b) fewer "attack surfaces" left open by default.  Windows 7  and Windows 8, respectively, have continued on in that direction of battening down the hatches for greater security, while at the same time, making better use of the current hardware capabilities.  The net result is a much better, and much SAFER experience for YOU, your family members and loved ones, your sports teammates, your alumni members, and your business.

Why Continue Using It?

So why do people remain on such an insecure, unprotected operating system?  Two reasons:  Budget (or, lack thereof), and Laziness.

But, there's more to it than just those two excuses.  If you turn off your 1998-2002 era piece of computer garbage (oops, I meant to say "computer hardware", my bad), and run down to a store to buy a new version of Windows for your old decrepit computer, will that take care of it all?

No.

Why not?

Because there's more to it than just the operating system.  There are additional concerns like drivers (programs that help your Windows operating system "see" and work properly with various other hardware gadgets inside and connected to your computer), your software programs, and so on.

(shameless plug: I'm writing another book related to this subject, but you're not required to buy it - psssssst, but doing so would help me feed my four kids, just sayin')...

Situation 1 - Applications

You've been relying upon TurboTax 1998 Edition, Doom II, and Lotus 123 for all your serious work on your old, rusted-out Windows XP machine.  You drive over to BestBuy and discover that Lotus is gone from the shelves; there's only TurboTax Premium 2014 Edition, and the mention of Doom II just makes all of the teen-aged clerks scratch their heads in confusion.  Now what?  You have to buy a  (dum-de-dum-dum-DUMMMM! music goes here) NEW COMPUTER.  Bad news for your bank account.

Situation 2 - Hardware

Those tax forms, spreadsheets, and game stats all had to be printed out on your trusty inkjet printer you bought back in 1999 or 2000.  The Cyan ink jet is dried up solid, so everything only comes out in weird tones and shades, but hey, it still works, right?  At least the gray-scale and all-black prints work okay.  You start looking at a spiffy new printer.  Man!  They sure have added some cool new features since then!  And wow, the prices aren't actually all that bad.  Then you spin the box around and look at that dreaded "System Requirements" disclaimer stuff.  Then you see it: "Windows Vista, Windows 7 or later."

If you had to stop and ask yourself: "They have newer versions of Windows than XP?" just stop right now and go to the nearest bar. I can't help you any further at this point.

If you're still reading, you're probably wondering about why there are new requirements.  It's because with newer operating systems, you get newer features, and those bring newer functions and capabilities.  Those all mean newer tools that have to be used in order for the new gadgets to talk to Windows so they each understand what the other is saying.  Trying to put a 2013 model printer on a 1998 computer setup is like sending a skaterboarder punk kid back to 1882 and dropping them into a courtroom to argue a legal case.  It's not going to work out very well for anyone.

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Coming up in Part 2 - The emergence of Software Repackaging in the world of Windows upgrades and migrations.  The peripheral problems.  The licensing nightmares.  And more!

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