Windows Autopilot and (Non Pacific Standard Time) Time zones

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First things first…  Let me say I LOVE WINDOWS AUTOPILOT!!  It’s an awesome way for organisations to on-board Windows 10 devices in this new Modern Workplace world.  But while the technology has been ground-breaking for Window by bringing that user driven on-boarding experience that people are used to with iOS and Android, it has not been without its problems. Recently, I’ve had an issue when implementing this solution and it’s taken some serious troubleshooting, multiple service calls and some rather stressful times. I want to state here that while I detail this experience originally from a client site, nothing in…

Windows 7 – One Year to go!

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Today marks one year to the day until Windows 7 goes end of life. In an ideal world, most of us would like to be around “90% done upgrading”, but as previous experience shows this often isn’t the case.  Be honest, how long did it take before you switched off your last Windows XP device… 2015, 2016, or was it 2017 when WannaCry made you think that it’s a really bad idea (not to mention dangerous) to keep these devices running. Even with time running out, there are several options available and It really depends on where you are at…

Transitioning Windows 7 devices to Windows 10 Modern Management with Windows Autopilot

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My org is taking on the challenge of delivering a modern workspace to our user community . It will be good-bye to legacy Active Directory joined windows devices and excessive Group Policy that makes the user experience simply put – awful. Windows 10 is a modern operating system for a modern era with Windows as a Service delivering new features on a six monthly cadence that our user community should benefit from. Also, it’s not 1997 anymore, the combination of smart phone and tablet devices along with the injection of millennials into the work force means the user community is…

Windows Analytics – Why wouldn’t you…

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I just launched Windows Analytics in my org, so while its fresh, I thought I’d write a bit about what I did. Windows Analytics is (in my opinion) a critical piece to any organisations Windows as a Service strategy and will complement how you can maintain Windows 10 while validating the applications in your organisation. Windows Analytics is a free solution from Microsoft (both the solution and the Azure Storage – Windows Analytics data is zero rated), so the only real cost is your time. Windows Analytics has three components that make up the solution, two are free to use,…

Windows 10 – Things to consider when transitioning to Windows 10 vNext

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In my org, there has often been confusion (and some would say resistance) to the new Windows as a Service model introduced with Windows 10. Many are used to the legacy cadence of evaluating a new release of Windows several years after it’s released, with many not even considering an upgrade until the bell starts tolling on the Windows release (I’ve lived this since Windows NT 4.0, and many still recall that XP to 7 migration). I’m not going to write about how Windows as a Service works as there is a great overview here The one thing my org…

Windows Insider for Business – Doing the thing (Finally)

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Late last week, I achieved the final two pieces of the #WIP4Biz puzzle at my org – Management Buy In and a meeting with the Infrastructure Team Lead and his Azure Engineer. The management buy in was reasonably easy due to my participation on the insider program in the org (more specifically the contacts made at Microsoft both here in Auckland and in Redmond). The combination of the recent two-year countdown to end of life for Window 7, and the greater awareness and understanding of what Windows as a Service also helped.  With Windows 10 now my orgs “standard” OS,…

Let’s kick this off…

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It’s the start of a brand new year, and what better way to kick it off than jumping into the world of writing my own blog. The holiday break is almost over for me, and a return to work is not far off.  It will be interesting to see how this writing stuff works out once I return to work, and I’m sure like previous years, 2018 will be just as busy. I have many personal and professional goals to achieve this year, and I look forward to sharing some of these here. A few of my big goals at…