The World According to Mitch

On Wednesday I got together with five thousand of my closest friends at the Direct Energy Centre in Toronto for the launch of, among other products, Windows Server 2008.  It was one of those events that you had to be at to believe!

Most of you know that I wear many hats wherever I go, and this event was no exception…

• I was there as an attendee of course; I am as interested in the technologies released as anyone, and was excited to see what Microsoft had to show.
• As an MVP I was invited to participate in the Ask the Experts area, answering the questions of my peers when possible, and guiding them to fellow experts when I could not.
• For no extra credit but to help out I (along with Jeff Loucks and Calvin McLennan) offered to help the Windows Essential Server booth.  Cal and I spent days designing and building the network which included one Small Business Server 2008 (formerly code named 'Cougar') server, three Essential Business Server (formerly code named 'Centro') machines, two client workstations, a network switch, and a router.  The three of us alternated answering questions for passers-by and demonstrating the technologies.  During the lunch break Jeff presented the Chalk Talk, which was well presented and well received.  You will be hearing more from me in the coming months on Essential Business Server; it is Microsoft's new solution for businesses who are too big for SBS, but still do not need the Enterprise solutions.
• The IT Professionals Community of Greater Toronto had its coming out in the Community Zone, signing up more than five hundred new members, discussing our upcoming events, and in general telling people about ourselves.  Several people have been working very hard to make the group a reality, and many of them took turns manning the booth; Russell Onizuka, Simone Richard, Domenic Macchione, and Jacqueline Hutchinson did a spectacular job of representing the group.  Cal and I popped in and out, but the booth's success was thanks to them… not only the Mom's Best biscotti that we handed out 🙂

If you are not local to Toronto then keep your eyes peeled… the Heroes tour should be coming to a city near you soon, though it will be scaled down.  Nevertheless the information they are disseminating is worth hearing.