In fact, his company will be actively scoping Windows 8 tablets when they start hitting the market, and will consider providing them to some users who could benefit from having such devices, he said.
"It just makes life that much more difficult to do work in the environment I want to do my work in."Įxplorer Pipeline recently finished upgrading most of its PCs from Windows XP to Windows 7, but Vander Kooi wouldn't rule out an upgrade to Windows 8 if it were deemed worthwhile, or if it were necessary to take advantage of key new features in Windows Server 2012 and other upcoming upgrades. "What they've done is put another layer between me and the stuff I actually want to get to," he said. Vander Kooi's company gives its employees desktop PCs, laptops and smartphones, but not yet tablets, so he sees little use for the Metro interface among its 250 users. Many Windows 8 testers have complained that in the beta versions of Windows 8, the Metro UI is confusing and difficult to use with a mouse and keyboard in regular non-touch screen PCs, and that toggling between it and the traditional Windows interface is problematic.
So far, he is skeptical about the two user interfaces Windows 8 will have: the traditional Windows environment and the new Metro-style interface, which is designed for touch-based screens. Vander Kooi will also look for details about Windows 8, the new version of the Windows operating system for desktop PCs, laptops and tablets. "I want to get ideas about what I need to start pre-planning for and start doing now to be proactive and ready for these products when they hit the ground," said Vander Kooi, whose employer operates an almost 1,900-mile common carrier pipeline system that transports fuel from the Gulf Coast to the Midwest. He will also seek details about Office 15, an early-stage initiative that will involve an ambitious upgrade of the Office productivity applications, including Word, Excel and PowerPoint, as well as of Exchange, SharePoint, Lync, and of Office 365, the cloud suite that includes online versions of these products.
His employer is a heavy user of Microsoft software and hosts a variety of critical enterprise applications - from Microsoft, other vendors and custom-developed in house - in Windows Server 2008 R2 and, to a lesser extent, on Windows Server 2003.
"We want to make sure that anything we're going to deploy to our company is going to work seamlessly with any other products we have in place, so we definitely want to make sure we've looked into and fully vetted before we roll anything out," she said.įitzpatrick, who will also act as a Microsoft Certified Trainer Ambassador at the show, advising other attendees about certifications and exams, wants to look into Office 365 and its features for document sharing and collaboration.Įxplorer Pipeline's Vander Kooi is particularly interested in Windows Server 2012's new and improved security, permissions and virtualization features, and in how the changes will impact the applications. It will also be the first TechEd for Heather Fitzpatrick, a senior technology trainer at NASCAR (National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing) in Daytona Beach, Florida, who will be paying close attention to key existing products and upcoming upgrades. In addition, I'm a big fan of Hyper-V as we use it as our primary virtualization platform and the latest updates have definitely piqued my interest," Eberle said via e-mail. "At the school district where I work, we are considering moving away from our current desktop management solution and the System Center products are looking pretty good. Ross Eberle, technical support supervisor at Rockford Public Schools in Rockford, Illinois, is headed to his first TechEd, also motivated in large part by the upgrade wave, and is particularly interested in Windows Server 2012 and System Center 2012. So when he walks into the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, where the conference will take place from June 11 to June 14, Vander Kooi plans to immerse himself in the proceedings, with a particular focus on Windows Server 2012, which is in beta and due out later this year. Microsoft is working on new versions of Windows, Internet Explorer, Office, Exchange, SharePoint, Lync, Dynamics ERP applications, Visual Studio and Windows Server, and recently shipped new versions of SQL Server and System Center.