Microsoft on Access IT Automation

What You Need To Know About Microsoft’s Windows 10 Marketing Message

Fri, 18 Aug 2017 00:00:00 +0100

There’s a big announcement and it’s time to pay attention…

If you have read any of the Microsoft marketing material regarding migrating to Windows 10 in the past three years, you know that the software giant heard past complaints and frustrations about past transitioning pains loud and clear.

Windows Branching 101: Everything You Need To Know About The New Servicing Model

Mon, 14 Aug 2017 00:00:00 +0100

It’s time to get rid of the Windows Servicing headache.

Remember the elation and expectations when Windows 95 was released over two decades ago? And the excitement and frustrations with subsequent releases like Windows 98, ME, and 8.1?

With each new version the Start button either disappeared or came back, the Control Panel was rearranged and moved, and some users couldn’t even figure out how to shut their computer down.

What Every IT Project Manager Should Know About Windows 10 Deployment Rings

Mon, 17 Jul 2017 00:00:00 +0100

It’s time to end the confusion and help you simplify your IT projects through Windows 10 Deployment Rings.

Much to the relief of many IT project managers and their project resources, Microsoft recently announced that it would align its Windows 10 Servicing upgrade cycle with release cycles of Office 365 and SCCM.

How To Automate Your App Certification Process To Streamline Your Windows 10 Deployment

Tue, 11 Jul 2017 00:00:00 +0100

I can hardly believe that it has been almost two years since Windows 10 was officially released!

Most enterprises have finished evaluating the new operating system and kicked off their migration efforts by now. But unlike previous Windows deployments where organizations had three to four years before the next upgrade cycle was due, Windows 10 (a.k.a. Windows-as-a-Service) churns out two new significant feature upgrades a year. Since its debut, Windows 10 has seen three new versions and another one is just a few months away.

Optimal Windows-as-a-Service Management Tool Stack

Sun, 01 Jan 2017 00:00:00 +0100

Time for an upgrade management system that works for you.

Efficiently managing Windows-as-a-Service upgrades is difficult. It’s for a good reason.

Business Applications Layer
Applications Packaging Mechanism: need to be packaged in a certain format depending on what you want your end result to be.
Testing Mechanism: to be able to test various product types and versions of those products.
Deployment Mechanism: The delivery system of how you’re going to deliver those applications, e.g., Active Directory groups with SCCM top sequences or it could be your own deployment system.
Access Agent: manage and understand every version of the build that’s out there and reboot all the machines and quick start an Orchestrator
Underlying infrastructures around virtual machine technology ((combination of machines in the Citrix environment, an VMWare environment or an Azure Hyper-V Microsoft environment) = mechanism to build physical machines, e.g., virtual machines, laptops, hosted desktops

On each side: