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by
Brian Madden
The second half of December is traditionally a slower time at the office which provides an opportunity for us to catch up on the stuff we've been putting off all year. When I was in Chicago last week for a Desktop Virtualization seminar, I was talking to some attendees about their plans for the next few weeks. One person was going to build side-by-side labs to compare View 4 and XenDesktop 4, while another was planning to install Windows 7 to start to learn what's different from XP.
This got me to thinking: In the context of desktop virtualization, what do you think is the best way to spend the next few weeks? In other words, if someone came to you and said, "What should I study over the next two weeks?", what would you tell them?
I actually wrote an article for SearchVirtualDesktop.com about the three essential but often overlooked skills needed for desktop virtualization engineers. I focused on (1) understanding how applications install themselves, (2) learning the various deployment and imaging tools Microsoft provides, and (3) figuring out all the new changes to security that Windows 7 introduces. So I guess if someone where to ask me about what they should study, I would suggest one of those three topics.
But what about me personally? How do I plan to spend my next two weeks? I actually just bought the 1700-page Windows 7 Resource Kit which I'm going to try to read by the end of the year. I'm reading it with a specific focus on desktop virtualization to learn everything I can about what's important when it comes to delivering this new OS. (So far I'm on Page 32 and the most important thing I learned is that it's the "Aero Shake" feature that's the cause of all background windows minimizing "randomly" on my workstation. Fortunately you can jiggle a second time to "unshake" your windows.)
So what do you think? What books do you recommend? How are you planning to spend your next few weeks? What would you advise others to do with their time?
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