Microsoft Ignite 2018 – Day 2 Preview

Good morning from day two of Microsoft Ignite. I had planned to post something last night, but by the time I got back to my hotel, sleep sounded like a better option. I still plan on posting a quick wrap-up of yesterday, but I’ll save that for later.

Here are the sessions that I makred for watching live today;

• Windows Insider Program for Business: Set up your OWN rings – BRK3357
  I have a hard time seeing our central IT group wanting to run their own Insider program and intentionally have people running Insider builds, but they may surprise me. I am interested to see the new tools they teased in the description that facilitate creating your own rings. Plus Dona Sarkar wants to see everyone running Insider builds, and I don’t think betting against Dona is ever a good idea.
• Windows Server 2019 deep dive
  I didn’t have a chance to see Jeff Woolsey’s session yesterday at the Mechanics Live stage, so this is a must-see/must-watch. It’s amazing to think that a release with everything that’s in Server 2019 would have been the main focus of the whole conference a few years back, and now it’s just a part of everything that is going on. Ignite really isn’t about one or two big announcements anymore. It’s a checkpoint to take a breath and make sure you’re where you want to be now and get an idea on where you want to be headed.
• Spin Your Tale: The Fiction Writer’s Guide to Telling YOUR Story
  This isn’t the typical type of session I’d go to in the past, but there’s so much more attention this year on upgrading people and not just your tech.
• Deploying Windows 10: Making the update experience smooth and seamless
  Who doesn’t want a better update experience? Our processes work pretty well for us, but I won’t claim that it’s always as smooth as the user wants. Even if we (IT) don’t think it’s a big impact, the problem is we don’t get to make that decision. If the user thinks it wasn’t a great experience, that’s their reality and therefore yours as well.
• Transition to cloud-based management of Windows 10 and Microsoft Office 365 ProPlus with EMS
  Fingers crossed that we actually start deploying ProPlus rather than Office 2016 one of these days.
• Modern Deployment with Windows Autopilot and Microsoft 365 (Part 1 of 2)
  As a deployment guy, I’m intrigued by AutoPilot. I like the idea of the future they’re painting with systems getting configured out of the box without the user (or us) really having to do anything at all other than connect and sign in. Each time they talk about it, it seems ot be getting closer to what’s promised, so we’ll see what they have to say today.
• What’s new and coming to Microsoft OneDrive
  I really wish my company would push OneDrive more. They went with a different cloud storage product a few years ago, and the they seem to be sticking with it. I’m not a big fan of spending money to b uy something I already have and which is a better experience, but what do I know?
• What’s New in System Center 2019
  I don’t use the rest of the System Center suite outside of Configuration Manager anymore, but I’m still interested to see what they’re up to.

I also plan to go to a 10 AM session with Luise Freese (@LuiseFreese) where she will show us how to create sketchnotes. The stuff she is creating at sessions is pretty amazing. I’m not confident I can do what she does, but I know I’m going to learn something.

On the social side of the day there is a Windows Weekly Meetup with Mary Jo Foley and Paul Thurrott later today, as well as the famous AvePoint RED party. I have yet to ever make it to the party, so I’m planning to get their early this year to see what all the hoopla is about.

I expect there will be some more Expo time as well here and there. It’s a full day. How much goes to plan? We’ll find out later. Have a great day whether you’re here in person or watching live from back home.