Back in the day, heh ;) , I was privileged to work with the SBS team both prior and post MVP award.
Many of us in SBS Land can remember just how active the team was around SBS 2003 RTM/R2, SBS 2008 Standard/Premium, and finally SBS 2011 Standard.
By the latter product release much of the old guard had moved on but the new team and us SBS MVPs had a strong business relationship.
The key here is in the relationships and communication levels we were experiencing with the teams.
For must of us both within the MVP realms but also in the public that came to a full-stop when development of the then Windows Server 2012 pre-release cycle became better known.
We were all held in the dark. This situation continued with the 2012 R2 development cycle.
Silence. Dead Silence *insert sound of crickets here*
For those of us both within the MVP community and outside the MVP community that are truly passionate about the clients we serve, the products we work with, and just all-around geeking out about tech the silence was deafening and deadening.
Tie that into the seemingly endless “Death to the IT Pro” messages coming out of Microsoft over the last number of years and there were a lot of flames snuffed out these last two product release cycles.
Change for the Good
One thing is for certain: Something has changed at Microsoft.
While I most certainly cannot provide “insight” into Microsoft’s motivations for the recent change I can most certainly say that the change is welcome. Big Time!
We now have a public release of Windows vNext bits. We have forums to discuss these bits.
For many of us MVPs we have, and I can’t say “unprecedented” given previous experience, an amazing amount of information flowing from our product teams.
The conversations we’ve been having with the team(s) lately have been refreshing. Yes, they’ve been listening to us.
And, I’ll make no bones about it, I feel very excited about this upcoming product release like I had been with the then new versions of SBS Standard!
So, hat’s off to you in Microsoft whoever you are that allowed the floodgates of communication, shared tech passion, and business relationships to happen again!
And thanks to the Microsoft Teams that have been sharing your product excitement. It is refreshing and invigorating for us to experience and work with!
We both stand to benefit greatly from this “new” openness from Microsoft.
Oh, and Cluster is definitely key to our company’s future. ;)
Philip Elder
Microsoft Cluster MVP
MPECS Inc.
Co-Author: SBS 2008 Blueprint Book
Chef de partie in the SMBKitchen ASP Project
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