Date: Wednesday 11th August 2010

Time: 6pm – 9pm

Venue: Microsoft Australia – 1 Epping Road, North Ryde

6:00pm – Windows News and Q&A

Nicholas will talk about the latest news including Windows 7, Windows Server 2008 R2, Office 2010, Windows Phone 7 Series, Windows Azure and more. (Do you have news? Tag it with #SWUG on twitter or comment below!)

6:30pm – Windows Home Server Codename Vail 

Microsoft recently made available an early beta of the next version of Windows Home Server, codenamed Vail. Windows Home Server is a server product for your home (well obviously!) that allows easy backup, media sharing and remote access. Nicholas will take you through the features of Windows Home Server codename Vail and show you some live demos of the Remote Access, Media Sharing and Configuration.

Speaker: Nicholas Rayner – http://nicholasrayner.com

7:20pm – Pizza and soft drink (please donate $5-10 to help cover the cost of Pizza)

7:40– Consumer Backup Software SMACKDOWN!

10 minutes for each presenter to cover the best features in their chosen backup solution and convince you that it’s the best!

Products include:

• Windows Home Server (backup)
• Windows 7 built-in backup
• Acronis
• Carbonite
• Jungle Disk – using Amazon S3
• Windows Live Sync
• Data Protection Manager 2010 (for the uber-geek in you)

More details soon

8:40 – Close

To RSVP for the event, please goto our Facebook Events page or email windowsusergroup@live.com

Date: Wednesday 14th July 2010

Time: 6pm – 9pm

Venue: Microsoft Australia – 1 Epping Road, North Ryde

6:00pm – Windows News and Q&A

Nicholas will talk about the latest news including Windows 7, Windows Server 2008 R2, Office 2010, Windows Phone 7 Series, Windows Azure and more. (Do you have news? Tag it with #SWUG on twitter or comment below!)

6:30pm – Windows 7 Feature Smackdown! 

Dean Corcoran will take us through some of the amazing features in Windows 7 showing off his favourite features, features he is still discovering and even some you havent found yourself!

Dean has been a longtime supporter of the Sydney Windows User Group and has been involved in some of our best demos so far, so make sure you come along and see what Dean has instore for us this month

Speaker: Dean Corcoran http://www.pokeystuff.com/

7:20pm – Pizza and soft drink (please donate $5-10 to help cover the cost of Pizza)

7:40pm – Office Web Apps vs Google Docs

With the recent Beta availability of Office Web Apps (for consumers), it’s time we take Office Web Apps and Google Docs through their paces showing off the good, the bad and the awesome! Jodie Miners and Nicholas Rayner will demonstrate Office Web Apps and Google Docs focussing on collaboration and usability

Speaker: Jodie Miners & Nicholas Rayner

8:10– Windows Home Server Codename Vail

Microsoft recently made available an early beta of the next version of Windows Home Server, codenamed Vail. Windows Home Server is a server product for your home (well obviously!) that allows easy backup, media sharing and remote access. Nicholas will take you through the features of Windows Home Server codename Vail and show you some live demos of the Remote Access, Media Sharing and Configuration.

8:40 – Close

To RSVP for the event, please goto our Facebook Events page or email windowsusergroup@live.com

Date: Wednesday 17th March 2010

Time: 6pm – 9pm

Venue: Microsoft Australia – 1 Epping Road, North Ryde

6:00pm – Windows News and Q&A

Nicholas will talk about the latest news including Windows 7, Windows Server 2008 R2, Office 2010 Beta, Windows Phone 7 Series, Windows Azure and more

6:30pm – Microsoft gets Mobility with Windows Phone 7 Series

A couple of weeks ago Microsoft announced their latest offering in the mobility space. Not to be confused with its lagging ancestors, Windows Phone 7 series is a dramatic departure from the “PC in your pocket” goal of the past. Not only has the user experience been completely revamped, including a new Start area with Tiles, Hubs, Panoramic views and application bar, there is also a brand new developer experience. Actually if you’re already an Silverlight or XNA developer you’ll be at home with the tools and technologies that can be used for building Windows Phone 7. In this session we’ll look at the new user experience, discuss some of the design guidelines of the new platform and look into the developer experience.

Speaker: Nick Randolph

7:15pm – Pizza and soft drink (please donate $5 to help cover the cost of Pizza)

7:45pm – Securing your Windows Device

Nicholas will provide an overview on how to secure your Windows Device including Anti-Virus, Online filtering, encryption and more. Please feel free to share your own security stories and ideas on the night

8:30 – Networking and random discussion

To round out the night, we’ll open the floor up for networking and random discussion. Feel free to vendor bash, i have no rules against that!

8:50– Close

To RSVP for the event, please goto our Facebook Events page or email windowsusergroup@live.com

Date: Wednesday 10th February 2010

Time: 6pm – 9pm

Venue: Microsoft Australia – 1 Epping Road, North Ryde

6:00pm – Windows News and Q&A

Nicholas will talk about the latest news including Windows 7, Windows Server 2008 R2, Office 2010 Beta, Windows Mobile rumours and that iPad thingy..

6:30pm – Microsoft IIS SEO Toolkit 

Craig Bailey will provide a detailed overview of the Microsoft IIS SEO Toolkit, Craig has already provided a great blog post reviewing the toolkit and discussed it further on a recent episode of Frankly Speaking

Speaker: Craig Bailey ( @CraigBailey )

7:00pm – Update on the The Future of Technology & Entertainment event

Nicholas will provide an update from The Future of Technology & Entertainment event in which Robbie Bach, President of Entertainment & Devices at Microsoft Corporation, will talk about Microsoft’s consumer entertainment vision, advances in Natural User Interfaces and demonstrate some awesome technology including Microsoft Surface, Xbox Live and Windows Phones

7:30pm – Pizza and soft drink (please donate $5 to help cover the cost of Pizza)

8:00 – Microsoft Product update

Nicholas will provide an update on the major product lines from Microsoft including Windows 7, Windows Server 2008 R2, Exchange 2010, Microsoft Forefront and Microsoft Office

8:30 – Networking and random discussion

To round out the night, we’ll open the floor up for networking and random discussion. Feel free to vendor bash, i have no rules against that!

8:50– Close

To RSVP for the event, please goto our Facebook Events page or email windowsusergroup@live.com

Date: Wednesday 9th December 2009

Time: 6pm – 9pm

Venue: Microsoft Australia – 1 Epping Road, North Ryde

6:00pm – Windows News and Q&A

Nicholas will present this month’s Windows News including the Windows 7, Office 2010, Zune and the Amazon Kindle. If you have any news articles you’d like covered on the night email windowsusergroup@live.com or mention it on the night.

6:30pm – Windows 7 – The new media experience (Part 1)

With more and more households having multiple computers, Windows 7 lets you easily manage and access your digital media, irrespective of where you have stored it, or where you happen to be.  In this session, Gordon Ryan will walk you through the different options for available in Windows 7 for consuming media using traditional methods such as Windows Media Player as well as the options for internet streaming and using devices such as the XBOX 360 as a media extender.

7:15pm – Pizza and soft drink (please donate $5 to help cover the cost of Pizza)

7:40pm – The state of DVRs

Jodie Miners will talk about a couple of DVR options available including TiVo and the TopField. While Nicholas talks about his experience with the Foxtel IQ2

8:00pm -  Windows 7 – The new media experience (Part 2)

Gordon will continue after the short pizza and drinks break walking you through the different options for available in Windows 7 for consuming media using traditional methods such as Windows Media Player as well as the options for internet streaming and using devices such as the XBOX 360 as a media extender.

8:30pm – Close

To RSVP for the event email windowsusergroup@live.com or RSVP via the SWUG Facebook Event Page

Date: THURSDAY 29th October 2009

Time: 6pm – 8:30pm

Venue: Microsoft Australia – 1 Epping Road, North Ryde

Presentations:

• Overview of Windows 7 – Nicholas Rayner
• Deployment of Windows 7 – Jeff Alexander
  • Including a demo of upgrading Windows XP to Windows 7 with NO DATA LOSS!!
• Community Presentations
  • Spend 5 minutes talking about YOUR favourite Windows 7 feature

Devices galore:

• HP TouchSmart Desktop PC
• HP TouchSmart Notebook
• Fujitsu T5010

and more!

We’ll also have Pizza and refreshments throughout the night

To RSVP, please send an email with your name and email address to windowsusergroup@live.com or RSVP on the SWUG Facebook event page

Date: Wednesday 14th October 2009

Time: 6pm – 8:30pm

Venue: Microsoft Australia – 1 Epping Road, North Ryde

6:00pm – Windows News and Q&A

Nicholas will talk about the latest news including Windows 7, Windows Phone and the SWUG Windows 7 launch party

6:20pm – Office 2010 Overview

Alistair Speirs, Microsoft Office Technology Specialist, will provide an overview of the Office 2010 Clients including OneNote, Outlook, Word and more. The Office 2010 Clients are currently in in the Technical Beta stage of the development lifecycle and are due for a public beta before the end of 2009.

Speaker: Alistair Speirs

7:20pm – Pizza, soft drink and networking (please donate $5 to help cover the cost of Pizza)

7:50 – Building a Windows Home Server (Part 1)

Nicholas Rayner will provide an overview of the Windows Home Server OS including building, installing, configuring and managing the Windows Home Server. Then Cameron Harris will discuss his experiences in building and managing a Windows Home Server including security and add-ons.

If you have any questions about Windows Home Server, please email windowsusergroup@live.com

8:30– Close

Date: Wednesday 12th August 2009

Time: 6pm – 9pm

Venue: Microsoft Australia – 1 Epping Road, North Ryde

6:00pm – Windows News and Q&A

Nicholas will talk about the latest news including Windows 7, Windows Server 2008 R2, Office 2010 Tech Preview, Microsoft & Yahoo deal and much more

6:30pm – Microsoft Subscriptions 

Craig Bailey will provide a detailed overview of the Microsoft Subscription Programs available for both individuals and businesses. The Microsoft Subscription Programs includes MSDN, TechNet and Expression subscriptions for individuals and BizSpark, Microsoft Empower and Microsoft Partner Programs for businesses.

Speaker: Craig Bailey

7:00pm – Microsoft Product update

Nicholas will provide an update on some of Microsoft’s major products including Windows Client & Server, Office, Zune, Windows Mobile and more.

7:20pm – Pizza and soft drink (please donate $5 to help cover the cost of Pizza)

7:50 – How to use Office Live Workspace to keep your whole team on the same page – literally

Jodie Miners and Alison Young will talk about Microsoft Office Live Workspace (which is FREE btw!) and demo some of the great features available including live collaboration of documents! Office Live Workspace is a great product for teams looking to collaborate in a simply and easy way.

8:20 – Windows + Windows Live

To round out the night Nicholas will talk about enhancing the Windows experience with Windows Live including Windows Live Essentials, Windows Live Hotmail & Calendar, Skydrive and much much more!

8:50– Close

Just a quick reminder about the August SWUG, it will be on Wednesday 12th August at Microsoft Australia from 6-8:30pm. I’m finalising the content over the weekend, so look out for a fresh blog post next week with more details!

Date: Wednesday 8th July 2009

Time: 6pm – 9pm

Venue: Microsoft Australia – 1 Epping Road, North Ryde

6:00pm – Windows News and Q&A

Nicholas (now with a shiny blue cast for my fractured wrist) will talk about the latest news including Windows 7 Pricing and Upgrade Plans, Office 2010 Tech Preview coming soon, some cool new devices and much much more!

6:30pm – Windows 7 Deployment

This session will focus on Windows 7 enhanced deployment capabilities. We will explore Virtual Hard Disk Image Management and Deployment, Dynamic Driver Provisioning, and Multicast Multiple Stream Transfer functionality that is used with Windows Deployments Services for operating system deployments. In addition we will discuss Automated Installation Kit (AIK) for Windows 7 which includes Deployment Image Servicing and Management (DISM) to create Windows 7 deployment packages. In this session, we will show you how to deploy Windows 7 to a bare metal machine and upgrade existing Windows Vista computers to Windows 7 using Windows Deployment Services included in Windows Server 2008 R2. Then we will show you how to provision a VHD using Windows Deployment Services

Speaker: Jeff Alexander, The IT Pro Evangelist and employee 21 at Microsoft Australia

7:30pm – Pizza and soft drink (please donate $5 to help cover the cost of Pizza)

7:50 – Windows Home Server

Windows Home Server is one of Microsoft’s best products, but also one of the most unknown. Nicholas will walk you through Windows Homer Server covering the major features of Windows Home Server including automated backup, media sharing, remote access, add-ins and much more. Next, I’ll cover installing Windows Server Update Services on your WHS to centralise Microsoft Updates throughout your home. Then finish up with a roundup of WHS Hardware and building your own WHS.

8:40 – Close

To RSVP for the event email windowsusergroup@live.com or RSVP via the SWUG Facebook Event Page

UPDATE:

We have some cool devices that will also be on show including:

• HTC Touch Diamond 2
• HTC Touch Pro 2
• HTC Snap
• HTC Magic
• Viliv S5 Premium Air UMPC
• HP Pavilion Entertainment PC