Here is the most up to date information (as of January 16, 2009) and set of resource available as you start to look at testing the beta of Windows 7.

Get Started with a Windows 7 Overview:

• First look for IT Professionals
• Feature Walkthroughs
• Window 7 Home Page

Download the bits here:
(make sure you read the entire set of instructions on each page). 

• Non TechNet Plus Subscriber
• TechNet Plus Subscriber
• MSDN Subscriber
• Coming Soon… DVDs.  If you are interested please get in touch with your Microsoft account team.
• Windows 7 Keys:  Once you have registered for the Beta, you will be sent a registration key by email. The beta will work for 30 days without a key. 

Support:

• From the official Windows 7 site – Microsoft isn’t providing technical support for the Beta and isn’t responsible for business-related downtime. Don’t install the Beta on your primary home or work computer. When the Beta expires on August 1, 2009, you’ll need to reinstall a released version of Windows to keep using your computer.
• Windows 7 Team Blog
• Springboard Series Blog
• Springboard for Windows 7
• Windows 7 FAQ
• Sign-up for the Exploring Windows Newsletter

Get it from http://www.caligari.com/.

Also, check out the post from the Virtual Earth Team Blog on how to integrate your 3-D models with Virtual Earth.

The main purpose of the SharePoint Asset Inventory Tool is to give the IT administrator answers to a number of important questions through the generation of reports. These reports include information on:

• The servers running some version of SharePoint.
• The installed SharePoint features.
• The total number of SharePoint sites on each server.
• The total number of documents on each server.
• The total number of documents grouped by extension on each server.
• The time since the SharePoint assets in each server were last modified.
• The customized SharePoint sites and items on each server.
• The number of SharePoint lists on each server, grouped by the number of items on each list.

Learm more about the Tool and download it fromthe the TechNet Library.

• What’s new in OpsMgr SP 1
• What’s fixed in OpsMgr SP 1

 Download Ops Mgr 2007 Service Pack 1 RTM from Microsoft Downloads.

You can get the software from DreamSpark on MSDN’s Channel 8 if you qualify. Also watch Bill Gates in a Channel 8 video interview talking about DreamSpark.

“ESX 3.0.1: 68! Sixty-Eight patches in the course of about a year. Of course they were released in about 11 groups, at an average of about 7 patches per release date (per the VMware website).

Of those 68 patches; 17 were considered Critical patches (an average of 1.4 per release), 21 were security related (average of 1.75 per release) and 30 General patches averaging 2.5 patches per release date. The other thing we noticed (besides the number of patches) was the frequency at which patches were released. Essentially the time between patches / release dates continues to shrink.”

The entire article is on the virtualization.info web site.

Comparing this to Windows Vista 32-bit (Gold Code), which has 23 patches since its release — only 19 patches if you don’t count the patches which have been replaced by more recent updates). Of those only 13 — or 9 depending on how you want to count — were critical; 8 are flagged as important; the last 2 are considered moderate or low. These Vista patch release numbers include patached released April 2007-January 2008.

In conclusion VMWare 3.0.1 had 68 patches in 12 months (December 2007 and the 12 months prior — December 2006); Windows Vista (Gold) has 23 patches since it’s RTM on November 8, 2006. In the 12 months in 2007 VMWare has patched ESX 3.0.1 well over twice as much as Windows Vista.

Source for Windows Vista patch data: Security Bulletin Search on Micsofot TechNet

This does not affect the Joint Launch event which is scheduled for February 27, 2008. Even with the new product release roadmap, the product is still on track to release in the planned timeframe of 24-36 months after the release of SQL Server 2005.

One of the Online Services I am framiliar with is the System Center Online – Asset Inventory Service provided by Microsoft. This service has a software catalog of over 420,000 software applications and is being expanded continually. This software catalog was origionally obtained through an acquisition of a company called AssetMetrix. If you are running Microsoft SMS SP2 or Configuration Manager, you have access to this catalog within these on-premise management tools.

If you do not have a great on-premise solution, you should take a look at the hosted offering from Microsoft. The January 2008 edition of TechNet Magazine had an article about this service. You can learn more about it here.

• TechNet Solution Accelerators - Microsoft Assessment and Planning (for client and server)
• TechNet  Solution Accelerators -Business Desktop Deployment (for Vista, XP, and Office)
• TechNet TechCenter – Five Ways Deploying Vista Just Got Easier
• TechNet – Windows Vista Adoption “Gotchas” and how to move beyond them