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One journey ends, another begins

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A long time ago, I worked in corporate IT.  One day I started looking for new challenges and interviewed with Microsoft for a job in Microsoft Consulting Services, helping customers with their Windows deployment processes.  I distinctly remember talking about all the “challenges” (putting it nicely) with the current tool, the Business Desktop Deployment (BDD) 1.0 solution accelerator, that was being used.

Through an interesting twist of fate, I was soon working with the BDD team on version 2.0.  That was in 2004.  It turned into a full-time job in 2005 when I moved to Redmond.  Many more releases followed:  BDD 2.5, BDD 2007, Microsoft Deployment (see https://blogs.technet.com/b/mniehaus/archive/2008/01/22/a-concise-history-of-bdd.aspx), Microsoft Deployment Toolkit 2008, Microsoft Deployment Toolkit 2010, and Microsoft Deployment Toolkit 2012.  And that doesn’t even count the “update” releases that happened in between (or the latest one, MDT 2012 Update 1, due soon).  All total, we’ve managed to have slightly more than one release per year. 

It’s been a great journey.  But this journey is coming to an end and another is beginning.  After eight years, today is my last day working on the MDT team.  Starting tomorrow, I am joining the Windows organization as a product marketing manager for enterprise Windows deployment.  It’s not huge stretch from what I’ve been doing: helping customers get Windows deployed in their enterprises.  But instead of working on individual tools, I’ll expand my horizons to include the entire Windows deployment process.

Does that mean I’ll disappear into the innards of Microsoft, never to be seen again?  Not a chance.  I’ll still be blogging (hopefully even more), I’ll still be presenting at events (even on MDT), and I’ll still be involved in the MDT, Windows, MVP, and IT pro communities.  And I expect to hear from you if you are having deployment challenges, roadblocks, or just questions about how to do things.

Thanks for your support over the years, and I look forward to keeping in touch while on my new journey.

Comments

  • Anonymous
    January 01, 2003
    Hope the new journey is as exciting, challenging and enjoyable as the previous one. Best wishes.

  • Anonymous
    January 01, 2003
    Congratulations!  And, thank you for your hard work and spectacular results over the years.  I look forward to your future contributions with the new position.  Best of luck!

  • Anonymous
    January 01, 2003
    can we still ask you about MDT logs? :-) Good luck for this new challenge and THANKS for all the great tools and support you gave during those years.

  • Anonymous
    January 01, 2003
    Congratulations!!! and wishing you all the best.

  • Anonymous
    January 01, 2003
    Wishing you the best Michael!

  • Anonymous
    January 01, 2003
    Life is full of journeys, enjoy this new one. Thanks for your great MDT support, looking forward to the new MDT 2012 update.

  • Anonymous
    August 02, 2012
    Congratulations Mike!  Thanks for all your help and support.

  • Anonymous
    August 02, 2012
    Good luck with the postition. We will surely miss you!. I just want to say thanks for all the things I've learned from you since BDD 2.0. Thank you very much Mr. Niehaus!!

  • Anonymous
    August 02, 2012
    Congratulations! I don't know what I would have done without BD2007 and beyond and all your sessions at TechEd. I'd probably be bald from pulling my hair out. Good luck in the new position.

  • Anonymous
    August 02, 2012
    I am very happy for you Michael.  I must say your work on MDT has been astounding.  We use it on a regular basis and love it.  We are now working on the MDT/OSD integration with UDI.  It too is great!  Best of luck on your new adventure!

  • Anonymous
    August 02, 2012
    Congrats on the new opportunity Michael.  Wish you the best of luck (as if you need it) in your new role.  Thanks for all you've done for the community!

  • Anonymous
    August 02, 2012
    Good luck Mike!  Thanks for everything!

  • Anonymous
    August 02, 2012
    Congratulations, Mike! Thanks for all your input though the years.

  • Anonymous
    August 02, 2012
    Congrats on the new role. Thanks for all the support over the years with MDT. I look forward to your contributions to enterprise deployment.

  • Anonymous
    August 02, 2012
    Congratulations Mike.  Thanks for all your help and support throughout the years.  MDT has come a long way since the BDD days and I can thank you for the many improvements.

  • Anonymous
    August 02, 2012
    Well deserved - congratulations!

  • Anonymous
    August 02, 2012
    HAVE FUN!

  • Anonymous
    August 02, 2012
    Congrats Michael! We hope you'll keep coming to Austin for CTSMUG!

  • Anonymous
    August 03, 2012
    Thanks for MDT so interesting to learn. Only one request while you move to your new role - Please don't stop responding to MDtalk alias.. We all look forward to your replies for any issues posted there.

  • Anonymous
    August 03, 2012
    Being part of Microsoft support and taking deployment cases have always been excitement for me.  And sincerely we all owe you for your immense help and especially very quick and accurate answers.  You are the best.  I CAN'T stop bugging you with new questions for sure..  Thanks a lot Michael and all the very best for your new role..

  • Anonymous
    August 03, 2012
    Congrats and good luck with your new position.

  • Anonymous
    August 04, 2012
    Congratulations and have fun with the new challenges, Mike!

  • Anonymous
    August 04, 2012
    Congratulations! we all look forward to whatever you do next!

  • Anonymous
    August 05, 2012
    Sad to see you go Mike, I've followed you religiously for quite some time now and you will be missed. Good Luck!

  • Anonymous
    August 07, 2012
    To be honest the product marketing thingy sounds like something horrible and very close to the dark side of IT. I still cheer for you, i'm working since a few months in workstation deployment engineering and really enjoy it. Thanks to your blog i was able to make huge progress ! Congrats and good luck again !

  • Anonymous
    August 08, 2012
    The comment has been removed

  • Anonymous
    August 08, 2012
    Congrats on the new gig!  It's tough to leave a place you've been for a long time, but at least Microsoft is not losing you! Bill

  • Anonymous
    August 13, 2012
    Who is going to pick up the torch?  Who is going to write the code that make the wonderful things go?  I know that it wasn't a one man show.  But, in some aspects, it was.  Good luck!

  • Anonymous
    August 14, 2012
    We will miss you. Good luck with your new job.

  • Anonymous
    September 04, 2012
    Congrats! I will still visit your blog every month. :)