Words and Software

Technical writing for Windows 10 (old: Intelligent Systems Service, Data Protection Manager, and Operations Manager)

Update or rewrite: how do you decide?

This is a common scenario for technical writers: there is existing content, let's say for V1 of a...

Date: 03/15/2012

On to a new product: Windows Embedded

I won't be writing any more about System Center 2012 - Operations Manager. After several years on...

Date: 03/14/2012

Changes to OpsMgr docs (System Center 2012) in Dec 2011

If you follow us on Twitter (@opsmandoc), you'll be hearing about updated documentation for the...

Date: 12/12/2011

OpsMgr 2012 release candidate docs: what's different

Hope you all heard that the release candidate of Operations Manager 2012 is now available for...

Date: 11/10/2011

Which management pack to save a group in

The title of this post is the issue I'm trying to write about in Operations Manager 2012 Help. The...

Date: 07/28/2011

Operations Manager: what do you need to know to use it?

This is actually an open question to you all. :) It's common for us to say our audience is the IT...

Date: 07/23/2011

Operations Manager 2012 Beta released!

The past few months have been all about the Operations Manager 2012 beta release, which, of course,...

Date: 07/22/2011

Need volunteers: Operations Manager documentation survey

Do you use Operations Manager? Would you be willing to complete a short email survey about...

Date: 03/04/2011

"Back" not working on browser

Some sort of "widget" is taking over all sorts of web sites, it seems. A few weeks ago, I noticed...

Date: 08/03/2010

Which user role(s) can perform this task?

The content team is busily ramping up on doc plans for the next version of Operations Manager. (And...

Date: 07/27/2010

Would you use an Operations chm for SCOM?

Currently, we post all of our Operations Manager documentation for download in doc format, and also...

Date: 07/14/2010

Office Word 2010 and product/company knowledge template

If you write product knowledge or company knowledge for management packs, you'll be glad to hear...

Date: 05/25/2010

Exchange 2007 MP product knowledge

The Exchange management packs send you to the product knowledge articles online, rather than...

Date: 05/24/2010

Change to Management Pack Guide library

Old: When a guide couldn't be published in its entirety in the management pack guide library on...

Date: 04/19/2010

Operator Basics: getting started with Operations Manager

I finally get to announce that the Operator Basics SuperFlow for Operations Manager 2007 is...

Date: 04/07/2010

Operations Manager 2007 SP1 Management Pack updated

An updated download of the Operations Manager 2007 SP1 Management Pack is available. The management...

Date: 03/15/2010

Operations Manager capacity planning

Need some help planning your Operations Manager deployment? Check out the Operations Manager 2007 R2...

Date: 03/01/2010

SQL MP guide updated

I recently mentioned that we're changing how MP guides are released. The SQL Server Management Pack...

Date: 11/24/2009

Visual Basic 2008 Express: Build a Program Now! sample files

I decided to try to learn Visual Basic, so I picked up a book that looked promising: Microsoft...

Date: 11/18/2009

MP guides to be separate download

A sharp-eyed blogger (Pete Zerger) noticed a change in our management pack download pages. Here's...

Date: 11/09/2009

Writing good technical documentation, part 3

(Part 2) (Part 1) Nathan Bransford, a literary agent, blogged about his difficulty in getting...

Date: 07/22/2009

R2: check for MP updates

There hasn't been an easy way to check for management pack updates in Operations Manager 2007 until...

Date: 06/19/2009

Submit questions for the Operator's Manual

There are two ways to approach content on using the Operations console and Web console for...

Date: 06/09/2009

Is your IE8 slow to open a new tab?

Whenever I would open a new tab in IE8, whether by control-clicking a link or simply clicking the...

Date: 06/03/2009

MP Guide for Operations Manager 2007 R2

The management pack guide for the Operations Manager Management Pack (Operations Manager 2007 R2...

Date: 06/03/2009

What goes in product knowledge?

When you create a component in a management pack, you have to provide a display name. You can also...

Date: 06/02/2009

Where did "Key Concepts" go?

Back when Operations Manager 2007 was released, the content team posted an online version of a Key...

Date: 06/02/2009

FizzBin for geeks

Scott Hanselman has a suggestion for tech support -- a codeword that clues in the help desk that you...

Date: 03/21/2009

Writing good technical documentation, part 2

(Part 1) Joel Spolsky has an excellent post on the role of the program manager. I work with program...

Date: 03/09/2009

Product knowledge in management packs

Some components of management packs include product knowledge, which is just information provided by...

Date: 01/12/2009

Writing good technical documentation, part 1

A recent comment by "BPM software" suggested that I write about best practices for writing technical...

Date: 01/07/2009

Active Directory Management Pack: which ones to import

The latest Active Directory Management Pack package includes management packs for monitoring Windows...

Date: 11/19/2008

Authoring management packs

Working on management pack guides, my attention is generally on how you can use the management packs...

Date: 11/06/2008

ReadMe vs. Guide

You might notice in the management pack guide library that some guides are quite extensive (like...

Date: 10/08/2008

MP guides online: a question for you

This is a question about the root page for the two management pack guide libraries (operating system...

Date: 08/27/2008

An operating system, a horse, and transparency

Catching up on my Microsoft-related blog feeds this morning, I counted at least a dozen blogs...

Date: 08/15/2008

Correction to knowledge for SDK SPN Registration alert

Thanks to a sharp-eyed customer, an error in the resolution procedure for alert "SDK SPN...

Date: 08/08/2008

Change control: content preview

The next revision of the Operations Guide for Ops Manager will include an expanded section on...

Date: 08/06/2008

OT: blogs from the past

I've really enjoyed the blog WW1: Experiences of an English Soldier which posts Harry Lamin's...

Date: 07/31/2008

Support for Windows Server 2008

I know many of you have been waiting anxiously eagerly for management packs for Windows Server 2008....

Date: 07/26/2008

Zune and Pinnacle Video Transfer

I'm not a hardcore gadget junkie, although I've bought plenty that I never really use...maybe a...

Date: 07/24/2008

That pesky admin password

Most everyone has heard some of the stories about the frustrations of providing tech support. Here's...

Date: 07/23/2008

Replacing my hard drive

Part of me had been dreading this day. Once I had thought my 30 GB hard drive was spacious; then I...

Date: 06/28/2008

MP guide library complete

Last month, I announced that we'd started adding Ops Manager 2007 management pack guides to our...

Date: 06/13/2008

Ceiling fan: summer

I know the direction of the ceiling fan is supposed to make a difference -- one way in cool weather...

Date: 06/09/2008

Management pack guides online

The Management Pack Guide library is now live on TechNet. About half (23) of the Operations Manager...

Date: 05/29/2008

News on the SP1 management packs

I posted last month about the "missing" management pack guides for the management packs that were...

Date: 05/28/2008

Version numbers of management packs (pt 2)

Previously, I learned what management packs version numbers mean, but that will be changing in the...

Date: 05/28/2008

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