gshaw

2GB RAM? How many users? I'd recommend minimum 4GB, maybe 8GB if you're expecting many concurrent users. https://docs.moodle.org/28/en/Performance_recommendations Agree with the recommendation posted above, 2 vCPU will help. Also what disks are you running the server (VM?) on? Bear in mind you've got a database sitting on there so fast write times are important. Basically you don't want it sitting on SATA disks, especially if they're on RAID6. Also you need to make sure Apache, PHP etc. are tuned as per the recommendations above. You also need some sort of PHP accelerator enabled (think the new versions of PHP have one built in but double check on that) as it makes a huge difference to performance.

US only and time limited

Ooo at last, been waiting for this for ages Have to say I agree with that at the moment, haven't been that impressed with the UI thus far as it seems to have gone too far back the other way into a desktop-only OS. Need a middle ground of the best bits of 8.1 for touch users and the Win10 interface for desktops. That's what Continuum promises but it needs to improve very quickly over the preview builds in a fairly short space of time imo.

Even Microsoft themselves said Defender \ Security Essentials is no longer good enough as a standalone AV product - detection rates gone through the floor since 2013. Most third-party AV products disable Defender as it eats up CPU like no tomorrow if it starts battling another product during scans etc, Sophos is one that doesn't do it automatically and doesn't make an official recommendation either way. I'd either say pay for ESET or go AVG but with the crapware disabled for home machines as it stands.

The first wave got through unopposed, MS took a while to catch up but everything since seems to have been caught

I use SharePoint for our Wiki, works well and allows "organic" growth of documentation as I feel the need to expand on certain areas. For IPs etc. it's a mix of Excel and our helpdesk software

Although there's various scripts that kludge together an implementation of OneDrive for Business via the Documents folder I wouldn't use it in a live environment tbh. Too clunky and the sign in errors mean you're going to get loads of user issues when things don't work as expected. Personally would wait a bit longer for Windows 10 and see what happens with the updated sync engine that's being brought out at the same time so you've got something supported and (hopefully) reliable. Also don't underestimate the amount of sync traffic you'll get, if you use a proxy \ filtering server make sure that's got enough grunt as well if you go for a larger Internet pipe.

Could be good for digital signage machines but needs some sort of bracket and fly lead to connect to the TV

Seeing as I've selected the "all the time" option I've got to explain myself, although just realised the word "apps" was in the title rather than the Metro UI in general With the improved search box in 8.1 (only slides in from the side) I don't mind the tiles as a Start Screen, actually find the Metro news app really good as well as email, social media etc. I have the Start Screen as default on my home desktop and work laptop. I hate the idea of pinning loads of apps to the taskbar so have had to learn to live without jump list recently opened documents which has been a pain; in that regard will be glad to have some form of Start Menu back in Win10. Also got a personal Surface Pro 3 and work Surface RT that I use the Metro snap gestures with all the time, one aspect of the Win8 UI that works really well on touch devices imo. However most of the programs I run are desktop mode, OneNote is something I use as a native Win8 app but that's not working with our federated Office 365 now so had to go back to the desktop version whcih I'm not best pleased about

Very similar to the above, we've just done a fresh AD as well. I've built what I call "Base" settings for computers and users then layered on the specific settings a level below e.g. Staff, Students and so on. Loopback is something I try to avoid if I can help it but has been required for some specific areas where we need to override power management, screensavers and so on.

Nope, one of the biggest fails when trying to provision and manage Windows 8 tablets (and phones) at present. One of the Microsoft employees let slip that Azure AD sign in is going to be part of Windows 10 so looking promising on that front at least.

Used one of those in GCSE D&T classes, those were the days

A 386 Compaq laptop that had been sat in a cupboard for 10+ years, 4MB RAM! Did have a really retro hibernate function that clunked and beeped away but did work pretty well. Ended up keeping it to reconfigure switches with as it had a serial port on the back

Have MS reversed the decision they made a year or two ago where MDOP was licensed per machine rather than the usual FTE count? I remember having to drop it from EES as the cost went up to a silly price in comparison to the rest of the licenses.

Just found Java 7u71 and 8u25 have a bug in the network code which makes them basically useless if you go out through a proxy. Have to wait for next release to get it fixed... poor https://community.oracle.com/thread/3621761?start=0&tstart=0

Requested mine via email a couple of days ago, reseller (Phoenix Software) straight on the case and the new licenses appeared in the Office 365 Admin portal yesterday without even needing to click an activate link Time to make the iPad and Mac users very happy!

We're a VMWare shop and as mentioned above love the lightweight install (SD card in the server, no HDDs required so saves money) and VMware is rock solid. In 2011 when I did a virtualisation project I had the same dilemma and eventually came to the conclusion the 2008 R2 version of Hyper-V wasn't quite good enough so went ESXi. If making the same decision now MS have really upped their game and closed the gap enough to make it a serious contender. For a new install I think it'd be hard to justify the VMware costs now, especially on EES licensing. The only downside is having to run Windows Updates on your VM hosts which means a bit more work from a maintenance perspective, however the license cost savings most likely far outweigh that for most people. Yup exactly, Windows Server Datacentre licensing ftw

Sounds like two cost models, one for devices where the license is "paid" as part of the hardware cost and another where MS gets market share at the budget end but doesn't make anything on the software. Personally I wouldn't touch a subscription model with a long barge pole so as long as there's a choice then it's OK. Microsoft just have to remember that mandating things doesn't work on their platform, the Windows 8.0 debacle is evidence of that.

We federated our domain the other day to get SSO for our new SharePoint Intranet and I've just noticed that my Win8 OneNote app won't sync (never had any problems before). It keeps asking for a username and password but the authentication is just a basic form, almost as if the app doesn't have the intelligence to authenticate using the SSO system. Does anyone have a similar setup (ADFS and a Win8 machine) who could try it out?

That Linx tablet looks like a rebadged Schenker Element mySN.co.uk | XMG | Schenker Technologies - Schenker Element Tablet Can't go wrong at the price they're selling for

Need deals on Surface Pro 3 kit (especially that overpriced keyboard!)

Pro rata, given that it only takes about a minute to get shot at your pay for the year might be about £50

Next couple of weeks if you have First Release enabled or early 2015 for everyone else so it says here http://blogs.office.com/2014/11/18/introducing-office-365-video/

Btw Office 365 is also getting a video storage feature soon so if you're on that platform instead of Google Apps it may be worth a look

I think someone on here built a DVR using a Linux box and some capture cards that does something similar