“I believe it is incumbent on the Cloud Service Providers (CSPs) and/or System Integrators (SIs) to understand the regulatory and compliance-related issues that their customers face,” noted Manjula Talreja, VP of Global Cloud Business Development at Cisco, in this exclusive Q&A with Cloud Expo Conference Chair Jeremy Geelan. “Of course these issues are different in each industry and in each country.”
Cloud Computing Journal: The move to cloud isn't about saving money, it is about saving time - ...| By Keith Mayer | Article Rating: |
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| August 23, 2012 04:00 AM EDT | Reads: |
2,933 |
Over the past few days, I've spoken to a number of IT Pros that were interested in how printing is improved or different in Windows 8. Even in today's age of online information and social media, I know that IT Pros spend a great deal of time managing shared printing and print drivers to make it all work as seamlessly as possible for end users.
In Windows 8, the product team has taken an opportunity to design a new print class driver architecture (version 4) while still maintaining backward compatibility with older version 3 drivers that were designed for Windows 7 and prior.
Some of the key advantages that I absolutely love about this new driver architecture are:
- Simplified print driver model - gets us several steps closer to a "driverless" design where printing "just works" without the need to install large complex print drivers
- Native support for XPS printer output rendering - nowadays many printers natively support XPS (XML Paper Specification) as a page description language, allowing the ability to print to these devices without additional drivers
- Built-in support for several common page description languages - such as PostScript, PCL, etc - to make basic print output capabilities easy for users without installing a custom driver. You can still install a custom driver for complex print devices with lots of output options.
- Separation of Print Rendering and Print Configuration - If you're like me, you've seen a tremendous growth in the size of custom print drivers over the years because manufacturers have tried to incorporate every possible feature into their own drivers. Windows 8 now includes an architecture to provide a model for printer manufacturers to efficiently develop their own rendering filters, when needed, separate from their own UI configuration tools. This allows printer manufacturers more flexibility in building rich configuration tools, while minimizing the disk and memory footprint of their drivers. Case in point - Windows 8 supports more printer devices than ever, but the on-disk footprint of all the included drivers has been reduced from ~768MB in Windows Vista to ~184MB in Windows 8!
- Support for easy printing from Windows 8 style apps - without dropping into the traditional Desktop UI
- Integration with the new High Availability Print Services - available in Windows Server 2012 by leveraging integration with Hyper-V clustering and Live Migration
You can read the full details about this new print class driver architecture on the Windows team blog - there's a great post over there by the Print team that explains the architecture in detail.
Ready to try out Simplified Printing for yourself? Here's some great resources to test it in your own Lab!
- Download Windows 8
- Download Windows Server 2012 - shared printing with Windows 8 works best with Windows Server 2012 if you want to take full advantage of simplified printing
- Lab Guide - Configuring Highly Available Simplified Printing
I'm excited that these changes will reduce the amount of time IT Pros spend managing day-to-day printer tasks and print drivers. What do you think?
Keith
Published August 23, 2012 Reads 2,933
Copyright © 2012 SYS-CON Media, Inc. — All Rights Reserved.
Syndicated stories and blog feeds, all rights reserved by the author.
More Stories By Keith Mayer
Keith Mayer is a Technical Evangelist at Microsoft focused on Windows Infrastructure, Data Center Virtualization, Systems Management and Private Cloud. Keith has over 17 years of experience as a technical leader of complex IT projects, in diverse roles, such as Network Engineer, IT Manager, Technical Instructor and Consultant. He has consulted and trained thousands of IT professionals worldwide on the design and implementation of enterprise technology solutions.
Keith is currently certified on several Microsoft technologies, including System Center, Hyper-V, Windows, Windows Server, SharePoint and Exchange. He also holds other industry certifications from IBM, Cisco, Citrix, HP, CheckPoint, CompTIA and Interwoven.
Keith is the author of the IT Pros ROCK! Blog on Microsoft TechNet, voted as one of the Top 50 "Must Read" IT Blogs.
Keith also manages the Windows Server 2012 "Early Experts" Challenge - a FREE online study group for IT Pros interested in studying and preparing for certification on Windows Server 2012. Join us and become the next "Early Expert"!
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“Regulations and compliance are key trust topics with regards to cloud solutions and technology,” noted Sven Denecken, Vice President, Strategy and Co-Innovation Cloud Solutions, SAP AG, in this exclusive Q&A with Cloud Expo Conference Chair Jeremy Geelan. “But it is also more than security of access – it is portability of data and a clear definition of where the data resides.”
Cloud Computing Journal: The move to cloud isn't about saving money, it is about saving time – agree or disagree?
Sve...
Many organizations want to expand upon the IaaS foundation to deliver cloud services in all forms – software, mobility, infrastructure and IT. Understanding the strategy, planning process and tools for this transformation will help catalyze changes in the way the business operates and deliver real value.
IT has more opportunities than ever before with the growth in users, devices, data and secure cloud services. This creates not only a more enriching experience for users, but more opportunities for businesses. The key to capitalizing on these opportunities is to have the right tools in place to help scale operations. In his Day 3 Keynote at 12th Cloud Expo | Cloud Expo New York [June 10-13, 2013], Intel's Rob Crooke will describe the range of products that Intel provides to support different usa...
One of the cloud’s biggest draws is the capability to virtualize computing resources, allowing it to be consumed with the click of a mouse. But behind that simple click is an enormous infrastructure challenge that has recently been cited as a major cause for slower enterprise adoption. Enterprises can better prepare for this shift and take full advantage of future computing benefits. Between architecture design and migration planning, the road can be long, so what do you do with your talent?
I...
In the old world of IT, if you didn't have hardware capacity or the budget to buy more, your project was dead in the water. Budget constraints can leave some of the best, most creative and most ingenious innovations on the cutting room floor. It’s a true dilemma for developers and innovators – why spend the time creating, when a project could be abandoned in a blink? That was the old world. In the new world of IT, developers rule. They have access to resources they can spin up instantly.
A hyb...
INetU, the industry's experts in complex hosting and a global provider of business-centric managed cloud and application hosting, has announced that Cloud Architect Rich Hand will be presenting "Private Cloud, Public Cloud - Is There a Third Option?" at the 12th International Cloud Expo taking place June 10-13, 2013 in New York City.
As more enterprise IT departments move into the cloud, many executives are evaluating whether to adopt a Public or Private cloud. The cost benefits of the Public ...
“I’m careful when using terms like Big Data, because it can mean so many things to different people,” explained Eric Hanselman, Chief Analyst at 451 Research, in this exclusive Q&A with Cloud Expo Conference Chair Jeremy Geelan. “There is huge value in analytics that companies can use to pull intelligence from a collection of data sources that are available in their businesses. The inexpensive storage that cloud services can offer make a great environment to pull together siloed data.”
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