Transcript from Today’s Reddit AMA

[Brad Anderson]

First published on CloudBlogs on Feb, 27 2014
In case you missed it (and, let’s be honest, everyone missed it) here’s a transcript of the questions I was able to answer before my Reddit AMA shut down for unknown reasons .  Here’s to hoping everything at AMA Headquarters is up and running soon ! BradAndersonAMA [ S ]

• Thanks everyone for joining this AMA. I appreciate all of you taking the time to chat while you patiently wait for Chris Carter and Sarah Michelle Gellar to show up later today.

delicious_toast

• What do you spread on delicious delicious toast?

BradAndersonAMA [ S ]

• considering 'delicious_toast' is your screen name, i'm pretty sure this question is meant to be gross. but whatever floats your boat. i'm a peanut butter in jam guy -- my wife makes the best jam in the world.

LeeBerg

• What was your Eagle Scout Service Project?

BradAndersonAMA [ S ]

• there were actually 2: the first was cleaning up a public park in Salt Lake City. the second was painting fire hydrants along a 2 mile road in SLC.

LeeBerg

• Can I get your autograph on my Zune at TechEd NA 2014?

BradAndersonAMA [ S ]

• that might reduce the value of the Zune.

sabira

• What advice would you give to someone who's looking to transition from a career in K-12 education (i.e. elementary school teaching) to a career in IT, possibly as a technology and software trainer?

BradAndersonAMA [ S ]

• I recommend bulking up on the technical skills, and then leverage your background building curriculum. We are moving to a world driven by software -- and there will always be jobs in software.

Eyensteyen

• There's been very strong rumors that TechEd could be ending within a couple years. Any truth to that?

BradAndersonAMA [ S ]

• I have no idea where that's coming from. Actually, brining TechEd and MMS together shows how much emphasis we're putting on that event.

hoorge

• What's your favorite beer?

BradAndersonAMA [ S ]

• Root. :)

BrianCooper5794

• Hi Brad, aspiring computer engineer here, I was wondering if you had any tips for me as I begin the college trek to engineering.

BradAndersonAMA [ S ]

• the big focus right now across the industry is building services. I was actually at my alma mater last Fall and the recommendation I gave the faculty was that the students need to be building more services -- not just on-prem software. My recommendation is get experience building and operating services.

Eyensteyen

• With ConfigMgr still the cash cow of System Center, why is there so much more focus on the other products of the System Center suite?

BradAndersonAMA [ S ]

• the ConfigMgr team is the largest one in the System Center org. a lot of our efforts in this space are really focused on MDM, with a focus on delivering that from the cloud with Windows Intune. In fact -- Intune and ConfigMgr are the same team. If anything, we've actually increased our investment in endpoint management and user enablement. What you may be noticing is that we are talking a lot about transform the datacenter and the cloud.

h3ff

• How is the progressive transition from private cloud to public cloud going to affect Microsoft's future System Center product line? A potential merging of Intune and ConfigMgr, for example?

BradAndersonAMA [ S ]

• There are two things: First, we are taking what we learn in Azure and delivering that in Windows Server and System Center. Windows Server will become more feature rich, more scalable, and it will accelerate the rate at which we can put out new capabilities. Second, System Center will become the way in which Hybrid Cloud is realized, and it will enable organizations to use multiple clouds.

GaryPretty

• What is your favorite and your least favorite thing about TechEd?

BradAndersonAMA [ S ]

• Favorite: It's a week where we get to interact with customers and partners for an entire week. It's pretty energizing. Least Favorite: On the flip side, amidst all these meetings, I'm going nonstop from 8am to midnight. Tough to find time to work out!

Eyensteyen

• Why were the majority (if not all) MVP ConfigMgr sessions for TechEd declined?

BradAndersonAMA [ S ]

• We accepted, by a percentage, more sessions from the community this year than we did last year at MMS. I love the work the MVP's are doing, and I look forward to meeting with them at TechEd.

McTrollski

• Isn't saying "Cloud" a little worn out and redundant?

BradAndersonAMA [ S ]

• Cloud gets used a lot -- but it is the largest driving factor in the industry. All too often, the cloud only gets thought of in terms of the public cloud -- but the cloud is a computing model that can run in your datacenter or ours. The benefits in terms of agility and cost are indisputable. As you are considering your cloud options, you don't want to be locked in to a single cloud (which is where I think MSFT is unique with our consistency across clouds).

iainmc

• Is it true you introduced yourself as "Anderson, Brad Anderson" for two months after teched 2013?

BradAndersonAMA [ S ]

• yes, that's true -- but only around the house. My kids got pretty sick of it.

shawnlo

• I work in Education as a systems analyst. With the consumerization of IT in Education and in the work place place here now, with your crystal ball where do you see technology going in the future? What do you feel is the next big thing for IT.

BradAndersonAMA [ S ]

• One of the most significant things that we're seeing is school districts (and entire countries) moving away from books and providing all the classroom content through tablets. With us being a devices and services company, we have the services (Intune) to provide the level of management and control of these tablets.

namwen

• Hi Brad, thanks for the AMA! What do you think is the future of technology in Data Center environments?  PS: I am still a proud Zune owner.

BradAndersonAMA [ S ]

• The Zune HD is a great product -- just a bit late to the party. I believe that the future of the datacenter is fundamentally hybrid, e.g. something that brings together the best of the cloud, the best of hosted, and the best of on-prem -- all into the hands of IT.  Based on a rock-solid platform - connected to the cloud so you can take advantage of all available options.

postdeleted

• Do you have an ipad?

BradAndersonAMA [ S ]

• I bought the original, and I can tell you it hasn't been turned on since I got all the kids Surfaces. True story.

northernrunner [ ]

• I work in a university IT department that has deep roots in Novell technology. What kind of ammunition do you have for me when I'm in those Novell vs. Microsoft quarrels at the watercooler? Specifically anything related to how great SCCM is over ZenWorks CM, and what the SCCM roadmap looks like.

BradAndersonAMA [ S ]

• True story: I was the original program manager on ZENWorks. I think the market votes with its checkbook, and SCCM is now the tool used to manage 2 out of 3 desktops around the world, and its recognized by Gartner in the leaders quadrant. ZENWorks is in the "Niche" category.

Eyensteyen

• When will Microsoft flip the switch on ConfigMgr and make it completely Cloud-based?

BradAndersonAMA [ S ]

• Intune is ConfigMgr delivered from the cloud. Last Fall we created a strong connection between both of them for use in a hybrid cloud model. Today there are more than 10k customers using Intune to manage their PCs and devices. The choice is yours: Do you want to manage on-prem or from the cloud -- we give you the option to do either.

Bickel43

• What made the changes from Windows Office to 365? Why is it a subscription service now?

BradAndersonAMA [ S ]

• The benefit of the service is that your users get the functionality from us the day we release it. One of the things that has always been frustrating is seeing customers on releases that are 5 years old -- with a service you can push out the value to your constituents much faster.