11th MVP Award Rewarded

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I am actually on vacation, but as I sit here under the summer sun, toes in the pool and a cold drink within reach, I have been waiting for that email confirming that I’ve been awarded my 11th Microsoft MVP Award! As last year, I am being awarded in both the Teams and Copilot category. To say I’m humbled would be an understatement. Being part of the global Microsoft MVP community for over a decade now has been an incredible journey, filled with learning, sharing, speaking, and connecting with passionate technologists from every corner of the world. What is the Microsoft MVP Award? The Microsoft Most Valuable Professional (MVP) award is given to technology experts who share their knowledge and real-world expertise with communities. With fewer than 4,000 MVPs worldwide, it’s an honor to be part of such a vibrant and dedicated group. MVPs contribute through speaking engagements, writing, open-source contributions, and helping others online and offline. You can learn more about the progra...

Installing OCS 2007 R2 (and fighting it)... Part 1; SQL 2008

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Well, Here I am, about to install the next OCS version. I have three Windows 2008 servers at my disposal (in an existing domain). I am wondering just how easy a setup is, and if grandma could do it (which was my first impression during training) :) 
- First off is installing the backend server = SQL 2008
I thought this was going to be the easy part.... stupid as I am ;)
It turned out to be a little obstacle on my way. I launched the installer, and was prompted to first install .Net 3.5 and a installer hot-fix. I accepted, and the installation failed.... Again, and again.... As it turns out; The installer package only check for a few prerequisites of the installation, not prerequisites of the prerequisites. Only after installing (sorry; enabling the feature) .Net through server manager (and thereby enabling some IIS features as well) was I able to continue on with the SQL installation.
I guess I would have known if I read the manual first, but why do they make checks to an installation if they do not check (or install) all the prerequisites?
When it comes to the installation process (still talking about SQL), I can tell MS has been working a lot on it. The interface is clean, and easy to navigate through. They have even made a change in the defaults, to make you think. You now have to select the user under which the services (one for all or different for all) run under. This is a major improvement, as previous installation often run as local system or administrator. (Easy targets ;)