Orin Thomas

Working at Microsoft on things related to Windows Server, Azure Hybrid Cloud, & Azure & On-Prem AI Workload Operations. Author of 45+ Microsoft Press textbooks.

[Orin Thomas @orinthomas]

The new (3rd) edition of Windows Server Inside Out is now available. 864 pages and nearly 250,000 words, this is EVERYTHING I know about Windows Server. The last edition of this book (Server 2019) was published just after I'd started as an FTE at Microsoft and in 7 years working with the product, documentation and Advocacy teams I've learned endlessly more about the operating system and its functionality - all of which I've embedded in this textbook. It covers all supported versions of Windows Server up to Windows Server 2025 and includes everything from Securing Active Directory and Hardening Windows Server, to how to host and manage Hyper-V, integrate with Azure Services and how to host generative AI workloads like Ollama and Foundry Local. A big shout out to Jeff Woolsey, Dan Cuomo, Ned Pyle, Robin Harwood, Rob Hindman, Ben Armstrong, Theo Tran, Yash Shekar, Elden Christiansen, Rick Claus and countless others for all teaching me even more about a wonderful operating system that I'd already written a multitude of books on before I got a blue badge.

https://t.co/XbDyZdWldl

[Dona Sarkar @donasarkar]

What are these IQ things that’s been the buzz at #MSBuild:

1. Web IQ - grounds your agent in web data
2. Work IQ - grounds your data in M365 data
3. Fabric IQ - headless access to structured IQ
4. Foundry IQ - agentic retrieval mechanism to get data from unstructured data from places like search indices and SharePoint

With @aycabs and @amrcn_werewolf

[World of Engineering @engineers_feed]

90% of engineering disasters trace back to 6 failure modes:

1. Normalization of deviance
Small violations of protocol that don't cause failure. They get normalized. Then one day the margin runs out. (See: Challenger, Columbia)

2. Organizational pressure overriding engineering judgment
Engineers knew. Management decided anyway. (See: Challenger, 737 MAX)

3. Single point of failure
One component. No backup. Catastrophic when it fails. (See: Tacoma Narrows, Chernobyl control rods)

4. Cumulative damage
Nothing dramatic. Just slow degradation nobody tracked. (See: every bridge that "suddenly" collapsed)

5. Interface failure
Each component works perfectly. They fail where they connect. (See: Mars Climate Orbiter – metric vs imperial)

6. Design outside tested parameters
The system was tested at normal conditions. Reality wasn't normal. (See: Deepwater Horizon, Tenerife disaster)

Know these. They're recurring.

[Orin Thomas @orinthomas]

@cocktailpeanut I *think* it's because WSL 2 requires Virtual machine platform / Hyper-V-ish layer be present to host the Linux kernel. https://t.co/I8DBDc2Vxq

[Orin Thomas @orinthomas]

@emollick Any sufficiently complex magic is indistinguishable from technology - Pratchett

[Rick Claus 🦋 @RegularITguy.com @RegularITguy]

"Update and Restart"
It's for IT pros navigating how AI fits into their real-world infrastructure, operations, and troubleshooting. Hosted by Myself and Sonia Cuff, the series cuts through hype to show how tools like Azure Copilot and Microsoft 365 Copilot work in the real world

[Orin Thomas @orinthomas]

Manage and operate Azure SRE Agents from any MCP-compatible client through the Azure MCP Server. https://t.co/lPgjQvFWXn

[Orin Thomas @orinthomas]

Reducing NTLM Dependency: IAKerb and LocalKDC in Windows Insider Preview https://t.co/eOmGRJ4i7o

[Orin Thomas @orinthomas]

@richardhicks Thanks again! It's definitely been a journey from my first book in 2002 being based on the exam to me creating exams and other content for MSFT partially based on my books ;-)

[Peter Turchin @Peter_Turchin]

Very well argued.
https://t.co/yDoEdYjI3Y

[Orin Thomas @orinthomas]

@rodimusprimal Seeing it tomorrow in Gold Class ;-)

[Richard Hicks @richardhicks]

Recommended reading: #Windows Server Inside Out by @orinthomas #Microsoft #WindowsServer #ws2025 #itpro #sysadmin https://t.co/s7W915hoiQ

[Orin Thomas @orinthomas]

Update & Restart with @SoniaCuff and @RegularITguy https://t.co/SG8n892sBp

[Orin Thomas @orinthomas]

@atlasobscura Larry is in Kingston South Australia, a few hours drive south of Adelaide. You can have lobster at the giant lobster (at least you could when I was last there)

[Orin Thomas @orinthomas]

@nntaleb That's the rule in Australia https://t.co/BBCRf1FBRi

[Orin Thomas @orinthomas]

@SpaceshipAddict Middle area shelf to divide the room into two portions?

[Orin Thomas @orinthomas]

@SpaceshipAddict Tuvix still lives in our hearts.

[Orin Thomas @orinthomas]

The new (3rd) edition of Windows Server Inside Out is now available. 864 pages and nearly 250,000 words, this is EVERYTHING I know about Windows Server. The last edition of this book (Server 2019) was published just after I'd started as an FTE at Microsoft and in 7 years working with the product, documentation and Advocacy teams I've learned endlessly more about the operating system and its functionality - all of which I've embedded in this textbook. It covers all supported versions of Windows Server up to Windows Server 2025 and includes everything from Securing Active Directory and Hardening Windows Server, to how to host and manage Hyper-V, integrate with Azure Services and how to host generative AI workloads like Ollama and Foundry Local. A big shout out to Jeff Woolsey, Dan Cuomo, Ned Pyle, Robin Harwood, Rob Hindman, Ben Armstrong, Theo Tran, Yash Shekar, Elden Christiansen, Rick Claus and countless others for all teaching me even more about a wonderful operating system that I'd already written a multitude of books on before I got a blue badge.

https://t.co/XbDyZdWldl

[Orin Thomas @orinthomas]

@chamath Hopefully not an endorsement of JCal's costumes ;-)