What does the world look like after Microsoft Deployment Toolkit? Richard talks to MDT creator Michael Niehaus about the life and death of MDT. Michael talks about his early days at Microsoft, when he created a better way to manage operating system images so you can build and rebuild Windows PCs for your organization. But MDT had been in maintenance since 2013, without specific support for Windows 11. And now, some security concerns have ended support entirely. So what happens next? Michael offers fixes to keep MDT safe to use, and some alternatives if you want to keep managing your own images!

Links

• Microsoft Deployment Toolkit
• Michael's Post of the MDT Vulnerability
• Windows Autopilot
• Friends of MDT
• MDT Retirement Notice
• Microsoft Intune
• 2Pint DeployR
• MMS Conference
• iPXE Anywhere

Recorded February 17, 2026

How does your company communicate with its employees today? Richard chats with Emily Mancini about her work with companies that manage internal communications. Emily talks about the power of email, collaborative messaging like Teams, and the Microsoft Viva products Engage and Amplify. The conversation digs into knowing where your people look for info, how they communicate, and what they want to connect with. Being able to measure the response to different communication means helps you to work on better messages and methods - the goal is to enable employees to connect with and utilize the resources of the organization, creating a stronger company culture!

Links

• Microsoft Viva Engage
• Microsoft Viva Amplify
• Create and Send a News Digest

Recorded March 9, 2026

AI Agents can be powerful tools for an organization - but are they a security risk? Richard talks to Niall Merrigan about his experiences dealing with the various ways that LLMs can be attacked, starting with prompt injection. While some attacks are humorous, others can be very serious, especially in the context of agents, where the right prompt can cause an agent to use its capabilities to access or affect data outside its expected behavior. This has already led to several well-publicized CVEs, including the ServiceNow Privilege Escalation advisory. New tools have emerged to help restrict prompts and keep agents on task - but as with all things security, this is another set of tools you need to get familiar with!

Links

• AI Recommendation Poisoning
• Detecting Prompt Injection Attacks
• Mark Russinovich Crescendo Multi-Turn LLM Jailbreak Attack
• Cross-Site Scripting (XSS)
• Cameron Mattis LinkedIn
• Privilege Escalation in ServiceNow AI Platform
• Azure AI Content Safety Prompt Shields
• Task Adherence
• Simon Willison's Lethal Trifecta
• Microsoft Agent 365
• PyRIT
• OWASP Securing Agentic Applications Guide

Recorded February 16, 2026

Are you ready to take a look at Richard's home lab? Richard goes solo to share insights about the new infrastructure, hardware, and automation in his seaside home. He discusses the challenges posed by its remote location, including unreliable power and connectivity. You'll find plenty of details about networking, computing infrastructure, automation, telemetry, and experiments with AI technologies. Get an exclusive behind-the-scenes look!

Links

• Kubernetes
• Ubiquiti Enterprise Campus Aggregation
• Proxmox
• nVidia H200 GPU
• Prometheus
• Grafana
• Video Tour of Home Lab

Recorded April 1, 2026

Configuration drift is real - how do you control it in your Azure tenant? Richard talks to Nik Charlebois-Laprade about his ongoing work on desired state configuration DSC for Microsoft 365 tenants. Microsoft365DSC has been an open-source tool for managing configuration for some time, but today it has become a preview product called Unified Tenant Configuration in Microsoft Graph. Nik talks about managing multiple tenants, including a single tenant, using reference configurations that help you detect and correct configuration changes. It's early days for the product, but there's a ton of power here to keep your tenant working the way you expect!

Links

• Microsoft365DSC
• Unified Tenant Configuration

Recorded February 13, 2026

How does artificial intelligence become more sustainable? Richard chats with Darshna Shah about her experiences as Chief AI Officer at Elastic. Darshna discusses the resources required to run large language model experiments, the pressure this has put on the electrical grid, and more. The conversation turns to efficiency - and the idea that there is little incentive in the current land grab around LLMs to be more efficient - that the focus is on growing quickly. But as technologies mature, efficiency becomes a key competitive advantage!

Links

• R
• DeepEval
• Azure AI Evaluation SDK
• GitHub Green Software Foundation

Recorded January 29, 2026

SQL Server 2025 is released - what's in it, and what happens next? Richard chats with Bob Ward about the huge array of announcements coming out of Ignite around SQL Server 2025, including AI-related features, new reliability and performance options, engine improvements, and more! The tooling for SQL Server also continues to evolve, including making Copilot available through SSMS and as part of the SQL extension to Visual Studio Code. And there's more to come - have a listen!

Links

• SQL Server 2025
• SQL Server 2025 Unveiled
• SSMS with Erin Stellato
• SQL Server Management Studio
• JSON Data in SQL Server
• Managed Identity for SQL Server
• SQL Server in Microsoft Fabric
• Mirroring SQL Server in Fabric
• Next-Generation SQL Managed Instance
• MSSQL Extension for Visual Studio Code

Recorded January 5, 2026

How can you hire and get hired in 2026? While at NDC London, Richard chatted with Suzi Edwards-Alexander about her experiences recruiting technology folks into companies. Suzi talks about developing interview practices that actually reflect the job, rather than examining esoteric knowledge or certifications - it's possible to have an interviewing experience that is actually enjoyable! The conversation dives into the power imbalance between employers and employees and how to resist being seen as lesser for not being employed. Work should be a mutually beneficial experience - we have to do better!

Links

• Appartenir

Recorded January 29, 2026