Microsoft : CVP Brad Anderson on ConfigMgr at 25 years

Twenty-five years ago, in the summer of 1992, planning for a new product began - and that point in time has had a tremendous impact on my life and the lives of millions of IT Pros - and it has enabled us all to support 100s of millions of workers around the globe.

We are celebrating the 25 anniversary of a vision document outlining a new project codenamed 'Hermes,' and the coding that began a few weeks later - with two engineers and an intern using a Gateway 486 with a 500 MB hard drive.

That project became a product; and that product created an industry we now call PC management.

Between then and now, System Center Configuration Manager (ConfigMgr) has had a couple different names, but it has, nonetheless, grown to be the world's most commonly used solution for managing enterprise PCs. From the time that first line code was written and checked-in 25 years ago, it has grown to more than 8 million lines of code - but, as we have continually re-architected and refreshed ConfigMgr, we have retired many more lines than that.

Three facts consistently amaze me about ConfigMgr and the incredible community of users:

1. ConfigMgr manages more than 75% of all Enterprise PCs.
2. Its usage continues to grow.
3. The number of monthly active users of ConfigMgr continues to grow by over 1M devices every week.

The data is clear: The world is moving to Windows 10 and ConfigMgr is the tool that's used by enterprises to make this move happen.

There has never, ever been more interest in ConfigMgr than there is today!

As I have reflected on the history of ConfigMgr (and as I watched an advance screening of the upcoming ConfigMgr documentary), I kept thinking about how the ConfigMgr user base is among the very strongest technical communities on the planet.

One of the most impressive things to me about this community is how they have consistently pushed the architecture and capabilities forward - and this has enabled ConfigMgr to not only remain relevant, but also establish itself as a critical agent of the evolving infrastructure in just about every Enterprise organization.

As we reach marquee milestones like 25 anniversaries, I wanted to reflect with the community on the history of ConfigMgr, its impact, and, perhaps most importantly, its very bright future.

Now We Want to Tell Your Story

Those millions of IT Pros are the real heroes of this story. That's why we want to hear your story. How has SMS/ConfigMgr impacted your lives or your organizations?

Tell us your story by writing or uploading videos to aka.ms/ConfigMgr25.

As much as I love the documentary previewed above, it is only Part 1 of a very important story that has 2 parts. Part 2 is up to you.

Record your own memories and stories about ConfigMgr and post them at aka.ms/ConfigMgr25. If you're going to be at Microsoft Ignite, you can also record your stories at our mini-studio next to the Microsoft booth.

We'll use your video submissions (both via the site above, or at our video booth at Ignite) to create an entirely crowd-sourced video we'll call 'The People's History of ConfigMgr.'

One last note: If you have a spare minute during lunch on Tuesday at Ignite, come film a Lunch Break episode with me!

From 11am to 2pm on Tuesday I'll be in a golf cart in front of the conference center - and anyone can hop in for a quick lap around the bus loop - and you can ask me anything!

We'll have cameras all over the golf cart and we'll post a special 'Lunch Break @ Microsoft Ignite!' episode the following week.

See you there!