Jim Gaynor

Jim Gaynor

Analyst

Jim analyzes and writes about Teams and other Microsoft services for collaboration and unified communication, Windows Server and related OSs, and enterprise computing infrastructure. He has a wide-ranging mix of technology experience, and has been writing about the field on and off since since the early 1990s.

Before joining Directions on Microsoft, Jim managed and taught academic and research technology at University of Washington and The Ohio State University. He also led IT operations management for a global civil engineering firm and, more recently, was technical producer of a live service game based on the popular Magic: The Gathering card game.

Jim holds a B.A. with graduate studies in philosophy and a minor in computer science from The Ohio State University.

Latest Content by Jim Gaynor

  Roadmap
October 23, 2026 · by Multiple Authors
Database, Analytics, and AI/ML Roadmap Describes the near-term and long-term roadmaps for Microsoft database (proprietary and open-source), analytics, AI, and machine learning products. This roadmap...
  Roadmap
October 7, 2026 · by Jim Gaynor
Managed Redis Azure Managed Redis is an Azure-hosted, Microsoft-managed caching service built on Redis software. Redis is an open-source, in-memory key-value data...
  Roadmap
October 6, 2026 · by Jim Gaynor
Azure Arc Azure Arc is a set of capabilities enabling Azure to work with deployments hosted outside of Azure, and it includes...
  Analyst Report
October 4, 2026 · by Jim Gaynor
Prepare for Higher Costs for Teams Town Halls The Apr. 2026 Teams licensing changes added new costs for large town halls that could cost customers thousands monthly.
  Roadmap
September 24, 2026 · by Jim Gaynor
Cache for Redis Cache for Redis is being retired in favor of Azure Managed Redis. It's an in-memory caching service that stores copies...
  Roadmap
September 21, 2026 · by Multiple Authors
Compute, Networking, and Infrastructure Roadmap Describes the components and services of Azure and on-premises datacenter components, including virtual machines, networking, and storage. It discusses the...
  Analyst Report
September 17, 2026 · by Jim Gaynor
Broadcom Forces More Changes to Azure VMware Service Broadcom licensing changes are forcing an early retirement of license-included AVS reserved instances, creating unavoidable costs for customers who thought...
  Analyst Report
September 11, 2026 · by Jim Gaynor
Planner Subscription Strategy for Project Online Retirement Project Online will be retired effective Oct.1, 2026, leaving Planner as Microsoft’s sole hosted project management service.
  Roadmap
September 7, 2026 · by Jim Gaynor
Planner Add-on Subscription Packaging Chart shows the project management capabilities delivered as part of the Microsoft 365 suites, and which features are added by...
  Roadmap
September 2, 2026 · by Jim Gaynor
Azure Kubernetes Service Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS), Microsoft’s flagship Kubernetes (often abbreviated as “K8s”) offering, provides orchestration (deployment, provisioning, and automation) and management...