Greener Pastures

I picked up a machine from a client a couple of weeks ago.  It was reported that it could not boot up and they thought it had a virus.  I took the HD out and mounted it via external USB to another system and began an epic Viral fight.  I ran approximately a dozen avscans using a variety of tools, from AVG to McAfee's Stinger.  Further I loaded up the Windows defender and scanned it time and time again.

Ultimately there were over 100 viral variants and general malware on the system.  Then I spent about 2 hours on the phone and online with hardware support to discover that the memory stick was bad.  Eventually I replaced the memory and viola, it booted up.

So now, having replaced the memory and returned the Harddrive to the system, I begin to do general maint. on the system.  It's AV was out of date as of June 2005, and Anti-Spyware installed, and Service Pack 1 for XP was installed.

Finally after updating the system at Microsoft Update and installing updated AVG and Windows Defender, I run disk clean up and defrag.  All in all the system went from 'crawling or non-responsive' to back to normal.  All this on a system that originally cost $1700 2 years ago.  Simple maint could have saved a $500 bill, but unlike their car, they just did not understand the costs of maint.  They could have gotten low/no cost regular service measures but instead ended up sinking almost 1/2 the cost to replace the system in fixing the current investment.

oh well

I've long been an advocate for Instant Messaging, both for personal as well as professional purposes.  Back in the mid '90s I used ICQ for chatting with my family online.  Then as time went by migrated from service to service. 

I've even tried to setup an ICQ group server and a Jabber Server with limited success at various companies.  When Microsoft introduced Corporate IM with Exchange Server 2000, I jumped at it.  What a great deal.  Easy to setup and integrated with Windows Messenger.  then they dropped it in favor of Live Communications Server 2003.  What were they thinking?!?!  I loaded it up as part of Action Pack, and set it up on our network.  It works ok, but no different than the old Exchange 2000 integrated one.  Then LC2K5 came out.  I'll try that...sure enough it loaded up just fine, but I still am not seeing any great big wow factor.  Now I learn that Microsoft is merging it back into Exchange for 12. 

On another note, what's up with Communicator Web Access and Office Communicator?  CWA, I set it up, and it can't log people onto the LC server.  I am sure that if I took the time to read the 200+ page setup manual I could get it to work, but that goes against everything I believe in.  If I wanted load balancing and some of the more advanced features that larger enterprises might want out of IM, I'ld take that time to read it, but, really!!! for 3 or 4 people, it should just setup, without a hitch, until then, can I really recommend that someone invest in this over a free IM setup?  Then there's Office Communicator.  I got the Live Communications Server 2003 and 2005 as part of Action Pack, however no instructions on how to get ahold of Office Communicator.  What's up with that?

We operate primarily in the small and micro business environment.  As much as we'ld like to recommend LC and Office Communicator to small businesses, I can't see the value in it over a Free IM solution.  Sure they get to share their conversations with the IM world, but then they don't have to pay for federation for the right to talk to their customers or suppliers who may use Google Talk, MSN, Yahoo IM or AOL IM.  Sure they loose some security, but the costs for Small Businesses to get this technology, which should be simple, easy, and relatively cheap, currently are too great to overcome.  In a space where there is so much competition, it seems like Microsoft is ignoring the one space that they really need to be courting, the one space they are catering to with every other technology.  I hope they solve some of these issues.

Daily I talk to customers who want the IM integrated with Office, Outlook, and Sharepoint, but by the time we add up costs, simply for the IM piece, we loose their interest.  With Small Business Server premium edition, they should include a 'Small Business LC server' in a similar manner to the WSS/companyweb that comes with SBS.  It's not full Sharepoint, but it gives a small business the ability to get hooked on it, and wanting additional features.  They sure could do likewise with IM.  Perhaps even go so far as to pre-configure Communicator Web Access as part of the SBS Wizards.  Now that would be cool!!!

Vista CTP...looks good so far.

I went to TS2 on Thursday in Dallas, saw Stephen Cracknell do his presentation.  The highlight for me was getting more looks at Vista.  My hardware is woefully undermatched for running Vista, so for now I am only able to observe from afar.  Abbie has the new Office SBA 2007 beta, and we're gonna load it up on Saturday.  We have great expectations for this version.  Probably we'll load it up on a 'test' machine. because we're real concerned about loosing company data or more specifically access to it.

We've had some real good experience with Office SBA 2006 and have several test installations of SBA, GP SBF and GP loaded.  It makes a nice way to demo to customers the functionality and growth possibilities.  We are looking to get a juiced up tablet pc, loaded with ram, that Abbie can use as her PC, but also that we can demo stuff on, using VPC and whatever we need to demo.  Really rev up the WOW factor.

Also, we'll be hosting the Connections Event in Corpus Christie in late June.  Anyone interested in attending feel free to click here, or register through Microsoft Events.

Anyone interested in attending DFW-SBS?  We'll be meeting this Thursday at Microsoft Irving at 6:30?  Not at all sure I know the topic of discussion yet, but if I find out, will post it...

-bill

So while waiting for an SBS server to install yesterday, I was messin' around on Outlook 2003.  I found some fun things:

Control + Number Keys:

Ctrl+1 E-Mail folders...

Ctrl+2 Calendars

Ctrl+3 Contacts

Ctrl+4 Tasks

Ctrl+5 Notes

Ctrl+6 Folder List

Ctrl+7 Shortcuts

Ctrl+8 Journal (the long lost step child of Outlook)

Ctrl+9 Nuttin that I can tell

Ctrl+0 Nuttin that I can tell

I've often wondered if there's a quick way to navigate quicker in Outlook, now I can...

Ctrl+e opens the quick find tool

Ctrl+y opens a navigate/Go to tool :D

Ctrl+o opens the highlighted item

Ctrl+p opens the print dialogue screen

Note to self: don't do Ctrl+a then Ctrl+d :-)

Ctrl+f Forward (I knew that one on some level)

Ctrl+j creates a new journal entry regarding the highlighted item...

Ctrl+n creates a new blank email...

Ctrl+m initiates a send and rec. which is different that the F5 button that simply refreshes the current view of the folder...

I'm not feeling that lucky, so i won't go try the shift or alt shortcuts, much less if there's any combo keystrokes...maybe another time...

-bill

Today we did a great meeting, small as it was, but none-the-less fun with some partners on the benifits of Using Microsoft Office Small Business Accounting within the Microsoft Small Business Stack of software.  Abbie has posted a great entry on it at her MSN Space.

One thing that I want to point out was the ease of use of Partner Events Site.  The content and wizard driven setup, the inclusion of the click to attend auto-web page creation for registration was AWESOME.  Further, THANK YOU to:

Charlie Ramirez

Partner Community Manager-TX, OK, AR, LA

Small and Midmarket Solutions and Partners

Microsoft Corporation

and

Jude Rothschadl

Area Marketing Specialist

US-South Central Area SMS&P

they, along with the facilities teams at Microsoft, Irving were tremendous hosts.

3 hours, even in the small group flew past, and we barely skimmed the surface of the topic.  We'll be doing a more in depth session in the next 6 weeks or so, as summer will be busy for us.  Look for announcements soon.

I took a quick family trip to New Orleans this past weekend.  What a great time, we spent time with some family on the northshore, and went to Jazzfest on Saturday.  before heading out to the Fairgrounds though, we took some time to travel around and see some of the places my wife and her family were from, now devistated.  I can tell you, it was heart wrenching to see the destruction, and hear the stories.  At the same time it was invigorating to see the people coming back, rebuilding, against the odds.  My wife had been there a month earlier, and where there had not been trailers or people, now there were.  On EVERY STREET was trash piled high, but in most neighborhoods there were people out clearing, cleaning and starting to rebuild.  It appeared the city had palced Port-a-lets all over the city for people who still did not have basic services running.  I was moved enough to exclaim to my wife, that if we had any extra money, we ought to move back there and do a house.  Both my wife and I love it there, but we cannot do that to our young kids.

While at Jazzfest, and on the Northeshore where we stayed with family, and also out in Metairie, it appeared that most things were basically back, just less of it.  For example the Quizno's was closed at 6:00 on Sunday evening, just not enough people around to justify keeping open I guess.  But the Target was as busy as I have ever seen it.

Which brings me to Technology and infrastructure and people.  Last night I watched 'Steve Ballmer Introduces the People-Ready Business'  from March 16, 2006 (on Demand) and it occurs to me that people and infrastructure are intrinsically linked in today's world.  People can get by without technology and the infrastructure, but increasingly those people will be left behind and pushed farther to the fringes as technology and people become more intertwined.  At the Jazzfest, technology was everywhere, from the cell phones and digital cameras in the crowd, to the Mobile ATM's, to the sound equipment on stage, but as always there's room for more.  All of the vendors ran a cash business, why not have PDA's and POS systems that talk, so that a vendor could take Credit Card/Cash Cards.  Now wouldn't that change things.  The visitors and vendors would not have to carry perhaps hundreds of dollars in cash to transact business, in a region that DESPERATELY needs the injection of $$$.  A vendor could accept CC's and know that the transaction is secure and that they have the money, without having to worry about managing all that cash.  For bigger ticket vendors, and believe me there were some crafts vendors who were showing products in the hundreds of dollars range, they could have easily sold products and arranged for shipping/delivery on the spot.  One vendor, we saw had some GREAT Painted Dogs that started @ $50/each.  This is Art and artists have to live. but I did not see a whole lot of them flying away.  I think primarily because people wern't carrying that kind of cash for that type of item.  On the other hand, if they had had say a POS/Handheld device that could have taken the order, arranged for shipping and accepted payment, on the spot, then I think maybe sales would have gone up.

Please do not forget about these people or their huge contribution to the nation as well as the world.  This is a city that has an opportunity to rebuild and refine it's identity.  A safe haven for people of ALL walks of life, just trying to get by.  Technology can and should play a part, not just on hte Ships on the Mississippi or the Oil firms and Banks in Downtowm, but on the streets and in the lives of the everyday person.  While getting the electricty up telephones back up, boost the infrastructure for the future, add city-wide wireless access, to facilitate, not only freeer communication, but easier access to commerce, whether on the consumer or the vendor side of the equation.  Some forward looking cities have paid millions of dollors for it, why not invest in it now, while things aren't at their best, and attract people who otherwise would not want to come back or come in otherwise.  Obviously technologies, like city wide wireless are not going to be the deal maker but they can contribute to the over all deal winner for a city that desperately needs some wins, before the winds come back.