Blogs

You know me, I like talking about Linux and when I saw these three articles I thought I had to share them. They all came out last week. The 1st article discusses the need for a bit more respect between the Windows an Linux camp. Microsoft has tried to put fact behind the arguments against Linux adoption and while some people think the surveys were doctored (they were not), they did start the discussion as to why each OS was better. I have said before that this should not be a religious discussion, but an evaluation based upon needs. In some cases people will choose Linux, in others Windows. It is nice however to have this recognised by the Linux community. While the article only discusses Microsoft's PR, there is an underlying respect beginning to grow with statements like "has a good track record in fending off competition" have to mean more than just marketing otherwise it paints most users as pretty stupid. One other thing discussed is the fact that the lack of release synchronisation causes users...

Hi folks, this is a really simple one - I had the pleasure of answering some questions at a TechNet chat a few weeks back - that chat has now had a polished transcript published on the web at http://www.microsoft.com/technet/community/chats/trans/sbs/07_0713_tn_sbs.mspx . thanks David Technorati Tags: SBS , SBS 2003 , SBS 2003 R2 , Technet , Chat

In the IT market the term "change is the only constant" has been around for years (well, certainly since I left ICL where change was not constant, but that was due to the contract that dictated that everything did not change, so fell behind). Note, this post is purely the ramblings from my mind, not a statement from Microsoft in an Official or Unofficial capacity We've seen big iron, then smaller systems, the rise of SMP, the reduction in IT hardware and software costs for solutions, the rise of Microsoft servers, client server, 3-tier, clustered computing, multi-core and now internet enabled computing. There is much more, of course, to come, but how we deliver IT to customers has changed too. Of course, this is all generalised and some people have always been at one end or the other, but general acceptance is always shifting - remember the ASP business model of the late 90's - dead, yet here it is again with Software as / plus service. The pricing of some services even appears to be £0, yet...

Part 2 or 3 for the Webcast series was how to configure SBS and discussed things like disk, memory, dual NICs, firewalls and the Pop3 connector. The presentation can be found here . Useful links from the presentation: WSUS upgrade documentation http://uksbsguy.com/blogs/doverton/archive/2007/05/02/installing-wsus-3-0-on-sbs-white-paper-released-including-when-you-already-got-wsus-on-there-or-need-to-upgrade.aspx Transition pack http://uksbsguy.com/blogs/doverton/archive/2006/09/18/Transition-Pack-for-Windows-SBS-2003-R2.aspx The questions from the event: Is there anything different we need to do on the server with Win Mobile 6 devices? No, it works, but you still need to be aware of the need for a certificate by a trusted root authority on the SBS box for Smartphones (just the same as all previous versions) On the install it showed Active sync 3.8 available to install, why not the latest version? I have not updated the box, but you can load a later version of ActiveSync onto SBS What is the URL to access outlook...

Today I did my last Webcast on SBS. It was the 3rd of a 3 parter on SBS. Part 1 was about how to use the OPK, part 2 was on Configuring SBS. I will post links to part 1 & 2 later today, but thought I would get the last one out 1st. If you watched the Webcast you will know that explorer crashed on my machine stopping the demos with word and excel working, which was not desired, but I did load 2 beta patches onto my system yesterday, so now the diagnosis as to wether that was the problem begins. Anyway, if you want the slides set they can be found here . Some of the useful links from the deck are: WSS v2 Office 2003 web parts (the last ones) http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=38be67a5-2056-46a1-84b1-337ffb549c5c&displaylang=en Samples and information http://www.sharepointcustomization.com/wss/articles.htm Enable Office 2007 support http://uksbsguy.com/blogs/doverton/archive/2007/03/13/how-to-get-companyweb-windows-sharepoint-services-v2-to-work-with-office-2007.aspx Backup and restore...

[updated to correct grammar in title - thanks to Warren Jacobi for pointing it out to me] I have been hearing about these at work - I don't have them yet, so can't comment on them, but apparently they will be going to trial soon and then out via updates. 938979 Vista Performance and Reliability Pack This update resolves a number of individual issues which may be affecting some computers running Windows Vista. These issues have been reported by customers using the Error Reporting service, product support, or other means. Installing this update will improve the performance and responsiveness for some scenarios and improves reliability of Windows Vista in a variety of scenarios. Some examples of the improvements contained in this update are: • Improves performance in resuming back to the desktop from the Photo and Windows Energy screensaver. • Resolves an issue where some secured web pages using advanced security technologies may not get displayed in Internet Explorer on Windows Vista. • Resolves an issue...

For those who wish to expand into SharePoint enhancements (remember that you can enhance the site without any dev tools using the browser features) I found this simple blog entry ( Know your options for developing with SharePoint 2007 - Program - .Net - Builder AU ) and it is quite nice. Read the whole blog, but here is a snippet. The editions of SharePoint One of the more confusing aspects of SharePoint is that there are two versions available: Windows SharePoint Services (WSS) 3.0 and Microsoft Office SharePoint Server (MOSS) 2007. Developers follow the same basic steps to get started with SharePoint regardless of the version. Here's an overview of both offerings. |> WSS: This is the so-called "free" version, as there are no additional licensing issues. It is included with the Windows Server 2003 operating system (version 2.0). The current 3.0 version is available via download. It provides core document management, collaboration, and search functions, which include blogs, wikis, RSS feeds, e...

I have now had my site open for 16 months. In that time you have managed to ask me loads of questions and I hopefully have answered plenty too. Lets both keep this up. We are currently running at about 1.2+ million page views per month and about 300,000+ RSS sync requests per month. Keep the questions coming :-) ttfn David

This is a strange blog entry - I got an e-mail from a Beth M who was having problems with people being able to e-mail her. Problem is that I can't e-mail her back! Beth, if you read this, just e-mail at [email protected] from any e-mail account with your full name and I can get back to you. thanks David

[updated on 28th July] Hi, I've pinged this around a bit internally and the answer I got back is that this is not supported and will not work. I have not tried it myself, but don't expect it to work. If you need this sort of functionality you need to look at MS-CRM I am afraid. History: You need a Volume License of Office 2007 to run in Terminal Services. You can get BCM with Volume Licensing of Office 2007 as noted at http://office.microsoft.com/en-gb/suites/FX101635841033.aspx Outlook running in Terminal Services does not run in cached mode - http://technet2.microsoft.com/Office/en-us/library/ba930d00-dc38-4564-ad00-8304d74f1d8c1033.mspx?mfr=true 3) BCM requires Outlook to run in cached mode (Office 2003 note in a KB about this - http://support.microsoft.com/kb/831747/en-us and I have had PSS confirm this is still the case with BCM and Office 2007) Wish this was not the case, but better to say up front rather than pretend. Now, updated, if you look at How to enable cached mode for Outlook when used inside...

Malware Removal Kit The Malware Removal Kit is a download from TechNet that provides you with excellent guidance and tools to help you restore PCs infected with malware. The newest Solution Accelerator from Microsoft, it provides free, tested guidance to help you combat malware attacks and restore infected systems - so users can safely get back to work. The kit shows you how to use the Windows Preinstallation Environment (Windows PE) to discover malware by performing a thorough offline scan of your computers, uncovering malware that may be hiding in the operating system. And once malware is located and identified, it can be quickly removed from infected PCs with a number of free anti-malware tools, like the Malicious Software Removal Tool from Microsoft. ttfn David Technorati Tags: Malware Removal , WinPE , Security

This information is from the last 2 Technet newsletters ( http://www.microsoft.com/technet ) Unified Communications Team Blog http://blogs.technet.com/uc/default.aspx Unified Communications - Office Communication Server 2007 Videos Two videos, one on Office Communications Server 2007 and one on Office RoundTable http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/info.aspx?na=22&p=4&SrcDisplayLang=en&SrcCategoryId=&SrcFamilyId=&u=%2fdownloads%2fdetails.aspx%3fFamilyID%3d67d3e846-ae4a-4b30-9e0c-eac22bd2a58a%26DisplayLang%3den Unified Communications and Collaboration Event Presentation Downloads Unified Communications and Collaborations Event Downloads http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/info.aspx?na=22&p=5&SrcDisplayLang=en&SrcCategoryId=&SrcFamilyId=&u=%2fdownloads%2fdetails.aspx%3fFamilyID%3da10931b2-dceb-4ddc-8c5a-25c4b2c5804c%26DisplayLang%3den Using Exchange Server 2007 for Unified Messaging and Fax How can you best implement the Unified Messaging (UM) features of Exchange Server 2007...