Blogs

I have been RSS feed and news hunting and found this review in IT Channel News stating that Vista was no more secure than Windows XP. Then I read how things seemless slipped onto the system and I started to get frustrated that they must have turned off every security feature in Vista to get the results. There I was about to write a WTF reply when I found a HUGE one by Roger. There also seemed to be some confusion that Microsoft also still recommends anti-virus software for Vista. I tell people to buy AV software and not some complete "take over everything on your system" suite. Rogers reply is worth reading for sure - Microsoft is far from perfect, but turning off all the security features and then saying it is no more secure is just a little bit silly too. If you look at the number of found vulnerabilities in Windows XP (28) vs. Vista (11) this year, Vista wins again. If that seems like a lot, don't forget Mac OS X has had 101 in the same time period. Cute commercials, but not necessarily a stellar...

A PAL is a great friend - I did a quick search of Vijay's blog and came up with http://www.iqubed.biz/blog/2007/04/09/sbsc-pals-programme/ however this does not say what a PAL is, do I did a bit more digging (I know as I was involved in the process, but does anyone else?) A quick look at Versand von T-Online Mails unter eigenem Konto in Small Business tells me what I needed to show: Partner Area Lead ( SBSC PAL ). In the UK we have two - Vijay and Gareth of Sytec . Anyway, they had their 1st outing and here is a snippet of what Vijay had to say This was the first outing for the UK SBSC PALs (Gareth and myself) and it was to the SME Day at the Microsoft Executive Briefing Centre in Brussels held over two days. The first day was the VC Summit and a showcase of ISVs that the Microsoft Emerging Business Team had selected and who were looking for potential equity funding. The keynote was given by Craig Mundie , Microsoft’s Chief Research & Strategy Officer. You don’t get much higher up in Microsoft than this...

Susan B has probably been at the forefront of SBS 2003 SP2 pains, so it is only right that it is her blog I see this posting on. SP2 RSS/Checksum/TCP fix up now on Microsoft update The Official SBS Blog : New SBS 2003 Updates released through Microsoft Update and WSUS: http://blogs.technet.com/sbs/archive/2007/06/08/new-sbs-2003-updates-released-through-microsoft-update-and-wsus.aspx New on Microsoft update is a sp2 patch that you should be installing BEFORE you install SP2. But the problem is that only gets MU'd offered up to you AFTER you install SP2. At that point in time there is a chance (especially with ISA on the box and broadcom nics) that you'll lose RDP/VPN. So I'm sticking with my recommendations from before.... SP2 RSS/Checksum/TCP fix up now on Microsoft update - E-Bitz - SBS MVP the Official Blog of the SBS "Diva" ttfn David Technorati Tags: Service Packs , SP2 , SBS 2003 R2 , SBS 2003

I'm obviously in a little bit of a carefree mood as I am going to offer my personal opinion on one of the Internet greats. Google has built an amazing advertising business through search, but their company slogan of "Do no evil" seems to be more "deny any evil doing". Lets be honest, Google is a business, like any other who's primary aim is to live longer, grow bigger and feed shareholders. I have seen a few things that Google do that I don't like. I don't like them reading my e-mails, the meta data of the documents I have, my every browser move. These have been discussed by others many times before, but this week I have seen two storied that smacked of "sorry we got it wrong... its not our fault". I remember the reaction when I said sorry on the blog and it seems that a little bit of that humble pie is needed elsewhere (and more at Microsoft obviously). The two areas I am thinking about are their Checkout tool and their mapping tools. The Register, who I have had...

We already have suggested that this will be coming in the next version of SBS, so you might want to start playing around with this now. If you are an Action Pack subscriber you should be able to do this anyway. I thought these might be useful to you Download the 90-day Evaluation Software, read White Papers and more here... http://www.microsoft.com/systemcenter/sce/default.mspx Configuration management is becoming more important and while I don't expect the majority of the small business partner community to adopt this, some might be interested in how this can help them and make up their own mind. System Center Configuration Manager 2007 Beta 2 Product Feature Quizzes The System Center Configuration Manager 2007 User Assistance team has created a set of 7 quizzes to help you assess your understanding of the dependencies and requirements for key features of Configuration Manager. http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=b9fb478a-ec98-47f2-b31e-57443a8ae88f&DisplayLang=en Configuration Manager...

I seem to be being asked this a lot, so I thought I would pop up my simple answer: FrontPage has been both extended and then split into two products. We now have SharePoint Designer which is one child of FrontPage, but obviously ideally suited to modifying SharePoint (and OfficeLive) sites and then we have the “any type of web page editor” which is Expression Web. If you look at http://www.microsoft.com/products/expression/en/web_designer/fpwd_faq.mspx you will also see: How is Expression Web different from Microsoft Office FrontPage 2003? Expression Web builds on Microsoft Office FrontPage® 2003 technologies to provide an unprecedented level of support for creating standards-based Web sites. Valuable feedback from customers like you have helped us create a new product that fully supports Web standards such as Extensible Hypertext Markup Language (XHTML), cascading style sheets (CSS), and Extensible Markup Language (XML). If you are familiar with FrontPage, then you will find Expression Web easy to use. Expression...

I saw this on the Small Business site in the US and thought it was an excellent tool as to what has changed between the versions of Office from XP through to Office 2007. Simply go to http://www.microsoft.com/smallbusiness/products/wowpc/CompareOffice.aspx and click out the tabs to get the details. Ttfn David Technorati Tags: Office System , Office 2007 , Office 2003 , Office XP , Comparison , Small Business

I saw this and thought I would post here. Microsoft Windows PowerShell 1.0 review Is Microsoft’s new tool a power shell or an egg shell? By David Cartwright, techworld List price:Free Pros: Brings Windows scripting into the .NET era, allowing you to do far more than you could with VBScript. Cons: The syntax will take you some getting used to – an IntelliSense equivalent would be a nice touch. Buying advice: Getting PowerShell is a no-brainer. It’s a no-cost scripting tool that you’ll find a use for before long, so it makes sense to get a copy now and get to grips with it a bit before you have to start using it in anger. "If you’re used to DOS batch files, VBScript scripts or Unix shell scripts, you’ll find this experience next to useless when trying to get to grips with PowerShell. The syntax is like nothing I’ve ever come across (and I’ve used all three of the above extensively)" "This said, it’s not the hardest thing in the world to get used to. It’s just a case of learning the keywords and, most...

I saw this and having had a few people who could not order, or have not ordered yet, this is about as loud as I can make it!!! From The Official SBS Blog : Upgrading Existing Microsoft Windows Small Business Server 2003 (SBS) Installations to SBS 2003 SP1 - GET IT BEFORE THE END OF 2007 OR DON'T GET ISA 2004!!! SBS 2003 Premium customers may order an SP1 Premium CD3 which contains the ISA 2004 technologies. The site above has direct links for ordering: North America: Order your Premium Edition CD3 online . If you encounter problems during your ordering process, please contact a customer service representative at 1-800-360-7561. Europe/Middle East/Africa: Order your Premium Edition CD3 online . If you encounter problems during your ordering process, please contact a customer service representative at [email protected] . ttfn David Technorati tags: SBS 2003 SP1

Microsoft Office Interactive Developer Map The Microsoft Office Interactive Developer Map is a Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF) application that helps developers visualize the different programs, servers, services, and tools that will help them build solutions. It allows them to drill down to each product and technology and learn about new features, objects, Web services, namespaces, and schemas required to extend Microsoft Office and build custom Office Business Applications (OBAs) . Source: Interactive Developer Map I have a look at this and was quite impressed with the list of resources available to you. For example - look at the link below - it is the Office Live drill down - look at all the places to get information - I checked - the sites are good! ttfn David

This is beta number two from the Live team today - Windows Live Mail. My family now use it to access our Window Live Hotmail and other e-mail accounts. Anyway, for all the gossip, hop over to their blog at Windows Live Mail . Below is what has changed (well, in fact this is less that what has changed as there is so much goodness - go to the blog to get more information) Click here to get the latest build! Here are the build specifics... Build #: 12.0.1184.0517 (just refer to it as build 1184); Languages available: English, German, Spanish, French, Japanese, Chinese What’s New? Setup It’s much faster than it was in the past. Shortcuts for Windows Mail and OE will be replaced by WL Mail shortcuts. New Windows Live location in the Start Menu. Sign-In Auto-configuration of your accounts. Windows Live ID (formerly known as Passport…) signin not required. Migration of your old accounts. Now you’re in! Sleek new frame Improved shortcut buttons Compact View for folders No more visual advertisements Updates to the compose...

Promote your business online The Microsoft Resource Directory, listing all Microsoft partners, will be retired on 14 June, when all traffic will be redirected to the increasingly popular Solution Finder tool. This is where existing and potential customers can search for partners who offer the specific business solutions they are looking for. To be included in this partner listing, and to help increase your sale leads at no additional cost, you need to ensure your business offerings are entered in our Solutions Profiler tool. This is a great opportunity to promote your business online and it takes just a few minutes to profile your solutions. I saw this and somehow figured that a few people might need a little prompting. I have written on how easy it is to add a solution using solution finder here . ttfn David Technorati Tags: Solution Finder , Partners [updated @ 2:20pm to fix access error]