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  • Personal Well Done - Nigel Fennell is now in the world top ten

    I have to shout about this, Nigel who lived just down the road "popped" off to Calgary a couple of weeks ago to compete in the World Championships Blacksmiths . This competition is hard work - doing something most of us computer people never really experience - lifting a heavy hammer and beating red hot iron into the shapes required (horse shoes and many others) over a blisteringly hot fire for hours on end. I'm not saying that we don't work hard, but this is physical endurance that you should not have to experience when installing SBS!!! Anyway, so off went this Brit, where the end result out by a 3 mm would mean disqualification, and beat his way through many rounds to be ranked number 10 in the world!!!!! I've seen the work Nigel does, from special shoes for lame horses to sausages on a BBQ and the result is always perfect. His achievements managed to make BBC news - http://www.bbc.co.uk/mediaselector/check/player/nol/newsid_6290000/newsid_6293700?redirect=6293726.stm&news=1&bbram...
    Posted to David Overton's Blog by David Overton on Wed, Jul 11 2007
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  • VoIP and Unified Communications may be the future, but it has plenty of pitfalls for networks, phone systems and vendors alike

    In many ways I am a traditionalist. I wasn't the 1st to embrace the UC/VoIP and I have to admit that my personal commercial foray into this has so far left me turning off this technology as the sound quality was not there. Apparently my 20mb/768kb line is not good enough with my website on the same line :-( So that is me, but what about others. Information Week showed that network congestion is a growing problem - most of us don't carefully budget network traffic and while we are aware of "slow" internet connections etc, the impact on internal and external network connection is sometime something left to experimentation rather than science. A survey of 576 unified communications users found that 75% said one-quarter of their network traffic in the last three months consisted of UC applications like VoIP, unified messaging, and instant messaging. The survey was conducted by Network General Corp., which polled its worldwide customers. "The ramp-up in unified communications is already taking...
    Posted to David Overton's Blog by David Overton on Tue, Sep 11 2007

  • What is going on in the world of Windows Live Ideas - IM, chat and web

    You can see any Live areas you have access too by going to http://ideas.live.com You can now IM to Yahoo Messenger users. Try it | Learn more | View blog The Live.com site continues to be updated - there is just so much you can do to your home page. If you have not been here, have a go at http://www.live.com and see how much fun it can be. Try it | Learn more | View blog There are lots of things you can load onto your Live.com page, your toolbar, Live Messenger and more - the place to configure all this is the Gallery - http://gallery.live.com Of course, there is also: messenger.live.com toolbar.live.com ttfn David
    Posted to David Overton's Blog by David Overton on Tue, Aug 8 2006
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  • So you don't get Exchange 2007 in the Action Pack, but want to evaluate it

    Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 Now Available for Evaluation Make your evaluation period as efficient as possible: Downloading the software automatically registers you to receive relevant resources for the discovery, assessment and deployment stages. You'll receive links to webcasts, e-learning, virtual labs and more.
    Posted to David Overton's Blog by David Overton on Tue, Jan 23 2007

  • Nano-tech to use old mechanical designs to implement technology rather than simply copying silicon

    One of my University lecturers help at the London Science Museum to build the Babbage difference engine around twenty years ago. Engines like this which is very mechanical based are obviously simple ways to implement functions of modern cpus in nano technology. It was a a nice surprise to see the article " Antique engines inspire nano chip " where we see that this is progressing. “The blueprint for a tiny, ultra-robust mechanical computer has been outlined by US researchers. ”What we are proposing is a new type of computing architecture that is only based on nano-mechanical elements,” said Professor Robert Blick of the University of Wisconsin-Madison and one of the authors of the journal paper. “We are not going to compete with high-speed silicon, but where we are competitive is for all of those mundane applications where you need microprocessors which can be slow and cheap as well.” ttfn David Technorati Tags: Nano Technology , Babbage , Difference Engine
    Posted to David Overton's Blog by David Overton on Mon, Aug 13 2007
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  • IIS7 - the next generation of Web Servers from Microsoft in Windows Server 2008

    IIS7 is the web server in Windows Server 2008 and is not only already getting great press, but is already running Microsoft.com for us !! Once again, pinched from Technet. Administering IIS7 on Server Core Installations of Windows Server 2008 Posted 6/26/2007 3:34:00 PM As you may have seen from TechEd 2007 announcements and recent Bill Staples’ (IIS Product Unit Manager) blog, IIS7 is now supported on Server Core installation option of Windows Server 2008. We are hoping to address customer requests by offering lo ... http://blogs.iis.net/metegokt/archive/2007/06/26/administering-iis7-on-server-core-installations-of-windows-server-2008.aspx IIS7 on Server Core - June CTP build released! Posted 6/26/2007 3:06:00 PM I'm excited to announce that a new build of IIS7 and Windows 2008 Server is available for testing by Beta testers. This build includes updates and fixes made since the Beta 3 release earlier this year, and includes the previously announced IIS7 on Se ... http://blogs.iis.net/bills/archive/2007/06...
    Posted to David Overton's Blog by David Overton on Mon, Jul 9 2007

  • SBS vs Linux - don't take my work for it, listen to Vlad

    Linux... what an emotive word around Microsoft that is! I used to be a Unix/Linux boy, but there again, I used to be a Mainframe boy, and then a security boy... I have worn too many hats. I can see the things people like about all of these, but too often the discussion is religious rather than customer centre'd or factual. Howvever one more factual and yet spoken from the heart can be found at http://www.vladville.com/2006/06/sbs-vs-linux-the-response-from-email-battles.html Vlad tells it how he sees it. Rock on. ttfn David
    Posted to David Overton's Blog by David Overton on Mon, Jun 12 2006
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  • Silverlight, the UK PR company and Christmas greetings

    I'm enjoying the festive spirit at the moment - the home is well lit and I am officially off from work (officially because I still do a bit here and there). I'm off to the cinema with one of my daughters today and plan to spend some of the afternoon wrapping presents too. What more could one ask for? Well, how about Mason Zimbler writing their seasons greeting card in Silverlight? Well, if it was, then another of my Christmas wishes has been granted . It is quite nice to see a PR company taking the mickey out of themselves a bit, but they are British I suppose!! http://mason-zimbler.com/festivegreetings/ As always, enjoy the holidays David Technorati Tags: Silverlight , Christmas , Personal
    Posted to David Overton's Blog by David Overton on Mon, Dec 24 2007
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  • Windows Server 2008 - partner training resources specifically to help you get ready for the Server 2008 launch wave.

    I'm hoping that you have seen this elsewhere, but if not, here is a link worth remembering (well 2 - the UK ISV blog and the training links). Windows Server 2008 - partner training resources specifically to help you get ready for the Server 2008 launch wave. If you're planning how to migrate your application to support the Windows 2008 Server platform, read on...we have some training offers that will help you maximise your return on the launch activities happening through March. Windows Server 2008 Accelerated Learning Course – 6 Days Technical Training Windows Server 2008 Upgrade Skills & Certification. Academic, strategic and hands-on experience you need to successfully manage a network infrastructure on the latest Windows Server 2008 operating system. This course will allow you to upgrade your MCSE from Windows Server 2003 to Windows Server 2008, as well as completing three Microsoft Certified Technical Specialist Certifications. For the most up to date information on this training please visit...
    Posted to David Overton's Blog by David Overton on Wed, Mar 5 2008

  • Back from holiday, whats been hot in 2006

    A few people commented on my "on holiday" messenger tag line and said they felt better once things were "fair" and I was back in the office. Well I am back - and having done the inital cull, I am down to just 474 outstanding mails that need some form of attention. What did people spend time talking to me about in 2006: CRM - what it is, how to sell it, how to get training on it and why should customers care Windows SharePoint Services - to date the highest hit link on the blog site. How to configure, load, install, use, customise and then finally upgrade to v3 Licensing - This wss a strange one - historically, many small business partners have sold OEM or FPP only, but the discussion about what license when has really heated up with several partners now proving out the model that Open Value (and OV Subscription) are very useful sales tools as they help build a long term relationship with the customer, potentially reduce the up front cost of the solution and ensure your customer is always up to date on licenses...
    Posted to David Overton's Blog by David Overton on Tue, Jan 9 2007
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  • IIS Outserves Apache on Fortune 1000 Websites while ASP.NET Deployments Grow

    For those who think IIS is not good enough, safe enough, capable, used etc, then have a look at this article. It seems that now IIS accounts for more Fortune 1000 companies web sites than all the competition put together. If you are developing or recommending, it looks like more business opportunity exists in the IIS world than anywhere else. If you want to know a bit more about developing solutions, look at http://permalink.gmane.org/gmane.education.web4lib/10138 and Microsoft to Release Windows Server 2008 RCO, and for some IIS7 webcasts .. IIS7 Web casts IIS Outserves Apache on Fortune 1000 Websites while ASP.NET Deployments Grow Since 2003, Port80 Software has periodically surveyed the public sites of Fortune 1000 companies to determine their use of web and application hosting technologies. In a survey released in mid-August, the Microsoft Internet Information Services 6.0 Web server (IIS 6) gained 9.5 percent since August 2006 and passed IIS 5 to lead the survey for the first time, outserving the open source...
    Posted to David Overton's Blog by David Overton on Wed, Oct 10 2007

  • Windows Vista demos

    I saw these on the Windows Help site and thought I would post them - these are all short videos to introduce items in Vista Getting started Demo: Desktop basics Demo: Learning to use the mouse Demo: Understanding the parts of your computer Programs, files, and folders Demo: Working with programs Demo: Working with files and folders Demo: Printing Internet and e-mail Demo: Using the web Demo: Using Windows Mail Security and maintenance Demo: Security basics Demo: Understanding user accounts Help and support Demo: Diagnosing problems and getting help Source: Windows Vista demos
    Posted to David Overton's Blog by David Overton on Tue, Oct 17 2006

  • SQL 2005 - BI, Search, Samples, Tuning and Virtual Labs

    Extending Enterprise Search Capabilities to your BI Applications Quickly get up and running on the key concepts of delivering business intelligence search using features in Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 and SQL Server 2005. As an added bonus download the sample content below and walk through the process step-by-step with the whitepaper. http://www.microsoft.com/bi/resources/whitepapers.aspx http://download.microsoft.com/download/7/2/a/72ae11fe-564d-4756-a878-eccb2e0692d7/BI%20Search%20Technical%20White%20Paper.doc ETL Performance: Unisys and Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Speed Up the Process Unisys and Microsoft prove SQL Server 2005 supports 64-bit parallel processing and delivers high levels of Extraction, Transformation and Loading (ETL) performance on Unisys ES7000 servers. This white paper summarizes the results of collaborative testing between Microsoft and Unisys running ETL processes on Intel® Xeon® (32-bit) and Intel® Itanium® 2 (64-bit) based ES7000 servers. http://www.unisys.com/eprise/main/admin...
    Posted to David Overton's Blog by David Overton on Wed, Sep 19 2007

  • FSB (Federation of Small Businesses) workshop presentations (IT Management using Microsoft technologies and Sales and Marketing using Microsoft solutions)

    I recently delivered the following workshop at the FSB conference in Belfast and promised to upload these files as promised. Making the management of your IT easier using your Microsoft software and services Understand how standard Microsoft software and online services can solve many common IT headaches, including security, backup and management of your PCs and business policies. File can be downloaded from http://uksbsguy.com/files/FSB%20_%20IT%20Management.pptx Technologies : Windows Vista, Small Business Server 2003 R2, Office Live Improving your sales and marketing using Microsoft Software and Online Services? Many people want to get more from software, but often don’t know where to start. In this session we will go through a process to improve the consistency and look of your documents as well as demonstrate how to use the Office tools and online services to better manage your customer information, improve your marketing efforts both on and offline and close the loop in a marketing campaign to them. File...
    Posted to David Overton's Blog by David Overton on Sat, Mar 24 2007
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  • Get a Microsoft Certification - its easier and there is more on offer

    Why get Certifications? Customer satisfaction - Sixty-six percent of managers believe that certifications improve the level of service and support offered to customers. Revenue results - “Financially successful companies typically invest more in certifying their internal technical team.” Cushing Anderson, Vice President, IDC’s IT Education and Certification research. Project outcomes - High-level performance is achieved when 40% to 55% of a team are Microsoft Certified Professionals. Things that make getting a certification easier You can take advantage of partner-exclusive, training and certification offers available through Partner Skills Plus. These offers can benefit you by enabling you to become certified more quickly and do so at a savings. Here are some of the things I saw: Second Shot - pay for one exam at full price and get two chances to pass. Offer ends 30 th June 2008. IW Skills Accelerator – helping partners get skilled on the Office 2007 technologies. Offer ends 31 st July 2008. Start saving now...
    Posted to David Overton's Blog by David Overton on Mon, Jan 28 2008

  • Web Developers were just tooo smart for their own good - they got web pages to look just right in IE6 and didn't see Microsoft fixing the compatibility issues (or some of them) for IE7. Now IE8 has to clean up it's and others mess

    OK, so the title is mine, but you can see here how the defacto standard that was IE4/5/6 meant that people thought IE7 would live by the same rules. If you care about "standards based websites" then the IE team blog on compatibility is a must for you. Compatibility and IE8 In Dean’s recent Internet Explorer 8 and Acid2: A Milestone post, he highlighted our responsibility to deliver both interoperability (web pages working well across different browsers) and backwards compatibility (web pages working well across different versions of IE). We need to do both, so that IE8 continues to work with the billions of pages on the web today that already work in IE6 and IE7 but also makes the development of the next billion pages (in an interoperable way) much easier. Continuing Dean’s theme, I’d like to talk about some steps we are taking in IE8 to achieve these goals. I’ve been on the IE team for over a decade, and I’ve seen us apply the “Don’t Break the Web” rule in six different major versions of IE in different...
    Posted to David Overton's Blog by David Overton on Sun, Feb 3 2008

  • Don't e-mail me and then block me with your spam list

    I get lots of e-mail. I answer it all hours of the day and while I can be snappy sometimes (sorry Guy), I do try to get the right information out there. One thing that has caught me out a few times (especially when I am mailing from a train or while disconnected from a useful Internet connection) is that when I reply I get a message saying that my address is blocked, could I go and verify myself. I know this is a bit of a rant, but if you want me to reply, please go and put me into your system so I don't have to do this... pretty please, it just makes my life sooo much easier when I get hundreds of mails a day. thank-you David
    Posted to David Overton's Blog by David Overton on Thu, May 31 2007
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  • Will Halo 3 take over the world.... someone thinks so...

    http://www.loadingreadyrun.com/videos/view/228 Made me smile :-) ttfn David Technorati Tags: Halo 3 , fun
    Posted to David Overton's Blog by David Overton on Sat, Sep 29 2007
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  • SkyDrive (free online storage accessed via the web) goes to 5GB, comes out of beta, is available in 38 countries around the world

    I went to my skydrive today and noticed it was not 5GB, not 1GB and no longer beta. According to the official blog besides the things in the blog title it is also: This release also includes bug fixes and improvements to make the site even faster and more reliable . We’re proud of this release — so proud, in fact, that we’re officially removing the Beta tag ! The Windows Live wire blog said ( Windows Live Wire: Bigger, better, faster SkyDrive! ): Improvements to Windows Live SkyDrive , including 5 GB of free online storage , were released to the public today in 38 countries or regions around the world! SkyDrive provides free, password-protected online file storage and sharing. It's a great way to make sure your files are available to you from any computer, without having to carry them around on a flash drive. I also find it really useful for sharing files that may be too big to send in e-mail. It's dead simple to use, so go ahead and try it out . New in this release: Free online storage is increasing from...
    Posted to David Overton's Blog by David Overton on Fri, Feb 22 2008
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  • Worldwide Partner Conference - WPC in Denver - Small Business Symposium and more

    I'm not there, so can't tell you what they said, but I can point to others who have and point you to their blogs: WWPC PreDay Recap MAPS Training Requirement for MAPS WWPC Cougar WWPC Small Business Symposium WPC Small Biz Symposium Kicks Booty At the Small Business Symposium http://www.iqubed.biz/blog/2007/07/04/countdown-to-microsoft-wwpc-07/ ttfn David Technorati Tags: SBSC , WPC , Partner Conference
    Posted to David Overton's Blog by David Overton on Tue, Jul 10 2007

  • If you want to see what imaging, pictures, photosynth or Microsoft Research are doing in this space - go look at this video

    http://www.clipaday.com/videos/ridiculous-image-technology-coming You will see Sea dragon, PhotoSynth and see more. I rate this 10/10!! ttfn David Technorati Tags: PhotoSynth , Seadragon , Microsoft , Research
    Posted to David Overton's Blog by David Overton on Mon, Jun 11 2007
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  • Vista and Office roadmap changes

    Hi, many of you may have seen me present Vista and Office at recent events and I thought it was only fair that I updated you on the changes that have been annoucned over the past few days. Two press releases have been made, both confirming the ship and launch plans for the products, which now falls before and after January. http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2006/mar06/03-24OfficeTimingPR.mspx covers the Office plan and annoucnes that the product with RTM in October and a release to Software Assurance customers will happen pre-Christmas and an aligned launch with Vista will happend in January. http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2006/mar06/03-21WindowsVistaDeliveryPR.mspx states pretty much the same, with Software Assurance customers getting access pre-Christmas and the launch (obviously as it is joint), in January. This is being described in the press releases as a business and consumer launch, but since many small business customers do not have Software Assurance, they will be in the January group...
    Posted to David Overton's Blog by David Overton on Fri, Mar 24 2006

  • Windows Server 2008 (Longhorn) webcasts for this month

    Events/WebCasts Windows Server 2008: Maximize Protection, Control, and Flexibility Watch these on-demand webcasts and learn how you can capitalize on new features to improve your organization's networking infrastructure, security, server performance, and reliability. Also, test drive Windows Server 2008 in a virtual lab and download the latest audio podcasts. http://go.microsoft.com/?linkid=7043006 TechNet Radio: Review of Server Management in Windows Server 2008 Listen in as Andrew Mason (Principle Program Manager for Server Core), Jeffrey Snover (Architect for PowerShell), and Eduardo Melo (Program Manager for Server Manager) discuss the role of Server Management in Windows Server 2008. Each will briefly discuss some of the new features of Server Core, PowerShell, and Server Manager. We also talk with Jeff Woolsey about the latest updates in Virtualization. http://go.microsoft.com/?linkid=7043008 TechNet Webcast: Technical Overview of Active Directory Domain Services in Windows Server 2008 (Level 300) Monday...
    Posted to David Overton's Blog by David Overton on Wed, Jul 4 2007

  • Happy Christmas from Microsoft UK and me (ok, so it says Seasons Greetings, but I think we all can take it to be something about having a nice break if you choose to celebrate it)

    The card itself can be found at the site http://www.seasonal-greetings.com/ , but since this is a nice little Silverlight card I thought I would try my hand at embedding it too, so below is an embedded version of the card. If this gives you problems, let me know. If you feel inclined you can click the NSPCC link and think about how to support them (I do, but so could you) [updated to change Silverlight embedded card to a link since this is now post Christmas] ttfn David Technorati Tags: Seasons Greatings , Happy Christmas , NSPCC , Microsoft
    Posted to David Overton's Blog by David Overton on Wed, Dec 19 2007

  • 1st short coverage of the WAIK (Windows Automated Installation Kit)

    Windows Automated Installation Kit (WAIK) User's Guide for Windows Vista The WAIK is designed to help OEMs, system builders and corporate IT professionals deploy Windows onto new hardware. The kit is a new set of deployment tools for Windows Vista. Download this guide to get the current methods, tools, and requirements for deploying Windows. Technorati tags: Vista , Windows Vista , WAIK , Windows Automated Instakkation Kit , Deployment
    Posted to David Overton's Blog by David Overton on Sun, Feb 11 2007
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