September 2006 - David Overton's Blog

This one was a bit of a surprise to me, but my Dad, who is an IT Consultant phoned me up to explain that when he range business critical support for a customer down situation he was told that his registration had lapsed. He then had to go through a process to re-register before his call could be processed - and this all took valuable time. I put this down to my Dad's unique way of finding problems with systems, however the very next day I got a mail from another partner who hit exactly the same thing, so think of this as a warning, go give yourself the ability to call MS Support without them charging you when your customers are "down". To get more information and registration information (it is not a long process honest), go to Register for free- Business Critical Telephone Support for registration and http://www.microsoft.com/uk/partner/tech_support/b... for information. Once you are set up, you MUST note your Support ID - this is the magic that will make it work when you need it. ttfn David

http://blogs.msdn.com/microsoft_office_word/ ttfn David

Let customers have their say Do any of your customers hold strong opinions on Microsoft? We'd like to know how small businesses think we could communicate more effectively with them. Over the coming year we will be reviewing all our communication channels, ranging from bCentral, our small business portal, to our literature and advertising. Participants will be able to choose the level of involvement they prefer, whether it's just an email to us, or taking part in a full usability study of our web site. To register an interest in this programme please email Dan Stone or telephone 0118 9093911. ttfn David

I obviously work closely with small business partners and a thread at the SBSBPI.co.uk website got me thinking. The question that was asked is why is Windows XP, which has always been a great product, suddenly a "bad" product, so much so that people need to buy a new operating system, Windows Vista . To answer this, lets look at a few things - is Windows XP bad - nope, it is an excellent operating system, but it has a design that was delivered 5 years ago, with a major security overhaul with XP SP2. SP2 was a good security fix, but it still left the onus on the user to understand the risks they were taking. From a user interface point of view, people have got used the XP interface - well, except for you die hard folks who only use the classic interface, get with the program - use a mouse and the non-classic control panel - you know you can do it!! Windows XP is then supplemented by Defender, 3rd party anti-virus products, anti-spam, filters, toolbars, search and other powertoys to lift it to a "desirable"...

OK, so I think I said at http://uksbsguy.com/blogs/doverton/archive/2006/09... that this started today, but it in fact tomorrow. Line up still looks good! The Virtual Partner Conference goes live on 27 September 2006, with video sessions from key speakers within Microsoft and accredited external speakers. Here's a taste of what you can expect: Hear David James (Henley Management College) and Nigel Montgomery (AMR Research) talking about the UK market trends, the opportunity areas and how you can align your business to take full advantage. Listen to our plans for the coming year... in the areas you're interested in. We have video sessions with key speakers discussing our plans in each business area and what the opportunity is for you. Hear our plans for Vista and Office straight from the product managers themselves - along with demos of the new software to get you clued up. Get the latest information on the Partner Programme and find out how you can make the most of being a Microsoft Partner. And much more... Source...

11 September 2006, London: Windows Vista System Integrity Technologies Windows Vista will ship with several new system integrity technologies, including code integrity, secure start-up, service hardening, mandatory integrity control and Internet Explorer protected mode. In this session, Steve Lamb explores how these technologies work to thwart malware's attempts to take over your computer. 14 September 2006, Reading: What's New in Administering Vista? In this session, we will examine Group Policy functionality improvements that have been made with Windows Vista. We will describe the new and updated features and how these help to alleviate the problems that were present with previous versions of Windows. ttfn David

I saw this at the BBC web site and thought it was too good to miss - this is something businesses can easily make use of - another reason to have an internet connection!! Online postage service launched Online postage will cost the same as traditional stamps People are now able to buy their postage online, without any stamps, for the first time under a new free initiative from the Royal Mail. Source: BBC NEWS | Business | Online postage service launched

Most people do not run SQL on their Windows client PCs, with the exception of MSDE. Windows Vista will not support MSDE (aka SQL 2000), so applications dependant on SQL will need to be moved to SQL Express, which in simple terms is SQL 2005 MSDE on steroids. I have checked and Microsoft will be releasing updates to it's packages that are supported on Vista to move them to SQL Express. Obviously, if you are looking at Vista, check with other 3rd parties to ensure they are doing the same. More details can be found at Running SQL Server on "Microsoft Windows Server Longhorn" or Microsoft Windows Vista . ttfn David

This is just a very quick note to say that good old Sean has published a nice document on how to get SBS 2003 and the tools working with Vista RC1. For more info: SeanDaniel.com on SBS 2003 & other Tech-stuff: Looking to run Vista RC1 on SBS 2003? ttfn David

This little feature was hotly debated as to whether any legal action would occur when Microsoft shipped it, but the download is now on the web. details on where to download are below, but lets talk about the use of this in a business context. While some people have said this is a nice feature why should anyone really care about it. Well, lets this of the uses of PDFs (I know we could discuss XPS, but most people know PDF, so PDF it is). Anyway, PDFs are often documents sent out in "final" form, such as an invoice, contract, purchase order, etc. Many smaller organisations want to send out these final documents, but the only option for them was to send a word document or excel spreadsheet. While these are as universal as PDF in terms of people being able to read them, they could also change them which is bad for those documents that you don't want people to change. Enter the Save as PDF feature - now you can send them documents which without some out of the ordinary methods, are now read-only. To get the download...

The Tips and Tricks website is now up - includes demo scripts and will include webcasts etc. Today the content was: Check out these great downloadable guides that give you easy access to helpful tips & tricks for Windows Vista. Windows Vista Tip Sheet Windows Vista Top 10 Tips & Tricks Webcast schedule will be updated regularly. Microsoft Webcast: Be One of the First to See Tips & Tricks for Windows Vista This webcast will give you a first look at the great new features found in Windows Vista. A new user interface, great, new search and organize features, enhanced security, great tips on using Internet Explorer® 7, and easy, practical information and desktop tips that will make you more productive right away. Join us for this informative and fun webcast on the new Windows Vista operating system. Coming in October 2006—check back for registration. ttfn David

Ok, so I went to an internal presentation the other day on all the marketing tools available to you as a partner and I was amazed at them all. I have already blogged on some, such as solution profiler and campaign builder, but there are loads, and potentially even some cash to co-fund them (this is a sometimes, so don't beat me up if not all the time). The call to action was to spend just 15 minutes watching this video for gold and certified for more information as well as to bookmark www.Microsoft.com/UK/partner/marketing and attend the great marketing training that can be online or in a classroom. Go spend the time and get more from Microsoft, such as marketing materials to your door, routes to get to customers and other partners and skilling to make you more effective in this difficult area. ttfn David