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January 2007 - David Overton's Blog
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  • SBSC (Small Business Specialist Community) has a little chat about what is coming up on Partner TV

    Do you know Robbie? Have you met him, if so, then you will feel justa little sorry for Aileen in this short film (possibly up for a Bafta) staring the two of them. I did record one, but alas, like many things I do, it ended up on the cutting room floor!! Jog along to Partner-TV: Small Business Specialist Competency for a little glimpse of stardom in action and find out what is coming your way. ttfn David

  • Microsoft announces Home Server - ever want something like SBS, but targeted at home users with home user functionality (i.e. no Exchange, but wizards and tools around storage and media, sharing etc)

    Finally Microsoft will deliver you a server that sits at home, is ideally suited for everyone in the house to use. It could even find itself into really small businesses in combination with Offie Live (backup and central monitoring provided by Home Server and e-mail, calendar, domain etc provided by Live). So what is it, well, think SBS, remove Exchange, SQL and ISA, update the wizards and remote access to be applicable for data sharing and a home network (but still keep them), then add some cool features like adding new disks the existing sharing volumes so exapansion is simply slotting in a new disk. This is Quattro, or Q or Home Server and the beta is coming soon too!! As is always, several people already blogged on it and gave some great links, but go check out the following: The Press Release Susan bradley's tour de force and more Official SBS, Centro & Home Server Blog 2nd Blog Susanne's hardware find and link to the marketing site and finally, even Vlad wanted one !! Now there are a few people who say...

  • Office Live is here for testing in the UK

    I am cheating as this artwork is all from the Office Live Website. You can go and claim your own domain and web site for free by going to http://office.microsoft.com/en-GB/officelive/default.aspx . This is an amazing solution for those customers who are too small for SBS or want as much as possible off premise, or want hosted solutions, but don't want full Exchange. Have a go!! ttfn David FREE Attract new customers Get started on the Web for FREE Create a professional Web site Learn more FREE Sign up now FREE .co.uk domain name for the first 10,000 UK customers Compare services Generate repeat business Create a professional Web site Organise your customer information online Share documents with online Workspaces Learn more Free during Beta Sign up now FREE .co.uk domain name for the first 10,000 UK customers Essentials = FREE during Beta, then £11.95 per month * * price excludes VAT Stay on top of your business Create a professional Web site Manage your projects and tasks Organise your customer information online...
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  • London SMB IT Pros group meeting - Monday January 15th

    Hello peeps, I just saw this mail from Ian remind people that the next London group meeting is tomorrow (today if you are reading this on Monday morning). The special thing to note about this meeting is that it is no longer at the Microsoft location in London, but a nice drinking and meeting establishment that most regulars to the meeting will know of :-) Anyway, details etc below: Just to remind you that the next meeting of the London SMB IT Pros group is MONDAY night 15th January at the Sun & 13 Cantons, 21 Great Pulteney St, London, W1F 9NG, just up the road from the Microsoft Offices. A map and a few more details can be found on the following map: http://maps.live.com/?v=2&cid=174788104E27AD26!188 Three things on the agenda this month. The first is "Virtualisation: benefits, pitfalls and business benefits". Vin Jauhal & Steve Foster have both recently done Virtual Server-based projects for their clients and will be sharing their experiences from these to help us all understand the pros and cons...

  • Its a sad day, but Vlad no longer runs his business on SBS - well, maybe not sad as he still runs lots of SBS businesses and he has grown beyond his SBS server

    They said it could happen, but no-one believed them. Could and would people out-grow SBS? Well the answer is yes, people do - we see sales of the transition pack going through the system so we know it happens :-) Did Vlad use the transition pack - it sounds unlikely as he has lost his wizards, which you do get to keep (but no guarantees about the scalability of them). For more information on the Transition Pack (which saves you money moving to non-SBS editions) have a look here . For Vlads post on leaving the SBS fraternity, go here . Whilst we are on the subject, congratulations to Vlad for getting his 2nd MVP award too. Well done - perhaps this was an indication that you were always going to outgrown SBS :-) For other information on the Transition Pack, have a look at http://search.live.com/results.aspx?q=sbs+transition+pack ttfn David

  • 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.

  • 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...
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  • Get the Application Compatibility Toolkit to ensure applications will work with Vista

    So you have Vista, not how do you make sure you applications will run? Use this toolkit (which will also sort out things for Windows XP SP2 too: Are Your Existing Applications Compatible with Your New Windows Operating System? Use the Microsoft Application Compatibility Toolkit and additional application compatibility resources to find out if your applications are compatible with Windows Vista or Windows XP Service Pack 2. ttfn David Technorati tags: vista , microsoft , small business

  • The SBS Diva spots why your workstations (and sometimes your SBS servers) are spiking at 100% CPU this month after the patches (yes, it is the Update services)

    Updated 08:07am 12th January - the blog title used to suggest this was a server issue - Susan pointed out that this is a client / workstation issue much more I had to blog this one - if you are seeing CPU spiking when patches are being installed, go look at http://msmvps.com/blogs/bradley/archive/2007/01/10/on-patch-tuesday-if-you-are-seeing-a-spike-in-cpu.aspx ttfn David

  • SQL 2005 Events in UK from Technet team and others

    SQL Server 24 April 2007, Manchester: Introduction to SQL Server 2005 Reporting Services At this event we'll look at SQL Server 2005 Business Intelligence and the components and features that make up the Reporting Services platform. At the end of the session you should be able to create and publish reports to enhance your organisation's business knowledge. 31 May 2007, Reading: Advanced SQL Server 2005 Reporting Services Find out about the advanced techniques for building reports with Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Reporting Services and the Microsoft Visual Studio-based Report Designer. Other topics at this event include using the built-in expression language, report parameterisation and supporting multiple data sources. Receive a walk-through of sample reports and discover tips and tricks for using the Report Definition Language (RDL).

  • Vista Webcasts US and on-demand

    Live Webcasts Microsoft Webcast: Maintaining Windows Vista Wednesday, January 24, 2007 11:00 A.M.–12:00 P.M. Pacific Time On-Demand Webcasts New Microsoft Webcast: Best Practices for Deploying Windows Vista Original Air Date: January 18, 2007 Microsoft Webcast: Get a Head Start on Windows Vista Original Air Date: June 23, 2006 Microsoft Webcast: Introduction to Windows Vista Original Air Date: October 4, 2006 Microsoft Webcast: Optimizing Your infrastructure with Windows Vista, Exchange Server 2007 and the 2007 Office system Original Air Date: November 8, 2006 Microsoft Webcast: Planning a Successful Windows Vista Implementation Original Air Date: December 6, 2006 Source: IT Manager Connections: Build Business and Careers on the Microsoft Platform

  • Vista Events in UK from Technet team and others

    Windows 14 - 15 March 2007, Reading: TechNet Brings You a Two-Day Seminar in Association with John Craddock Hear real world experience from leading technical experts with a flair for presenting deep technical content in an engaging and informative style. John Craddock and Sally Storey are IT systems specialists who have designed and implemented computing systems, from embedded high-speed industrial controllers to distributed IT solutions. (This is a chargeable event, for which there is a registration fee of £360 +VAT) Windows Vista 31 January 2007, London: Windows Vista System Integrity Technologies Historically, operating systems have lived in their own little bubbles of trust. Every part of an operating system assumed that every other part was exactly what it claimed to be and performed only what it claimed it could do. Recent attacks, though, have shown that such implicit trust is no longer suitable for computers that connect to hostile environments. In this session, Steve Lamb introduces the security features...

  • How the iPhone is changing the perception of Apple

    I think Apple can do some amazing things with hardware and making some categories exceptionally sexy (can you remember MP3 players before the iPod) is one of their core talents. This has led to a large following who "ooh" and "ahh" after almost anything Apple make from a keen almost religious following. I then saw the iPhone and was amazed by the number of people who said "wow, all that in one device - why hasn't anyone else thought of this" - I almost spilt my cornflakes - this is not a new. Then there was the "what a nice device" - I like to feel my buttons, so nope, this, along with a whole host of other phones like it is not for me. Is the styling great... well, each to their own. I think Vlad summarised it well with the iMeToo , but for some people, all the previous messaging about phones has not hit the mark and the iPhone might just be what some people need to move on their thinking as to what a device might do for them. Vijay links to seth's blog on this very subject at http://www.iqubed.biz/blog/?p=193...
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  • Office 2007 Webcasts (US and on-demand recorded)

    Many of these are focused on much larger customers, but if you want to have a peek, do so. ttfn David Live Webcasts Microsoft Webcast: Building Composite Applications Using the 2007 Office System Thursday, January 25, 2007 11:00 A.M.–12:00 P.M. Pacific Time Microsoft Webcast: Deploying the 2007 Office System Wednesday, January 31, 2007 11:00 A.M.–12:00 P.M. Pacific Time Microsoft Webcast: Overview and Demonstration of myBI Thursday, February 1, 2007 11:00 A.M.–12:00 P.M. Pacific Time Microsoft Webcast: Deploying Exchange Server 2007 Thursday, February 8, 2007 11:00 A.M.–12:00 P.M. Pacific Time Microsoft Webcast: Improve Productivity and Communication Using Office SharePoint Server 2007 (Level 100) Thursday, February 22, 2007 11:00 A.M.–12:00 P.M. Pacific Time On-Demand Webcasts Microsoft Webcast: Introducing Exchange Server 2007, the Next Generation Messaging Platform from Microsoft Original Air Date: October 25, 2006 Customer Rating: Microsoft Webcast: Optimizing ROI with the Microsoft Branch Office Infrastructure...

  • Vista Versions Joke

    This is a little dig at the versions of Vista available (luckily they missed out Mandated Euro "N" versions). This comes from John on the UKSBSG Yahoo Groups. Of course, at the end, once the 30th Jan is up, then it would be Windows Vista Ultimate Edition ;-) ttfn David

  • How Microsoft UK deployed Windows Vista and Office 2007

    Partner TV has been busy recently, with this discussion about Microsoft UK's own deployment of Vista and Office 2007 . An except from the site says: James Senior talks to Asif Jinnah, the Senior IT manager for Microsoft UK, about the internal deployment of Vista and Office 2007. Asif also talks about best practices using Microsoft tools and services to help with deploying images (for example Windows Deployment Services Windows Desktop Search and System Management Server [SMS]). Asif was previously part of the team responsible for launching the “Microsoft Deployment Centre of Excellence” (CoE) in the UK to educate partners and customers on how best to deploy operating systems. To learn more, click the link above - the video is only 11 minutes long. ttfn David

  • installing sbs and other documents you should always have a recap of

    None of this is necessarily new information, but since many of the questions I get asked about on the blog site relate to documentation, here are my links to save from Microsoft on SBS. When people ask me "How do I ...." and then anything from install WSS v3 without frying the box to install SBS to in an existing domain. For starters I ask people to look at this link here for all the important docs. http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/sbs/2003/default.mspx Sometimes the search only throws up R2 versions of docs and I think the SP1 versions are still good, especially for the setup, installation and migration scenarios: http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/sbs/2003/plan/gsg/chptr3c.mspx Have you ever had a backup fail, or achvesync or one of a miriad of other errors and wanted somewhere to look that was specific to SBS, then this link is for you http://download.microsoft.com/download/5/6/1/561c9fd7-0e27-4525-94ec-4d2d38f61aa3/TSHT_SBS.htm . It covers: Troubleshooting Server Setup Troubleshooting...

  • Design an IT Solution for Charity and get up to 15,000 pounds of software and hardware to make it a reality

    I went to the press launch for the UK Design IT competition at the Kinetica Museum of Art and Technology in London and saw some amazing things. However, the purpose of the evening was to share the successes of last years competition and ensure people were aware of this years. If you want to see one of the most curious mechanical pieces of art, have a look at this movie (filmed with a strobe light on) - http://uksbsguy.com/images/kinetica.mov Details are on the site at http://go.microsoft.com/?linkid=6084193 DesignIT Competition: An Innovative Way to Make a Difference If you dedicate time to a charity, this competition is a great opportunity for you to help even more. We are asking you to send us a system design that will improve the IT infrastructure of a charity of your choice. If you don't have a particular charity in mind, don't worry, as we have asked the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC), Leonard Cheshire and Global Action Plan to supply us with details of problems that require...

  • Need to install Windows Server 2003 admin tools on a Vista PC

    I knew this was not the easiest thing to do today, but good old Susan has blogged the links on what to do. Note, this should be followed carefully :-) ttfn David

  • So you like shortcuts - commands to quickly do things without resorting to the UI - have a look at how to do them here

    Ewan is a tall chap who used to work in the SE team (which was the team I joined in Microsoft) many years ago. He then went off and did some Exchange EMEA type roles and his skills were sorly missed. Well, he is back "in the UK" (he never left, but his heart was elsewhere). And this posting is beginning to cause a bit of a stir. http://blogs.technet.com/ewan/archive/2007/01/02/some-more-useful-windows-shortcuts.aspx My favourites are for quick keyboard things in Outlook: In Outlook, CTRL-2 switches to the Calendar, CTRL-3 to Contacts, and CTRL-1 back to Inbox. Handy if you're often flicking around to arrange a meeting with lots of people... Still in Outlook, when viewing the Calendar ALT-= switches to Month view, ALT- "-" (next to equals sign) switches to the week view, and ALT- number displays the number of days forward from the current date (eg ALT-9 will show 9 day view). Have a look to see what else he can teach you :-) ttfn David

  • Site Keeps on Growing, stats for last month had over 400,000 hits - thank-you

    I always hope this site is appreciated by people and so far, the statistics seems to show this. Here are the page hits results - they are now constantly updated at http://uksbsguy.com/stats.aspx Date RSS Feeds Web Hits Total Hits March 2006 2,802 15,700 18,502 April 2006 12,735 32,885 45,620 May 2006 21,366 62,321 83,687 June 2006 33,788 140,650 174,438 July 2006 43,263 140,947 184,210 August 2006 52,821 181,843 234,664 September 2006 65,643 186,650 252,293 October 2006 84,413 282,805 367,218 November 2006 84,301 266,947 351,248 December 2006 89,339 340,435 429,774 January 2007 52,334 171,492 223,826 Totals 542,805 1,822,675 2,365,480
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(c)David Overton 2006-23