Profile

Quite a bit has been written about Microsoft's decision to create an add-on for Windows 7 to address one of Vista's most serious shortcomings - application …

Since the turn of the decade or so, it's been regularly reported that every year will be the year during which Linux finally breaks out of its box and gains a major foothold at the desktop level.

…

Over the past couple of days, Microsoft has indicated that they will and will not be providing a public beta for the upcoming Office 2010 suite.  Is this an example of a misinformed public relations person at Microsoft spouting misinformation, an example of the left hand not knowing what the right hand is doing, another backtrack on Microsoft's part, or just a simple mistake?

…

The Internets are running wild with rumors that some kind of deal between Microsoft and Yahoo appears to be back in the cards.  It doesn’t appear this time around that we’ll end up with a combined “Microhoo” or “Yahcrosoft” but that the partnership could be instead based around a search and advertising deal intended to take on Google.  Apparently, the two companies are coming to understand the concept of “a rising tide lifts all ships” and CEOs Balmer and Bartz have apparently even met face to face to discuss options.

As has been proven time and again, Microsoft …

>p>Although Windows 7 isn't released yet, I expect it to be a much larger success than Windows Vista.  I even expect it to be as solid and popular as the venerable Windows XP.  When it comes to their handling of the development process for Windows 7, it's blatantly apparent that Microsoft learned a host of lessons from their time developing Windows Vista. This time around, they did it …

As a CIO, I get a ton of sales calls from vendors promising massive savings if I “just give them the opportunity.”  In most cases, that’s as far as a vendor gets unless he has a really, really compelling story.  A few weeks ago, I was a little wary when one of my colleagues asked that I speak with a local vendor about a device that could save us a ton of money.  Out of respect for my colleague, I set up the meeting.

Imagine my surprise when a local guy based in …

I'll start by saying that I'm an Outlook-lover... at work.  When it comes to using Outlook on a non-Exchange environment, I've learned how to be very, very frustrated.  Between constantly corrupted PST files and a mass of other issues, I finally ditched Outlook at home for good and move to something else - Windows Live Mail.

Before I took that leap, I looked at a number …

For years, fans have told us that Macs are easier to use, result in less tech support, are more stable and have fewer virus issues than their Windows counterparts.  As such, some people believe, Macs should be the logical first choice when it comes to an enterprise deployment, especially since they can run Windows software.  I've worked in organizations with people who were very pro-Apple who pushed very hard to expand the Mac presence in the organization based on the reasoning above.

Although Macs do have their place, there are …

In the marketing world, new phrases are constantly created to sell products and services.  Sometimes, the word or phrases are clear and concise and other times, as is the case with cloud computing, the phrase may be concise, but it is far from clear.  With cloud computing (and virtualization & Windows 7 & etc) all the rage these days, the concept is continuing to make its way into businesses everywhere.  However, there are still organizations out there that do not know what cloud computing means to them which also means that they don’t know whether or not cloud computing could be good for the bottom line.  In this post, I’ll explain the relatively non-technical basics behind the concept of cloud computing and explain why services “in the cloud” can result in a healthier bottom line for business.

Cloud computing: A definition

According to …

Going green is all the rage for a lot of reasons.  Although some of this green talk is hype, a lot of it is the real deal.  There are a number of things that you can do in your business to easily and cheaply jump on the green bandwagon and saving your organization a few dollars at the same time you help reduce your impact on the planet.

…

Hundreds, if not thousands, of articles have been written describing how poorly Windows Vista fits in the enterprise space.  After Forrester recently reported that Vista's business penetration is still in the single digits at 9%, we can officially call Windows Vista an utter failure in business.  Of course, the same report also indicates that 2009 will see Vista business penetration surpassing 30% as sales of the operating system surge; that outlook seems a bit optimistic.  Currently, 81% of businesses use either Windows 2000 or Windows XP as their operating system of choice.  Remember, Vista first become generally available in late 2006, so we're looking at more than two years for organizations to consider their Vista plans and we're still seeing single digits.

I'm the furthest things you'll find from a …

If you've been in the technology field for any length of time, you've probably learned that the jobs in the field aren't exactly of the nine to five variety.  These positions can consume you and take over your life, leaving little for anyone else.  In these hard economic times, little things can go a long way toward helping you keep your sanity as your employer asks you for more and more.  What can you do to have a life while, at the same time, meet the needs of your company?

I'll be the first one to admit that I tend to …

Next week, I’m heading to a land far, far away to do some consulting work having to do with a specific Microsoft product.  While I am versed in the product, I still have much to learn and didn’t want to waste my time on the plane; I wanted to be able to simply read Microsoft’s TechNet pages as a refresher.  As you know, an Internet connection from a plane is a no-no in most places, so this was a non-starter.  Sure, I could have downloaded or printed each and every page related to the technology in question, but this would have taken an inordinate amount of time and wasted a whole ton of paper.

So, I started looking around and came across …

As organizations continue to struggle with the down economy, “doing more with less” is a phrase becoming more and more common in the halls of IT.  IT managers continue to look for ways to reduce expenditures while maintaining reasonable service levels in order to put scarce resources more directly into initiatives to help sustain and, if possible, grow the company.

…

The ads are everywhere these days – switch to the Mac for a safer, more stable computing experience.  Many people have taken the plunge; some people have done so due to Vista frustrations while others have done so based on promises of less frustrating computer time.  Personally, I use both a Mac (a MacBook laptop) and two Windows desktops (both Dell Precision workstations – one at home and one at the office.  I will admit that I’m much more inclined to use Windows and started using the MacBook a few months ago in order to better familiarize myself with the platform.  About twenty of our sixty or so faculty at Westminster College use Macintosh computers so my staff and I need to get up to speed.  So, I decided to lead my example and at least start to incorporate Mac OS X into my daily routine; believe it or not, I do use my MacBook at some point every single day, so I am getting a workout.

However, even when I’m in “Mac …

Although it's a very good product, there is continuing user resistance when it comes to making the move to Microsoft Office 2007. Office 2007's brand new interface, a radical departure from previous versions, introduces serious user training issues into the upgrade project. Once the initial shock of the new interface wears off and people begin to use it, the new interface is actually pretty good. Personally, I've found myself lately switching back and forth between Word 2003 and Word 2007 and I much prefer the Office 2007 interface. Of course, I've used Office 2007 since it was in beta so I've had a very long time to adjust to the new system.

…

With the exception of the use of flash-based removable drives, the days of portable storage in the enterprise are numbered. Sure, there are still plenty of CD- and DVD-based products in use out there. Most CIOs jettisoned the floppy drive from corporate computers years ago, but most systems still include CD or DVD drives. That said, it's easier to get along without even a CD/DVD drive these days. A lot of software used in the enterprise space is available in electronic format and is downloadable in the form of ISO images. An ISO image is a disk-based representation of a CD or DVD. In fact, ISO files can be burned to a blank CD or DVD which can then be used just like the original disc. You don't have to burn an ISO file to a disc to make use of the contents of the ISO file, though. There are a number of utilities out there that allow you to create virtual CD/DVD drives on your computer. You can then "insert" an ISO file into one of these virtual drives and make use of the drive just as if you had inserted an actual physical disc. In fact, this virtual drive even shows up in My Computer as a CD/DVD drive and works just like a physical drive. If you eject the disc from this virtual device, the disc actually ejects; that is, the software dismounts the ISO image behind the scenes, which is the same thing as ejecting the disc. Here is a list of a few different pieces of ISO-mounting/virtual CD-DVD drive software I've used along with some note about each.  Note that this is far from an exhaustive list of options out there.  If you've successfully (or unsuccessfully!) used a different tool, tell us about it in the comment section.

…

Recently, as I was perusing the latest postings to one of the many listservs to which I'm subscribed, I came across a comment that I found interesting.  In it, the poster – a database administrator – was asking a question related to how a virtual machine handles network connectivity.  In his message, the poster indicated that his understanding of VMware leads him to believe that a virtual machine running under VMware uses a different IP address than the rest of the network and, as a result, he was questioning how he should go about poking an appropriate hole in his firewall to allow outside traffic to this VM.

His query made me realize that, although …

Last week, we upgraded our ERP at Westminster College, the college at which I am the CIO.  At the same time, we moved from SQL Server 2000 to SQL Server 2005.  For the past week, our DBA has been taking manual backups of the database while our network person, who handles long-term backup, was busy with other priorities.  Unfortunately, we did not realize that the log files were growing out of control.  Our 16GB ERP database had just over 100GB of associated log files, successfully filling up the disk volume on which they were stored.

Of course, all of this happened on the same …