October 2007 - Posts
If you've never seen a naked eye comet, although this one is nowhere near as spectacular as Hale Bopp a few years back, a clear autumn evening would be the perfect opportunity to take the kids out on a new adventure and introduce them to astronomy - or, if you're a big kid yourself like me, what better excuse to buy that pair of binoculars you've been eyeing up?
"A comet usually too faint to be seen with the naked eye has brightened by a factor of a million since Tuesday, suggesting its surface may have cracked open and expelled clouds of dust and gas. Astronomers are scrambling to observe the strange object, which is likely to fade in the coming days and weeks.
Comet 17P/Holmes, which orbits the Sun every seven years on a path that takes it from the distance of Jupiter's orbit to about twice that of Earth's, is usually 25,000 times too dim to be seen with the naked eye. But since 23 October 2007, it has brightened by a million times and now resembles a bright yellow tar."
Wikipedia has this very well documented: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/17P/Holmes
Calling all IT consultants who are qualified as Microsoft Small Business Specialists. Join the SBSC group on LinkedIn. This enables you to display your SBSC status on your LinkedIn public profile.
Membership requirements:
- Obviously you must actually have qualified to be a Microsoft Small Business Specialist. Your qualification must be current for whatever country you are in (in the UK we re-qualify annually). It's not enough for your company to be qualified, you personally must have passed the relevant exams.
- I reserve the right to delete members if I think their certification has expired or is bogus, or if I think it is justified for some other reason.
To join, please apply here and provide me with the following information:
- Your MCP ID so I can check you've really qualified.
- A URL where I can see the SBSC logo displayed for you or your company.
LinkedIn is offering the first million UK members to join a special celebratory group, so if you're a LinkedIn user, toddle off over there now and claim your 'First Million' badge.
So what is LinkedIn and why should you care? It is more useful than you might think...
Essentially, it is intended as an online business networking group. Invite people you know to join your network. You then have access to your direct network members and their network members, down to 3 degrees of separation. You can contact people in your network, give and receive endorsements for people you've worked with, download their contact details, ask them questions, advertise job vacancies and so on. Recently I needed to find someone to look at my car engine, I advertised that on LinkedIn and actually got a meaningful reply - amazing! The great strength of LinkedIn is that they've remembered that sometimes less is more. The noise level is zero. Only add people you know to your network. Only endorse people you've really worked with. You will never get any spam as a result of membership and LinkedIn just stays out of your way until you need it.
I find LinkedIn more useful than social networking sites like FaceBook because it helps me keep tabs on what my contacts are up to without having to waste time making endless smalltalk. LinkedIn is not about immediate communication, but maintaining relationships over a longer time period. When my contacts update their profiles, LinkedIn emails me periodically and lets me know what is happening in my network - only the people I'm actually interested in. It is a great tool for keeping up to date with your important contacts.
Finally, LinkedIn has produced an Outlook toolbar that has, among other things, an amazingly clever "grab" tool that allows you to quickly grab contact details from an email. Select the sender's signature block, click Grab and shazam! A new contact is created. It has an amazingly high success rate and clearly a lot of care has been taken. In fact, the LinkedIn toolbar for Outlook is a really well crafted piece of software and one of the best Office 2003/2007 add-ins I've seen. The toolbar has a neat dashboard and will help you keep your contact details up to date based on online updates from your network members. It will even tell you if you've forgotton to invite someone to join your network.
More on LinkedIn in a couple of days. Meanwhile, click the button here to view my LinkedIn profile, sign up yourself and invite me to join your network. LinkedIn is fast becoming the way to advertise your professional credentials online, using a link to your profile like the button here. It is very useful to be able to refer to professional colleagues by hyperlinking to their profile, where you can quickly see any endorsements they have received and who they know in common with you. If you are still on the fence, just try it. I don't often go out of my way to recommend a product or service, but I've found LinkedIn works well for me and I recommend it highly.
I was reading an article by David Overton, a Microsoft employee whose opinions I really respect. Of course, being a Microsoft employee he is always keen to play up the benefits of Microsoft's products, but I think he manages to do so in a fair and reasonable way and his comments are always rooted in his long experience in the IT industry working both within and outside of Microsoft.
David refers to this article by a senior eBay executive: "The vast majority of the threats we saw were rootkitted Linux boxes, which was rather startling. We expected Microsoft boxes".
When I was at University doing computer studies, before Linux was created and Unix was king of the hill, it was common knowledge that Unix was easily hackable. All the students at least knew of the existence of such hacks and those who were interested could actually demonstrate how to perform them.
I wonder if Linux is really all that different? With the hundreds of different packages that make up a Linux distribution, each from different sources having their own (or no) standards and practices, how can we rely on the security of such a system? I really wonder if Linux is inherently more secure than other systems, or whether it has simply hitherto enjoyed a sheltered life because it was not the easiest target. Worse still, perhaps Linux operators are just living in a false sense of security. The above article suggests that compromised Linux installations may be more common that expected and that the operators are simply unaware that there is a problem. How many Linux boxes have anti-malware detection software installed on them? Where is the defence-in-depth approach that Microsoft adopts? Where is the Secure Computing Initiative for Linux application development?
David also make the point - something already fairly well agreed upon in the small business IT community - that the attack vector is moving away from the OS and into the applications that sit on top of it. This is why a multilayer defence-in-depth strategy is needed. Are Linux developers relying too much on the core security services provided by the kernel? While Windows Vista is certainly not hack-proof, provided end users can be persuaded to leave User Account Control (UAC) enabled, I think hackers will focus on easier targets - the applications. This is why UAC is so critical if we are not to be compromised by our own applications. If there is a threat to Windows Vista, it is that Microsoft allowed UAC to be disabled and many end users, particularly home users, are turning it off to get around application compatibility issues. This is a great shame because most applications will work fine even with UAC enabled, if the correct compatibility options are applied. This is the biggest challenge with Windows Vista. In my opinion, UAC should never have been optional. All the while it is, developers and end users will take the easy option.
One final thought. The first virus I ever saw was back in about 1988. Not on Windows. It was nVir, on an Apple Macintosh. It was not until 2000 that I encountered my first Windows virus, just before Microsoft and its customers began reaping the benefits of its Secure Computing Initiative. I have not yet had any malware on my Windows Vista installations, despite the complete absence of antivirus software.
I'm getting a bit concerned about Microsoft's support for 64-bit operating systems. Just been talking to Vijay about Windows Live Writer and how it will not install on his Vista x64 system. Odd, since I am running it on my x64 system and typing this blog post with it. It turns out I am one beta behind the latest version. It looks like there is a new integrated installer for the Live suite which is not compatible with x64. Rather than make individual installers available for x64 users, Microsoft has just copped out and displays a message saying "Live applications can't be installed on this OS".
This follows hot on the heels of Groove 2007 not fully supporting 64-bit operating systems and Microsoft has made no commitment that I am aware of to remedy that situation.
I am starting to get very annoyed about this. Why did I spend extra to get 64-bit? By releasing Windows Vista in x86 and x64 versions in the same box, Microsoft sent me a clear message that 64-bit was supported and on an equal footing with 32-bit software.
Come on Microsoft, stop monkeying around. Are you going to support 64-bit or not? If not, then lets be up-front about it so we all know where we stand. Then we can all buy cheaper computers and I can stop telling people that 64-bit is mainstream. Please stop treating 64-bit as a second class operating system. x64 processors are becoming really common and you ought to be planning for that. You've released Vista x64, now please release products that work with it.
Meanwhile, if you want to run Windows LiveWriter on an x64 system, here is a hack that will enable you to do so, proving that the product is actually fine and that Microsoft simply chose not to support x64. BTW, I haven't tested this hack so caveat emptor.
With this track record, how can we have confidence to Migrate to Cougar (SBS 2008)? Are we to expect all the same shenanigans with that?
I saw Vijay's post on upgrading to Windows Vista x64 and I thought I'd post my own experiences as a counterpoint. I've been using Windows Vista Ultimate x64 for a couple of months now.
First, Vijay says he couldn't install Windows LiveWriter, whereas I am using it now to write this post on my x64 system, so it looks like mixed results there.
My number one peeve so far has been with Groove 2007 not supporting file sharing workspaces on x64 systems. Aside from that, I've been really pleased with how few problems I've had.
One area that seems to be troublesome is TAPI drivers. TAPI, or Telephony Application Program Interface is a technology used for interfacing to and controlling telephony devices. I've been experimenting with add-on TAPI drivers and service providers to interface to an Asterisk virtual PBX and all of them either fail to install or then don't work. I'm not sure why this particular class of software should be so badly affected. Most other things just seem to work without problems. All the other Office applications are fine as are the development tools I use.
Many people complain about performance problems and I think that Vista can be problematic on upgraded systems. I tried Vista on my tablet PC but had to take it off again. It ran like a dog. The tablet is not all that old and has 1.5Gb RAM and I suspect the bottleneck is the hard drive, which Windows pounds mercilessly. My brand new 64-bit desktop system is a whole different story and I have really not found any cause for complaint. I am running on a purpose-built dual core E6600 2.4GHz Core 2 Duo system with 2Gb of DDR2/667MHz SDRAM and SATA-II hard drive. The Windows Vista Performance Index is 4.8 with the limiting factor being memory bandwidth - something that I find quite surprising considering I've used good quality dual-channel memory. All of the components are top quality brands and WHQL certified so there have been no driver or hardware issues. I am just over the moon with the performance of this new system. Occasionally Windows Vista goes AWOL and there is a few seconds before I get control back, but that is not specific to 64-bit systems.
I continue to believe that Windows Vista needs to be done right on purpose-built hardware to get a reasonable experience. It was just a little bit too much ahead of its time, but with the wave of 64-bit multi-core processors now available, there is no reason why Windows Vista 64-bit computing can't become mainstream.
I was just reading Scott Hanselman's blog, where he was discussing the Windows Vista speech recognition. So I decided to try it for myself. Scott took a typing test, once using a keyboard and then again using speech recognition. I decided to use the same test as Scott. Here are my results.
The screen shot on the left here shows my results with the speech recognition. I weighed in at 118.1 words per minute, with an accuracy of 87.6%.
The right hand screen shot, using the keyboard (a Microsoft natural keyboard pro), I scored 38.7 words per minute, with an accuracy of 95.7%.
So, although I can type much faster using speech recognition, the accuracy of entry is poorer. Keep in mind that I have only just begun using speech recognition on this computer and further training and may improve the recognition accuracy. I suspect that by the time the necessary corrections had been carried out the speed of dictation using speech recognition may be approaching that achieved when using the keyboard. Nevertheless, it is certainly much easier on the fingers and wrists and if you suffer from a repetitive strain injury this may be a worthwhile tool for you to investigate. It is certainly great fun watching stuff appear on the computer screen in response to your voice.
Speech recognition in Windows Vista has progressed a long way beyond what was available in windows XP an office 2003. If you haven't tried it yet, you're in for a treat. Get yourself a reasonable quality headset with boom microphone and begin dictating your documents today. It has to be seen to be believed.
By the way, I dictated this entire blog post using speech recognition-of course!
There are three types of mathematicians. Those who can add up, and those who can't.
To see which type you are, open Microsoft Excel 2007 and type this formula:
=77.1*850
Now try the same thing on your pocket calculator or abacus.
[UPDATE 9 October] Microsoft has issued a hotfix that resolves this problem. Not bad, Microsoft. 5 days (from when I learned about the problem) to hotfix.
"To generalize is to be foolish" I always say. But in general, there are two types of employer. There are those who value their employees as an asset, pay them well and give them the best tools to do their jobs and develop themselves. Then there are those who employ mediocre people as cheaply as possible and try to screw as much out of them as possible before they get fed up and leave. I have worked for both in my time, but mainly I've been lucky enough to work for the former type of employer.
I was reading Vijay's article "Social Networking in Business" and I was reminded of a trend I've seen lately with IT people discovering ISA Server and instantly using it to block access to Facebook, or worse - all web access across most of the company. I can understand why this is tempting for business owners, but I think they fail to realize that they are undermining their company's morale at a stroke. If my employer did that to me, I would be spending my extra time on updating my CV! Using technology to try and stop employees doing 'non-work' activities is not likely to make the workforce more productive. I think more and more employers are coming to realize that home and work life intersect, they cannot be separated neatly into mutually exclusive time slots. The best way to get more productivity is to provide quality tools and ensure that employees have access to them at the moment they are feeling productive, whether this be at home in the bath, in a hotel room on the other side of the world or in the office at 3am. Of course, this is not possible for all types of work, but with a little bit of thought I think it is possible to achieve flexible working conditions for most office workers.
So if you are thinking about blocking Facebook or revoking internet access from your staff, search your soul and ask yourself whether you are treating a symptom or contributing to an underlying company illness.
TiGra Networks specializes in technology that supports flexible working. If you have three or more computers in your business, then talk to us about getting a Small Business Server and be prepared to have your eyes opened to some interesting possibilities.