Microsoft last week announced a 20 percent cut in the price of Office 365, which, if my high school math is correct, makes it Office 292. That just doesn't have the same ring.
Microsoft argues that increased volumes and better data center efficiency has cut its costs, which it is more than happy to pass along to the customer.
That is likely true. At the same time, Microsoft is in a war with Google Apps for Business, and a price cut should equal a market share boost.
Its price now ranges from $8 per user to a high of $22.
Earlier this month I published an article about Office 365 vs. Google Apps based entirely on the real-world experiences of you, the Redmond Report reader. Microsoft got the edge for more features, better manageability and less training, but Google won on price and was a better fit for smaller organizations. Here is the complete skinny.
Posted by Doug Barney on 03/19/2012 at 1:19 PM1 comments
Readers share some tips on strengthening password security:
As I set up routers or servers, a password that I always use is simple, effective and easy to remember. Here is my algorithm:
Lets say the router is at the following address:
123 Noplace Lane
Missoula, MT 59808.
The password for the router would be:
!@#N0pl@c3l@n3%(*)*
123noplacelane59808
As you can see we have special characters, uppercase letters, lowercase letters and its not a word that could be found in a dictionary or brute force attack. Numbers are simply typed in using the shift key while entering them in to grab the special characters. The first letter of the street is capitalized, letter 'o' is always changed to a zero, 'e' is always changed to a '3' and 'a' is always changed to an '@.'
The client just follows those simple rules and walla, a hard-to-crack password that is easy to remember.
-Jay
I created a fairly complex mental 'algorithm' to generate passwords. With it I create unique, complex passwords for each use. The 'algorithm' exists only in my head and it would be nearly impossible to recreate it from a single password.
-Glenn
Managing passwords in a secure way can be a real challenge, as you point out in blog post. We've found a solution that works for us in Secret Server, an enterprise password management software solution from Thycotic Software. We like it because passwords are stored in an encrypted database and it assists in creating and managing password access levels for administrators with different authority levels. And you can audit password views so you always know who has accessed which passwords.
-Dan
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Posted by Doug Barney on 03/19/2012 at 1:19 PM2 comments
Some companies, such as Google, admit to at least some of the data they steal. It's right there in their anti-privacy policies. Not all these thefts are reported. It seems a slew of mobile app vendors have been on a crime spree, and are selling your personal information to the highest bidder.
The list is a who's who of companies already faulted for poor privacy policies, though we didn't know it was quite this bad.
Here are some of the culprits: Apple, Facebook, Twitter and Yelp. Here's what they took: birthday dates, e-mail accounts, phone numbers and contacts.
Now a class action lawsuit is trying to put an end to this piracy and collect damages.
Let's hope the plaintiffs win this one!
Posted by Doug Barney on 03/19/2012 at 1:19 PM0 comments
Tablet makers, pundits and rabble-rousers are still touting the death of the PC. And how do they write these scathing words? On a PC or laptop, of course.
Clearly tablets are hot -- many buy them for a truly mobile computing experience and as an adjunct to a real computer. That is far different from replacing them with a real computer.
Analyst firm Gartner seems to understand this and believes PC sales will increase nicely in 2013, which is when Win 8 will really get rolling.
This doesn't mean the PC regains its total dominance. Cloud services mean much of processing and storage takes place off site, though I'd argue that the primary window into all this is still Windows. And smartphones can do more and more, but only the young have eyes good enough to stare at one of these things all day.
How do you see your computing habits in the next year or two? Out-do Gartner with real-world predictions by writing to [email protected].
Posted by Doug Barney on 03/16/2012 at 1:19 PM6 comments
I think we all know most passwords are far too weak. So it is no real surprise that a report from Trustwave reached the same conclusion. In fact, many passwords are still PASSWORD, or the word with a number or two afterwards. This is what Verizon always used whenever I had to debug my DSL connection, which happened more often than a Brett Favre interception.
Even worse, these are often administrator passwords! Ouch.
Here's why so many passwords are so darn weak. Keeping up with a wealth of complex (but safe) passwords is a nightmare. How often have you tried to get into a system and the password you thought worked doesn't? And how do you keep track of all these various iterations, all the user names (which need to be complex because all the good ones are taken) and the accompanying passwords? Do you have them all written down? How secure is that?
The answer was always said to be single-sign on, but I have yet to see a system that singly signs on to enough to make it worthwhile.
What is your solution? Hopefully you'll send news I can use to [email protected].
Posted by Doug Barney on 03/16/2012 at 1:19 PM7 comments
It is clear that Mozilla and the folks behind Google Chrome aren't fans of Redmond. But Windows 8 is a platform, and you don't win the browser war by ignoring big chunks of the market. So  Google, Mozilla and possibly even Opera will support the Win 8 Metro interface.
That's good news because many of us  like to use multiple browsers.
With this kind of support, Metro may truly  be a huge departure from traditional Windows. As long as it doesn't hang, and doesn't confuse, I'm ready to go.
What about you? Is an all-new interface just what the doctor ordered? Or does it make you a bit ill? You tell me at [email protected].
Posted by Doug Barney on 03/16/2012 at 1:19 PM6 comments
I used to be excited about buying a netbook, just not giddy enough to actually pick one up. I still wanted a netbook after the iPad shipped. But I still didn't pick one up.
Apple then shipped the iPad 2.
As I continued to track netbooks, they didn't change at all during that same time. The prices are roughly the same, though fewer run XP and it is cheaper to get one with a 250-Gig hard drive. The only things that changed with netbook is sales -- they went down!
I've lost my desire for netbooks because netbook makers aren't fighting back against the tablet threat.
Posted by Doug Barney on 03/14/2012 at 1:19 PM10 comments
Here are two readers' opinions on Microsoft's PowerShell:
Personally I'm of two minds over the whole PowerShell craze... I realize I'll likely get blasted for saying all this but here goes anyhow...
The GUI can allow most people to make the necessary changes that are needed. I can easily reset any users AD password, I can create a new user (or even three or four) in just a few minutes, I can pre-stage new computer accounts in AD and have GPOs ready to go without much effort -- and for the size of network I manage, the GUI works very well. If I was trying to handle over a hundred changes at a time, I'd go nuts. But I've never had to do more than five changes at a time. The GUI works fine at that level. And lets face it, the majority of networks are based on small- to medium-sized networks -- not major enterprises.
On the other hand, command line entries do have a lot to offer, and you can do a lot from that area (if you know how). But if I have to create a miniscript  and save it as a file so I can tell it to run against a single computer to find out what programs are running, get real. Why would I create a script to pull up information about a single computers hard drive information when I can remotely look at it with the GUI or a simple pstool (psexec) command? Why am I going to create a hundred little scripts, so I can forget I made them? And by the next time I need one, we're on a newer version of PowerShell.
If the command line will give me what I need in simple commands, then I'm all for it.  Â
Maybe I'll quit being a lazy Windows admin one of these days, but when I consider the fact that I've actually called MS tech support to prove it wrong on its online solutions, I don't feel too stupid.
-Rob
'PowerShell, showersmell,' as they used to say on Orchard Street.
There've always been things Windows just couldn't do that you'd have to fire up a DOS prompt to accomplish. Want to see whether that copy you just made on your thumb drive of that crucial Powerpoint on your hard drive is byte-for-byte the same? There's no way in the world that Windows explorer will let you compare the two, but, at a DOS prompt, a simple FC /b c:MyCrucial.ppt f:*.ppt will show you whether your copy worked or not.
What's PowerShell? Just marketing's new name for an (enhanced form, maybe, of the) old DOS prompt.
About time MS admitted its usefulness.
-Fred
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Posted by Doug Barney on 03/14/2012 at 1:19 PM1 comments
Patch Tuesday is tomorrow, the thirteenth, but it's not so unlucky. Turns out there are only a half-dozen fixes en route (and only one is critical), so you can put away your defibrillator.
The critical flaw is yet another remote-code-execution problem, this time hitting XP, Vista, Win 7 and various iterations of Windows Server, from 2003 to 2008. Windows Server 8 hasn't shipped yet so it escapes this wrath.
And for the first time in my recent memory (which isn't saying much) Microsoft Expression Designer has an RCE hole. For all you hundreds of Expressions users, beware!
Posted by Doug Barney on 03/12/2012 at 1:19 PM0 comments
Hannibal Smith always said he loves it when a plan comes together. I love it when Redmond Report readers come together. In this case I reached out about my continuing struggles with Word, a program I used before my daughter Lauren was even born (and she's now in grad school).
I'm no self-serving predictable pundit who thinks their opinion is the only one that matters, so I reached out to see if I was some kind of software dufus or is Word still flawed after all these years.
Enough of you with years in the IT trenches echoed my frustration, giving me back a portion of much-needed self confidence.
To hear all the Word talk, just go here.
Posted by Doug Barney on 03/12/2012 at 1:19 PM0 comments
Don Jones is a long-time Redmond contributor and one of my very favorite writers. Maybe it is because his copy is so clean. Here's the editing drill: You read his piece carefully looking for ways to restructure and grammatical errors to fix. Finding nothing you go through it again. You come across a comma that may not be needed. Then again, it could be. You wonder if you should make this arbitrary change. Your ego really wants to correct something but logic tells you to leave it alone.
The guy is that good. And he knows his tech.
Now Don has just wrapped up a move from Google Apps for Business to Office 365 and he couldn't be more pleased. The MS cloud software is now running and running well. Here are some of Jones' conclusions:
- The setup required a bit too much PowerShell scripting, and could do with more tasks being handled by the GUI.
- Â For internal users, it is smooth sailing. For outsiders to connect to Jones' SharePoint, they have to authenticate through Hotmail. I guess that's because Hotmail uses Passport authentication and Microsoft reckons it is easy and cheap enough to set up a Hotmail account.
Jones detailed the migration in a 3 part series you can find here.
I recently interviewed over a dozen Redmond Report readers about Google Apps and Office 365. Serious Microsoft IT types vastly preferred Office 365, while smaller shops such as small non-profits liked the slimmed-down approach of Google. Here are my findings.
Have you used either? If so, let me know at [email protected].
Posted by Doug Barney on 03/12/2012 at 1:19 PM0 comments
Here's another batch of reader thoughts on Windows 8:
If Microsoft insists on all users having to use the Metro interface I'd say it will be the new Vista. I can't see business desktop/laptop users taking to it at all.
It's obvious that Metro will be superb on tablets but why should this replace the Start button on a desktop or laptop PC? It's far too clunky, rather like trying to control your PC using Windows Media Center.
My advice (for what it's worth) is that Microsoft should install Metro on tablets but offer a Metro free interface (i.e. Windows 7 with the new features) for traditional PCs. Why throw the baby out with the bath water?
I tried the Consumer Preview the other day and had no idea how to run Control Panel or even shut the PC down! It took a couple of Web searches to find out how to do the simplest tasks.
Microsoft PLEASE don't force us to use Metro on desktops and laptops. Give us our Start button back. I'll still want a Windows 8 table, promise.
-Andy
I have been using the consumer preview since it released and there are definitely pros/cons.Â
PRO: If you've been using the Windows Phone 7 OS the new GUI is actually intuitive. If not it's going to be a shock to the system.
 CON: Average users will miss the 'good old Start button' since the bottom-left corner now takes you back to the Metro interface.
 There are already hacks available and more to come, I'm sure, to make it look more like Windows 7.
 I personally like how customizable the Metro interface is and believe Microsoft may finally have a tablet OS that will give the iPad some decent competition!
-Jim
Share your thoughts with the editors of this newsletter! Write to [email protected]. Letters printed in this newsletter may be edited for length and clarity, and will be credited by first name only (we do NOT print last names or e-mail addresses).
Posted by Doug Barney on 03/12/2012 at 1:19 PM3 comments