Letters to Redmond
Readers Respond: December 2005
More creative server names; help found in securing IE; more people switching to Macs; and the question is posed as to whether Microsoft is in any need of defensive posturing.
Servers Made for Walkin'
I was the network administrator at a small school district in central Illinois. I built the Win2K3 domain and named the DCs like this [in regard to the October 2005 Ten column "
Creative Server-Naming Conventions"]:
- PDC Emulator, GC, Primary DNS - Order
- DC - Chaos
- DC - Mayhem
With the mindset that if everything was going good, Order was online. If Order went down, there was Chaos; and if Order and Chaos went down, there was Mayhem; and then I would have to resort to my backup servers: Pink Slip and Walkin' Papers.
Love your articles.
Ben Miller
A+/Net+/Security+/MCP
El Paso, Ill.
We Can Work It Out
Thank you, thank you, thank you!!! Greg Shields' article ["Get Serious About Securing IE," October 2005] is the reason why I continue to read magazines like this ... had a problem, found the solution and, more importantly, the tools to fix it!
Marshall Lewis
Washington, D.C.
Cupertino Switcheroo
I've been—in all practical terms—a
lifelong Microsoft user and have many reasons to both like and dislike it
as a software/everything company. Reading Doug's editorial ["Why I Bought a Mac," August 2005] and a letter published in October's issue about a user considering the "Switch," I had to smile.
I'm a switcher who is also a security consultant, which is why I have liked Microsoft in the past. Now, that's obviously a backhanded compliment as Microsoft has contributed to the need for people like me more than any other company.
I'm aware of numerous people who have recently made the move away from Windows. Some of these were hardened anti-Macers as I like to call them.
What have I discovered in my time with a Mac? It works. No viruses, no spyware and consequently no AV software to constantly update. I'm happy, I can still do everything I did on my PC and I don't need to worry that I'm going to lose all my information by having to reformat the thing.
Microsoft better hope Vista creates a whole new ball of momentum or this magazine will be re-titled Cupertino some time in the next three years.
David Cantrill
London, U.K.
Wastin' Time
Competition is a good thing, but it doesn't have to be ugly. I agree with your position that Google can't really compare with Microsoft and as much as the media may try to make it so appear, I hardly think Google is a threat to Microsoft. That said, I twinge a little every time I read the somewhat defensive posture in Redmond Report ["SQL Server 2005 At Last," Nov. 1, 2005] when you mention Google. It's really not necessary. For those of us who see competition as a necessity toward better innovation, I think the negative comments on both sides are a waste of time.
Brian Staubach
Pittsfield, Mass.
About the Author
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