Off-site storage vendor Iron Mountain now has a way to store data on-site. The company just spent $112 million for archiving vendor Mimosa Systems.
Mimosa is one of the things I love about this job. I first met Mimosa execs, including CEO T.M. Ravi, when Redmond magazine was just getting going and Mimosa was a feisty startup. The company made a lot of noise and got a lot of attention for its NearPoint tool, which is now a line of NearPoint tools.
Look for Mimosa, its products and sales efforts to be blended into Iron Mountain's.
Posted by Doug Barney on 02/24/2010 at 1:17 PM0 comments
If you thought the breakup of Britney Spears and K-Fed was messy, HP and Cisco are bringing it to a whole new level. Until recently, HP was a Cisco systems integrator. Then two things went wrong: Cisco entered the server market and HP bought 3Com.
Like Britney, Cisco was the one to break things off, fearing that HP would use inside info against the networking giant. Feeling slighted, HP countered that plenty of competitors also cooperate.
The big winner is probably Microsoft, who just renewed its vows with HP and promises to do even more with the hardware giant.
Do you have any cases where vendors really do work together to the benefit of customers? Successes and failures equally welcome at [email protected].
Posted by Doug Barney on 02/24/2010 at 1:17 PM1 comments
SQL Server 2005 and 2008 will get some new features late this year when service packs for both ship.
SQL Server 2005 is winding down, so this will probably be the last pack for this package. Unfortunately, Microsoft didn't release any details on either of the packs.
Do you use SQL Server? If so, why choose that over Oracle, DB2 or any other enterprise database? Send your thoughts to [email protected].
Posted by Doug Barney on 02/22/2010 at 1:17 PM0 comments
Lately, Mac users have had most of the newest Office features, but were either stuck with -- or blessed with -- the older-style pull-down interface. But later this year, those folks will have to use the ribbon interface if they want the latest goodies in Mac Office 2011.
Besides requiring the ribbon, Mac Office 2011 will include Office 2010 features such as collaboration, social networking and more sophisticated presentations.
I'm used to the ribbon, but it wasn't an easy transition for many others. I was in Redmond in 2007, right after Office 2007 and the ribbon debuted, at a fancy winery with a bunch of Microsoft execs. I got to talking to an Office product manager (I think there must be dozens!) about the ribbon, and he asked what I thought. I said it doesn't matter what I think, but what customers think: I pulled out my BlackBerry and starting reading messages from Redmond Report readers about the ribbon.
Ouch. These messages, which had just shown up, were brutal. I'm sure the product manager was happy there was plenty of free wine available!
Things have calmed down since then...or have they? Do you like the ribbon? Let us all know at [email protected].
Posted by Doug Barney on 02/22/2010 at 1:17 PM16 comments
Microsoft last week released a new Windows 7 anti-piracy tool with a unique marketing proposition: By allowing Microsoft to check your PC, the machine will actually be more secure.
At first blush, this sounds like a cop protecting your safety through a strip search. But Microsoft counters that there are as many as 70 exploits that attack Windows activation files, and this tool can make sure these files are protected.
Apparently, the new tool will pester non-licensed users to get licensed and will change the wallpaper to something dull, but won't disable the operating system. Even better news, downloading the tool is strictly voluntary.
What do you think of anti-piracy tools? Reveal your true feelings at [email protected].
Posted by Doug Barney on 02/22/2010 at 1:17 PM4 comments
Doug asked readers last week for their computer crash sob stories. And they delivered:
My worst nightmare was with a Radio Shack TRS-80 Model I. My wife was a first-year teacher, using it with WordStar to create her final exam to give the next day. At 11:30 p.m., WordStar locked up and wouldn't run. I was able to get into debug mode and, memory page by memory page, recover the text in memory and dump it to a printer. She then took it and typed it up on ditto sheets to make up the test. We finished up about 6:30 a.m., just in time for her to leave for school and give the exam.
That crash led to us getting a brand-new, dual-diskette IBM PC the next week.
-Dan
Mustang BBS, nine nodes split between two Windows 95 computers. If they didn't get rebooted twice a day, they froze up like Hillary Clinton at a nudist convention. Monstrous memory leaks combined with DOS-based code and communications simply did not make for uber-stability. If, and only if, they got their twice daily reboots, they ran like Timex built 'em.
One Pentium 75-based system would have been able to handle the system just fine, if I could have loaded enough com ports to allow all the modems to run. But by the time that became feasible, in later builds of Windows, the BBS era was pretty much a footnote in communications history.
-John
I upgraded to Windows ME immediately when it was released, and by far my worst system crash happened with that OS. It was taking a very long time to boot up one day so I rebooted it, and when it came up, it said that there was no OS installed. I looked at the file system and there were only two files there and they were gibberish. I lost everything.
-Anonymous
In contrast, a reader recalls one particularly stable OS:
It's been out over 30 years. It's had virtually no new feature development in 10 years (and that is showing; the only GUI is KDE). But as a server OS, Digital Equipment's VMS is still the best body of code I've ever used. Almost no bugs or security flaws. It runs on both small boxes and multiroom monsters. I seen a three node cluster hit five nines uptime in a busy environment without a shutdown in over a year. It will keep running even after some dolt deleted most of the system disk, because it remembers the track and sector location of critical files and does not care if the file names went away (until you reboot). Cluster nodes can be far apart (as in separate cities). It has supported virtual servers for over 10 years.
Such a shame that they did not have Microsoft's marketing machine. Back in the days of NT 4, we used to say that VMS already was what Microsoft wanted NT 8 to be. It still is.
-Anonymous
Doug's had a couple of minor problems with Windows 7 related to sleep mode and HP printer drivers. A few of you have had similar experiences:
We've had a string of incidents with HP printers and new Windows OSes. For example, we failed to install a HP Deskjet 1280 A3 printer on new machines with Windows 7. The driver page at HP for this printer is just an instruction informing us that Windows 7 will install this driver automagically. It didn't happen! Windows 7 would not recognise this printer.
When I rang HP support, the tech told me there appears to not be a driver for Windows 7. The Windows 7 upgrade advisor shows no problem with this printer. But we needed to purchase a new printer. I notice the curious and misleading term 'compatibile with Windows 7' at HP driver support for many other models.
-Dave
One computer out the seven I have deployed here has that issue, as well (64-bit Windows 7). Sorry to hear that.
-Steve
Just learned this yesterday: Windows 7 comes with IE 8 and does not allow for reverting to IE 7, or replacing IE 8 with 7. Our SAP system runs on IE 7, but not 8. When switching to Windows 7 becomes necessary, MS has therefore forced us to spend funds we do not have on an upgrade we functionally do not need.
-Dave
And finally, Steve and Microsoft are having a little misunderstanding:
I received an e-mail from MS saying "It's time to upgrade from the Windows 7 Release Candidate." I replied that I had downloaded the RC by accident and that I never installed it. I am running XP. Further, I can't find the RC on my system. Do you have any idea of the RC file download name so that I can delete it? I don't want my system to be shut down every two hours!
-Steve
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 02/21/2010 at 1:17 PM0 comments
A recent survey of Windows 7 users suggests that they're mostly pretty happy with the OS. But a few of you, like Doug, are still having issues:
I suppose I'm "pretty happy," but I still have XP boxes around, and I am afraid to get rid of them. Windows 7 64-bit is pretty good, but I was expecting better. Pros: fast, as you'd expect a new piece of hardware to be; after getting used to the search box, I love never using cascaded menus again; and my kids only want to use the new computer because they say their homework gets done a lot faster.
Cons: a new HP computer has serious problems printing to an HP Photosmart 2400 printer (OK, it's 5 years old, but please); Quicken runs but has serious printing problems, too; Check Point VPN software doesn't support 64-bit; and annoying magic directories like "My Documents" (or sometimes "Doug's Documents") have now been replaced (yeah!) with equally confusing magic "libraries." Why can't we all just learn to deal with path names?
-Todd
I was having an occasional blue screen when trying to wake my desktop from sleep (I have Windows 7 Ultimate x64). That latest reliability update -- the one people have said is making their systems unreliable -- seems to have fixed it for me. I'm speculating that it's the issue with the log in screen saver, although my symptom was a blue screen rather than unresponsiveness.
-Dave
I haven't experienced any crashes when Windows 7 sleeps, but I have noted a couple of recurring anomalies when it wakes back up. First, if I was logged out when Windows 7 went to sleep, when I wake it back up and attempt to log in, my first attempt always fails. No message is displayed. Instead, the first time I select a user and enter the password, Windows 7 says that it's logging in, but then just returns to the top-level screen with the user list. A second log-in attempt at this point will then successfully log in.
And second, sometimes when I wake up Windows 7 from a sleep state, it refuses to restore the monitor display. Instead, the monitor goes right back into power save mode. The only way to restore the system is to force it off by holding down the power button, and then restarting. When the system comes back up, it then restores itself to a waking state. The system does not appear to go through a normal boot sequence when power is reapplied -- it simply emerges from the previous sleep state. Very odd.
-Anonymous
Given the amount of custom-rolled software out there, it should not surprise anyone that Windows 7 has a lot of software issues. With that said, most of the issues I personally have had with Windows 7 are with software vendors' profound desire the make it look different. For most of the interface changes they made, I can think of no functional reason other than to make it look different.
I have been able to fix most of the issues I have had, but I am only running out-of-the-box COTS on my desktop. Some of the more complex issues with drivers and such are still nagging. I think Windows 7 will probably be a pretty good operating system by SP3. Not better than the one it replaced (XP) but good.
-Anonymous
After doing the (free) manufacturer's upgrade on my laptop from Vista to Windows 7, I no longer can use the built-in microphone for voice recognition. It works otherwise for sound recording. I can use an external mic plugged into an external jack as that works. Go figure.
-Anonymous
After Microsoft reently announced it's dumping Unix/Linux support in future versions of FAST Search, Doug asked whether Microsoft should make an effort to support other OSes. Readers say yes:
Yes, it should. Otherwise, I believe, Microsoft's actions become anti-competitive and actionable under antitrust laws, which were designed to prevent just this sort of thing. Example: In the '50s, to promote competition in the transit bus market, GM was required to sell its Detroit Diesel engines to other manufacturers, such as Flxible. AT&T was broken up because it stifled competition in the long-distance market.
In this case, unlike GM, Microsoft did not develop the FAST system but bought it, so that if GM ended up being required to market an engine THEY developed to competitors, then Microsoft certainly should not be allowed to take an 'engine' not developed by them and limit its use on competing operating systems.
-Stephen
It may not always be easy, convenient or hugely profitable to support consumer choice, but it is the right thing to do. Always.
-Russell
Microsoft should always support other operating systems like Unix and Linux and not just Mac OS. SHAME ON THEM.
-Anonymous
Although I understand why M$ doesn't want to support competitors' Unix/Linux desktops and workstations, I think this sort of business decision is short-sighted and ultimately self-destructive. Many of us in larger businesses have a mix of different OS workstations, like it or not, and when a particular vendor chooses not to support us, their customers, they had best expect us to re-evaluate everything we buy from them!
This is why my organization is now in the process of dumping all of our MS Office 2007 for open source OpenOffice.
-J.
The final straw between me and Sun was when they purchased a great, but not cheap, third-party tool. I had used it on many applications running on Microsoft Web servers. When Sun bought the product, they killed it for MS platforms. From that point on, I only had bad things to say about Sun and Java.
Microsoft should not be the same.
-R.
Finally, how do you use social networking -- if you use it all?
Yes, I do use social networking for both business and pleasure and try my best to keep them separate -- with one lone exception: Twitter. By compartmentalizing them, I have found it easier to ensure that I maintain the appropriate decorum for each. Unfortunately, I have found some unintended bleed-over because of actions of certain firms but I am working hard to rectify those leaks.
Twitter is the exception because I use it for more than simply networking. By following a variety of contacts (such as the Hutchinson News, the Detroit News, and KWCH-TV), I have found it to also be a great source of encapsulated news. I have also found that because of developments within the social networking realm, I rarely use any instant messaging services any more outside the office.
-Glenn
As a bank, we work to make sure that sensitive customer information does not leak. We monitor e-mail on our Exchange server and block access to other e-mail accounts and social networking sites. If Microsoft incorporates social networking into Outlook, then we will be looking for a new e-mail client that matches our security goals.
-Brent
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 02/19/2010 at 1:17 PM0 comments
Windows 7 is a major leap forward, but it's by no means perfect. I mentioned recently how my Windows 7 Latitude D520 hangs when it goes to sleep, leaving me to sort through recovered documents. (Why is it that when I auto-save every five minutes, the recovered document is often a shell of its former self?)
Others experience Windows 7 bombing out in various ways, prompting Microsoft to release a series of patches for various system hangs. Unfortunately, none of these patches address my specific problem. Of course I could just shut down my laptop at night, but that actually involves me pushing a few buttons.
One kernel security patch aimed at nearly all versions of Windows may have actually made Windows XP, in particular, more brittle. Installing the MS10-015 fix is giving some XP users the dreaded but cool-ly named "blue screen of death." Fortunately, it won't make my Windows 7 any worse (and trust me, it ain't that bad). Apparently, there's a rootkit that attacks the patch itself and causes these freezes. For now, the patch has been recalled until the problem is solved.
My favorite computer, the Amiga, crashed more than the last five laps at Daytona, but made you feel better with the friendly glowing orange Guru Meditation error. Which of your computers crashed the most or the least? What's the most important item ever eaten by a crashed or dead computer? Sob stories welcome at [email protected].
Posted by Doug Barney on 02/19/2010 at 1:17 PM12 comments
It usually takes three iterations for Microsoft to rule a market. In the case of mobile phones, it may take seven.
Microsoft has been in the mobile PDA and phone space for a decade-and-a-half with little success. Its Palm alternatives were kludgey and beat on batteries worse than my daughter's Barbie Jeep. And Windows phones were just like Windows PCs -- they crashed (and more than the last five laps at Daytona).
Fifteen years later, Redmond is still struggling, and is getting particularly rocked by new mobile competitors Apple and Google.
Is Microsoft ready to say, "No mas"? Not on your life, Sugar Ray. Ballmer just keeps going, and this week was talking up Windows Phone 7, hoping some of this "Windows 7" magic will rub off on his mobile efforts.
Microsoft is apparently tossing out its old code and starting fresh with Windows Phone 7. On the UI side, expect these new phones to look a lot like the Zune, but get to the Web via a scaled-down rev of IE. The key could be its hooks to core Microsoft apps such as Outlook, Office and SharePoint. That's very compelling to someone like me who lives in Word and Outlook.
What about you? Why did you choose your phone, and what do you love and hate? Write (don't pocket-dial) me at [email protected].
In related news, all Microsoft embedded operating systems will get the Windows 7 label.
Posted by Doug Barney on 02/19/2010 at 1:17 PM0 comments
A former Microsoft exec recently wrote in the NY Times that Microsoft's biggest groups would rather compete with each other than innovate. Some readers aren't that surprised:
Brass is probably right. But let's face it: It is easier to sit by and maintain than to take chances and innovate. Risk can get you fired if it doesn't pay off.
-Craig
An interesting aspect of large companies is that they tend to not like cannibalizing their own products. Business history is full of such stories. They are making money, so why change? So when I read Dick Brass' comments, it did not come as a shock. Office brings in big cash for Microsoft, so why make changes for a tablet PC that the Office group thinks no one will use?
That's where innovators come into the picture. They take a chance, and if the market likes it, it takes off. Apple has been waiting for 25 years for its easy-to-use interface to become an overnight success. Apple has less market share and has been forced to try new ideas to keep alive. Remember Apple's Lisa or the Newton?
-Andrew
The market generally doesn't want innovation in Windows or Office. Businesses and individuals have invested heavily in learning how to use the tools; they don't want to relearn from scratch every three years, even if it is a better product. The big changes in user interface are part of why Office 2007 didn't get adopted as quickly as MS hoped; ditto Vista. Tinker with the parts the public doesn't see.
-James
When you have a castle, you protect the castle. When you are cold, wet, and hungry, you can be very creative.
-Cbcalvin
One reader recently commented that Windows-based tablets, by and large, have been failures. But Dave can think of two products that might change that:
John pointed out the failure of tablet PCs in a recent Mailbag. I don't disagree, but would like to point out two recent tablets that might improve the image of Windows tablets. My boss just got a Dell Latitude XT2, which is one of the most amazing portables I've seen. And HP has just released the tm2t Windows 7 tablet.
Neither of these is as small or light as the iPad, and they're certainly out of its price range. However, for those of us who do IT support or other tasks that require a fully functional PC, maybe 2010 will finally be the year of the tablet.
-Dave
And add Steve to the list of those who are making the best of their current job situation:
I'm starting on the third year of no increases, but thankfully there've been no forced furlough days so far. We had three weeks last year. It's really tough for someone my age to get a new IT job so I'm kinda stuck 'til they throw me out.
-Steve
Tell us what you think! Leave a comment below or send an e-mail to [email protected].
Posted by Doug Barney on 02/17/2010 at 1:17 PM0 comments
Visual Studio 2010 hit a minor glitch recently when beta testers complained of performance issues. Microsoft took a very public stance, detailing the issues and pushing back the product release.
Now VS 2010 is back on track, having reached release candidate status, which means it's feature-complete and basically tuned and ready to go. Testers think the extra time is worth it as the product is far faster than the beta.
The Microsoft developer group, I've found, is both transparent and listens to customers. I wish all division worked that way! What are your favorite and least favorite parts of Microsoft? Spill your beans at [email protected].
Posted by Doug Barney on 02/17/2010 at 1:17 PM0 comments
Windows 7 users getting warnings that their batteries are on their last legs thought it was all a bug. Instead, it's simply Windows 7 giving more detailed information about the true state of your battery. If Windows 7 says the thing is dying, chances are it's really dying.
The alerts come when the battery is operating at 40 percent capacity. Hey, I'd rather listen to Windows and change the battery than lose work when the laptop shuts down! I've been there before.
Do you still lose data despite auto-save and other safeguards? Complaints welcome at [email protected].
Posted by Doug Barney on 02/17/2010 at 1:17 PM0 comments