Microsoft has lost another huge cloud deal to Google. Chunks of the federal government and the City of Los Angeles are backing Google Apps. Reports now have it that General Motors is moving from Lotus Notes to Google Apps, giving Office 365 a thumbs down --like I would get trying to finance an Escalade.
It sounds like a deal has indeed been signed (the deal isn't 100 percent publicly confirmed, but it is being reported by The Wall Street Journa), but GM has yet to reveal any public rollout plans. Once in full effect, the deal could mean 100,000 new users for Google.
Google claims to have over 4 million Google Apps, but it remains to be seen how active these are. Do you use Google Apps? If so, fire up the e-mail and let me know why at [email protected].
Posted by Doug Barney on 11/09/2011 at 1:18 PM5 comments
The Duqu zero-day exploit has had Microsoft twisting, turning and churning for a solution. Duqu exploits a hole in the Windows kernel and lets hackers remotely access and control your unfixed computer.
That's until Microsoft came out with a workaround last week. The stopgap solution can protect the kernel with just a few lines of code and a one click-install. That's some pretty efficient code.
Security vendors also have Duqu information in hand to attack this attack.
Posted by Doug Barney on 11/07/2011 at 1:18 PM1 comments
Last week was Halloween. I live in Massachusetts (near the New Hampshire border) and we got hit with a huge snowstorm that killed off power for more than half a week. We bolted to the Cape where there was enough power for my five-year-old to trick-or-treat as a bumblebee. Yesterday we had another Halloween since it was postponed in my hometown. And once again she was a bumblebee.
SpectorSoft wants it to be Halloween year round. The company's monitoring software has a variety of uses. The one they like to talk about the most is how monitoring can hunt down criminals such as mobsters, and stop cyber bullying and other sordid deeds.
The company is running a contest where IT submits their horror stories and a winner is chosen every quarter to win an iPad.
A plethora of horror stories have already been filed. Feel free to send me and SpectorSoft your stories. I'll be sure to protect your privacy as I publish letters with first names only.
Posted by Doug Barney on 11/07/2011 at 1:18 PM0 comments
SQL Server 2012 must not be that far off. After all, why would Microsoft start to talk turkey about pricing and licensing schemes?
Licensing used to be simple -- one machine, one OS, one app, one price. Buy more copies and pay less per unit. Then upgrades, perks and maintenance were baked in. More recently the number of cores also got taken into account.
The latest wrinkle has to do virtual machines: How do you charge when more and more instances can be rolled out onto a single server?
Despite all these changes, SQL Server 2012, due by next summer, will be much like that of SQL Server 2010.
The biggest change has to do with cores. Customers can opt for the old core license model or pay based on the basic server CAL (plus fees for all the VMs). With the highest end version of the software, the Enterprise Edition, you can have as many VMs on a server as you like.
According to analyst firm Directions on Microsoft, some fees such as the basic CAL have gone down in price, while others, such as fees for multicore servers, have gone up. The end result? It's all a wash, the research firm says.
Posted by Doug Barney on 11/07/2011 at 1:18 PM2 comments
Readers respond to the hardships Doug has been having with Microsoft Word:
I am often surprised by your observations. I don't see any kind of instability with Word 2010 (nor did I with Word 2007). I have similar observations regarding your experience with Windows 7.
Granted, I use a pretty uninteresting set of applications. I don't over clock my hardware and I only use FREE third-party applications recommended by professional colleagues.
That said, I am not overly cautious about what I install on my systems -- nor about which Web sites I visit. Nor am I overly paranoid about security vulnerabilities. Other than MS Forefront (or MS Security essentials), Windows Defender and Windows Firewall, I take no extraordinary precautions. I do use UAC and I keep Windows and MS Applications up-to-date but that's just common sense.
In the end, I just never see the kinds of instabilities which you report.
Since leaving XP behind (far behind) for Windows Vista SP1, I have seen none of the instabilities you report. Windows 7 has been even better. What gives?
- Marc
I got into the habit of clicking the actual save button. I've never lost a document that I manually clicked save on. Also, since upgrading to Office 2010 64-bit, I have not had one single crash in Word. Same with Outlook 2010 64-bit, for that matter. The only catch is that you can't, yet, use third party plugins with the 64-bit version of Office 2010. (They just don't exist yet.)
That being said, 90 percent of the time Word or Office has a problem, it's due to some third-party plugin crashing inside of Word -- even if you aren't actively using the plugin's features. Crappy code from Microsoft? Well maybe, but also from Joe Programmer Word Plugin Guy. Don't forget, IE toolbars do have an effect on Office apps.
-Chris
Agree on the love/hate relationship. My current pet peeve is that Word 2010 doesn't stay open unless you have a file open. Every time you open a fresh file the program has to start up again. Word and Excel developers don't have common standards.
-Anonymous
Doug, I think it's time for you to use the technical skills that you purport to have and do some investigation. Continuing to write articles that show your continued trouble -- which appear to be more unique to you than the norm -- just makes me wonder if you are trying to instigate an argument. The stability issues that you continue to have are probably due to your environment.
-Ryan
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 11/07/2011 at 1:18 PM1 comments
Earlier this year I published a
Redmond magazine cover story about
how Windows IT pros use the iPad.
Turns out many of you love the darn thing -- not just for personal use, but for handling IT duties as well.
A few months back we collected a list of the 11 best iPad/iPhone admin tools. Without bogging down this newsletter with unnecessary facts and details (you know me better than that), I'll give a high-level overview:
- Many Redmond Report readers swear by (not at) the Citrix Receiver, which turns the iPad into a Windows thin client.
- Database managers can keep tabs on SQL Server with the SQL Server Mobile Database Client from Impathic. This baby costs a scant 8 bucks.
- Also clocking in at $8 (OK, it is $7.99 -- I rounded up) is WinAdmin from Carter Harrison. It allows you to remote into other computers for basic management.
- Cloud Connect Pro from Antecea is $25 (you know the drill, subtract a penny and you'll get the exact price). It lets you track and get files you may have scattered across many cloud services such as DropBox.
All this pricing, $7.99 this, $25.99 that, really bugs me. It makes it harder to do expense reports and balance your checkbook. Hey, if McDonald's can make millions with its dollar menu, why can't software vendors have straightforward and non-gimmicky prices? You tell me at [email protected].
Posted by Doug Barney on 11/04/2011 at 1:18 PM0 comments
I have a love/hate relationship with Microsoft Word -- with the emphasis on hate. Over the years I have religiously set autorecover to save every five minutes because Word has crashed countless times (you'd need a Cray to do that math). And many is the time that autorecover has failed to autorecover. Because of this I am in the habit of printing files I've spent a lot of time on, and more than once I've used OCR to recover my work.
I recently fired up my Win 7 laptop only to find it froze overnight. I relauched Word 2007 and, sure enough, there were four files in the autorecover pane. I opened three that were all fine. So assuming the best I agreed I did not need to save the fourth recovered file. D'oh. This was a 4,000-word draft of a cover story you all helped me write. It's about whether our networks are ready to handle the cloud.
What I found when I opened the file was not an almost-ready-for-production piece of mastery, but a hodgepodge of sketchy notes.
I tried a variety of techniques from the Web but that file has resisted all attempts at recovery. I finally found a completely non-intuitive way to get the file back. Go to open and click on all file types. The darn thing was sitting right there.
Unfortunately the files are stripped of formatting. In its place was text referring to the formatting codes and a bunch of other gobbledygook you have to strip out. Nice work guys.
I have three concerns: The recovery was far from obvious. Why, when you ask it to autosave every five minutes, does it give me an old file? And why do Win 7 and Word 2007 still crash?
How about Microsoft stops futzing around with Ribbons and get the basic stuff right?
Posted by Doug Barney on 11/04/2011 at 1:18 PM43 comments
Readers react to the news that streaming Netflix content accounts for a third of the U.S. Internet traffic:
If it wasn't Netflix, it would be someone else. Video streaming is the wave of the future, so without better codecs it will just be that way.
-GB
Does this really use more than You Tube? So far my ISP hasn't changed to caps, so it doesn't really matter that much to me. I haven't noticed any slowdowns because at the same time our ISP increased bandwidth and speeds. This is even after I noticed our neighbors are using Netflix where the previous owner did not.
-Anonymous
How is this news? Netflix is the bandwidth hog -- what about those of using it. Or, is it just easier to make Netflix the villain? Kind of like saying the Mexican drug lords are the bad guys. Why pick on the Americans buying the drugs?
-Anonymous
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 11/02/2011 at 1:18 PM0 comments
Darn close to a third of all North American 'Net traffic is consumed by one concern and it ain't Baywatchjpegs.com. Nor is it Google or Facebook. It's Netflix!
That's right. Even though close to a million customers have bailed after price hikes, the video download service remains a bigger pig than Rosie O'Donnell and Kirstie Alley tag-teaming a Chinese buffet (and I've been known to put a dent in the pork Egg Foo Young tray).
My quick and dirty research shows that all this bandwidth isn't free -- Netflix pays its providers for the privilege of providing the products of Hollywood labor.
I'm not sure about the overall impact on the Internet, which is, after all, a shared network. Do my Pam Anderson downloads download more slowly due to Netflix? It your cloud app compromised by Kill Bill streams? I'd love to know.
If you have insight or even a random opinion then opine at [email protected].
Posted by Doug Barney on 10/31/2011 at 1:18 PM5 comments
A company out of the Czech Republic that may have inadvertently hosted a botnet group got busted -- at least according information gathered by Microsoft forensics. Now the company called Dotfree has agreed to a civil settlement.
The deal calls for Dofree to give up control of all domains and subdomains used by the botnetters. There doesn't appear to be a monetary penalty attached that would cost Dotfree and arm and a leg bone.
Now Dotfree is committed to investigating just what happened so it won't occur again.
Posted by Doug Barney on 10/31/2011 at 1:18 PM1 comments
Readers give their judgments on which smartphone OS to choose:
I put value in being efficient. The WP7 interface is smooth, quick and responsive. I have a better version of Office than is available on the iPhone or Android. The Microsoft cloud offering for syncing files gives me 25 GB, and all the applets that I need and want are available despite the rumored 'Lack of Applets.'
At the time I went with WP7 it was primarily because I needed to sync with multiple Exchange organizations, and it was the only platform that allowed it. I don't know if that is still true. But I quickly learned that WP7 helps me be more efficient than my Android phone did. Updates to the phone have been seamless, and there is a decent choice of hardware -- unlike Apple.
Unfortunately, hardware choice seems to also be the problem with Android and WP7. The iPhone is rumored to be more stable because it has a death grip on hardware. The user sacrifices choice and functionality for stability. In reality, I've never had an issue with my WP7, nor my family with their Android devices.
Last but not least, WP7 is not as cool as the Apple iPhone, but I'm already cool.
-A
My boss wanted a Windows phone believing it would sync with his e-mail and calendar on his Win XP computer. He wound up buying a new computer to get it to sync at all.
I have an Android phone and an Android tablet, and find them easy and functional. I have used the Win 8 developers' edition and if the Win 8 phone interface is like it, no thanks.
Finally received my HP Touchpad with Web OS and wish HP had continued to develop with that OS. My impression of it is very positive.
-Anonymous
Droid is a mess. Droid is for people who want to play on their phones day in and day out just to figuring the darn thing out. Droid is too fragmented -- stuff is all over the place!
Windows Phone 7 is simple. You can figure it out completely in five minutes or less. The integration of common apps such as Facebook works better than I thought. Love the live tiles GUI. iPhone is nice, but needs a GUI upgrade and more integration. iPhone also needs to come to T-Mobile -- the cheap network.
-Anonymous
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 10/31/2011 at 1:18 PM0 comments
Is Nokia a Windows Phone 7 fan because its CEO Stephen Elop used to work for Microsoft or because Microsoft plopped a reported billion-plus dollars into the Finnish company (Nokia, I'm sure, said kiitos)?
Whatever the reason, Nokia is cranking up the heat on Windows Phone 7 with two brand-new devices.
Last week Nokia announced new machines that eschew the Symbian OS in favor of Windows. Unfortunately for U.S. Windows mobile OS fans the phones will only be available overseas at launch, with a possible stateside release to be determined. The Nokia Lumia 710 has built-in navigation and radio-style music services but no "front-facing camera." The higher end Lumia 800 has a camera and twice the memory.
Posted by Doug Barney on 10/31/2011 at 1:18 PM1 comments