Check out the new stuff in AuthAnvil 1.5:

For starters, there are plenty of fixes and updates to the core system. There are over 50 usability bugs that have been fixed ranging for faster communication in the AuthAnvil DCOM Bridge to support for periods in AuthAnvil usernames.
 
We also include a few new things:
• The new AuthAnvil Web Logon Agent. You can now add strong authentication to web applications using Virtual Directories in IIS6. Look for an update that will also protect complete websites like Sharepoint in the first half of this year.
• The new AuthAnvil RADIUS Server. Microsoft’s Internet Authentication Server is toast… as is our IAS extension. With all the problems IAS posed for our premium customers who wished to use it along with MIcrosoft’s ISA server, we have found a better solution which also allows us to now support ful MSCHAP2 VPN,
• More documentation. You asked for it. So it’s now on the ISO.

Coolest of all – I saw AuthAnvil on a Windows Home Server today. We’re looking to use AuthAnvil as our main offering of securing the hosting side of hosted solutions since that happens to be the #1 part of paranoia when it comes to remote workers.. It’s always about differentiation.

But check out AuthAnvil, its BY FAR the most affordable thing out there when it comes to two factor authentication. If your projects fell through because you submitted an RSA quote with your pitch, you’re going to be a big fan of Dana’s.

I fly. A lot. That has allowed me to become an expert psychopath that can only come about through extended exposure to the airline customer service.

I always get a free upgrade to those “more leg room” seats that the airlines sell for a hefty fee during checkin. More legroom! Leave it to the airlines to make it a benefit to feel a sense of responsibility as the plane potentially plunges to the ground in a fireball from 37,000 feet.

Case and point, my flight from Dallas back to Orlando. The round trip cost $233 but the one way upgrade was $90. One way! Not even to the first class with the Denny’s class breakfast. For an emergency exit.

Nobody is dumb enough to upgrade to that, and those seats are always empty. And after you spend a few flights from LA to Orlando with your body so contorted that your balls are behind your ears and you’re scratching the small of your back with your eyelash you start to notice things…. Like how nobody asks to see your ticket? Yet as you sit on your 90 minute delayed flight they won’t let you move up to the emergency exit row seats until all 32 passengers have boarded the 757.

So I act like the airline. Show up late. You know how they fake the feeling of an overbooked flight by calling for passengers in stages and groups determined by the random numer of times they will kick your luggage down the tarmac? I ignore it. I try to be behind the dude waving the ground crew off behind the airplane. Why? Because in their illusional sense of departure they don’t show you the Cirque de Soleil production that is happening in the tunnel leading up to the damn plane. When they are doing last call and calling my name they aren’t also mentioning how an elderly woman who just got out of a wheelchair is holding 20 people in the tunnel hostage while she tries to muscle a grand piano sized box of sudoku puzzles into an ashtray of an overhead compartment.

So as the control tower gives the pilot their runway information, I run onto the plane looking like just finished a marathon: “Phew. Phew. Ok. Thank god I made it.”

And then I sit in that vacant $90 upgraded seat like my name was embroidered into the headrest. 34B, kiss my ass!

(Typed on a BJ from 18D, E and F!)

Yahoo! acquired Zimbra earlier tonight for cool $350 mil in cash. Zimbra, for the uninformed crowd basically means: Exchange features on Linux. Though its a lot more than that (collaboration, AJAX interfaces) the bottom line is that this is (or was) the main competition to Microsoft Exchange – Lotus and friends included. I must admit, Yahoo! is a surprise, what does Yahoo! gain (or what does Zimbra lose). Smelling the synergy? Here is how they are selling it: 

At the heart of this merger is the conviction that email is a core application and Yahoo! can continue to expand its leadership to new markets using Zimbra. For Zimbra, it was the opportunity to grow our footprint at an accelerated pace and the opportunity to provide innovative and new ways to use Yahoo!’s vast SDKs, trusted brand, vast network of users, great communication applications, core email technology like anti-spam and search as well as its ad network to bring in innovative combined solutions to markets that are still left untapped. At every step of the way, we will ensure that Customers have the freedom of choice in what they deploy.

Zimbra is clearly the big winner here. $350 mil in cash, free advertising, bigger footprint and customer base to pitch to.

What does Yahoo! gain? This takes away from their “everything ought to be hosted on our Yahoo! everything systems” and provides people with a downloadable on-premise, or more key – away from Yahoo!-privacy-concernville. Yahoo! now owns a piece of infrastructure incompatible with their message so was this huge deal just a takeaway to keep a key component away from someone else that has recently been talking about “offlining” their data?

Time will tell, congrats to the boys at Zimbra, Ferrari in every color is the only way to go….

The good news about Windows Server 2008 just keeps on piling up. Even without the WinFS and Virtualization features built in, Windows Server 2008 looks great and the IIS and infrastructure improvements are making a lot of us drool already. How will you roll it out is an easy question to answer, just work with the betas now and you will have a handle on it by the time it ships. But how do you prove to others that you can roll it out, correctly, securely and the first time? Through a little thing called professional industry certifications.

For that you have to listen to Trika Harms zum Spreckel, lady with a long name and lots to say about Micrsoft Certifications. Trika talks about training, certifications, Microsoft Learning and other cool stuff that separates professionals from… well.. hobbyists. And it’s darn important in SMB as well. If your company stands for more than its ability to scheme customers into buying Microsoft solutions then it ought to be getting you one of the leading technology certifications – MCSE on Microsoft Windows Server 2008.

This week Trika is offering a 40% discount on the upgrade exams to MCSE on Windows Server 2008. Sign up now, these are by no stretch of the imagination “easy”;

Bit of a short notice (it’s in two weeks) but a good one nonetheless. I have a $200 discount code for SMBTN Summit, if you’re interested in going and use the following promo code they will knock off $200 from the registration fee: SMBVLAD07

The event is in about two weeks and judging by the content the premier event for the SMB IT shop owner. Take a look at the sessions, they are a head and shoulders beyond anything else out there. I talked to the conference organizers (they are SBSers like us, SBS group leaders, etc) and you’ve probably met them if you’ve gone to the SMB events in the past – they decided to take the conference a step further and not focus on the basics. I think if you look at the topics you’ll agree. You can see the details here: http://www.smbsummit.com/

The event is in Los Angeles (DisneyLand actually) from March 15th – March 17th.

It’s worth the trip, I’m ducking out of the MVP summit early for this one so hopefully that gives you some indication of value.

P.S. Ok, apologies to the OC snobs: The event is in Anaheim, Orange County, NOT Los Angeles. Apparently being 20 miles west of Compton makes it a whole different world. And speaking of Compton, if you’re driving by say hello to Erick Simpson.

On that subject, thanks to all of you that sent us Christmas and New Years cards. Very much appreciated.

So here is a deal for you. You are no .com CEO until your butt is in an Aeron chair by Herman Miller. These pieces of furuture are medals of success in the IT world, and they are going up in price tomorrow – January 4th. So if you’ve got some extra $$$ time to bust it on a new shiny executive Aeron – http://www.homeofficesolutions.com

Your ass will thank you.

Ok, so I thought long and hard whether I should to post this or not. Even though I hate when people just blatantly sell themselves I’ve posted about a number of deals on here so count this as one of them.

If you are not using ExchangeDefender today, you need to be.

Those of you that follow our blog know that many changes have been going under the hood of ExchangeDefender lately. Why I can’t tell you yet, but I can tell you that if you have anything to do with small to medium businesses you really need to be in our partner program and have at least one paying client by January 6th. Thats the day we publish our roadmap for 2007 and its also the day when I go back to ‘round-the-clock development. Being on the inside track of what will be going on with Longhorn, Exchange, Centro and Cougar has really inspired me to address some of the issues that they likely will not. And as you know, we take really good care of our partners so… read between the lines here folks, if you’ve got customers with email its time to fill out those orders now. 

Today is Cyber Monday, not the biggest online sales day of the year.

It’s not? Um.. Then why is it important?

Cyber Monday is the opportunity for retailers to screw Americans that were too lazy to wake up at 1AM last Friday.

That’s all there is to it. Simple as that.

Millions of people will go back to work today filled with guilt and emptiness put in them by the media blitz coverage of people standing out in the freezing cold to buy that bottom-of-the-line $20 DVD player, $200 computer. They will use their work computers, between ragging on their family and lying about how much time they won’t be spending in the gym to shake off the Turkey weight, to buy items retailers could not move off their shelves throughout the year. Everyone needs a gift after all. Who wouldn’t appreciate a Celeron laptop. Or a big HDTV made by respected electronics manufacturers like Westinghouse or Syntax. Or that brilliant Aiptek camera, winner of the prestigious “Most Returned Item of 2005” award?

I’ve spent the entire weekend on Dealnews and Slickdeals, looking for something that I would be compelled to buy. The only half appealing item I found was a trailer-park edition of Xbox, of which only 1000 were offered as a test of what would trash amazon.com. Has your experience been significantly different? Have you found a killer deal that you could not negotiate in a store or see at virtually every other fake American holiday?

I watched the local news last night and just laughed at the way they try to dramatize everything. It’s funny how my video blogging has brought me closer to the story development process. Here is how you make a big deal out of anything:

• Begin by stating the obvious or generally accepted myth: “Thanksgiving sales were packed with great deals…”
• Large numbers justify your points: “Here is the picture of what this place looked like at 6am on Friday morning…”
• Get an independant opinion: “Oh, I saved so much. At least 20–50%, at least according to the window marketing which never lies…”
• Appear to provide relevant content: “Here are 5 tips to follow tomorrow… Pay with a credit card, check out the merchant…”
• Close with meaningless banter: “People really saved a ton…”

I am never amazed with just how stupid people are. However, I am impressed with how stupid I am — with all of the above, how come Own Web Now doesn’t have a Thanksgiving sale?

I’ve mislead you with the title intentionally.

Do you consider Microsoft Technet webcasts, offered for free, as a bargain in terms of ITPRO training? Even the level 100 courses would cost several hundred dollars at a training center not to mention the investment of time to read a book to comprehend the basics.

So here are few webcasts during December that I hope you get a chance to attend. Courtesy of Eileen Brown.

A First Look at the 2007 Microsoft Office System: Five Useful New E-mail and Collaboration Features (Level 100)
Thursday, December 07, 2006 - 9:00 AM - 10:00 AM Pacific Time

A First Look at the 2007 Microsoft Office System: Five Important New Features (Level 100)
Tuesday, December 19, 2006 - 9:00 AM - 10:00 AM Pacific Time

An In-Depth Look at Windows SharePoint Services and Office SharePoint Server 2007 (Level 200)
Friday, December 01, 2006 - 9:30 AM - 11:00 AM Pacific Time

Real-Time Collaboration and Office SharePoint Server 2007 (Level 200)
Monday, December 11, 2006 - 11:30 AM - 1:00 PM Pacific Time

A Sneak Peek at Mobility Features in Windows Vista and the 2007 Microsoft Office System (Level 100)
Tuesday, December 12, 2006 - 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM Pacific Time

Crazy Ligman sale on security this weekend! How would you like Microsoft OneCare Live, full version, shrink-wrap, media, manual, license AND a glossy box for.. $49.95? Of course you would. But you won’t pay $49.95. No. You won’t even pay $39.95, and believe me friends, its worth every penny. You won’t pay $35.95, not $34.95.  Not even half way to hell $33. No siree.

What would you say if I told you that you can have OneCare Live, full retail copy, in your hands for just $32.99? (hold for applause) Butt wait friends, wait. Yes, its a great deal but we can better than that. What if I told you that you can protect your other PC with this box as well? Yes, legit. Well, we’re throwing it in there. Thats right, protect two PC’s and don’t pay a penny more. Oh what the heck, we’ll take care of Uncle Bob too! Promise to tell a friend and we’ll protect all three PCs and don’t pay a penny more!

$32.99 friends, just $32.99 protects three of your PC’s for a year! Thats less than $0.001 an hour? How many web sites do you visit an hour? How many emails do you get? Do you backup? Well, you need Live OneCare.

$32.99. $32.99! Get it today at your neighborhood Cotsco and tell them Crazy Ligman sent you, where L stands for Lower prices for Legitimate software.

Pretty cool thing actually, onecare.live.com site wants $50 but the FPP at Cotsco is $33 plus tax. And the pic was snapped on the T-Mobile MDA, looks decent for a cell phone camera, doesn’t it? I downsized it quite a bit to make it fit on the blog but I’m impressed. Also I ate some sort of a cheesesteak while cruising around and I wish I wrote down what the heck it was. I don’t know if I was hungry or what but man, that steak really tasted good.