SBS Show 22 live from TechEd. We grabbed everyone left over after TechEd ended earlier today and brought you the SBS Show live from TechEd’s Security MVP executive office. By the time we were done not even the posters were left on the walls. Hope you enjoy it, we talk about the new technologies demonstrated at TechEd, general Microsoft technical direction for the next year, what we took from the event, working on SBS as a big-business employee and more. Joining me are Susan Bradley, Alun Johnson and Dave Sobel.

Download the SBS Show #22

http://www.vladville.com/sbsshow/sbsshow-episode22.mp3

I have to admit I'm a little puzzled about the lack of feedback on the changes to the SBS Show. I realize people are busy but since we crossed the 10,000 download mark I feel obligated to ask:

How do you like it?

How do you like the web site?

I've only received one you sold out note from Amy Luby about the sudden commercialization of the SBS Show but honestly it was neccessary. No, I don't like the disclaimer either but truth of the matter is that most people do not download the SBS Show from us or through us – very small part of the population goes to www.sbsshow.com. Most downloads are coming via Odeo, Podzinger, iTunes, Yahoo Music, Tivo and a number of other syndication services. I have no way of telling these people that what they are listening to is not hardcore business IT consulting. Unfortunately, its really just for the stupid ones that we have to put up the disclaimer to begin with… but stupid people hang out in groups and the most eloquent of idiots become lawyers so then we have to put up with liability for something that we gave away for free? Disclaimer stays.

On the ad thing. I thought about that for the long time and here is the deal. If the SBS Show was mostly listened to by the SBS Community this wouldn't be a big deal, we could serve this out of the simple web account. However, Vladville now has 10,000+ daily visitors, tens of thousands of SBS Show downloads and the premium bandwidth costs a lot of money. I've paid up front for the SBS Show to grow but I sink 5+ hours an episode into organizing, producing, editing and publishing the best so it's not like another mindless blog post that you're reading right now. You guys are awesome, many of you have offered to contribute to the show in terms of donations, buying tshirts, etc and most of you said to just make people pay for it. There are three problems with this:

1. SBS Show gets the enormous distribution because its free and easy to obtain.
2. Guests are willing to come on for free because they can get great exposure.
3. It would be against the spirit of why I started the show in the first place.

I'll level with you, I'm doing alright. I do not want the SBS Show to become a business or yet another job – it is a service to the community, the channel for people who have a story to tell it to the others that are in the same role. I don't want to flip it upside down, sell advertising spots, kiss babies, shake hands and have demographics discussions to justify doing this. I'm just a geek. Really, everything else is just a success based on applying the strict work ethic and hardheadness towards what I'm involved in. The SBS Show is an extension of that but if you've listened to the show you know I don't have a bright career as a commercial DJ Furthermore, if you've met me you can testify that I've got the face for radio so there goes that TechTV show some of you think I ought to be on.

Point is, this is a free show and I want to keep it available for anybody that is willing to learn and make something of themselves in the SMB world. It also has to cover the costs of at least distribution, so I outright do ask you to support my business which has financed every penny and kb spent on getting every SBS Show episode to the day. If you're getting anything out of the SBS Show I don't think its too much to ask you to consider that when you line up OWN's solutions against the competitors. As always, thank you for your support of the SBS Show and please let me know what we can do to make it better.

The SBS Show will be making its triumphant return from the extended spring break tomorrow. This is quite exciting because the type of content I'm coming back with is both inspirational and creative. In short, it is not what you would have expected out of the SBS Show because now that people actually know who we are the reception we have from the SMB IT community is fairly impressive. SBS Show has been and always will be about the community and the spirit of getting involved with other IT peers and learning from one another. We can all learn from one another, I hope the SBS Show can help drive that.

So what are we going to cover in the coming SBS Shows? For starters, looking at security consulting as an opportunity. Then utilizing the power of community and networking to make you a better and more comprehensive IT professional. In between we'll play some stuff from the community to let you "meet" some people virtually.

But let me ask you, what would you like to see/hear/do?

SBS Show #15 on Managed Services is the most anticipated SBS Show episode ever – we taped four shows after we decided to go back and redo #15 to give this important topic the fair attention it deserves. Joining us are Amy, Chad and Steve and they talk about all aspects of managed services that have made Mobitech successful. You've seen these folks share details of their business and process in the newsgroups before but you've never seen it to this extent. 2+ hours of recording, you will want to set some time aside, break out a pen and a paper and listen attentively. There are no show notes for this one, we simply asked everything we could think of and the scope and length of answers will surprise you. If you are not thrilled with this show I will give you your money back! When you are done listening to this show sign up for the MobilizeSMB tour which is coming to a city near you. The event is completely free and will give you a chance to discuss managed services and strategies with the Mobitech team in person. Seating is limited so register today. For more on managed services software and concepts please Scharag this wiki. Download the SBS Show #15 http://www.vladville.com/sbsshow/sbsshow-episode15.mp3

SBS Show 18 is an adult and with the age of maturity we look at a responsible topic of protecting your network with a firewall. Amy Babinchak (ISA MVP) joins us for an hour of basic questions about firewalls and general security in small business: what is a firewall, why do you need one, what does it do, which one to get and so on. This is the show you can send to your customers and give them a second opinion by an ISA expert, MVP and an author. 01:00 Who are you, what do you do? 04:00 What is a firewall? 06:00 What is ISA? 11:00 Small business threats: What does ISA stop, do I really need it? 14:00 Am I too small for a firewall? 15:00 What do firewalls do? 17:20 How does ISA compare with other solutions? 19:00 Why should I upgrade to ISA 2004? 22:50 Different ISA versions? 24:00 How do you sell ISA? 29:00 Case Study Time. 39:50 ISA Controversies: Safe on SBS? Appliances? 47:00 Will you help me configure ISA? You can find out more about Amy Babinchak at her web site (www.harborcomputerservices.net) and more about her ISA work on her blog (isainsbs.blogspot.com) Download the SBS Show #18 http://www.vladville.com/sbsshow/sbsshow-episode18.mp3

SBS Show 17 is almost at age of consent so we discussed a mature topic on a mature product: Migrating SBS. Small business networks are very mature and going from the old server to the new server is no longer a shotgun-reinstall method. Jeff Middleton is the father of SBS Migration and we talk to him about the swing process, news at sbsmigration.com, approaching documentation through subscription. We talk to Jeff about other topics as well: about being a consultant, IT Professional, SBS user groups, piracy, and religious experiences. You will want to listen to the 70+ minutes covering these topics: 0:01:40 What is Swing Migration? 0:22:00 How is Swing Migration Changing? 0:27:00 Microsoft's take on Swing Migration? 0:37:00 What is on the sbsmigration.com Portal? 0:48:20 ITPro Mash Project for New Orleans Update 0:51:30 Support for ITPro/SBS User Groups & Discounts 1:01:01 ..Jeff on Tour 1:03:00 ..Jeff on Piracy 1:07:00 ..Jeff on Consulting & Managed Services 1:09:00 ..Jeff on Swinging Download the SBS Show #17 http://www.vladville.com/sbsshow/sbsshow-episode17.mp3

Joining us for SBS Show #16 are few leaders of SMBTN groups: Jim Locke, Roger Otterson and Andy Goodman. They discuss the concept of partner groups and going beyond the networking/technology discussions and towards actually doing business. Every partner in the small business community should listen to this show, especially if you work on your own: 06:00 What is SMBTN, why did you get together? 09:55 What does SMBTN offer people/groups that join? 14:55 What benefits do SMBTN members get from major software/hardware vendors? 19:08 Joining SMBTN from the SBS group leaders perspective? 20:45 SBS group benefits under the SMBTN umbrella 22:35 What is SMBTN really all about? 29:47 What benefits do members realize from SMBTN? 39:22 How does one go about joining SMBTN? 44:10 SMBTN conference? Download the SBS Show #16 http://www.vladville.com/sbsshow/sbsshow-episode16.mp3 SMBTN Annual Conference is at Buena Park, CA from Mar 30 – Apr 1. If you're curious where the SBS Show #15 went, Chris was put in charge of editing the SBS Show on Managed Server because we couldn't hear one of our guests. Look for it this week! In the meantime, the Inside SBS crew will be making its trumphant return with a talk on Mobility. Look for it early next week.

The Duke Nukem Forever production of the SBS Show is out, asking what will be big in SBS in 2006? We've rounded up some SBS industry leaders to answer that question and we also covered some of the things we are doing, additional audio content thats going to be available from the SBS Show and a few surprises. 00:51 The Year Ahead 01:26 Kevin Royalty, SBS MVP, Solution Net, Inc. 09:36 Roger Otterson, SBS MVP, SMBTN, Qualitec Consulting 21:20 Amy Luby, CEO Mobitech, Greater Omaha SBS What we're doing in 2006 29:04 Susanne Dansey 31:40 Chris Rue 38:14 Vlad Mazek 42:33 The Year of the Customer 45:56 Extra SBS Show content, Whither Inside SBS? Download the SBS Show #14 http://www.vladville.com/sbsshow/sbsshow-episode14.mp3

Tomorrow night we'll tape the 14th SBS Show. This will be our weekly excursion into the world of small business with "My Fair Lady" cast of Vlad Mazek, Chris Rue and her majesty Susanne Dansey. I am not totally sure what we will talk about but I'm taking input (off air please). We're going to look at things we're changing around for 2006 to respond better and things we're looking forward to seeing and accomplishing this year. Perhaps this gives you some ideas on what opportunities may be waiting for you!

It's good to be the king! Harry Brelsford took a break from his skiing trip to stay at his cabin and talk to us about the state of small business IT, franchising, starting and growing and IT practice, world-wide trends even down to new business ideas, personal style and plastic surgery advice. Harry, like everyone else we invite on the show, is a big contributor to the SBS community and will certainly be back to discuss some of the subjects in depth but we wanted to get to know Harry… for those of you that don't get to sit down and have coffee with the big time SBSers this is a good intro and overview on what IT business involves and where its going. Download the SBS Show: http://www.vladville.com/sbsshow/sbsshow-episode13.mp3 Show Notes: Time Description ===== ======================================= 1:37 Who are you? 6:44 Where is SMB Nation going next? 10:12 How did you get started? 12:46 What are you talking about now? 15:49 So whats new? 17:20 How does Microsoft work? Workshops? 20:15 Is there an opportunity in IT franchises? 26:19 How do you build a consulting practice? 32:08 Succcessful franchise organizations 43:00 One-man-band vs. Build-and-grow IT firm? 44:03 Whats the value in SBS user groups? 50:40 Whats the current buzz word in smallbizit? 52:20 Grilling time: Do you have a stylist? 55:00 Where are the ebooks? Opinion on piracy? Harry Brelsford's notes (www.smbnation.com): SMB Nation Amsterdam 2006 (April 6-7 2006) registration NOW OPEN! SMB Nation complimentary evening workshops: January = USA, February-April = EMEA SMB Technology Watch newsletter, free and goes bi-weekly starting in February!!! Join our 7,000 readers.