Vladfire, all the way from Australia, with Dean Calvert. Dean is an SBS MVP and the world ambassador for Australia. You can find him at every big conference with a tube of vegemite that we discuss in the video below. Dean also talks about what it takes to run a successful SBS consulting practice.
Runtime: 7:10 Minutes.
Download a WMV (Microsoft Windows Movie) | (37 Mb)
Stream Quicktime (Fast, Streaming, Requires Quicktime) | (27 Mb)
Dear Vlad,
Thanks for all the jokes about the green check of health, funny boy. Your face is next.
Cordially,
WSSG SBS Team
I kid, I kid, apparently we didn’t pay the mail bill. This was sent to me by Charlie Anthe and Kevin Beares as thanks for beta testing SBS 2003 R2. Very nice of the guys to do that and even nicer of them to type up a letter and say thank you. It is something that doesn’t happen often in this world so take a hint from Microsoft and thank your customers today, especially the supporting ones.
Now I’ll go back to my nuclear shelter for when the “Office UI” team sends me their thanks 
As I have written before, Own Web Now is doing an experimental launch of Office 2007 and Vista to 1000 US customers. We’re basically providing our client’s main technology driver and early adopter a chance to test Vista and Office on adequate hardware and make an educated decision on whether Vista/Office are worth-while for their business based on actual experience not speculative pundants and grapevine commentary.
The results so far are not promising, not promising at all. Among the chief complaints are:
So far the experience across the board has been similar. Here are the stages of Vista/Office adoption:
1. Acknowledgment – “They finally did something to make me more productive instead of same ol'”
2. Admission – “I have to say, I love it, I can’t believe how smooth it is!”
3. Denial – “Really, it won’t work with Vista? I have to click on it every time?”
4. Anger – “I can’t believe this is so slow. I can’t handle clicking on 3 menus just to format my spreadsheet.”
5. Acceptance – “I can’t believe how good we have it on XP. We won’t be upgrading…”
…
So dear J Allard.. I would love to see you make me eat my words and fix the above pain points before Vista/Office 2007 becomes generally available and your arrogance puts both Microsoft and Microsoft Partners out of billions of dollars. No, those are not fighting words, those are the facts as my fellow partners and customers see them.
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:
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?
Ouch. Double Ouch. Zune is getting its fair criticism that many shared, as have I.
Today I got another chance to play with the Zune at our local Costco. The first thought that goes through your mind as you reach out for this device is: “Looks like a personal media player to me!” – quick, think of a successful PMP. The Clix? No. Archos? No. Zen Vision? No. Meizu? Who? Meizu! Playstation Portable? Ooooh, yeah, I’d like one of those! (keep this in the back of your mind for a second)
The second feeling you get when you pick up the Zune is that of pure exhaustion. The girly man syndrome. The arm cramp, the feeling of your biceps tearing ever so gently as you pick up this brick of a portable device.
Poor Zune. Poor Microsoft! Where is the traditional innovation I’ve learned to expect from Microsoft? Oh. Ok. Semantics, people. Where is the traditional shameless theft of IP I’ve learned to expect from Microsoft? Where is the ingenuity of stealing someone else’s kind-of-successful product, re-branding it and improving on it ever so slightly? Stick a Microsoft logo… no… wait… an XBOX logo! Surely if people lined around the corner to buy an Xbox they’ll do the same for the Zune!
How did this go so very, very wrong? Here is a breakdown for you:
Fair enough, enough Zune bashing.
Microsoft has problems. No, thats not my opinion, that is Microsoft’s internal accountants commentary on the challenges and going concerns Microsoft continues to face from its competitors. The challenges to their business model. They are afraid.
But… Microsoft has a plan and a vision to combat these threats through innovation and giving customers what they want. Then why for the love of god did Microsoft choose not to learn anything from Apple, not to listen to its customers, not to eliminate any issues people have with current players, not to bring anything innovative to the consumer?
I am as puzzled as you are. I do know one thing, I wouldn’t want one of these under the Christmas tree. What will become of Zune? Perhaps a sweepstakes to incentivize people with baggy clothes and good belts into attending long and boring webcasts?
There are times on this blog when I give my good friend Steve Ballmer some practical advice. This one might get me killed but here it goes: I believe the following will be written by the Zune team for its tombstone:
Microsoft Zune:
Because we had to give boss something other than a chair to throw at us.
Erick Simpson is the CIO of Intelligent Enterprise, author of pretty much the only and the best book on managed services, and a very good friend. In this interview Erick talks about the transition of his business to the MSP model… He is also our guest on SBS Show’s #25 and #26. Enjoy:
Runtime: 6:57 Minutes.
Download a WMV (Microsoft Windows Movie) | (36 Mb)
Stream Quicktime (Fast, Streaming, Requires Quicktime) | (16 Mb)
Tim just published the 5th (uh oh, he’s catching up) episode of No Geek Left Behind featuring a trip a few of us took to the Seattle Aquarium. Let’s see, how do I sell you on watching a 20 minute vacation video…
Featuring: Vlad Mazek singing a 2 Live Crew “Shake a lil’ Something” hit to a bird… with extreme closeups.
Mind you, this was the material Tim felt was appropriate enough to publish. If the level of SBS Show obscenity isn’t quite clear, some of the monologue between Chris, Susanne and me was cut out – but someone squeezing semen out of a salmon made it. Yes, we are that good. This morning I woke up to an IM from Chris saying “Dude, it was nice knowing ya.”
Right back at ya pal.
WARNING: The video is extremely funny if you share our sense of humor. If you’re easily offended this may not be the video for you… particularly if you’re:
I feel that is a sufficient warning.
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
On the servers, yes.
On the Windows workstations and peripherals, not quite.
There has been a fair bit of discussion on whether we are ready for 64bit platforms and more to the point, are we building systems that can power the coming 64bit wave of Exchange and Longhorn?
On the server side the response has been a resounding yes. Many have pointed out that 64bit processors such as Opteron have been out since 2003. You can also note that all Dell entry-level Pentium and Xeon servers are 64bit.
So we are 64bit capable. But are we ready for 64bit?
Not quite. Lack of drivers. Lack of support. Most of all, lack of faith among the early adopters. Nearly everyone that went to 64bit Windows XP has regretted it and most have rolled back to the 32bit edition. The trend with Vista is not pretty either. Many have complained about the lack of 64bit optimization in Vista, claiming that the Pentium-D class systems ran significantly faster in the 32bit than 64bit editions.
Drivers are perhaps the biggest complaint. They are not getting any better. For example, not a single modern printer in my house has a 64bit driver.
Who will gamble on 64bit?
Not Microsoft, they will sell the workstation OS regardless of the platform. No Dell, they aren’t stupid enough to flood their support lines with unhappy customers that just bought a brand new Dell and cannot use any of their older peripherals. Not the OEM manufacturers, they of all have the least budget and interest to support a microscopic market share. Don’t believe me? Ask Macintosh users about how many peripherals worked with them in the 3–7% market share days. Ask Donald Becker why he had to write nearly every network driver in Linux. Ask Redhat why they had to bend over backwards and deal with sellout criticism when they shipped kernels with modules that simply could not be compiled from source. You get my drift, OEM’s are going to be looked at for drivers but they have traditionally not been the leader. As a matter of fact, OEM model is in the exact opposite direction — they rush to ship the product with drivers that “work” and only after the adoption rate falls below the RMA rate do they start to fix the issues.
Grim scenario indeed.
So we are 64bit capable. We just aren’t ready.
The following comes courtesy of Tom Anderson of Business Information Systems. He went through with the Vista Business Upgrade and below are his remarks. Thanks for sharing Tom and hopefully everyone will find it useful.
OK, I have worked through my first use of the Vista Business Upgrade. Here is what I have discovered thus far:
1. I ordered the user license from my distributor. After receiving the license information, I went to the eopen site accepted the license and downloaded Vista Business Upgrade. I selected .iso format (only choice).
2. After the download completed, I notice that the extension on the file was .img and not .iso. After some assistance from the board, I renamed the file with the .iso extension. I then used Nero to burn the image to DVD.
3. My question in the beginning was whether or not you could boot from the DVD and install to a wiped disk. Well, the answer is Yes you can. The DVD is bootable and Vista installs like a charm. I simply told it I wanted to do a clean install and it handled everything from there. In less than 20 minutes, I had a fully functional machine.
4. What really surprised me in the beginning is that I was never asked for the Product Key, but after some investigation I get the notion that this takes place during the Activation process. Can anyone confirm this?
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