Vladfire 6: SmallBiz IT Shop & SBS Community with Tom Crosbie

Posted: 6:18 pm
August 1, 2006
Vladfire
26 Comments

Tom Crosbie of Crosbie IT Ltd talks about being a one-man band IT shop in UK. Tom talks frankly about how he started his business, the hardship in getting good business training and how the SBS community helped fill the void. Quite inspirational, enjoy.

Vladfire6

Runtime: 8 minutes, 12 seconds.

Download a WMV (Microsoft Windows Movie) | (43 Mb)

Stream Quicktime (Fast, Streaming, Requires Quicktime) | (15 Mb)

Note: Sorry about the video/audio quality, this was shot in a dark hotel room. It is a part of the same presentation you saw by Susanne Dansey and Mark Taylor is next.

VladWind: Food & Running

Posted: 10:18 am
August 1, 2006
Vladville
13 Comments

My UK friends seemed really puzzled with our eating habits so I have to share these two gems with you. One of the partners from Manchester (Jules) came along to my ITPRO group and brought his very charming girlfriend that had this question for me: “How does your health system cope with obesity?” – I am not sure if Katie and I laughed out loud at Lucy or if we just kind of looked at each other.. health system? No, no, we have insurance here when things break. The second question: “On our way here we saw a 24 hour pancake.. who needs a pancake 24 hours a day?” God the British are cute! But since Vladville has a worldwide audience let me share two of the delicacies from the south which is where I live.

Hamdog_bigThe first one is the hamdog.  It is a hot dog wrapped in a meat paddy and deep fried. It is then placed on a giant hot dog bun and topped with caramelized onions, cheddar, chilli and finished off with a nice fried egg. It comes with two fistfulls of fries and perhaps a diet coke. No, not a joke, this monster is real. Click on the picture to the right to enlarge it and watch it glisten.

Luther_bigThe second one is now world famous luther burger. This sandwich was actually made live on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno and the process is simply brilliant. Instead of buns they use two (or one sliced) Krispy Kreme doughnuts. If you’ve ever handled a doughnut you know it can get messy, not to mention when you slam the rest of the stuff on it. Just what does Mulligans put on the doughnut? You’ve guessed it, a double bacon cheeseburger. None of those pesky vegetables or grass getting in a way of things, just good ol’ eating. Big thanks to Texas Burger Guy for the pictures.

WdwvladlAnyhow, its August 1st and I’m getting back to my marathon training. I’ve obviously learned absolutely nothing from last years marathon but I also didn’t die which only means I owe it to myself to go back and kick some ass. I have roughly four months to get back in shape and my goal for this year is to hit that wall at about 22 miles, not 18 like I did this year. I’m running Orlando (Walt Disney World), Tampa (Gasparella), Miami (South Beach) and the usual breakdown of local 12K/half marathon things.


P.S. For all my Americans.. I did send Jules and Lucy to the 24 hour Krispy Kreme so they can watch the whole doughtnut making process and enjoy our culture to the fullest. I am not sure if they made it when the “Hot Doughnut” sign was on so they could watch people that can barely fit through the double doors get their dozen doughnuts served to them with a straw (don’t want to crush the hot doughnut by picking it up with your hand); If you can appreciate big numbers check out the KK Nutritional Chart. Poor Jules. As for Lucy, she lived through my presentation and is getting a degree in theology, so KK probably was not the thing that ruined that night

WGA & Homicidal Tendancies

Posted: 12:47 am
August 1, 2006
Microsoft
11 Comments

Untitled document

Last night I made a quick post about a tool called RemoveWGA with hope that I can shed some light on one of the most disappointing Microsoft moves in recent history. It is interesting to see how WGA works under the hood and address exactly what is being passed back and forth. Is it spyware? Well, read the page. While I have not been affected by WGA at all I never imagined how big of a deal this was for partners and customers. Frankly, I like the concept of pirated systems getting busted for doing what they do and hunted down by their "clients". Sure I got a ton of calls about it but I get a ton of calls about everything, it's the nature of what I do. But very rarely do I ever get a call where the other person is screaming at the top of their lungs to the extent that the speaker in the phone can't handle the volume. Thats the new kind of pissed I have not heard in quite some time, brought to you by WGA.

So the WGA thing. Great concept. Horrible implementation. And this got personal quick and it hit really close to home for quite a few of you. Click here to read the 17 comments on the post and pay particular attention to the comments made by Ramon. I sincerely hope nobody reading this will ever have that kind of experience. But if you think my visitors are raving lunatics then you need to look at Microsoft's own WGA boards. I have not seen anybody lose it so quickly outside of LUG flamewars. You will find this thread in particular very disappointing and perhaps telling of why this software is still so bad and why it infuriates so many.

Oh well, their software, their license, they can do what they want to assure its genuine. But let me offer you a bit of PR, software developer and CEO advice all rolled up into one: When your customers are telling you that your software sucks, when you put the reputation of your partners on the line with your bad software, when you've nailed people with a beta product without properly informing them of its status and when you've received over 1200 reports where people take issue with your software.. you sit back and you say you're sorry and you tell them what you're doing to fix it. You don't moan about how people only talk about the negative aspects of your software, you look at the bad stuff and you fix it.  

P.S. Does anybody know if Phil Liu is at 1 Microsoft Way? I think I have a book I'd like to send him and his boss.. Folks, I realize you are in a big company and you need a permission when you want to go to lunch 15 minutes early. But if you're facing this kind of a PR nightmare and you need to seek approval to talk to your customers and partners… you might want to get out there while there are still some willing to listen to you.

Disable, uninstall neuter & understand WGA

Posted: 11:35 pm
July 30, 2006
Security
25 Comments

Have your friends been calling you every few days to check if you found a way around WGA or if you got something other than Devilsown ISO key? If you’re getting your product key out of FILE_ID.DIZ or devilsown.nfo then activating new systems has been a pain in the ass lately. Though not quite as painful as the one thats coming after the feds raid your office and you’re stuck clinching to the cell bars while Bubba works his magic from behind you . But I digress…

There aren’t many happy WGA stories out there. Some consultants are excited because they can make a $50 margin on selling OEM software on after-market PC’s (you’re a national treasure boys) but it seems like everyone I’ve talked to has legitimate Windows XP copies throwing warnings, crashing and really showing many signs of a coder that had to ship the code by the deadline but spent too much time on YouTube downloading behind the scenes of These Boots Are Made For Walking. Sorry folks, it shows.

First of all, there is the Microsoft way to get rid of WGA. It’s not pretty. There is an easier way, too. But if you really want to know how WGA works (down to the TCP dump) here is a site for you:

http://www.firewallleaktester.com/news.htm#60

Awe, but Vlad that page is all words! Don’t despair, these guys also publish a tool to remove WGA in three different ways. Original name too, RemoveWGA. Git’r’gone.

To choke a monkey and other power user design concepts

Posted: 7:05 pm
July 30, 2006
Shockey Monkey
8 Comments

Ah the fun of designing software. No, not writing software but actually designing the behavior to work the way that user would expect it to work. No, not Microsoft’s misleading marketing campaign. I am talking about the concept of putting in traps in your software to catch the stupid things people would do and more importantly what they were trying to do.

It really is an art form. For example, I put a search form at the top of each page and threw away all my preconceptions about what I would do. After all, I am not a field tech so what do I know about trouble ticket management? I figured they would look for a company name, for email addresses, for ticket tracking numbers..

What did I actually get?

First and foremost, a long list of profanities. Yes, really. While at the ticket display screen or contact contact info people would scribble in things that I do not imagine were a part of the conversation. They put in phone numbers, passwords, notes to self and just amusing notes to pass the time.

So the lesson here? When designing management systems put in some stress relief code. I can only phantom that people were so utterly bored with the person they were trying to help that they must have been banging their head against the monitor to come up with the vile things that got posted back to the server. I am seriously considering having an iframe somewhere in the page that loads pictures of serene landscapes. Give it some feng-shui to help IT folks put up with the customers without the rage. I can see the future of my preferences system now.. “which color relaxes you the most? which one infuriates you? Virtually choking the monkey – relaxing, fun or cruel?” 

Most systems prompt you to pick your prefered date display format. Mine wonders about choking monkeys. Talk about personal software!

Vladfire 5: It’s not easy being green

Posted: 11:30 pm
July 28, 2006
Vladfire
Comments Off on Vladfire 5: It’s not easy being green

Untitled document

It’s not easy being green. The SBS R2 project has not been on a pretty road, until today.

For the first time in Microsoft’s history a product group has pulled the product back from manufacturing. They saw a flaw and decided to fix it. They pulled it back before it blew up in their face as a huge PR nightmare. No pointing fingers. No “we’ll fix it in SP1”, no "we'll patch it after new years," no "it's not that big of a big deal", no "we can't test every single piece of software," no "we already burned the DVD's, how big of a problem is this really?" talk of cover-up and denial. No excuses. Just hold tight and we’ll fix it. Amen.

R2recalled

Download a WMV (Microsoft Windows Movie) | (2.6Mb) 46 seconds

Stream Quicktime (Fast, Streaming, Requires Quicktime) | (1.3Mb) 46 seconds

Hopefully other Microsoft groups learn from this humiliy and show the same care for their customers that the SBS team did. Microsoft makes phenomenally stupid mistakes. They also make remarkably good decisions. And that my friends is why they are #1.

Note: from her cold, dead hands is dedicated to the SBS R2’s sole evangelist through the thick and thin. Enjoy the video.

Note 2: Thanks to Tim Barrett & Associates, my PR agency, for scoring the Kermit song. Saved me a trip to BlockBuster.

Has Microsoft figured out Beta testing?

Posted: 12:37 pm
July 27, 2006
Misc
8 Comments

Worth1000One of the most frustrating experiences of working with Microsoft as a partner, selling aside, is the process of being prepared for their next product wave. You’ve read the hardships I’ve experienced with it here from the very start of the Longhorn/Vista process and you’ve also probably noticed that things are looking up lately. The closer the product gets to release the stronger and more complete it feels (go figure) and despite the questionable direction there is something more in the air when it comes to Microsoft lately.

Maybe it was the change in management, maybe it was just learning to open up more, maybe it was the dire need to convince customers that Vista will not be a failure. Whatever the cause was, the effect has been really nice.

You see, about a decade ago things like Technet and Beta were not a common place. If you wanted to test drive software you were on irc.efnet.net #warez5 waiting in a dcc queue hoping to avoid a netsplit. Back then there was no MS Connect. There was pWa.

The effect? Vista beta is perhaps the best managed beta project with near-TAP-like handling. You are in the same process from start to completion. There are extensive and active newsgroups that surround it and are Microsoft supported. There are numerous LiveMeetings covering every aspect of Vista you can possibly imagine. Multiple mirrors, notifications of new builds, active boards, transcripts, etc. Make no mistake, a lot of money seems to be going into the testing and evaluation of this product before it even launches. I applaud Microsoft on this one, I really do. So they probably cut the cost of one extra PR firm generating buzz, skipped about 20,000 crappy tshirts for the launch party and will end up with a better product as a result of it.

Now if they could get a sense of humor and actually get the guy to shoot the Mac user

Blogging in My Swamp!

Posted: 11:30 pm
July 25, 2006
Vladville
12 Comments

I have to admit I’m more than slightly jealous of all the social opportunities on the west coast as I see Scoble going from one conference to another. NY has quite a scene as well. Well, Josh is putting Orlando on that map too with BlogOrlando.

BlogorlandologoHyku, in partnership with Rollins College will host this FREE event that is open to bloggers and non-bloggers alike from Florida and anywhere else (so far we have one international attendee). We hope to bring together a good cross-section of folks to discuss blogging, podcasting, public relations, social media, citizen’s journalism and other related topics. In addition to the Friday event we are planning some outings at the local theme parks over the weekend. This event is as much a social/family gathering as it is a ‘work’ gathering, so bring the family (kids included).

So if you’re a blogger come out and join us. You can’t beat the price (free!) and you can’t beat the heat. Friday, September, get the details here.

Vladire Episode 4: Community & Your Business with Susanne Dansey

Posted: 3:23 pm
July 25, 2006
Vladfire
47 Comments

Untitled document

Welcome to the second coming of Susanne Dansey. You can read (and watch) more of Susanne here on how the community she participates/builds helps her business. This second “in-the-dark” part of her presentation from Microsoft WWPC talks at great length how to establish relationships with the community members, how to leverage that against major vendors, how to be comfortable about doing business with your peers and a lot more.

Vladfire4

Download a WMV (Microsoft Windows Movie) (73Mb)

Stream Quicktime (Fast, Streaming, Requires Quicktime) (21Mb)

Note: Shot in near complete darkness. Just experimenting with video. I know a few of you are going to SMB Nation to network and participate in SBS groups so its only fair that you learn how to do it from the very best. Oh, and you might want to watch all the way to the end to see what she is really like. Queenie rules with an iron fist. 

Exchange 2007 Beta 2 Released

Posted: 2:57 pm
July 24, 2006
Exchange
5 Comments

Exchange 2007 Beta 2 has just been posted on the web.
Exch07_licenseplate_hero
Click here to download

Exchange 2007 upgrade is a massive change from 2003, almost to the same degree Exchange 2000 changed from 5.5 days. It is a central point of storage for all the future communications – phone, voice, mail, mobility and then some. It is almost imperative you start testing, learning and experimenting with Exchange 2007 now so you’re up to speed when the release does come out later this year.

Remember that Exchange 2007 will be in 64bit flavor only so you will likely need to upgrade your test gear (HP has a dual core 64bit laptop for less than $700).