Susanne puts down Guiness and picks up a keyboard

Posted: 9:03 am
April 10, 2006
Friends, IT Business
3 Comments

My SBS Show bud Susanne Dansey is now blogging. Here is the info: Blog: http://www.uksmbgirl.co.uk/blog/ RSS Feed: http://www.uksmbgirl.co.uk/blog/feed/ Now she has a blog on nearly every blogging platform and I have been bugging her to put up a page that showcases what she does. You see, one of the big secrets behind the SBS Show mic is that Susanne never wants to join the technical discussions: "I can't follow an MVP, I'm not technical" You see, Queenie is a business development monkey. She connects people, connects businesses to opportunities, explains the tech stuff to the ones that really do not care about it – and bar none, she is THE BEST to the point that I offered her a job in Dallas. In terms of knowing who does what, what appeals to whom, how and why to get what out there.. there is simply no distant second to Susanne, check out her forum at http://www.sbsbpi.co.uk and you'll see nearly all the UK groups in one place. I've been bugging her about putting up a professional blog that represents what she does and what she's doing (sans weekend Guiness drinking games) so she finally cracked. So if you want a definitive guide to whats what in SBS community and business check Susanne out.

Your Potential.Our Passion: They Took ‘R Jobs!

Posted: 10:42 pm
April 8, 2006
Uncategorized
Comments Off on Your Potential.Our Passion: They Took ‘R Jobs!

Every now and then the IT business owners need to step out of their realm and examine what they are doing and why they are doing it. There have been numerous conversations lately on the subject of compensation as well as the difficulty selling managed services. Why are some of the most successful, most honest people in this business struggling to sell a peace of IT mind and why are they trying so hard to do it?

Ladies and gentleman, you’ve heard it here first (in case you’ve been under a rock for the past 10 years): We are no longer an industrial nation. What little time we enjoyed as a vapor-ware pushing nation is coming to an end as well with globalization. We are now in the information/knowledge-worker age where your worth is not defined by your willingness, work ethic, your physical power.. but your knowledge.

So here is my day. Started it by chatting with Amy about her new hire and how and where she is investing in her businesses. Followed that up with a conversation with Scott and his attempts to promote managed services. Allow me to paraphrase a little:

“Vlad, there are some that just do not see the value. You see, I installed his SBS before SMB Nation and I did a great job. The system updates itself and has scheduled automatic maintenance tasks. It automatically updates itself, even down to the antivirus definitions. It has been running absolutely trouble-free for over a year and I cannot convince them to go with a managed plan.”

Yesterday I had a talk with Sean from ECS Hosting and Chris from Coastal Networks. We talked about a joint proposal for an SBS replacement box and the conversation went a little like this:

“Vlad, I don’t think they’ll go for your lease deal. You see, they bought their NT4 server 12 years ago and they expect to buy another system for the next 12 years. They do not want proactive management, they just want to buy a new box.”

This afternoon I had lunch with Bob from Orlando IT Pro and the chat on managed services continued:

“Some just do not get it. They gamble that nothing will ever break and that they can get cheaper and cheaper labor to come in and fix it. This customer wanted me to give them a server for under $2,400 for the entire office! Everyone has a tight budget.”

Now why are all these successful and honest IT business owners pushing into this managed services era where they align their IT knowledge with their clients IT needs? Why are they done with break-fix? Why are these guys not shaking in their boots about Best Buy Geek Squad putting them out of business? You can say these folks know who the real enemy is, but in case you’re not up to speed let me clue you in:

MICROSOFT CORP

Microsoft is not aiming to or going to put you out of business – but their innovations will. You see there is this entire cottage industry that simply exists to keep IT systems together. The untrained glue of corporate America working from $10-30 an hour just barely chucking the productive parts of the company along. Microsoft makes mature products. For the most part, Microsoft makes some relatively self-managing software out there that reduces the amount of time, energy and effort required to operate it. So where does that army of geeks end up when the budget gets slashed? Consulting.

Folks, break-fix is dead. Your Potential, Our Passion. The message behind that tagline is innovation. The more mature the software gets, the better the platform is the less maintenance it will require. This is a consequence of innovation. How many people do you know still hunt and gather their food to support their families? Not a whole lot, you see a few hundred years ago they got displaced by the farming industry. How many farmers do you know? Not a whole lot, you see a century ago the start of industrial revolution wiped them off the face of the earth to the tune that only 3% of USA population is involved in farming. Today we are at a turn again. Look around – when you think about industry and manufacturing do you think Michigan or do you think Made in China, Made in Taiwan? You’ve got it.

They Took ‘R Jobs!

Unless you’re an ingorant redneck worthy of South Park you have to stop saying that when refering to Best Buy / Geek Squad / Microsoft / India / etc. Really, you come off as a complete and utter fool. Again, Microsoft Tagline: Your potential. If your potential is to be a break-fix guy/gal that can be destroyed by a $10/hour Geek Squad employee then you really are not worthy of anything more than $10/hour.

You see, even if you’re doing great now as a break-fixer you are soon to find yourself in a neighborhood of people that lost their corporate IT jobs. The more saturated the market becomes, the lower the price for your service will go. It’s simple economics. If you cannot show your clients the value you provide now you are likely not providing any value to them at all – and they see it too. They want a cheap solution now thinking that if it breaks the price to repair it go be lower and lower over time.

Welcome to the knowledge worker age.

Welcome to the opportunity to be valued for what you know and learn how to show your clients why that is important. Thats not a $10/hour job, thats an appreciation of a business partner beyond what money can buy.

So, what is your passion? What is your potential? What do you KNOW!

Ding Dong the FrontPage Is Dead!

Posted: 4:44 pm
April 7, 2006
Microsoft
3 Comments

The wicked witch of the Office system. Microsoft FrontPage will be gone and pull a Jesus move with Microsoft Office SharePoint Designer 2007:

The Microsoft® Office and Server & Tools teams are proud to announce the introduction of two great new tools for application building and Web authoring in 2006:

  1. Microsoft® Office SharePoint® Designer 2007: Automate your business processes and build efficient applications on top of the SharePoint platform, and tailor your SharePoint® site to your needs in an IT-managed environment.
  2. Microsoft® Expression™ Web Designer: Take advantage of the best of dynamic Web site design, enabling you to design, develop, and maintain exceptional standards-based Web sites.

These two new products will join the recently launched Microsoft® Visual Studio 2005, the next-generation tool for developers, to deliver a complete set of instruments for application building and Web authoring.

Good news for web developers, Windows platform, SharePoint collaboration. Bad news for commodity/cheap web hosting providers that have so far relied on RTR's ported version of Frontpage Server extensions to run FrontPage enabled sites and web bots on top of Linux and 8 other Unix platforms. There will be a lot of outcry from the hosting folks and people concerned that Microsoft is yet away locking away technology they previously opened but FrontPage extensions have been dead for quite some time. Honestly, not many will miss them, especially given all the cool stuff thats in SharePoint. So wake up folks, if you want to develop on the SharePoint platform you have to embrace the new technology, new dev tools and new way of doing things.

IE EOLA & Issues of trust in software

Posted: 7:50 am
April 7, 2006
IT Business, IT Culture
8 Comments

I posted the stuff below to Susan Bradley's blog but it quickly turned into yet another look at the way we expect less and less from the software we use in business. I recently posted a warning about beta software and why consumers should not try it. As usual, I get 5-10x as many emails and IM's as I do comments on this blog and Rob Murphy from Palm Beach IT UG asked "what is your opinion of setting clients up with MS antispyware/ Windows Defender Beta at a desktop level?". It's quite simple: If the software was ready, it would not be in beta. Software vendors are putting IT Professionals like Rob Murphy into a situation where they have to make a compromising decision on whether or not to recommend clearly unstable and unsupported code to their customers. Why? Because software vendors advertise the hell out of it, on the front page nonetheless! Get Boot Camp Beta, Vista Beta, Defender Beta, Vmware Beta, the list goes on. Rob is an ITPRO and he knows what a beta is. Customer does not. So here is how I try to explain this to my customers that just saw an awesome flash movie and persentation on why he needs to install this beta product. Customer: Vlad, I need **** Beta, NOW! Vlad: Please sign the liability waiver. Customer: Why? It's on their web site! And they shipped me a CD! Vlad: Because its broken. Customer: But, but, but, er.. I want it! It's shiny! Vlad: Ok, lets try this in simpler terms. Let's say you and I meet down at the gas station. We'll drain your tank till there is only a gallon left. Thats about 20 miles right? Your house is 25 miles away. Now, I hope most of your trip is downhill, that you will not be running A/C in Florida, that you will not hit many red lights on your way and that you are not going to go over 25 mph on I-95. There is about 80% chance you'll make it home without walking a mile or two or abandoning your Lexus on the side of the road. People drive with low fuel all the time, I'm pretty sure you'll make it. Besides, whats a little time spent walking along a highway? So, meet you at the gas station? Customer: Uhh. No. Vlad: I see. You must have plans tonight. How about tomorrow morning on your way to work? But lets say this time we only put half a gallon in there. You might have to walk 8 miles, have your car impounded, posessions inside of it stolen and you miss half to a full days worth of work, does that sound ok? Customer: Absolutely NOT! Vlad: Welcome to the wonderful world of beta testing. Still want to install that trash? Now back to Susan and the holy ActiveX jihad:

Welcome to the Microsoft Security Response Center Blog! : April 2006 Advance Notification Everyone testing that EOLA patch that changes the way ActiveX is done and know if you are good to go? Welcome to the Microsoft Security Response Center Blog! : An update on the IE ActiveX change from Mike Nash Internet Explorer ActiveX update

I have completely eliminated external use of Internet Explorer. Check out Amy Babinchak's excellent blog to find out how to use ISA to restrict access to certain web sites only. So the post, without further ado:

Ok, I will stick my foot in the lions mouth and ask. Is it irresponsible to run Internet Explorer outside of the few company-approved web sites or further restricting it to internal-use-only? In my opinion: yes. I'll take it a step further: Anybody purchasing ActiveX driven software should be fired, on the spot. IE and its associated technologies have at least in my heart long lost the thumbs up and purchasing decisions should go towards web services that require no client components to be running. This is where the customer loses, when he/she is required to download and "trust" the code. I am tired of trusting, tired of patching, tired of constantly having to compromise, evaluate, alpha, beta, CTP, GTM and otherwise personally waste my time on software that should be delivered with some defined standard of quality. I'm tired of people ready already. How about maintenance free for a change?

First, its one thing to pick on System Administrators, ITPRO and developers and people that should be capable of evaluating the risk in a lab or even in production. It's quite another to pick on a consumer that doesn't understand the difference and is easilly impressed by flourescent colors. Believe me, I've heard the excuses: "Vlad, we can't just test it all we need help to sell you more software". Fair enough, do not open up the beta to the consumers. You are not approaching her to get her to test your software, you are pitching her the benefits and hiding the beta logo and disclaimers in as small of a font as possible. So it blows up her entire mailbox, disables her access for a day, eliminates any chance of support or person to contact when there may be an issue – those details are ommitted or subdued. But the benefits? Well, www.gmail.com – judge for yourself if this is an invitation to a beta test or almost a teaser worthy of a porn site. Second, ActiveX is an easy pick given the topic but it is by no means behavior limited to Microsoft. Nearly all software vendors have jumped on the beta bandwagon and are only releasing software and new features as beta. Part of a testing process, part of a marketing push, part of a sales potential evaluation, part of raising awareness, part of eliminating full "trial" versions…. but not a part of my production network and not a part of responsible ITPRO recommendation for a production environment. Have a nice weekend!

Microsoft Small Business Summit Replays

Posted: 7:28 am
April 7, 2006
IT Business, SMB
2 Comments

As we're all busy with the new quarter, taxes, speaking engagments, product rollouts and conferences the SBS Show is taking a little spring break. However, it is not an excuse not to learn. I for one have been working on C# and Mono for about two weeks now and there is no greater satisfaction than getting better at what you do. Along those lines, not everyone is at the same level. Microsoft held their first-ever Small Business Summit and broadcast it over the web. This caught far too much flak over the poor organization and execution (LiveMeeting) but the content was beyond excellent. Eric Ligman has posted the replay information so bookmark it and view in your spare time:

Day 1: Keynote Sessions

– Kevin Turner MS COO: Celebrating and Supporting Small Business: View Replay

– Maxine Clark: Putting the Heart Back into Retailing: View Replay

– Keith Ferrazzi: Skills & Techniques for Building & Maintaining Your Network of Contacts: View Replay

– Douglas Leland: Learn How Small Business + Can Help Your Business: View Replay

– Michael Park, MS VP & Cindy Bates GM: What to Expect from Days 2-4: View Replay

Day 2:

Keynote

– Mike Nash MS VP: Security Alert: How To Protect Your Business: View Replay

Sales & Marketing Track

– Guerilla Marketing – Big Budget Marketing on a Small Business Budget (Breathing Life Into Your Marketing Strategy): View Replay

– Demo – Microsoft Office Live – MS Small Business Services: View Replay

– Customer Case Study – Chez Jane (Gourmet Garlic Spread Co.): View Replay

Financial Management Track

– Microsoft Small Business Accounting Demo: View Replay

– Technology That Evolves With Your Business: View Replay

– Have you Outgrown Quickbooks? (Is it Time to Look for A Better Solution?): View Replay

Productivity & Mobility Track

– Is My Business Ready For A Server?: View Replay

– How Software Can Help You Run Your Business More Smoothly (Transforming Your Business With A Server): View Replay

– The Next Generation of Small Business Server: View Replay

Computer Security Track

– Keep Your Computer Free from Viruses and Worms: View Replay

– Windows OneCare: Automatic PC Maintenance: View Replay

– Why Pirated Software Will Cost You in the Long Run: View Replay

Day 3:

Keynote

– Gary Hoover : How to Become a Forward-Thinking Business: View Replay

Sales & Marketing Track

– Hold a Meeting from the Comfort of Your Office: View Replay

– Small Business Webcast:Business Contact Manager for Microsoft Office Outlook Demo: Connecting with Customers: View Replay

– Get the IT Advantage with a Microsoft Specialist: View Replay

Financial Management Track

– Techniques for Managing & Maximizing Your Cash Flow: View Replay

– What the Small Business Administration Can Do For You: View Replay

– Case Study – CAL Business Solutions: View Replay

Productivity & Mobility Track

– Take Your Office with You Using Windows Mobile: View Replay

– Technology Trends in Small Business: View Replay

– Small Business Offer: Core Technology for the Price of a Daily Cup of Coffee: View Replay

Computer Security Track

– Top 5 Reasons to Protect Customer Data: View Replay

– Peace of Mind with Microsoft Windows Update: View Replay

– Is Your Business in Regulatory Compliance?: View Replay

Day 4:

Keynote

– Jeff & Rich Sloan: The Devil is in the Details: View Replay

Sales & Marketing Track

– Get the Most Out of Microsoft Office: View Replay

– Sales and Marketing 101: How to Boost Recognition, Improve Credibility, and Develop Customer Trust: View Replay

– When Fish Fly: Beyond Customer Service, An Opportunity to Make A Difference: View Replay

Financial Management Track

– How to Pick the Right Financial Solution for Your Business: An Interactive Quiz: View Replay

– Beyond Bookkeeping: Software Strategies for Growth: View Replay

– Online Resources for Your Business: View Replay

Productivity & Mobility Track

– Business Mobility – Gaining Access To Your Data From Anywhere In The World: View Replay

– Business Agility – Helping You to Make Decisions Faster: View Replay

– Demo: SBS – Small Business Server – Remote Technologies, Learning How To Share Calendars And Contacts: View Replay

Computer Security Track

– Vista Demo – The new look of Windows and how it will change small business: View Replay

– Seven Steps To Better Security: View Replay

– Adding Network Security in Minutes: View Replay

Downloads to check out this Weekend

Posted: 2:20 pm
April 6, 2006
Programming, System Admin
1 Comment

Here are few downloads that caught my eye and are sure to fill up a boring weekend assuming I get more than an hour off to play around. Enjoy. Windows RSS Screen Saver Sample in C# Creating Windows Mobile 5 Line of Business Applications (code & webcasts) Microsoft Exchange 2003 SP2 Standalone Help File

Stupid Mac Users: Decade later, still blind.

Posted: 8:51 pm
April 5, 2006
IT Culture
Comments Off on Stupid Mac Users: Decade later, still blind.

Earlier today I posted a rather puzzling and apparently inflaming article towards the Apple's latest attempt to convince people that their platform is not a niche for desktop publishers, low-end media and kids. What ensued was a slight flame war in my comments between Mac fans and Mac haters. I chose to end it when someone called the Mac users to "get back on the short bus" What is ironic here is that Mac fanatics have been undying fans one Apple blunder after another, constantly feeling that they are somehow special and better while being pushed to a more and more obsoleted solution. From 68K to PowerPC, from OS9 to OSX, from DRM to iTunes, from AOL to .Mac, DRM, locked BIOS and overpriced hardware with limited vendor support.. there is nothing that can ever smear their cherished platform. Now in spite of all that, one company gets that opposite is quite true. Their name? Apple. Yes, that Apple. They realize they are a niche platform and that is the reason their market penatration always resided on the verge of computing obscurity. They want the iPod-like share extended to a similar share of laptop and desktop market. That is why back in 95 Apple claimed to be better at running Windows 95 than XP. They wanted people to buy Apple computers. That is why for years Apple tried to emulate x86 with software and add-on cards. They wanted people to buy Apple computers. That is why Apple allowed OEM's to make their hardware but pulled back quickly when they realized they were just an OEM box maker. Apple computers got sold by someone else. That my dear Apple users is the cold hard truth of your "platform" which for a decade you swore was better than 68K than Intel. Then better than PowerPC than Intel. Now better than Intel on… Intel? Yup. Same argument, different decade: Apple runs XP better than Intel/Microsoft? Whats interesting is that Mac users love to live in a delusional state where they consider their "platform" to be more supported, more "user friendly", more "affordable", more "featureful"… But one company gets it, oh faithful Mac users. It's Apple. They are a gadget company now – iPods is the name of the game and iXP is next. Apple is a WinTel box maker today. Today it's a WinTel box running XP! Face it guys, three decades of innovation by Apple will in a year evolve into a shiny plastic finished Dell box running Microsoft Vista.

Schiller said Apple "absolutely has no plans to sell or support Windows. We're just helping our customers with Boot Camp to install Windows if they want to."

Look at the above paragraph. Now substitute "MacOS" instead of "Windows" up there and you'll see the picture. What Schiller really meant to say was:

Schiller said Apple "absolutely has no plans to sell or support MacOS. We're just helping our customers with Boot Camp to install ANY OS they want to so long as they buy our boxes.

Apple does not want to be an OS company. They want to be a gadget company. Thats where you can overprice the crap out of your offering and make a ton of money. It's not Windows users switching to a Mac. It's Apple switching to PROFITABILITY and DOMINANCE. Mac users exist in an isolated part of space where they must justify their poor purchase choices of flashy and sparkly overpriced gear. Apple, on the other hand, remains in the realm of business where they need to sell more of their gear. So even though they basically turned into a premium box maker today, something that Mac users hate being identified as, Apple stock went up 9% because they will sell more devices and make more money. And at the end of the day, hey, its all about ca$h.

IIS 7: First Looks

Posted: 2:33 pm
April 5, 2006
Microsoft, System Admin
4 Comments

Note: As a Microsoft MVP I'm entitled to some confidential information. All the information contained in this post is public knowledge and does not reflect the final product nor my experience with the beta. Legal stuff out the way: WOW IIS 7 is going to rock. While this will not be very exciting for the Apache faithful its going a long way to help out us IIS admins (hey, its no secret that Microsoft has been copying ncsa httpd / apache since day one – not only is it in the license but one of my close friends dropped out of college to work on IIS ISAPI in the long long ago). Like SQL server, the IIS 7 brings a very friendly XML interface and a 3 panel control panel. It also empowers the web site admin without granting system administrator priviledges (unix folk: read .htaccess). So here are some notes from a recent webcast: Metabase is gone! No more metabase hacks, all the configuration for IIS will be handled by XML files. If you've had a misfortune of dealing with DNN 4 or .NET development you know too well how much must be tweaked with web.config — well its getting bigger. Not only will you be able to manage your web site (and more) with a web.config but all the configuration for IIS will be in the ApplicationHost.config XML file. Reduced Attack Surface & Enhanced Performance This makes IIS admins mouth water. For the longest time IIS (4/5/6) security involved loading various plugins, application firewalls, checkboxes, metabase hacks and one hotfix after another. Well, thats going away. Because capabilities of IIS7 will be controlled by different DLL's (instead of one major one) you'll be able to selectively turn features on/off (via XML!) and only open up what you need. This is awesome and way overdue. You know how you can restrict IIS from running .NET, FrontPage, WebDav, etc? Well, imagine being able to turn off things the same way you do in Apache with the backing of .NET. It's coming in IIS7. Think about the performance that a stripped down IIS can deliver – specifically if you're using IIS for image or video content serving farms. Tweaks and Wizards, oh my! With the additional functionality and options its going to get a lot more difficult to manage these servers. Do you really want to spend 20 minutes configuring each server to your liking or tweaking around XML files and keeping track of them? Well, IIS 7 will come with a lot more wizards to precisely tune your configuration without XML editing or reinventing the wheel. Of course you can tweak that through XML directly afterwards but the time savings will be significant. We were recently setting up a SQL cluster and Albert literally clicked through maybe 50 screens just to setup cluster aware COM+ properly. The bad news? Still not ready for performance testing. You will still be able to run ASP.NET 1.1 on IIS 7 which means you will still have to support yet another piece of old code which means it can be further ignored and obsoleted by your developers (until they have all found new jobs) and you'll be the one answering questions about why you're constantly being hacked because someone else hired incompetent developers. IIS 7 will only run on Longhorn / Vista so you will have to upgrade/migrate if you want the new feature sets. All in all, I am really looking forward to IIS 7. We manage a ton (well, many many tons in terms of steel alone) of IIS 6 and I would really love the ability to massively roll out and manage my IIS networks the same way we do for our Apache ones. It appears as if that is just around the corner!

New Podcast Logo

Posted: 6:41 pm
April 4, 2006
Podcast
4 Comments

This German site recently held a contest to create a new logo for a podcast, the recorded/straeamed radio program. The SBS Show will proudly abuse this logo in addition to our own. Speaking of which, the SBS Show #20 will be our first all-international show with Susanne Dansey broadcasting from Amsterdam at SMB Nation Europe.

Fun’N’Gun: Gators Win

Posted: 11:38 pm
April 3, 2006
Misc
1 Comment

Hail to the mighty Gators, my Alma Mater is the NCAA National Champion in basketball. And boy did we make it look pretty: Wooohooo! So pretty, oh so pretty. So many dunks, so little time. Just like 34-7 shaming of that little girl school, stand up Gator Nation. Update: 1:19 AM EST; This is the first basketball championship for Florida, not just the school but also the state. Glad to help represent our great state. I've been waiting to say this since 1997 when I got to UF: It's great to be a Flooooooooooooorida Gator!