CIO Podcast

iPhone 2.0 Update

podcast@ciopodcast.com (JTK) — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 00:00:00 +0100

We've just completed a seamless, relatively quick upgrade to our older, original iPhone. This update went without issue at about 7PM EDT. While this is not a blanket endorsement to go ahead and upgrade your phone, it appears that Apple may be on the down side of the issue. We'll take some time with the 2.0 software and write a brief review. Assuming that upgrading is really a no-brainer here, we won't spend all that much time on it. We noticed a number of odd error messages during the day with our older software. For example Visual Voicemail returned an "unavailable error" on one of our units consistently throughout the day. Hopefully, all of these issues have been resolved. Good luck with your upgrade to iPhone 2.0. As always, please send any feedback to podcast@ciopodcast.com.

iPhone Activation Woes (AGAIN)

podcast@ciopodcast.com (JTK) — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 00:00:00 +0100

Fondly, I remember yelling at my bricked, brand new iPhone while I stared at an all, but useless iPhone for 3 days (http://www.ciopodcast.com/index.php/content/view/161/2/) after purchasing one. It appears that lightning has struck twice. Several CIO Podcast associates have reported issues related to upgrading to iPhone firmware 2.0. At this time, it appears that Apple has taken down the 2.0 update for older version iPhone users. Dr. Evil has certainly come out to play with Apple once again.

Open Avenues for Ideas

podcast@ciopodcast.com (JTK) — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 00:00:00 +0100

Earlier this week a colleague asked me how I am as successful dealing with executives as I am. Basically, the answer to that is education. No, not formal business education, but education about the issues that CEO's and employers are facing today. But, sometimes that's not enough. As IT Leaders we need to be responsive to our businesses needs. People ask how I keep in touch with the business leaders I view as my clients.

XP Ends General Availability

podcast@ciopodcast.com (JTK) — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 00:00:00 +0100

Microsoft XP formally ends general availability. Even the OEM version will be available only until the end of the year. This combined with Gates' "retirement" truly marks the end of an era at Microsoft. Arguably, Windows XP was the best operating system Microsoft has ever released. It's taken years of bug fixing and continued development to get it to be as stable and secure as it is today. Yes, in spite of this, Microsoft pushes all clients to its questionable Vista environment.

Has Microsoft finally seen the light?

podcast@ciopodcast.com (JTK) — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 00:00:00 +0100

In a recent conversation about investing in Macs vs. PCs Microsoft Silverlight was raised. What is it? Silverlight (http://www.microsoft.com/silverlight/) appears to be an "applet" that allows .Net developers to release websites for heterogeneous environments from Safari, Firefox to IE and even for cell phone based browsing. Oddly, this product was raised by the Microsoft "side" as a way to prevent purchasing Macs. The argument is lost on us. We can't help but imagine that with the changing of the guard at Microsoft that Microsoft itself is in need of deep change. Ray Ozzie has the technical reigns and perhaps he'll be the savior.

Snow Leopard Thoughts

podcast@ciopodcast.com (JTK) — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 00:00:00 +0100

Apple recently announced Snow Leopard, their next version of OS X. Version 10.6 will contain a couple of new "under the hood" items that most users will likely not notice and a couple of very prevalent items that they will. While the computational power addition of using the GPU is strong, the most compelling reason for this release will be it's integration with Microsoft's Exchange messaging platform. We're currently dealing with a client situation related to a merger of two companies with very different IT systems and philosophies. The "Merger" is a hard and true Microsoft shop, while the "Mergie" has been happily a Mac shop. Of course, there's a new implementation project that's spawned the age old Mac vs. PC debate for the new sites. And wow, what a political football it has turned out to be.

Firefox 3 Download Day

podcast@ciopodcast.com (JTK) — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 00:00:00 +0100

Here it is folks... the day that Firefox 3.0 is released. We've seen this browser grow up over the years and it's now a viable alternative to Microsoft's Internet Explorer. So much so, that with about 18% market share, websites need to be compatible with Firefox.

Sage Advise: Susan Cramm

podcast@ciopodcast.com (JTK) — Mon, 19 May 2008 00:00:00 +0100

I'm always interested in reading strategy postings by other CIOs. Recently Susan Cramm started a blog (http://discussionleader.hbsp.com/cramm/) on the Harvard Business Reivew site. Her first two posts are insightful and dead on advice for people outside of IT dealing with IT. Definitely worth checking out and following her coming posts. Now, how do I forward them to my CEO clients without offending them?

200,000 people to microsoft: SAVE XP!

podcast@ciopodcast.com (JTK) — Fri, 16 May 2008 00:00:00 +0100

Over 200,000 people have petitioned to have Microsoft save XP. Yours truly is among them. Vista just has not risen to the occasion to allow Microsoft to discontinue XP. Stability and investment concerns worry all of my clients. InfoWorld posted this (http://www.infoworld.com/article/08/05/16/news-save-xp-200k_1.html) reminder recently. Hopefully, Microsoft is listening. We can always hope, right?

Apple Instore Hardware Support (Avoid It)

podcast@ciopodcast.com (JTK) — Fri, 16 May 2008 01:00:00 +0100

Why is it so hard to get Apple stores to do a decent job fixing their computers? Twice I have taken computers there to be fixed, and twice I have horror stories to tell about the experience and the results. I will never again take an Apple product to my local Apple store for repairs.

When is it too early to demo a product?

podcast@ciopodcast.com (JTK) — Wed, 14 May 2008 00:00:00 +0100

I find it amusing that whenever Microsoft's Bill Gates demos a product, it doesn't work. In his latest demo of the TouchWall, Gates's initial interaction with the device wasn't. That is the supposedly touch sensitive device, wasn't.

Increased Brute Force SSH Attacks

podcast@ciopodcast.com (JTK) — Tue, 13 May 2008 00:00:00 +0100

In this world with the growing number of Macs and Linux boxes out there, we've seen a large number of people using SSH and other protocols tunneled over SSH to get real work done. It's a great thing when used cautiously

Microsoft Warns Vendors about Vista

podcast@ciopodcast.com (JTK) — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 00:00:00 +0100

One of our clients received notification today from Dell stating that Windows XP would soon no longer be offered. It will be a shame if and when this comes to pass, as Windows XP has grown into an "okay" operating system by most standards. Sure, it's buggy and hackable... but it works, our user communities know it and it runs on our current hardware. Microsoft has made this threat before and backed off. We'll see if it holds... but for our administrators in the field, get ready for the hardware replenishment programs... 'cause this one is going to be a doozie....

Apple's Time Capsule...

podcast@ciopodcast.com (JTK) — Sun, 20 Jan 2008 00:00:00 +0100

While Apple's MacBook Air may be all of the talk and rage, Apple's Time Capsule "backup appliance" should be the topic of conversation. Sure, while Steve Jobs and Apple flexed their muscles and created a very cool looking laptop that's quite portable even if it does have major sacrifices... such as no firewire port, the mere introduction of Apple's Time Capsule has taken the backup from "what a pain in the ass" to "how could I not?"

Help XP Stay Alive! (June 30, 2008)

podcast@ciopodcast.com (JTK) — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 00:00:00 +0100

As I sit pondering the meaning of Apple's Macworld presentation for my clients, I came across the continued movement to keep XP alive. How different these two business (Apple and Microsoft) and their clients really are is quite amazing.

iPhone Long Term Thoughts

podcast@ciopodcast.com (JTK) — Fri, 02 Nov 2007 00:00:00 +0100

Okay... so I've personally owned and used an Apple iPhone since the release day. Call me a fan-boy or whatever, but as you know from this article (http://www.ciopodcast.com/index.php/content/view/164/2/), I needed an upgrade. So, out there I went and purchased a brand new iPhone. Happy I was then and have been with this revolutionary device, with several notable exceptions. Herein are some thoughts about the top 5 things that we find annoying with the phone.

Microsoft Extends XP

podcast@ciopodcast.com (JTK) — Fri, 28 Sep 2007 00:00:00 +0100

Just recently we talked about Microsoft bending to market demands (http://www.redhat.com) and adding downgrade options to it's Vista clients. Today they further extended support through June of 2008. This Information Week article (http://www.informationweek.com/windows/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=202102847)provides a decent primer.

Apple Moves Leopard Forward

podcast@ciopodcast.com (JTK) — Wed, 26 Sep 2007 00:00:00 +0100

As we draw ever nearer to the October release date of Apple's Leopard OS X operating system, Apple recently seeded a new version to developers. This version includes more interface refinements and to date, only a couple of known issues have been reported. Leopard is, indeed, a major leap forward offering compelling reasons to upgrade for organizations, not the least of which is Time Machine. Time Machines latest iteration takes all of the guesswork away from the user, by eliminating most options with the exception of two. Which drive to use as the backup drive and which folders or drives should be excluded from the cycles.

Microsoft Vista... Is it Ready?

podcast@ciopodcast.com (JTK) — Mon, 24 Sep 2007 08:00:00 +0100

In a word.... no. Microsoft Vista has been on the market for quite a while now. Apple's OS X Leopard is close to release. It's become time to revisit the operating system to see what's really going on. Along around December of last year, Delmarva Group (http://www.delmarvagroup.com) recommend to it's customer base that it hold of and make no major move to Vista. Indeed, those thoughts were echoed Here. (http://www.ciopodcast.com/index.php/content/view/132/2/)

New Statistics Collection

podcast@ciopodcast.com (JTK) — Fri, 21 Sep 2007 00:00:00 +0100

Folks, We've implemented a new statistics collection system that "might" trigger an error message in IE 7.0. If it does, we apologize for this inconvenience. Thanks for your cooperation and understanding.