Windows Connected

The silence....

Matt Freestone — Thu, 14 Apr 2011 21:50:00 GMT

Hi everyone, sorry that this site has been rather neglected over the last few months. Some of the contributors have gotten jobs (with MS and others) to where they are no longer allowed to blog on a site such as ours, and others such as myself have just been waaaay too busy. Hopefully in a few months that will change. We have a lot of exciting stuff on the horizon (both from a technology stand point as well as from our own company) that hopefully we'll be able to write about soon. So, please stay tuned as there will be much more to come.

Thanks for visiting WindowsConnected.com and we appreciate your time and patience.

Lync 2010 Install on Server 2008 R2 SP1 Issue

Matt Freestone — Thu, 14 Apr 2011 21:47:00 GMT

So, if you are like me and just tried to install Lync 2010 on a Server 2008 R2 SP1 server, you'll get an error setting up the front end server.

Lync Server Installation Error: Prerequisite installation failed: Wmf2008R2

Thankfully I was able to find help here;

http://y0av.wordpress.com/2011/03/03/lync-server-installation-error/

Note though, please don't use his work around, but use the below which came from a reply to his post from someone @ Microsoft on the Lync team;

The problem is that the WMF package version has changed for Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1.
The proper workaround is to run from an elevated cmd window (applicable to Front End server with Media workloads)

%systemroot%\system32\dism.exe /online /add-package /packagepath:%windir%\servicing\Packages\Microsoft-Windows-Media-Format-Package~31bf3856ad364e35~amd64~~6.1.7601.17514.mum /ignorecheck

Reboot.

The Lync setup check will detect that the a proper version is installed and will proceed

Peter (Microsoft Lync Server team)

Microsoft officially launches Lync today!

Matt Freestone — Wed, 17 Nov 2010 19:19:11 GMT

I personally have been looking forward to this day for a very long time, and I will be posting a LOT of great content and reviews on this PBX killing software here shortly. In the mean time, check out Mary Jo Foley’s post over at ZDNet about the launch.

http://www.zdnet.com/blog/microsoft/microsoft-touts-next-generation-voip-as-its-unified-communications-secret-sauce/8010

Yes, that’s me being quoted. If you would like to learn more about Prometheus Networks hosted Enterprise Voice solution, check out the site here – http://gopronetworks.com

Expect more content soon!

Another ‘elitist’ trying to downplay Windows Phone 7 before it even launches…

Matt Freestone — Wed, 13 Oct 2010 15:58:26 GMT

Elitists are like lemmings (which is hilarious because they pride themselves on not being lemmings) and once one of them has gained attention from something they all have to do it. The only problem is that they have to hide their lemming status by coming up with a new tact to disparage Windows Phone 7. The latest comes from Adrian Kingsley-Hughes from ZDNet with his pathetic post called;

5 reasons NOT to be a Windows Phone 7 early adopter

And what are your brilliant reasons?;

‘First generation anything is ropey.’ Ropey? Apparently this is an informal British word. Apparently it means inferior or inadequate. Interesting. I would just have to ask Mr. Kingsley-Hughes, did you say the same thing when the iPhone and Android devices first came out? Since, according to your statement, ALL first generation devices are ‘ropey.’ Hmmm I think your hypocrisy is showing…
‘Wait for the app store to mature’ – Again, was the iPhone apps store and Android apps store ‘mature’ at launch? (Isn’t launch and mature an oxymoron?) Do you really think the main drive for early adopters is the apps store? If that was the case, we would never be early adopters. Early adopters don’t wait for ‘mature’ otherwise they wouldn’t be defined as early adopters now would they? Seriously, the apps store? hahahahaha
‘Wait for the herd to thin down’ – This argument is that there are TOO MANY handset makers and may of them will decide to stop selling handsets and therefore we should wait. Hmmm again I’m pretty sure that there are ‘far too many’ Android handset makers yet I haven’t seen you make this argument there. Again sir your hypocrisy is showing.
‘WP7 could still flop’ – Now this is an interesting concept since it HASN’T EVEN LAUNCHED YET. Did you say the same about the iPhone or Android? Oh wait, you wouldn’t want to offend your masters. I’m surprised that you were able to draw yourself away from your Apple and Google idol worship to write this post.
‘There’s still the question of Microsoft’s commitment to the platform’ – Seriously? You really want to try this card? This card that countless tech ‘journalists’ have used with Microsoft in the past on Office (against Word Perfect), Xbox (against PS2), etc? Even if Windows Phone 7 stayed at 5% market share Microsoft will release a Windows Phone 8, of that there is no doubt. And the lame ‘cut/copy/paste’ argument again? I guess you ran out of your own sucky ideas so you had to use the corpse of this thoroughly beaten horse. Guess what, your other platform didn’t either at launch, but MS is rectifying this within 1 quarter. How long did it take your beloved Apple to rectify this situation?

So Mr. Adrian Kingsley-Hughes, might I recommend that you come up with a far more logical approach next time you want to look down your nose at something for the sake of looking down your nose at something? Truly, I’m embarrassed for you.

Windows Phone 7 Officially Launches–Updated!

Matt Freestone — Mon, 11 Oct 2010 16:41:25 GMT

Windows Phone 7 officially launched today at a press event in NYC this morning. You can check out more here – http://www.windowsphone7.com

By the way, if you have any doubts about the platform or it’s responsiveness, you should really watch this video here - http://www.microsoft.com:80/presspass/presskits/windowsphone/videoGallery.aspx?contentID=wp7_unveil03&WT.z_convert=Share

Seriously, watch the video. The responsiveness of the device is just flat out amazing. No lag whatsoever. If you’ve been a Windows Mobile user, this is a VERY, VERY good thing to see. I currently have a HTC Touch Pro 2 and the delay is soooo irritating. It’s even faster than my ZuneHD. Wait until you see the Bing Maps responsiveness, or the Bing Search (using Voice) feature.

So keep an open mind, ignore the BS you’ve heard and take a look for yourself. I personally can’t wait to get my hands on one but unfortunately I’ll be waiting until next year since I am a very loyal Sprint customer.

Update – Microsoft has already promised a 1.1 update in ‘early 2011’ that will add the missing copy/cut/paste features among other unannounced things. This is fantastic. Read more here - http://www.reghardware.com/2010/10/11/microsoft_windows_phone_7_update/

Gartner once again proving its irrelevance with idiotic Windows Phone 7 prediction

Matt Freestone — Thu, 07 Oct 2010 04:08:00 GMT

All you CEO’s out there, do you want to know a great trick to see if your CIO/CTO is worth anything? Look for a copy of Gartner in their office and see if any of their recommendations have blindly come from Gartner. If so, fire them immediately. For the life of me I have spent a lot of cycles trying to figure out why anyone in their right mind considers Gartner the bible of technology in corporate America. Gartner has been wrong so many times over it’s sickening. Let me tell you what Gartner is. Gartner is a bunch of elitist wannabe geeks with MBA’s that look at technology from the dillusion prism of the technological equivalent of social justice, not free market principles. Free market principles dictate ‘may the best product win’ with the definition of ‘best product’ being determined by the best ROI (return on investment) for business and thus the largest sales. Gartner instead looks at technology in the work place with the mindset of ‘we don’t like this product, we much prefer this product so we’re going to try to shape everyone’s opinion to determine the outcome, the free market be damned.’ Well guess what Gartner, the free market will always win. You might have some influence with the brain dead zombies who don’t understand the departments they are over but eventually high costs and inefficiency always weed them out. Today Gartner is setting another great example of their irrelevance and will continue to degrade their credibility;

http://www.informationweek.com/news/security/reviews/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=227700245

Here is a quote from the article;

“Gartner predicts the release of Windows Phone 7 will help bump Microsoft's share of the worldwide market from 4.7% in 2010 to 5.2% in 2011, but says the company's share will ultimately decline to just 3.9% by 2014. “

While I agree that in 2011 Windows Phone 7’s market share won’t jump tremendously (they have a lot of negative press to overcome) they are absolutely smoking a 5 horse power bong and doing insane amounts of crack cocaine while injecting heroine into their eyes to come up with this absolutely stupid estimation that by 2014 MS market share in the mobile market will be 3.9%. Quite frankly this outright bigotry is insulting to the intelligence of anyone with an independent thought who knows anything about technology.

So I’m calling you out Gartner. You’re about as trustworthy as the National Enquirer with the half alien wolf baby on the cover. I’ll make you a deal Gartner, if your prediction is true I’ll stop blogging but if you’re wrong you need to come clean to all the mindless zombies out there and stop leading them to career slaughter.

This is just yet another example that I referred to in my previous post here.

The tech press’s bigotry rears it’s ugly head once again…

Matt Freestone — Fri, 01 Oct 2010 16:33:14 GMT

Does anyone remember the days when ‘journalists’ were supposed to simply report an occurrence and let their audience come up with their own opinions? Rather than tell the audience what their opinion should be and use evidence from the occurrence to back it up? It reminds me of doing the science fair as a kid. Create a hypothesis, then find a way to try and prove it. This is exactly what happened with Windows Vista and this is exactly what is happening now with Windows Phone 7.

Tech Press Hypothesis – Windows Phone 7 will suck. (How DARE Microsoft challenge our beloved Apple and ‘do no evil’ Google masters?)

So how have they gone about their little task of destroying Windows Phone 7 before anyone even has a chance to use it? Just like any good ‘journalist’ that has an agenda you only point out the facts that support your argument and ignore the ones that would contend or dis-prove it.

So let’s start with ‘InforWorld’s Galen Gruman and his article ‘Windows Phone 7: Don’t bother with this disaster.’ (Wow, this sounds completely un-biased already!) According to InfoWorld’s ‘Blogger Bio’ Galen Gruman is an executive editor. So essentially as high up the food chain there a writer can get it would seem. Based on everything I read in this article (posted July 15th 2010) he has not been hands on with a Windows Phone 7 device (at least at the time he hadn’t.) All of his opinions and assumptions are derived from a developer conference using a prototype device with beta software. (Windows Phone 7 reached RTM September 1st 2010.) Now, while you can get a general idea if a UI or concept are bad in beta software, rule #1 is ‘do not judge performance until you hit a released product.’ Massive UI changes even happen between beta and release products. (Am I saying that has happened? I honestly don’t know but it’s always a distinct possibility and you shouldn’t stick your neck out with an early assumption because you just might be sticking it into a guillotine.) So let’s take a look at some of his opinions;

This comment is from the second paragraph. Seriously.
- “Windows Phone 7 is a waste of time and money. It's a platform that no carrier, device maker, developer, or user should bother with. Microsoft should kill it before it ships and admit that it's out of the mobile game for good. It is supposed to ship around Christmas 2010, but anyone who gets one will prefer a lump of coal. I really mean that.”
Now we see how his opinion of Microsoft doesn’t influence his point of view at all;
- “Visions of Vista's litter of control panel dialog boxes, Microsoft Bob, the Office ribbon, Clippy, and Windows 3 flew through my head -- not that Windows Phone 7 looks like any of these; it just shares the same flaw of being obtuse.”

Now does he has some legitimate and fact based complaints about Windows Phone 7? He absolutely does and it is good to report on them, but getting to the level of throwing a hissy fit and asking obviously stupid questions ruins his ‘fact’ based section.

The interface is ‘clunky’. Now, I can’t say for a fact that it isn’t, since I haven’t (nor had he) actually played with a device yet. Also, once again might I point out that this was beta software on a prototype phone? I think you should save these observations for the real product. Now, you might say “at this point the interface seems clunky.”
The IE7 complaint. Yes, IE 7 is old. As he notes they added in some IE 8 functionality, but it does not yet support HTML5 as the other mobile platforms do. His complaint? Why doesn’t Windows Phone 7 run IE9. Hmmm probably for the same reason most Windows machines don’t run IE9 yet. IT’S STILL BETA. In fact a very recently released beta. (Post July 15th.) So, he is complaining that a browser that hadn’t even been released to beta yet should be the production browser for the phone? Not following the logic here buddy.
Windows Phone 7 does not support multi-tasking 3rd party apps. Ok, while true I personally don’t see the big problem here. Personally I don’t see how that would be necessary, other than possibly a real time communication or Facebook app. None of the other 1st generation platforms did their either. Is that an excuse? Not really, more of an explanation. Microsoft, just as Google was under a time crunch to get this device out to compete. Some features had to go. Multi-tasking isn’t a technology limitation per se. It was a decision of ‘we don’t have enough time to test and get proper restraints in place to prevent 3rd party apps from ruining the experience (chewing up too many resources or causing stability issues) for the user and thus reflecting poorly on the device so we just won’t allow it until we do.’ Apple never wanted to allow 3rd party multi-tasking for this exact same reason and it’s a legitimate one. Why let some sucky dev’s app give people a bad impression of your OS? Do you want an even better example? Virtually all ‘BSD’s or ‘blue screens of death’ in Windows are caused by 3rd party apps and drivers, yet who gets blamed for them? Microsoft learned this lesson and they didn’t want their launch getting tainted by it. I consider this a very wise decision.
It doesn’t support copy and paste. (Neither did the iPhone at launch.) Honestly, this one confuses me and is a fully legitimate complaint. All Windows Mobile OS’s have supported that for quite a long time. No idea why this got cut. My best guess? They thought (like Apple and so many other companies) they could ‘do better’ than copy and paste and replace the need for it. It’s a bit like social engineering. Our consumer is too stupid to know what they want, so we’ll force them to learn our new way. Yeah… That didn’t work out so well for Linux or Gmail, or the iPhone even or anyone else MS. Don’t forget you play in a free market guys, give the consumer what they want, don’t tell them what they want. Unlike other ‘fan bases’ we aren’t zombies that will forgive everything you do out of devotion. Your primary base is the business consumer, don’t forget that.

So how does he summarize this article?

“Microsoft needs to kill Windows Phone 7 and avoid further embarrassing itself by shipping this throwback. It's not a question of whether Windows Phone 7 will fail -- it will -- but how long it will take Microsoft to admit the failure.”

This is a lot of hatred and animosity for a platform that hasn’t even been released and he hadn’t even touched yet. This isn’t even my only example of this blatant hatred and hope for failure for Windows Phone 7 in the tech press. In fact, it is vastly one sided coverage of the imminent failure of Windows Phone 7. This is eerily similar to the pre-Vista launch coverage and soured many people against not only a very good OS but a necessary one. Vista finally forced developers to play by the rules and write their apps in the proper manner. So guess what? Apps broke, and who got blamed? Vista. Old printers didn’t work anymore because manufacturers refused to write new drivers so they can sell new printers. Who got blamed? Vista.

So here’s my point. Don’t listen to these blowhards who have obvious bias’s and agendas while trying to portray it as ‘journalism.’ Keep an open mind, wait until you have the actual real product in hand and let your free market power decide if Windows Phone 7 is a winner or a loser. Just don’t let losers pick the winners for you.

(If you would like a list of other examples, let me know in the comments, or if you would like to point out examples yourselves, please feel free to do so!)

Windows Phone 7 - Microsoft - iPhone - Apple - Windows Vista

Google "SRE's" have full access to all data

Matt Freestone — Tue, 14 Sep 2010 22:39:00 GMT

This is very disturbing on so many levels. If you still (for some reason) trust Google with your data, you really need to read this;

http://gawker.com/5637234/gcreep-google-engineer-stalked-teens-spied-on-chats?skyline=true&s=i

Google - Search Engines - Searching - Companies - Tools

Internet Explorer 9 Beta Launch Event Tomorrow (Sep 15, 2010)

Josh Phillips — Tue, 14 Sep 2010 19:21:18 GMT

Along with a few other bloggers from around the intertubes I will be attending the IE9 launch event tomorrow in San Francisco. I wasn’t chosen for my witty insight or deep technical knowledge into the inner working of IE. Nope, mine was more my general proximity to the event, since I live in the bay area. I don’t mind though. To be honest it has been far too long since I have written anything here and this should be a good way for me to get back into the practice of sharing my ramblings. Not that anyone's listening…. (is this thing even on? Is blogging dead? Should I only use twitter to convey things 140 characters at a time? )

Like the rest of you, the ones actually reading a tech blog, I am excited to see what Microsoft has on tap for us with IE9. I am glad to see them pushing to greater standards adoption with IE 9. The performance gains have been excellent with what little I have played with the preview. Which frankly is kind of a pain in the butt with no address bar. I am hoping they push the envelop even father in isolating internet based malware threats.

Tune in tomorrow for as many incriminating photos of fellow bloggers and Microsoft personnel that I can get. Oh yeah and that IE9 Beta thing.

Microsoft - Internet Explorer - San Francisco - Address bar - Malware

Windows Phone 7 has RTM’d!

Matt Freestone — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 22:26:22 GMT

The Windows Phone 7 team has announced their product has been released to manufacturing. That means it’s complete. Read the details here;

Windows Team Blog

And if you haven’t checked out the awesomeness that is Windows Phone 7, check out the website here – http://www.windowsphone7.com

Can’t wait to get one!

Microsoft Windows - Windows Phone 7 - Software release life cycle - Windows Mobile - Operating system

The Google graveyard…

Matt Freestone — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 17:40:27 GMT

http://www.wordstream.com/blog/ws/2010/08/11/google-graveyard-infographic

All companies have a list of failed products but I thought this was a great way of presenting it. If you have a link to any other companies graveyards (such as MS, Apple, Yahoo, etc) please post in the comments and we’ll throw it up as well!

Google - Yahoo - Apple - Search - Search Engines

Poor Google… Gmail can’t compete in corporate America, so we should all change our expectations?

Matt Freestone — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 22:17:57 GMT

http://www.liveside.net/main/archive/2010/08/13/microsoft-ready-to-land-big-ca-email-contract-google-cries-foul.aspx

Apparently the state of California’s email contract is up and Google didn’t even submit a bid. Why? Because their product doesn’t come close to meeting the requirements listed by the state. Google’s response? Change the requirements. “In a series of written requests to the state, Google asked that 142 of the state's contract requirements be changed or removed. Many of those conditions involved functions that Google's e-mail program isn't designed to perform.”

Wow… The arrogance is astounding. I have never once heard of a company demanding a client change their requirements so that their product will be applicable. Then, when the client doesn’t do it, they do a huge PR campaign against them? This is a new low, even for Google. I’ve been watching them flounder as they claim high adoption in corporate America (when in reality their adoption, especially with GMail has been going down as corporations have gone back to Exchange and Notes.) I especially love that they haven’t even been able to come through yet on their LAPD account and are now throwing this hissy fit. Google, I realize you are in bed with the current Federal Administration and think everyone should just bow to your whim but thankfully even California isn’t going to play your game. It’s called a free market Google. How about you try COMPETING instead of expecting everyone to change for you, just as Microsoft has done with Bing. Even if you hate Microsoft you have to give them props for continuing to try try again at Search until they got it right, rather than running to the government and saying “make them lower themselves to our standard.”

The free market is a beautiful thing, at least what’s left of it.

Google - Microsoft - California - Bing - Search

The new ‘Search War’

Matt Freestone — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 16:18:08 GMT

Read the below NY Times article. Essentially the point of the article is that competition breeds innovation and a better production from all companies involved. I love it. We know where complacency gets us. It gets us Windows Mobile, Yahoo.com, etc. Competition is always a good thing and it’s great to see true competition on the search market again.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/02/technology/02google.html?_r=1&partner=rss&emc=rss

New York Times - Google - Windows Mobile - Yahoo! - Search

I couldn’t help it….

Matt Freestone — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 17:00:46 GMT

I had to post these up because they are just too funny not to. These came from this site - http://verydemotivational.com

Bluescreen bluescreening.

Protocols - United States - Business - Barack Obama - Mexico

Microsoft Tag Out of Beta

Aubrey — Thu, 27 May 2010 15:06:01 GMT

Microsoft brought Tag out of beta today. I’ve been playing around with it for several months, and I really like it. The fact that you can use custom images makes it leaps and bounds ahead of QR-style codes. Here’s the details:

Due to significantly increased adoption of Microsoft Tag, we are pleased to announce the official V1 release of Microsoft Tag on May 27th, 2010. Several new features and updates have been made to the product, including improvements to the Tag Reader, a new Heat Map report, and availability of the Tag Reader in Italian, French, Spanish, Turkish and Simplified Chinese. Also, Tag's basic services will now be offered free of charge. Tag's ending of the "Beta" program requires an update to the Microsoft Tag Terms of Use that you initially accepted when establishing your web service account and/or completing the Microsoft Tag API application.

Microsoft Tag Web Service customers will be prompted to review the new Microsoft Tag Terms Of Use when next signing into the Tag Manager to create or manage their Tags. By clicking accept at login, you agree that any new Tags created after the "Beta" program ended on May 27th, 2010, will be governed by the new Microsoft Tag Terms Of Use. At your option, Tags created during the Microsoft Tag "Beta" program can continue to be governed under the Microsoft Tag Beta Terms of Use or these new Microsoft Tag Terms of Use. You will still have access to Tags and their related reports that were created during the "Beta" program, even if you decide not to create new Tags using the new Microsoft Tag Terms of Use.

Users of the Microsoft Tag API will not need to reapply for a new API key due to these updates. By your creation of Tags using the Microsoft Tag API after May 27th, 2010, you agree that your use will be governed under the new Microsoft Tag Terms of Use. Any Tags created prior to this date can continue to be governed under the Microsoft Tag API Beta Terms of Use or the new Microsoft Tag Terms of Use at your discretion.

Text of the Microsoft Tag Terms of Use and Microsoft Tag Beta Terms of Use can be found here:

Microsoft Tag Beta Terms of Use: http://tag.microsoft.com/tag-terms-of-use-beta.aspx
Microsoft Tag API Beta Terms of Use: http://tag.microsoft.com/tag-api-beta-terms-of-use.aspx
Microsoft Tag Terms of Use: http://tag.microsoft.com/tag-terms-of-use.aspx

Microsoft - Microsoft Tag - Microsoft Tag Terms Of Use - Tag Reader - Monopolies and Oligopolies

Does the Google Nexus One ‘bite’?

Matt Freestone — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 16:59:05 GMT

I have personally never used a Google Nexus One so I can’t say. Below is a letter I was emailed by a friend who purchased a Google Nexus One and is sending it back and his frustrations with it. This is completely un-edited by me, I’m just relaying what he said. So, take a minute to read it and let us know your experience with the Google Nexus One. Does it indeed ‘bite’?

Why the Google Nexus One bites;

Touch Screen bites…
Touch Screen really bites… a 2G iPhone has a 10 times better touch screen and it has been out for 3 years.
Trackball? What the? Make a touch screen that works and kill the stupid ball.
Keyboard bites (maybe because the touchscreen bites, but I’m pretty sure they both bite)…
Spacebar key on the keyboard really really bites… 50 percent of the time it doesn’t work, 40% of the time it
takes me back to home (button below it). But hey, that means 10 percent of the time it works.
Missed call list? Where do I start… It takes about four steps to get to where you can call the missed call back.
Plus, when it takes you to the missed call list it doesn’t take you to the top (which is where the last missed call
is), but it takes you to where you were the last time you viewed the list… Are you serious?
4 GB stock memory? Neat that you can upgrade… but $500+ for this phone and it comes with 4 GB?
Live wallpaper vs. iPhone copycat screen? Just give me one or the other… searching around for which one my
app was stored on got really old after the first day.
Battery Life… embarrassing… imagine what would happen if I actually liked the phone and used it? The battery
might die by noon instead of the 3pm.
Apps? ESPN radio doesn’t even have an App… You will find a lot of little “gadget games” for the nerds to play
with, but I didn’t find a single app in 13 days that I thought was “cool”.
Microsoft Exchange… Not an option with the Nexus one. This one is actually hard to believe. Google, in their
all-powerful arrogance, thinks that we are going to be happy using Google calendar instead of Microsoft
Outlook. I was able to pull in my contacts from outlook, but of course those mixed in with my gmail contacts (of
which there were tons of duplicates). However, the calendar is a no-go. But wait, there are Apps to assist with
pulling in your Outlook calendar… yea, they bite also. A small band-aid on a big problem…
Phantom 3G coverage. It’s neat that the 3G icon shows on my phone, because we all know how cool 3G is.
However, most of the time when I go to use something requiring 3G, the logo mysteriously transforms to a
capital “E” (which means slow boat from China edge network for those of you wondering).
Support… Yeah, it bites too. Good luck calling someone for service. T-Mobile can’t help you, because it is not
their phone. Google won’t give you a phone number, but they require you to start the process with an email.
When their return email comes, they give you a number to call HTC (even though Google is the only retail seller
of the phone). HTC had a 25 minute wait time (I wonder why). When I finally got through to an HTC
representative and told her I would like to return the phone, she asked for a reason. My response was “Do you
really want me to get started?” to which she said, “Actually no, this phone isn’t for everyone.” Everyone? I’m
wondering if it is for anyone.
Then, after she processes my return, she informs me of a $45 restocking fee… Throw a little salt in my open
wound please.
So… What (if anything) is cool about this phone? It has an amazing display screen, and a fantastic camera. (In
fact, when someone who was duped in to buying one of these phones wants to have you join their misery, the
screen will probably be their selling point used to try and “wow” you).
But those two items were not enough to get me past the 14 day no-return policy. At day 13, I took my $45 hit,
and sent the phone packing.

Google - Nexus One - Google Nexus One - HTC Corporation - iPhone 3G

The new iPhone4 - ‘Found’ at a bar.

Matt Freestone — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 16:35:05 GMT

Uhhh right. Apple knows viral marketing. They made sure to ‘lose’ one to get free hype, and honestly I say good for them! If you can get free marketing, you should do it! But, is it just me, or does it look very suspiciously like a Zune 80 or Zune HD, etc. They’ve gone to square straight lines instead of Apple’s famous curves. I guess reality finally set in and they realized that being able to sit the device on it’s side so you can watch a video WITHOUT holding it just MIGHT be a good idea. Check out Gizmodo’s article below.

http://gizmodo.com/5520164/this-is-apples-next-iphone

Don’t tell me that doesn’t look like a Zune from a distance.

Apple - Zune HD - IPhone - Zune - Handhelds

Office 2010 Products Reach RTM!

Matt Freestone — Sat, 17 Apr 2010 13:56:01 GMT

http://blogs.technet.com/office2010/archive/2010/04/15/office-2010-reaches-rtm.aspx

Yep, Office 2010, Sharepoint 2010, Visio 2010 and Project 2010 have been released to manufacturing. I for one am looking forward to these new products, especially Sharepoint and Office!

Microsoft Office - Software release life cycle - Microsoft Office 2010 - Microsoft SharePoint - Office 2010

Matt Landis – Hosted OCS Comparisons

Matt Freestone — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 15:43:56 GMT

Matt Landis over at the ‘Matt Landis Windows PBX Report’ blog has a nice feature comparison of different hosted OCS providers. Check it out!

http://windowspbx.blogspot.com/2010/03/hosted-microsoft-office-communicaiton.html

Microsoft Windows - Microsoft - Office Suites - Microsoft Office - Monopolies and Oligopolies

Is Palm still an attractive acquisition target?

Brad Moczik — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 08:32:00 GMT

So, maybe they were waiting for the quarterly report and earnings call before prognosticating, but members of the tech journalism establishment now are--formally at least--predicting what many have been saying for months: it's game over for Palm.

The Pre launch on AT&T--when, or if, that happens--won't matter. A European launch certainly wouldn't be a bad thing, but is irrelevant at this point. Even following Engadget's survival guide to a tee wouldn't be enough to keep Palm alive.

Although the Monday-morning quarterbacking in the Engadget article was pretty spot-on, I enjoyed the author's regrettable resignation in the Ars article. Both are good reads even if the subject is a tad tired by now. We can debate how Palm ended up where it is now, but it seems that everyone at least agrees on where Palm is. While its acquisition sticker price probably is lower now than it was 6 months ago, the question is, who would buy Palm?

There is a certain phenomenon or "law of the universe" where the more desperate you are, the more unattractive you are. Palm's attractiveness definitely was higher 6 months ago: the WebOS was still seen as innovative, it still had a group of believers, and Palm had a second device (albeit a flawed one). Furthermore, it was thought that an existing, or perspective, smartphone player could almost instantly become relevant by acquiring Palm and the WebOS. But that was before Microsoft unveiled its Windows Phone 7 Series plans. That was before the Nexus One. Regardless of opinions on WP7 strategy, I don't think anyone still believes Microsoft needs to make an acquisition to be competitive. And while the WebOS may still be innovative, it lacks buzz, it lacks developer support and is now losing even its diehard fans. Fewer companies stand to benefit as much from a Palm acquisition now. And let's not forget that the buyer would have to deal with Palm's debt, low employee morale, hardware support issues, etc.

That said, who would be your pick? InformationWeek mentioned HP as a possibility given that HP's smartphone sales have declined and the company doesn't seem to have any real strategy around its smartphone business. If it really sees the market as strategic, an acquisition could put HP at the forefront. The same goes for Dell, who has a renewed interest in the cell phone market with its Android-based device. Owning a complete smartphone product would give it more control and perhaps more distinction vs. being one of several Android OEMs. And then there's Nokia, but it still seems committed to Symbian and Maemo.

My dark horse pick would be Cisco. Smartphones could be considered as an extension to its telephony products and part of a strategy to move up the communications stack. Furthermore, a platform like WebOS could complement Cisco's collaboration product strategy through integration with WebEx, Telepresence and the recently-acquired Tandberg solutions. Many IT shops are loyal to the Cisco brand and would like the idea of a single, trusted vendor providing an end-to-end product portfolio for corporate voice and video communication and collaboration. So while others battle Apple in the consumer space, Cisco would be challenging RIM's corporate dominance and disrupting Apple's encroachment into the enterprise.

Trying to win over business users might seem like an odd strategy given the focus on the consumer. But, both RIM and Nextel started in the commercial space and then trickled down into the consumer space. The opposite is happening now because most average users are not power users. As long as they can check their email and access their calendar, the average user is more than willing to sacrifice power-user functionality in order to have the benefits of the iPhone or Android. But, the pendulum will swing the other way when a vendor releases a product that is an exponentially better business tool that professional users can't live without--much like the Blackberry was for so many years. And with its suite of enterprise productions, Cisco potentially could be that vendor.

What do you think? Make your Palm predictions in the comments!

Microsoft - Apple - Nokia - Dell - Palm

Why is Windows Server 2008 R2 being overlooked? Part 2 – Why aren’t people moving to it?

Matt Freestone — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 18:18:02 GMT

Like most situations, there are legitimate reasons why some organizations/admins aren’t moving to R2, and there are many bogus reasons.

Legitimate reasons;

Core application compatibility issues. Unfortunately there are some core Microsoft applications that aren’t supported with R2 in the mix. This is very, very unfortunate and Microsoft is shooting themselves in the foot on this one. The product teams need to get themselves a little more in-sync with the OS teams on this. Many of the core apps are just listed as ‘unsupported’ which essentially means simply that the product team hasn’t certified their product for the new OS. That doesn’t mean it won’t work, just they haven’t tested it yet to make sure it does. The simple fact of Microsoft saying ‘unsupported’ means no corporation will move to the new OS. This alone really hurts adoption of R2. Below are some product examples;

Microsoft Exchange 2003/2007 – Microsoft Exchange 2010 is fully supported on R2, 2007 and 2003 are not. Honestly, that’s not a big deal as no one is going to migrate their OS for Exchange without migrating the app to the next version as well. The tricky part was that you couldn’t have R2 domain controllers with Exchange involved. That’s the problem. Things have changed in this regard. See the links below to see the evolution of this issue;

http://msexchangeteam.com/archive/2009/09/21/452567.aspx – We are not supporting R2
http://msexchangeteam.com/archive/2009/11/04/453026.aspx – We will support R2
http://msexchangeteam.com/archive/2009/11/30/453327.aspx - Releasing the fix

OCS 2007/ 2007 R2 – Office Communications Server 2007 and 2007 R2 are also un-supported on Server 2008 R2. Again, the same scenario as Exchange, you aren’t going to migrate the underlying OS of already existing production servers but the domain controller issue also exists with OCS. The other issue is that OCS is another Microsoft product that is sorely overlooked and as more and more Enterprises are learning of it’s awesomeness (yes, that’s a new word for today) they would like to build the product on the latest OS release to prevent upgrades in the future. Unfortunately they cannot do this. (This is in regards to an issue with .Net framework versions if I recall correctly.) I was actually going to help a customer add in their first 2008 R2 domain controller when we found out about the OCS issue with R2 DC’s. Needless to say the customer was very disappointed we couldn’t add an R2 DC.

This issue is going away in Q1 of this year - http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserver2008/en/us/supported-applications.aspx

So, while this was a major stumbling block for 2008 R2 adoption, Microsoft is quickly rectifying the situation. For a full list of supported applications for Server 2008 R2 and when the apps will be supported, check this link here - http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserver2008/en/us/supported-applications.aspx

Core applications are already in place. This one is fairly self evident. If you already have Exchange 2007 or OCS 2007 or Sharepoint 2007 in place, you aren’t going to migrate these core applications to a new server/OS until the next version is released. This is just fiscally responsible and realistic. For any new applications or expansion of current applications many admins will want to use R2 (again for the purpose of preventing having to do upgrades in the future) and if the application allows them to, they will. (See the above issue.)
Honestly, these are the only legitimate reasons I can think of for NOT moving to 2008 R2. If you know of any others, please let me know in the comments and I’ll update the article.

Bogus reasons;

Windows Server 2008 R2 is a ‘minor’ release. Again, this is where Microsoft is shooting themselves in the foot. The thought behind the server teams doing a ‘major’ and ‘minor’ release schedule was they thought admins were afraid of ‘major’ OS releases and therefore would be more likely to adopt ‘minor’ releases interim. I have to say I completely disagree with this assessment and here is why;

Admins know ANY CHANGE equals RISK. This doesn’t mean just the changes in the OS, but changing your production environment in any way equates some risk. Large production environments are very complex systems and one change in one arena can affect other areas of the environment you would have never expected. (For example, adding an R2 DC and suddenly OCS or Exchange starts having issues, something you wouldn’t expect to occur.) Not to mention there is the bureaucracy and red tape that you have to go through in a large IT organization to make a change to the production environment. That means if Server 2008 is billed as a ‘minor’ release, admins are going to pass on it because as a ‘minor’ release it won’t be worth the hassle and risk. I’ll just wait until the next major release, make it worth my while.
An additional note on this topic, I personally find billing R2 as a ‘minor’ release is also insulting to the product itself and all the hard work that went into it. Personally I would have loved to see Server 2008 R2 sold as ‘Windows Server 7’, and the branding alone would have spurred adoption due to the great market acceptance of Windows 7. (Obviously the Windows Phone division realized this.)

General laziness. Yep, we all know it. There are many admins out there that just plain don’t like learning anything new, and don’t like change. It’s just a job to them, and anything that causes them more work they hate. These admins are easy to spot, they are the ones that complain Microsoft releasing another product is just about ‘making more money without really doing anything other than slapping a new name on an old product with a couple of tweaks.’ Yeah, we know who you are. (By the way, DUH, of course they want to make money. It’s called Capitalism!)
Ignorance. Most admins have no idea why they SHOULD move to R2. Again, this is a failing on Microsoft for not getting the word out. I have never heard Direct Access mentioned by anyone at Microsoft or seen it really talked about in the Tech Press. There have been a few mentions but come on people, this is a POWERFUL and REVOLUTIONARY FEATURE!! Microsoft should be screaming this from the roof tops! Every time I tell an admin about it they stare at me in disbelief. Half the time they think I’m lying, then they wonder why they’ve never heard of it before. I agree with them, why haven’t they heard it before??? My advice to Microsoft is once again, work with the product teams to get your word out! Every admin has their one product they are the experts on and pride themselves on that. If every product team got the word out, you would see a huge improvement in the uptake of Server 2008 R2.
We need to wait until at least the first service pack. This is one of the lamest, stupidest excuses I always hear. Maybe, MAYBE this was true back in the Windows NT days but welcome to the 21st century people. Server 2003 in BETA was the most stable OS I had ever used and proved itself immediately in production. It’s time to stop being cowards and start being men.

Finally there’s one reason that fits in both the legitimate and bogus reasons categories.

Testing before deploying. Many organizations don’t have the time or the resources to deploy a full lab of their production environment to make sure that a new OS isn’t going to wreak havoc. This is a legitimate concern, but Microsoft has taken steps to make this easier. By providing free already configured .VHD’s of new products/OS’s, Microsoft is making it easy for admins to play with the new releases without having to install anything, and Microsoft is going to continue to find ways to make this process even easier and more accessible to even the smallest of IT shops.

So, in conclusion if you haven’t learned about 2008 R2, it’s time you started doing your research. Windows Server 2008 R2 is NOT a ‘minor’ release and should be treated with the same respect and resources that a major server OS release would. Trust me on this, and you’ll be thanking me later.

Microsoft - Windows Server 2008 - Operating system - Microsoft Exchange Server - Windows Server 2008 R2

Why is Windows Server 2008 R2 being overlooked? Part 1 – Why you should look at it

Matt Freestone — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 17:32:58 GMT

I have been asked by many server admins over the last year about Server 2008 R2, and every time the question essentially is, “So, is there any reason to run R2?” They ask this question assuming to already know the answer of “of course not” and are shocked when I tell them the answer is ABSOLUTELY. Now, this is just my opinion, but I believe that 2008 R2 is as big a leap from 2008, as 2008 was from 2003. Now, I’m sure I’ll hear some detractors on this, but here is why I believe this to be true in all the ways that matter.

So why is R2 so great? Well, ask yourself this. Do you think Windows 7 is far better than Windows Vista? If you answered yes, then ask yourself why? Got it? Well, the exact same reasons why you love Windows 7 over Vista are the exact same reasons you will love R2 over 2008. The resource utilization is vastly superior in R2 to 2008. In my real world experience, I have a good 33% more efficiency in an R2 server over a 2008 one. (That’s not an actual benchmarked stat, that is my observation of servers in production.) Server 2008/Vista and Windows 7/2008 R2 are the same code base and kernel. In fact, the client OS’s are now based on the Server OS’s rather than the other way around. (This happened when they scrapped Longhorn 4000 series builds and based the new code on Server 2003 rather than XP code base.)

Now, there are many new features/improvements over 2008 in R2, but I’m just going to address a few and provide you links to learn about the rest;

Hyper-V R2 – The new Hyper-V has many new features including live migration features, greater than 32GB RAM support/ >4 proc (host), etc. Plus, it’s free. To learn more, go here - http://www.microsoft.com/hyper-v-server/en/us/default.aspx
Direct Access – This is the most advanced feature added to Windows Server since well, maybe Active Directory itself. Now, while I lay claim to some credit of getting this feature into the OS (can’t talk about it :-) ) I about had a heart attack when it actually made it to the product. What is Direct Access?
- Are you familiar with RPC over HTTPS, now called ‘Outlook Anywhere’, which is where your Outlook connects securely to Exchange without a VPN and all traffic just goes over port 443? Well then, Direct Access is the same concept, except we’re talking ALL DOMAIN TRAFFIC. That means you can domain manage laptops in remote offices or at users home the EXACT SAME WAY as you would if they were on your local LAN. That means they talk to the domain before the user even logs in, applying computer and user group policies (including software deployments) access to local file and print shares, etc. You are literally looking at domain controlled computers over the WAN with no VPN’s, MPLS, etc. Users don’t have to change a thing, when the laptop is at work and when they are home, everything just WORKS!
- A couple of notes;
  - First, this requires all client computers be Windows 7+.
  - It uses some new protocols that Microsoft has implemented. A quick layman’s description, RPC inside of IPSEC inside of SSL.
  - I’ve had the documentation detailing exactly how the security layer of all this works and given it to a DOD security contractor to review. I was told it was the most secure commercial implementation he had ever seen, and thought it may even be impervious to ‘man in the middle’ attacks. Again, this was only his opinion, but I trust his opinion.
- In summary I cannot stress this enough. LEARN ABOUT DIRECT ACCESS. Get started with an over-view here - http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=D8EB248B-8BF7-4798-A1D1-04D37F2E013C&displaylang=en
IIS 7.5 – Don’t be scared, this isn’t the leap of IIS 7 from IIS 6. Far from it, just keep the same concepts of Windows 7 over Vista in mind here. It’s IIS 7 streamlined and more efficient. Enough said.

To learn more about why Server 2008 R2 is so awesome, and why you should switch, see the links below.

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc731400.aspx

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserver2008/en/us/r2-compare-features.aspx

http://blogs.zdnet.com/perlow/?p=10743

In part 2 I’ll go into some reasons WHY you might not be able to fully go R2 yet…

Windows Vista - Microsoft - Operating system - Windows XP - Windows Server 2008

Windows Phone 7 Series = Zune Phones

Matt Freestone — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 23:34:20 GMT

Yep, Microsoft has finally announced the Zune Phones. Notice that’s plural, Zune Phones. That means each handset maker is going to be able to make their own dream phone. Also, they’ll have a centralized marketplace like the Apple store, except I can run any app I want that I got from anywhere, unlike the iPhone and others. Now me, my requirements are slide out keyboard (on-screen keyboards have yet to work well enough for me) and an OLED screen. Basically take the HTC Touch Pro 2 and 7 series it. Want to see more, check it out!

http://channel9.msdn.com/posts/LauraFoy/First-Look-Windows-Phone-7-Series-Hands-on-Demo/

Enjoy!

iPhone - Microsoft - Apple - HTC Corporation - Zune

Is your data safe with Google?

Matt Freestone — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 17:55:39 GMT

I’m not going to say much here as believe it or not I don’t like starting firestorms. But it begs the question, do you feel safe hosting your data with Google? This includes your search data, your email, Google docs, etc. Google has been in bed with the Government for a long time, they’ve been hacked by China, and now they’re getting in bed with the NSA. Read the article below, then let us know in the comments. Do you feel safe hosting your data with Google and tell us why you feel one way or another. I just ask you please don’t be crude in your comments. :-)

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/02/03/AR2010020304057_pf.html

Update:

Google’s new service ‘Buzz’ is now also ripe is privacy issues. See some below articles just for starters;

Google Responds to Buzz Privacy Issues. Again

Google alters Buzz after privacy complaints

Google Apologizes for Buzz Privacy Issues

Thoughts anyone?

Google - National Security Agency - Search - Search Engines - China

Should Microsoft save Palm?

Brad Moczik — Sun, 03 Jan 2010 02:57:09 GMT

For the record, I don't think Microsoft needs to buy anyone to be successful in the smartphone market space. I don't buy into the notion that Windows Mobile is dead or that Windows Mobile 7 will arrive too late to matter. Sure, it’s taken Microsoft far too long to field a competitive product in the post-iPhone landscape--even if Windows Mobile’s “uncompetitiveness” is more perception than reality. By all measures, Windows Mobile 7 will arrive later than it should have, but I respect Microsoft for taking the time to do it right versus just rushing something out to market. It’s a Nintendo-esque approach, but if Microsoft nails it, it will be setting the foundation for a mobile strategy that can endure for the long haul.

Fortunately for Microsoft, I’m not sure there really is such a thing as coming to market “too late” in the cell phone space. It’s easy to forget how things were in the pre-iPhone picture, but in terms of time, it wasn't that long ago that the Motorola Razr was the hottest “dumb phone” around while Blackberries, and smartphones in general, were still somewhat of a niche market. And you see where Motorola is today. The turnover rate for cell phones is a lot faster than for PCs since new phones always are around the corner and consumers are stuck with their phones only for the contract period, which typically is two years. It might be different if consumers paid full price their phones, but the carrier subsidies keep the price point low enough to make upgrading your phone every couple of years a viable proposition.

So, while I think Microsoft can hold its own without buying anyone, I do think we might see some consolidation in the mobile market space. There are too many proprietary players in the market: Apple’s iPhone, RIM’s Blackberry and Palm’s Pre/Pixi. Each of these devices tie the operating system to the hardware, making them closed platforms. There definitely are merits to having a single company developing both the hardware and software, but personally, I think separating the software from the hardware is the way to go. It allows both pieces to evolve independently without the software developers worrying about how OS changes affect the hardware guys and vice-versa. Furthermore, this separation helps create a partner ecosystem, which drives standardization and portability: I don’t have to buy all new applications just because I changed devices.

To me, the hardware-software tie-in is the blessing and the curse of the iPhone. If you have a significant monetary investment in the App Store, you’ll be hard-pressed to switch to a different smartphone platform and abandon that App Store investment. That type of lock-in is great for Apple from a competitive standpoint, but going back to the cell phone turnover rate, I’m not sure it’s sustainable or realistic given how fast the technology changes. However, I think that model is fine for media devices like the iPod Touch because I don’t need, or necessarily want, to buy a new one of those every two years. But then again, given the number of free and sub-$5 applications, do most iPhone users have a “significant” investment in the App Store?

Regardless, when you look at the PC landscape, you see the market has generally settled on 3 platforms: Windows, Mac and Linux. And 2/3 of those arguably are niche platforms themselves. So, I just don’t think the smartphone market can sustain 6 major platforms (iPhone, Blackberry, Windows Mobile, Android, WebOS, and Symbian/Maemo), 3 of which are proprietary. Obviously, the iPhone isn’t going away, and I think Blackberry is too entrenched and popular to disappear anytime soon. So, of the proprietary players, that leaves Palm as the odd man out.

Palm has an innovative platform with the WebOS, but in a somewhat uncharacteristic move for the company, it dropped the ball on the hardware. Think what you will of the Pre, but there are too many complaints about the hardware for it to be a definitive success. I thought the QWERTY-bar design of the Pixi was tempting, but it had worse hardware specs than the Pre and its price and positioning didn’t make sense.

Hardware maladies aside, Palm was very forward thinking with the WebOS. As a platform built around HTML, JavaScript and CSS, developers can create Web-based applications that potentially can run on multiple devices with little modification, reducing the need to write native apps for every smartphone platform. The need for a JavaScript runtime engine inadvertently introduced some performance issues with the Pre; however, I think better hardware would have mitigated JavaScript overhead. And given the momentum of cloud computing and the evolution of Web technologies, a Web-centric platform seems like a pretty smart bet.

If Microsoft bought Palm, it immediately would improve its perception in the market by inheriting a modern platform that supports touch-friendly usage and capacitive screens. Furthermore, MS could embrace and extend WebOS development with technologies like Silverlight and .Net. And it’s the Web-centric aspect of the WebOS that would make it relatively palatable to Microsoft from an acquisition standpoint. Yes, WebOS is based on Linux, but Palm is less in-your-face about the Linux underpinnings than Google is with Android or Nokia is with Symbian and Maemo. And perhaps Microsoft could port the UI stack, app runtime engine and development tools to Windows Mobile. But if MS is confident that Windows Mobile 7 will blow WebOS out of the water, than the acquisition would be predominately around talent. Perhaps WebOS developers would drive the next phase of Windows Mobile and Zune app development—kind of like an in-house SPB Software for Microsoft.

Of course, an acquisition of Palm by Microsoft is unlikely to happen. Microsoft has given no indication that intends to acquire anyone and given its recent job posts, the company seems 100% behind Windows Mobile 7. But if Microsoft doesn’t buy Palm, then hopefully someone else does (maybe Nokia?). Otherwise, I’m not sure Palm can continue to exist in its current form. Without a financial suitor or some sort of blockbuster device, I see Palm going the way of Sega and transforming into a ghost of its former, once glorious self: a pure software developer of premium mobile applications for Android and the iPhone.

iPhone - Windows Mobile - Apple - AppStore - Smartphone