[There's a reason that Yoda is the unofficial mascot of SBS. Size indeed matters not.] Rollin' the dice - THE OFFICIAL BLOG OF THE SBS DIVA
Mon, Aug 29 2005 12:35 bradley

Rollin' the dice

Today Mary Jo Foley talks about new enhancements to SBS in the 2006 and 2007 time frame.  Looks like I'll easily snag the R2 version under my 3 year Software Assurance...but we will have to see about that Cougar version in 2007 as my Software Assurance only goes through June of 2007.

I thought it was interesting that Harry was talking about so few of us SBSer take advantage of SQL but I think some of that is still the 'tactile-ness' of flatfile storage versus SQL/database storage.  “HappyFunBoy” and Anne think that the best thing a SBS partner can do is get a handle on databases WAY more than we do now.  I think that's part of the problem.  You know how I argue that the “WOW” factor impacts SBS sales big time?  That a consultant has to use and believe in the product?  I'm wondering if it's because even among SBS consultants that the 'comfort' level isn't there.

One thing that is echoed in this article... is that in these upgrades you HAVE to have a value to the business owner.  Unless it's wacko me, you aren't going to get people to upgrade between versions [or for that matter, the mere application of service packs] unless the business owner can see value.  Unfortunately, for many small firms that don't get the security aspects of upgrading, that alone isn't enough.  While I like the warm fuzziness of upgrading, sometimes it's not enough.  Now granted Wayne's in New Zealand doing a presentation on why you want SBS sp1 [SMTP tarpit code that can be enabled, Synattackprotect now default, DEP [yup even software Data Execution Protection is available even if the hardware doesn't support it, and a whole bunch of other warm fuzzies], but I'll be the first to admit that warm fuzzies unless you are a security wacko like me, just might not be seen by the business owner as a reason to apply a 2 to 4 hour service pack.    

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# re: Rollin' the dice

Monday, August 29, 2005 1:28 PM by bradley

They might be right but it'll be a serious shift for most SBS consultants to get into SQL mode. We're generalists and we're just now starting to get that uneasy feeling that we're going to need to specialize in something other than the small businesses. The specialization is going to have to get a lot more specific than that.

My company is now beginning to make the shift into security and sharepoint. SQL is probably coming down the line somewhere. But just as we have to nurture small businesses along over a several year process from peer-to-peer to SBS to finally using all the features of SBS, it's going to take years for small business consultants to go from break/fix to managed services to application customization and the mid-market and enterprise guys aren't going to like to see us coming into their markets.