THE OFFICIAL BLOG OF THE SBS "DIVA" - All Comments

re: Verdict: Review... uh I think you missed the point of XP Mode.

Craig S — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 17:22:34 GMT

While I agree that the review giving the F on XP mode was misguided, I do disagree with some of your statements. For one, because you are now able to (hopefully) use your LOB apps on Windows 7 with the aid of "XP Mode", it actually creates NO incentive for these vendors to upgrade their apps in the first place. This is a HUGE negative.

Having said that, where I do see the value in "XP Mode" is for those LOB apps which, for one reason or another, have not been upgraded yet to comply with Vista, let alone Windows 7, to be able to run while they work on the app to be fully Windows Vista/7 compatible. However, if the app isn't compatible by now (it's been 2 years!!), it probably never will be and you should seriously start looking to replace that LOB app. It is, after all, a line-of-business application, and LOB apps need to be kept current and updated with technology, not only for security reasons, but to keep their business customers profitable. Otherwise, how are they going to stay in business? Who in their right mind would invest in an LOB app for Windows XP (or below) today when they are running Windows Vista or Windows 7 (in the near future)? That is not profitable for any business.

If "XP Mode" is a virtualized OS on top of Windows 7, then you would have to maintain security and software updates for two systems, which _may_ double licensing costs; but that may be averted depending on how software vendors license their products specifically for Windows 7. This is more of a "wait and see" situation, and on the part of the ZDnet Review, nothing but FUD.

I totally agree with you on the switching to linux/Apple. That's a ridiculous idea, as many know that on average, the TCO of Windows is lower than linux (unless you already have the in-house talent), especially for small companies that do not have an IT staff let alone an expert IT person in their employ. That is not a valid proposal for many businesses, small or large.

I've heard that the main reason we even have "XP Mode" is to placate XP users (read corporations) who refuse to upgrade to Vista, and not without good reason. I've been using Vista and while I like the security aspects, everything else about it pretty much stinks. I doubt that in practice you will find a lot of businesses actively using the "XP Mode" feature of Windows 7 for the hassles it will present in terms of management. Though, as I've already indicated, it will have it's _niche_ uses in certain situations. In the meantime, I'm looking forward to 22 October 2009 when I can pick up my copy of Windows 7.

re: Would our founding fathers be on facebook these days?

download music — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 16:25:24 GMT

Social media is quickly becoming the only trusted media. With television, radio, and newspapers so vastly corrupted by politics, we can only trust each other.

re: Would our founding fathers be on facebook these days?

download music — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 16:22:46 GMT

Social media is quickly becoming the only trusted media. With television, radio, and newspapers so vastly corrupted by politics, we can only trust each other.

re: Would our founding fathers be on facebook these days?

Ares Vista — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 16:20:26 GMT

Word of mouth advertising is the best or worst kind of advertising. I have to believe that spreading the word was the most important part of their movement.

re: Why do?

alton — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 11:09:12 GMT

Thats nothing wait until you open the cdrom and the stiffy drive.

re: Migrate from Exchange Public Folders to Microsoft Business Productivity Online Standard Suite

Vlad Mazek — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 05:24:06 GMT

Hush :) I love their direction.

Nobody should ever use public folders. However, if you're (pretty much every Exchange organization out there that needs them and wants to outsource it) talk to me :)

Again, kudos to BPOS for yet another self inflicted headshot.

-Vlad

re: Before you do a clean install of the network

Dean — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 23:52:40 GMT

Make your life easier.

www.forensit.com/move-computer.html

re: Why do?

Rob — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 08:26:19 GMT

HPs and IBMs do the same thing with the boot noise thing. Sound like a jet taking off.

Nothing like pickup up a server after an SMB client has had it on the floor for three years...yuck!

re: Why do?

bradley — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 03:05:58 GMT

It means I need to clean my house more often. That's at my home.

re: Why do?

indy — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 03:01:46 GMT

If you have [significant] dust in your servers your HVAC isn't doing its job.

Ick!

Joe Raby — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 19:01:57 GMT

I avoid "free" service websites like the plague. I rarely give out my email address and personal information to websites where you know (or maybe don't) that they'll sell it to advertisers.

Sure, sure, they may say they don't give out information to third-parties, but they still say that they'll give it to "partners and other companies that [we] do business with". Advertisers fall under that category.

What with companies like Google not giving a crap about who is paying for advertising, they really don't care if they "accidentally" give out my info to some Chinese or Russian fraud website that would like infect my computer with a fake antivirus program - so long as they pay for that rotating ad on Google Websense, which is paid out of their dirty money that they collect through "antivirus" subcription fees that they charge to gullible consumers.

There are certainly trustworthy circles that I frequent online, but most "free" websites run by a major conglomerate are out there to collect and sell your info, and they make big bucks doing it.

When you actually ask people the top 2 reasons why conventional print publications fail, #1 is that the internet is widely and instantly available, and #2 is because they can't stand the ads.

Hellloooo! This is what's happening to the internet.

re: Do you defrag your server?

Eddie — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 13:48:02 GMT

Is diskeeper a good idea for SBS2003, or should the built in defragger be used? I have noticed disagreement on defrag / no defrag and would like to know what is working for others.

re: Operation FACEBOOK is on right NOW!

Dean — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 01:45:24 GMT

But you still didn't answer the question. Other than seeing faces ( which is good ) I'm not getting the point of this.

And what if they use 15 year old photos because they don't like the way they look now ?

re: Operation FACEBOOK is on right NOW!

bradley — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 01:40:07 GMT

www.facebook.com/WindowsSBS

And in approx 2 hours and 18 minutes, vanity url status achieved.

re: Operation FACEBOOK is on right NOW!

bradley — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 01:15:23 GMT

You certainly know what people look like now!

Social marketing will be a big push at WWPC in New Orleans. Even if you can't go, it's an interesting way to put names with faces.

re: Win7 updates offers

Dean — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 01:09:44 GMT

Microsoft is giving away the upgrade versions so cheap because they know that anyone who upgrades over Vista instead of doing a clean install is crazy anyway.

re: Operation FACEBOOK is on right NOW!

Dean — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 01:03:56 GMT

So is the information on there information that won't be available anywhere else ?

re: Seems like muchado about nothing to try to get people to turn off updating.

Dean — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 20:31:23 GMT

Susan,

You need to get in touch with your fellow Windows Secrets writers and explain this to them because they don't seem to completely understand the problem. They are telling people that the "bug" is that 'Install Updates and then Shutdown' is showing up at all NOT that the "bug" is really that the yellow system tray icon does not show up.

They are also confusing a "throttled" NOT DOWNLOADED AT ALL patch with one that was in the process of being downloaded but was cut off in transit.

re: Do you defrag your server?

Dean — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 18:46:37 GMT

I researched this very thoroughly and there is NO danger of defragmenting a SQL database. In fact SQL supports this.

re: Do you defrag your server?

Josh — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 15:42:11 GMT

Why do you not defrag the database files?