Looking at the world - from Down Under : Musings

A new Microsoft Server?

calvert — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 06:39:00 GMT

Just signing up for some of the "community groups" at the MS Australian Partner conference in early August.

In the signup process we need to give a little information about ourselves - fairly normal stuff. Once of the questions made me stop short though:

A server in your pocket?

There's a whole world outside the USA...

calvert — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 14:34:00 GMT

Microsoft - why can you not realise there is a whole world outside of the United States when it comes to setting up and MAINTAINING operating systems?

I have lost count of the number of times I've setup a system, telling it to use English (Australia) only to find that it's switched back to English (United States). Even during the operating system setup process when I specify I want English (Australia) and go so far as to remove the USA references I manage to find it's "infected" my system once again.

Not only that but upon installing IE7 the first page I get hit with asks me about changing my search provider (not getting into that one right now) and also asks if I want to set myself up for English (United States) once again. Plus that option is the one that's automatically selected for me so if I'm not paying close attention I might just end up on the opposite side of the world!

Please please please - realise that when I choose my own country I really want to stay there. I'm Australian and darn proud of it, plus I'm sure this affects other country selections as well so I figure I'm not alone in this. I want to speak Australian English, not American (which if you ask a Brit is not real English at all!!)

Also I'd like to be able to specify regional settings in group policy so I can roll out my country of choice to the rest of the computers on the network, so they too don't get "infected" with English (United States).

Hey - don't get me wrong. I quite like visiting the USA - I've been there some 9 times in the last 2 years, but I live and work in Australia, as do the servers I setup and maintain. I don't want to have to keep reminding these systems of that fact.

Am I the only one frustrated with this??

Feel like a good laugh?

calvert — Fri, 02 Mar 2007 22:54:00 GMT

Got this link through earlier today from a mate. You just have to take a look...

http://bigpicture.typepad.com/writing/2007/01/try_not_to_laug.html

If you're have a tough day then you need to look at this video. If you're have a great day then watch this video to feel even better.

Laughter is the best medicine.

Enjoy

Life can be too short

calvert — Tue, 19 Sep 2006 01:03:00 GMT

I got a call yesterday from a client. The business owner & his wife were at the gym on Friday night - joined a few months ago to lose some left over Christmas cheer & get healthy.

Anyway, they were just walking along on the treadmill when she collapsed. Was on life support for a short while but didn't make it. She was not much older than me - around 37 I think.

Husband & 2 daughters left. It was all so sudden, no prior conditions or indications.

Makes you stop & think.

Go hug those you love, make the most of the time you have with each other. Put away the computer for a bit and spend some quality time together - there will always be email, there will always be blog posts, there will always be "things" to work on.

You may not always have those you love around you and you never know when they'll be done forever so make the most of the time you do have.

Resuming transmission

calvert — Mon, 18 Sep 2006 04:49:00 GMT

guess it's time I got back to blogging. I've been getting hassled by numerous bodies about my silence here and it has been suggested that I pull my socks up and hit the keyboard.

I've been spending the last few months focussing on my business and so haven't really had the time...even for a quick blog.

Add to that the fact that I've had several good ideas for posts but these have been when I'm away from any way of noting things down - in the shower, driving, camping in the middle of the outback. I then get busy or simply forget and...well...there goes another idea...

Anyway, I promise to get back here more often now. Having just returned from SMB Nation in Seattle my head is still buzzing and we've got lots of changes going on here at the office which might be of interest too.

Stay tuned - more to come...

Don't be #801

calvert — Wed, 22 Feb 2006 22:27:00 GMT

SMB Nation 2006 is open for registration. This is THE premier event for SME consultants/VARs/VAPs/resellers and you need to do all you can to be there. The conference will once again be held at Microsoft's Conference Centre in Redmond, Washington.

There are only 800 places available so don't delay getting your registration in - you don't want to miss out by being number 801 to register. There's an early-bird special until the end of March where the registration cost is only US$695, following which it'll go up to US$795. That US$100 saving can be applied to your drinking money in the bar at the Marriot in Redmond [:D]

There's an impressive list of speakers for this year's conference (http://www.smbnation.com/Default.aspx?TabId=5) so you're sure to learn plenty regardless of which track you follow (technical, business, product/sales). I'll be speaking in the business track again and plan to get into more advanced business growth information - taking your business to the next level. If you're coming along and would like some specific information included then please let me know and I'll see if I can work it into the time available for the presentation.

Of course I think the best part of attending an event like SMB Nation is the ability to network with fellow SBSers from around the world. People with whom I communicate with by email or IM and it's great to put a face to a name or catch up with a face I've met before.

So what are you waiting for? Get your registration in and join in the learning, fun & friendship. Hope to see you there :)

Taking care of busy-ness

calvert — Wed, 22 Feb 2006 22:17:00 GMT

2006 has already shown itself to be a very full year. In fact I've been struggling to keep up with my email traffic let alone all the other things happening around the place.

How's this for the current major projects on the go:

* office relocation mid-year to bigger and better premises (yet to find this place though)

* new staff - currently looking for a new consultant and sales person to help handle our continued growth

* baby blues - well not really "blues" but my amazing assistant Rebecca is going on maternity leave mid-year for her first baby so we've got to prepare for handling some time off for her plus someone to fill in

* home renovations - we're going to make the house bigger as our kids (http://www.sbsusers.net/atw/photo.htm for some older photos) just keep growing

* there's a few other things that I can't list here but rest assured it's not minor surgery

All this means I need to continually look for ways to improve the way I work, and my team, keeping my eyes & ears open for great ways to use time efficiently and effectively plus handle the information flowing through the place.

We're going to start using MS CRM 3.0 shortly which I anticipate helping with this significantly but that can't be the "be all & end all" of the solution. I'd love to hear about any great time saving/efficiency tools & practices you've come across and have found to be effective. By sharing these ideas around we can all learn to deal with the information superhighway that just keeps pushing its way through our lives - and enjoy some of the quieter sideroads at the same time.

What's your DRP?

calvert — Wed, 04 Jan 2006 12:31:00 GMT

Our office was broken into a week before Christmas :( As it turned out we didn't have anything stolen ourselves although other tenants did. There was damage to one of the doors though, but the most important thing is it got me seriously thinking about our disaster recovery plan (DRP).

The phone call I got from one of the other tenants was along the lines of "lots of stuff has been taken - laptops and more. They've been right through the office. You'd better get here quickly." This was around 8am on a Saturday morning too.

The drive down to the office was, to say the least, one of major contemplation. I had no idea of what had really been taken or how extensive the damage was. Was my server gone? My Internet router? The main admin machine or sales machine? What about the printers and other peripherals? What was my strategy to recover if the worse had eventuated?

Well the good news is as I mentioned at the top - nothing had been removed from my office. But it certainly got me thinking more about what we really would do if things were removed from the office.

Fast forward a little - I spent quite some time from Christmas day (!!) to last Monday (Jan 2) digging up old clay pipes in the back yard and replacing them with PVC piping. Whilst working I was listening to the SBS Show (www.sbsshow.com) and lo-and-behold episodes 3 & 4 are about disaster recovery!! How very timely :D (In fact, I was also thinking our our home DRP in the event I couldn't get the pipes replaced properly or in time for the next flush!! I was successful in getting everything sorted out though)

So, this is where you've got to look for the silver lining - the break in got me thinking seriously about improving our DRP which will be MUCH MUCH better from here on. Save yourself from the anquish I went through and get started on improving your DRP now before it's too late. As I get things sorted out I'll have to make sure I let you know. I'd be keen to hear about your own experiences too.

Oh yes, the police called me the next morning to let me know they'd caught the guy that broke in - 30yo heroin addict!

Packing the podcast

calvert — Mon, 07 Nov 2005 03:13:00 GMT

I'm just packing my bag for the brief trip to Perth tomorrow for the first leg of the Microsoft for Partners Roadshow.

Toothbrush - check

Shirts - check

Socks - check

Podcasts - check

Shaver - check

“What???” I hear you ask? “Podcasts?” Why yes, of course. Time in the air, or waiting for a flight, or sitting in a taxi is a great time to catch up on the SBS podcasts. With my little trusty Creative Labs MP3 player and Sennheiser PCX-250 noise cancelling headphones I'm all set.

Check out the podcasts. The latest installment from Vlad Mazek, Chris Rue & Susanne Dansey is available at http://www.vladville.com/sbsshow/ and you can get the podcasts from the Official SBS Support group at http://blogs.technet.com/sbs/default.aspx

I figure I've got the flight covered at least, plus some taxi time. Much more workable than trying to open my notebook in the confined spaces of the 737 I'll be on tomorrow.

And for when the gizmos need to be turned off, I've got my latest book to read - more on that later.

Do you go fishing?

calvert — Mon, 03 Oct 2005 08:40:00 GMT

It's been a very full week here in Seattle at the Microsoft global MVP summit. I've met most of the rest of the SBS MVPs (and they are as nutty as I thought they were!) and we've had a great time together.

Last night those of us that were still here went down to Pikes Place Pub for dinner together. It was a great time to wind down after the conference - but we still managed to talk about SBS & IT in general. One of the things that ties us all together is the passion (I don't think there's any other word for it) we have for the “space” that SBS fits into. It's not about a product, it's not about money or power or fame or anything like that - it's the community spirit that brings us together from whereever we are in the world and enables us to make things just that little bit better for those around us.

This applies to us not because we're MVPs (we'd still do what we do regardless of whether we have the award or not) but because at the end of the day we care about more than just ourselves. I think it's as simple as that. And this can apply to anyone anywhere - not just people interested in computers or technology.

If you care enough about the world around you to reach out and help others, to make a difference in their lives first before it does anything for you, then you are an MVP - a Most Valued Person. That's because your contribution will be of value to the person you've helped.

I recall a short story about a little boy on a beach, throwing fish into the water after they'd been washed up on the sand. A man came by and saw what he was doing, and saw the thousands of fish on the sand flapping about, struggling to survive out of the water. The man said to the boy “there's too many fish, you're wasting your time, how do you think your small efforts are going to matter?”. The boy picked up another fish and threw it into the water, then turned to the man and replied “it mattered to that fish”.

Go make a difference to a “fish”. And to all those fishermen & women who attended the MVP conference - thanks for helping to make this world a better place for us all.

So it's been a while...

calvert — Wed, 10 Aug 2005 05:22:00 GMT

...since my last post. Does this mean I've not been doing anything? Absolutely not, quite the contrary really - been overly busy.

June & July saw around 10 network installations take place with more through August. Add to this some new staff members and presenting at the MS ANZ Partner Conference in Coolum late July and it's been full on.

In 3 short weeks I head off to the Gold Coast to present at TechEd, and then jump on a plane for the US to attend & present at SMB Nation which is going to be a blast. I'm heading over with a few guys, including Wayne, and we've got a few days R&R prior to the conference, including a full days training at Trend Micro on their new products being launched in October. Can't tell you more than that or I'd have to shoot you!!

The Adelaide SBS user group is meeting again on August 22nd. HP are going to show us through their ProLiant server technology. I actually looking forward to this even though I play with their servers every day. The servers are just so good, and have so many goodies tucked away in them I'm sure I'll learn something new. In particular I'm looking forward to learning more about their iLO (Integrated Lights Out) technology which allows you to securely connect to a server, even if the OS has locked up. I'll make sure I post some details back here, but feel free to leave feedback on your own experiences with this stuff.

Finally, I'm excited about this month because it signifies 10 years of being in business. It's an alarming fact that 40% of new businesses fail within their first 12 months, 80% fail within their first 5 years and 98% of businesses fail within their first 10 years. So we're part of the 2% that made it. Whew - what a relief. I feel a bit like one of those baby turtles rushing towards the ocean before the birds eat me.

So, happy birthday to Calvert Technologies. I'll have a piece of cake for you and look forward to the next 10 years :)

The Xware menace

calvert — Fri, 17 Jun 2005 07:01:00 GMT

(snip from one of our recent client communiques)...

Quite often we get asked about pop up screens when using Internet Explorer, alerting users that their systems are insecure or not performing correctly (for example). These messages typically have a button the user is prompted to press in order to take "apprioriate" action. Unfortunately, clicking on the button will more than likely install some malicious software onto the users compujter. But why does the anti-virus software not pick this up?

Basically, these messages are not strictly viruses, or even worms. They represent software known as malware which can include spyware. Malware is basically malicious software that can be installed onto your computer, sometimes without your knowledge. Spyware is designed to "spy" on your web browsing activity and report this back to a server on the Internet which in turn can instruct the spyware to display advertising on your computer.

Rather than go into a long technical discussion about the different forms of malicious code (viruses, worms, trojans, malware, spyware, rootkits etc etc) at the end of the day malware & spyware is a relatively new menace. Whilst it's been around for a few years, over the last 12 months or so it has become a lot more advanced such that it is not only very hard to keep up with the technological changes, but it's more difficult to understand and hence detect and remove.

The answer? It's a very long answer! In summary, the most important first step is education - educating users about how to safely use a computer, especially when using the Internet. Secondly, if you are using a Windows operating system on your PC other than Windows XP you are at risk, regardless of any firewall you may be using on your network. Having service pack 2 installed onto your Windows XP computer is extremely important as it provides many mechanisms for helping keep Internet browsing a safer experience. Thirdly, anti-virus software is still essential, and it is evolving to also detect, prevent and remove malware. Over the next few months we should expect to see vast improvements in the capabilities of this software.

Finally we need to remain vigilant. The Internet is a very different place compared to what it was a few years ago. Awareness is important, and thinking "it won't happen to me" simply won't keep you safe. I personally, and professionally, cannot stress enough the importance of taking this growing threat seriously.

==========================

So what's your favourite anti-Xware tool?

Out of the mouths of babes...

calvert — Mon, 30 May 2005 03:37:00 GMT

Took the family to KFC for dinner tonight (Vivienne had that desire for some junk food again!).

Bought a family pack of 12 pieces and passed them around for consumption. As Brittany bit into her second piece she exclaimed in a loud excited voice “This one's got chicken in it!!” .

Don't know what she expected to find in there :) What did the first one have in it?

What happened to the MVP summit entries?

calvert — Thu, 12 May 2005 06:41:00 GMT

OK OK so perhaps I appear to have mislead you about my summit blogs. Firstly, I had MAJOR Internet connection problems whilst in Singapore - I think mostly because the conference venue and hotel were full of us MVP geeks hammering the Internet connection. I ended up deciding to just unplug myself for a few days and take in the event itself rather than try to stay hooked into the rest of the world at the same time.

So - sorry. The other reasons I found it hard to update things here are the days were rather full on so by the time I got back to my hotel room I was rather stuffed, plus most of what was covered in the conference is protected by NDA so I can't talk about it.

Still, one thing I can relay is how great it was to be able to spend time with other MVPs, and learn they are also real people. Some of them (Steve Hudson) can drink more than their fair share and still stay excited about their favourite product (Word), or Graham (a Kiwi) became rather “huggy” after a few drinks. Not that it was all drinking mind you - that was just the final night (Wednesday) which was at a brewery.

Sean O'Driscol gave a great presentation on the first morning and even referred to us SBS-MVPs as "viral" - probably because of the way we're manage to be just about everywhere. I wonder if he realises how right he really is ;)

We had a fantastic and very scary presentation about rootkits - what they are, what they're not, a demonstration and advice on how to avoid getting them in the first place. This was probably the best presentation I saw and by far had the most impact on me. I've continued to keep in touch with the presenter (Mike) and we're working on getting him out to Australia from Seattle sometime to present to those with a false sense of security.

All in all the summit was great and well worth my time, and money, to attend. The flight home was rough - overnight and I didn't sleep at all. But I survived and am back at work - didn't even get sick, which a number of other attendees from Australia did suffer from.

So - if you attended please feel free to post your comments here (taking into account the Microsoft imposed NDA) and I look forward to the next MVP get together in Redmond, Seattle in late September.

Over and out

PS. I did keep using the VoIP phone to call home and it worked a treat - definitely will stay in my travel pack for further use.

Singapore MVP Summit - day 3 (pt 1)

calvert — Sun, 24 Apr 2005 23:20:00 GMT

I'm now paying for my shopping sins (well, working). This morning I hit the shops in search of a new digital camera for myself and Stuart.The HP camera I brought with me decided to die and so is no good. Stuart was after a Canon IXUS 50 to give his Dad for his birthday so I thought I'd look for 2.

A caught a taxi up to Mustafa's which is in Little India. It's a huge department store with just about anything you can think of for sale. The prices, though, didn't seem to be as good as I'd expected so I walked down to Sim Lim Square and did some further checking. I'd checked the price of the Canon camera in Australia so had something to measure the bargain against.

After some poking around, and price hunting, I found the right camera and the right price so I'm now the proud (and poor) owner of a new Canon IXUS 50 digital camera (plus one for Stuart). It's amazing - in these big shopping complexes there are simply dozens of stores selling the same electrical goods, competing with each other on price. It makes me wonder how any of them make any money, especially when you consider they need to pay rent and other fixed costs, staff wages, and then have some profit left over. I guess my bargaining didn't help their bottom line too much , but then I'm the buying and so am only in it for me! Interesting to be on the other side of the counter every once in a while - gives you a different perspective on business.

After what is now the last of my shopping, I walked back to the hotel, stopping for some lunch on the way. I'm keeping myself locked in my hotel room in order to get some work done before the cocktail party starts at 7pm. I believe Wayne is arriving later tonight from Sydney, but not until after the party kicks off.

I'll endeavour to post back here after the event - if there's anything to report. The real fun starts tomorrow so stay tuned.

I owe, I owe, it's off to work I go.....

Singapore MVP Summit - day 2

calvert — Sun, 24 Apr 2005 23:11:00 GMT

Very sad news – the Ferraris had all gone by the time I went outside. Turns out the event was only for the Friday night. So I’m afraid there are no pictures.

After breakfast I headed out for a walk to some of the shopping complexes. There are so many in Singapore and each one is just a little bit different. I covered a lot of ground though – from the hotel I made my way up to Bugis Junction, then Sim Lim Square. From there I walked to Orchard Road and walked almost to the far end – as far as Takashimaya.

Orchard Road is where a lot of the more classy shops are located, including the Mont Blanc store where I went for a bit of a drool. I did visit a tailor and arranged to get some trousers and shirts made for me. The price was amazingly cheap compared to Australia, particularly for custom made clothes. I’ll drop in for a fitting on Tuesday night and collect them on Thursday before flying home.

I then walked back to the hotel complete with a couple of detours to other shopping complexes on the way.

The sun gets rather hot here, even when cloudy, and combined with the humidity, the day can take quite a bit out of you so I visited the hotel pool for a bit of a swim. The pool itself is very nice and was not at all crowded.

I visited a food hall next door to the hotel for some dinner – the food is so incredibly cheap here but good quality. There is such a diverse range of tastes to experience too – you name it you can probably find it.

I finished off the night with another free VoIP call home to Vivienne and the kids, followed by some work. I’ll do a bit more touring around tomorrow before the conference starts, together with getting a pile of work done too which needs to be finalised before the week starts.

Till tomorrow then J

Singapore MVP Summit - day 1

calvert — Sat, 23 Apr 2005 05:05:00 GMT

So I've arrived in Singapore after around 7.5 hours flying. The flight left the Adelaide International Airport around 11:10am and arrived in Darwin a bit over 3 hours later. The flight itself was fine (Airbus A330-300) although the TV set for my seat didn't work at all so no movies (caught up on some reading instead).

Brief stop over in Darwin then back on the plane to Singapore. I was in a different seat and this one too had TV problems. Aparently this particular plane has more entertainment system problems than any other in the fleet so if you're boarding a Qantas Airbus A330 called “Esperence” don't get too excited about the movies as you could get disappointed.

I arrived in Singapore later than initially planned by about 40 minutes and caught a MaxiCab to the hotel. Costs a little more (set fee of S$35) but it tends to be a nicer drive.

The first thing I saw when arriving at the hotel were a WHOLE BUNCH OF FERRARIS!!!!! There's a conference in the hotel for Ferrari resellers by the looks and so there's just a few Million $$$ parked out the front. My mates Robert Lecons and Martin Baily would love it here - might have to take some photos for them.

Checked into my room (1118) which is quite nice. Of course the first thing I looked for was the cable connection for the Internet link - what a geek! This trip I've brought with me a little NetGear RP614 router and a Netcomm V-100 VoIP device plus a telephone I bought yesterday. Got myself connected to the broadband service and called Vivienne at home as I'd set up one of these VoIP devices there too. So I phoned her for free and the voice quality was fantastic. You wouldn't know it was across the 'net.

Of course she had friends over watching a video so will call me back later, but just being able to use the technology to call home for free is amazing. Visit www.myfone.com.au for more information on my new “toy”. Will be very useful for travelling and keeping in touch with home.. When I'm not travelling we'll have it setup in the office for cheaper long distance calls.

So, getting settled in and thought I'd update you. Tomorrow will be a chance for some shopping and looking around (plus drooling over the Ferraris outside) and get some work done without the mobile phone ringing every few minutes. The bulk of the other MVPs are arriving tomorrow and Sunday.

Signing off until tomorrow. G'nite :)

PS - just called my parents to say hi. The VoIP phone call to their PSTN service was only 60c for 6.5 minutes. Now that's amazing.

Made the press

calvert — Sun, 16 Jan 2005 16:58:00 GMT

Our state newspaper, The Advertiser, ran an article in last Tuesday's (Jan 11) edition, in the “Business Owner” section that I'm particularly fond of.

You can see a copy of the article here

Whilst the journalist did take some artistic licence to the story (never let the facts get in the way of a good story!) it's mostly correct.

Sarah Jessica-Parker was on the opposite page :)

The roadshow is over...

calvert — Tue, 07 Dec 2004 23:09:00 GMT

Last day of the MS/HP/Trend Micro SMB Partner Summit today. I'm sitting in the exhibition area looking at all the tired faces around me - it's been a long 5 weeks but certainly worthwhile.

Firstly, David Allinson (MS Australia SBS & Windows Server product manager) needs to be congratulated for having the intestinal fortitude to pull this off - it was a step into the unknown to conduct this roadshow, as it's not been attempted before.

Also, it was a big gamble for him to bring Jeff “Swing IT!!” Middleton out here, all the way from New Orleans (or “Noo Orlins” as he pronounces it) for 5 weeks. Let me correct that slightly - it wasn't a gamble bringing Jeff out as such, rather it was a gamble to bring out anyone from so far away, for so long, to an event that didn't have any track record to back it up. I guess it's testimony to this amazing SBS community we have around the world that made it an uncertain certainty of being successful (if that makes sense!).

Jeff did a great job of mixing in with the resellers at each event, and has managed to adopt some of our language colloquialisms and pronounce numerous words with the correct Australian accent. This helped to endear him more with the people he met - we all now realise that Superman does have a mild-mannered alter-ego (http://msmvps.com/bradley/archive/2004/11/29/21489.aspx).

All presentations have been well attended and received. The feedback has been great and we're looking forward to working on the next event - whenever and wherever it may occur.

And on the event management front - the girls from The Forum Group have been fantastic. Always smiling, patient, able to solve any problems thrown at them with extreme professionalism, and powering on even when the tiredness would take down lesser mortals. Well done girls - and thanks for the fashion tips!!

So, as we close the curtains on this roadshow what can we take forward? There's always more to learn, no matter how much you already know. There are a lot of SBS fans out there who are hungry for more information and amazingly didn't yet know of the user groups around the place - keep your eyes on http://www.sbsusers.net/resources.htm for more information as it comes available. There's so much more but I'll need to stop now as the tables are being packed away.

Thanks to all who attended - be it physically or virtually. We look forward to seeing you again.

SBS Rocks!

Welcome aboard

calvert — Tue, 19 Oct 2004 22:25:00 GMT

OK, so it was time to start blogging myself, after being encouraged, poked and prodded from my fellow geeks.

So, what is a blog? Why blog? Why read these ramblings?

Why not? We've all got 168 hours in a week and it's up to us to fill them as much as possible - there's always more to learn and reading a blog is about as personal as you can get, without actually talking face to face, to get to know someone. This is a bit like an online diary but without the “Dear Diary” beginning.

What can you expect to read here? Just about anything really. I will do my best to NOT regurgitate anyone else's information by keeping this as original as possible. And it won't all be technical either, although my life does tend to mostly involve electrons flying through some sort of silicon chip based device.

Right - so first post is up. Time for me to get back to work and I'll think of something else to type about soon enough. Thanks for visiting - come back again :)