Month: December 2007

My BS warning is flashing

Seems to me that everyone you talk to these days is flat out. Problem is guys, I just don’t believe you.
 
Ok, once in a while I can understand but every bloody time I talk to you? I doubt it. Geeze, if you are really that busy it tells me that you aren’t very good at managing your time and that you are probably wasting it doing stupid things your not supposed to be doing but you do them any way just so you say that you are busy and look important to others.
 
Someone once told me that they associate being ‘flat out‘ with being successful. Maybe, but to me if someone is always ‘flat out’ it tells me they are inefficient, they aren’t working on improving things they are just doing things the same old way. If you had any brains I’d think you would say, hey maybe I’m so busy because I shouldn’t be doing some stuff or maybe I need to find a way to do this stuff in less time. From there improvements spring forth – surely?
 
Now, after speaking with a few people about this issue I have confirmed that I am definately from a different planet because everyone thinks being ‘flat out’ is good. Hmmm…to me a person who is in control of what ever they are doing (but can go ‘flat out’ when required but not constantly) is far more successful.
 
But hey, as I said, I’m from a different planet!

Is this the beginning of the end?

No not of the world as we know it but of the small SMB reseller. Microsoft appears to have answered Google’s online document creation ability with :
 
 
Looks like you can run and store a whole lot of standard Microsoft applications and documents on an Internet server. Not exactly sure just yet, have only just signed up, more details when I know.
 
Why is this the beginning of the end? You tell me a customer who is going to buy applications if they can run them from the Internet? Especially, when they are all maintained on the server somewhere on the Internet. Especially when you can run these applications from anywhere you have access to the Internet. Especially … (and the list goes on)
 
So why does a small business need an IT person now? Why do they even need an office? Sure, it may take some time to become popular but my guess is more and more switched on people (read ‘younger’ generation) will embrace this whole heartedly. They now have an even greater reason to ask their reseller ‘Why do I need you?’, if they can get to the Internet they can get to their data AND applications. So why the hell do I need a server when I can store everything on the Internet? Even if it costs me something per month it is going to be cheaper and easier than maintaining a server based network – right?
 
I agree there are some counter points but they are becoming weaker by the day. Mark my words, the beginning of the end is now here for the small SMB reseller.

Windows Sharepoint V3.0 Service Pack 1 now out

Yes, it is finally here. You download it by clicking here but I would strongly suggest you hang off and see what happens when other idiots like me install it! Just gotta get throught the 14 pages of documentation on how to deploy this.
 
This time :
 
– I am going to read the documentation
– I am going to a full image backup
– I am going to do a content backup
 
before I even attempt this. As they say once bitten, twice shy.

A first look at Sharepoint wikis

Want to know what is a wiki is in Sharepoint V3.0? Well we have released a new YouTube video that will give you an introduction to this new feature of Sharepoint V3.0. To view the video simply click here or go to the Video – Links portion of this Supportweb site.

This presentation will show you how to create and edit documents in a wiki and well as demonstrate the power of wikis to business in things like knowledge bases.

So you want to install Sharepoint V3.0 onto SBS 2003?

Let me show you the ways.

Well more accurately let the article I just created tell you. You can find it here in the Supportweb Document Library as free download. The article takes a brief look at the different options and considerations you need to make before installing Sharepoint V3.0 onto a Small Business Server 2003.

If you don’t already know then you shouldn’t do an in-place upgrade (it breaks things if you do), you also have the option to install the Sharepoint into SQL if you want (although the “official” Microsoft procedure doesn’t mention that).

The articles looks at the installation of Sharepoint V3.0 on SBS from a reseller or systems implementer’s perspective, however hopefully this doesn’t mean that it won’t have value for other attempting this kind of installation. I also mention some of the benefits the Microsoft Search Server 2008 will bring to SMB space given its ability to not only index Sharepoint content but also file shares.

As always I appreciate any feedback on this article or any of the material that I create. Also, if you are interested in something specific them also let me know since I like to create material that is of benefit to “real” people.