Flying Purple Cows

Now that I have your attention (how’s that for marketing eh?) I’ll tell you that I have just released the next CIAOPS Need to Know podcast (Episode 3) with Susanne Dansey from Purple Cow Ideas Management.

 

The details of the podcast are:

 

http://www.ciaops.com/n2k – Episode 3 = 65MB (70mins)

 

or via direct download:

 

http://bit.ly/cia-n2k3

 

In this episode Susanne gives her thoughts on issues such as SMB business, leadership and vision and of course the effect of cloud computing in SMB. I thank her for sparing some of her valuable time to chat with me.

 

So let me know what you think and if you are interested on being on the show please also contact me (director@ciaops.com) as I am always looking for people to talk about business and technology.

Sync and Mesh

I have been using Microsoft Live Mesh for a long while and really liked it. The major downside was the fact the when it sync’ed information to the cloud it didn’t do it to Microsoft Skydrive. The plan seems to be to phase out Live Mesh in favour of Windows Live Sync that will save to the Skydrive but there are still issues.

The main issue for me is the ability to add files to the Skydrive storage area via the web like you could in Mesh. I’ll show you what I mean:

Here is screen shot from a folder that I’m syncing using Windows Live Sync on Skydrive. There ain’t anywhere I can see that I can add files to this folder via the web interface.

whereas in Mesh as you can see below I can upload a file using the web interface and have it replicated to all the devices connected to my Mesh.

What makes this even more of a pain is the Windows Live Sync beta (i.e. the next version of Livve Sync) isn’t supported on Windows XP or Windows Mobile! So the only way I can sync files between all machines  at the moment and add via the web is via Live Mesh. The current non-beta version of Windows Live Sync does however support Windows XP. However as you will see on the Mesh web site:

It’s now going to be called Windows Live Mesh 2011 and this seems to be based more on Live Sync than Mesh unfortunately.

I certainly hope when they do make up their minds, release one product and that it will:

– be available on Windows XP.
– provide storage in Skydrive.
– provide the ability to save files via the web interface.
– provide more than 2GB of storage (5GB is coming soon but can we get the ability to store up to the limit of Skydrive which is 25GB please?).
– ability to upload files of greater than 50MB.
– ability to have Live Sync folders as an integrated part of Skydrive rather than something separate. At the moment I can’t copy from the Skydrive sync’ed folders to my normal Skydrive folders, so it kinda isn’t any different from stand alone storage like what Mesh current is now is it?

That’s enough for starters, because I want my cake and to be able to eat it as well. That’s the web way.

SharePoint 2010 migration on SBS 2008 released from Microsoft

Microsoft has just released a technical document on installing SharePoint Foundation 2010 on SBS 2008. You will find it here:

 

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff959273(WS.10).aspx

 

It great to finally have a guidance document from Microsoft on this process but there are a few issues from what I see.

 

The major one is around section 10 whose heading is – Step 10: Connect the ShareWebDb database to SQL Server 2008 you’ll find that the contents are actually identical (word for word) with Step 12: Connect the ShareWebDb content database which appears to be a simple editing over sight.

 

Step 10 should in fact detail how to attach ShareWebDb to SQL 2008 which isn’t that hard but unless that is done first you are not going to be able to complete step 12 of actually connecting the database to SharePoint Foundation 2010.

 

Apart from that major issue I also believe the document could contain some additional items of information, such as:

 

1. The document speaks of using SQL Express 2008 but doesn’t appear to mention the fact that this version of SQL although free is limited to databases of 4GB in size. So if your existing companyweb on SBS 2008 is greater than 4GB the detailed process won’t work.

 

If you however install SQL Express 2008 R2 you can then have a maximum database size of 10GB and if you then use remote blob storage like I explained in a previous blog post, you can have a database up to 16GB. You can always use a full blown version of SQL 2008 which overcomes the database limit but if you want a free version make sure you go SQL Express 2008 R2.

 

2. After the migration process is complete and you bring up the new SharePoint site it will look almost identical to WSS v3. That’s because SharePoint Foundation 2010 has a visual upgrade feature that you have to select to upgrade the look and feel of the site. I believe that a major reason why people would want to go to all the trouble of installing SharePoint Foundation 2010 on SBS 2008 is so they can benefit from the new interface.

 

So after you do the upgrade go into the site settings for the site and select the visual upgrade option to change the look and feel of your site to new SharePoint interface.

 

3. If you have configured PDF icons and indexing on your existing version of WSS v3 on SBS 2008 you’ll have to reconfigure it on SharePoint Foundation 2010. Getting the PDF icon is pretty simple, here’s my video tutorial on the process:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ay6Xvb2oIUU

 

but getting PDFs to index now that is something much more tricky under SharePoint Foundation 2010. The solution is in my SharePoint Guide (which is yet another great reason to purchase it!).

 

3. If you try and install SQL 2008 Express on the SBS 2008 server you won;t be able to until you uninstall the existing SQL 2005 Express Management Studio. Not a major issue but handy to know when you are doing the prep work.

 

So there’s a few things I’ve noticed about the document upon first glance. The big issue is the fact that Step 10 needs to be correct to show the process of attaching the old WSS v3 database to SQL Express 2008.

 

I’ll let you know what more info I find as I dig deeper.

Tech Ed 2010 Australia wrap up

Now that Microsoft Tech Ed 2010 Australia is a done deal I’ve been lucky enough to be joined on another Need to Know podcast by Wayne Small to give us a round up of everything at the event.

 

The details of the podcast are:

 

http://www.ciaops.com/n2k – 25MB (40mins)

 

or via direct download:

 

http://bit.ly/cia-n2k2

 

So let me know what you think and if you are interested on being on the show please also contact me (director@ciaops.com) as I am always looking for people to talk about business and technology.

 

Stay tuned for more episodes coming soon.

Need to know podcast

I’ve just created my first podcast which I have christened as the ‘Need to know’ podcast series. It will focus on technology and business for the IT Professional, especially those in Small to Medium Business.

 

In the first episode I have been lucky enough to be joined by Susan Bradley (SBS –MVP) (http://msmvps.com/blogs/bradley/) who discussed some of the following topics with me:

 

– Slow down issues with XP and Microsoft updates

– A new DLL vulnerability

– Microsoft Security essentials in SMB

– the new versions of SBS, Aurora and 7

 

A big thanks to Susan for giving me some of her time to chat, it is most appreciated.

 

You can download the podcast from:

 

http://www.ciaops.com/n2k – 42MB (60 mins)

 

and I’d love to hear what you think about it, what’s good, what’s bad and how it can be improved. Feel free to send it to me via director@ciaops.com or www.ciaops.com/contact.

 

I’ve got a few people lined up in the next few weeks to discuss further topics of interest so please stay tune to this blog for when these will be available.

I’ve got a very bad feeling

Now I could be wrong on this but I get the feeling that things are going to get far worse before they get better. I’ve felt like that for a while now and my gut tells me that we maybe approaching the beginning of a further significant drop.

If you get the chance I’d highly recommend you take a look at the episode called Overdose from the Australian Four Corners program. If you hurry you can view the whole episode online by using iView here. Here’s a preview that’s on YouTube:

Overdose – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DGkT_S8Yt5M

What worries me is that we have created a ‘stimulus bubble’ without really changing people’s habits. I also feel that many governments have wasted tax payer dollars bailing out those that have done the wrong thing. Tell me, when is it a good thing cover the losses of someone who is reckless with money? Never I say.

I can’t give you anything definitive but I see many more businesses struggling and going under. I see unemployment rising and when people lose their jobs that is never a good sign. I am concerned that we are approaching a traditionally bad time for the markets (October) and that may spook investors. I’ve just got this feeling.

Now, I certainly hope that I’m wrong but if you look at the numbers and the amount of debt and the further amount of debt that is being thrown ineffectually at the problem, like I said I’m worried.

The Zappos effect

I’ve just finished reading a book called Delivering Happiness which is all about Zappos. Now I’ve know vaguely about Zappos for a while after seeing it in many business magazines that I read. That’s why I went out and bought the book to learn more about why this business is rated so highly.

 

I have to admit that when I started reading the book I wasn’t all that impressed. It was really just a story monologue about the CEO Tony Hsieh and his life story. In summary, it details how he made his money selling Linkexchange to Microsoft and then almost losing it again trying to get Zappos established. Yeah, yeah I thought, one of lucky few that actually saw a business survive a near death experience. So what?

 

I think that it was only after finishing the book and doing some further research in Zappos that I really began to understand what is so unique about this company. Here’s a video that gives you some insight.

The Zappos http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tFyW5s_7ZWc

 

It is only upon reflection that many of the concepts in the book begin to sink in. Some of the practices that Zappos have in regards to customer service certainly seem overly generous (like paying for shipping both ways and return goods up to 12 months, no questions, after purchase). However, when you consider that they do little other ‘traditional’ marketing it begins to make sense. It is one of those cases where you’d think that any business that would do these sort of things is crazy but Zappos do and they work! Any smart business person knows there is a lesson there somewhere.

 

Probably the most impressive thing I have learn about Zappos is their focus on creating the best corporate culture. They are creating somewhere that people actually want to work and enjoy what they do in every aspect. That is pretty unique these days and I think many business could take a leaf out of the Zappos handbook. I became intrigued with this concept many years ago when I first read In Search of Excellence and my interest is once again piqued. 

 

I would say the book Delivering Happiness is only a starting point for learning about Zappos. I think that if you spend some time examining and thinking about what this business does differently you’ll see something special and something that is certainly worth emulating. I’m guessing that many business people will disregard Zappos but the more I think about it the more I reckon they’re onto something special.

SharePoint on Aurora

Given that SBS Aurora doesn’t include Exchange or SharePoint the first question I had was, could you actually install SharePoint Foundation 2010 on SBS Aurora? The reason for my questions is that, at this point, SharePoint 2010 is not available in BPOS (it will be soon). So what if you were busting for SharePoint 2010 on SBS Aurora?

 

The good news is that in my testing you can install SharePoint Foundation 2010 just like normal. You firstly need to make sure a version of SQL is installed on the server. I used SQL Express 2008 R2 (which has a 10GB limit). I then installed SharePoint Foundation 2010.

 

image_2_76B83B7B

 

The files copied across as expected.

 

image_4_76B83B7B

 

You have to create a new farm and connect to the SQL database you have already installed but that is straight forward.

 

image_6_76B83B7B

 

Next the SharePoint Configuration wizard runs.

 

image_8_76B83B7B

 

You then run the setup wizard and bingo you have SharePoint Foundation 2010 running on SBS Aurora.