Information about SharePoint, Microsoft 365, Azure, Mobility and Productivity from the Computer Information Agency
As you can see from this video Microsoft is beginning to really push the Office365 message to customers.
http://channel9.msdn.com/Shows/TheOfficeBlog/The-Office-Show-Office-365-Part-One
And I love that they are finally talking about OneNote (which is a brilliant app).
I must preface this review by firstly saying that a copy of this book was provided to me free of charge to review and secondly I am not a developer. I would also say that in many respects the demand for such a book would be limited given the current poor penetration of Windows Phone 7.
That said the book does achieve what it sets out to achieve, basically. I view this book as more of an introduction of what is possible rather than a deep dive into creating Windows Phone 7 SharePoint applications. My expectation was that the book would focus more heavily on the Windows Phone 7 application development but it was disappointed that it spent a significant amount of time running over the basics, especially of SharePoint.
As a general introduction to both Sharepoint and Windows Phone 7 I think the book really hits the mark, especially when it comes to Windows Phone 7. However, I felt that it should go deeper, which may be an incorrect assumption on my part. I am left feeling that there is so much more that could be achieved but this book doesn’t quite take me there.
I would certainly commend the book as a great introduction to Windows Phone 7 and what is possible when combined with SharePoint. However, I’m puzzled by which audience it is aimed at. If it is developers then the book probably doesn’t go deep enough. If it is for SharePoint users then the Windows Phone 7 parts add a distraction.
In summary, the book is an excellent introduction to the world Windows Phone 7 and the integration possibilities with SharePoint. However, it is not something designed for the hard core developer looking for a deep drive technical reference.
I am always amazed at how many people are under the mistaken impression that something like Office365 (or Google Apps) can replace an on site network system (like Microsoft Small Business Server). In short the answer is no. Yet.
Office365 is designed to remove some of the ‘heavy lifting’ from on site networks by moving complex and hard to maintain applications like Exchange and SharePoint into a place where they can be managed by the people who designed and developed that software. However, even with those applications removed, local systems are still performing a lot of functions that the cloud cannot do well presently.
A good example is Windows Update Services (WSUS) which provide patch management for local machines. Microsoft does have a cloud product (Windows InTune) that does something similar but it is still in the early stages of development so it currently doesn’t have all the features the onsite equivalent has.
An very important phrase here is ‘currently’. The plan seems to be that Windows InTune will one day rival any onsite solutions (especially for small business), however it still has a way to go to reach parity. What many also overlook is the fact that cloud solutions like Windows InTune will improve far more rapidly than traditional on site software.
So even with Office365 and Windows InTune many small business have third party applications that depend on onsite solutions and infra structure. Those that use things like SQL will also eventually move to the cloud under something like Windows Azure but they won’t until developers rewrite their software to take advantage of the cloud offerings. Until they do, businesses will have to retain on site infrastructure.
Rather than believing that the cloud replaces everything currently on site you need to look at cloud technologies as reducing the requirements for on site equipment. With Office365 many business probably only need something like SBS 2011 Essentials, rather than the full blown SBS 2011 Standard. Think downsizing, not elimination. Yet.
As any business moves to the cloud they also need to carefully consider their connection to the Internet. Generally, most businesses have been able to get away with ‘consumer grade’ broadband. As they move to the cloud they must step this up to faster and more reliable pipes with redundancy. Most modern internal networks run at a speed of 1,000 Mb, while broadband typically only delivers 3 Mb consistently. Currently, you’ll never get the same performance but broadband speeds are always improving but they are not yet equivalent to on site speeds. Yet.
Finally, in all this talk of moving to the cloud, traditional things such as backup and security don’t magically disappear, they simply need to be re-thought and re-engineered. Just because your email moves to the cloud and Office365 does that mean you shouldn’t back it up? Certainly for me it doesn’t. I know that it is backed up at the data centre but since it is ‘my’ data I still backup regularly. Admittedly, this is still cumbersome and not totally automated as it is with on site situations. However, the key term again here is ‘yet’. It will come as demand increases.
So, in summary, can the cloud totally replace what you have with the your on site network? Almost certainly no. Will it? Almost certainly yes. The only question is when. In the meantime rather than thinking of eliminating think down-sizing locally when it comes to the cloud.
One of the most causes of security breeches is out-dated software. However, in a world where you can have hundreds of different applications installed?
There is a free solution to keep you informed about the update status of many common applications – Secunai PSI. It is designed to be installed on personal machines and then inform on what applications are installed and how up to date they are.
After installing and running a scan you will be able to view a report of the applications installed on your machine. You’ll also see whether any require updating and in most cases you’ll also be given a link to take you to the update page for the software.
Once installed the Secunia software will also sit in the background and inform you when new updates become available. This really makes it an easy way to ensure you system is not only up to date but also more secure.
I found the following article via the Sydney Morning Herald app on my iPad but for some reason it doesn’t appear in the online version (or at least that I can find). Which is strange, but here it is with my commentary below:
JULY 27, 2011
FATIMA KDOUH
THE inconvenience caused to bank customers by meltdowns in information technology does not appear to have had an impact on levels of customer satisfaction with the big four banks.
Figures from the most recent survey of consumer attitudes by Roy Morgan Research continued on an upward trend of 1.2 per cent in June, with 75 per cent of customers saying they were satisfied with their bank despite a recent spike in system glitches across all four banks.
The latest system failure at Westpac, which delayed the processing of payments, was being blamed on a ”corrupt file”.
The bank, which has recently embarked on an ambitious, $2 billion computer-system upgrade, insisted yesterday the failure was not a result of any scheduled computer revamp.
The latest headache for Westpac customers is one of a long list of upsets for bank customers in recent times. In April, NAB customers were left unable to access their pay after a processing failure. In May, ANZ customers were unable to access their online accounts and, a month later, a technical error prevented Commonwealth Bank customers from using their online banking accounts.
The Commonwealth and NAB are undertaking billion-dollar ”core migration” upgrades of their computer systems, and the Commonwealth is well ahead of its rivals.
But ANZ, which has more modern core systems than its rivals, recently said it would not invest in major upgrades of its existing computer technology.
The upgrades are complex and involve replacing technology that in some cases is decades old, making teething problems like those experienced of late inevitable.
– My comments –
So why is that relevant? Well, to me it indicates that for all the sensationalism about service level agreements and uptimes with cloud computing it seems, from the above anyway, that most people are willing to put up with glitches.
There seems to be this belief that moving to the cloud should guarantee 100% uptime. If it involves technology and if it involves human beings then there is always going to be the chance of downtime. Much the like the banking systems detailed above, such large system are much more reliable in the cloud but they will never be perfect.
The key here is:
“does not appear to have had an impact on levels of customer satisfaction”
Why? Because most customers understand the complexity of these systems and expect issues now and again. Sure, there is a point when enough issues will start impacting their levels of satisfaction but I’d say that if this is the case with banks why won’t it be the same for cloud computing? And why are all these pundits screaming about the unreliability of moving to the cloud? Simple, you get more attention for sensationalism than you do for reality, although reality wins out in the long run. So too will cloud computing. Customers don’t expect it to be perfect but they are happiest when the costs are kept down, which is what moving to the cloud is doing to the cost of technology for most businesses. For that reduction in price most are prepared to tolerate ‘glitches’.
Certainly a great read, even more appealing if you are into technology. Mark is well known technology expert who has turned his hand to also writing a novel with great effect. Some of the technical aspects and insights in this book come directly from his experience and skill.
The books is easy to read and enjoyable by any audience who enjoys thrillers. I found the first part of the book really engrossing however I felt that this wasn’t quite matched by the the second half. It was at this point that the plot expanded beyond its initial focus to be something that I felt was taking the well trodden path of global terrorism which it possibly did not need to take.
Unfortunately, I felt that widening the story to include these aspects moved the book beyond the realm of reality and little and made it feel cliché. Overall it was still page turner as I became in engrossed with learning the conclusion of the events. Even thought the whole plot is plausible I just felt talking it down the path of the ‘war on terror’ didn’t allow it to stand apart from similar books.
However, that said, I still highly recommend the book as something reader will enjoy. You’ll probably also enjoy it even more if you are into technology as the quality of subject matter shines through here. It makes a great modern day thriller and I reckon a feature movie can’t be far away.
If you plan on purchasing this book, and you liked my review, appreciate it if you could do so through my Amazon store at:
http://astore.amazon.com/c00ef-20/detail/B00457X7XQ
helps me in a small way to buy more books for review. You’ll find all my top reading recommendations for business, technology, fiction etc at:
Customer was recently greeted by this nasty looking error when they tried to access their Windows SharePoint v3 Server. My first impression when I saw this was that it didn’t look like a ‘standard’ SharePoint or IIS error. I checked the Central Admin site and that was working as expected.
I then proceeded to check the obvious things like the services, IIS site and so on. All working as expected (since the SharePoint Central Administration site was also working).
The issue? .NET v4.0. To fix run IIS Manager on the SharePoint Server. Locate the SharePoint site (under Sites) and click on it. Then on the right select the Basic Settings hyperlink.
Here’s what the typical SharePoint site config should look like. See the Application Pool is the typical SharePoint – 80? Here’s what the problem configuration looked like:
For some reason SharePoint was using an ASP .NET v4 Application pool. How it got that way I’ll never know but all you need to do is pull down the list of Application pools and select the standard SharePoint Application pool that will typically look like:
In this case Windows SharePoint Services v3 liked .Net Framework Version 2.0 much better than .Net Framework version 4.0.
One of the biggest issues I currently see with Office365 SharePoint is the fact that it doesn’t allow you to directly open and view PDF documents in a browser. This has to do with browser file handling on the back end of SharePoint. I have previously detailed in my blog how to change that for on site SharePoint but in Office365 you don’t have access to this to make the change.
So, if you try and open a PDF stored in Office365 SharePoint you are only given the option to save the file locally. Given how common the PDF format is this is really something Microsoft should change in Office365 as soon as possible as it is causing plenty of people grief (including me).
I was faced with just this issue when working recently with a client using Office365 for secure storage and viewing of PDF documents. The solution devised was to use OneNote.
When you install OneNote on your system it also installs a Send to OneNote printer on your system. If you print using this printer the output not only ends up in OneNote but it is also indexed for searching (pretty neat).
Now if I print that same PDF document into a OneNote file saved on Office365 SharePoint I can click on the OneNote document and view the contents quickly and easily like shown above right in the browser. I agree that this would be a pain if you had lost of PDF documents but at this stage it is the best solution I have found.
For this client, being able to restrict user rights to these files was also important, so users were added to the standard Viewers group in SharePoint. According to the definition of the Viewers group:
“Members of this group can view pages, list items, and documents. If the document has a server rendering available, they can only view the document using the server rendering.”
To my way of thinking this means that because Office Web Apps (viewing) is installed by default with every Office365 SharePoint account people in the Viewers group will automatically see the OneNote file displayed in a browser. However, because Office Web Apps is considered “server rendering” as noted above, they won’t be able to open the file in a local copy of OneNote.
As you can see from the above screen shot, firstly, trying to edit the OneNote file in a browser fails as expected as they don’t have write permissions as Viewers.
But if you go to the document library and display the properties for the OneNote file you’ll see that there is not the option to save the document locally or open in a local Copy of OneNote.
However, it is also important to note that if people can view a document they can always take a copy (even if they take a photo of the screen). The above screen shot shows that they can simply right mouse click on the printed PDF inside the OneNote file and copy and paste it elsewhere.
However, overall I think this isn’t a bad solution for viewing PDF’s in a browser but honestly it is a solution to a problem that should never exit to my mind. I understand why Microsoft have denied the ability to open PDF’s in a browser (given the fact that PDF documents can launch javascript locally, which can do nasty things). But honestly, the PDFs as such a standard these days and people expect them to open directly in a browser, I feel it is doing more harm than good to Office365 by prevent this.
+1, Microsoft please allow PDFs to open directly in the browser OR allow me to make that decision in my setup.
