Do Email Less Course

My ‘Do Email Less’ course will be running this Friday the 28th of August at Macquarie Community College at Carlingford. It’s not too late to sign up. To do so just go to the web site:

http://www.macquarie.nsw.edu.au/index.php?action=course&course_action=detail&code=309M291&search=1&keyword=email&suburb=

Apart from teaching you how to use email more efficiently it will also help you understand the technology behind email, how it works, why it fails and what you can do to troubleshoot it. Attendees will learn how to not only cope with the ever growing volume of email but also how to send more effective emails so your message will get through. This is conducted in a hands on lab environment where you’ll get practical experience in working with Microsoft Outlook 2007. All attendees will also receive a copy of my ‘Overcoming email frustrations in Outlook 2007’ as part of the course.

If you are interesting in getting back in control of you time and out of your inbox then this course is for you.

Bad guys win again (Part IV)

The Internet is a neutral place. For as much good as it allows it also permits equal amounts of bad. It is simply a medium. Probably the thing that most people have problems comprehending is just how ‘global’ cybercrime is. You can have your bank account details stolen by someone in Russia or you can have your server brought down by someone else in China. Given the growing speeds and pervasiveness of the Internet it is actually getting easier.

A recent program on 4 Corners “Fear in the Fast Lane” gives you some insight into the challenges faced. You can find a complete replay of the episode here:

http://www.abc.net.au/reslib/200908/r419212_1990446.asx

One of the cases it details is how an Alice Springs betting company was sent bankrupt because they failed to pay ‘cyber’ extortion money. Another instance shows how a simple drive through a Sydney suburb revealed about 20% of home wireless networks had no protection. So many people are using computers and networks these days but every few grasp the issues they face and the challenges security brings. If you are interested I created a video a while back that illustrates what can arise from insecure wireless networks after demonstrating the issues to a friend:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mknGP-TOFu8
In an interesting turn of events, it seems that the Australian Federal Police featured in the story, who took over an underground hacking site, had their sting turned against them as “Hackers break into police computer as sting backfires” details. It further illustrates that there are just too many opportunities available for people to exploit vulnerabilities and weaknesses in computer systems. As I always tell people:

Q. How many different types of attacks and attackers do you have to protect yourself against?
A. ALL OF THEM.

now

Q. How many vulnerabilities or weaknesses does need to find to get inside your computer?
A. JUST ONE.

How can you win against these odds? Security is a huge investment that needs to be constantly maintained. Now consider your average computer user. Do they have the knowledge or the skills to even understand the threats they face – nope. As one of the Feds in the show says, it is probably about time that computer security be given same national priority as health but what are the chances of that?

As the show details, the problems are only going to get worse with the roll out of the Australian National Broadband network that will provide huge improvements in access speeds. I’m sure that the criminals can’t wait for that either because it means they can now achieve their ill gotten gains in a much shorter time period. A much better ROI.

Bottom line is that as we base more and more of our lives and society on computers without educating end users we are all losing out. It is typically the non-IT literate user who has their computer compromised without their knowledge. That computer is then added to a fleet of other compromised computers which are used to do the bidding of a cyber crim somewhere.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BRhauoXpNSs
Because we all live on the Internet it is up to everyone to be aware and maintain the security of their own systems. People are just not doing that, which in effect impacts us all and makes the Internet a worse place to be. My contention has always been, imagine the roads if we didn’t have rules, cyber crime can reek just as much havoc yet we happily allow people to buy a computer and connect it directly to the Internet with no training or understanding. Don’t appreciate the problems this can cause? Watch the 4 Corners program and visit the accompanying site to see why the Internet is fast becoming a place that you MAY NOT want to be!

SharePoint versions

Many people think that there is only one version of SharePoint. They then get confused between Windows SharePoint Server (WSS) and Microsoft Office SharePoint Server (MOSS). They get further confused between what features are and are not included in each edition.

As I get asked the question all the time I think the best answer I can give is to have look at “Which SharePoint technology is right for you” from Microsoft that provides a side by side comparison of all the different flavours of SharePoint. Be warned there is a lot of information to digest here. Perhaps an easier way to understand the different features set is to download the SharePoint product comparison spreadsheet that sets out the comparison using Excel which makes it much easier to understand.

In all of this don’t forget that a new version of SharePoint is on the way which will mean changes again to these charts (hopefully not too much).

One thing that all these documents don’t cover is the price. In simple terms, Windows SharePoint Services is available as a free download, while Microsoft Office SharePoint Server requires purchasing the appropriate licensing.

Hope that makes things a little easier to understand.

Plain English

I’ve always been a big fan of the YouTube videos that Common Craft have created. Ones like RSS in Plain English and Blogs in Plain English provide a really simply introduction to these technology in a fun and entertaining manner. In many cases these videos help explain some of the technology that comes with SharePoint. Well now there is a Common Craft video specifically about SharePoint called SharePoint in Plain English.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s12Jb5Z2xaE

It gives people a good overview of what SharePoint can do and I like the way that is especially targeted at the typical use a business person would require from SharePoint, managing a project. I’ve always found SharePoint can be hard to explain to people because it accomplishes such a wide variety of things but I think this video does a pretty good job of at least making it a little clearer.

 

As always, don’t forget that my Windows SharePoint Operations Guide contains a whole swag of SharePoint videos and training as well as almost 1,500 pages of technical content on Windows SharePoint. The Guide is designed to help you get up to speed with not only using SharePoint but also helping your customers and business partners understand the benefits that SharePoint can provide them.

 

Finally, don’t forget that I too have created some free demonstration SharePoint videos which can be found at my old YouTube Saturn Alliance account or my new Director CIAOPS account. Also, visit Common Craft for their range of videos on a huge range of topics (not just technology).

SharePoint Thrives

If you wanted further confirmation that a major business opportunity exists in and around SharePoint then “Microsoft’s SharePoint Thrives in the Recession” from the New York Times is worth a read.

“We don’t claim we do everything,” said Chris Capossela, a senior vice president at Microsoft. “If we do 50 percent of the functions that these other companies do, but they’re the ones customers really want, that’s fine. The magic is that end users actually like to use the software.”

No technology can honestly claim to do everything and SharePoint is no different. Given how flexible it is you do have to say that it does a great many thinks pretty well and that is what makes it such a great solution for many businesses.

Microsoft declines to break out the exact sales figures for the software but said that SharePoint broke the $1 billion revenue mark last year and continued to rise past that total this year, making it the hottest selling server-side product ever for the company.

So if it is still growing while other software is declining why aren’t more people considering it? Imagine what will happen when more businesses find that Windows SharePoint is free to download or already included with their systems (i.e. for Small Business Server). When this happens the demand certainly isn’t going to decline.

Microsoft has managed to undercut even the panoply of open-source companies playing in the business software market by giving away a free basic license to SharePoint if they already have Windows Server. “It’s a brilliant strategy that mimics open source in its viral, free distribution, but transcends open source in its ability to lock customers into a complete, not-free-at-all Microsoft stack – one for which they’ll pay more and more the deeper they get into SharePoint,” Mr. Asay said.

This is exactly the reason that Microsoft provide Windows SharePoint for free, because it locks the customer into using more and more Microsoft products which is fine because they provide a solution and a great return on investment. Given that Windows SharePoint is also free it means there are far less hurdles to implementation.

By making these more sophisticated tools available to customers, Microsoft thinks it can keep pushing niche software makers out of the way and give business people, rather than just the tech folks, a way to work with business applications.

Again, here’s another key feature. SharePoint can easily be utilized by business users to suit their needs. As I have always said SharePoint is tool just like Excel or Word, it starts out blank but you really create something fantastic using it. Most business owners fear that if they implement something they will need to keep paying for any change required. With SharePoint they can do it themselves.

If you are a technology provider and you haven’t looked at the opportunity SharePoint presents then you are missing out on the hottest game in town. If you want to get up to speed fast with Windows SharePoint consider my Windows SharePoint Operations Guide (www.wssops.com) which is packed with all the information that you’ll need to install, maintain and manage Windows SharePoint. I’m pretty sure you won’t find another single location with as much information on Windows SharePoint as the Guide.

No matter what the economic conditions there are always opportunities for the savvy and clearly SharePoint is one of them. I’d also tell you not to forget the opportunity that OneNote presents but that is a topic for another post.

Google everywhere

A new course I have developed called ‘Google everywhere’ will commence at Macquarie Community College this Thursday. If you are interested there is still an opportunity to sign up via:

http://www.macquarie.nsw.edu.au/index.php?action=course&course_action=detail&code=309M295

Google is now so much more that a search engine. It allows you to create custom calendars, schedules and to do lists. You can create and store documents you can access from anywhere. You can also use it as your primary email account. There are maps and street views of just about everywhere. This course will show you how to use all these tools and to enhance your online workflow.

When I started putting together this course I was amazed at how many products Google actually provide. Now whether that is a good or bad thing I’m not sure but when you actually sit down and work it out it is amazing.

So if you want to gain some insight into what Google applications can accomplish and what you can use to help yourself or you business then this course maybe for you. I hope to see you there.

WOW factor

Many people consider SharePoint to be something that is only used within an organization. The fact is that it provides a very good platform for utilizing outside the organization as well. It provides a ‘standard’ platform on which developers can create some amazing sites. One of the best of these I believe is Ferrari.com.

Microsoft has now made a case study about Ferrari.com available which you find available at:

http://www.microsoft.com/casestudies/Case_Study_Detail.aspx?CaseStudyID=4000004987

On there you’ll also find a nice video about the reasons and results of the web site. I do however find it frustrating that Microsoft only makes this video available via Silverlight. The problem is you need to download and install Silverlight v3 to view the video. This typically requires a browser restart which isn’t smart in my books because it takes people away from the web site. It would be much better to also offer something on YouTube in standard AVI format. Here’s something similar from YouTube about the web site but it doesn’t talk about the fact it is built on SharePoint technology.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lME2WIee-6s
I believe you should be making it easier for people to share your propaganda rather than requiring them to install additional browser components. How many ‘ordinary’ people out there are going to have SilverLight v3 already installed? Not many I reckon.

The point that I really do want to illustrate here is that many businesses are not only utilizing the functionality that SharePoint provides but also the platform it can provide to be easily extended and enhanced. There is plenty to recommend SharePoint already but when you see what people like Ferrari and those below are achieving you just gotta say WOW!

As I have always said, SharePoint is merely a tool – what you do with it is up to you.

Other examples of Internet facing SharePoint sites include:

 http://www.hawaiianair.com 

 http://www.carlsberggroup.com