After a few weeks consideration I have decided to migrate the old face to face Desktop to Cloud group to a new online ‘virtual’ meeting. Here are the details:
Date: Wednesday, July 3 2013
Time: 4:00 – 5:00 pm (Sydney AU time)
Registration: http://ciaops0713.eventbrite.com.au/
Cost: Free
For this first event I have lined up Microsoft MVP – Developer Security Troy Hunt who will be speaking about ‘The Insecure Web’.
All the details about the meeting are on the registration site but we’ll be using Lync 2013 so we can take feedback and questions from attendees. There will also be plenty of time for general technology chat so come along and let me know what you’d like to see these meeting contain.
If this meeting is a success then I’ll be scheduling more, so come along and let me know what you think and of course get some great info from Troy.
If you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact me via director@ciaops.com
Tag: Cloud
Typically Google
Before I launch into this tirade I will tell you that I use and like many of the Google products but this sort of experience is typical of what happens when issues do arise with Google services.
If you read “In the Plex” by Steven Levy you’ll learn that Google’s focus is on engineering better products rather than providing support. Their philosophy is that ‘”users help users”. That works most of the time but sometimes it would really handy to actually get through a real life human being rather than just a python script.
Case in point. I want to sell my eBooks via the Google Play store. so I visit the Google books partner login at:
https://books.google.com/partner
This presents me with the following blank page:
If I click the Contact Us links I am greeted by:
So now where do I go? Only option seems to go “Googling” for an answer and I REALLY shouldn’t have to do that now SHOULD I?
If someone else out there know what I can do to get my eBooks listed on the Google Play store I’m ALL EARS!
Office 365 and SharePoint Guide turns five
I am proud to announce that the CIAOPS Office 365 and SharePoint Guide has reached it fifth birthday!
So what is it? The Guide is a collection of technical and training material on all aspects Office 365 and SharePoint. It contains, documents, videos, OneNote notebooks, links and more all accessed via a SharePoint portal. At last count there was over 9 hours of videos and 1,500 pages of documentation, all of which is updated monthly with new and additional content.
In the Guide you will find things like:
– Study and preparation material for the 74-324 Administering Office 365 for SMB exam.
– Every CIAOPS publication
– Learning tracks to help you get up to speed on the products
– so much more
Guide subscribers also receive discounts on other CIAOPS items such as:
– Bootcamps / Training
– Consultation
So what do some of subscribers say?
I just thought I’d add my accolades to Robert Crane’s guide and remind all our members that Robert’s wealth of knowledge in all things cloud, experience and willingness to help is unmeasurable. All the useful tips in one place. Why wouldn’t you spend the $299 to subscribe to the guide? – Mike Hatfield (HIT)
“I can truly credit Robert for his training day and his SharePoint Guide (which includes Office 365 notes and information on the exams we require to continue or certification with Microsoft). I managed to pass with the highest score I have ever achieved in a Microsoft exam (900+)” – ( Rod Arthur, LAN Creation )
I also take this opportunity to thank every single subscriber for their support of my business but I’d especially like to thank my foundation subscribers who have been with me from the start. Without your faith in me this product would not be what it is today.
Special Birthday offer
Therefore to celebrate the Guide reaching the five year milestone I am going to make the following offer to every new subscriber during May 2013:
– Receive 10% off the normal purchase price of AU$299. Use the offer code 5YEARSNOW at checkout.
– Receive up to 1 hours remote consultation/training session free in a single session available until 30 June 2013 (Valued at > AU$200).
For ANY existing Guide subscriber, in recognition of their continued support, I will offer during May 2013:
– Up to 1 hours remote consultation/training session free in a single session available until 30 June 2013 (Valued at > AU$200).
Finally to ANYONE who recommends my Guide to someone who takes up a new subscription during May 2013 I will offer:
– 10% commission of the retail price (i.e. AU$29.90) for every converted referral. Thus, if you make 2 converted referrals you’ll receive AU$59.80, 3 referrals AU$89.70, etc, etc.
This applies ONLY until the end of May 2013 and don’t forget that the Guide is undated every month and includes all existing CIAOPS publications.
For more information about the Guide and to subscribe visit:
Once again, I thank all subscribers for their support of my business and I look forward to adding even more content in the coming year.
Desktop to Cloud Day agenda now available
The agenda for the upcoming Desktop to Cloud Day on Saturday the 18th of May at North Ryde RSL Club in Sydney is now available. You can download it here:
Desktop to Cloud Day 2013 Agenda
I’d appreciate if you could let others know who maybe interested in attending. You can register for the event at:
http://d2c13.eventbrite.com.au/
where early bird entry is still available for $44 which covers entry, refreshments, wifi and more.
The event features 2 tracks with experience presenters on cloud technologies including:
Jeff Alexander (Microsoft)
Ishai Sagi (SharePoint MVP)
Mark O’Shea (MVP)
Abi Vickram (Director, Kerio Technologies)
and more
You see presentations on Office 365, Windows 8, Private Cloud, Samepage and more.
You can keep up to date with event happenings at:
and I hope to see you there on the day.
Office 365 vs Google Apps webcast
I’ve just participated in a Google Hangout with Richard Tubb, Owen Kane and James Kimberly discussing the merits of cloud solutions like Google Apps and Office 365.
The inspiration for this chat came about after Richard Tubb moved from Office 365 and particularly Outlook, to Google Apps. There he found additional functionality with a number of productivity plugins. This move garnered some strong reactions on Google Plus which tended to focus on the technology. Hopefully, this webcast proves that it is the information that is important to the customer. So if you are expecting fireworks then you’ll probably have to wait till we no another webcast.
Have a look and let me know what you think and how we can improve this. Also if you have some topics you’d like to see discussed then by all means send them along to me at director@ciaops.com.
Many outsourcers will disappear
Have been reading from some interesting research on infrastructure outsourcing (IO) (Managed Service Providers, MSPs, if you like) from Gartner. They are predicting a market consolidation of up to 20% but here some other interesting snippets:
“Gianluca Tramacere, research vice president at Gartner, said traditional IO providers are at serious risk of extinction.”
“In the past decade many outsourcers have procrastinated, failing to make the changes needed to transform challenges into opportunities. Many will disappear- some slowly, some rapidly.”
“Traditional infrastructure outsourcers can no longer survive in their current state. The market won’t allow it and customers are demanding much more.”
The report also has the following to say about small providers:
Small Managed service providers
The most immediate implication is for small outsourcing and managed services providers. The value-add they provide is eroded significantly when compared with cloud services. As larger organizations providing cloud-based solutions attract more small business customers, small IT shops will lose customers, margin and traditional service opportunities.
This is also an opportunity for those service providers that are agile enough to transform themselves into cloud partners. What I mean by this is that there are opportunities to help small businesses take advantage of cloud services and save money either through migration services or cloud service reselling. The sales pitch is easy but the margins are low. In order to have a viable business model, volume is key. This means that the small managed service provider will need to grow their customer base significantly to maintain sustainability.
So what does this mean for the IT pro at a small outsourcing shop? I would expect that there will be far less hands on technical work and much more menial administration across many more customers. There will also be an increase in network architecture and management requirements as connectivity to the cloud will increase in important compared to local connectivity.
This again simply reinforces what I have been writing about for a long while here. Just one example:
https://blog.ciaops.com/2012/04/valley-of-discontent.html
The Internet will force change on every business but only some will survive.
Mobile rules
If you have any doubts about how fast things are changing in the technology field I recommend you take a look at a presentation recently given by analyst Mary Meeker. You can find the completed slides at:
http://www.slideshare.net/kleinerperkins/2012-kpcb-internet-trends-yearend-update#btnNext
For example, here is a slide that is worth considering.
What it basically says is that Windows based machines now represent only 35% of the market, Apple and Android together are now the dominate players. Even worse for Windows is that both iOS and Android continue to grow at accelerating rates.
If you are in the IT market in any way shape or form you need to spend some time and have a look at all the information in the slide deck. I am confident that you’ll walk away having learnt something (good or bad).
Creating a Windows Live ID
In my last blog I spoke about how external sharing with SharePoint Online via Office 365 is a little convoluted for external users. In there I mentioned that my recommended method of creating a login for an external user for SharePoint Online was by creating a Windows Live ID tied to the users current email address BEFORE they attempt to access the shared document. Therefore, in this post I’ll run through the process of actually creating a Windows Live ID for you.
1. Visit http://login.live.com
In the lower right of the screen select the Sign up now hyperlink.
2. Enter your details
Enter all the request information on the page.
At the option to enter the Microsoft account name enter the existing email address.
When complete press the Accept button at the bottom of the page.
You should then see a summary screen displayed with the information just entered.
3. Verify email address
In a matter of moments the email address you used for the Microsoft account should receive an email asking you to verify the account. To do this simply click on the Verify link in the email.
Doing so will take you back to http://login.live where you will need to login with the Microsoft account (your email address) and the password you selected.
After doing so you should receive a confirmation that the account has been verified.
4. Use your Windows Live ID
Now the account has been verified it can be used with all sorts of Microsoft services but most importantly it can now be used to login as an external user to sharing requests for SharePoint Online. Best of all since the account is now the same as your email address you only really need to remember the password (and for that I suggest Lastpass).
CIAOPS 