BLACKBERRY - THE ENVY & THE REALITY

Blackberry is making some very appealing phone/mail devices.

They don't work the way you think they do. Some of you won't have any fun with them at all.

Businesspeople have made Blackberries into corporate icons, as omnipresent as iPods on 24-year-olds. Serious users aren't bothered by jokes about "crackberry addicts" - they just keep on moving their thumbs with their heads down through meetings and in airports and on dates and riding ski lifts and during dental surgery.

The mail comes in, the mail goes out, the phones look stylish. Great, right?

How does the mail get to the Blackberry? Aye, there's the rub.

Medium to large companies run lots of servers, with lots of IT staff employed to keep them working. These days, one or more of those servers runs enterprise software from Blackberry. Blackberry Enterprise Server integrates with the company's mail servers to push mail to the company's Blackberry users. This is more than "software" - it is a dead serious, expensive, enterprise-level platform that requires committed onsite IT staff for setup and support.

You - my loyal small business clients, my friends with home computers - you don't have a Blackberry Enterprise Server.

But if you buy a Blackberry, it can get your mail! You can send mail! It says so in all the ads!

You get to run Blackberry Desktop Software on your desktop PC. It hooks into your mail program and pushes incoming messages out to your Blackberry. Perfect! Works like a charm, right?

Maybe. Some people use it happily. But consider this.

It only works if you use Outlook. (Or Lotus Notes or Novell Groupwise. I don't want to leave out Notes and Groupwise users. Why don't you go off to the corner of the room and chat amongst yourselves?) Using another mail program or web mail? There's other ways to set up the Blackberry - maybe - but you'll need help and you have no guarantees.

It only works if Outlook is running on your desktop computer. Your desktop computer has to be turned on, logged in to your desk, with Outlook running, or nothing arrives at your Blackberry, period. The mail to your Blackberry stops if you're using a notebook, or if your desktop computer goes to sleep, or you forget to leave Outlook running, or the computer restarts after installing an update, or the power blinks, or the Internet connection goes down, or anything else at all interferes.

The Blackberry software is like too many other programs. It works reasonably well for many people but when it goes wrong, it is obnoxious to troubleshoot. I've been there. It feels fragile and unfriendly. I had one particularly bitter experience that still makes me shudder, on behalf of a client who has developed a close relationship with Blackberry's tech support department trying to work out the persistent problems.

Small businesses and law firms running Microsoft Small Business Server 2003 have a mail system built on Exchange Server, which can be set up to integrate seamlessly with phone/PDAs running Windows Mobile software. Not everyone loves Windows Mobile - a bit cluttered, a bit slow - but I can set it up in minutes to sync e-mail, address books and calendars over the air, with full two-way communication back to the server. Messages sent from the mobile device show up in Outlook's Sent Items, phone numbers and appointments entered on the fly are immediately displayed back at the office.

Blackberry recently introduced Blackberry Professional, a simplified version of the enterprise platform for small businesses with up to 30 employees. It's reasonably inexpensive ($499/5 users, $849/10 users) and it can theoretically be installed on a server that is also being used for other tasks. There are stories about successful installations on servers running Small Business Server 2003, although I've also seen horror stories about server slowdowns and crashes for the same setup.

I'm discouraging my clients from asking me to take them down that road because I'm old and cynical. If this could be installed and work right away with a minimum of fuss, that would be swell. Except it wouldn't go that way, because nothing does. Instead, there'd be dozens of hours spent learning the tricks and tweaks and details necessary to keep things running smoothly. The payback just isn't there.

At some point I'll set up Blackberry Professional. If the experience is elegant and troublefree, I promise I'll come back and retract all these negative vibes and try to be less cranky. In the meantime, take a look at Windows Mobile devices - I know what to do with those.

Labels: hardware, mail, mobile, phone, SBS, software

posted by bruceb at 1/30/2008 12:32:00 AM | permalink

WIRELESS NETWORKING DEMYSTIFIED

Although the technology is widespread and mature, 802.11 wireless networking is confusing for many people - and frustrating for nearly everyone. It hasn't helped that the next generation of 802.11n networking equipment seems to be stuck in an endless development cycle, resulting in hundreds of routers and access points and adapters on the market that are not quite compatible with each other.

SmallBusinessComputing.com has written an introduction to wireless networking that covers all the basics in a plain, straightforward way. If you want to catch up, this article will bring you up to speed on the acronyms, the options to extend the range of a wireless network, and the choices for securing the network.

If you go shopping, I've had consistently good luck with Netgear's Rangemax products, built on technology licensed from Ruckus Wireless. Try the WPN824 router or WPN802 access point, matched with the WPN111 USB adapter. Setup is well-designed and the range and reliability are as good as anything I've ever tried.

Labels: network, wireless

posted by bruceb at 1/29/2008 09:11:00 AM | permalink

DIGITAL MUSIC NOTES

There have been a lot of changes in digital music recently, many of them favorable for consumers.

People are recognizing the value of the MP3 format, free of any licensing restrictions. If you are ripping your CDs, make sure you use the MP3 format at a high enough bit rate to preserve the quality of the music! This requires a simple change in the settings, regardless of what software you use. Here's my notes about that process.

Amazon.com is selling high-quality MP3 music from all major labels. The recording industry decided to use Amazon to break the de facto iTunes monopoly on online music, so Amazon was given the rights by all four major labels to sell music with no restrictions for less money than iTunes. Amazon just announced it will be selling online music internationally, just ahead of the publicity blitz that will be launched during the Superbowl for its music giveaway with Pepsi. If you're using iTunes, Amazon's software will automatically insert your new purchases into your iTunes library. It is a very appealing way to get new music! Click here to explore Amazon's MP3 store.

Media Jukebox is the perfect software for your music. It is completely free, it has the Amazon MP3 store built into it, it supports iPods and all other handhelds, and it has the best features of any music software - better than iTunes in many ways. Its big brother, J River Media Center, is also able to work with photos and videos, but many of you might prefer Media Jukebox for its simplicity and focus on music.

If you listen to music on a computer, treat yourself to good speakers or headphones. You spend hours at a computer every day. Treat yourself to a big monitor and don't overlook the difference that it makes to have your music sound full and rich. Logitech's new G51 5.1 speakers not only sound great, they have a well-designed desktop console with well-chosen controls for volume, balance, mute and headphones, plus a very satisfying matrix mode to create surround sound from your 2-channel music.

I've never regretted indulging in a nice pair of headphones. It's a very personal choice but for what it's worth, these Grado SR60 headphones are an incredible value for well under a hundred bucks. I opted for these Sennheiser HD595 headphones for myself; I can wear them for hours without fatigue and the sound is crisp and pure. (Amazon is selling them for $250 today. It's unclear why they were significantly less a few weeks ago. Prices seem to jump around oddly on headphones - shop around!)

Enjoy the music!

Labels: Apple, audio, business, software

posted by bruceb at 1/28/2008 12:51:00 AM | permalink

VISTA HOSTILITY

The hostility toward Vista is almost palpable now. Support representatives sigh deeply when customers say they're running Vista. Computer magazines and tech web sites proudly trash it as the worst product of the year. The word of mouth that I overhear is dreadful.

A blogger picked up on something that reflects the shameful role that Microsoft has played that led to this position. Let me give you some background.

After studying Vista and using it exclusively for more than a year and setting clients and friends and family up with it, I think Vista is a wonderful operating system. Most importantly, it deserves praise for implementing so many needed security improvements in as transparent a way as possible.

Many things have led to its poor reputation; I keep coming back to four.

1. It's difficult for people to change. People who grew accustomed to Windows XP would just as soon stay with what they know. That makes perfect sense but it would have been possible to overcome that if the other problems had been handled better.
2. Software and hardware vendors set back the entire industry when they were slow to support Vista. They made it difficult for people to set up Vista by not developing drivers in a timely way, by not updating their software to meet Vista's security requirements, and by charging unfairly for new versions when they finally stepped up. It was already difficult to set up a new computer but the manufacturers made it seem as if Vista made it even more difficult. Consumers hunting in frustration for drivers or being asked to pay for program upgrades are only aware of the hassle; the manufacturers looked resentful instead of trying to convey that good things were coming from the improvements to the security and consistency of their products.
3. Too many manufacturers and developers and web sites are making really crappy stuff. When something doesn't work on a Vista computer, it's easy to blame Vista. The overwhelming flood of poor products for Windows XP and Vista is the single biggest thing driving people away from PCs to Macs, where everyone hopes the grass is greener. (It's not.)
4. And finally, Microsoft did an atrocious job of marketing to consumers this year. I don't recall anything aimed at consumers that generated any buzz or looked genuinely creative. Instead there were dull advertisements, terrible naming schemes that muddled product lines, too many confusing choices (for Vista and others), and embarrassing bugs. The actual products were frequently quite good but the message was lost. Bill Gates outlined Microsoft's plans for 2008 at CES recently; he had little to say and got no press coverage. A few days later Steve Jobs introduced an ultrathin Mac notebook - nice but a bit of a yawn - and was on the front page of every paper.

Vista should have been marketed in one or two versions that were more or less complete; instead it was broken down into seven products with artificial and confusing distinctions between them. Vista Ultimate, the most expensive version, is the only version that includes both business components (domain membership, additional backup choices, encryption options) and consumer components (e.g., media software). It's overpriced but there could have been a reasonable sales pitch built around the desire to have all features available.

Microsoft never made that pitch. Instead, it marketed Vista Ultimate as the product that would model its best ideas and newest technology. Vista Ultimate Extras were going to be "cutting-edge programs," "innovative services," and "unique publications," made available only to Vista Ultimate owners.

Imagine a year where Microsoft rolled out extra after extra, demonstrating Vista's strengths and its own creativity, making the case that Vista opens up new possibilities for exciting technology.

The opportunity was blown. I wrote about the Vista Ultimate debacle here, and nothing has changed since then.

Microsoft has been caught trying to sweep the whole thing under the rug. Vista Service Pack 1 will be released soon, probably on February 15, and some sharp-eyed bloggers caught one change in a splash screen that tells you everything you need to know.

The screen describing Vista Ultimate Extras in the original release of Vista, above, contains hype about the services that will make your computer experience "more powerful, productive, and personal," with promises of "premium content that focuses on your digital lifestyle."

The same screen is reduced to a single sentence after installing Service Pack 1 - no icons, no highlighted text, no promotional buzz words, just a bland sentence and a lot of white space.

Microsoft continues to make money - a lot of money, increasing earnings and projected earnings at a time when Apple and others have to rein in their estimates despite all the hype. But Microsoft has let us down in an important way. Vista is the best operating system ever released for a PC and I hate feeling defensive about it.

Labels: Microsoft, software, Vista

posted by bruceb at 1/25/2008 01:33:00 AM | permalink

HP MEDIASMART SERVER

I've been involved in the setup of two HP MediaSmart EX475 Windows Home Servers recently. The Windows Home Server software is simply elegant, and HP has enhanced it to make setup go remarkably smoothly.

At a couple of points I marveled at the technology that made some steps seem easy during setup. In a few clicks, I had a web site name assigned to a server and registered with a dynamic DNS service so it will turn up online regardless of what kind of broadband service is available. It's free, included in the price of the server, and could not have been simpler. People will be dazzled when they explore the options for sharing files and photos from these servers!

There are steps where you might want some handholding. I did a few mildly tricky things in the process of configuring computers for backup and remote access. User login names and passwords have to be assigned consistently on each computer; help is offered but that will be a bit daunting for some people. The server does a valiant job trying to configure the router so it can be reached online but that will frequently require manual work to forward ports on the router.

The HP MediaSmart server immediately goes to work doing full backups of each computer in the network, every day. If a hard drive dies, you can install a new hard drive and boot the computer from a provided CD; the computer will connect to the server and immediately restore the computer to its last-backed-up state. It's called a "bare metal restore" and by all accounts WHS does it brilliantly.

If computers in the network are running Windows XP Professional or Windows Vista Business, the web access to the server sets up Remote Desktop connections to those computers with a single click.

Those features alone are almost worth the price of the server, but of course it also excels at storing shared files and displaying photos on a pretty web page for the grandparents and a lot of other tricks. Here's where I hyped Windows Home Server a few months ago. Maybe you should go read the book. Why haven't you bought one yet?

Labels: backup, Home_Server, photos

posted by bruceb at 1/24/2008 12:38:00 AM | permalink

DELL PHONES HOME

Dell made an unwelcome phone call to one of my clients about the order for his new home computer. I'd hate to think Dell is going to make a habit of it.

I've been involved in ordering hundreds of computers from Dell over the years.

Orders placed online with a credit card have always gone through correctly. That's just remarkable! I can't think of a single time that there was an error in the computer configuration or in the billing.

Orders placed by phone have frequently gone sideways. Dell employs salespeople to answer the phones and they're no better or worse than salespeople at any big company. My clients have gotten hard pitches to upgrade this or that, and the salespeople have made errors writing up the order so the wrong things arrived a week later. Even phone calls intended only to change or clarify an online order wind up getting rewritten by the salesperson, presumably to earn the commission on the sale.

I help people buy computers all the time. I feel confident putting something in an online Dell shopping cart, knowing that I've made the right choices and the order will be processed correctly. That spares my clients from having to go through the details.

On Sunday I placed an order with a friend's credit card through Dell's home division for an XPS 420, a nice medium-priced system suitable for gaming. (With that system it's possible to get Nvidia's great new GeForce 8800GT video card. Cool!)

On Monday morning at 7:45 a.m., my friend's phone rang. "Hi! This is a friendly Dell salesperson! I'd like to go over your order with you!"

For fifteen long minutes, too early on a holiday morning, he had to acknowledge that apparently he did want a quad core processor and did not want Trend Micro's security suite and a dozen other details that he saw on the printout I had given him the day before.

And then came the hard sell on the extended warranty. "Are you SURE you don't want an extended warranty? Are you SURE? Are you SURE? We're having a sale! Today only! $299 for three years of protection! ARE YOU SURE?"

This is not a good idea. There was nothing helpful about the call. It wasn't a skilled technician trying to help make the computer better. This was a salesperson trying to make a commission. I don't want my clients to go through that. I don't want you to go through that.

If Dell is going to make followup calls, perhaps it's only for orders through its home division. Most of my orders go through the Small Business division where I can hope Dell won't stoop to such foolishness.

7:45 a.m.? A pushy sales call is bad enough but - 7:45 a.m.?

Labels: business, computers

posted by bruceb at 1/22/2008 01:38:00 AM | permalink

SHOPPING AT BEST BUY

Sonoma County has a serious shortage of places to buy technology. It was a little upsetting when CompUSA announced it was closing, since it had a better inventory of network equipment than anywhere else nearby for those days when things have to be bought on short notice. It's gone now. No more dealing with the obnoxious clerk that tried too hard to sell extended warranties.

When I needed a USB hub on Friday, I went into Best Buy for the first time in more than a year.

Something strange had happened.

The store was neat and well organized.

It had a reasonably wide selection of computer and technology products, and inventory was well-stocked.

It had a far better selection of software than CompUSA had carried for the last couple of years and surprisingly good selections of routers, wireless equipment, printers, and accessories. Everything was lined up on the shelves with an ample supply of each item.

It was like a different store. For years, our local Best Buy was a complete mess, in a very literal way - the shelves were disordered, inventory was unpredictable, opened packages were stuck back on the shelves with scotch tape holding them together. There was no sign of any of that this week. Did a new manager take control locally? Has the whole chain gotten some focus?

Prices were too high but that didn't surprise me - that's why I buy at Buy.com normally. There are lots of complaints online about Best Buy so this could all be cosmetic improvements for a chain that is still a pain to deal with. But cosmetics matter and I'll be happy with reasonably good odds of finding something I need.

In the past, our local Best Buy engaged in the practice of ringing up higher prices at the register than the ones posted on the shelves. It happened to me several times and I read anecdotes suggesting it happened often at Best Buy stores. It will be interesting to see if that happens again. Best Buy has horrible return policies too but those are common these days at most stores.

Maybe it was an aberration but I'm going to hope for the best.

Labels: business, computers, hardware, printers, software

posted by bruceb at 1/21/2008 12:59:00 AM | permalink

MICROSOFT SMALL BUSINESS SERVER 2008

Next month Microsoft will release Windows Server 2008, a dramatically improved product over its predecessor, Windows Server 2003. It is one of the more important releases in Microsoft's history; Microsoft and many other vendors will use it as a platform to deliver the new web services and business applications that will occupy us for the next five years or so. There's a huge industry already devoted to Windows Server 2008, preparing for the launch, but if you want some quick reading try this roundup of its "top ten" features, or this short overview.

Later in 2008 Microsoft will release Small Business Server 2008, built on Windows Server 2008, Exchange Server 2008, and Sharepoint Services v3. The first details are appearing about what to expect from the new SBS version - not enough information yet to evaluate its pros and cons but some useful facts.

Businesses will be required to buy a new server for SBS 2008 and replace their existing SBS 2003 server, even if the existing hardware is nice and robust. The 2008 platform is 64-bit only, which has some advantages but requires setting up the hardware from scratch. It will be a natural upgrade for businesses outgrowing their present server but it's not obvious yet whether it will be compelling for businesses that are currently stable and comfortable. There will be a path to migrate from SBS 2003 to SBS 2008 but no clear details yet about how that will be accomplished.

Even more interesting is a change in licensing. SBS 2003 has always been a pretty full load for a single server - file and printer sharing, plus running the mail system with Exchange, plus responsibility for all Internet traffic in some setups. That's enough work to keep a server occupied! A second server is required for any sizable line-of-business application or for hosting a terminal server that allows multiple people to connect from remote locations, and licenses for the second server are currently expensive. A full version of Windows Server 2003, plus client access licenses for Terminal Server, plus frequently a license for a full version of SQL Server to run the business application. It adds up fast!

The new premium license for SBS 2008 will permit Windows Server 2008 and SQL Server to be installed on a second server, which can also host Terminal Server sessions. We can get to the same result today but the SBS 2008 license will likely be a fraction of the current price, making it much easier to agree to the second server.

We'll be talking more about this! Here's more details about the information that's currently available.

Labels: business, hardware, Microsoft, network, SBS

posted by bruceb at 1/18/2008 12:12:00 AM | permalink

WINDOWS LIVE ONECARE 2.0 OVERVIEW

• Windows Live OneCare 2.0 upgrade tips
• Windows Live OneCare 2.0 troubleshooting

I have championed Windows Live OneCare since its release in November 2005. It arrived when Norton and Mcafee were disgracing themselves with increasingly poor security suites and took over chores that are critically important but easily overlooked. Antivirus protection, adware/spyware protection, firewall protection, security updates and patches, and system maintenance (including disk defragging), reduced to a single icon, with clear explanations of what to do if some task had to be performed. It was (and largely still is) a brilliant product well-suited for many people.

No other vendor has anything close to it. I'm going to list a number of criticisms of the OneCare upgrade and I hope you understand how disheartened I am - but there is nothing better out there. Some Norton and Mcafee products are slightly improved this year but they continue to be buggy messes, with ill-chosen services, difficult configuration and intrusive dialogs, and system-crushing loads on a computer's resources.

It is possible to get individual products in each category that have arguable advantages over OneCare. TrendMicro and AVG have good reputations for antivirus protection. Microsoft Windows Defender is sufficient adware/spyware protection for most people. The built-in Windows XP firewall is adequate. Backups can be handled in many ways. If you are technically knowledgeable, or if you are prepared to pay attention, then individual programs can be wonderful things.

The difficulty lies with splitting these chores among multiple programs. Each program will have its quirks and require its own learning curve, each will occasionally need attention or put up messages or demand updates, and each one potentially will have bugs or conflict with other programs. Many people want their computers to be maintained and kept secure without thinking about it. OneCare comes close to delivering that.

This "upgrade" to version 2.0 has mucked things up. It's not fatal, just a frustrating misstep.

• There was insufficient warning for each person before the upgrade was installed, and the explanations of the new features after the upgrade are unsatisfying. I have been prepared to help but the upgrade is being staggered over several months on an unpredictable schedule. I wrote this coverage a month ago, but that's long forgotten by people who confronted the upgrade unexpectedly this morning.
• Too many upgrades have ended in failure, with OneCare in various failed states that are difficult to diagnose and cure. If there's going to be a stealth upgrade, you'd better make sure it's successful!
• The questions asked after the upgrade cannot be answered without a deep understanding of the new program features and they introduce a level of complexity that undercuts the program's compelling simplicity. Some people will benefit from a "hub PC," for example, but it absolutely should not be a choice that has to be made consciously with no notice by every OneCare user!
• The backup program has been "simplified" in the wrong way. The OneCare designers have removed the ability to designate folders that will be backed up in their entirety. Why? That mattered deeply to many people who wanted the assurance that something important was included that might not be caught by OneCare's default choices. The new features are valuable - centralized backup and additional options for storage of backup files - but every single OneCare user is having to consider those options after the upgrade, which is annoying some and confusing others.
• By default, OneCare turns on a modified version of printer sharing and messages appear with no warning on other computers sharing the OneCare subscription. One of OneCare's advantages was a minimum of unexpected messages in our faces; this is yet another incremental way to undercut that advantage.

The upgrade problems have spilled over into the media - not the first time OneCare's team has dropped the ball and gotten scolded in the press and online.

I want to like OneCare. I think it keeps people safe. But I've spent way too much time in the last few weeks fixing it or helping confused people and I don't like that a bit.

Having said all that, let's get some perspective.

If you're a OneCare user, don't change. It still works.

If you're running Windows XP and choosing a program, I still suggest OneCare - but with slightly less of a cheerleader attitude.

And if you're running Windows Vista, you have an option that does not apply to Windows XP. The security and maintenance built into Vista is good. Really good. Vista's firewall is the equal of OneCare's firewall. Vista's backup program is essentially identical. Vista's built-in adware/spyware protection is adequate. Vista maintains itself and keeps programs up to date quite nicely.

Vista can be run with a simple antivirus program and no additional security or maintenance products. You'll be roughly as safe and secure and up to date with or without OneCare - as long as you remember to set up Vista's backup so it's done automatically.

Good luck! Keep me posted!

Labels: Microsoft, OneCare, security

posted by bruceb at 1/16/2008 12:15:00 AM | permalink

WINDOWS LIVE ONECARE 2.0 UPGRADE TIPS

After the upgrade to version 2.0 is installed, OneCare will demand answers to a number of questions. These steps will get you through with a minimum of fuss, and return you to the simplest setup.

• If you are asked for a Windows Live ID name and password to activate the program, you'll have to deal with it. OneCare was originally installed with a Windows Live ID - an e-mail address and a password. If you're my client, send me a note and I'll try to help out.
• If you are asked whether you want your computer to be a Hub PC, say NO.
• When you are asked to review your backup plan, choose NOT to centrally manage your backups, then click Next and Save. You do not need to change any settings.
• If you are asked for the location of your computer, choose HOME OR WORK, not "Public."

One additional change will help avoid unnecessary messages:

• Open OneCare and click on Change Settings, then click on the Printer Sharing tab. Uncheck the box to "automatically share my printers."

If you'd rather have me deal with these settings, send me a note.

I am helping you bypass some potentially useful features for simplicity. If you are interested, click here for more information. I encourage you to investigate the new features and put them to work!

Labels: Microsoft, OneCare, security

posted by bruceb at 1/16/2008 12:10:00 AM | permalink

WINDOWS LIVE ONECARE 2.0 TROUBLESHOOTING

Here are some Microsoft support documents for specific OneCare problems.

• Windows Live OneCare Firewall Repair Tool - The OneCare firewall reports that it cannot install a required upgrade or cannot turn on the firewall.
• "Antivirus service could not start" - a problem in the Windows startup file (Boot.ini) that can prevent the Windows Live OneCare Antivirus service from starting.
• Updating Windows Live Onecare Application or Virus and Spyware Protection Fails
• Windows Live OneCare indicates that signatures for the antivirus program are out of date, and the icon on the taskbar is red

Here is a list of general and specific troubleshooting tips.

If you need technical support from Microsoft, this page describes the flow that leads to e-mail or phone support. Basically, you'll go to this page, click on "Get more help" in the lower right, then click on "Get support."

The OneCare forums are a good source of information and feature a very dedicated guy named Stephen Boots who tries hard to solve problems and make people feel better.

Labels: Microsoft, OneCare, security

posted by bruceb at 1/16/2008 12:05:00 AM | permalink

DELL & BEST BUY

Dell has partnered with Best Buy to sell some of its desktop and laptop computers in stores and through the Best Buy web site, following deals with Wal-Mart and Staples as well as other retailers around the world. Dell claims its products are now in more than 10,000 stores worldwide.

The Dell computers sold through Best Buy will be pre-configured - no customizing the OS, applications, or hardware. Prices so far appear to be comparable to computers sold through the Dell web site, with a mix of low-end cheap systems and a handful of stylish or high-end systems aimed at gamers. This post has the model numbers, and here's a page from Dell with a few more details. The operating system is Vista Home Premium - businesses still have nowhere local to purchase a computer with Vista Business, the required choice for virtually any office computer.

The interesting wrinkle is that Best Buy will be handling returns (a 14-day return policy and a possible 15% restocking fee) and most of the warranty support, both for the basic one-year warranty and any extended warranty sold by Best Buy. The Geek Squad and Best Buy are clearly intended to do most of the troubleshooting and support, but Dell's explanation of the support arrangement for Best Buy systems includes an unclear addendum: "Customers who buy Dell systems through Best Buy can still contact Dell for basic troubleshooting and support."

Personally, I shudder at the thought of dealing with Best Buy for returns or support - but then, Dell has been no great shakes lately either. I'd still rather place an online order with Dell and configure a computer with the right features.

Labels: business, computers

posted by bruceb at 1/15/2008 12:23:00 AM | permalink

FRONTRUNNING

There is no end to the games played by bad guys and big companies alike at the expense of consumers and small businesses. You may run into the latest shenanigans if you try to register a domain name. The system is rigged.

"Domain kiting" has been widespread for a couple of years. In what seemed like a good idea at the time, domain registrars are required to have a grace period of five days after a new name is registered; no payment for the name is ever made if the name is "returned" during the grace period. Shell corporations have been set up to register names by the millions, stick them onto a server with some ads, and see if they draw any traffic. At the end of five days, the names are returned. GoDaddy's CEO wrote a nice explanation of the practice, alleging that of the 35 million domain names registered in April 2006, 32 million were part of kiting schemes.

It still goes on. Dell sued a group of registrars in November, alleging that they were actually shell corporations sitting on squatted domain names for free; one corporation would register domain names, use them for five days and return them, and have another corporation immediately register them again - getting the benefit of the Internet traffic without ever paying for the name. Dell's lawsuit concerns a blizzard of web sites based on typographical errors with Dell's name - "dellfinacncialservices.com," for example.

"Frontrunning" is a related problem. You go to a registrar's web site and do a WHOIS search for a domain name to see if it's available. The search is revealed to scammers who immediately register the name; when you attempt to register the name, it's unavailable unless you purchase it from the scammers. (The same scammers run software to register names within milliseconds after they expire and are released by the registrars; if you let a domain name expire, it is likely to be a painful and expensive exercise to recover it.)

Now Network Solutions has been caught doing its own frontrunning. At one time Network Solutions had an effective monopoly on domain registrations, which it lost in part because it was the most annoying company in the world - aggressively anti-consumer, deceitful, obnoxious. (Here's one of my old rants about sleazy sales tactics, and another about one of its hellishly confusing "upgrades.") Nonetheless, it's still one of the best-known registrars in the business and its WHOIS tool is widely used by people who believe Network Solutions will at least be above the level of the criminals.

Beginning last week, if you search for a domain name with Network Solutions WHOIS tool, the company automatically and immediately registers the name to itself. If you then attempt to register the name with another registrar, it will report that the name is taken. The only way to obtain the name is to register with Network Solutions - whose prices are far higher than all the leading alternatives.

It's essentially a phishing scam to get you to surrender a valuable piece of information - your interest in a name or trademark - that it can then hijack. When this news swept across the online communities, Network Solutions brazenly admitted that it was squatting on searched names for four days and asserted that it was really all about protecting the "opportunity" for a customer to register with Network Solutions. This is, of course, horseshit.

It's worse than it appears. You can't wait four days and register the name with your registrar of choice. When Network Solutions releases the name from its four day hold, the scammers will likely register it themselves. If you don't register with Network Solutions, there's a good chance that you won't get the name.

This is getting lots of attention online - influential publication eWeek reported it a few days ago, here's a particularly thorough editorial, and bloggers are jumping on here and here and here and many more places. The unanimous feeling is that it's an unforgivable breach of trust. Network Solutions will back off the plan quickly but one can only hope that this helps tarnish its reputation even further, increasing the chance that on some happy day perhaps Network Solutions might disappear once and for all.

posted by bruceb at 1/14/2008 12:28:00 AM | permalink

NOTEBOOKS & LAPTOPS

I get asked all the time whether there's a difference between a "notebook computer" and a "laptop computer." There's no difference; the terms are interchangeable. There's no consistency in how they're used.

I just got this notice from Dell's affiliate program. I have no idea what it means or why this is the new marketing strategy. Maybe Dell has been asked the same question too many times and is determined to rid the industry of the term "notebook" once and for all.

Labels: computers

posted by bruceb at 1/12/2008 12:56:00 AM | permalink

HOW BIG IS THE REGISTRY?

Many of you have been exposed to the registry in Windows XP, the database that holds all of the information, settings, and options for the computer hardware, the Windows OS, and most programs. It can be manually edited using REGEDIT.EXE or REGEDT32.EXE and there are lots of online instructions about how to change this or that in the registry to fix a program or remove spyware or change a Windows feature or the like.

Having said that, I have to add the obligatory - and dead serious - disclaimer.

Careless registry editing can cause irreversible damage to your computer. Do you see the word "irreversible"? Do you have it clearly in mind? You can kill your computer in seconds by mucking around in the registry. Don't go there unless you are 100% sure of what you're doing.

The registry is big. Really big. The kind of big that means even if you've looked at it, it's bigger than you realize. I'd been curious about that but there's no easy way to see how much information is in the registry.

Here's the results of an experiment by a tech guy - he exported his entire registry into a 139Mb TXT file, then tried to open it in Microsoft Word.

It exceeded the maximum page count supported by Word, which crashed when it got to 32,767 pages of plain text.

He kept working and got a different word processor to paginate the file up to page 39,721 before it used up all its virtual memory and died.

And the punchline comes in a comment to the blog entry today, written by someone else who repeated the experiment and found a word processor that could open the entire text file, displaying all the contents of a typical Windows XP registry. He doesn't give a page count, but the file has 2,566,276 lines of text.

Labels: Vista, WinXP

posted by bruceb at 1/11/2008 12:12:00 AM | permalink

CHEAP STUFF

Printers are never as cheap as they seem, but it's hard to argue with the HP Deskjet F2110, an all-in-one printer/scanner/copier, for $34 at Wal-Mart. Now keep in mind:

1. It doesn't appear on HP's web site so it might be a stripped-down Wal-Mart exclusive.
2. It doesn't include a black ink cartridge or a USB cable so the price is a bit misleading.
3. It's probably a piece of crap.

But even when you take those things into account - well, $34 is really cheap. I fear for our landfills.

And here's a couple of deals on widescreen Dell Ultrasharp monitors - 19" for $210, 22" for $275. Pretty good prices if you feel like doing a little after-Xmas shopping for yourself.

Save $49! Dell UltraSharp 1908WFP 19-inch Widescreen Flat Panel LCD Monitor with Height Adjustable Stand for Only $210!

Save $64! Dell UltraSharp 2208WFP 22-inch Widescreen Flat Panel LCD Monitor for Only $275!

Labels: hardware, printers

posted by bruceb at 1/10/2008 10:03:00 AM | permalink

SPEAKING GEEK

The Wall Street Journal's site All Things Digital has a useful article that translates some geek jargon into English. It's a nicely written collection of common-sense explanations of terms used to describe digital cameras, mobile devices, televisions, and more. Sample:

"DIGITAL CAMERAS - Megapixels: This term describes the highest resolution photo a camera can take. Often mistaken as the most important factor in a digital camera, a high megapixel count - such as 10MP or more - isn't necessary for the average user unless he or she plans on heavily editing or enlarging photos. Most new digicams offer between five and eight megapixels, which is usually more than enough."

Labels: audio, mobile, phone, photos, video, wireless

posted by bruceb at 1/10/2008 01:05:00 AM | permalink

SEARS, SPYWARE & ONLINE PRIVACY

Sears has been caught installing spyware that silently tracks all Internet usage - including banking logins, e-mail, and all web sites visited - in the name of a nonexistent online "community," with virtually no disclosure of the invasive nature of the software. In fact, most people would not be aware that any software had been installed. Be careful out there!

Sears.com and KMart.com have been offering a chance to sign up for "My SHC Community," ostensibly for a chance to give feedback to the retailers in a "dynamic and highly interactive on-line community." After harvesting your personal information - name, e-mail, address, city, state, and age - software is silently installed with no indication onscreen that it has been installed or is continuously running. The "community" then disappears with no followup - no e-mail, no online forums, no popups, nothing - apparently in the hope that most people will forget about it.

The software is actually intercepting all Internet traffic from that computer and filtering it through a proxy server. According to one researcher, the proxy:

• 1. Monitors and transmits a copy of all Internet traffic going from and coming to the compromised system.
• 2. Monitors secure sessions (websites beginning with ?https'), which may include shopping or banking sites.
• 3. Records and transmits "the pace and style with which you enter information online..."
• 4. Parses the header section of personal emails.
• 5. May combine any data intercepted with additional information like "select credit bureau information" and other sources like "consumer preference reporting companies or credit reporting agencies".

The "privacy policy" supplied by Sears says:

"The personal information that you give myshccommunity.com when you register as well as any personal information that you give during the completion of a communication is stored in a confidential database owned by myshccommunity.com and is never delivered to a client. myshccommunity.com never sells your personal information to any company for any reason."

In fact, all information is sent to ComScore, a well-known sleazy third-party marketing research firm.

Noted spyware researcher Ben Edelman goes through the details of the Sears privacy policy and disclosures. They're completely inadequate and can only have been designed to conceal the true purpose of the "community." The disclosures, such as they are, are buried in 2,971 words of text in a small scroll box requiring 54 on-screen pages to view in full. (In fact, this researcher noticed that the privacy policy had been rewritten after his first look to make it even more vague.) The names of the third parties - ComScore and others - are concealed. There's no "Cancel" button once the installation starts.

Bad stuff. Sears is currently still trying to defend itself, although there's enough of a fuss that I think you'll see it step back and change the program to "clarify" things, or perhaps just kill it and walk away before things get worse.

It doesn't help that Mr. Edelman discovered a massive security hole in another Sears database, allowing you to obtain information about all the purchases made by anyone from Sears just by entering their name, street address and phone number. A complete violation of Sears' privacy policy, of course, and a pretty stupid blunder for a major retailer. The hole has been closed now but it should never have existed in the first place.

We all have to be alert when we're online, although an incident like this doesn't mean we should be suspicious of all retailers, just Sears in particular. Although, come to think of it, I haven't trusted Sears for a long time.

Labels: business, Internet, security

posted by bruceb at 1/08/2008 12:20:00 AM | permalink

BRUCEB IS ELECTRIC

The lights are on and someone is home!

My thanks to the hard-working PG&E crews, who were able to get us back up and running in only 74 hours! Takes your breath away, doesn't it?

Back to work!

Labels: bruceb

posted by bruceb at 1/07/2008 03:55:00 PM | permalink

BRUCEB IS POWERLESS - MONDAY
Ah, the joy of country living - using a laptop in the reflected light from the books burning in the middle in the living room floor, listening to the demonic laughter of PG&E workers as they drive by to taunt us before heading off to repair the power lines in other neighborhoods - never ours, never ours.

The global headquarters are still dark. I'll be answering calls and e-mails as quickly as possible. If you sent me an e-mail last week, you can ignore the messages you're getting about "delayed delivery" - I got the messages.

If you have the necessities of life (a working Internet connection) and some of the luxuries (heat, water), treasure them for a moment. Also, mail me some. It's quiet and dark out here.

Labels: bruceb

posted by bruceb at 1/07/2008 07:24:00 AM | permalink

BRUCEB IS POWERLESS
The power went out at the global headquarters of bruceb consulting on Friday morning. As of Saturday afternoon, PG&E's estimate of when power will be restored is, "Shut up."


It's remarkable how dependent we are on our Internet connection, isn't it? Send e-mail and leave phone messages - I'll get them eventually. I'm hoping to be able to set up shop on Monday somewhere that will allow me to respond to you and provide remote support. I hope you're somewhere warm and well-lit on this stormy weekend!

Labels: bruceb

posted by bruceb at 1/05/2008 12:06:00 PM | permalink

iPHONES & EXCHANGE SERVER

The iPhone is a sleek, sexy device that permanently changes our expectations for handheld devices. After holding an iPhone, it's hard to pick up another cell phone and PDA without feeling a bit of a letdown.

The iPhone has a few shortcomings that are not immediately apparent when you look at one for the first time. Here's a list of the big and small issues that users are discovering about the current iPhone. The most significant problem is Apple's deal tying the iPhone to AT&T. Perhaps that was important to finance the deal or Apple thought it was necessary for marketing, but it's a shame - AT&T is a horrible company to do business with and has a much weaker network than the competitors.

Let's say you can swallow signing up for an account with AT&T. At the moment, the iPhone is not the right choice for Outlook users hoping to sync e-mail, calendar, and contacts to the iPhone. That's especially true for businesses running Exchange Server, the software powering the mail system in Small Business Server 2003. Many reports online say that the iPhone is difficult to set up with Exchange Server - possible, but difficult to configure. Worse, even when it's set up correctly, I've seen too many reports that it just doesn't work very well.

Theoretically mail can be sent to the iPhone if support for IMAP is turned on in Exchange Server. That's a protocol for retrieving mail, similar in concept to POP3 but seldom used until recently. Researching how to do that turns up warnings like this:

As I understand it, the iPhone can be set up to receive e-mail from an Exchange Server - but that's it for over-the-air syncing. No contacts, no calendar sync over the air. Calendar and contact syncing is not done directly with Outlook even when the iPhone is in the cradle, if I understand right - first, Outlook has to sync with iTunes, then iTunes syncs with the iPhone. It's a messy process that's fraught with error.

It's unclear whether mail sent from the iPhone ends up going thru the Exchange Server and showing up in Outlook Sent Items - I think not but I haven't confirmed it yet.

This is likely to change soon, possibly in the next month or two. Two weeks ago Apple posted this job opening for a QA engineer:

The iPhone Quality team is looking for a motivated, highly-technical Exchange test/sync engineer with excellent problem solving and communication skills. You will join a dynamic team responsible for qualifying the latest iPhone products. Your focus will be testing Exchange and Outlook functionality with Apple's innovative new phone. The successful candidate will complete both documented and adhoc testing to ensure high quality releases.

The hope is that an Exchange connector for the iPhone is in its final testing phase.

Watch for an announcement from Apple that a new version of the iPhone has built-in support for Exchange Server. If that's coupled with an upgrade to permit the iPhone to use AT&T's higher-speed data network instead of the godawful slow EDGE network, it will make the iPhone a much more attractive choice.

Labels: Apple, mobile, Outlook, phone, SBS

posted by bruceb at 1/03/2008 01:00:00 AM | permalink

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2008!

In 2007, we started to work with Windows Vista, bought lots of handheld devices, and started to move things online - our mail, our photos, our movies.

What will 2008 bring? It will start with lots more of the same. Many of you will get your first Windows Vista computer and discover that it's quite a nice operating system. There's a flood of new handheld devices on the way inspired by the iPhone, although my guess is that Apple will stay a step ahead by releasing the iPhone version 2 with better data speeds and support for corporate e-mail systems - making it look very tempting for almost anyone who can stomach an account with AT&T. And the online sites for photos and videos will continually improve their ease of use and security; this should be on your mind every time you hear a story about someone who didn't have a backup of the family photos when the computer crashed.

2008 will bring an update to Microsoft Small Business Server - too early to know what the impact of that will be. I sense virtualization in my future - software that allows multiple computers to run on the same piece of hardware, each one convinced that it has exclusive control of the machine. That allows changes to be tested without risk and might even allow a business to run multiple servers in a more secure, less expensive way. We'll talk about that just as soon as I understand it even a little tiny bit.

With luck we'll talk less in 2008 about the recording industry and confusing DRM restrictions on music and video files. Slowly but surely the entertainment industry is being forced to consider new business models based on trusting consumers instead of suing them. Warner Music just began offering part of its music catalog in MP3 format through Amazon.com, joining EMI and Universal, and leaving Sony as the lonely holdout. My second favorite news item at the end of 2007 is the latest over-the-top assertion by the recording industry, this time in a brief filed by the RIAA last month in one of its acts of litigation terrorism against consumers. The RIAA now asserts that it is illegal for you to rip a CD to your computer, even if you purchased the CD and the computer files are only for your personal use. This is what it looks like when an entire industry dies a horrible self-inflicted death.

But my favorite end-of-year news story should warm all of our hearts. Wal-Mart announced that it has closed its online service for downloading movies. The service was opened in February with the endorsement of all major movie studios and TV networks, offering movies with intense DRM restrictions.

But that's not the good part.

The good part is that when Wal-Mart posted the announcement that the site was closed, no one noticed. In this world where everything is observed and commented on, it took a week for the closure to be mentioned in any blog or news article. It was such a cruddy, overpriced, difficult, restrictive service that literally no one ever looked at it. I love that!

Let's take it to be a good sign for 2008. My wish for you all is that in 2008, cruddy services and software will be ignored and valuable services and software will rise to the top, making you richer and more productive and happier. We can hope, right?

All my best wishes for a happy new year!

Labels: audio, business, DRM, Internet, mobile, phone, photos, SBS, video, web_services

posted by bruceb at 1/02/2008 12:05:00 AM | permalink