Aidan Finn, IT Pro

What the &$^?  Anyone who know’s me will know that I tend to be bleary eyed on Mondays in January as the lead up to the Superbowl builds up.  The NFL (American Football to us outside of the USA) is my favourite sport and as usual (as of late) the Niners were never in the running … but things are changing for the better!

This year we’re looking at the Indianapolis Colts versus the Chicago Bears.  We were very close to getting a rematch of the most famous Superbowl this side of the Atlantic … the Bears V the New England Patriots.  Sunday’s late game was a thriller.  I have to admit that I never though Manning had that sort of drive in him.  He certianly hadn’t shown it in any of the previous years.

My prediction?  The bears offense relies on big plays too much and the Colts will eat up their "46" styled blitz packages.  This will be one of the most boring Superbowls in years as the Colts destroy the "Da Bears".

Dave Northey from Microsoft Consulting Ireland has posted a blog entry that details a bunch of Exchange 2007 webcasts.  If you’re checking out E2007 then it’s worth having a look at.  It’s called 24 hours of Exchange 2007 and there really is 24 hours worth of material there.  Wow…. 3 work days of webcasts….

Say what you want and joke as much as you want about Bill Gates but there is no doubting what he and his family do for charity.  He really puts the richest people in the world to shame.  can you imagine someone like Donal Trump announcing that he’s going to give up his job to spend 100% of his working time raising money for education, health care, and scientific research for the world’s neediest peoples?  I think his wig mig just miss the spotlight.

Anyway… Microsof thas launched a special version of their live.com search website.  The "Give to Nine Million" website promises to contribute money to a good cause based on search activity.  That for me is worthy enough to make them my first hit when doing a search.  Sure, I think Google is still #1 but Live does sometimes offer differing results that need to be checked out.  Why restrict myself to one search engine?

The cause in question?  I’m fussy about who I give money to but this sounds like a good one.  Nine Million is a UNHCR organisation that aims to aid refugees.  We’ve all seen and read about places like Darfur but there’s countless others that never make it past the news editors.  Check the site out and and see if there’s something more you can do to help.

So do something good today… check out Give to Nine Million and give them your first searches.

I don’t think I can ever accuse Mark Minasi of sitting on his laurels.  Mark’s latest book recently was made available in all good bookshops.  This time it’s all about Vista Security.  Mark has identified the key features of Vista security and has docuemtned how they work, how they affect you, how you can employ them and how to manage them.

I’ve not bought the book yet but I’m sure it’s up to Mark’s usual high standard.  Some of the early feedback has been very positive.  Mark had a big old description of the book on his site and you can also check out the first chapter online. 

Bink posted a link to a very useful article today on a question that needed to be asked and answered: "How much RAM will I need to run Vista?".  Bink’s conclusion was in agreement with the original MSDN article.  To get a full blown experience from Vista you will need 1.5GB of RAM.

My conclusions?  I’m running a home built Intel Duo Core PC with 4GB of RAM with Vista Business x64.  When Vista and the usual bit’n’bobs (AV, etc) are running, 1.5Gb is consumed.  One thing we’ve all seen from Windows before is the "Field of Dreams" principle: "If you build it, they will come".  In Windows, if you insert RAM, it will use it. 

I’m not saying your Vista PC needs 2GB of RAM, but I think a basic business machine should have a minimum of 1GB.  How this will work in the future, I cannot predict.  Most decent vendors will release new verions of products in the coming months to take advantage of the new Vista market.  They’ll likely increase their own footprints and therefore memory requirements will increase.

My advice is to start looking at Vista now if being up to date is important to you.  Large business are likely going to have application rollouts that rely on Vista features.  The security benefits will surely be worthy of consideration.  Have a a look at the product, learn it, identify and prepare your deployment mechanism and figure out your hardware requirements.  This way, when the CIO says "we need to get this thing rolling" you’ll be able to turn around and say "we’re ready".

No sooner has Microsoft release Vista than they are already working on Service Pack 1 for it.  OK, the shelf products won’t be out for another week or so but that s pretty impressive.  Heck, I’ve even read that MS are looking for suggestions for the Vista successor.

Anyway, Microsoft has started recruiting members for the SP1 TAP program.  The Technical Adoption Program enables Microsoft to work with partners and clients with early, pre-public releases of the product.  We’re talking abot pre-beta releases here.  The clients and partners in question are cherry picked by Microsoft.  For the lucky few, they often are given a solution to solve critical problems, they get a chance to steer development/design and they get to learn the product before anyone else.

Microsoft is currenly looking for people to join the Vista SP1 TAP program.

Credit: Bink.

UPDATED: 26/01/2007:

There’s a new registration page with details on the conference, speakers, material and location.

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I’ve mentioned this one a few times in my blog but I’m going to give it a bit of detail here.

I’m a member of the MR&D forum.  This forum is hosted by Mark Minasi, the acclaimed Windows technology journalist, author, speaker, MVP and consultant.  You”ve likely heard of Mark thanks to books like Mastering Windows 2003 and his contributions to the magazine, Windows IT Pro.  You’ll likely have hit the forum in some way while googling for solutions to Microsoft Infrastructure problems.  Numerous MVP’s and experienced Microsoft techies participate on this forum offering help, articles and advice on infrastructure technologies of all kinds.  The membership spans the globe and all types of people. 

Last May, we held our first group conference in Mark’s home town of Virginia Beach, Virginia, USA.  It was a great event and we all learned loads from each other, e.g. Curt Spanburgh gave a very detailed presentation on Microsoft Dynamics, Nathan Winters gave a full demo of Exchange 2003 mobile push email, Nick Whittome dispelled a few myths and sold us on the worthiness of SBS and Mark explained Kerberos in AD from start to beginning as well as giving us a detailed brief on what to expect from Vista technology.  A special guest, Todd Lammle (Cisco expert and author) gave us a briefing on IPv6 that was a real eye opener.  The whole 1.5 day experience was really worth the effort.  What really made it work was the intimacy of the event.  Open conversation, quentions/answers were everywhere.  In fact, Rhonda Layfield (author, speaker, consultant) offered to give a presentation on how to make the most of Network Monitor at no notice!  The difference between this event and the likes of WinConnections, TechEd, IT Forum was obvious.  The intimacy fo the vent meant that the content was richer and the presentations were extremely interactive.  Not only was a it a good technical event but it was a great social event too.  We’ve not only helped each other even mor in the following year but we’ve also become friends outside of the work side of things.  It was such a success that we planned to make this an annual event.

This year we are holding the event in the same location in Virginia Beach.  The event starts on May 3rd and ends on May 6th.  The hotel is right on the beach and is a pleasant location.  Details of the event location and booking are available on the MR&D forum.  We’re expanding the event and more people are speaking.  We’ve also got some special guests:

• Todd Lammle will be making his return.
• Darren Mar-Elia (Group Policy genius, author, s/w developer, MVP, author) will be presenting if all goes well.
• Steve Riley (senior Microsoft security consultant, one of Microsoft’s most popular presenters at conferences) is scheduled to join us.

Obviously the card is subject to change … thing happen, afterall.

A bunch more of us will be presenting this time around, including your truly who will be presenting System Center Configuration Manager.  The event will be several days longer too.  This will be a bigger event.  One of the cool things with our event is the cost.  We are charging money to cover costs only.  At the event, we’ll be collecting around $250 from each person to cover room rental and food for our big night out.  Of course, there’ll be those of use who have a few beers on other nights too… I’m arriving early and leaving late along with some of the others to enjoy an very historic and scenic area.  Each delegate has to cover their own flight and hotel costs.  The above link details booking arrangements to get a discount on the hotel room if you want to stay in the same hotel as the event.  The location ("The Strip") has loads of other hotels and there are motels further in land.

We’ve got more details on presentations on the MR&D site.  Again, the card is subject to change.  This is how it looks as of now:

May 3, 2007
08am – 09:45am — Mark Minasi — Vista drilldown: Some of the best stuff you aren’t using yet but should be
10am – 11:45am — Jim Adgate — Bitlocker: How to avoid becoming a veteran
12pm – 12:59pm — LUNCH
01pm – 02:45pm — James Summerlin — Powershell: Scripting and automation via the command line
03pm – 04:45pm — Nathan Winters — Exchange 2007: How to be available for work 24/7/365.25

May 4, 2007
08am – 09:45am — Mark Minasi — What’s New and Great and Coming in Server 2007
10am – 11:45am — Darren Mar Elia — Group Policy: How to turn your network into a POLICE STATE
12pm – 12:59pm — LUNCH
01pm – 02:45pm — Aidan Finn — DFS/DFS-R and the new Print Management Console (this one is changing)
03pm – 04:45pm — Rhonda Layfield — Network monitoring: That packet can run, but it can’t hide (Darth Vader breathing sound).

May 5, 2007
08am – 09:45am — Mark Minasi — Vista/Server 2007 Security: The Hidden Truth
10am – 11:45am — Nathan Winters — VMWare: The latest and greatest you need to know.
12pm – 12:59pm — LUNCH
01pm – 02:45pm — Curt Spanburgh — Kerberos: Controlling the BEAST
03pm – 04:45pm — Aidan Finn — System Center Configuration Manager 2007

May 6, 2007
08am – 09:45am — Mark Minasi —- The Accidental DBA
10am – 11:45am — James Summerlin —- The Accidental Developer – Part 1
12pm – 12:49pm — LUNCH
01pm – 02:45pm — Todd Lamelle —- Guys, seriously, IPv6 really is your friend!
03pm – 04:45pm — Steve Riley —- Ask not what the Empire can do for you but what you can do for the Empire!

Oh my… I’ve got the afternoon shift on the 5th!

I can guarantee that you will never get close to experts such as Mark, Rhonda, Todd, Steve andDarren (not to mention the others) at any other event.  You will never get to spend as much time with them, not only in presentations but also socially, at any other event.  For me, and loads of the original Minasi Group delegates, this event is unmissable.

Getting to Virginia Beach … Fly to Norfolk International Airport.  Get a taxi or a rental car and head straight east on the Interstate until you get to the beach.  Turn left until you reach the Marriot on your right.  It sounds easy and it is.

We’d love to grow this event to include more people.  If you are at all interested, wanting to learn and willing to contribute in any small way then please do check out the above links for details of the event.  If you decide to go then let James Summerlin (you can contact him through MR&D) know.

I just saw a recent update on the Vista team blog that will answer a lot of questions for a lot of people.  There are SIX (!) versions of Windows Vista:

1. Windows Vista Starter: Only sold in developing world markets at a much lower cost than normal.
2. Windows Vista Home Basic: Basic functionality and security.  No Aero interface.
3. Windows Vista Home Premium: Aero interface, Media Center, and home networking.
4. Windows Vista Business: Likely to be the most common one on business networks.  Aero interface, RDP and backup functionality.  No Media Center functionality.
5. Windows Vista Enterprise: Only available to Software Assurance customers.  Boooo!
6. Windows Vista Ultimate: The be all and end all of Windows Vista.  An extra set of downloads adding extra functionality is available for Vista Ultimate users.

Six versions, eh?  At least it isn’t as complicated as Office 2007 😉

Which one of the six you purchase will have implications, e.g. lower costs = less features.  You will need to chose the right one or mix of versions for your organisation.

If you are looking at Vista then you should have a look at this blog entry.

What a storm we’ve been having in Ireland and the UK.  Driving down from Belfast yesterday was fun 😉  I arrived home to find I had no signal on my satellite TV antenna and that I’d no broadband connectivity since Thursday, hence downloads from my personal site were not working.

I got up early and had two phones on the go at once while waiting on call line queues.  Eventually I got through to BT Ireland, my broadband provider.  I had a signal on my router but I wasn’t getting an IP address.  I was getting an authentication error.  I just figured it was something to do with the weather and I had no idea what would transpire in the coming hours.

The first person I spoke to was in Technical Support.  He went through the usual steps and then checked my account.  Someone had cancelled it th day after I had paid for my next 3 months subscription.  Crazy!  I told him I didn’t cancel it … it was illogical to think i would.  I told wanted it put back the day it was seeing as they accepted and worked on a cacellation that wasn’t from me.  Here’s what he told me "You can call sales to start a new order or you can go to another company".  Great.  That’d leave me without broadband for 30 days and I’d have lost the money for my 3 months subscription.  I was mid sentence when he put me through to sales.

The second person I spoke to was in sales.  I told her what the story was and she immediately put me through to Customer Support.

Person number three was in Customer Support.  This was the thrid time I explained the situation.  He went off and checked my file again.  He came back and said another broadband service provider had requested that my account be transferred to them.  This is what happens if you change providers.  The problem here is that I never contacted anyone.  I’m quite happy with the actual broadband service provided by BT.  It’s competitively priced and stable.  I asked him to think logically.  Why would I pay my next 3 months subscription and then log a call over a down connection if I had cancelled my subscription.  he refused to listen and started blathering on about how I had the right to change providers, have a different broadband prvider than phone service provider, etc.  He kept repeating that I had to contact the service provider that had taken my account.  Interesting approach considering that I had no idea who this was.  I asked him to think this through but then he hung up.

You can probably see that I was pretty infuriated at this point.

I wasn’t giving up easily.  If I’d had internet conenctivity I would have googled the phone number of the telecoms regulator and kinked up a huge stink.  Instead I rang through directly to customer support.  Now I was on rep number four.  This guy was a bit more reasonable to deal with.  I had to go through the entire mess and I carefully reaffirmed that I had no idea who had done this nor who the provider was who stole my account.  He went off to check the file and to contact a manager.  This was much better.  He came back and told me that the case was now escalated to a manager who had already started looking at my account.  The cancellation process had started but had not been completed.  I was told to expect a call on Monday and that things would be resolved quickly.

I’d mucked around with my router early in the morning and put everything back the way it was.  About an hour later… I had internet access again.  It went and came back so I’ve no idea what’s going on.

Oh yeah… I spent 40 minutes waiting to speak to a human when I called Sky to get my satellite TV sorted out.  My problem didn’t get resolved but the one person I spoke to aranged to get an engineer out to me.

There’s no doubt, Microsoft licensing is complicated.  One of the misconceptions out there is that if you buy a certain license then you have the right to use and older generation of the product.  That is not necessarily true.  Microsoft has released an updated document that illustrates your rights to downgrade.