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July 31 Microsoft Locale Builder (Beta 2)Need to edit the Vista Locales so your calendar shows the months in your local language, change your currency or edit the local time? Then this is the tool for you, oh you are running Vista right? Microsoft Locale Builder enables users to extend and modify the set of locales included in Microsoft Windows Vista with his or her own regional and cultural data. The application was created to support users in regions without built-in Windows locales as well as users seeking to modify locales provided by Microsoft. Microsoft Locale Builder also allows corporations, governments, universities, and special-interest groups to create and easily share custom locales on Microsoft Windows Vista. Download the Beta here: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=e4588c5e-8f21-45cc-b862-38df8d9bd528&displaylang=en&tm#Overview
New MAC RDP or Terminal Client Beta has been released.New MAC RDP or Terminal Client Beta has been released.Microsoft Remote Desktop Connection Client for Mac 2.0 (Beta)Remote Desktop Connection Client lets you connect to a Microsoft Windows-based computer and work with programs and files on that computer from your Macintosh computer. Remote Desktop Connection Client for Mac 2.0 (Beta) includes the following new features:
Direct Download: http://download.microsoft.com/download/F/1/0/F104C7C7-DE61-472D-815B-7BCE33121750/RDC200_EN_Beta1.dmg
July 28 Microsoft ISA 2008 Appliance Server?Microsoft ISA 2008 Appliance Server?Is Microsoft about to release a Microsoft branded boxes containing a Microsoft Server product such as ISA Server? There may be enough evidence to think this is the case and it's surely been discussed inside the walls of Microsoft. Below I'll spell out why I think we may see such a product in the near future. Since this is a Small Business Server Blog let's take a look at what's known about SBS and ISA today. Since the days of Proxy Server being part of the SBS lineup the Premium package in my opinion has been deployed primarily for SQL not ISA. It has long been rumored that inside MS some have wanted to pull ISA from SBS and fought hard for it not to be in SBS 2003. With SBS 2008, Cougar, the word is there will be no ISA "on" SBS. What we do know about Cougar to date is it's a single NIC setup only so having ISA would be a waste anyway. ISA 2006 is 32bit, Cougar is 64bit and ISA 2008 if 64bit isn't even in Beta as far as I've heard so there would be no ISA product ready for Cougar. Microsoft has been in the Appliance game for awhile although few know or remember it. From the Intel InBusiness Line to an announced product with Citrix for those small and branch offices using Citrix WANScaler and Microsoft Server 2003 and ISA, it's clear that an ISA Appliance exists and others are being built. Since we know the product exist as delivered by third party partners with Microsoft then why in the world would Microsoft be satisfied with just being the guts of the product and not getting and of the glory, i.e. Branding? One thing we know about Microsoft is they don't like being a secondary player in anything. "Our primary goal is to improve security and safety for all our customers -- consumers and businesses, regardless of size -- through a balance of technology innovation, guidance and industry leadership," Gates said. Microsoft is already in the box (Xbox) building game along with other hardware. Microsoft jumped into the mp3 player game (Zune) when they saw Apple making big bucks with the Ipod. Microsoft already markets and sells a Microsoft Branded PC in India. It's been said by John Dvorak that he feels Microsoft is gearing up to roll out a Microsoft Branded PC in the US and the Xbox "experiment was an exercise to clear the decks and shake out the cobwebs for a full-blown entry into the PC arena." So does it not make sense that Microsoft would move to ISA Appliance branded by Microsoft? Look at this quote by Ray Ozzie last year: "We're taking our knowledge and experience in serving consumers at Internet scale, even in things as seemingly unrelated to enterprise as Xbox Live, and applying those lessons learned and investments to the benefit of enterprise IT and enterprise users." Ray Ozzie Windows Home Server which is turning the corner on being released will support uPNP to configure the edge router. uPNP by most is considered a huge security risk and now by default Microsoft is going to release a server onto a network that is comprised of home users, the world's biggest threat? Surely Microsoft sees the folly in this and thus the push for uPNPv2 and note what they say, "Build It, Ship It, Sell It, Make Money". What better than to have a series of appliances aimed at this market using real security products instead of cheap natting devices that are asking any piece of software on the network can open up a direct port to your network? The user that would buy Windows Home Server is the perfect customer for a higher end edge product. Back quickly to SBS since Cougar won't have ISA how can Microsoft justify the pricing? There will be little reason to have two SKU's of Cougar, Standard and Premium, without ISA. SQL Express will suit most and more and more third party application providers raise a stink about having their SQL product on anything other than their own SQL box. So either Microsoft has to drop back to a single SKU or reduce the pricing on Premium to the point they are giving away SQL. You also have those customers with Software Assurance (SA), what are they going to get for their money if they have SBS 2003 Premium now? Microsoft is all about SA but anyone selling SA on SBS Premium right now is playing craps as they may get something for their money or end up with nothing. With Microsoft so hopped up on SA I don't see them screwing over an entire customer base so they either have to release a new ISA product for those guys or allow ISA to be broke out onto a secondary server, a licensing nightmare. So time will tell and I've got no inside information but I think there is enough evidence that Microsoft is going to move further into the branding and hardware game. Ipod irks Microsoft to no end. The fact Apple sells both the hardware and software on a Mac drives them nuts, the fact Apple is still around and maybe gaining share probably makes them even more nuts. Now Apple has the iPhone, Google has web apps, Appliance servers, and Microsoft is nowhere to be seen in these markets so yes I think Microsoft is going to come on strong. As many say Microsoft doesn't innovate but they sure do copy well. They hate to be second at anything. SBS without ISA means you better be deploying something in front and many Partners are already deploying $500 and higher edge products so why shouldn't Microsoft be making that $500+ instead of Cisco, WatchGuard or others? July 20 Vista Service Pack 1, XP Service Pack 3, Longhorn… When?Vista Service Pack 1, XP Service Pack 3, Longhorn… When?It's been a hoot as the saying goes to see all those people who think they know so much about what's going on at Microsoft post when the above products will be released. From ZDNet saying it will be later this year to ComputerWorld saying it will be next year it's been truly interesting watching them show how little they actually know about what goes on inside Microsoft. What we do know directly from Microsoft is they will have a Longhorn Launch in February 2008. If we know this then it may be a bit easier to decide when these other products will be released. It must be said however that Launch and Release do not mean the same thing to Microsoft. Vista and Office 2007 both were out prior to the launch. We can also make a good guess that when Microsoft says "by year's end" they mean December 30 or close enough for government work. So if Vista SP1 Beta won't make it out till December then you're looking at end of February to March for RTM if we don't go through multiple Beta1, Beta2, etc and I don't think we will or at least if we do they will be very short lived versions. With a February Launch set for Longhorn it would only make sense that Vista SP1 would be released on or after that date from a marketing stand point as well as a technical one. If we can say that Longhorn is set for February and Vista SP1 for the same or early March then where does that put XP SP3? You know Microsoft isn't going to steal any Longhorn/Vista thunder so either SP3 much be before or after. Knowing again that Microsoft would never release XP SP3 prior to Longhorn Launch as well as Vista SP1 means XP SP3 will be after March pushing it back even further than some expected: If Microsoft does push back XP SP3 past Vista SP1 which is very likely then I am leaning a bit more to Paul Thurrott's opinion that XP SP3 is dead and Microsoft will never ship an XP SP3. Paul states that since Microsoft has slipped SP3 from 2005 to 2006 to 2007 and now 2008 it makes little if any monetary reason for Microsoft to release it. By the time SP3 releases Vista will have moved into SP1 which is the time frame many businesses and corporate customers will really start deploying Vista. Longhorn which does bring some key benefits will certainly be out by then and you know Microsoft will make some key features in Longhorn only work with Vista. I don't see the reasoning anyone will be able to use in trying to convince customers or their bosses that they should buy XP SP3 instead of Vista SP1 by that time. If you're trying to support old hardware and software than taking that XP into a virtual machine will be the way to go, not buying a dead end OS. We shall see, nobody outside of Microsoft has the real answers and all of these so called "news" sites that claim otherwise are just trying to drum up advertising revenue. July 13 A customer without any IT experience"A customer without any IT experience can get a Vostro PC up and running in six minutes and can connect it to the company network in only six steps," CEO Michael DellOh really? And just do you expect to connect that Vista or XP Home to the "company" network since XP Home or Vista Home do not support joining a domain? I assume he thinks companies with less than 25 employees don't run a domain, hmmm, Microsoft Small Business Server folks might want to argue that point. I went to the Vostro, Vistro, Bistro, whatever site and started with that base $350 PC and by just adding the very basics such as a $190 copy of XP Professional the price jumped to over $650 without an Office Suite or a monitor. Hmmm, a Business Class PC, No Office Suite, No Monitor and you're going to charge me $190 to upgrade from Home to Professional, a product that actually cost around $45 difference. So don't be fooled into thinking you're buying some special Business PC, you're buying a basic system where Dell has pulled all the junk-ware off prior to shipping instead of the typical Dell which has about every piece of useless trialware you can find installed on it. July 09 The SBSC - "The Kit"When we last left James he had been promised by MS that they had escalated his issue to the highest ranks of the MS Partner Corp Elite. Those select few were working day and night to find a solution to the elusive problem of how to send out a $7 kit yet not place an undue burden on the MS Billions. Finally after spending weeks holed up in one of the MS Campus Buildings they had it and called James not once but twice over Long Distance using the latest high tech telecommunication systems. As James picked up his ‘cell phone’ to listen to this incredible news he was informed they had figured it out, they could just send another kit.
Hardly believing his ears and wondering if maybe the high tech telecommunication device (or the caller from MS Corp Elite) was in some way dysfunctional James put down the ‘cell phone’ and informed everyone to be on the lookout for the super, special, secret, got to be part of the club kit.
….. a few days pass ….
Suddenly there was a knock at the door and James lifted his heart with excitement, could it be, would it be, oh wonders of wonders it is, it is, the FedEx guy! Quickly James ran to the door, arms open expecting the delivery of his long awaited kit and there it was, in the FedEx guys hands, a torn, brown envelope about the size of a half sheet of paper. Could this be it, surely not, this must be something else, maybe a special delivery from MS but surely not ‘The Kit’. James takes the package from the FedEx Guy’s hands, tears open the envelope with a fever and there it is, oh wait, two CD’s, nothing more….
James sulks slowly away from the door, the FedEx guy wondering if everything was ok noticing there was the smell of death in the air, no wait that’s somebody’s warmed up lunch.
… some more days past …
James having been teased by the MS Elite Corps into thinking he was finally going to get his ‘Kit’ ponders his options and decides that there is nothing to do. The delivery of a $7 kit by MS must be as hard as delivering software code on schedule and he resigns himself to never seeing ‘the kit’. He makes note of his dismay to the Specials Ops Division, SmallBizIT, where a few reply “are you surprised”, while other’s put a knife in his back with the “stop whining about the kit” however one brave soul stood up and proudly said “wait, don’t fear, I can do what MS cannot do, I can get you that kit.” James of course at this point had drifted into a deep depression thinking MS just didn’t care and wandered aimlessly between his clients for days yet just a few days later what was that, another knock, knock, knock at the door…
“It’s here, It’s here” James was heard yelling through the streets! There it was, ‘the kit’, oh wonders of wonders, a little plastic box with colorful pages and wait, more CD’s and what’s this on the label, sent not by MS but by, no, this cannot be, “The Diva”. Yes, “The Diva”, the exalted one, has done what MS could not do and sent “the kit”. Many say it didn’t exist, others said it was more useless junk, but there it was, a special FedEx package sent from “The Diva”…..
Tune in next week for the further adventures of “The SBSC “…
July 03 Who Ya’ Gonna Call?What Makes An IT Consultant?There was a post made to a Newsgroup which just begged me to ask the question, "What makes an IT Consultant"? I've taken out the contact info but the bulk of the post is below and if you don't see what's 'wrong' then, oh well…
July 01 How To Make SharePoint 2003 Play Nice With Office 2007 FilesOffice 2007 and SharePoint 2003, How To Fix Icons and File Open IssuesAfter digging around more than a dozen websites to get my own SharePoint site accepting Office 2007 files (docx, pptx, etc) as Word and PowerPoint files and not zip files I thought I'd try to bring all the info into one place for easy reference. As you may of have not noticed if you're using SharePoint 2003 and Office 2007 and save your documents to SharePoint you never see the correct icon and if you try to open the file from SharePoint it now thinks the file is a zip file. You can work around this by ignoring the icon and doing the little "Drop Down" and say "Edit in Word" but just because Microsoft has released SharePoint 2007 that doesn't mean you have to do work arounds just to get your own site to work with Office 2007. Since we are going to be working with IIS let's go ahead and stop it, <command prompt> 'net stop iisadmin'. So first off let's get the icons we need. A big shout out to Alexander for creating those icons for us. Just open the zip, grab the icons from the "gif-light" directory, copy them into '%program directory%\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\web server extensions\60\TEMPLATE\IMAGES'. Now just edit the XML file which loads those icons by going to, '%program directory\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\web server extensions\60\TEMPLATE\XML', open "docicon.xml" with Notepad. ALERT: For me any time I start messing with windows files I expect Murphy to show up so do yourself a favor and before you edit this and other files do a right-click, send to, compressed file just in case. Locate the section <ByExtension> section and add the following keeping your formatting inline for easy reference and nice XML:
Now that we have the icons and SharePoint knows how to assign them let's move on to getting IIS to understand that a .docx file should be opened by Word instead of Zip. This also is pretty straight forward once you either know IIS and knew immediately the problem was a mime type association or you keep reading and just let me tell you how to fix this. Basically the problem is IIS doesn't know how to serve up these file extensions so we need to tell it how by adding the mime type associations. Since we stopped IIS earlier it's just a matter of editing the XML file containing the extensions which is 'MetaBase.XML' located at, %Windows%\system32\inetsrv. What we need to do is add the following to the IIsMimeMap section. Again keep the formatting pretty and do the 'send to compressed' just in case. Also note there is a leading and trailing " in that section so be careful how you paste and edit :
Now just start IIS back up, simple way for that is to do an 'IISReset' at the command prompt and go test SharePoint. If you have followed the above correctly and not made any editing mistakes to the XML files you should be good to go.
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