Readers have Windows 7 (and the associated complications of transitioning to it) on the brain. First are some of their thoughts about the lack of an
XP-to-7 upgrade path
:
No upgrade path from Windows XP to Windows 7 will just delay the rate of implementation as Corporate America isn't going to go buy new systems just for Windows 7. An upgrade would have made it much more appealing. Bad more on Microsoft's part. You would have thought it would have learned by now.
-Jeff
The might of Microsoft at work again! No soup for you, XP rebels! My way or the highway! OK, the highway it is. The prospect of a decent, lightweight OS (Windows 7) was -- I say WAS -- worth waiting for. But no upgrade path from XP? Is Mr. Ballmer barmy? Who the hell do they think they are? Microstupid deserves to feel the wrath of Corporate and Citizen America for its unabashed arrogance.
My NAS is happy with Mac machines. I don't need my Windows box for anything beyond TurboTax, so I think I finally have reason to say, "Up yours, Micro$oft -- you are truly superfluous!" Apple, I will happily expend my dollars on your rock-solid, fast-booting OS, and bid the trogs farewell. A decade of struggles and finally I can see an end to them. Thank you, Mr. Ballmer -- to every cloud there IS a silver lining, and it is freedom from Microsoft! Thank you in spades!
-Stephen
I can't put a dollar value on the costs associated with "upgrading" to Vista, but I can't imagine migration expenses for even a small company will be less than what it costs to hire a full-time employee. For us, I think the last straw was when Microsoft pushed an update to a machine that was three days into reconstructing a 4TB RAID array, and it caused a reboot. We are transitioning to OS X and Solaris everywhere. Windows CE smartphones are also outlawed. We don't miss Active Directory one bit. In fact (and you can quote me on this because I have never seen it in print), you wouldn't need Active Directory if it wasn't FOR Active Directory. Blue screens are a thing of the past. We still use Exchange, but it is outsourced to Rackspace so it is no longer my headache.
I have no doubt that Microosft will break all Vista-related records for missed earnings and disappointments with Windows 7 -- and I also declare that anybody who proposes Windows 7 deployment puts their job at risk.
-David
Saying, "There will be no upgrade path from Windows XP to Windows 7" is extremely misleading. XP license holders will be able to upgrade to Windows 7 without a problem. What they will NOT be able to do is perform an 'upgrade'-type installation. This is not at all uncommon for changes of the magnitude of those involving the differences between the NT5 (XP) kernel and the NT6 (Vista, Windows 7) kernel. Further, the bootstrap loader process was changed dramatically from XP to Vista.
The bottom line is that Microsoft wants customers to have the best experience possible. And when customers don't follow guidelines, bad things can happen to negatively impact that experience. Those of us in the trenches know that the best installation is always a clean installation. And yes, from what I have seen, Windows 7 WILL be worth the switch.
-Marc
More
Posted by Doug Barney on April 15, 20090 comments
Patch Tuesdays are unpredictable affairs. Sometimes, there are fewer patches than there are on a pair of Donald Trump's socks. Other months, we get walloped with more fixes than if we were spending an afternoon with Amy Winehouse.
This month is on the high side, with eight patches that cure some 23 software ills. Among the patches are remedies for WordPad and the Office text converter. Microsoft also fixed an HTTP hole that plagued virtually all versions of Windows.
More
Posted by Doug Barney on April 15, 20090 comments
Doug Barney has safely deplaned from his trip to Redmond and will be back for Wednesday's Redmond Report. I'm covering for him today, in the meantime. Here we go:
Most IT pros (84 percent) don't plan to move to Windows 7 in the next year, so says a March survey sponsored by system management appliance vendor KACE.
More
Posted by Doug Barney on April 13, 20090 comments
Doug's still on the road at Redmond, Wash. today, but he'll be back on the Redmond Report saddle next week. I'll be covering for him in this issue -- so let's get started:
Eliot famously wrote that "April is the cruelest month," and for 2009, it's certainly turning out that way, as admins will be busy next week getting systems patched up on Tuesday. Two patches to keep tabs on are a fix for IE flaws that were exposed at a recent hacker contest, as well one for an Excel hole.
More
Posted by Michael Domingo on April 10, 20090 comments
Hello, readers -- and yes, I'm not Doug Barney! Your regular Redmond Report columnist is off traveling to Redmond, Wash. He'll be having some deep discussions with the Microsofties, giving them your feedback, no doubt. In the meantime, I'll be covering for him today. So here we go:
Microsoft on Tuesday settled some questions for those testing the Window 7 beta -- and you're all doing that, right? First, there will be a way to upgrade to the release candidate from the beta, but it involves some tweaking that leaves me woozy, quite frankly.
More
Posted by Doug Barney on April 08, 20090 comments
IBM and Sun have
reportedly called off talks
-- all due to a spat over what happens if the deal stalls or fails. To address these concerns, which were raised by Sun, the deal has now stalled or possibly failed.
If Sun's very survival is at stake, I say take the offered $7 billion. But if Sun is a viable concern, and I think it is, it should stay independent or at least partner with a company without the near-total overlap IBM brings to the table.
More
Posted by Doug Barney on April 06, 20090 comments
HP has as broad a portfolio as anyone. And to support cloud services, you need virtualization, security, applications and management tools. HP is
putting this kind of technology
toward services that support, at least for now, Amazon and Microsoft cloud platforms.
Many are leery of clouds, but when heavyweights like IBM and HP get behind them, the risk greatly decreases. Are you contemplating clouds? If so, why? Or are you a cloud curmudgeon? What are your concerns? All opinions welcome at [email protected].
More
Posted by Doug Barney on April 06, 20090 comments
Microsoft has long had a Windows Server small business-focused server. Apparently, this isn't small enough, as Microsoft now has the
Windows Server 2008 Foundation
, a server for the tiniest of shops.
This server is very traditional in that it handles print and file sharing. But like any modern hunk of software, it's Internet-friendly, handling Web hosting and remote access.
More
Posted by Doug Barney on April 06, 20090 comments
Microsoft's been trying to make
certifications seem cool
again, but not everyone's convinced:
Certs? Cool? Certifications are no longer prestigious (with maybe the exception of the CCIE cert) as they used to be with Novell's CNE and Microsoft's MCSE. "Certifications" and "cool" just aren't whispered in the same breath anymore.
-Kurt
The MCITP: Enterprise Administrator cert(s) were actually very cool. It was far more interesting that the MCSE 2003. The best cert in the series was the application (437) infrastructure cert -- useful as all get out -- and the AD cert was as nasty as one could imagine. I don't know how I got to be a Charter Member on that one! Good breakfast, I guess!
-Rob
More
Posted by Doug Barney on April 06, 20090 comments
I am a fan of the Mac for its stability, elegance and sheer fun factor. But there's one thing I hate: the price. I can buy an Acer netbook for around 300 bills -- less than a third of the price of the cheapest mobile Mac.
This reality is not lost on Microsoft, which recently launched an ad attacking the economics of Apple ownership. I haven't seen the commercial yet, but apparently Lauren, a young woman, wants a laptop with a 17-inch screen. She goes to the Apple store and quickly finds the only screen she can afford is four inches too small. Instead of uttering the words I might ("$6%%8&!!!!") she deadpans that she's "just not cool enough" for the Mac. Instead, she buys an HP for $700.
More
Posted by Doug Barney on April 03, 20090 comments
Getting an IT certification is no game...or is it? Microsoft believes that certification is not only serious business, but can be fun, as well. It has a
new site
that lets you test your skills in game-show fashion. The questions are multiple-choice, so even dummies like me stand a 25 percent chance of getting them right.
More
Posted by Doug Barney on April 03, 20090 comments
It's been two days since
Conficker's (supposed) big day
, and the world seems to have emerged largely unscathed:
Conficker was an April Fools joke on us. Went to all the trouble to update MS patches and virus scan over the weekend. Nothing there and nothing on April 1. At least it caused many to think proactively.
-Joe
I live in New Jersey and I have had no problems with my home system consisting of four Windows-based computers that I use in a business and personal nature.
I think the media scare may have been worth the pain, just as N.J. uses motor vehicle inspection as a once-a-year opportunity to make folks check their lights and wipers. Perhaps the annual scare of the almighty worm may provide the same results, forcing those who do not perform due diligence to take stock in what they have and how they behave in their online activities.
-Lew
On the home front, I battened down the hatches: AV updated, firewall updated, M$ Web site blocked (joking) and a shiny new version of Firefox. Despite the many variations I heard on the name ("Cornflicker," etc.), the reporting on Conficker and its possible threats certainly created a level of paranoia rarely seen outside of the military. I had inquiries from a few people asking if their home e-mail not working properly is a result of the virus. I almost thought the same thing when I started getting CRC errors when attempting to copy files from a dodgy (corrupt, that is) DVD. Mind you, it's hard to get a virus on a standalone computer with no access to the Internet and weekly manual AV updates!
Whether the dire predictions for Conficker will come true today or next week, who knows?
-Allan
More
Posted by Doug Barney on April 03, 20090 comments