VMWare Discount

Friends and colleagues,

In the spirit of the holidays, the VMware online store and hosted desktop team (Fusion and Workstation) are running a Friends and Family holiday promotion, making VMware Fusion and VMware Workstation (both Linux and Windows-based) available for 50% off list price in the VMware online store (see attached flyer).

Please spread the word about this limited time offer to your friends, family and followers!

What youre buying: The promotion is for 50% off of standard, current VMware Fusion and VMware Workstation products, available in the online store. The product is download-only (we dont sell boxes through the VMware store).

How to redeem:

At the VMware store, start at: http://www.vmware.com/vmwarestore/buyfusion.html and add VMware Fusion to the shopping cart. Once you reach the shopping cart, enter the coupon code VMWHAPPYHOLIDAYS in the Promo Code section in the shopping cart screen, and click Apply. The discount will then be reflected in the price and you can checkout. There is a limit to 3 licenses at this rate per customer.

How long: This promotion will be good through 11:59PM PT on 1/15/09.

(Thanks to Chris Knight for the heads up on this one.)

Regards,

The Outspoken Wookie

Vodafone Mobile Connect replacement

With the continual issues that the rather poorly written Vodafoner Mobile Connect software seems to suffer from (and therefore we as users of Vodafone also suffer from), I decided I'd had enough and it was time to look around. MWConn was I looked at (after David Houston let me know he was running the Mobilink software up in Irelend on his Toshiba M700 tablet PC).

MWConn is a nice, little freeware app that, well, just works. Little as in about 0.25 MB and tiny system resource consumption. Nice as in it doesn't break networking like the VMC client does. Freeware as in freeware.

As I already had the E220 Huawei drivers loaded, I just installed MWConn, set the APN to "vfinternet.au" saved the config and ran the UMTSGPRS.exe file that found my USB device, connected to Vodafone and worked.

Markus B. Weber, the author, asks for a donation if you like this app. Well, I'll play a little more and if it is stable and functional, then I'll definitely donate.

Regards,

The Outspoken Wookie

Is Steve Ballmer a Complete Idiot?

I've said before that Microsoft, under Steve Ballmer's leadership, appears like a rudderless ship on a stormy ocean. They are directionless - at least to those of us not being paid by Microsoft.

Now, to add to this the complete clusterfeck that is "Microsoft wants Yahoo, no they don't, yes they do, no they don't". Directionless and without real leadership.

And now, Steve Ballmer in an interview with the WSJ, is still leaving the Yahoo acquisition - one of the worst marketing disasters at Microsoft (aside from Vista, that is) - on the table. Has this guy totally lost the plot?

OK, as I've said before, the stupidest thing from a public perception point that Microsoft has done in a while (since, say, November/December 2006) has been to try and buy Yahoo. No, actually the second stupidest thing. The stupidest thing was half-heartedly trying to buy Yahoo. The stupidest thing that the Board at Yahoo has done, probably in their entire existence, was to reject the offer.

Now it appears as though Ballmer hasn't learned any lesson from this - he's said he wants Yahoo and Yahoo he will have, though he may not win this in the end. He's like a dog with a bone - don't try to take it off him as he'll growl and snap at you, but if you're careful, you may get that bone from the dog. Getting this stupid idea from Ballmer and squashing it is what the Board at Microsoft needs to do - they can ill afford more marketing disasters right now. (As an aside, why do you think they are renaming "Windows Vista R2" as "Windows 7"?)

Maybe squashing the cause of these bad ideas is a better thing - that way no more will take their place.

Regards,

The Outspoken Wookie

WM 6.1 - Queensland Does Not Have DST

I’ve finally worked out how to fix this stupidity. The issue is that MS has decided that, unlike our State Government, they’d support DST in Queensland on Windows Mobile 6.1 devices. That’s what you get with a benevolent dictator – shit just gets done. :)

1. Go to http://www.phm.lu/Products/PocketPC/RegEdit/ and download the PHM Regedit installer. Install it onto your PC. Now, as it won’t push to the PDA, copy the “regedit.Mrln_ARM.CAB” file from the installed folder to another location and uninstall PHM Regedit from your PC. Now copy the .cab file to the PDA and run it.

2. If you want or need to geek out, here's some geeky information. http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms145276(SQL.90).aspx lists the Microsoft Timezone codes. Since Brisbane is E. Australia Time, the timezone ID is 260 and therefore the TZI data that corresponds with this is a8 fd ff ff 00 00 00 00 c4 ff ff ff 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00. You’d have been able to guess that data, I’m sure! You can also confirm this data from your Windows XP or Vista desktop by looking at HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Time Zones.

3. Now, go to the PDA and run PHM RegEdit. Go to HKLM,SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Timezones\so we can edit the timezone on the PDA.

4. Create a new key using the name “260” and then create a Binary value under this called TZI and insert the data above (including the spaces) into this value.

5. Save this value and then just to make sure, edit the value and check this is correct. As I mentioned, you need the spaces.

6. Quit PHM RegEdit as we’re now done with it.

7. On your PDA, open up Settings => Clock & Alarms and Change your timezone to any other timezone that is NOT Brisbane. I suggest Alaska as Sarah Palin needs all the support she can get right now. Whilst we’re there we can give Ted Stevens a good clip over the ear, too!

8. Reset your phone, then change your timezone back to Brisbane. Now your DST settings should be the same as those on your computer(s) (ie, non-existent).

This information was gleaned from http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=2872627 after a post to the SMB IT Pro - Brisbane group list by Ben Dampney of Digit IT.

Regards,

The Outspoken Wookie

Microsoft Internet Explorer Critical Update

Microsoft released a Security Update today, December 18th, to protect customers from a new Internet Explorer vulnerability. Microsoft advises users to enable automatic updates on their PC, or check online for the update. To keep up to date with the latest news from Microsoft on this issue, please refer to the Microsoft Security Response Centre blog.

Regards,

The Outspoken Wookie

SBSC PAL December 2008

The Silly Season is upon us once again, so don’t expect this to be too serious. Besides, I’ve had enough “serious” lately that I am due some “silly”. :)

First up, D-Link is bringing their VoiceCenter product (built on Microsoft Response Point) into Australia as of early next year. You will need to complete the D-Link training before you can resell this specialist product, which consists of a course (the cost of which includes a VoiceCenter system) that will be run at locations around Australia from February, 2008. D-Link has chosen Ingram Micro as their distribution partner. Microsoft Response Point is an IP-based phone system designed for SMBs. It features many of the features of bigger phone systems at a decent price point and features voice recognition technology to make driving the phone system a lot easier. I’ve heard that a 2009 D-Link and Robbie roadshow is on the cards – that should be worth looking forward to.

If anyone is wondering what to put on their Xmas list, then have a look at this personal jet aircraft. Have a look at Yves’ site for some more on this. Google “FusionMan” for some more interesting stuff and there’s also a fair bit more on YouTube.

Are you going to be doing the same things in 2009 as you did in 2008, but expecting different results? That’s the first sign of business insanity. Although we’re quite busy right now, we are taking some time off over the holiday break to think about where we can improve next year. We’ve already got some ideas and some plans on how we can deliver better service to our clients but are going to be thinking about some more. Are you taking time off from working at your business to work on your business and thinking about how you can deliver better service to your clients? In these tough times, we need to ensure we treat our clients right, target our products and services right and therefore deliver more than our clients expect. Delivering what they expect is what a lot of our competitors can do. Is setting our sights on the soaring heights of mediocrity what we really want to aim for? The whole idea of the SBSC program is to differentiate ourselves from the “crowd” and show that we have the product knowledge, training, education and the experience to deliver the right solution to our clients.

While you’re taking this time to look at your business, take some time to look at your family and those dear to you. Do you really know them well enough? Do you spend enough time with them? Do you spend so much time working to afford to keep them that you are thinking about selling them off and relaxing a little? :) Oops, I meant spending so much time working that you don’t get enough time for the things that really matter? We all need to remember that the important things in life aren’t found on a laptop screen, but on the faces of our loved ones.

And while we’re thinking about family, how about suggesting that if they really love you, they’ll talk to Yves and start negotiations on getting you your own jet wing!

So, with a new year ahead and a swag of new products available, let’s all look at ways we can deliver these products to our clients to help them run their businesses better and enable them to also spend time doing the things that really matter. If we do this right, they’ll help us do the things we really want to do.

Regards,

The Outspoken Wookie

ANZ-ResponsePoint Yahoo Group Now Established

With the imminent release of D-Link's VoiceCenter product in Australia and New Zealand, I've established the ANZ-ResponsePoint Yahoo! Group for community support and discussion.

Membership to this list is moderated to keep spammers out, posting is unmoderated.

The list is for discussions of and around Microsoft ResponsePoint solutions. Comparisons to other products and discussion of competing solutions is welcome as we can all learn a lot from those around us who have experience with other products.

Feel free to join this list if you want to discuss Microsoft ResponsePoint solutions as applicable to Australian and New Zealand solutions.

Regards,

The Outspoken Wookie

In The Cloud Office Applications

I don't know how many people have seen the Zoho suite of cloud-based office applications, but they have quite a few online and they offer free versions for home and evaluation usage.

Adding the Zoho suite to Google Apps and the planned Yahoo! offering, there seems to be an increasing number of cloud-based offerings available to choose from.

Competition is always good for the consumer.

Regards,

The Outspoken Wookie

Serious Boy Toy

Now, this is a must have boy toy: http://www.flixxy.com/jet-man.htm

Regards,

The Outspoken Wookie

Untangle 6.0 Released

Untangle, the rather nice Linux-based firewall with Active Directory integration that will be able to fit the spot that's been vacated by ISA (now that it has been dropped from SBS 2008) has been updated to version 6.0 which brings not only a new interface written in HTML 2.0 (replacing the old Java-based interface) and also added the eSoft Web Filter to the subscription options.

The Untangle Gateway Platform is the perfect fit for managed service providers, and the company is excited to announce the availability of Untangle 6.0 (standalone) for download at www.untangle.com/download. This release includes new applications and a number of enhancements that will make Untangle easier to sell and manage.

The Windows version based on Re-Router technology is still at version 5.4.2 and will be upgraded to 6.0 in the near future.

Regards,

The Outspoken Wookie