The Physics of Santa

OK, so a fat man in a red suit is supposed to use flying male reindeer to deliver presents to the world's good Christian (and a few other religions, less a few Christian sects/denominations who don't celebate anything) children on December 24th?  Really?

Well, the thing with reindeer is that the male reindeer (the older ones, at least) drop their antlers in December (the younger males around March and the females around June-July) which means that as time goes by, assuming that reindeer live for over 2000 (or so) years, Rudolph wouldn't have antlers around Christmas time.  He may have when he was younger, or maybe Rudolph is actually female?  Either way, Rudolph isn't quite what he's made out to be.  Oh, yeah, and there's that flying thing, too!

So, the antler and flight issues aside, have you thought about how much energy one man would need to be able to travel around the entire planet - not just in a circle, stopping house-to-house to climb down a chimney (if one exists), deliver presents, drink milk/beer and eat cookies/whatever, possibly say hello in a special Santa way to mummy, and then head to the next house?

A relatively decent overview of the forces involved (though this does talk about "centrifugal" instead of the actual "centripetal" force involved) can be found at Snopes and many other places on the Intarweb.

A humorous, yet ludicrous account of how Santa may actually exist can be found here.

So, if we can encourage our children to believe in old, male, fully antlered, flying reindeer being able to pull a man around 121 million kilometers in one day (admittedly, with extended hours due to the rotation of the Earth) and a rabbit that delivers chocolate eggs, no wonder we can have them believe in a supernatural being that cares about our plight yet lets us make our own choices.

Personally, I'd rather believe in sanity, science and things that can actually exist.

Happy Festivus to all.  Maybe we should all look towards having a HumanLight party which happens to approximately fall on the approximate day of Festivus - the 23rd December, to celebrate sanity and the belief in human beings having morals and good intentions without needing a supernatural prod in the right direction.  This would encourage our children to grow up to believe in themselves, to believe in reason, to do good to others because it is simply the right thing to do.

As atheists, there's only one more God that we don't believe in compared to Christians, and here is the list.  So, you can see that we have a great deal in common and a small amount that we disagree on.

So, to all, I wish you a happy and safe holiday season and a happy and prosperous 2010.

Regards,

The Outspoken Wookie

ShadowProtect Update

Thanks to Robert Crane for bringing this to our attention.  I believe the Australian ShadowProtect guys will release something later on, but the US guys released this earlier this week:

Critical Update Available for ShadowProtect 3.x Customers


Valued Partners:

StorageCraft would like to announce the availability of ShadowProtect 3.5.1 for download now. This software patch fixes a rare issue found in ShadowProtect 3.x which affects some incremental backup images, but not full backup image files. This issue causes some incremental image files not to include all of the file system changes made since the last backup image. Any affected file will show chkdsk errors when mounted. This rare issue occurs on some systems running Windows Vista, Windows 7 and Windows 2008 R2 – but is not limited to these systems.

If you are running ShadowProtect 3.x, StorageCraft recommends that you download ShadowProtect 3.5.1, run the patch, reboot your system and begin a new backup image set – starting with a new full image of your system. To download this ShadowProtect update, please select:

ShadowProtect Server Edition:
http://www.storagecraft.com/downloads/ENU_Server_Setup_3.5.1.exe

ShadowProtect Small Business Server Edition:
http://www.storagecraft.com/downloads/ENU_SBS_Setup_3.5.1.exe

ShadowProtect Desktop Edition:
http://www.storagecraft.com/downloads/ENU_Desktop_Setup_3.5.1.exe

The ShadowProtect 3.5.1 update does not affect your current ShadowProtect 3.5 recovery CD. Therefore, a new .iso download is not necessary.

If you have additional questions regarding this update, please visit the StorageCraft Support Center:

http://forum.storagecraft.com/community/

For more information about this update, please refer to the ShadowProtect 3.5.1 readme file.

http://www.storagecraft.com/documents/readme_3_5_1.rtf



Thanks,
The StorageCraft Team

So, I hope that people other than US folks get to read this critical information - critical in that it fixes an issue whereby SP incremental backups are not backing up changed files properly.  I do wonder why StorageCraft Australia still hasn't released information about this update to their users!

Regards,

The Outspoken Wookie

Beta Testing Office 2010

Well, sad to say, but I have finally gone back to Office 2007 because the Outlook 2010 beta was SO FUCKING UNSTABLE it felt like I was beta testing F^HVista all over again.

COME ON GUYS - I sent probably 50 reports of Outlook 2010 crashing and didn't get a single response.  And I KNOW I'm not the only one seeing this instability.

The rest of the product is nice.  Some of the new features in Outlook 2010 are definitely nice, however having it crash on me all the time was simply unbearable and resulted in a great amount of lost productivity and increased frustration - neither of which are efficient.

So, when Microsoft gets their act together and can release a Beta product that's not at Alpha levels of stability, I'll try it again.  But in the meantime, I'm quite happy with Office 2007.

Speaking of Office 2010, have a read of the First Look: Microsoft Office 2010 eBook if you want to know more about what Office 2010 will have to offer (once they get Outlook 2010 stable).

Regards,

The Outspoken Wookie

Adobe AIR - clueless...

Now, aside from the recently announced vulnerability in various Adobe products that is addressed in the current release (1.5.3) of Adobe AIR, it seems that Adobe coders still show little awareness of the environment in which they operate.

Proof of this is given in the following tale...

I decided that I'd swap around my Windows 7 licenses - I have a FPP Windows 7 Ultimate (from Beta testing the product) and numerous Windows 7 Pro upgrades (via MAPS).  Originally, as I was beta testing mainly on my desktop, and during beta testing we had access to Win 7 Ultimate (and Home Premium for an upgrade test, but I'll ignore that) I therefore decided that I'd run my Ultimate license on my desktop and Pro on the laptop.  Now I've decided to swap them around as we'll be implementing DirectAccess here soon and this requires Win 7 Ultimate or Enterprise to take advantage of it, so having Ultimate on my laptop makes a lot more sense than on my desktop as it lives in the office.

So, as one of the applications I use is TweetDeck, I went to reinstall that on my freshly rebuilt desktop PC running Win 7 Pro x64 using the online installer on TweetDeck's home page.  No go - it bombs out with the following error message after AIR requests elevation and successfully installs:

Sorry, an error has occurred.


The application could not be installed because the AIR file is
damaged. Try obtaining a new AIR file from the application
author.

So I figured I'd look further into this.  I uninstalled AIR manually, downloaded the AIR installer and installed it successfully (it asks for elevation during the install procedure, as expected).  So fine, AIR installs two different ways, as expected.
 
Then I downloaded the TweetDeck AIR application and went to install that - double clicking on the app (or right-clicking and choosing Install) gives the same result and same error message - the AIR file is apparently damaged.
 
So, I noticed that the AIR package doesn't ask for elevation during the install unlike the AIR product itself.  Hhmmm, does this mean that Adobe's AIR fails to recognise that it is running in a Windows 7 (and Windows F^HVista would also see the same issue) environment and because it fails to prompt for elevation, it fails the install?  Maybe...
 
I went back to the TweetDeck page, but this time after opening MSIE with "Run as administrator" and agreeing to the elevation request.  The TweetDeck AIR pachage installed without any issue.  Go Adobe!  :(
 
This means that, because of the poor design of Adobe AIR, it won't install any packages properly in a normal and secure Windows 7 (or F^HVista) environment (ie one with UAC enabled).  Also, because AIR isn't an application you can run yourself, you can't run it elevated to have it install any packages properly.  Go Adobe - brilliant effort.  Extra Brownie Points for you this time!  :(  And not only that, Adobe can't even get their error message right - the AIR file is not damaged, as they report, but their product is!
 
So, if you need to install AIR packages and they are available on a website, if you "Run as adinistrator" an MSIE session, this is a way to work around this issue until Adobe coders get hit hard with a cluestick!
 
Regards,
 
The Outspoken Wookie

MS Security Intelligence Report V7

OK, so if 69.2% of all spam blocked by Forefront Online Protection for Exchange in the first half of 2009 was for Pharmacy products (both sexual and non-sexual) and Non-Pharmacy product advertisements, SOMEONE must be buying this shit for spammers to see this as a viable market.

So, who is it that's buying this shit?

Please, I want to know if you've bought anything that was sent to you by a spammer as I need to know the types of people that we need to introduce International legislation for, banning you from using computers and electronic mail devices.  Your stupidity is making life less enjoyable for the rest of us and you need to be stopped!

Regards,

The Outspoken Wookie

Uganda's Appalling Human Rights

Now, I'm not homosexual nor do I play one on television, but I have no problem with how anyone chooses (or other) to express their sexuality.  What I DO have a problem with is this.

Regards,

The Outspoken Wookie

Midas and Klark Teknik = Behringer? Say It Isn't So

It seems that both the Midas (maker of some fine broadcast, recording and live sound mixing consoles) and Klark Teknik (maker of some fine signal processing equipment) business components of Bosch Communications Systems have been sold to the Music Group, who owns Behringer.

This truly is a sad day for quality audio products.

Behringer makes *some* good gear, but the rest is simply not up to the standards that professional sound engineers require.  Their original Composer Pro (now superceded) and their current ADA8000 are nice (for the price), however that's about all of the Behringer kit I'd consider buying.

Let's see if the Music Group rolls Midas and Klark Teknik down to Behringer's standard or pushes Behringer's standards up towards Midas and KT.

Regards,

The Outspoken Wookie

Email Insanity

Whilst I was emailing a friend about email and other things, I thought I'd check and see how many emails I've actually received since 13 November 2009 (and it is now 12 December, 2009).

Can you guess how many?  1000?  I wish!  5000 - not even close!  7000, getting hot...  7425 - that's right, almost 7500 emails in a month.  If I had a dollar for each email I received...

Now, how many have I sent?  745!  That's simply ridiculous!

OK, I think it is time for this insanity to stop.  Well, at least slow down somewhat.

Starting right now - bugger going for a walk tonight, I'm culling the number of mailing lists and email lists I'm on back to something actually *sensible*.

Regards,

The Outspoken Wookie

Motion: The Catholic Church is a force for good in the world

This was an Intelligence Squared Debate presented from London by Zeinab Badawi that was broadcast on the BBC.  The 1 hour 3 minute debate in its entirety can be found here.  The presenters are the Archbishop of Abuja (Nigeria) John Onaiyekan and Ann Widdecombe, British Conservative MP for the affirmative and Stephen Fry (need I say more?) and Christopher Hitchens (need I say more?).

The whole shebang as edited for television runs for approximately 46 minutes and is split into 5 parts.  Clicking on the first part will play, and leave you with a link to the second, third, fourth and fifth parts.

There was a poll of the audience prior to entry and then there was another poll taken after the debate and Q & A from the floor (during closing arguments) with the results shown towards the end - this was partially edited from the televised version for reasons of time limits.  And yes, due to the relative merit of the arguments presented there was a significant swing between polls.

Regards,

The Outspoken Wookie

It looks like we're all screwed

Just in case anyone doesn't realise it, we're all screwed.  Well, we're all screwed if we don't find, build or terraform a habitable location off this planet.  Now, assuming we don't fuck up the environment bad enough in the foreseeable future to cause massive changes in life on this planet as we know it, we don't have that long (relatively speaking) to get off this dump and move somewhere with a better view.

Humans (Homo sapiens sapiens) have existed on this planet for approximately 200,000 years.  The planet itself has been hanging around about 4.5 billion years - quite some time after the Big Bang at around 13.7 billion years ago.  The Sun will finally become a White Dwarf in about 7 billion years.

Now, that seems a fair way off, however things are a little more desperate than that - as the Sun continues to burn its Hydrogen core, it will collapse due to gravity which will cause it to heat up, eventually burning off its remaining Hydrogen, causing it to expand into a Red Giant, heating up further to burn off Helium resulting in its eventual collapse into a White Dwarf.

All that collapsing and expanding happens up until this 7 billion year mark.  We've only got about a billion years left before we likely have no oceans due to the Sun's impending death.  And that's not the worst of it - about half a billion years away, the Sun would have increased in intensity enough to warm the planet so much that the decrease in CO2 as the planet becomes more and more desert-like will make it difficult for the remaining plants to survive.  That's just half the time between now and when the oceans eventually evaporate into space.

So, we really have a fair bit less than half a billion years left on this planet.  Considering we, as a species, have been here for 200,000 years and we have, say 400,000,000 years left before things start getting a little warm and desolate, that's not a lot of time left in the overall scheme of things (after all, the Earth is approximately 4,500,000,000 years old - it is therefore about 90% of the way through its habitable lifespan).

Humans spent approximately 190,000 years trying to move things with difficulty until they invented the wheel.  Roughly another 700 years elapsed until we had the Industrial Revolution, and then another hundred and fifty odd years until we finally had a controlled, powered, sustained heavier than air flight.  Another 58 years or so and we finally put a man into Space in 1961, and then in November 2000, we had the first manned crew of the ISS (sure, Salyut 1 was officially the first space station, back in 1971).

So, for roughly 199,500 years, man didn't have machines that did much, then in the last 500 years we've put people permanently into Space, landed on the Moon and Mars, investigated many other bodies in our Solar System and really are doing quite well.  We've got 20 times the amount of time humans have existed before we need to leave this planet for a better place to live.  I'm pretty sure that if we survive our own willingness to kill each other for religious or other reasons, we should easily be able to survive as a race when our home planet is finally consumed by the Sun and spewed into the Solar System as various forms of ash.

Regards,

The Outspoken Wookie

AASFSHNR Reaches US$1.25m for Kiva

On October 8th, I reported the good news that our Kiva AASFSHNR Lending Team had been the first team to pass US$1m in loans.  It took us about 13.5 months to make it to the US$1m mark and it has taken us less than 2 months to make it to the current mark of just over US$1.25m.

We're currently discussing a goal for the end of 2010 to be around the US$2.5 to US$3m mark and at the rate we've reached US$1.25m in loans, that should be easily achievable and hopefully easily surpassed.

Kiva has a total loaned amount of just over US$106m to microfinance borrowers witha  current repayment rate ov over 98%, which is awesome.  I wonder how many other finance institutions can claim repayment rates of above 98%?  :)  And remember this is microfinance - we're funcing loans for people in need of loans that the regular finance system will not loan to - including (but not limited to) entrepeneurs in Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Benin, Costa Rica, Ghana, Honduras, Lebanon, Mali, Mongolia, Nicaragua, Peru, Rwanda, Senegal, Sudan, Uganda, Vietnam and even the United States who are looking to improve their businesses and/or family homes.

If you'd like an invite to Kiva, let me know and I'll send one to you.

Regards,

The Outspoken Wookie

Windows Experience Index - Win7

Here's the link to the new Windows 8 Experience Index post.

The WEI scoring system has changed a fair bit since it was introduced in Windows F^HVista and the version that's in Windows 7 is a result of the responses of many reports to Microsoft from users and beta testers around the world.  One of the changes is that the WEI scores in Windows 7 now go from a bottom-feeding 1.0 all the way up to 7.9.

For a decent read about what the Windows Experience Index involves, have a read of this. It doesn't go into a lot of technical depth, however it is enlightening.

Now, I have a few computers here right now that I'm running Windows 7 on and below I've listed the scores as well as scores from other people's computers that I've been able to verify. I'm particularly interested in the CPU and RAM scores for use in regular daily office use. Not that CPU usage is really ever an issue (on modern PCs), but more so as a comparison between netbooks, notebooks and desktops.  The component/figure in bold is the base score (determined by the lowest subscore).  Also, as more figures are obtained, I'll add them to this table.

(If you want to send me details to add to this list, please send the following:
* Screen capture of Control Panel\System and Security\System
* Screen capture of Control Panel\All Control Panel Items\Performance Information and Tools
* Screen Capture of Device Manager showing your HDDs (and highlighting the Primary HDD if you have more than 1 installed)
* A zipped HTML output from CPU-z
as all of the above give me the detail I need to complete this table.)

System	Component	Score
Laz' Sandy Bridge Desktop CPU @ x45 = 4.50 GHz Win 7 Pro x64	CPU - Core i7 2600 @ 4.50 GHz RAM - 2*4 GB CMZ8GX3M2A1600C8 (833 MHz) Graphics - MSI R5970-P2D2G 2GB Gaming Graphics - MSI R5970-P2D2G 2GB Primary SSD - A-RAM AR120GBE Elite 120GB	7.8 7.8 7.7 7.7 7.9
Laz' Sandy Bridge Desktop CPU @ x45 = 4.50 GHz Win 7 Pro x64	CPU - Core i7 2600 @ 4.50 GHz RAM - 2*4 GB CMZ8GX3M2A1600C8 (833 MHz) Graphics - MSI R5970-P2D2G 2GB Gaming Graphics - MSI R5970-P2D2G 2GB Primary HDD - Seagate Momentus XT 500GB	7.8 7.8 7.7 7.7 5.9
Georgia's 2600K Gamer Not overclocked Win 7 Pro x64	CPU - Core i7 2600 @ 3.40 GHz RAM - 2*4 GB F3-17000CL9-4GBXM (800 MHz) Graphics - NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460 1GB Gaming Graphics - NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460 1GB Primary HDD-WD3200AAKS-OOB3A0 320GB	7.7 7.8 7.6 7.6 5.9
Dell 9010 SFF Win 7 Pro x64	CPU - Core i7 3770 @ 3.40 GHz RAM - 2*4 GB HMT351U6CFR8C-PB (800 MHz) Graphics - Intel HD4000 64MB Gaming Graphics - Intel HD4000 64MB Pri SSD - Samsung PM830 2.5" 7 128GB	7.7 7.7 6.5 6.5 7.9
Hilton's Desktop Bus Speed O/C to 166 MHz Win 7 Pro x64	CPU - Core i7 920 @ 2.67 GHz RAM - 3*2 GB Corsair CM3X2G1600C7 (833 MHz) Graphics - 2 * Gigabyte HD4850 Fanless Gaming Graphics - 2 * GV-R485MC-1GI Primary HDD - Samsung HD103UJ 1 TB	7.6 7.9 7.3 7.3 5.9
Nick's General Melchett Desktop PC Win 7 Ultimate x64	CPU - Core i7 2600 @ 3.40 GHz RAM - 4*4 GB GSKill F3-12800CL9 (667 MHz) Graphics - Radeon HD5750 1GB Gaming Graphics - Radeon HD5750 1GB Primary HDD - WD10EACS 1 TB	7.6 7.9 7.2 7.2 5.9
Laz' Sandy Bridge Desktop Everything at defaults Win 7 Pro x64	CPU - Core i7 2600 @ 3.40 GHz RAM - 2*4 GB CMZ8GX3M2A1600C8 (833 MHz) Graphics - MSI R5970-P2D2G 2GB Gaming Graphics - MSI R5970-P2D2G 2GB Primary HDD - Seagate Momentus XT 500GB	7.6 7.8 7.7 7.7 5.9
Nick's General Melchett Upgraded Video, SSD Win 7 Ultimate x64	CPU - Core i7 2600 @ 3.40 GHz RAM - 4*4 GB GSkill F3-12800CL9 (667MHz) Graphics - Radeon HD6870 1GB Gaming Graphics - Radeon HD6850 1GB Primary SSD - Crucial CTFDDAC 256 GB	7.6 7.6 7.8 7.8 7.9
Dell Optiplex 990SF Onboard Intel Video, HDD Win 7 Pro x64	CPU - Core i7 2600 @ 3.40 GHz RAM - 2*4 GB Samsung PC3-10700 (667MHz) Graphics - Intel OnBoard 1GB Gaming Graphics - Intekl OnBoard 1GB Primary HDD - Hitachi HTS757550A9E364 500GB	7.6 7.6 5.5 4.9 5.9
Bill’s Dell M6600 Stock purchase from Dell Win 7 Pro x64	CPU – Intel i7-2720QM @ 2.20GHz (800MHz) RAM – 2 x 4 GB Nanya PC3-12800 (800MHz) Graphics – nVidia Quadro 3000M Gaming Graphics – nVidia Quadro 3000M Primary SSD – Samsung PM830 256 GB SSD	7.5 7.7 7.1 7.1 7.9
Anthony’s Dell M6600 Stock purchase from Dell Win 7 Ultimate x64	CPU – Intel i7-2729QM @ 2.20GHz (800MHz) RAM – 2 x 4 GB DDR3 2 1066MHz Graphics – nVidia Quadro 3000M Gaming Graphics – nVidia Quadro 3000M Primary SSD – Samsung SATA 2 256 GB SSD	7.5 7.6 7.1 7.1 7.6
Luke's Gaming PC Win 7 Pro x64 SSDs as supplied in RAID-0	CPU - Core i7-950 @ 3.07 GHz RAM-3*4GB CorsairCMX6GX3M3C1600C7 667MHz Graphics - nVidia GTX 460 (768MB) Gaming Graphics - nVidia GTX 460 Primary SSD - Kingston SNVP325S2128GB	7.5 7.5 7.4 7.4 6.9
HP Z400 Workstation Win 7 Default Install Win 7 Pro x64	CPU - Xeon W3550 @ 3.07 GHz RAM - 3*2 GB Hyundai PC3-10700 (667 MHz) Graphics - nVidia Quadro FX 1800 (768MB) Gaming Graphics - nVidia Quadro FX 1800 Primary HDD-Seagate ST3500418AS 500 GB	7.4 7.7 6.7 6.7 5.9
Derek's Desktop Autotune O/C to 145 MHz bus Win 7 Pro x64	CPU - Core i5 750 @ 2.67 GHz RAM - 2*2 GB Corsair CMG4GX3M2A1600C7 Graphics - Gigabyte HD5750 (GV-R575D5-1GD) Gaming Graphics - Gigabyte HD5750 Primary HDD - Samsung HD103UJ 1 TB	7.4 7.6 7.3 7.3 5.9
Nathan's AMD Desktop (Updated RAM, Video) Win 7 Pro x64	CPU - AMD Phenom II X4 965 @ 3.40 GHz RAM - 2*2 GB Kingston PC3-10700 (667 MHz) RAM - 2*4 GB Corsair PC3-10700H (667 MHz) Graphics - ATI Radeon HD5770 1GB Gaming Graphics - ATI Radeon HD5770 1GB Pri HDD - Hitachi HDS721010CLA332 1 TB	7.4 7.5 7.4 7.4 5.9
Dell Optiplex 790SF Desktop Win 7 Pro x64	CPU - Intel Core i5-2400 @ 3.10 GHz RAM - 2*2 GB Samsung PC3-10700 (667 MHz) Graphics - ATI Radeon HD6450 1 GB Gaming Graphics - ATI Radeon HD6450 1 GB Primary HDD - Seagate ST9250410AS 250 GB	7.4 7.5 5.1 6.3 5.9
Nathan's AMD Desktop Win 7 Pro x64	CPU - AMD Phenom II X4 965 @ 3.40 GHz RAM - 2*2 GB Kingston PC3-10700 (667 MHz) Graphics - ATI Radeon HD4290 Gaming Graphics - ATI Radeon HD4290 Primary HDD - Hitachi HDS721010CLA332 1 TB	7.4 5.9 4.6 5.6 5.9
Derek's Desktop (non-o/c) Win 7 Pro x64	CPU - Core i5 750 @ 2.67 GHz RAM - 2*2 GB Corsair CMG4GX3M2A1600C7 Graphics - Gigabyte HD5750 (GV-R575D5-1GD) Gaming Graphics - Gigabyte HD5750 Primary HDD - Samsung HD103UJ 1 TB	7.3 7.5 7.3 7.3 5.9
Rob's Desktop Win 7 Pro x86	CPU - Core 2 Quad 9550 @ 2.83 GHz RAM - 2*2 GB Transcend PC2-6400 (400 MHz) Graphics - nVidia GeForce GTX 260 (896 MB) Gaming Graphics - nVidia GeForce GTX 260 Primary HDD - WDC WD3200AAKS 320 GB	7.3 7.3 7.2 7.2 5.9
Bill's Media PC Win 7 Pro x64	CPU - Core 2 Quad 9550 @ 2.83 GHz RAM - 2*4 GB Kingston PC2-6400 (400) Graphics - Gigabyte HD4550 (512MB) Gaming Graphics - Gigabyte HD4550 Primary HDD - Samsung HD103UJ 1 TB	7.3 7.3 5.1 6.2 5.9
Georgia's Alien Gaming PC Win 7 Pro x64	CPU - Core i7 820 @ 1.73 GHz RAM - 2*2 GB Elpida PC3-10700 (667) Graphics - NVIDIA GeForce GTX 260M (1GB) Gaming Graphics - Gigabyte HD5750 Primary HDD-Seagate ST9500420AS 500 GB	7.2 7.4 6.8 6.8 5.9
Hilton's Streaming Slim PC Win 7 Pro x64	CPU - Core 2 Quad Q9400 @ 2.66 GHz RAM - 2*2 GB Kingston PC2-6400 (400 MHz) Graphics - NVIDIA GeForce GT 240 (1GB) Gaming Graphics - Galaxy GT240 Primary HDD - Seagate ST380817AS 80 GB	7.2 7.2 6.7 6.7 5.3
HP dc7900 Out of the box, or ATI 10.2 Win 7 Pro x86 Weird - faster RAM than in x64!!!	CPU - Core 2 Quad 9400 @ 2.66 GHz RAM - 2*2 GB HP RAM Graphics - HP ATI Radeon HD 4550 256MB Gaming Graphics - ATI Radeon HD 4550 256MB Pri SSD - Samsung MMCRE64G5MXP-0VB 64 GB	7.2 7.2 5.1 6.2 5.9
HP dc7900 ATI 10.2 Driver Win 7 Pro x64	CPU - Core 2 Quad 9400 @ 2.66 GHz RAM - 2*2 GB HP RAM Graphics - HP ATI Radeon HD 4550 256MB Gaming Graphics - ATI Radeon HD 4550 256MB Pri SSD - Samsung MMCRE64G5MXP-0VB 64 GB	7.2 5.9 5.1 6.2 5.9
HP dc7900 Out of the box Win 7 Pro x64	CPU - Core 2 Quad 9400 @ 2.66 GHz RAM - 2*2 GB HP RAM Graphics - HP ATI Radeon HD 4550 256MB Gaming Graphics - ATI Radeon HD 4550 256MB Pri SSD - Samsung MMCRE64G5MXP-0VB 64 GB	7.2 5.9 4.5 6.2 5.9
Dell Latitude E6320 Notebook Win 7 Pro x64	CPU - Core i7-2620M @ 2.70 GHz RAM - 2*4GB Samsung CH9 (667 MHz) Graphics - Intel HD3000 Gaming Graphics - Intel HD3000 Primary SSD - Samsung PM810 240 GB	7.1 7.5 6.4 6.4 7.6
Dell XPS L501x Notebook Win 7 Ult x64	CPU - Core i7-740QM @ 1.73 GHz RAM - 2*4GB HMT351S6BFR8C-H9 (667 MHz) Graphics - nVidia GeForce GT435M 2GB Gaming Graphics - nVidia GeForce GT435M 2GB Primary HDD - Toshiba MK6461GSY 640 GB	7.1 7.4 6.6 6.6 5.9
Dell Vostro 3700 Notebook Win 7 Pro x64	CPU - Core i7-720QM @ 1.60 GHz RAM - 4+2 GB PC3-10700 (667 MHz) Graphics - nVidia GeForce GT 330M 1GB Gaming Graphics - nVidia GeForce GT 330M 1GB Primary HDD - Toshiba MK5056GSY 500 GB	7.0 7.4 6.4 6.4 5.9
Andrew's Asus M60J Notebook +Intel MLC SSD Win 7 Pro x64	CPU - Core i7 Q720 @ 1.60 GHz RAM - 2*2 GB Samsung PC3-8500F (533 MHz) Graphics - nVidia GeForce GT 240M Gaming Graphics - nVidia GeForce GT 240M Primary SSD - Intel SSDSA2M160G2GN 160 GB	7.0 7.3 6.4 6.4 7.6
Andrew's Asus M60J Notebook Win 7 Pro x64	CPU - Core i7 Q720 @ 1.60 GHz RAM - 2*2 GB Samsung PC3-8500F (533 MHz) Graphics - nVidia GeForce GT 240M Gaming Graphics - nVidia GeForce GT 240M Primary HDD-Seagate ST9500325AS 500 GB	7.0 7.3 6.4 6.4 5.7
BillG's Media Center PC Gigabyte H55N-USB3 Win 7 Pro x64	CPU - Core i3 550 @ 3.20 GHz RAM - 2*2 GB Corsair PC3-10700H (667 MHz) Graphics - Intel i3 Integrated Gaming Graphics - Intel i3 Integrated Primary HDD - Hitachi HTS725050A9A364 500 GB	7.0 5.9 4.9 5.2 5.9
Anthony’s Dell M6500 Stock purchase from Dell Win 7 Ultimate x64	CPU – Intel i7-720QM @ 1.60Ghz RAM – 4 x 2 GB 667 MHz DDR3 Graphics – nVidia Quadro FX 2800 Gaming Graphics – nVidia Quadro FX 2800 Pri SSD - Samsung PB22-J53 FDE 256 GB	6.9 7.4 6.8 6.8 7.3
Lyn's Inspiron 15R Notebook Win 7 HP x64	CPU - Core i5 2410M @ 2.30 GHz RAM - 4 GB PC3-10700 (667 MHz) Samsung Graphics - Intel HD 3000 Gaming Graphics - Intel HD 3000 Pri HDD - Seagate ST9640320AS 640GB 5400	6.9 5.9 4.7 6.1 5.9
Chris' Lenovo T410 Notebook Win 7 Ult x64	CPU - Core i7 620M @ 2.67 GHz RAM - 4 GB PC2-8500F (533 MHz) Graphics - nVidia NVS 3100M 256MB Gaming Graphics - nVidia NVS 3100M 256MB Pri SSD - Samsung MMCRE28G8MXP-0VB 128GB	6.8 5.9 5.0 5.9 6.9
Don's Asus U30Jc Notebook Win 7 Pro x64	CPU - Intel Core i3-350M @ 2.27 GHz RAM - 4 GB Kingston PC3-10700 (667 MHz) Graphics - Intel GMA HD Gaming Graphics - Intel GMA HD Primary HDD - Seagate ST9320423AS 320 GB	6.3 5.9 4.6 5.1 5.9
Jim's HP 6730 Notebook Win 7 Pro x86	CPU - Core 2 Duo T9600 @ 2.80 GHz RAM - 4 GB PC2-6400 (400 MHz) Graphics - Intel Mobile 4 Series Express Gaming Graphics - Intel Mobile 4 Express Primary HDD - WD WD3200BEKT-60F3T1 320 GB	6.3 5.5 4.1 3.4 5.9
Andrew's Toshiba Satellite A350 Win 7 Pro x86	CPU - Core 2 Duo P8700 @ 2.53 GHz RAM - 2*2 GB PC2-6400 (400 MHz) Graphics - ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3650 Gaming Graphics - ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3650 Pri HDD - Seagate ST95005620AS 500 GB NAND	6.1 6.1 5.2 6.1 5.9
Laz' Media Center PC Win 7 Pro x86	CPU - Core 2 Duo E6750 @ 2.66 GHz RAM - 2+1 GB PC2-5300 (333 MHz) Graphics - NVIDIA GeForce 8600 GS Gaming Graphics - NVIDIA GeForce 8600 GS Primary HDD - Seagate ST3500830AS 500 GB	6.1 6.1 4.7 5.6 5.9
Daniel's Lenovo X200 Notebook Win 7 Pro x64	CPU - Core 2 Duo P8700 @ 2.53 GHz RAM - 4 GB Micron PC3-8500 (1066 MHz) RAM Graphics - Intel Mobile 4 Series Express Gaming Graphics - Intel Mobile 4 Express Primary HDD - Hitachi HTS723232L9SA60 320 GB	6.1 5.9 4.1 3.4 5.7
Andrew's Lenovo M57p Win 7 Pro x86	CPU - Core 2 Duo E6750 @ 2.66 GHz RAM - 4 GB PC2-5300 (333 MHz) Graphics - Intel GMA 3100 (Q35 Express) Gaming Graphics - Intel GMA 3100 (Q35 Express) Primary HDD-Hitachi HDT725025VLA380 250 GB	6.1 5.9 2.3 3.2 5.4
Quark Automation Laptop Win 7 Pro x64	CPU - Core 2 Duo P8600 @ 2.40 GHz RAM - 4 GB PC2-5400 (400 MHz) Graphics - Intel GM45 Gaming Graphics - Intel GM45 Primary HDD - Seagate ST9320421ASG 320 GB	5.9 5.9 4.1 3.9 5.9
Don's Compaq dv6730 Laptop Win 7 Pro x64	CPU - Core 2 Duo P8400 @ 2.26 GHz RAM - 4 GB OCZ PC2-5300 (333 MHz) Graphics - ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3430 Gaming Graphics - ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3430 Primary HDD - Seagate ST9500420AS 500 GB	5.9 5.9 3.9 5.3 5.9
Laz's Old Desktop Win 7 Pro x64	CPU - Core 2 Duo E6600 @ 2.40 GHz RAM - 2+1 GB PC2-5300 (333 MHz) Graphics - ATI HD4890 Gaming Graphics - ATI HD4890 Primary HDD-Seagate ST350064 1NS 500 GB	5.8 5.8 7.7 7.7 5.4
Rod's HP Elitebook 2530p Win 7 Pro x86	CPU - Core 2 Duo L9600 @ 2.13 GHz RAM - 2 GB Hyundai PC2-6400 (400 MHz) Graphics - Intel Mobile 4 Series Chipset Gaming Graphics - Intel Mobile 4 Series Primary SSD - Intel SSDSA1M080G2HP 80 GB	5.6 5.5 3.5 3.3 7.7
Tony's Lenovo R61 Laptop Win 7 Ult x64	CPU - Core 2 Duo T7500 @ 2.20 GHz RAM - 4 GB PC2-5300 (333 MHz) Graphics - Intel Mobile 965 Express Gaming Graphics - Intel Mobile 965 Express Primary HDD - WD3200BJKT-00F4T0 320 GB	5.5 5.5 3.5 5.8 5.9
Nathan's Latitude D620 Win 7 Ult x86	CPU - Core 2 Duo T7200 @ 2.00 GHz RAM - 4 GB PC2-5300 (333 MHz) Graphics - nVidia Quadro NVS 110M Gaming Graphics - nVidia Quadro NVS 110M Primary HDD - Seagate ST9120823AS 120 GB	5.0 5.0 3.7 3.5 5.2
Rachael's Acer Aspire 5542G Win 7 HP x64	CPU - AMD Athlon Dual Core M300 2.00 GHz RAM - 4 GB Hyundai PC2-6400 (400 MHz) Graphics - ATI Mobility Radeon HD4570 Gaming Graphics - ATI Mobility Radeon HD4570 Primary HDD-WD WD50 00BEVT-22ZATO 500 GB	4.9 7.0 4.9 6.3 5.9
Catherine's Compaq Presario CQ61 Win 7 Pro x86	CPU - Celeron Dual Core T3100 @ 1.90 GHz RAM - Single 2 GB PC2-6400 (400 MHz) Graphics - nVidia GeForce Go 7300 Gaming Graphics - Mobile Intel 4 Series Express Primary HDD - WD WD2500BEKT-60V5T1 250 GB	4.8 4.8 3.2 3.3 5.9
Alan's Old Pentium-D Dell DXP051, 30s boot time Win 7 Pro x64	CPU - Pentium D @ 2.80 GHz RAM - 4*1 GB PC2-5300 (333 MHz) Graphics - nVidia GeForce GTX 460 Gaming Graphics - nVidia GeForce GTX 460 Primary SSD - Intel SSDSA2M160G2GC 160 GB	4.5 5.6 7.1 7.1 7.6
Andrew's Toshiba SatPro P100 Win 7 Pro x86	CPU - Core 2 Duo T5500 @ 1.66 GHz RAM - 2 GB PC2-5300 (333 MHz) Graphics - nVidia GeForce Go 7300 Gaming Graphics - nVidia GeForce Go 7300 Primary HDD - Fujitsu MHV2120BH PL 120 GB	4.5 4.5 3.6 3.4 4.5
Margaret's Acer Travelmate 8371 Win 7 Pro x86	CPU - Core Duo U9400 @ 1.40 GHz RAM - 4 GB Samsung PC3-8500F (533 MHz) Graphics - Intel 4 Series Express Gaming Graphics - Intel 4 Series Express Primary HDD - Hitachi HTS545032B9A300 320 GB	4.3 4.9 3.2 3.2 5.3
Hilton's M400 Tablet Win 7 Pro x86	CPU - Core Duo T2300E @ 1.66 GHz RAM - 4 GB PC2-5300 (333 MHz) Graphics - Intel 945 Gaming Graphics - Intel 945 Primary HDD - Hitachi HTS541080G9SA00 80 GB	4.1 4.7 3.6 3.2 4.3
Nathan's Dell Latitude 13 Win 7 Pro x86	CPU - Core 2 Duo U7300 @ 1.30 GHz RAM - 1*4 GB Samsung PC3-10700 (667 MHz) Graphics - Intel GS45 Mobile Series 4 Gaming Graphics - Intel GS45 Mobile Series 4 Primary HDD - Seagate ST9320423AS 320 GB	3.9 4.8 3.2 3.2 5.9
Pete's IBM T43 Laptop Win 7 Ent x86	CPU - Pentium M 1.86 GHz RAM - 1.5 GB PC2-4200 (266 MHz) Graphics - Intel 915GM Gaming Graphics - Intel 915GM Primary HDD - Hitachi HTS541040G9AT00 40 GB	3.6 4.4 1.9 1.0 4.4
Hilton's N570 Slate Win 7 Ultimate x86	CPU - Intel Atom N570 1.66 GHz RAM - 2 GB PC3-8500F (533 MHz) Graphics - Intel GMA 3150 Gaming Graphics - Intel GMA 3150 Primary SSD - KingSpec KSD-SMP.1-032MS 32GB	3.4 4.6 2.7 3.0 5.9
Hilton's M200 Tablet Win 7 Pro x86	CPU - Pentium M 1.60 GHz RAM - 2 GB Kingston PC2700 (166 MHz) Graphics - GeForce FX Go5200 Gaming Graphics - GeForce FX Go5200 Primary HDD - Seagate ST9808211A 80 GB	3.0 4.1 1.0 2.4 4.1
Pete's IBM T41 Laptop Win 7 Pro x86	CPU - Pentium M 1.60 GHz RAM - 2 GB Kingston PC2700 (166 MHz) Graphics - Standard VGA Gaming Graphics - Standard VGA Primary HDD - 7200 rpm	2.9 4.1 1.0 1.0 5.0
Andrew's HP Mini 5102 Win 7 Pro x86	CPU - Intel Atom N450 @ 1.66 GHz RAM - 1*2 GB DDR3 (SO-DIMM) Graphics - Mobile Intel GMA 3150 Gaming Graphics - Mobile Intel GMA 3150 Primary HDD - WD WD3200BEKT-60V5T1 320 GB	2.3 4.6 3.0 3.0 5.9
Nathan's Tega V2 Tablet (2 Touch Points) Win 7 Pro x86	CPU - Intel Atom N455 @ 1.66 GHz RAM - 1*2 GB Samsung PC3-10700 (667) DDR3 Graphics - Mobile Intel GMA 3150 Gaming Graphics - Mobile Intel GMA 3150 Primary SSD - SanDisk SSD P4 64GB	2.3 4.6 3.0 3.0 5.9
Mark's Tega V2 Tablet (2 Touch Points) Win 7 Pro x86	CPU - Intel Atom N455 @ 1.66 GHz RAM - 1*2 GB DDR3 (SO-DIMM) Graphics - Mobile Intel GMA 3150 Gaming Graphics - Mobile Intel GMA 3150 Primary SSD - SanDisk pSSD-S2 64GB	2.3 4.5 3.1 3.0 5.3
John's HP Mini 5101 Win 7 Pro x86	CPU - Intel Atom N280 @ 1.66 GHz RAM - 1*2 GB Samsung PC2-6400 (400 MHz) Graphics - Mobile Intel GMA 950 Gaming Graphics - Mobile Intel GMA 950 Primary HDD - Seagate ST9320423AS 320 GB	2.3 4.5 2.0 3.0 5.9
Gary's HP Mini 2140 Win 7 Pro x86	CPU - Intel Atom N270 @ 1.60 GHz RAM - 1*2 GB Samsung PC2-6400 (400 MHz) Graphics - Mobile Intel GMA 945 Gaming Graphics - Mobile Intel GMA 945 Primary HDD - Hitachi HTS543216L9A300 160 GB	2.2 4.5 2.1 3.0 5.2
HP 2133 Mini-Note PC Win 7 Pro x86	CPU - VIA C7-M 1.60 GHz RAM - 1*1 GB PC2-5300 (333 MHz) Graphics - VIA Chrome9 HC Gaming Graphics - VIA Chrome9 HC Primary HDD - Fujitsu MHZ2120BH G2 120 GB	1.5 3.9 2.0 3.0 5.2
Fujitsu Lifebook U1010 Tablet Win 7 Pro x86	CPU - Intel Atom 110 @ 800 MHz RAM - 1*1 GB DDR2 Graphics - Intel 945GMA Gaming Graphics - Intel 945GMA Primary HDD - Toshiba MK4009GAL 40 GB	1.5 3.9 1.0 3.0 3.7
Toshiba Satellite Pro 4600 Laptop Win 7 Ult x86	CPU - Pentium III E 900 MHz RAM - 1*512 MB PC133 (333 MHz) Graphics - Trident CyberBladeXP Gaming Graphics - Trident CyberBladeXP Primary HDD - Toshiba MK4026GAX 40 GB	1.3 1.5 1.0 1.0 4.3

SBS 2008, WDS and Computer Names

Just in case anyone hasn't played with Windows Deployment Services under SBS 2008 using Windows 7 as the deployment option, you can configure WDS on SBS 2008 and remotely deploy Windows 7 to your client desktops a lot faster than installing via DVD.  What will happen is that the computer name of the deployed system will be in the form of UserNamex where UserName is the name of the administrator account used to deploy the image and "x" is an incremental number for the images deployed under this user.

Once the image has been deployed, the computer is joined to the domain, saving the need to run the Connect Wizard.

Now, as this isn't normally the way we like to name systems (and most people seem not to do this either), we need to rename that deployed computer so that it fits in without preferred naming scheme.  So, on the computer all you need to do is go to My Computer\Properties and click on the "Change settings" link for the Computer name, domain and workgroup settings, change it to what you need, then reboot the computer when prompted.  This will change the computer name and update the record in AD so that the system is seen by SBS 2008 with the new name, allowing Updates and all other SBS Console functionality to work as it did had you installed the computer manually and then run the Connect Wizard.

Regards,

The Outspoken Wookie

Office 2010 To Ship June 2010

According to Betanews, Microsoft Office 2010 will ship in June 2010.

I really hope they get Outlook 2010 a *lot* more stable before then because right now, it is next to useless.

Regards,

The Outspoken Wookie

Microsoft BPOS for Australian Partners

Register Now for upcoming Microsoft Online Services Events!

To help you understand the opportunity and discover the right strategy for your business, we are reaching out via webinars and face to face events and plan to continue to run these next year. We’d like to connect the community around this compelling new business trend and provide a forum to share information, provide training and best practices.

Please make sure you register for these upcoming events:

Date	Event Type	Description	Location	Registration Links	Time
2nd December	Webinar	Kick Start Event for channel partners – de-mystifying Microsoft Online Services	Live Meeting	http://bit.ly/LiveMeetingLink (Login on the day via this link – live meeting link only)	2-3pm (AEDT)
9th December	Breakfast Event - Sydney	Community Breakfast – come together as a group to discuss face to face key topics around Online Services	Microsoft Office – Sydney Theatre 1 - 1 Epping Road North Ryde	http://bit.ly/Syd_BPOSevent	8:30 am (rego) – 10:30am
10th December	Breakfast Event - Brisbane	Community Breakfast – come together as a group to discuss face to face key topics around Online Services	Microsoft Office – Brisbane Theatre 2 - Level 9, Waterfront Place 1 Eagle Street Brisbane	http://bit.ly/Bris_BPOSevent	8:30 am (rego) – 10:30am
11th December	Breakfast Event - Melbourne	Community Breakfast – come together as a group to discuss face to face key topics around Online Services	Microsoft Office – Melbourne Exhibition Room - Level 5, 4 Freshwater Place Southbank	http://bit.ly/Melb_BPOSevent	8:30 am (rego) – 10:30am

Proposed Agenda for Community Events:

Time	Agenda
8:30am	Registration – light refreshments will be served
9:00 - 9:45am	Presentation Topics: Overview of Online Services key Features and upcoming roadmap Key Business Models, how to sell to customers and sell against Google Key Resources available to drive your S+S business Introducing Telstra – who are your main Telstra contacts and how they can help accelerate your business
9:45 – 10:30	General discussion and Q&A Break into table to discuss key issues

Check LinkedIn site for more information: http://www.linkedin.com/e/vgh/1898991 or contact me at ksaducas@microsoft.com.

We hope you can join us.

Regards,

The Outspoken Wookie