Little things usually cause people to make very drastic decisions, sometimes not because they want to, but mainly because they are driven by disgust. Take my experience with Windows Vista for instance. I just got a new computer that came preloaded with Windows Vista 64-bit Home Edition “Premium”. So far, so good. Of course, since the computer came with no productivity software, I had to shell out a few hundred bucks to buy those and install them. As a consultant, you have to know what you are supporting, so the Windows platform is a necessity especially since many business environments have the “Home” edition of Microsoft’s Operating System. I have been using Linux as my main desktop for some time now, and I recently installed Linux Mint 64-bit with OpenOffice 3, Evolution Mail, and about 75 other pieces of software for CRM, project management, network penetration testing, file encryption etc for $0. Naturally, I was probably a little testy with the Operating Sytem than most “regular” users – the ill-advised decision to remove the ability to disable your network adapter with a single right-click, for example, or the contant request for validation even to do relatively minor things.
A GMail Headache
For quite some time now, I have struggled to come to terms with the inability to do your regular sort on emails in my gmail inbox. Yes, I have heard of and read tomes about labels and filters and other nifty ways of fixing the sort problem but I still would love to have the … Read more
Reduce Stress with Faster Computer Boots
Have you ever found yourself talking to your computer urging it to “come on already”? If I had my way, working with a slow computer should be a form of torture. It does not help either that our newer computers are sometimes as slow as our lovely Pentium IIs with the never ending hourglass that … Read more
Cloud Services and Virtualization Benefit Small Businesses
The benefits and Pitfall of moving resources and infrastructure to the cloud, and the impact of service outages for the small business owner is a topic that is sometimes avoided by promoters of cloud services. The buzz right now is cloud services and a cursory read of the high-octane promotions paints a very rosy picture … Read more
Why Small Business Server?
In most of my blog posts and business consultations, I do not hide the fact that I encourage small business owners to consider the offerings from Open Source vendors over the solutions provided by proprietary products from Microsoft etc. However, I am also a realist and recognize that there are just a group of business … Read more
Brace Up for SBS 2008
The Microsoft Windows Small Business Server 2008 offers a lot of good things for the small business owner: solid Windows Server 2008 Operating System, Exchange Server 2007, Remote Access, email for mobile devices, seamless integration with Forefront Security for Exchange Server protection technologies and more. However, because it is inherently different from the previous versions, there is going to be a somewhat steep learning curve.