Microsoft Windows

Linux E-Mail Client

List of email clients for Linux.

 http://www.ubuntugeek.com/list-of-email-…

New Procurve Gigabit Switch

The HP Procurve 2510 offers performance and management at a low cost.

 http://www.hp.com/rnd/products/switches/…

Microsoft Supports Other HyperVisors

Microsoft has changed their licensing so that they are more “friendly” to competing hypervisor products. This also extends to their support of their products on other hyper-v platforms which currently are Xen, VMWare and Novell’s virtualization product.

While they are supporting several additional virtualization platforms they are not extending this level of support to all of their products. For a complete list and the press release see the links below.

Links
List of Supported Products
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/957006

Microsoft Press Release
http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2008/aug08/08-19EasyPathPR.mspx

Microsoft Support Article
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=897615

One-Stop Virtualization Shop

In the virtualization market there are a number of players. There is Citrix Xen Server, Microsoft Hyper-V and VMWare server on the bar-metal and OS virtualization side of things. But on there is also application virtualization of applications with Microsoft’s Soft-Grid and virtualization of desktops with VMWare’s VDI.

Wouldn’t it be nice if there was one place that you could go to discuss all of these technologies. Review the information in a website that wasn’t trying to sell you anything or support a particular bias. There is a new website just launched that endeavors to do just that. The website is very new so the information that it has right now will be sparse but the catalog of information that it will retain will soon be quite formidable.

If you have questions or even if you have answers about virtualization of any kind check it out here.

XP Still Out-Selling Vista

Windows Vista has been out for over a year now. If an operating system is going to make any head-way in the IT industry it needs to happen soon after the release. While there is a slim chance the OS could a late bloomer that is pretty unlikely given it current state. So much so that people will buy Vista only to install XP after the fact (see link below). In a few recent articles Windows XP is still outselling Windows Vista.

Vista is one of those operating systems where people aren’t totally sure where they want to fall or what side they want to be on. On the one hand I truly believe that people are ready for and want a new operating system but on the other hand they see too many people and companies who have been burned by the Windows Vista OS. Most people are still in the wait-and-see state which isn’t good for this OS because it is ends up giving it a bad name. What have you found in your workplace?

Links

Information on doing the downgrade yourself
http://itknowledgeexchange.techtarget.com/it-consultant/windows-vista-to-windows-xp-downgrade-driver-woes/

Good start place
http://www.infopackets.com/news/business/microsoft/2008/20080801_windows_xp_still_outselling_windows_vista.htm

Vista to XP Downgrade Report
http://www.informationweek.com/news/windows/operatingsystems/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=209800372

Vista Security By-Passed

The fact that Windows Vista’s security has been by-passed isn’t new it bears repeating enough to make sure that everyone has heard this. Basically the security in Windows’s Vista and Windows Server 2008 that was supposed to make the new operating system more secure than any previous operating systems from Microsoft hasn’t helped them. At the Black Hat conference that is going on two guys, one from IBM and one from VMWare, found a way to

It seems that their attempts have only made the situation worse, since from what I can tell, the vulnerability is easy to create, hard to stop and could become a plague overnight. Here are some links to help you sort out the topic for yourself.

Links
TechTarget with some really nice info
http://searchsecurity.techtarget.com/news/article/0,289142,sid14_gci1324395,00.html?track=NL-105&ad=655332&asrc=EM_USC_4197765&uid=27092

More technical and more in-depth
http://www.linuxtoday.com/news_story.php3?ltsn=2008-08-08-031-35-PS

Self-Service Password Management SharePoint Webpart

Allows users to manage their passwords via SharePoint.

The Dot Net Factory

Additional Remote Access App

There are several remote access applications out there. LogMeIn is one that has been around of a while but is worth looking at nonetheless.

LogMeIn

Lightweight Remote Troubleshooting Tool

We all need to troubleshoot remote computers/servers from time to time. While there are a wide number of remote troubleshooting tools out there most of them require the installation of an ActiveX control or an EXE that you have to download and install. The heavy weight applications abound but the light weight ones are far and few.

Inletex is small company that produces a little known product that requires that the remote client/computer/server download a small file and run it. The remote user enters a code which is given to them by controller. This method allows the controller (you in most cases) to have several sessions and distinguish them apart. The controlled is given back control at the end of the session.

If you are looking for a lightweight remote application give Inletex’s ERC client a try.

Are you ready for Microsoft Hyper-V

Virtualization is popular these days for obvious reasons. Who wants to purchase more hardware then they need? Microsoft’s offering into the virtualization market is their Hyper-V solution. They have recently released the “Microsoft Assessment and Planning Toolkit 3.1 for Hyper-V”. An article from Technet on the topic can be found here.