Does Microsoft Have Something Cheaper Than SBS up their sleeve?

Apparently Microsoft is tired of loosing SMALL business server deals to Linux. This would mean some serious comptetion to SBS come Longhorn's time frame.

Time will Tell!!

Wait The Audiovox is Getting an Update

Today Susan posts she is loaning out her Audiovox. Apparently someone in the office is in the market for a new phone. Susan advises them to consider hers first. She goes on to recommend standardizing on one or two hardware units. This is like everyone having the same hardware laptop. We can all switch out cd-trays, batteries and power cables. The same is needed when y0u consider cell phones or actually portable devices. I would call Susan's attention to potentially the first Audiovox with WM5. That would be the SPV600 in the UK. According to MSmobiles the SPV600 in the UK is without Wi-fi. He speculates as to rather the same will be true in the States. I have been awaiting the WM5 version of the Audiovox. I recall somewhere I read late November.

Which phone is correct for you? If you need to stay in touch and informed, the Audiovox is great. If you need to stay in touch and send more than yes and no respones, then you my want to get the larger handset with qwerty keyboards. I personally like the Q over the windows version of the Treo. Why? Price of course, the Q is going to stay in between the phone form factors $299 or less and the PC form factors of $499 or more. The Q is $349 in the states. Sorry can't seem to find the actual link. Look for updates later.

UPDATE! The new Audiovox/HTC 2125 should be on the market today. According to Engadget the phone hits Nov 18.

First Cisco and 2nd Microsoft

Wow! first Cisco pays $6.9 Billion for Scientific Atlanta. Next Microsoft strikes deal with a cable television consortium. Microsoft will have the Media Center PCs with digital cable cards. News.com has all the Cisco info and Bink has the Microsoft details. Looks like 2 of the 3 most profitable tech companies of the last decade are going after the home entertainment vertical. Will Cisco and Microsoft upstage Apple in the consumer entertainment industry? Intel, the third leg of this trio, has money on both sides of the equation. They should have out the first Intel Macs come Jan 06.

Vlad Says Susan is alive

I like others have noticed the downtime over at msmvps.com. Apparently Susan and others or migrating to a new box. Maybe we will get a great big post from Susan detailing the lessons learned. Learning from others is much cheaper. I see Vlad has been assisting.

Preparing for the 70.282 Exam

Are you preparing for the 70-282 exam? If so you need to know that the OEM guys at Microsoft are offerring great FREE web based training. These webcasts are much better than the other typical webcasts over on MSreadiness. The content is very appropriate and Sterling Jones has been doing a great job. You can find his MSFT Study Group here.

Firewall Training

Have you been looking for some training on the ISA 2004 firewall? I just found a new SBS blog, the "SBSDisciple." This SBS consultant has a link to training on ISA 2004.

Please visit Matthew and thank him for the Contribution.

Zero Patch Day Coming to a Tuesday Near You

I spend many of the weekends patching my clients systems. Microsoft releases the notification on Friday. They deliver the patch the 2nd Tuesday of the month. I monitor the Blogs and Newsgroups. Friday I have the weekend mapped to deploy the critical patches. I usually don't do the non-critical patches until the following Wednesday. This allows me time to monitor the Blogs and Newsgroups, as well as test the patches in my testing lab. According to this article on News.com, others are expecting a zero day patch.

Notice the shrinking window!

"Clip from the article"

Every 19 days, half of all the critical vulnerabilities are currently dealt with, either via a patch, a workaround or another security solution, according to Eschelbeck. That compares with 21 days a year ago and 30 days two years ago, he said.

SBS Longhorn 64bit only

Vladville - Vlad Mazek's IT Blog

Heeellllooo cougar will be 64 bit only! Power to SBS!

Microsoft Removes the Hostage Gun!!

great news! according to bink we are now getting storage server tools back in the hands of the users...no more gun to the temple hostage holding by the oems.

Inside SBS #8 is Alive

Inside SBS #8 as hit the network. This is a great way to learn SBS in the real world. I have been pointing many of my associates to give it a listen. Lots of practical advice. Thanks for the continued effort. I look forward to the December show.

I have just finished listening to show #7. Great job communicating valuable information. I especially liked the concept of disconnecting clients from exchange until all is ready. The thought of all those panic attacks as the OST file empties before the end user eyes was quite easy to visualize.

UPDATE!
Inside SBS #8 mentions they are averaging 700-800 downloads. But Vlad's SBSshow is well in the thousands. I thought Inside SBS said the # was 11,000. Could that be?

Syndication As Been Added

I just added a syndication button to the lower rightside. Look for frequent updates to my layout and settings.