4 posts tagged “microsoft”

Ok so this is going to be completely unimformative and without spellcheck. You have been warned.

Why does Microsoft have to make everything so buried? I was talking to Wess today about this crap. I was working on a windows server and I couldnt for the life of me figure out what was wrong. I was getting the generic windows error messages that tells you absolutely nothing about what is wrong. So I enlisted the help of one of my pals, who is a windows guy, and it took him a while to find this stupid little check box that was buried so far in the window administrative tools that I would have never found it. It made me realize that I stick with Linux not because it is any better than windows, but because its easier. Yes, bieve what the elitists tell you, and oooh and awww at what your linux box can do bettr than your windows box can do, but at the end of the day, when I need to make a change to my linux box, I just go in the /etc directory and make my change. /etc/init.d/service restart and I'm done. Try that in a windows box. For Bill's sake, ! can't even remove a service without doing some crazy cmmand prompt windows call that usually breaks stuff.

All I am trying to say is, linux is easier, less obuscated, reliable, and handy to have around. Now like I said at the start of this rant, that is exactly what it is. I could be way off.

Security is the next part of my rant. All I want to say is: You loosers who have a million certs but dont have a lick of real security knowledge. GET OUT OF MY FIELD. Thank you and have a nice day. I would have used much harsher words, but my mom reads this blog now.

I know that I said this was going to be a security blog, but I figured I would continue on my rant on Vista after this happened.

Ok, so there I was...

I saw on Betanews.com a article on Vista Hardware Assessment Tool Addresses Upgrade Dilemmas by  Scott M. Fulton, III of Betanews, which toted of a Windows XP tool to check for hardware compatibility for Vista.

Curiosity got the best of me, so I downloaded it (25.5 MB). I simply wanted to see if my machine could handle Vista. Installation starts and tells me that it needs SQL Server 2005 Express and that it is going to download and install it for me. And I'm thinking (Oh great, my computer is now going to have an outdated Microsoft SQL server on my system. yay me!) I click ok, whatever. It downloads, then installs SQL Server 2005 Express, and starts to install "Windows Vista Hardware Assessment" (just a tangent, but shouldn't there be something like "tool" or "wizard" on the end of that?) and it gets to a certain point and stops for a bit. It continues after about 10 minutes. And then stops again at about 65%. At this point I need to go to bed and I do so. I wake up the next morning to be greeted with the following screen:

Vista Compatibilty

Yes it was still at around 65% and no my computer wasn't frozen. So I came to the conclusion that if I can't even install the "Assessment" then my computer isn't compatible. I also get the added treasure of a failed install of SQL Server 2005 Express. I wouldn't suggest this tool until it gets looked at again, or some third party makes the same tool without the need of a  \insert expletive here\  SQL Server.

P.S. Richmond has tried it's hand at WGA again. Check out my digg article here:
http://www.digg.com/tech_news/Windows_Genuine_Advantage_Part_2

Let me first start off by YES, surprisingly enough, there are highlights at a Microsoft event.

First off, the event's keynote was done by Bill Veghte. He is the

Corporate Vice President, North America

His profile page (http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/exec/veghte/default.mspx) was Published: February 1, 2004 | Updated: February 1, 2004. So, nothing new for 3 years. Go to go Bill. But enough Microsoft bashing. Here is some of the cool stuff:

Screenshot_flip_3d

Flip 3D allows you to "ALT-TAB" through windows and actually see the window you are looking for. If there is movement in that window, you will see it in Flip 3D. Yeah, cool this is alright, but it only works if you can run Areo, and at the moment. I can't.

Screenshot_productivity_instantsearch

This search bar allows you to quickly type what you want, hit enter and you're there. Think of AutoComplete, add in the ability to search inside documents, across attached storage, network shares, databases, programs, emails, and contacts just by pressing your windows key and starting typing. One word. Awesome.

002

This (I know you can barely see it) is the MS Office 2007 "Ribbon". It's quite the awesome piece of work. It automagically changes to suite what you are doing. No more looking around for options and buttons and settings. It's all at your fingertips and quickly displayed.







That's it for now. I have only hit 4 points on 3 pages of notes, so there will be much more to come. Stay tuned.

mubix

Well, I made it. I get to go to Launch Tour 2007. I will have a lot more about Windows Vista, Microsoft Office 2007 and Windows SharePoint 2007 as well. Just a couple things about the current talk I am currently in.

Windows Vista introduces:

• 2400 GPOs (+800 from XP / Win 2003)
• Policies are XML based which lends to third party updates and changes.
• Device restriction: (Which means you can disallow USB devices. You can get it granular as well, where you can allow USB keyboards, mouses, etc... But not USB flash drives. You can even get down to the level of exact device name. Such as USB\SanDisk1GB_ )
• This is not restricted to USB, this is all devices.
• With GPOs you can configure when your computers turn off the hard drives, and monitors. Even on desktops. This is a huge feature for large enterprises that die when the power bill comes in.
•