Enterprise Windows | J. Peter Bruzzese

Hopes for the future of Office 2007 collaboration

J. Peter Bruzzese — 2008-05-14T03:00:00-08:00

The new Office servers I've discussed in recent weeks are diverse, opening up a wealth of opportunities: online forms, anywhere/anytime collaboration, advanced presence detection and VoIP technology, project management solutions, business intelligence with digital dashboards, and high-caliber search abilities. Microsoft has certainly granted users several computing capabilities through the Office suite. There are, however, missing pieces and unfinished parts to these servers, though it's possible that the next releases will include more of what we need. On the collaboration side, let's take a look at three: Forms, Groove, and Communications. Forms Server, if you recall, is a slice of functionality... READ MORE

Tricks from the Vista masters

J. Peter Bruzzese — 2008-05-11T22:45:03-08:00

Did you know that roughly 400 tons of dirt, gravel, rock, and sand have to be searched to locate 1 carat of diamond? And that diamond, when located, must be cut by an expert and polished just right before being placed in a setting that complements it completely? Well, when searching for gems within an OS, it takes effort and creativity as well. Here are three Windows Vista "gems" that might make your workday a bit easier or assist you in administration. 1. Navigating through Shortcuts is a great way to increase productivity. The Windows key will bring up the... READ MORE

Microsoft Response Point: A phone system for the small business

J. Peter Bruzzese — 2008-05-11T22:31:57-08:00

Sometimes, small business seems to be neglected in many offerings that Microsoft provides. True, the Small Business Server is an attempt to fill those needs, and you may want to take note of the two 2008 items set for a release later this year. But at times, there is needless complexity in these solutions, and they show a lack of insight into the small-business world, in which companies need to focus on their core competencies, not the nitty-gritty of technology. So it was interesting to take note of a product that has some of the high-end features of Microsoft Unified... READ MORE

Microsoft's Enterprise Project suite isn't just for the enterprise

J. Peter Bruzzese — 2008-05-07T03:00:00-08:00

Keeping track of a project -- any project -- can be an overwhelming task, especially if you're dealing with multiple teams, various funding expenditures, and the ever-popular string of setbacks and delays that haunt projects. Microsoft has continued to roll out products to help take control of projects. In addition to unleashing the latest project flavor last year, Redmond ripped Project Server in two, creating Project Server 2007 and Project Portfolio Server 2007. Each offers complementary and useful features to help users organize and control the flow of a project. Both servers (with their client counterparts) are part of what... READ MORE

Microsoft and Yahoo: Stop the insanity!

J. Peter Bruzzese — 2008-05-05T09:44:10-08:00

The on-again, off-again purchase of Yahoo seems to have collapsed over the weekend with Microsoft walking away from the table and abandoning the deal. On February 1, in a dramatic announcement, Microsoft "made a proposal to the Yahoo board of directors to acquire Yahoo for $31 per share in cash and stock, representing a total equity value of approximately $44.6 billion (based on share prices as of January 31, 2008)." This represented initially a 62 percent premium above Yahoo's closing stock price on January 31. You can read Microsoft's official statement on the matter, as well as Steve Ballmer's letter... READ MORE

$25,000 question: Is the Microsoft Architecture credential worth the cost?

J. Peter Bruzzese — 2008-04-30T03:00:00-08:00

You've heard of a Microsoft Certified Professional. Perhaps at one time you've even dreamed of being a Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer (MCSE). You took one exam after another at a Microsoft testing center to reach this honored and prestigious pinnacle, then battled your way to prove to your employers (or future employers) that you had what it takes to administrate their Microsoft-oriented network. With the arrival of Windows Server 2008 comes a new lineup of exams -- and the end of a certification era. The MCSE status is no longer found in the lineup of possible acronyms one can add... READ MORE

An SP1 video spoof? Still funny though...

J. Peter Bruzzese — 2008-04-24T22:17:32-08:00

In scanning my favorite news/blog sites the other day, I came across this funny little video regarding Vista SP1 on Long Zheng's site. You can watch the video on YouTube. Is it real...? I don't know but someone went through an awful lot of effort to make a pretty decent replica of the Boss' Dancing in the Dark, right down to the inclusion of a Courtney Cox look-a-like dancing on stage with the 'Vista Street Band' (corny... I know). Even more surprising to me was the use of the term "Ecosystem" in the video and in the title. And shortly... READ MORE

Public folders for Exchange are here to stay (a while)

J. Peter Bruzzese — 2008-04-22T03:00:00-08:00

With the release of Exchange 2007, the Microsoft Exchange team posted a statement in its blog that caused some panic: "We are 'de-emphasizing' public folders -- which means that public folders may not be in our next major release after E12." That created a frenzy among some IT Exchange admins as they fretted over what they would do without those familiar, useful public folders. Further fueling those fears: Outlook 2007, unlike its predecessors, does not require public folders. This came off as another hint that Microsoft might be looking to force admins toward a new technology, SharePoint, before they're ready... READ MORE

Will the real SharePoint please stand up?

J. Peter Bruzzese — 2008-04-16T03:00:00-08:00

Many admins don't know it, but SharePoint has two distinct faces: one quite costly, the other free. The pricey version is Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007, or MOSS for short. The free one is called Windows SharePoint Services (WSS), currently at Version 3.0. I was somewhat in the dark regarding the differences between the two and just assumed that the free version would be lame in comparison with MOSS (which is built on WSS). However, I was schooled last week at the IT360 Conference in Toronto by C.A. Callahan, respected tech speaker and author of the book "Mastering Windows SharePoint... READ MORE

Calcs, iCalcs and Chml: Integrity Control in Windows

J. Peter Bruzzese — 2008-04-10T16:35:59-08:00

Last week, at the Moscone Center in San Francisco, I enjoyed the privilege of both attending and speaking at the TechMentor Conference, which focuses on the systems administrator or IT manager seeking real-world, in-depth technical training. While attending a session given by Mark Minasi, famous technology writer and speaker, I was quite impressed with a discussion on Windows Integrity Control and a cool new tool that Mark developed called Chml that is free to download from his site. Most admins understand ACLs but Windows Integrity Control lies above those and hence is more powerful. With ACLs we are looking at... READ MORE

Getting into the Groove, Part 2: Taking Groove in house

J. Peter Bruzzese — 2008-04-09T03:00:00-08:00

Enlisting an outside service to host your Groove 2007 server certainly has merit, as I discussed previously. But companies with the in-house expertise can reap benefits by running the server themselves. First, you gain greater control over managing the servers, controlling service levels, and handling security. Add to that the flexibility of how you set up your Groove servers, such as deploying them all in one datacenter or spreading them out. Finally, you can optimize your machines for behaviors on the network that only in-house experts know to expect. Essentially, there are three main components in the Groove Server hierarchy... READ MORE

A Windows user's first time with a Mac

J. Peter Bruzzese — 2008-04-03T03:00:00-08:00

I'm a longtime user of Windows, but I recently got a chance to test out a new iMac, courtesy of Apple. While I plan to remain a loyal user of Vista, I did find there was a lot to like about this machine. (As I wrote in another post, I'd even say it has enterprise potential.) The entire system feels like something out of "The Jetsons." Everything I plugged in -- printer, camera, USB keychain, network connection -- just worked, and it all worked immediately. Applications slide open so beautifully and smoothly that you smile just opening an app for... READ MORE

Is the Mac ready for the enterprise?

J. Peter Bruzzese — 2008-04-03T03:00:00-08:00

Not long ago, Apple sent me a beautiful new iMac to play with and test in the hopes I would "convert" to the Apple world -- or at least be more aware about what's happening there. For a Windows pro like myself (that is, the author of this Enterprise Windows blog and the book "Tricks of the Vista Masters"), it may be too late. But I sure am tempted after two weeks of playing with this system. I found plenty to like about the Mac platform, which you can read about right here. But there's a real question that's often... READ MORE

Centrify unites Group Policy and Mac (and more)

J. Peter Bruzzese — 2008-04-03T03:00:00-08:00

Suppose you're an IT admin at a Windows-centric shop, yet you want to bring Macs (or other non-Windows desktops) into the fold. Can you? Yes, Macs can be controlled mildly through an Apple server -- but you have an Active Directory domain using Group Policy. Rather than having to add a new server platform to your environment, you could turn to a company called Centrify. Centrify offers "comprehensive Active Directory-centric auditing, access control, and authentication for Unix, Linux and Mac systems and applications," as the company describes it wares. It's a mouthful, that's true, but it doesn't even come close... READ MORE

Getting into the Groove: mentioned on Microsoft blog site

J. Peter Bruzzese — 2008-03-27T13:01:36-08:00

With our discussion on Groove yesterday we caught the attention of Abbott Lowell, Senior Product Manager on the Office Groove Team, Microsoft Corporation. He complemented our review and also revised our thinking a bit on using a DataBridge server on-site. He wrote: "One small correction: It is possible to deploy Groove DataBridge on-site, while still using Groove Enterprise Services for the Manager and Relay components." "For example, an organization using Groove Enterprise Services might opt to deploy the DataBridge in house for its Archive Service (to create workspace archives). While the DataBridge is only available as an on-site server, the... READ MORE