Blueline Ramblings

A place where the Blueline staff posts thoughts on current technology trends, news, tech, gadgets, bugs, software, and security.

Mossberg on Window 7

Walt Mossberg of The Wallstreet Journal gives a positive review of Window 7. Mossberg, a noted fan of Apple's OS X, says that Windows 7 has closed the gap on OS X and has surpassed it in several areas.

Windows 7 is available to Microsoft volume customers and partners, and will become pubicly available on October 22, 2009.

Apple OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard has native MS Exchange support

Apple is releasing OS X 10.6 this Friday, 08-28-2009. This update is available only to Intel based Macs. The $29 upgrade contains several important updates, as Steve Jobs aims to stay ahead of Bill Gates, who is releasing Window 7 on October 1st.

Noteworthy, is native support for Microsoft Exchange Server in OS X "Mail" application. This is a welcome addition since many Macs are used in a business environment where Macs are used in a Windows Active Directory network, where MS Exchange is the platform for email, calendaring, and group collaboration.

MS Entourage in Office 2008 for Mac has disappointed users compared to the speedier and more full featured Outlook on a PC. A recent update to Entourage that dropped WedDav for HTTP connections seems to have done little for the speed issue. Maybe when Microsoft releases Office 2010 for the Mac, the included Outlook client will address these shortcomings. Until then, we're hopeful that Apple Mail in Snow Leopard will fill the bill.

08-07-2009 (Chris) Windows 7 finally available for Blueline internal use

Yesterday, we got access to the final code for Windows 7 (RTM build) through our Microsoft Gold Partner program. The staff will be installing Win7 on new Lenovo desktop PCs that we purchased in anticipation of the new OS. The official path for those of us who are running Win7 RC is to do a clean install, but there is a hack available on the web that allows for an upgrade from RC to RTM, although the upgrade is an unsupported configuration. If you are interested in more info about the Win7 launch schedule, and details, check out Paul Thurrot's Supersite for Windows.

We still really like Windows 7, and the promise for a solid, fast, and lighter weight Windows to move us forward. This should be the OS that gets companies to make the move from XP to a more robust operating system. New computers purchased now are eligible for a Win7 upgrade when it becomes generally available in October.

Contact Blueline at 704-542-1514 if you want to discuss plans for your Windows 7 deployment.

06-30-2009 - SonicWALL SSL-VPN 200 (Ron)

We have been testing out a VPN appliance from SonicWALL recently and to this point have been pleasantly surprised with the results. This device allows a simple, secure, clientless connection to be established to your internal network, enabling access to network shares directly from a web browser. No installation of software required. Browsers supported include Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari, and Opera. You can even connect to your company share from the Safari browser on an iPhone and view Microsoft Office documents (documents cannot be edited on the iPhone). Another nice feature is Active Directory integration, meaning no time wasted setting up user accounts on the device, you can simply use existing Active Directory accounts.

If more of a traditional VPN connection is required (to map network drives, run remote applications, print to network printers, etc), the appliance includes a lightweight application called NetExtender which can be automatically installed directly from your browser. No configuration is needed. NetExtender can run on Windows, Mac, or Linux. If you'd like to learn more, please contact us.

06-22-2009 - iPhone 3G S (Chris)

I've had my new iPhone for 3 days now. Coming from the 1st generation iPhone, the speed improvements are noticeable. I had upgraded to the 3.0 software on the old phone on Wednesday, so I had used some of the new features for a few days. Things like copy and paste, landscape mode email, voice notes and such. These are great improvements, and I keep finding other minor improvements like better call logging, and one-time login at Starbucks hot-spots, that make the whole iPhone experience even better. Now, the new phone has even more capabilities on the 3.0 firmware.

Camera - My favorite 3G S feature is the new 3 MP camera with auto focus, and video capability. Apple has again shown their ability to think creatively with focus being controlled by whatever you select on the tough screen. This is very intuitive, and core Apple (Steve Jobs) paradigm. I have much better cameras, but I am much more likely to use the iPhone since I always have it with me. Plus, I can upload pictures straight to Facebook, Picassa, or videos to Youtube without the hassle of syncing to my computer.
Faster hardware- The iPhone 3G S has a faster CPU (600 MHz vs. 412 MHz), more RAM, and a better graphics processor. This relates to faster application launch, web browsing, and ability to handle background (push) tasks.
Compass - The 3G S has a real compass to augment the GPS. That allows you to know which direction to start towards when using navigation tools, and for developers to build new augmented reality applications, like the ability to look through buildings using the iPhone with mapping software like Google Street View. I think this will be increasingly important as new apps are written.
Voice commands - Apple is late to the game in the voice control arena. It's about time to have voice control that allows users to dial the phone without looking at the screen (while driving). But again, Apple takes it to the next step, allowing you to control the iPod with commands like " play M-G-M-T " results in iPod playing your favorite band. Cool factor! This feature is only available on 3G S, but surely could be handled by the older phones.

Conclusion - If you are using some other phone, or an iPhone 1st Gen (2G), go to your nearest Apple or AT&T store and get hooked up. If you have the iPhone 3G, just upgrade to the 3.0 firmware unless you must have the above features (bullet list).

06-22-2009 Windows 7 (Chris)

Rumor has it that Microsoft will soon RTM (Release to Manufacturing) the Windows 7 (Win7) code. That means that no further changes will be made in the software prior to release. In fact, this may have already happened internally at Microsoft, since they have a period of internal testing that requires no more changes to the code (build). What that means to you and me, is that Windows 7 is close. Since we are a Microsoft Partner, we at Bluleine will get the RTM code as soon as Microsoft declares it "Gold".

We at Blueline have been testing the Window 7 software for several months, and it seems so good, in performance, stability, and published reviews that several staff members are using the RC (Release Candidate), which is publicly available, as their OS of choice, over both Vista and XP. We are happy with the slimmed down approach Microsoft is taking. We think they may have just gotten it right again. Hurray!

XP Mode - upper versions of Win7 will get the ability to run Windows XP in a virtual machine as a backstop for older non-compliant applications. I have found only one application that I've needed to run in XP Mode, that being my Charles Schwab, StreetSmart stock trading software. XP-Mode requires the CPU and chipset of the PC have virtualization capability. It's not that straight forward which Chips these are since some current Core2 Duo and Quad chips do NOT have the necessary capabilities. If you are planning on buying a new PC, make sure the CPU you choose has hardware virtualization capabilities.