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Geek Free Radio Show Starts Monday

After a lengthy process involving transmitter moves, tower relocations, land purchases, network installs, and other issues, the wait is finally over.

I am happy to report that KSET 1300 AM begins it's live broadcasting on Monday 12/21/2009! If you are in the Southeast Texas listening area, please tune in (and call in) to Geek Free Radio, hosted by yours truly, at 11:00AM CST, every weekday.

If you aren't in the listening area, you can still catch us at www.ksetlive.com where the show is streamed live 24hours a day.

I promise to keep it as "Geek Free" as possible. Just good solutions to computer issues experienced by you, with an emphasis placed on technology and how it can benefit the small business, which is the backbone of the American economy. Look for interviews with Antivirus companies, Microsoft, and other software vendors. Don't worry. I won't be easy on them either.
I'm honored to be the host of the show, and I'm looking forward to getting back on the radio. So check out the station anytime, and remember, it goes live on Monday. I'll do my best to answer your technology questions.

You can also check out the lineup at www.ksetlive.com We have some radio veterans on our team, including the infamous Jack Pieper from 2pm to 5pm every day. I know Jack is anxious to get back on the air as well.

Thanks for listening!

To Your Success,

Tim

The Best Compliment a Business Owner Can Get

In the course of taking calls today during the Geek Free Radio Show  I received one of the highest compliments a business owner can get. The caller to the show just called to tell me two things. First, he sincerely appreciated the solid advice I was offering to the listeners regarding watching what your children do not only on the Internet, but while they are playing with the seemingly infinite number of game consols available today. He was referencing the segment of the show where I discussed how parents may often keep up with what their kids do when it comes to surfing the Internet, but often overlook what is happening when kids are playing with the gaming consoles. Many, if not most of the modern consoles have the ability for the gamer to play online (the Internet) either with or against other players across the World. A pedophile was recently captured in the US stalking a 15 year old child whom he befriended while playing these games online. The caller stated he had never really thought of video games having that ability, and it was certainly something to watch out for. That is gratifying to know you can help people when it comes to technology in other ways than just offering advice for repairing computer issues.

Oh, and the second reason for his call? Well, the caller offered that he was a former client of mine from a previous business from the days many years ago when we offered Internet access to Southeast Texas. It was nice to hear him talk about how we always treated our customers in a professional and courteous manner. That was just the icing on the cake!

To your Success,

Tim

Verizon Drastically Drops Smartphone Pricing

Verizon's website is showing virtually every smartphone (with the exception of 2) has been reduced in price to $99 with a two year contract. 3 months ago, I paid $400 for my Touchpro! What could this mean? Has Verizon turned the corporate corner and decided to be nice to customers? I doubt it.

Most likely, this is a combination of two factors. First, this action is a late reaction to the $99 IPhone from AT&T. But more importantly, I would bet new phones offerings are just around the corner from Verizon. If you are looking to upgrade your phone/smartphone, now is a good time to get a good deal on the most current models available (I love my TouchPro). However, if want the absolute latest and greatest soon to be on the market, then you might want to wait it out for awhile, as more than likely we will see new models not previously released at Verizon appearing on the website and in Verizon stores soon.

Windows 7 Pricing Confirmed

New Excuse for "The Dog Ate My Homework"

Welcome to My Blog!

Welcome to my blog. I am passionate about technology. Especially when it comes to integrating technology with small and medium business. This is a highly connected world we live in. If business wants to survive, it must not only allow new technology, it must embrace it with gusto. To that end, I will post thoughts on the subject. Comments are welcome, although they may be subject to editing and/or exclusion at my discretion.  Thanks for reading!

MS Finally Gets It Right

Just back from Seattle (Microsoft's Headquarters) where we attended SMB Nation. This is the world's largest gathering of Microsoft Small Business Specialists. A tech with SBSC behind their name is certified on MS SBS 2003 Standard or Premium Edition. At this 4 day workshop, the best of the best debated, discussed and debunked Microsoft's newest offering in the smb arena, Small Business Server 2008.

SBS 2008 becomes available to the public on November 12, 2008 along with MS Essential Business Server, the bigger brother to SBS. This has been a long time coming, and is not just a pretty upgrade to the exsiting product, SBS 2003 R2. In fact, it is a major rewrite of the core operating system. SBS now joins the ranks of 64 bit operating systems.

What does this mean to you and me? More memory, for starters. SBS 2008 will now allow up to 32 gigabytes of RAM. Currently, SBS 2003 only supports up to 4GB, which is one of the biggest gripes about Small Business Server. After you load up a server with core server software, add in Internet Information Services (IIS), Sharepoint Portal (an internal website), Windows Software Update Server (WSUS), Internet Security and Acceleration Server (ISA), then finally load up MS SQL database, there's not much memory left to run things.

With SBS 2008 Premium comes a new way of doing things. Premium will come with TWO server licenses. One to run SBS 2008 and all that entails, and another Windows Server 2008 license you can install on separate hardware and run SQL database on. This, my friends, is wonderful news.

Stay tuned for more info regarding this.

To your success,

Tim

The Top 250? Boy, has this industry grown!

While doing my normal surf of the Internet blogs and sites relevant to our industry, I came across MSP Mentor, a website/blog for managed service providers. Lo and behold, it turns out I am on the MSP Mentors top 250 list of MSP CEO's. While it's an honor to be recognized, its even better when you find out some person nominated your name and accomplishments for you! The info below is straight from the mspmentor.net where the list resides, and describes how one gets on "the list".

To Your success,

Tim

So, what’s the difference between the MSPmentor 100 (unveiled each January) and the MSPmentor 250 (unveiled each July)? It’s simple: While the MSPmentor 100 focuses on the world’s most successful managed service provider businesses, the MSPmentor 250 focuses on the personalities you need to know across this industry. The MSPmentor 100 leverages fact-based metrics (annual MSP revenue growth, revenue per employee, revenue per managed device, etc.) but the MSPmentor 250 is driven purely by word of mouth and personal reputation.

Instead of looking for the obvious names, we pushed our readers to identify the hidden leaders driving managed services and software as a service (SaaS). A prime example: You likely know about the MSP and SaaS initiatives under way at Amazon.com, Cisco, Dell, Google and Microsoft. But do you know the key internal executives who are driving those strategies? You will — once you dive into the MSPmentor 250.

Equally important: The MSPmentor 250 isn’t reserved for Global 2000 companies. Hundreds of executives representing regional MSPs and SaaS startups are also on the list.

Free? The Price is Certainly Right!

One of my favorite sites is Giveawayoftheday.com For those who've never heard of it, every day they feature a new software that the vendor has agreed to "give away" for a 24 hour period. This is not shareware or crippled software. It is the full-blown version of whatever product is being given away. Granted you won't find Microsoft Vista Business or anything like that here, but I have downloaded many usefull programs from the site. I've also downloaded some not so good programs. I like to look in mid-afternoon at the site after many have already downloaded whatever is being offered. Users will report back on the site with their findings and a running tally marked in percentages is kept as to whether the software is "good" or "bad" Check it out, you may just find what you're looking for. At least the price is right!

To your success,

Tim

Microsoft Finally Gets it....Partially Right

In one of my previous posts, I talked about Microsoft Small Business Server 2008 Premium Edition and how this product will now ship with the Small Business Server software, and an additional license of Windows 2008 Server. This will allow the owner to actually run a second server in addition to the Small Business Server. The new licensing also allows the owner to install SQL Server database onto the second server, in order to run company line of business (LOB) software on the additional server. This will allow for much better performance. Current versions only ship with one server license, and you cannot install any part of the package on a second server.

One of the big problems we Small Business Certified Partners saw was that under the original proposed licensing changes, SBS 2008 was only going to ship with SQL 2008. The problem was that most current LOB software packages are just now compatible with SQL version 2005. While the LOB software will more than likely run on the 2008 version of SQL, owners with support agreements for their respective LOB software packages would lose support as the software vendors will not support their software on the newer version of SQL.

The partners(like us) complained loudly enough that Microsoft decided to ship SBS 2008 Premium with both version 2005 and version 2008 of SQL Server. The license would allow for ONE version of SQL to be run. However, they stipulated that if you chose to downgrade to SQL 2005 you would only be allowed to do so until approximately Nov. 2009. After that time, if your software vendor still did not support SQL 2008, your only logical choice of action would be to downgrade the entire system back to SBS 2003, which is no easy feat.

Which leads me to the final answer, which is copied below and comes from Eric Ligman of Microsoft. Eric has headed up the Microsoft Small Business Specialist program, and he is the only person I know that can explain the Microsoft licensing program, usually off the top of his head. The short answer is, if you have already purchased, or choose to purchase SBS 2008 premium within a very short (and getting shorter) time period, you will be allowed to run either version of SQL for as long as you want without a downgrade. If I haven't lost you by now, you will probably want to read Eric's explanation below.

To Your Success,

Tim

Last weekend at SMB Nation, one of the most asked questions was, “If my clients buy SBS 2008 Premium, what version of SQL can they use?” This followed my earlier post, “Is Small Business Server (SBS) 2008 Premium going to ship with SQL 2005 or SQL 2008?” This question was even discussed in great depth during Jeff Middleton’s party where Susan Bradley, Kevin Beares, Dean Paron, and I had a nice long conversation about the various possibilities, all leading to the final outcome where I promised to find out the definitive answer to the question and post it here for everyone. As such, here you go:

Components of SBS cannot be downgraded independently. If you choose to downgrade one component, you must downgrade the entire suite. Because Microsoft recognizes that line-of-business applications may experience compatibility issues moving from one version to the next, for approximately one year from the SBS 2008 Release to Manufacturing (RTM) date, we will ship SQL Server 2005 Standard Edition (both 32 and 64-bit platforms) in addition to the SQL Server 2008 Standard Edition for Small Business with SBS 2008 for the customer’s use in order to address these potential issues.

Customers who receive SQL Server 2005 Standard Edition for Small Business with their SBS 2008 Premium can choose to run SQL Server 2005 Standard Edition instead of SQL Server 2008 Standard Edition with their SBS 2008 Server Premium Edition without having to downgrade their SBS 2008 suite.

Once we stop shipping both versions of SQL Server with SBS 2008 Premium, customers are restricted from downgrading just the SQL Server component.

Customers who received SQL Server 2005 Standard Edition with their SBS 2008 Premium can continue to use it after the shipping period ends, but they may not use both SQL Server 2005 Standard Edition and SQL Server 2008 Standard Edition for Small Business simultaneously. If they choose to continue using SQL Server 2005 after the shipping period ends, they can later choose to install SQL Server 2008 Standard Edition for Small Business instead of SQL Server 2005 Standard Edition.

Customers who do not receive both versions of SQL Server (2005 and 2008) Standard Edition with their SBS 2008 Premium Server license (included for approximately one year from the SBS 2008 Release to Manufacturing (RTM) date) do not receive the rights listed above to run SQL Server 2005 Standard Edition with their SBS 2008 Premium Edition. If they choose to run SQL Server 2005 Standard Edition, they will need to downgrade their entire SBS Premium Edition to SBS 2003 R2 Premium in order to do so.

We will be updating the SBS Downgrade FAQs page shortly with these updated clarifications to help ensure everyone fully understands what version of SQL Server they can and cannot run with their SBS 2008 Premium Server license.

Thank you to everyone for your patience while we worked to get you these clarifications on this issue.

Thank you and have a wonderful day,

Eric Ligman Non-Managed Partner CPE LeadMicrosoft Worldwide Partner Group

How about a Phone System for the Little Guy?

Microsoft released its entry into the smb telephone marketplace about 9 months ago. Responsepoint is the first affordable telephone system that runs on your own computer network, integrates with Microsoft Small Business Server, and has a simplified form of Unified Messaging. It also integrates with your Outlook Contacts, so when one of your contacts calls, it pops up on your screen with the contact's information.

But here's the best part: When you are ready to make a call to one of those contacts, you simply press the Responsepoint blue button on the unit (we like to call it the Magic button) and simply speak the name of your contact. Voila, the phone dials your contact for you!

I have been using this system in our office for over 6 months now, and I have to say, I fired my telephone guy. It's just too easy to configure yourself. Automated attendant, voicemail, no answer call forward, voicemail conversion to email, it's got it all! If you want to know more, there is more info here.

To your success,

Tim

Are you a PC?

Last month I told you I was in Seattle mixing with the SMB partners and Microsoft types. While there, Microsoft VP Cindy Bates shared with us the new "I'm a pc" advertising campaign. Microsoft has put together a site where visitors can view and even create their own "I'm a pc" commercial. I must admit, we "pc" types are a very creative lot. Click here to see some of the "I'm a pc" uploads, and hey, if you want to make one of your own, I won't tell! You might just find mine if you look hard enough!

To your success,

Tim

Need a Company Logo, But Can't Afford It?

The other day I ran into a post on a forum I frequent. The poster was asking what the other small business owners did in regards to having a logo created. One of the answers was to utilize the power of the web.

99 Designs is a website created for the mutual benifit for all parties. It brings the designers of the World in contact with small, medium, and for that matter, Fortune 100 companies. For a fee of $39 dollars (or credits as they call them) anyone can start a contest, describe what you are looking for in a logo, a website, business card, letterhead, etc., post a prize amount, then sit back and watch the magic happen! 99 Designs uses the power of "crowdsourcing" to get maximum imput for your design.

What is crowdsourcing you ask? It's the power of sourcing skills, in this case design skills, from a group of people. In this instance, the group of people who are members of 99 Designs. Contests run for 7 days (or shorter if you find what you want and award the prize sooner), then you choose the best design, pay the designer, get the copyright, and you have a new logo!

I used 99 Designs to design a new company logo for my company, Networthy Systems. I had hundreds of submissions. One tidbit of advice: if you truly want designers to participate, you need to continously rank the designs, and leave lots of feedback for each designer. They like feedback, good AND bad. If you don't like the design, tell them!

I got a wonderful logo for $325.00 US. I had a hard time choosing between some of them, so I offered a lesser amount to some of the runner-ups, and secured those logos as well.

So, if you need a new look for your company, but can't afford thousands of dollars, give 99Designs a try. I think you will be pleasantly surprised!

To your Success,

Tim

Phone System - Part 2

Last week in "How About a Phone System for the Little Guy" I talked about Microsoft Responsepoint, the new Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP) phone system for small and medium business. It has the blue Responsepoint button that, when pushed, responds to your voice commands. It also has a built-in auto attendant, voicemail capabilities, and even the ability to convert your voicemails automatically to emails to send to your email account.

What I didn't tell you at the time was that this system has the ability to accept regular telephone lines (POTS) or VOIP inbound lines. By signing up with various VOIP carriers, you can keep your existing telephone numbers, and send both your inbound and outbound phone calls over your business internet connection. This allows you to save bundles of money on long distance charges, among other things. Now, you may have tried VOIP calls in the past, or even used it on your pc. But this is not the old voip. This is business class service. I've been using it in my business for all phone operations for the last nine months. The trick is you have to find the right carrier.

My carrier of choice is New Global Telecom. NGT does voip right, by installing a special router at your business location to make sure the phone traffic is routed correctly overy your internet connection. They constantly monitor the connection, and can even forward the calls automatically to another number (your cell phone, for example) if your internet connection ges down.

If you want to save money on your long distance phone bill, and have all the features of a business class phone system, without the huge expense, Response Point and NGT may be for you.

To your success,

Tim

If Operating Systems were Airlines

Since I have strong ties to the airline industry (those who know me know why) I found this little bit of humor all too true. Enjoy!

To your success,

Tim

DOS AIR All the passengers go out onto the runway, grab hold of the plane, push it until it gets in the air, hop on, jump off when it hits the ground again. Then they grab the plane again, push it back into the air, hop on, etcetera.

WINDOWS '95 AIRLINES The terminal is very neat and clean, the attendants are all very attractive and the pilots very capable. The fleet is immense. After your plane arrives 6 months late, you begin to wonder why it has not arrived yet. Your jet takes off without a hitch, pushing above the clouds, and at 20,000 feet it crashes without warning.

MAC AIRWAYS The cashiers, flight attendants, and pilots all look the same, feel the same and act the same. When asked questions about the flight they reply that you don't want to know, don't need to know, and would you please return to your seat and watch the movie.

OS/2 SKYWAYS The terminal is almost empty, with only a few prospective passengers milling about. Airline personnel walk around, apologising profusely to customers in hushed voices, pointing from time to time to the sleek, powerful jets outside the terminal on the field. They tell each passenger how good the real flight will be on these new jets and how much safer it will be than Windows Airlines, but that they will have to wait a little longer for the technicians to finish the flight systems.

FLY WINDOWS NT All the passengers carry their seats out onto the tarmac, placing the chairs in the outline of a plane. They all sit down, flap their arms and make jet swooshing sounds as if they are flying.

WINGS of AS/400 The airline has bought ancient DC-3s, arguably the best and safest planes that ever flew and painted "747" on their tails to make them look as if they are fast. The flight attendants, of course, attend to your every need, though the drinks cost $15 a pop. Stupid questions cost $230 per hour, unless you have SupportLine, which requires a first class ticket and membership in the frequent flyer club.

VMS AIRLINES The passengers all gather in the hanger, watching hundreds of technicians check the flight systems on this immense, luxury aircraft. This plane has at least 10 engines and seats over 1,000 passengers. All the passengers scramble aboard, as do the necessary complement of 200 technicians. The pilot takes his place up in the glass cockpit. He guns the engines, only to realise that the plane is too big to get through the hangar doors!

UNIX EXPRESS Each passenger brings a piece of the airplane and a box of tools to the airport. They gather on the tarmac, arguing constantly about what kind of plane they want to build and how to put it together. Eventually, they build several different aircraft, but give them all the same name. Some passengers actually reach their destinations. All passengers believe they got there.

Can't Install Adobe Reader

Are you running Vista and can't get Adobe Reader to install? Well you aren't alone. It was recently listed as one of the top complaints regarding Vista. Fortunately, we have an answer to the issue. Actually, two answers!

First, unless you logged right into the administrator account, or you are a power user and have turned off User Access Control (UAC) you will need to turn it back on, then install Adobe. I would then recommend you leave UAC on for normal operations. To do this, go to Control Panel, click on User accounts, then click on the setting to turn UAC on. Restart your computer, then install Adobe.

If that doesn't work, or UAC was NOT turned off, then you can install Adobe in Windows XP compatibility mode. Browse to the folder where you placed the Adobe installer file. Right click it, and select the compatibility tab. Check "run this program in compatibility mode" then select Windows XP in the list. Adobe should then install.

To your success,

Tim

Will Your Network Handle the Time Change?

This following is from one of the many technical blogs that we follow. It is worth reading in regards to Daylight Savings time. The change comes at a different time than normal again this year. Not all computers can cope with it.

To your Success,

Tim

Daylight Savings Time for 2008 will end this weekend on Sunday, November 2nd. This is a reminder to those who have not applied their DST patches to the SBS 2003 network to do so as soon as possible. Common issues that are fixed by these patches include:

1. Calendar items and appointments in Outlook are off by an hour

2. Timestamps in OWA are off by an hour

3. Time skews between patched and un-patched machines

4. Date and Time fields are off by an hour in Sharepoint

5. SQL Server notifications are delayed

For the full list of updates that are applicable to the SBS 2003 environment please visit:

http://blogs.technet.com/sbs/archive/2007/02/13/extended-daylight-saving-time-sbs-2003-and-you.aspx

There are several methods to check for these updates, including:

1. Use the official Microsoft Daylight Savings Time Help Center at http://support.microsoft.com/gp/cp_dst

2. Run the SBS 2003 Best Practices Analyzer from http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=3874527A-DE19-49BB-800F-352F3B6F2922&displaylang=en

3. To check the OS only (client or server) run the "w32tm /tz" command.

If you have any further questions on DST and the DST changes please see: http://support.microsoft.com/gp/cp_dst

How to check the timezone setting using "w32tm /tz":

The output will look like this for the Central timezone on a patched machine:

Time zone: Current:TIME_ZONE_ID_DAYLIGHT Bias: 360min (UTC=LocalTime+Bias)

[Standard Name:"Central Standard Time" Bias:0min Date:(M:11 D:1 DoW:0)]

[Daylight Name:"Central Daylight Time" Bias:-60min Date:(M:3 D:2 DoW:0)]

What you want to look for is M:11, this translates to “Month 11: November” for start of Standard Time. (M:3 which is “Month 3: March” for start of Daylight Standard Time.)

An unpatched machine will show the following: Time zone:

Current:TIME_ZONE_ID_STANDARD Bias: 360min (UTC=LocalTime+Bias)

[Standard Name:"Central Standard Time" Bias:0min Date:(M:10 D:5 DoW:0)]

[Daylight Name:"Central Daylight Time" Bias:-60min Date:(M:4 D:1 DoW:0)]

A patched machine that does not have "Automatically adjust clock for daylight saving changes" set will show:

Time zone: Current:TIME_ZONE_ID_DAYLIGHT Bias: 360min (UTC=LocalTime+Bias)

[Standard Name:"Central Standard Time" Bias:0min Date:(M:11 D:1 DoW:0)]

[Daylight Name:"Central Standard Time" Bias:0min Date:(M:11 D:1 DoW:0)]

What a Connected World We Live In

You have to be careful what you say nowadays. A case in point revolves around a post I recently made on a blog that tracks the industry my company is in. I was commenting on the site about a particular business model we use and how it has simplified our billing, etc. Another poster asked me what software we used to track some specifics. I replied back with the name of the software, but added a caveat that we were in the middle of implementing a different solution.

Wow! You would think it was a presidential press release! Within 12 hours, I had 2 phone calls, and several emails from upper level vice presidents of the company we were dropping. And this company has over 20,000 users (I'm told).

There are a few interesting lessons to be learned here, I think. First, if you don't want anyone to know what you are doing, don't email or post anything regarding the information you are trying to keep from the public. While this particular information regarding our software change is by no means top secret, I really didn't need this particular interuption from our business of providing excellent customer service. Secondly, you never know where your comments will end up, no matter how benign they may seem. A few little comments started a firestorm from upper level management in a company much larger than mine.

So, the moral is, don't post anything you don't want known. ANYWHERE. Social networking performs at the speed of the Internet.

To your success,

Tim

WiFi On the Plane?

It looks like WiFi is finally available while you are on your flight. American Airlines has been testing a new WiFi service from GoGoInflight which allows you to get high speed Internet access (for a fee, of course) while you are cruising at 30,000 feet. From most reports I have read, the service works well, and is fairly reliable. So, now you can send and receive those emails, download that important presentation you forgot to bring with you, or just surf the web.

The service is priced at $12.95 for now. No reports on whether the connection will slow down if more users login on the same flight. It will be interesting to see if only higher level executives utilize the service to work while enroute, or if companies will now expect employees to get more work done while they are getting paid to travel. I expect other airlines to quickly follow suit.

Let me know what your thoughts are on this. Should employees be reasonably expected to work while flying on company business now? Do you see it as an intrusion on the other passengers?

To your success,

Tim