Microsoft Office 2007: Coexistence with Office 2003

If you are one of the many who are not yet ready or are intimidated by the new user interface of Microsoft Office 2007, then there is no need to worry. Although Microsoft does not recommend the installation of multiple versions of their Office suite on a single computer, they do provide some guidelines to minimize possible problems; that is, software conflicts from occuring.

Microsoft has posted an article for those who are unwilling to uninstall their previous version of Office, most likely Office 2003, but who might be interested getting familiar with the product. You can read the Knowledge Base article in its entirety at the following address: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/928091

Windows Vista: Switch Users

Recently, I have been experimenting with Windows Vista some more and I found out that you can have login in with multiple user accounts at the same time. You can login to one domain, then use a different user account to login to a different domain or use a local user account to login to the computer. This feature makes it very easy for System Administrators to troubleshoot many problems. Although Windows XP had a similar built-in feature it did not provide a way for multiple users in a domain to login at the same time; much like Windows Server 2003 allows you to do. So it does not compare well to the way Windows Vista handles multiple users. Windows Vista in a way functions kind of like server edition of the OS.

Windows Vista: Clean Install

After evaluating Windows Vista for about two months on an hp business class pc, today, I finally installed it on my hp workstation xw6200. Now, I can appreciate Aero. However, after comparing the difference between a high-end workstation and a so and so business class desktop, I would recommend that unless you are in the mood to purchase a new pc, then you should just wait before buying the OS. Once Microsoft has released their first Service Pack (SP1) and computer manufacturers have had enough time to release new drivers for existing devices, then and only then should you bother with the new operating system. Otherwise, it is simply Windows XP with a different Theme that requires more RAM and hard drive space. Not to mention the average user may get a bit frustrated with how things now look or files and folders are now located.

VMware: Physical to Virtual

Today, VMware released a tool that makes the process of migrating an existing physical machine to a virtual machine really easy. The tool is called VMware Converter 3.0 and I tried it on a system with 500 GB of hard drive space partitioned into two drives. The system has two 64-bit Intel® Xeon™ processors with Hyper-Threading Technology running at 3.2 GHz with 2 MB L2 cache and an 800 MHz Front Side Bus. Windows XP Professional had been previously installed with approximately 4.0 GB of RAM available. The entire process of performing a live migration of the system with approximately 25 GB of data took about 1 hour and 15 minutes. I even had the option of renaming the computer and resizing the primary partition. I will soon post more information about the procedure on www.novelimage.net

Apple: Consumer Electronics

Today, my brother arrived home with a 42" Toshiba REGZA Premium High Definition LCD TV in the rear seat of his vehicle. It seems that he is no longer pleased with his four year-old 55" Mitsubishi rear projection HD Ready television set. As I helped him unload and then setup the new TV in his bedroom I couldn't help but to think about another company. A company that has previously only been associated with making their own software to run on their own hardware. A company that was previously known to control a niche market in the global computer business, but now has a commanding stake in the music player business. A company that has recently changed its own name to flow with the changing times. A company that will soon have a major influence in the consumer electronic marketplace. As you may have heard Apple Computer, Inc. is now known as Apple, Inc.

The company has made it clear that they no longer are solely interested with supplying consumers with only computers and iPods. The company has now introduced what many believe will heavily influence the next generation of mobile devices. As traditional rivals have broken from their owns comfort zones to introduce next generation gaming consoles and video players, Apple now has a vested interest in securing its own place in consumer electronics.

Apple is now seeking to expand beyond the computer business as well. They have taken some steps to capitalize on the iPod's success by mass marketing some of their other products such as MacBooks, iMacs, MacPros, and very soon Apple TVs and iPhones. What most people may not realize is that Apple also designs and sells its own Apple branded LCD monitors. The company has been doing so for a few years, but may very soon choose to enter the TV business as well. The company's most recent moves seem to indicate that they intend to become mainstream in the home theater business. So as traditional cell phone manufacturers race to confront the oncoming threat from Apple, Inc. so must the traditional TV set manufacturers.

Netflix: Streaming Video

I've been a loyal Netflix customer since the early days of 2004. So when I read a few articles in the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, and a few other sources about a new bonus service from Netflix, my existing online DVD rental service provider, I couldn't wait to get home and try out the service for myself. However, once I got home and logged into my account I couldn't find any evidence to support the articles that I had previously read. I saw no mention of the new service under my account details. I grew a little disappointed, but later I learned that Netflix is rolling out the service in phases of 250,000 customers per cycle which they expect to complete by June of 2007. So I eagerly await for the day when I'll become one of those many privileged individuals who get to sit at home and sample 18 hours (depends on your existing plan) of video footage.

Business Desktop Deployment 2007

Lately, I've been quite busy evaluating some of the new features available in Microsoft BDD 2007. So far the software looks very promising.

iNotes / Domino Web Access: Missing Attachments

An iNotes user recently submitted a request for assistance. Previously he had been able to receive messages with .txt attachments in iNotes without any problems. However, lately he and a group of colleagues have been receiving the same periodical message but without an attachment icon to indicate an attached file. Instead the .txt file appears in the body of the message as a link. When the recipient clicks on the link to view the contents of the .txt file, they can view the contents within a web browser without any problems. However, if the user forwards the message as is, then others cannot view the contents of the "attachment" because it is now a database link instead of an attached file.

Comments:
It may have to do with the smtp client used to send the e-mail messages.

Note:
If you need assistance in trying to resolve this problem, please refer to the following links as they may provide more insight into the possible cause of the problem.

Related Links:
http://www-1.ibm.com/support/search.wss?q=1102281
http://www-1.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?rs=0&q1=1102281&uid=swg21102281&loc=en_US&cs=utf-8&lang=
http://eknori.dyndns.org/knowledge/kbnv11.nsf/85256282007291c4852561f5005f6f67/4476c622e927221d85256b53005fdd8f?OpenDocument
http://universa.unizar.es/help/readme.nsf/b15802fae01f6c868525619e00767b21/2f91bd2b225cda99852569530051b7e0?OpenDocument
http://www.experts-exchange.com/Applications/Email/Lotus_Notes_Domino/Q_21248553.html
http://www-1.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?rs=0&q1=1221824&uid=swg21221824&loc=en_US&cs=utf-8〈=
http://www-1.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?rs=3024&uid=swg21161877
http://www-1.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?rs=0&q1=1145242&uid=swg21145242&loc=en_US&cs=utf-8&lang=

Virtual Box: An Open Source Solution

Recently, I came across an article on www.infoworld.com that made mention of an open-source virtualization project. A German company is now offering software that will allow users to create virtual machines on Windows, Linux, and even Mac OS X based computers. Much like the products offered by Parallels and VMware. Although the version for Mac OS X is an alpha release the software looks very promising; especially since you'll be able to open your virtual machines across 3 different platforms and for free. For more information visit www.virtualbox.org

Concerns about the iPhone

Throughout the web, various articles have been posted about the high price for Apple's soon to be released mobile device. People have complained about how only tech geeks, people with fat wallets, and of course the mac devotee would want or could afford such a premium device. However, by looking at the technical specifications of the device at www.apple.com, the iPhone doesn't appear to be expensive when you take the time to compare it with the technical specifications of alternative cell phones from Apple's new rivals. How much internal storage capacity do the alternatives provide? How much storage capacity does an SD, microSD, or any other card that could be used with today's mobile devices provide? Does the manufacturer of the phone or the carrier provide a cable where you can easily and efficiently transfer large chunks of data between your mobile device and your personal computer. Personally, I can't wait to get my hands on the new device.

Software Deployment: Macromedia Dreamweaver 8.0

I recently posted an article about the software deployment of Adobe Reader 8.0 on www.novelimage.com. So today I did the same thing for Macromedia (Adobe) Dreamweaver 8.0. Soon I will post more articles about the modification of Windows installer packages and the creation of transform files.

More about the Apple iPhone

Well I'm excited about the newly announced iPhone. In fact I'm so excited that I'm willing to cough up the $599.00 and some change and don't really care about the carrier. As long as I can get my hands on that beautiful device then all other things are secondary. It turns out that Apple and Cingular have an exclusive multi-year contract. But that device can perform operations that I want it to perform, plus more. It's strange that I'm willing to pay this much money for a small mobile device, but unwilling to pay about the same amount for a Sony PS3. Oh well, I will just have to wait until June to receive my device.

Apple iPhone

So it has finally arrived. Wow, just looking at the specs and features of the new device from Apple has got me in a state where I feel like calling my current wireless carrier and canceling my service; unless they support the iPhone as well.

Virtualization

I have recently been testing Beta versions of soon to be release software from both Microsoft and VMware. One product runs on Windows Vista and the other on Mac OS X. Both are interesting products, but none have really impressed me so far. I have been using VMware Workstation on an HP workstation for over a year and Parallels Desktop on my MacBook Pro for about the same amount of time. I was hoping that new product releases by both companies mentioned above would include some exciting new features that would complement newer operating systems. I guess I will just have to wait for the fully functional versions of the software before I can decide whether to switch to a different virtualization solution.