Lloyd Ketchum - YAB, "Yet Another Blog" : Top Ten

Revenge of the Vista's Update 1

admin — Mon, 22 Oct 2007 16:22:00 GMT

UPDATED: 29 Jan, 2008

Woo Hoo! Microsoft has begun to produce some compelling material and media designed to educate business owners about the risks inherent to the use of illegal software. They have produced from very slick and informative animations designed to present different scenarios that regretfully, some businesses may find all too familiar.

My favorite so far is called: "Genuine Fact Files: Questionable Consultation"

Quoted from the "Know The Facts" site is a descripton for the animation alerting businesses about deals that are "too good to be true..." I found it especially relevant to many situations we have to compete against. I am really glad to see this kind of marterial out there - it is tough enough competing and impossible to compete with thieves where so many decisions are based upon price.

See,

"Questionable Consultation illustrates the importance of understanding how your business can be adversely impacted by the questionable practices of outside consultants acting on your behalf. If a consultant’s solution sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Don’t be duped by bad advice – be sure you understand the appropriate software and licensing solutions for your business."

It's about time Microsoft did this and helped all of us explain why it is not only right and proper to "keep it legal" but how much more value businesses realize as a result of simply doing the right thing.

I know from my own experience that business owners are more than happy to work with legit service providers selling Genuine and properly licensed software. Not one of them that I have encountered was aware of what was going on and they should - it is their responsibility to know and the time for excuses is at an end.

Get Ready!

Balance is about to be restored to the force...

For over a year now, our industry press and bloggers have been trashing Windows Vista. Some have admitted being paid well to do so, and others have alluded to the reality that they have been offered a lot of money to disparage the new operating system.

That isn't the worst of it. Microsoft Partners, mostly smaller ones - that owe their businesses and livelihoods to Microsoft and the ecosystem that it built around its operating systems and servers, have been far worse. They have been busy trashing Vista, too and some have taken the lowest of low roads and stolen from Microsoft. Some have stolen the truth as well as property. Some have been hood-winking their customers and buying cheap PC's loaded with Windows Vista Basic, or Home Premium and ripping it off and installing less than legal copies of Windows XP Professional. These same partners have then charged the customer for the work - all the while declaring that they are "XP Only" shops, because Vista is "bad."

I've seen it with my own sad, tired eyes. I've heard it with my own ears and it makes me sick. Stealing is wrong, illegal and just as bad as lying - both are acts of thievery - one steals property and the other steals the truth.

Let me say this: "where I see it - the theft - I will act according to the rule of law." So fellow partners, where I move into markets and I can prove what I have written above, count on being called on it - count in being held to account. As necessary and with my own money, I will make our new customers legal and you can bet I will show them how to make Vista and Office 2007 a perfect part of their lives and businesses.

There is change coming and it is coming from business owners and regular people

We have a wide base of professional business users and in each of them we have been deploying Windows Vista Business and Ultimate since its business and general public launch. Windows Vista has been the most reliable and enjoyable operating system we have ever used and our customers have taken delight in using it - so much so, that they, just as we do, miss Vista each time we encounter XP, or any other OS.

Recently, we have moved into new markets - physically. In these new markets we found a mess. People, businesses and systems so under-served and so badly configured and maintained that people had lost faith in computers and digital communications entirely. We found a block of users unwilling to consider what technology can do for them and it took weeks of hard work to get them to even consider the possible benefits of modern, well maintained and integrated systems and software.

We started slowly. We followed through and followed up and in a short while began the slow, methodical march toward real productivity, security and promise - the promise that all things digital can and will deliver to businesses and people.

We built on our base of understanding - the understanding that comes from years of work and participation in the BETA and testing phases attending any new technology and the all too familiar work we invested in the years leading up to the launch of Windows Vista. For us, there were few surprises and for our customers, new and old, there were none. We made everything work.

Making everything work is the key and what a "partner" is supposed to do

Yes, of course there were and are challenges. Users need to be trained. Users need to understand how things work. That is no problem, but a huge opportunity - for the partner in us to earn our pay and earn the trust and respect of the new users we are serving. We do that. We follow up - we persist - we remain available and we train, teach, coach and encourage users to explore all the new operating system can do.

Users are the drivers

Success in this business is not just about decision makers and influence-rs. Success in IT/MIS services is about helping each user - regardless of the tasks at hand. When partners work hard to support every user in a business, they earn the trust and confidence of the user base.

New users of Windows Vista are delighted. When a partner, builder and integrator works alongside the users and delivers a finished product, Vista is allowed to shine and really demonstrate how much better it is. Our users, established and new, have each responded with delight at the new features, performance and capabilities available in the new OS. While they don't see it, I am sure they are happy with the increased security - and great security is transparent in exactly that way. Well prepared and deployed Vista systems do not present User Account Control [UAC] events to users - the systems are already fully configured.

Existing users of XP have had seven years to learn the ropes - are we at all surprised that alone, and on their own, Windows Vista would be a challenge to become as familiar to them? On one's own, of course any such change would be hard. However, with a well prepared partner at the side of the user and small business, Vista and the new Office 2007 suite can quickly emerge as being the truly better versions that they are. Windows Vista in particular, has so much power and baked in features that good partners are more important than ever.

When working with new customers that have never been fully supported, I have seen how disappointed they are that the truth and real benefits of using the new Windows have been concealed from them. Some are quite angry and want to know why the new operating system has been described as it has. I work to steer away from such things, and get the users back onto more positive tracks and get into what they can now do.

Vista Converts

Vista changes people. It changes how they think about a PC. When properly configured and supported, Vista and its users are free of a lot of the worry and concerns they once had. They stop worrying about mal-ware. They understand that "Protected Mode" in Internet Explorer and UAC will at least alert them to dangers they may encounter while working in the cloud.

Partners Matter

A lot of partners are hit and run experts, it seems. They sell and leave. Partners need to learn how to sell and stay - how to commit to the user and how to grow with them. Microsoft Partners have to learn that their users matter more than profits and that business success is a natural by-product generated by simply delivering great services and products.

Partners needed to have done all the hard work necessary to deliver the full advantage present in Windows Vista. Many didn't. Many did what was easy. Some did and do what is unthinkable - they stole. They stole the truth - from users and themselves.

The Revenge of Vista

Make no mistake about it. Great partners - big and small, are delivering great services and products based upon the new Windows and Office. The truth and reality is spreading and fast and people and businesses are ready for change - they are ready for what is next. Vista is next and those partners that have worked hard, told the truth and played by the rules are going to be the winners - right along with the users they support.

Vista isn't just good. Vista is great. It's fast, reliable and easy to use. Vista is sharp - it is so much sharper in appearance than other versions of Windows and OS X that the differences are striking. Sit an OS X user down - sit them down side by side with Vista on one had and OS X on the other - and do a few comparisons. They and you will see how cloudy and fuzzy OS X is and how crisp and sharp Windows Vista is. Show them how much clearer and better defined Vista's fonts are and how much brighter and faster Vista screens are. You and they will be surprised. Show them how much more sense the Windows Vista Explorer is as compared to OS X's "Finder" - do the same opposite XP and you'll quickly see why Vista is so much better.

When one does these few things, and takes the time to show what Vista is all about, it takes only a few minutes and the new Vista user turns on and begins to explore the new Windows. That's all it takes - just a few moments.

So get ready. Vista users are coming and in the hundreds of millions and they are going to have some tough questions for partners and our press. They are going to ask pointed questions about why it has taken so long for partners and the press to tell the truth - they are going to ask why people lied to them.

If you are a partner, be a good one. If you are a user, finding a good partner is easy - ask them what they run - if they are running Windows Vista Ultimate on a PC they built with their own hands, then that is the partner you want to work with. If they start to trash Vista and they don't know why it is better, or recommended, then move on - find a partner with a few cuts on his fingers - they'll be there because his hands will have been in a computer, or server case in the recent past and he'll keep a few nicks on his fingers as a result.

Top Ten Things I Love About Windows Vista

admin — Wed, 23 May 2007 14:18:00 GMT

In many cases the things I love about Windows Vista are not the features that others most often list - they are in many cases, the things that pundits rarely speak to, or that underwrite the operating system's functions in one or more ways. I've provided a link to more information about each item and a brief reason why I like it, or it why it is significant to users. I've also tried to cover related topics in several areas - to provide information for most types of users and engineers.

10 - Windows Vista's Integrity Mechanism Windows Vista includes an addition to the access control security mechanism of Windows that labels processes and other securable objects with an integrity level. Internet-facing programs are at higher risk for exploits than other programs because they download untrustworthy content from unknown sources. Running these programs with fewer permissions, or at a lower integrity level, than other programs reduces the ability of an exploit to modify the system or harm user data files. Internet Explorer 7 in Windows Vista uses the Integrity Mechanism and it is what is behind IE 7's Protected Mode. But That is only the beginning - ANY developer has access to the tools that make this possible and it gets better, any single process may be executed in this space, or any grouping of them - so the parts of an application that face the Internet should use them. Think of these as objects, or securable objects in MS speak - see, http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa379557.aspx also see, http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/IETechCol/dnwebgen/ProtectedMode.asp

9 - User Interface Privilege Isolation (UIPI) prevents processes from sending selected window messages and other USER APIs to processes running with higher integrity. If UAC and Protected Mode are straight rights in Vista's security arsenal, the UIPI is one of Vista's stiff jabs. UIPI continually counters attempts to escalate processes and it keeps bad-guy-code off balance. At the same time, it provides developers with an easy way to check process escalation without burning the user experience. Go here to learn how to use it, http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms644950.aspx

8 - Windows Imaging Format I can't say enough good about how Microsoft has made installing and deploying Windows Vista so easy, fast and consistent. (WIM) is a file-based disk image format. WIM files are created with a command-line tool named ImageX. It is officially available in several of Microsoft's deployment tools, such as in the Windows Automated Installation Kit (WAIK), Windows OEM Pre-installation Kit (OPK) or in Business Desktop Deployment 2007. A set of public APIs for manipulating WIMs have also been released with Vista, included under WIMGAPI.DLL. Now, this is a big deal and very broad, but to get the best start, go here, http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/windowsvista/aa905068.aspx now onto 7 and a WIM related tool most users and all sys admins will love.

7 - User State Migration Tool 3.0 (USMT) If there is a PC tech or network admin out there that does not fall in love with USMT, he is either Latch, or his soul has been taken over by the devil. USMT is amazing. Admins may migrate user files and settings during large deployments of Microsoft Windows XP and Microsoft Windows Vista operating systems for sure, but for the small tech company or IT/MIS department, USMT allows one to capture and move all user data in one easy whack - to new machines, or for storage and later recovery. Our guys love USMT.

Check it out here, http://technet2.microsoft.com/WindowsVista/en/library/91f62fc4-621f-4537-b311-1307df0105611033.mspx?mfr=true ***Learn to script for it and then mod your scripts and WOW the pants off of customers. USMT can make a harder job easy and look even easier!

6 - Windows Imaging Component (WIC) Yeah, I know, one can download some support for WIC in XP, but... what they don't tell people is that WIC is for everyone and it allows developers with no understanding of image file formats to access a consistent model that automates the delivery of required support, like codecs, from within an application. It allows independent shops to write their own codecs, yet access the platform in the same way well known file types can. Companies like TechSmith who produce amazing products like Camtasia and SnagIT make use on WIC in Vista. We make use of it to ship custom graphing applications and entire digital dashes. Please see, http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms737408.aspx

5 - Greatly enhanced support for Non-Uniform Memory Access or Non-Uniform Memory Architecture (NUMA) No, not the Numa Numa guy on Youtube... Ok, This one seems out there.... but listen up... if you have a multi-core processor, or happier still, two multi-core CPU's in the same machine, then NUMA is going to seem sexier the more you learn about what it does under Vista. Now, before we go further into NUMA, one has to understand that a great many people outside Microsoft evolved it a very long time ago - heavy hitters like, Burroughs Corp. and Unisys - some dating back to 1961 when I was still easy to look at. Under Vista, NUMA support is very smart and it helps manage, or should I say balance performance - the complex relationship between CPU, Memory and the OS systems that manage them. Under Vista, this management and exposed API's is better than ever and it is what we use to make a system run as smooth as silk - no matter what a person is doing.

4 - Transactional NTFS I could have made a list made up of the top ten things I love about Windows Vista's I/O performance, but that might not excite a large number of people - so I picked the one I like the most and the one people will likely notice more than all I/O related Vista goodness. When one says, Transactional NTFS, think Atomicity. This is like the atomic transaction processor which monitors whether database operations all complete, or none complete - in other words, and as a simple example, did a write operation complete? This is very important in Vista as such transactions have been extended to NTFS and it allows devs to monitor whether transactions have been completed. This is leveraged in Vista to allow multiple, simultaneous file transfers to be monitored and managed independently - no more Explorer.exe death in the event one or more transfers dies. Definitely read this blog, http://blogs.msdn.com/because_we_can/

3 - Windows CardSpace (formerly "InfoCard") In Windows Vista, this is the component that provides the consistent user experience required by the identity metasystem. It is specifically hardened against tampering and spoofing to protect the end user's digital identities and maintain end-user control. It is leveraged in so many ways I can hardly count them, but some make using Vista and writing for it not only safe, but a dream for dev and sys admin alike. CardSpace and all that is related in Vista is a big part of how virtual folders are supported and tied to a user, or name space - in fact, all user folders are virtual and they can be moved all over the place and replication set up on them. For a practical way to use what this is all about now, go here and look into Windows Vista Folder Re-Direction http://blogs.msdn.com/ie/archive/2007/03/01/ie7-in-vista-folder-redirection-for-favorites-on-the-same-machine.aspx While it does appear that way, "Identities" and how they are managed is behind both CardSpace and things as seemingly unrelated as who owns what folder and where is it, or may it be moved to.

2 - Remote Differential Compression (RDC) I know, it doesn't sound very sexy, but it is. Now, we'll have to go into FRS and DFRS some, but not a lot to get why RDC is so hot. Distributed File Replication and FRS came into near perfection with W2K3 Server R2 - which truly virtualized the name space. So now what to do with it? Anything, from any place - really fast. That is where RDC is so amazing. With it and Vista, one can roam a profile like never before and even the largest of profiles can be managed and only what you need, accessed right now. Spin up your propellers a bit and you'll catch a glimpse of how and why Microsoft's hybrid desktop and cloud based services are going to kick Google in the private parts. With Vista it is possible to roam all over - not just a network, but a planet. See, http://technet2.microsoft.com/WindowsVista/en/library/f77670d4-3bad-4f88-98c8-e9df5f88fee81033.mspx?mfr=true

1 - The Number One Thing I Love About Windows Vista - Microsoft Built It!

I'll explain why this is number one with two words - audio and Video. Audio and Video in Windows Vista are treated in completely new ways. I know there has been a lot of noise about driver coverage in these areas, but perhaps this explanation will help people understand why and where we are headed - but before I get into these two areas as they are enhanced by Vista, let me explain that audio and video are not just features supported in Vista - they are passions shared by Microsoft engineers, executives and their families. I know this to be true because I see it in everything they have ever done and most especially what they did in Vista. Microsoft engineers are just like us - they share the same passions for the same technologies.

Vista Audio - Microsoft kicked off the Universal Audio Architecture in 2002. It didn't begin to materialize in any way as desired until Vista was shipped. The UAA provides a standardized interface which audio devices can follow, ensuring that the device's capabilities will be recognized and used effectively by Windows, without the need for additional drivers or custom control panels - think of what this means... device manufacturers and CE manufacturers of all types, now have an agnostic set of interfaces which will not require new drivers from separate suppliers. This is huge, but I suspect we will not see just how huge until Windows Vista is deployed more widely. Please see, http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/device/audio/default.mspx

Vista Video - early Nvidia drivers aside, and slow to ship AMD R6xx based AMD 2000 Series Cards excused, video under Vista is more than exciting - it is stunning and will only get better. We can *** about its support for protected content paths - but at least it has such paths! How loud would the complaints be shouted if Vista did not support HDCP Compliant HD Video? Vista does and we use it all the time and it is nothing short of amazing to look at. ***If anyone brings up Apple or the Quartz Compositor, I wouldn't - I'll counter any comparison - so be prepared to get deep into it. There is so much in this one area that no link I can provide here even starts one off well. I'll add some in a later post.

Ok, so there it is, my personal 10 things I love about Windows Vista and why - with Microsoft heading the list - for their passion for all things PC and all that we do with them and with one another. That is the best part for me - knowing that they'll continue to add to it and improve upon it as much for themselves as they do to help their company succeed.

Steve Jobs described Apple as a products company.

Microsoft describes itself as a people centric company and to me that explains why Microsoft's platform is so successful. Steve Jobs focuses on products and how they reflect an image - of himself and his user base. Microsoft focuses on people and building a platform to allow them to do and be their best.