Lloyd Ketchum - YAB, "Yet Another Blog" : Vista Security

The Case FOR and AGAINST Windows Vista

admin — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 19:01:00 GMT

Did you ever wish you were wrong? I mean, really wrong?

When BETA 2 for Windows ~~Longhorn~~ Vista shipped, I installed it as I had many previous development and testing versions of the new operating system. I wrote, and crazily so, that Vista was going to be a monumental flop in terms of how it was perceived by people. Many people who know me well, thought I was way over the top - being dramatic, even... I wrote about how Vista was going to be perceived (very badly) and misunderstood and largely ignored. I worried terribly that the fall-out on all of us that build and support computers and the software that runs on them, would be profound.

Boy, I wish I were wrong.

A little under a year after the general public release of Windows Vista, and despite unprecedented improvement and driver coverage, Windows Vista is indeed perceived as bad. That doesn't just suck for Microsoft - it sucks for Microsoft partners (a little), and it really sucks for users of Windows (there is so much users are missing when they don't run Vista). There is the reality of Windows Vista that is (GREAT) and what the perception about its performance and value is (TERRIBLE).

In June of 2006 I wrote (blabbered, really) about how horrid the end user experience was going to be under Windows Vista - not because the operating system was BAD, or looked BAD, but because so much had been scattered to hell and back. I also wrote about how many people were going to expect to be able to run Vista on hardware that they had upgraded from Windows 98 SE, or Windows Me to Windows XP, and how that simply was not going to work well. Worse, so much of what makes Windows Vista not just good, but GREAT and truly INNOVATIVE, is completely transparent to end users, or so technically oriented, it just isn't appealing for users to read about - see, Top Ten Things I Love About Windows Vista

Recently, I think I found why Windows Vista has really had a tough time of it in the technical perception department and it is pretty clear to me, what is really wrong with the lineup that is Windows Vista, and it has zip to do with how well it performs, or doesn't as many suggest - it has to do with how much of let down Windows Vista Business edition is [it just isn't as feature complete as Windows XP Professional is in relative terms (to XP Home)]. Simply, the expectation that Vista Business is all that Vista Home Premium is, plus a lot more (BUSINESS) - like XP Pro over XP Home WAS (just isn't so).

OK, so small business users have to run Windows Vista Ultimate (I don't recommend any other version for most business owners and mobile users). One problem is that they have to pay more (OK, they get SOME more, but not enough to justify the greater cost).

That's it - that is all that is bad with Windows Vista - the lineup as it relates to the business version. BUT.... that's not the perception at all - that is FAR WORSE...

It seems that none of that matters much... PERCEPTION, as it always has been, is the REALITY people embrace, and people, (regular users), are the real losers.

THE REALITY of Windows Vista has been different for me, and our customers. Windows Vista has not been just good, it has been GREAT. I knew it would be, but sadly, I also knew it wouldn't be seen for what it was. Before I go further, let me be clear about one very important thing: "IF WINDOWS VISTA WERE BAD (TRULY BAD), I WOULDN'T SELL IT, OR RECOMMEND IT!" PERIOD. One, I wouldn't lie about it and two, I COULDN'T AFFORD TO SUPPORT IT. As a small tech business owner and operator, if Windows Vista weren't great, my business could not afford to sell it - much less live with it. Please see, Windows Vista - The Most Reliable Operating System I have Ever Used

As the year known as 2007 comes to a close, it isn't going to be remembered as the year of Windows Vista - part of it will be remembered as the year negative perceptions trumped reality. People wanted failures, it seems, and there have been no shortage of people to tell them where they are. Vista has been at the top of many lists relating to technology failures.

WHY?

That one is easy... "people are people" - a few are nice and truly so, but sadly, many are pretty mean way down deep (where it matters a lot). People are also tired; they are jaded and they have become very accustomed to expecting, even looking for, the bad in all things. People have been fed a steady diet of bad news, or the bad side of news... as is so often the case. BAD Vista, (just an operating system) and the perception around it, is just one more example. The war, politics, and rivers of hate - they are all to blame - all part of the unending flow of negative thought and energy spewing forth from just about every news and media outlet.

The eighties were the "Me Generation" - the nineties, the "Age of Political Correctness" - the 00's, they are just plain olé mean - "The Age of Meanness." Vista isn't going to get a pass, and neither are you.

So why did Vista (just another operating system) get caught up in the age of meanness? People are people and sadly, most are pretty stupid - not natively, or inherently so, but because being stupid is just easier. It's far easier to parrot what a blogger says than it is to learn and form one's own opinion - it's easier to just stay right where one is, than it is to venture out into something new. How many people are "stuck in a rut?" How few will do anything about it? In the age of meanness it is almost bad form to try - after all, what if one were to succeed and obviate the impact of change... what would be left to complain about? We're all mean now and happy for it. When all else fails... be mean... that solves every challenge. Being mean is the new "tough" - they new word for strong. Kindness? Well no way, buddy... that is the new word for insincere, or better, "weak."

There really is not one thing wrong with Microsoft's marketing of Vista. The marketing has been honest and decent. The problem is that Microsoft's marketing has been just that, "Honest and Decent" and that just does not fly in the age of meanness. Apple's marketing is successful, because it is all at the expense of the hapless, stupid, chubby, unattractive dolts that it labels Windows users to be. Apple's marketing is not honest and its not decent, but it is mean and mean is cool. There are many that would argue that what I am saying is just bull - just an old man's aged and tired rant. I bet, despite my years, that I could still kick the living piss out of any nine of ten of them [all at once] (mean enough for ya?). One side, the nice side, just doesn't have any appeal any longer - but oh boy, the mean snarky side, well... these days that just drips sex appeal and people line up for it.

Let's take some examples of what I mean and in the context of Windows Vista:

TRUTH: Windows Vista uses "Instant Search" - a feature that allows users to nearly instantly find programs, documents, emails and other files on their computers and other indexed locations.

CONSEQUENCES: Instant Search chews disk I/O for about a minute, or three [but not more] when Windows first starts.

PERCEPTION: Vista sux0rs giant root, because it is slower to make programs available for users than XP - XP FTW!

REALITY: In practice, Vista is way better than XP and users of it are way more productive, BECAUSE once it does load, Instant Search is well, INSTANT and users don't spend nearly as much time hunting around for stuff! Further, and what is not reported, or spoken to, is that despite the two minutes longer Vista takes to fully load, the user saves ten times that time in an average session, because they can find things INSTANTLY.

Op Ed: "READ THE REALITY SECTION ABOVE AGAIN, DUMB ASS!" (see, I'm being mean... er... tough.... and that is really cool, huh?)

Of course that is not what is being held out, is it? That is not what is being written about, is it?

TRUTH: Windows Vista has an integrity mechanism that features User Account Control [UAC], which works to restrict and control processes to user named space and subjects access to user approval. The integrity mechanism and all the features inherent to it, have made Windows Vista a very secure operating system and very difficult to compromise.

CONSEQUENCES: Windows Vista users can't just next, next, next their way through life - they have to think for a moment and make a decision.

PERCEPTION: Windows Vista's persistent pop-ups will drive users crazy.

REALITY: Windows Vista users rarely see UAC Elevation Prompts and when they do, the prompts take a half second to assess and approve. Users needn't enter passwords if they do not want to - they can simply click to approve the elevation (as when they install software). Once a user has a Vista computer set up to their own tastes, they very rarely see UAC Elevations. UAC and applications which work according to least privileged access permissions, really have made Windows more secure and safer to use.

I could go on and on and on, with one example after another about what truly does make Windows Vista great - the examples number in the hundreds.... BUT... it won't change a thing - not for regular users. For my customers, there is no concern, or any reason to read this blog - they are already, and always have been cared for and they already know they truth. Vista is great and there are nice people working to make using it a great experience. People who are nice as well as effective.

The rest are missing out and stuck in a very dark place that can't be much fun to be in. I worry about them, and what I worry about doesn't have a thing to do with Windows Vista (it's just an operating system).

"what, you expected journalism...?" "I just call em as I see em"

Hardware as a Service - Selling a Lifestyle

admin — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 20:04:00 GMT

Selling a lifestyle that includes and uses personal computers, provides that computers are delivered as turn-key companions that are connected to a wide range of secure-only communications, personal and team productivity and entertainment services. Hardware as a Service [HasS] based computers are continually connected to proactive service, support and access to solutions which include specific solutions to business and personal information needs. HaaS based systems that underwrite a lifestyle that fully leverages digital technologies, sustain a connection between participants in such a lifestyle and those facilitating it - the computers and their networks simply provide the means, the points of access and the vehicles used. Windows Vista, and the ecosystem that Microsoft has built around it, provides the basis for building HaaS based computers. Apple doesn't and can't. Sun doesn't and can't. IBM doesn't and chose not to. Linux copies and may yet deliver the service.

I get asked a lot of questions and a lot of the questions I get asked are about how to grow a business where there is intense competition and little money available to communicate how a company's products and services are different. Marketing. It has a bad name and for the most part, it deserves it. So often marketing is used to share what might be, or should be rather than what is. Many companies are worried that a marketing campaign won't produce results and won't produce increased sales. Businesses are right to worry, but for the wrong reasons. The marketing isn't necessarily wrong, the products and services are. That's a tough bit of news for many companies to even begin to consider. To be fair, I asked myself the same questions about my own company and I embraced the answers about what we were doing and what follows below, is what we did to make a change - not only in our products, but across our entire approach to business in the technology sector.

Let's look at the personal computer as an example and not how to market it, but what to market - and that drives not the sale of computers, but the delivery and sale of hardware as a service [HaaS] - The Selling of a Lifestyle, which does result in the sale of computers.

For too long, the personal computer has been sold as an appliance and a commodity. The personal computer has been defined by its features, components and its price and none are apparently unique, compelling, or in any way personal. In so many cases, personal computers have evolved in negative ways - they have appeared to be less than secure - no matter what one does to secure them. They have devolved from intensely personal to intensely impersonal, ubiquitous appliances that frustrate as often as they serve.

For nearly as long, service in the context of the personal computer has been relegated to the lowest of priorities and treated as an event and cost that is best avoided and a necessary evil that leaves all involved with a bad taste in their mouths. Computer manufacturers have pushed service out and down to levels that rarely produce positive results - much less a well running computer.

Personal Computing is not about the machine - it is about the person!

The first thing we did was re-focus our attention on the person - the individual using the machine - the why of it and how they relate to others - be they people, or businesses and personal processes. We looked at every user we had. We looked at ourselves. We looked at what they did and what we did and we looked at what they needed and what caused them grief. We looked for all the friction - all the data points where there were collisions, slow-downs, and choke-points. Users, not competitor specifications, drove our products. We reasoned that if we extended the personal computer beyond its specifications and features, and into how it was used, integrated and sustained, that we'd end up producing a far better machine - regardless of what it looked like, or what features it had, or didn't.

By focusing on the person as both an individual and a member of not one, but many organizations and teams, we began to deliver not just computers, but intensely personal experiences - we had invited customers into a lifestyle where relevant information simply exists, or may be had in a few moments - we had brought customers into how we work and live. We had simply shared what we were doing and enjoying. This people centric focus opposite designing and building computers bought us time - time to develop new and more appealing products and new and more powerful services to connect them to. Profits and time were pumped back into not just systems, but the users who had joined us. The lifestyle we had invited customers into continued to grow in both richness and power. The results are computers that are companions and reflections of the people and lifestyles they are and lead. Personal computers are expressions, therefore - of the aspiring creature that owns and operates them.

People who use computers have things they want, but also things they do not want!

The lifestyle, enriched by Hardware as a Service [HaaS] has to be nearly as much about what it is not, as it is. People want email. People do not want SPAM. Period. People do want access to files. People do not want those files to be compromised or infested with mal-ware. Period. People want to freely exchange information and ideas. People do not want those ideas shared, or known to other than those of their own choosing. People want to be secure, but people do not want to feel caged, or limited or isolated. People want to feel as though they are accompanied - they do not want to feel dependent, or vulnerable.

Combining what computer users want and need with what they do not

Again, let's take a personal computer and to it we'll add what users want and take away from it what they do not want - then we'll deliver it and in the next segment, we'll define what one can do with it.

A personal computer nearly always ships with a mail client. End of story. The user is cast adrift and left to their own ends.

Let's take this one example and examine it as we deliver a HaaS based personal computer. We'll assume the computer owner is a member of a small company or organization of some kind.

A HaaS based personal computer has a mail client, too... BUT said mail client is securely connected to a hosted Exchange using Outlook Anywhere and sustains an RPC over HTTPS connection.

The user's system and email are delivered fully configured and ready for immediate use. All mail items, contacts, calendar items and tasks are exactly and fully migrated for them.

The user's email, contacts, calendar items, tasks and notes are always the same - no matter how many devices are connected and no matter where the user and said devices are located.

The user's email is always secure and only encrypted connections are ever allowed to its host network and servers.

The user's email is unlimited - no storage limits apply.

The user may have as many calendars and contacts as they wish and each of these is instantly synchronized with the user's phone.

The user's phone is set up for them and like its parent email, it is secure-only.

The user's mobile email is "Direct Push" enabled and arrives at the user's phone the moment it is received - no on and or off-line, or tethered sync'ing are ever required.

The user's mail account either never, or very rarely receives any SPAM messages at any time, and equally, the user rarely, if ever experiences a false positive.

All user anti-SPAM controls are granular and easy for the user to manage and apply personal settings.

All user email traffic is scanned and filtered for malicious traffic at least four times. No malicious traffic is allowed to reach the user's email account and or supporting systems.

After a period of approximately five (5) days, no SPAM is ever seen by the user - not even in default Junk E-Mail folders.

As new threats emerge, the user is required to take no action of any kind. Dedicated engineers and partners continually monitor and adjust systems in response to threats and threat trends.

Commercial Anti-Mal-Ware software is included with the delivered computer and is updated for the life of the computer [where EOL is assumed to be four full years from the date of purchase].

All mail items, calendars of unlimited numbers and contacts are continuously synchronized with online, secure-only Extranets.

The user, at a click, may connect and sustain a synchronized calendar created in Outlook, or an Extranet with the other.

Any calendar may be shared.

Any contacts list may be shared.

Custom Address Lists, [OL] and domains are supported.

Corresponding UCC SSL Certificates are supplied for the user and the company, or organization.

Any related document, and or document library may be shared with any other authorized user and users may be found from a common, searchable directory, which may be added to by the user.

The user's email is either, or may be [depending upon which phone system they use], fully integrated with Video, Voice and Data.

A secure-only Instant Messaging Client is included and provides immediate access to support engineers.

All of the user's email may be subject to whatever retention policies his company, or organization specifies.

All the user's email is backed up each day and may be recovered - this applies to any single item, or any group of them.

When the user needs assistance, the user may call one number and speak directly with the engineers who built the personal computer by hand and who built and support the servers delivering and sustaining mail.

The user may share the personal computer's desktop with remote engineers - regardless of network and without making adjustments to local or other firewalls.

The user may call any time of day or night and be cared for by the people who designed the computer - not some distant, or removed technician.

When the computer is delivered, the user is provided one on one training by the engineer that built and configured it.

Once deployed, the user is accompanied by the engineer throughout the life of the computer and the engineer, working with others, continues to support the user in the specific context of that user as they relate to their own needs and the needs of their company and or organization.

The above example illustrates only one HaaS based service attending a personal computer - electronic mail

As can be seen, there is quite a difference already, between a computer and a personal computer sold and supported with services baked into it - especially when the services exceed in performance and features a wide range of services users would otherwise have to find and perhaps configure on their own.

The value of a HaaS based computer is magnified when it is repeated. The value of people centric services based computers escalates dramatically when they are delivered in groups. Take a small business with twenty-five people and subject each of them to the HaaS model - benefits are immediate and profound. The value is even greater when one remembers that such a computer is sold with such services as part of its base price - there are no hidden costs.

Going beyond universal messaging

As compelling as messaging and related services are - as life and work-changing as they can be, they are not enough and they are only the beginning in a HaaS based personal computing model. Remember, we're building a personal computer that really does represent the a lifestyle - a digitally enhanced lifestyle.

A great many people would be more than happy with a personal computer delivered with the few services listed above. We weren't.

In the HaaS based computing model we began to sell, we added everything around the computer. We added the network, the managed network. We added backup and recovery services. We added applications development, integration and hosting. We added media and entertainment services. We added every single service one had asked for and then we added one more.

Deploying and Staying

So many personal computer companies hit and run. In a lifestyle company, one deploys and then stays - outside and out of sight - until they are called back into helpdo the next thing. What I mean by this is two-fold, remaining available and remaining aware. When one sells and builds products and services that support a lifestyle, one has to remain available at an instant and one has to remain aware of how businesses and people operate - how for example, a business earns its money.

So once the systems and tools are in place, the real work can begin. When technology companies and the engineers in them learn how people work and play, they can best devise solutions that support the users of their technologies. Those selling computers have to be there for their users and they have to learn how they make their money and how they spend their money. Each new need a customer has is a new opportunity - so HaaS based personal computers have to grow with the users of them.

There is a balance and it has to be maintained and often, HaaS based builders have to start slow, gain trust and respect and then be available. One can't push too hard and one does have to be simply supportive. By this I mean - leave the decision up to the user - unless the user asks you to make them.

Does Apple sell HaaS based computers?

No. Apple does market a lifestyle. If the goals were the same, Apple as a company would be judged to be smarter than mine. Apple wants users to love Apple. I want people to love the computers we make and I want the computers we make to give our users back enough time to love those that really do matter to them - their God, their families and their friends. One must say that as a marketing strategy, Apple's is amazing - it sells the perception of a lifestyle and it attaches enough service to its products to make it work. Apple's great marketing, selling the perception of a lifestyle, is brilliant and it is what is behind Apple's growth - not a bad Vista.

By the way, much of what I have written above is not possible on an Apple - the client OS, applications and tools do not exist and they cannot be scaled, or deployed easily and they cannot be managed centrally.

Vista the HaaS Versus The HaaS Not

Windows Vista and the vast ecosystem that Microsoft not only built, but shared with partners big and small [and tiny, like me], is what makes HaaS and the selling of a real lifestyle possible.

Ingredients List:

Windows Vista Ultimate
Microsoft Office 2007
Exchange 2007
Microsoft Office Communicator Client and Server
Windows Server 2003
Windows Server SharePoint Services
Microsoft SQL Server 2005
IIS 6
BrightStor ArcServe 11r
Expression Web
Visual Studio 2005
UCC SSL Certificate
Premium custom parts
Great customers
Even better team mates

Cheers!

Lloyd

Ending the Blame Game - Driving Your Own Car!

admin — Thu, 23 Aug 2007 14:36:00 GMT

Ed Bott, in a discussion thread in response to one of his blog postings about "No more Vista whining, please" revealed something very troubling - Ed twice stated that he was offered and could make "Big Bucks" if he wrote articles trashing Windows Vista. Well no kidding, was my immediate response - and then I was horrified at my own reaction - I was horrified, because I wasn't surprised by what Ed revealed. I just accepted the idea that people really were willing to ignore facts, obfuscate the truth about the new operating system and all users and small business owners were to be damned - as people were paid to lie about and then trash [for money] an operating system central to the evolution of the ecosystem supporting ninety-plus percent of the computers used around the world. My own reaction made me sick - I used to stand up against such things based upon the worth of truth alone.

Are advertisers and special interests really willing and or actually paying journalists and bloggers to trash Windows Vista? If so, how does one find evidence of it? I guess these are questions worth asking and it is quite a story, if true. I thought about researching the matter and then I thought about it some more and decided that pursuing so much potentially negative energy would be a lot more costly personally than it would be worth. Instead what you are about to read came to mind.

Dealing with the Unrelenting, Unforgiving Man in the Mirror - he isn't going to go away!

We may as well make peace with the man in the mirror right now. Those that do will learn what it is to truly live without fear. Those that don't will continue to seek out and find targets to blame for everything that is wrong in their lives - no matter how big, or small. For now, let's just keep it simple and deal with something small... computers and the operating system that likely runs on it.

Far too often we spend a lot of time and energy blaming others and or something else for what does not work in our lives - including our personal computers. It's a sad trend and it's getting worse and easier to do. Any time we need support for our efforts to blame others, all we need do is turn to the web and we'll find plenty of others willing to do the same and share our justifications. When it comes to personal computers and Windows we all have plenty of company and lots of angry voices to help us blame Windows for all things troubling, or even mildly challenging about our computers. Very few of those thumping in to support our blame game ever turn us around and march us straight into the nearest mirror and rightfully say, "Dude, the real problem here is between the chair and the keyboard - kindly deal with this idiot, first!"

The problem isn't the person - the computer user in general. The problem is how we are responding to challenges. Instead of taking ownership and responsibility, we're very quick to look for and blame someone, or some thing else - these days it may as well be Windows Vista. After all, people are apparently being paid to trash it and assign it fault for all things troubling about computers.

It's not my fault...

I have an adult child that uses that phrase like a crack addict hits the pipe and it makes me want to vomit and split my own stomach [where did I go so wrong with that one?!?!?] "No, it may very well NOT BE your FAULT, but it for damn sure is likely to be your responsibility."

Responsibility and Ownership

Being successful is not the result of the application of some secret formula, or instances of blind luck. Success is a product - responsibility multiplied by the number of times one is willing to take ownership of challenges on behalf of themselves and others. It is high time people re-took responsibility and ownership of their role when operating a modern connected computer. It is long past any time when computer users could wear ignorance like some merit badge. It is time those blessed enough to be born into modern and technically developed societies come to regard computer literacy in the same light as they should general literacy - as an imperative life skill.

People and Cars - Cars and Computers

Take your car, and your average driver as an example... Nearly all of us drive everyday. We drive safely, for the most part and responsibly most of the time. We drive without thinking about the mechanics of it and that is how it must be - if we had to think about it, we'd be whacking into one another and a lot of other objects with a great deal more regularity. When a human drives a car they are fully engaged - processing a myriad of actions and information simultaneously. Each of a driver's limbs is in motion and independent of the motion of the other limbs. We're modulating the accelerator, brakes and signals independent of steering and the amazing stereo-optic binocular vision our creator provided each of us is constantly triangulating not only our own time, speed and distance, but that of many dozens of other objects - each in independent motion. Our other sense are not idle either. Our ears are tuned in to all around us and our sense of touch senses how hard we are on and need to brake just as capably as it senses how a car is turning, or how well balanced its wheels are. Our sense of smell alerts us of any potential dangers to man and or machine - the smell of oil, gasoline, exhaust, and even coolant - each can alert us in an instant if there is cause for concern or action. We may even engage our sense of taste as we add the consumption of beverages and snacks as we motor along [not a great idea, and not at all recommended, but we all do it]. These days we also talk on our phones [hoping they are hands free, but realistic enough to know many are not], and God forbid, some even text and send emails! If we stopped and thought about it for even a moment, we might even slow down a little - as we marvel at just how complex and involved driving is.

As amazing as driving is, and as casually as we all perform the function of driving, we seldom think about how we arrived at such a capable state. Let me refresh our memories... We learned to drive over many years and it began first by watching a great many others drive. We absorbed and learned to mimic the mechanics and art of driving long before we ever touched a wheel of our own. A little later on we sat in the laps of parents, brothers and sisters and other adults in our families - they let us steer as we slowly tooled around an empty lot, farm or early morning road empty of other cars. A bit later we drove little carts at amusement parks and our arms, legs, hands and eyes picked up on the mechanics of driving. We thrilled at all of it - we could sense the freedom under our fingers and we longed to hit the open road on our own. Next we entered formalized drivers training and we learned the rules of the road as well as how to drive technically and safely. We were awarded permits and under the careful eye of an adult, we practiced driving. Finally, we took off on our own - masters of the wheel... or so we thought. As young drivers we all bumped, scrapped and crashed into a lot more things and other cars than most are willing to admit and only after many years of driving and having to pay the price for our mistakes, did we start to really get it and operate our cars like responsible and seasoned members of a very large and growing club.

All the while we paid for insurance, tickets and maintenance and it all hurt and still does. Over time we embraced the reality that owning and driving a car was a big and costly responsibility and we learned the value of doing it right each and every time. When we had kids we came to understand the real importance of driving safely and defensively and our understanding of this only grew as our children grew and began to drive themselves. We became keenly sensitive to the use of our cars - especially when our kids did not care for them, or heaven forbid, wrecked them. We all paid and very sadly, too many paid, too much and they lost loved ones in terrible accidents. In the end, as much as we came to appreciate our need to drive, we embraced how amazing a privilege it really is.

In a car, we are trained, licensed, insured, policed, inspected and governed. We are free to drive to any place we wish, when we wish, but there are basic rules and laws we must adhere to if we are to remain safe and retain our privilege to drive. When we wreck a car, even the worst of them seem only to affect a very few and as horrible and tragic as the losses may be, they are most often distant enough from us, that we are tricked into assessing it can't ever involve us. When we operate a personal computer however, we are subject to nearly no laws - though our potential to harm millions is very real.

Cars and Driving - Perhaps the First "Liberating Technology"

The car changed us - it changed society as we know it. The car liberated us. We could work, learn, marry, live and die hundreds and thousands of miles distant from where we were born. I named my company, "Liberating Technologies" because I saw computer based technologies as being even more liberating - freeing people from the finite paths over which cars might travel between any two, or more points. As a technology, computers are the most liberating technology we now have - they are the cars we drive along an unending and ever changing network of invisible roads and with them we travel as fast as our minds will let us - rendering the speed of light to some lesser velocity.

Driving Computers - the most Liberating of Technologies

First, we have to get our heads around the idea that we drive our computers and by so doing, we are participants on a network of many highways which require that we exercise at least as much care for how we operate a computer as we do a car. Second, we have to stop blaming people and companies for what we experience while operating a computer of any kind and start taking ownership of the experience and responsibility for our actions and the less visible actions taken by our computers. We wouldn't dream of letting an un-trained child or young adult drive our cars and we shouldn't dream of letting a child drive a computer without the same controls, supervision and care we apply to the use of a car. It took us years to reduce the driving of a car to muscle memory and we have to accept that it will take time to master the use of connected computers. We have to commit to educating ourselves and those we are responsible for.

Once we have accepted the life-long responsibility of properly and safely operating a connected computer, then and only then may we effectively participate among others who have accepted the same. The socialization of the web is great, but we have to admit that it may also be lending a disproportionate share of voice to a highly vocal group of people that may not have earned their full right to that voice. Simply, many operators out there may have the technical skills to drive, but we must ask, do they have the wisdom to drive alongside others and do they have the experience necessary to formulate policies, or even influence those policies that have the potential to impact so many others. We have to condition ourselves and others to stop blaming others and start taking responsibility for how well, or not well, computers operate.

Like Cars, Computers are More Capable and Complex than Ever Before

Very few people are shade-tree mechanics any longer. For better and for worse, cars have become so sophisticated and so complex that even the most seasoned professional mechanics are now highly specialized and focused on areas of responsibility. Precious few people are experienced in all areas of how a car is built or works. In our own company, which is a full-service enterprise, we have specialists and no one person has all the capabilities our customers need. Collectively however, our teams do have the required aggregate experience and skill. The very same is true of a modern computer in the context of a user. So it is most important that computer users come to understand to whom they may turn when they need assistance - and they WILL NEED assistance. They may not necessarily need repairs right away, but computer users nearly always need help immediately.

Stop Blaming Windows and Vista

Blaming Windows, Vista and Microsoft my score a forum poster style points over at /. or earn a compliant blogger a few more dollars, but it isn't going to solve the challenges people face when learning and using a new operating system.

We have proved to ourselves, our customers and readers that Windows Vista can be made to run not just well, but perfectly. I have shared our work and experiences here. We know and have shown that with the application of normal levels of effort and care, that Windows Vista is capable of satisfying claims of being the most capable, secure and easiest to use version of Windows yet made. We know from our own use that Windows Vista is more than just capable and reliable, it is a joy to use - it's fast, beautiful to look at and things really are easy to find - be they applications, documents, or media of any type.

We also know how sophisticated Windows Vista is and that it took very hard work to design and manufacture computers and software that allow it to do what it does best. We know how hard we studied to learn and understand it from every perspective and how to optimize it for different roles.

We assess that computer users need to apply similar, but relevant efforts in learning the new operating system and the hardware they purchased, or purposed in support of Windows Vista.

The Parallels between Cars and Computers are nearly Endless but there are differences, too!

The most common parallel between computers and cars are the people that drive them - we humble human beings. We are fragile, complex little bi-peds with sharp teeth and sharper tongues. We have devolved in a lot of ways - we seem to delight in getting over on the other guy, or we fume in traffic and on the message boards. When it all heads south, we look for whom we might blame and blaming Microsoft and Windows Vista is as big, fat and attractive a target as they come - juicier and more available than Ford and Firestone - despite the fact that we never, ever check the air in our tires!

No one is immune from the blame game. Not me, not you and not well heeled techies the likes of Jim Louderback [no wonder PC MAG is on the ropes - the former senior editor wouldn't have made a decent PC Tech, much less a great computer engineer - not if you read his empty rant and take from it what I did...].

We've all done it. We've set down our responsibilities, picked up a big fluffy pillow and cried out load about how unfair it all is. We need to stop it.

Action is what is Required

This post is not enough by a long shot. We have to do more. I have to assume that people will read this and really want to learn more and take back ownership of what they do on and with a PC.

While we have always made ourselves available for COST FREE computer user training, we're taking it a step further and opening a school. We're offering our customers, their families, friends and colleagues, FREE access to training on Windows Vista, Office 2007, Exchange 2007, WSS 3.0, Windows Server 2003/2008 and all that may be done with and on them. Every other Saturday of every month, we will host people in our data center and simply share what and how we drive our PC's, networks and software. We have a full lab available and it includes all the systems, media systems, HDTV's and associated bits we all use every day. We're open and we're going to share and help people take back and own their computers and perhaps learn to face that guy in the mirror on our own terms in the process.

We hope you'll join us for the ride.

What is so "Ultimate" about Windows Vista Ultimate?

admin — Tue, 03 Jul 2007 15:29:00 GMT

*Updated*

By now many of you have noted that the Windows Vista Ultimate team has launched a new site: UltimatePC.com

Seems the Ultimate team has been busier than many people thought...

More than anything, the new UltimatePC site communicates that the team is determined to make good on Ultimate Extras. It also suggests that the team is going to be able to build and ship out of band and that they are now freed up to make and deliver some exciting extras and exlcusives - the new name given to offers focused on the flagship version of Windows Vista.

I'm betting that the Ultimate Team delivers and we'll see a great many extras and exclusives over the remainder of the year.

I feel bad for the Windows Vista team in general and the Ultimate team in particular. They built some terrific products that truly are innovative and I think Windows Vista Ultimate specifically, deserves another look. Before getting into what differentiates Ultimate, I want to address what this version is not - Windows Vista Ultimate is NOT about Ultimate Extras. Sadly, and because there aren't many "extras" Windows Vista Ultimate has come be defined by the lack of the extras many assess were promised to them by Microsoft. Microsoft, by failing to deliver significant extras, allowed Windows Vista Ultimate to be defined by the dearth of extras that it does not have, vice the plethora of unique features that it does.

A lot of people have been asking the question, What is so "Ultimate" about Windows Vista Ultimate?

Well, plenty and a good number of the people asking that question are the very people that should be providing the answers to it - you know who you are: IT/MIS professionals, enthusiasts and technology press, pundits and "Ploggers" or Professional Bloggers. press, pundits and ploggers, oh my... no wonder we're all in the dark and under-informed. If you know what makes Windows Vista Ultimate unique, share it - if you don't, you should know. If you should know and you don't, you suck and need to either get your heads back in the game, or get out of it entirely.

I am both none of the above and all of the above - therefore I am very likely least and occasionally, best qualified to answer the question about what is so ultimate about Windows Vista Ultimate... any other business owner will know exactly what I mean by those apparent contradictions - we are what we decide to be; what we decide to pay ourselves for at any given moment - tomorrow I may be a gardener, a poet, or a nightstand. Silly as it may sound, that last sentence says all that needs to be said about what is ultimate about Vista Ultimate - it is all things Windows and what one uses and when is largely a matter of choice - as simple, or as difficult as making a decision about what to do and when - not that many people can actually do that.

Decisions, decisions, decisions... we make them all day and in so many cases, we make decisions, because we have choices - about what to eat, what to wear, what to drive, what to do and yes, about which version of Windows we'd like to use. <not that alternatives to Windows aren't among one's choices, but let's be real, does either Linux, or OS X offer any real choice when it comes to hardware and software options when compared to the vastness of the Windows ecosystem?> Windows Vista Ultimate is about choices and it supports about any decision regarding a modern computer one might make. It best supports our own individual diversity - underwriting and facilitating a myriad of complex tasks and the multi-disciplined digital lives many of us lead.

YOU: Oh shut up and give us the list already, and spare us the wall of useless text - as if context never mattered... ME: and while I'm at it, <talking to myself as though I were talking to you... I think you'd have done a Windows Live Search on Vista Versions by now and found your own list and God forbid, actually explored the OS and made your own...>

ME: Okay, okay, I hear ya... dang, context does matter - or at least it should.

For those with Internet access, that have an inability to use an online search tool, or for those that write, ***, piss and moan about Vista Ultimate that have never actually used the new operating system, here's a list with some notes that lays out exactly what is ultimate about Windows Vista Ultimate editions. I've added links where I assess people may want, or need more information about a particular feature and in many cases, I have annotated what each is used for.

Packaging:

Windows Vista Ultimate retail boxed full and upgrade packages contain two DVDs - one for the 32 bit based version of the OS and another DVD for the 64 bit version.

Fundamentals:

SafeDocs, backup and restore
Scheduled Backups
Network Backups
Shadow Copy Client [this is instantaneous - make any change in a document and one may reverse that change by accessing previous versions] (Home Premium does not have this feature)
Encrypted File System (EFS)
Automated Migration Support
Cached Credential Support (this is not in home premium)
Local Security Policy Manager (this is not in home premium)

Productivity:

Desktop Windows Manager (DWM)
Aero Glass, animations, and visual effects [even over remote desktop connections!]
Productivity Features, rolodex, tab previews, task bar previews
Unlimited Screen Resolution Support
Fast User Switching [FUS]

Communications:

RDP/Remote Desktop (this is not in home premium)
P2P Meeting Place [ad-hoc meetings, people discovery, presentation broadcast] (this is not in home premium)
Windows Web Server [IIS 7] (this is not in home premium)
Windows Fax Client (this is not in home premium)

Digital Media and Entertainment:

DVD Video Authoring (this is not in business versions)
Direct Media Mode
Media Center [including extender support for 5 devices and games] (this is not in business versions)
Multiple Simultaneous Media Extender Support [up to five extenders] (this is not in business versions)
Movie Maker High Definition [HD] Publishing (this is not in business versions)
HDCP HD Content Support (this is not in business versions, or other operating systems like OS X)
DVD Playback without the need for third party software (this is not in business versions)
Advanced Photography Features
Premium Games
Windows Media Player and related [read CODECS] components

Networking:

Number of Supported Network Connections - 10
Domain Join Support (home premium only supports Quattro)
1:1 Network Projection
SNMP Support
Internet Connection Sharing
Remote Differential Compression
MS Rally and LLTD
IPv6 over IPv4 "TEREDO" (use Meeting Space over the Internet without changing a thing on your firewall)

Mobility:

PC-to-PC Synchronization
Mobility Center
Tablet PC Functionality
Auxiliary Display Support with Independent Resolutions
Offline Folder with Client-Side Caching (this is not in home premium)

PC Management:

Subsystem for UNIX-Based Applications [SUA] (only enterprise and Ultimate have this)
Secure Startup [cornerstone] (only enterprise and Ultimate have this)
Single Session Virtual PC (only enterprise and Ultimate have this)
Multi-Language User Interface with Localization [use more than one language at a time without separate installs] (only enterprise and Ultimate have this)
Software Inventory Module
Disable Windows Activation Services [Yes, one can] (enterprise and Ultimate only)
Startup Repair Tool (SRT)

Windows Vista Ultimate Extras:

DreamScenes [and StarDock's DeskScapes]
Premium Games [Texas Hold-em]
Bit-Locker Enhancements
Online Key Management
Language Localization Packs

As is clear to me, Windows Vista Ultimate is more about choices and the decisions based upon them than it is any one thing, or group of things. Ultimate is a premium blend of PC features, providing users with the best of all worlds - media, productivity and management - all in one place and under one operating system. Ultimate is not about extras, but it is about also having extras, many of them - all of them.

Windows Vista Ultimate Challenge

Here's a challenge for all: Find a single operating system that does all of the above [ and I do mean all of it ] out of the box and without third party software or hardware, and post a link to it here. If there is one, we'd all love to know where it is and how we can get our hands on it.

News.com reports, "New vulnerabilities hit Firefox and Internet Explorer"

admin — Tue, 05 Jun 2007 19:48:00 GMT

See, http://news.com.com/8300-10784_3-7-0.html?keyword=Internet+Explorer

What they don't cover as well, is how Microsoft Windows Vista and its version of Internet Explorer 7, with its default Protected Mode, mitigates the reported vulnerability, or how it obviates existing exploits.

I posted what I thought about this on my favorite community site, Activewin as follows:

Why do they always leave out how Windows Vista and IE 7 Protected Mode/Securable Objects mitigates such things?

For example, say one moves from an untrusted zone in IE 7 on Vista to a trusted zone [where one has manually de-selected default security settings (as an example)], Vista/IE 7 will immediately alert and prompt the user and advise of what it is doing - mitigating the update race condition vuln. I assess it is appropriate to disclose and discuss mitigations - as important as declaring "glaring Zero-Day" vulns. is. This in no way diminishes the importance of vulns. and follow-on work to patch and prevent the same - it is to say that full disclosure regarding just how good and helpful securable objects/Protected Mode in IE 7 under Vista actually is at helping mitigate such vulns.

Quick Upate - what I pointed out about Protected Mode and zones works the other way around, too - so exploit code in one zone can't execute under Vista/IE 7. Users of Vista/IE 7 would remain safer.

and...

At worst, under Vista/IE 7 the most serious exploit just loops, does nothing outside protected mode and times out after 120 seconds. It demonstrates how IE 7 in Protected Mode works to isolate such code from user space - where all users under Vista are Standard Users [in reality (with admin level Standard Users being relieved of the need to re-enter credentials)].

and...

The reality of Protected Mode, what it is and what it means, is not an ad - it is the truth.
The headlines are reading, "Glaring Hole in Fully Patched IE 7 and FF" [latest versions and both fully patched]. This is not true. The latest version of IE 7 is IE 7 [formerly called IE 7 Plus], under Windows Vista [all versions], which clearly prevent the exploit code from executing [by default]. Again, these are facts, not advertising. It is important that mitigations be included, so that consumers and professionals may be properly informed and therefore able to make better decisions about what systems to buy and use. If IE 7 under Windows Vista is substantively safer and more secure by default - by design, then this information and relevant examples should be disclosed as important information - not withheld, or obfuscated - that is not the purpose of journalism, which is supposed to properly and fully inform.

As I have shared here many times, "how" Windows Vista was built [and will be built upon and improved] was the most significant and beneficial part of the new OS. That is directly related to undiscovered flaws in the new OS - which may be mitigated by the use of securable objects in IE 7's default Protected Mode - isolating code execution from even user space and canalizing it within a very restrictive environment from which it may not execute on its own. That larger story isn't being told at all and I wonder why our industry continues to ignore facts that have been available for over a year. The practice is not serving the public interest well at all.