Last Blog

It has finally come, the last blog of the class. There are so many things that have been instructed and presented to us throughout this course that have left many different emotions about this whole class. Is working with ajax, JavaScript etc something that I want to do?No not at all, but it still has taught and shown me some interesting things that I am glad that I've gotten to know.

Next step I have no idea what it is about to be; whether it will be jump right into the job force, getting more education or certifying myself in some technology field. And one of those certifications I was looking into is from Microsoft certification called Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer. This certification enables you to demonstrate the ability to design and implement an infrastructure solution with Windows server 2003 based business solutions.

This was a good experience in taking this class. And who knows what else that might be in the future right now, but I am looking forward to see what is all out there in Information Technology world.

Office 2011 for Mac

Office 2011 is supposed to be a large upgrade for the industry. New ease-of-use improvements, the introduction of integration between all applications, and the introduction of Outlook for Mac are all supposed game-changers. The version for Windows is sure to include "cloud" capability, with the ability to save documents on a non-centralized server system that will let you share documents like on Google Docs.

The Mac version, however, may not be able to jump on this bandwagon - at least, not for a while. Microsoft has historically left Mac out in the dust in terms of software upgrades and capabilities. It could be the use of the Cocoa application language, presenting a large barrier of entry for the corporation, the inability to use their .Net platform, or even their business sense telling them not to do it.

I just hope that they remove the ribbon, the toolbar, and the formatting palette. Really now, mac users do not need a user-interface difference between the office applications on PC's. They are, at the very least, trying to make office for mac run as efficiently as possible, as well as integrating its interface to look more like native mac applications.

Hacker educating Microsoft and Apple

The three time repeat hacking contest winner;Charlie Miller, of the annual Pwn2own contest is tired of the way that computer industry companies tries to fix it flaws and bugs. That is why he won't tell Microsoft, Apple and Adobe about the 20 flaws and vulnerabilities it has in its software. Instead he will show and teach them how to find the bugs themselves. He recently just won $10,000 in the hacking challenge and has been the winner the past 3 years.

He states that he wants change and says that he is tired of the lack of progress in software security. He talks about companies making patches here and there,which makes the software perform better but its doesn't improve the security of the product. Miller finds the mistakes of the software by using what is called a "dumb fuzzer", a tool that automatically looks for flaws in software by inserting data to see where the program fails. Miller found vulnerabilities in Apples Mac OS 10.6 and safari browser, Microsoft's PowerPoint presentation maker and in Adobe's PDF viewer and Reader.

PC World Article

Miller demonstrated how he came to finding the bugs in front of Microsoft,Apple and other vendors in hopes that the companies would listen and improve of their security standards. He knows he might seem like a bad guy in some peoples eyes but he wants them to take initiative and do more fuzzing to improve on security. Maybe this the way to put the pressure on companies to do so.

Outlook LinkedIn Connector

Linkined is now connected with Microsoft Outlook. According to PCworld.com "LinkedIn Outlook connector allows you to keep up to date with your LinkedIn connections, integrates their contact information into Outlook, and allows you to add new LinkedIn connections right from your desktop." Getting setup with the connector is said to be time consuming first you need to have the 32 bit version of Microsoft Outlook 2010, download the add-on from Microsoft's website. The connector does not work in older versions of Outlook including all outlook express versions, and 2010 Outlook 64-bit version. Next you have log in to LinkIn and install the connector add-on. After downloading the connector Microsoft has detailed setup instructions.

Whenever you open a message in Microsoft Outlook from anyone in your LinkedIn network, you will see information pulled from your contact's LinkedIn profile below the message pane. You will be able to see their profile photo, latest status messages, recently added connections and see any recent questions they've asked or answered. Microsoft is planning to expand its connection options to include Myspace, Facebook and other social networks to add to its social connector.

I think that the social connector will be convenient for many people who use social networks regularly. It is also good for people who use Outlook but the draw back is its not available in other Outlook versions.

No Plug in Required

There is a new video player out for the web. HTML 5 is now available on Vimeo and YouTube. It allows you to view a video with out any plug in being installed on your computer. It is currently still in beta testing and is only compatible with a couple browsers at this point. Those browsers are Chrome, ChromeFrame on Internet Explorer and Safari at this point.

It appears that not every one on the net is happy about this development. Vimeo spokesperson Brad Daugherty said "Almost every thread on the Internet about HTML 5 devolves into some kind of flamewar. Please don't comment here extolling the virtues of open source or unencumbered codecs,". Deborah Szajngarten, director of Marketing and Communications at Vimeo points out this is only a test at this time and their goal was to provide the video community with the best tools out there.

So what are the other reasons that are railing against this change. I mean how could a User-Friendly plug in free player be a bad thing. If you are Adobe or Microsoft, you would be thinking other wise. Videos are big business. Both companies want to keep their footholds in this business via their propriety platform.


The article writer thinks that by the end of the year there will be more devices like the IPhone that doesn't support flash will be introduced to the game and the war will be on.

Microsoft's New Hope

Microsoft is trying to do way with the keyboard, mouse and all other input devices used on electronics. Their new Natal technology will work by using human body and voice to input information into the desired electronic device. This technology can be used on more than just your home computer. It can be used in a wide range of everyday electronics. This could revolutionize they way we all use technology and change Microsoft’s image.

When people think of Microsoft right now, Windows and PC are what come to mind and all the problems that go with them. Apple is thought as the cool and cutting edge technology leader. Microsoft has had a really bad five years with the mediocre release of Vista and Microsoft’s launch of their version of an iPod, the Zoom, Microsoft needs something to boost them back to the cutting edge.

Natal maybe the technology that does just that and like Windows changes the way we use electronics. As a person who grew up with keyboards, the mouse, and joysticks, I have a hard time getting use to touch less electronics. I do not feel comfortable yet with the idea of not having an input device. For me it really just depends on how good Natal is going to work. If it winds up being another Vista, Microsoft is going to have a huge problem they may not be able to come back from. Bill Gates has often said that “Microsoft is always two years away from failure.” So we will wait and see if this is a victory for Microsoft or a failure. Only time will tell.

Windows Defender

An IT friend of mine recently commented on a Windows virus protection tool saying that it's very good. It's called, Windows Defender and is included in Vista and Windows 7 operating systems. In my history of using virus protection tools, the one tool I have used for the last four years which has not hindered system performance is a German product which you can download for free, called Avira. I've been virus free since using it. While McAfee is the only other product I have experience with, I found that it really slowed system performance and comes with an annual cost.

Windows Defender is also a free program and is light weight. It evolved from another product which was developed by Giant Company Store called Antispyware. Microsoft purchased this product in 2004 and hacked away at it to enhance it and be competitive in this space. They released a reengineered product in 2006. I'm not a big fan of Microsoft these days but this doesn't look like a bad product.


There are two features which Microsoft is proud of in this tool but I don't see how this is different from other tools. They are

1) Software Explorer

2) Real-time Alerting

These features alone do not impress me but I'm willing to try it out. Avira does throw advertisements dialog windows at start-up and I experience some slowness with this tool but nothing significant. I'm willing to try something new though, why not? Has anyone out there used this tool or appreciated any of it's features over other tools?

Microsoft Stealing Webcode??

It seems weird to think that such a large company that employs some of the most tech savvy programmers would steal code from another company, but that is what Plurk is accusing them of. Plurk is a social networking site that claims to be "a social journal for your life". They claimed this week that Microsoft of intellectual property theft. Microsoft China recently introduced their own microblogging service called Juku, which Plurk claims is mostly code from their service. Microsoft admitted that it could have code from their site, but blamed it on an independent vendor.

You can read the blog post by Plurk that shows some similarities in code and design. Below is one of the pictures from that blog.


Even though Microsoft shut down the Juku site, at least temporarily, Plurk isn't completely happy with that. They believe that Microsoft is just placing the blame on an independent vendor so that they will not have to be responsible for the so called stolen code. This is not the first time in recent weeks that Microsoft has placed the blame on someone else. Last month they were forced to remove a Windows 7 media and administration tool from the Microsoft Store site after a violation of the GPL.

Google Vs Microsoft: competition assumptions

It is fairly obvious that Google and Microsoft are one if not the most successful companies of all time. It is also clear that the two companies are not very close friends and therefore, they try hard to take on each other. I have ran into this cool article that highlights a suggested strategies on how Google can take out Microsoft and vice versa. The article starts by pointing out how to kill key competitors (major key competitors to be exact); three main factors to consider when trying to hurt your competitors are Patience, perseverance and last but not least destroying the opponent image by manipulating trust. The secret to being patient is to allow the opponent to do most of the work for you. In the following paragraphs, a brief look at how Google can take out Microsoft and vice versa will be highlighted.

Google can take Microsoft out for a couple of reasons. First, Microsoft image has been declining over the years and it has been effecting its ways of attracting key employees. Google has also been working on destroying the public image of Microsoft by pointing out as evil. Second, the fact that Google is very successful in its search engine had put Microsoft on the race to be match that; this has sucked many of Microsoft resources which could potentially bring down their profits. Lastly, Google can gain the available government trust that could help them win most of the local and international departments. This will also pressure Microsoft to respond with lowering its prices and increase its quality. As a result, Microsoft net income could get hurt pretty bad.

Microsoft can take Google out for a couple of interesting reasons as well. First, just like Microsoft, Google's image has been going down hill. It does not really effect its revenue as much but it could protect Microsoft. How? Simple enough, people don't want to replace an evil corporation by another. Second, Microsoft can focus on improving its search engine which is already happening as well as trying to capture the advertisement segment, which Google depends on heavily. There are many reasons but these are the main two. In conclusion, Google and Microsoft battle would go on for a long time and personally I think it would be hard to determine the winner!

What? A Google OS?

Google announced their new project to build a new kind of Operating System in July of this year. Their Chrome OS was unveiled on November 24, 2009 as a sneak peak but it will be at least year until it's officially released. I had no idea this was going on! With the two power houses, Microsoft and Apple, I'm impressed that Google is coming into the OS world to compete with them. Are they biting off more than they can chew? This remains to be seen. Here are some of the highlights:

• Open source


• Available to netbook users (initially)


• Speedy (light weight)


• Secure (redesigned underlying security architecture)


• Web applications

Google is currently working with OEMs to bring netbooks to the market next year. "All web-based applications will automatically work and new applications can be written using your favorite web technologies." (from the official Google Blog). Given the applications are available via the web makes this an attractive feature as it eliminates the need to install and manage applications on a local computer. I recently rebuilt my computer (twice in 3 months) so this concept is quite appealing to me. Google's goal is to create a product that is focused on internet users who are looking for speed and security. I'm extremely curious how this OS will evolve. It will be fun to watch.

IE 9 is on the Horizon

While a launch date hasn't been set, IE 9 is on the way. Microsoft developers started work on it a little over three weeks ago. I must admit I've become a Firefox user myself because of the lack of performance on IE 8. Interestingly, Microsoft is boasting that IE 9 comes with a "serious performance boost". Also, "according to Microsoft figures, an early build of IE9 already scores four times as high on the Acid3 benchmark for Web 2.0 applications" (on Techradar). IE 9's performance gains will rely on PC hardware. It's the first browser to do this (render pictures, videos, etc) using hardware acceleration.

Here's a list of highlighted changes:

• Performance (using something called Direct2D system to improve client-side rendering



• Richer web support (more rounded corners available via css3)



• Support for HTML5
  


• Faster Java Script engine
  

While Microsoft boasts IE9 will show performance improvement, it still lags behind the competing browsers. Here's a graphic depicting a benchmark of performance:

It amazes me that Microsoft has been in the browser business for so long and can't compete against a new comer like Google's chrome. It goes to show it's not their niche. I give them credit for trying to stay in the game though and it's high time they improved on IE8 which is almost unusable compared to the other browsers (in my opinion). The graphic above says it all. Given the release of this browser version is at least a year out, Microsoft may throw more bells and whistles in there. They will need to release this version somewhat soon if they want to remain competitive. There are many users of the current IE version who already have a sour taste in their mouth. For more information from a developers view, you can visit http://blogs.msdn.com/ie/archive/2009/11/18/an-early-look-at-ie9-for-developers.aspx

Microsoft bans 1 million Xbox Live players

Microsoft has recently banned up to a million users including me from xbox live. In the user agreement you agree not modify your xbox at all. Individuals in recent years have learned how to modify their xbox console to played copied/burned games. With the release of Call Of Duty 2 earlier this week, software designer Activision pressurized Microsoft to ban any user that has modded there system.

Several gamers modded there system by adding a fan to keep the console cool.This is also violation of the user agreement. There has been several issues with the 360 overheating and becoming in inoperative after it over heats. That's not an excuse, but there were several issues with the release of the system from the begining. The good part is you still can play your games original or burnt games on your system. Your just not allowed to play online and your gamertag cannot be used on the console that has been baned. Xbox live has over 20 million users and a gold subscription is $50

Even though I don't play a lot of my games online, I can definitely say my lesson has been learned by being banned from xbox live. Xbox 360 console warranty is non transferable. So, if you've bought a modded console which was banned earlier, won't connect to xbox live again. This means there's a permanent ban on particular xbox console on xbox LIVE service. So beware buying a used xbox at used games shops.

Microsoft Team Foundation Server

In a business environment, collaborated coding is a key. With many coders on a project and only one master coding project file, it could get a little dicey trying to keep versioning under control, not to mention the tracking and resolution of bugs in code and work items.





Introducing Microsoft Team Foundation Server 2008. Quoting Microsoft, "Microsoft Visual Studio Team System 2008 Team Foundation Server (TFS) is a team collaboration platform that combines team portal, version control, work-item tracking, build management, process guidance, and business intelligence into a unified server." Using configurable TFS process templates companies can develop detailed processes that are not only written down and communicated to the user, but are also enforced by TFS. Some templates that are available are MSF Agile, MSF CMMI, and SCRUM, with Agile and CMMI provided by default with the installation of the software.



Team Explorer is the client install which allows access to Team Foundation Server. Team Explorer can be used as a standalone client or as an addition to your existing Visual Studio 2008 install. Team Explorer allows the user to check out/in code for any number of team projects they are working.




The underpinnings of TFS are Sharepoint and Microsoft SQL Reporting Services. With Sharepoint, a team project will have a team project portal providing the team a central management point for content sharing. SQL Reporting services allows for the reporting on numerous items such as Bugs by priority. You can view a list of reports in the provided screenshot.

Whatever your coding project entails, all businesses need a solid source control software to alleviate any issues regarding the safekeeping of code. Microsoft Team Foundation server is one of many that provides for this. Other software being used by IT houses are Microsoft's Visual SourceSafe (VSS) and Subversion (SVN) which is an open source software.




Enjoy!!

Microsoft Retail Stores

They originally began talking about this publicly back in February, but Microsoft's news of opening up stores across the country sounds rather familiar. When I read about Microsoft opening its own retail stores to "transform the PC and Microsoft buying experience," I couldn't help but immediately think of Apple stores. I'm not all that surprised that Microsoft feels like it needs to open these stores in order to compete, but I am a little surprised it took so long for them to make this move. Regardless, Microsoft hopes that opening these stores across the country will bring more business to them and quite frankly, I think it will be nice to be able to avoid Best Buy!

A leaked image of a potential Microsoft store setup.

The interesting thing to me is that Apple has all these stores in which it not only sells its small products and accessories, but also has a main focus and huge attraction for its own branded computer. Microsoft's decision to open stores makes me wonder if maybe they have something similar in the works? Perhaps, Microsoft has finally developed an entire computer with it's own Microsoft name. From all the reports and press releases from Microsoft regarding these stores, it sounds like they are using it as a sort of market research. They keep emphasizing that they hope to learn about customers and be able to use such information for their future development. Obviously the near release of Windows 7 will be a perfect introduction to some of the early rising stores , as well as the new coming Windows Live and Windows Mobile.

Another leaked image from the same presentation of what a Microsoft store may look like.

Microsoft has mentioned store openings to begin as early as fall of this year, and since we seem to have officially entered fall, (at least according to the weather) openings should be appearing pretty soon. More stores are supposed to be coming in 2010, but Microsoft's attempts to open a few stores with the release of Windows 7 in a couple weeks and the upcoming holiday season will be beneficial for the company. Microsoft is planning to open some stores right next door to Apple stores, knowing that the competition is going to be present, and knowing that they need to take it head on. After hiring ex-Wal-Mart executive, David Porter to help get the stores up and running, Microsoft is feeling very confident that they will not only survive in the store seller's market, but that they will also compete and strive against the competition.

Express Yourself!

I tried out the Expression Web editor in the CIS lab. Compared to Notepad++ which I was using before, this editor has so many more great features to create web pages.

Expression Web makes creating compliant standards-based Web sites faster and easier.

It has a state-of-the-art design surface that generates clean CSS, and you can make design decisions right away, and you can see the representation of the final browser-rendered page.

It has drag and drop controls to add rich media with support for a broad range of essential Web technologies, such as PHP, JavaScript, XML/XSLT, and ASP.NET you can use the same tool for both visual design and coding.

The great news is that Microsoft offers a free 60 day trial version you can download at home.