Exchange webcasts in November

Momentum Webcast: Protecting Your HP Storage and Microsoft Exchange Server Solution from Disasters (Level 200)
Thursday, November 08, 2007 – 1:00 PM – 2:00 PM Pacific Time
Rich Bruklis, Product Manager, HP
http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032351245&Culture=en-US

Sharepoint Webcasts for November 07

TechNet Webcast: SAP Enterprise Portal and SharePoint Server 2007 Interoperability (Level 200)
Thursday, November 08, 2007 – 9:30 AM – 10:30 AM Pacific Time
Tilo Boettcher, Senior Program Manager, Microsoft Corporation
Anu Chawla, Program Manager, Microsoft Corporation
http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032352711&Culture=en-US

Microsoft Office System Webcast: More Tips and Tricks for Microsoft SharePoint Products and Technologies (Level 300)
Tuesday, November 06, 2007 – 9:00 AM – 10:00 AM Pacific Time
Evan Archilla, Author/Senior Training Specialist, Projectline Services
http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032355414&Culture=en-US

System Center webcasts for November 07

TechNet Webcast: System Center Operations Manager 2007 Installation and Management Pack Migration (Level 200)
Friday, November 02, 2007 – 1:00 PM – 2:30 PM Pacific Time
Blain Barton, IT Pro Evangelist, Microsoft Corporation
http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032352708&Culture=en-US

TechNet Webcast: Microsoft Deploys System Center Data Protection Manager 2.0 (Level 300)
Tuesday, November 06, 2007 – 9:30 AM – 10:30 AM Pacific Time
Ajay Malhotra, Group Program Manager, Microsoft Corporation
http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032355960&Culture=en-US

TechNet Webcast: System Center Configuration Manager: The Datacenter (Level 300)
Tuesday, November 06, 2007 – 1:00 PM – 2:00 PM Pacific Time
Jeff Wettlaufer, Senior Technical Product Manager, Microsoft Corporation
http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032356603&Culture=en-US

TechNet Webcast: Introducing SoftGrid to the World (Level 200)
Wednesday, November 07, 2007 – 9:30 AM – 11:00 AM Pacific Time
Kevin Remde, TechNet Presenter, Microsoft Corporation
http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032352815&Culture=en-US

TechNet Webcast: Microsoft System Center for Server Infrastructure Optimization (Level 200)
Thursday, November 29, 2007 – 9:30 AM – 10:30 AM Pacific Time
James Galvin, Product Manager, Microsoft Corporation
http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032355551&Culture=en-US

Microsoft Exchange Server ActiveSync Certificate-Based Authentication Tool

Ooh, this is a useful tool to download if you’re playing with Exchange and web authorisation…

The Exchange Server ActiveSync Certificate-Based authentication tool provides several utilities to assist an Exchange administrator in configuring and validating client certificate authentication for Exchange Server ActiveSync.

Will save you quite a bit of time I reckon…

A lot of spam

Sender ID: Blocking 20 million fraudulent e-mail messages every day

With more spam and other unwanted e-mail, it’s no wonder we’re becoming more wary of e-mail. But Sender ID, (-mail authentication technology) seems to be having an impact. Every day, Sender ID blocks more than 20 million fraudulent e-mail messages at Hotmail. So if you have e-mail with Sender ID means less spam and fewer legitimate messages getting filtered as junk. Learn more about how Sender ID is helping keep e-mail honest

But my question is… Why the heck do these spammers keep on spamming people?  surely every Internet user knows about spam don’t they?  So who out there is actually clicking on any of the links and making the spammers job worthwhile?  No one can be that stupid can they?

Or do you know different?  I’d love to know if you know anyone that actually has been conned by these devils….

Sync your contacts between Outlook and Windows Live mail

I thought this was an interesting tip, so I thought I’d share it: 

Marc has a friend who has a small business.  He’s using Office Live for his business.  Hence, he is using Windows Live Mail.  He’s using the Windows Live Mail desktop application for a better desktop experience.  He uses Office 2007 Home & Student on his laptop.  Windows mobile phone.  How does he sync his contacts?  What’s the best solution?

Mike immediately suggested Windows live mobile which will sync contacts between Outlook and Windows Live Mail.  It’s not available everywhere yet though.  However, if you really can’t wait for this. you can always try out some of the other beta’s out there, like Skydrive for storage in the cloud, photos in the cloud and so on.

Anyway, there’s lots of stuff coming up in Windows live – its well worth you having a look…

The Ultimate Steal: Office 2007 for students. The price of a curry for 2…

Wow, we have some really inventive people who work here.  We encourage everyone to think differently and The email I got today showed me yet another great example of this.

 

Andrew, one of this years interns who works in our Marketing Communications team, is taking part in a challenge with all of the other interns at Microsoft.  They’re competing between themselves as to who can spread the word the furthest about the Ultimate Steal.   So Andrew has turned to the bloggers in the UK to spread the word on his behalf and help him win the prize.  Nice one! 

So if you’re a student who is enrolled at, and currently possess an email address with the suffix ‘ac.uk’ at an educational institution geographically located in the United Kingdom.  then you are eligible to purchase a copy of Office Ultimate 2007 for £39.95 (or £12.95 if you only want to purchase Office for one year). 

Think about it.  £39.95 is the price of a curry and beer on a Friday night guys.  When you think how many curries the full cost of the product would buy, you may want to think about getting Office now rather than later…

Andrew, I hope you win your challenge…

Best (and worst) presentations

I was at a really interesting meeting last night.  The BCS invited me to their strategy debate around why young people aren’t choosing Technology as a career and what could we do to change this perception.  It’s interesting to know that clinical pathology is a really popular university course (perhaps due to programs like CSI and Silent Witness) whereas the IT industry has to cope with role models like the IT crowd (oh no!).

The discussion turned to teachers with poor presentation styles – and there are loads of examples of other dreadful presentations across industries (Microsoft has it’s fair share of poor presentations: overfull slides showing too much information, with the presenter either reading from the slide, or racing through the topics without any thought for the audience.

So, although this topic has been talked about many times, here’s a list of what are generally considered to be the best presentations out there…

 

Oscon 2005 keynote.  One of the best I’ve seen.  Rapid fire delivery, 3 simple messages emphasised and repeated over and over again.  My favourite.

Here’s a link to the Squidoo’s best presentations throughout the ages

KnowHr’s readers choice for the 10 best presentations

Powerpoint as a help – and a hinderance – with some chicken stuff thrown in

Giving better presentations – hints and tips

Creating better presentations from the Microsoft at work team

And this all wouldn’t be complete without a link to the worst presentation moments ever. 

Now wouldn’t be an appropriate time to confess my worst moment, as 9 years later, it still makes me cringe…

Communicator Mobile 2007

There’s quite a lot of stuff about Communicator Mobile out there as Solsie, Paul and Brett have noticed, so, as I’ve been using it quite a bit on my phone when I’m out of the office so I thought I’d blog about this set of links and resources if you want to 

Office Communicator Mobile (2007 Release)

This is the QR code for downloading the software directly to your mobile phone.  You need to download the client software to read this code and convert it to a hyperlink – well it would work if the package file was in the correct format – but you get the basic idea on how cool these codes are.  Generate your own QR code here.

(You can tell I’m still really keen on this eh?)

Office Communicator Mobile is a Unified Communications client for Office Communications Server 2007. Communicator Mobile runs on Microsoft Windows Mobile 5.0 or 6.0 software for Pocket PC and smartphone devices.

Communicator Mobile (2007 Release) Release Notes
The Communicator Mobile release notes document describes known issues about Communicator Mobile (2007 release) and suggested resolutions.

Communicator Mobile (2007 Release) Frequently Asked Questions
The Communicator Mobile Frequently Asked Questions document provides answers to the most frequently asked questions about Communicator Mobile (2007 release).

Communicator Mobile (2007 Release) Planning and Deployment Guide
The Communicator Mobile Planning and Deployment Guide describes server and client requirements and procedures for installing Communicator Mobile.

Communicator Mobile (2007 Release) Troubleshooting Guide
The Communicator Mobile Troubleshooting Guide describes the resolutions to issues that some users of Microsoft Office Communicator Mobile encounter under particular circumstances.
 

Communicator Mobile (2007 Release) Quick Reference Card – Instant Messaging (IM) and Presence
The Communicator Mobile Quick Reference Card for Instant Messaging (IM) and Presence describes the most commonly used Communicator Mobile (2007 release) features.
 

Communicator Mobile (2007 Release) User’s Guide
The Communicator Mobile User’s Guide describes how to use Communicator Mobile (2007 release) features.
 

Communicator Mobile (2007 Release) Quick Reference Card – Installation and Configuration
The Communicator Mobile Quick Reference Card for Installation and Configuration describes the minimum tools and procedures required to install and configure Communicator Mobile (2007 release).
 

 

Some useful stuff here – especially if you’re planning a rollout…

Set your IT manager free.

Damn, another catchy tune to torment me all day.  I love this little clip from Intel talking (well singing) about their hardware and software solution on the new chipsets

 

So why doesn’t someone walk up to my desk  and start serenading me then?

 

would be nice. 

thanks to Mike for the link (Mike, you need to take me out to a Karaoke bar then and I’ll prove I can sing…)