Junk Mail filter management

Forefront protection/email filtering management

THere are others, but I expect this service to evolve, and hopefully feedback will drive change.

I have not tried removing the SIM to see if that kicks it into life, but very annoying nonetheless.

I think the Apple infrastructure as a whole is a more compelling, well rounded solution.  That may go without saying, being that it is mature compared with the Microsoft solution, so we may have to reserve judgement further, and wait for release 3 (Tango?) and Nokia'sentry into the Windows Phone market.

It is painful to listen to US commentary on Windows Phone when the ecosystems differ wildly across countries and regions.  Apple definitely appears to have it together worldwide.

I want to believe....

As a mobile device gadget, it needs to have:

LTE/4G mobile service capability - Full speed otherwise no point

Battery life to at least get through a full day ~10 hours

IPv6 - A given but best to make sure

I think that the front runner would have to be the next iPhone.  Ive invested in the app ecosystem, and the integraton with the iPad has made the switch between the two devices and form factors seamless.  Apple has done a great job with driving features, interation and expansion in apps and services.

Its a defininte if it has LTE.

All in all, a good device that complements a windows environment.  I am yet to evaluate the performance, but I am happy with this unit, compared to the first.

I have followed Leo and elected to delete my facebook account.

My reasons are not in protest, or borne from a resentment towards the company for exposing my private data (yet).  Truth be told, I've never really contributed to my identity other than to say I'm still alive.

I think the main concern I have is with the ever-expanding integration with so many other web sites, portals and communities where I have accounts.  Where data is commercially sensitive and information that you would not wish to have inadvertently exposed, is being held.  This may also lead to libellous claims from employees or clients where information has been exposed, through something facebook did, without consent or knowledge.  I like the idea of federation, and with facebook in your federated space, I think it would be low hanging fruit on that identity tree.  Particularly where there is complacency, which is how I treat facebook, an obscure place not really socially complete or compatible with my life, not really business oriented, but perhaps one day may be of use.... 

So often what is said on the web is taken out of context and misinterpreted.  It is not verifiable and can be associated with you when there is no association at all.  Face to face is better than facebook.  facebook is yet another obfuscation of real life interaction.

A comment that is heard often is "what goes on the web, stays on the web" and I think that a lot of facebook users are overexposing themselves and leading with their jaw, without consideration of the consequences.  Something that is going to come back and bite them on the ass!

It's like when I started getting stuck into building my profile of health and well being on my Health Insurance companies website, it dawned on me that I am providing them with so much information and may not be privy to what analysis they would do with that data or modelling or assumptions that may be drawn, to profile me in terms of my liabilities to them or third parties.  A point of frustration for me with my health insurance company is the alignment of medical practitioners to the funds and the blatant referral services they are performing.  I have choice of fund, I would also like to have choice of doctor, dentist, chiro or any other service.  I'm sure there is no motivation in the fund doing this, greater than improving the balance sheet, and the bottom line, ultimately.

.....I digress.....

I just don’t use facebook socially or for business purposes.  It is not right for me to maintain a presence where I’m not contributing, and it does not represent any part of my life.  I’m just not into putting myself out there or reaching out to people when I use other ways to communicate with people I want to make contact with.

It’s just not who I am or where I want to be.

So I ordered one unit for testing and demo purposes, from an Eastern States supplier.  They are in Perth but they only carry a subset of items from that warehouse.  We received the item, unpacked and set about preparing the unit.  All fine until a firmware update and then configuring to join a Windows domain.

It all went pear-shaped!  Unit refused to obtain IP address, was not visible on network or discoverable through the Seagate discover utility.  Basically an expensive brick.  Now I'm out $300, having to ship the product back to Eastern States - Supplier does not take returns at Perth warehouse (sigh), and have not even had a chance to try it out.  We also spent an hour or two of time trying to get the device going, with the "assistance" of Seagate tech support, to no avail.

Looks like  Drobo Pro is the way to go!

I have been recommending my customers move to Windows 7 Professional, over staying with Windows XP.  This provides the greatest flexibility with the benefit of extended compatibility through the use of XP Mode. 

Does this now mean that we should recommend Windows 7 Business, as XP Mode was, as far as I am aware, the only real differentiator between Windows 7 Business and Windows 7 Professional?

[update]

Hmm, was it a figment of my imagination that there did exist a cheaper Windows 7 business version from Windows 7 Pro?  I guess it makes sense to make one version disappear, but it seems that maybe business users now only have Pro or Ultimate as choices.  I'm all for minimising the SKUs but at what cost to business?  They now have to move to Professional.  Has the price dropped on Windows 7 Pro?  How long before Bit Locker/Bit Locker-to-go become an update?  Will that mean Ultimate is the only version available?  Why not have done that in the first place?  Make it $99 in all currencies and it's game over.

The "Record steps to reproduce a problem" utility in Windows 7 might just turn out to be one of the single biggest benfits for small business, home users, and the IT community that support them, among the many features of Windows 7.

There may be an expectation that there is a clear path to move from Windows XP to Windows 7 as the customer has purchased the right to use both.

Unfortunately, there is no direct upgrade from one to other.  I'm not sure this is understood, and I wonder how many frustrated users will turn on the PC makers when they discover this.

It may be that users who have been through an upgrade will be more comfortable with starting afresh.  Anecdotal evidence indicates some users find it a benefit to be able to "shift" their data to one side and start again, rather than having to delete and restore their personal data.

I guess this is par for the course, what with the disparity of applications and how they handle user state data and identity management.  It seems we have become accustomed to dealing with our personal content differently for each application, why should this be any different with an OS?