Technically Speaking

October 22 has come and gone, launch parties have been held (and continue) all over the world and the world continues to spin at the same pace as before.

I am curious to find out how the retail launch of Windows 7 went as compared to any goals that Microsoft had.  Surely as it is available, sales will pick up, especially if the “it beats Vista” claims are true, and in my estimation they appear to be.

Have you upgraded to Windows 7 yet?  Either at work or at home?  I am getting there slowly at home, but it will be a while before I move that direction in the corporate environment.  In the testing I have done there, most things seem to work without a problem and the few that aren’t yet working will either go away or get support by the time we get that far.

The capabilities that will sell the application to management in most organizations are two fold.  Sure they will like the power management features and efficiencies of the OS when paired with Windows Server 2008 R2, for things like Direct Access, Branch Cache, and others, but what about the users?

Selling a feature like Branch Cache to an everyday user (or to management when they are wearing their user hats) might be a bit difficult because the end user in everyone, geeks IT Pros included wants the stuff they use to work.   In this case, features like search, Jump Lists, and stability might be the best thing to demo or to sell on.  The search and jump list features should increase productivity at the desktop because there are fewer clicks to locate files, I do not think this will bring a million dollar savings, but it should please the users that they can locate things anywhere on their computer and the network.

For the mobile user, the ability to specify a different printer depending on the location and network connected is a great feature.  Especially when coupled with better wireless support and auto connect.  The auto-connect thing has been around for a while, but it is very much improved in Windows 7.  As an example, on my laptop, it connects to my home network as soon as it fires up and there is no interaction needed… the same is true of the network at my office.  This has been excellent.

To create a case for Windows 7 in your environment, some cost benefit analysis will likely be needed, but work with your Microsoft partner and determine which features of the OS will be the biggest light bulbs for your company.  These should be the ones that you show off to everyone.  Doing this will help build user excitement, which can show management that boosted productivity is right around the corner.  Not to mention, getting everyone who will use the tool on board by choice rather than by force is always a plus.

This Thursday Microsoft Windows 7 will be available for the world at large to purchase and run on all of their computers.  I think this is a good thing, like most in the tech community, based on the fiasco that was Windows Vista, there are some huge steps forward coming in Windows 7.

I was reading a post at TechRepublic by Jason Hiner who pointed out his hits and misses in Windows 7, and in many ways I agree with him.  The system and data partitions should be split up by default to allow the OS to be wiped out and corrected without losing user data.  The OS is leaner than previous releases and will keep itself out of the way even in terms of UAC.

The one area where my opinion of Windows 7 differs from Mr. Hiner is in the area of the taskbar.  At first I wasn’t sure if the new Dock-like taskbar would be useful, but in fact it is onw of the most used places in the OS for me.

The addition of jump lists from both the start menu and taskbar make information very easy to find.  Mousing over the item on the taskbar, when it is running will show you the list of instances available just like grouped task bar items did in Windows XP. 

For example, mousing over a taskbar icon for Internet Explorer, will show a preview window of the open tabs.  You can then select which tab you need by clicking the instance.  For me this is an improvement over the list of titles when you click the XP taskbar because you get to preview the windows that are open.

I do not disagree that the new taskbar will be confusing for users as they get started with Windows 7.  The missing quick launch toolbar, and its move to the entire taskbar, was a bit of a change even for me when I didn’t use the QL toolbar for much of anything.

The review of hits and misses is a great read, and will help point out some key areas where things are better and where they aren’t, but because the OS is new and there are a large number of XP users still out there, the confusion will be seen, I think as a learning curve in most cases.  Will there be some who want to go back to XP?  Sure.  There will be and thats alright for now… as more and more companies and consumers get their hands on Windows 7 this will change and might even repair the damage done by Windows Vista.

So far, I haven’t found, other than a few driver issues that I need to fix, much in Windows 7 that doesn’t feel like an improvement.  The ability to search for anything on my computer from the start menu or Windows Explorer is huge.  I realize that this is a Vista carry over, but it seems to work better for me in Windows 7.  I no longer get discouraged that something isnt where I thought it would be in places like Control Panel because I can simply search for it or the action I wish to perform and get taken right to the item I need.

I am excited to see where Windows 7 takes the PC and Microsoft, and even curious about how it might shape the next version of Windows.  So far the vista from Windows 7 is pretty promising, especially given the view from the last Windows release.

Affiliation Disclosure: Derek is a contract contributor to TechRepublic and a Microsoft MVP. 

Technology often makes people run screaming in the opposite direction or turns them into giddy children and they cannot wait to get their hands on the next of the latest and greatest.  I would, surely like many of you reading this, fall into the latter camp and am quite excited about technology.

When I get the opportunity to give a presentation about technology I am usually a bit nervous or on the fence about the idea because quite honestly, presentations and I mix like oil and water.  However in some cases (and especially as of late) giving a presentation is a good idea.

In organizations selling technology is usually quite the chore (assuming that your organization is not a technology company).  You have to pitch the choices for a solution to management or make the options you dont like so convoluted that your choice is the best fit for the job, even if that is not the case.

Today was a bit different, I was asked to present to the owner of the company covering technology and what exactly I do for the organization.  This is quite a challenge, but a worthy one if you are asked or can coax management into allowing you time in front of the ownership group.  Getting in front of the group, unfiltered, can be a great lift for your department. 

Do not look to spend money.  There will always be an opportunity to do that, pitch things to management to buy the latest gizmo because it makes your workers this much better at their jobs.  Talk to the owners and let them understand what you are working on and what you do in the technology role you have.

Explain the up front details. Do not launch into an explanation of DNS and the Internet as you will likely bore the audience to tears.  Show them what you are doing, how your projects are coming along, and where you might go in the future in terms of projects.  They will be glad to see it if they have an interest in their employees and as bosses they should.

You might even be able to toot your own horn a bit and help them to understand why the company needs your role and what your industry brings to the table.

If you take the time to talk to upper management and ownership and help them to visualize your role, both of you will be better for it.

Yesterday On September 30th I participated in a Live Meeting with Tim Vander Kooi from Culminis covering the business reasons why Windows 7 is ready and really is the right move for customers of all sizes. 

We looked at demos of the Jump List feature (which I cover here) and also the search capabilities from the Start Menu and from within Explorer.  We also looked a bit at Bit-Locker and how it can ensure your sensitive data is secure.

There were quite a few questions, and I will update this post after I get to review the notes from the show and review and research them further.

One popular question concerned Bit-Locker and Bit-Locker to go and if the technology could be used to encrypt CD/DVD media.  This is not a function of Bit-Locker.  Primarily because CD media is typically used in Write Once Read Many (WORM) scenarios by business and it is likely that the media will be shared with others.  Bit Locker is designed to encrypt the data on a computer hard disk or removable flash drive to ensure that if the device is lost or stolen, the data cannot be used (or misused).

The only reason I can see that an organization might want to use Bit-Locker with CD/DVD media is to encrypt backup or archive copies of their data.  This seems a bit like overkill in that the storage of the archived information should be secure removing the need to encrypt the media.

Another popular question was about Group Policy and if Windows 7 Group Policy would work in a Windows 2003 environment.  The answer is Yes.  Windows 7 supports all of the group policy options available in Windows Server 2003 and a host more.  The additional or new items require a download from Microsoft to allow the new Windows 7 Group Policy features, such as preferences to function in an earlier environment.  The caveat here is that if you configure the environment to work that way, you must manage Group Policy from a Windows 7 computer until such time when Windows Server 2008 R2 his up and running and can allow management from the server side.

Microsoft Deployment Toolkit (MDT) 2010

A deployment utility for environments large and small was released recently to aid with rolling out Windows 7.  We touched on this briefly in the call and the utility can be downloaded here.

The goal of MDT 2010 is to make the deployment of image based systems easier in any environment.  It might not be a great idea in a small environment of 5 computers, but in anything larger than that the creation of images for deployment and rapid repair (redeployment) of systems is a lifesaver.

These were a few of the topics we covered on the Web on 9-30.  Please feel free to post additional questions in the comments.

Industry Affiliation Disclosure: I am a 2008 and 2009 recipient of the Microsoft MVP award.  This in no way should reflect any bias for or against Microsoft Products.  When products are reviewed here, I will discuss them in my own opinion without specific regard for manufacturer.

Last night I received a tweet from a friend who had just posted on her blog a rather great tip on managing Excel data and I got to thinking… not necessarily about Excel, but about how important it is to share your content with others and how doing so might be beneficial in many more ways than readership increases.

Since this blog isn’t about gaining readership for your content, let me see if I can explain.

We all have a niche, and lately mine seems to be support and some content publication, in my support hat there are times when I need to look for help with things.  Where better to find that help than on a blog?  Sure I could email or tweet or <insert communication method here> to get the information, but finding it on a blog might allow me to find other solutions or ideas I hadn’t thought of before.

Since Google Reader and other applications allow subscriptions to RSS feeds and most blogs today support RSS, the information on these blogs can come to you after adding it to your reader.

Even the best IT professionals need help once in awhile.  It seems as problems get bigger or more abundant, that it is easier to overlook the simple solution, perhaps a checkbox or incorrect selection that doesn’t rear its head until weeks later when computers decide that 8:00 am is a good time to reboot to finalize an update. – Oops…

Here is the link to that post I read about Excel. Give it a read, maybe it will be helpful to you, if in no other way than to keep you thinking about all the avenues where help might come from.