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2008 July

Project Mojave Comes To Fruition

As the Microsoft Mojave project comes into the public light, I cannot help but feel like there are still some unanswered questions.

What are the specific features that the tested users were so taken in by? As it turns out, after viewing the initial video, the individual interviews yielded a number of points where Joe User [...]

Ten Dollar Laptops?

As I stumbled upon this article, I honestly beleived I must be misreading it. Ten dollar notebooks? Come on, what is the catch? With the immense challenge of producing a hundred dollar notebook, the very idea of a seemed to be completely ridiculous as far as I was concerned. One thing I can comment on [...]

Troubleshooting VPN Connections In Vista Part IV

In all of the problems discussed in the previous installments of this article, the client is able to contact the VPN server but is unable to negotiate a VPN connection because of configuration settings that do not meet the server’s criteria. Sometimes, you will see the Error 769 message (The specified destination is not reachable). [...]

Reference Configurations For Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Data Warehousing

Companies are presented with a wide range of technology options for their business intelligence (BI) applications. Each hardware platform decision requires them to research, and then balance, the tradeoffs between price, performance, long-term scalability, manageability, and vendor reputation.
Download this white paper and learn how HP can help you reduce the risk and deployment time for [...]

Smaller Is Better

Just as with cars, PCs are beginning to follow along with the trend that smaller is better. We have seen this in the past with Shuttle PCs and the Mac Mini, which provided mixed results depending on what the end user was wanting to use the computer for in the first place.
Now it seems that [...]

What’s Your IPv6 Threat Profile Look Like?

Chances are, if you’re reading this around the time I am writing it, that your computer is not exposed to an IPv6 network. You’re most likely on an IPv4 (classic) network. You can easily tell by trying the quick IPv6 test on this page.
Even if you’re not on the new network stack yet, change is [...]

Troubleshooting VPN Connections In Vista Part III

As you learned in the Part II, a VPN client and VPN server must support the same tunneling protocol. In addition to a common tunneling protocol, both client and server must support a common authentication method. If the client is not configured to use an authentication method that the VPN server supports, you will see [...]

Dr. Dobb’s Journal

Dr. Dobb’s Journal enables programmers to write the most efficient and sophisticated programs and help in daily programming quandaries.
Dr. Dobb’s Journal is the essential multi-language/multi-platform resource for professional programmers and software developers. You’ll read about algorithms, coding tips, working code, discussions of fundamental design issues and actual program listings guaranteed to make you a better [...]

Cuil - The Review Continues

Trying to figure out where Cuil is going to make an impact on Google’s market share is difficult at best. Fully realizing that it is still a work in progress, I cannot help but feel like Mahalo is going to see a more significant impact on how people search than Cuil. With Mahalo, you know [...]

Dual DSL Connections - Yes, It Is Possible

Today Wayne asks,
I have 2 2Mb DSL connections and want to run both into one router so as to increase the speed, a number of routers are on the market but don’t want to be caught with one that do not deliver any suggestions as to the best brand to use?
Not an expert in [...]

Troubleshooting VPN Connections In Vista Part II

A Virtual Private Network (VPN) requires a tunneling protocol. Both the client and VPN server must be using the same tunneling protocol. If the VPN server does not support the tunneling protocol with which the client is attempting to connect, the connection will fail.
When you configure a Vista client, you have three options:

Point [...]

The Business Value Of Performance IDC

Are you looking for a comprehensive solution that addresses insufficient or congested bandwidth, impaired application performance, slow remote backup and replication or obstacles to IT consolidation?
This paper will explain how Riverbed, whose product line, the Steelhead family of appliances, optimizes TCP/IP traffic, addresses these issues with a single Wide-area Data Services (WDS) solution, so that [...]

Is Cuil Ready To Challenge Google?

I have been using cuil off and on today. Overall, meh. Not bad, it provides a great means of discovery. However I am not convinced that its relevance is going to make that big of impact. Search by content analysis vs popularity is vague to say the least. And based on searches I have done, [...]

Drinking The Google-Aid

One of my customers has been experiencing off-again/on-again problems with their e-mail host. Her current e-mail host has a very miserly storage quota on their POP mail accounts, which results in her maxing out and having issues receiving mail. The good news is, there are lots of options… including Google.
I did a little research on [...]

Troubleshooting VPN Connections In Vista Part I

There are different problems that can occur with Virtual Private Network (VPN) connections. Given that establishing a VPN requires you to first establish an Internet connection then connect to the VPN server, there are two points of failure, which makes troubleshooting more complex.
A VPN connection requires that both the client and the VPN server be [...]

Multi-Enterprise Integration And Managed File Transfer

Learn how your organization can expand their process-integration capabilities beyond the local integration arena.
iWay Software’s Managed File Transfer (MFT) offers the industry’s most complete suite of integration technology for coordinating processes and sending files in a managed and secure fashion. This paper explores some common integration scenarios and explains how iWay simplifies the setup, processing, [...]

Mojave Windows - Boy Were Some People Feeling Silly

I do not say this often, but in this instance the move to prove a point by Microsoft was nothing short of brilliant. By offering users a chance to try the new “Mojave” operating system in a controlled setting, MS was sure to prove a point that many of their employees have been championing all [...]

Troubleshooting Encryption In Vista Part III

EFS protects data from being read, not deleted. Because attempts to copy an EFS-encrypted file fail, many assume that an unauthorized user cannot delete the file either; however, it can be deleted.
EFS protects data stored on a local NTFS partition. It does not protect data when it is sent across a network. This is a [...]

Systems Contractor News

Systems Contractor News is the leading provider of timely and accurate news, analysis, and reference information to the electronic systems installation and integration business.
Systems Contractor News serves contracting firms/systems integrators, consulting firms, rental companies, dealers/distributors, manufacturers, reps, software providers, government/military/corporate departments, educators, and others allied to the field.
Get your free subscription to Systems Contractor News [...]

Broadband Penetration Still Weak

Frankly I find the idea behind this article to be completely insane. Despite promise after promise, I have yet to really see the kind of penetration in more rural areas where broadband remains completely absent. I do not point the fault at any one single ISP mind you. Instead, I would say that due to [...]

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