How many of you remember Jimmy Fallon's SNL character, Nick Burns, You Company's Computer Guy? One of my all-time favs because the character is painfully real. Either you know someone like him or you've seen that guy in a mirror.
I just discovered a cool little show for the geeks in all of us, from NBC, no less. Ctrl, with a techie in the main role, is featured only online and the first few episodes have already been uploaded. Check it out and tell me what you think.
War Games. Swordfish. Anthony Michael Hall as Bill Gates... What's your favorite geek-related show, movie, webisode or character? Chime in here and extra points if they're clearly IT geeks.
Posted by Michael Domingo on 07/20/2009 at 11:59 AM1 comments
Step into an Apple store and you'll immediately take notice of the clean, simple design ethic that matches the products they sell and the fanboy-attitude of its salespeople (take the good with the bad). Microsoft plans to open retail stores, right next to Apple retail store across the country. If Redmond's Retail Experience Center offers clues to the proposed Microsoft's stores, the move could be an epic fail. Besides, most consumers already have a place for getting their Windows groove on -- Best Buy, Fry's, Walmart or Dell online, no?
Good or bad move on Microsoft's part? Post your thoughts here.
Posted by Michael Domingo on 07/17/2009 at 11:59 AM6 comments
Speaking of WPC, Microsoft Learning honcho Lutz Ziob kicked off a session Wednesday afternoon that was blogged about here. Scanning real quick, among a list of quick facts is this nugget: "323,000 new MCPs in the past year." As I understand it, that's 323K new certifications* handed out and not actual people who achieved MCP status (and please correct me if I'm wrong, MS).
Another one: Microsoft Learning plans to add 31 new certs in fiscal year 2010. With the slate of new products, the group is busy trying to maintain a dizzying number of exam releases pace on top of a vast array of product releases.
* Update: Microsoft sent an e-mail with a correction. The number is, indeed, based on people who passed, not certifications handed out.
Posted by Michael Domingo on 07/16/2009 at 11:59 AM0 comments
Apologies for those who've been wondering why I haven't blogged in a while. It's those darn salary surveys! Just finished giving my take on Microsoft Partner salaries, which you'll find in the upcoming August issue of Redmond Channel Partner, so keep an eye out for it. The Redmond Magazine Reader Salary Survey (as well as an MCPmag.com version) will see daylight in September.
I did want to alert you to some important coverage from Redmond Channel Partner Ed-in-chief Scott Bekker, who's been keeping busy in New Orleans. He's been writing all the news that's of interest coming from Microsoft's Worldwide Partner Conference, which you can find here. Even though the info is spun with Microsoft Partners in mind, you'll find nuggets of information to clue you in to where Microsoft is headed in the next year with its long slate of technology releases.
What affects its partners filters out the enterprise in a big way, and there are some changes afoot, including a major name change and redo of the Microsoft Partner Program and a roadmap of its product releases. It was at the show that Microsoft also released big news regarding its certification programs, if you're interested. Check it out at the link above.
Posted by Michael Domingo on 07/16/2009 at 11:59 AM0 comments
What's new for Office? Well, version 2010 was released as a technical preview during WPC. Apparently, even this early in development the download site has already been constrained; anyone who wants in has to join a waitlist.
I haven't touched Office in a while, but what got my attention in this tech preview is an online version of Microsoft Office, right now called Office Web applications. If it's anything like Google Docs, I'll pass. I love OWA (out of necessity, really), but that's about it -- consider me among those who have a difficult time using other apps in a hosted environment.
What do you think of Office 2010? What do you think about a hosted Office -- would you use it? Opinions, rants here.
Posted by Michael Domingo on 07/15/2009 at 11:59 AM0 comments
Microsoft's Bing appears to be
making enough of a dent in Google's search engine segment that Google is giving the "upstart" a measured look. So said
this New York Post report. (And, then there's
this counterpoint.)
Another search competitor wants to join the race, Hunch, which launched amid the Bing noise, and this is good news/bad news. Good: Google, Yahoo and Microsoft see competition, which means more search innovation. Bad: Launching the same week as Bing with its mega-marketing machine in overdrive makes it difficult to be heard above the din.
So, what is Hunch? In short, it's "social search" or it could be called yet another decision engine, this one deriving answers based on social networking types of technologies, such as crowdsourcing (not like that exactly, but kinda).
I've yet to try it. One thing for sure -- Hunch is clever, inserting you into the decision-making process, with a search box that already fills in the first step to your intended goal with "Today, I'm making a decision about..." Well, I've decided I'm just too busy to turn to something else today and I'll stick with googling.
If Google isn't your go-to search engine, what is? Have you tried Hunch? What are your thoughts? Chime in here.
Posted by Michael Domingo on 06/19/2009 at 11:59 AM0 comments
Really, it's not that bad. I just thought the headline would shock you into reading. Sorry. Rich Miller at Data Center Knowledge
cites a
Netcraft report that shows Microsoft's venerable Web server software has taken a beating ou there in the server market, both in use as a Web server and in sales. A drop in blogging on Microsoft's Live Spaces is cited among one of the reasons, as well as some other insane reason about Chinese bloggers. I'm just wondering if it's simply just that hardly anyone is buying anything right now.
So, does this signal the end of IIS in the Web server market? Or is this just an anomaly due to the recession? Share your comments or e-mail me.
Posted by Michael Domingo on 06/18/2009 at 11:59 AM1 comments
Becoming an MCP is almost as easy as subscribing to an RSS feed. (Okay, we'll leave it to you to figure out the hard part.) Just
sign up for Microsoft Learning's Born to Learn RSS Feed and if you're chosen among the three, random and lucky winners, the voucher is yours. The voucher offer ends June 30.
Posted by Michael Domingo on 06/18/2009 at 11:59 AM6 comments
Redmond magazine's back-page columnist Mary Jo Foley reports at her own site that Microsoft veteran Sanjay Parthasarathy is retiring.
Parthasarathy hustled up the corporate ladder and leaped big into a corporate vice presidency back in mid-2005, when he reported to Kevin Johnson as the head of Developer & Platform Evangelism. Foley's report says his role as Microsoft Startup Business Accelerator honcho will now be headed by another CVP, Amit Mital, from the Unlimited Potential Group.
"So, who cares?" you might be asking yourself. I do; it's one less tongue-twister to mangle in the weekly Redmond Radio podcast.
Posted by Michael Domingo on 06/15/2009 at 11:59 AM0 comments
I have to admit that I'm a fan of Google Chrome. I like its simplicity -- but sometimes it's just a bit too simple. It'll crash on Flash and inexplicably choke on some JavaScript. So my solution is to turn to IE 8. It's a bit slower, but more stable. It definitely was an easy upgrade decision from IE 7, which had its own set of problems that made me check out Chrome in the first place. (OK, I've mentioned this before, so excuse me for sounding like a broken record.)
If you're still on IE 7 and running Vista, there's an interesting security anomaly you should be aware of, detailed in a Microsoft bulletin from this month. In it, Microsoft recommends that you run IE with the protected mode setting turned on to prevent a remote code execution attack. Even with this setting turned on, Microsoft said to still apply the patch.
Are you still in IE 7 mode? What's keeping you from upgrading to IE 8? Chime in at [email protected].
Posted by Michael Domingo on 06/15/2009 at 11:59 AM3 comments
Who would have guessed that Redmond Magazine and MCPmag.com's Salary Survey would still be chugging along after 14 years? It's the one story that speaks to the stability and longevity of many of you who've carved a nice IT career, and particularly those whose expertise is grounded in Microsoft's tools. Really, the results are a reflection of the readers through the decade-plus, and that's what makes your participation so important.
As we've done in years past, we're also always looking for human-interest stories from Microsoft Certified Professionals. If you have one to tell -- maybe it's about the big boost in salary you got when you made MCSE, or how your volunteered expertise has helped keep a local church or non-profit group ride the bleeding edge of technology, or the time a colleague trudged through a snowstorm to bring a hospital much-needed tech support (now, that'd deserve a medal as well) -- I'd especially like to hear it. Even better, you and your story might become part of this year's survey.
To take the survey, click here. Survey closes on June 19!
To tell us your story (or that of a deserving colleague), e-mail me.
Posted by Michael Domingo on 06/11/2009 at 11:59 AM0 comments