I haven’t written about Windows 7 for a while, so time I caught up.
We went live with Windows 7 as soon as we could. As Microsoft Partners we had access to it with the first release for Volume Licence customers. The release for OEM licences (the ones you get preinstalled on PCs when you buy them) is the 22nd (Thursday).
To put it simply, it is an excellent OS. No doubt there will be applications out there that are not compatible, but we haven’t found any yet. Everything we run has ran perfectly. It has coped with all our hardware, from the newest to oldest, with no driver issues.
Of the new features the one I’ve used most is the XP Compatibility mode. This allows you to run a fully licenced (on Windows 7 Enterprise) Windows XP virtual machine. You can then load any older applications directly onto this virtual machine, and then drag them to your desktop, so you can use older applications transparantly on your Windows 7 PC. As I’ve said, I don’t have any old applications that haven’t worked – but I have used it to run a seperate IE7 browser, useful when you are trying to log on to a website as two different people at once.
I’ve also started using Bitlocker to Go to encrypt USB Thumb drives. I’ve lost more of these than I own, and never put anything sensitive on them, but now I needn’t worry, the contents are encrypted and no one can get on them.
As someone who never understood why people didn’t upgrade in their droves to the superiour Vista from XP, I’m hoping that people will get the bug on Windows 7. It behaves itself, looks pretty, and most importantly works. Of course it is a bit different from XP, so if you are still on that you will have a bit of a learning curve – but it isn’t that steep.
We will have a stand at the Bishop’s Stortford Means Business Show (http://www.bsmb.co.uk/) on the 21st and the Stansted Business Show (http://www.b2bessex.com/) on the 6th November, so if you want a look at Windows 7 come along and have a peak.
We have just lauched a micro-site with details of our LiveBackup backup and business continuity system.
If you are still using tape or disk based backup then you need to look at this. The LiveBackup system acts as an onsite backup library, backup virtual server as well as a staging platform for internet based off site or USB disk syncd backups.
It is as bullet proof a backup system we’ve seen for SMBs.
Have a look at www.shadowfaxlivebackup.com for more info.
(p.s. I just managed to overwrite a file I was working on. No problem, our LiveBackup had a copy from 15 minutes ago that I could recover.)
I had an opportunity at the weekend to test our disaster recovery plan. Our Exchange Server had crashed, I had to get some important information from it (the location of a birthday party my son was going to), and I had two options: go to the office and fix the Exchange server, or as we have a Live Backup BDR I could remotely configure a Virtual Server on there and restore our Exchange server to it – as a temporary measure, and extract the info I needed that way. Sledgehammer to crack a nut, but the technology is there so why not use it?
But I hit a snag. Embarrasingly the recovery password for our Live Backup was stored on our help desk server, and that was unavailable because of the other server crashing. That meant I did not have the recovery key, which meant I couldn’t recover the server. I could have extracted it from the help desk server if the disaster was for real, but it would have been a time consuming task. And had the whole office burnt down, then there was no way I could have got it back.
Of course now I have that password saved securely away from the office. But it brought home to me the importance of the disaster recovery plan. And the importance of keeping that plan off-site and making sure the correct information is in it, and the correct people can get it.
(I drove to the office and rebooted the server, it came straight back up and George got to his party in time.)
Having posted about Windows 7 E and the ridiculousness of it – it has now been pulled.
Microsoft have reached an agreement with the European Commision whereby there will be an easy way of switching Internet Explorer off, and allowing OEMs to produce PCs with another browser set as default.
Good.
Not an easy question to answer – there is a full answer here http://windowsteamblog.com/blogs/windows7/archive/2009/07/21/when-will-you-get-windows-7-rtm.aspx.
To sumarise, business customers with Software Assurance should be able to download the RTM (Release To Manufacturing) on August the 7th (tomorrow!). If you don’t have SA already then you will be able to buy Volume Licence on the 1st of September.
Consumers, which includes businesses that buy OEM licences (the ones bundled with new PCs) should be able to get it from 22nd October. It will depend on the PC manufactuered though.
Microsoft Partners (us!) will get it on August 16th, so we’ll start rolling it out in our office around then. Having tested all our essential apps on the pre-releae versions of course!
Interestingly as well there is going to be a ‘family pack’ licence for Windows 7 Home Premium. This will allow you to install Windows 7 on up to 3 PCs, covering the average family. It hasn’t been announce which countries it will be available in, so I’m hoping it will be made available here.
One of my engineers has started using Windows 7 in earnest. He started by putting it on his Laptop, which was in need of an OS reinstall. He liked it so much that he then put it onto his main PC. My policy here is that I’m quite happy for the guys to install whatever they want – providing it does not disupt their producivity.
Which brings me to Windows 7’s XP Compatibility Mode.
I get really wound up by a lot of application developers. I’ve had rows with them before over Vista compatibility of their applications. Probably 9 time out of 10 the application can be made compatible with Vista by simply obeying the rules, rules that have been around for years. The ‘problem’ with Vista is that due to public demand the rules have been tightened, and are now enforced. Microsoft have a program for certifying applications for Windows (you may have seen the “Designed for Windows” badges) which is not too arduous to get your software certified by. If you do that one of the things that your software will do is write files in the correct places. Or rather not write files where it shouldn’t. Vista’s enhanced security puts a stop to writing in some of the wrong places, and thus a stop to badly written applications.
So when I see features such as the XP Compatability mode I look at it as a mixed blessing.
What it does is give you a fully licence virtual copy of Windows XP that can run on top of your Windows 7 installation. Any XP only apps then get installed on that, which runs seperatley and unaware Windows 7. You can then copy the application icon to your Windows 7 desktop and enjoy the loveliness of Windows 7, but still have the application available running in Windows XP.
The mixed blessing for me is that although it will knock down a lot of barriers to using Windows 7, it also gives developers an excuse to stick their head in the sand and not update their application. It also means that end users will be able to keep that unsupported old application going for that bit longer – increasing the risk of depending on unsupported software to run your business.
If you are using an application that you are not sure about Windows 7 compatibilty, now is the time to badger the developer. They should be actively testing and converting code right now, and maybe running Windows 7 in house already in anticipation.
Windows XP Compatibilty mode will be included in Windows 7 Professional, Enterprise and Ultimate.
I’m going to start with one of the single wierdest things about Windows 7. Windows 7 will ship without a web browser.
That is right, in our age of cloud computing and web 2.0 life, the new Microsoft OS will not have a web browser.
Google has announced its new OS, Chrome, which is based around a browser and web connectivity, yet Windows 7 does not have one.
Well, it isn’t as simple as that. Windows 7 E, which is the version that will be available in Europe, will not have a web browser. This is because of a European Commision anti-competative ruling, that dictates that people should be able to chose their browser from the off.
This does leave you in a bit of a conundrum, how do you download and install a browser if you don’t have a browser? The simple answer is that you either download it somewhere else and copy it across to the Windows 7 PC, or you can use a link on the machine to download and install IE8.
I’ve no problem with people using other browsers – I use IE myself simple because we have some .NET apps that insist on it, but I don find this ruling a bit ridiculous. Fair enough some people will be able to run their Windows 7 machines with only the browser that they chose installed, but I imagine that most people will simply download IE8 through the link, and then use that to download Chrome, Firefox, Opera or whatever. So the only real result is that it is more work to get the browser you want!
I plan for the next couple of months to start blogging information about Windows 7.
Windows 7 has been release to manufacturing in preperation for general availability on the 22nd October 2009.
Already PC manufacturers have started on upgrade deals to insure that PCs bought now will be eligable for an upgrade to Windows 7 once it is released. For information on the two main manufacturers that we deal with have a look at:
and
http://h41112.www4.hp.com/promo/win7web/uk/en/
As well as playing with the pre-release versions, at Shadowfax we will be checking out all the info from Microsoft as it arrives (http://windowsteamblog.com/). Windows 7 promises to be an exciting product with many features that build and improve on the reliability of Vista.
Don’t get me wrong, I do take a laptop away with me, and do understand the need for the small business owner to keep in touch whilst away, but some people can’t seem to drag themselves away from work!
So for those that absolutely can’t switch off from the office here are some tips for successfully working on holiday.
First of all preparation. Check what Internet access you will be able to get. If you are using a 3G card then check the providers coverage map. If they don’t have coverage it might be worth getting a Pay as You Go card from another provider. They are very inexpensive now, and will save having to drive around trying to find a signal (I have a contract on T-Mobile and a PAYGO on 3 just in case).
- http://www.three.co.uk/_standalone/Coverage_checker_mbb
- http://maps.vodafone.co.uk/coverageviewer/web/default.aspx
- http://www.webmap.o2.co.uk/
- http://www.t-mobile.co.uk/services/coverage/street-check/
- http://web.orange.co.uk/coverage/
Remember that if you want to get on the Internet then it is the 3G coverage that you probably want.
Check Roaming charges. If you are going abroad check roaming charges. These are coming down for voice and text, but data is still high.
Take data with you. Just because the brochure says Internet Access available don’t rely on it. If there are a few files that you know you will need to work on then take them with you. That way you can still do a bit of Off-Line working. And take it securely, encrypt it if you can.
Prepare in advance. Remember that if you cannot connect from home the week before, then the chance of being able to do it from the Seycelles is next to none.
Schedule your day. More for your family’s sanity, I find it best to schedule the work you are going to do as part of the day, so you don’t miss out on the fun, and they don’t have to sit and watch you plugging away at a Blackberry for the whole day.
Enjoy yourself. No point going on holiday if you sit in front of the laptop all day long. Enjoy the downtime and deal with any problems when you get back.
Yesterday I went to visit a client on a small estate whose broadband has been playing up intermittently. BT have been extending the dealine for fixing the line fault, and it is now obvious that it is going to be a long term problem. The client is very dependent on their internet connection to access their accounts software that is hosted in the cloud So I had a chat with one of their neighbours – another of our clients – and set up a wireless bridge using two Linksys access points between their networks. The link is the WAN side of both their firewalls, so their networks aren’t talking to each other. It just means that my client can now use their neighbours internet connection whilst theirs is flaky. It is working very well, they now have a stable route out to the internet. My generous client is also safe in the knowledge that should they have a problem with their internet, a backup solution is already there for them.
So I had a chat with one of their neighbours – another of our clients – and set up a wireless bridge using two Linksys access points between their networks. The link is the WAN side of both their firewalls, so their networks aren’t talking to each other. It just means that my client can now use their neighbours internet connection whilst theirs is flaky.
It is working very well, they now have a stable route out to the internet.
My generous client is also safe in the knowledge that should they have a problem with their internet, a backup solution is already there for them.