Category Archives: Technology

Windows 7 – Launches Today!

The much awaited Windows 7 launches today from Microsoft. My company is a Microsoft Partner, so I’ve had an opportunity to review Microsoft’s new Windows 7 Professional operating system on my own laptop for several weeks now, and I can tell you I’m really pleased – probably more pleased with this operating system than with any Windows launch before it. I upgraded from Vista Business after some file system corruption problems forced me to wipe my system – the RTM version of Windows 7 had just been pressed, and thought it was a perfect time to try it out – and I’m very glad I did.

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Google Apps, Outlook Internet Calendars, and SSL

I use Google Apps Premier Edition for my business, and while I really like the GMail interface, there are times where I need to use Outlook.  And, while I’m not exactly one of the Microsoft Faithful, I do happen to like the look and feel of Outlook 2007.   The new Google Apps Sync tool (available for GA Premier users like myself) is a really impressive tool, and has made it much easier to use Outlook with Google Apps.  But, Google Apps Sync only handles your main calendar – and I use multiple calendars.

Now, Outlook 2007 has this great feature called “Internet Calendars” that lets you subscribe to and iCal calendar – including Google Calendar.  Unfortunately, like most things Microsoft – and many things Google these days – there’s a little snag:

Cannot verify or add the Internet Calendar in Outlook.
Cannot verify or add the Internet Calendar in Outlook.

Outlook gives you this nasty little error message if you’re trying to connect to the Internet calendar over an SSL-encrypted connection.  And, for a number of reasons, I enforce SSL on my Google Apps service.  Looking around, I couldn’t find anyone with a solution.  Even some very good pages like the How To Geek, and knowledgeable folks like markwilson.it, didn’t seem to have an answer.  So that’s the end, right?  Nope.  Now, my IT buddies will fall over from shock – especially coming from me – but it’s actually Microsoft and Internet Explorer 8 to the rescue!

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Misunderstanding Disaster Recovery Can Be Disastrous

A friend of mine sent me an article from LifeHacker about the JournalSpace website being wiped out at the beginning of January, 2009.  Jeff Fitzpatrick’s blurb, Hard Lessons in the Importance of Backups: JournalSpace Wiped Out, talks briefly about what happened, and reminds us all to backup our data.

But, what happened to JournalSpace is more than just a failure to backup  data – it’s a perfect example of misunderstanding disaster recovery – or DR, for short. Good IT people will tell you, it’s not just about doing backups.  Although that’s a big part, it’s really about knowing how to recover from whatever catastrophic event – the disaster – and what tools you will use to help you.  In this article, I want to talk about a few of the ways you can protect your data, and some scenarios where they are good and bad. Continue reading Misunderstanding Disaster Recovery Can Be Disastrous