Silicon Shecky

Infosec Practitioner

Connect

iPad, Overhyped?

By Leave a Comment

The iPad and Tablet craze is upon us. The amount of these devices out in the business world is increasing at an extreme rate. I recently got an iPad from work, and here is what I think about it.

Being in the IT Consulting field, one has to keep up on the latest fads. The iPad is the biggest of these fads right now, and I was able to have my office get me one so I could learn it and support it. Besides My office, a lot of my clients are getting these nice little devices in.

The iPad itself is a neat idea. The form factor, touch screen, and clarity of the device makes it something people want. Then there is the “it” factor, which means everyone wants one. For uses such as games, note taking, and e-mail, it works fantastic. The speed of the processor is adequate, although it does hang a bit at times. Its multiple tab web browsing ability works nicely also. I can understand why people tend to be so up on it, but like everything there is a downside.

First thing I noticed was no built in apps for PDFs or Word Documents. The ability to at least open these items so one can read them is essential for any business class device. I am not saying edit these items, cause there are pay for apps you can get that will give you a full Office suite of tools. I mean just Acrobat Reader, or an Office File Viewer is really needed.

Also, the size. I have a Samung N120 Netbook, which I loaded with Ubuntu 11.04, and it is almost the same size and weight as the iPad. Yes, the iPad is quicker to access, but the Netbook gives me a full keyboard, and with Ubuntu on it, a full office suite for no more cost than the device itself. Then there is the price difference. Most Tablets are starting at about $500 (The first gen Galaxy Tab 3G is costing less with a Verizon data contract) and that is usually for a 16GB Wi-Fi only version. Netbooks start at $250 and have at least 160GB of storage. The iPad is even more restrictive as you do not have any USB ports nor SD card slots to expand storage on it.

The downsides from my perspective are why I don’t think the iPad is a proper business solution at this point. When you have something that gives you more versatility and storage such as a Netbook, at around half the cost, you have to wonder why the iPad is doing so well. In the near future tablets like the iPad will be more business savvy, but right now, its a neat, overpriced, toy.

Monday Microsoft Musings

By Leave a Comment

Monday morning, another work week starting, and a bunch of thoughts and questions about Microsoft for you all.

First off, how does Microsoft determine when it is going to release new software? SBS 2008, which has Exchange 2007 built in it, just came out in November, and now Exchange 2010 is in beta. How fast do they expect people to change? Figuring that it take a while for companies to even consider switching to the newest software, and then the testing and learning curve for it, maybe there is a method to the fast turn around on the next gen software.

Second, and even more annoying to me, is the links inside of the Microsoft Event Logs.   You click on the link, it asks you if you want to send the information, and then 80-90 percent of the time you get a message back saying there is no information from Microsoft on this Event ID. Why the heck do they even offer us a link when most of the time it does nothing but make us bang our heads? Yes there are great ways of finding out about the Event IDs through Google, but the links inside of the event logs are supposed to make our search much easier, and more official.

So, am I way off base on these thoughts? Am I just another looney IT guy who wants more from his vendors than they give, or do you feel the same way?

Patches and Beta

By Leave a Comment

Another Patch Tuesday happened this week, and this time 6 of the patches are for security holes which have exploits out in the wild, including the Office holes that I complained about last month. There are a total of 8 patches out this month and while that is good, you might want to check on the other updates this month due to end of mainstream support for XP, Office 2003, and Exchange 2003. All three will continue to get security updates for a few years, but all of them will no longer get new features, or non-critical updates.

Also, released today was the Beta for Exchange 2010. I know, most of you are just starting to use Exchange 2007, but if you have a test environment for this new version of Exchange, I would suggest using it and report on bugs to Microsoft so we can get a less buggy release of it.

Finally, SP2 for Office 2007 is on the horizon, and it will give Office native ODF file support. This means that if something is saved in Open Office’s normal formats, Office 2007 should be able to just open it.

Sorry that this blog has been a bit spotty this week. Work has been really busy, and I’ve been learning about some new initiatives and offerings that we are doing at the office. Let see if I can get some time to do some more posts, even if its just the evenings.