We all know how awesome Windows Vista was/is.  Can you detect our sarcasm? Since a majority of businesses skipped Vista all together, and because XP will eventually disappear, Windows 7 is currently one of the best software upgrade options for businesses.  We recently talked about upgrading your office's computer network to Windows 7, but what happens when you want to run XP-style apps with Windows 7?

Luckily there are products out there that can help with this problem, and ensure that the transition to Windows 7 will be as painless as possible.

Microsoft recently created its new Windows XP Mode, a free application that lets you run XP apps on Windows 7.  It's designed primarily for small- to medium-sized businesses.  Windows XP Mode comes as a separate download and works only with Windows 7 Professional, Ultimate, and Enterprise.  To use it, you must use virtualization software like Windows Virtual PC.  Luckily, both are available for download. 

Here's the link:  http://bit.ly/2mYqoJ 

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Windows, Linux, Unix, Mac, Java, Web; we knows the importance of these operating systems working in sync with each other.  And when they don’t, it can seem like the world is ending.

We recently wrote a post about the 40 most popular tools for your system admin. bag.  Well, we feel like we should add to that list.  Centrify helps companies strengthen security, enhance compliance efforts and reduce operational costs by centrally managing their heterogeneous systems.  It recently published a white paper that discusses its Active Directory and Centrify Suite software that allows users to seamlessly integrate multiple OS platforms.  Here’s the low-down:

Centralized Identity and Access Management of Cross-Platform Systems and Applications with Active Directory and the Centrify Suite

Learn how to seamlessly integrate your Unix, Linux, Mac, Java and Web platforms with Active Directory's identity, access and policy management services in order to:
•    Reduce infrastructure costs by moving to a central directory with a single point administration.
•    Strengthen security by eliminating orphan and dormant accounts and enforcing consistent security and configuration policies across heterogeneous systems.
•    Simplify compliance with regulatory requirements.
Below is the link to download the white paper. Check it out, it’s pretty sweet. http://www.centrify.com/request.asp?o=1&c=4&f=57

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Microsoft recently announced that they are sticking to the cutoff date for Windows XP of June 30^th. They tried this in January, but everyone complained and it was extended to June. But so far, it looks like June 30^th will be the date. It is pretty amazing to think of how long Windows XP has lasted. For example, when it was released in October of 2001, the minimum processor to run it was a 233 MHZ processor, with 300 MHZ the recommended speed. Amazingly, they claimed you could run it on 64 MB of Ram, and that you only needed 1.5 GB to install it. As an interesting comparison, here are the system requirements for Vista:  1 GHz Processor, 1 GB memory, 15 GB of available hard drive space, and a 128 GB graphics card. Maybe that is why 99% of the computers we have sold in the past two years have still had XP on them. On identical hardware, Windows Vista is slower than Windows XP. Functionally, our users don’t see any improvements that justify the required extra expenses to get a machine fast enough to tolerably run Vista.  Windows XP still accounts for about 63 percent of all Internet-connected computers, according to March 2009 statistics from Hitslink, while Windows Vista makes up about 24 percent.

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“Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” - Albert Einstein 

For those of you that are following the blog, you may be interested to know that I am writing this post from my new Latitude E4300. Overall, I am fairly impressed with the combination of speed and portability. Usually you have to sacrifice one for the other. But I will leave that review for a different post. For anyone who has purchased a computer from I.T.NOW in the past year, you will truly be amazed by my next confession. I am running Vista on my new laptop. I also must confess that this is my third attempt at converting to Vista. Rumor has it that there is currently a pool going on at I.T.NOW betting on when I will switch back to XP (email Jason if you want in on it).  So why do I run Vista when I tell all of my customers to steer clear of it? I guess it is just one of the things I have to know. I can walk anyone through pretty much all functions of XP without having a computer in front of me, so it is time to achieve that same level of familiarity with Vista. That and when I try to install XP on my laptop, the solid state disk appears to cause a blue screen, in spite of how many things I have tried (and I have sadly tried several times).

So, what am I doing differently this time to ensure that I get a different result and don’t go insane? Here are a few tips for those of you who for one reason or another are on the Vista bus.

·         Don’t complain about it in front of your Mac friends. They will just talk to you about the latest “I’m a Mac” commercial and make you regret your decision.

·         Feed the beast. If you don’t have 4GB of memory, upgrade. If you don’t have a video card, consider adding one. If you can use a faster hard drive (10,000 RPM Raptor or a Solid State Disk), you won’t regret the price.

·         Unvistafy Vista. Part of what makes Vista more secure than XP is all of the extra layers of security, which means you have to click a lot more than you would have to on an XP machine. The technician in me has to warn you that this will make Vista less secure. But you wish you had XP, so this isn’t that big of a deal. Wired Magazine has a great Wiki on some steps you can take to clean up Vista.

·         Relax. In less than two years, you will get to do it all over again with Windows 7

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Dell doesn’t change platforms that often with their corporate customers, so when they do, it is a pretty big deal. The seven-year-old latitude D series will be phased out by the end of the year being replaced by the E series. Here’s why I will be ordering one as soon as possible:

• Dell Latitude ONTM. Sometimes when I am traveling with my laptop, I need to get something on the internet real quick, or I need to check my e-mail. I don’t necessarily need to wait for Windows to start up to do simple tasks. Latitude ON allows you to pretty much instantly boot into a simple operating system (Linux based) to access your e-mail, calendar, contacts, or browse the internet. Since it is not using your system’s main processor or hard drive, it dramatically improves battery life.
• Style. Some people say style shouldn’t matter for corporate computers, but when it comes to laptops, size and looks count. The new laptops are around 1 inch thin, and start out at around 2 lbs. This means you won’t feel inadequate sitting next to someone using a Macbook.
• Speed. The new laptops use faster DD3 memory, faster processors, and are available with the latest solid state disk drives (sorry, I had to use a little geek speak, I am talking about a computer after all.

I am holding out for the Latitude E4300 due to be released in the next few weeks. It is the smallest Latitude available that uses full-size laptop components.  This means you don’t have to sacrifice speed for size.

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