welcome to the FORMER funcave

Check back soon for the download link to the required updated firmware for the 8125 and 2125. We are currently experiencing technical difficulties with the download.

also, as per usual, hellsouth wants you to smile and grit your teeth while they make you squeal like a piggy for any added functionality.

the special data plan rates for direct push for both windows mobile pocket pcs & smart phones are $5 & $10 higher, respectively, per month than what those plans previously cost.

which, quite frankly…

should surprise absolutely no one.

from the "how did i miss this?" department...

2006-06-17T21:33:00.000-07:00

there’s a joyful little video from tech-ed, which you can see over at virtual tech-ed, starring our very own sbs diva.

in the video she talks at length about being an mvp & the sbs community.

methinks mario still has little to no idea how lucky he was to avoid getting whomped by the 2x4 of justice when he equated the mvp role with marketing.

all in all tho…

some pretty good stuff at virtual tech-ed, particularly if you are a member of the numbskull non-attendee squad, like yours truly.

wm5 device emulator: connection

2006-06-17T19:51:00.000-07:00

so we’ve installed the standalone device emulator and tricked it out.

now let’s see how this baby handles.

since an emulated wm5 device only has a fake gprs connection…

device emulator offers several other options for network connectivity, including ethernet…which will be the primary focus of this episode.

at the outset, we discussed the installation of device emulator inside a virtualpc environment, making that a primary goal of this series.

unfortunately, trying to enable ethernet connectivity for device emulator running inside virtualpc remains only marginally less productive than smashing your head against a brick wall.

so for this particular episode, all discussion will concern device emulator running outside a virtualpc environment.

last episode, we outlined the command line switches available when executing device emulator.

the switches we’ll look at right now are /p and /n, which enable the ethernet interfaces included in device emulator.

for our purposes, /p will be the only switch we will use, since it enables a standard ne2000 compatible ethernet interface, a driver for which is included in windows mobile 5. the interface enabled by the /n option does not include a native driver in windows mobile 5, severely curtailing its usefulness to us mere mortals who can’t write our own driver code.

altho a bare /p switch will work to auto-enable the ethernet at emulator boot…

if the hardware you are using to run device emulator has multiple physical network interfaces, you should add the chosen interface’s mac address to the /p switch to lock it to that particular interface.

otherwise, when device emulator loads, the virtual ne2000 interface may bind to a different physical network interface than the one you originally intended…

which tends to play havoc on your logical network design…

and which usually means your demo, or whatever, ends up sucking wind.

still…

even with a mac address added to the /p switch, you might still find that you have no connectivity, particularly to the internet, even if all other devices in your environment can surf the web just fine.

if that’s the case, yours truly has the hookup you need right here:

click start->settings

click connections at the bottom, then network cards

tap ne2000 compatible ethernet driver

if a dhcp server is active in the environment, then you should see a dynamically assigned ip address listed in the box. you will notice that the ip address received by the device emulator is different from the one used by the host machine.

you could set a static ip address, if you wish…but be sure to set it to a wholly unique address on the network.

if you have no clue why this might be important, then study the subject of this post.

also, don’t forget to add name server values on the name servers tab if switching to a manually assigned address.

again…if the importance of this escapes you, read the aforementioned post again.

if it remains a mystery after that, think about changing careers.

however, if you are either receiving or have set an appropriate ip address, then you should click ok all the way out to the today screen to save any changes, including the adapters notice…

open internet explorer mobile…

and try to browse to any public website. your friendly neighborhood happyfunboy prefers www.microsoft.com/mobile

when prompted with the can’t connect error, click settings…

then the advanced tab at the bottom.

click select networks…

then set the value for programs that automatically connect to the internet to my work network.

click ok all the way back to internet explorer mobile

browsing to the public website should work just fine now if you try it again.

voila!

we’ve now got device emulator running with direct ethernet connectivity to the web.

now be sure to save the running state of the emulator before exiting & heading off to bed, kiddos.

because tonight…

while visions of sugarplums dance in your heads…

your friendly neighborhood happysantaboy will be delivering a very special present…

which so many folks have been anxiously awaiting.

at long last…

wm5 device emulator: direct push action

and yes…

there will be video proof of direct push working…

for all those of little faith.

new addition to the rogues gallery

2006-06-17T17:34:00.000-07:00

altho not a newcomer here, as she has appeared as part of many previous postings…

ms. nancy williams aka sugar mama now graces the funcave rogues gallery, with an immediate promotion to lead spot.

as a coordinator, manager, or pr guru extraordinaire…

nearly unmatched in her ability to forge professional relationships…

nancy would be an excellent catch for any company looking to make serious strides with the it & sbs communities.

so if you’re a hiring manager…

click nancy’s name & drop her a line already.

complete complete surprise

2006-06-08T22:15:00.000-07:00

your friendly neighborhood happyfunboy must admit…

he’s not often surprised by many things.

however, this very evening…

yours truly was caught completely off-guard when he received this at a microsoft partner appreciation dinner:

over at the sbs show, we talk a lot about community.

specifically about getting involved, sharing, benefits, etc.

and even tho the hunk of rock pictured above is not why this happyfunboy got involved, nor why he’s stayed involved…

it was nice to know that someone else noticed.

hugs & kisses

2006-06-08T21:25:00.000-07:00

to all our pals on the road right now, including…

harry, nancy & the rest of the smb nation crew, who are in hershey pa today at the d&h show.

as a special gift to them, i’ll simply say…

remember remember, the 8th of september!

that’s the first day of the smb nation 2006 conference, held on the microsoft campus in redmond…

and if you haven’t yet registered, all i can say is…

you better get moving!

this year’s conference is on-track to sellout.

and, of course…

godspeed to mastermind & the rest of the mobitech army aka the road dogs, currently underway on their 12 city mobilize smb tour, dedicated to teaching you all about managed services, and how to implement it in your firm.

they’ve finished chicago & detroit.

next stop…

one of my favorite former stomping grounds…

cincinnati ohio!

now, in case you were nodding off right there, and missed it…

after tomorrow’s session, the entire mobilize smb tour will be a quarter of the way over.

so if you haven’t signed up for one of their stops…

quit screwing around and get signed up already!

better yet, sign up for smb nation 2006…

then make your travel & lodging plans so that you can attend mobitech’s final stop, the day before the conference.

this is a case of practice what you preach…

your friendly neighborhood happyfunboy will be in the audience at the atlanta stop on the 14th.

and, of course…

yours truly will also be in redmond in september.

see ya there!

wm5 device emulator: customization

2006-06-06T19:49:00.000-07:00

the previous installment of this series focused on the bare-bones installation of mothership’s standalone device emulator & windows mobile 5 os images.

this one will be all about ideas for optimizing the emulation environment, with particular focus on using device emulator for demonstration & training purposes, rather than development.

if it helps, just think of this trip to the funlab like a funcave version of monster garage.

we’ll start by having a bit of a look under the hood, so to speak.

you’ll remember from last time that we tested the stability of the installation by launching a series of shortcuts, specifically the ones designated with coldboot.

we’ll look at one of these in more detail, but first…

!!! safety moment !!!

you can never be too careful in the funlab.

altho we don’t have to worry about losing fingers or eyes here…

your friendly neighborhood happyfunboy strongly recommends, whenever possible…

always always always work off a copy, rather than the original itself

should go without saying prolly, but judging from some of the posting nazis that have shown themselves recently…

better safe than sorry, right?

so first make a copy of all the default shortcuts, using whatever method you prefer.

mine always prepends copy of to the name, which yours truly promptly changes to something like better or best or showtime or, in this case…

shazam!

now that we’ve covered our hindparts, let’s take that look-see.

if we bring up the properties of the new shazam! pocketpc coldboot shortcut, we can see the following information in the target: field on the shortcut tab…

"C:\Program Files\Microsoft Device Emulator\1.0\DeviceEmulator.exe" pocketpc.nb0 /memsize 128 /skin Pocket_PC.xml /vmid {f1b1af09-969d-4035-8223-b800c75f451f} /s pocketpc.dess /p /funckey 193

we want to start with the executable DeviceEmulator.exe listed in this command line.

if you browse to this executable and launch it directly, you should receive the following screen:

this screen lists every switch that can be set directly via the command line at application launch time.

in fact, if you happen to fubar the command line, and try to pass an invalid switch value to the executable, you will receive this screen again, with a quite helpful message at the very top that highlights which switch is malformed.

using the info from this screen, we can see that the following switches & values are enabled in the default pocketpc coldboot shortcut:

binfile = pocketpc.nb0
/memsize = 128
/skin = Pocket_PC.xml
/vmid = not copied. i hate copying guids, and besides…it’s up above already
/s = pocketpc.dess
/p = auto

and one switch not listed in the screen above

/funckey = 193

thanks to the valiant efforts & ultimate sacrifices by some of the funlab’s dedicated test monkeys…

your friendly neighborhood happyfunboy can tell everyone the bare minimum command line necessary for the emulator to run at all:

"C:\Program Files\Microsoft Device Emulator\1.0\DeviceEmulator.exe" pocketpc.nb0

which will include the following settings:

64mb ram
16 bit, 240 x 320 video display

of course, actually using windows mobile 5 with msfp with only 64mb causes an immediate warning about critically low storage memory.

if we actually execute the shazam! coldboot image using the bare minimum command, we can see which items can be changed, and which ones can’t, after the emulator is started.

can change

host key
shared folder
skin
skin or video
orientation
zoom
always on top
tooltips
enable ne2000 network adapter (usually requires a reset to activate)
host-only networking
serial port mappings

can’t change

os image (obviously)
rom image address
ram size
flash mem file
video resolution
enable cs8900 network adapter
map network adapters to specific mac addresses
text console for serial port 1

there are a couple of other options that can’t be enabled after the emulator has started at all, which don’t appear on the configuration dialog whatsoever:

enable save state
vmid
/funckey

of these, save state is perhaps most critical. without it, no save state file can be saved at all.

so…the funlab’s minimum recommended command line would contain the following:

"C:\Program Files\Microsoft Device Emulator\1.0\DeviceEmulator.exe" pocketpc.nb0 /memsize 128 /skin Pocket_PC.xml /s pocketpc.dess /funckey 193

but for more advanced work, here’s the command line for the turbocharged shazam! model we prefer to use as a starting point at the funlab:

"C:\Program Files\Microsoft Device Emulator\1.0\DeviceEmulator.exe" pocketpc.nb0 /memsize 256 /skin Pocket_PC.xml /vmid {superlong guid, whatever you need or want} /s ppc.dess /sharedfolder c:/vmshare /flash ppcflash.dess /p /z /funckey 193

the shazam! model features:

256 mb of emulated ram
full pocketpc device skin
ability to save the running state of the device to a file called ppc.dess
flash memory enabled to a file called ppcflash.dess
shared folder enabled and mounted as a storage card
ne2000 network adapter available
2x zoom

obviously, the save-state function enables you to save the running state of a given emulator, so you can save any modifications you’ve made to it for re-use later.

by default, you can reload the save-state by using one of the shortcuts designated savestate.

looking at the default target field of the backup of the pocketpc savestate shortcut, we see the following command line:

"C:\Program Files\Microsoft Device Emulator\1.0\DeviceEmulator.exe" /s pocketpc.dess /nosecurityprompt

obviously, the bulk of the customization work could be done at the outset by the coldboot shortcut. once a save-state is available tho, then the savestate shortcut doesn’t need to do such heavy lifting.

so..even if you don’t need any other modifications saved, saving at least an initial save-state after the emulator finishes initializing and loading would capture all the modifications of the shazam! coldboot, plus give you an instant-on launch of the emulator.

very handy for demos...

unless part of the demo includes showing the mobile os load time, that is.

now…

by the very nature of the save-state mechanism, the device emulator only tracks one save-state file at a time.

it’s easy enough to use different filenames with the save-state switch to keep multiple states archived, if need be.

true…

it might require a bit more manual work on your part to use different filenames, but that’s how we do much of the archiving and swapping of different vpc builds at the funlab anyway.

and finally…

many of these same techniques obviously apply to the smartphone emulator shortcuts as well, altho hardware limitations for switch settings may be a tad different here & there.

but the real fireworks start next episode…

when we’ll be looking at enabling non-gprs internet connectivity for device emulator.

you’ll want to be sure to come back for that one…

as it’s the next logical step toward our ultimate goal of direct push using device emulator.

so don’t miss…

wm5 device emulator: connection

same fun time…

same fun channel…

so...you want the attention of a multinational corporate juggernaut?

2006-06-05T19:25:00.000-07:00

hey appealing industries…

guess what?

you got it!

might want to be careful what you wish for, tho.

basically, you have admitted to:

downloading a pirated/illegal version of windows vista via a p2p service
being ignorant enough to try to activate said pirated version
planning to download yet another pirated/illegal version of a soon-to-be-released microsoft product

your friendly neighborhood happyfunboy is quite certain that crazy ligman’s will be most interested in what you’ve posted.

you also claim to be an it professional, with staggering amounts of power & knowledge at your disposal.

so much power, in fact, that you believe microsoft should quake in fear at the very thought of what you could do to them.

yet you seem utterly ignorant of microsoft’s action pack, which is not only a full $200 cheaper than the cheapest subscription option you mention, but would also give you fully licensed copies of nearly any & all ms products.

perhaps the world’s just not ready for the unstoppable force you would become if you had access to such a magical superweapon like the action pack?

i could go on & on…

but quite frankly you’ve demonstrated amply enough the particular brand of professionalism folks are apt to receive if they contract with you for it service.

so, good luck with that it career…

netflix vs. vongo: post-fight analysis

2006-06-04T17:45:00.000-07:00

to be sure, vongo took netflix down in stunningly brilliant fashion.

but, in a sense, netflix was its own worst enemy.

here’s how the scorecard looked..

selection = netflix
availability = vongo
price = vongo
quantity = vongo
features = draw
speed = vongo
convenience = vongo

however…

to successfully defend its newly acquired title, vongo has several areas it seriously needs to shore up.

remove the 10 item limit on the download queue. only 1 item downloads at a time anyway, so this is a totally artificial limit that puts some unnecessary hassle in the interface that doesn’t need to be there.
add the ability to move an entire series of a show to the queue at once. obviously, items in a series should by default be added so they download in order. better yet, add a checkbox to allow multiple choices of items to be added to the queue at once. would make searches much more helpful.
add the ability to instantly move a title to any spot in the download queue. reordering titles to prioritize the downloading schedule is needlessly difficult & annoying.
beef up the selections. the ability to watch starz channel live is ok at best, but more new releases would be much better bang for the buck.
chop the ppv prices in half, or drop them altogether. the ppv and membership title mechanisms are at such odds with each other, vongo risks muddying the water too much. perhaps all titles are shown to help make the library of selections look less anemic. beef the library, and this becomes a non-issue.
portable media center support is a joke. not supporting pmc 1.0 devices? what gives? pmc 2.0 devices aren’t even out yet, and quite frankly might be a total bust. pmc 1.0 devices are already out there, and would give real credence to vongo’s idea of a truly portable service.

all in all tho…

vongo works most closely to how everybody here at the funcave want services like this to work in the future.

no muss, no fuss.
click, choose, watch.
without costing an arm and a leg.

even if vongo doesn’t do anything else…

they’ve got to work on pumping up their selection library if they want to fend off future competitors.

as is it…

if their selections were a tad beefier…

they’d have absolutely taken out netflix in the first round.

from all of us here at happyfunboy productions…

good night…

and thanks for watching!

netflix vs. vongo: round 7

2006-06-04T17:37:00.000-07:00

convenience

vongo takes total command of the fight as soon as the bell rings.

netflix, barely able to lift its hands, is utterly defenseless, unable to ward off any of vongo’s punches, let alone mount a counterattack.

squaring up, landing body-shaking blow after blow, the challenger punishes the champion’s reliance on physical media with vongo’s ability to let users find an item and have it available, instantly…without spending a lot of time fiddling with a web-based queue, visiting the mailbox or the post office, or having to worry about a lost or broken item, or the wrong item being sent…

vongo winds up and delivers a crushing haymaker by helping folks conserve the one thing that everyone has a universal interest in conserving…

time

just as netflix once looked invincible against the entrenched rental competition, using its unique business model and fundamentals to unseat the brick & mortar powerhouses like blockbuster…

those very things now are the tools with which vongo engineers netflix’s de-throning.

finally…

blessedly…

netflix falls.

and doesn’t stir as the referee counts it out.

ding ding ding!!!

ladies & gentlemen…

your winner…by knockout in the 7th round…

and the new champion of the online movie rental world…

vooooonnnngggoooooooo!

and stay tuned for the post-fight analysis…

netflix vs. vongo: round 6

2006-06-04T17:09:00.000-07:00

speed

both fighters come out cautiously to start this round, sizing each other up carefully.

netflix makes a half-hearted attempt with a sloppy roundhouse that misses, and vongo pounces.

vongo tears into the champion with its lightning fast download speeds of 600k or more. free from the limitations of physical media, vongo can do everything netflix can do, except at a rate that seems a billion times faster. vongo lands blow after blow against netflix, taking full advantage of the speed impairment netflix suffers due to its reliance on the u.s. postal service.

vongo also lands some devastating uppercuts, which turn the champion’s legs to jelly, when netflix leaves itself defenseless due to its now-infamous policy of throttling heavy users.

pouring it on now…

vongo even adds a showboat flourish with its ability to begin watching a movie after only 2% has been downloaded.

the fight still looks like a mismatch…but not as most folks expected.

netflix looks like a tired tired fighter, who should have retired years ago…while vongo looks like a spring colt.

vongo takes round 6, in an almost embarrassingly easy fashion.

on to round 7…

netflix vs. vongo: round 5

2006-06-04T17:06:00.000-07:00

features

once again, vongo charges out, perhaps too quickly.

netflix squares up, plants its feet, and lands some staggering power shots with its more flexible queue management options. netflix’s flexible browser interface also pummels vongo’s required proprietary client and viewer application, dealing the challenger a severe setback.

vongo’s knees look shaky, and the referee watches vongo closely, ready to stop the fight if need be.

but vongo, showing a fighter’s heart, weathers the onslaught from netflix, battling back with simultaneous support for up to 3 devices, then matching netflix blow-for-blow in the areas of selection search, recommendations, preview & review.

the crowd is on its feet, cheering on these two warriors.

vongo feints by offering support for portable media center devices, and gets tagged by netflix since the support is only for devices running portable media center version 2.0, of which there are exactly 0 pmc 2.0 devices available in the u.s., which is also the only geographical location supported by vongo right now, prolly due to content licensing restrictions, similar to dvd region coding.

vongo struggles to hang on…

with round 5 ending in a draw.

on to round 6…

netflix vs. vongo: round 4

2006-06-04T17:02:00.000-07:00

quantity

vongo continues its assault, scoring ringing blow after ringing blow.

netflix is on the move, trying to get away…

but can’t avoid vongo’s devastating attack. limited only by the amount of free disk space on a pc’s hard drive, vongo’s unlimited downloaded selections means that there is literally no way to not have something to watch.

netflix, however, rallies a bit very late in the round when it is able to sidestep just slightly and counterpunch with its unlimited queue size. vongo, which limits pending & downloading items to a total of 10, gets caught open-mouthed…

but still takes round 4!

on to round 5…

netflix vs. vongo: round 3

2006-06-04T16:55:00.000-07:00

price

this round, it’s vongo who charges out at the opening bell, pinning netflix in its own corner. for $10 a month, vongo allows an unlimited number of selections at a time.

that’s right…

unlimited!!

not a measly 1 title, like netflix.

netflix attempts to counterpunch by probing vongo’s model of certain selections being pay-per-view only, with extra charges & only a 24 hour download & view window for ppv purchases.

however, this only serves to give vongo an opening to pinpoint netflix’s higher monthly pricing models, which can be up to nearly 5x the cost of vongo, for still nowhere near the quantity of simultaneous titles.

vongo pounds on the champion, shot after shot, with little to no answer from netflix, until the challenger catches the champion flush on the jaw, and for the first time in years…netflix is down!

the champion quickly gets to its feet, and takes a standing 8…

just as the bell rings to end round 3, which vongo obviously takes in stunning fashion.

on to round 4…

netflix vs. vongo: round 2

2006-06-04T16:39:00.000-07:00

availability

netflix again sets the early pace of this round, bolstered by its utter domination in round 1. leveraging the tremendous strength of its enormous library of titles, this fight looks all but over. netflix hammers vongo with the fact that selections in its much smaller library also have expiration dates, as the bulk of the vongo library is cycled, much like the programming of its parent company, starz, changes month-to-month.

that is, until vongo, with what looks like a classic rope-a-dope move, and begins counter-punching. whereas netflix, just like your typical brick-and-mortar rental location, can be out of stock on a particular item from time to time…

vongo, by the very nature of its service being download-based, is never out of any of its selections. and…vongo users can keep non-ppv selections as long as they want, as long as they are available in vongo’s library.

vongo’s fresh new attack stuns the champion, setting netflix back on its heels.

enough that vongo takes round 2 by the slimmest of margins.

on to round 3…

netflix vs. vongo: round 1

2006-06-04T16:11:00.000-07:00

selection

from the opening bell, netflix starts a devastating body attack, trying to take some of the wind out of vongo’s sails early on. there is absolutely no contest in this area. netflix claims to offer more than 60,000 different titles. vongo, by comparison, offers access to a comparatively scant 1000 titles, albeit with a live starz feed as well, at any given time.

looking at netflix’s offering list, one can find a wide range of titles in nearly every genre, including hard-to-find releases from the excellent criterion collection.

by comparison, vongo’s offering list seems very small indeed, altho the range of their selections is surprisingly wide. much more so than one might think from such a new service, which gives vongo a small bit of a rally in the closing seconds of round 1.

even so, netflix takes round 1 handily, and looks to be in total command of this bout.

on to round 2…

netflix vs. vongo: pre-fight

2006-06-04T15:22:00.000-07:00

as anyone who’s ever even heard of the funcave before knows…

your friendly neighborhood happyfunboy went through a recent bit of surgery.

to the tune of being out of commission for about 5 weeks.

you might imagine that, after spending that much time relegated to a recliner in front of the tv…

at some point, reruns of the original star trek series & the 2005 world series of poker just weren’t going to cut it.

so…

it seemed like an amazingly opportune time to try out netflix, the online dvd rental service, which had been highly recommended to yours truly months earlier by the mastermind and her robot army.

but a funny thing happened…

due to some logistical issues, and a bit of coincidence…

yours truly also decided to try out vongo, a competing online rental service, at nearly the same time.

and in no time, your friendly neighborhood happyfunboy had locked both of these services in the steel cage here at the funcave and turned them loose upon one another to see who would be left standing.

so, happyfunboy productions proudly presents…

netflix vs. vongo: the thrilla in my villa

in the yellow corner, wearing the gold trunks with the dark grey trim…

the upstart newcomer with the lightning fast downloads…

vongoooooo!

in the red corner, wearing the crimson trunks with white & black trim…

with over 4 million members…the undisputed heavyweight champion of the online movie rental world…

neeeeeetfliiiiiiixxxx!

stacked up, pound for pound, this looks like a serious mismatch. how could anyone compete with the power of netflix? a service at its prime, netflix looks to reign for a long long time.

remember tho…

in boxing, speed is power. the same goes for services like this. and vongo, hungry newcomer that it is…has speed to spare.

let’s watch it all go down…

ding ding!!!

the ways things were

2006-06-04T04:19:00.000-07:00

thanks to a post & some followup comments over at vladville…

your friendly neighborhood happyfunboy got all nostalgic yesterday.

ya see…

the place i went to undergrad was one of the most handicapped-accessible universities in the nation.

no kidding.

and it wasn’t like it anyone made a super-big to-do about it to anyone, really.

it just was…

the way things were, you know?

one of my many jobs while i was there involved reading textbooks onto tape for visually-impaired students.

now, believe it or not...

i ended up being 'requested' a lot, and hence paid more than the standard reader, simply because i could read advanced mathematics textbooks onto tape in a way that was still intelligible to the listener(s).

i’m talking…

pages & pages & pages of equations.

and yes...

i am keenly aware that, at this very moment, the vlad is somewhere laughing his head off about the notion of the word intelligible being applied to any recording of my voice.

but that also got me thinking about the way things were…and an incident i witnessed.

i edited the fine arts journal for a while…

and our office was very close to the elevator in the student union building.

not surprisingly then, we saw a lot of the folks who used wheelchairs, or crutches, or what-have-you to get around.

but there was one particular student who used what was basically a fully mobile gurney to get around.

her name was jan.

because of the obvious severity of her impairments, jan always had a student or two, usually female, assigned to help her during the day.

now, bar none…

jan was the sweetest sweetest person you’d ever meet in your entire life.

you’d have sworn she knew everybody on that campus. and jan always stopped to say ‘hello’ and chat a bit if i was in the office, even tho speech was fairly difficult for her.

i never ever saw her in anything but a sunny sunny mood.

so one afternoon…i stopped in the little restaurant/hangout directly behind our office to grab a quick bite.

and i saw jan in there, at a table with a couple of girls who assisted her from time to time.

so i looked around while i waited in line…and i saw the two girls were turned around and looking over at another table.

basically, some total jackass 1 or 2 tables away, showing off for some of his numbskull buddies, was flinging nachos at jan.

so the nimrod made some face at the girls…then followed that with some rude remark, mocking the way jan talked, which all the rest of the pinheads at his table started guffawing at…

and i’d taken about two steps toward that table…

when from the far back corner of the place, this very big fracking blur came out of the shadows from behind the nimrod, then slammed him face-down into the plate of nachos on the table in front of him.

like, a couple of times.

it was the boyfriend of another girl who helped jan from time to time.

now this guy was a superbigfrackinghuge guy, like a rugby player or ex-football player or something.

and this guy proceeded to carefully and methodically pound the frack out of that dirtbag.

upon finishing, the boyfriend dragged the now roughed-up scumbag over to apologize to jan, and to pick up the food he’d thrown at her.

me and a pretty good number of other folks had kinda gathered to see the finish to this thing.

so…the jerk hadn’t even stammered out 2 words before jan said:

that’s ok…i’m sure he just got carried away.

absolutely amazing, huh?

but like i said…

no big deal, right?

except that…it was a big deal.

and still is.

jan was one of the primary inspirations for both the name happyfunboy, and the guiding principles of the funcave:

try to help other folks out
try to keep the funcave both happy & fun
try to keep the numbskulls & nimrods from ruining the aforementioned happy & fun

all i’m saying is…

seriously…

we’d all be well-served by a nice long look in the mirror.

what have any of us got to complain about?

sbs-size me

2006-06-01T21:18:00.000-07:00

as promised…

your friendly neighborhood happyfunboy has finally completed his study guide concerning the contents of a certain free 500+ page technical book available from the mothership titled, surprisingly enough…

tcp/ip fundamentals for microsoft windows

overall, a solid solid book.

well worth a download, and a read.

but such a large book ends up being more than a bit intimidating for newcomers…

as in…

folks simply looking to get the most fundamental of fundamentals down first.

which is why yours truly waltzed through the entire book, sorting all the bits into 1 of 4 possible categories, so folks could quickly zoom in on the parts most helpful to them.

as a side benefit…

folks who have a solid understanding of tcp/ip aka ipv4, but who have yet to get up to speed on ipv6, can also use this guide to zero in on ipv6 specific topics.

here’s how to read the guide…

essential = must-read for beginners
helpful = more advanced topic; skip if a beginner
ipv6 = ipv6 specific-stuff; skip unless looking to learn ipv6
skip = ignore unless you administer enormous, complex data networks

word of caution for all the tcp/ip newcomers…

don’t even think about skimping chapters 3 & 4 or 8 & 9.

seriously.

in the opinion of this happyfunboy…

achieving a solid, working knowledge of tcp/ip without a very good understanding of the content in those 4 chapters would be nigh impossible.

couple more things:

the page numbers are as they appear on the physical pages themselves, not as paginated by acrobat reader. you might need to figure out a mathematical offset if you want to print selected sections. btw: first person who whines about having to figure this out for themselves will be mocked mercilessly here at the funcave and elsewhere. consider yourself warned.
the chapter summary & glossary pages are excellent. use them as additional study aids, especially if studying for a certification exam.

ok, without any further ado…

presenting…

happyfunboy’s super awesome guide to tcp/ip fundamentals for microsoft windows

chapter 1: intro

essential: 7-12.5, 13.5-19
helpful: 3-4
ipv6: 12.5-13.5
skip: 5-6

chapter 2: architectural overview

essential: 25-32 (not igmp), 41-43, 48-49
helpful: 44-45
ipv6: 34-40
skip: 33, 46-47

chapter 3: ip addressing

essential: 55-67
ipv6: 68-84

chapter 4: subnetting

essential: 91-108
ipv6: 109-112

chapter 5: ip routing

essential: 117-128.5 (not dynamic ipv4 routing), 132-141, 152
helpful: 128.5-131.5
ipv6: 142-151

chapter 6: dhcp

essential: 159-162, 172-182, 188-189
helpful: 163-171, 183-184
ipv6: 185-187

chapter 7: host name resolution

essential: 195-203
ipv6: 201.5

chapter 8: domain name system

essential: 209-225, 229
helpful: 226-228
ipv6: 217

chapter 9: windows support for dns

essential: 235-250 (not delegation), 251.5-252.5, 253.5-257.5, 260
helpful: 250-251.5, 257.5-259, 261-262
ipv6: 238-239, 241, 250, 251-253

chapter 10: end-to-end

skip: all, except as network analyzer reference

chapter 11: netbios over tcp/ip

skip: all, unless legacy apps, including browsing, required

chapter 12: wins

skip: all, unless netbios over tcp/ip required

chapter 13: ipsec & packet filtering

essential: 357, 375-382
helpful: 358-374
ipv6: 374, 382-383

chapter 14: vpn

skip: all

chapter 15: ipv6 transition technologies

ipv6: all

chapter 16: troubleshooting

essential: 451-461
ipv6: 462-467

appendix a: ip multicast

skip: all

appendix b: snmp

skip: all

appendix c: browser

skip: all, unless info for chapter 11 & 12 required

whoops

2006-06-01T21:15:00.000-07:00

sorry folks…

been using blogjet to catch up on posting.

but since your friendly neighborhood happyfunboy lives by the save as draft function…

blogjet, instead of saving as a draft, was actually posting straight to the blog.

little bit of cleanup needed, but back on track now.

and blogjet still rawks!

prepare for takeoff!

2006-05-29T12:51:00.000-07:00

ok kiddos…

add your friendly neighborhood happyfunboy to the growing list of community bloggers who have booked a seat on…

and no…

blogjet is not some new discount airline for people interested in spending the majority of their time writing at turns helpful & not-so-helpful items for the edification & entertainment of the world at large without any thought of recompense. or in-flight snacks.

no…

blogjet is instead a windows based blogging editor that aims to help streamline the speed and ease with which people maintain their blogs.

prolly much like word 2007 will, when it comes out…

and without taking up 2+ gb of hard drive space.

blogjet offers a 30 day trial, with just a bit of nagging.

i’ll tell you all this much…

if it helps yours truly catch up on his backlog…

blogjet will become a permanent addition to the happyutilitybelt, without a doubt.

and yeah…

look for my thoughts on blogjet to appear in a forthcoming item titled:

happyfunboy’s super awesome guide to why blogjet kicks so much ass (or not)!

i want me world cup!

2006-05-26T23:10:00.000-07:00

or...

rss stealth attack?

saw that mothership released a nifty little app for tracking the 2006 world cup.

the app doesn't cost anything...other than windows genuine validation.

and it automagically fetches updated info about matches, and your favorite team.

now, to be sure, this prolly won't be near as popular here in the states as elsewhere in the world...

but thought it was worth a mention with the amount of overseas visitors we have here at the funcave.

be sure to check out the options panel by clicking on the wrench icon.

you can set a few helpful settings, including adding an rss feed of your choice.

in fact, clicking on help with rss channel opens a web page of world cup rss feeds microsoft maintains.

seeing all that got me thinking...

your friendly neighborhood happyfunboy wonders if ms has a cunning plan for this little app to serve as the initial rss experience for a lot of new folks all over the world.

professional etiquette

2006-05-26T04:52:00.000-07:00

or...

happyfunboy's super awesome guide to not being a community nimrod

professional laziness in the it sector existing long before vladville (or its creator, for that matter) was even a twinkle in anyone's eye.

so folks trying to pin the blame for clueless it nimrods on the vlad because of his contributions like vladville, orlando it pro, and sbs show makes even less sense than blaming it on something like fluoridated water.

if anything, it's the distinct opinion of your friendly neighborhood happyunboy that mr. mazek is one of the few folks telling it like it really is in the community. these are not direct quotes, but more yours truly channelling the spirit & attitude, to wit:

so basically, you are a glorified pencil sharpener.
again, why do people pay you?
a mailing list is a mailing list is a mailing list
starting a user group will suck you dry faster than a vampire with two straws

when your friendly neighborhood happyfunboy first started up a user group, vlad's guide, still in draft form at the time, was instrumental not just in helping kick off alabamasmb, but also to help plot a strategy for growth.

but the very first bits of advice in his guide, right up front, are not some kind of lollipops and gumdrops, pie in the sky, everything is beautiful, whitewashing job.

oh no...

his first advice consists of the following truths:

running a user group is hard work, each and every day.
you will see little to nothing in return for your efforts.
get comfortable with that...or don't even start one.

so no...the nimrod factory isn't located in orlando.

personally, i think of the community like a poker game...

if you want to be dealt in at all, you need to ante up.

now, if you don't know how to play...

folks will help you get the basics down for a hand or two...

if you don't act like a jerk, that is.

but after that, it's gonna be totally up to you. they're not gonna want to give you advice all night long, or give you their chips for free just so you don't feel like such a clueless, dead money loser.

and worst of all...

if you wanna watch tv, or yammer on the phone, or do something other than play cards...

go sit over there on the couch and don't bother the rest of us.

the community works best when folks demonstrate respect for the value of someone else's time & efforts.

a basic thank you is a very good start...

trust me on that.

but the reality is...

any amount of time someone spends helping someone else for free, is time that person has taken away from their own...

job
customers
loved ones
r&r

without expectation of anything in return.

so if you ask for something, at the very least you should have expended some honest effort trying to find the answer yourself.

or, if you have an area of expertise, an offer to reciprocate in kind for that person at a later time is a great way to pay the goodwill forward...

but do something.

demonstrate just a little bit that you're not a lazy, crumb-munching leech...

that's all anybody really expects.

windows mobile vs blackberry: round 2

2006-05-26T04:00:00.000-07:00

in round 1, we saw windows mobile establish a strong jab from the very start, taking an early lead over the blackberry.

let's see if that lead holds up here in round 2.

again...it all starts with fundamentals.

and there is absolutely nothing more fundamental to a mobile device than the interface design.

in this redard, windows mobile continues to dictate the pace and demeanor of this fight.

the today screen was just a foretaste of what was to come.

looking at windows mobile...

it sports features like...

start menu
programs
settings

all of these things carry over as concepts for folks who use a desktop pc running windows...

which normally translates into a much shorter learning curve.

the only weakness with windows mobile in this regard?

the stylus.

at times, the stylus is the only way to navigate, and i feel like i'm constantly having to juggle the stylus when i'd rather just use a keyboard, cursor pad and button.

plus...i hate always thinking i'll lose the darn stylus.

still...

even with that one shortcoming...

the limitations of the blackberry os & interface are numerous.

starting with...

the thumbwheel.

talk about the most sensitive, jiggery piece of crap anybody ever decided would be a good idea for a navigation device.

i hate it mostly for the number of calls i've dropped or reminders i've cleared accidentally while taking the blackberry out of its holster on my hip and nudging the scrollwheel.

but the scrollwheel is merely a symptom...

the real issue is the blackberry os, which treats you from the get go like an absolute moron.

using a blackberry always takes me back to my days as a hardcore gamer...

because it reminds me of a rail shooter.

you know, where you are presented with targets to shoot...

but your own movements, by and large, are restricted to a set path.

now, i'm not talking about a super awesome good rail shooter, like the panzer dragoon series or some other masterpiece of graphics & game design.

no...

i'm talking some piece of misleadingly titled bellybutton lint like murakumo: renegade mech pursuit.

if nothing else, the blackberry os makes you feel like you're using a pda with training wheels.

let me put it a more direct way...

i'm so sick of that freaking thumbwheel...

it makes me long for a stylus!

heck, anything that would allow me to choose which application i want immediately...

rather than having to:

scrolly scroll scroll...scroll scroll...scroll

and then, with my breath held like a professional sniper

click with inhuman precision

to avoid bumping it to an incorrect choice.

certainly a closer round this time, but...

windows mobile edges blackberry in round 2!

hello...and thanks for all the comments

2006-05-23T23:56:00.000-07:00

wow!

have seen a big uptick in traffic here at the funcave recently.

as in...

a tripling of the daily number of visitors.

and wanted to say thanks for the recent comments.

thought i'd answer everything here at once, rather than scattershot all over the site. here goes:

the wm5 vs. blackberry smackdown will proceed soon, thanks for asking
the wm5 emulation series will address a lot of the questions posted over at you had me at ehlo, including how to 'fake' a gprs connection...kinda
yours truly is currently working up an "essentials only" study list for the tcp/ip guide i mentioned recently. originally conceived to help a very good friend, i plan to post it here at the funcave too.

thanks again for stopping by...

hope you keep coming back for more!

come get funky with us!

2006-05-23T15:34:00.000-07:00

regulars here at the funcave know tim barrett aka dr. funkenstein by now.

tomorrow, tim will be delivering a wednesday on the web ts2 seminar with presenter extraordinaire ron grattop, titled the hidden gems of sbs.

tim & ron will be looking at some different ways to wring even more value out of sbs.

and yes...

your friendly neighborhood happyfunboy will be helping to answer attendee questions in the q&a dog pound...

which makes this next snippet quite apropos:

bow wow wow yippee yo yippee yay
bow wow yippee yo yippee yay

expecting all of you to stop in tomorrow, say hey & take a seat.

most of all...

keep firing in those questions!

first, ya gotta go get registered.

so...

what are ya waiting on?

there's never a bad time to get your learn on!

we interrupt this program for an important announcement!

2006-05-22T23:33:00.000-07:00

we'll get back to the device emulator information...

but your friendly neighborhood happyfuboy has something crucial for all of you.

today, mothership made available, for free, a guide titled tcp/ip fundamentals for microsoft windows.

i don't care who you are...

nab a copy of it, right now.

there is no good excuse for anyone working in the it sector to lack a basic knowledge of tcp/ip.

it's kinda like...

a surgeon who doesn't know how to take someone's temperature

or

a master mechanic who doesn't know how to check the oil level in a car

i'm not saying they should necessarily be doing that day in and day out...

but never learning that stuff means they prolly have some serious gaps in their knowledge and understanding that could spell superbighuge trouble down the line.

same goes for it folks not knowing tcp/ip.

a decent grasp of tcp/ip basics is so fundamental to keeping networked systems solid...

it's not something any of us working in this sector can afford to dismiss.

in fact...

i'd take it one step further...

and say that both tcp/ip and the osi model should be required knowledge for all it folks.

i just know that...

when i started my career...

tcp/ip was considered an elective in most certification programs, if it was even available.

the internet at that time?

say hello to ncsa's mosaic browser...

which still receives credit in internet explorer to this very day...

and a couple of sites here and there, mostly academic institutions.

been an amazing 12 years since then.

too bad i know a ton of it folks from back then who missed out, because they refused to take the time to expand their skillset.

so go get your learn on.

don't be left in the dust for the next 10 or 15.

wm5 device emulator: installation

2006-05-22T20:00:00.000-07:00

this content now hosted EXCLUSIVELY at the NEW funcave.

click this text, or the picture below, to go there now.

wm5 device emulator: preparation

2006-05-22T19:20:00.000-07:00

this content now hosted EXCLUSIVELY at the NEW funcave.

click this text, or the picture below, to go there now.

oh what a beautiful mornin'

2006-05-22T09:01:00.000-07:00

sorry...

your friendly neighborhood happyfunboy has not joined a production of rodgers & hammerstein's classic musical oklahoma!

nope...

yours truly just had a fantastic followup visit to the doctor.

so my current status is:

no longer in a neck brace at all
should be able to drive this week
back to work tomorrow

boy oh boy...

such a relief to start getting my life back, let me tell you.

as such...

the following closing music seems quite apropos for this post...

oh what a beautiful mornin'
oh what a beautiful day
i got a beautiful feelin'
everything's goin' my way!

and if you're feeling real spunky...

2006-05-19T18:20:00.000-07:00

mothership has a community technology preview aka ctp of device emulator 2.0 available.

in case you have all kinds of free time...

and nothing better to do.

remember tho...

the release to manufacturing aka rtm version of device emulator 2.0 won't be available until the recently announced windows ce 6.0 release.

and as always...

ctp = heavy heavy beta still

so...

in all likelihood, you will hose your system by installing this software...

and i won't take any blame whatsoever for you destroying your pc.

consider yourself warned.

are you afraid of commitment, you cheap bastard?

2006-05-19T17:44:00.000-07:00

this content now hosted EXCLUSIVELY at the NEW funcave.

click this text, or the picture below, to go there now.

i got a fevah!

2006-05-19T10:21:00.000-07:00

and the only prescription...

is more cowbell!

yeah...

it's that kinda day today.

lord happyfunboy, viscount of the realm

2006-05-16T02:50:00.000-07:00

noticed this on the funtracker yesterday...

Domain Name

hpux12x.parliament.uk ^? (United Kingdom)

IP Address

194.60.38.# (Houses of Parliament)

ISP

Houses of Parliament

Location

Continent	:	Europe
Country	:	United Kingdom
State/Region	:	Lambeth
City	:	London

that's right folks...

since the funcave has become a favored lilypad for british parliament...

and your friendly neighbordhood happyfunboy obviously now stalks the hallowed halls of power in blighty...

yours truly's bucking for an official title.

i'm talking...

land
power
serfs

the works, baby yeah!

windows mobile vs blackberry: round 1

2006-05-16T00:00:00.000-07:00

like all great boxing matches, this contest will be won by fundamentals.

windows mobile sets the tempo of this bout early by establishing a stinging jab with one simple feature...

the today screen

true, this is not a flashy feature...

nor is it a particularly new feature...

having been part of windows mobile since before windows mobile was even called windows mobile.

but i would argue that...

as the very first screen one sees on a windows mobile device...

the today screen vaults windows mobile to a huge lead in usability.

the today screen offers a stunning increase in productivity, if for no other reason than it gives you an immediate summary view of everything to which you need to give a bit of attention...

and also acts as a instant launch pad for accessing those very items...

no matter whether you need to jump to your calendar, your inbox, or your task list.

which is why it is even more amazing that the blackberry os does not offer a similar feature.

instead, you have to choose each application individually from the home screen if you use a blackberry os device.

if you want to a quick summary overview...

sorry...

you're totally out of luck.

i'll talk about some of this a bit more in the next round...

but for now...

windows mobile takes round 1!

funcave fight club rules

2006-05-15T23:59:00.000-07:00

before we start the bout...

let's lay out some ground rules, shall we?

first...

all comparisons will be made between windows mobile 5 and blackberry handheld os 4.

second...

only out-of-box features will be considered.

other than that...

anything goes!

yo apollo...wanna ring the bell?

ding...ding

....and in this cornah!

2006-05-12T22:49:00.000-07:00

all right folks

now yours truly has already mentioned the major differences between implementing windows mobile 5 devices & blackberry devices using blackberry enterprise server in an exchange environment.

and all of it from the perspective of that dreaded "i" word...

infrastructure

without a doubt...

windows mobile took that one...going away!

to be fair, however...

there are very very few customers or prospects that you would ever even think about mentioning the most simplified version of any of that discussion...

and ever fewer of them who would ever actually want you to talk about infrastructure issues with them.

so...

your friendly neighborhood funboy will be discussing the major differences between windows mobile 5 devices & blackberry devices from the perspective that matters most...

your customer...the end-user.

and i have a feeling that this brawl will prove to be the real showdown.

hang on to your seats kiddos...

it's gonna be one for the ages!

whither cdo?

2006-05-12T09:53:00.000-07:00

bit of a heads-up, so you might want to pay attention, kiddos...

starting with the 2007 versions of outlook and exchange server, the mothership is totally separating collaboration data objects aka cdo, and making this particular component a separate download.

the reason for the heads-up?

this directly affects a veritable smorgasbord of 3rd party apps.

cdo is basically an application programming interface aka api that enables access to mapi stores and certain objects therein.

the first thing that immediately jumped to mind when i saw this come across the download center?

that's right...

our old pal...

blackberry enterprise server

bes relies on cdo to work its mojo with exchange server.

in fact...

the reason bes has such an insane amount of prerequisite prep time lies in the absolute criticality of getting the cdo environment squared away.

is this yet another way for ms to exert indirect pressure on competing products like blackberry?

i'll leave that for the folks who get comped steak dinners to declare.

main thing to take from this is...

from here on out...

cdo is an extra step.

and if you've got a mail-enabled app...

you prolly need to check the readme, errata, or install notes pretty closely to see if it needs cdo...

before you find yourself hip-deep in a hosed install.

consider yourself warned...

they...complete me

2006-05-12T08:21:00.000-07:00

ok ok...i know i've already said this recently...

but it's worth repeating again...

just in case some of you were asleep the other day.

if you do any work supporting, implementing, or managing microsoft exchange server...

you should be reading the exchange team's blog every single day.

today, for example...

you could have already checked out harold wong's excellent screencast on publishing outlook web access securely using isa server.

bookmark it, add it to your feed reader...whatever.

just read it.

milestones

2006-05-12T00:19:00.000-07:00

today is a big day, kiddos.

this marks exactly one week since your friendly neighborhood happyfunboy underwent surgery.

and ya know...

time sure flies when you don't have much of anything to do...

other than watch reruns of star trek.

my only regret?

not signing up for netflix beforehand.

anyway...

to celebrate, here's a health scorecard & timeline for yours truly:

days since surgery = 8
days home from hospital = 7
days until my followup visit = 9
days in a hard neck brace, minimum = 9
days as a pedestrian, minimum = 34

pyridium level = 0%
painkiller level = 18% aka 1 per day
boredom level = 8 kabillion %

most importantly...

right arm function = 99%

remaining symptoms:

outside forearm tenderness near elbow when touched
minor weakness/numbness: pinky & ring finger

so we'll see what the neurosurgeon has to say next week.

even with those two remaining things...

i'm about 200% better than i was before the surgery.

and that's all that matters.

...and a river runs through it...

2006-05-11T15:07:00.000-07:00

the diva has an awesome blog post right now about a good pal of ours...

known as "lady firewall" by regulars to the funcave...

teaching folks "how to fish."

now, your friendly neighborhood happyfunboy would like to go on record as saying...

i don't see a single "cold-hearted business person" in that story, at all.

and here's why...

the consultant recognized that he needed expertise that was beyond the current capabilities of his staff.

so rather than dink around with it, racking up billable time and then charging that client for the privilege of his folks 'learning' on their production system...

he contracted with an expert.

to me, that's the only way to properly service your clients.

and from amy's perspective...

rather than being a secretive, double-naught spy about what she was doing, hoarding her knowledge, all that...

her willingness to train those folks in what she was doing, so that they become more proficient using isa means that...

not only will isa prolly be used more often, and properly, by them...

who do you think that consultant is gonna have on speed-dial when his folks run into another situation involving isa that is above their level?

that's right.

amy!

now yours truly has always, without exception, let every single one of his clients know that, at their request, he will train anyone on anything about their network or systems.

i have never lost a client from that.

not ever.

in fact, what normally happens...

as the staff gets more proficient, and more comfortable with their systems...

they end up recognizing the value of what we do for them even more.

plus, they are more open to discussions about new projects & upgrades when the time comes...

since they know what's going on.

if you are taking proper care of your clients...

which you should be doing anyway...

there is virtually no downside to this approach.

as for amy's fishing lesson...

there's only thing i would do for that client if i were that consultant.

if the work is billed as chargeable time...

get an estimate of how long it would take for someone proficient to setup the configuration without an audience...

because we all know that can add a decent amount of extra time...

and charge the client that amount, rather than the full amount of time the session prolly took.

if the work's being charged as a flat rate, then cut them a 25% break.

okay, maybe that's just me...

but doing stuff like that helps me sleep better at night.

the funcave true hollywood story: q&a logs

2006-05-10T18:42:00.000-07:00

sorry it took so long, but posting the q&a stream from a webcast is a lot of fracking work...

besides the little matter of the surgery yours truly recently underwent, which obviously added a good bit of delay...

ron had to first check with ms corporate to make sure it was kosher to post the q&a logs at all...

and then your friendly neighborhood happyfunboy had the joyous task of cleaning the q&a logs.

you see, there are a couple of misconceptions about q&a logs, i think...

if what i saw during the webcasts is any indication.

first...

yours truly answered, at best, only 1 or 2 questions the entire crown jewels series.

this is very common, particularly in webcasts with live demos.

think about it...

with a 1 hour webcast, there is a very limited amount of time to present anything.

if, as a presenter, i stopped to answer even 1 question in the middle...

i wouldn't have been close to getting through all the content.

and doing a live demo is like entering a time warp....

where the clock runs at about 3x its normal speed.

second...

everybody wanted to know if the q&a would be posted after the webcast.

for some reason, i guess it's too difficult to expect people to click in the q&a pane at the end, hit ctl+a, and the paste the q&a log into notepad.

honestly...

that is the fastest and best way to get a copy of any q&a log.

not only that...

it's an uncensored copy.

remember, the ones i've posted have been cleaned.

now, said cleaning involved:

removing any names or other identifiable info about attendees
removing the redundancy of questions naturally appearing twice in the log
cleaning up certain areas for clarity...like bundling followup questions together
removing any privately answered questions that were simply "shoutouts" to friends, etc.

and, worst of all...

removing all the lovely comments from a certain attendee i dubbed "the audio nazi"

nothing like doing a bunch of extra work after an event that forces you to read, all over again, the ravings of a nimrod.

if i wanted to do that, i'd go read a book by al franken or jon stewart.

anyway...the q&a logs are up, finally, on the crown jewels + post here at the funcave.

will be working on a couple of clarifications of some content in the webcasts, and gathering some answers for some questions that are still open.

i appreciate everybody's patience with the time it's taken for me to get this stuff done.

better late than never, right?

enjoy!

and they should have you at ehlo, too!

2006-05-09T17:36:00.000-07:00

while i've got everybody's attention...

it is the distinct opinion of your friendly neighborhood happyfunboy that the exchange team blog should serve as a model for every dev team at microsoft.

they manage to communicate some pretty heavy-duty info in a clear, concise & professional manner...

while still offering a dash of humor & wit here & there...

reminding us all that the mothership is still manned by living, breathing humans.

or maybe some really really sophisticated replicants.

either way...

if you do any kind of work with exchange server...

their blog should be on your list of sources that you check & read daily.

'nuff said.

yet another reason they had me at ehlo

2006-05-09T15:40:00.000-07:00

this is kind of a followup to a request that came in on the q&a for crown jewels webcast #3.

someone asked if there was a screencast of how to enable the push-mail capability in windows mobile 5.0 with msfp.

yours truly jotted that down as something to do while recuperating over the next several weeks...

but lo and behold...

the good folks at the exchange team blog already beat me to it!

so if you're looking for a good demo on enabling push-mail, check out this short, 10 minute screencast on that very subject. it even includes a demo of remote wipe, too.

hmmmm...

now i'm just wondering what i should do with the mountains of free time i have, what with that little project off my plate...

don't let today's patch tuesday steal your mojo

2006-05-08T23:03:00.000-07:00

mothership is releasing a patch today that may drop the hammer on 3rd party mobility solutions, notably blackberry enterprise server and good technology's goodlink.

basically, this patch removes the send as permission in exchange server 2000 & 2003 from being implicitly granted by the full mailbox access permission, which is the default method bes and goodlink normally use to work their mojo.

you will need to explicitly grant the send as permission for each mobile user's mailbox to the service account used by bes or goodlink.

for more info, check out this kb article from the mothership.

blackberry t-support has a document concerning this issue available as well.

last but not least, good technology has this older faq document outlining this issue for the hot-fix version, which is still valid for the full patch version.

keep in mind tho, this thing might put the bang-shang-a-lang on you in other ways...

one thing that immediately jumps to mind...

a shared mailbox account which multiple folks use, and need to send mail as that shared account, rather than as themselves.

we've seen this type of configuration for help desk and other service accounts where the individual sender needs to stay "hidden."

basically, anything that needs to send mail as someone or something else might be affected. so check custom and other mail service dependent 3rd party apps very carefully.

in other words...

have a plan before loading this patch.

nothing makes for a bad day like inadvertantly disabling the bosses' mobile devices...

or worse, hosing an lob app.

ode to my new favorite medicine

2006-05-08T14:06:00.000-07:00

much more important than the fact of orange being the most beautiful color in the world...

is the reason why it's garnered that reputation here at the funcave.

and that is all thanks to the titular med...

namely pyridium.

write that down.

seriously.

if you ever need it, you will want to do more than thank me for telling you about this.

you'll be more likely to give me your first-born...

disclaimer: this post might get a tad graphic. queenie, that means i will not be using the word wee at all. consider yourself warned.

obviously, your friendly neighborhood happyorangeboy had some very important work done recently.

as part of that, yours truly was catheterized during surgery.

now, i had no recollection of this whatsoever, as it was blessedly done after i was put under, and removed before i woke up in recovery.

however, job #1 for each and every patient is to make sure their plumbing is working before they can be discharged.

and since yours truly was due to leave the hospital the next day, i was on a bit of a deadline.

now, for those of you who have never had the particular pleasure of being catheterized...

my first attempt to use the bathroom after surgery was accompanied by pain that i can only describe as trying to piss razorblades.

of course, i immediately asked dumbass nurse #1 if that was normal.

and...of course...she had no idea.

worse yet...

she pretty much ignored completely what i was telling her.

which was that i could go more, and needed to go more...

but could not because it hurt so fracking badly.

because of some insider info, yours truly learned about sweet sweet pyridium

in a nutshell, pyridium is an analgesic, which soothes pain.

and its particularly helpful mode of transport in this case?

well, i'll give you 3 guesses...

and the first 2 don't count.

but one of its primary side effects is...

you piss a bright bright, heavenly orange while it is in your system.

thanks, however...to the sheer stupidity of the nursing staff at that time...

it was 4 horrific hours from asking for it before i received the first dose of pyridium at all.

during that time, i had to endure:

a bladder scan...

which included dumbass nurse #3 prodding and pushing on my bladder the entire time, because she didn't believe i really needed to go.

when the ultrasound reading indicated in excess of 1 liter, she actually had the nerve to say...

well whaddya know, you wuz right.

re-catheterization...

which involved the singularly worst pain i have ever experienced in my entire life, bar none.

as in...

take those aforementioned razor blades...

heat them until they are red-hot...

dip them in acid...

light them on fire...

and then stuff them from whence they came.

now, said pain was neither the insertion, nor even the removal of the catheter...

no, the worst pain occurred when...

dumbass nurse #2 picked up the bag and yanked on it!

her reason?

she needed to read how much was in there.

obviously, her stupid hick ass couldn't just kind of watch and think dayum, that thar shore is filling up right quick.

which why your friendly neighborhood happyorangeboy has now decided to start a scholarship fund at whatever bobbi sue beth school of nursing & truck stop it was that deemed these fracking morons healthcare professionals.

watch for more details soon...

better yet, buy a t-shirt!

btw...

big huge thanks to the mastermind, who promised to punch them all in the face if she's ever here in town.

so i've got that going for me...

the most beautiful color in the world

2006-05-08T00:28:00.000-07:00

i'll give y'all a couple of hints...

it's the same color as...

a late afternoon sun in august
the general lee
florida's cash crop

home sweet funcave

2006-05-06T20:39:00.000-07:00

that's right kiddos...

your friendly neighborhood happyfunboy is back!

so very very good to be home.

and so very very good to have so many great friends.

from the well-wishes posted here at the funcave, to the e-mails, to the phone calls, to the instant messages...

the outpouring of support has been very very humbling.

nancy williams was such a sweetheart to call me on friday morning before i went into surgery, with all that she had going on right then with the smb nation ny conference.

my partner-in-crime, the vlad, has been checking on me every day, from the moment my arm started giving me trouble. so that's been like 2 or 3 weeks.

and of course, dear dear queenie gave me a scolding for not resting enough. she's so very nails these days.

thanks everybody.

it's good to be back.

when is free not really free?

2006-05-04T21:50:00.000-07:00

so...

thanks to its recent legal troubles

and mounting pressure from ms and palm devices...

research in motion has finally decided to offer a version of its blackberry enterprise server aka bes for free.

now...before anyone starts dancing & skipping about this news...

there are a whole host of caveats & conditions.

primary among these:

only 1 client license is included; additional licenses for additional devices cost $99 per.
only 1 copy of the software per mail server.
hardcoded max of 15 licenses; upgrade to full version costs $2800

so...basically...

even tho some write-ups have loudly trumpeted the value of this package at over $3000...

it isn't.

not by a long shot.

at the most basic level, the express version is nothing more than the small business version that is currently available, as proven by note #2 on the first link above.

since the current small business version costs $1100, but includes 5 licenses...

at most, the value of bes express is $600 then, give or take.

but in a much larger sense, even that "savings" disappears in a hurry.

and here's why:

any installation of blackberry enterprise server, when done correctly...

as in, a solid install that will run dependably, and stay running...

can take a long time, potentially over 8 hours.

that is not an insignificant investment of time & money, particularly for small businesses, who are the intended target of this offer according to rim themselves.

seriously...

1 license?

that's almost insulting.

now, your friendly neighborhood happyfunboy has installed & used both blackberry & windows mobile, including devices running wm 5.0...

and connectivity is just one of several areas where windows mobile devices totally kick the ass of their fruit-flavored competition.

assuming that one has completed the proper planning for using either a self-signed or 3rd-party ssl certificate...

connecting a windows mobile device to an existing sbs server takes, on average, less than 15 minutes.

don't believe me?

check out the recorded archive of crown jewels #3...

wherein yours truly actually connects & configures a windows mobile 5.0 ppc to sync with an sbs server, including installing a self-signed certificate, live during the demo portion of the webcast!

now let's see....

8+ hours versus 15 minutes?

not only that...

but blackberry's support documentation has always insisted that bes must be installed on a server separate from exchange.

here in sbs-land...that's asking someone to kiss another $2K in hardware and os costs goodbye...

just for the privilege of using a blackberry.

now, i believe there's some info floating around the community outlining how to install bes on sbs.

but if it's not supported by rim, then if a problem arises...

that install, and you, would be given a kiss-off by the folks at rim's t-support group.

personally, i'm not a fan of kludging together non-supported solutions for customers, especially when it's something like connectivity for mobile devices, which need to run like clockwork, with no muss & no fuss, 24x7.

seriously...

you don't even have to be a cpa to see the value proposition of windows mobile from the perspective of infrastructure costs alone.

but stay tuned folks...

your friendly neighborhood happyfunboy will be posting up even more reasons that windows mobile decimates blackberry...

once he's able, that is.

getting fixed

2006-05-03T22:55:00.000-07:00

well kiddos...

it's official.

your friendly neighborhood happyfunboy is broken.

literally speaking, yours truly has a ruptured cervical disc.

this explains the ungodly pain in my right arm for the last 2 weeks, which has made it impossible for me to walk, stand, drive, etc. for more than 5 minutes at a time.

besides the pain tho, my right arm is noticeably weaker than my left, with tingling and numbness in my fingers.

as if that wasn't enough, the disc right below the ruptured one is bulging.

so...

i will be undergoing major surgery this friday to correct all of this.

got a fairly long recovery ahead...

lots of rehab, all that.

so the funcave might be shuttered for a little while...

but we'll re-open for business soon...

i promise.

crown jewels +

2006-04-29T13:30:00.000-07:00

this content now hosted EXCLUSIVELY at the NEW funcave.

click this text, or the picture below, to go there now.

wow...wowee wow wow wow

2006-04-26T22:31:00.000-07:00

your friendly neighborhood happyfunboy feels so very very humble right now.

basically, the first part of the crown jewels webcast series for ts2 went off like clockwork yesterday.

and the attendance was...

wow!

150 attendees, out of 248 registered.

not only that...

but the comments posted to the q&a section at the end were so fantastically supportive and generous.

and believe me when i say...

that means so very very much to me right now, i can barely put it into words.

basically...for those who don't know...

i severely injured my shoulder somehow nearly two weeks ago.

severely as in...

unbelievable pain shoots through my entire arm...

from my shoulder to my fingertips...

24x7

honestly, it feels as though someone is blowtorching my arm.

thanks to a lovely snafu and clusterfrack, i am unable to see a specialist until may 3rd.

so..i am on some serious meds just to keep from going insane from pain.

luckily, i was prescribed a daytime med that leaves me lucid.

so at least now i can do a bit of light work, and don't pose a danger to any of my clients' networks or equipment.

but it has been a real struggle to get this webcast series completed and delivered.

so because it's been that much harder...

the great turnout, plus the kind words and comments mean that much more to me.

in the end...

i guess this whole post is just one super long-winded way of saying...

thanks everybody!

come get your learn on!

2006-04-24T22:22:00.000-07:00

that's right kiddos...

just one more day until your friendly neighborhood happyfunboy hits the airwaves with a 3 part ts2 webcast series on small business server titled...

crown jewels of sbs

wednesday, thursday & friday this week yours truly & ron grattopp will be discussing the very best parts of sbs!

as in...

those parts of sbs that you can't get anywhere else.

the bulk of each presentation will be a live demo, with a good dose of best practices, tips & tricks, and resources you can use.

but we're mainly gonna talk about the business case for these features of sbs.

as in...

how these features can help you make more money supporting small business server.

here's hoping this series will help dispel some of the myths concerning sbs and dissipate prejudice against sbs among partners...

particularly the idea that sbs isn't a real server.

so...

gonna try to keep it a bit serious.

but with dr. funkenstein among those in the mosh pit...

all bets are off about how long my smart-aleck-colored glasses stay in my pocket.

you can find more info, including signup links, in the funcave archive here.

come join the fun!

from all of us here at the funcave...

2006-04-21T13:16:00.000-07:00

may the road rise up to meet you.
may the wind be always at your back.
may the sun shine warm upon your face;
the rain fall soft upon your path and until we meet again,
may god hold you in the palm of his hand.

godspeed queenie...

good luck in the london marathon this sunday!

does activesync remote display work with windows mobile 5.0?

2006-04-20T18:05:00.000-07:00

this content now hosted EXCLUSIVELY at the NEW funcave.

click this text, or the picture below, to go there now.

vlad's kryptonite

2006-04-20T16:29:00.000-07:00

that's right, folks...

your friendly neighborhood happyfunboy just discovered the one place on earth that the vlad would dare not enter...

the mac lab at microsoft

can any of you imagine how quickly his internal organs would shut down, liquify, or both?

here's a quick primer to get you started...

because i'm wondering...

which type of kryptonite do you think it is?

vote for your choice, or come up with your own, and post it here at the funcave.

oh sure...batman always kept a secret stash of kryptonite...

just in case kal-el ever got too big for his britches, intentionally or otherwise.

now your friendly neighborhood happyfunboy's not worried about that...

but i would be highly interested in having video of vlad's expression right when he walked into that lab.

wonder if microsoft's answer to lex luthor could arrange that for me?

a video channel worth watching..

2006-04-19T16:57:00.000-07:00

those of you who've never seen one of the microsoft across america trucks up close and personal...

and even those of you who have...

will want to check out this video at inter | face.

your friendly neighborhood happyfunboy found the entire video utterly and totally engrossing. the info about hurricane katrina, the logistical issues faced by the red cross, the it and comm solutions they came up with, and how folks like ms offered aid...ya just have to see it!

especially deploying the across america trucks as mobile info centers.

and yes, folks...

i too am still amazed that i beat the king of all media, dr. funkenstein himself, to this one...

will wonders never cease today?

we ride! we fight! we troubleshoot!

2006-04-18T15:43:00.000-07:00

presenting, for the first time anywhere...

sbs show's good buddies...

¡los pss amigos!

and be sure to check out their podcast...inside sbs!

smb nation east just keeps getting better

2006-04-17T11:24:00.000-07:00

as if all the stuff previously announced still wasn't enough...

yet another ass-kicking reason to attend smb nation east was just announced!

mastermind sent out a post-hypnotic suggestion via her mind-control device that the mobitech army would be bringing their mobilizesmb tour to ny on may 4, the day before the smb nation east conference starts.

so sign up for mobitech's workshop, and get ready to earn your msm certification!*

* msm, aka managed services minion, is not now, nor has ever been, a real certification offered by mobitech, nor any other company. but one can always dream, right?

my wish for today...

2006-04-16T11:38:00.000-07:00

is that someone would just rip my arm off and beat me senseless with it...

cuz there is no way that would hurt anywhere near as much as my right shoulder and arm have for the last 2 days.

that's right, kiddos.

now what was the one thing your friendly neighborhood happyfunboy was trying to avoid at all costs when he started doing the gym thing last fall?

i-n-j-u-r-y

ye gods...as if this wasn't the worst timing in the world either.

here's a short list of what yours truly has facing him over the next week and a half:

client work out the wazoo...a good thing tho
outlook 2003 presentation on april 25
alabamasmb group meeting & presentation on april 25
crown jewels of sbs 1 webcast for ts2 on april 26
crown jewels of sbs 2 webcast for ts2 on april 27
crown jewels of sbs 3 webcast for ts2 on april 28

oh...and trying to get taxes done for tomorrow's deadline.

yep...

truly sucks to be me...right about now.

as if that wasn't enough...

2006-04-15T19:26:00.000-07:00

so...the discount offers posted here at the funcave yesterday still aren't enough?

well here's some more news...

your friendly neighborhood happyfunboy will be in attendance at smb nation east in may!

that's right kiddos...
yours truly is publicly committing to being there, or being square.

yeah yeah...i know

obviously that will cause a stampede, right?

doesn't matter.

you should take the opportunity to find out the best ways to grow your business.

and...that doesn't normally happen with your head down in the trenches.

that happens best when you take a day or two, get away from the office, and give yourself some breathing...and thinking room.

so...i guess...

i'll see ya there, right!

this just in...

2006-04-14T16:30:00.000-07:00

one of our good pals called via the funphone just moments ago...

there are now two special offers available for the smb nation east conference, slated to take place just 3 short weeks from today.

what?

you didn't know about smb nation east?

well then...for those of you who've been sleeping under a rock for the past couple of months...

smb nation is having their first ever east coast conference!

and if you think this will be some kind of lightweight, half-baked, weak imitation of the redmond conference...you couldn't be more wrong.

check out this list of presenters, if ya don't believe me!

and thanks to the call your friendly neighborhood happyfunboy just received...

the funcave is one of the first places either of these offers have been posted...

use the promo code community when registering for the conference to receive a $50 discount
conference fees for sbs user group leaders are waived! if you are an sbs group leader, e-mail nancy or kristal to sign up.

so now you've got no excuse for not knowing, or not going.

who arses...the arses?

2006-04-12T19:10:00.000-07:00

oh man...that is such a better title for your friendly neighborhood happyfunboy's previous blog post, now isn't it?

especially since alan moore hails from blighty.

who assesses...the assessors?

2006-04-11T00:39:00.000-07:00

lady firewall and your friendly neighborhood happyfunboy were kicking over a couple things tonight via im.

commiserating on common frustrations, talking about stuff coming up, sharing ideas, etc.

that's community, baby!

now she and yours truly, last week, had kicked around some talk about the initiative mothership has running concerning the small business technology assessment toolkit.

that's right...you know the one.

the toolkit was supposed to be sent out on disc, to all small business specialists. it's also available for download.

and ms is right now running a webcast series...attendance at which qualifies you to potentially receive leads upon whom you would be required to use the assessment tool...gratis.

but that got me thinking...why wait?

think up a catchy name for such an assessment, and send out a postcard mailer, or something else.

make your own opps & leads, and tie them to your business, not the mothership.

not only that...but it also got me thinking...

show of hands...who out there has run this toolkit on themselves?

oh c'mon...that should be an automatic one, people.

now...it does take a fair amount of discipline to be open and honest with yourself about your business, since...in most cases out there, sbsers themselves are their business.

and no one really enjoys taking a long hard look at their own failings and weaknesses.

so let me suggest this...

why don't we all pick somebody...with whom we don't compete...and run the toolkit on each other?

talk about a mountain of potential benefits...but at a minimum

deep knowledge about the toolkit
an instant second opinion about the toolkit to boot
knowing the process fully from both sides of the table
practicing your delivery before you get in front of a lead/prospect

thinking how much more effective all that will make you at using the kit with prospects almost boggles the mind.

but, prolly most of all...

a natural "incubator" for new ideas

seriously...folks

i can't believe that i...mr. knucklehead-o-rama...am the one to have to be saying this...

but mastermind is utterly and completely right.

we need to communicate more!

i mean...this is really a no-fracking-brainer here...

there is no community whatsoever without communication.

and...quite frankly...there is no communication when either one side or the other has nothing to say.

so let's get something fracking meaningful going in terms of discourse already.

in the immortal words of mr. t...

got no time for the jibba-jabba!

gotta love yahoo groups

2006-04-10T20:29:00.000-07:00

when someone uses the term meatbag to describe ms' licensing terms, and it actually makes more sense than anything that has ever come out of the mothership on the issue...

all of you should be running to sign up for that!

plus, it evokes fond, fond memories of my absolute favorite sidekick from knights of the old republic...

that good ol' morally-and-ethically-challenged homicidal assassin droid...

hk-47

give it up for that lovable servobag, folks!

so queenie just kicked it up a notch...

2006-04-10T19:57:00.000-07:00

for those who don't know...

our beloved queenie has gone serious.

as in, she's ready to start unleashing both barrels of the super awesome goodness that is her business-building expertise.

think bfg9000...

except that instead of ripping big, bloody & gaping holes through you, getting hit by this stuff helps shower you and your business with money...

if you're willing to listen up, that is.

so...if i were you...

i'd be getting my tail over to her new blog, pronto.

and be ready to get your biz on!

now your friendly neighborhood happyfunboy must admit to feeling a bit of pressure to get serious as well.

i know, i know...laughable.

well...maybe just a little more serious.

who knows...maybe it's just yours truly going through withdrawal from battlestar galactica being on summer hiatus.

oh yeah...that's gotta be it.

oh where, oh where...has my little cert gone?

2006-04-09T23:24:00.000-07:00

oh where, oh where can she be?

noticed something strange last week at a client site, having to do with a self-signed certificate not being created when using the configure email & iinternet connection wizard (aka ceicw) on sbs.

here's the environment:

sbs standard with sp1 installed
exchange 2003 sp2 installed
single nic

client had two brand-spankin' new cingular 8125 pocketpcs running windows mobile 5 that needed to be configured for wireless e-mail sync.

up to that point, none of the web services in sbs had been configured for remote access.

like any good sbser, your friendly neighborhood happyfunboy ran the ceicw to enable the necessary services the windows mobile 5 devices would need.

when yours truly got to the web services configuration screen, the only service i chose to enable was outlook mobile access aka oma.

because, like any good system admin, i had decided to enable only what was absolutely needed.

makes sense, right?

proceeding through the ceicw, i was prompted with the web certificate screen, which asks for either the info to create a self-signed certificate or a 3rd party certificate.

i entered the information necessary to create a self-signed certificate, then continued through the ceicw to the end, which finished successfully without returning any errors.

however, after i connected the first windows mobile 5 device to a client machine, and then navigated to the clientapps share on the sbs server to copy the self-signed certificate to the device, there was no sbscert folder at all.

normally, this folder is created to hold the self-signed certificate.
the absence of this folder then, gave me a hint that something was amiss.

i then searched the sbs server for .cer files...nothing there.

so...i immediately re-ran the ceicw again, same settings as before.

when i got to the web certificate page again, the do not change choice was grayed out, indicating the self-signed certificate had not been created on the previous go-round.

as a workaround, i did the following:

chose outlook web access aka owa in addition to oma when enabling the web services using the ceicw.
immediately re-ran the ceicw when it finished and disabled owa access again.

the addition of owa to the list caused the self-signed certificate to be generated successfully.

and since disabling owa afterward does not affect the certificate whatsoever, this seems like the easiest and most logical workaround.

to make sure this wasn't something wacky on that particular client installation, your friendly neighborhood happyfunboy verified this same behavior in his virtual pc test "lab" last evening.

just a friendly happyfun heads-up so maybe you won't get bitten by the same issue.

good hunting!

wind beneath my wings

2006-04-08T22:53:00.000-07:00

your friendly neighborhood happyfunboy would like to take a moment to salute a group that has been a super awesome help to him over the last several months.

you see...one of my projects since october of 2005 has been starting and leading alabamasmb, a user group focused on smb it issues...including, but not limited to...sbs.

some of the biggest helping hands i've received while trying to keep alabamasmb growing and afloat have been from the amazing folks at culminis.

after being introduced to a couple key folks at culminis, i simply put them on my "secondary" mailing list, which consists of people who are not members, but are key contacts who help spread the word about our group, our meetings, etc.

lo and behold, after a month or two, yours truly was contacted by the culminis rep who handles our region.

this person had already looked at what we were doing, our previous group site, plus other things in which we had previously shown interest.

so...when she contacted me she already had a list of suggestions prepared for our group. things which she obviously thought would be the biggest help to our group.

and you know what?

she was right on the money with all of them!

not the least of which is...our group's new home.

so...to the whole gang at culminis...

and most especially to stephanie, empress extraordinaire of the central us and great lakes region...

big huge amazing mad props to you!

it's a nice change of pace to have someone helping to both reduce the amount of time spent running a group and increase the results at growing the group.

and this is for the sponsors of culminis...

keep giving them financial support!
in fact, give them even more!
they are GOLDEN!

yep...that's right kiddos.

yours truly just used capitalization right there.

regular visitors to the funcave know what that means...

no higher praise than capital letters here at the funcave.

believe you me...

culminis has more than earned it!

let's not miss the real point, folks

2006-04-08T19:45:00.000-07:00

obviously, the videos that dr. funkenstein and your friendly neighborhood happyfunboy made about the sbs/smb community were a hit both at the amsterdam conference and here at the funcave...judging from the off-the-scale traffic numbers the funmeter keeps recording.

but...

despite the fun we both had in making them...

the reason we made these vids was a fairly serious one.

ya see, unlike the good ol' us of a...

or a far better example, australia...who has been kicking all our butts at this for quite a while...

europe is still uncharted territory for the whole big community thing.

by and large, folks over there don't yet get it...and are still very nervous about sharing info and ideas with their "competition."

not to say we don't still battle that mentality a bit here.

but even the uk groups, which have gone from 2 groups to 14 in less than a year, are still prolly best thought of as in their infancy.

ireland's groups are getting some serious traction...which is more great news.

and...thanks to the influence of the conference in amsterdam...

the netherlands will be kicking off its very first group on monday!

folks...
listen up now...

all that is big huge super awesome news!

and...all of this should be appearing everywhere in the community!

unfortunately, no one else seems to be talking about any of this much over here...

or...

over there either.

based on my own experience...i will say to those group leaders in europe...

if you are expecting someone over here to magically stand up and care...

don't bother.

just like building your own business...

there is no one who will care about anything you are doing as much as you.

so....

if no one's talking about this news...why aren't you?

you should be screaming from the rooftops:

look what we've been able to do so far!

don't be so fracking shy or nervous or whatever.

here's a bit of news i would start with...if it were me...

one of the uk groups is currently working to arrange up to 1/2 million british pounds in funding from a local goverment business dev board to help raise awareness of smb, the groups, etc.

that's right kiddos...i said million!

but...you know what?

your friendly neighborhood happyfunboy is just one teeny-tiny voice, without any significant reach or influence.

and...thanks to my swiss-cheese brain...
yours truly prolly got the details on that 1.2 million pound deal a bit wrong.

so...to the leaders of the community as a whole...
and to the leaders of the uk groups...
and the other groups in europe...
let me be very very blunt about this...

it is way past time for this type of news to be put out there...
and i'd like to know exactly what you're waiting on...

do i sound like a fire-and-brimstone preacher on the street corner?

good...

be glad it's that...

and not me grabbing hold of the biggest bat i can find to whack some sense into some folks...tony soprano-style.

sbs...bejeweled!

2006-04-07T19:17:00.000-07:00

okey...

got a special announcement here at the funcave...so gather 'round please.

namely, that yours truly will be coming to a microsoft webcast near you!

yep...you heard correctly, kiddos.

your friendly neighborhood happyfunboy will be presenting a 3 part series titled crown jewels of sbs at the end of this very month for microsoft's ts2 program.

we're basically gonna take an in-depth look at some of the most valuable exclusive features of small business server. besides best practices, tips, and nuts-and-bolts type stuff...we're also planning to discuss the business case for using these features.

here's the breakdown:

4/26 - part 1: sharepoint & companyweb
4/27 - part 2: wizards, faxing & monitoring
4/28 - part 3: remote web workplace & mobility

oddly enough...it seems that waaaaaaaaay too many folks, for one reason or another, totally ignore those very features when installing, configuring, or otherwise using sbs.

this is not just folks missing opportunities for additional service or implementation work, either.

we're talking...botched sbs installs.
for no reason other than plain ignorance.

bitzie has a pretty good post on this very issue.

hopefully...crown jewels will help wake a good many more folks up.

mad props to ron grattopp, ts2 presenter extraordinaire. ron was kind enough to put me and this presentation on the webcast schedule.

ron has also been a fantastic supporter of alabamasmb, the sbs/smb user group i helped found, and several other sbs groups around the country. our group has grown to 41 members, in no small part due to some key things ron did to help keep our group's momentum going.

also...generously offering to help handle the q&a section will be tim "dr. funkenstein" barrett.

that's right...ol' mr. louisville slugger himself!

and perhaps some other group leaders as well.

so please come and join us on the 26th, 27th & 28th of this month to get your learn on!

now...if you are currently in an sbs user group...

let your group leader know you will be attending, and nudge them to drop me an e-mail so we can give a special shoutout to your group. also, please put your groupname in brackets on your display name when you sign in.

and if you're not in an sbs user group...

well...what are you waiting for?

go find one and join...or start one if there isn't one near you!

but most importantly...share the signup links with any and every it pro you know who you think would be interested in learning how to get the most out of small business server.

stay frosty, everybody...

now that the world premiere is over...

2006-04-07T15:00:00.000-07:00

those of you too lazy, too shy or too dense to attend the smb nation conference in amsterdam have no one else to blame for missing...

dr. funkenstein's super awesome video tour of louisville.

and...

your friendly neighborhood happyfunboy's best impression of a robot...

on quaaludes.

enjoy!

from the home office in amsterdam...

2006-04-06T23:36:00.000-07:00

regular visitors to the funcave are prolly aware of the festivities currently happening overseas through the end of today...

since your friendly neighborhood happyfunboy has such a super-awesome list of pals, yours truly received the following update straight from one of the top folks responsible for organizing the aforementioned festivities...

hey gang!

what a great day. i received tons of positive feedback about how the day ran. everyone seems to be quite pleased with the speakers and venue.

here are some observations that i have made over the past 24 hours:

- some of the guys from the uk need to keep better track of their passports.

- i met the surrogate mother of sbs and found out that she has a very strong firewall.

- we have an awesome group of consultants here!

- there were a lot of 'firsts' with regards to the scavenger hunt.

- it is not in my job description to drive in downtown amsterdam...yikes, that was an experience.

- there are 6 andrews here from the uk.

and

- if you have to deal with the front desk...ask for pierre!

now...in less than 15 minutes...

queenie, mark mulvaney and robbie "danger" upcroft are speaking.

so wake up sleepyheads!

there's a surprise that you won't want to miss...

and yes...

your friendly neighborhood happyfunboy regrets not trying to make the trip over there to meet everyone.

lights...camera...action!

2006-04-04T19:46:00.000-07:00

thanks to a request from a friend...

your friendly neighborhood happyfunboy had a chance to do a bit of filming & editing the other day.

man, forget sometimes how much i enjoy doing that...

and how it could have been a whole different path for me a good while ago.

of course, way back in 1990-91...the early masterworks of hfb were shot using super-8.

drove 4 hours one way to get to a lab that would still develop black & white super-8 stock...then waited several hours for them to process it for me.

man...what a long strange trip it's been...

april showers bring...

2006-03-31T19:35:00.000-08:00

divvies...is what.

your friendly neighborhood happyfunboy has a bit of a confession to make.

as much as i like to faff about (as queenie would say) and have a good time...

i absolutely loathe april fool's day, hereafter referred to as...afd.

and i truly believe it's because i work in it.

there is absolutely no group of people less funny than it folks...except maybe accountants.

so why do the lamebrains at c|net always think they are soooooo funny every year with their cutesy afd stories?

sheesh.

maybe if they spent less time whipping up their unfunny afd schlock, and instead spent that time on their real reporting...they wouldn't sound like such a bunch of brain-dead tech wannabes 99.999999% of the time.

honestly...

their afd stuff sounds a heckuva lot more accurate than what they post the other 364 days out of the year...

podcathing hath ith benefith

2006-03-28T05:00:00.000-08:00

for all thothe who think thbth thow is a wathe of our time, i thay.....hah!

i thill thay we've got the beth dental plan in podcathing, all thankth to google adth!

vlad the server guy

2006-03-26T21:12:00.000-08:00

i don't care who ya are...

that's funny right thar!

dear funcave...

2006-03-24T21:50:00.000-08:00

with the vlad setting a stellar example this morning, today was unofficially dubbed naughty friday by the mastermind and your friendly neighborhood happyfunboy earlier in the day.

so...in keeping with today's theme...

here's a bit of advice from the funcave...
which isn't the typical kind of advice from the funcave.

now...most of us in it have always spent an inordinate amount of time living virtually...either online or in our own heads before the super colossal amazing intarweb came along.

but anymore...a whole ton of everybody...not just the geeks...are doing the virtual living thing.

all which tends to explain the amazing popularity of online dating sites, both in geekland and beyond.

in the interest of full disclosure...

your friendly neighborhood happyfunboy does not frequent online dating sites.

nope...no how...no way

and that's not just because yours truly took a vow a decade ago covering that particular kind of subject.

but also because...like all things virtual...

the issue of trust takes on a whole new meaning.

as in...

how do you know that hot chick you just met is really hot?

or even really a chick?

thanks to a very good friend...
who is really a chick...

i got a bit of insight into the online dating phenomenon.

without further ado...
here is a free gift for you...

your friendly neighborhood happyfunboy's super awesome guide to not being an online dating jerkwad

- be truthful.

that's it.

tell the fracking truth.

ok...so claiming to be some kind of adonis when you really look more like larry the cable guy is one thing.

after all...ya gotta play up your strengths a bit and minimize your weaknesses.

kinda like on a resume.

but it's not exactly a fine line you're crossing when you...

- have been committed to someone for a significant period of time

- continue to meet women online

- pass it off as "nothing"

- fly to meet those aforementioned women in person

- develop relationships with those aforementioned women's children

- do all of this simultaneously, and while ostensibly still being in the original committed relationship

no wonder bigamy is on the rise.

i mean...honestly...

serial dating?

prolly bigger problems there than just working on your game.

as in...overcompensating for some other shortcoming maybe?

better to just lease a ferrari while you get over yourself.

one last tidbit...

altho the jerkwad example above sounded like it was a guy...how do you really know?

he could, in fact, be a chick...

and how do you know my friend is really a chick?

she could, quite frankly, be a guy...

how's that for bending your noggin a bit?

things that make you go...

2006-03-22T19:48:00.000-08:00

so...there's been some chatter on one of the yahoo groups tonight about microsoft's just announced enhancements to software assurance, or sa as it's commonly called.

software assurance, for those who don't know, is an add-on for volume license agreements that offers upgrade protection, plus other benefits, for products for which it is bought.

of course, your friendly neighborhood happyfunboy has been one of those who questioned the value proposition of the old sa, at least as far as the upgrade benefits go.

you see...sa can be purchased for up to a 3 year term.

which means...for up to 3 years after you purchase sa for a given ms product...you get any and all major version upgrades which are released.

well...considering that ms' development cycle for major releases has been at least 4 years for quite a while...it seemed to me like most sa contracts aren't worth the blood they were signed with...at least as far as the upgrade benefits go.

case in point...

windows xp shipped in 2002.
it is now the year 2006.
windows vista...the major upgrade from windows xp...has yet to ship.

but all that's about to change!

evidently ms is looking to give a major boost to the value proposition of sa.

you can download this document to look at all the new benefits to purchasing sa, most of which go live either now...as in march 2006...or upon product release.

but...here's something that's bound to get a whole mess of microsoft's registered partners in a kerfluffle...

eweek posted an article on monday which states:

For SMBs (small and midsize businesses), as part of SA, Microsoft is now offering Microsoft Information Work Solution Services, which are prepackaged consulting engagement services delivered by Microsoft Certified Partners. Microsoft also is offering a new automated Windows Preinstallation Environment tool that includes enhanced 24/7 problem resolution support, with subscriptions to TechNet Plus and newsgroups, error reporting, and cold backups for disaster recovery.

in case you missed it...

certified partners

but...
your friendly neighborhood happyfunboy...
sitting here in the funcave...
half a mile underground...
wearing his tinfoil hat...
reads that a smidge differently.

basically...yours truly sees a convergence of a ton of recent events...

like...

best buy becoming an sbsc
best buy becoming a gold certified partner
best buy 4 business being announced

and so now i'm wondering if...

certified partner = best buy

hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm...

the mobitech army is coming!

2006-03-20T17:40:00.000-08:00

regular visitors to the funcave should already be acquainted with mastermind...aka amy luby...aka the head enchilada of mobitech.

for those who don't know...mobitech might as well be writing the book on managed services...all from their underground bunker in omaha, nebraska.

if you have any interest in managed services, and want to hear from someone who is actually successful at it...as opposed to some random nimrod whose idea of managed services would be better described as mangled services...

well listen up...because your friendly neighborhood happyfunboy is about to make your fracking day!

mobitech will be kicking off a managed services workshop tour in june.

and yes...for all you cheap asses...the workshops are free, thanks to the fact that mobitech's tour is being sponsored by level platforms and autotask, two of the tools mobitech uses every day.

however...this won't be a buy this tool...poof!...you're a managed service provider kind of b.s. session tho.

the mobitech army will be offering a 360 degree view about what it takes to get into the managed services game...and to actually be successful at it.

expect to hear topics like:

what are the stages in moving into a managed service model?
how do I sell managed services?
how do I construct my service level agreements?
who wants these services?
what or who is my competition and how are they doing managed services?
what are the pitfalls to avoid?

mastermind will be joined by her partners-in-crime...

the comedian...aka steve luby

and

the server nazi...aka chad gross

your friendly neighborhood happyfunboy cannot emphasize enough how much he personally believes that anyone who claims to be serious about being a consultant in the smb it space should do whatever it takes to get to the workshop closest to them.

yours truly will be at the atlanta stop...no matter what.

hope to see you there!

okey...it's holstered...but my hand's still at my hip...

2006-03-19T20:02:00.000-08:00

regular visitors to the funcave know that a couple of weeks ago, the official soldering iron of justice got set to flambe for a while.

the reason?

one of my clients was contacted by someone claiming to be from microsoft, who then proceeded to:

ask them probing questions about their network
press them for details about quoted project cost amounts from us
offer to have another consultant quote that same work for them

yours truly was able to validate fairly quickly...from the partner resource desk...that the contact did, in fact, originate from microsoft.

based on the questions that were asked, the contact seemed to be using information that had been included in an entry submission for this client to the recent tech makeover promotion targeting small business, which is still active.

needless to say, the initial report submitted here at the funcave...which was subsequently picked up here and here...got the attention of the mothership pretty quickly.

your friendly neighborhood happyfunboy would like to point out that the reaction was both swift and professional from some very high-placed folks in both the us partner program and the us small biz group (thanks to margo and eric, respectively) and particularly from shelley, the program manager for the tech makeover promotion.

from the moment we first spoke on the phone to the time at which shelley had the info on the exact campaign and had initiated contact with that campaign's team was less than 4 hours.

the upshot to all this which is...

your friendly neighborhood happyfunboy has been about 95% satisfied that the client contact did not originate from anyone associated with the tech makeover promotion.

for someone as paranoid as yours truly...that's as close to 100% as it'll get.

what hasn't changed, however...no matter what group it originated from...

contact with one of my clients was initiated by microsoft, unbeknownst to me.

that has been 100% verified as fact...by multiple sources.

as such...

you can bet money that any initiative/promo/whatever in the future which would involve your friendly neighborhood happyfunboy submitting any information about any of his clients/prospects/whatever to the mothership...

anything like that will get a big pass here at the funcave.

really...only one thing truly sucked about the birmingham events

2006-03-18T15:30:00.000-08:00

and that was...the directions to the event location were totally fracked.

i'm not talking a little bit off either.

try...5 miles away, on the other side of a fracking mountain!

in fact, the exact directions being given to registered attendees basically led to a dead-end cul-de-sac in the middle of a plat development from hell.

google maps, which was how your friendly neighborhood happyfunboy had gotten his directions, wasn't any better...since i ended up at the same spot.

seriously...if i never see brewster road again in my entire lifetime...it won't be long enough.

mr. happyfunboy goes to birmingham

2006-03-18T15:15:00.000-08:00

that's right...yours truly was once again the cameo partner at a microsoft connections event.

held a week ago in trussville...your friendly neighborhood happyfunboy got to talk about how my firm implemented small business server for one of our customers.

all in all...a pretty good day.

first of all, the connections presenter, lara, was super-friendly and supportive...even if she kinda looks like she wants to kick me in the face right here.

lara did a superb job at presenting the customer-targeted material. one of our clients was in attendance, and remarked how much they got out of attending.

your friendly neighborhood happyfunboy wasn't sure how well our case study would go, since ms changed it to a q&a format, and you just never know how "canned" that kind of presentation will sound.

it seemed to come across very well tho. i was able to talk fairly in-depth about sbs and how it was the key to the overwhelming success of the project.

the difference in interest in us among attendees was like night and day after the case study. before then...very few people were all that interested in talking to us. afterwards, we were pretty busy chatting with folks at the breaks.

even better, the client who was presented in our case study was in attendance...and at lunch afterwards remarked how they had kinda forgotten about what bad shape their systems were in before they got our firm involved.

if there was anything i'd change about the connections format...it would be to have the case study earlier. not just because it would garner us more time after piquing the interest of attendees, but also because it would get sbs front and center much faster.

right after connections, ms held a ts2 event. stephen, the ts2 presenter, was also fantastic. he was very generous with his time, and let yours truly not only mention the smb/sbs user group i lead, but also talk briefly about sbs show to the attendees.

stephen also did a great job at continuing thoughout the event to generate interest in the social meeting our user group was holding later that evening.

even with some really bad weather in the area, we managed to draw 9 folks to the social meeting, 6 of whom were new & prospective members. lara and stephen joined us later, as did shawn, one of the gulf states sms&p pams.

thanks to the interest we were able to generate from those events, our user group added 15 new members last week, a 66% increase in the size of our fledgling group!

like i said before...a good day.

yabba dabba do!

2006-03-16T22:07:00.000-08:00

feel that chill in the air, here at the funcave?

that can only mean one thing...hell has officially frozen over.

that's right...the unthinkable has happened...

my parents, at long last, are on a high-speed internet connection.

so...mom & dad...

welcome to the 21st century!

now i guess i'll have to stop with the flintstones cracks, huh?

nah...

cry me a river, already

2006-03-14T11:48:00.000-08:00

so...someone's been sounding the death knell of the local it consultant now that a certain giant electronics retailer has gotten serious about business.

yeah right.

suffice it to say...from my long-lost days as a hardcore bargain hunter aka hot dealer...

said retailer has a worse than terrible reputation when comes to the primary things that matter to a-list clients.

seriously, said retailer is like the idi amin of customer service.

but, for those who are so worried they are wetting their pants...

your friendly neighborhood happyfunboy is here to save the day!

we'll just start our own army of technicians.

now...we'd have to differentiate ourselves, so...

instead of vw beetles...we'll partner with lamborghini and ferrari.

and instead of white shirts, ties, black pants...we'll partner with speedo to supply our uniforms.

and of course...we'll call it the bod squad.

now...we'll be sure to partner with google, too.

plenty of tasteless logos that could be done with those side-by-side o's, for either gender.

to paraphrase the patron saint of the funcave...

babes, bikinis, and boot disks...damn, i love this job!

give it up for lady firewall!

2006-03-11T17:26:00.000-08:00

this content now hosted EXCLUSIVELY at the NEW funcave.

click this text, or the picture below, to go there now.

pie has a key...

2006-03-10T21:58:00.000-08:00

tonight...while recording an episode of the sbs show...mastermind, yet again, expanded the horizons of everyone in ways that prolly violate several local statutes.

way to go amy!

still...it is comforting to know that we at sbs show are able to consistently outdo ourselves...

at least when it comes to lowering the bar of decency & good taste, that is.

also...for the record...your friendly neighborhood happyfunboy will never be able to order a ham sandwich ever again.

don't make me fire up the soldering iron of justice!

2006-03-07T16:14:00.000-08:00

your friendly neighborhood happyfunboy isn't all that friendly, nor neighborly, nor particularly happy right about now.

seems that a certain vendor...for funs and grins, we'll give them the supersecret codename of mothership...contacted someone submitted by yours truly for one of their promotions.

now...this is disturbing for several reasons. stay with me on this, folks.

first...there was no warning here at the funcave.

that's a problem, since the contact bypassed yours truly. being that i'm identified plainly in the submission info, i should have been contacted first, at the very least.

second...one reason i was given for this contact was supposed opportunity or lead generation.

this was the point at which everything at the funcave went red.

i demanded to know exactly who this lead was being generated for, since, as the nominator, anyone i submitted was...amazingly enough...already one of my leads or customers.

third...the very act of creating and submitting the nomination, which required the approval of the nominee, meant that i had, in all likelihood, discussed this opportunity with said nominee already.

so, at best...gathering that lead info was a waste of time if it was headed for me.

at worst...gathering that lead info was a means of trying to snake that client away from me.

which, dear friends...would be a very big fracking problem.

a problem which will continue to be tracked here at the funcave...so stay tuned.

same fun time...same fun channel...

once again...

2006-03-07T15:00:00.000-08:00

your friendly neighborhood happyfunboy is more right on than groove, taurus, and jade combined!

oh yeah...

that's right, baby...

november 20, 2005.

a day...that will live...in funktasticaliciousness!

regular visitors to the funcave might remember that particular day as the one in which your friendly neighborhood happyfunboy rightly and correctly predicted ms. witherspoon's oscar victory for her fantabulous performance as june carter cash last year.

and now those of you who scoffed can offer up some big fat apologies, which i will gleefully throw back in your faces.

but...feel free to strew rose petals in my path, in lieu of mea culpas.

tricksy hobbits...they tries to take my precious!

2006-03-03T18:29:00.000-08:00

finally...someone at rim woke up and had a big bowl of intelligence for breakfast.

they settled with ntp today.

which means all of us crackberry heads can breathe a little easier, secure in the knowledge that we can continue to shred the tendons in the two things that truly elevate us above animals on this planet.

now...it's your friendly neighborhood happyfunboy's distinct opinion that this sudden turnabout in rim's attitude toward a settlement was thanks in no small part to the announcement of the general availability of the first device running windows mobile 5.0 that includes the msfp, which enables true push-mail.

yep...amazing what competitive pressure can do, isn't it?

so...how often is it that you get the chance to sit next to royalty?

2006-03-01T19:21:00.000-08:00

for all of you over in europe and thereabouts, you just might get the chance.

now, granted, this is royalty according to sbs show.

but your friendly neighborhood happyfunboy defies anyone who has ever listened to sbs show to argue that queenie is not...well, the queenie!

so for those of you visiting from that neck of the woods...don't be daft.

pop on to smb nation, sign up, take a bit of holiday, and have a brilliant time, right?*

* british accent courtesy of the karl pilkington school of language & diction.

whither the sledge-o-matic?

2006-02-24T19:44:00.000-08:00

so, the diva shot a missive over here to the funcave about some of ms' technet webcast content doing the podcast thang.

now...it can't ever be said by anyone that we here at the funcave are anything but supportive of useful content folks can take with them while they are on-the-go.

but...your friendly neighborhood happyfunboy has to say...

the mothership might want to be mighty selective about what webcast content gets rendered into an audio-only podcast format.

not too big a stretch of the imagination to see how some webcasts might be utterly and completely useless without the visuals they originally aired with.

kinda like...gallagher putting out a comedy album.

what, exactly, are you left with...if you can't see the watermelons exploding all over the place?

holy wars...or, my firewall can beat up your firewall!

2006-02-24T19:30:00.000-08:00

hasn't everyone had just about enough of those?

i mean...can't we all just say...

you know what?

you've placed your bet...

i've placed mine...

so let's just get on long enough to see what comes up when the roulette wheel stops spinning.

how hard is that?

so now would somebody please tell that to the folks on the yahoo groups bickering like a bunch of schoolkids about isa, sbs, and each other's mothers?

tonight's muse

2006-02-24T19:15:00.000-08:00

would be, of course, the diva herself.

in the space of of about 10 minutes over messenger, chatting with susan spawned over 5 different blog topics.

thanks for the inspiration, bitzie.

your friendly neighborhood happyfunboy will try to keep the cloak of +500 bluntness in the closet, but no promises...

sbs show...#17 and counting!

2006-02-19T13:20:00.000-08:00

during sbs show #16, the vlad and your friendly neighborhood happyfunboy talk to jim locke, roger otterson, and "handy" andy goodman about the small & medium business technology network, also known as smbtn.

we discuss the nature and intent of smbtn, where smbtn fits in the sbs/smb ecosystem, and what smbtn can offer to its members.

for sbs show #17, the vlad and your friendly neighborhod happyfunboy bring on a well-known member of the sbs community, and a regular over at the m&m's magical forest...the king of swing himself, jeff middleton.

jeff talks in depth about swing migration...where it came from, what it entails, how it differs from the migration methods published by the mothership, and where both swing migration and his company, sbsmigration.com, are headed in 2006.

one of the places they are headed will be the first-ever smb nation european conference, which is coming to amsterdam less than two months from now. besides jeff, the sbs show's very own queenie, susanne dansey, will also be there.

of course, if you subscribed to the sbs show podcast...you'd already know all this, since you'd have received both shows automagically when they were released!

so...what is one free thing you could do...today...to make sure you never miss an sbs show?

that's easy...

subscribe to sbs show!

brace for impact

2006-02-17T21:05:00.000-08:00

the mothership is due to drop the next ctp of window vista on the 21st of this month.

unlike previous releases, this next ctp will be feature-complete.

which means we'll finally get the first real look at vista.

so...for those of us not fortunate enough to spend 2 whole days at a windows vista bootcamp...

best get to prepping your vmware builds now.