Friday, September 28, 2012

MBS Response to the Sophos False Positive Support Issue

We sent the following to our clients this afternoon about this challenging issue:
What a week this has been!  Let me catch you up on where we are with this issue:
  • Sophos put out a virus signature update last week that mistakenly identified some of its own files as malware.  Though they corrected the problem later that day, because so many did what they were supposed to do (tell Sophos to clean up the problem files), damage was done and it set off a domino effect that affected workstations and servers worldwide.
  • We have been working on our clients' servers and workstations nationwide to correct the problems this has caused.  It has meant a lot of 'after hours' work because of the multiple server restarts that were required.  We hope to be done with this process by Monday morning.  Already we have spent about 60 hours on this!
  • As you know, MBS doesn't sell or distribute hardware or software.  It was the decision of our board early on that we wouldn't profit from the hardware and software we recommended to help ensure that we remain objective rather than profit-driven.
Even though we are not responsible for issues hardware and software vendors create, we don't believe you should have to pay for this mistake the software developer made; it's just too big.  Thus we have decided to internalize and write off the time we've spent on this.  It's part of our partnership with you in Kingdom building.

Please accept my apology again that other support issues have gone unresolved.  We hope to catch up next week, and are working hard towards that end.

Monday, September 24, 2012

New Article on BYOD (Bring Your Own Device)


BYOD is a wave that is just beginning.  There are management, legal, and even tax implications!  This article will help you prepare and plan for it.

Click here to read a free advance copy if it!

Wednesday, September 12, 2012

Mountain Lion: Thumbs Up!



When I blogged early last month about Mountain Lion, I had reservations and cautioned adopting it too early.  Apple has released a number of updates including a service pak, and it seems to be stable now. I recommend going for it unless you do some research and find that one of the apps you rely heavily on advises not doing so.

Wednesday, August 29, 2012

San Francisco - The Most Spiritually Oppressed City in America


I'm in San Francisco this week for a technology conference. The conference is downtown, and there are lots of people who are homeless or just beaten down by life. Monday I drove throughout the city and was surprised to see that it's not just a downtown problem-- it's city wide!

Most locals probably believe it's because of the fair weather; that it attracts those who don't have a home. But I live in a place with fairer weather, and have been to other places in the country with fairer weather. And it's more than about the homeless. It's about people who look as though life has been very hard on them-- it goes beyond poverty. I've never seen as many people who are beaten down by life-- anywhere!

As I thought about it I remembered some Bible verses (Daniel 10 and Ephesians 6:12, for example) talking about how demons of various strengths and ranks have rule over geographic areas. San Francisco is the strongest real-world evidence of that. I think there is high-level spiritual oppression here. This is a city where wickedness (which I define as those things that are done which are contrary to what God has communicated as good and right in The Bible)-- where wickedness rules.

To my friends who call San Francisco home, I will be praying for you with a new emphasis:
  • For your focus on and dedication to walking with God,
  • For your protection from the enemy, and
  • For your impact on those around you and on your community.

Tuesday, August 28, 2012

VMworld 2012

VMware announced some exciting developments in their platform here this week! Following are some of my notes:
  • VMware is focused on an annual update strategy. This year they announced vSphere 5.1.
  • They listened to their customers and have simplified the licensing that was introduced with vSphere 5.
  • They introduced Horizon Suite, which includes Octopus, ThinApp, AppBlast, Horizon Application Manager, and Horizon Mobile.
I'm especially excited about the Horizon Suite. I saw it manage Windows, Mac, Android, and iOS devices very nicely and with full IT policy strengths. It uses Active Directory user-based policy management, which means a user's experience will be the same on all of his/ her devices! Very nice, indeed.

VMware continues to lead in virtualization.

Tuesday, August 21, 2012

Windows 8 Professional Testing

Clients, readers, friends--  and even family often ask me if they should upgrade to the newest OSes.  Windows 8 has folks talking, and now that it is a finished version I'm about to begin testing it.

A Bit of Perspective
I don't have high hopes for Win8, but will give it my usual objective attention. Why don't I have high hopes for it? I've been in IT long enough to have seen a Microsoft workstation operating system (OS) pattern:
  • DOS 3.x - great operating system
  • DOS 4.x - an operating system IT avoided
  • DOS 5.x - great operating system
  • DOS 6.x - an operating system IT avoided
  • Windows 3.0 (and 3.1) - great operating system
  • Windows 4.x - an operating system IT avoided
  • Windows 95 - great operating system
  • Windows 98 (and ME) - an operating system IT avoided
  • Windows 2000 - great operating system
  • Windows XP - great operating system
  • Windows Vista - an operating system IT avoided
  • Windows 7 - great operating system
  • Windows 8 - we'll see!

Monday, August 20, 2012

New Article on Telecommuting

A couple of months ago I blogged about how telecommuting can work (http://ministry-it.blogspot.com/2012/06/telecommuting-can-work.html). It's such a strategic issue that I decided to expand the post and turn it into an article.  After releasing it to my publisher I added it to our company's website (lots of free articles there).  Here's the link: