Morro from Microsoft

One more security suite in the market from a big vendor. As a consultant from small businesses, I have to deal with fire walls and security suite for small networks. Live One Care was Microsoft solution for home PCs and small network security needs.

As a PC user and professional consultant, I am against using any popular security suite that comes bundled with new PCs or are widely used by consumers. From the average user point of view, security suites such as (Norton and McAfee) are difficult to setup and configure; I was always against installing these solutions in my clients’ computers. I still remember how difficult is (for the average user) to setup wireless network access permission in Norton firewall.

I have installed Live One Care few times, but I don’t really have any experience using it. Market data indicating that only 2% of the professional are using Live care as their security solution; Microsoft remedy was to release Morro, which is supposed to be a better solution.

My advice to software vendors, just come up with something that is easy to install and configure, a firewall that doesn’t ask the user to supply too much technical data.

Currently, I am using Zone-Alarm, which as much easier to setup and configure than the other popular security suites in the market.

The danger of e-mails

How long do you think before sending an angry e-mail? Composing and sending an e-mail can take only few minutes but sending the wrong e-mail can have great consequences.

In the old days of pens and papers, sending an angry letter or memo would take time, you have to sit down and compose the letter, if you make mistakes you may need to start all over, you need to make sure you didn’t misspell any word and you have to take the time to deliver the letter or mail it.

Composing a regular letter takes considerably more time than sending an e-mail, the time you spend composing a letter and sending it is the time you are given to re-think about that angry letter or memo you are about to hand or mail.

How many times you have regretted sending an e-mail after clicking the “send” button? I know there are some technical tricks you can use to retrieve an unopened e-mail, but in normal circumstances once an e-mail is sent, there is a little chance of stopping the receiver from reading it.

We all get our moments at our work or in your relationships, sending e-mails should be the last thing you use when you are not sure about your judgment.

The next IT boom

Which country will be the next hot spot for IT jobs and IT products? Few months back, I was on a long visit to India, I had a chance to visit few cities. Various industries in India are adopting the latest IT solutions to improve their business process, sure the trend is world wide, but looking at the size of India, the size of its population and the growing educated and middle class, make India the ideal hot spot for IT services and products.

While visiting India, I saw the rapid spread of broad band use, laptops use, online banking, etc. All these type of services require manpower, technology and good infrastructures and with the size and population of India you can only imagine the amount of investment needed.

Many areas of the world are growing rapidly, but I think in India will be the most demanding.

Cheaper technology will mean more waste

In the last few years, the used PC and other peripherals market really flourished in the US and many other parts of the world. The idea was to take buy used PCs and other peripherals (mainly from corporate America) and sell it to the developing countries market. This business model provided cheaper computers to many low-income individuals as well as saved the environment by extending the life cycle of these used equipment.

This industry is now threatened by the rapidly dropping princes of new PCs and other peripherals. Its great to see the prices dropping but what will happened to the millions of used PCs and other peripherals that will fill the land? I remember advising few of my clients who wanted to buy used PCs for their businesses to buy new ones since the price difference is not that great between used and new.

I think the environment has many years to suffer.

Do you need more certifications?

During economic slow down and uncertain job markets, many people try to go back to school to get more education or more certificates, its natural human reaction, people think if they are more qualified, they will have a better chance on securing jobs.

But during economic slow downs most companies are trying to cut costs, the problem is not that they have not-qualified labor force, the problem is that they cannot afford a big payroll.

Naturally, if you are better educated or hold more certificates, you will demand higher salary and that is exactly what the hiring managers don’t want to do during slow times. So the best strategy to follow during slow times is to lower your expectations, think of ways to be more creative and be flexible with your company.

Will desktops disappear one day as did the old TV sets?

Have you ever thought about counting how many laptops and how many desktops are in your work place? What advantage desktops are still having over laptops? Screen size, speed and storage capacity would be the few advantages desktops have over laptops. One big advantage desktops have over laptops is BIGGER keyboard, at least for me.

Space was the biggest factor for me when switching from desktop to laptop, after I bought my first laptop and put it on my desk, I was amazed by the amount of space I start to have on my desk. Also cleaning was a factor for me, cleaning a laptop (from outside at least) is easier than cleaning a desktop.

I am not trying to compare the two from technical aspect, for sure desktops are more powerful and easy to upgrade than laptops, but I am talking about comfort and ease of use.

Will desktops use will be limited in the future and laptops will take over for the average user needs?

Windows CardSpace

Windows CardSpace is a feature included with Microsoft Vista. You can find Windows Cardspace under control panel. The Advantage of Cardspace is that it gives you a place where you can store all your personal or business information on the computer and exchange this information quickly with sites you log on to frequently. Basically, it will send the data to the site you log in without you having to type the information again or it will send the data to the new site you want to register with without you having to type the data again since its already stored with Cardspace.

Not sure how many people will feel safe about this feature, but as I said before, there is so much about us is already available on the Internet, sooner or later this type of services will be so common that everyone will be using them.

Information, what the world know about you?

Have you ever tried to Google your name and see what results would you get? Few months ago, I got a call from a law enforcement agency away from the city I live in, he said he got my contact information from my resumed I have posted to some website, but he got it by doing Google search.

Another day, a friend of mine asked me to give him my social security number and he will show me what kind of information he can pull about me from the internet, that really scared me.

So, have you ever Googled yourself and see what the world knows about you?

Can we survive without e-mails even for one day?

I am sure the answer will be “NO”, e-mails became the most vital and important communications mean for the modern organizations.

What brought this subject up is the current economic crisis in the US and the rest of the world. Many fear for their jobs, we still don’t know how things will turn out but for many there will be jobs cut.

IT and the other related services are not the property of the elite anymore; many IT services became integral part of the modern work place, IT services are must for the business world today.

I believe that the current financial crisis will not, significantly, affect IT services. Simple e-mail down for one day my halt the operation for many companies, so just think what would happen if some other IT services went down.

What I am trying to say is “IT is not a thing to have, its a MUST have and the world will need IT services regardless of the financial situation.”

Salary increase is not always about money

Ever worked in a company where no one got a salary increase in ages? What this tells you about this company? I recall talking to a small business owner about the low salaries he is paying his employees, he said “they don’t deserve any more than what they are getting paid since their job performance is really low”, so I asked him “who hired them”?

If the company doesn’t have a fair system of salary increase, it means the company either, not growing or the company is not appreciating its employees.

In the same company above, I met a laborer who has gotten no pay increase in about three years, I have talked to him and studied his case and I found out that the company’s management actually failed to communicate with him about job performance expectations and what the company wanted from him.

As a manager, I see myself as a failure if I see my employees not advancing in their careers, if their pay remain the same year after year it means either the company is not growing or the management is not appreciating the work of the employees who will eventually leave.