Archive for March, 2010

Apple finally came out with a bigger iPhone: the iPad. Actually, it’s more like a bigger iPod, since it doesn’t have a phone feature to it. So what is the iPad? It’s awkward. It’s not a phone, it’s not a laptop, it’s an… iPad. With dimensions of about 9.5″ by 7.5″ by 0.5″, it’s too big to fit in your pocket, which puts it leaning towards the category of Netbook or Tablet PC.


So what’s so special about the iPad? The iPad has the same multitouch technology as the immensely popular iPhone/iPod Touch and access to most of the same Apps. It also has the same type of operating system that limits you to running a single App at a time. So much for multitasking… However, it goes further by adding iWork to its repertoire – oh wait, you can use Office on the iPhone, albeit awkwardly.


The iPad doesn’t have a camera, either. So it’s not overly useful for video conferencing, or any of that other cool stuff you’d expect. It can’t even make phone calls.


The bottom line is that this product under performs as a tablet and it’s too big to be as portable as an iPhone. If you’re in the market for one, hold off until they fix it, give it away or something better comes along.


If you’re looking for a little comic relief on the subject, there’s a number of videos on YouTube you may find interesting. Some of them had me gasping for air I was laughing so hard, but their content may be inappropriate for some audiences! Good luck!

As many of you know, Matt Gibson is no longer with us. He decided that with the new year it was time to make a career change; he’s gone back to school for a challenging career in Engineering! Matt was a valuable member of the Blue/Edge team for many years and he will be missed.


His monthly column will soon be filled by another member of the Blue/Edge team, but its focus may change to suit the talents of the new position. In the interim, we’d like to use this opportunity to announce some of the exciting projects we’re working on for our clients:

• Virtualization and server clustering of CRM, Exchange, Navision
• Server collocation
• Hosted client services such as Exchange, Remote Desktop Services, etc
• Remote site, central office backup and disaster recovery implementation
• Project server 2010 implementation
• Network administration documentation
• Accounting system integration
• Windows 7 rollout
• Complete network overhaul and upgrade

These are just some of the things that we have on the go at any given time and we’re eager to take on your project. Call us now to see how we can help!

Sometimes it can be difficult to justify the cost in replacing a dated computer. Time needs to be scheduled, technicians take time transferring data, and users can be displaced during this process. Why not just wait until the computer dies before buying a new one?

All large corporations earmark a significant portion of their budget to invest in their IT resources and infrastructure. Servers and workstations are regularly maintained throughout their lifecycle, and when their lifecycle comes to an end, they are promptly replaced with new equipment. They do this knowing that computers and technology are the backbone of their company, and without it, their doors could close tomorrow. They also know that keeping up to date with technology ensures that the staff are operating at peak efficiency, with ultimately affects the bottom line.

For smaller businesses, it is just as important, if not more important, to maintain current with technology. While big companies often have multiple systems to act as a backup if any single system files, we little guys typically do not have the finances to maintain and manage complex systems. Is there a computer in your office that is slower than molasses on a winter day, and, were it a human being, is old enough to obtain a driver’s licence, yet the mere thought of the lost revenue from it dying gives you the shivers?

Nothing is perfect, and computer equipment is no exception. The likelihood of a major hardware failure increases with each passing year that it is in service, and even newer equipment can fail prematurely. The difference between the 6 month old server and the 16 year old plotting machine in the corner is that you can contact us or the manufacturer of the server, and be assured that with full support and warranty, the problem will be resolved in a timely manner.

While unexpected downtime is one consideration when updating your computers, another is making sure they operate at the speed at which your company needs it to. If you have a computer that takes 1 minute to process an order, and a new computer could do it in 5 seconds, imagine how many more orders the employee could handle in a given day, week, month, year?

As a small business, we may not have the big budget that big companies do, but that does not mean we are unable to capitalize on the same benefits they realize each and every day.

Just recently upgraded a client of ours with a small network with a few workstations from Windows XP to Windows 7 and it provided a learning experience.


In the few weeks preceding the upgrade, spent hours researching the various methods and testing them as to how to upgrade a Windows 7 machine and transfer the user profile as best as you can to the new Windows 7 profile.


Before we get further into this – there is NO upgrade from Windows XP to Windows 7. It is a fresh install.
Initially I thought that the USMT (User State Migration Tool found in the Windows Automated Installation Kit) was going to be the panacea for doing this. This tool appears to be the closest thing to an upgrade, but it is a clean install. This process does not involve moving/copying large amounts of user data.


The USMT tool is a two stage tool. The first stage, the scanstate, gathers the profile information from all the user accounts on a Windows XP workstation and re-maps the data to a Windows.old folder on the hard drive. Then you proceed to do your clean install of Windows 7 on the existing hard drive. Then install all the same applications that were previously installed in Windows XP or else the application settings may not get migrated. Once Windows 7 and the applications are installed, proceed to perform the second stage, the loadstate, to migrate the existing accounts back. This process will then read the migration store that is created in the scanstate stage and apply it to the Windows 7 installation, remapping the data files to Windows 7 data structure. After a reboot, the users should be able to login and have access to their desktop items, My Documents and Favourites.
If it works for you, then great, as it does not involve copying a possibly large amount of data in each user profile.
However, for me, my testing ran into a problem where the Start Menu structure became corrupt and empty of the usual items that you would find. It seems that there is an issue if you have too large of an existing menu structure in Windows XP, that Windows 7 trips over it. There were some suggested fixes provided by some of the users out there, but none that rectified the start menu issue.
Thus I decided to use the basic Windows Easy Transfer Tool to export the main user profile to an external drive. At that point, we had decided to upgrade their hard drives, giving them more space, as well as keeping a backup in case something went horrible with the user experience on Windows 7.
Then proceeded with the Windows 7 install, update and installation of all applications. Joined the workstations to the network and logged on as the main user and transferred the profile back using the Windows Easy Transfer. And that worked fine. Luckily, the main users did not have gigabytes of music stored in their iTunes. After the profile was restored, just some tweaking to get the personal experience to what the user likes.


However, before you proceed with any upgrade to Windows 7, check with your software and hardware vendors/manufacturers to ensure that your applications will work with Windows 7 or has drivers for that 15 year old laser printer. If you are upgrading an existing install, ensure that your hardware is beefy enough to support Windows 7 or you may have to turn off some of those neat new features that you were looking forward to using.


Steve