TechAgility

So news in from Engadget regarding HP to offer Solid State Drives in their Laptops - is this a lead in to having Thin Client like Laptops? - I’m hoping to be able to post more about this shortly.

HP to add SSD options to business-minded laptops

By Joshua Topolsky on ssd

Filed under: Laptops, Storage

We know that when it comes to a company like HP, you cats hang on its every word, waiting for a juicy tidbit of information, quietly hoping to be privy to another life-altering, ingenious decision. Well listen up folks, because we’ve got news. According to a report today, HP will be begin offering solid-state drives as an option for all of its professional series laptops, including the HP Compaq 2710p, 2510p, 6910p, and 8000 lines. The company’s first NAND flash offering will be a whopping 64GB SSD, adding about $1000 in additional cost to the systems, though the company expects the prices to drop as solid-state proliferation increases. In all seriousness, HP isn’t always on the cutting edge, but this is a smart decision, which — luckily for us — seems to be cropping up all over the map.

written by dcaddick

So, don’t fancy lugging the projector with you to that next meeting with the customer? Want to do some impromtu PowerPointing for more than one person while having an informal meeting at Starbucks?

No problem, just use your mobile SmartPhone as your projector!

Hands-on with Texas Instruments’ cellphone projector

Now that we have email, internet, TV, GPS, cameras, and satellite radio on our cellphones, our next wish is for bigger, higher resolution screens — which seems paradoxical, because larger displays almost always mean bulkier devices. Well Texas Instruments thinks it’ll soon be able to nullify this trade-off with an in-handset projector that we’ve heard about several times before, but last night’s Pepcom event in New York was the first time we’ve been able to peep the technology up close. Not that the TI reps made it easy to do so: the prototype unit was in a locked metal case underneath the table, and we had to swear up and down that we saw Walt Mossberg getting a demo before they’d cough it up. As you can see, the reason they want to keep this under wraps for the time being is that the quality and brightness are certainly not ready for prime time yet; while the unit we saw used lasers as the light source, we’re told that an LED-based model still in the lab offers significant improvements. Keep reading for more shots of this rare prototype — along with a video courtesy of Popular Science — and give yourself a few moments to bask in the future before returning to the stark reality of your own phone and its dim little QQVGA action…

Continue reading Hands-on with Texas Instruments’ cellphone projector

written by dcaddick

Brian Madden and Gabe Knuth have been looking deep at a possible VDI Solution for a University and they have shared their experiences, I must say it’s an Excellent Post - nothing like igniting the fires just before iForum?

On Brian and Gabe’s behalf I take exception to those who have commented on this post and are giving them a hard time on their *recommendations* to the University - especially those who feel free to shoot them down without offering any other alternative AND simply hiding behind the "Guest" ID

It is great to see someone come out and be completely open about this process and bring it to the public domain where we can all have our 2cents worth - and for this they deserve and have my thanks, as we’re all trying to keep up with all the multitude of different options and potential solutions to help customers get the most out what they’ve got.

This is seriously only a small section of this, if you have any interest in VDI Solutions you should take the time to read through the full Post and all the comments

VDI for hundreds of apps and thousands of users? A case study where we recommended this instead of a Terminal Server-based solution

Posted by Brian Madden on September 26, 2007.

A very strange thing happened yesterday. Gabe and I were working with a customer—a university—and we ended up recommending a VDI solution instead of a Terminal Server-based solution. Afterwards I was feeling, “Wow! I can’t believe I just did that!” But I really feel it makes sense. And in fact I think it might continue to make sense more and more, and now I’m wondering if VDI can start to come out of the niche and into the mainstream?

Let’s start at the very beginning. Gabe and I worked with this university six months ago. They were not using any server-based computing or streaming or anything like that. It was a brand new environment. They had four scenarios (or “use cases”) they wanted to enable:

1. There are 1200 lab workstations throughout campus. Users need to be able to walk up to any one of them and access any of 200 applications. The users also need access to their own data and profiles.
2. They want to publish a remote desktop via server-based computing to people so that they can access the “lab workstation” from their dorm rooms or off campus.
3. They want to publish individual applications (as opposed to a full desktop like in Scenario 2) to users on their own computers.
4. Longer term, they want people to be able to run these applications locally on non-university-controlled workstations (i.e. student laptops), and they want this to work offline.

The initial plan

For Gabe and me, these four scenarios were perfect for a combination of traditional Terminal Server-based application delivery and application streaming.

We were thinking they could use something like SoftGrid to isolate and stream all (or most) of their applications. Then they could add some Terminal Server and a third-party application publishing tool to deliver individual applications. Our initial suggestions for each scenario above were:

1. Use SoftGrid to stream the applications so they run locally on each lab workstation. Install the few non-SoftGrid-compatible applications natively on the workstations.
2. Use Terminal Server, along with Citrix Presentation Server or one of the cheaper alternatives, to publish server-based computing desktops. A combination of SoftGrid and local installs would be used to get the applications onto these Terminal Servers, much like the lab workstations.
3. The same Terminal Servers, running Citrix or whatever, can be used to deliver seamlessly published server-based applications to desktops and laptops.
4. For the applications that can be sequenced with SoftGrid, they could also be streamed to Windows clients for local offline execution.

That was our recommendation and plan six months ago. Let’s look at how that worked out.

more at source…

written by dcaddick

I have long been a fan of Stephen Fry’s work even before our stint living in London and his ability to set forth on a diatribe on any number of topics is almost unsurpassed. Here in what I gather is only his second blog post he describes what he considers the faults of all manner of SmartPhones, and I do mean ALL as he is a self-confessed addict for PDA’s and SmartPhones 

Stephen Fry

Blessays, blogs and blisquisitions

Let Fame »

Device and Desires

All the big guns want an iPhone killer. Even I, mad for all things Apple as I am, want an iPhone killer. I want smart digital devices to be as good as mankind’s ingenuity can make them. I want us eternally to strive to improve and surprise. Bring on the iPhone killers. Bring them on.

YOU might, somewhere along the way, have picked up the impression that I am a passionate Mac advocate: I bought my first 128K machine in 1984, the second Macintosh to be sold in the UK - at least so I’ve always maintained and believed (the first went to the still desperately missed Douglas Adams) and I have never had fewer than ten working Macs on the go since the late 80s. It is true that I value both the platform and the hardware, that I admire the imagination, flair, elegance, quality and pioneering spirit of the Apple corporation. All quite true.

HOWEVER……..

I have, over the past twenty years been passionately addicted to all manner of digital devices, Mac-friendly or not; I have gorged myself on electronic gismos, computer accessories, toys, gadgets and what-have-you’s of all descriptions, but most especially what are now known as SmartPhones. PDAs, Wireless PIM’s, call them what you will. My motto is:

I have never seen a SmartPhone I haven’t bought

After all, the Mac itself was founded on a notional smart device, the Dynabook, fruit of the many brains of the legendary Xerox Palo Alto Research Centre (PARC). The Dynabook concept gave us the WIMP user interface, (Windows, Icons, Mice, Pull down menus) and thence the Apple Lisa and its successor, the Macintosh. The Dynabook was a posited form, a notional device that would deliver information to its user with the greatest ease and intuitive functionality. As a result of this mission statement, the command code line found in all standard computing of the time was made to yield to a Graphical User Interface (GUI). Apple took up the call (poached some PARC staff) and produced the Mac OS; IBM and latterly MS took years and years to get the message. But that is how the GUI was born, out of a quest for a better relationship between man and machine, individual and digital device.

much, much more at source…. 

written by dcaddick

So according to theinquirer.net Citrix has only just started shipping the WANscaler to the UK? Is this a reflection on the UK’s plentiful bandwidth, such that it doesn’t really need the WANscaler? or is it a reflection of how long it takes Citrix UK to develop a go-to-market strategy? Mmmm….? 

Citrix wants WAN stake

WANscaler: awful name, useful product

By Martin Veitch: Friday, 28 September 2007, 5:20 PM

CITRIX SYSTEMS has started shipping its WANscaler Client appliance in the UK for the first time.

Acquired when Citrix bought Orbital Data last year, WANscaler is aimed at optimising performance for branch offices through compression and accelerating protocol performance.

Despite the unfortunate name, it should sell like hot cakes to firms that already run Presentation Server or Terminal Services, as a way serve applications across wide area networks.

Security is also built in “at both ends of the wire”, said Citrix’s Dave Austin.

written by dcaddick

Looks like MS have not had a good month on this subject? Still, looks like there is light at the end of the tunnel?

Stealth Windows update prevents XP repair

By Scott Dunn
A silent update that Microsoft deployed widely in July and August is preventing the "repair" feature of Windows XP from completing successfully.
Ever since the Redmond company’s recent download of new support files for Windows Update, users of XP’s repair function have been unable to install the latest 80 patches from Microsoft.

Repaired installations of XP can’t be updated

Accounts of conflicts with XP’s repair option came to our attention after Microsoft’s "silent install" of Windows Update (WU) executable files, known as version 7.0.600.381, was reported in the Sept. 13 and 20 issues of the Windows Secrets Newsletter.
The trouble occurs when users reinstall XP’s system files using the repair capability found on genuine XP CD-ROMs. (The feature is not present on "Restore CDs.") The repair option, which is typically employed when XP for some reason becomes unbootable, rolls many aspects of XP back to a pristine state. It wipes out many updates and patches and sets Internet Explorer back to the version that originally shipped with the operating system.
Normally, users who repair XP can easily download and install the latest patches, using the Automatic Updates control panel or navigating directly to Microsoft’s Windows Update site.
However, after using the repair option from an XP CD-ROM, Windows Update now downloads and installs the new 7.0.600.381 executable files. Some WU executables aren’t registered with the operating system, preventing Windows Update from working as intended. This, in turn, prevents Microsoft’s 80 latest patches from installing — even if the patches successfully downloaded to the PC.
I was able to reproduce and confirm the problem on a test machine. When WU tries to download the most recent patches to a "repaired" XP machine, Microsoft’s Web site simply states: "A problem on your computer is preventing the updates from being downloaded or installed." (See Figure 1.)
Figure 1. After a repair install of XP, which resets the operating system to its original state, Windows Update can’t install the 80 most-recent patches from Microsoft.
__________
Most ordinary Windows users might never attempt a repair install, but the problem will affect many administrators who must repair Windows frequently. Anyone who runs XP’s repair function will find that isolating the cause of the failed updates is not a simple matter.
Beginning in July, it is not possible for Windows users to install updates without first receiving the 7.0.6000.381 version of nine Windows Update support files. (See my Sept. 13 story for details.) If Automatic Updates is turned on, the .381 update will be installed automatically. If AU is not turned on, you’ll be prompted to let Windows Update upgrade itself before you can installing any other updates. Consequently, users are forced to get the silent update before they can attempt to install Microsoft’s latest security patches.
The problem apparently arises because seven of the DLLs (dynamic link library files) used by WU fail to be registered with Windows. If files of the same name had previously been registered — as happened when Windows Update upgraded itself in the past — the new DLL files are registered, too, and no problem occurs. On a "repaired" copy of XP, however, no such registration has occurred, and failing to register the new DLLs costs Windows Update the ability to install any patches.
Registering DLL files is normally the role of an installer program. Unlike previous upgrades to WU, however, Microsoft has published no link to an installer or a downloadable version of 7.0.6000.381. Strangely, there’s no Knowledge Base article at all explaining the new version. The lack of a KB article (and the links that usually appear therein) makes it impossible for admins to run an installer to see if it would correct the registration problem.
One possible fix is to install an older version of the Windows Update files (downloadable from Step 2 of Microsoft Knowledge Base article 927891) over the newer version. This involves launching the installer from a command line using a switch known as /wuforce.
That corrects the registration problem, although even in this case you must still accept the .381 stealth update (again) before you can get any updates. The fact that the /wuforce procedure solves the problem suggests that the installer for .381 is the source of the bug.

Manually registering files solves the problem

If you find that Windows Update refuses to install most patches, you can register its missing DLLs yourself. This can be accomplished by manually entering seven commands (shown in Step 2, below) at a command prompt. If you need to run the fix on multiple machines, it’s easiest to use a batch file, as Steps 1 through 5 explain:
Step 1. Open Notepad (or any text editor).
Step 2. Copy and paste the following command lines into the Notepad window (the /s switch runs the commands silently, freeing you from having to press Enter after each line):
regsvr32 /s wuapi.dll
regsvr32 /s wuaueng1.dll
regsvr32 /s wuaueng.dll
regsvr32 /s wucltui.dll
regsvr32 /s wups2.dll
regsvr32 /s wups.dll
regsvr32 /s wuweb.dll
Step 3. Save the file to your desktop, using a .bat or .cmd extension.
Step 4. Double-click the icon of the .bat or .cmd file.
Step 5. A command window will open, run the commands, and then close.
The next time you visit the Windows Update site, you should not have any problem installing the latest patches.
In my articles in the last two weeks on the silent installation of the Windows Update support files, I stated that the stealthy upgrade seemed harmless. Now that we know that version .381 prevents a repaired instance of XP from getting critical patches, "harmless" no longer describes the situation. The crippling of Windows Update illustrates why many computer professionals demand to review updates for software conflicts before widely installing upgrades.
"I understand the need to update the infrastructure for Windows Update," says Gordon Pegue, systems administrator for Chavez Grieves Engineers, a structural engineering firm in Albuquerque, N.M. "But I think Microsoft dropped the ball a little bit communicating how the system works. Administrators should know these sorts of things, in case problems arise."
A Microsoft spokeswoman offered to provide an official response about the situation, but I received no reply by press time.
If you ever need to run the repair option on XP, first see the detailed description provided by the Michael Stevens Tech Web site.
I’d like to thank Windows Secrets contributing editor Susan Bradley for her help in bringing reports of this problem to light.
Have a tip about Windows? Readers receive a gift certificate for a book, CD, or DVD of their choice for sending tips we print. Send us your comments via the Windows Secrets contact page.
Scott Dunn is associate editor of the Windows Secrets Newsletter. He has been a contributing editor of PC World since 1992 and currently writes for the magazine’s Here’s How section.

written by dcaddick

I have been in LinkedIn since first being introduced to it by John Grove back in the UK and I have some small criticisms, but generally I do like the way you can have a professional profile rather than the ones available in Facebook or MySpace

Picture this - LinkedIn adds profile photos

Mike Butcher @ TechCrunch

On Friday LinkedIn plans to allow profile photos on its business-focused social network, in a move which reflects its increasingly international focus.

It’s taken four years for LinkedIn to add photos, when every other social network has done it forever. The site for business professionals has always kept a conservative, business-like tone. But although it says the decision has been driven by members, LinkedIn could not have escaped noticing that business people are using sites like Facebook to network both personally and for business. Adding photos ticks a box marked ‘we can be as friendly-looking as Facebook too guys’.

In other Facebook-like moves, LinkedIn has improved its groups feature recently and an open API for developers is said to be on its way.

However, the formal tone will be maintained. Only one picture will be allowed and users will be able to block those outside their network from seeing it, as well as being able to block photos from other users.

The decision on photos will go down well in Europe, and especially in London, which I can confirm has become Facebook obsessed, and where people never quite got LinkedIn’s conservatism. European business networking sites like Xing - which allows photos - have benefited from a less locked-down approach.

LinkedIn says it has 14 million users a month, with up to 250,000 new users every week.

written by dcaddick

So it would seem that Provision and Leostream are almost going head to head with getting their message out there regarding Desktop Brokers? I wonder how long VMware is going to keep Dunes version of DS-O under wraps after the recent acquisition? Seems to me they’d better not leave it too long?
————————————————————————————————–

Provision Networks, provider of enterprise presentation and desktop virtualization solutions, announced the latest version of the company’s VDI connection broker - Virtual Access Suite 5.9.

"While many vendors are rushing to market with their first generation technologies, our third-generation Virtual Access Suite sets the standard by which VDI solutions are judged," said Paul Ghostine, co-Founder and CEO of Provision Networks. "We are very pleased with our latest release which incorporates the feedback from many customers and partners, and accounts for hundreds of new use case scenarios we’ve encountered in production deployments."

The beta release of Virtual Access Suite 5.9 offers tighter integration with VMware VI3, Virtual Iron and Microsoft technologies. It also offers more features, better flexibility, stronger security, higher scalability and resiliency.

The 5.9 version adds a huge laundry list of enhancements that include:

• Tighter Integration with Microsoft Active Directory: Provides for the auto-creation and auto-removal of AD computer objects upon creation or deletion of virtual machines.
• Support for Multiple Resource Pools and Data Stores: Allows for the mass creation of virtual machines across multiple resource pools and data stores.
• Semi-Permanent VM Assignment: Provides for the automated assignment of a new temporary but dedicated virtual machine, until the original permanent VM becomes accessible.
• Power State Transition Management: A new VM power state called "Changing" marks the occurrence of an OS reboot or shutdown, thus resulting in a VM power-state transition.
• Scheduled VM Power Operations: Enables VM’s to be automatically powered on and suspended at the start and conclusion of a business day, respectively. This ensures VM’s are always powered on during work hours, and powered off shortly after employees conclude their work day.
• Bandwidth Virtualization: Integrated support for Expand Networks WAN optimization and application acceleration.
• Virtual Channel Policies: Enables policy-based access to local devices over RDP, including drives, printers, smart cards, clipboard, audio, and serial ports.
• Enhanced Printing Support: New font management capabilities deliver superior print quality and reliability, as well as drastic print job size reductions compared to other universal print drivers.
• New AppPortal Look and Feel: A modern Web 2.0 new design enhances the look and usability of the most popular Windows client interface for Terminal Server and hosted desktops.

To learn more, you can watch one of Provision Networks’ demos, here.

Or, you can download a trial of their product, here.

written by dcaddick

Alessandro is at it again, keep checking his site for all news Virtual?

Microsoft opens Viridian technical preview to general public

By Alessandro Perilli

Just a couple of weeks after releasing Windows Server 2008 RC0 to TAP customers, Microsoft is ready to open the new build to general public. Since it includes a technical preview of upcoming Windows Server Virtualization (codename Viridian), this is the first time the new Microsoft hypervisor reaches such a wide audience.

Viridian adopts is a true bare-metal Virtual Machine Monitor (VMM) compared with existing Virtual Server 2005 R2 SP1, using a 64bit microkernel not derived  from existing Windows kernel which takes only 1 MB space on disk (but requires Intel VT or AMD-V extensions enabled on physical CPU) and finally supporting 64bit virtual machines (check the architecture here).

Update: Despite the information provided, it seems Viridian can create Windows Server 2003 virtual machines with 8 vCPUs.    >>>>>>

more and download links at source…

written by dcaddick

SAN FRANCISCO, CA — 09/10/07 — VM World Conference — At the VM World Conference running this week, Leostream Corp., a leading provider of Virtual Hosted Desktop software and physical-to-virtual conversion tools, today announced version 5 of its Connection Broker for the management of access to hosted desktops running in virtual machines. The Leostream Connection Broker dynamically assigns users to Hosted Desktops whether running on physical or virtual machines.

"Leostream has been building Connection Brokers for the last two years — starting with a 5,000 seat project for the US Patent and Trade Office," said David Crosbie, Leostream CTO. "Using Connection Broker is extremely simple — simply enter your user credentials and you are automatically logged into the Windows session."

Version 5.0 of Leostream’s Connection Broker was co-developed with a major financial institution that is using it as a key component in its move to Hosted Desktops with thin clients. This reduces the per user power consumption from 400W to around 100W and eliminates the need for UPS to the desktop as well as halving the amount of wiring in the building. These cost savings alone justify the project — particularly in major financial centers where there are acute power shortages.

The product is proven to scale globally to 30,000 users and eight Datacenter. As well as being highly scalable it is also highly robust — and capable of providing uninterrupted service in a wide variety of disaster recovery scenarios.

more at source…

written by dcaddick