Monthly Archives: February 2012
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Syndication
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February 29, 2012
Windows 8 Consumer Preview Launched
By Reed Wiedower
Today Microsoft launched the latest version of their next-generation desktop operating system, Windows 8 Consumer Preview.Since the last developer preview, there have been a significant number of changes, including greater focus on mouse and keyboard functionality (for those of us not using touchscreens, yet), a new app store for Windows 8 applications, full integration with Windows Skydrive, a new version of Internet Explorer and greater desktop gestures to allow functionality.
We’ve been testing it out on a variety of form-factors over the past several hours, both from an upgrade perspective as well as with a fresh install. Some of the key new features we’ve noticed have been an smooth upgrade path for customers using Windows 7, greater functionality of the built in apps within Windows itself (the mail, weather and messaging apps are all hugely functional right out of the box) as well as much easier control with a mouse. Using the new file picker that references SkyDrive is incredibly easy and intuitive, and feels much more snappy than the existing explorer interface. A greater emphasis on internet-wide services is present throughout the operating system as well. Going into the images section, for instance, links not only to the filesystem and Windows SkyDrive, but also to Flickr and Facebook natively, allowing full access for individuals with data spread across multiple locations. Within a matter of seconds I could browse each location with the same clean, Metro interface.
Adding applications couldn’t be easier through the marketplace, which is now live and contains a myriad of different programs, many of which are free. For people used to the Windows Phone marketplace, the interface is quite similar and error-free. This brings home the most important point: although this is a beta build, all the elements were rock-solid, from the rendering to the driver support to the way programs worked in the legacy desktop mode. Even after an inplace upgrade, only one built in program (a particular Dell hardware application) wasn’t able to run seamlessly. This is a huge contrast to earlier upgrades and is extremely welcome.
Over the next few weeks we’ll be detailing individual features, not only from the Windows 8 client, but also with the newly updated Windows 8 server build, released simultaneously. New Signature has been working with Microsoft for several months to ensure that when both these products reach general availability, we’ll have the expertise to help make deployments as seamless as possible.
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Drupal 6.25 Released
By New Signature and Mark CasiasDrupal.org has released an update to the 6.x platform today. This fixes 3 issues introduced in the previous 6.24 release. While there are no security issues addressed and no major changes to the database schema, it is always recommended to keep your version up to date. Consult the official announcement on Drupal.org for more information.
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5 Savvy Nonprofits Using Eye-Catching Online Pledges to Advocate, Educate and Grow Email Lists
By Christopher HertzCarol Buckheit’s post over at Nonprofit MediaWorks discusses New Signature customer Earth Day Network and their innovative pledge campaign that allows supporters to choose from a list of pledge actions on a drop-down menu. As she describes, “Once selected, you go to a screen where you enter your contact information, and you can opt-in to their email list by checking a box. Great graphics makes this very compelling. Effective? Take a look at that counter.”
The post also reviews four other nonprofit organizations that are also effectively using pledges to grow their email list. She makes the point that, “Despite the explosive growth of social media, email remains among the best ways to communicate with supporters and yield actions…” Interested in growing your organizations email list, New Signature can help you too! Drop us a line and we will be excited to learn more about your organization and see if there are ways that we can help.
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February 24, 2012
Google Apps to Exchange Migrations: New Conversion Options from MigrationWiz
By New SignatureMigrationWiz announced improvements to the way they migrate mailbox data from Google Apps to Exchange and in this post also explain how Gmail labels can be converted into Exchange folders.
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February 22, 2012
Apache Software Foundation Announces Availability of Apache 2.4
By Christopher HertzThe first major release of Apache in six years has been released by the Apache Software Foundation. Apache powers close to 400 million websites and also celebrated its 17th anniversary. Numerous enhancements make Apache HTTP Server v2.4 ideally suited for Cloud environments. They include:
- Improved performance (lower resource utilization and better concurrency)
- Reduced memory usage
- Asyncronous I/O support
- Dynamic reverse proxy configuration
- Performance on par, or better, than pure event-driven Web servers
- More granular timeout and rate/resource limiting capability
- More finely-tuned caching support, tailored for high traffic servers and proxies.
Additional features include easier problem analysis, improved configuration flexibility, more powerful authentication and authorization, and documentation overhaul. For the complete feature list, please see this post.
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February 21, 2012
SkyDrive, Windows 8 and You
By Jim BanachYesterday, as part of its Building Windows 8 series, Microsoft released a huge amount of information on SkyDrive and how it will be leveraged as a key component to help reach their long held vision of “Three Screens and a Cloud” or a convergence of your desktop, mobile and television into one large shared environment all connected to a single set of data.
SkyDrive has been around for a few years now as personal cloud storage for 17 million users and over 10 petabytes of data. Users have been able to store documents, pictures and other files up there and access them from any computer with internet access. Back in November, the SkyDrive team made a large number of improvements to the system to allow easier sharing and drag and drop file management, right click options for folder management, inline editing and bulk uploads. All of these improvements alluded that something larger was in the works behind the scenes.
Yesterday, Microsoft showed off some of those improvements and how SkyDrive will become an integral part of Windows moving forward.
SkyDrive Metro App
One of the largest changes for Windows 8, the Metro Interface, will be fully integrated into the SkyDrive experience. Using an integrated app, users will be able to browse pictures, documents and files on any computer they are logged in to as if they were stored locally on the machine. You will have folder and file management just as if your files were stored locally!
One of the best parts of this is that SkyDrive integration is built into the operating system. It does not matter what program you are using you will be able to save and access files in your sky drive like it was a locally attached drive.
SkyDrive on the Desktop
In order to ensure that SkyDrive becomes as popular as we all hope it can be, Microsoft will also be releasing SkyDrive for the desktop. This plugin (available for Windows 7, Vista and Windows 8) will allow full integration of SkyDrive into windows explorer. Users will be able to drag and drop files to SkyDrive just as they would any other network drive. Uploads will be cached and processed in the background so you can get on to more pressing tasks instead of waiting for a file to upload (think offline files + BITS). You will also be able to upload files up to 2GB in size! The file size limit has always been a sticking point for SkyDrive adoption and this limit should now accommodate all but the largest of files.
Developers can also benefit from this as they no longer have to hook into special API’s that may or may not be updated as the cloud storage product is updated. All they have to do is make sure their program has the ability to save or open a file over the network Windows will handle the rest.
Why this is important for your business?
SkyDrive has some great features but similar to many other cloud storage solutions, it initially comes off as something that is geared for the consumer. However these updates actually have the potential to ensure you and your staff are always connected to all of their data without having to worry about central infrastructure.With office 365 you are able to collaborate via email, initiate chats and video calls via Lync Online and keep your team’s projects organized with SharePoint Online. However there was always that question of where you could easily and seamlessly store all of your personal data so you could ensure that it was accessible. SkyDrive for Metro and the Desktop will help to solve that issue as you will be able to use it like any other drive on your computer. If you need to switch computers for any reason (upgrade, failure etc.) your documents will follow you to your new machine. Tie that in with Windows Intune to keep your computers managed and up to date and you can have network levels of control and data storage without the expense of a central network.
For small businesses or globally distributed work forces, this helps small companies ‘act large’ and provide their users all the collaboration tools they have come to expect without the expenses of setting up and maintaining large amounts of infrastructure.
If you’re interested in how you can leverage the Microsoft Cloud to further empower your business let us know! New Signature is a leading partner in Microsoft’s cloud services and is more than happy to assist you and your IT staff in the adoption and implementation of the future of technology.
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February 20, 2012
Windows 8 Updates
By Reed Wiedower
Over on the Windows 8 Blog and the Windows Team Blog, many of the new features are being discussed as details trickle out. Two of the newest items announced yesterday and today are the newly designed logo, and the greater integration with the cloud-based Windows SkyDrive.On the new logo, Microsoft has laid down some principals that tie it to the new Metro user interface, saying:
With Windows 8, we approached the logo redesign with a few key goals on mind.
1. We wanted the new logo to be both modern and classic by echoing the International Typographic Style (or Swiss design) that has been a great influence on our Metro style design philosophy. Using bold flat colors and clean lines and shapes, the new logo has the characteristics of way-finding design systems seen in airports and subways.
2. It was important that the new logo carries our Metro principle of being “Authentically Digital”. By that, we mean it does not try to emulate faux-industrial design characteristics such as materiality (glass, wood, plastic, etc.). It has motion – aligning with the fast and fluid style you’ll find throughout Windows 8.3. Our final goal was for the new logo to be humble, yet confident. Welcoming you in with a slight tilt in perspective and when you change your color, the logo changes to reflect you. It is a “Personal” Computer after all.It’s clear that Microsoft is declaring a war on skeuomorphs for Windows 8, which has been one of the most positive aspects (and lauded benefits) of the new Windows Phone interface.
The SkyDrive team is also embracing the Metro UI with a new application that will allow SkyDrive access as fundamental to the operating system. It’s a radical change, and one that carries with it huge benefits to some of the common problems plaguing enterprises these days: what to do about user data?
In the past, corporations could implement a few technologies to “virtualize” user data and keep it secure and backed up. The effort to do so was fairly intense, and with the ever increasing sizes of laptop hard drives, keeping pace in the corporate data center was difficult. Add on top the central issue: if a staff member wanted to bring music from home to listen to at work, was there enough storage space for personal files?
The answer, of course, was no.
With Windows 8 + SkyDrive, the consumerization of IT has come full circle: now instead of worrying about where my data is living, I can simply keep all of it on SkyDrive and have it available from any computer I happen to log into. With the added features of Mesh, even remote access to alternate computers is possible (secured, natively, by a two-factor authentication system tied to your cell phone).
Finally, developers will also be able to rely upon SkyDrive, meaning that apps looking to store files can finally do so without dependence upon a particular hardware device, which will be a huge boon for even greater applications. It sounds hyperbolic, but the days of worrying about data loss may be coming to an end.
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February 7, 2012
New Stanford Center for Internet and Society Site Launched
By New Signature and Ben Byrne
The new Stanford CIS Homepage
New Signature is excited to announce the launch of the new Stanford Center for Internety and Society website. A part of Stanford Law School, the CIS was founded in 2000 by Lawrence Lessig and brings together brilliant thinkers to examine the interaction of new technologies and the law.
The new website replaces a previous Drupal-powered site that had not been updated in some time. This redesign accomplishes several goals, including making the site easier for CIS staff and fellows to maintain; giving CIS staff more editorial control over what’s featured on the site; and making the site more attractive and navigable for users. The new site, built on Drupal 7, provides extensive cross-referencing so that the relationships between different types of content — such as blog posts, experts, court cases, publications and events — are prominent and easy to traverse.
Completely overhauling the design, information architecture and administration to create a better experience for both users and site contributors posed challenges with regard to preserving years of accumulated content. We resolved these issues by developing custom content migration tools to programmatically import text and assets needed from the old site to the new, keeping over 10 years of blog posts at their original URLs.
The new site also makes use of advanced CSS techniques — such as gradients, transitions, and animations — to create a rich user experience while keeping assets such as scripts and images to a minimum.
The redesigned website can be viewed at cyberlaw.stanford.edu.
Interested in more information about New Signature, or have a Drupal project you need help with? If so, contact us now.
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February 3, 2012
Hunting PST Files
By Reed Wiedower
Nothing causes more consternation for Exchange administrators than mail downloaded from the main system into a local archive. An Outlook Personal Folder, better known as a “PST” (the file extension), is difficult to support in an enterprise environment for four reasons:1. The technology underpinning them isn’t terribly robust, causing performance problems at best, and data loss at worst.
2. When an organization is hit with an e-discovery motion, every single pst in the environment (including USB keys, old tapes in closets, etc.) must be located and searched by an often expensive legal team.
3. They are typically stored on a local workstation, so aren’t backed-up. When stored on a network server, they tend to take up far more space than the original emails would’ve in Exchange itself.
4. Because they are independent of Exchange, there is no centralized way to search them or locate information in them.
For all of these reasons, Exchange admins over the last few years have been attempting to reduce or eliminate PST usage, through a combination of higher storage limits (storage is cheap!) and what are known as “online archives” in Exchange 2010. Online archive folders allow inexpensive storage to be used in the server environment, while ensuring searching and e-discovery goals are not impacted. Now that the full functionality of a PST can be had in Exchange itself, the final impediment is a small logistical one: tracking down every single PST in your environment, determining which files belong to which mailboxes and finally moving the mail into Exchange.
Notice I said “small”.
The reason this is now a far more trivial task than a few weeks ago is that Microsoft has released, for free, the Exchange PST Capture tool. This tool allows a small agent to be installed on all workstations in an environment, locates the dreaded mail archive files themselves, and pulls them into Exchange. It also makes an easy map of which individuals own specific files, allowing the mail to be properly imported into the correct Exchange mailbox. For files stored on shared drives or for machines with multiple staff members on them, this is the single greatest way to save time during a large PST import process.
Interested in the latest tools and automation techniques for Exchange Server 2010? Come chat with us. New Signature is the leading Microsoft Exchange partner in the DC metro area and we’re happy to assist your IT staff in saving time through automation while increasing staff satisfaction.
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February 2, 2012
Drupal 7.12 and 6.24 Released
By New SignatureDrupal 7.11 and 6.23, maintenance releases which fix security vulnerabilities are now available for download. Drupal 7.12 and 6.24 also fix other issues reported through the bug tracking system. Upgrading your existing Drupal 7 and 6 sites is strongly recommended. There are no new features in these releases. For more information about the Drupal 7.x release series, consult the Drupal 7.0 release announcement, more information on the 6.x releases can be found in the Drupal 6.0 release announcement.
