Giganews (who, if you use Usenet Newsgroups to any real degree, are infinitely better than any ISP Usenet provider you might already be using) have started to put together a Usenet Newsgroup History Project that is well worth a look if you want to know a little more about the history of the Internet.

Whilst Web Forums and the like have overshadowed Usenet to a degree, there is still a huge Usenet Newsgroup community - well over 75,000 Usenet newsgroups covering everything from Science to Pro-Wrestling and everything in between!

I still fondly remember the days of using Demon Internet to dial-up to the 'net using KA9Q and then using newsreaders under DOS to access Usenet - which before that little thing called the World Wide Web came along - was us 'net geeks main source of information!

For instance. The year is 1994. You're a spotty 18 year old 'net geek. Want to know what the difference between an IBM Blue Lightning 486DX-3 75mhz and an Intel 486DX2-66 CPU? Usenet knew. ;-)

If you've never used Usenet newsgroups before - you're missing out on a wealth of information, both past and present. Chances are your existing ISP already offers them to you for free! You'll find a couple of articles that explain the whole concept here and here - have fun exploring!

Netlink have been partnering with Microsoft to offer free Consultancy around the Microsoft Office Live product for a few months now, and the results have been positive. We've helped more than one small and micro-business get themselves an on-line presence, quickly and easily and at no charge - with the hope that as those businesses grow, they'll return to Netlink as paying clients!

A few of those businesses have gone on to embrace Office Live further by upgrading from the Free package to the Premium setup - adding a number of useful features.

One of those features is the ability to use the Microsoft Office Outlook Connector.

I've noticed a pattern wherein some of the businesses using Office Live already have a domain registered with their ISP, which they use for e-mail - but turn to Office Live for collaboration features and web-site hosting. They're happy with (or reluctant to change from) their existing ISP e-mail setup and so don't use the Office Live e-mail system. It may be they'll migrate to Office Live e-mail as their business grows, but for now it's a change they don't want to make.

The trouble is, as they aren't checking Office Live e-mail regularly, they miss any service messages and other e-mails to this account.

The solution for Office Live Premium Subscribers is the Microsoft Office Outlook Connector. It allows you to use your Office Live e-mail account within your Microsoft Outlook desktop client, alongside but not replacing your existing ISP based e-mail setup.

The solution just works - and once installed will make sure you never miss those Office Live e-mails again!

I've been using Vodafone's 3G Datacard for 18 months or more now, and have used it as a "last resort" for 'net access in Towns, Cities and even Rural locations.

I say "last resort" as earlier this year I grabbed myself a T-Mobile "Web'n'Walk" package that allows me to use my Windows Mobile device to do just about everything I would need to do when away from the office. I can browse web-sites, have e-mailed pushed out to me, monitor client sites and remotely manage servers in an emergency.

However there are some occasions when a tiny Mobile 'Phone screen just won't cut it though, and that's when it's handy to have a Laptop with a 3G Card plugged into the PCMCIA slot.

Using the card in Cities is great. Nearly all Cities have 3G (fast wireless) access nowadays, and thus surfing the web is easily done at almost half-a-meg connectivity. When in Rural locations, the card automatically falls back to GPRS (bog standard wireless) - and thus things are slllllllooooowwwwwww - but ok at a pinch.

The biggest pain-point for me used to be smaller towns. Generally such locations have patchy 3G coverage, and it's here that most 3G cards I've tested hit a cropper. The card always tries for the strongest signal - and when it loses that signal it drops back to GPRS. But what if you're on the edge of a weak 3G and a strong GPRS signal area? That's right - the Datacard spends all of it's time disconnecting from GPRS for the fast 3G signal it's just found, then losing that 3G signal and dropping back to GPRS. This manifests itself to you, the end-user, as an Internet connection that simply doesn't work as the endless cycle of connections and disconnections takes over.

So when I overheard someone at a meeting the other day mentioning how slow their Datacard browsing was - I had to chip in with this advice:-

Set yourself up with two "Profiles" in the Datacard software.

Profile 1 - 3G Preferred. When you're in a City, you'll get the strongest signal (which should be 3G) and thus the fastest speed.

Profile 2 - GPRS Only. If you're in a town and getting the above problems, switch to this Profile.

Sure, it'll be a slower connection, but it'll be reliable and not constantly be trying to re-negotiate a faster connection.

You then may just get that important e-mail sent before the laptop goes out of the window. :-)

... were just some of the subjects covered at Microsoft's Technet Event at The Digital World Centre in the beautiful Lowry Plaza in Manchester on Thursday.

The venue was absolutely packed with IT Professionals by the 0930 start time, so a few of us spilled outside to catch some fresh air whilst we waited for events to kick off. We were greeted by a rather worried looking James O'Neill, who was co-presenting the day, who explained that the event was so well attended that the venue had run out of chairs to seat us all! A truck load more were on the way!

The decision was made at 0945 to get underway, so additional chairs were snagged wherever possible - including the lovely Executive Leather Chairs that Andy, Andy and I smugly sat upon whilst many of our fellow IT Professionals stood around.

Eileen Brown gave an introduction and overview of the day, although it was difficult to concentrate on her at times as new chairs were constantly being ferried into the room for the stragglers to sit upon.

Then it was time for Stephen Lamb and James O'Neill to talk about Windows Server 2008, and specifically it's Deployment Technologies using WIM, WIF and ImageX. As a long-time Ghost user, these advancements in deployment features are very welcome - and can also be used to deploy XP and 2003 as well as 2008 and Vista, so there's no reason not to start looking at them immediately.

I understand Windows Server 2008 will move out of Beta and into Release Candidate 0 shortly - so I'll be doing my best to get hold of a copy and install it on Virtual Server 2005 to see how that goes.

After the break, the chair situation had been sorted out completely - although Stephen and James (or "The Odd Couple" as I christened them later that day) problems were only just beginning!

Some of the feedback that the UK Technet team have received from previous events is that the attendees want to see less smoke in mirrors, polished end-product demos - and more deployment and "real world" scenarios being displayed. Taking that advice on board, Stephen and James started demo'ing Windows Deployment using Virtualisation and a crude but functional iSCSI setup.

Whilst everyone could see what was being demonstrated and it's benefits, things didn't go well as different features repeatedly fell over, and James became more and more frustrated whilst he and Stephen amusingly (and unintentionally) did their Odd Couple act live! To be fair, although the demo didn't work as anticipated - this was the first day of the UK Technet tour and thus the first time the pair had tried this demo live in front of hundreds of people, and James did keep his cool remarkably well - I'd certainly have withered under the pressure by that stage!

After lunch, all was well again on stage and discussion turned to the new Windows System Centre family range - including mention of a new Workgroup edition. On a sidenote, I'm a big fan of Microsoft Operation Manager Workgroup Edition, which although now dated, was an absolute bargain at £499 back in the day, and allowed some of my Medium Sized Business clients to taste pro-active server monitoring for the first time. It's therefore great to see this Edition continues on in the System Centre range, MOM's successor.

Discussion continued with more Virtualisation features, including Physical to Virtual conversions, and more about managing your Windows Server environments using the System Centre range.

James also talked about Windows PowerShell and described it's very powerful features as they applied to both day-to-day management, and virtualisation. PowerShell is something I've been meaning to look at for a while, and James enthusiastic description of it's features will see me make some time to investigate this tool further.

Finally, a Q and A brought some very detailed questions from the floor, and some very detailed answers from Stephen and James!

Kudo's to Stephen and James for presenting such a complicated topic so well, despite their demo issues (which didn't detract from the day at all in my opinion). Thanks to Sally, George and the other Microsoft ladies who did so well to make us geeks comfortable despite the issues with the venue too.

I'm admittedly very new to the world of Virtualisation, but from what I can see it's definitely going to be the "Next Big Thing" in IT. Imagine replacing lots and lots of large rack-mounted servers with a few thin but powerful servers, and then running a few Virtual Machines on each. Plus for Developers, having a Virtual Machine that you can use for testing, roll back and reboot quickly must be a huge advantage.

From my newbie perspective, it seems to me that Microsoft is perhaps 18 months behind their competitor, VMWare, when it comes to Virtualisation features - but knowing the Redmond Machine, that gap will close rapidly.

The day wasn't over yet though, as we stuck around for the "Vista After Hours" session, running from 1830 until 2115.

This event was aimed more at promoting Microsoft's Consumer products, such as Windows Home Server, Vista Home Premium, and Microsoft XBox 360.

I'll admit I'm still not using Vista at either Home or Office yet, despite being aware of many of the benefits, but perhaps also being equally aware of many of the potential pitfalls. After this session though, I'll be sorely tempted not to at least move my recreational PC to the Vista platform!

Matt McSpirit and James Senior delivered an entertaining couple of hours, demonstrating the capabilities of Windows Media Player, Vista's Photo and Video applications (the feature to convert a number of photos into a single Panoramic photo was especially impressive!), my first look at Windows Home Server (no, it doesn't work as a Domain - so my fears that SBS 2003 would be replaced in the Micro-Client environment are unfounded) plus the Zune MP3 Player ("It's Touch Screen, in that I can touch it's screen..." - James Senior) and Microsoft XBox 360 Elite - including it's impressive Media and Instant Messaging capabilities.

During a Q'n'A session, one member of the audience gave an impassioned plea for more support from Microsoft to promote their Consumer Line in the face of the competition (Apple, Sony, etc.) You could tell it was something both James and Matt agreed with, with them discussing how they'd raised the subject with Bill Gates directly at the last Microsoft employee Q'n'A session in Seattle.

The evening wound down with Matt challenging a member of the audience to best him at Guitar Hero 3 - and then being thoroughly destroyed by said member of the audience!

We were then played out with a Movie like Trailer for the impending release of Halo 3 which Andy Parkes seemed very excited about. I asked Andy if it were being released to my favourite gaming platform, the Atari 130XE, but sadly he didn't think it was...

Thus concluded a very long, but informative and entertaining day. Say what you will about Microsoft, but I know of no other vendor who deliver this sort of quality technical day to their partners. I certainly appreciate it, and judging by how over-subscribed this Technet event was, so do many other IT Professionals and Partners.

Well done the Technet UK Team, and good luck for the remaining dates of your tour.

Microsoft have announced a series of dates throughout the UK to allow them to meet and talk to their Partners.

"We are taking to the road to see you, our partners! Jump in the driver's seat and join us to find out how we plan to get your business motoring. A top Microsoft technology and business team will map out the latest developments in the server and desktop markets and take you on the journey from market opportunity to technical 'how to' demonstrations.

We'll get under the hood of Windows Vista and the 2007 Microsoft Office system, along with the Office Ready PC, giving you detailed insights to get your business moving. And of course, we'll be outlining the route ahead for the new Windows Server 2008, with its built-in web and virtualisation technologies for increasing the reliability and flexibility of your customers' server infrastructure.

Additionally we will be running exclusive SBSC pre-sessions at four of the locations so be sure to make one of these events by signing up using the links below:

1. Wednesday 10^th October – Cardinal Place, London

2. Thursday 11^th October – TVP, Reading

3. Wednesday 17^th October – Park Plaza, Nottingham

4. Tuesday 23^rd October – The Lighthouse, Glasgow

And, importantly, we'll have the chance to meet. We want to know what you think, how you see the industry and the challenges you face. It's only with the direct feedback from you, our partners, that we can be sure we are on the right road.

So, please join the whole team: technical, sales, marketing and business development, over beer and pizza to chat through the journey!"

I'd have loved for their to be an SBSC pre-session in Birmingham on the 16th, but alas that's not the case. If you're an MS Partner interested in attending, I'd recommend signing up quickly.

Let me know if you'll be visiting the Birmingham event on the 16th October - I'll see you there!

UK SMB Girl has a fantastic blog posting entitled "Jobsworths don't help anyone" that is a really enjoyable read with some great points made.

I was recently having a conversation with a client of mine who runs a number of Retail stores. He mentioned how difficult he found it to find new employees who were actually interested in doing a good days work. The majority, he lamented, turned up at 9am (if he was lucky) and immediately began clock-watching for the end of the day. Anything, as he says, is too much bother for them.

How dispiriting is that?

We all know the sort. The people who make you feel like a pest for interrupting their telephone conversation to pay for an item at the checkout. Or the Store Assistants who seem to know less about the products they sell than you do after 30 seconds Googling, and couldn't care less about that attitude.

A while ago I was reminded by a former colleague of an amusing incident waaaay back in my IT Contractor days. I was fairly new to the client site, and wanted some stationary. On my first day, the lady I was told was in charge of stationary had begrudgingly helped me find some pens and paper. It was clear she didn't want that job! On my second day, I needed a stapler. What I didn't know was that the same lady had finished her old role in charge of stationary the day before, and was now an "Administrator" with no responsibility for stationary. Unfortunately, I made the unforgivable mistake of approaching her to ask where I might get a stapler. "Why should I know?" she barked. "Because you are in charge of Stationary?" I replied. "I FINISHED THAT JOB YESTERDAY!" she growled. "Ok - I didn't know that. Who might I ask where to find a Stapler now?" I continued. "Ask someone else!" she snapped. My reaction? I stood at her desk and shouted as loud as I could "DOES ANYONE KNOW WHERE I CAN FIND A STAPLER, BECAUSE <JOBSWORTH'S NAME> HERE WON'T HELP ME FIND ONE!". The entire office stopped, and a dozen or more people suddenly pointed me in the direction of the Stationary cupboard. The Jobsworth couldn't have gone more red with embarrassment!

Throughout the remainder of the day, people I'd never met before came to introduce themselves to me and to tell me how I'd brightened their day with my little display. :-)

It's a rather extreme way of demonstrating it, but the point here is - shame on her. How easy would it have been for her to explain she didn't look after stationary anymore, that so-and-so did, but that you can find a stapler in that cupboard over there.

Most people walk away from situations like that silently fuming about the treatment they've had. I can tell you on that occasion that I didn't!!!

Now believe it or not (and I'm sure you won't...) I don't tend to complain about products or services very often. I simply take my business elsewhere if I've not been treated well. On the occasions when I do complain, it's because I at some level like the company/person/product and I'm giving them a chance to put things right - simply because I want them to remove that barrier to my continued business with them.

Most galling of all are companies and/or individuals who specifically ask for your ongoing feedback to help improve their product or service. So you give them that feedback - good and bad - and they don't even acknowledge your contribution at all, or worse still, become defensive in response and make you feel like a "moaner" for ever mentioning it. Hey - trust me my friend, I'll keep my mouth shut next time!

Many times, a simple "Thanks for that. Sorry you've had a bad experience, we'll do better next time" is enough to satisfy me. If my complaint leads to a change in a non-customer friendly policy or procedure, so much the better. But the point is, I'm taking the time to point out how I feel the seller could improve their product/service. That's free Market Research, don't ignore it!

Susanne makes a number of great observations in her posting, but the one that sticks out for me is "that you shouldn’t be in a job if you don’t like it".

I couldn't agree more.

If you're in a job that you don't like - what steps are you taking TODAY to help you move on to something better? If you're going to be in that job for a while - what value or experience can you gain from it that might help you when you reach your target job? By the way, I'm pretty sure that being surly and apathetic aren't traits any employer or potential client will be looking for in you!

Writing all of this makes me realise how difficult it may be to find an employee or partner to help out here at Netlink. I know finding somebody who will share the same passion for business, for helping clients and for being positive and treating people well will be difficult - but I've met enough of those types of people within the Microsoft Small Business Specialist Community to know that such like minded people are definitely out there - I'll just have to keep looking for one who wants to work with me. :-)

Microsoft are running a Technet event entitled "Creating and Managing a Virtual environment on the Microsoft Platform" in Manchester this coming Thursday. At the time of writing, event registration was closed to all bar waiting list.

Having only recently really started exploring how Microsoft use Virtual Machine technology, I'm looking forward to seeing exactly what is possible. I've already ordered and installed a new 4GB, Quad CPU Dual-Core PC here at Netlink Towers to enable me to explore the possibilities opened up in using VM!

On the evening of the same day, Microsoft are running an additional event entitled "Vista After Hours" which will explore not only Microsoft Vista and it's built in elements, but also how to extend your Vista usage with Windows Media Centre and XBox 360! Now we're talking! :-)

If you're at either of the events, do get in touch - it'd be great to meet up and say hello!

The latest Beta version of Windows Live Writer is now available for download.

As well as being able to work with a multitude of blog hosts, if you're using Windows Live Spaces to host your blog - downloading and installing Live Writer is a no-brainer - go get it immediately!

The latest version includes the ability to upload Videos, something which I've struggled to accomplish with both previous versions of Live Writer and the Live Spaces web-interface.

For some reason the installer took an absolute age to determine that both Windows Live Messenger and Live Sign-In were already installed on my laptop (or perhaps it was upgrading them to a slightly later version?) but apart from that (and let me not forget that this is beta software...) - I can't recommend Live Writer enough!

Skillfair, in conjunction with the British Computer Society and other organisations, have organised a "Consultants Conference" on the 1st November 2007 at the National Space Centre in Leicester:-

"Sharing Best Practice

At last year's event IT gurus rubbed shoulders with PR and Marketing experts and Engineers could be seen deep in conversation with Researchers and Trainers. For details of last year's conference click here

This year the formal presentations will include sessions on;

• A Clients-Eye View of Consultants
• Tendering for Consultancy Practices
• PR and How to Get Noticed
• Breaking Through the Income Ceiling

Building on last year's successful networking we'll also have a series of breakout sessions on specific topics. Each session will include a 10 minute overview by the session leader followed by a discussion on the subject and how it affects consultants. To make everyone benefits the session leaders will present a brief round-up of their conclusions at the end of the day.

Breakout sessions currently planned include;

• Blogging
• Difficult Clients
• Networking
• Consultancy Marketing

By popular request this year's conference will be at an 'out-of-London' venue - the newly finished National Space Centre in Leicester. The site is easily accessible from the M1 and M6 and is a short bus or taxi ride from Leicester Station. Click here for a list of local hotels.

Price for the full day conference is £150 for Guests, £125 for full Skillfair members. If you are a Guest and would like to join and book on the conference at the same time, please login to Skillfair and select the combined membership and conference option.

The conference is being supported by the Consultants' Professional Network of the IET (The Institution of Engineering and Technology), JCF (Joint Consultants Forum), AMED (Association for Management Education and Development) the BCS Consultancy Group and ITOL, The Institute of Training and Occupational Learning. Members of these organisations, or of bodies that belong to the JCF are entitled to the Skillfair member discount for this event."

There's been a lot of talk in the Microsoft Small Business Specialist Community recently about how much value SMB Consultants can gain from these type of paid-for events. I'm interested by the Conference topics - but would be interested to hear any feedback from other Consultants/Owners who have attended this type of thing before - would you suggest attending this type of event is good value or not?