The Tech Savvy Firm

Best of Both Worlds - Windows 7 on a MacBook

     

In early May, I decided it was time to purchase a new laptop.  For a number of years, my laptop has been my primary computer.   I was also interested in the ergonomics of my current desktop situation and the new philosophy of a clean, simple work environment.  My current setup was a Dell D630 with a dock and two 22" wide screen monitors mounted in portrait mode.  As you can imagine the setup was very obtrusive.

My first thought was to go to the new OQO computer that I had used in the past.  Although, low powered, the sleek small form factor appealed to me once more.  Unfortunately, OQO failed to make it as a company and will not be shipping any new devices.  I then looked at a small compact Sony Vaio TT as well as a Dell E4300.   I ordered the Sony Vaio TT series and was very disappointed in the price and quality.  I shipped it back, taking advantage of Sony's return policy.  As I've been an Apple fan for some time and have owned a MacBook in the past, I decided to give the new MacBook a look.  I was actually suprised to see the MacBook was cheaper than both the Dell and Sony.  I knew from previous experiences, I could run Windows on a MacBook utilizing an application built into Mac OS X called Boot Camp.   So I decided to give it a try.

I went with the 13" aluminum uni-body design.  The uni-body makes for a very well constructed laptop.  The laptop has recently been upgraded to the Pro series, but at the time of my purchase was considered a MacBook.  As soon as I received the laptop I utilized the Boot Camp software to "easily" install Windows 7 Release Candidate 64-bit.  The install worked well, and after installing the drivers from Boot Camp and a quick Windows update, I had everything running.   I also added to the MacBook the beautiful 24" Apple Cinema Display.  This technically is a dual screen setup; however, it works much like three monitors in that I split the large 24" in the middle, displaying some apps on one half and some on the other half.  Windows 7 includes a great new feature for splitting the screen by simply pressing the Windows key plus a directional key.   My desk is much cleaner and ergonomic with this setup and I really prefer using the large screen over the dual screens.  The Apple Cinema Display also works as a docking station.  It includes one cable that plugs into the monitor and then has the power, usb and display adapter for your laptop.  

An added bonus is the laptop also runs Mac OS X.  If you've never used the new Mac OS software you are missing out.  When I'm home wanting to browse the internet, update my itunes, work with pictures and home videos, I run the Mac OS.  It is as simple as rebooting and holding down the option key on the keyboard.  A nice menu will display both the Mac OS and Windows partitions.  You simply select the one you wish to work with.  

After two months with the MacBook, I will have to say WOW!  This has been absolutely the best laptop/computer I have owned.  The only negative has been the MacBook does not come with integrated 3g; however, you can utilize a USB modem.  You can check out the new MacBook Pro series and the functionality of Boot Camp at www.apple.com.  If you would like step by step directions on installing Windows 7 on your MacBook simply google it.

Windows 7 = Best Windows Ever

I'm on my first full week of using Windows 7 Release Candidate.  And having used every Windows version since Windows 3.0, I will have to say this is by far the best Windows version ever.  POSSIBLY, even better than Mac OS X.   I absolutely love this operating system.  In so much, as I would not have any problems installing it on all of my production machines that are hardware capable.  Ok... don't go and do this yourself, but I have to say Windows 7 is very impressive.

First, let's look at a little history.  Windows 1.0 was the first version of windows and would mostly be referred to as a graphical representation of DOS, then came Windows 3.0 which I did use on my first personal computer, an IBM PS/1.  I upgraded 3.0 to 3.1 which was a dramatic improvement  .... lol.... as you can tell from the huge jump in version numbers.  Then let's see... Windows 95, which was a leap forward for Microsoft, although a very problematic operating system.  You can also throw in NT Workstation somewhere in this mix.  We then were fortunate to receive Windows 98 which fixed many of the problems of Windows 95, but was still lacking.  OK, Windows ME should not be considered a true operating system.  I'm sure Microsoft would love to forget about it and so would I.  Windows 2000 was another true inovation bringing the more stable and secure NT kernel to the mainstream operating system and until now I would consider one of the most stable windows operating systems.  We then see XP which had a really cool name but took until service pack 1 to become successful in a production environment.  And finally, the disappointment of Vista.  With the exception of Windows 1.0, I have had experience with all of these operating systems as well as Mac OS and various linux distros. 

I installed Windows 7 RC on an Apple Macbook running Boot Camp as well as my home desktop computer.  Both are running the 64-bit version.  The Macbook install took about 20 minutes, I then installed the Mac Vista 64-bit drivers which worked flawleslly.  Before the drivers were even fully installed a message popped up telling me I had a windows update to install.  The update included a driver for my sound card.  I installed the windows update and rebooted.  I quickly went to the device manager expecting a number of yellow exclamation marks indicating some items did not install correctly.  There were only two and I pulled those drivers from the same Mac disk.  I have never in my numerous times of installing an operating system had such an easy time.  And keep in mind this is the not the final version but a release candidate.    I then installed my various scanners, printers and applications, again with no problems.  I was even able to run a client specific application that has not been updated since 2002.  The home Dell desktop was even easier with all of the drivers being found by Windows 7 during the install. 

My first impressions beside the stunning clean look of the new desktop is the speed.  Windows 7 is running noticeably quicker on my machines than Vista was or for that matter XP.  My favorite new features are aero snap, sticky notes and windows taskbar.  Aero snap allows you to snap windows to certain areas of the screen.  For example, dragging a window to the left side of the screen will snap it to the left half of the screen.  You can do the same on the right side and you have a perfectly split screen.  The sticky notes allow you to place sticky notes of any size and various colors anywhere on your screen.   The windows taskbar is very similar to the Mac OS dock and is a great productivity feature.

You can download the Windows 7 Release Candidate from Microsoft at http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windows-7/ until June 30.  Microsoft has not set a date for the final release, but most likely by October.  You can read more about the new features on Paul Thurott's website http://www.winsupersite.com/win7/. 

Whew..... Glad that is over!

I don't know about you, but I'm sure glad this tax season is over.  This was definitely the worst tax season I have faced in my 16 years.  Not from a financial perspective, as some have suffered from the economy, just the opposite.   It started in October with a new influx of business for our firm.  Don't get me wrong..... I much appreciated the new business, but for a small firm, large, fast growth is not always the best.  I began my 60+ hour work week much too soon this tax season, beginning in October.  

By March, I finally felt I was beginning to get a handle on our new work load.  Then on March 17th, I was at work early in the morning when my phone rang.  The call was from my business partner, Steve, who informed me our long-time payroll specialist Lynette had passed away unexpectantly during the night.  She was 45 years old and had a heart attack.  We were obviously devastated personally and professionally.  The last month of tax season was simply a blur going in before 7 and working until 10 or 11 o'clock many nights.  Our team pulled together and did an excellent job covering for the short staffing position, but it was difficult for everyone.  I did learn a great lesson from this trial.  As much as I love technology and the efficiencies it creates, a firm's most valuable asset is it's team.  We currently are rebuilding part of our team and I'm truly taking this concept to heart.

I want to personally thank everyone on our team for doing such a great job.  Thanks to Wanda, Sherry, Jessica, Donna and Amy.

Stay tuned for some future technology updates.

PhoneTag - The Efficiency of Text

As I expounded in a previous blog, I like the efficiencies and convenience of voicemail to email.  I accomplish this with my trixbox telephony server.  The voicemails are sent to email which I can retrieve via my iPhone.  Recently, I began contemplating what could make this service better.  My thoughts moved to voicemail transcription services. 

Some of the more notables I found are Gotvoice, Voicecloud, Callwave and PhoneTag.  I was particularly looking for two specific features.  First, I needed the ability for my current voicemail files to be emailed directly to the service.  Second, I needed an unlimited pricing plan.

I first tested Gotvoice and was pleased with the setup and capabilities; however, it had one limiting flaw.  The messages I received did not retain the caller id information.  The other two services I reviewed, Callwave and Voicecloud, either did not have the ability to receive my voicemail files or was priced too high.

 I was about to give up finding a solution when I came across PhoneTag .  PhoneTag is advertised for cell phone voicemails, but as I dug deeper found it would also transcribe voicemail emails that had already been created.  I immediately signed up for the free trial and all I can say is, WOW!  After just one week of service, I don't know how I managed without it.  The transcription is very accurate (only having trouble with some proper nouns).  It is also fast, receiving my transcribed voicemails usually within 1 to 2 minutes.  The transcribed emails also retain the original voicemail file.

So why do you need this type of service.  I will give you my top three:

1. Saves time.  It is much more efficient to read an email than to listen to a voicemail.
2. Text is a more flexible format.  The transcribed email can be easily forwarded, as I did the other day to my staff from my sick bed when I was suffering from a stomach virus.
3. Paperless.  The transcription can be saved in a paperless format for your record keeping.

I have included an iPhone screenshot of an actual PhoneTag transcription I received.  As you can see the transcription is superb, especially in regards to email addresses and phone numbers. After receiving this message I can easily reply by selecting either the email address or the phone number.  The cost for the unlimited service is $29.99 per month.

 

Citrix on the iPhone - 1st half 2009?

If you are like me and own an iPhone and have access to all of your applications through a  Citrix server, this is very exciting news.  According to Chris Fleck's recently updated iPhone blog,

"Yes, we are listening, and yes we are going to ship a Citrix App Receiver client for the iPhone ! Mark Templeton demonstrated our latest internal build at our Summit event last week and our partners gave us the same enthusiastic response as we are seeing here on the Blogs. Right now the schedule ship schedule is first half of '09 , but keep those votes and use cases coming and help us increase the priority further ! "

trixbox Pro - Hybrid Hosted Telephony

Ten years ago, I purchased a Samsung Prostar PBX phone and voicemail system. Last year, I determined it was time to upgrade.   The Samsung still worked great; however, I was looking for a system with more functionality which would create greater communication efficiencies.  My first thought, as always, was to look for a hosted system.  I was able to find a number of hosted "PBX' systems; however, none seemed to fit our needs.  Then I came across a solution from Fonality.  PBXtra is a hybrid hosted IP PBX system using the open source software Asterisk.  Fonality provides the hardware and phones and you simply plug and play into your existing network.  The only fault with the system was the hardware seemed to be overpriced.  Additional research lead me to another new Fonality project which was called trixbox Pro.  The trixbox Pro system was practically identical to their PBXtra system, except it is a diy setup. 

Using the recommended hardware suggested, I ordered a server from Dell and my Aastra ip phones from Voiplink.   I setup the server and phones and downloaded a free version of the trixbox Pro SE software.  The software includes a version of linux and although seems complicated was fairly easy to setup.  Since my installation, trixbox has developed a server with the software pre-installed which makes the trixbox system more simple to setup. 

You can view from trixbox the vast features for each version.  The most notable for me have been the following, which are all included in the free version.

1. HUD - "Heads Up Display" from your computer

2. Administration from anywhere at any time through the trixbox web console

3. Access to personal extension portals through the web console

4. Voicemail to email

5. Outlook integration

Total costs for the 1998 Samsung Prostar system $10,000. Total costs for the seven extension trixbox Pro system $1,800. Communication efficiencies obtained  ~ priceless.

28th Annual CS Users' Conference

In 1998, I stepped off the plane on a cold day in Philadelphia to attend what was then my first CS Users' Conference.  Philadelphia in late fall was not my favorite location for a conference; however, the inclement weather did not deter what I experienced those 2 1/2 days.  What I experienced was an enthusiasm and excitement about accounting and technology from CS employees and Users I had never experienced before.  It was extremely contagious as my head was spinning with new ideas, exciting technologies and best practices.  Since 1998, I have attended every conference.  From San Francisco, Orlando, San Antonio, Las Vegas, Scottsdale, to Hawaii, the fall locations have greatly improved.  Even after attending ten straight years six as a workshop leader, I always come away from the conference with at least one new technology, new idea or best practice.  The conference mostly motivates me to continue striving for success, innovation and thinking outside the box.  Hope to see you at the 28th Annual CS Users' Conference.

My workshops:

Paperless Payroll for the Tech-Savvy Firm

Thomson Reuters Web Services for the Tech-Savvy Firm

 

Dual Monitors...check, Scanner...check, Wireless Headset...check, Adding Machine...hummmm

I had a great "ah-ha" moment the other day. As I was contemplating going to the supply closet to get more tape for my adding machine, I realized my long-term relationship with the adding machine was not very tech-savvy. Windows has a built-in calculator; however, it is lacking many of the features I needed to replace my adding machine. So my research began and quickly I came across an interesting possibility.

DeskCalc is a fully functional digital calculator with many of the same attributes of an adding machine. I took the challenge of using it by unplugging my current adding machine and placing it in the closet. I vowed to try DeskCalc for a week. The result was I loved it. The solution provides a digital tape similar to the paper tape to track the rows of numbers and calculations. The items on the tapes can be edited, copied, printed, and transferred to excel. It is a really cool solution to replace your adding machine.

Citrix on an iPhone - Yes!

It looks like Citrix is definitely looking at the iPhone as one of their development platforms for their XenApp clients.  It just makes the iPhone even more of an enterprise device. I hope this becomes available soon.

Remodeling Reminds Me of My Need for Cloud Computing

For the past two months, my wife and I have been slaving away with a remodeling project at home.  We have taken on the project of converting our upstairs loft to a new bedroom, a "pre-teen" suite for our twin daughters twelfth birthday.  To save money we decided to do some of the work ourselves.  Just this past week I decided I was really tired of the never-ending project, so I took a day off and worked fifteen hours to complete it.  The next day I was talking with my daughter and she asked me what my favorite thing to do was.  I told her to spend time with my family.  She quickly commented, "You haven't been able to do that lately".   Wow!  That hit hard. So I began to contemplate the time I spent in the remodeling project and discovered five related reasons I love the concept of "Cloud Computing".

In the remodeling project I discovered:

1. Time - I underestimated the value of my time to my family.
2. Quality - I am not as good a painter, carpenter, or electrician as I thought I was.
3. Efficiency - It takes me ten times longer to do the work of a professional.
4. Stress - I become more stressed and agitated when I don't know exactly what I'm doing.
5. Productivity - I concentrated more on the project and less on family and work.

Similar to Web 2.0 in 2007, cloud computing will definitely be the top tech buzz word for 2008 . 

According to Wikipedia, Cloud computing literally means Internet ('Cloud') based development and use of computer technology ('Computing'). It is a style of computing where IT-related capabilities are provided as a service using Internet technologies to multiple external customers. It allows users to access technology-enabled services without knowledge of, expertise with, nor control over the technology infrastructure that supports them.

I simply define the cloud computing concept as a hosted internet based solution to access your applications and data from anywhere, at any time, from almost any device in which I don't have to administer backups, updates or infrastructure.

Since 2001, I have been utilizing the concept of cloud computing via hosted applications and servers.  Of course, the term was not used then and some may argue hosted application providers are not technically defined as cloud computing.  I'm not going to argue this point, the simple fact of the matter is the cloud computing concept has become a solid business technology strategy for my firm.  From my core business applications to my telephony solution.  Every decision I make with technology involves the concept of cloud computing. 

So how does my need for cloud computing relate to my remodeling project?

1. Time - My time is more valuable working with my clients.
2. Quality - No matter how much technology I know, tech professionals will know more.
3. Efficiency - It takes me ten times longer to do the work of a tech professional.
4. Stress - I don't need anymore stress in my life.  Redundancy and backup procedures are built-in.
5. Productivity - Allows flexibility on how, when, and where I work.

Here are a list of some of the services and applications I currently use that I consider are cloud computing proofs of concept.  Although not all fit the technical definition of cloud computing, they all fit my definition of being able to access anytime from the web from multiple devices.

• Thomson Reuters CS Professional Suite - Web Builder CS, NetClient CS and Virtual Office CS
• RIA Checkpoint - Research library
• McAfee - hybrid hosted enterprise anti-virus solution
• trixbox - hybrid hosted telephony solution
• Symantec Hosted Mail Security - anti-spam and anti-virus email solution
• OpenDNS - network security and web filtering solution
• Sugarsync - file syncing solution
• Maxemail - Internet faxing solution
• Typepad - blogging solution

Also, check out one of my favorite blogs at jkOnTheRun and see how Kevin Tofel is challenging himself to operate in a complete cloud computing environment.  The last I checked 99% of his computing was being done in the cloud.  The original post can be found at http://www.jkontherun.com/2008/06/im-taking-the-w.html.