Low Life Scum…….

April 20th, 2010

To the low life scum who stole my wallet from my back pocket on Sunday night, *THERE WAS NO MONEY IN IT* !!

You could have at least had the decency to drop it when you found it devoid of cash (I use cards muppet, I’m a child of the digital age) somewhere near by so it could be found and handed in.

I’ve had to cancel all my cards (done about 5mins aftr you lifted it) and get a new keys arranged for home and work.

You inconsiderate twat, hope you break a leg. Nuff said.

p.s. If anyone in the Vauxhall area finds a grey Converse canvas wallet please hand in to the police station or at the Royal Vauxhall Tavern.

Thanks

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Posted in meh ! | No Comments »

Congratulations Giovanni and Pawel

April 17th, 2010

Big congratulations to Gio and Paw who tied the knot today at their Civil Ceremony in Marylebone.

You look great together guys :-)

Here’s to many happy years (with a few more Wii bowling and Wii Olympic sessions thrown in ;-)

Posted in friends, gay | No Comments »

WDS Deploying Windows 7…….The Wrong Way…….

April 16th, 2010

The 2nd Microsoft UK Techday I attended was on the subject of deploying Windows 7 within the organisation using WDS. This was the one I had really been waiting for as:

a) I’m pretty sure the way I am using WDS to deploy Vista is wrong, even though it works

b) Chris Jackson was presenting

Bit of history. One of the earlier tasks when I joined my current job was to replace the mix of XP and Vista desktops that were in use. I installed WDS and set about trying to figure out all the bells and whistles, but there are so many of them.

There is a ton of doc to read through, and walk through scenarios, but they are somewhat basic in that they only deal with creating and distributing a single image/buld to the desktop.

Here’s my problem, I have a mix of HP and Dell desktops. I also have different software requirements for different groups of people. Everyone needs Windows Vista and Office 2007. Devs need Visual Studio. Designers need the Adobe CS suite. I could not work out how to use a single boot and install image to achieve this.

So, I created multiple install images. Essentially, I setup each PC exactly as I wanted it for the desktop, then sysprep’d it with an answer file and capture it to an image. Then for each install image, I created a corresponding boot image and edit the startnet.cmd to wipe and prepare the disk, and then use imagex to apply the correct install image file to the machine.

So I have a ‘HP7900-install.wim’ and a ‘HP7900-boot.wim’. I also have a ‘HP7800-install.wim’ and a ‘HP7800-boot.wim’. Adding each xxx-boot.wim file to WDS lists it as an option on the PXE WDS boot menu, and when you select either boot image, the ‘startnet.cmd’ batch file will use imagex to apply the corresponding xxx-install.wim file.

I am fairly certain this is not how WDS was supposed to be used ?! There are currently x8 boot and x8 install images sitting on my WDS server.

The Windows 7 deployment demo at the UK Techday event unfrotunately has not cleared this up for me any further. The demo simply showed how to use a stock boot.wim and install.wim with an answer file to remove the prompts that occur during install. This much I had already figured out, what I hoped to discover was how to create a relationship between a boot.wim file and an install.wim file so I did not have to edit the startnet.cmd file each time.

I’ve just downloaded the WAIK 2010 and MDT 2010 applications and am going to install them and take a look at the new and improved documentation and scenarios and see if the answers lay within.

Anything I find out I will of course post here.

One thing I do already know is that if you are using a x64 bit version of Windows (7 or Vista) you have to install the x64 bit version of the WAIK. The x64 bit version cannot work on x86 (32bit) images !??? However, the x86 (32bit) version of WAIK can work on both formats. So when creating your build administration workstation, I would use x86 versions to ensure maximum flexibility.

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Posted in imaging, microsoft, wds, windows 7 | No Comments »

Sharepoint 2010, Now We’re Getting Somewhere…….

April 13th, 2010

So today I went along to one of the Microsoft UK Techdays (I missed Mondays presentation on Virtulisation due to illness). Todays subject was Office 2010 and Sharepoint 2010, and I have to say that I am now starting to see the case for Sharepoint in the organisation.

The day was a large helping of death by PowerPoint (I’m sorry, but even using PowerPoint 2010 with it’s lovely new slide transitions is still death by PowerPoint which ever way you turn it) and after an extended period of being talked at I felt my concentration wavering a little. Some points did make it through though.

One was that SharePoint 2010 now supports true cross-platform, cross-browser fidelity. It was seamless, the guy opened MS Office 2010 docs inside FireFox, Opera, Chrome and Safari, and they looked *identical*. The inline rich web editor was also the same experience across the board, no so much as a pixel out of place.

Even more impressive was that using the inline rich web editors, you could collaborate in real time on the same document without even having the Office application installed. True thin client web app and no more cumbersome checking-in/checking-out.

The demo showed Microsoft making a real effort to adhere to open standards for file and data formats to make this cross browser experience possible. Proprietary activex controls have all but been abandoned which hopefully mitigates that particular attack surface vector for the future.

Speaking of which, there was an interesting slide showing statistics that attacks against the operating system were on the decline against a rise in attacks being made against applications. To help protect against this new wave of attacks Microsoft now scans all legacy Office files being opened and compares them against a know signatures database, if they don’t match you are warned and the file is opened in a sandboxed safe mode in the background and an alert is shown to make the user aware. Sweet.

But my favourite part of the entire day was the explicit mention that IE6 was no longer supported for SharePoint and it’s associated web apps :oD

The only barrier I can now see to deploying SharePoint is that it’s still a very large product with a not insignificant pre-requisite list, both in terms of hardware and software.

You’re going to need a server up to running the latest version of Windows, along with enough RAM to make it happy. The cost of the license for Windows, the cost of the SharePoint server application. Then more hardware to run the SQL server backend (with another Windows license plus an SQL license of some flavour).

I’m not sure of the total cost to deploy SharePoint today (no pricing details as of yet for the RTM versions) but I’m pretty certain this is out of reach of most smaller companies, especially when you consider that my current workplace does the whole thing on an old Dell 2850 with 8GB RAM running Ubuntu linux, MySQL and MediaWiki server, all for free.

Really looking forward to tomorrow, Chris Jackson of the SWAT team is presenting a section of the ‘Deploying Windows 7′ day. Maybe I’ll find out how to automate that 5% of my current desktop deployment process that still eludes me ? Here’s hoping ;oD

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Posted in microsoft, office 2010, sharepoint 2010 | No Comments »

All Star…….Lame…….

April 13th, 2010

Had to write about one of the most dissapointing experiences of my life to date, and I’ve had a few !

For my flatmates birthday I decided to try and book a group of us a night of 10 pin bowling. We’ve never done it before and it makes a welcome change from the bars and clubs typically associated with these sort of occasions.

I decided I would book with All Star Lanes (hence this post title, catchy huh ??!) as they appeared in the google list for ‘London Bowling’, their website looked quite well put together and the food menu sounded great.

In hindsight, it’s my own fault, I should had read up more thoroughly and maybe tried to find some reviews of the venue in question.

The selection of actual bowling balls was quite limited (there was a girlie with us who could have done with one of the lighter balls that had been nabbed by the group in the other lane).

The balls were sticky and could have done with a bit of a wipe with a anti-bacterial agent to be honest.

When we finished our game, we stood looking confused not quite sure what to do next. I had booked a post game table for some of their amazing sounding American style food. But not one of the staff asked if we needed any help. When I enquired at the reception I was told to ‘ask a waitress’.

So we waited for 10mins for one to appear and then asked where we should go for our table. This took a further 10mins to sort out.

The food took an extremely long time to arrive (almost half an hour), but in their defense was very hot and clearly not microwaved in any way (finally a positive note !).

But the single biggest issue had to be THE VOLUME OF THE MUSIC BEING PLAYED !!! This place could give Ministry of Sound a run for their money. I’m pretty certain that all of the communication issues we encountered on the night were a simple case that their poor staff just plain could not hear us. They smiled, they were I am sure polite (coluldn’t hear them to be certain) but ultimately the evening was a resounding failure.

We will probably try bowling again, but not at AllStar :-(

16-04-2010 addendum :

All Star Lanes sent me a feedback email request which a put most of this detail into and sent back. Their manager has responded saying he takes the points on board and they will *monitor the situation*. Possibly worth going again in a few months to see if it’s any better

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Posted in all star lanes, meh ! | No Comments »

Clint Died, Bye Bye Sunshine…….

April 8th, 2010

A friend of mine died at the weekend :o(

I will never get to talk with him again.

His name was Clint Walters and he was only 31. He was something of a legend for me as he dedicated his life to helping raise awareness of the HIV virus for young people, having been diagnosed himself at the age of just 17 and finding very few resources for helping people of that age.

The first time I met him I knew who he was from my own volunteer work with GMFA, I had seen Clint on some adverts and posters. But nothing could have prepared me for the real thing. This guy was *SO* upbeat and optimistic, all the time. He was sunshine personified, that’s the only way I can describe him.

I made it a point when ever I saw him after that to always project the same optimisim and cheerfulness, even when I didn’t feel much like it, if he could smile all the time then so would I.

He was completely selfless and battled for a long time to get funding for a clinic and support centre in London. I remember conversation with him about it, he still did not let it get him down, he just smiled and said he would find a way to make it happen.

He passed away on Sunday 4th April from a heart attack. I hope he is still smiling where he is now.

Clint you will be missed by many :o(

Addendum:

The Independant has an article here regarding Clint’s passing

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Posted in friends, gay | 1 Comment »

iPad, To Buy Or Not To Buy ?…….

March 30th, 2010

So, it’s almost here, but, do I actually want/need an iPad ?

This guy has created a handy little flow chart to aid in the decision, and while I guess it was intended as a stab at a bit of humour, for me it actually comes down to ‘do you have so much money you don’t care if it works particularly well or not ?’

While I have a lot of technology and gadgets, I purchase them because they perform some function that I deem I cannot be without. My PC, I simply can’t live without it. My laptop, well it’s my PC when I’m on the move. My iPhone, it’s so much more than a phone with the variety of apps available to me, but it also happens to be a phone too. And the list goes on.

But an iPad ? For my money, I have to agree with those of the opinion that the iPad is essentially a big iPhone that has no phone and no camera. It has also been described as a slightly smaller version of a laptop/netbook that cannot multitask and has no USB ports, again I can identify with that.

I also do not want to have to get the pocket of all my pants upgraded to loook like this

I swear I am not Apple bashing, I love Apple. I have a MacBook Pro and an Mac Mini in the home and they both serve essential functions. The problem for me with the iPad is, it doesn’t do anything I would consider essential that my laptop cannot already do……better.

I sure Apple are going to sell loads of them and no doubt I will look upon any I see with a degree of curiosity, but it will end at curiosity. Sorry Apple, but on this one I think I’m going to have to let this one pass.

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SVG in IE9, Saving The World From Giant Otters…….

March 25th, 2010

Read an update today on the IEBlog site about the initial support for Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) in Internet Explorer 9.

Some pretty cool stuff, like being able to define SVG inline in HTML5, but the example they gave did make me LOL, they have used it to create SVG circle to highlight…..giant otters !

Admittedly, given the power and flexibility this offers, their choice of exmaple could have been anything, but still…..priceless :o)

I suspect I’m going to find this all rather useful when it becomes official and mainstream, as it’s a pain when trying to highlight stuff in documentation at work written in html. Now I can include an image of a screenshot and use inline SVG to draw shapes around bits I need to draw attention to, as opposed to my normal efforts which look much like below :o/

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Posted in ie9, microsoft | No Comments »

IIS7 HRESULT: 0×80070057 (E_INVALIDARG))…….

March 24th, 2010

I don’t write code. Well compileable code anyway. Now scripting, I’m ya man, but anything that does stuff ‘behind the scenes’ is frankly a little bit beyond me.

So I was filled with doom when one of our web developers was getting an error every time she tried to load her dev copy of the site into her browser. IIS7 simply gave the very detailed but unhelpful message


HRESULT: 0×80070057 (E_INVALIDARG))

Along with a pretty error page and some bits of XML. Googling that error code led me to this site which thankfully explained what was going on, and more importantly, how to fix.

Seems that when you build/compile a .NET site, it takes copies of the binaries from your solution and copies them to a temporary folder. The site is then hosted from the files in this temporary location.

Should your system crash mid-build/compile (she was using Vista, of course it crashed !) then the file(s) copying at the time may not quite be up to scratch (i.e. corrupted).

For x64 bit systems the path in question is

C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework64\v2.0.50727\Temporary ASP.NET Files

For x86 bit systems the path is

C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.50727\Temporary ASP.NET Files

Inside the ‘Temporary ASP.NET Files’ folder will be many sub folders. You can spend time trying isolate the exact subfolder containing the knacked files, but I just deleted all the sub folders and then rebuilt the web solution again and ‘Presto’ a working site

The site owner Dan Abdinnor credits his friend Patrick Fitzsimmons for working all this out. I don’t know who you guys are, but thanks, you possibly saved me from hours of diagnostic tools and head scratching on this one !

Posted in IIS, vista | 2 Comments »

Support FizzBin, Shorten Support Calls…….

March 23rd, 2010

After spending most of the morning on the phone with Dell technical support *to replace a faulty DVD drive still under warranty* I find myself whole heartedly behind Scott Hanselman’s ‘FizzBin’ initative.

I actually slipped ‘FizzBin’ into the conversation a few times randomly in the first half hour to see if we could get to the ‘I’ll send a replacement unit out to your now sir’ phase, but alas it fell onto deaf ears (or certainly ears not briefed on the ‘FizzBin’ keyword initative’).

This left me repeating the mantra ‘ The optical drive is broken and needs replacing’ to every question and test I was asked to perform until their will finally broke and they promised to send an engineer out with a replacement drive.

So come on people, get behind ‘FizzBin’ coz’ I really don’t think I can handle another one of those calls again !

Posted in IT, meh ! | No Comments »

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