Launching the “buy Mark a new camera” appeal

Posted on By Mark Wilson

As couple of weeks back, I started a digital photography course (evening classes) at my local college. I’m been taking pictures for about 25 years and I’ve attended courses before (when I lived in Australia I signed up for a black and white darkroom techniques course – it is truly amazing to see images come to life in a darkroom – as well as a photography course with pro photographer Naomi Burley which looked at everything from the basics of aperture and shutter speed to form, composition and generally taking good pictures) but I’m hoping to fill in the gaps between my traditional photography experience and my IT skills. Then I’ll finally pull my long-overdue portfolio together!

I’m not sure if there is something about IT that attracts people to photography – or if it works in reverse but, over the last couple of years, I’ve learned that many of the people I know in the world of IT are also keen on photography. Take for example, James O’Neill, IT Pro evangelist at Microsoft in the UK – I haven’t seen any of his photos but I know (from his blog) that it’s something he’s really into. Then I got a Flickr invitation from Atila the Hun… at first it seemed suspect, until I realised that it was Windows Server guru Austin Osuide‘s handle.

For the last week or so, I’ve been working with an experienced IT Architect by the name of Sean Mantey and it turns out that Sean is also a very talented photographer (check out his Flickr photostream, coverage on the BBC website, and his own website). And then he showed me his camera.

I always lust after the latest toys from Nikon but having held the camera that Sean uses and taken a couple of test shots, all of a sudden I knew that my trusty D70 is due to be retired… in favour of a D700. The D700 is, quite simply, fantastic. It has a decent, weighty body, a huge screen (big enough for a preview, histogram, and technical data all at once) and, most importantly, a full-frame (FX) format sensor with 12.1MP and stunning light sensitivity – so I can use my lenses (which mostly date back to my F90X film days) to their full effect. In short, the D700 will undo all the compromises I made when I switched to digital and give me back even more.

Then there are the lenses – I already have an AF-S 80-200mm f2.8 IF-ED lens so, although a modern VR lens (i.e. the AF-S VR 70-200 f2.8G ED-IF) would be nice, its the AF-S 14-24mm f/2.8G ED that I desire in order to capture some full frame landscape photography goodness when I’m on holiday in France this summer (instead of stitching frames together in Photoshop, as I do with my DX sensor and a AF-S 24-85mm f2.8-4D IF lens).

So, this is the deal: I need to save around £2800 for my new kit but that’s a lot of pocket money (more than the family holiday will cost!). This is where I get cheeky because there are a lot of people who read this blog and if I work out how much I earn from it, it’s quite depressing (let’s just say it’s well below minimum wage). If you subscribe to the RSS feed you don’t even have to look at the ads so, if you find what I write useful, how about sending me a PayPal donation? I don’t ask for much but if I’ve written something that’s saved you some time, effort, even some money, a contribution towards my camera fund would be really welcome. In return, I’ll keep on writing a mix of (hopefully useful) IT and photography-related articles whilst I try to take some good pictures and publish them on my Flickr feed.

More licensing changes for virtualisation with Windows Server 2008

Posted on By Mark Wilson

Last summer, there was a big shake up of Microsoft’s licensing policies around virtualisation. Matt McSpirit provides the best explanation of licensing Windows Server in a virtual environment that I’ve seen on his blog but, today, I was notified about some new developments in the Microsoft Windows Server 2008 licensing model.

Quoting from the e-mail I received:

“Currently, if your physical server environment is running Windows Server 2003, matching version CALs are required for all users (i.e. Windows Server 2003 CALs). However, if you move your physical Windows Server 2003 Operating System Environments (OSE) to run as virtual machines hosted by Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V, Windows Server 2008 CALs are required. This is per the current use rights. With the change in our licensing policy, Windows Server 2008 CALs are no longer required if you are using Windows Server 2008 solely as a virtualization host. The only exception to this is if you are running Windows Server 2008 virtual machines, which would require Windows Server 2008 CALs.”

The e-mail then goes on to describe three scenarios by way of example:

“Scenario 1 – Customer deploying WS08 Workloads

  • There is no change in licensing or CAL requirements
  • This is irrespective of whether the customer deploys WS08 workloads (other than Hyper-V) in a physical or virtual environment.

Scenario 2 – Customer only deploys WS08 Hyper-V to consolidate WS03

  • WS08 CAL are no longer required
  • Customer will still need CALs for the appropriate WS edition (WS03 in this example)

Scenario 3 – Customer deploys WS08 Hyper-V to consolidate WS03 but also has WS08 deployments

  • WS08 CAL requirements will apply for the WS08 deployment
  • A CAL for a particular version of Windows Server allows the user/device to access all instances of that version of Windows Server (and prior versions) across the organization.”

So, if you have a Windows Server 2003 (or earlier) estate without SA and were thinking of virtualising on Windows Server 2008 (but didn’t want to stump up for the Windows Server 2008 CALs), this could save you a lot of money. Full details may be found in the updated licensing brief.

Photography is not a crime

Posted on By Mark Wilson

In the current climate of political correctness and anti-terrorism legislation, there have been a few situations recently where photographers have found themselves falling foul of the law – for example the US photographer who was arrested whilst taking photos for an Amtrak competition at a railway station (of all places!) – and the UK Home Secretary caused controversy last summer when she suggested that legal restrictions may be placed upon photographers.

A petition was lodged at the Prime Minister’s web spinning site and this week a response was published.

There are no legal restrictions on photography in public places. However, the law applies to photographers as it does to anybody else in a public place. So there may be situations in which the taking of photographs may cause or lead to public order situations, inflame an already tense situation, or raise security considerations. Additionally, the police may require a person to move on in order to prevent a breach of the peace, to avoid a public order situation, or for the person’s own safety or welfare, or for the safety and welfare of others.

Each situation will be different and it would be an operational matter for the police officer concerned as to what action if any should be taken in respect of those taking photographs. Anybody with a concern about a specific incident should raise the matter with the Chief Constable of the relevant force.”

[Number10.gov.uk response to photography law e-petition, 12 January 2008]

So, there you have it – Photography Is Not A Crime – although an overzealous law enforcement agent may think it is until you take it up with his or her Chief Constable…

Resuming stuck downloads in the Microsoft File Transfer Manager

Posted on By Mark Wilson

Microsoft File Transfer ManagerThe chances are that if you’ve been reading this blog then, by now, you’ve had a go at downloading the Windows 7 beta. If, like me, you used Microsoft Connect to get your copy, then you’ve been using the Microsoft File Transfer Manager (FTM) to download the software and, in my experience, sometimes this gets stuck. In my case, after downloading 8GB of software (I have multiple build variants to test – and now I’m waiting to see if my ISP invokes it’s fair use policy…), it stuck with 30MB to go.

It might be useful to note that when this happens there is a workaround – sometimes just suspending and resuming the download will do the trick – other times the suspend doesn’t seem to work either. In that case, exit the File Transfer Manager, then attempt to download something else (starting a new instance of the FTM). If you want to keep the new download then let it run it’s course but, if not, you can cancel it (you only needed to download something to access a new instance of FTM) – either way you should be able to resume the stuck download.

Detecting and fixing stuck pixels on an iPhone

Posted on By Mark Wilson

Last week I wrote that my iPhone had just been replaced under warranty but, just before it was swapped out, I decided to have a look at fixing the stuck pixels it had started to show.

Pixel Fix application for iPhoneFirst of all, I should explain that stuck pixels are just something that happens on certain types of display. Stuck pixels (which show a seemingly permanent red, green or blue whenever the device is switched on) are particularly obvious on a dark background, but can be fixed. Dead pixels just show nothing and are… dead – i.e. they show nothing.

If you have stuck pixels on your iPhone, then you’ll probably have seen them already (and if you haven’t, why worry?) but there is a test page to help you spot them. To fix them, check out Knox’s iPhone pixel fix web application, which runs a cycle of colours on the screen at a rate that the iPhone can cope with (rather than the animated GIF solutions that the author claims don’t work because the iPhone’s processor can’t keep up).

I seemed to work for me. Definitely worth a try to lose the annoying blemishes.

Configuring Windows Mail for Tiscali’s IMAP servers

Posted on By Mark Wilson

Last weekend, I set up my father-in-law’s new PC and needed to get Windows Mail (the built-in client in Windows Vista that replaces Outlook Express) working with his ISP’s mail server.  The ISP in question is Tiscali, but I still wanted the messages to be available on the server for webmail access, so I wanted to use IMAP and not POP to collect e-mail.

Tiscali’s instructions seem to be for Outlook Express and POP3 (at least the ones I found were) but I decided to see if they offered an IMAP service and it seems they do – all I needed to provide to Windows was some basic account information (name, username and password), the incoming server name (imap.tiscali.co.uk) and outgoing server (smtp.tiscali.co.uk).  At first sight, some of the mail folders were missing but they were easily made visible by selecting IMAP Folders… from the Tools menu.

Show/hide IMAP folders in Windows Mail

Finally, to tidy up the experience I remapped some of the special folders Trash/Spam/Sent instead of the Microsoft defaults of Deleted Items/Junk E-mail/Sent Items in the account properties and hid the unused ones from view.

Remapping IMAP folders in Windows Mail

Windows 7 beta is available for download

Posted on By Mark Wilson

There’s been a lot of speculation over the last year or so about when Windows 7 will ship and those who are expecting a 2009 release could well get what they are asking for as the Windows 7 beta has now been released.

Starting today, Microsoft Connect beta testers and TechNet subscribers have access to the beta build (build 7000) and on Friday it will become available to a broader audience via the Windows 7 website although this is still a limited beta – Microsoft’s Windows Blog reports that the beta will be restricted to the first 2.5 million downloaders and will expire on 1 August 2009.  For most testers, Ultimate Edition is the only version of the client OS that’s available although it does come in both 32-bit and 64-bit versions. 

For those who are tracking the server release, a beta of Windows Server 2008 R2 will also be available from Friday at the Windows Server 2008 R2 website and I’ve written previously about some of the new features to expect in Windows Server 2008 R2.

This is a beta – there will be things that are not quite right – and it might break things so it’s definitely not recommended for use on a production system.  Having said that, I’ve been running Windows 7 for a couple of months now and it seems pretty solid to me – it should be, as it’s based on Windows Vista.  If you do run into problems, there is limited support available via the Technet Forums (where I’m one of the moderators for Windows 7).

For me, this is great news – many of the NDA restrictions that were imposed on me whilst I was using the M3 build have now been lifted and I can start to write about the new features – indeed I’m just putting the finishing touches on a post about my experiences of running 7 on a netbook.

As for that 2009 release, at the time of writing this post I have no information on product packaging, pricing, or ship dates (Microsoft is sticking to the line that it will ship when it reaches the required quality, rather than on a pre-planned date) but, with an API-complete milestone build released to developers in Autumn 2008 and a feature-complete beta released in January 2009, I see no reason why the final product would not be ready for Christmas.  The August expiry of the beta also provides some hints although there is likely to be at least one release candidate post-beta and pre-RTM.  It may be that we see OEMs and volume license customers get a copy in late 2009 but full retail release will follow a few weeks later (as with Vista).  Also, don’t be fooled by the fact that Windows Server 2008 R2 is being jointly developed with the Windows client operating system – I’d expect the server product to ship in early 2010.  All of that is pure speculation though… for now, it’s time for organisations to start installing the Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 betas in labs, to familiarise themselves with new features, to test applications and to provide feedback to Microsoft.

Steve Ballmer announces Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 public betas

Posted on By Mark Wilson

Just about now (18:30 PST on 7 January 2008), Steve Ballmer should be delivering his pre-CES keynote, during which he will announce the public release of the betas for Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2.

As 18:30 PST is 02:30 GMT, I’ll be asleep when this post goes live (ah, the wonders of modern technology) but I’ll post more in the morning (once I’ve checked exactly what information has been made public).  There is so much I’ve been waiting to say about Windows 7 but have been unable to do so because of non-disclosure agreements and hopefully now that has changed. Watch this space.

Crack in iPhone case: Replaced under warranty by Apple

Posted on By Mark Wilson

Alex says that I write too much about Microsoft and not enough good news about Apple… and there’s a reason for that (two reasons actually).

Anyway, here’s a good news story about Apple. My iPhone 3G has developed a crack in the case. In fact, there’s not just one crack on the side but a number of hairline cracks too – almost like the rings if you cut through a branch or a trunk on a tree. Is that the good news? Well, no, but I took it into my local Apple Store, where a “genius” took a look, agreed that it was not desirable and that the rest of the handset was in mint condition and ordered me a replacement. That’s the sort of customer service that I expect from a vendor of a premium product and I’m pleased so see Apple respond in this manner (especially as this unit was actually purchased from Carphone Warehouse – it’s a pity that it took a week to get a replacement unit but at least my phone wasn’t dead so I could us it in the meantime).

Unlike the issues I’ve been experiencing with my MacBook (where there is clearly a design fault), this probably stems from carrying the phone around in various pockets (but, after all, that’s what you do with a mobile phone!) and the curved side of the case being a point where particular pressure is exerted. The replacement unit may not be new (possibly “remanufactured” – i.e. new case, new screen, new battery, someone else’s old circuit board) but it’s impossible to tell and it seems reasonable, given that the original phone was not new either (just in “as new” condition). Swapping the phone over was simple. After switching my SIM to the new handset, the Apple Store activated the phone and I simply restored a recent backup in iTunes. I need to register the MAC address on my Wireless Access Point and if I had insurance I’d need to let my insurer know that I’d changed handsets but other than that everything seems good.

Whilst on the subject of the iPhone – I previously wrote about how I had applied an InvisibleSHIELD to my iPod and iPhone 3G. Whilst the iPod is still happily wearing its shield, the iPhone is no longer as it started to peel away at the edges and also experienced some discolouration (turning blue as the dye from my jeans transferred to the plastic). These days my iPhone lives in a leather case that I picked up at an O2 store and that seems to be doing a pretty good job of keeping the device in good condition.

Buying Microsoft Office for a home PC doesn’t need to be expensive

Posted on By Mark Wilson

Over the last few months I’ve found myself in conversation with various people who want to install Microsoft Office on their PC but are put off by the high price of a a full retail copy.  What many people don’t seem to realise is that there is a Home and Student Edition for Microsoft Office 2007 that is very reasonably priced and it’s valid for up to 3 PCs in one household.  Suggested retail price in the US is $149.99 but, here in the UK, Microsoft Office 2007 Home and Student Edition can be purchased for as little as £53.93 (Microsoft Office for Mac 2008 Home and Student Edition is slightly more expensive at £78.45).

Because Microsoft Office 2007 Home and Student Edition is intended for consumers in general (i.e. it’s not just an educational discount) there is no need for purchasers to prove academic status.  It just needs to be for home/educational use (i.e. not for a small business!).  You don’t get the full Office suite, but you get the important bits – Word, Excel and PowerPoint (no Outlook, but Windows Mail, Windows Contacts and Windows Calendar are all perfectly capable clients and are built into Windows Vista).  Office:Mac users also get Entourage (minus Exchange Server support) and Messenger (although Messenger:Mac  is a free download).

If someone in your household is in education, students (school, college and University) and their family members can get even better deals including something called the Ultimate Steal which allows the purchase of Office Ultimate 2007 for £38.95 (which includes Access, Excel, Groove, Infopath, Outlook, PowerPoint, Publisher and Word), Office Visio Professional 2007 for £36.95, Office Language Packs for £9.95 or a Windows Vista Ultimate Upgrade for £40.95 but for these prices you do need to be enrolled on a college course with an academic e-mail address and meet certain requirements regarding hours of study (sadly my 3 hours a week in evening classes won’t count!).

It seems that buying a copy of Office doesn’t need to break the bank after all.