Microsoft made a mistake the other day. They conducted a user survey online and sent one to me!!
There were several things they asked about and I responded as I felt fit but in the free form box at the end I decided to put in some of my pet gripes. Such as:-
Has anyone used a network diagnostic that returned anything other than 'Contact your network administrator'?
Has anyone ever used the update driver option in device manager when a driver is obviously having problems and received anything other that 'Windows could not find a more up to date version'?
Has anyone when installing new hardware used the 'look on the internet for latest software' and had Windows find anything?
I am sure there are other examples but they escape me at present.
If you wish to respond to this blog then please email me on stephen@hillierconsultants.com.
Thursday, 23 April 2009
Microsoft networking seems to get worse
Is it just me or has Microsoft networking got worse over recent weeks.
On my home machine which never gets switched off, I used to be able to use networking functions at any time. In the last couple of months, Outlook refuses to collect mail unless I a) log of and log back on or b) hit the repair function on the network connection.
In the last couple of weeks at home and at work I have had timeouts on displaying web pages which then correctly display when I hit the refresh button.
To explain why I am writing this blog today I will offer an example. At work I have two computers on my desk, one running Vista Business, one running Ubuntu Hardy.
I was trying to access some pages on the Dell website (I won't bore you with why I would do such a foolhardy thing). My Vista machine was up and running. Go to IE (7) and type in www.dell.com. Wait for the first page to display, link to the next page and ...... Nothing. Windows connection display flashing back and forth.
After waiting for a while I decide to take action.
I boot up my Linux machine. I log on. I load Firefox. I type www.dell.com in the address bar. I get the first page displayed. I link to the next page and lo.... It displays BEFORE the Vista machine does. Albeit by only a few seconds but look at what it has done to get there.
Let's just consider the following.
Two machines of similar hardware spec. Both log on the the same domain server. Both use that domain server as the primary DNS server. Both access the internet through the same broadband link. Both accessed the same website pages. What is different. The operating system.
I have not in the past been one of those who knocks Microsoft, my posts on the Ubuntu forum bears witness to that, but why, oh why, with all the resources Microsoft can throw at a problem does the system perform slower and slower. None of the upgrades seem to improve performance. It seems that where we once thought we were wading in the thin sugary syrup, we now seem to be struggling through thick black treacle.
Come on Microsoft get it fixed.
On my home machine which never gets switched off, I used to be able to use networking functions at any time. In the last couple of months, Outlook refuses to collect mail unless I a) log of and log back on or b) hit the repair function on the network connection.
In the last couple of weeks at home and at work I have had timeouts on displaying web pages which then correctly display when I hit the refresh button.
To explain why I am writing this blog today I will offer an example. At work I have two computers on my desk, one running Vista Business, one running Ubuntu Hardy.
I was trying to access some pages on the Dell website (I won't bore you with why I would do such a foolhardy thing). My Vista machine was up and running. Go to IE (7) and type in www.dell.com. Wait for the first page to display, link to the next page and ...... Nothing. Windows connection display flashing back and forth.
After waiting for a while I decide to take action.
I boot up my Linux machine. I log on. I load Firefox. I type www.dell.com in the address bar. I get the first page displayed. I link to the next page and lo.... It displays BEFORE the Vista machine does. Albeit by only a few seconds but look at what it has done to get there.
Let's just consider the following.
Two machines of similar hardware spec. Both log on the the same domain server. Both use that domain server as the primary DNS server. Both access the internet through the same broadband link. Both accessed the same website pages. What is different. The operating system.
I have not in the past been one of those who knocks Microsoft, my posts on the Ubuntu forum bears witness to that, but why, oh why, with all the resources Microsoft can throw at a problem does the system perform slower and slower. None of the upgrades seem to improve performance. It seems that where we once thought we were wading in the thin sugary syrup, we now seem to be struggling through thick black treacle.
Come on Microsoft get it fixed.
Wednesday, 18 March 2009
Business Accounts - cross platform
We are getting excited by accounts systems!! Sad, but true. We have not been so keen on this subject since the mid 1980s.
Back in the early days of personal computers, businesses saw the benefits of having a computerised accounts system on their office computer. The benefits of inputting the data as you get it. being able to get regular Profit & Loss and Balance Sheet reports.
Back in those heady days the main contender in the PC market was Pegasus, a very professional but quite expensive package; and then came Sage.
Over the years Sage have become the de facto industry leader in the UK, but they do have an issue. Their product only works on Windows machines. Their support costs are high for many small businesses. Their latest offering has problems on domain based networks due to folder access rights.
So what might the alternative be? We think we might have found a good alternative to Sage. Accountz offers an easy to use suite of business products, Basic, Professional, Enterprise. These products run cross platform, which means you can access and update the data from any computer that runs either Windows, Linux, MAC.
We installed the product on a Ubuntu Linux computer, transferred the data files to our Windows 2003 domain server, accessed and updated the data from a Windows Vista workstation. We could then operate the system from either our Vista workstation of the Linux one depending on our whim.
Why does this get us excited?
It means at last that we can offer lower cost solutions to small businesses. Linux comes free of charge. Ubuntu Linux runs straight out of the box.
If any of this is of interest to you then call us (UK only) on 01268 548636 to discuss your needs.
Back in the early days of personal computers, businesses saw the benefits of having a computerised accounts system on their office computer. The benefits of inputting the data as you get it. being able to get regular Profit & Loss and Balance Sheet reports.
Back in those heady days the main contender in the PC market was Pegasus, a very professional but quite expensive package; and then came Sage.
Over the years Sage have become the de facto industry leader in the UK, but they do have an issue. Their product only works on Windows machines. Their support costs are high for many small businesses. Their latest offering has problems on domain based networks due to folder access rights.
So what might the alternative be? We think we might have found a good alternative to Sage. Accountz offers an easy to use suite of business products, Basic, Professional, Enterprise. These products run cross platform, which means you can access and update the data from any computer that runs either Windows, Linux, MAC.
We installed the product on a Ubuntu Linux computer, transferred the data files to our Windows 2003 domain server, accessed and updated the data from a Windows Vista workstation. We could then operate the system from either our Vista workstation of the Linux one depending on our whim.
Why does this get us excited?
It means at last that we can offer lower cost solutions to small businesses. Linux comes free of charge. Ubuntu Linux runs straight out of the box.
If any of this is of interest to you then call us (UK only) on 01268 548636 to discuss your needs.
Thursday, 5 March 2009
Spoof and Spam emails from hillierconsultants.com
We have a number of email addresses that are used to receive mail only - they do not send mail.
If you have received mail from any of the following email accounts, upgrades, repairs, sales, print, systems and office followed by @hillierconsultants.com please delete them. They did not originate from our servers or anyone in our organisation.
Apologies for any inconvenience it may have caused.
We do not understand the mentality of people who misuse the internet in this way.
If you have received mail from any of the following email accounts, upgrades, repairs, sales, print, systems and office followed by @hillierconsultants.com please delete them. They did not originate from our servers or anyone in our organisation.
Apologies for any inconvenience it may have caused.
We do not understand the mentality of people who misuse the internet in this way.
Saturday, 14 February 2009
Accounts systems
Are you an accounts user? Are you locked into Sage? Are you paying high levels of support? Are you looking for accounts packages on non-windows platforms?
We have recently been investigating alternatives to the Sage Accounts programs. Not the we have anything against Sage as such. As a business system it does the business. The support desk in UK based and they have a lot going for them.
But what alternatives are there? Well, there is TAS books but that is now part of the Sage empire and we suspect product convergence over time. There is quick books but we know of no business using that system.
We have however recently investigated two particular alternatives.
The first, Accountz, is based on an installed program which runs on Windows, Linux and Mac systems. We have tested this out in the single user version. We tried to test to destruction. We created the data on an Ubuntu Linux system. We then copied the files across the network onto a Windows 2003 server mapped drive. We then installed to product onto a Vista computer and were able to access the data on either the Vista or Ubuntu system. It worked! This makes it very interesting from a Linux point of view - a topic we will return to in another blog.
The second, Kashflow, is a web based accounts system. There are no programs to use, simply use your favourite web browser (Internet Explorer, Firefox, Opera) and you are away. The data is stored on the companies London based web server and mirrored to a backup server. Because of this the program is available on both Windows and Linux platforms, which makes it equally interesting to us as Linux users.
Both systems have a respectable UK installed user base.
For further details of this visit our website www.hillierconsultants.com or phone (UK only) 01268 548636 or email sales at our office.
We have recently been investigating alternatives to the Sage Accounts programs. Not the we have anything against Sage as such. As a business system it does the business. The support desk in UK based and they have a lot going for them.
But what alternatives are there? Well, there is TAS books but that is now part of the Sage empire and we suspect product convergence over time. There is quick books but we know of no business using that system.
We have however recently investigated two particular alternatives.
The first, Accountz, is based on an installed program which runs on Windows, Linux and Mac systems. We have tested this out in the single user version. We tried to test to destruction. We created the data on an Ubuntu Linux system. We then copied the files across the network onto a Windows 2003 server mapped drive. We then installed to product onto a Vista computer and were able to access the data on either the Vista or Ubuntu system. It worked! This makes it very interesting from a Linux point of view - a topic we will return to in another blog.
The second, Kashflow, is a web based accounts system. There are no programs to use, simply use your favourite web browser (Internet Explorer, Firefox, Opera) and you are away. The data is stored on the companies London based web server and mirrored to a backup server. Because of this the program is available on both Windows and Linux platforms, which makes it equally interesting to us as Linux users.
Both systems have a respectable UK installed user base.
For further details of this visit our website www.hillierconsultants.com or phone (UK only) 01268 548636 or email sales at our office.
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