Monday, June 30, 2008

Software Assurance...it just keeps getting better

Today Microsoft officially announced what owners of SBS 2003 with Software Assurance are going to be receiving. Up until this time, it was only speculation and an "educated guess".

SBS 2003 R2 Component Product Upgrade Path

FrontPage 2003 Sharepoint Designer 2007
Outlook 2003 Outlook 2007
For Mac Users:  Entourage 2004 For Mac Users:   Entourage 2008
Internet Security Acceleration Server (ISA) 2004 ISA 2006 + separate copy of Windows Server 2003 R2 **

 

**Until such time ISA successor product, Forefront Threat Management Gateway 2010, is released upon which, a TMG 2010 license will be granted.

I'm very proud that the majority of our clients put their trust in us and bought into the Software Assurance program. We worked really hard to try to convey the  value of this program to you. It means that you have saved and will continue to save thousands of dollars of networking infrastructure costs while maintaining an up-to-date network and maximizing your investment. In today's struggling economy it's these kinds of smart decisions that make small business resilient. It's no wonder that since 2000, 100% of new job have been created by small business.

This isn't the type of sale that make Harbor Computer Services money. The value here isn't to us. And if I can blow our own horn for a moment and note that we are one of the few small business consulting firms that actually recommend software assurance to our customers. Most don't because as the consultant, we don't make money off this deal. We would actually make more selling you the full price product. But I've always felt that this is short sighted. Seeing your business thrive gives us satisfaction and building up a trust between us benefits us both in short and long run. 

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Thursday, June 26, 2008

Outlook Training Materials

As promised I have copied up some material on organizing your mailbox, working with calendars and organizing meetings to our sky drive.

They are in the format of PowerPoint and provide step-by-step instruction along with questions to test your knowledge at the end. None of them is very long. So when you have a few moments you can open one up and run through it.

Download them here.

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Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Lunch & Learn Outlook: Thursday 11:00-11:30am

Tomorrow we're presenting Lunch & Learn Outlook. In this session we will point out some overlooked tools in Outlook. Knowing these few items take Outlook from an email reader to a organizational productivity tool.

Here's what we're going to cover:

Organize eMail using Color, Categories and Flags

Create Sub-Folders with Rules to Automatically Sort eMail

Set a To-Do Reminder from eMail

Share a Calendar or any other folder with others

Using Public Folders

Create a Distribution List to eMail to Groups

 

We're going to do this all in 20 minutes so we can leave a few minutes for questions at the end. So sign on to the Live Meeting, join the conference call and buckle your seat belts.

Live Meeting URL: https://www.livemeeting.com/cc/usergroups/join?id=7FC79W&role=attend&pw=cP%3EBS8j%5Ez

Meeting ID: 7FC79W

Attendee Entry Code: cP>BS8j^z

Conference Call:

Conference Dial-in Number: (616) 347-8100
Participant Access Code: 465751#

If you have not used Live Meeting before, please click the link above 10-15 minutes in advance so you can download the software.

See you tomorrow!

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Tuesday, June 10, 2008

Meeting PowerPoint

Thank you everyone for attending the meeting today.

When Microsoft made the announcement on pricing and product information for SBS 2008 we instantly realized that the we needed to get the information out to you so you can make an informed decision. $1600+ is a lot of money to lose. 80% is a gigantic price increase. Firewall and Outlook are significant parts of your network to lose. By acting before June 27 you can avoid these problems.

If you have any questions, Scott and I, and of course your technician are available to talk to you about SBS 2008 and the opportunity to purchase the upgrade now, even if you won't actually be performing the upgrade until some time later. (up to 3 years from now)

I have placed the presentation powerpoint slides on our SkyDrive. SkyDrive is a Beta program to allow the sharing of files over the web. It's part of the Windows Live system that we are experimenting with.

Just click here to go there.

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Monday, June 09, 2008

Important Meeting Tomorrow at 9:00am, Please Attend

Tomorrow we are holding an important meeting for all clients that use Small Business Server. We don't want to see any of our clients get burned by Microsoft's dramatic product price increase. Tomorrow's meeting will show you the path to protect your business from this price increase. Please plan to attend.

When? Tomorrow. Tuesday 9:00 am

Where? At your computer. We're hosting the meeting online.

How? Just click Join the meeting. You will need Live Meeting. So please sign in about 15 minutes early.

You can hear the audio over your computer speakers but to be able to to ask questions and talk with us please dial-into the conference call as well. Conference Bridge 866-500-6738  PC:  3876393

See you then!

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Monday, June 02, 2008

SBS 2008 Upgrade Save $1600+ Live Meeting June 10th

Please plan to attend our live meeting on the perfect storm of rebates that Microsoft is offering. By purchasing your SBS 2008 upgrade before June 27th your company will save at least $1600.

We are not trying to get you to upgrade at this time, heck the software won't even be available until late fall. I just want to see all of my clients save money. With this offer you have a full 3 years before you need to install it. But the opportunity to insolate yourself from the near 100% price increase and get rebates is too good to pass up. You need to actually make the software purchase before June 27th.

So please join us from your computer, at 9:00am on June 10th, as we hear from Brad Rosen, Microsoft Partner Community Manager about these rebate offers. There will be an opportunity for you to ask questions too.

 

Here's the link and the conference call in number. Please let us know if you plan to attend.

Join the meeting.

Conference Bridge 866-500-6738  PC:  3876393 

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