Anticipating Internet Outages

The Internet is a connected set of routers. Any drop in those connections and outages will occur. Today we see the angry winds of a weather system that is unable to push east because of hurricane Sandy. Tomorrow we will see it pushed back and the edges of Sandy enter our region and bring even higher winds. (Waves are already over 20 feet on the Great Lakes.) Then on Wednesday-Thursday we will see this weather system again as it is finally able to push east.

This means that you should anticipate down trees and limbs resulting in power outages, Internet outages, Internet slowdowns and phone problems.

It’s going to be an interesting week.

Windows RT–Surface

Microsoft has taken a page out of Apple’s success and has started to produce their own hardware. The first product out of the gate is called Surface and it is running software called Windows RT. It is available for pre-orders now and shipping in time for Christmas.

Many of you have been anxiously awaiting a touch enabled slate device from Microsoft so you can take your applications with you on an iPad like device. This is not that device. That device (also called Surface) won’t be available until January.

So what is the Surface running Windows RT? It’s cool. But you can’t install your applications on it. It will have a web version of Office installed, it will let you deal with work and personal email, surf the web, play games, listen to music. In short, it’s pretty much like an iPad except with the added benefit of simplified business productivity apps built-in. Note that I said apps, not applications. They aren’t the same thing. Apps are simplified.

Having said all of that. If you are looking for a business companion the Surface is going to be a good one.

New Appointments

 

As part of my continuing quest to bring the needs of Harbor’s clients to the attention of our vendors, I have recently been appointed to two advisory councils.

Storagecraft Marketing Advisory Council. Storagecraft produces backup software and recovery tools. This Council meets monthly online with top management to help them understand the challenges in the marketplace and to influence product development to meet those challenges.

Equus Partner Advisory Council. This Council meets quarterly online and once annually at the headquarters in Minnesota. Equus is the largest USA based manufacturer of Intel computers, laptops and servers. This Council meets with top management from all areas of the company to provide direct product feedback and direction on future development.

Both of these Councils are really sanity checks for the companies involved. It provides them an opportunity to reveal to us what they think their future plans are and us an opportunity to provide advanced knowledge on what our clients (and therfore the market in general) wants, needs and is expecting.

Saying Fair Well to Diana

The times they are a changin’ at Harbor. We’ve enjoyed a long period of stability in employee retention with Ted at nearly 10 years and Diana 8. We’ve been a cohesive team completely jelled in our thinking and actions. We’ve added a couple of new people at the beginning of this year due in part to the anticipation of this transition and in part because you are keeping us so busy.

It is important to me that we maintain the cohesion that is Harbor. That we all work and approach problems in the same way; that we all have the same depth of training. That’s why we started the new guys at the top of the year. This stuff takes time and a big investment to achieve. I sometimes get scoffed at by my peers in the industry for not running a McDonald’s type operation where just anyone can be plugged in off the street with minimal knowledge but I think that the results speak for themselves. Yes, it means I have to plan way in advanced and train hard but unless you work hard you can’t stand out from the crowd. To all of us at Harbor, your business comes first and we strive to make technology work for you, your way.

Diana and her husband are moving to Malaysia for at least 12 months and possibly longer. As a consequence she’ll be leaving Harbor on October 23rd. It’s a grand adventure in living abroad in a new melting pot and area of bustling international businesses. I’d be as excited as she is.

When Diana came to work for us she was a Chinese citizen. Today she’s an American citizen. She used to get lost all of the time and now she’s got GPS. She used to have a tough time with quotes and purchases and using credit cards – well, she has that mastered. I’ve watched her grow from a quiet IT person who prefers to work in the background into someone completely comfortable at the helm. I’ve always had complete confidence in her.

On October 17th from 5-8pm at Ike’s Restaurant in Sterling Heights (on VanDyke) we’ll be having a going away cocktail hour. I hope that you’ll be able to join us in wishing her well on this new adventure. I’ll be sending out an invitation but if you’d like to RSVP early, that would be great too.

Between now and October 23rd, we will complete the transition that began a while back. Those of you that are still Diana’s clients today will have a new Harbor technician. You will get a personal introduction. This person won’t be anything like Diana, but that’s because there’s only one Diana. We understand that. Rest assured that we’ve already begun to make the transition internally and Diana’s been working with her replacements for last several months to make sure that they are up to speed. In addition to that though you should know that Ted and I are going to be keeping a very close eye on how things are going. You might even see us, though we are going to try to stay in the background so as not to confuse anyone about who the point person is. So in short, we’ve got a group effort going to make this transition as smooth as it can be.

Meanwhile, please block off October 17th Happy Hour and plan to join us over at Ike’s to see Diana off properly.

This is Spam

Dear Windows User,

It has come to our attention that your Microsoft windows Installation records are out of date.

Windows Update helps keep your PC safer-and your software current-by fetching the latest security and feature updates from Microsoft via the Internet.

Click on the Verify button below and enter your login information on the following page to Confirm your records.

Thank you,
Microsoft Windows Team.

 

There are many varieties, all of which look legitimate but are far from. Please don’t click. Be careful.