The SpiderGroup Blog

Yes!!!… and, no probably not… I’ll explain.

I’m a SharePoint advocate and as such I’ll start with the negative and finish on the positive, it’s how I work.

Firstly, have you ever tried using a web-based document management system? It can be painful, it can be slow, it can time-out (which, because time correlates with how much work you’ve done, is highly inconvenient), it relies on browsers (I’m not even going to expand on this) and as for version control, who has a file on the web that doesn’t also reside in either their ‘my documents’ folder or on their desktop?…

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Q: So what’s the appeal of an online document management system and why is this the entry point to SharePoint for so many businesses?

A:  A network file server is fantastic if you’re in the office, manageable (but sometimes painful) if you’re out the office on a VPN and basically impossible if you’re in a different organisation. So to share documents externally we look to email, the easiest and laziest way to share documents, completely unstructured and horrific for version control. Combined, these technologies get the job done but they are completely separate systems, impossible to maintain with any form of process and extremely inefficient: Where’s that document? It’s in my email.

Can you send it to me? I’m not sure which is the latest version.

What about the one on the file server? I edited it before I sent it out…

Any of that sound familiar?..

The point is, a single web based system for storing and sharing files can be accessed the exact same way whether you’re an administrator in the office, a director in the far east or a customer in another organisation. The principle is simple: Controlled access to the right document, anywhere you are, by anyone who needs it.

This is the reason an online document management system appeals to businesses and in turn, this is the reason businesses may look to SharePoint to meet all their document management needs.

It probably hasn’t escaped your attention that Apple have released their 3rd generation of the ever popular iPhone along with an update of the OS for all iPhone users.

The new phone itself isn’t much different from the older 3G version, boasting a very similar look and feel, but packing a few extras under the hood:

• Quicker processor
• Double the memory (256MB)
• Updated camera that can do video recording
• Electronic compass
• Nike+

It is quite good that Apple haven’t updated the fundamental design as it means all the accessories and add-ons that were available for the earlier version work with the new one.

The interesting thing about this phone is that most people with the iPhone 3G will not be able to upgrade immediately, tied in as they are to an 18 month contract with O2. That said, sales of the new 3G S seem to have been pretty strong with many original version iPhone users upgrading (my wife upgraded on the day it was released) and a whole bunch of new customers drawn in by Apple’s impeccable marketing.

Of interest to all iPhone users is the update to version 3.0 of the iPhone software which brings with it a whole host of useful additions.

A few highlights are:

• Ability to use rotated keyboard in any app (that supports it) particularly useful in email app.
• MMS
• Copy and Paste
• Enhancements to activesync (main one is to allow push to other folders than the inbox)
• Global Search
• Enhanced bluetooth
• Tethering (ability to use your phone like a USB 3G dongle)
• Push notifications

There are a lot more, I have only highlighted the particularly newsworthy ones and the ones that I personally have found benefit from. The keyboard update and the general user interface enhancement have made the whole experience more aesthetically pleasing and more practical. This is quite impressive considering the quality of the previous version, but Apple have done a good job with the incremental improvements.

Of all the updates I would expect the push notifications to have the biggest long term impact as it will allow developers to build applications that appear to stay open on the device when they have actually closed, this is going to be extremely important for instant messaging and social networking type apps.

Overall the latest updates are a good addition to the iPhone series; I wonder what they have up their sleeves for next year….

Microsoft has announced the release date of their new operating system, Windows 7, as the 22nd of October 2009.

Additional information available here: BBC

We have been trialing Windows 7 Beta and more recently Windows 7 RC (Release candidate) and are happy to report we are very impressed with the updates and changes from the previous version (Vista). We are looking forward to this being the stadard on all new PC’s.

During the first three months of 2009, sales of servers worldwide fell 25% against the same period last year. Market research carried out by research firm IDC indicates that global sales were the lowest figure (£6.14bn) since the firm began monitoring some 12 years ago. The outlook doesn’t get any better with the situation expected to continue throughout 2009. 

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RIM’s BlackBerry Curve outsold Apple’s iPhone in the first quarter of this year, according to a US survey conducted by the wireless-market research firm NPD Group.

Whilst the figures are correct, Apple fans will argue there are many reasons for the apparent 2nd place.

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On April 15, 2009, Microsoft released a public beta of the next version of Exchange, Microsoft Exchange Server 2010. Previously known as Exchange 14, 2010 contains some big changes from 2007.

Most of Exchange 2007 appears to have been rewritten to better support large-scale deployments.

• Built-in archiving with retention policy and e-discovery support. Many 3rd party vendors who have built a business upon Exchange Archiving solutions have reason to be concerned. Coupled with Microsoft’s own Exchange Archiving Online, these 3rd party solutions appear to be going the way of the dodo…

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Unless you’ve been hiding under a rock for the past few years you will have heard at some point, someone cry, “This program ran perfectly in XP and now won’t work in Vista!”

To ensure that the same fiasco doesn’t happen again, Microsoft are including an “XP Mode” into their new operating system, Windows 7. The inclusion is a move to encourage users to switch to 7 without fear of incompatability issues.

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Last week Google performed a song and dance about IPv6, whilst the rest of the IT industry remains generally unfazed…

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For the last 10 years I’ve been working in the technology sector; I qualified as a systems engineer, I dabbled with software development, I tried my hand at sales and I ended up running operations for a successful internet services company but the thing that has fascinated me the most throughout my time in the industry is something we all know as ‘Project Management’. Now before you judge me let me assure you that I do know how utterly dreary that comes across, the term itself makes you want to yawn and ‘Project Manager’ doesn’t exactly inspire the imagination when it comes to choosing a career, but this is where I think we all get it wrong…

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