Windows 7 is not bad.
Windows 7 - what a breath of fresh air!
I've been using Windows 7 since the beta was released on Technet and like a lot of people I believe it's everything Vista should have been. My only real problem with it is it's a couple years late.
Whoever Microsoft has in charge of usability did a really good job. The interface improvements have increased my efficiency, and more importantly (and very much unlike Vista) the improvements are far beyond cosmetic. For example, being able to effectively split screen applications by dragging them to right/left sides and the stacked taskbar with thumbnails.
For my home environment, I have found that homegroups are a great way to share media, such as music, between rooms and my HTPC. Remote desktop and various other applications that remember the last connection or documents you have opened in the past.
At my job, there are even more improvements. I chose to skip Vista, we will not be skipping Windows 7. Bitlocker - good bye PGP whole disk encryption? That alone will save us $150 per FTE. DirectAccess could potentially replace our Cisco ASA firewalls. The search feature may actually mean that I don't have to deal with employees installing Google Search and the associated privacy issues.
Oh, and it's faster too.
I guess it goes without saying that if Windows 7's launch went as bad as Vista's Microsoft would have been in a heap of trouble. I think that Microsoft not only dodged a bullet, but managed to create a great product.
Well done!
VCP – VMWare Certified Professional
Recently, I had the opportunity to complete a VMWare-run week long "bootcamp" style class in San Francisco. For those of you that are familiar with VMWare training, the class was the brand new FastTrack for vSphere.
The class ran from 8AM until 6PM - with lunch usually consumed sitting at a computer working on a lab.
The two instructors were fantastic and the course was chock full of information. I'd recommend it for any level of knowledge, though you may want to stick to a slower paced Install, Configure, and Manage (ICM) course if you are totally green.
At almost $5000 the class is expensive, but you have to attend an official VMWare training in order to qualify to take the VCP (VMWare Certified Professional) exam. Obtaining the VCP was my primary goal of the class, but I won't lie to you and say I didn't learn anything.
After the week long class was over, I spent the weekend studying and reviewing with a friend of mine and then on Monday I took the exam.
I passed!
I'm still waiting for my certificate and the rights to use the VCP logo, so that will need to wait for awhile, but I am an official VCP 4!
Butter Chicken
I've been married for 3 years and I only cook once in a blue moon. Which means I've cooked 3 times total. For good reason really, my wife is a much better cook than I am.
For some reason, I was thinking about Indian food last night and came up with the idea to make butter chicken.
Roughly 24 hours later, I'm full and find myself thinking: there's a lot of pleasure to be found in providing a service to others... one of the reasons why I enjoy being in IT.
Obligatory picture:
Ridiculously good.
Recipe can be found here.
(Note: There's probably about 10 million or so versions. I only tried this one 
I’ve finally done it.
I've finally done it. I've created a blog.
To some, this may not seem like much, but to me it was an extremely hard thing to do. Some reasons, not necessarily in order of importance:
- Blogs are like opinions - everyone has one.
- Coming up with useful content is difficult.
- Does anyone want to read what I write?
I'm starting to see the light, though. A blog is an important communication tool. In the age of linkedin, google, twitter, facebook, $web2.0_tool - defining yourself online is fast becoming the best method to network.
I hope you enjoy the content that I'll be posting here. You can look forward to reading about IT Management, windows server technology, and many other "tech" related subjects.
Regards,
Alex