Bringing Governments into the Modern World of IT

May 15, 2012 2 Comments

I recently attended Microsoft’s Canadian Leadership Summit in Redmond, where I had the opportunity to meet and chat with some amazing people. I overheard one conversation between two Canadian IT industry leaders who were lamenting the difficulties in getting various departments in different levels of government to adopt new technology, or more accurately to upgrade existing technologies to newer versions.

Nobody that I know debates that governments function more efficiently with technology than they did without it. Unfortunately it is difficult to convince them that investing in newer technology – such as replacing five year old servers running Windows Server 2003 with new servers that run Windows Server 2008 R2, and implement integrated private cloud solutions based on System Center 2012 versus continuing with legacy System Center (or 3rd party) management tools – is not simply an expenditure, it is an investment in their infrastructure that will pay dividends in licensing, service, training, and maintenance cost-savings, as well as allowing them to leverage the benefits of newer, green technological advancements such as server virtualization and advanced power management capabilities of modern servers.

So what is the problem? It is as simple as it is complicated, and as easy to solve as it is impossible.

Here’s my take on the problem:

Corporations think (and invest) for the long term. So do the people who work there, because although I always discuss the death of corporate loyalty in our modern world, most employees – certainly not the strategists – plan for the future because businesses understand the need for long term vision. Unless your name is Leo or Scott, CEOs do not see their positions as transient and disposable. They have learned that vitamins are cheaper than medicine, and that maintaining a healthy IT infrastructure will save them a lot of money in costly downtime down the road.

In the free world governments are made up of transients. In a parliamentary democracy such as Canada everyone who works for the government ultimately answers to Parliament. Members of Parliament are elected for a maximum term of five years, and each has to constantly remember the direction given them by the voters, especially considering that their real full-time job (for most of them) is preparing to get re-elected.

Cabinet Members – the Justice Minister for example – are in charge of their departments. The Justice Minister is ultimately responsible for everything within his (or her) portfolio, which of course will include in this case matters pertaining to the police, criminal, and civil courts, but also the mundane issues such as the ministry’s IT department (of which with few exceptions none of them will likely know anything about). While the Cabinet Ministers have the same maximum term of five years before needing to be reelected, that is not a guarantee that they will remain in their cabinet portfolio for the duration of their term, or even in the cabinet at all. Therefore they have to make sure that their ministries run smoothly, and if possible under budget (and if not then they should only go over budget under the public radar).

Somewhere beneath the ministers we then have the career public servants.  These are not political appointments, they are professionals who keep the actual nuts and bolts of the ministry working including (but certainly not limited to) the IT.  In order for the ministry to make substantial investments in the infrastructure it would need approval from the minister.  Because the minister is ultimately responsible for his ministry’s budget, and because (as stated) most often they do not understand the implications of making infrastructure changes to IT and the short- and long-term cost benefits to same, there is a good chance that they would say no.  In order to convince them (and of course I am oversimplifying the process somewhat) the IT department would have to make a really good case for the changes. 

If we want to make a case for IT changes we cannot do it by talking cool.  Technology people are great at ‘talking cool technology.’  Unfortunately most heads of companies – whether they are CxOs of corporations or Cabinet Ministers – are not impressed by (and do not make decisions based on) ‘cool,’ they are impressed by dollars and cents, as well as sense.  They have to be convinced that a) the project is necessary, b) the project is affordable, and c) they understand that the project discussed is beneficial overall to their department.

One of the statements I have made a thousand times to audiences – whether they be classes or user groups or business groups – is that the best way to convince the CxO of a company to do anything is to use the following equation: ROI ↑ TCO ↓.  If you can demonstrate increased return on investment and a decreased total cost of ownership, then the cool factor doesn’t matter… in truth it doesn’t matter anyways.  Most IT professionals know how to speak technology; to succeed in today’s world we have to learn to speak business because outside of our field nobody really cares about the rest, save for a possible fleeting fascination with it.

This formula has very little to do with capital expenditures (capex).  Most capex costs are one-time costs that may either shock or impress the uninformed, but it is the operational expenditures (opex) that really makes the difference to most companies – the ongoing operational costs of their systems, which include tangibles such as real estate, power consumption, air conditioning, battery backups and generators, staff, and more but also have to include intangibles such as security, incidence response & manageability, end-user (employee) satisfaction, comfort, and training… as well as the environmental impact of the purchases (which may include the cost of retiring and disposing of old equipment). 

Here’s an example: An IT desktop administrator believes that his company needs to upgrade the existing client workstations that are five years old and run Windows XP and Office 2003.

The wrong approach would be to focus on the new technology.  Even most of the new features of the new technologies are of little interest to the CxOs, because the end users have been able to perform their duties satisfactorily with the old systems.

The right approach would be to create a report that cites industry studies that show the client workstation bell curve (the TCO of workstations starts to increase dramatically after three years).  Show the cost of repairs and service to the workstations over the five years, highlighting the increased cost associated with out-of-warranty repairs, as well as end-user loss of productivity due to non-functioning hardware.  They could add in the electricity costs, and show comparisons of power consumption of old CRT monitors compared to newer LCD flat screens, as well as those of older computers versus newer ones.  Additionally they should call out that a planned and phased cycling of the systems coupled with training of end-users in the newer technology would cost X, and would result in higher end-user satisfaction that leads to increased employee productivity.

Of course these opex cost benefits might be offset in the first year or two by the required up-front capex costs, but over time the cost savings would be tremendous.

In business, this just makes sense.

Unfortunately in government we run into that maximum five-year job expectancy of a minister, coupled with the fact that all of his ministry’s expenses are available for public (and especially) media scrutiny.  Short term cost for long term benefits usually does nothing for the incumbent and would actually benefit the successor’s image.  There is no political benefit to that ergo there is little chance it is going to happen.

Now let’s extrapolate this attitude across the tenure of the career IT manager, who has come to terms with the fact that the vast majority of projects that would make his life (and the life of his team) better do not get approved by the minister, and that over the course of that career he may have seen the ‘same old same old’ from several – as many as a dozen – ministers.  When the staffers’ feel that the environment is always ‘Meet the new boss… same as the old boss’ they eventually become dejected and resigned to simply doing their jobs and going home at the end of the day – and it does not take long at all for the once upbeat, excited, and passionate IT Professional to become ‘one of them…’ a cog in the wheel who knows that the nails who pop their heads out get hammered.  Now we have an environment in which not only do new projects seldom get proposed, the existing infrastructure is seldom even improved upon.

While my sampling is by no means comprehensive, I have also encountered a great many government IT workers who like to tinker with their systems, and eventually find themselves with a system that is, against all published and logical best practices, the IT equivalent of a custom motorcycle that nobody but them really knows all of the intricate details of his system.  In environments like these the there are a number of problems, not the least of which is that despite any built-in redundancies, the single-point-of-failure becomes the individual who so often have not properly documented their tweaks, so when they are approached about modernizing the systems they tend to get protective of ‘their jobs,’ and the costs of upgrading are severely increased due to the inherent complexities of a custom system coupled with the often stubborn pushback from the staff.

We end up with a government running the IT equivalent of 1982 Buicks that were purchased new in 1986 – they may have been the best cars on the market in their time, but after years of consideration and review they were four years old when they were new, and that was a long time ago.  Even with constant maintenance (which is seldom done to factory spec) they require more of it than they did new, and nobody wants to pay for that.  Also the drivers are itching for newfangled features such as air conditioning, bucket seats, and electric windows… that would simply be impossible to retrofit into the old cars.

Infrastructure projects such as private cloud based on new servers are even harder for an IT department to justify because the vast majority of the improvements and benefits are to the back-end that are never seen by anyone… they may look pretty in their racks, but the reality is an end user checking his (or her) e-mail does not care if the mail server is running Exchange Server 5.5 or Exchange 2010, nor if that server is physical or virtualized.  The mail comes in and goes out, that is enough for them.  The proposal, therefore, must be made strictly based on numbers, and although most IT people are pretty good at math most of them do not have a background in (nor a strong understanding of) accounting principles or how to prepare a business proposal.

So with all of this working against us as an industry, how do we begin to try to solve it?  Where do we start?

Attitudes.  It is as important for us to change attitudes, from the top down and from the ground up.  It is as important to show the politicians the value of a modern IT infrastructure within their organization as it is to teach the IT professionals the skills to deliver compelling proposals in business-speak.  All levels have to understand the benefits – the positive, such as long-term cost benefits, green solutions, and heightened security capabilities, as well as the potential negative impact and costs of maintaining older systems that are out of warranty, harder to secure, and often more costly to program.

Drive. It is incumbent upon us to reengage with the IT Pros and remind them of the passion that drew them into their field in the first place, reignite the fires they once had.  Very little has ever been accomplished by those lacking passion.

Education. Often enough the people who want to drive new projects lack the full understanding of the actual benefits of the projects that could actually tip the balance from no to yes.  Explaining that end users will be happier with Windows 7 and that it will be easier to manage and support may be part of their argument, but being able to show the cost benefit prediction model might tip the balance.

These are three very simple answers to a not-so-simple problem.  There are so many other factors to consider, not the least of which are privacy requirements in the government and the fear of scandal (remember the eHealth boondoggle).  Again, the nail who sticks his head up…

Most people (the voters) also don’t understand the benefits of modern IT, and would rather see ministries spend their money only when absolutely necessary, and then only on the least expensive solution.  This attitude when it comes to IT is a dangerous one, but the average voter does not understand anything about IT, and unlike the minister is limited to possibly hearing a one minute news broadcast, or three column inches of reporting of facts, followed by hours of talk show hosts who usually don’t understand IT any better than the listeners, but who understand that taxpayer dollars are being spent on something that nobody is going to see and few are going to use.  That is a good way to ensure that the minister in question turns the plan down and looks for less expensive alternatives… that usually cost much more in the long run.

There are so many factors on the table that make it a daunting task for the leaders of the IT industry in Canada – people who really know and understand the benefits of implementing modern technology – to make inroads in government agencies, ministries, and departments.  I don’t have the whole solution, but I hope that in this article I have sufficiently outlined the major pain points so that others can tackle the problem and start fixing it.

Filed under Government IT, Hurdles, IT Pro, Modernization

70-659 Vouchers Giveaway!

May 14, 2012 10 Comments

Hey folks my friends at TekSource Corporate Learning (www.teksource.ca) in Toronto have told me that they have just received nine (9) more vouchers for the 70-659 exam (TS: Microsoft Windows Server 2008: Server Virtualization).  Knowing that so many of you were disappointed when Ruth (Technology Advisor, Microsoft Canada) announced that she was out of them, I thought I would take this opportunity to offer them up to you.

Now, there are some pre-conditions:

  1. First priority is going to go to members of the IT Pro Toronto Virtual Study Group (or any other affiliated study group from across the country).  They have done the work, and many were under the impression that we had promised them vouchers.
  2. Second priority will go to people who have attended any session that I have led or participated in.  That means a user group event, IT Pro Boot Camp, Tae Kwon Do class, Summit, anything… as long as I was there and recognized as a presenter or proctor.
  3. Third priority goes to Canadian IT Pros.  I know I support the community worldwide, but my first priority for this program has to go to Canada.  They are not geo-locked, but I will be checking! :)
  4. You have to schedule and take the exam before May 31, 2012.

So with that being said, if you want a voucher I need for you to do two things:

  1. Comment on this blog article to the effect of ‘I want a voucher! I want to get certified!’
  2. If you are a member of one of the study groups, send me an e-mail letting me know which one, who the leader is, and when it ended (or is scheduled to end).  That will of course put you to the front of the line.
  3. If you are not a member of one of the study groups let me know which session you attended.
  4. If you did not attend one of my sessions let me know where in Canada you live… and work or study!
  5. Check your e-mail!  If you don’t get an e-mail then I am sorry, you didn’t get it.

That’s it folks.  I will ask one more thing though… Commit to writing the exam before May 31.  If for any reason you cannot I do not want to see any of these vouchers (value: $150 US Dollars!) wasted.  Also please let me know how you did!  I am always very interested in the success of my students and readers!

Good luck… both with the contest and the exam!

Filed under Certifications, Certs, Hyper-V, IT Pro, Virtualization

Women in IT? Why Not?

April 10, 2012 Leave a comment

I have been watching the ‘Women in IT’ movement grow over the past several years, and I truly do applaud women who want a career in IT.  However I do not think that women deserve any special consideration for being women in the professional world.

A friend of mine, Melinda Thrasher, wrote a great article recently on her views.  I applaud her initiative and know that she will make it in the field – not because she is a woman, but because she is smart.  That is what it takes, and if women feel they are persecuted in the field then I have not seen it in reality.

Read Melinda’s article here… it’s an interesting read from a woman on the verge of entering the IT field! http://techxygirl.posterous.com/women-in-tech-breaking-perceptions

Filed under IT Pro, Women in IT

Why We Support Communities

January 30, 2012 Leave a comment

I wrote this article a few days ago, and decided that before I posted it here I would offer it to the CanITPro Team – IT Pro Connection.  They published it on January 31st as a guest blog post. 

I am now republishing it here, so that it can get the most exposure.  I have spoken to so many people across Canada and around the world who ask me why I spend so much time helping the IT Pro Community, and what value I see the MVP Program as having to me personally.  Sometimes it is not supposed to be about what it can do for me, but what I can do for others.  I can think of no better example of that than this article, an interview with a man who saw me speak at a user group that I founded five years ago, and whose life changed because of it.

If you are an IT Pro then you should be involved in your community.  Most of us start by attending meetings, absorbing information, and learning.  Later on you might join a committee, help run a study group or events, or join the board.  At a certain point you may realize you know something as well as or better than others, and you can put together a presentation – whether that be for an entire session or for a fifteen minute session, such as Sean Kearney’s IT Pro Toronto ‘PowerShell Snacks’.  But remember… like any other community you are responsible for giving back what you put in so that those who follow you will be able to benefit from your knowledge and experience, just as you benefited from the knowledge and experiences of others.

Last week I met a man at the Microsoft Virtualization Boot Camp who nearly made me cry.  His name is Andrew Thomas, and he is the reason I have spent the last eight years building, running, and supporting IT Pro user groups.  I asked him if he would be willing to answer a few questions for me by e-mail and he did.  For those of us who have worked for years to build the user group community in Canada, there is no more gratifying and inspiring story, because this is why we do what we do.  User groups do not build and run themselves… they require a lot of hard work and dedication from all sorts of people who seldom get any recognition for it.  That is why when I ran user groups I made a point of thanking the people who helped me, and when I speak to user groups today I try to always thanks and recognize not only the UG Leader, but those who help him along the way.

This is Andrew’s story:

Five years ago I was working as a Bench Technician with one of the large retail chains.  I had managed to work my way up to Tech Manager but was not very happy in my job.

I don’t know when I went to my first ITProToronto meeting or even how I heard of it, but I was on a number of mailing lists and would go to events when I was invited.  The first meeting I attended was held in Mississauga (which puts the timeline around early 2008).  I live in Scarborough but was working in Mississauga at the time.  I was hooked after my first user group meeting and was happy when the events were moved to Toronto because of the commute.

I went to the first few meetings thinking that I would meet people whom I could network with to try and find another job but I lost my nerve when I realized the depth of knowledge of the members.  I felt a bit out of my depth, but I kept going to the meetings because I kept learning from the presentations as well as from the other members.

The turning point for me came when we had a meeting about the then NEW HP Media Smart Home Server.  I had purchased one a month earlier and had been playing with it.  Suddenly I was having conversations with members about how the Server worked, what it did and how, and since nobody else had played with one yet I quickly realized that now *I* was one of the experts in the room!

It dawned on me that I was smarter than I thought… I had already earned a couple of certifications (including MCP and A+), and had implemented so much of the advanced technology in my basement (including Windows Server, DNS, DHCP, Exchange Server, Linux, and IIS) but it never occurred to me that I was good enough to work for a company as a systems administrator or domain admin.  I was really good as a bench technician, but did not have the confidence to turn my hobby into a career.

After that Home Server meeting I dusted off my résumé and hit the pavement looking for work.  My certifications were a little weak, but I had experience in all sorts of different technologies.  I took a job with a small financial company in Scarborough that was looking for an assistant for their system administrator.  I took the job only to find out that the sysadmin was mostly a trainer with no experience in networking, hardware or domain administration; they were having everything done by contractors and he was doing his day-to-day stuff by using search engines and the literally administering by the seat of his pants.  However he was a smart guy and did manage to keep their systems running for 2 years.

As luck would have it he got another job so I inherited the Network.  It was an opportunity for me to show what I could do on my own.  Unfortunately the company went bankrupt three months later, and I was looking again.

I decided to take a year off to travel, and was surprised when I returned to the workforce to find out that I no longer had the qualifications I needed to get the jobs that I wanted.  My Windows 2000 certifications were just not good enough, as Windows Server 2003 was the standard and Windows Server 2008 was about to be released.  I decided to invest the time to spend a year at school, where I studied all of the newest technologies, and became certified in Windows Server 2008, Exchange Server 2007, as well as Linux.

Now that I have all of the right credentials I have set a lower limit for any job I would ever accept, and that lower limit is more than twice what I was earning as a bench technician.  I am working on projects that include all of those technologies and more, including Server Virtualization (which I am now comfortable with thanks to the Microsoft Canada IT Pro Virtualization Boot Camp!), and more.  I support users and environments, and the list goes on and on.

It may look like you just go to a meeting but the user group (for me anyway) is a lot more than that.  I learned things – both about technology and about myself.  I never would have had the courage to make such drastic career changes if it was not for the user group meetings.  Now I can go out and put all my skills that I have learned over the years to work for me and I thank the group for that.

Filed under Community, IT Pro, IT Pro Toronto, Uncategorized, User Group

CanIT! (Pro)

January 30, 2012 Leave a comment

For years I have followed, worked with, and looked to the IT Evangelism team at Microsoft Canada for guidance and direction.  My first encounter with them probably dates back to 2003 (before there was an actual team), but I really started to get to know them in 2005.  When Rick Claus came to speak to the GUMSNET user group about virtualization in November, 2004 I saw him behind the podium at Microsoft Canada as a behemoth (and he is not nearly tall enough to be that), and as I got to know the other members of the team – past, present, and future – I always admired the passion they had for what they discussed, along with (obviously) a deep knowledge of the technologies they discussed.

Last week Rick Claus, the ‘Team Elder’ as it were, announced that he has moved on.  He is still an IT Evangelist for Microsoft, but he has moved down to Redmond and is now working for Corp.  I wish him well, and know that while we will miss him in Canada he will be a great addition to the team in Redmond.

Meanwhile back in Canada I am currently doing a lot of work with the Evangelism team on their Virtualization Boot Camp tour, and was thrilled that Damir asked to re-post two of my articles from this site there.  They are:

What’s a Layer 1 or Layer 2 Hypervisor and Where Does Hyper-V Fit in?

and

Virtualization Infrastructure: Which platform is right for you?

I am currently in the process of writing another article which I hope to cross-post shortly.  Keep your eyes peeled to both these sites for great information that will help you grow as an IT Professional!  Also watch both sites for news about other cities where the Virtualization Boot Camp will be showing up… they are a great opportunity for you to learn virtualization, win cash prizes, and support your local user group community!

Filed under IT Pro, Microsoft Canada, Microsoft Virtualization, Virtualization

Who Pray Tell is Jack Oprah: Missing pieces are easier to contend with than wrong ones.

January 22, 2012 Leave a comment

Although I have of late been on another ‘digging through the archives’ kick, I was reminded of this article from 2005 by a friend of mine who occasionally refers to it to remind me that I really can write about anything when I am so inspired.  Thanks for reminding me of that Jess!  Unfortunately I am still flummoxed by the one article I am working on, but that will happen.  In the meantime, here’s Jack. –M

—

I was in my favourite cafe this evening and noticed the barista had got up from the crossword puzzle over which she had been agonizing.  I walked over for a glance, and noticed immediately that it was replete with errors. 

5 Across: Fat-Free Jack. Her answer: OPRAH.

I was amused because the middle three letters were obviously right, but instead of seeing if she could get more clues to help her, she just took any name that would fit, regardless of the consequences.

In IT we do this quite frequently.  We have a client whose systems just stopped working, and he will grab any solution that fixes his immediate problem, often to the detriment of the total final solution.  In some cases this is what the client wants – an immediate fix to the immediate problem.  The problem is that some of those filler solutions can cause greater problems later on, and if we do not take note of what we did we may find ourselves hunting for another quick fix to an immediate problem caused by these filler solutions.

I am as guilty as most, though when I get the system working I generally take the time to figure out what went wrong, and work towards a permanent (and best-practices) solution.  I admit to being quite successful with this approach… most of the time.

A colleague of mine refuses to work that way.  To him he would rather the client be down for 15-30 minutes longer, but when he is back up he can be sure that the problem is well and truly solved.  He and I have had a number of discussions on this, and it shows two different ways of looking at things: I will extend myself out on a limb, and he likes the CYA approach.  I am not saying one is more right than the other, I am only saying that different professionals can have fundamental differences in approaches and viewpoints, and respect each other without agreeing.

I suppose in a true emergency my experience has always been ‘now means now.’  It comes from my background, and it is very difficult for me to escape.  Internet is down?  Get it up.  Period.  Shortest distance is right, and smooth it out later.  I have a hard time telling clients ‘I could get to the bottom of the problem and you may be down for another 30 minutes’ when I can say ‘I’ll have you up as soon as I flick this switch, and when everyone goes home I will get to the bottom of the original problem so that it doesn’t happen again.’  Depending on the client I am sure I have gained or lost points for this approach.

The problem in IT is that when you just patch in a quick fix the real solution gets harder to see.  When I look at a crossword puzzle I look at the blank spaces and like most of us my eyes assume that the letters filled in are right.  Those wrong letters are not just missing pieces, they are bread crumbs leading down the wrong path in the forest.  We see them there, and if they are there then there’s a reason.  Unfortunately they are like a magician’s misdirection, designed to draw your eyes from the real issue at hand.

My advice to aspiring crossword puzzle solvers?  Use a fine pencil with a good eraser.  If you aspire to solving network connectivity issues, I suggest practice, training, and before you can take leaps to fill in the blanks, make sure you have the experience you need to un-leap yourself… a neat trick indeed until the client and his fifty employees who are all off-line and lurking over your shoulder learn to be patient with IT problems that they will probably never understand.

I am sure that someone out there knows someone whose name really is Jack Oprah, and I apologize to you.  For Jack Sprat, you will have to chase down my barista, and forgive her youth and inexperience.  I did when my cappuccino came with cinnamon instead of chocolate!

Filed under archive, IT Pro

Advances in Technology: It is vital to stay current, even when remembering the past.

January 20, 2012 3 Comments

I guess I am on another one of these kicks… traveling back down memory lane.  I dug up this article from the archives, and I remember sitting down to write it the first time I ever checked into a hotel in Redmond, Washington.  What is more fun about this article is that it took me down memory lane back in 2006, and then discusses (briefly) my first forays into Server Virtualization, a technology that I could not have known then would not only change the industry, but my life and career.  I made a few minor corrections for style and grammar, but the message is intact, down to the invitation to my first ever User Group presentation on Virtualization!  I hope you enjoy it too.

—

As I settled into my hotel last night I could not help but think back on my travel experiences of the past few years, especially as pertains to Information Technology.

I have done a bit of traveling since I moved to Montreal (nearly ten years ago!).  The first thing that I notice is the power of the computers.  I remember the Gateway 80486/66 laptop that I brought with me in 1996 which, at the time, I thought was quite powerful.  Although I had eventually upgraded it to Windows 95, when I bought it second-hand it came equipped with Windows 3.1, and when I wanted to get onto the Internet I had to either wait a week for my ISP (Actcom) to mail me three floppy disks to configure TCP/IP with Trumpet Winsock, or I could connect to their server (with a 33,600bps modem) and download the three disks.  Of course I had to wait for them to send me the disks with Mosaic before I could surf the net.  In the interim I sufficed with chatting… which consisted of using Internet Relay Chat (IRC) in a text window.

So let’s review… in 1996 it took about six hours of downloading and then a week of waiting before I could actually connect to the Internet, for about the equivalent of $40 per month.  Because of the local phone company rules it cost me about five cents per minute to stay connected.  If I left the city in which I lived and wanted to connect it would cost me long distance charges… plus the nickel per minute.  This was all for the privilege of connecting at 33,600bps.

Last night I checked into my hotel after a long flight.  I was in a city I had never been to (Redmond, WA) in a state I was last in when I was a teenager.  I was tired and jet-lagged, and anticipated the backlog of new e-mails that awaited me since my layover in Toronto (there were 27).  I got into my hotel room, opened my computer into Windows Vista, and within about a minute I was connected to the net at speeds that could not be achieved in 1996 if we connected two computers to each other via a cable.  Without any configuration (save for the Marriott home page asking if I wanted a firewalled or non-firewalled link) I was on-line, and my e-mails were happily downloading.

As IT Professionals it is our job to stay up to date with the newest technologies.  It is not sufficient for us to be working on five year old technology when we are trying to service our clients and their needs.  It is not good enough for us to read up on a technology in order to sell it and maintain it, it is vital that we use it on a day-to-day basis so that we can get to know the ins and outs of them.  That goes equally for desktop operating systems and servers.

Of course we cannot all afford the latest technology, and running multiple servers to run each version of Server would take up too much space.  That is why I am proud to be presenting Virtual Server 2005 R2 at our meeting on April 20th.  I will go through the steps to plan and configure it not only for production environments, but for your test labs too.  Come on down, meet your peers, have a doughnut, and learn what’s new in virtual technology.  You’ll be glad you did!

See you in April!

Filed under archive, IT Pro, Virtualization

IT Virtualization Boot Camp

January 20, 2012 2 Comments

Hey folks!  The IT Professionals Community of Greater Toronto and Microsoft Canada are getting together to bring you this amazing opportunity!  This Saturday (January 21st) and next Monday (January 23rd) we are doing a full-day Virtualization Boot Camp!  The cost is only $25, with Damir Bersenic (Senior IT Pro Advisor, Microsoft Canada) leading the way with a lot of input and guidance from yours truly.  It is really an event that you should NOT miss… come learn how to make Hyper-V work for you, along with all of the components of Windows 2008 R2 and the System Center family!  Don’t miss it… sign up today, and come say hi to me when you are there! -M

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Want to get hands-on with Microsoft’s Virtualization technologies including Hyper-V?  Interested in configuring a highly-available virtualization infrastructure?  Have you wondered how to configure and use an iSCSI-based storage server?  Curious how Windows Failover Clustering can help you get a good night’s sleep?  If you answered yes to any or all of these questions, you need to be at the IT Virtualization Boot Camp.

The IT Virtualization Boot Camp provides a fun and collaborative environment where you will get hands-on experience to:

  • Prepare your Windows Server-based computers for virtualization
  • Configure iSCSI storage targets
  • Create Windows Failover Clusters
  • Make virtual machines highly available with Hyper-V and enable Live Migration to hot-migrate running workloads between hosts with no loss in client connectivity
  • Integrate non-Microsoft virtual machines into your cluster
  • See how Windows Failover Clustering can help to make dealing with hardware failure easier

When: Saturday January 21, 2012 http://itvbc20120121.eventbrite.ca

Monday January 23, 2012.  http://itvbc20120123.eventbrite.ca

Session starts at 10am and ends at 4pm.

Registration and snacks begin at 9:30am.  Lunch will be provided.

Where: Microsoft Canada, 1950 Meadowvale Blvd, Mississauga, ON

Please park in the event parking lot and enter through the Event entrance.

Cost:                $25. Proceeds from this event will help benefit your user group.

Filed under IT Pro, IT Pro Toronto, Microsoft Canada, Microsoft Virtualization, Virtualization

A response to a recent blog response

December 30, 2011 Leave a comment

Yesterday a gentleman named Cameron wrote a very insightful response to an article I write back in July (Certifications Alone do not Make the Pro, July 20, 2011).  He points out that as he has been in IT for 26 years, he actually pre-dates most certifications.  Please read his comment, but this is my response.  I respect his position, but if the world changes around him then he may find himself scrambling. –M

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You make a lot of very interesting points in this article, but the one that stands out is that you have been with the same company for sixteen years. That is nearly unheard of in our industry, and power to you! I am sure that as long as you are in your current position you know all of your systems and wouldn’t need the certs… but if your CV was on my desk it would mean that your safety zone was gone. It would mean that you needed to find a new job, and the job that I might be hiring for DOES require some of those tools that you have never encountered.

The new generation of certifications – the MCTS and MCITPs – help somewhat. While MCITPs are more job-based, the MCTS certs are task-based… so if you work with AD you don’t need to know IIS. However I understand that no cert will be custom-tailored to an individual.

In any event, as long as you stay in the role and current in the technologies that you need, then I understand that certifications are likely not as relevant to you. However if you do have to step out into the job market, I want to leave you with this thought… when you explained your situation to me it made sense, and I might have even given you an interview. However if I had given the HR manager or a headhunter a series of criteria to look for, you never would have had the opportunity to make your case to me. They look for keywords, and if you don’t have it you don’t get to bat, let alone on base.

I will leave you with this thought… The great composers of the Rennaissance did not study the classics, they were too busy inventing them. I also learned computers way back when, but realized that I had to adjust to the realities of the modern world… and I didn’t invent anything so when I do apply for jobs (contracts) I cannot say ‘I wrote Hyper-V’… so I have to demonstrate to them that my knowledge of server virtualization is superior to that of the next candidate, and the first step to that is certifications :)

Filed under Certification Exams, Certifications, Certs, IT Pro

Get Your Geek On in Ottawa, Canada!

October 9, 2011 Leave a comment

One of the parts of my job that I really love is speaking to IT Pro audiences around the world on different topics that I am passionate about, such as Windows 7 Deployment, Microsoft Virtualization, and System Center.  I am excited to be back as a speaker at TechDays Canada this year (speaking about Desktop Deployment as well as Windows InTune) in Toronto. Like many of you I was surprised by the news that TechDays Canada, which visited eight cities across our great country in 2010, will only visit three cities in 2011 – Montreal, Toronto, and Vancouver.

As a huge proponent of the IT Pro Communities across the country, it warmed my heart to see at least two of the cities that were crossed off Santa Damir’s list this year step up to fill in the void.  That is why I am so proud to be able to announce that DevTeach Ottawa, a long-standing conference put on for the community and by the community, will be adding an entire track for IT Pros.

DevTeach Ottawa is being held November 2-4 this year, and looking at the sessions schedule has some pretty amazing speakers lined up on topics of interest to Devs, DBAs, and finally IT Pros!  The IT Pro track includes speakers who are MVPs, MCTs, and Microsoft FTEs such as Islam Gomaa, Colin Smith, Todd Lamothe, Wesley MacDonald, Garth Jones, Rick Claus, Brad Bird, Derek Kerr, Damir Bersinic, and of course me. 

I will be delivering two sessions: Microsoft Virtualization for the VMware Admin, and The ABCs of Deployment.  If you have already seen me present these sessions then there are two things to consider: The first is that my presentations and demos are always evolving, and there’s a good chance that they are different from the last time you saw them.  However at any given time there will be four presentations happening, and one of the others will surely be interesting for you!

Now for my loyal readers, I have a special offer: Sign up now for ITProTeach and use the rebate code OT00NETUGC to receive a $100 discount off your registration.  Book now, because spots are going fast!  Remember to come out and say HEY … I always love touching base with my readers!

Mitch

Filed under DevTeach, IT Pro, ITPro Teach

Advice for IT Pros Planning to Open their Own Companies, Part III

September 19, 2011 Leave a comment

In the first article of this series, Advice for IT Pros Planning to Open their Own Companies, I explained a bit of my own history, and why I was writing these articles.  The actual advice is split into sixteen points, the first eight were listed in my next article, Advice for IT Pros Planning to Open their Own Companies, Part II.  In this third and final article of the series, I continue where I left off: points nine through sixteen.

Again, I offer this advice without warranties and although I offer this advice do it should not be taken as implied that I feel you or anyone should quit their job (or job search) and become independent. Most IT Pros make for lousy business people. The advice herein is worth as little as what you paid for it but hopefully in some cases it will be worth much more.

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9. When you are big enough to hire other people (or contractors) remember these rules:

        • Your employees do not (and never will) care about your business, your success, your reputation, as much as you do. That means that you must always have a backup plan in case they drop the ball – and if the client knows they dropped the ball it is an opportunity for you to either show them (the client) that you will pick it up and deliver despite your employee’s failures. Do not expect any extra reward or recognition for that… they hired you and expect you to deliver whether the people you hire succeed or not.
        • The people you hire – whether as employees or contractors – represent you and your reputation. Be very careful about who you let do that. Remember that the customer will always assume that the employee is your right hand man and is privy to every decision and conversation. Let the client know that there are certain things – money, terms, and more – that are none of the employee’s concern.
        • The people you hire – whether as employees or contractors – represent you and your reputation. I know I said that in the previous point, but holy cow is it important. You can be the best, build the best business. The first guy who blows that in front of a customer can bring it all tumbling down. Make sure that you pick the right people and manage them properly. That does not mean you have to micro-manage them, but make sure they know that you are watching – speak to them every time they go to a client, and see how things are. If their paperwork is not in order make sure that gets fixed before it becomes a habit.

10. Make sure you document everything, and make sure your people do as well. At the end of a client visit present to them (or have your people do so) a completed work order documenting start time, work assigned, work completed, issues, hurdles, and requests. Make sure that these are signed by your customer before you leave. Believe you me, when it comes time to collect money you will thank me for this one!

11. Work smarter AND harder. The ‘hard’ part is staying current on all of the technologies you will be implementing and all of the tools that will help you to do so. The ‘smarter’ is using the right tools to do the job – whether that is deployment, virtualization, monitoring, or anything! (It doesn’t hurt to know the competitive products too… you will be asked to defend your recommendations as a consultant!)

12. Remember that you are worth what you charge… and nothing more. Establish a rate for your work and remember that it is very challenging to raise those rates, so if you think you are worth $100 but decide you want to get your foot in the door of a customer so you charge them $50, your perceived (ergo: REAL) value to them is now $50/hour… forever. When I raised my hourly rate from $100 to $125 I lost 25% of my clients… but I knew that would free up time for new higher-rate clients. I was right. I did not keep a single client when I raised my rate from $125 to $250… not one. The fact that I earn more now than I did then makes it look like a smart move, but hindsight is easy; back then I was jumping off a precipice into the unknown. Make damned sure you are worth it before you try something stupid like that ;)

13. Never forget that there are a hundred guys like you who would lie, cheat, steal, kill to take your clients from you. Your professionalism and friendly face may stop some of that; your integrity will seal the deal. Make sure your clients know that you are a man (or woman!) of your word who always delivers and always finishes what you started… but wouldn’t screw them or anyone else. They will appreciate that.

14. Technicians come in bulk, and decent IT Pros come in cases of 24. If you want to set yourself ahead of the pack you have to learn to be a trusted business advisor. This means that you have to know a lot more than just the technology, you have to be able to understand how your customers’ businesses work and what tools they need to help them. Most business owners don’t care about technology, but they all care about how technology can help them to earn more money. IT Pros are swayed by cool, but business owners and CxOs are swayed by numbers on a balance sheet. Don’t tell then that System Center Essentials is a great product that will make their IT staff’s job easier – explain to them that by implementing an in-house solution such as System Center Essentials for a one-time capital expenditure will deliver a saving to them of 30% over the recurring management and monitoring costs (operational expenditures) in the first year and 100% of those costs in subsequent years.

15. When I started e-Mitch Consulting I was the most arrogant** and cocky guy I knew. I have tried to change that and will ask that you withhold snide comments. The second hardest lesson I had to learn was that I did not (and could not) know everything. The hardest lesson I had to learn was to admit that to others… telling clients and classes and audiences that I didn’t know the answer to their question was also one of the most valuable lessons I would learn; it became more valuable when I followed up with ‘but if you give me a chance to look into it I will find out the answer and get back to you with it.’ With few exceptions (there’s one in almost every user group!) most people accept that nobody knows everything, and trying to look like you do can end up making you look foolish. Admitting that you don’t know an answer shows you are honest; telling them you would find out and get back to them shows you care about them enough to close the loop.  As well, getting back to them in a timely fashion shows that you are reliable.

16. Continually do self-SWOT analyses of yourself, your company, and your position. Knowing your Strengths is very important, as is knowing your Weaknesses. Identifying opportunities is not as easy as it sounds, nor is identifying Threats – and threats can take a lot of unthreatening forms, including so-called friends who are also competitors – and although it is natural that IT Pros are friends with other IT Pros, remember that a hungry dog can turn on you in a flash, and that the sharper the knife is the easier it will penetrate, and the longer it will take for you to realize that you are bleeding.

17. Never lose sight of the fact that you may be working for your family, but your kids would probably prefer living in the poor house and spending quality time with you over living in a fancy house that you work 365 days a year to pay for.

There is so much more and I could go on for days; I will end here but invite you to submit your additions to this list. If I get enough – or if I think of more – I will write a follow-up article continuing the list.

**When my mother first looked at my blog (and several times since) she chastised me for the name, The World According to Mitch. In truth, while the technical articles are just that, much of what I write (and especially what I would write in the beginning) was the world from my point of view.  In fact, it still is!  With that being said, when I first set up the blog and was prompted for a title in the post-MITPro age, my favorite Robin Williams movie (The World According to Garp) was on TV, and I decided to borrow the idea, however temporarily, until I came up with a better name for it.

Filed under Advice, Consulting, independence, IT Pro, Uncategorized

Advice for IT Pros Planning to Open their Own Companies, Part II

September 16, 2011 1 Comment

In my last article (Advice for IT Pros Planning to Open their Own Companies) I outlined the scenario, and gave some of the history of how I got to where I am today. If you don’t know, I am a Senior IT Consultant and Courseware Specialist with SWMI Consulting Group, as well as a Virtual Partner Technology Advisor with Microsoft Canada.

I made a lot of mistakes along the way – they say that experience is what you get right after you really needed it. Hopefully you can learn from my experiences.

I still offer no warranties on the advice in this article; nor does my writing and publishing it imply or suggest that I recommend anyone quit their jobs or job search and hang out their shingle. Being independent can pay off, but it is a lot of hard work – much harder than any day job you might have… and if you are going to be successful, your boss (you) is going to be the toughest boss you have ever known.

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1. Know what you are good at as well as what you want to do. Just like your potential clients want to run their businesses and do not want to be IT Professionals, you likely want to be an IT Pro and may have no head for the business side of things. While it is important to get work, there are so many components that many of us might overlook – including contracts, service level agreements, invoicing, accounting, taxes, business insurance, and more. At the beginning if you are on your own you may have to learn about many of these, or you may partner with someone who can do it – that will cost something, but not as much as not billing for work performed, or worse – getting sued into bankruptcy for perceived (or actual) negligence causing data loss or security breaches. I lost the best client I ever had in Montreal because I was too proud and too cocky, and I am lucky they decided it was in their best interest to simply sever ties.  **There are companies out there who specialize in helping small IT companies with things like keeping the books, including one called www.Ca4IT.com – Chartered Accountants for IT Professionals, Independent Consultants, and Small Businesses.  Check them out!

2. Have a long conversation with your wife (or husband), and listen to her (or him). Whether she ever has any active role in your business or not, she is your partner. I lost one marriage (which ended up being a win, but it sure didn’t feel like one then) because I had no plan, no direction, and never had her buy-in… and as such could not communicate what I planned to do. My current marriage as well as SWMI Consulting Group are strong because Theresa is involved in all of my business decisions – and I listen to her advice – and that was true even before we decided that she should leave her job to take the position of President and Managing Partner. I am the luckiest man in the world that not only is my wife beautiful and loving, she is also an IT Project Manager who understands our industry, and the challenges we face. If your wife does not have a background in IT you will have to explain everything to her… and when I say that I mean she needs to understand the state of your business and the industry that you are in so that she can formulate informed opinions about what is really your (plural) future. While she will benefit from your successes, she will also suffer from your failures. Make sure to be completely honest about both at all times, and if you are not be prepared for one or the other (your business or your marriage) to fail.

Although it may seem easier if your spouse is in the same business, having someone to talk to who is not so intimately involved may help you to see the bigger picture.  Although both Theresa (my wife and Managing Partner) and Adam (a colleague whom I turn to constantly for advice) are both in the IT field, they both see IT from very different perspectives.  When I bounce an idea off of them (or an article) I may think that it is the best idea in the world, and they can burst my bubble very quickly.  Likewise I can mention something minute in passing to them, and they can help me to develop that idea into something real and profitable.  The point is, having people close to you can provide both perspective and caution, as well as catch things that you may miss because you are too involved.

3. Partner up! I know a lot of people who have formed strategic alliances with other independents – you will thank me for that the first time you want to go on vacation without abandoning your client base. Try to find people with complementary skill sets – while you should all have a similar base technical knowledge, you might be stronger in Active Directory so seek out someone who knows Exchange, SQL, SharePoint, or Virtualization. That way you can complement rather than compete, but still cover for each other so that all of you can take the occasional vacation.

4. User Groups and other community events are hugely important. Never miss an opportunity to go to any UG or industry event if you can – Microsoft and others throw events from time to time, and going will not only help you to learn, it will help you to network with peers that may need your services. If you are a Canadian IT Pro, TechDays Canada is held every year and is definitely worth attending.

5. BLOG! People think that having a corporate web-site is important, but as an independent consultant you are not relying on brand recognition, you are relying on your reputation and the perception of others including peers and potential customers that you are an authority on the technologies that they need expertise in. When I wrote my first blog article for The President’s Blog in 2005 I thought it looked ridiculous, having a single article on-line. Yesterday I posted my 226th article, and in September The World According to Mitch was recognized by BizTech Magazine as one of the 50 IT Blogs You Must Read. How cool is that? How silly do you think it was in 2005 when Rick Claus and Bruce Cowper told me I had to start blogging? How ridiculous do you think it sounded when John Oxley counseled me the following year to move my blog from MITPro.ca (the user group I started in Montreal) to my own, self-branded site? How proud do you think I was at a recent meeting when a Product Manager for Hewlett-Packard stood up in a high-level strategic planning meeting with one of the top five IT distributors in the world and told them ‘You know, rather than listening to my reasonably decent answer to your questions, why don’t you read the five articles that are posted to on Mitch’s blog that focus on that technology, because he explains it better than I could.’? Rick’s and John’s and Bruce’s advice no longer seem so silly or ridiculous as they once did.

6. Maintain your curriculum vitae (resumé in the USA). Sure, you are going to work for yourself forever… maybe that will work out and maybe it won’t. Even if you never apply for another job again, you will be bidding for contracts and you will be asked to submit your CV all the time. Make sure it is not only complete, but professional. Nobody cares what high school you went to or what burger joint you mopped floors at when you were starting out; they want to know about relevant experience. It is more important to focus on your accomplishments than it is where you worked (although that is important too). Have references available and have a conversation with those people you use as references, and discuss with them the message you would like for them to deliver. You can coach them, but do not ask them (or expect them) to lie or embellish the truth; however by having that conversation you can tweak what they would say into the message you want them to say. Do not be afraid, if you feel that someone is hesitant leave them off your list. I once had someone I thought would be a good reference, but I perceived something in my conversation with them that seemed a little off.  I had a trusted friend call them posing as a potential employer, and found out that while they liked me as a person, they did not really understand what it is that I had done for their company, and because of that they did not exude the respect for me that a reference must have to be beneficial.

7. Use the Internet to promote yourself, including tools like LinkedIn and Twitter. When you meet people add them as connections, and always keep notes – you will not remember who Joe Safdir is in six weeks.

8. You work for yourself? Good. Forget the concept of 9-5 days and week-ends and holidays off… not always, but know that many of these will have to be sacrificed (and make sure your wife knows and understands that). If you are lucky enough to be busy with client work all day every day, then your evenings will have to be spent documenting, invoicing, following up, bidding on and wooing new customers, and more. The nature of the job is that some of the work – especially major projects – might need to be done when your customers are not at work. Until you are big enough to hire someone, it’s you. Also read the next point carefully!

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I certainly have more to say, and will be continuing with points nine through sixteen in my next article. Stay tuned!

Filed under Advice, Consulting, independence, IT Pro

Advice for IT Pros Planning to run their Own Companies

September 15, 2011 Leave a comment

Earlier this month one of the IT Professionals who attended a couple of my sessions over the past few years e-mailed me and told me he had ‘written my last letter of resignation, and plan to work for myself from now on.’  It is a bold and brave decision, one that I made several years ago (read my archived article Skiing as a Parallel for Professional Life).  He asked what advice I could offer him, and I told him that I would jot down a few thoughts over a couple of days.  When I realized that these tidbits of advice surpassed four thousand words, I realized I had a lot more to say on the subject than I’d realized.  Many of you know that I am seldom at a loss for words, but I do try to not waste them.

This man is of course not alone… there are IT Pros all over the world who decide they will open their own companies, either out of an independent desire to be their own boss or, in many cases, out of necessity due to lack of employment.  Because I feel that the advice I put down in that draft can help so many others, I decided to convert it into an article rather than an e-mail.  Of course, that means I have to take out personal and one-off references, so those will go into the direct response.  Also please remember that all advice herein is general guidelines from my experience, and some of it may or may not apply to some cases.

I want to clarify before I begin that I offer these words with no warranties, and although I offer this advice do it should not be taken as implied that I feel you or anyone should quit their job (or job search) and become independent.  Most IT Pros make for lousy business people.  The advice herein is worth as little as what you paid for it but hopefully in some cases it will be worth much more.

So without further ado, here is Part I of the letter I offer as advice for IT Pros who are considering starting their own IT consulting firm.

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Firstly I wish you nothing but success venturing out on your own. It is certainly not an easy road, but if you are of a certain personality type, it can be very enjoyable and extremely fulfilling.

There are several pieces of advice I can offer to you as an enterprising IT Pro, and I encourage you to read the blog article that I wrote in 2003 and reposted recently titled ‘Skiing as a Parallel for Professional Life’. I originally wrote it for TechRepublic, but it was rejected so I posted it to my own blog (which, at the time, was simply a website, and I simply added pages as needed). It should prove to be an interesting read because it discusses my feelings and mindset as I was preparing to leave the safety net of a company where I was safe and venture out on my own.  I mention that it was rejected by TechRepublic for a reason: It shows that despite rejection I was not prepared to give up.  (The next two articles I submitted to that publication were indeed published, and can still be found on their archives… deeply buried, but there nonetheless!)

I am considered by some to be a reasonably successful IT Pro, who has after several years and a number of false starts developed SWMI Consulting Group into a small but well respected and successful boutique enterprise that employs a small number of people and contracts several others.  Ten years ago I felt pressured to register a domain name, and the name e-Mitch Consulting lasted a number of years.  It was not until June of 2007, during the long drive from my old home in Montreal to my new condo in Mississauga, that I put together so many of the pieces.  As long as my company shared my name I would have difficulties growing it beyond a one-man shop, and the perceptions of that would be even harder to change.  As I followed the moving van I had a lot of time to think; around Kingston I called a friend and asked him to register the domain name SWMI.ca in my name.  It would not happen overnight, but the idea of SWMI Consulting Group was born during that car ride.  When I arrived in my new condo and new life in Ontario I arrived with something else – the embryo of what would be my new corporate identity, a company that would consult, create content, and deliver training around the Secure, Well-Managed IT Infrastructure.  For the moment it would be the same me but renamed.

It was not all sunshine and roses to get to that point, nor from there to here… I had several false starts and plenty of headache, heartache, and stress along the way. Two years after I left IGS (and then Poppy Industries a year later) my first wife left me because she felt I would never be successful as an IT Professional, and when I refused to give up and take a job in retail (I think she suggested McDonald’s) she gave up on our marriage. There were months when I couldn’t pay my rent, when I would buy a box of spaghetti and count out the noodles so as to make it last four or five meals. There were so many times that I gave up on myself and there were times when I started putting out feelers to ‘find a real job.’ Until about six months ago when people asked what I did I would tell then I was unemployed – mostly tongue in cheek, but the reality was it took me a very long time to see and begin to realize the potential of SWMI Consulting Group as more than just ‘Mitch doing the IT Pro equivalent of odd jobs.’

Getting started is one thing, but getting established is quite another. It took a few years and more than a little luck (including a very hastily thought out geographic relocation from Quebec to Ontario) to establish a reputation that someone was willing to take a chance on. Until that happened I sought out clients where I could, and was lucky enough to find The Tech Doctor, a Geek-Squad-type firm that had plenty of junior techs, but needed someone with the credibility of certifications (at the time I started with them I had passed precisely two MCP exams) to sub-contract senior work to. That relationship – started around the time my first wife left me – got me through the lean times until one customer liked my work enough to refer me and not the Tech Doctor to a friend of his, and that friend’s company became my first steady client. More would come, and eventually I broke with The Tech Doctor, even though I was almost scared off when they threatened to sue me, but my perseverance paid off.

That year (2004?) I was very relieved to have earned just enough to pay my rent and my car loan. It was just enough to keep me above the poverty line, but as my reputation grew so did my value. My gambles have paid off… but I will never forget those weeks when I regretted working for myself… my boss has always been a lousy businessman, and fortunately I have learned to surround myself and listen to people who know less than I do about technology but more about running a business.

I should clarify that my hasty move was not running from anything; John Oxley said to me in April of 2007 that if I lived closer to Mississauga his team might be able to do more work with me. Five minutes after that call I made the decision to relocate, and I am glad that I did! Aside from meeting my new wife shortly after moving, I did begin to get contracts from Microsoft Canada, and was able to meet more of the people who would help to influence my career. As is so often the case, it was so often the case of being in the right place at the right time.  For me, Mississauga (and the Greater Toronto Area) has been the right place indeed!

In this first article I have given you my history, which might scare you into buying as hotdog stand (always a safer investment because there are nowhere near as many of those as there are IT Professionals, and more people like hotdogs than computers).  In my next two articles I will post more practical advice. Stay tuned to my next article for what you should (or might want to) do! Smile

Filed under Advice, Consulting, independence, IT Pro

A Brief History of how Microsoft (and others) Changed the World… Part 2

August 30, 2011 1 Comment

On July 7, 2011 I posted the first instalment of what started out as a short article for BackBone Magazine, and soon developed (and continues to morph) into something else completely.  You can read the first part here: http://garvis.ca/2011/07/07/a-brief-history-of-how-microsoft-and-others-changed-the-world-part-1/

This is the second part of the article, and it starts to get interesting if you are interested in the history of the most significant industry of the last quarter-century.  If you have not read the first section I recommend you do before proceeding, but there will not be a test at the end, only context throughout.I hope you enjoy this trip down memory lane, and look forward to your comments and feedback! –M

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In November, 1985 Microsoft revealed its new platform – Windows. It would take another ten years until they revealed what most people consider the first truly user-friendly version; in August 1995 Bill Gates launched Windows 95, and with all of its beauty, bells, and whistles, it remains an industry joke that his demo machines crashed (and that you needed to press Start to turn it off). Of course Windows 95 was still considered a home version, and although it was for the first time included in the same box, required an underlying version of MS-DOS to load before it did.

Shortly thereafter Windows NT was launched. NT was a pure business operating system that would allow IT administrators to control much of it centrally. It was their goal, however, to bring these two platforms together into one single environment. In late 2001 that would become a reality with Windows XP, which although it did have a Home Edition and a Professional Edition, sat on the same kernel.

Windows XP was the first operating system that most people would use, and by that we mean that shortly after its release the world of ‘personal computers’ hit a tipping point, and during the ten years that followed its release all of the pieces of the history of an industry would come together – computers, the Internet, interconnected applications – to a point where nearly everyone in the developed world has and uses a computer, and people who short years before would have handed tasks such as e-mailing and writing documents to secretaries are now doing it all themselves. Grandmothers who just a few years before were afraid of computers are using Facebook and Skype to stay in touch not only their immediate families but also with friends and family far and wide. The (developed) world is on-line, and while so many of the tools we use to make our lives easier are not from Microsoft, without Microsoft Windows – a single platform so pervasive so as to run on over ninety percent of desktop computers (as well as some seventy-five percent of servers) it would be difficult to see how all of these changes – indeed how the tipping point that allowed them all to happen – could have happened without Microsoft.

With that being said, the single most popular commercial software package (or software family, as there are different editions) that gets installed on Windows-based computers is Microsoft Office. The Office Suite at its core consists of a word processor (Microsoft Word), spreadsheet (Microsoft Excel), and presentation package (Microsoft PowerPoint). There are competitive packages to each of these, as well as to the plethora of applications that are included in various other editions of the package. Some of these, such as Open Office, are even free. Yet corporations continue to buy licenses for the Microsoft offering. It is certainly not because corporations are fiscally irresponsible, it is simply that the products are designed to work together from the ground up, and while Open Office on Windows was brought over from the open-source world, Office was built specifically for Windows, by the company that makes Windows. As the industry continues to evolve ‘into the cloud’ Microsoft has invested heavily in web-integration of the suite, including the ability to store and work on documents on-line, as well as both private- and public-cloud versions of the most popular applications of the Office suite. They were not the first to release on-line, subscription-based (or free) applications… but no other company offers the level of on-line and local integration that allows the end-user to work how he wants, where he wants.

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It has been twenty years since the deal with IBM, and the vast majority of computers sold today are still sold with a license for a Microsoft OS. Whether you spent three hundred dollars on a netbook with Windows Home Basic or several thousand dollars on a high-performance workstation with Windows Ultimate, a few dollars of your purchase price goes directly to Microsoft. Those bundled licenses, called original equipment manufacturer (OEM) licenses, are the least expensive way to purchase the product; with that being said, Microsoft may be the only company in the world that sells products for a cost of ‘It Depends…’. Is the OEM version of the product any different than the retail (FPP, for Full Package Product) one? Not in any way that most users would notice – but legally it makes all the difference in the world. The OEM ‘SKU’ (pronounced skew) of Windows, or any other Microsoft software available in OEM, has no upgrade rights (it cannot be used to upgrade a previous version of the OS), and is tied to the hardware (specifically to the motherboard and CPU). If those components are replaced – whether due to a hardware failure or the desire to upgrade or whatever other reason – the OS is no longer legal for use. While the writer is not sure how large computer resellers handle this issue for warranty replacements, he has heard of too many smaller Partners and resellers who shirk this issue, whether inadvertently due to ignorance, or blatantly with full knowledge of the legality.

If it is true that over the years, dating back to the original IBM PCs, a significant percentage of Microsoft software has been pirated, it is easy to surmise that as the largest software company in the world they have lost billions of dollars to illegal software sales. In fact, it is entirely possible (although difficult if not impossible to quantify) that the Microsoft Corporation has been the single most stolen from entity in the modern world (we will leave the pillaging of villages and civilizations from the Israelites through the Aztecs & Mayans pride of place… for now). In all likelihood dating back to the original MS-DOS there have been Billions of dollars in pirated or otherwise unlicensed Microsoft software installed.

Imagine someone stealing a Billion Dollars in cars from Toyota… or a Billion Dollars in diamonds from deBoers… or a Billion Dollars in televisions from Sony. These companies would actually suffer a two-fold loss – not only have they lost that amount in saleable merchandise, but they have also lost the same amount because the consumers of those stolen products don’t actually have to purchase them from the manufacturer. It would be, in a word, devastating.

While Microsoft is severely anti-piracy, and while that crime does affect them, the cost is nowhere near what it would be to almost any other industry. The reasoning is twofold:

1) While Microsoft manufactures and delivers a product, it is not the box that costs money, but rather the software – easily and very cheaply reproducible –within that box that is the product. So if a car manufacturer loses half the value of the sale cost for a stolen car, Microsoft – any software company, really – loses the cost of the box.

2) A large percentage of people who use pirated software who would not pay for the product if they had to.

Still, Microsoft (and other software vendors) go to great lengths to prevent illegal usage of their products, and they are right to do so. At the same time, they give away huge amounts of software, both to their partners but also to developing nations It has been twenty years since the deal with IBM, and the vast majority of computers sold today are still sold with a license for a Microsoft OS. , and give bigger discounts on them,

One of the reasons that Microsoft has been so successful seems counter-intuitive to a company selling products. They simply make it difficult (and in some cases impossible) to buy product or receive support directly from them.

From very early on Microsoft has relied on others to sell their product. They are by no means the first to do business that way, but they have spent years developing a partner ecostructure that promotes, evangelizes, sells, and supports their products. You can still buy Microsoft products – at least, many of them – from retail outlets. However the vast majority of Microsoft products solutions are sold by Partners.  The ‘channel’ has grown up with a love-hate relationship with Microsoft, and there are people who would say that Microsoft does not treat their Partners fairly – certainly they admit (or I have heard a corporate vice-president admit at a Partner event) that Microsoft does not treat all of its partners equally.  However this seemingly unhealthy relationship may be, it is hard to overlook the fact that there are thousands of companies that have made a very good living reselling Microsoft solutions.

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To be continued… stay tuned!

Filed under Article, How Microsoft Changed the World, Industry, IT Pro, Microsoft, Personal Computers

MCITP: Server Boot Camp, Virginia Beach

July 20, 2011 Leave a comment

It was REALLY last minute… on Friday I got a mass e-mail from a training provider scrambling to replace a trainer who had cancelled at the last minute.  By some miracle of scheduling I was available; after a few hours of back and forth e-mails I booked my flight for Sunday to be at the training facility Monday morning.

All boot camps are hectic.  The pace is often ridiculous… it is frantic to rush through 15 days of classes in 10 days, but with a group of students as good as these, who have met the prerequisites and have the drive and the discipline, then it can be done.  We completed the first course (6421: Configuring and Troubleshooting a Windows Server 2008 Network Infrastructure) in four days instead of five, and the students all wrote the exam Thursday evening and Friday morning.  All passed (one needed to use his Second Shot Free, but that’s what it’s there for!) the first exam (70-642) and earned their first certification (MCTS: Windows Server 2008 Network Infrastructure, Configuration) and were psyched and energized to tackle two more courses over a six day period.

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It cannot be easy for them.  The pace that the curriculum dictates I maintain is frenetic.  They are all drinking from the fire hose, and many have been learning concepts that they will never have the opportunity to implement or work with in their day to day jobs.  However the morning of Day One they all answered the questions I ask of every class, starting with ‘Why are you here?’ They all have their reasons, and since their employers all sent them most of them revolve around ‘I need the certifications and/or training to keep my job.’  I respect that.

During the two week class two of the seven students have celebrated birthdays.  These were marked by the class going to lunch together, happy birthday wishes, and (very small) token presents.  Neither birthday boy/girl missed class because they were out partying or celebrating too late.  Several times over the fortnight smartphones have vibrated with messages of the world coming to an end back at the office… yet nobody took time off of class because they understand the importance of learning.  When labs break they work out how to fix them, or ask for help (first of their fellow students, then of me).  When concepts are unclear the fellow students help clarify.  It is wonderful to watch.

None of them have complained about the pace, none has shied away from homework and I have not once heard a complaint about the extended work days and early morning.  As Master Lee (see my previous post about Master Lee’s Joonbi Taekwondo) taught his new student last night, our ability to succeed hinges on our willingness to work hard to achieve our goals.  As Grand Master Kim makes us recite before and after class, Everything is up to my mind, Sir!

These students know all of that, and have the work ethic, and now the certification, to prove it!

Way to go class!

Filed under Article, Blog, Boot Camp, Bootcamp, Certification Exams, Certifications, Certs, Classroom, Exams, Genesis of an IT Pro, Industry, IT Pro, MCITP, MCITP: Server Administrator, MCP, MCT, MCTS, Microsoft Learning, Microsoft Windows, SWMI Consulting Group, Trainer, Virginia Beach, Windows Server 2008 R2

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