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Letter from the CEO
"Like many, I am very excited for Windows 7. I've been using
the beta on my work laptop for a couple months, and it really is a
great platform. There are a couple things I want to say about it
that I feel get overlooked in the media:
First, before you upgrade, make absolutely certain that your
business-critical software can run on Windows 7. A lot of
businesses are using very old but very important line of business
programs that may not be up to current standards of
compatibility.
Second, do NOT underestimate the benefit of getting your
company off of Windows XP. Don't get me wrong, XP is a great OS and
has served us all well for many years, but sooner or later,
Microsoft will stop supporting it with patches and updates. Running
your business on an unsupported OS is an extremely serious security
threat and it's better to be able to plan and budget for your
upgrade now than to have to scramble later."
Best Regards,
Matt
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Upcoming Events
Webinar: Empowering In-House IT Support
October 27, 2009
11:00am - 12:00pm
This webinar will demonstrate how empowering your IT staff with
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Webinar: Switchfast as Your IT Department
October 28, 2009
1:00pm - 2:00pm
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Webinar: Improve Your Website with a Content Management
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November 11, 2009
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November 16, 2009
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Windows 7 is Imminent, the Internet is Buzzing
Although Windows 7 has been available to Software Assurance
subscribers since September 1st, the full-on retail release is set
for tomorrow, October 22nd, and everyone is talking about it.
And understandably so. The implications of this release are as
big as anything in the business tech world in the past year. The
widespread negativity toward Microsoft's last release, Windows
Vista, has been partially blamed for slowing PC sales worldwide and
has done considerable damage to the Microsoft brand. Some research
estimates that Windows Vista, released in early 2007, exists on
just 12% of business desktops, far outshined by its 8-year old
predecessor, Windows XP, which exists on 86% of business desktops.
To say that Microsoft has a lot riding on the public's reception of
Windows 7 is a massive understatement.
Fortunately for Microsoft, the reaction for Windows 7 and its
beta has been significantly more positive thus far as compared to
Vista. That some polls show as many as half of respondents planning
to roll out Windows 7 within its first year is fantastic news, even
if much of stems from a simple desire to finally have a stable
platform with which to upgrade outdated XP systems.
As a member of the IT community, Switchfast encourages you to
educate yourselves and deeply consider an upgrade to Windows 7. We
can all agree that efficiency is the name of the game in the new
economy, and the advantages that Windows 7 promises are largely
focused on boosting productivity. That being said, the decision to
upgrade should be focused intensely upon an organization's specific
environment rather than generalized benefits, and should consider
situational factors like software compatibility, cost, and hardware
resources, to name a few.
For your convenience and reading pleasure, I've compiled a list
of some of the more informative Windows 7-related articles I've
come across online:
READ MORE >>>
MicroStrategy Offers Free Business Intelligence Software
As part of the web application revolution, a lot of companies
are offering fairly robust free versions of their products for
lighter users in hopes that the buzz it creates will attract
larger, paying enterprise customers. The good news for small
businesses is of course that we often get all the functionality we
need in the free version, and thus have access to some really
powerful tools at no cost.
One of those great tools is MicroStrategy's ReportingSuite.
Business intelligence reporting is all the rage right now since
everyone in the world is scrambling to find ways to make their
processes more efficient. The ironic downside, of course, is that
few can afford all of the consulting that is needed to really
streamline everything. With business intelligence software,
however, you can run reports yourself and either use in-house
resources to interpret and implement changes, or at the very least
pay for much less consulting time.
The free licensing option accommodates up to 100 users, which
should be more than enough for most small businesses. Also,
MicroStrategy offers free online support and training with the
software at all levels, which is really nice for the budget-minded
organizations that will be attracted to this software in the first
place.
READ MORE >>>
Use Copyscape to Protect your Reputation with Google
They say that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. If
that's true, then Google rewards total modesty.
I spend a large part of my day finding ways to gently coax the
sensitive beast that is Google to favor our website and generate
traffic. Anyone else who has done this knows that Google is moody
and has a very strict set of rules that all marketers must obey,
lest we be "penalized" and eliminated from their results entirely.
One of those rules that can be confusing is what has become known
as the "duplicate content penalty."
Now, the reason Google concerns itself with duplicate content is
to protect producers of legitimate content by penalizing
plagiarism. There is very little stopping anyone from simply
stealing your content or source code and reproducing it on their
own website, reaping the benefits of your hard work and, in some
cases, competing for your traffic. The idea is that if someone
steals from your website, they will not be rewarded with traffic,
but instead punished by becoming completely invisible. Contrary to
popular belief, Google doesn't do this by penalizing the offending
site in its traditional way (simply stripping the site from all
results), but rather ensures that only one instance of the copied
content shows up in the SERPs. However, Google has a policy of
"penalize first, ask questions later," and is almost impossible to
reach for discussion. It's very possible that you could be
mistakenly penalized in the place of whoever stole your content,
and that can be a very deep hole in which to find yourself.
Therefore, it's a good idea to keep an eye out for content
thieves on your own, and do what you can to get them to stop to
prevent Google from getting involved at all. An excellent tool for
keeping tabs on your intellectual property is Copyscape. All
you do is type in the URL of your page, and it instantly scans the
internet for similar bits of text.
READ MORE >>>
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