iTWire: To give your Microsoft Exchange users the most flexible access options you really need an independent verified SSL certificate. Here’s how to do it fast and efficiently with a minimum of fuss and confusion.

iTWire: The biggest name in the high-end enterprise market has released a beta version free online collaboration tool, aiming to bring business the level of teamwork expected from Google Wave.

iTWire: Just three months after its general availability to the public, Microsoft’s latest Windows 7 operating system now accounts for 10% of all Internet browsing. Yet corporations are still unmoved.

iTWire: The Apple iPad is official. Yet it just missed one ingredient that could have been its killer app.

iTWire: Hype and rumour abound as to the nature, price and design of the highly-expected Apple tablet – or iPad or iSlate. I won’t add to the false predictions but I’ll certainly tell you what I hope it isn’t.

iTWire: The problem with corporate networks is they not only stop the bad guys coming in but also your users who want to work remotely, whether at home, at a client site or on the road. Here is where a VPN product comes in, and the simplest to deploy on Windows is a Linux virtual appliance called OpenVPN.

It’s on, and I’m here. Microsoft Tech-Ed Australia is running from today until Friday 11th September on the sunny Gold Coast of Australia. An incredible 2000+ attendees are roaming about with HP Mini netbooks. Demonstrations have already begun of Exchange 2010, Office 2010 and Visual Studio 2010.

My latest iTWire story is about a problem I faced on Monday. A Fujitsu laptop running Windows Vista Business just would not boot. Diagnostics showed a registry corruption but the recovery console was not installed, Windows auto-repair attempts failed, the Windows installer wouldn’t provide an ‘upgrade’ option when booted from DVD … but happily I could fix the problem using an Ubuntu 8.04 Live CD.

This story is doing brilliantly on Digg, hitting the front page last night.

Hi Coders,

The Newcastle Coders Group is back at the newly renovated Forsythes IT and Training rooms for the August meeting. Two great presenters, Eliminating no-repro bugs with MS VS Team Test 2010 and Flash/Flex and Silverlight from a management perspective. PLUS – a chance to win a full retail copy of Microsoft Visual Studio 2008 Team Suite with 12 month MSDN Subscription courtesy of Enhance ALM and Microsoft. The full details are available here.

When: 6.00pm Wednesday 5th August 2009 (tonight!)
Where: Forsythes IT and Training Rooms – 9 Denison Street, Newcastle West
Cost: FREE!

For those of you who haven’t been before, the Newcastle Coders Group is a great place to learn about the latest technologies in software development. It’s also a great place to meet your peers in the local area. Everyone is welcome, so bring your friends and colleagues.

We order pizza and soft drink on the night for those who want to chip in $5. Pizza is purely optional. If you plan to come along, please RSVP so that we can plan for numbers and indicate if you want to chip in for the pizza (by 4pm today).

iTWire: I kid you not, Microsoft has submitted GPL 2.0 source code which has already been accepted for the next kernel release.