Alivad.Com

iTWire: Microsoft’s new enterprise grade security system learns a lot from Security Essentials.

iTWire: Gillard announces unique Australian IBM R&D lab for a better world – touts the NBN as a major attraction.

Woot! Front page of SlashDot!

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 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.

Wow! I’m inspired, I’m sold. Google Wave is the future of the 40-year old e-mail protocol, plus wrapping up IM, wikis, blogging, collaboration and more all in one new open protocol. Here’s what it is all about.

Thanks to Andrew Coates, I’ve just registered to take Microsoft exam 70-642 on Windows Server 2008 networking, next week.

I’m also interested in doing 70-640 but for some reason the Prometric web site didn’t list English as a language choice … !

You know a virus is big news when suddenly your users start asking about it instead of the usual “Good news” hoax variants (you know, “my friend’s brother’s uncle’s IT guy said don’t open an e-mail with the title ‘good news’ or it will melt your whole computer and eat your house. Microsoft has said there is NO cure !!!!!!”)

Now, good network admins already have their infrastructure under control – both for present and for future threats.

So, it’s prudent to send out an affirming message at this time letting your users know that they can have confidence their data will be protected from harm and they won’t suffer downtime.

Here are some template e-mails you can use – and not just for Windows, but for the Linux and MacOS guys too!

Here’s what I’ve written for iTWire this month …

Linux
Active Directory for Linux draws closer
Jolly new Cloud Computing OS seeks to bring netbook market back to Linux
Move over PC and Mac, it’s time for “I’m Linux”
Ubuntu 9.04′s blazing boot times
It’s 2009 and SCO are maintaining the Linux rage – what the ?
How does Ubuntu Linux differ from Debian?
How on earth does anyone make a dime out of Linux and open source?

Industry news and general tech
ASUS fighting at the top may spawn new brand
NSW Government job website hacked
Telstra release BlackBerry Bold software update
Xbox Live whets appetite with The Maw
Telstra mobile memo service suffers as Teletech offshores operations

Linux Australia elections
Congratulations Mr President – Linux Australia goes to the vote
Linux Australia elections results are in but is there a mandate?
Why didn’t people vote in the Linux Australia elections?

iTWire: With virtualisation becoming a mainstream technology, it’s becoming reasonable that Linux distros like Ubuntu will not always require a dedicated computer but instead be contained within a virtualised environment, whether on a Windows desktop or as part of a consolidated server farm. It’s not always plain sailing though – here are some problems you might encounter as well as their solutions.