2008-04-22 · 14:22

HOWTO set the UM codec on a per-user basis

Exchange 2007 supports three codecs for Unified Messaging voice messages. I knew that you could choose which codec Exchange uses at the dial plan level, but until recently, I didn’t know that you could change this setting for individual users. The key is to use the CallAnsweringAudioCodec switch with the Set-UMMailbox command, like this:

Get-UMMailbox “paul” -CallAnsweringAudioCodec gsm



Of course, you can do lots of more interesting things with this cmdlet by using filters or other means to apply this setting to a group of users… say, your Entourage users, who can’t listen to UM voice mails recorded with the default WMA codec.

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2008-04-22 · 11:35

MVP Summit wrap-up

One of the tough things about the MVP Summit is that practically everything there is covered under NDA. That makes it hard to adequately convey how cool some of the stuff we saw and learned was. Suffice it to say that it’s going to be an exciting year in the unified communications world, and I’ve got lots of article topics queued up for the future!
My summit attendance pattern is a little atypical: I usually skip all of the executive keynotes, so this year’s organization was perfect– the keynotes were on the last day instead of the first. Monday had some open/birds-of-a-feather sessions, so I used that time to fly in and hit the office, where I spent some time planning the details of how we’re using (and customizing) Microsoft CRM. CRM makes me frustrated because I know so little about how to use it, and I’m not a professional salesman. However, I’m excited about better automating our sales process, as well as some of the UC integration features that we can deliver.
Tuesday and Wednesday were all deep technical days. I can’t say much about those, except that they were awesome. Thanks to the Exchange and OCS product teams for coming to talk to us!
Thursday was executive keynote day. I skipped the keynotes and flew home on the Wednesday red-eye, but after reading the transcript of Steve Ballmer’s talk it doesn’t look like I missed anything.

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2008-04-16 · 15:14

Security no match for good looking women and chocolate

But you probably knew that already.

A survey out today by the organizers of the tech-security conference Infosecurity Europe found that 21% of 576 London office workers stopped on the street were willing to share their computer passwords with a good looking woman holding a clipboard. People were offered a chocolate bar in exchange for the information. More than half of the people surveyed said they used the same password for everything.

There are a lot of skeptical comments over at the WSJ blog. However, a friend of mine who is a well-known figure in the security community said this in e-mail:

…we did a similar chocolate bar or $2 pen hand out in London to collect passwords. Our gathering password rate was 84%. We then contacted each security domain (we asked for their related email address to send them a free voucher entry for more candy bars). We asked the domain administrators (ISPs, businesses, etc.) to simply review the list and send back the percentage of correct collected passwords. Our response rate from the domain administrators was only 30% or so…I can’t remember the exact number…but it was less than half and more than a quarter. The ones that did respond confirmed that over 60% were the actual passwords.

To this day, if I hadn’t participated in the survey and collected the results myself, I would not have believed it.

So, clearly if you want to fish for passwords, your odds of getting something useful in exchange for a chocolate bar and a few minutes of face time with a good-looking woman are pretty darn good. Scary!

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Filed under FAIL, Security

2008-04-15 · 17:45

At the MVP Summit

Wow.

My mind is being blown by some of the things the Exchange team is showing us. One of the best things about being an Exchange MVP is that we have a really good rapport with the product group. Some groups have bad intra-group relationships, and others have friction between the product group and the MVPs. In this case, though, the product team does a stellar job of soliciting and accepting feedback, and it’s been to both our benefits. Can’t wait to talk about some of the things they’re showing!

(and funny side note: the space bar on my MacBook Pro is sticking, so I keep typing compound words like “keeptyping” and “productplan”. This makes me feel vaguely German.)

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Filed under General Tech Stuff, Travel, UC&C

2008-04-15 · 17:42

Nintendo: great customer experience

David managed to break his Nintendo DS Lite; he snapped off part of the headphone plug fairly deep inside the jack. I didn’t want to tackle taking it apart, and I’d heard rumors on the intertubes that Nintendo offered drop-off service. Because Nintendo customer service center. It’s conveniently located a few blocks away from Microsoft’s campus, so I took the broken DS with me and drove over there yesterday afternoon. It took less than 10 minutes for me to walk in, show the busticated DS to the friendly guy behind the counter, and get a refurb unit with a fresh 1-year warranty. David is now back in business. This is the best customer service experience I’ve ever had at a store– I wish Microsoft would take some lessons from this and apply them to the Xbox 360 service process.

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2008-04-14 · 22:04

So what’s the other 30% made of?

I’m in coach on a Delta flight from Cincinnati to Seattle. Delta recently started a new food-for-sale program called EATS. The folks over at FlyerTalk seem to like it pretty well. I had Chik-Fil-A in CVG, and I’m headed to a lunch meeting, so I didn’t want a full meal, but I did buy a Clif Mojo bar. It’s pretty good– sort of like a light pretzel with some peanut chunks. However, I’m a little disconcerted by the label, which has a blazon proclaiming “70% organic”. What does that mean? Is the other 30% inorganic? Did I just get my RDA of aluminum and silicon? Should I have only eaten the first 2/3rds of the bar and left the remaining 33% behind to make sure I didn’t eat anything unhealthy?

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Filed under General Tech Stuff, Musings

2008-04-10 · 00:39

Live from INTERACT: It’s Mac Messenger 7.0

Eileen Brown of Microsoft was kind enough to organize a bloggers’ lunch at INTERACT 2008 today. There was a good crowd, including some folks I knew and many that I hadn’t previously met. I got there late and had to leave early, but in between, we got a great presentation on the inner workings of the Exchange team blog, plus a panel discussion with several senior Microsoft folks from the Unified Communications Group. As a closing surprise, we got permission to talk about a previously unannounced product that has heretofore been under deep NDA: the Mac business unit at Microsoft is close to releasing a new version of Mac Messenger, version 7.0, that adds some impressive new functionality.

Like earlier versions, the new Messenger release can simultaneously connect to the Windows Live Messenger service and corporate IM networks. In this case, Messenger adds support for OCS 2007 using the same enhanced presence model that Office Communicator uses. Better yet, it supports voice and video with other OCS users! I’ve been using this feature for a while and it rocks. Combine it with OCS’ ability to federate contacts across multiple organizations, and it rocks even more. Voice and video quality in my tests has been excellent, and the OCS support carries on Messenger’s tradition of providing a very Mac-ish user experience. I hope to get permission to post some screenshots in the next day or two; more news when there is news.

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2008-04-07 · 10:33

Ouch!

The boys and I went to grappling class this Saturday, for the first time in a while. It showed 🙂
Our school does grappling in an hour-long block, starting with about 20 minutes of position rounds. In these rounds, you’re not allowed to actually force your opponent to submit, and we usually use those times to practice. I was rollin’ with Jerry, who is about my height but quite a bit stronger, so I was a bit tired by the time we got done with that part of the class. Next, we do 15 minutes or so of instruction and drill; the instructor will teach a move or technique, and we’ll partner up and practice it. Missing this has hurt my performance the most, because I’ve fallen behind in my technical knowledge. This was well demonstrated when we went to the final part of the class: freestyle grappling, with submissions not only allowed but encouraged. In my first round, Adam (who’s about my build but a bit shorter) tapped me out twice. In my second round, I managed to prevent my opponent from submitting me, but that was because it was my son Tom 🙂 I hope to do better next week.

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2008-04-02 · 14:54

Getting ready for INTERACT2008

This week, I’m getting ready to attend INTERACT2008, Microsoft’s new community event for unified communications. I think of it as a replacement for the long-departed and much-missed Microsoft Exchange Conference (MEC), but it’s not really the same thing. INTERACT is more focused, with a much higher technical session level. Press aren’t invited, but MVPs and other community influencers are. There should be a large presence from Microsoft’s engineering teams, which is always good. The whole event is structured around trying to reinforce the growing MS UC&C community and help it grow– a worthwhile goal.
I’m presenting two sessions and proctoring a hands-on lab. The sessions are both on UC development: one on the APIs you can use across various parts of Microsoft’s UC product line, and one on Exchange Web Services. The hands-on lab is really cool: it’s a distillation of the two days’ worth of labs that 3Sharp built as part of the UC Metro project for Microsoft. If you come do the labs, you’ll be getting the same training that Microsoft provides its ISV partners. If you’re going to be at INTERACT, drop me a line and let me know.

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Filed under General Tech Stuff, Travel, UC&C

2008-04-02 · 11:55

Windows Mobile 6.1 announced

I knew it was coming, but I missed the formal announcement. Microsoft has the details here, along with this handy feature comparison chart. Notable improvements in 6.1 include support for System Center Mobile Device Manager, cut-and-paste support for non-touchscreen devices, Exchange account auto-discovery, and a revamped home screen interface for non-touchscreen devices. There’s a list of devices that will receive the upgrade. Sadly, my Treo 750 isn’t on it, so no SCMDM love for me.

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2008-04-02 · 11:39

Fight Class

One of the things I like best about the martial arts school we attend is that they offer a variety of elective classes. In reality, some of these electives are actually required for advancement beyond a certain rank. For example, to earn a black belt, you have to show proficiency in several grappling and striking techniques that aren’t taught in the basic curriculum. Coincidentally, these electives are usually lots of fun; the boys and I really like the Saturday sparring and grappling classes. There’s also a “Fight Class” elective that offers fewer restrictions: strikes to the legs, groin, and head are permitted, and so are some types of takedowns and ground fighting. The class is only open to students age 13 and over, so David and I have been going for the last two weeks. It’s a blast! It’s really energizing to get in the ring and apply what I’ve been learning for the last year or so. David and I have had fun sparring with each other, and it’s fun for me to show him that youth and enthusiasm are no match for old age and treachery.

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2008-04-02 · 09:50

Red Army choir sings “Sweet Home Alabama”

I didn’t post this yesterday because no one would have believed it (and I was skeptical myself). Here’s a video of a Finnish rock group, the Leningrad Cowboys, singing “Sweet Home Alabama”– accompanied by the Red Army Choir. Yes, that Red Army Choir. No word on whether the audience demanded an encore of “Free Bird“.

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2008-04-01 · 11:19

IBM suspended from federal government contracts

Apparently IBM has been suspended from participation in any contracts with the US federal government. Declan McCullough has the story here. It appears that the suspension is unusual in that IBM hasn’t had a chance to respond to the original charges. More news as it develops.

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2008-03-30 · 20:30

“Hello World” with iPhone Interface Builder

The latest release of the iPhone SDK includes a version of Interface Builder that understands Cocoa Touch objects.

Fortunately, Muthu Arumugam has a solution. It didn’t work at first because I had created my first nib as a view, not as a window. (I understand that it was also in the release notes for IB, which I will go back and read as penance.)

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2008-03-30 · 20:07

Bernie Marcus is a great American

Bernie Marcus, the co-founder of Home Depot, is opening his own checkbook to help cover the cost of treatment for veterans at Atlanta’s Shepherd Spinal Center:

Marcus got involved in January after he heard of a soldier who was treated at the Shepherd Center and was improving, but faced the loss of funding. “It angered me,” said Marcus, a co-founder of Home Depot and now a billionaire philanthropist. “It is disgraceful and it is not something that we should have to tolerate in this country.”

I don’t know about you, but I plan to go spend some money at Home Depot tomorrow.

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